poland has ordered checks at entertainment values after a fire killed 515—year—old entertainment values after a fire killed 55—year—old girl celebrating a birthday. a fire service spokesman said they might have survived if they had a proper evacuation route. more meetings have taken place at the white house as the deadlock that has caused the partial shutdown of the government goes into its third week. president trump says he's considering declaring a national emergency. attacks by criminal gangs in the brazilian city of fortaleza has continued for a third day as hundreds of troops arrive to restore order. it's being seen as the first test for the new president, jair bolsonaro. thousands of demonstrators in hungary have been marching in the capital budapest to protest against the policies of the far right government of viktor orban. the protests began in december, after a new law extended overtime. at ten o'clock, clive myrie will be here with a full round—up of the

news. first, alastair leithead takes the first part of an epicjourney from the atlantic ocean to the far reaches of the congo river. he explores how history has shaped the congo of today and uncovers the lesser told stories of this beautiful, if troubled country. one of the world's great rivers flows from the heart of africa. it cuts through the largest rainforest outside the amazon. with wildlife found nowhere else on earth. it is amazing. the democratic republic of congo is a vast, beautiful but tormented place. this country is rich, but its people are among the world's poorest. for centuries, its resources have been plundered, and it has been ravaged by war. from here you cannot find anybody. they start going, all of them, they disappear soon.

the violence goes on, and now it is plagued by ebola. but some change is coming, for this country the size of western europe. we are setting off on a long and challenging expedition to follow the congo into the heart of africa. from the atlantic ocean to the heart of the continent, the congo has always been a place of fear and mystery. the mouth of the river is lined with ancient mangrove swamps. it is an eerie, mysterious start to an epic adventure. this is the point where the congo

river and the atlantic ocean meet. next step is brazil. it was m82 when the portuguese were sailing past this coast and they noticed this surge of brown water and realised there must be a river here. that was the congo, and this is the direction they took. for 3000 miles, we're going to take you up this great river, to try and understand its history, its riches, its poverty and its future. from the atlantic ocean, we will flow the river to its furthest reaches. navigating round its powerful rapids, and through its chaotic capital city kinshasa, as it arcs up north, and then south, twice crossing the equator. we will visit its war—torn east, venture into ebola territory, meat rare gorillas and find out how rich this country could be.

as they sailed up this first stretch of river, the portuguese must have dreamed of the great riches that lay ahead. they found a well—organised society, the kingdom of the congo, open to their offers of trade. but less than 100 kilometres inland, they hit an obstacle, that it would take centuries to get around. the rapids. a series of steep cataracts make this stretch of the congo impassable by boat. and so this port, boma, became a european centre of trade. guns and goods came in, ivory and slaves went out. these odd monuments in the town reflect that past. it's not a great likeness, that is henry morton stanley, the first european to travel

the congo from its source to the sea. stanley was a welshman, who took 999 days to travel here from the eastern coast of africa. it was an epicjourney, and opened up the interior of africa for exploitation. the belgian king was looking for his own colony. the men met, and the congo free state was born. boma was its capital. this was once the governor general‘s residence, but it is not a time in history that is remembered fondly. the powerful rapids that had been the obstacle for so long remain impassable today. but they have also provided great opportunity — for hydroelectric power. there are few places on the planet

where rivers run as fast and as hard as the congo does here as it approaches the sea. a hydroelectric power station built here could provide electricity for the whole of africa. it would produce twice as much power as any other hydro plant on earth. that is how rich the congo could be, if the resources were put to good use. they built two small power stations decades ago here at inga, but there has always been a much more ambitious plan, for a grand inga dam to be built across this whole valley. a deal has recently been signed to make that happen. but promises have been made before, and nothing has happened.

the story of the congo is often the story of lost or squandered opportunity. to get around the rapids means we need another form of transport. the railway was built under the orders of henry morton stanley in the 1890s, to replace a long and arduous trek. around that time, joseph conrad walked the route to become a steamboat captain upriver. his diary became the heart of darkness, a novel whose title created the stereotype that still haunts the drc today. the trains only run once a week,

after being derelict for years. it is an opportunity for the villagers along the way to sell as much as they can, in a five—minute mobile market. kinshasa, the democratic republic of congo's chaotic capital. joseph kabila has been president since 2001, but two years after delayed elections he is standing down.

kinshasa is one of africa's biggest and fastest—growing cities. it is big and brash and bossy. there is a strange but colourful subculture that has grown out of kinshasa and across africa. the sapeurs, who put their confidence on display. princesse is getting ready for a night out. the french acronym sape stands for the society of ambience—makers and elegant people, and she certainly fits the bill. sape goes back to the 1920s, but it was the 60s after independence when it came into its own. when the musician papa wemba championed an extravagant dress

code, in direct opposition to the country's leader. president mobutu decreed western attire a symbol of colonialism, and it was forbidden. today thousands of congolese sapeurs like princesse celebrate the art of dressing well. from here in kinshasa, the rapids end, and boats can travel the river again. and so begins our long arc up to the equator and to mbandaka, to explore life on the river at the first major port. in a vast country with so few roads, this is the congo's superhighway. this is how people get around a country the size of western europe, with very little infrastructure connecting it. when there is a huge river they go by barge.

