you're watching bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: tens of thousands take to the streets of venezuela in rival mass rallies for and against president nicolas maduro. russia says it will follow the us and pull out of a key nuclear treaty as it begins developing a new range of missiles. as the pressure slowly mounts on venezuela's president, nicolas maduro, he's told supporters in caracas he's prepared to hold parliamentary elections. but the offer falls short of the presidential elections demanded by some european countries. at a bigger rally in the capital, the opposition leader, juan guaido called for more protests, promising to bring in humanitarian supplies if he took power. orla guerin reports from caracas.

the opposition called, and from early morning, they came. that word — freedom — was on many lips in caracas today. and we met plenty who believed venezuela's opposition leader, juan guaido, will be the one to deliver it. we are very proud of him, because he has taken us through the right route to have liberty, democracy and what we have yearned for so many years. 20 years, more or less, yearning for this moment. well, there's a sense here of celebration, the mood is very relaxed, but the intent is serious — to send a message to president nicolas maduro that time is up. the opposition has gathered here in numbers. they believe that a process of change is under way in venezuela and that it won't be stopped.

a military helicopter passed overhead, but the security forces kept their distance. speakers told the crowd this was a moment of history, a moment of hope for venezuela. beaming on stage, the man many now look to as a saviour, juan guaido. already being called venezuelan‘s obama, he's a powerful symbol, but an untested leader. today, he tried to court the military with what voice he had left. "welcome to every officer "thatjoins the side of the constitution," he said. "we have amnesties, soldier of the nation, "you have a role in the recovery of the nation of venezuela." these were the images broadcast by state tv.

massive crowds that some claim were suspiciously large. president maduro offered to bring forward parliamentary elections to this year. that might sound like a concession, but the opposition already control parliament, so he's not given much. —— so he's not giving much. back at thejuan guaido rally, venezuelans literally throwing their money away. it's worth little or nothing anyway. the opposition has called for protests to continue until the maduro era is consigned to history. orla guerin, bbc news, caracas. president vladimir putin has responded to a decision by the united states to suspend its involvement in the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty by saying russia will do the same. he said russia would also start to develop new mid—range hypersonic missiles, but insisted the door remained open for negotiations. both sides accuse the other of violating the cold war—era accord.

from moscow, steve rosenberg sent this report. at the kremlin, vladimir putin and his ministers sent a clear message to washington over the inf treaty — "you intend to pull out, do you? well, two can play at that game." translation: our response will be symmetrical. our us partners announced that they are suspending their participation in the inf treaty. so, we are suspending it too. and there was more. moscow, president putin said, would develop new weapons, including a land—based version of this cruise missile, and missiles more than five times the speed of sound. it's a far cry from us—russian cooperation three decades ago when presidents reagan and gorbachev signed the inf treaty. it eliminated a whole class

of short— and medium—range missiles and became a cornerstone of european security. but the chill in relations is palpable. it's beginning to feel like the cold war is back. president putin said the one thing he didn't want was russia being dragged into a costly new arms race. but with both america and russia now having suspended the inf treaty, that is a huge blow to east—west arms control. the inf treaty is breaking apart, and america blames russia. russia has jeopardised the united states‘ security interests, and we can no longer be restricted by the treaty while russia shamelessly violates it. america says these russian missiles violated the inf treaty. moscow denies it, and claims washington broke the agreement. a high—stakes blame game for the two biggest nuclear powers. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the governor of the us state

of virginia has denied wearing a racist costume in a university yearbook photograph. on friday, ralph northam apologised for appearing in the photo, but he now says he is sure it wasn't him. i recognise that many people find this difficult to believe. the photo appears with others i submitted on a page with my name on it. even in my own statement yesterday, i conceded that, based on the evidence presented to me at the time, the most likely explanation, that it was indeed me in the photo. in the hours since i made my statement yesterday, i reflected with my family and classmates from the time, and affirmed my conclusion that i'm not the person in that photo. myth and is expected to announce

it is cancelling —— the japanese carmaker, nissan, is expected to announce that it's it's cancelling planned investment at its plant in sunderland. in 2016, the firm said it would build the new x—trail model in sunderland after its executives met theresa may in downing street and received what they called "support and assurances" about the impact of brexit. our business correspondent rob young has more. nissan runs britain's biggest car plant. the sunderland factory was due to get even bigger. after the eu referendum in 2016, the government gave nissan confidential reassurances about brexit. that secured a promise to build a new model, the x—trail 4x4, creating about 200 jobs and securing many more. we've been showing nissan and others that we are committed to getting the best possible deal from the future relationship that we will be negotiating with the european union. part of that promised investment will not now happen. workers at the plant

