welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: venezuela closes its embassy in the united states as nicolas maduro accuses donald trump of trying to overthrow him. the us senate votes down two proposals to end the government shutdown. donald trump says he's willing to consider a "reasonable" deal. the sister of premier league footballer emiliano sala begs rescuers not to give up hope as they call off the search for his plane missing in the english channel. translation: i'm asking you, please, don't stop looking for them. it has been three days and i still have hope they are alive. warmer weather means a less salty sea in the arctic. why has that got climate scientists worried? venezuela's embassy and all its consulates

in the united states are being closed on the orders of the president, nicolas maduro, a day after the us officially recognised the opposition leader juan guaido as interim president. in response, the us state department has ordered all its non—emergency staff to leave caracas. at least a dozen countries, including canada and the uk, have nowjoined the us in backing the venezuelan opposition. mr maduro accuses them of attempting a coup. russia, china, turkey, mexico, bolivia and cuba are supporting him. here's our north america editorjon sopel. last night in caracas, and, much like a lot of recent nights in the venezuelan capital, gunfire, violence, protests against the government. a cycle seemingly without end as the economy of this oil—rich country collapses. but there was one crucial difference. it came after mass rallies as the leader of the national assembly, 35—year—old juan guaido, declared himself the interim president as thousands took to the streets —

a move that brought immediate backing from the americans and demands that nicolas maduro, who has presided over venezuela's economic collapse, steps aside. the regime of former president nicolas maduro is illegitimate. his regime is morally bankrupt. it is economically incompetent and it is profoundly corrupt. in light of these facts, we call on venezuela's security forces to ensure the protection of interim president guaido‘s physical integrity and his safety. a number of other latin american countries have followed suit, so too canada. and britain as well, with the foreign secretary in washington today. this regime has done untold damage to the people of venezuela. 10% of that population have left venezuela, such is the misery they are suffering. but in venezuela, defiance from the president.

translation: i think there is no doubt in the world that donald trump himself wants to impose a de facto government, unconstitutional, a coup d'etat in venezuela against the people and democracy. there is no doubt. russia, a long—standing ally and supplier of weaponry and economic assistance to the venezuelan government, has warned of the dire consequences if the us intervened. translation: it is another flagrant interference into international affairs of a sovereign state. as you know that have been several attempts to oust maduro from power, including attempts of his physical liquidation. the president's national security advisor was asked why single out venezuela when there are plenty of other brutal dictators that donald trump doesn't do anything about. the answer came that america has a responsibility, it is in their hemisphere and it is an issue that donald trump cares deeply about. new sanctions will be targeted at venezuela's oil industry.

donald trump says no option is off the table, including a military one. he has made his statement of intent. the world now watches to see how america's commander in chief follows through. jon sopel, bbc news. with its huge oil reserves, venezuela should be one of the world's richest countries. but a collapse in oil prices and a series of economic missteps have left much of the population desperately poor. food and basic goods are in short supply and inflation is predicted to reach 10 million per cent this year. our correspondent vladimir hernandez has been following the crisis in venezuela for some time. the clean up the day after. when there is chaos at a political level, that is normally followed by chaos on the streets. at least a dozen people were killed in anti—government protests yesterday. many more, likejesus, were injured. translation: last night, a battle broke out between armed local boys and the security forces. they came into the slum and people started shouting at them, telling them things like, "do you not struggle

to get food, too?" translation: it was horrible. there were bullets fired, and rubber bullets, too, over here and there, waves of people coming and going. but what is really going on in this country? i have been to venezuela several times in the last two years to report on the gravity of the humanitarian crisis. i have met some of those that are the most vulnerable and see how more and more people are living off the streets, sometimes even chasing rubbish trucks to find something to eat. the venezuelan government took almost full control of the food supply in the last two years. but amidst claims of mismanagement and a simultaneous crash in oil prices, most supermarkets were left like this. no food. in my last visit to venezuela a few months ago, i found something even more shocking. rotten beef is also sold here in this market.

it smells strong. it has got flies all over it. how did it all come to this? the government blames us economic sanctions, but they were imposed after the economy fell into recession. many believe instead that this is the result of an influx of cash, a historic oil revenue, being badly managed by the ruling party. this is why many venezuelans elected hugo chavez almost 20 years ago as an alternative to the traditional but widely perceived as corrupt parties. but under him is when things may have started to unravel. today, with international pressure rising, the risk of a popular revolt against president maduro has never been higher. vladimir hernandez, bbc news. the us senate has voted on two plans to end the partial government shutdown, but both failed to get the support they needed. on day 3a of this stalemate, the parties are still far apart, and it's furloughed federal workers who are paying the price. another casualty has been

the president's state of the union address, which he's now conceded won't happen until the impasse is resolved. our washington correspondent chris buckler says there have been talks between republican and democratic leaders to try to end the partial shutdown. it should be said that democrats and republicans have been talking tonight. there have been some kind of — negotiations is probably too strong a word for it, but certainly, they have been talking which they see is a step forward, so there are these glimmers of hope that potentially, they could come up with a compromise. but the key thing here is they need president trump's agreement to any deal and as things stand and those comments where he said he would agree to a "reasonable" deal, he also made very clear that it was the wall that was important to him, this border wall with mexico that he says will tackle drug — drugs, crimes, gangs, these things that he continues to talk about. and for the minute, democrats simply are not prepared to give it, so you do get the sense that the stalemate is going

to continue and, of course, that is affecting hundreds of thousands of government workers. with tomorrow i think another day without a pay cheque, of course. yes, and each week that goes by where they do not get a wage, it is really leading to them becoming more angry and more frustrated with the way this is being handled, and there are huge dangers of this, for both the president and also and there are huge dangers for this, for both the president and also for the democrats, in that they are watching these pictures that are on the nightly news here in america every single evening, of workers who have been told either that they are on unpaid leave and they will not get money or alternatively, that they will have to wait till some unknown date to get their pay cheque. they are talking about the frustration that they have. they're also being seen going to food banks in order to get food to feed their families. they are having to rely on help to frankly pay their bills. and that hasn't been helped by the fact that the commerce secretary, wilbur ross, who is a multimillionaire, said today he could not understand why many of them were going to food

banks and why they simply didn't get bank loans. yes, he accepted that they would have to pay some interest but surely, that would be something that they could do. it's given the sense that perhaps some in the administration — perhaps going further than that, some in washington — are not really aware of what some government workers are paid and what they are going through and as a result, i think there is growing pressure on both sides to come to some kind of conclusion that will end this shutdown. but for the minute, the president seems determined to continue until he gets money for that wall. let's get some of the day's other news. one of brazil's few openly gay congressmen has announced he won't serve a new term in office because of death threats. jean wyllys, of the socialism and liberty party, now plans to live abroad. in a newspaper interview, he said violence against lgbt people in brazil had worsened since the election of jair bolsonaro. brazil's new president has made many insulting and divisive comments about homosexuality.

the intelligence committee of the us senate has formally requested — subpoenaed — testimony from president trump's former lawyer and personal fixer, michael cohen. on wednesday, he postponed another public session, saying mr trump had threatened his family. the former scottish first minister alex salmond has appeared in court charged with attempted rape and sexual assault. he faced 14 charges at edinburgh sheriff court, including breach of the peace and indecent assault. he made no plea and was released on bail. outside court, he said he was "innocent of any criminality" and would defend himself "to the utmost". the search has now ended for premier league footballer emiliano sala and his pilot david ibbotson. their plane was lost, it seems, over the english channel. on monday evening, the striker was being flown from france to the welsh capital. he'd just signed for cardiff city. contact was lost off guernsey in the channel islands. from cardiff, sian lloyd reports. romina sala travelled from argentina

to south wales to plead for the search of her brother to continue. three days after he disappeared, she believes that emiliano and the pilot of the plane are still alive. "her brother would not give up," she said. translation: emiliano, my brother, he is a fighter. but within hours of her arrival, the search in the channel islands for the two men had been called off. that decision has been difficult, as you can imagine, not least because there are a huge number of people, both here in the uk and in france, who have been involved in this search over the last three days. the 28—year—old striker had last spoken to his sister before boarding the light aircraft from france to cardiff. he told her how much he was looking forward tojoining his new club. the search for your brother has just been called off. what is your message at this stage? translation: i'm asking you, please,

don't stop looking for them. it's been three days and i've still got hope that they're alive. it's terrible, it's desperate not knowing anything. we don't have certainty of anything. emiliano sala signed for cardiff city at the weekend but has been missing since monday night, along with 59—year—old david ibbotson, who was piloting the light aircraft. the single—engine plane disappeared off radar and an extensive search off the coast of the channel islands has been carried out, but there have been no sightings. the argentinian had been a popular player at the french club nantes, where he had been based for four years. today, the team's captain said that no one there was giving up hope. translation: we ask you to stand in solidarity with us, to be united, and to respect the family, who absolutely refuse to grieve, and continue to believe. the rescue effort may be over, but for romina sala,

the search for answers continues. sian lloyd, bbc news, cardiff. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: fake or fuhrer — the watercolours that may or may not be the work of adolf hitler. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word "revolution". the earthquake singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. the new government

is firmly in control of the entirely republic of uganda. moscow got its first taste of western fast food as mcdonald's opened their biggest restaurant in pushkin square. but the hundreds of muscovites who queued up today won't find it cheap with a big mac costing half a day's wages for the average russian. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: venezuela's president nicolas maduro has accused the united states government of trying to stage a coup in his country. the us senate has voted down two proposals to end the government shutdown — donald trump says he's willing to consider a ‘reasonable' deal. the world refugee council has called for urgent and radical change to curb the worsening global refugee crisis.

the council, based in canada, wants to create a new international action group to work outside the constraints of the united nations. 55 recommendations in a new report, including a plan to use the frozen assets of dictators, to finance changes that could help the 68 million displaced people in the world. joining us is senior executive of the world refugee council, fen hampson, who is in new york after meeting with the un. i know you have been meeting with the un. i suppose the question has to be that if the un, with all its member states, its money and its power, can't sort out this crisis, what hope the council or a new action group? i think it's fair to say that as we identify in our report, there are many things that individual states can do to help with this crisis, either working individually or in concert with each other. we have seen this kind of progress before, when the states,

nonstate actors, mobilise around a state of issues or proposals. as you just mentioned, one of the proposals is to seize the billions, we are talking literally billions, of frozen assets of dictators. nicolas maduro is a good case in point, who are responsible for many of these crises and repurposed some of the money to help the real victims who are refugees and forcibly displaced. in many cases, the money was stolen from their home countries. wouldn't they want it back? well, in some cases, certainly with regimes that stay in power, of course the regimes wa nt stay in power, of course the regimes want it back. what we are suggesting is that at some point, if there was a regime change, those funds could be returned but in the meantime, let's help the citizens of those countries by re— purpose in some of those funds to help with

humanitarians assistance and those communities hosting those refugees. often on the borders of the countries concerned. you know of course, climate change and war is sending many, many people on the move. even the way so many are being treated, people are hardening their ha rd treated, people are hardening their hard against refugees? but the fact of the matter is that many countries that are signatories to the 1951 convention, we have an obligation to help refugees, to help ourfellow world citizens who found themselves in unfortunate circumstances and i think it's important to recognise that what we are saying in this report is if we get really serious, if we start going upstream, tackling the root causes of the problem, not just dealing with people when they show up on our borders, that it will

be possible to rally public support around some of these initiatives. good to talk to you. thank you very much. my pleasure. the man who killed a woman in a speedboat crash on the river thames in 2015 and then went on the run, will appear in court in the former soviet republic of georgia on friday for an extradition hearing. jack shepherd was convicted injuly of the manslaughter of charlotte brown and sentenced to six years in jail in his absence. steve rosenberg sent this report from the georgian capital tbilisi. after ten months on the run and 2,500 miles from home, jack shepherd had handed himself into georgian police. he'll spend another night in this detention centre in tbilisi. tomorrow, he's in court and could soon face extradition. his defence lawyer told me that jack shepherd had made a mistake fleeing britain. i'm not saying that somebody forced him to do that. i'm not saying that we have to blame the british justice system. i'm just saying it

was his decision, yes. but i believe that this was not the right decision. he knows that, he agrees with it. now he wants to do his best to collaborate with the judges. last year, shepherd was convicted of the manslaughter of charlotte brown, on the left, after his speedboat crashed in the thames. he continues to insist it was a tragic accident. he's been found guilty and convicted of manslaughter. how can someone continue now, still, to be in denial about their reckless actions? a british court had sentenced jack shepherd to six years in prison. now it's the courts in georgia that will decide if he'll be sent home to face justice. steve rosenberg, bbc news, tbilisi. climate change is redrawing the map of the arctic, according to scientists meeting in norway. in what researchers claim is the first sign of a major modern climatic shift, they say the barents sea, which has been part of the arctic ocean for 12,000 years, is being swallowed by the atlantic.

from the norwegian arctic, our environment analyst roger harrabin reports. sea ice, formed in the high arctic. it helps create a cold, fresh surface layer that acts as a cap on warm, saltier waters beneath. but with climate change, there is less sea ice getting to norway's barents sea. the north barents sea has been dominated for 12,000 years by sea ice flowing down from the high arctic. but now, that flow is diminishing and the character of the sea is changing fast. soon, researchers say, the region will have no sea ice at all, so it will no longer be part of the arctic. it had an arctic type of climate for the last 12,000 years. we are probably witnessing the first modern example of a rapid climate shift event where the arctic shrinks in response to global warming. scientists say the barents sea could effectively become part

of the atlantic in as little as a decade. let's imagine this is the north barents sea. this blue layer here represents the cold, fresh water flowing in from the high arctic. it is forming a cap on this layer of clear, warmer, saltier water coming in from the atlantic. but now the high arctic is changing, look what's happening. we are going to use this to give you a very simplistic demonstration. that, in a sense, is what's happening. and it is having a profound effect. research from ships over 50 years in the barents sea shows that the cold surface layer has been steadily mixing with the warmer layer beneath. the more it mixes, the warmer it gets. and the warmer it gets, the more it mixes. but what does the warming mean for creatures that live in the barents sea?

lisjorgensen says species like this brittle star could struggle to survive in warmer waters. these creatures may also be sensitive to warmth. it is a snail giving a piggy back to an anemone. this sea slug loves cold water, too. so does this remarkable squid. if too many species are lost to the ecosystem, no—one knows what will happen. everything is depending on each other. so if you pop the ecosystem in one place, there will be a cascade of effect all through the ecosystem. this is a special part of the world where the sun is just returning after a two—month absence. the profound changes here may be influencing the uk's weather. scientists can't be sure yet. but they say they are struggling to keep up with the human impact on the planet. roger harrabin, bbc news, in the norwegian arctic. police in germany have seized three

paintings claimed to be the work of adolf hitler. they are now being examined to see if they are forgeries. they were due to go on sale at an auction in berlin. the bbc‘s tim allman has more details. at first glance, this watercolour looks fairly unremarkable but take a look at the signature. three paintings, said to be the work of one of history's greatest villains. adolf hitler may well have been a significant figure on the global stage but when it comes to art, not so much. translation: in my opinion, they have no artistic value. they're basically proficient. there were different opinions but it has been done well. but the value of the objects and the media interest comes solely from the name at the bottom, it has nothing to do with any sort of artistic value.

the paintings were due to go under the hammer at this auction house in berlin but then local police announced on twitter that officers had confiscated three watercolours allegedly painted by adolf hitler and that officials were now investigating attempted fraud and the forgery of documents. hitler was a prolific artist in his youth. in his book mein kampf, he claims to have produced as many as three paintings and day. much of his work he had destroyed during the second world war but some of it survived, including these latest paintings? translation: i can't really say but it doesn't seem worth it to fake it based on the artistic value. if you walk along the seine and see 100 artists, 80 will be better than this. either way, they are now being examined to see if they're fake or not. hitler's shadow continues to loom

large even when it comes to his paintings. tim allman, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. we are showing is other pictures, possibly more interesting. this police officer had a narrower state from a car spinning on the road. another driver slid into a ditch. a very lucky escape. —— and narrow escape. a reminder of our top story. venezuela and the us are locked in an escalating diplomatic confrontation — a day after washington recognised the opposition leader as interim president. venezuela has said it is shutting down its diplomatic missions in the us. washington has responded by ordering all its non—emergency personnel to leave venezuela. more on all the news any time on the bbc website. you can reach me and most of the team on twitter. thanks

for watching. hello there. today's the day that our whether turns significantly milder. if we look at the temperatures we had yesterday afternoon, they were languishing into low—single figures. two, three, four, something like that. this afternoon, up as high as 12 degrees so for some, ajump of some 10 degrees celsius or so. the thing bringing the warmer air is a warm front that continues to edge its way eastwards so we are in too much milder weather with the atlantic flexing its muscles for friday. as well as the milder air working in, a lot of cloud around with some light rain and drizzle, some fog patches, particularly across eastern england. temperatures continue to rise hour by hour. it will be quite mild to start the day across western areas. that's how we start off friday. extensive cloud around and thick enough to bring light rain and drizzle. it will ease from midday onwards across eastern england, but we will see more rain coming and going across the north—west

of the country from time to time. the far north of scotland, still into cool air, but otherwise, central and southern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales, will see double figures. quite murky for some of us and the rather grey skies will continue through friday night and into the early hours of saturday. a mild night with temperatures 7—9 for most of us. but the cloud will continue thicken with outbreaks of rain becoming increasingly heavy for northern scotland. that rain is all tied in with this area of low pressure moving in for saturday. we're still into the mild air behind this warm front. a mild start to the weekend but a cloudy start as well. outbreaks of rain in scotland, some wet weather pushing into northern ireland and eventually western parts of england and wales. it is probably no bad thing that we see some rain because january has been dry. it will be mild once again, temperatures between nine and 11, however, the second half of the weekend turns significantly colder. the same area of low pressure moves

eastwards through the north sea and we see the winds coming down from the arctic, particularly across western areas of the uk. it will feel cold and we will have gales and potentially severe gales around coastal areas and hills. notice some white on the chart, yes, we will see the rain turn to snow, particularly in the hills of scotland as the colder air continues to work in. outbreaks of rain continuing into eastern parts of the uk. that's your latest weather. this is bbc news, the headlines venezuela and the us are locked in an escalating diplomatic confrontation — a day after washington recognised the opposition leader as interim president. venezuela has said it is shutting down its diplomatic missions in the us. washington has responded by ordering all its non—emergency personnel to leave venezuela. the republican and democratic leaders in the us senate have been holding private talks — to try to negotiate an end to the partial government showdown. they are trying to agree a deal which would fund federal agencies for three weeks. president trump says he will support a ‘reasonable' agreement. the search has now ended for premier league footballer emiliano sala and his pilot david ibbotson after their plane vanished over the english channel. the 28—year—old striker

was being flown from nantes in france on monday evening to cardiff where he's just signed for the city's football team. now on bbc news, panorama. tonight on panorama, we ask, how could hundreds of patients be killed in one small british hospital? itjust got worse and worse, and i said "actually you're murdering him, aren't you." all these people had their lives shortened in a place they went to get help. she didn't deserve that. she wasn't ready to go. she was a fun—loving lady. we hear from those who tried to stop the killing. what did i miss out in trying to convince the police,

this was a case you have got to look into seriously. mr millett, hi.