these go all the way from kinshasa right through to kisangani, hundreds of miles with many many stops along the way, and they are like small villages. people eat here, sleep here, they brave the elements and the mosquitoes here as well. there used to be many many more of these decades ago. the journey thus far has a ready taken two weeks, and there is at least another week to go. they have been delayed here days by a dispute over unpaid duty on some of the cargo. bureaucracy and the corruption that comes with it is a blight across the drc. as long as you have got money, everything's fine. this man is a big fan of travelling by barge. "just like a big family", he says. but as a retired soldier, he is in no rush. this woman just wants the journey to end. her husband recently died.

she is disabled and has run out of money to buy food for her kids on the boat. she is heading for a new start, with a bible by her side. during the belgian colonial times, this river really was a highway. among the traffic were luxury steamboats. the remains now lie rusting along the banks. the workshops quiet. in many ways, the congo has gone back in time. it takes just four or five hours driving through the forest to meet

people living a very traditional way of life. this is boyanga village. this pygmy ritual is to wish them good fortune hunting in the forest, and we are going with them. they are looking for wildlife and useful plants on the way. they block animal holes and use smoke to force them out. it is the way they have always hunted. but a century ago, king leopold

discovered there was something in the forest worth a huge amount of money, rubber. this white sap from the wild rubber vines could be collected and made into tyres for bicycles and then cars. but before rubber plantations industrialised the process, this was the only source, deep in the forest, and so the pygmies were made to collect it. the feared whip was called a chicotte, and made from dried hippo hide, but an even more brutal punishment was common. some of those who didn't collect enough rubber had their hands cut off. up to ten million people died under the regime of king leopold ii, and early photographs of atrocities led to the world's first international human rights campaign. it hastened the end

of king leopold's rule, but his personal colony, which had made him rich, was handed over to belgium in 1908, only for exploitation and brutality to continue. it was the belgian congo until 1960, even though there was little free about it for the congolese. with independence came retribution, and a great white flight from the country. many belgians left. the congolese were handed a place rich with natural resources, but without the knowledge and training to use them. such was the colonial style, that few people were qualified doctors, academics or tested leaders. the country was cast adrift. the rainforest is perhaps the congo's most precious asset.

the largest outside the amazon, and a valuable sink for the carbon dioxide that's warming our planet. a demand for charcoal means it's going up in smoke. a solution to that is being explored in a nature reserve on a remote bank of the congo river. yangambi was the world's largest tropical forest research station. hundreds of expats and their families lived and studied here, until they left in the congo crisis. at that point, everything ground to a halt. yangambi is home to a remarkable collection of plants going back nearly a century. the congolese workers stayed on without pay and protected the precious archives. today they are being restored. there are more than 150,000

samples in the herbarium, which is being restored and rejuvenated, as it still has scientific value today for climate change research. they are planting fast—growing trees to be turned into charcoal, instead of the rainforest. and there is a bigger plan to generate electricity from biomass, burning an old, unproductive rubber plantation and then using these new trees to create a sustainable source of fuel. it is the usual balance between conservation and economic growth, and it's a battle being fought along the length of the congo. so, when the river pilot, joseph conrad, travelled the stretch

of this congo a century ago, one of the biggest worries was stranding the steamship on a sandbank. ah, the lessons of history. we get the chance to stand in the middle of the congo river. we've got stuck. wejust keep going into different sandbanks. we've all managed to get it going again, so we're back in business. history has a habit of repeating itself in the congo. we're taking a detour to another place from another era, but equally trapped in time. from the port at mbandaka, we're following a tributary up to the very northern edge of the drc, to gbadolite, a small town that's played a large part in the country's history. this strangely haunting place was the home of the man who ruled

the congo for more than 30 years, a dictator who renamed the country zaire. president mobutu sese seko. welcome to what's left of his jungle palace. in its day, this was the height of opulence. it's painfulfor me to come here. how the people destroyed this palace is a shock to me. chief asambia kapwata fifi is one of his daughters. it was very, very beautiful. at the entrance on your left on the road, there was one picasso painting. there were many riches. after independence, mobutu became the army chief of staff.

he arrested patrice lumumba, the country's first prime minister, who had turned to the soviet union after being shunned by the west. with the cold war backing of belgium and the cia, mobutu handed lumumba to the rebels to be killed. his body was cut up and dissolved in acid. he's normally reclusive and camera shy — it builds his mystique. the scale and pomp of this highly visible ceremony are designed to bolster his fast—diminishing authority. it is also an unwitting acknowledgement that he knows he's in trouble. mobutu transformed himself into a classic african dictator, after becoming president in the 1965 coup. political opponents and rivals were killed or tortured. his regime was totalitarian and corrupt. he got rich while the country got poor. what was he like as a person? a generous person.

