a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: one of the most powerful drug cartel leaders in history, joaquin "el chapo" guzman, is found guilty on all counts at a trial in the us. opposition protesters take to the streets of venezuela, but president maduro tells the bbc there's no humanitarian crisis in his country, and takes aim at america. translation: i believe that the extremist sector of the white supremacists of the ku klux klan is in charge of the united states. i believe it's a gang of extremists. hung out to dry. a leading uk business group warns the government that firms are being left in a vulnerable situation by the uncertainty over brexit. a 24—hour strike by the belguim's air traffic controller officers stops all flights in and out of the country. and we meet the malaysian villagers fed up with western pollution, now taking the matter into their own hands. hello.

the leader of one of the world's most powerful and violent drug cartels has been convicted of smuggling cocaine and heroin into the united states. joaquin guzman played a central role in the long—running clashes between rival gangs in his native mexico. the man better known by the nickname "el chapo" will be sentenced in june. he faces life in prison. nada tawfik reports from new york. gunshots. this raid by mexican marines finally put an end tojoaquin "el chapo" guzman‘s brutal reign as the world's most powerful drug lord. but it was the work of us authorities who secured his extradition to new york, and ultimately his conviction, that sealed his fate. his conviction, we expect, will bring a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

it is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return. in a major victory for us law enforcement, the anonymous jury found el chapo guilty on all ten of the criminal charges against him, including drug trafficking and murder conspiracy. when the verdict was read in court, el chapo sat stunned. he and his teary eyed wife emma coronel gave each other a thumbs—up. for months, she was present to hear the overwhelming evidence against her husband. but on tuesday, she left the court for the final time without giving any reaction. el chapo‘s lawyers say they plan to appeal. he was very clear to us. he's a very upbeat guy, and he was bringing our spirits up, which is surprising. usually, it's the other way round, we are consoling a client who has just been convicted of counts that will ensure he was then the rest of his life in prison.

this is a positive guy. prosecutors argued that el chapo‘s many escapes proved his guilt. jurors were shown this muted video of mexican marines trying to ram the door of one of his secret hideouts. the drug lord was in bed with his mistress at the time and together they escaped naked through a hydraulic hatch installed in a bathtub and down into a sewer tunnel. and when he was captured, it wasn't for long. the jury was shown one of his brazen escapes from prison in mexico through a tunnel from a shower in the cell where a motorcycle waited to speed him off. the trial allowed american prosecutors to detail the inner workings of the powerful sinaloa cartel and el chapo‘s rise from a humble farmer in the sierra madre mountains to the world's most powerful drug lord. jurors were told that in just four drug shipments, the cartel smuggled more than a line of cocaine for every person in the united states, using various decoys such as plastic bananas. the trial featured testimony

from many of el chapo‘s closest associates. together, they painted a vivid picture of how he consolidated power by paying enormous bribes and by being brutally violent. he once ordered the murder of his own cousin and was known to personally torture and kill his enemies. security has been a major feature of this trial and now that prosecutors have won the conviction of the infamous drug lord, he is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison under heavy guard. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. inafew in a few minutes we will hear from a journalist who has been based in mexico for 18 years writing about traffickers, he says we shouldn't call them drug lords, we should call them warlords. don't forget, you can find more on the 11 week trial of el chapo on our website. as well as astounding details from the trial, there's a guide to the drug cartels of mexico and of course

all the other stories we're covering. just go to bbc.com/news, or you can also download the bbc news app. let's get some of the day's other news for you now. the bbc has asked for a review of security at president trump's rallies after an attack on a bbc cameraman in texas on monday. the cameraman was shoved very hard and sworn at by a man in a "make america great again" cap. the incident did not stop mr trump's verbal attacks on the press, although the white house has since issued a statement condemning violence against the media. turkish authorities have arrested more than 700 people suspected of links to the islamic cleric, fethullah gulen, who's based in the us. he's accused of organising a failed coup in 2016, which he denies. prosecutors claim his supporters infiltrated the police force by getting the questions to a recruitment exam in advance. the trial of 12 catalan separatists accused of rebellion and sedition against spain has begun in madrid. they were arrested after a banned referendum in 2017 and an attempt to declare catalonia independent. the offences carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. the rapper, 21 savage,

