hello, you're watching bbc news, i'm reged ahmad. officials from the white house and congress have met, in a further attempt to end the budget row that's led to a partial shutdown of the us government. the meeting broke up after two hours with no sign of a breakthrough — although they have agreed to talk again on sunday. president trump says he's willing to see the impasse continue until funding for his mexico border wall is approved. kim gittleson has the latest. two hours elapsed from when white house officials entered congress to speak with democrats to when they left. that time was either productive, in the words of vice president mike pence, or an empty exercise, according to president donald trump, who tweeted that "not much headway had been made" towards ending the now two—week—old partial us government shutdown. the strain is beginning to show in the 800,000 government workers, who have begun to protest the political deadlock that has cost them their paycheques. millionaires don't care about the regular people, you know? they're not really sympathetic to what's going on. we're just really fed up right now.

we're just so fed up. we need to be funded, because we need our paycheques, and we need to service the american people. but hopes for a deal are slim given the political calculus at the heart of the impasse. this could go on for quite awhile, because this shutdown works for both parties, politically. for president trump, he's again backed himself into a corner. he's said he wants a wall. for the democrats, they can say to the voters, well, there's no way we're going to get funding for this wall. so a continuation of the shutdown is in many ways what both parties need to do to feed the needs of their bases. while there are more talks scheduled for this weekend, with the two sides are still far apart, it is hard to see when and how the stalemate will end. an "appalling tragedy" — that's how poland's president has described the death of five teenagers, killed in a fire at an escape room — a venue that involves players solving puzzles in order to get out

of rooms or situations. the victims, all 15—year—old girls, were celebrating a birthday. it happened in the northern town of koszalin, but safety checks have been ordered on escape rooms across the country. adam easton sent this report from warsaw. the five schoolgirls had gone for an evening of fun to celebrate a birthday. locked inside the small, seven—metre—square room , the teenagers were trying to solve puzzles to let themselves out. leaking gas cylinders started a fire in an adjacent room. translation: there were four heaters located in the waiting room, which is where the fire started. the fire prevented the employee who was supervising the game's participants from unlocking a door to the escape room. as the fire and toxic smoke quickly spread, the girls had no way to escape. firefighters had to use specialised equipment to break in, but it was already too late. koszalin is in shock.

translation: this is a huge tragedy. it's traumatic for the parents, for those closest to the girls, and it's also a trauma for their teachers. i met with them today, and i saw how they're reacting. translation: these are people from koszalin. they are our neighbours. it's a terrible tragedy. we've come here today to symbolically unite with all those affected by this awful tragedy, and show that we are there to support them. all cultural events in the town have been cancelled, and the mayor has announced a day of mourning. escape rooms have become popular in poland over the last four years. it is estimated there are now around 1,000 venues across the country. the authorities have ordered that all those sites be checked to ensure they meet the required safety sta nda rds. let's look at some other stories in brief. the federal grand jury being used by special counsel robert mueller as he investigates alleged russian

collusion in the us 2016 presidential election has had its term extended by up to six months. the initial 18—month term was due to expire this weekend, amid speculation that the probe might end soon. president donald trump has called the investigation a "witch hunt." two british special forces soldiers have been seriously injured in an attack in syria by so called islamic state. it's understood the two soldiers where wounded by a missile which exploded near the syrian town of deir ezzor in the east of the country, and were taken to a hospital by american forces. police in california say three people have been shot dead at a bowling alley near los angeles. police say they are working to identify those involved in the shooting in which four other people were injured. local media said the shooting followed a fight at gable house bowl in the coastal town of torrance. the family of a man who was fatally stabbed on a train yesterday say he was honourable,

and would always help others in trouble. lee pomeroy, who was 51, was attacked in front of his teenage son, just after they boarded a train in guildford in surrey. a man has been arrested, on suspicion of murder and a woman detained at the same time, is being held on suspicion of assisting an offender. 0ur correspondent chi chi izundu has the latest. today should've been lee pomeroy‘s 52nd birthday. but instead, his family are mourning his violent death witnessed by his 14—year—old son. in a statement, they said: after a 17—hour man—hunt, at 6am this morning

