with the us government shutdown over funding for a border wall about to become the longest in american history, president trump has repeated his claim that only a wall on the mexican border can protect the us from illegal immigrants and crime. on a visit to southern texas, he again threatened to declare a national emergency. felix tshisekedi has been declared winner of the presidential elections in the democratic republic of congo. the highly influential catholic church, which posted thousands of election observers, says its own tally doesn't match the official result. the runner—up, martin fayulu, called the result a scam and told the bbc he would mount a legal challenge. british tennis player andy murray, who had hip surgery a year ago, has said next week's australian open could be his last tournament. an emotional murray told reporters in australia he had had been in a lot of pain for about 20 months. the duchess of sussex has been named as the patron of the national theatre, and of three other charities, all causes that reflect her personal interests. it is an important milestone

for the american—born former actress, as she takes the first steps in public life as a member of the royal family. our correspondent sarah campbell has the details. whatever you feel more comfortable in. but i did love the pop of that coat. cameras or no cameras, this charity says, the duchess of sussex always gets stuck in. it is a simple idea. smart works provides outfits and interview coaching to help women back into work. meghan has been here several times over the past year, and is now their patron. we're delighted to have her involved. what we're all about at smart works is women helping other women be the best they can be, and that's something that i think she connects with, and certainly that we feel is something that's really exciting. millions watched her transformation from tv actress to royal duchess, but away from the cameras, she was quietly working out which organisations she would be willing to put her name to. having meghan as patron is the equivalent of winning the lottery.

what these organisations need is support and profile, and that is exactly what meghan can offer. she takes over from the queen as patron of the association of commonwealth universities. she has spoken previously about her belief in higher education for all. while progress has been made in many areas across the commonwealth, there is always scope to offer more opportunities to the next generation of young adults. here she is, aged 18, in a school production. two decades later, she is now the royal patron of the national theatre. many of the things that she is very passionate about are principles that we hold very close to the centre of what we do at the national theatre. and staff at this dog and cat shelter in north—west london are delighted animal lover meghan is their new patron. it'll be a huge boost for our service users. we'll be able to do more, hopefully. it's a huge boost for all the staff,

students and volunteers who work here. with her baby due in the spring, meghan already has a busy year ahead, but carving her own niche as a working royal is also high on her list of priorities. sarah campbell, bbc news. now it is time for the travel show. this week, we're in kazakhstan. the view from the top! a vast country in the middle of central asia, full of stunning landscapes and nomadic traditions. you can feel the fish tugging on the net. nature and the great outdoors have always been central to the kazakh people's way of life. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting... i get it. and i'm here to explore how they're now combining both ancient and modern ways to stay in touch with their wild side. grunts. it feels good to make

the sound, but i don't know what they're saying. whoo! this is a lot of fun! i've arrived in kazakhstan‘s biggest city of almaty. once, back when the country was still part of the ussr, and long before that, it was the capital city. now, things have changed here. back in 1991, it was the last soviet republic to declare independence, ten days before the collapse of the union. since then, it's been under the president nazarbayev, who moved the capital north to the purpose—built city of astana. one thing is clear, however, this country has undergone a tumultuous period. but through it all, nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here, and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar.

there's been a market here since before soviet times. this is fermented horse milk, which has been around since the nomadic times, and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. it's a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you're smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that's exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, though, very intense taste. some russian influences have remained, but some of the old kazakh traditions that had been suppressed under the soviets are once again bubbling to the surface. like faith in tengriism, calling on nature through shamans, known as baksys. arman, my friend! i wanted to find a baksy, so i'm meeting up with someone who says he can get me an introduction. can you tell me a bit

about what exactly a baksy is? ba ksy are spiritual servants, who are created by nature to help people. these days, in modern culture, do people still go see a baksy? yes, of course, it's part of our life. if official medicine, european medicine doesn't help, people go to baksy. well arman, i can't say i know what to expect, but i feel ready. arman takes me to a far corner of the city, and an old, unmarked apartment block. let's go. so we're on our way up to the baksy‘s apartment. she'll be waiting for us outside the door. not entirely what i expected. chanting. we've just arrived here

in the baksy‘s apartment, and we arrived in the middle of some kind of ceremony. there are two ladies who are getting their souls cleaned, i guess — it's hard to know what's going on. chanting and grunting. bell ringing. this is extremely intense. can you explain a little bit, what's happening right now? it's a ritual of cleaning by fire. like an exorcism? yes, yes. each baksy is different, and this one incorporates elements of islam, kazakhstan‘s most followed religion. there is a power in this room i can't describe right now.

