welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump addresses the nation, saying his controversial border wall is vital for america's security. this is a choice between right and wrong. justice and injustice. this is about whether we fulfil our sacred duty to the american citizens we serve. the democrats give their response, urging the president to reopen the federal government without delay. tonight and throughout this debate and throughout his presidency, president trump has appealed to fear, not facts, division not unity. mps inflict a brexit defeat on the british government — thwarting the possibility of leaving europe without a deal.

departures at heathrow were temporarily suspended earlier after a drone was reported to have been sighted. in a prime—time tv address, president trump has urged the democrats to agree to fund construction of a wall along the southern border with mexico. it was one of his big election promises, although on the campaign trail he insisted mexico would pay for it. now he wants $5.7 billion in funding from the us congress, and the political row over that has partially shut down the government, for nearly 3 weeks. hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been left without pay. president trump claimed it could all be solved in 45 minutes and invited congressional leaders to the white house on wednesday. he blamed the shutdown on the democrats. the border wall would very

quickly pay for itself. the cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year. vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from congress. the wall will also be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with mexico. senator chuck schumer, who you will be hearing from later tonight, has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other democrats. they changed their mind only after i was elected president. democrats in congress have refused to acknowledge the crisis. they have refused to provide our brave border agents with the tools they desperately need to protect our families and our nation. the federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only, because

democrats will not fund border security. after the president, the response from the democrats in congress. nancy pelosi is speaker of the lower chamber, the house of representatives. since the mid—terms elections in november, the house has been controlled by her party. the fact is we all agree we need to secure our borders but honour our values. we can install new technology to stem the flow of drugs coming into our nation, we can hire the personnel we need to facilitate trade at the border. we can fund more innovation to detect unauthorised crossings. the fact is that women and children of the border are not a security threat, they are a humanitarian challenge, challenge challenge that president trump's own cruel and counter—productive policies have only deepened and the fact is president trump must stop holding

the american people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government. our correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, listened to the speech and she joins me from washington. there were some suggestions that president would declare a national emergency, bypassing congress to be up emergency, bypassing congress to be up funds from the wall. when you think all this leaves things. there is nothing new from what we saw on either side tonight so as to go forward , either side tonight so as to go forward, the shutdown continues. he had the president their delivering things, arguments for a wall but we've heard before, i heard those very same arguments at campaign rallies. he said the same thing. this time he was sitting behind the

desk of the oval office, delivering them ina desk of the oval office, delivering them in a presidential address. he's made the same claims with drugs coming over the border. on the flip side as well, you have the democrats once again saying they refuse to fund the border wall. that's something they have said consistently through this and calling for the president to shift his position and not attach the shutdown to border security so the government can reopen. of course, the real question as to whether this is effective and shifts government opinion is to be seen. do you know where this might end up? there are hundreds of thousands of federal employees not being paid. he is digging his heels in and so other democrats. if you ask anyone to guess when this shutdown might end,

nobody has a clue. it hasn't reached a record. it is dragging on. he was hoping to meet congressional leaders tomorrow. we know that he is meeting the vice president as well and the gop leadership, republican leadership. we are meeting after we thing. the president's son—in—law jared kushner was on the people trying to negotiate a deal. what will it take to change things? it might be that public opinion further down the line will encourage one side to cave in, urging people to call them members of congress, raising concerns. on the other hand, democrats are arguing that ordinary americans are suffering across the spectrum because of the shutdown.

which side it will weigh on the most could shift things but at the moment, that shutdown is still very much in place. the moment, thank you very much indeed. in london, members of parliament have defeated the government and passed a vote that may make a "no—deal" brexit less likely. the house of commons has voted to limit the government's tax—raising powers if the uk leaves the european union without a formal agreement. the cross—party amendment was also intended to test the strength of parliamentary feeling. ministers say the change is ‘minor and technical,‘ simply an ‘inconvenience,’ but the prime minister has been under more pressure as our political correspondent alex forsyth reports. will my travel be affected when we leave the eu? you might have heard this on your radio. what about documents for driving? a new government advert about brexit. will mobile roaming change?

specifically, advice on what might happen if we leave without a deal. but in parliament, an increasing number of voices are saying that can't be allowed to happen, including ministers. it is essential that we should be able to continue to trade. it's why i've always been clear, representing very strongly the views of small business and large business, that no deal should not be contemplated. then tonight, a government defeat on the issue. the ayes to the right, 303. the noes to the left, 296. 20 conservative mps voted with labour and other opposition parties to limit the government's powers in the event of no deal, having argued that must not happen. well, i have to say that no deal is a terrible deal and it would be a gross dereliction of the responsibility of members of this house to inflict a no—deal situation on our constituents. this won't block no—deal, but showed how many mps are opposed to it, and are prepared to use parliament's processes to frustrate it.

