this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: venezuela cuts diplomatic ties with the us after washington recognises the opposition leader as rightful president. a chinese—australian dissident detained in china. could it be more retaliation for the arrest of a huawei executive in canada? i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: this 1a year—old's family say she took her own life under the influence of disturbing material online. we confront the owners of instagram. there is a picture of some slit wrists, that's from instagram. there's a picture full of blood, that's from instagram. those are all against your policies, but they are all available on instagram. and two towns fight an uphill battle. new zealand and wales face off for the title of the world's steepest street. good morning.

it's 9am in singapore, 1am in the morning in london, taken to the streets in protest against the rule of president nicolas maduro. in a move which only increased the pressure, the us president donald trump said he recognised the opposition leader, juan guaido as interim president. in return, president nicolas maduro said he's breaking diplomatic relations with the united states and told us diplomats they have 72 hours to leave. the bbc‘s barbara plett usher reports. is this the man is set to become venezuela's new leader? juan guaido, he was sworn

in as the head of the opposition natienal assembly = e president of the country. that's the signal president trump had been waiting for. within minutes, he recognised the move, calling juan guaido the legitimate elected leader, promising to back him with the full weight of us economic and diplomatic power. reporter: gigs mug-fl- does that mean you're considering... all. ogtou—é'flsmfi , , ~ ~ fia;§§g&§£§:§; tstt. 2t tt t t t t t t" the vice—president said the us would stand with the people

until they restored democracy. the united states, and on behalf of president donald trump, and all the american people, let me express the unwavering support of the united states as you, the people of venezuela, raise your voices in a call forfreedom. mr trump has called on other countries in the region to follow suit, and many have. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. 553315» 2“; belt l152; “4,“qu “no. ran; w" n n qef e§h§§e§fi§l§fi¥§§§§fi§fiffiw 7 "7”? do we know about this case? well, as

you mentioned, the australian government has been officially told that writer yang hengjun has been detained here and canberra is now seeking some sort of indication from chinese officials as to why he is being held. also probably by tomorrow the detained australian is entitled to a visit from a diplomat from australia, according to the china— australia consulate agreement, so that i suppose will also provide some more indication to the australian government as to why this has happened. now, according to his friends, yang hengjun arrived at guangzhou airport with his wife. she was travelling, though, on a chinese passport. they entered the airport in different lines, and then she saw him being grabbed by around ten what she thought were state security agents and taken away. she then made her own way via shanghai to beijing

and was interviewed by state security. she's not allowed to talk about that. and now she's still waiting to have contact with her husband, who she been allowed to speak to. and the other thing that's going to happen today is that, in a quite remarkable piece of timing, on this pretty hazy day as i'm sure you can see in beijing behind me, the australian defence minister has arrived. now, he has high—level meetings here with the chinese government, and i think many would be expecting that he will be raising theissue be expecting that he will be raising the issue of this australian national who has been taken away for no official reason yet. but what we think is probably state security. 0k, steve, thank you very much for the update. also making news today: us president donald trump says he'll deliver an alternative event to the traditional state of the union address, after he was blocked from appearing in the chamber by the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. she said she would not authorise the address while the government is in partial shutdown.

mr trump called the move a disgrace and a sad day for the country. our washington correspondent, chris buckler has more. there are occasions whenever the state of the union is written in a letter and given to congress in that way, it has become something of a tradition for presidents to stand up and to give that speech to congress. it is a speech where the president has a chance to set up the goals or agenda for the year ahead and speak to the legislative body that is all important in terms of fulfilling exactly what he wants for the year ahead. but there has been this exchange of letters, initially an invitation from nancy pelosi and then of course, that invitation taken away and president trump said, well, actually, i'm going to deliver it anyway, there are no security concerns. nancy pelosi is not backing down, and the latest in this exchange of letters has seen her say, well, frankly, you're not welcome while the government remains in at least partial shutdown here in washington, dc. as a result, she has basically said, you cannot deliver this speech, but president trump is already

gearing up for something different. frankly, he wants that tv time, he wants to be given an opportunity to set out his agenda and he says he will do that in an alternative event. we don't know yet exactly what that means. chris buckler reporting from washington. other stories in the news today: the search for a missing plane carrying a pilot and a premier league footballer has been called off for the night and a decision on whether to resume the search will be taken on thursday. cardiff city striker emiliano sala and pilot david ibbotson were in the plane that vanished from radar on monday. guernsey police said an intensive nine—hour search found no trace of the missing aircraft. a rescuer said there was no hope of finding the 28—year—old argentine or pilot alive. the eu commission has told eu states to tighten checks on non—eu malta, cyprus and bulgaria are the only eu countries which sell their citizenship, issuing so—called golden passports in return for investments. after implementing a crackdown

on tax evasion, china's tax authority has collected more than 11 billion yuan, that's $1.62 billion, in unpaid taxes from film and television industry professionals. the programme began after chinese actress fan bingbing was ordered the military government promised a quick return to civilian rule after it seized power in 2014, but it has repeatedly postponed the election date until now.

