welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: 50 days after he was first detained, former nissan chairman carlos ghosn is making his first appearance in a tokyo court. while in the us, the actor kevin spacey appears in court — charged with sexually assaulting an 18—year—old man. the thai government says an 18—year—old saudi woman — who's seeking asylum — will not be deported against her will. our correspondent is there. the un is involved and her request for asylum, they say, will be properly assessed. a fourth visit to china by north korea's leader — and there's speculation about another meeting with president trump. the former chairman of the nissan motor company

is appearing in court in tokyo. this is carlos ghosn‘s first public appearance since he was arrested in november on allegations of financial misconduct. he requested the hearing and his lawyers want to press the court on why he has been held for so long. the case has rattled nissan's alliance with the french car—maker renault, he is still chairman and chief executive of renault. live now to tokyo and the bbc‘s rupert wingfield—hayes. developments in the past few minutes. that's right. carlos ghosn has appeared within the last 20

minutes or so has appeared within the last 20 minutes orso in has appeared within the last 20 minutes or so in the tokyo district court house behind me. according to pool reporters were inside the court, he looked thinner and they said he came in in handcuffs, in prison garb, in plastic slippers and he looked thinner and his hair was grey. but he has made a very robust statement and denial of the allegations against him in court here this morning and i would just read you a little bit of that statement is made. "i have been wrongly accused on merit lists and unsubstantiated allegations. i did not receive any compensation from nissan that was not disclosed to other executives and i have acted honourably and legally within the knowledge and approval of the executives inside nissan corporation." so an absolute refutation by carlos ghosn of the allegations against him because the allegations against him because the allegations made by prosecutors and

nissan's senior executives is that he acted alone and failed to get approval or to declare large amounts of compensation made to him, to an amount of around $80 million us over amount of around $80 million us over a period of five years. and this case is cast an unflattering light on the japanese judicial system? held for 50 days, arrested twice, interrogated every day, no family co nta ct? interrogated every day, no family contact? absolutely. this is his opportunity to further shine a light on that system today. he requested this court hearings he can go public because we have not heard a single word from mr ghosn since his arrest on the 19th of november. he's been keptin on the 19th of november. he's been kept ina on the 19th of november. he's been kept in a prison cell unable to meet with his family, only his lawyer once a day and as you say, under japan'sjudicial once a day and as you say, under japan's judicial system, he has once a day and as you say, under japan'sjudicial system, he has been

interrogated daily for 50 days and arrested twice since his initial arrest. a lot of criticism here and injapanfrom arrest. a lot of criticism here and in japan from legal scholars saying that this is a system designed to grind down defendants and force them into making a confession and that is the basis of japan's very —— the basis of how japan's very draconian justice system works. the actor kevin spacey has appeared in court in massachusetts charged with sexually assaulting an 18 year old man in a bar, in 2016. the 0scar—winner and star of house of cards said nothing in court and was granted bail. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant reports from nantucket. this was a journey kevin spacey didn't want to make. touching down on this jet—set island, before completing a televised drive to his first appearance in court. clear the sidewalk, please. clear the sidewalk, clear the sidewalk. his legal team argued he shouldn't have to appear in person because of the negative publicity that's already surrounded this case.

but the actor who's spent so much of his life in front of the cameras found it impossible today to avoid them. there was even a live stream from the courtroom to record the charge levelled against him. this complaint charges that in the town of nantucket onjuly 8th, 2016, did commit indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. the 0scar—winning actor shared a joke with his lawyer, but did not address the court. he's pleaded not guilty and agreed not to approach his accuser. stay away and no contact with the victim and the victim's family. thank you. nantucket is the playground of america's elites. and in the summer of 2016, kevin spacey is alleged to have sexually assaulted an 18—year—old waiter. during a late night drinking session in this bar, he's accused of unzipping the man's trousers and groping his groin for about three minutes — an encounter that he claims was consensual. i will never cease... the actor was fired from the hit drama, house of cards, because of multiple sexual assault allegations against him. and you trusted me, even though

you knew you shouldn't. but bizarrely, he revived his character, president frank underwood, in a video posted online shortly after he was charged. you and i both know it's never that simple, not in politics and not in life. but you wouldn't believe the worst without evidence, would you? you wouldn't rush to judgments without facts, would you? 0utside court, he confronted another wall of lenses. what are your feelings today, mr spacey? but chose not to answer our questions. mr spacey? kevin spacey has already been dondemned in the court of global opinion, but now a legal process is under way. he flew out minutes afterwards on that private jet, but a trial now is in the offing, where the public scrutiny will be intense. nick bryant, bbc news, nantucket. an 18 year—old saudi woman who fled her family and spent two