there is now a serious risk we will end up crashing out of the eu with no deal in just 80 days' time. i'm worried that we could come to the crunch and parliament wouldn't have the powers to stop it happening. i think we have a responsibility not to just stand by. number ten has not ruled out leaving without an agreement but would much prefer to get the prime minister's plan through parliament. part of the government's strategy has been to show it is ready to walk away, initially to try to persuade the eu to give them a good deal, now to try to convince mps that what's on offer is the best option. but this morning, senior cabinet ministers joined the chorus of warnings against no deal, including the home secretary. is no deal still an option? and the work and pensions secretary, who told colleagues history would take a dim view if they pressed on with that outcome. others, though, aren't so concerned, and think the threat of no deal has been overplayed.

some saying those trying to block it are anti—brexit. i'm not concerned about no deal, because we trade with very large economies around the world on world trade terms, and we know that, at last, the government is getting going, preparing for that. and when you hear all these hysterical stories, you have to ask why. why are we going to be so stupid as to stop drugs and food and car parts coming to us? that may be a few disruptions, but i don't see it being a disaster at all. the government says we are leaving the eu in march no matter what, but with parliament flexing its muscles, ministers may not have sole control over exactly how. for the second time in a month, a british airport has seen major disruption because of drones. flights from london's heathrow were stopped for an hour on monday, raising fears of a repeat of the chaos at gatwick last month. heathrow is europe's busiest airport. authorities say they plan to implement the latest technology to combat any threat from drones. this from our transport correspondent, tom burridge. europe's busiest airport is tonight

almost back to normal after a drone sighting temporarily closed the northern runway. this flight radar website shows how atjust after 5pm this evening, all departures from the airport were suspended. some passengers were left waiting on the runway. so, we all boarded the flight and then we were told that we wouldn't be departing until the police said it was safe. they had a police helicopter circling above and the emergency services came onto the runway to see if they could find the drone. and the door kept opening to the aeroplane, we didn't know if we were getting off or staying on. after about an hour we were told that we were good to go, so we took off. departures were suspended for less than an hour and flights continued to take off from

the southern runway. unverified videos are circling on social media. we do not know if the flashing object is a drone, but a bbc cameraman who was at heathrow and works with drones is certain he saw it. i noticed way up in the sky, about 300 feet up, these lights, green and red, flashing, obviously attached to a craft that was offering still in the sky there. the traffic had slowed by that point, so it was quite safe to watch this thing, and i watched it for about a minute or so, and it was staying there up in the sky, not moving left or right. heathrow said it suspended all take—offs as a precautionary measure and the police are investigating. on twitter, the transport secretary said the military was preparing to deploy the equipment used at gatwick at heathrow, should it prove necessary. it was just before christmas when tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at gatwick and elsewhere. all flights at the airport were suspended across two days. sussex police are still investigating and no credible arrests have been made. yesterday, the department

for transport said it would increase the exclusion zone for drones around uk airports, and give the police new powers to investigate offences, part of a raft of measures. but many in aviation have been calling for action to counter the threat of drones for a long time. after the disruption at gatwick, i was told that heathrow was already trialling some of the latest anti—drone technology, like devices which try to jam the signal drones need to operate, so the suspension of some flights here today again raises questions about how vulnerable britain's airports are. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: an iranian man, who crossed the english channel to the uk in a small boat, has warned others against taking the same journey. 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: donald trump has appealed directly to the american people, urging them to support his controversial southern border wall. democrats gave their response. they called on the president to immediately re—open the government. earlier, i spoke to the democratic strategist mary anne marsh and the republican commentator, ron christie. he said the president's address was sober and reflective. using the trappings of the oval office and/or the office of the presidency, he laid out in very clear terms way he felt this was a national crisis at the border in one of the things i thought that was most compelling was he mentioned that more people will die a drug overdoses in the united states and died in the entire vietnam war, which of course is 58,000 americans. and so he tried to appeal to

american unity, rather than appeal toa american unity, rather than appeal to a specific ideological party perspective, something i think the president has long not done and i think it very effectively this evening. mary anne marsh, where do you think it leaves us? we have heard of a bottle or an attempted rebuttal from chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. further than that?” think it leaves us what we were before the speech tonight. unfortunately, president trump's speech tonight, besides being full of inaccuracies and falsehoods, it really has nothing to do with immigration, nothing to do with the wall, and everything to do with his attempts to try to hold on to his republican support. now you are starting to see republican senators who see him as a liability. already, five republican senators have come out and opposed the shutdown. you had nancy pelosi tonight outlining exactly what is going do tomorrow. she will start to introduce a series of bills that will go into the house

