welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: a young saudi woman fleeing to australia is stranded at bangkok airport, where she says her passport has been seized. she tells the bbc she can't go back home. i don't have rights in saudi arabia, and my family treat me so bad. they will kill me. as the government shutdown in the us continues into its third week, president trump says he has little expectation of a breakthrough in the latest talks. the hollywood awards season is underway. winners so far at the golden globes include christian bale. theresa may warns the uk will be in unchartered territory if mps reject the deal to withdraw from the eu. human rights watch has called on thailand to allow a young saudi

woman fleeing her home country to continue her journey to australia. rahaf mohammed al-qunun is trapped in bangkok, where she says the thai authorities intend to repatriate her. she believes her family will kill her for speaking out on social media, as well as renouncing islam. thai and saudi officials say she did not have a visa to enter thailand, and deny claims they have confiscated her passport. kim gittleson has more. 18—year—old rahaf al-qunun thought she saw her opening two days ago, during a family vacation to kuwait. that is when she fled to australia in search of asylum, but that plan went awry during what was supposed to be a short stop in bangkok. when i come, someone said to me that we will have the visa.

then he took my passport, and then he came to me with five or six people, i think they are police, and they told me my father wants me to go back to saudi arabia, and he is so angry. now, she says she is trapped in an airport hotel, with thai officials guarding her room, waiting to put her on a return flight to kuwait. so she has taken to social media to beg for help, asking for asylum and begging for intervention. saudi arabia's government said in a statement that she was being held because she didn't have a return ticket, and that she was going to be deported to kuwait, where most

of herfamily lives. however, human rights watch has said she should be allowed to continue on to australia. this is saudi arabia and thailand playing games, to send an 18—year—old back into harm's way. it's outrageous. she deserves to be allowed to see the un refugee agency and ask for asylum. now the clock is ticking down, and having renounced islam, rahaf says that she fears for her life. i don't have rights in saudi arabia, and my family treat me so bad. they will kill me. further talks are being held to try to end the partial us government shutdown, but president trump says he has little expectation of a breakthrough. he has indicated he will not drop his insistence on getting the government to approve the funds needed to build a wall along the southern border with mexico. gail maclellan reports. president trump, on his way to the camp david residential retreat, threatened he may declare a national emergency if talks to end the shutdown show no progress by the end of the week.

but he indicated there may be some compromise on the major stumbling block, the building of the concrete wall between the us and mexico. they don't like concrete, so we'll give ‘em steal. steel is fine. steel is actually — steel is actually more expensive than concrete, but it'll look beautiful, and it's very strong. it's actually stronger. if this partial shutdown continues until the end of this week, it will become the longest in us government history. the impasse over funding for the wall, president trump is demanding $5.6 billion while congress has offered $1.3 billion, has left some 800,000 federal workers without work or working without pay. the president seems more confident about the trade talks with china, which begin this week. he imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of chinese goods, to pressure beijing to change its practices on a number of issues. china retaliated with tariffs of its own. i really believe they want to make a deal.

the tariffs have absolutely hurt china very badly, but our country has taken in a lot of money through tariffs, a lot of money. a lot of tariffs — steel dumping tariffs and others. but i think china wants to get a result. their economy's not doing well. they're down close to 38%. that's a lot, and i think that gives them a great incentive to negotiate. bending president xi and china to the will of the us might seem a tall order, but the president's threat of using emergency powers to end the stalemate in his own government shows this domestic problem could be even taller. we will have more on how people in the us are experiencing this partial government shutdown of that later in the programme. president trump's national security adviser has said the withdrawal of us troops from syria depends on certain conditions, in a further indication that the process is being slowed down. during a visit to israel, john bolton said the us wanted

assurances from turkey that us—backed kurdish fighters would be safe, and said he wanted to ensure remnants of so—called islamic state had been defeated. last month, president trump made a surprise announcement saying that the troops were all coming back, and they're coming back now. the 76th golden globes awards are underway in los angeles. leading the nominations this year is vice, a satirical biopic of former us vice president dick cheney, and a star is born, which stars lady gaga and bradley cooper. 0ur correspondent peter bowes is in los angeles. peter, we have already had a big award. yes, and you mentioned vice, about the former vice president of the united states, dick cheney, played by christian bale. well, he has won in his category for that performance, and interestingly he thanked the prosthetics and the