days barricaded in a hotel room in thailand — to avoid being sent back — has avoided deportation, for now. rahaf mohammed al-qunun hopes to seek asylum in australia and says she fears she'll be killed in saudi arabia. from bangkok, our correspondentjonathan head. and i'm still in the room. erm... i have no choice. more than a day after her arrival, rahaf mohammed al-qanun was still barricading herself in her airport hotel room, sending out messages of defiance and pleas for help. i'm not leaving my room until i see unhcr. i want asylum. she said her family would kill her for running away. she had also renounced islam, she said, which in saudi arabia is punishable by death. thai officials said it was a famiuly matter and they would deport.

yet a blaze of publicity forced a change of heart. the immigration chief coming now telling me she would not be forced to go back. "i'm using my authority to let her enter thailand," said general surachate hakparn, "and to put her under "united nations supervision." that's unusual in thailand. a senior un official was quickly dispatched to the airport and given firm promises about her safety. i am confident in the reassurances provided by the commissioner for immigration and other thai government officials. you're confident she won't be suddenly sent back? well, that. . .that. .. i — we have received assurances and guarantees that that will not happen. well, throughout today, this hotel has been the scene of extraordinary comings and goings, with officials going in and out, trying to persuade the young saudi woman to come out of her room.

at one point, we thought she'd be deported. now we know that thailand has given her an entry permit, the un is involved, and her request for asylum, they say, will be properly assessed. it might have been a very different ending. another saudi woman — deported in similar circumstances — has not been seen since she went back. rahaf‘s case is very symbolic of many, many women in saudi arabia who remain trapped in abusive situations. they cannot travel abroad, they cannot obtain a passport, or exit prison without the consent of their male guardians. this young woman has certainly been lucky, although her ultimate fate is still unclear. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. tonight we turn our focus to

canada's opioid problem. vancouver is try to bite the problem with supervised injection sites. jeremy cooke reports. he is my best friend. downtown vancouver. a tragic street theatre. the desperate, the dying comedy addicted. the opioid crisis has swept north america but the unique response here is to treat all of this as a public health epidemic. fentanil, a powerful opioid, has taken 1500 lives fentanil, a powerful opioid, has ta ken 1500 lives on fentanil, a powerful opioid, has taken 1500 lives on the streets in the past year. stay safe. my name is

melissa. i've overdosed three times andi melissa. i've overdosed three times and i didn't even know i overdosed. it's terrifying. yeah. yeah, it is. what saved you? what saved me? probablyjust my own willing to live. are you going to be ok? i hope so. i hope so, too. i really do. it's all centred on these few city blocks, so many people here are living with their addictions and are openly injecting and smoking drugs out on the streets. but that very visibility is taken here to be a good thing. the cops mostly back off and there are few arrests here for drug use. instead vancouver has these.

safe injection sites. this one was started illegally by the community. it was highly controversial but has become the prototype for the official public health programme. users bring their own street drugs. they take a seat and they take their hit. jamie is ex—army, an afghanistan vet. now battling the cycle of prison, homelessness and addiction. i've never seen so much death other than when i was in the military. i've overdosed probably eight times. do you think they've saved your life?

0h, totally. saved by the opioid antidote, narcan. vancouver policy is to make it freely available to everyone. including users themselves. and it works. 0verdose victims critical cases. back from the dead. the vancouver model accepts that some will never beat their addiction. and so the argument goes just as those with diabetes are given insulin, at this cutting—edge clinic, opiod users are prescribed pure, medical grade heroin. the world being what it is some people say, have you gone crazy? you are giving heroin, giving heroin to people with addictions. when somebody is using opioids daily

there is a huge cost to society. in the criminaljustice system, court costs, policing costs, transmission of infectious diseases, and all of that can be reduced. patty and joey take heroin here three times a day. freed from the tyranny of finding and funding their next fix. what do you think your lowest moment was? um... being on the street selling whatever i could to get better. yeah. what were you selling? everything but my soul. for them, heroin on prescription means stability. a new apartment. plans for education. and work. you see a future, both of you, don't you? yeah. that's what is wonderful about this. a good future. a bright future. a healthy future. never, ever let you go. never, ever. and so there is some success. but what's really needed across north america is to find