for, to reopen the government department by department, and it is very possible tomorrow that 15 to 30 republican members of the house could support the democrats in reopening the government. if that happens, you will see senators, republican senators do the same thing in donald trump will end up weak at the end of this week than he is tonight after the speech. ron christie, this issue of funding, the president suggest the wall is going to pay for itself by stopping the trade in illegal drugs. nobody really believes that, do they? they're all sorts of ways for illegal drugs to come in the states. benny says it will be paid for by the new trade deal with mexico. we gather his advisers also have a plan perhaps the tax or to stop mexicans and us wiring money back to mexico, and us wiring money back to mexico, and insists the mexican government might pay for that to stop that happening. none of this is going to work, it has to come from american taxpayers it is going to come at all, doesn't it? i have looked at

the impact that this is how my beloved home state, the billions of dollars that we spend on services for people borders illegally. there isa for people borders illegally. there is a strong unitarian case that can be made for people who immigrate to this country legally, so that we know who is coming, we know why they are coming, but the notion that somehow wall is not effective, particularly looking at tijuana in san diego, the border there at mexico has proven to be very effective. so i want to do, what i would hope all the people in this town he would do, is listen to the border patrol, listen to the department of homeland security, not politicise this issue and talk to the experts know better than all of us the experts know better than all of us what will take to secure the border, but the notion that somehow trump is wrong and not humane and the democrats on the side of the angels, i think it is more of a political question then a factual one. heavy storms have wrecked syrian refugee camps in the middle

east. the un refugee agency estimates that 50,000 people could be affected by flooding in lebenon, and more are dealing with the effects of heavy rain in syria. eliza philippidis reports. is flooded tents are home to displaced families in idlib in syria. they had been driven from their communities by the conflict. tents have collapsed in heavy rain, some have washed away in the heavy rain. translation: look at this tent. everything was inside is clothes, food, blankets. everything has been taken away by the water. people are looking for anything that can be salvaged from the mud and flooding. through the winter, temperatures are low and drying up the tents will be tough. these boys living in a camp in lebanon are trying to keep their food dryer, living in a camp in lebanon are trying to keep theirfood dryer, but it is not possible, there is too much water. —— dry. people are now relying on the un refugee agency to

hand out basics that have been lost or damaged in the storm. translation: today we are trying our best to provide support and meet the refugees's basic needs, such as mattresses and blankets, so that refugees can at least a warm at night. across lebanon, at least 66 settle m e nts night. across lebanon, at least 66 settlements have been heavily flooded, with 50 more completely destroyed. the un refugee agency say they have relocated around 300 people suffer. —— so far. eliza philippidis, bbc news. the bishops conference of the democratic republic of congo says it will respect the law forbidding it from publishing that it can denounce what church workers and leaders are seeing. the results have not yet been published. opposition leaders say the poll has been marred by fraud. the presidential candidate for the opposition has demanded the

commission published the results. translation: reaffirmed that the election results and non—negotiable, and that under no circumstances will either the congolese people, nor ourselves, except such results. we call on the congolese people to remain vigilant and to demand their choice to the ballot be respected by the independent national electoral commission. —— accept. an iranian man who crossed the english channel to the uk in a small boat has warned others against taking the same journey. just yesterday, eight more migrants were found following a search when an empty dinghy was found on a beach near kent. the largest group seeking asylum in the uk last year was from iran. our special correspondent lucy manning has been to find out more about his story. turkey, greece, er, germany... perhaps here. mohammed salihi is one of the faces behind what the home secretary has called a major incident. the iranian, who claims to have been imprisoned by the regime for four years, is one of more than 500 people who made the dangerous

journey in small boats across the sea to britain from france last year. translation: i came in an inflatable boat. we were in one boat and the traffickers were in another, escorting us. i paid 3000 euros. the channel is very dangerous and some people in our boat fainted. the police saw and helped us. our life was at great risk. he arrived in october and has now applied for asylum in britain, but did apply in france before and was rejected. the home secretary sajid javid told the commons last night the home office should try to limit the claims of those who travel from safe countries like france. there are people in britain who would say that it's not right for you to come to britain if you've already been in france — that france is a safe country.

translation: if they understood our situation, they would know that there are many political activists that have been trying to claim asylum in france for three, four years, but all of them were rejected. if the french government accepted me, i would have stayed there, but they always reject all the cold cases. just yesterday, another eight migrants were found near the beach in dungeness. hundreds have come in the last few months, but that's still dwarfed by the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have travelled to mainland europe. with still more hoping to cross the channel, mohammed salihi has this warning. translation: i tell anyone thinking about coming this way to be aware it is not easy. it is really dangerous. there were big waves coming from every side, throwing us around.