at this property in farnham, police arrested a 35—year—old man on suspicion of murder. a woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. police also removed a vauxhall corsa and forensic teams and officers have been here searching the house. we understand no weapons have been found. i heard the police shouting the usual stuff. you know, "0ut your hands up, turn around," and all that sort of thing. and then, you know, it went quiet. they led her out first, put her in a police wagon over there, and a few minutes later, they brought him out, handcuffed, put him in a police wagon here. there were armed police everywhere. lots more police turned up, and that was it. it was yesterday at around 1:00 in the afternoon that mr pomeroy and his son got onto the train at the london road station, in guildford, to waterloo. today, police described the confrontation. both menjoined the train at guildford. more or less straightaway, there's been some conversation

between the two men. they've continued that conversation for about three or four minutes, first in one carriage, and then in a second carriage. at some stage then, violence then ensued, resulting in this tragic death of the man yesterday afternoon. specialist officers are supporting mr pomeroy‘s14—year—old son. but police have expressed concern for those who witnessed this incredibly frightening attack. smokers and problem drinkers who are admitted to hospital in england will be given help to cut down or quit. the measures are part of a new long—term plan — aimed at reducing demand on the health service. nhs england says problem drinkers and smokers cost the health service £6 billion every year. a chief executive of the firm awarded a controversial government contract to operate cross—channel freight ferries after brexit insists the company will provide a good service, despite never operating ferries before. seabourne freight, which has no

trading history, told a french website it would be ready to make four round trips daily between ramsgate and 0stend, in time for britain leaving the eu, at the end of march. an independent investigation has begun into the fatal shooting of a 31—year—old man by police, during a raid on a house in coventry. sean fitzgerald died at the scene on friday night and two other men are being questioned on suspicion, of being involved in the production of cannabis. sarah campbell reports. this is the man shot dead by police, 31—year—old sean fitzgerald, who a friend today said was the kind of person who went out of his way to help people. no matter how nice a guy is, or how bad a guy is, nobody deserves to get killed. that's number one. and especially from the police, that's the people who are supposed to protect us and keep us safe. few details have been confirmed by the police

about last night's raid other than it was part of a long—running, intelligence—led operation. two men, both aged 26, were arrested and are being questioned about involvement in cannabis production. investigators from the independent office for police conduct have spent the day at burnaby road. contrary to initial reports, the watchdog has said there is no indication that mr fitzgerald was shot in the back. body—worn video has been examined and there will be a full forensic postmortem, and the findings of that will form part of the independent iopc investigation. neighbours have expressed their shock at what has happened so close to home. i've lived here for 21 years. i've never seen anything like this, that bad. you always think, "ooh, it's never going to happen where i live," and when it does, it's a bit of a shock. the house in which sean fitzgerald was shot continues to be searched. close by, there are a growing number of tributes to him. mountaineering experts say the risks of winter climbing should not be underestimated following the deaths

of two young climbers on ben nevis — britain's highest peak — in recent weeks. a student from germany died on new year's day while another young climber from britain died in december. here's our scotland correspondent james shaw. ben nevis, the highest mountain in the british isles and, for that reason, extremely popular with walkers and climbers. but the paths across its north face can be dangerous. this is what's known as the ledge route. on new year's day, a student from bristol university fell 500 feet down the mountain from this path and was killed. her three companions were rescued by a coastguard helicopter. the actual helicopter managed to winch them off the crag from where they were and i was below the crag, which was carn dearg buttress, where, unfortunately, she'd fallen. it was the second death in recent weeks. patrick boothroyd, who was 21, died in december. tens of thousands of people climb ben nevis every year. most use this path to the summit,

which is relatively straightforward, but some, including the two students who died recently, attempt the rock faces and gullies on the northside, which, even in the best weather, are never free of risk. many new climbers use professional guides. this group is returning from the mountain after a training day. it's horrible to hear of accidents and fatalities in the mountains, especially because it's such a life—affirming thing to do. despite all of our best efforts, we can't control everything. it is a risky environment and sometimes things go wrong fairly randomly. experienced climbers know and accept the dangers of scaling britain's highest peak. those with less experience may not be so aware that this place can be beautiful and deadly. a crime wave against banks and shops in the brazilian resort city of fortaleza has continued

