this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy. the headlines at eight. worldwide attention arrives in canada where she's a saudi teenager whose efforts to escape her family gained worldwide attention arrives in canada where she's been granted asylum. she wanted canadians to see that she is here, that she is well, and that she is very, very happy to be in her new home. although she did comment to me about the cold! hundreds of protesters march through central london demanding a general election and an end to austerity. three people are killed in a powerful explosion in central paris caused by a gas leak at a bakery. almost 50 others are injured. prison sentences of less than six months in england and wales could be scrapped under plans being considered by the ministry ofjustice. president trump digs his heels in over his plans for a mexican border wall as the us government shutdown enters a record—breaking 22nd day. and coming up at 8:30pm, what happened to brazil? the first of a three—part special

series where we examine how brazil's dreams of a better future disappeared. a saudi teenager, whose efforts to escape her family gained worldwide attention, has arrived in canada where she's been granted asylum. last week rahaf mohammed al-qanun, who's 18, barricaded herself in a hotel room at bangkok airport, to resist deportation. she feared she'd be killed by her relatives after she'd renounced islam. this afternoon she arrived at toronto airport and was greeted by canada's foreign minister. nada twafik reports from toronto. rahaf al-qanun arrived with a smile as she took the first

steps into her new life. how does it feel to be in canada? she was escorted out by the canadian foreign minister, chrystia freeland, who was on hand to welcome her and pass on flowers from one her supporters. after chronicling her ordeal on social media, she chose this moment, now safely in toronto, to let another speak on her behalf. she wanted canadians to see that she's here, that she's well, and that she's very, very happy to be in her new home. although she did comment to me about the cold. it's been a whirlwind journey for rahaf al-qanun. it's extraordinary that just a few days ago she was an unknown teenager and now she has commanded the attention of the world's media and reignited a debate about the treatment of women in saudi arabia. rahaf al-qanun had been trying to reach australia by way of thailand when her passport was confiscated and she was told she would be deported. the 18—year—old barricaded herself

in an airport hotel room and sent out fevered messages on twitter that she feared her family would kill her for renouncing islam. i'm not leaving my room until i see unchr — i want asylum. within a day, the campaign #saverahaf went viral, piling on international pressure. thai immigration police, who initially said her case was a family problem, instead placed her in the care of the united nations‘ refugee agency which deemed her a legitimate refugee. saudi arabia and canada have been on bad terms ever since ottawa criticised riyadh‘s arrest of women's rights activists in a tweet months ago. this settlement of rahaf al-qanun will likely exacerbate the already tense relations between the countries. nada twafik, bbc news, toronto. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this

evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are anne ashworth and john rentoul. hundreds of people have marched through london, demanding a general election and an end to austerity. it comes ahead of a crucial week in the commons, when mps are widely expected to reject theresa may's withdrawal deal with the eu. our political correspondent chris mason has more. tories out! central london this afternoon and left wing campaigners take to the streets. theresa may must go! people have seen brexit is an absolute mess, the shambles the government is making of it, but what is the most important thing is to have a general election because we can then have a say on everything. you don't come out here to plod around town a couple of weeks after christmas, do you? you come for a reason and the reason is to get rid of this government. also here, the shadow chancellor, with the same message. the only solution to austerity, the only solution to tackling the threat brexit poses,

is a general election and the election of a labour government. this demonstration here wasn't primarily about brexit but these campaigners, like others, see the prospect of the government's plans over brexit being defeated as an opportunity for them to stake a case for what they want instead. 170 miles north in sheffield, another crowd with a cause, this one wanting another eu referendum. the obvious question to ask is about the two deals, the two propositions that are actually on the table. one is for the government, and people may or may not like it, it is very uncertain, but it is there, and the other is the one we already have with the eu, which in my view is a much better one, but let the people decide. the government is implacably opposed to delivering what people here want. clearly there are a lot of people coming out who are complaining about the deal for one reason or another but i still think it is the only game in town,

it's the thing that gets us out of the political institution and stops us paying so much money in, ends freedom of movement and that is why i still encourage people, if they want certainty, this is the way to do it. today was peaceful, for the most part, but this isolated incident in london was a reminder of the tension and anger brexit still provokes. chris mason, bbc news. police have arrested a man in connection with incidents in westminster earlier this week. pro—brexit activist james goddard, seen here wearing a red jacket, was detained by officers this morning near stjames's park tube station in westminster, on suspicion of a public order offence. he has since been released on bail. a powerful explosion in paris this morning killed three people and injured nearly 50. police suspect a gas leak caused the blast in a bakery. our paris correspondent, lucy williamson reports. on the site of a local bakery, around the corner from the folies bergere,

