a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a fourth visit to china by north korea's leader, and there's speculation about another meeting with president trump. 50 days after he was first detained, former nissan chairman carlos ghosn makes his first appearance in a tokyo court. he says he's been wrongly accused. the actor kevin spacey appears in an american courtroom, charged with sexually assaulting an 18—year—old man. vancouver has a drugs problem, but is treating it with medicine rather than punishment. hello. the north korean leader kimjong—un has arrived in beijing for a summit with the chinese leader, xijinping. 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 kimjong—un should be held. let live down to beijing in our correspondent, john sod worth. how is it all looking from there? well, visit is to be very rare things indeed, click in secrecy that you have the official confirmation not just in north korean state media but from chinese state media too that the green and yellow striped bullet—proof train was on its way. —— in secrecy but. we have also seen pictures of kim jong—un‘s motorcade sweeping through the streets of beijing, sealed off in traffic. that has become a pretty usual side now, the fourth such visit in less than a year and of course, it comes at a crucial moment in many regards, following shortly after kim jong—un‘s new year message in which

he warned america not to test his patient over the whole diplomatic engagement strategy with the attem pts engagement strategy with the atte m pts to engagement strategy with the attempts to move towards some sort of solution to the north korean crisis. it comes, of course, at a time when there are question marks over china's will to enforce sanctions fully on north korea and, of course, it comes ahead of speculation that there may now be another summit between president trump and kimjong—un in the offing at some point in the next few weeks or months. —— patience. at some point in the next few weeks or months. -- patience. of course, north korea —— china is north korea's maine alone. this took a while to get going though, he was what, 60s an hour before he came to beijing? that's right, no visits at all and during those years, that was interpreted by some as xi jinping

was a little bit cold, that this was a sign of the pressure that china was bringing to bear, its own patience being tested by north korea's continued nuclear provocations, but something has shifted, and of course, in all of this as always, despite that waxing and waning of the friendship, if you like, that single fact remains that china is north korea's single most important trading partner of any note, the only real benefactor, the lifeline to the north korean economy, and what this flurry of diplomatic activity over the past year, these four visits now the beijing proves beyond any doubt, is how keen the chinese. that is a very important signal, of course, to be sending to washington in a number of guards. it too is the china holds the key, as we have known all along,

to making any kind of progress on the north korean peninsula in terms of denuclearisation, but it also comes at a time when us chinese diplomatic relations are being tested because of the ongoing dispute over trade. so what this visit really does is notjust signal china's importance in that regard that shows just how complex all these related issues might be in terms of actually trying to broker a some kind of deal. and as you suggested, this is taken as some kind of indication that said mr trump, there could be a second summit in the offing. thank you very much for that. let's get some of the day's other news. american and chinese officials have been holding the first of two days of talks in beijing, aimed at resolving their trade dispute. last year, both countries imposed billions of dollars's worth of tariffs on each other‘s goods. this is their first formal meeting

since they agreed not to impose further tariffs for now. experts from the world anti—doping agency have been given access to a russian lab, to take data that could lead to the prosecution of hundreds of drugs cheats. the original deadline of new year's eve was missed, but an anti—doping team will now be allowed into the moscow facility on wednesday. after weeks of the so—called yellow vest protests, the french government is to ban what it calls "unauthorised" demonstrations. the prime minister says a new law will punish anyone who organises such protests, anyone taking part in them, and demonstrators disguising their faces with masks. the british transport minister has announced that drone exclusion zones around uk airports will be extended to 5km. you'll remember drone sightings caused chaos last month at britain's second busiest airport, gatwick. this story has been moving in the past a couple of hours. the former chairman of the nissan motor company has appeared in court in tokyo.

