welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: affected by the global slowdown and a trade war with the us, latest data shows china's economy is slowing at a rate not seen for almost three decades. what next for brexit? theresa may prepares to unveil her latest proposals to parliament, but the divisions remain. what we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack brexit, and in fact steal the result from the people. tear gas and clashes in greece as thousands rally against the macedonia name deal. and the stargazing treat set to dazzle the night sky. the lunar eclipse worth waiting up for. this is the scene live from the griffith observatory in los angeles. china says its economy grew last

its slowest in almost three decades. the figures reflect the continuing slowing of the world's second—biggest economy, which is not only struggling with the effects of a slowdown in global growth, but is also embroiled in a trade war with the united states. analysts say these figures are the worse since the world financial crisis a decade ago. the bbc‘s robin brant is in shanghai, and explains the implications. it confirms that we are in the midst of a managed slowdown, really, in terms of china's economy. the focus for china's leaders, from president xijinping at the very top, is on quality of growth and not quantity of growth. and what they want to ensure more than anything else is that stability remains in this country,

even though they are going to have to deal with things like a growing rate of unemployment. let's remind you of the figures that we've just had from beijing. growth in china's economy in the last three months of 2018, that's known as the fourth quarter, was 6.4%. very slightly down on the previous period. for 2018 overall, chinese economy grew by 6.6%, a very small fall on the previous comparable figures. so if you're looking on from any other western capital, that kind of figure is impressive, and one that you'd like to see. but what it tells us about china is that those double—digit growth rates of 10—15 years ago are now long, long gone, and this country is in the midst of a slowdown in terms of a growth rate. and the context here,

aside from the growing trade war with the united states is one where there's been a real squeeze on credit here in china. the government wants there to be less money available in the system, it wants it to be less easy to get hold of credit. and there's a real concern, as well, about consumer demand. we had demand for cars in china, the world's biggest market, falling by 6% last year. that's the first fall in 20 years. and just a few weeks ago we had a warning from tim cook, the ceo of apple, about the demand for apple's product in this country. that fell significantly at the end of last year, so much so that it will affect apple revenue. so real concerns about negative sentiment, in terms of consumer demand, but as i say, the gdp figures confirm we are in the midst of a managed slowdown in terms of chinese economy growth. now, in the past, we've been told that we can't necessarily trust these gdp figures that

come out of china. can we trust these figures? well, that's a caveat that we always discuss when it comes to official government figures on the size of china's economy. they miraculously always seem to come in either bang on or very close to the government's target and this time around, that is almost exactly the case. the chinese government has a target of about 6.5% growth, and next year, or rather this year, 2019, it's likely to move to something slightly lower. there is always much scepticism, given many people think that growth here is significantly less, maybe at 3% or 4%. even a couple of weeks ago, we had an academic here giving a speech that was publicised on social media when he talked about growth being at 1.67%, way off what the government's official target is. so there are huge caveats here. there is much scepticism about government massaging of figures so it fits with their forecast. but there is no doubt that the government's target in terms of growth is falling, the gdp figures are in line

with that, and we are in the midst of a slowdown in china's economic growth. the priority for the government is to manage that slowdown. as the tumult over brexit continues in the uk, the british prime minister, theresa may, has held a conference call with members of her cabinet to discuss how she intends to break the brexit deadlock. the prime minister is due to address mps on monday. meanwhile, with the uk due to leave the eu on 29 march, at least one cross—party group of mps is discussing how parliament could ensure a no—deal scenario is avoided. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth has the latest. so the noes have it — the noes have it. it has been five days since theresa may's brexit plan was thrown out, rejected by mps, and while she is working out her next steps, some on the backbenches have plans of their own. some want to change parliament's rules, its standing orders, so mps could delay the brexit process to stop a no—deal scenario.

all are very concerned about the way in which the brexit debate is unfolding, and extremely concerned that we are in danger of crashing out of the eu with no deal. and it's probably right to say that what brings us all together is that we think this is such a disaster for this country that something is going to have to be done to try to ensure that that's stopped. it could change the way this place works — giving backbench mps, not ministers, more power to dictate what comes before parliament, shaping policy. some in government claim that is extremely concerning. what we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack brexit, and in fact steal the result from the people. the bottom line is parliament is gridlocked. while some mps want a pause in the process, others want to get on and leave, deal or not. some want a total rethink, or another public vote, and some believe the prime minister's deal, with some changes, can be salvaged.