residents faced a charred and empty shell. the force of the gas explosion was felt in districts several miles away. the blast shattered windows, blew out doors, and sent locals and tourists into the street, straight from their beds. translation: when i walked past the entrance i heard a huge explosion. i was hit by the debris. i'm dry now and i've washed off a bit but there was a lot of blood on my neck and head, too. 200 firefighters were called in to help those trapped by the blast. among those whose lives they saved was a colleague, buried for almost two hours beneath the rubble. but two other firefighters died. translation: at 8:30 this morning firefighters were on a call for a gas leak at 6 rue de trevise — during their intervention a dramatic explosion happened. helicopters waited near the opera house to evacuate the wounded, some of whom are still in a serious condition. the explosion is being treated as accidental but there is a risk of further fires and emergency work

will continue all weekend. this smart and lively part of paris, packed with bars and theatres, looks very different tonight. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. meanwhile, across france, there have been more mass anti—government protests. police in the capital fired water cannon and tear gas at so—called ‘yellow vest‘ demonstrators as scuffles broke out near the arc de triomphe. thousands of officers have been deployed across the city, which has previously seen street clashes. groups of protesters gathered on and around the champs elysees, the scene of disturbances in recent weeks, many of them calling for macron to resign. small groups broke away from the designated route and threw bottles and other projectiles at the police. across the country, around 80,000 people are reported to have taken to the streets. the ministry ofjustice says it's considering proposals to abolish prison sentences of less than six months in england and wales. ministers say short

sentences are less effective at cutting re—offending than community penalties. chi chi izundu reports. long enough to damage you but not long enough to heal you, that's how the prisons minister rory stewart described those serving sentences of six months or less in today's telegraph newspaper. right now, that's around 30,000 prisoners in england and wales, who have committed crimes like burglary or shoplifting. even a short spell behind bars could mean the loss of their home, job and family. we should not be using prison for these people. we should be turning their lives around and giving them support, dealing with their drug addiction, their homelessness, and getting them to make amends for the wrong they've done. that's really good for victims, it's good for the taxpayer and it will ease pressure on the prisons. in a statement, the ministry ofjustice said it's exploring potential alternatives and is yet to reach any conclusions. overcrowding in prisons like this one is a big problem in the uk, and the worry is, according to the government,

that rehabilitation and reform won't happen. in fact, these prisons will turn one—time offenders into career criminals. this idea would need legislation to make it a reality and mps know promising to cut prison sentences is rarely a vote winner, and although prison reform groups have welcomed the idea, there is concern that victims of crimes are not being considered enough. i think victims will feel very resentful, that it's unfair. that they have had the trauma of what's happened to them. and they almost feel that someone's got away with it. you don't want people to get away with things. a similar scheme in scotland has beenjudged a success and is being extended to sentences of 12 months. simplyjailing offenders has doubled the prison population since the 90s and the government suggests reform of the offender isn't enough. they also have to look at the system. chi chi izundu, bbc news. earlier i wasjoined by dr belinda brooks gordon, a psychologist who has written widely on the subject of criminal

justice and public safety, and peter kirkham, a former metropolitan police officer who believes scrapping short prison sentences is not the way to deal with the problem of re—offending . we have a situation where nobody goes to prison, hardly anybody for a first offence, so by the time somebody is getting a short prison sentence they have failed to respond to numerous community sentences. knife crime at the moment for instance, the other day someone who was convicted of carrying a knife in problem, the maximum penalty is four yea rs, problem, the maximum penalty is four years, for the fourth time, and they have not yet been sentenced to going to prison. community sentences don't work for everybody. i absolutely agree they work for the majority but not for everybody. if you take away the ability to give ever increasing sentences of imprisonment, you totally drive a big hole through the whole criminal justice totally drive a big hole through the whole criminaljustice system. what do you say to that? people watching who perhaps suffered a burglary or

