this is bbc news — i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 3pm.: russian president, vladimir putin, says russia is suspending the cold war—era intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty. translation: our american partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal. and we are also suspending our participation. 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. this is the scene live in caracas where supporters of venezuela's self—declared interim president juan guaido are gathering for nationwide demonstrations. also coming up this hour: the government proposes changes to the rules surrounding unearthed treasures. we'll hear how spectacular finds like this — could be saved for the nation. and in half an hour, click will take a look at how technology

could play a role in donald trump's controversial border wall plans. russia has suspended its participation in a key nuclear arms control agreement after the united states announced yesterday that it would do the same. the us and other nato countries say russia has violated the intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty — an accusation russia refutes. president putin insisted the door remained open for negotiations but he instructed ministers not to initiate arms control talks. translation: our american partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal. and we are also suspending our participation. our correspondent

steve rosenberg has the latest from moscow. the message from moscow to the us administration is anything you can do, russia can do to. if you want to pull out of the inf treaty, russia will pull out of the inf treaty. if the eu us develops a new range of weapons, russia will do so as well. this new range of hypersonic land—based weapons. also, a land base of a normally sea —based cruise missile in russia. he did make it clear that russia would not deploy these weapons in europe or anywhere else in the world unless america

deployed them first. as you say, he made it clear that russia does not wa nt to made it clear that russia does not want to be dragged into and expensive arms race, that's last think that moscow wants in difficult economic circumstances for the country. olga ivshina from the bbc world service gave us this update. it is a very important treaty. we now have a system of a international treaties which deal with the non—proliferation of nuclear weapons. with the stability in this area, this inf treaty is a key one. they all appeared after the caribbean crisis, because this was the point when the whole world realised how close we are to a nuclear conflict which would wipe everyone from the earth. this is a key one — generally, the stability in this area is based on the principle of nuclear deterrence. so, each side understands that if it strikes, the answer would be so devastating that no one would ever win. the key thing is that middle—range missiles are the most dangerous.

their flight times are too short, their launch pads are too hard to spot. if anyone has those missiles on the border with their so—called enemy, the other side are so nervous and have a temptation to strike back with their nuclear missiles to prevent this first strike. that is where the tension comes from and why this treaty is so important. if you remove that stone, the whole system may collapse. so those are the intermediate missiles, and yet, we had a recent announcement from president putin that he is actually taking development further? yes, both sides have announced that they may develop a new range of missiles. but this comes due to instability. since those intermediate—range missiles are so hard to intercept, both sides accuse each other of developing them. they try to find countermeasures, they try to make themselves secure. this puts the world

at an even greater. at an even greater risk. we should also remember that it was only the us and russia which were involved in that treaty, and they weren't producing those missiles for many years. meanwhile, china was producing those missiles so they do have them in sufficient amount. they can reach many targets in the us and russia. actually, this current situation is hugely destabilising, but it is also a challenge and opportunity because if china is included in those new talks, it can actually change the world to be a more stable and safe place. the president of venezuela, nicholas maduro, is facing another wave of protests in the coming hours. this is the scene live from the capital, caracas, where supporters of opposition leaderjuan guaido, who's declared himself interim president,

are gathering for a nationwide day of demonstrations. what he is trying to do, effectively, is ratchet up the pressure on president maduro to try and push him to call early elections. a number of european countries have set a weekend deadline of sunday for president maduro to call that election. america has already said that it recognises mike veale as lead president. he is the speaker of the national the matches today, actually coincide with the 20th anniversary of the rise to power of hugo chavez,

he was maduro's predecessor, and there are concerns that there could be rival celebrations on the streets of venezuela. in recent developments, high—ranking air force general has effectively disavowed president nicolas maduro saying that he now recognisesjuan guaido as the interim head of state. he posted a video which was circulating on twitter. he said, i am general francesco. . ., director twitter. he said, i am general francesco..., director of twitter. he said, i am general francesco. . ., director of strategic planning of the high force air command. i inform you that i don't accept the dictatorial authority of nicolas maduro. i recognise the difficultyjuan guaido is the acting president of the republic of venezuela. he goes on to say, people of israel, 90% of the armed forces are not with the dictator, they are