a way to block the initial road to addiction. the road that leads here, to all of this. jeremy cooke, bbc news, downtown eastside, vancouver. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the north korean leader is moving at the moment and is expected in beijing shortly, his fourth visit in less than a year and it is as birthday. the latest from the region. 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: the former chairman of nissan, carlos ghosn, has appeared in a tokyo court — his first public appearance since his arrest in november on allegations of financial misconduct. officials in thailand say

an eighteen—year—old saudi woman seeking asylum will not be deported against her will. she fears her family will kill her for renouncing islam. the north korean leader kimjong—un is in china for a summit with the chinese leader xi jinping. it will be the fourth summit between the two leaders. president trump has also said negotiations are underway to decide where his next summit with kimjung—un should be held. 0ur seoul correspondent laura bicker is following this story. we know that the trainer has arrived in china carrying the north korean leader. state media in china has also announced the visit and said he is there read the invitation of the chinese president so we assume we too will meet at sometime over the next few days. this is a four—day

visit in total so it will be his longest visit in china to date. as you mentioned, it is his birthday. thought to be his 35th birthday so we will see what he gets up to. and of course, the key diplomatic ally. they did not meet for the first six yea rs they did not meet for the first six years that kim was in power though both yes. a six-year gap and then last year kim jong—un began both yes. a six-year gap and then last year kimjong—un began his diplomatic journey starting with beijing and president xijinping, a courtesy to his main ally. 90% of north korean trade comes from china and is its main source of aid. also it is worth pointing out that every single time he has gone to beijing, just afterwards there have been discussions with either south korea 01’ discussions with either south korea or the discussions with either south korea orthe summit discussions with either south korea or the summit with the us president.

good has come ahead of other summits before. it fuels speculation here in the south, certainly, that the us and north korea summit may not be far away. donald trump said on sunday that a location for the second us north korean summit would be announced in the not too distant future. of course, iwant be announced in the not too distant future. of course, i want to ask you this question, where will the summit be? ifi this question, where will the summit be? if i had this question, where will the summit be? ifi had $1 for this question, where will the summit be? if i had $1 for every time last yeari be? if i had $1 for every time last year i was asked, i would be a very rich woman. that it is difficult to speculate. we know that north korean and us officials met in secret in vietnam, that is the news we're hearing. that fuelled speculation that it may be in hanoi but we have also heard hancock, we have heard it should be the dnc or even in europe but we

just won't know yet. —— also heard bangkok. the president of the world bank,jim yong kim, is stepping down unexpectedly, three years before the end of his second term. he's not yet given a reason for his early departure, simply saying he willjoin the private sector and will focus on developing countries. the current ceo of the world bank will take over until a new appointment is confirmed. james politi is the world trade editor for the financial times. thank you for your time. what you make of this? it is a surprise. thank you for your time. what you make of this? it is a surprisem isa make of this? it is a surprisem is a stunning development. aryan mind that he was appointed for a second term to the presidency of the world bank 1.5 years ago he began his second term and he was not due to finish until 2022. yet here we are on a monday morning injanuary three years ahead of schedule and he is stepping down to the private

sector. there has been some rumour about a potential departure but this did come as a big shock. you must have some of the best contacts in this field. what do you hear about what might be happening?m this field. what do you hear about what might be happening? it is hard to tell. there was some unhappiness among the staff about his efforts to shake up the organisation of the world bank. 0verall shake up the organisation of the world bank. overall it seems to be a volu nta ry world bank. overall it seems to be a voluntary decision on his part. he was ready to move on and he probably received an offer that he could not refuse from the private sector. china and the us are significant in all of this of course. he has not seen eye all of this of course. he has not seen eye to eye with donald trump but the us will also be significant in the succession. there are a few points of discord between the world

bank and the trump administration. 0ne bank and the trump administration. one was the funding of climate change project which the us disagreed with and the other was that the united states was gradually getting more and more concerned that chinese influence on the world bank was growing. there were certainly some areas of discord. having said that, however, that trump administration did back a capital increase of the world bank last year. now the world bank was formed in 1947 year. now the world bank was formed in 19117 to help finance developer projects after the second world war. now it finances international development. there has generally been criticism that the entire structure is anachronistic. the united states has generally picked the head of the world bank. it has been approved by the boar and in other countries but the idea has been that the united states dominates a world bank and i think