according to the reuters news agency, he told the court in a preparted statement: "i have been wrongly accused and unfairly detained based on meritless and unsubstantiated accusations. " this is carlos ghosn‘s first public appearance in 50 days of detention. he was arrested in november on allegations of financial misconduct. a short while ago, our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes gave us this update from outside the court in tokyo. according to pool reporters who are inside the court, he looked thinner and they said he came in in handcuffs, in prison guard, in plastic slippers, that he looked thinner and that 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 willjust read your little bit of that statement that he has made. he said, i have been wrongly accused on merit list and unsubstantiated allegations. he said i did not

receive any compensation for nissan that was not disclosed either nissan and all executives, and i have acted within the knowledge and the approval of executives inside the nissan corporation. —— mr. so an absolute refutation there by mr ghosn of the allegations that have been made against him. the accusation has been that he acted alone and that he failed to get the approval or to declare large amounts of compensation that were made to him, to an amount of around 80 million us dollars over a period of five years. this is a case that has cast an unflattering light on the japanesejudicial cast an unflattering light on the japanese judicial system. he has been out for 50 days, rearrested twice, interrogated every day, had no contact with his family? absolutely, and this is his opportunity to sort of further as shine a light on that system today.

he requested this court hearing so that 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 kept in a prison cell, unable to meet with his family, only able to meet with his lawyer once a as you say, and the japan japan's judicial system, he has been interrogated daily for the last few days and rearrested twice since his initial arrest. ——japan‘s judicial system. there has been a lot of criticism from both inside japan and without bomb legal experts saying this is really a system designed to force people into a confession, and that that is the basis of how japan's 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 oscar winner and star of house of cards said nothing in court. he 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. 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. 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, simply saying he willjoin the private sector and focus on developing countries. the current ceo will take over until a new appointment is confirmed. james politi is world trade editor for the financial times. we had to be absolutely. i do object to being called a nazi, actually. right, well, apologies to our viewers. sorry, ijust think this is astonishing. i should probably say thatis astonishing. i should probably say that is not what we were expecting to go to there. james politi is world trade editor for the financial times.

he is my best friend. downtown vancouver. a tragic street theatre. the desperate, the dying, the addicted. the opioid crisis has swept north america but the unique response here is to treat all of this as a public health epidemic. fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has taken 1500 lives on the streets in the past year. you 0k? you take it easy, 0k? stay safe. my name's 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 out here are living with their addictions and they're openly injecting and smoking drugs out on the streets. but that very visibility is taken here to be a good thing. it's argued that if these people can be seen, they can also be saved. the cops mostly back off and there are few arrests here for drug use. instead, vancouver has these. safe injection sites. pretty good. what are you using? 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's ex—army, an afghanistan vet. now battling the cycle of prison, homelessness and addiction. it's pretty wild. 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. what's his name? 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. oh, yes, yeah. 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. didn't get the chance to introduce

that properly for you, as you could gather, we have some technical problems, that was jeremy cook gather, we have some technical problems, that wasjeremy cook on the way vancouver is dealing with the way vancouver is dealing with the opiod academic, with supervised injection sites. that story is likely to recur, of course. stay with us on bbc news, we hope! still to come: states of emergency have been declared in parts of the european alps, after a weekend of heavy snowfall triggered avalanches and disruption. 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 world news. the latest headlines: north korea's leader kim jong—un is visiting china for his fourth meeting with president xi jinping. all this amid reports of plans for a second summit between mr and president trump.

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. 15 members of parliament have written to the largest police force talking about security at westminster. the latter has described the deteriorating public order and security situation outside the british parliament. the foreign minister was shouted at, called scum and jostled as she tried to re—enter westminster. she has criticised police for not intervening and an investigation is under way into whether any crime committed. we have to be absolutely... it objected being called a nazi, actually. —— i

do object to being called a nazi. this is what has happened to our country, actually, this is what has happened to our country, but anyway, let's try to move on and be positive. anna soubry with the bbc. the arrow train president and ethiopian prime minister have opened a border crossing between the countries. the leaders have cut a ribbon to declare the new crossing openjust over a week ribbon to declare the new crossing open just over a week ago following complaints eritrea had closed other crossing points. this ceremony seems to bea crossing points. this ceremony seems to be a reaffirmation of the peace treaty they signed in july. that ended two decades of hostility, which have left about 80,000 people dead. at least seven people have died in the alps in a weekend of heavy snow. at least seven people have died in the alps in a weekend of heavy snow. snow is drifting up to three metres. there've been avalanches and some regions have declared a state of emergency. eliza philippidis reports. roads are blocked, schools are closed. getting out to do the food shop is almost impossible. but even so, people are trying to clear pathways to get out of their homes.