with the people of venezuela. —— people of venezuela. they claim that he isa people of venezuela. they claim that he is a traitor. we are watching this very closely in caracas, crabs are expected to build. the march is expected to kick of from one o'clock local time in caracas. more on less as we get it. the opposition leader, juan guaido, has been speaking ahead of these projects. translation: i don't fear clashes at all. it happened already onjanuary 23rd — 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 that refuses to lose their privileges at the expense of hunger, the need, and death of venezuelans. snow and ice have caused another night of disruption

for parts of the uk. in kent, police reported answering hundreds of emergency calls , and work to re—open the m3 near basingstoke in hampshire , continued into the early hours of this morning. forecasters are warning of more severe weather over the weekend , with the possibility of temperatures dropping to — 16 degrees celsius in parts of scotland overnight. caroline davies reports. stuck fast in the snow in basingstoke. after hours of disruption, cars and lorries were eventually freed and the snow is starting to ease. yesterday's conditions didn't stop many heading out on the main roads today — including those who do it for a living. the congestion it causes, you can't get on with yourjob sometimes. you know, butjust deal with it and get on with it. i came down from the midlands and there was nothing at all up there. further south i've come,

the roads are a little bit icy. probably about the last hour, iwould say, i've been amongst the snow. where are you onto next? down to amesbury, i will be amongst it for the next hour or so. it's not been too bad. the worst bit i've found is actually the car park here because it hasn't been gritted at all. but most of the roads seem to be ok. conditions in most parts of the uk have tended to be better today than they were yesterday. and with sunshine and clear skies, the snow is starting to melt, which has meant that some people who were stuck have been able to start to go home. it wasn't easy for all truck drivers — in keith last night, this lorry found itself in need of help from highway services. but snow hasn't been miserable for everyone. in haslemere this morning, some strapped on their skis and enjoyed the powdery slopes. the freezing temperatures have caused widespread disruption across the south—east of england. this picture shows some damaged cars after a driver tried

to take a lorry down a road in walderslade in kent. in bluebell hill, kent, cars struggled to move in the snow. and these pictures provided by viewers give a flavour of the weather people have been enjoying, and enduring, over the last 2a hours. looking ahead, the met office is warning that tonight will be the coldest of the winter so far. scotland could see lows of —16 overnight into sunday. pupils should be banned from taking smartphones into classrooms — according england's schools minister. the government is due to publish new guidance shortly, on issues such as internet safety and social media. but some teachers say mobile phones can be "fa ntastically useful" for learning. our political correspondent jessica parker has more. smartphones are everywhere.

but should they be in schools? well, it's the responsibility of head teachers to decide. but the ministerfor school standards, nick gibb, says it's his own view that schools should ban their pupils from bringing smartphones into school. i do agree with that, because they have them so often in their hands that they won't be concentrating or listening properly. they can use them for other things in school, that's the only thing. like calculators and things like that on them. but they don't use them for that, do they? they are just using them personally allthe time, one imagines. they certainly shouldn't be allowed to have them on when they're at school. perhaps to and from school, yes — but certainly not in school time. the government's 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 says while there is nothing intrinsically damaging about spending time online — excessive use can leave children tired and unable to concentrate. managing our smartphone use is a challenge facing adults, as well as children.