one option being floated — attempting to change the controversial plan to avoid a hard irish border, to try to bring mps round. we actually agree that, no matter what, there should be an agreement that ensures that there's no hard border between the united kingdom and ireland. the question is, can we achieve what the irish government wants and what we want by a different mechanism? but there is no detail of an alternative, and the irish foreign minister isn't convinced, tweeting the irish government's commitment to the current withdrawal agreement — the existing plan — is absolute. labour says theresa may now has to fundamentally shift her position. if the prime minister won't move her red line, you can see what's going to happen, which is parliament is going to try and take control of the process. that is — that is because people are frustrated with the prime minister. this is only happening because of that. and i think, in the next week or two, other options will now be tested, one way or another. so expect further turbulent scenes

here in the next few days. the battle now isn'tjust over what should happen with brexit, but who gets to control it. greek riot police have clashed with crowds of protesters outside parliament who are opposed to the recognition of the country's neighbour as the republic of north macedonia. youths wearing gas masks stormed the steps of parliament, but were pushed back. the greek government is expected to ask for the name to be changed this week. nick thorpe has more. feelings run high in greece about the name macedonia. a clear majority of greeks feel the name belongs to them and them alone. while today's protest was largely peaceful, more radical elements in the crowd tried to fight their way towards the parliament building, through the ranks of the riot police. for some, it was a largely symbolic protest, against an agreement which has already been signed and which the greek government is committed to pushing through parliament in the coming days. translation: i believe everything

is over, but we must carry out our duty and be here. translation: i believe this is the last push regarding the national topic of macedonia. i believe the greek people must fight the last battle. it's our last hope. and this is the reason for their desperation. prime minister alexis tsipras and his syriza party narrowly won a vote of confidence in parliament last week, provoked by the departure of his coalition partner over the macedonian name issue. the parliament in skopje has already ratified the agreement. if the greek parliament now does so too, it will enter into force and become legally irreversible. its champions say it will benefit not only northern macedonia, but the whole of the balkans, and will also be good for greece. this protest may be the last chance of opponents of the deal to vent their anger and frustration. nick thorpe, bbc news, athens. let's get some of the day's other news:

israel says it has struck at iranian targets inside syria overnight. an israeli military statement in the early hours of monday said the operation was against the elite quds force of the iranian revolutionary guard. it warned syria not to strike back. the syrian observatory for human rights said the strikes hit areas around damascus and damascus airport. mexican officials say the number of people killed in a huge fuel pipeline explosion late on friday has risen to 85. the blast is thought to have happened after fuel thieves made a hole in the pipe near mexico city. hundreds of people then gathered, trying to fill up containers with fuel. mexico's security minister said the state oil firm, pemex, did not close the valve when first notified because it was not thought to be an important leak. four men have been arrested in northern ireland after a bomb exploded outside the courthouse in londonderry on saturday night. police called it a very significant attempt to kill people, and suspect the dissident republican group the new ira of being responsible. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports from derry. this cctv shows the vehicle arriving

outside the courthouse in londonderry city centre. the driver parks up, then runs away. shortly after, a group of people pass by, oblivious. i thought this was all a thing of the past, so it's a bit, you know... don't really know what to think, to be honest. this doesn't accomplish anything. it doesn't prove anything. what are they trying to prove? a warning was called in, but police had already spotted the suspicious vehicle some ten minutes earlier, and were evacuating the city centre. hundreds of people were led out of the busy hotels and bars. four men were arrested, and remain in custody. thankfully, the local community and the police service acted bravely

together, and we got everybody awayjust in time. but the bomb detonated just as we were leaving the area, and it's only by good grace that local people weren't killed. this attack has been linked to the dissident republican group known as the new ira, a proscribed organisation which aims to bring about a united ireland. police say a pizza delivery van was hijacked by two armed men in derry a short time before the explosion. it was a very crude device that was placed inside this vehicle, but officers described it as a significant attempt to kill people. in a place where politics can be so divisive, today, political leaders were united. my message to those, whoever they are, who were responsible for this action is to stop, to understand that they have no support for such actions. the democratic unionist party leader, arlene foster, called it "a pointless act of terror which must be condemned in the strongest terms."

scenes like this were once common in northern ireland, but not anymore. this attack reawakens memories of a darker time. emma vardy, bbc news, derry. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a race against time. rescuers struggle to reach a toddler trapped for a week underground. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first — america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him

'the butcher of lyon'. klaus altmann is being held here on a fraud charge in bolivia, but the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot, a tide of humanity that's believed by officials to have broken all records. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: affected by the global slowdown and a trade war with the us, latest data shows china's economy is slowing. the british prime minister is preparing to unveil her latest proposals for leaving the european union, after plans were rejected by mps last week. south african leaders

have been congratulating felix tshisekedi, who's been declared president of the democratic republic of congo by a constitutional court. his main rival martin fayulu says it's a 'constitutional coup d'etat‘ and has called for peaceful demonstrations across the country. louise dewast has more from the capital kinshasa. steps away from felix tshisekedi's party headquarters, it has been a day of celebrations. his party had tried unsuccessfully for decades to seize power. many here are also celebrating the outgoing president, joseph kabila, for overseeing a handover of power. but felix tshisekedi will have to face legitimacy concerns, although he is from an opposition party. some of his opponents claim he made some kind of backroom deal with the outgoing president kabila, who they say it helped to rig the results in exchange for letting his party remain influential. felix tshisekedi denies that but he will also have to face governing challenges because the ruling coalition have