make—up department for their work on the film. clearly a reference to the fa ct the film. clearly a reference to the fact that he, in terms of his physicality, was really transformed to make him become dick cheney. he looks like dick cheney, he sounded like dick cheney, and it was really a greatjob by people behind the scenes. perhaps rather more co ntroversially, scenes. perhaps rather more controversially, he also thanked satan for giving him the inspiration to play dick cheney. another film thatis to play dick cheney. another film that is doing well is green book, and this is the film that a lot of people expect at the end of the night might be winning for best picture. this has so far one, two awards, for best screenplay, and ali, who plays the pianist who stars asa ali, who plays the pianist who stars as a roving performer in the american deep south during the era of segregation and strikes up an unlikely friendship, you might say, with an italian—american who used to work as a bouncer in the clubs of

new york. he becomes his driver. it isa new york. he becomes his driver. it is a very intense film, it is a comedy as well, there's lots of laughs, and the fact it is doing well now is leading people to think that come the end of the night, we got a little bit of the show to go yet, it could take home the big award, and that is best comedy. another film that is mentioned —— to mention that is doing extremely well is if beale street could talk, and this is a film about an african—american man who was wrongly arrested and jailed for a rate that he didn't commit. regina king has one for playing the mother, the dominant figure in the film, she is a fearsome character, a very loving character, and she has won for her role in that film. she also made reference to the very topical issues of #metoo, which has been dominating hollywood, time's up as well over the last couple of years, and she saidi the last couple of years, and she

said i challenge anyone out there who is in a position of power, or not ina who is in a position of power, or not in a position of power, she said i challenge you to stand with us. and that has become a recurring theme during the ceremony. all right, so already a little bit of politics, and you have alluded to this already, but what kind of big awards, what kind of favourites are still to come? well, let's wonder what a star is born is going to do? could that be the big winner? lady gaga has already won the best song, the song from that film, shallow, so she has already been on the stage, she has already been on the stage, she lit up the stages only lady gaga came, andi she lit up the stages only lady gaga came, and i think we are looking at that category, best actress, possibly for another win the lady gaga. and how other hosts doing? have we seen any politics that? well, we have seen i think gentle politics from the hosts. they have been i think playing it relatively safe. they opened that line, we are going to hand out some awards and

maybe an audience member will be chosen to host the oscars in a few weeks' time, a bit of a dig at another awards show that is finding it rather difficult to find a host for the ceremony. lots of problems there. but otherwise i think they have been playing it relatively safe. thank you very much. let's get some of the day's other news: the palestinian authority is pulling its staff out of the rafah border crossing between egypt and the gaza strip in protest at what it called brutal practices against its workers by the rival palestinian faction, hamas. the move effectively closes the main exit point from gaza, through which most goods pass. president donald trump says negotiations are underway on the location of the next summit with north korean leader kim jong—un. donald trump held a historic summit with kim in singapore injune. he said earlier in the week he had received a great letter from the north korean leader, but declined to reveal its contents. the 0scar—winning actor kevin spacey is due to appear in court on monday

charged with sexually assualting a teenager in 2016. the charge against spacey follows an allegation in november 2017 by boston television journalist heather unruh that her 18—year—old son was sexually assaulted by the actor at the club car restaurant and bar in nantucket in 2016. he denies the allegations. it has been revealed that england's record goalscorer, wayne rooney, was arrested and fined in the united states last month for public intoxication and swearing. the former manchester united player, who now plays for the american side dc united, was arrested at dulles international airport after returning from a trip to saudi arabia. the uk will be in uncharted territory if members of parliament reject the deal to withdraw from the european union. that is according to the british prime minister. theresa may was speaking as she confirmed that a vote on her deal will take place in the house of commons. here is our political correspondent ben wright. it is time to pack up the baubles and chuck out the tree.

christmas brought a brexit lull, that is now abruptly over. and the prime minister begins the new year as she ended the last, trying to find a way to persuade parliament to back her deal. but there is no sign of a new approach, only reassurances that she hopes might win over her critics. the first is measures that will be specific for northern ireland. the second is a greater role for parliament, as we take these negotiations into the next stage for our future relationship. and the third, and we're still working on this, is further assurances from the european union to address the issues that have been raised. but many tory brexiteers remain angry about the deal, as are a number of conservatives, who want a closer relationship with europe or another referendum. 0pposition parties are poised to vote against the deal, too. so, if it is defeated, what on earth happens then? then, actually, we're going to be in uncharted territory. i don't think anybody can say