shoplifting, the sorts of offences we are talking about, might think that they are not happy that the person responsible for weight should just be allowed to get away without ta ke just be allowed to get away without take —— without a written sentence? a lot of divinity penalties like restorative justice actually have much higher satisfaction rates with victims because they feel they were able to address the event that themselves, the offender was able to be addressed for a particular crime and it was not the prison that mega criminal justice and it was not the prison that mega criminaljustice machine and it was not the prison that mega criminal justice machine taking and it was not the prison that mega criminaljustice machine taking over and taking things from them so satisfaction is higher. i do take issue with the relationship between the length of sentence and the crime causing deterrents. it doesn't. why? because a lot of people don't actually know the length of sentence they will get. the risk of being caught is one of the things that will deter people from causing crime and that is another issue, that is around resources in the community, more police on the beat, the community police officers and so on but that is a different issue. white

make this arbitrary cut—off at the six months? —— why? is itjust purely a question of cost cutting at the root of this? i don't know why they picked six months and it would be interesting. so far, it isjust a brief announcement and we have not had a green or white paper giving us a level of detail. what do you say? evenif a level of detail. what do you say? even if cost—cutting is a factor here, it is true that prison overcrowding has been a huge political problem for many years. build more prisons and make it work. put in effective rehabilitation programmes in prison. if they are in for three weeks, spent three weeks working with them so they don't come back. make prison work, don't stop using it. what worries me is this government, which seems to be the party of crime and disorder, they did it with policing, they said we got a crime for them and we cut the police. they listen to the critics, the equivalent of the present

reforms and said stop doing all these nasty things like keeping people in custody and stop searching and we have seen what happened. they are going to do the same again and thatis are going to do the same again and that is what worries me. prisons need to be reformed but instead of spending money —— money, let'sjust not use them. that will raise crime yet more. the headlines on bbc news... a saudi teenager whose efforts to escape her family gained worldwide attention arrives in canada where she's been granted asylum. three people are killed in a powerful explosion in central paris caused by a gas leak at a bakery. almost 50 others are injured. hundreds of protesters march through central london demanding a general election and an end to austerity. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's kat. good evening. premier league leaders liverpool made sure of a seven—point lead at the top of the table after a 1—0 win over brighton.

mo salah scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the second half. it's a return to victory forjurgen klopp‘s men after back—to—back defeats in the league and fa cup. we could have done, like always, better but i'm completely fine because the target is to win here. it is so difficult, especially when everybody expects that we win here, it makes it not easy. it is a nice situation for the opponent, you think, if we get something, it is a big surprise and we have to perform and deliver and we did that. and in and deliver and we did that. and in a way that is more than deserved to win the game. chelsea remain in fourth after a 2—1 win over newcastle. adam wild was watching this one: even before kick—off at stamford bridge, the news for newcastle was still sinking in, that their team was, sinking as well, into the relegation places thanks to results elsewhere. a bad beginning to debit

it which almost immediately got worse. pedro put chelsea ahead with their first real chance. certainly not the start rafa benitez wanted against his former club, his displeasure was not hard to spot. he will have been cheered by the response from newcastle, first ayoze perez going close. only a warning for chelsea but when they did not ta ke for chelsea but when they did not take seriously enough as moments later ciaran clark finally gave the fa ns later ciaran clark finally gave the fans who made the long trip from the north—east are some good news. level at the break, newcastle are heading back out of the bottom three. but if that was much sign enough of how quickly fortunes can change, willian‘s quite brilliant effort was a reminderfor all. that was willian‘s quite brilliant effort was a reminder for all. that was the final change to the scoreline. chelsea's first league win of 2019. for newcastle, a trip that ended almost as disappointingly as it had begun. here are the rest of the results. elsewhere, arsenal

were beaten by west ham, slowing their chase of a top four finish. there were important games at the bottom of the table too. fulham lost to burnley. cardiff and huddersfield played out a goalless draw that doesn't help either side. southampton‘s 2—1win over leicester city takes them out of the relegation zone. and watford came from behind to beat crystal palace 2—1. the pick of today's ties in rugby union's champions cup saw defending champions leinster welcome toulouse to dublin. both clubs are battling to finish top of pool1 and guarantee a quarter—final spot. toulouse arrived unbeaten in europe this season but leinster were out for revenge after losing to the french club back in october. jack conan, dave kearney and sean cronin set them up with the chance of a try bonus point, and adam byrne made that happen to put leinster beyond reach with a 29—13 point victory and they leapfrog toulouse to top the pool. elsewhere, it was a great day for the irish clubs as ulster took a huge step towards the last eight by holding off a fightback from racing 92 to secure victory in belfast. also, in pool4, scarlets