for a third day as hundreds of troops arrive to restore order. president jair bolsonaro deployed 300 soldiers to the area that has been rocked by violent attacks by criminal gangs. it's being seen as the first test facing the new president, who took up office on tuesday. earlier i spoke to the bbc world service americas editor leonardo rocha who said the troubles started on wednesday. the first thing that happened is many public buses were set on fire, shops attacked, even shopping centres, public buildings, and there was a bomb attack, an improvised bomb attack on a flyover in a city of fortaleza. it's a big city with 2.5 million people, and very popular with tourists. we're now at the height of the summer holidays. hundreds of thousands of people from across brazil, from argentina, italy, they go to that region. so, it's a crucial time for the city. those attacks have been ordered, according to the authorities,

by three very powerful criminal gangs that control prisons across brazil, and they've done that in retaliation against tougher measures from the authorities against the privileges in prison. so, they got together and ordered their friends outside jail to stage these attacks, which terrorised the population of fortaleza. in the whole state of ceara, which is quite a bit state, there were about 90 attacks across the state since wednesday. the new president, jair bolsonaro, has decided to send troops in. how unusual is that move, and has it worked? it happens when you have a situation of an emergency. it has happened before. i remember reporting on similar attacks last year in the north of brazil when there were riots in prisons — they seem to take this time of holidays, when guards go away,

where the security's a bit weaker — and they launched these attacks, a challenge on the government. but the difference now is we have a government that was elected and just sworn in on tuesday with a law and order agenda. so, jair bolsonaro is a former army captain who has been calling for the rights of shoot to kill for the police and for the army, to give them immunity from prosecution, so that's a big test. he had a very difficult first week in government because of his economic measures and all that, but that is what people who elected him, who voted for president bolsonaro, want to see. they want to see if's going to act and if he's going to be able to stop this rebellion. the local governor is from the opposition, from a left—wing party, but they're working together to see if they can control of that situation. but given this kind of violence is relatively prevalent in brazil,

how much of jair bolsonaro's approach is necessarily going to work? well, what's being said, like, in other parts of the world, is that traditional left—wing approaches don't work. that's his view, that's the view of the electorate who voted for him, that you have to be able to deal with these gangs that are heavily armed, are very powerful, they have lots of money through drug dealing. they have to be addressed in a different way. many people say that, like in mexico, what you could have is the violence increasing, spreads and going to affecting mostly civilians. but the fact is since these troops were deployed in fortaleza, there's been an decrease in the violence and it seems like they're getting things under control. if that happens, if they manage to control it quickly, it will be a big victory for president bolsonaro in his first

week in office. this is bbc news, the headlines: talks in washington to break the deadlock over the partial government shutdown end with no sign of a breakthrough. let's stay with our main story now — earlier i spoke to heather long, economics correspondent, from the washington post. i asked her if there was an end in sight for the shutdown. none — there is absolutely no hope right now. we're on day 15 of this shutdown, and the talks are going nowhere this weekend. the house and the senate, they don't even come back to washington until tuesday, so even though the talks are continuing, we're seeing no movement from the white house. president trump continues to demand $5 billion for that border wall he wants to finish building on the southern border, and the democrats are saying no way. mike pence did tweet that he thought the discussions were productive,

interestingly, even though there doesn't seem to be any resolution. who is to blame here? is it the democrats digging their heels in on something they know donald trump really wants, or is it donald trump's fault for being too obstinate on this? that's a great question. what really matters is what the american public thinks, what voters think, and poll after poll is telling us that overwhelmingly trump is getting the blame for this shutdown. about half of the country blames trump, and only a third blame democrats. the white house understands that dynamic, and that's why both president trump and vice president pence today have been on kind of a charm campaign, if you will, to say look, we're working, we stayed over christmas in the white house in washington to try to get things done. they're trying to pin it on the democrats, but so far, that sentiment is not shifting. is part of the problem here that both sides are just talking