exactly what will happen, in terms of the reaction we'll see in parliament. well, i was rather hoping you could. if the prime minister has a plan b, she is not letting on, and theresa may didn't rule out asking mps to vote again. i've always said that no deal was better than a bad deal. what we have on the table is a good deal. the chances of the prime minister's deal getting through parliament still look pretty dismal. theresa may says we would then be in uncharted territory. we would also be in a deep political crisis, with even less time to go until the uk is set to leave the eu at the end of march. many mps believe that mrs may's tactic is to run down the clock, piling pressure on the house of commons to back her deal eventually, or risk a damaging no—deal brexit. but, as mps argue and agonise, there is currently no clear majority in this deadlocked parliament for a different course of action. i think there is a growing groundswell in the country, and in parliament, for accepting that we're going to have to go back

to the public for the final say. while polls suggest labour party members clearly want the party to commit to another referendum, its leadership won't, yet. the reason theresa may has had such a botched set of negotiations is because of her red lines. if we as a new, incoming labour government were to go to europe without those red lines, we know that we could get a different, better deal. but the uk and the eu insist the withdrawal agreement cannot be reworked, and a general election to break the impasse looks very unlikely. theresa may wanted the brexit deal wrapped up by christmas. instead, with time disappearing, the uncertainty grows. ben wright, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: answering her calling. the woman who taught herself to become the first midwife in a remote area in the himalayas. 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 oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: a young saudi woman fleeing to australia is stranded at bangkok airport — after she says her passport was seized. she says she fears for her life if she's forced home. as the government shutdown in the us continues into its third week — president trump says he has little expectation of a breakthrough in the latest talks. let's stay with that now story now. john lauretig is the executive director of the friends ofjoshua tree, a non—profit organisation dedicated to preserving joshua tree national park. he's in california. thank you very much for your time. first of all, i wondered what your experience of the shutdown has been. well, we have kind of gone the whole gamut from scrambling at the

beginning of the shutdown to having an organised response from the community and visitors to the park to help it stay clean and make it a pleasa nt to help it stay clean and make it a pleasant experience for visitors to come to the park. why have you decided to take it upon yourself to do some of the work that normally federal workers would be doing? that's a great question. we knew, during the holidays, when visitation here at the park is going to spite to 200,000 visitors over christmas and new year is that we, as a community, had to act now to get ahead of the snowball effect of all these people visiting in the park. —— spike. so it was incumbent on the local community to rally together quickly and organise and make this thing happen. we have heard about government workers who have had to work unpaid or have been furloughed. have you seen a loss of garbage workers at your park or is there

literally no—one —— a lot of of government workers? visitation is still very high. if you and your organisation had not stepped in, do you think this park could have stayed open? no. there is no way he could have stayed open. the amount of maintenance, the daily maintenance required to keep the toilets clean, take the trash out of the park, and to make it safe for visitors to return to the park all of the time, and the wildlife, it would not have happened without community support. are you finding that you are getting help from visitors as well, from tourists coming to the park? yes. it is really great. not only is the community coming together, but the people who come visit the park and wa nt to people who come visit the park and want to spend time injoshua tree national park have heard about our plight and what is going on and they have reached out to us and they want to help. every morning at 10am when we gather supplies and material and

people together, some of these people together, some of these people say we are here for the weekend, three aw four days on vacation, we want to help, what can we do? john, for your say, i hope the shutdown and soon. john lauretig, from the organisation that helps keep the park clean and open. more now on brexit. for some of those opposed to the british prime minister's deal, the central problem with it is the so—called ‘backstop' — a way of committing to there being no hard border in ireland — whatever the future trade arrangements. as brexit day approaches at the end of march — emma vardy reports now from the border area. a near invisible line, but it's this that's drawn the uk into political deadlock. near the border, people are used to living life in two currencies, but everyone's part of the same eu club. so northern ireland and the irish republic can trade without restrictions. but that could all change after brexit.

and counting down the days with less than three months to go, there's still no agreement on how a deal to prevent a hard border should work. they're going to push it right to the wire, and these things usually do go to the wire. i just want to get something settled. not every body's going to be happy. that's life, that's the way the world is. but get something that most people can accept and agree and move on. many remember the years of conflict, when crossing the border meant army checkpoints and delays. it would take you an extra day. the uk and eu have made a promise to people whose livelihoods are at stake that a hard border will never return. guarantees in the brexit withdrawal deal that northern ireland may continue to follow some eu rules. and it's this so—called irish backstop preventing theresa may getting support for her deal at westminster. well, the deal i think she has is better than a no deal. i don't know whether she's going to get a better deal or not. shared membership of the eu has helped build peace