beat leicester 33—10. in the all—premiership clash between bath and wasps, both clubs were in search of their first win in europe this season with bath narrowly coming out on top 18—16. edinburgh moved to within touching distance of the quarter—finals with victory in toulon 28—17. newcastle's knockout hopes disappeared after being thumped 45—8 by montpellier. there was a dramatic second race in the formula e season in morocco withjerome d'ambrosio taking the victory. team—mates antonio felix de costa and britain's alexander sims collided with ten minutes remaining, handing the lead to d'ambrosio, who's top of the standings. that's all the sport for now. i will have more at about a quarter past 11. thank you. heavy snow has been wreaking more havoc across large parts of europe, leaving roads blocked,

trains services cancelled and schools shut. it's led to the deaths of seven people in austria in the past week and two hikers have been reported missing. bethany bell reports from the austrian alps. the little town of annaberg is blanketed in white. like many mountain regions in germany and austria, it is experiencing unusually heavy falls of snow. these sensors are there to protect houses from avalanches. the authorities are struggling to remove the snow. these volunteer firefighters are working to clear the roof of annaberg's primary school. stefan obermeister from the lower austrian fire brigade says they need to ensure the building is safe enough for children to enter. the big problem is that the snow is very heavy so we have about 3.5 metres on the roofs.

and that's the big problem. because if the weather is changing and the snow gets heavier, the big problem is that the roofs crash down and so it is very dangerous for the people who are living here. cars have been buried under several metres of snow. and it is a constant struggle to keep paths and roads clear. in neighbouring germany, the army is helping to clear away snow. several areas have been declared disaster zones. and there is more snow on the way. the risk of avalanches remains very high. bethany bell, bbc news, annaberg in the austrian alps. the standoff between president trump and members of the us congress over funding for a wall on the mexican border has now resulted in a record—breaking government shutdown.

the row has entered its 22nd day, leaving hundreds of thousands of government workers unpaid, as politicians continue to argue over budgets. well, this afternoon donald trump has been tweeting, insisting he does have a plan on the shutdown. our washington correspondent, david willis, explained what could be behind his latest comments. the president is in the building behind me but congress is nowhere to be seen. it is in recess until monday afternoon. as he tends to do when he gets a bit bored, the president has been tweeting, as you say. and one of those tweets provides perhaps an insight into his thinking on this whole shutdown issue. he addresses the question of having no plan, the accusation that he has no plan to get the country out of it. he says he does. and he says, but to understand that plan you would have to understand the fact that i won the election and i promised

to safety and security for the american people. part of that promise was a wall on the southern border. elections have consequences. well, president trump has long maintained that those who are part of this government shutdown are almost certainly democrat voters. it was his base, of course, that supported his move to build this wall along the southern border and clearly he believes that it is them he owes loyalty to. so, he is going to put that as the priority. now, as far as these two sides getting back together to talk things through, there are no further meetings between them planned, geeta. and there are a few hundred thousand people affected by not getting their paycheck this week. i guess that is not a huge number of people given the size of the us of the us population, but how much of a political pressure will that prove to be for donald trump, do you think? well, what we are talking and we are hearing already stories of people who cannot pay mortgages, cannot meet car payments. these are, in many cases, people who live paycheck to paycheck

and they are struggling in many cases to make ends meet. the first paycheck they were due to receive over the new year did not go out yesterday. or it did, withjust a line of zeros in it. and of course, the longer this drags on, the greater the hardship, if you like. but, as i say, there really appears no way of actually ending this impasse at the moment, the president having said he is not inclined, at least at the moment anyway, to declare a national emergency, something which would have got him off the hook with this. and is that the only way out of it, if the democrats hold firm? it really is, given that these two sides are so entrenched and so far apart. but it would be a very controversial move for the simple reason that there would even be some in president trump's own party who would accuse him of presidential overreach, of abuse of power, if you like, by going over the heads of congress

in order to get money for his pet project, the border wall, by some other means. it appears that the president is getting councilfrom his son—in—law, jared kushner, who is also a senior adviser in the white house, that this is not a good policy to employ at the moment. but the longer this goes on, the president may have no choice. a former mayor from texas has become the latest to announce that he hopes to stand in next year's us presidential election. 44—year—old julian castro, who is the grandson of a mexican immigrant, worked as housing secretary in the obama administration. he's long been viewed as a rising star among democrats and it's likely he will be looking for supporters from the liberal wing of the party. now, it's that time of year — returns season. in fact the office for national statistics estimates that a quarter of our christmas shopping could be sent back. anything bought online is more likely to be returned and in women's

