this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 103m: freezing temperatures are continuing into the weekend after snow causes more travel chaos overnight. being here in the traffic that's stationary for nearly five hours now is not a huge amount of fun. england's minister for schools says pupils should be banned from taking smartphones into school russian president vladimir putin has said that russia is withdrawing from the cold war—era intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty after a similar move by the united states. floods in the north—east australian state of queensland have reached catastrophic levels. a french fumble and a welsh fightback last night — and there's more six nations action to come today. and in half an hour, the travel show visits the french alps and the team try their hands at ice diving. good morning and welcome to bbc

news. snow and ice is continuing to cause disruption across parts of the uk. in the south of england, dozens of motorists were left stranded for hours, as the wintry weather brought traffic to a standstill. highways england says overnight, its gritters covered 80,000 miles of roads. kathryn stanczyczyn reports. a nightmare journey home. as the extreme weather continued last night in southern england, some parts of hampshire saw 7.5 inches of snow. it led to chaos on the m3 when motorists were trapped for hours, emergency services struggling to reach them. swirling blizzards made driving dangerous on many other routes as well, including the a339, where ian crowder got stuck travelling home after celebrating his last day in work before retirement. it's very picturesque, i'm sure,

but being here in the traffic that's stationary for nearly five hours now is not a huge amount of fun. sometimes even the people sent to help struggled. here in basingstoke, willing volunteers pushed this ambulance up a hill when the specialist vehicle sent to rescue it also got stuck. at raf 0diham, a serious covering, but fortunately also the equipment to deal with it. 0vernight, the worst of the snowfall centred on the south—east. in kent, police were exceptionally busy dealing with accidents. highways england says gritters covered 80,000 miles of major routes throughout the night, but travel on many smaller roads will still be tricky. for some, that won't matter... whoo! ..as the weekend means there might actually be time to enjoy it. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. 0ur correspondent caroline davies is by the m3 near longcross

in surrey and sent us this update on travel conditions. if you were planning to travel on the m3 today this is probably a reassuring sight, traffic has been flowing freely since we arrived and highways england say between junction 6 and junction 7 where many vehicles were stuck overnight has now been cleared with help from hampshire police. city airport's ru nway hampshire police. city airport's runway was temporarily closed yesterday and bristol airport had some major disruption because of snow but both airports say they expect things to run smoothly today although at bristol airport there seemed to be short delays because of de—icing planes. the advice is to check before you travel. south—western railways say they expect some delays on trains until about midday.

if you are out on the roads there is a yellow warning in place for eyes, critters have been out on major streets but if you are going on a smaller road that has been untreated, is carefully. let's speak now to mark brooks, an hgv driver — who was stuck on the roads for nine hours yesterday and into this morning. you haven't had much sleep, i should think. what was yourjourney like? what should have taken about... it ended up taking longer. mark, i think we are struggling with your phone. do you want to start that

a nswer phone. do you want to start that answer again? how long were you on the road for? i'm sorry, mark, we will try and call you back in a few minutes to see if we can get a better line. yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are expected to remain in place across the uk until this afternoon. these pictures, provided by viewers, give a flavour of the weather people have been enjoying — and enduring — over the last 2a hours. great weather for ducks, by the look of it. some of these pictures look magical but not so magical if you are trying to get around. thank you for sending those into us to give us a glimpse of what the weather has been like where you are. looking ahead, the met office is warning that tonight will be the coldest of the winter so far. scotland could see lows of minus 16 overnight into sunday. russian president vladimir putin has

said that russia is withdrawing from the cold war—era intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty after a similar move by the united states. president putin added that russia will start working on creating new missiles, including supersonic ones, and told ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with washington. we will have more on that from moscow in the next hour. children should be banned from bringing smartphones into school according to the minister for school standards in england. the government is preparing to publish new guidance, which is expected to say children should be taught to limit the amount of time they spend online. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. schools in england already have the power to ban phones from being brought onto the premises but government policy is that it's the responsibility of head teachers to determine whether this is appropriate. nick gibb said that it was his own view that schools should ban their pupils from bringing smartphones into school. the government is due to publish

new guidance for schools shortly and it's expected to say children should be taught to limit the amount of time they spend on the internet. mr gibb said while there was nothing intrinsically damaging about spending time online, it reduced time for conversation, exercise, homework or play. the trade union the naht, which represents school leaders, and particularly those in primaries, has expressed scepticism about the outright banning of phones in schools, saying it can drive use underground. chris mason, bbc news. i'm joined now via webcam by geoff stead, a learning technologist who promotes mobile phone use in education. thank you for being with us, it looks lovely where you are. frosty morning but yes. what do you make of