that both the world bank and the imf have suffered from the perception that they have not adapted to the growing cloud of emerging economies in the world. —— cloud. and that has been one of the biggest elements of criticism. as we move towards the appointment of a new world bank president, i am sure that that subject will come roaring back. thank you very much. the annual technology expo is kicking off in las vegas — and carcompany audi is hoping to wow with its new approach to in—car entertainment. it takes virtual reality to the next level but as our north america technology reporter dave lee found out, it may not be for everyone. take a look. enjoy the ride. the special thing about this is that the the our

experience moves at the same time as the car moves. when i pull away i feel it because the car is moving. we took several data points from a car such as breaking, location, speed and we matched to a virtual world. i am shooting in the game. i am looking around. the movement is determined by where the car is moving. i don't feel in control of where i am going but it does make you feel quite physical. although people get motion sickness and a lot of people get sickness from vr, you say that combining those two things can remove it? only if you can do it with no latency and that is why you need direct equal connection. oh, god... 0oh. he said it would not

make me nauseous. that was a lie. 0h, make me nauseous. that was a lie. oh, god. that was... interesting. it was fun. quite immersive. definitely one of the more immersive things i have done but i could not do that for a long time. that was a lot. 0k. let's go get fresh air. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team let's ta ke let's take you to the live shot of traffic in beijing. we are interested in this traffic because very soon the north korean leader will be a monk stitt, making his fourth visit to china in less than a year. china is the key diplomatic ally for north korea and its main source of trade and aid. the interest in this visit in particular is that it will fuel speculation of a second us north korea summit quite soon. hello there.

northern parts of the uk on monday were particularly blustery. winds gusts in excess of 70 miles an hour for some. but i think its eastern areas that will see the strongest winds through the day ahead. the swirl of cloud, this area of low pressure, is responsible for that very windy weather in the north on monday. sliding its way eastwards towards scandinavia, but on its western flank we are still bringing in some strong winds, brisk northerly winds particularly close to those eastern coastal areas. the winds will feed one or two showers in towards the east of the uk at times through the day, but generally speaking, though, we are generally looking at a lot of dry weather. there will be some spells of sunshine, fairly large areas of cloud floating around as well. it'll be breezy wherever you are, but if you're spending your day close to the east coast of scotland you can expect wind gusts of 40—45mph, one or two showers drifting through too. down the east coast of england, wind gusts the same but may be close to 50 miles an hour for some spots around the east anglian coastline.

and combine those strong winds with high tides, well, there is the risk of some coastal flooding. temperature between six and nine degrees, but when you factor in the strength of the wind, it will probably feel a bit colder than that. it stays pretty breezy in eastern areas as we go through tuesday night. still the potential of a couple of showers here. 0ut west, where the wind is lighter and the sky is clear, parts of western scotland and northern england, maybe down into the midlands, we could see a touch of frost, but i think many places will start wednesday morning just above freezing. so, during wednesday it will still be breezy, not quite as windy as it will have been on tuesday, and that wind still feeding some showers in across some eastern parts of england. we also see cloud thickening for northern ireland and western scotland, a bit of patchy rain here late in the day. in between, some spells of sunshine, those temperatures struggling a little bit — five to seven or eight degrees. but it is set to turn milder as we head towards the end of the week. high pressure builds its way back in, and we start to bring the winds back in from the atlantic. so it is, from the north—west,

going to turn a little bit milder. holding onto some chilly air across the south—east on thursday. some places could start off with a touch of frost but i think that is where we will see the best of the sunshine through the day. also, north—east england and eastern scotland will see in some sunshine, generally a lot of cloud, maybe the odd spot of drizzle, but towards the west, things start to turn milder. through friday into the weekend, all of us will get into that milder air. there will always be a lot of cloud and perhaps some rain at times, especially in the north. this is bbc news, the headlines the former chief of nissan — carlos ghosn — has appeared in court in tokyo — telling thejudge he has been wrongly accused. he entered court handcuffed and with a rope around his waist. he is facing allegations of failing to declare millions of dollars in income. an 18—year—old saudi woman who spent two days barricaded

in a hotel room in bangkok to avoid being sent back to her family is now in the care of the un refugee agency. rahaf al-qunun said she wanted asylum in australia because she'd be killed in saudi arabia. the north korean leader, kimjong—un, is in china for talks with president xijinping. it will be their fourth meeting and will fuel speculation that a second us— north korean summit will take place soon. president trump said at the weekend that a location would be announced shortly. now on bbc news, monday in parliament.