i tell you the truth. not only because he's my family. he liked all, he liked his family. he's been alleged to have been a terrible president, brutal. oh, brutal, i don't think so. if you're brutal, you start with your family. he was never bad with his children, i know, never. but it all came crashing down in 1997. an invasion and a coup forced mobutu out, and he died in exile. it's when the looting here began, and when time stopped in gbadolite. this international airport was built in the middle of a jungle. it was a vanity project. that was a plush vip reception area.

this, a huge terminal. concorde landed here, bringing in luxury goods like pink champagne for then—president mobutu. today, it's just a shell. the moneyjust dried up. this distant town on the edge of the country owed its privileged position to one man, and he'd gone. a while ago, the town's hydroelectric power station broke down. it takes three months for generator fuel to come up—riverfrom kinshasa, and then another ten days or so for a tanker to negotiate a flood—damaged dirt road. the lights are off in gbadolite. next time on congo: ajourney to the heart of africa... we're heading off in the whitewater

to go fishing in the rapids. in the eastern congo, we're heading to one of the most dangerous parts of the country. there is a very strong militant group here that, over the last few days, has killed probably dozens of civilians. in the vast rainforest, we go looking for endangered gorillas found nowhere else on earth. and we discover the incredible wealth below the ground that could make this country one of the world's richest, rather than being one of the poorest. if you'd like to take an even more immersive journey up the congo river in virtual reality, visit bbc.com/virtualreality to find out how. hello, the first weekend of 2019 has

been a fairly grey affair, under the extensive cloud for much of the uk. it has been mainly dry, quite quiet. it has been mainly dry, quite quiet. it will change over the next few days, and it will turn increasingly windy, particularly across scotland. that is because we are seeing some su btle that is because we are seeing some subtle changes in the jet stream. the wind high in the atmosphere. it has been well to the north of the uk. that has been enabling a stag na nt area of uk. that has been enabling a stagnant area of high pressure to develop. what we will find over the next few days is that the jet stream will slide a little bit further southwards, and that will bring areas of low pressure closer to scotla nd areas of low pressure closer to scotland and northern ireland. more on that in a moment. back and i, for most it is mainly dry, albeit quite cloudy. a few breaks in the cloud, particularly across northern scotla nd particularly across northern scotland where we will see some spells of sunshine. the cloud could be thick enough for patchy drizzle across the midlands, northern england, north wales. for most it is dry, milder compared to saturday. the values will not fall much lower

overnight, we will keep a blank at cloud. the wind will pick up across northern ireland and scotland, brea ks northern ireland and scotland, breaks of rain arriving at a northern and western scotland, temperatures by dawn not much lower than four five celsius. here is the overall picture on monday. high pressure further southwards. this deepening area of low pressure pushing its way northwards. notice the squeeze on the isobars. it is going to be a windy day, wet as well. outbreaks of rain across scotla nd well. outbreaks of rain across scotland and northern ireland, sinking southwards as it moves into the area of high pressure. the rain will fizzle out, very little left on it as we get down to wales in southern england. spells of sunshine behind. milder to start the new week, 11 or 12 celsius. very strong wind, particularly across scotland, where gusts will widely reach 60 or 70 mph. parts of the northern isles, the northern highlands, it could reach up to 80 mph. very windy conditions to start the new week. the area of low pressure pulls away

into the north sea, cross into scandinavia. find it, we pick up a colder, northerly wind. we lose the milder conditions for a time and pick up something much colder, a biting wind as we go through tuesday and wednesday. bear in mind that we also have a combination of a new moon and spring tides. one two showers here, elsewhere some sunshine. feeling colder, particularly in the wind. temperatures for many not much higher than seven or eight celsius. colder still on wednesday. the best of the sunshine of central and eastern areas, the east coast could pick upa eastern areas, the east coast could pick up a few showers. more cloud to the west. outbreaks of rain across northern ireland and the western isles. as we go into thursday, we slowly start to see a subtle change in wind direction. more of a west or north westerly. that will start to return some milder air across scotla nd return some milder air across scotland and northern ireland. still on the chilly side, the further

south and east you are. foremost, a mainly dry day. as we go to the end of the week and into next weekend, we start to see the jet stream sinking its way further south and east. that is going to bring a more u nsettled east. that is going to bring a more unsettled spell of weather. some outbreaks of rain. bear in mind we are still in some colder air. even though it is good to be more u nsettled, though it is good to be more unsettled, it will not be feeling any warmer. often windy, there will be some outbreaks of rain and the possibility that some of us could see some snow. more on that tomorrow. goodbye. tributes are paid to a man stabbed to death on a train, in front of his son. lee pomeroy should have been

celebrating his 52nd birthday today. his family say he was an honourable man, and call his killing "horrific and pointless". police have arrested a man, on suspicion of murder. there was some conversation between the two men. they have continued that conversation for about three to four minutes, first in one carriage, and then have moved through to a second carriage. at some stage then, violence has then ensued, resulting in this tragic death. the police watchdog begins an investigation, after a 31—year—old man is shot dead by armed officers in coventry. we have a special report, on the plight of children, in the central african republic, devastated by war. no end in sight for the us government shutdown. talks at the white house end without a deal.