with so much snow already on the ground and more on the way, officials say the chances of further avalanches are high. translation: here in the bavarian alps it has snowed a lot in the past few days. for this reason we have very high snow and the risk of avalanches is very big. the bavarian avalanche warning institute has issued a level four warning, the second—highest. that also poses a high risk of avalanches in unsecured skiing areas. in central and northern austria much snow has already fallen. this house in salzburg collapsed under the weight of the snow. with the help of local residents, the fire brigade has shuffled the snow off the other roofs to stop them collapsing. in southern austria it snowed all day. many roads are blocked. the situation is very difficult. people have been stranded in villages and the helicopters deployed for avalanche

control have been grounded because of the bad weather. translation: more than 500 residents are cut off and i spoke with the mayor and he said everyone is calm. with around 80 centimetres of snow forecast in austria from tuesday, things look set to remain difficult. the annual technology expo is kicking off in las vegas, and car company 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. how does that feel? that feels good.

enjoy the ride. so the special thing about this is that the vr experience moves at the same time as the car moves. so when i pull away, i really feel it, because the car is moving. so we took several data points from the car, like acceleration, speed, steering, braking, location and matched it to the virtual world. steering, braking, location and matched it to the virtual worldlj am shooting in the game. i am looking around. 0bviously am shooting in the game. i am looking around. obviously the movement is determined by where the car is moving. so i don't feel in control of where i am going, but it does make it feel very physical. excuse me. so although people get motion sickness and a lot of people get sickness from vr, you are saying combining those things you can get rid of it? only if you manage to do

it with almost no latency and that is why you need a very direct connection to the vehicle and its data, and that is what we have worked on. another clever thing about this is that the content they describe has been described as elastic, so if i look want a journey for a few minutes, it should react to how long my journey for a few minutes, it should react to how long myjourney is an change accordingly. if i am on the road for an ally the experience should be an hour—long as well. an ally the experience should be an hour-long as well. what we have created is a completely new category of co nte nt created is a completely new category of content because it is the first time that it is something that works best in the car. ——an hour. because it is realistic movements, not simulated movements. it is realistic movement that you feel in your vr world that basically makes you forget your travel time. oh my god. you said it wouldn't make me notice. that was a lie. 0h you said it wouldn't make me notice. that was a lie. oh god. laughter. that was a lie. oh god. laughter. that was... interesting. it was fun,

very immersive, the more immersive thing i have done but i couldn't do that for a long time. that was a lot. right, let's get some fresh air. not so good, then, that assignment, maybe not enough latency. finally, christmas well and truly over, what better way to get rid of old trees than the annual christmas tree throwing contest in germany? could it become the latest discipline in the winter olympics? if you try this on our street you would have a lot of complaints from traffic wardens at passers—by. and this year there were quite a few world records. it also has, as you will see in a moment, the high jump it also has, as you will see in a moment, the highjump as it also has, as you will see in a moment, the high jump as well. there is much more on all of the news anytime on the bbc website. that's it for now. thank you for watching. hello there. northern parts of the uk had

a particularly blustery monday. winds gusts in excess of 70 miles an hour for some. but i think it's eastern areas that will see the strongest winds through the day ahead. this swirl of cloud, this area of low pressure, responsible for that very windy weather in the north on monday. sliding its way eastwards towards scandinavia, but on its western flank we're 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 north and 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, 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. and 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. the latest headlines from bbc news: the north korean leader, kimjong—un, is in china for talks with president xijinping. it's their fourth meeting, and will fuel speculation that kim jong—un plans a second us north korean summit soon. president trump has said a location will be announced shortly. after 50 days in detention, the former chief executive of nissan, carlos ghosn, has appeared in court in tokyo, telling the judge he's been wrongly accused. he entered court handcuffed and with a rope around his waist. he's facing allegations

of failing to declare millions of dollars in income. the american actor kevin spacey has appeared in a court in massachusetts, facing charges of sexual assault against an 18—year—old man at a bar on the resort island of nantucket in 2016. his lawyers entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. he was ordered not to contact the alleged victim.