our south east asia correspondent jonathan head, in bangkok, says it's difficult to determine the outcome, but citizens are more motivated than ever to be heard. it'll be the first elections since 2011. we will have a very different electorate, a lot of young people who have not voted before, and that makes it quite difficult i think for people, particularly after this almost five years of political deep—freeze under the military, to know exactly how people's loyalties will work out during the election. the military, as you say, did promise a speedy return to democratic rule. they have postponed, well, some say at least five times, and even quite recently they did stipulate the likelihood of an election in februaryjust a couple of months ago, that had to be readjusted because the king has chosen to have his coronation, his formal coronation in may,

as proxies, parties who would like the the party that has won every election for the last 20 years iii'ifz'ifiz!!ffi 1555 if??? by billionairetycoonf ,, . , ,

their party is called pheu thai — we don't know yet exactly whojhey will,choose,,,, ,, candidate, but the big question about pheu thai is new constitution but it's always done will it do as well this time, 5&3 ”11;;1§1§ 85“ mg 3115? ksfi able to form an alternative its own new party? there is no question general prayut is their choice to carry on. facebook says it's deeply sorry after it emerged a british teenager who took her own life had viewed disturbing content about suicide on social media. molly russell, who was 1a, died in 2017. her father says he believes instagram helped kill his daughter.

facebook, which owns instagram, says graphic content which sensationalises self—harm and suicide has no place on the platform. the bbc‘s amol rajan challenged facebook‘s vice president in northern europe over the issue, and began by asking for his reaction to molly's death. the first thing i'd like to say is just what a difficult story that was to read and, like anyone, i was deeply upset and i'm deeply sorry for how this must have been such a devastating event for theirfamily. there's a picture of some slit wrists. that's from instagram. there's a picture full of blood. that's from instagram. those are all against your policies, but they were all available on instagram. well, we have to make sure that we look at these and ensure that those are taken down if they are against our policy. don't you think these should be against your policies? people with pictures of slit wrists, which 14—year—olds can access?

if people are posting in order to seek help, in order to seek support from communities, the experts !f it‘s. 5195 e55 ==h=airfifiau==g and if we need to work harder to make sure it isn't on our platform, we certainly will. how can brands trust facebook and trust instagram specifically to be a safe environment, when they're mixed up with this kind of material? they want to make sure that we're living up to the responsibilities that they have of us, and i think we can always improve. but there are... there are areas where we've made significant amount of investments, huge amounts of focus in trying to get this right. but i think it is recognised that this is a complex area. at the heart of this is a simple question. how do you control the uncontrollable? social media now influences how we feel, who we vote for, even how businesses target us.

but these platforms have so much content that, ultimately, it will be faster machines and better algorithms, rather than more manpower, that will have to tackle te; 3‘3‘3‘5 1515435539; - lliiiii uglifgélil; éijililli 15355. w .. . .. . .,., . . . 7. gm. a glacial media platfgrm;"" ' i did this because i wanted to protect consumers. it is for the government and our legislators to make policy, but from. everyone. is they wait and they want us to act. whether that's working with experts, levels of investment into protection, integrity in our team, there is a way

is going to be more that we can do, g— is}?ffiézififiiéaitiflias‘fff:**i w, w , , ,, ,,, report at the bbc news website. there you'll find a link to organisations and websites offering support here in the uk and if you're outside of the uk, there may be similar organisations which offer those services. more at bbc.com/news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. live from london and singapore. still to come on the programme: we'll take a look at the new rivaly between new zealand and wales, and it's not rugby. also ahead on the programme: she's the american singer who's big in beijing. we'll reveal how christine welch has become a hit. 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. 12 klaus altmann is being held here on a fraud charge in bolivia, broken all records.

welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. iih‘jiiliibfi ujii ijiiiiiliiiilfi jifiz i'm babita sharma in london. it follows washington's recognition of the country's opposition leader as legitimate president. china has detained a chinese—australian writer, yang hengjun. there are concerns it may be part of a wider retaliation for the arrest of a huawei executive in canada. let's now take a look at some front pages from around the world. we start off with the international edition of the japan times,

and the country's prime minister, shinzo abe, is trying to resolve a decades long territorial dispute with russia. analysts say it's unlikely that president vladimir putin will hand back four small islands, that were seized by the soviet union after world war two. let's now turn the page. the straits times is reporting that an independent committee of inquiry will investigate the death of a singaporean actor. aloysius pang died in hospital after an accident during a military training exercise in new zealand. and the south china morning post has an image of hong kong activist joshua wong in a scuffle with security guards. he's protesting lawmakers‘s plans to make it a crime if anyone publicly and intentionally insults the chinese national anthem. those are the papers. new zealand and wales are usually rugby rivals, but now tensions are simmering in the battle to be crowned the world's steepest street.

in one corner, you have baldwin street in dunedin, on new zealand's south island, and it is defending its title with a confirmed gradient of 35% at its steepest. but residents of harlech in wales are adamant that their challenger street is steeper at 36%. tee feeeleté feteeeehee‘ i and i started by asking him how the street came to be so steep. i guess it was maybe surveyed and designed across the other side of the world, when the earliest settlers who set up the city arrived here.