the (uncertain) has come, so we say on facebook and instagram, don't choose this way. in terms of nationalities, iranians were the largest group to claim asylum in the uk last year, more than 2500 of them. nearly 50% had their asylum claims accepted and after appeals are included, three quarters of iranians who claimed asylum were allowed to stay. mohammed salihi thinks more are coming by small boats across the channel because the people smugglers have realised this is a route that works. lucy manning, bbc news. just briefly, most kids love being the centre of attention. so what is the centre of attention. so what is the focus of the attention is your father and not you ? the focus of the attention is your father and not you? spare a thought for the sun of the new governor of

california. the for your wandered onto the stage complete with blanket and dummy. his mother was able to coax him back to her seat, but he was not too keen to give up the limelight. a top story again. president trump has urged congress to give him the funds to build a southern border wall. he says the crisis could be sold within an hour if democrats agreed to strengthen the border with mexico. nancy pelosi said mrtrump the border with mexico. nancy pelosi said mr trump should reopen the government and not link the government and not link the government funding with the wall. there are around 800,000 federal employees currently working without pgy- employees currently working without pay. mr trumper said he employees currently working without pay. mrtrumpersaid he is employees currently working without pay. mr trumper said he is prepared for the government shutdown to go on for the government shutdown to go on for years. —— for the government shutdown to go on foryears. —— mrtrump for the government shutdown to go on for years. —— mr trump has said.

there's plenty more news for you at any time in the bbc news website. and the watching. —— thank you. hello there. high tides combined with brisk winds to give a little bit of coastal flooding across some parts of eastern england on tuesday. there were some showers as well, you can see the way these speckled shower clouds were racing from north to south, blown along on those strong winds. and the winds will still be quite brisk across the east on wednesday, still quite a few isobars, white lines on the chart. further west, high pressure builds in, the winds fall lighter. but we do have a weak frontal system into the north—west. that'll bring some cloud and some patchy rain, but it will also usher in some slightly milder air. so this is how we start wednesday morning. quite windy, particularly in the east. those winds feeding some showers into eastern coasts of england. for many places, we're looking at a dry day, with some good spells of sunshine. but cloud will be thickening all the while for northern ireland and the western side of scotland, and here, we will see some patchy rain as that warm front starts to push its way in, but temperatures will start to rise.

nine degrees there in stornoway. a little bit chillier from aberdeen down to glasgow, but here, we'll hold onto some brightness. northern ireland clouding over as the day wears on. and then across england and wales, many places fine with some sunshine. temperatures of five to eight degrees but it will be quite windy, particularly in the east. that wind feeding some showers into eastern coastal areas, and also making it feel a little bit colder than those temperatures suggest. but as we go through wednesday night, you can see on the map more cloud toppling south eastwards, but also milder air with it. so a frost on thursday morning, likely to be confined to north—west england, the midlands, wales, and down towards the south—west. most other places will be starting thursday above freezing, but it will be pretty cloudy for most of us. where we have that chilly start in the south, that's where we're likely to have the best of the sunshine through the day. north—east england and north—east scotland also doing quite well for brightness and sunshine. but elsewhere, a lot of cloud, maybe the odd spot of drizzle, still quite chilly in the south, but those temperatures climbing

across north—western parts of the uk. and more and more of us see that milder air spreading in as we get on into friday. still large slabs of cloud floating around, some spells of sunshine as well, and temperature wise, we're looking at highs of eight to 10 degrees. now, as we head towards the start of the weekend, an area of low pressure is going to pass just to the north of the british isles. this frontal system bringing some outbreaks of rain in northern areas on friday night, into the first part of saturday, but that will tend to clear away, actually, leaving us with a lot of dry weather through the weekend. it will be fairly mild, fairly windy as well, and there is the chance of some rain at times in the north. this is bbc news. the headlines: president donald trump has given an address on us television to make the case for his southern border wall. he outlined the scale of the humanitarian and security crisis and asked for more congressionalfunding. it was an election campaign promise that he insisted mexico would pay for. he has partially shut down the

government leaving hundreds of thousands of employees without pay. after the president's address, a response was broadcast from the democrats. speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and democratic senate leader chuck schumer did the honours. they accused the president of malice, and urged him to re—open the government as soon as possible. the uk government's narrowly lost a commons vote by mps who want to stop a no—deal brexit. the cross—party amendment to the finance bill was carried by a majority of seven, and attracted the support of 20 conservative mps. ministers say the change is minor and technical. a giant fatberg as big as a jumbo jet, or six double decker buses,