won over half of parliamentary seats. that means the prime minister will be picked from their ranks and they will likely also get to pick governors and senators. so while people here in this area of the capital are celebrating the big question now is whether the rest of the population in this vast country, and also the international community, recognise his victory amid allegations of electoral fraud. a referendum in the southern philippines is underway to create a new muslim autonomous region in the volatile area of mindanao. almost 3 million people in the predominantly muslim region are voting to ratify the law. after years of conflict, it would give closure to a peace deal signed between the maw—roh islamic liberation front and the philippine government. the bbc‘s howard johnson is in manila. this has been going on for decades,

this armed conflict between the philippine army and the moro islamic liberation front. it went all the way back to the '60s. even colonel gaddafi, the former leader of libya, intervened to try to bring around peace. successive governments here in the philippines failed to do that. thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced, but president rodrigo duterte made it one of his campaign promises, and he brought about the referendum injuly last year. now, what we see today are people coming out to vote for what is ultimately an autonomous region, with greater self—determination, the right to set its own fiscal rules, to govern itself through a parliamentary system, and also a budget to spend on tourism and cultural activities. the moro people would like to have their own self—determination it is one of the poorest and there are many illiterate people there.

millions of people are expected to turn up today to come to this vote. rescue teams in southern spain are drilling a tunnel in an attempt to find a two year old boy who fell down an unmarked well a week ago. engineers, emergency services, and volunteers have been working around the clock (tx near the southern city of malaga — around the clock near the southern city of malaga — to try to find julien rosello. his family say they heard him cry out as he fell, but he hasn't been heard from since. courtney bembridge reports. a normally quiet part of southern spain, totalan is now the scene of a large—scale rescue operation. it's been a week since the toddler disappeared from a family outing and his farmer raised the alarm. translation: we feel dead, but with the hope that we have an angel that will help my son get out of there as soon as possible.

we will not stop until we take my child out from where he is. thank you very much for the support. thank you very much for your work. the boy fell into an unmarked illegal well just 25 centimetres wide. it is too narrow for rescuers to access, so they are drilling a wider tunnel next to it, hoping to reach him in that way, but the operation is complex. translation: we are hopeful that this work will take us as little time as possible under favourable conditions. we hope the conditions will be better than the last few days. officials have been unable to find signs of life but say they are working on the basis the child is still alive. rescuers have used a camera to inspect the shaft, finding hair belonging to the boy, as well as a bag of sweets and a cup. but there's a blockage stopping them from getting to the bottom of the bore hole. all the colleagues and people working here have as their only goal reaching the boy

as soon as possible. and therefore we are incredibly motivated, incredibly. we don't feel the hours, we don't feel the fatigue, and we don't feel the lack of sleep. eéiéégmzim 2 7; of the day. courtney bembridge, bbc news. american lindsey vonn — seen as one of the best professional skiers in history — has said she is considering retiring, after she failed to finish a ski race in cortina in italy. 34—year—old ms vonn has 82 career ski victories which is the most of any woman, but she's been plagued by injuries in recent years.

kim gittleson has more. it wasn't supposed to end this way. but after lindsey vonn failed to finish a super—g ski race in cortina, italy, she said it was possible that this event might have been her last. announcer: lindsey vonn! a superstar in the ski world, ms vonn had previously said she planned to retire in december, due to chronic knee injuries and persistent pain. even before the race began, it was clear that it would be an emotional weekend. on saturday, she was moved to tears after organisers surprised her with a highlight reel of her historic 12 wins on the course. woman: we love you, lindsey! lindsey vonn has won three olympic medals, four overall world cup championships and an astounding 82 professional titles — that's the most of any

woman, and just four short of the overall record. she's a household name in america, where she's credited with elevating women's skiing, inspiring the next generation — like sunday's winner, fellow american mikaela shiffrin. although ms vonn said she hadn't fully decided yet, skywatchers are gearing up for a lunar eclipse that's underway. it's called a 'super blood wolf moon‘ and should be visible in many parts of the world. this is the scene live in los angeles. we believe we are in a partial eclipse stage. at some point after