expect nissan to announce it's cancelling its plan to build the x—trail in sunderland. there's disappointment in the city. there's, you know, not a lot that's manufactured here these days, so it is a shame, yeah. it's not good news at all, not for sunderland, because it's a big employer for the region, you know, so it's bad news. nissan isn't saying anything, but there are likely to be various factors at play. some will point to brexit and the uncertainty it's created. but carmakers are also dealing with a rough patch in many european economies, with many car sales falling. many drivers also seem to be less keen on buying diesel cars. nissan had announced back in late 2016 that the plant would come to the uk. since then, clearly, things have clearly deteriorated. a big shift away from diesels across europe has really kind of undermined the business case for the model. the car industry has long worried about potential border taxes or checks if there's no brexit deal. so, this news has been leapt on by some. we've already had bad news

coming out ofjaguar land rover and redundancies. again, brexit isjust one of several factors. in the case of nissan, it's probably the largest factor, but there are others too. there's not expected to be a big impact onjobs, but the decision is a blow to uk carmaking and will concern those already worried about its immediate future. rob young, bbc news. parts of the uk are enduring the coldest night in years as the freezing temperatures continue to grip much of the country. the met office has issued warnings for ice in southern and eastern england and warned that temperatures could fall as low as —16 degrees celsius in eastern scotland. it comes after heavy snow brought widespread disruption across southern britain, as robert hall reports. it was a miserable night for so many. police and highways teams working to clear the aftermath of heavy snowfalls. this is the m3 in hampshire.

scenes mirrored on the a96 south of keith. lorries just unable to cope with compacted snow and ice. in berkshire, two police officers rescued two children — one of them an 8—week—old baby — from a vehicle which had slid off the road near bracknell. fortu nately, no—one was hurt in the incident. we then managed to extract the two children from the rear of the vehicle and got them safely in our police vehicle to warm up. in areas where snowfall has been heaviest, daylight brought far better conditions. many roads here in aberdeenshire have been cleared, though minor routes over high ground remain closed. in kent, teams have been clearing roads at walderslade, where the weight of snow brought down a series of large trees. across england's southern counties, travel on major routes have been far easier. a relief for those who can't delay theirjourneys. the roads were a little bit icy. probably about the last hour,

i would say, i've been amongst the snow. you can't get on with yourjob sometimes, you know? butjust deal with it and get on with it. but in this winter landscape, even the briefest detour can take the unwary onto untreated surfaces. today has seen some improvement in regions worst—hit by snowfall. tonight, though, temperatures have dived again. forecasters say they'll reach at least —12 in areas of scotland and in southern england. that means roads like this, which have been slushy, but passable during the day, are once again hazardous during the hours of darkness. robert hall, bbc news at highclere in berkshire. to france now where what are known as the yellow vest protests have been taking place for a 12th successive weekend, and this time, protesters are not only mobilised against president emmanuel macron. danny aebehard reports. it's the 12th week of protests. notjust paris, but cities like strasbourg,

bordeaux and elsewhere. they started out as a show of anger about fuel tax rises, but have since broadened out to issues such as low wages, democratic representation and a hatred of a government demonstrators see as out of touch. and the protests continue to morph. increasingly, the authority's response to the demonstration is itself becoming a rallying cry. the use by police of explosive tear gas canisters is one grievance, but rage is directed primarily at the use of the compressible rubber balls, known as flash balls. these have caused serious facial injuries. a court ruled on friday that police can continue using flash balls due to the risk of violence at protests. but images count. 0n the streets again was a high—profile protester, jerome rodriguez, his right eye damage last saturday by what he says was a flash ball. translation: we shoot at

the population with a weapon of war. is that what france is like today? is this the country in which i was educated? is it like that in this country of freedom? we just want to fill the fridge and we end up with one eye less. the government has to hear this. the protests were generally peaceful with sporadic clashes. riot police responded to projectiles being thrown with tear gas and water cannon. nothing, though, on the scale of the riots that plagued paris in december. officials say that since the demonstrations began, 1,700 protesters have been injured and about 1,000 police. it's a reminder of the delicate balancing act the authorities face. they've insisted they will protect public order from a minority of violent protesters, but they do so at the risk of adding to grievances and perceptions of an overbearing state. it's proving a hard circle to break.