across this divide. next week at westminster, mps will once again have to grapple with the most contentious element of that brexit deal, the idea that northern ireland may have to be treated differently to the rest of the uk if this border is to remain as open as it is now. this family business has been trading since before there was a border in ireland. we've traded through two world wars, we've traded everything. the irish backstop may be opposed by many brexiteer mps at westminster, but here many northern ireland businesses are backing it, in the face of warnings that leaving without a deal could cause severe disruption to trade. the northern ireland backstop to us is something that would prevent a situation where we have seen terror before and we don't wish to see it again. next week theresa may will try to give brexiteer mps more reassurances that the backstop may never be used, before it's put to a vote. but facing such opposition,

her strategy to push on may be a risky step. emma vardy, bbc news, newry. in pakistan, less than half of women have access to a midwife. in the country's remote himalayan area, many give birth without any help at all, but one woman decided to step in to fill the gap — she's taught herself to be the first midwife in her area. this is her story. the story there are of a self—made midwife. and before we go, we'd like to show you these pictures when ngendera albert realised crocodiles were being killed to be eaten in burundi he decided to take action to try to protect the animals. he initially bought about 12 of the reptiles, but now there are almost 45 — all in his back garden. if you are monitoring what has

happened at the golden globes. the film roma, it has one for best director for best foreign language film —— one. we'll keep in touch with all of the winners. that the latest. lady gaga, of course, opt for some awards. she has already won one for an original song which she wrote for her film star is born. she is uplawmoore. we will keep an eye on all of that. —— a star is born. see you soon. hello there. it's fair to say the weather's been very dull over the past few days. but all that is about to change. we've got more energy coming in from the atlantic, a deep area of low pressure rushing to the north of scotland, that's beginning to pick up the winds for northern areas. still to the south, high pressure,

a few breaks in the cloud means a chillier start here and maybe some fleeting sunshine. rain is moving southwards across scotland, northern ireland, into north—west england and north wales. then behind it, sunshine for northern ireland in the afternoon, scotland, away from the north and north—west, where it turns wet again and the winds continue to howl. should be a mild day, widely11—12 degrees. but that's not the story. it will be a windy day. windier than we have seen for quite some time. gales across scotland, gusts of 70 mph or more in northern scotland, that could lead to some travel disruption. but the real strength of the winds comes around the back of that deep area of low pressure, it stays very windy during the evening, the first part of the night, and then the low rushes away

toward southern scandinavia and takes away the worst of the winds with it as well. but the wind direction changes for tuesday, we get more of a north or north—westerly wind. that means it's going to be a bit colder. but it does mean there's more sunshine on the way. most places on tuesday will be dry with some sunny spells. we will see a few showers coming into north—eastern scotland, running down these north sea coasts into east anglia, where the winds could be touching gale force for a while. but lighter winds further west. however, temperatures are back into single figures for most areas. so it gets chilly overnight where we have the clearer skies in this central slice of the uk. so a touch of frost early wednesday. more cloud keeps the temperatures up for eastern parts of england. it will feel cold in the wind, there'll be one of two showers on wednesday. out to the west, we've got this gradual encroachment of air from the atlantic, so that means cloudier skies. it means thickening cloud to bring rain and drizzle into northern ireland, later into western scotland. ahead of it, temperatures 11—5 degrees. probably the coldest day of this week. maybe a frosty start to the midlands, to the south—west of england, some sunshine for a while. you can see how the cloud is just spilling in on that north—westerly breeze. we're bringing in some milder air, yes, and temperatures of 9—10 degrees in scotland

and northern ireland. we're back to high pressure again later on in the week and with that sort of position, we're pulling in air from the atlantic. it means a lot of cloud, but at least temperatures will be a little bit higher as well. but it will be on the breezy side. to sum up the week, a windy start, cold air putting in midweek with more sunshine, then it clouds over later, still a little breezy, but also a bit milder. this is bbc news. the headlines: human rights watch has called on thailand to allow a young saudi woman fleeing her home country to continue her journey to australia. rahaf mohammed al-qunun is trapped in bangkok. she believes her family will kill her for speaking out on social media as well as renouncing islam. further talks are being held to try to end the partial us government shutdown, but president trump says he has little expectation of a breakthrough. he has indicated he will not drop his insistence on getting the government to approve the funds needed to build a wall along the southern border with mexico. the 76th annual golden globe awards has started in los angeles.

christian bale has won best actor for his portrayal of the former us vice—president, dick cheney. and among the contenders for leading actress is the singer, lady gaga, for a star is born. now on bbc news, dateline london.