that, it will start to go red. walter freeman is an assistant teaching professor of physics. he joined merely to explain about this phenomenon. starting at about 10:33 new york time, the earth's shadow is going to start to pass in front of the moon, so usually when the moon is full, the sun shines directly on it and we see the entire disk of the moon lit up. but if earth is in the way, it will block the sunlight, so starting at about 10:33, the earth's shadow will move from the bottom left to the top right and cover the entire moon, until 10:40 eastern us time. the entire moon will be covered by the sun's shadow. that's going to stay for about an hour, and then the shadow is going to leave from the top right. and when the moon is completely eclipsed, when the earth's shadow completely falls over it, a tiny amount of red light will leak around the outsides of the earth. it's — in a way, it's all of the sunrises and sunsets that happen everywhere on earth all at the same time, when you see that red glow coming over the horizon. well, any of that light that is not seen by skywatchers keeps going and that will land

of the moon's surface and it's going to very dimly illuminate it red. so instead of a bright white full moon, during a period of total eclipse we are going to see a dull red moon, and that is where the term blood moon comes from. we are getting some pictures, very early pictures, coming out of the uk in hull. we can see them there on the screen. walter, why are people getting so excited about this phenomenon? well, short version is it's beautiful. any lunar eclipse is beautiful and these are inspiring things that the sky gives to us. there was art long before people were around to see it. this one — so the other words that you used to describe it, you said this is a supermoon and a wolf moon. so those two things are much less exciting. they are kind of artificial things people have created. so the moon's orbit isn't quite circular — sometimes it is a little bit closer to us than others — so a supermoon is when the moon is full at the same time as it is a little bit closer to earth than it

sometimes otherwise is. it isn't much of a change, so it is only about 10% bigger than average, but this full moon that is eclipsed is also one of those times when the moon is maybe 10% bigger in the sky than average. and a wolf moon is simply the first moon of a new year. so those two things are kind of normal and mundane. the really exciting thing is the fact that there is a lunar eclipse tonight. walter freeman there from syracuse university. let's look at those live pictures coming out from los angeles is that lunar eclipse gets under way. the full eclipse will be at 8:41pm local time. for those in the uk, you will see the red moon at about 440 gmt. hello.

eyes to the skies for the total lunar eclipse. there are some areas of cloud around england and wales, some high cloud in scotland and northern ireland that may limit the views, so good luck! the blue indicating where there's a frost around. in fact, more widespread frost to start monday compared with sunday, so that is indicative of that. there are some breaks in the cloud, allowing temperatures to drop away for quite a widespread frost, then, for the start of monday. underneath this ridge of high pressure, giving the first half of the day for most of us some quiet weather but things are going to change. a more vigorous weather system is approaching from the north—west. that quite quickly is going to thicken the cloud even further in scotland and northern ireland. the winds pick up as well — gusts eventually towards 60 miles an hour, i think, in the western isles — and then here comes the wet weather, moving into northern ireland, into western scotland through the afternoon and into the evening. some hill snow again, especially in scotland. ahead of that, though, much of eastern scotland, much of england and wales — at least during daylight hours —

will stay dry. quite a bit of cloud around, some hazy brightness here and there. probably some good sunshine in kent. it is a cold day though, around 4—8 degrees. this wet weather pushes south, then, monday evening and night. snow to the hills in scotland, the pennines, maybe some snow to lower levels, some wet snow and some heavier bursts. squally winds as that moves south as well. clearing behind it, notice some wintry showers coming in towards the north—west for the start of tuesday — a sign of things to come on tuesday. temperatures dipping again behind this weather system to give a touch of frost going into tuesday morning. that weather system pushes away early on tuesday from the far south—east and a flow of quite cold air coming in from the north—west on which we see these wintry showers. sunshine too, but showers into northern and western scotland, northern ireland, wales, western england. snow notjust on hills out of these. get a heavy shower, even to lower levels, a brief covering, and it will start to drift a little bit further eastwards on through tuesday on that north—westerly wind, making it feel colder.

as we look ahead to wednesday, a few of these showers running in towards the west. quite a bit of sunshine elsewhere. could start to pick up some showers, too, towards east anglia and south—west england going into wednesday night—early thursday. that could give a little bit of snow in places so be aware of that potential. but actually in the second half of the week, there is quite a bit of dry weather around. some sunshine at times. frosty nights. by friday, the atlantic weather system brings thicker cloud towards parts of scotland and northern ireland but at that stage, it becomes a little less cold. at the end of the week, looks like it turns colder again, though, next weekend. much of this week, though, is cold. sunshine and wintry showers with snow in places, and some frosty nights to come. the this is bbc news. the headlines: china says its economy slowed last year, with growth rates at 6.6% compared to the same time a year ago. it reflects the continued slowing of the world's second—biggest economy, which is feeling the effects of a global slowdown and is also embroiled in a trade war with the united states. theresa may will unveil her latest plans for brexit later, after the withdrawal agreement was voted down by the house of commons last week.

the british prime minister has already updated her cabinet on talks with mps from rival parties and factions. riot police and extreme right—wing activists in greece have been involved in clashes for several hours, that left 25 police officers and an unknown number of protesters injured. they were protesting at plans to recognise greece's northern neighbour as the republic of north macedonia.