this is bbc news. the headlines: tens of thousands take to the streets of venezuela in rival mass rallies for and against president nicolas maduro. russia says it will follow the us and pull out of a key nuclear treaty and start to develop a new mid—range hypersonic missile. it comes after peace talks were held in sudan, sponsored by the african union and the un. the treaty is to be signed next week. the previous agreements have failed to hold. car has been torn apart by six is offset terry and an ethnic violence. —— sectarian. floods in the north—east australian state of queensland have reached what officials are calling catastrophic levels, unseen in most people's lifetimes. 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. heavy rain is expected to continue and majorflood alerts are in place. 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 major flooding. 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 you use the words unprecedented and uncharted, we use these 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, sydney. authorities in uganda and hong kong have seized two illegal consignments of african ivory and pangolin scales worth millions of dollars each, both on their way to vietnam. the south—east asian nation is one of the world's wildlife trafficking hotspots, where demand for products such as elephant tusks, rhino horns and pangolin scales is high. and with lunar new year coming, wildlife traffickers may step up their trade, as nar faam reports. to the keys to the ship which they

say are the largest ever sees the country, the market value of $8 million. —— ugandan authorities. it had been smuggled from southern sudan into kampala, before leaving for their final destination, vietnam's. at least 125 elephants would have been killed for this amount of ivory. 0ne would have been killed for this amount of ivory. one day later, hong kong officials stop shipping consignment from nigeria, said to be carrying frozen beef but containing eight tons of pangolin scales and more than 1000 elephant tusks. again, the container was bound for vietnam. the products would have ended up here, in vietnam's's capital hanoi, there are shops

specialising in traditional chinese medicine and some, despite the government's bank, offer pangolin scales and rhino horn is miracle cures cancer and other diseases. similar practices are widespread in neighbouring china. with lunar new year poaching, these animal products make expensive gifts and for smugglers, they make lucrative profits. what we are told is that this pangolin particularly as very, very expensive. it is estimated that for one pangolin, the worth that you get is about $100,000. ugandan authorities have detained two vietnamese men suspected of smuggling, and experts say unless there is a concerted international effort to stop the trade, hundreds of thousands of pangolins will continue to be killed every year, adding to deteriorating wildlife populations. customs officials in india have

detained a passenger after they found a month—old leopard cub hidden in his luggage. officials at chennai airport found the cub when they heard noises coming from the 45—year—old man's bag. the animal appeared weak and in a state of shock, and has been taken to a wildlife park to be cared for. authorities are investigating whether the man, who travelled from bangkok, is part of an international smuggling ring. well, as we've seen over the last few days, it's been a pretty brutal winterfor much of the united states. the polar vortex leading to record low temperatures and lots and lots of snow. but how long will this cold weather last? someone who, it's claimed, has the answer is punxsutawney phil, the famous groundhog. so what's his verdict? the bbc‘s tim allman will tell us. for more than 130 years, they have been coming to gobbler‘s knob. the aim is to glean some vital information from a small, furry mammal, who appears to be blessed

with an extraordinary gift. this is punxsutawney phil — well, not the original one, of course — the groundhog and pa rt—time meteorologist. every year he's asked, can he see his own shadow? if he can, it's said winter will last another six weeks. it's not immediately apparent how he conveys this information. we have a prediction! but convey he does. so, is it early spring or a more winter forecast? stop the music. here is my forecast. faithful followers, there is no shadow of me. a beautiful spring it shall be! of course, he was a relative unknown

until the hollywood blockbuster groundhog day came out in the early 19905. groundhog day came out in the early 1990s. now, here's a worldwide phenomenon. all hail groundhog supremacy. if i were you, i would go out and start buying some swimsuits. before you do, you might want to bear in mind that statistical analysis suggests punxsutawney phil is actually wrong more often than he's right. tim allman, bbc news. well, i hope for their sake, well, i hope fortheirsake, it well, i hope for their sake, it is an early spring. let's go back 50 years, to the appointment of the first female black headteacher in the uk. yvonne conolly came to britain from jamaica in 1963. as a gifted teacher, she proceeded to work her way up the career ladder, until in 1969 she gained a post as headteacher.