this? nick gibb says he isjust expressing his personal view, this is not an instruction for schools. i'm with their heads teachers, you need to decide at a local level, if you push phone use away from school you push phone use away from school you just push it underground and you lose a chance to help young people learn how to use tech for good in their living lives so when the move into careers and work in offices, they need to decide what is appropriate use and these are things you can learn in teenage years so moving the problem away, i don't think helps. i'm interested you say teenage years, what about younger children because a lot of schools are saying children are bringing in quite sophisticated phones at the

age of seven or eight? i'm not an expert at that younger age and i have sympathy for schools who decide not to use tablets because that is often easier at a younger age. if you are a parent with your own kid, the younger age is where you get more involved with them and then it becomes their world and you need to let them do it in a way they understand, so that is the point, to help children build their own schools. what the advice do you give the teachers you work with? we encourage teachers to not pretend they are at the boss, so when learning about new subjects teachers traditionally told you what to do but in the new world they need to work with kids to agree a way that works for both parties, so teenagers definitely need help to not get

lured in by the distraction of the technology and to empower them to use it for good and notjust the consumers but that interaction is the perfect thing to happen inside a class. what about the argument about distraction, having a phone with you in the classroom, constantly checking for messages, feeling when it vibrates, that is taking focus from what you should be doing and it ta kes from what you should be doing and it takes it away from some in the office? it's a challenge we all struggle with but it's better to help kids learn how to use that. we will get some guidelines from the chief medical officer, sally davies, shortly, newspapers this morning suggesting that she will recommend that youngsters should have a break at least every two hours from a

screen. you are a parent, do you mandate screen breaks? it's an argument that you never really get to the end of with your kids, we try to the end of with your kids, we try to help them figure out if they are getting addicted so i think the advice is solid, there is various advice is solid, there is various advice about no screen time before bed and trying to recognise some of the more addictive destructive apps and learn to manage those so we had lots of arguments about it but on the whole it is self regulated and we steer when things go awry. the whole it is self regulated and we steer when things go awrylj imagine that will set people off on twitter, let kids self regulate! jeff, thank you. plans to prevent censorship during debates at universities have been drawn up following a number of incidents where speakers were banned from campuses. the guidelines, which are designed to encourage open debate unless there's been a breach of the law, have been drawn up by the equality and human rights commission together

with students and universities. floods in the north—east australian state of queensland have reached what officials are calling catastrophic levels. the tropical monsoon rains have already destroyed buildings, forced evacuations, and swept away cars and livestock in a large area centred on the coastal city of townsville. saturday alone is expected to see up to 20 centimetres of rain, equivalent to about a month's average rainfall. phil mercer reports. for four days, parts of northern queensland have been battered by the heaviest monsoon rains in memory. the main reservoir in townsville is so full that vast amounts of water have had to be released, causing majorflooding. the city has been declared a disaster zone. many homes are submerged and streets turned into rivers. dozens of people have been rescued and thousands more moved to higher ground. when we use the words iunprecedented and uncharted

we use this for a reason. we have not been in this scenario before. there has been a lot of rain that has been falling especially over the townsville catchment and some of these levels are unprecedented. there is a warning that the worst may yet be to come. the heavy rain is expected to continue until at least monday. there is, though, some good news — the tropical monsoonal conditions are likely to bring much—needed relief to drought—affected parts of queensland to the west of townsville. phil mercer, bbc news. the president of venezuela, nicolas maduro, is facing another wave of protests in the coming hours. the opposition leader juan guaido, who's declared himself interim president, is calling for the biggest mass protests in the nation's history. the governing socialist party announced a rival protest in the capital, caracas, to counter the opposition march. juan guido has been speaking

ahead of the protests. translation: i don't fear clashes at all. it happened already onjanuary 23, there were massive marches in 53 different points of the country. there were unprecedented marches in venezuela and the counter march that the regime convened was a small meeting in miraflores. there are no counter marches. there is a great majority of the country that asks for change and a small group who refuses to lose their privileges at the expense of hunger, the need and death of venezuelans. a high courtjudge has used twitter to urge a mother who vanished with her three—year—old son to return home. the judge's plea was delivered in a tweet posted on thejudicial 0ffice twitter account using the hashtag #comehome0lly. mrjustice williams appealed directly to ellie—yarrow sanders to bring missing toddler 0lly sheridan home, with reassurances as to how she will be given a voice in court. it is thought to be the first time a judge has used twitter in this way.

miss yarrow—sanders disappeared with her son injuly after becoming involved in family court litigation with her ex—partner. the headlines on bbc news... freezing temperatures are continuing into the weekend after snow causes more travel chaos overnight. england's minister for schools says pupils should be banned from taking smartphones into school. russian president vladimir putin has said that russia is withdrawing from the cold war—era intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty after a similar move by the united states. it's been no fun at the australian 0pen it's been no fun at the australian open with high temperatures but a little more acceptable on the rugby pitch. mike bushell has more today.

wet conditions in paris last night played their part in what was an incredible game and if the rest of the six nations matches the drama last night we are in for an incredible tournament. the biggest second—half comeback in six nations history and andy swiss was watching. they emerged to a cloud of smoke and a wave of anticipation. france against a wales team going for a tenth win in a row, fingers crossed. but those hopes, it seemed, were soon being swatted aside. louis picamoles rampaging through to put france ahead. and wales's frustration had only just begun. liam williams's effort ruled out after the video referee decided he lost control. it summed up their first half, as careless as france were ruthless. some sleight of hand sending yohann huget them clear as the hosts yohann huget clear as the hosts extended their lead in style. and when camille lopez

fired over a drop goal just before the break, it was 16—0, wales with a first half to forget. they needed something remarkable and out of nowhere, they found it. josh adams was the spark as he sent thomas williams skidding over. and the sublime was followed by the ridiculous, a new addition to rugby's blooper reel. huget with a spot of french farce, much to george north's delight. france grabbed it back, the penalty making it 19—17 but the greatest drama was yet to come as the hosts simply threw it away. george north with a stunning interception and a 60—yeard dash for glory. astonishingly, wales had turned it around. their winning run goes on and it's fair to say the rest of the six nations has some act to follow. andy swiss, bbc news. later today we have scotland against

italy live on bbc one and then from dublin its ireland against england. in the women's competition, england ran in eight tries to thrash ireland last night, most of the players are professional underclass showed the road, zoe harrison and emily scott amongst the scorers. italy ran in four tries, the bonus point as they beat scotland 28—7 in glasgow. away from the rugby to another difficult day for cricketers in the caribbean as england head into the third day in antigua. england had been skittled out for 187 and it looked like england bowlers would have some revenge in the afternoon,

and occasional flamboyant piece of stroke play paid off, stuart broad the pick of the england bowlers, west indies will resume today. in football, tell marnoch missed a chance to narrow the gap on premiership leaders celtic as they lost 2—1 to hearts, goals by stuart naismith did the damage and kill marnoch could not avoid their first home defeat in three months. hull kingston rovers claimed the glory in rugby league and won their opening super league match of the season, i8—i6 opening super league match of the season, 18—16 with the last play of the game. elsewhere there were wins for castleford and salford. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc

sport website, you have all the by sport website, you have all the rugby and interviews and build—up to today's big games in dublin and edinburgh. that is all on the bbc sport website and we will have more to you after i! am. thank you, mike bushell. lots of household items, from electrical appliances and toys, to drinking glasses, have the letters "ce" printed on them. it's the eu safety symbol, but if there's a no—deal brexit, it will have to change, and it could be costly for businesses. the bbc has learnt that the government is about to announce plans for a replacement. our business correspondent rob young reports. kettles, heaters, toys, light bulbs. dozens of items in your average home are stamped with the letters "ce". the mark says a particular product meet legal requirements and has been requirements and has been tested to high standards. consumers have been told to buy goods with this symbol. it's been with us for

more than two decades. the ce mark belongs to the european union, so if britain leaves the eu without a deal, items on sale like these will have to be stamped with something else to show consumers the products meet the rules. this is the new logo the government has drawn up. it stands for "uk conformity assessed". this is what it might look like on the back of a smartphone and on the label of a toy, so if there's no deal, this is the mark we will have to look out for on products in the shop. a uk mark would provide confidence to consumers and to the authorities that these products placed on the market in the uk were meeting uk regulatory requirements, so it provides flexibility for government, should there be divergence in regulations, to insist that manufacturers were committing to that uk regulatory practice in future. if the new logo is to be used, companies would have to change their packaging, advertising and an element of the product themselves.

businesses warn it will mean higher costs, at least in the short term. that's another reason many companies want the government to do some kind of brexit deal with the eu. rob young, bbc news. dramatic footage has emerged of the moment a dam burst in brazil, releasing millions of tonnes of mining waste that engulfed nearby buildings. at least 110 people are now known to have died in the disaster, hundreds are missing. 0ur science editor, david shukman reports from the site of the dam, in the state of minas gerais. this is pretty much as close as we are allowed to get to the disaster site, you've got some local people here just trying to come to terms with what on earth happened and let me try to explain to you how this disaster unfolded. up in the hills beyond, that's where the dam itself was,

holding back a great lake of sludge. it broke, as we know, and a torrent of heavy cementlike mud tore its way down one of these valleys just in the distance there, overwhelmed the cafeteria where miners were having lunch, overwhelmed the offices of the mining company and then it swept into this area where we are now. right in the middle of this little area was a posada, a kind of small hotel with holiday chalets. that was all swamped by the mud. just close by here, this was basically a farming area, a little farmhouse, just absolutely wrecked by the power of the deluge of mud. what happened next is that the mud didn't just stay here, it was moving incredibly rapidly and you can still hear the search and rescue helicopters buzzing around and occasionally rescue teams still at work.

i say rescue, they are now in the business ofjust searching for bodies. 0ne team we sawjust now had a dog with them. they were trying to respond to wherever the dog was sniffing. the wall of mud destroyed this whole area and then carried on over the ridge you can see in the distance and into a valley beyond, where it then tore through a village down below, causing yet more destruction. the question that everybody is just bewildered by, stunned by here, is how brazil, which is a rapidly industrialising, modern economy, how this kind of disaster, whatever failings there were in safeguarding the dam were allowed to happen, caused so many deaths and so much destruction. david shipman there in brazil. ——

shook mun. two men have been shot and injured in what police are describing as paramilitary style shootings in londonderry. both men have been taken to hospital and are said to be in a stable condition. it comes two weeks after a car bomb exploded in the city centre. celebrity—endorsed ads that promote weight loss products should be banned on social media, according to england's top doctor. some celebrities with lots of young followers are promoting products like diet pills and detox teas. nhs medical director, professor stephen powis, says these products can have a damaging effect on young people. the democratic governor of the us state of virginia has apologised for appearing in a racist and offensive photograph in his medical school yearbook from 1984. the republican party in virginia has called for ralf northam to resign, saying there was no place for racism in the state. that demand was echoed by some democrats. in a video posted on twitter, ralf northam expressed his remorse — while resisting calls to quit. that photo and the racist and

offensive attitudes it represents do not reflect the person i am today or the way i have conducted myself as a soldier, a doctor and a public servant. i am deeply sorry. i cannot change the decisions to make fact —— i made, nor can i undo the harm my behaviour caused but i accept responsibility for my past actions and am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust. norway is on a drive to cut down on the amount of food that is left uneaten on plates in hotels and restaurants. and, as our environment analyst roger harrabin reports from tromso, they are also hitting on some cunning ruses to persuade us to take less, and eat less. in a restaurant there's

always food thrown away. this hotel in tromso is trying to halve its food waste, but how? let's start with these smoothie shots. these are made from yesterday's leftover fruit. then crafty tricks to nudge people into taking less, like skinny tweezers to stop you piling up the salmon, or little spoons to serve the herring. and look at this — a micro muesli. how cute is that? another idea — instead of guests taking a big melon slice and leaving some, the staff dice it so you take precisely what you want. and in case you missed the message... many people load onto their plates so they don't have to go multiple times. we were able to make people think about how they put food on their plate and how much they bring to the table to make sure they eat it all. another trick is to keep food looking fresh. as a serving dish empties, guests assume the remains are stale, so why not switch the food into a smaller dish? then again — so it still looks

fresh and all gets eaten. ideas like this have cut food waste almost 10% in a yearfor this chain. the target is 20% by 2020 and then 50% by 2030, the same as the un target. the chef weighs the daily waste. so far the policy has saved the hotel chain 26 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. and there's a bonus. we're also making money out of it, which is a real positive side—effect by reducing food waste. so how do guests respond to this culinary nanny state? if i have tools given to me that i take less, then it helps me, i don't put on as much weight when i travel. i think it's a good thing, i feel it helps the environment but it also helps myself to not gain, what do i call it, weight that i don't need. there is no ban on loading up your plate here. take as much as you want. but you'd better not leave it. roger harrabin, bbc news, norway.

0h, he left some of there! it's only a matter of days now until the lunar new year. people in china, korea, vietnam and many other nations in asia will be celebrating. in fact for some the festivities are already under way. as are the journeys many are taking to be with their loved ones. tim allman has more. it looks like all of china is on the move. whether it's by train... 0r plane... or even by ship. more than 500 million trips have already been made, nearly three billion are expected to be completed before the celebrations come to a close. this man is heading home to sichuan province, a journey that is expected

to last around 30 hours. this woman is taking her 11—year—old daughter back to anhui province, which is a snip at only 20 hours. the lunar new year, or spring festival, is associated with light and colour. and if that is what you're after, head to guiyang city, where more than 1000 lanterns illuminate the night sky. lights of a different kind in the north of china, molten iron thrown into the air. all the while, dragon dancing takes place as the red—hot metal showers