to their base at the moment — they're each trying to talk to their own voters, rather than perhaps the whole country? that might be part of it. but remember, when this shutdown began on 22 december, just days before christmas, the senate republicans and the senate democrats, they had passed a bill to keep the government opened through february. it was a bipartisan bill. they came together, they thought that it would be fine, it would sail through, and they could all go home in the holidays. it wasn't until president trump dug his heels in and insisted on the border wall funding that we actually went into a shutdown situation. and what we saw again on friday, as democrats tried to say let's try this again, let's see if we can just keep the government open, get it reopened, keep it open for at least another few weeks and then see where we are with

further negotiations, vice president pence on friday called house republicans and told them not to cross lines, do not vote with the democrats. there is a real personal side to this story, as well. there are a lot of government workers who are facing real hardship. what are some of the stories that you are hearing about how those workers are coping? i'm so glad you brought that up. at the washington post, we have heard from hundreds of government workers. so 800,000 federal workers in the united states have their pay — they're not getting paid right now, and we're about to end week three of not having any payment for these workers. we have heard from people who, you know, aren't buying groceries, who are very nervous about meeting their mortgage payments. we have heard from people who are literally debating whether to return christmas gifts, so they can have extra money on hand, or who are currently searching for otherjobs, like maybe being an uber or lyft driver. but the sad stories, in my mind, are when we get phone calls from the janitors and the cafeteria workers in many of these federal

buildings throughout washington, dc and in other parts those people don't work directly for the government. so most of the government workers, the 800,000, money is tight right now, but if the government reopens, they usually get paid. they will get all their money, it's just they may not have it now, when they need to pay their bills. but the janitors and the cafeteria workers, they work for third—party companies, and if they're not at work, no work, no pay, and they will not get back—pay, in most cases. dashcam footage sent to police has led to more than 600 drivers being fined and prosecuted across wales over the past year. police received more than 2000 films , and the incidents caught on camera include having pets on drivers‘ laps. a similar scheme is now being set up in england, as rebecca john reports. dangerous overtaking.

a familiar theme in the footage being sent to police by drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians across wales. recorded on dashcams and mobile phones, more than 2,300 films were sent to police over the last year. and action was taken in more than 650 cases. as well as dangerous driving and using a phone behind the wheel, two drivers were caught with dogs on their laps. it's working well in that it's letting us survive near misses out there. and resources that policing unit deal with many fatalities. i've seen quite a few submissions come through the stop so easily resulted in one of those fatalities. 0peration snap was rolled out across wales in 2017 after a successful pilot scheme in north wales. it aims to tackle bad driving and reduce the time it's previously taken to process the footage. we're very proud of the fact that now we've got a few safe and secure way that the public can send us theirfootage,

and that we're able to do it effectively. before 0peration snap was in place, there was a 28—point process for the police, which meant they had to go through many steps in order to collect footage and bring it back to arrange interviews. by allowing the safety camera process, we've now got that down from about 16 hours of officer time to about half an hour to 1.5 hours for more complex cases. som that is around 3,000 officer hours saved across wales every month. depending on the seriousness of the motoring offence, drivers have been fined, sent on awareness courses or prosecuted in court. a similar scheme is now being set up in england and police from hong kong and japan have also met go—safe staff to learn more about the project. more than 100 people a year die on welsh roads. 0peration snap aims to act as a deterrent, to encourage responsible driving and improve safety for all road users across wales. ice and snow carvers from around the world have

unveiled their masterpieces in the (map 00v) chinese city of harbin, known for its brisk winters. the winter festival in the northeast of the country is a huge tourist attraction — more than a million people visited last year. 0livia crellin reports christmas may be over but the celebrations are onlyjust starting in harbin. the city is known for its freezing temperatures, which can drop as low as —35 celsius, —31 fahrenheit. but apart from the inhospitable conditions keeping people away, the city attracts millions of tourists from around the world every year. translation: the ice castles and sculptures made by workers are very impressive and with music in harbin ice and snow world, it's like disneyland, disneyland in winter. like scenes from the movie frozen, the sculptures capture imagination