she spoke to our history programme witness about her experience of becoming britain's first black female headteacher. there is no colour problem at the school. mrs yvonne conolly has to be thanked for that, but there is an awful lot of love, most of it for her. she is london's first west indian head teacher and what should she is with the kids, all 200 of them. i am yvonne conolly. i was one of the first black head teachers in inner london, in 1969. of the first black head teachers in inner london, in1969. i of the first black head teachers in inner london, in 1969. i had done three years of teacher training in jamaica, asi three years of teacher training in jamaica, as i thought i will come to britain. i came in august 1963, a

grey, grey day. i wondered what i had done. i had planned to be here for three years, but three years led to four years. i was very aware that there were racial tensions in quite a numberof there were racial tensions in quite a number of school is. i would turn up a number of school is. i would turn up and somebody would just, i suppose without meaning it, say but you are black. 0f suppose without meaning it, say but you are black. of course, my reply was yes, am, but i am also a teacher, so there were small, silly things. nothing dangerous, but enough to cause discomfort. after six years, i applied for head teacher and ijust six years, i applied for head teacher and i just want six years, i applied for head teacher and ijust want to see what interviews at this level might be andl interviews at this level might be and i was absolutely amazed when my name was called, mrs conolly. the

newspapers picked this up the next day and the school was inundated by quite a numberof day and the school was inundated by quite a number of journalists, day and the school was inundated by quite a number ofjournalists, he came to take photographs. since she took over the headship of the school a few weeks ago, she has brought a new vitality to it. her children for many parts of the world mix happily, unaware of prejudice. when i was appointed, somebody threatened to ban the school down. i had newspaper articles that were actually sent to me with, crossing out my photograph, with actually nasty comments. go back to jamaica. i also had letters from, interestingly enough, members of the black community. they felt that i had sold out to the white establishment, and they reminded me,

these letters reminded me in no mean terms that i was here only for the black children. the racism was coming both from the white side and on the black side. i had a responsibility for all the children in my school, regardless of race or religion. in fact, the differences we re religion. in fact, the differences were less than the commonalities that we shared. and therefore, one had to get on with it. happily, the parents were only interested in whether their children would get a good education, and that certainly was my focus. i felt that i had a job to do in britain, and i am happy having been here now for 56 years. yvonne connolly there speaking to the bbc‘s history programme, witness.

you can reach me on twitter. i'm @regedahmadbbc. let's see what weather is in store. here's nick miller. hello. snow has been the most prominent feature of the weather over much of the last week. but at least on saturday, the sunshine came back. but that's going to be harder to find through much of sunday. as cloud increases, some of us will see a bit more wet weather. but that comes after quite a hard frost to start the day. in fact, some places could well be into minus double figures, where this snow is deepest. you can see the extent of the frost as well, even in town and city centres, it's a cold start to the day. but for many of us, there will be some sunshine, but from the word go, northern ireland and western scotland, more cloud around here and some rain, sleet and snow, courtesy of these weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. and slowly pushing their way a bit further east as we go through the day. now, the early wet weather should be fairly soon out of the way in northern ireland.

a damp start here. but again, the rain preceded by a bit of sleet and snow in places, and in that process, moves across scotland into northern england, mayjust fringe north wales. south of that it should stay mainly dry. cloud increasing, but still some sunny spells towards east anglia and south—east england. behind the wet weather, it brightens up again in scotland. it stays cloudy in northern ireland. further outbreaks of rain coming back going into the evening. temperatures, they're a little bit higher. parts of south—west england could be up to around 10 celsius, for example. a freshening south—westerly wind. it get stronger through sunday night and into monday morning, as it feeds in more wet weather, while most of us will see rain out of this, a bit of snow falling into the pennines and southern uplands, but especially into the higher ground north of the central belt in scotland, where we could see 5—10 centimetres building up as we go through monday as well. it will be quite slow to clear, and a much less cold start to the day on monday. some rainjust affecting parts

of south—east england as monday starts. it may not clear the far south—east. it looks like we'll hold onto an area of cloud here in east anglia. snowy weather slowly pulling away from northern scotland, and many other areas will see things brightening up on monday. temperatures again are a little bit higher, some of us in south—west england getting into double figures. they will drop again on monday night and this ridge of high pressure with clear skies, there'll be another frost going into tuesday morning. low pressure gathering to the west, though, sets the scene for quite an unsettled week to come. there will be some sunny days, but there will also be some wet days. it will often be windy, but one thing to take from this chart is those temperatures will head upwards. more of us at times will see temperatures into double figures, and of course that is going to feel very different compared to what we've had over much of the past week or two. a change for the milder in the week ahead. this is bbc news. the headlines: tens of thousands have taken to the streets of venezuela in rival mass rallies. the head of the opposition, juan guaido,

is trying to force president maduro from power. the president also spoke at a rally in support of his leadership and the current government. russia has announced it is pulling out of a cold war arms control treaty, and says it will develop a new hypersonic missile. it follows a move to withdraw from the treaty by the united states on friday. the governor of the us state of virginia, ralph northam, has refused to resign after he was accused to being in a racist photo in his yearbook. he says the person in the photo is not him. pupils should be banned from taking smartphones into classrooms according england's schools minister.