welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: another attempt in washington to break the deadlock over the partial government shutdown ends, with no sign of a breakthrough. mourners lay candles for the five teenage girls killed in a fire in poland, as safety checks at "escape room" venues across the country are ordered. an historic split from russia — ukraine's new orthodox church is granted independence after more than three centuries of rule from moscow. ice—tastic celebrations in china as carvers from around the world unveil their masterpieces. hello. 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, and 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 get some of the day's other news: 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 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." thousands of anti—government demonstrators have marched through hungary's capital budapest to protest against the policies of the far—right government of viktor orban. the demonstrations began in december against a law that extends overtime, but have since broadened. nick thorpe is in budapest.

thousands of people marched through the centre of budapest, in bitterly cold january afternoon, to gather here in front of the hungarian parliament. the main achievement of these protests so far has been the unprecedented degree of unity they've achieved, from the left to the right of the hungarian political spectrum. but, as the novelty of the demonstrations wears off, the problems facing organisers is how to maintain this momentum. the trade unions have been canvassing their members, and there is talk today of a general strike, a one—day general strike, in two weeks' time. from the government's side, these protests have been downplayed, and the government media has been denigrating those taking part. there has also been a carrot from the government side, an offer of an 8% wage increase this year, followed by another 8% next year. set against the government, then, the protest organisers are hoping that this overtime law, this ‘slave law', will act

as a catalyst for all the grievances people across hungary feel towards the fidesz government. hundreds of extra police have been sent to a state in northern is a force to presiden force tot 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. ukraine's new orthodox church has been granted independence, ending moscow's authority after more than three centuries. it's provoked a furious response from russia, asjonah fisher reports from kiev. was this the moment that split the global orthodox church? in st george's cathedral, in istanbul, the ecumenical patriarch bartholomew signs what is known as a tomos. the document recognises ukraine's orthodox church, for the first time, as separate and outside russian control. a relationship that has lasted centuries ended with the stroke of a pen. watching on and enjoying a rare moment of success was ukraine's president, petro poroshenko.

he has called this the final step in ukraine's independence from russia. translation: glory to god. without his will, this would not have been possible. i say thank you to metropolitan bartholomew, to his faith. the big questions are about what happens next. the russian orthodox church, facing the loss of millions of followers, has already condemned the decision, and severed ties with the ecumenical patriarch. will other countries now refuse to recognise the new ukrainian church? there will be celebrations over the next few days, here in ukraine, to mark this historic moment. what remains unresolved, though, is the fate of the thousands of parishes and religious sites that are still under the control of the russian orthodox church. this could turn out to be a very messy divorce.

jonah fisher, bbc news, in kiev. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the winter wonderland that is harbin in china — the world's largest ice festival. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. "good grief." after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer, paul simon, starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps

of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oilfrom the broken tanker, erika, would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news, the latest 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 100,000 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 of the country. 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. the stone of skoon was used to crown the kings of scotland for hundreds of years, until it was moved to london in 1296.

on christmas eve 1950, four scottish students attempted one of the most daring thefts from the english establishment for many years — to steal back the stone. the bbc spoke to the ringleader of the team — ian hamilton, about his incredible story, and how he got away with it. westminster abbey, schooljuly to the commonwealth lost one of its most precious relics when persons so far unknown. in the door of a king and edward vii chapel to force the coronation chair and take whether stone of skoon. the stone of skoon is scotland's icon, one of the many invasions by the english into scotland, they took away the symbol of our nation, the stone of destiny. bring it back was a very, very symbolic gesture. it was the christmas vacation for

the university, so we set off for london on the 23rd of december. i got three people, kate matheson, allan stewart and vernon. but in london, in the depths of winter, when there were no snowploughs on the road, no gritting on the road. the abbey is a wonderful building, it's one of my favourite buildings but if you break into it at night, it is desperately dark, so dark you can almost as to cut the error in squares and carried away with you. we had a small torch with us, up the sacred but and into the coronation chair sat the stone of destiny in a cavity underneath. we had to prise

the stoned out of that and it fell with a clump down onto the abbey floor. dragging the ancient stone of destiny, they vanished into the night through this door. orders went out for a strict search on roads, ports and airfields. the search centred particularly on routes leading to the north. three months, they were looking price for three months. we were searched for all over the country. the story was beginning to go sour because all this time, the stone had remained hidden and the scottish people were beginning to say, well, where is it? is it gone forever? so we decided

that it was time to bring the stone back. in the abbey, the stone was deposited by three men who remain unknown. here, 631 years ago, the declaration of scottish independence was signed. i was never arrested. i was signed. i was never arrested. i was taken into questioning. the home secretary made a statement to the house of commons. it was known moon had done it, but it was not in the public interest to prosecute the volga vandals. that has been a phrase i've always enjoyed all my life. to do something for your country which still is not a drop of blood that is, i think, submit to be proud of. ice and snow carvers from around the world have unveiled their masterpieces in the 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.

olivia 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 it's 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. olivia crellin, bbc news. beautiful but too cold for me. you can get all of our top stories on the website. 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. 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. stronger winds for all of us. much windier as you head further north. northern scotland seeing gusts of 70 miles an hour or more. it should be a milder day on monday. temperatures widely in double figures. stays very windy overnight, mind you. the storm, the area of low pressure, sweeps into scandinavia and 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. it does mean there's more sunshine on the way on tuesday, though the sunshine turns a bit hazy in the north—west later on. a few showers running into north—east scotland, down those north sea coasts as well. 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. 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. we could start to lose a bit of that sunshine for the middle of the week. high pressure still never too far away, toppling around it that weather front to increase the cloud. 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. the best of the sunshine on wednesday. a bit more cloud for some eastern parts of england. winds are easing. to the west, cloud amount increasing, probably turning wetter later in the day for northern ireland and western scotland. ahead of that cloud, temperatures 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 15—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 of members of the security forces. buses, banks, and petrol stations have been targeted. it's the first major test for brazil's new president who took office on tuesday.