but there are those who argue that restricting access in this way isn't the answer — because young people need to be able to fully engage with this kind of technology. if you push phone use away from school and ban it, you are just pushing it underground and you are losing an opportunity to help young people learn how to use tech for good and to use their mobile as part of their working and living life. and the trade union, the naht which represents school leaders, has also expressed scepticism — saying there isn't one policy that will work for all schools. jessica parker, bbc news. earlier i spoke to katie ivens from the campaign for real education. she says that schools in england already have the power to ban mobiles from school —— but they aren't using them. understand why you m to i understand why you might not want to ban children from being found to

school, their parents might think, my child needs it because there are gangs around and he need to phone for help or something. gangs around and he need to phone for help or somethinglj gangs around and he need to phone for help or something. i think not in classrooms, going off and interrupting lessons. all right, they can bring to the schools, but not the classrooms. there is also an issue in a way that children are taught. teach them to focus on the subject and knowledge that brings up their critical sense because there will be times when they will have to be using these things. you need a critical sense when seen something, is ita critical sense when seen something, is it a good, bad, right, wrong? with a really good sound education, you can really empower children to make those judgments. what do you make those judgments. what do you make of what nick gibb has said?|j make of what nick gibb has said?” think is right. it is obvious that he cares about children doing well in school. yes, i think he's right.

i wouldn't say a child shouldn't be allowed to bring the phone to the school because there is this issue of some children living in dangerous neighbourhoods,. one of their friends might have been flung out of the school and is now running a gang and he goes for the child, or something like that. so i think there are reasons for having your phone on the way to school and back, but not in the classroom. skills might say managing a system like that, particularly in middle school, would just be horrific for them. it would just be horrific for them. it would be a management nightmare. may be. but what would be even more of an nightmare is if children actually have their phones in the classes. this means of communication that we have nowadays is a lifeline. you can see anything online, it may be true, false, good, bad, all sorts of

things you have to deal with. this issue saying, not in the classroom, led the classrooms focus on teaching children to exercise judgment, to think critically, to be well informed, that sort of thing. so that as they grow, they will be able to do with all this. we have heard from teachers saying that they're now facing the reality that smartphones are part of modern life. in trying to embrace that, they use those films as part of lessons. are you going to have to meet teachers and students, or is a good have to bea and students, or is a good have to be a meeting of the two halfway? first of all, i wouldn't bank trying to do it. but by saying ok to that, that doesn't mean that children should just be bringing them into the classroom. if they want to address it as a particular project to deal with, ok. address it as a particular project to dealwith, ok. but, not if address it as a particular project to deal with, ok. but, not if the children bring them in. i think you have got to control that. the headlines on bbc news:

russian president, vladimir putin, says russia is suspending the cold war—era intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty after a similar move by the united states. 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. after wales filling when in france last night, the six nations action continues. scotland are leading 12—3 against italy. the west indies are building a sizeable first innings lead on day three. they had a lead of iii lead on day three. they had a lead of 111 runs. in the premier league? early game, tudjman have beaten newcastle. spurs moved up to second

place in the table. you can get all of the latest in all the latest football games on the bbc sport website. more in an hour's time. police searching for a 21—year—old student in hull, who went missing after leaving a club, say they have "significant concerns" about her safety. more than 70 officers are continuing to look for libby squire, a student at the university of hull. she was reported missing after getting into a taxi outside a nightclub. police have asked local residents to check their gardens and outbuildings to see if she has taken shelter somewhere. elsewhere — search teams are trying to find a missing university student in reading. daniel williams, who's i9, was last seen in a student union bar at the university's whiteknights campus in the early hours of thursday. he was reported missing after he failed to return to his student accommodation. the student was last seen wearing jeans, black shoes, and a black hooded top. now, 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 that 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 meets legal 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 that 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 shops. 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 of 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. floods in the north—east australian state of queensland have reached what officials are calling catastrophic levels. the tropical nmonsoon 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 "unprecedented" 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. a high courtjudge has used twitter to urge a mother who vanished with her 3—year—old son to return home. the judge's plea was delivered in a tweet posted on thejudicial office twitter account, using the hashtag "come home olly." mrjustice williams appealed

directly to ellie—yarrow sanders to bring missing toddler olly sheridan home, with reassurances that she will be given a voice in court. it's thought to be the first time a judge has used twitter in this way. miss yarrow—sanders disappeared with her son in july, after becoming involved in family court proceedings with her ex—partner. 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. our science editor david shukman reports from the site of the dam, in the state of minas gerais. this is pretty well 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 — so 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 cement—like 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 itself. 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 closeby 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.

you can still hear the search and rescue helicopters buzzing around and, occasionally, we see rescue teams still at work. i say rescue — they are now in the business ofjust searching for bodies. one team we sawjust now had a dog with them — they were trying to respond to whatever 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 here, this kind of disaster, whatever failings there were in safeguarding the dam was allowed to happen, caused so many deaths

and so much destruction. ministers have announced plans to widen the definition of treasure, so that more ancient objects unearthed in the uk can be preserved for the nation — rather than sold to private collectors. in recent years, there's been an increase in the number of archaeological finds — many of them made by amateur enthusiasts using metal detectors. doctor michael lewis is the head of treasure at the british museum. he gave me more details on the government's plan. it's mainly gold and silver objects that are treasure. hordes of objects, so coin hoards, they're treasure as well. there is also an addition as well that was made some time ago, where prehistoric base metal assemblages are treasure. so in essence, gold and silver things but it can be other things as well. ok, in its current form there obviously have been issues. i think it was kicked off by the crosby garrett helmet. why the need to change then, why the need to reform it?

well this consultation, because it is a consultation, it's not been decided yet what exactly is going to happen. but the idea is to look at the definition of treasure to see whether there could be more categories of treasure added to the criteria. whether the process could be a bit more normalised than it is at the moment. things have changed since the act came into force, in terms of the landscape. and also give the police more powers in terms of law enforcement as well. there are different aspects to the act. but from an archaeological perspective, what people are most interested in is ensuring the most important archaeological objects end up in museum collections and that isn't always what happens. so for example you mentioned the crosby garrett helmet, very important object. because it didn't fit the definition of treasure, the legal sense, it was sold privately and therefore it's not on display in a museum collection. so what was it formed of, what was it made off?

it was made of copper alloy and it was found in parts actually to start with, and then it was kind of reconstructed by an auction house and then put on display — sorry then sold. yeah, so that didn't fit the criteria. so the idea here, with this consultation, is can you capture objects like that, that archaeologists and historians think are really, really important and should be in museum collections for people to see and is there a way of doing that? treasure is big business, isn't it? 2017 is quoted as being "record—breaking." yes. i am interested to know — since 1996, there was an increase of 1500% increase in treasure finds. right. i believe only around 30% of those were classed as treasure? actually, it's even more than that actually because, in a given year, about 1000 or so objects are classified as treasure under the act. i work for an organisation as part of the british museum called the portable antiquities scheme where we record finds found by metal detectorists from principally

across the country. last year we recorded about 80,000 archaeological objects. so you can see there is a big difference between what is legally required to report and those that they don't. if you didn't know, it's groundhog day, made famous by the 1993 movie with bill murray and andie mcdowell, in which the same day keeps repeating itself. thousands have gathered in punxsutawney in pennsylviania for the annual tradition where resident groundhog, phil, predicts the weather for the rest of winter. so is it early spring or more winterforecast? stop the music, here's my forecast. faithful followers there is no shadow of me. a beautiful spring it shall be! cheering and applause. it's thought if phil spots his shadow, there'll be six more weeks of winter and bad

weather, otherwise, it'll be an early spring. this year marks the 133rd groundhog day, dating back to 1887 and is celebrated every february 2nd. now it's time for a look at the weather with mel coles. hello there. there are signs of something a little bit milder as we head through the coming week. but for this weekend, winter rumbles on. we are seeing further wintry showers down the east coast, parts of pembrokeshire and into cornwall and the far north. away from these areas, plenty of crisp, winter sunshine but it does feel cold. that northerly wind certainly not helping the temperatures. by night where we've had those wintry showers, a little bit of snow melt, we've got the risk of some icy patches. under starry skies, temperatures are going to drop away. a hard, sharp frost expected. where we've have that lying snow, we could see temperatures fall