and melt hearts, too. translation: i am very happy today as i saw elsa's castle here. the towering sculptures that make up the ice city are carved by thousands of artists and workers as part of a festival, now in its 35th year. the sculptures are made from big chunks of ice, dragged out of the nearby river. but the theme park, which spans over 600,000 square metres, the equivalent of 2500 tennis courts, is just the tip of the iceberg. this year's festivities include a symbolic 2019 snowmen, sledge rides on the frozen surface of the river, mass weddings in an ice chapel, and the annual winter swimming competition. brace yourself for this. translation: when you are doing ice

swimming, it is better to get ready step by step. you have to start swimming from the autumn so that the body can cope with the sudden ice impact on the cardiovascular system. the feeling of diving into the water is very cold. you can say... it's not a sport for those who easily get cold feet. you need nerves and muscles of steel to plunge into the freezing water, and even the most enthusiastic need months of preparation to help the body acclimatise. still, more than 300 swimmers take part in this northern chinese tradition, particularly popular among older residents who claim winter swimming has health benefits. the festival lasts a month, or until the ice city melts. until then it will continue to take everyone's breath away. 0livia crellin, bbc news. now the weather with darren bett.

hello there. sunshine was in short supply on saturday and it will be again on sunday. now, we've still got high pressure in charge of our weather, but it's essentially filled in with cloud. coming into the high pressure, a weakening weather front, it has been bringing a bit of rain and drizzle, but that's petering out. but the weather front gets as far south as northern england and then starts to move northwards again. for north—west england, perhaps southern scotland, later, northern ireland, it could be a bit damp and drizzly. still, a lot of cloud to the south of that mind you. if you want the sunshine, you need to be across the northern half of scotland, where temperatures are back down to 7 degrees. but elsewhere, it should be a milder sort of day, really, i think, despite all that cloud. that high pressure is going to start to get squeezed on monday as a deep low pressure rushes towards our shores, really picking up the winds and packing a punch in northern scotland later on in the day, with severe gales developing. and we've got a bit of rain around too.

it's mainly for scotland and northern ireland as that band of rain moves southwards again, it tends to peter out. we get some sunny spells following for northern ireland, later, northern england and southern scotland. but it's the strength of the wind that's the main story of the weather. stronger winds for all of us. much windier as you head further north. northern scotland seeing gusts of 70 miles an hour or more. at least it should be a milder day on monday. temperatures widely in double figures. it stays very windy overnight, mind you. the storm, the area of low pressure, sweeps away into scandinavia and then the wind direction changes. we draw down our air from the north or north—west and that means it's going to get a bit colder. but it does mean there's more sunshine on the way on tuesday, although the sunshine turns a bit hazy in the north—west later on. there'll be a few showers running into north—east scotland, down those north sea coasts as well. but a lot of places are going to have a dry day. the winds for a while touching gale force down those eastern coasts, lighter winds further west. but temperatures will be a bit lower on tuesday. we're back down into single figures. it will feel a bit chillier,

but at least there'll be more sunshine around. now, we could start to lose a bit of that sunshine for the middle part of the week. high pressure still never too far away, toppling around it that weather front is going to increase the cloud. but ahead of that, we've got a slice of clearer skies from scotland down towards wales, the midlands, central, southern england where we're likely to find a touch of frost. but the best of the sunshine on wednesday. still a bit more cloud for some eastern parts of england. the winds are easing. out to the west, cloud amount increasing, probably turning wetter later on in the day for northern ireland and western scotland. ahead of that cloud, temperatures are only struggling to 5 or 6 celsius. this is bbc news, the headlines: us congressional leaders and white house officials have met in a further attempt to end the budget row which has paralysed parts of the government for the last two weeks. president trump has tweeted that the democrats could stop the shutdown by approving what he called real border security. poland has ordered checks at escape room venues across the country after five teenagers were killed in a fire at one site. the polish president described the fire in the venue in the northern town of koszalin as an appalling tragedy. the victims — all fifteen—year—old

girls — had been celebrating a birthday. attacks organised by criminal gangs in the brazilian city of fortaleza have continued for a fourth day despite the deployment of hundreds