mayor, how long is it and how long does it take to walk up? oh, it would take about ten minutes to walk up. well. it depends how fast , there are people who have done gut—buster runs up and down the street. the guinness book of records will be

coming up with the decision sooner rather than later. what are you going to do if you lose the title? well, we'll obviously have to rename the street the "steepest street in the southern hemisphere" or something like that, and we mightjust arrange an earthquake and give it a bit of a tilt and take the title back. but it could also be called the "original steepest street in the world". that's right. we'll wait and see. how do residents find the increasing popularity of baldwin street? it is sometimes a bit of a hassle for some of the residents. they look out the window and find tourists standing on their garden bed or their front lawn, as if it's a public place, so many of them. but mostly, they enjoy sharing the street with our visitors. to the wales do not settle the steep street in the world sooner rather than later, it might be settled on a

by than later, it might be settled on a rugby field at the end of the year injapan at the rugby world cup. rugby field at the end of the year in japan at the rugby world cupm may well be. we will keep you posted on who winds the title. —— wins. american singer christine welch has been writing and singing in mandarin chinese for years, but got her big break when one of her songs went viral on the chinese internet. this is her story. i hope that my lyrics can really reach people and speak to them. my name's christine welch. the name that i chose for myself is... (speaks mandarin chinese) i think it was around august that some people started coming to my facebook page and saying,

"hey, there's a ton of people who love your song on this new app called tic tac". some of it was, like, some really weird videos with my music behind it. the song was written in 2013. at that time, i was trying to decide what i wanted to do with my life, really. in every moment, there's so many possibilities. that's the feeling i was trying to convey. the song itself really reminded me of, like, snow falling. coming home at, like, midnight, sort of thing. i started learning chinese

at northwestern university. since at that time, i was just getting really into chinese music, i started writing songs and posting them on youtube. i've never written a song in english. i just feel like chinese is a very poetic language. i hope to keep recording music on my own. i mean, i think there's a lot of people who can sing chinese. i don't think that's really all that special, but i hope that my lyrics can really reach people and speak to them. what a beautiful voice. christine, we wish you the best of luck. you have been watching newsday. i'm babita sharma in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. a new warning from the uk international trade secretary about a no—deal brexit.

liam fox raises his concerns at davos. and before we go, rico, take a look at this. niagara has frozen in parts. the world—famous waterfall has been transformed into a winter wonderland due to the extreme cold. its seen more visitors than normal for this time of year because of these breathtaking views. thanks forjoining us, goodbye. good morning. so far this week, it's been the bleak midwinter, hasn't it? and it doesn't look as though we're going to see that much change for today. but there are some changes, albeit briefly, to come. now, low pressure in control. the isobars widely spread apart. that means clear skies, light winds, and temperatures have fallen below freezing once again. so, it's going to be a chilly start, with the exception out to the west. here, a little milder, with a little more cloud pushing in. but there could be the risk of some

ice first thing in the morning. we've had some nuisance showers moving down from the north—west, perhaps some fog lingering for a time. the showers then first thing across lincolnshire, east midlands, down into east anglia and the south—east corner, they will slowly ease away by lunchtime. behind it, breaks in this cloud, sunny spells coming through, but all the time thicker cloud and some outbreaks of showery rain starting to show their hand in the west. so here, seven to nine degrees, but in eastern areas with the sunshine, chilly, three to five celsius. but it's this milder into the south—west. the colder air, the early frost, back down into the south—east corner. so, east anglia and the south—east starting off chilly. then there'll be some rain moving through, and then behind it on friday, a legacy of cloud, some outbreaks of showery rain to come, but the noticeable difference

to the feel of the weather. widespread double—digits amass lbs, eeefllfjfl'i now, as we move out of friday into saturday, another series some colder air. we could see some snow to higher ground for scotland. the rain quite heavy through northern ireland and western fringes. and top temperatures on saturday of around six to 10 degrees. but it's this rain, as it pushes its way south and east across the country overnight, saturday into sunday, which allows the back door to open to this cold northerly aironce again. so we could see the rain turning to snow once again, and a noticeable difference to the feel of the weather as we move into sunday. so, the rain eases away, a blustery wind, scattering of wintry showers to come, and your thermometer might read four to seven degrees. but factor in the strength and the direction of the wind, it is going to feel much colder than that, sub zero for many. so, a noticeable difference to the second half of the weekend, i suspect. and the cold air is set to stay with us for the start of the new working week, although it should be largely fine

and dry with a return to some sunny spells. take care. i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story: venezuela has broken diplomatic relations with the the united states after washington recognised the country's opposition leader as the legitimate president. earlier, juan guaido unilaterally declared himself venezuela's acting leader in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of anti—government protestors. however, nicolas maduro insists that he remains in control. a chinese—australian writer has been arrested in china. yang hengjun, a former chinese diplomat and critic of beijing, disappeared last weekend. there are concerns that the incident may be part of a wider retaliation for the arrest of a senior executive of the chinese company huawei, in canada. and niagra falls has frozen. sub—zero conditision have frozen parts of the stunning waterfalls. the waters are still flowing, but the spray is covering nearby trees and buildings with a glistening coat of ice. and a top story from the uk: