this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: the record breaking freeze in america's midwest — at least seven people have died as temperatures drop below those in antarctica. as a brexit deal hangs in the balance, we have a special report on the belgian fishermen who stand to lose their livelihoods. if you are worried about a no—deal brexit, put your hand up. nearly everyone. and we hear about the rescue mission to save thousands of flamingo chicks abandoned by their parents during south africa's drought. in business: like it or not — facebook earnings surge despite a year of scandals, as users and advertisers shrug off concerns about privacy and fake news. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. also in the programme: politicians warn fast fashion retailers inaction on ethics is shocking. they say they are "failing to commit" to reducing their environmental and social impact. what do you think? will demand for the 50p t—shirt always trump our concern for the planet? get in touch hashtag bbc the briefing. millions in the american midwest are experiencing a blast of arctic air so ferocious they're being warned they risk frostbite if they stay outside for more than 10 minutes. at least 7 people have died in several states as a result of the so—called polar vortex.

research suggests a warming arctic is driving very cold air south from the north pole. kim gittleson reports. it is hard not to be cold just looking at the images out of the midwest of the us. the coldest weather in a generation bringing life to a standstill. the weather is frigid, blizzard like. the wind is ridiculous. it does not stop, you cannot see anything. -30 degrees in chicago, colder than parts of antarctica or stop a state of emergency in illinois, wisconsin, and michigan. temperatures like

threatening and minutes outside can lead to significant frostbite. after utility companies make an appeal to c0 nse rve utility companies make an appeal to conserve energy, general motors says it will suspend operations at 11 michigan plans. flights grounded, businesses shut and travel disrupted. at some use of the extreme weather for experimentation. a frozen showed. boiling water cost into the air turned immediately into snow. although temperatures are expected to rise above freezing on the weekend, scientists warn climate change means these extreme weather events a re change means these extreme weather events are likely to happen more often. we will be live shortly with each roller just ——an expert

we will be live shortly with each rollerjust ——an expert in chicago. in two months‘ time britain is due to leave the european union and this week has been another dramatic week in the brexit process. and the fallout of tuesday's developments in parliament still being felt. last night, britain's prime minister held what's been described as an "open and frank" discussion with the president of the european council, donald tusk, which is diplomatic code for "bad tempered". theresa may wants to renegotiate a key part of her brexit deal, but has been warned by senior eu figures that the withdrawal agreement couldn't be reopened. belgium is normally thought of as the place where the negotiations are held. but it's also one of the countries that would be most affected by a no—deal brexit. especially its fishermen, who catch more than half of theirfish in british waters. adam fleming has been to the belgian coast. back to its port in belgium after nine days at sea, sees shared

currently by eu countries. they have been catching fish off the coast of cornwall and east sussex which means every single fish unloaded has been caught ina every single fish unloaded has been caught in a british waters. proof of belgium ‘s reliance on the uk reach fishing grounds. if the reason no deal, the eu says things can stay broadly the same until the end of the year but no—one knows for sure and the owner knows nowhere else to go. boat is too small to go into deeper water and also to go north. i really do not know what i am going to do. if a no-deal brexit means they cannot fish, russell ‘s has said it will provide some compensation. —— brussels. but this

option fish is what and sold. the uncertainty is clear. if you are worried of a no—deal brexit, put your hands up. nearly everyone. they are worried about the rules for their boat using british ports and if no deal means extra paperwork and also a big question for the belgian government. if a belgian fisherman catches fish in uk waters, is it belgium or british. if it is british, in future it could be subject to more checks because it would count as an import from a non—eu country. there is a 21 month transition period in the brexit deal. there is not much you can be within the eu and fisheries representatives know about this. i understand prime minister may is

opening up negotiations again. the eu says there is not a lot of room for manoeuvring. how this ends up, i do not know. on the belgium coast, if you pardon the pun, they feel the cot of brexit. and if you want to look at a useful guide to help explain brexit and what some of the terms, like "backstop" mean, just go to our website bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. facebook users have continued to rise despite a series of data privacy scandals and criticism over its attempt to stem toxic content. fears that the company's scandals could put off advertisers also proved unfounded with quarterly revenues up 30% on last year. user growth was particularly strong in india, indonesia and the philippines, but flat in north america. with me is jane foley who's senior foreign exchange strategist at rabobank. nice to see you. good morning. what

do you make of this, despite one of its worst years, in terms of its reputation, ourfeelings its worst years, in terms of its reputation, our feelings towards facebook, our lack of trust, they are still making more money? huge amount of money. it is interesting because, if we look at last year, we think about cambridge analytica, accompanied more complaint with darker protection rules, all these massive headwinds and yet we see revenue growth increase. 9%. what we do not know is which part of facebook these users were going in. they own for example instagram, what's that, it is more than just facebook. but even so, it goes to show what service or how much consumers really want to use their

services. it is such a lucrative way of companies getting their message to people, through instagram, facebook, and that is this model seems to be doing very well despite the fact that we all put it to a nalysts the fact that we all put it to analysts and others that they should change their business model because of the scandals. if you look at it from the point of view of an advertiser, if they want to target certain voters, certain groups, they can pinpoint that and it is quite cheap. it is not wasting money on blanket advertising. they can pinpoint a certain group and that means it is very efficient and you can see from the advertising point of view the attraction. people are still using the service and

advertisers still using it. we have will be back with you for our global media review. more on facebook later. venezuela's president nicolas maduro has dismissed calls for new elections, but says he is prepared to talk to the opposition to try to resolve the political and economic crisis wracking the country. there have been more anti—government protests called by opposition leader juan guaido, who last week declared himself interim president. orla guerin is in caracas for us. a student leader stands alone, pleading for a better venezuela. "it's what we all deserve," he says. "think about that when you go home tonight." the security forces remain impassive. they are likely to decide the future here, and for now, it seems they are standing with president nicolas maduro. but the opposition has its foot soldiers, young activists who feel

a renewed sense of hope. well, the students have brought their protest to the edge of the highway. the opposition here wants to keep up the momentum. it says it wants peaceful demonstrations and peaceful change, but there is a real sense here that this is a critical moment for venezuela, and everyone is aware of the risk of more bloodshed. larger protests are planned for saturday. the young activists we met believe their time has come. we were born in a dictatorship. we lived all our lives in a situation that gets every time worse, and this is the year that we feel we actually have an actual backing, international support. everything is colliding, so students are here to support the change in venezuela. the embattled president, nicolas maduro, popped up on state television. and he made sure to bring some friends. the message here — i'm going nowhere.

but he said he was willing to talk to the opposition, for the sake of peace. and, in a facebook address, a warning for donald trump — hands off our oil. supporters of the president also on the move today, doing a drive—by outside a children's hospital, drowning out a protest by parents of sick children. two sides of the divide on display in caracas. but some were determined to be heard today, like romelo cabrera, a journalism student who had joined the protests on his walking frame. "i'm here for the same reasons as everyone else," he told me. "we feel bad for our country. it's painful to see what's going on. my sister and my cousin had to flee. i want them back. i want everyone to come back

to a free venezuela." the students ended their demonstration with the national anthem. "glory to the brave," it says. "down with the chains." this is a nation poised at a crossroads. orla guerin, bbc news, caracas. stay with us on the briefing, still to come: the rescue mission to save thousands of flamingo chicks abandoned by their parents during south africa's drought. 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. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: theresa may is hoping to renegotiate

a key part of her brexit deal, but senior eu figures warn that won't be possible. the mayor of chicago describes the freezing weather in the midwest as ‘an historic cold' and promises everyone who needs it will be helped to get to a ‘warming centre' in the city. lets stay with that now. live now to chicago, where it's —27 degrees celsius. let's talk to weatherman kevin donofrio, a meteorologist with the national weather service. caven, tell us more about this historic event —— kevin. caven, tell us more about this historic event -- kevin. people in the chicago area are used to cold weather in the winter, cold and snow. but this type of weather does not happen that often. we have not had to bridges like this since the 19805. had to bridges like this since the 1980s. how are people preparing for

this and what provision is there for people in this terribly cold weather? -- temperatures. sally, warnings were put out a couple of daysin warnings were put out a couple of days in advance. most of the schools across the chicago metropolitan areas are closed for both today and thursday, that was done as early as monday afternoon. much of the transit that head in and out of the city has not been running, businesses are closed. we are encouraging people to stay home. in my driving today it looks like many people heeded that warning. they have been staying home. for those out on the streets, as you mentioned earlier, the city of chicago has opened warming centres and encourage people to come indoors. in terms of how the city is operating, things like flights, transport, etc, here in the uk we are always taking the mickey out of us because we have four inches of snow and everything comes to a halt. about everything in

chicago? snow does not hold us in chicago. but extreme cold does. as i mentioned, much of the transit in and out, the electric lights, was not running. public transit in the city was. over 1600 flights across the chicago airports was cancelled today. typically there are 2700 per day. what is the forecast, kevin, and looking ahead how long will it last for? the coldest period, today at night and early tomorrow morning, we are looking at, again, record or near—record cold temperatures. we could break the all—time cold record attempt a recorded in chicago tonight. the good news for those in chicago and the mid west is the temperatures could reach 0df today and we are looking at temperatures back above freezing as the weekend. good luck. stay warm. maybe we will speak again. thank you for being on the briefing. thank you for your

time. more than 2000 dehydrated flamingo chicks have been rescued from a drought—stricken dam in south africa and moved to rehabilitation centres after being abandoned by their parents. kamfers dam, in the country's northern cape, is one of the only flamingo breeding grounds in southern africa but often becomes dry due to poor rainfall and conservationists say poor infrastructure often makes the problem worse. kathryn armstrong reports. dinnertime for this flamingo chick brought far from home. on the menu today is a liquid concoction of eggs, cereal and prawns. it's one of hundreds of baby lesser flamingos that have been rescued from certain death after being abandoned by their parents. kamfers dam, just outside the northern cape city of kimberley, is one of the few flamingo sanctuaries in southern africa, but the area is currently experiencing a drought. unable to fend for themselves, hundreds of chicks have been taken to a sanctuary in cape town, where they'll spend some

months in care. so i think most of the birds that arrived were dehydrated. so they are very, very small. so obviously in the wild their parents will feed them very regularly, probably every two hours or so they would get food, water, through their parents. whereas they get transported in boxes, put on the plane, driven here. so obviously more than two hours had passed without being able to feed the chicks. so they were in very bad condition when they arrived. a tough start to life, but it's hoped the birds will all make it to adulthood. as for theirfuture, it's not yet clear whether flamingos will eventually be released back into the wild in cape town or taken back to their natural home. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello. i'm holly hamilton — and this is your thursday sport briefing. we start with the premier league after liverpool had the chance to go seven clear of rivals manchester city on wednesday —

but had to settle for a point after a draw with leicester. despite sadio mane opening the scoring in the first three minutes for the home side, leicester pulled one back through harry maguire just before the break. a frustrating second half forjurgen klopp's side saw leicester threatening throughout with neither side able to find a winner. it does means liverpool extend their lead at the top to five points. leicester did really well, and, yeah, it was a bit unlucky for us with the goal in the last second pretty much before half—time. you don't want to have that. you don't have to lose the ball there. and then they get the freekick. that is all true. but at the end, you have to take it as it is. in spain, the holders barcelona are through to the semifinals of the copa del rey after overturning a 2—0 deficit from the first leg of their tie against sevilla. philippe coutinho scored twice as barca won the second leg 6—1 against last season's beaten finalists. lionel messi also scored as barcelona went through 6—3 on aggregate.

and real betis are also through. they beat espa nyol 3—1 after extra—time, to go through 11—2 overall. thursday sees girona play host to real madrid in the second leg of their copa del rey quarter—final having left the bernabeu last week with a 11—2 defeat. two late strikes have helped real establish a two—goal advantage ahead of the reverse fixture, but the underdogs do have two away goals to their name. santiago solari remains under pressure to keep hisjob, but the interim manager has managed three successive wins in la liga and his team are in a strong position to reach the last four of this competition. translation: we are going there to play a serious game, just like we did in the first leg. we will try to

win again to close out the result and secure victory. they will do their best to make it as hard as they can for us. the stadium will be full and they will have the support of theirfans. full and they will have the support of their fans. we full and they will have the support of theirfans. we need full and they will have the support of their fans. we need to full and they will have the support of theirfans. we need to be full and they will have the support of their fans. we need to be very focused from the beginning, just like we have been doing in our last few games. the second test in a three—match series between the west indies and england starts on thursday. england are coming off one of their more embarrassingly bad defeats in recent memory, after they were beaten by 381 runs in the first test, meaning the west indies are currently 1—0 up in the series. this tour will also see the two sides contest a five—match one—day series and a three—match t20's. now here's something that's been well talked about on social media. with the scores tied at 124—1211, rudy gay hit a 21—footjumper at the buzzer as the san antonio spurs sealed a dramatic 126 to 124 victory over phoenix on tuesday in the nba. that means phoenix lost their 11th straight game in san antonio. you can get all the latest

sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me holly hamilton and the rest of the sport team, that is your thursday sport briefing. a suburban street in the mexico city suburb of roma has become the capital's latest tourist attraction. fans of the movie roma are flocking to the house featured in the oscar—nominated movie. the film chronicles the life of a housekeeper and the family she works for in 1970s mexico. roma has ten nominations at this year's oscars with many experts predicting it will win best picture at next‘s awards. if you watch this programme you will

know that usually when the oscars ta ke know that usually when the oscars take place and the awards are rolling in we are live with those big announcements. we will be covering that when it does take place. let us look at our talking point on the briefing. fast fashion firms shocking on ethics. looking at this in detail. this is basically mps in the uk talking about some of the fast fashion brands. their inaction with ethics. they are failing to commit to reducing their environmental and social impact. if you read through talks about the fa ct you read through talks about the fact that the findings show that fast fashion, cheap clothing, there isa fast fashion, cheap clothing, there is a quick turnover and it encourages repurchasing. not only do these clothes end up in landfill, they also released toxic chemicals in production and plastic fibres when they are washed. we asked for your thoughts on this. we'll our appetite ever change because we are concerned about the planet? this is

your response. "research suggests complex reasons for consumers‘ behaviour, including who they hold responsible for bad efforts. it is likely that firms because bad behaviour is ignored." daniel says this is a tough question, many people know the true human cost of producing very cheap clothing, but there are many people in wealthy countries unable to afford anything else as income divides widen. perhaps a fairer trade policy for clothes, much like food, would mean that, actually, there is a more level playing field when it comes to the cost of clothing. thank you for your comments. i will be back soon with business briefing. hello there we have got some

destructive winter weather on the way, rain, sleet, so, and ice and freezing fog. pretty much everything in the mix. hold there locked in place across the country. an area of low pressure developing across the atla ntic low pressure developing across the atlantic as the moisture from this pushes into the cold from the uk, there may be a spell of sleet and snow. the met office have issued a number of yellow warnings for snow, highs, and fog through thursday and into friday. likely to cause some disruption. speaking to the forecast and arranging to bbc local radio. starting this morning, relatively dry but cold and freezing fog patches developing in places, some could be quite dense. wintry showers across the northern isles can the far north of scotland. a very cold start to the day. temperatures down to -10 start to the day. temperatures down to —10 or —15 celsius in some sheltered scottish glens. watch out for the ice and the freezing fog. on

the plus side there should be plenty of crisp winter sunshine around. an increasing breeze in the south—east and increasing cloud pushing into wales in the south—west of england, with rain becoming heavier and turning into sleet and snow as it continues to move northwards and eastwards. a cold day further north, pretty much wherever you are. you‘ll haveis pretty much wherever you are. you‘ll have is a chadder compensate. this area of rain, sleet, and snow will continue to expand and become a widespread one that moves northwards and eastwards overnight into friday morning. some will be quite heavy. arriving across the south—east of the london area, particularly the midlands and towards wales, there will be drifting snow with a strong south—east wind. this is the lying snow expected friday morning. it could be quite deep across parts of southern and eastern wales. this is potentially disruptive and, of course, treacherous if you are heading out. through friday night it looks as though it will be a wintry mix across england and wales. a sleet and so can you repeat out and become lighter and more patchy. leading to further accumulation.

more snow across northern scotland and eastern coastal areas. watch out forice and eastern coastal areas. watch out for ice again first thing on friday. it isa for ice again first thing on friday. it is a slow process but gradually it will clear away from southern parts of the country. more wintry showers pushing into scotland and north—east england and some into the midlands. even where you have the sunshine it will be another cold day. stay tuned to the forecast. this is the business briefing. i‘m sally bundock. like it or not — facebook earnings surge despite a year of scandals, as users and advertisers shrug off concerns about privacy and fake news. plus, britain and the european onion. why brexit‘s an eye watering problem for dutch produce exporters. and on the markets: the fed gives stocks a major boost as it leaves rates on hold and signals further rises are off the agenda for now. wall street closes at its highest since early december, and asian markets are around a four—month high.