i have never experienced anything like this. so, now it's my turn. having witnessed the devotion vera had to the process, i feel it wouldn't be right to go through it all without the same belief. so we agree on just a blessing for myjourney. but then, unexpectedly, i seem to be getting the full treatment. growling and grunting. it feels good to make the sound,

i don't know what to say. he's coaxing... an experience alone, it's very powerful. as the process continues, the baksy calls on the totem animals, as they did many years ago here. i may not believe in everything that's happening here, but i do like to open myself to the experience as a traveller. all i can say is i know i feel something. although many muslims here frown on these ancient ceremonies, for some kazakhs, they are a direct link to their nomadic past. it's the world's ninth largest country, but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. its people were traditionally nomadic, with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more

of the kazakhstani people's relationship with nature today. so i'm heading east to the aral sea, the world's fourth—largest lake, or at least that's what it was. welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village, but if you come over here and you look down to the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea. there's not much fishing going on now. it's been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland.

back in the 1960s, the immense stretch of water began to dry up. around 90% of it was wiped off the map, and with it, the livelihoods of many people who lived on the sea's produce. i had heard that here in kazakhstan the sea was actually coming back, and it was bringing travellers too. so off i go, in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old seabed. i've arranged to meet a guide in this region. he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top. what caused it to recede so far?

the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while the uzbek side of the sea still remains mostly lost, recent interventions have meant the north aral sea, in kazakhstan, is returning. approaching the shore,

one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old seabed. spiderwebs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one time, it was the fourth largest inland lake in the world, and soon, it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting... i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place. good morning.

this is where we spent the night last night. it might look like we're in the desert, but it's actually, it's very cold this morning. the bedding was just a simple roll—out pillow mat on the ground with some blankets. but this is a fisherman‘s house. and we're up so early because they're going to take us out to catch some fish. they're quite chipper. myself, i'm working on it. but it should be a good day. my hosts tell me that i'm not the first traveller to stay with them following the sea's return. though, not all of them choose the early—morning fishing run. the sun has not yet crested over the horizon of the kazakh steppe. today, we are fishing, and on the fishing team, we have one sleepy, inexperienced travel show presenter, we have one of our hosts, whom you know already,

our fishermen and his father at the back. these are our boats. out there, there's a lot of fish, and the plan is today to catch them and bring them back to shore. 0k. we're maybe 100 metres offshore. we've encountered the first net. so from what i understand, the net was put out last night, right before sunset. and it stays out until sunrise, and they come and they pull it back in, and every day is quite a surprise. but it seems that over the years, there's been more and more in the nets almost every single day. ok, so, it's my turn to give this a shot,

pulling in the net. it's not too hard, actually. it's interesting, because it's almost like when you're fishing with the reel, you can feel the fish tugging on the net. you must love it out here. so, we've been pulling the net for about 30 minutes now. the basket‘s almost full.

so, i think we're probably getting near to the end. we've caught a lot of fish. and besides the amount, they're big fish. myself, being a traveller, being out with people is always special. here, you can tell that there's a lot ofjoy in the job this morning. it's not my normal life being out here, covered in fish scales on a boat, but for them, you can tell that they absolutely love it, especially when they can bring in a haul like this. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship with nature is changing. so, i'm meeting up with a mountain guide back in almaty. she's agreed to take me out to some of the places she likes to explore. we begin at the location of one of the country's most impressive historical sites. wow, they look almost like paintings. they are petroglyphs.

and these cliffs are covered with petroglyphs, right? this isn't the only site. there's many sites. there are many sites. it's about 5,000 carvings here. wow. it was discovered in 1957 by archaeologist maximova and it's more than 5,000 carvings on the rocks in this area. and this is the central part, which is very significant and very important at that date, because people was speakingfrom here, and it was served as a pantheon. so, you could clearly hear what they were talking about down in the valley, where the people and crowds were standing and listening. so, here we see the 12 dancing men, which is doing the ritual dance. and here, it's a women which is giving birth to a child. as you walk around the site, it's amazing how many carvings you see here. this here is the club? yeah.