clothing the percentage can be as high as 50%. it's a huge cost for stores, and, as our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith reports, retailers are starting to fight back. picking, packing and mailing out. it's been a busy couple of weeks for this online fashion company. but staff here know that, like a boomerang, a good chunk of these clothes come straight back. this is just today's returns. oh, we would be flying if we did not have any returns but we sort of accept that. you know, it is like if you go into a retail shop, you do sort of expect to try a few things on before you want to buy something. this week in our clearance sale, we have had ladies buy three of the same dress in three different sizes and i know that, you know, best case scenario, one will stay out. however, if they actually get the dress, three might come back, which is quite heartbreaking when you know the cost of, you know, getting things back and forth. but, increasingly,

that is what shoppers are expecting. i will buy a small and a medium and then see which one fits best because i do not want to risk it, so i will send one back, because, obviously, i do not need two. only if, also... if you send it back, it is free. if you have to pay to send it back, i will probablyjust give it to a friend or sell it or something like that. yeah, over ordering, especially things for the kids, like holiday clothes and things like that, ordering loads to try on and then taking things back. with it being easier online, a lot of people will do that. maybe not so much in the shops because it is more of a hassle to come back but a lot of my friends do it. the amount of stuff being brought back to shops has increased dramatically over the last couple of years. royal mail say they are expecting this year to be their busiest ever for returning online goods. that is why even some of the biggest online stores, like next, have decided to start charging people to return some items. but most retailers are using softer techniques to make sure too many things are not sent back. we are tending to see more online technology that suggests what size

you might want to buy. they are paying more attention to the photography, or indeed the videos of the things they are selling, to help the customer have a better sense of what they are buying. retailers will have to work harder to help customers get it right first time or swallow the extra cost, because for customers, sending things back is now part and parcel of the shopping process. colletta smith, bbc news, in newcastle. now, an exhibition in hull is showcasing key moments from history — in lego. brick history brings to life key figures from mozart to martin luther king and highlights scientific discoveries including the big bang and dna. the bbc‘s simon spark went to have a look. prepare yourself to be transported into key moments of time, thanks to the most famous toy brick of all time. this exhibition is called brick

history, by artist warren elsner. it's made entirely of lego, capturing key figures and moments in time. such as martin luther king, scientific discoveries like dna, and the invention of the mobile phone. i'm working. there's a massive interest in it, and it's always really gratifying to see that. we tried very hard not to create a very boring list of kings and queens, and dates and battles, we wanted to make sure we cover other areas of history. so we covered science, exploration, transport, and also arts and equality. we thought we wanted to actually explore some of those things as well. so this is a copy of rochester castle, and we split it so that you can see the interiors of the castle, and we have half of it during peacetime, so this is very happy, and this side is during wartime under siege. total across the two halves is about 70,000 bricks. and how long did it take to build?

it took about three and half weeks to build. that's pretty long. the history centre in hull has run lego and craft events for a few years now, but this is a world away from what they are used to. i keep noticing things, there's there's the detail, there's some huge pieces, the castle, absolutely stunning detail. what we're hoping is it will inspire children of all ages, two to 102. brick history will be open from monday to saturday, until the 9th of march. the nominations for this year's brit awards have been announced. solo artists dua lipa and anne—marie have each earned themselves four nominations. whilejorja smith and jess glynne have recieved three and two nods repectively. it's also only the second time in brit awards history that more women than men are up for the night's biggest prize, album of the year. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris. hello again. it has been a cloudy day today but also on the mild side for all of us.

tonight we will keep the cloudy, mild weather. outbreaks of rain, quite heavy rain as well, in scotland will move southwards into northern england and northern ireland while patchy rain in the east of england will ease overnight. it will be a blustery night but also a very mild night with temperatures ranging between 8 and 10 celsius. sunday, two weather fronts move southwards. the first of these a weak cold fronts that will push across england and wales. the second, an occluded front, still bringing rain to scotland. behind that front, the air turns much, much colder. on sunday, england and wales cloudy with a little bit of light rain pushing southwards followed by blustery showers and some brighter weather in the north through the afternoon. sunshine and showers. and, a few of these for northern ireland, more persistent rain for the far north of scotland. temperature—wise, mild across england and wales, cooler further north and cold in shetland, where there could even