karla tells me it's thought they believed the more animals they carved into the rocks, be more animals they would successfully hunt. it adds so much to the experience here today, being able to come just in touching distance of things that are so old. i'm used to multiple layers of security, men standing there, making sure that you don't breath on art like this. but being able to see every little chip out of the stone really makes it special. but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new, sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune.

famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. wow. it's huge. you can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune sweeping back and forth like a snake. and i heard it almost is. over the past 150 years, it's moved 3 metres. slowly, but it is moving. it really is incredible. i don't know how we're going to snowboard down it! along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic snowboard trainer leanna. the dune stretches for 3km and reaches height of 150 metres, and let me tell you, while it might look placid

from a distance, it is a different story once you're up there. it's a little bit windy today, but we're on the singing sands. and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i've gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yeah? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i would be going slower than on snow. and also, the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so, i mean, i guess it's safer, right? there is no doubt this is the definition of an extreme sport. there i am, strapped in. i think i'm ready. this way, yeah? like this? ooh — and then the board comes... ohh! woo! this is a lot of fun,

though i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places you do not want sand. one of those places is your mouth. i've got...i've got a bit of a crunch in my teeth right now. but woo! it is a rush. karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but a little bit nervous. you've got it, karla, yeah! but before long...we‘re starting to get the hang of it. this is a lot of work. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche,

you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool. it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top, if i can...if i can make it. let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah! and, with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. hello there. it won't be as cold to start this morning as it has been recent mornings. we had a widespread frost especially

in the south. the most, just above freezing as we start the day. the day looks mostly dry but wrapping up because we have high pressure with us. because we have high pressure with us. it is because we changed the air. -- us. it is because we changed the air. —— brightening up. it is behind the slightly milder atlantic air. u nfortu nately, the slightly milder atlantic air. unfortunately, the weather front heading toward the alps to bring more disruptive snowfall, u nfortu nately more disruptive snowfall, unfortunately here. but for our shores, we enter this westerly airflow for the next couple of days which means less cold. there will be filed —— fog around. the bridge is not too far from freezing. local pockets of frost. —— temperatures. hopefully things will brighten up a bit, particularly the north—east of england, we think, and southern and eland scotland and central parts of england. quite a lot of cloud and drizzle for the highlands. —— eastern scotland. in the south,

considerably higher. we will notice the difference. the weekend, we will pick up the wind. it will be a big player in the weather. it is coming in from player in the weather. it is coming infrom a player in the weather. it is coming in from a relatively mild direction but more unsaddled weather around and more showers. we start saturday morning with another weather front having given rein in the north. if i did, brighter skies. more having given rein in the north. if i did, brighterskies. more rain having given rein in the north. if i did, brighter skies. more rain piled infor did, brighter skies. more rain piled in for western and northern parts of scotla nd in for western and northern parts of scotland and parts of northern ireland. here, it could actually start off to be pretty wet for overnight saturday and into sunday. the two bridges, 9—11. the wind strengthens its saturday more and then strengthens further with the approach of this weather system on sunday —— temperatures. they go up a notch again, the winds, on sunday. very dusty as well. more rain with the strong winds but again very few of those lengthy spells of showers

oi’ of those lengthy spells of showers or rain penetrating into southern areas and temperatures will do quite well again. if you forget the wind. it will be pretty brisk for most of us on it will be pretty brisk for most of us on sunday. bye—bye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: no wall, no deal, and no pay for many government workers, as president trump heads to the southern border. on day 20 of the crisis, the divide runs deep. he campaigned on it, he won on it, so what's the big deal? why is everybody surprised? he is the crisis, he's a crisis to our country. also on the road, secretary of state mike pompeo tries to reassure american allies in the middle east on a visit to cairo. felix tshisekedi is declared winner of the presidential elections in the democratic republic of congo.

but it is disputed, and the runner—up tells the bbc he will mount a legal challenge. at least 16 people are killed, and there is more brutal winter weather ahead for parts of central and eastern europe.