who was being held on immigration charges in georgia, is expected to be released from custody pending further investigation. immigration officials say he is british and in the united states illegally. his lawyers accuse the us of trying to intimidate him into leaving. the president of venezuela, nicolas maduro, has launched a bitter attack on president trump, insisting that he would defend the south american country against any threat of a us military invasion. he insisted it was not a country going hungry, and urged the world to wake up and see the us aggression. but mr maduro is under growing international pressure to call elections amid a worsening economic crisis fuelled by rampant inflation. our correspondent orla guerin spoke to mr maduro in caracas. people power on the streets of caracas today. the opposition still summoning

the crowds, still keeping up the pressure. and on the ground, their charismatic young leader, juan guaido, already compared to barack obama. his ascent has been swift, fuelled by little more than the power of hope, but he is now recognised by leading western countries as the interim president. orla. president maduro, very nice to see you. thank you for having us. in an opulent setting, we met the other president of venezuela, nicolas maduro, embattled, internationally isolated, but still occupying the seat of power. though many of his people are going hungry, he is still refusing us aid waiting across the border in colombia. translation: venezuela is a dignified country, and the united states intends to create a humanitarian crisis to justify a military intervention. that's part of this show. you say the humanitarian aid

is a show, president, but are you actually saying that the hunger is a show? because we have seen it with our own eyes. we have actually seen people reaching into the garbage with their hands to find food to eat. are you honestly saying there is no hunger in venezuela? the bbc in london has created a stereotype, and the american media also, of a venezuela that doesn't exist. do we have problems? yes, but venezuela is not a country with hunger. tell that to those like john, forced to live hand—to—mouth, straight from the rubbish. a shocking sight, in what was one of the wealthiest countries in latin america. now a place of empty promises, hospitals without insulin and basic drugs, desperately ill patients without treatment.

but that is all fake news, according to nicolas maduro. we have met people who say a box of antibiotics costs a month's salary. translation: you can rest assured that the venezuelan social health system will reach them, rest assured that we have a medical system like no other country in the world. the president denied that 3 million venezuelans had been driven from their homeland by stratospheric prices, and seemed out of touch with hyperinflation. can you tell me how much a kilo of cheese costs here now in venezuela today? it depends on the region. because we have been told it is the equivalent of a month's wages, that that is what it is costing people just to buy one kilo of cheese. we have different salary structures, but this topic is more relevant for a venezuelan audience.

i don't think it would interest your audience. this is how he likes to be seen these days, as commander—in—chief. he insists that if the us tries any kind of military intervention, his men will fight back. for now, maduro is demonising the enemy, claiming the us is in the grip of the kkk. do you really think the ku klux klan are ruling america? translation: i believe that the white supremacists of the ku klux klan lead the united states. so is president trump a white supremacist? he is, publicly and openly, and he has stimulated the neo—fascists and the neo—nazis in the united states, in europe, and in latin america. instead of sending aid trucks, mr maduro says washington should lift sanctions, and if the us

and britain really want to help, they should unfreeze venezuela's assets. for now, his troops are blocking the aid, and he is digging in for a war of attrition. a leading uk business group has warned that firms are being "hung out to dry" because of the uncertainty over a no—deal brexit. the british chambers of commerce has published a list of 20 questions it says remain unanswered for business if the uk leaves the eu on march the 29th without a deal. these include what trade agreements will be in place and how firms can move skilled staff between the united kingdom and the european union. prime minister theresa may has told parliament she needs more time to get the changes to her agreement she believes members want. the opposition labour party has accused her of wanting to leave mps up against a deadline with a stark choice between her deal and no deal.

she's denied that she is just "running down the clock" on brexit. the talks are at a crucial stage and we now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this house requires and deliver brexit on time. by getting the changes we need to the backstop, by protecting and enhancing workers rights and environmental protections, and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations, i believe we can reach a deal this house can support. in her statement the prime minister has failed to answer even the most basic questions. what progress has she made on identifying and working up the alternative arrangements? have they been presented to the european union? if not, when will they be presented? more to come on all of that very likely for years to come. plenty more to come here on bbc news, including this: the malaysian villagers dealing with piles

of plastic and mountains of rubbish who have decided to take matters into their own hands. there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth,

defender of the faith. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: one of the most powerful cartel leaders in history, joaquin 'el chapo' guzman, has been found guilty at his drug trafficking trial in the us. opposition protesters take to the streets of venezuela but president maduro tells the bbc there's no humanitarian crisis in his country, and takes aim at america. more now our main story. i've been speaking to loan grillo, a journalist based in mexico city. he has written several books on drug trafficking, including gangster warlords. yes, a very good point. the white house has a study and it says that americans spend $100 billion every year buying

cocaine, heroin, crystal meth and marijuana, and a lot of that money goes to mexico and, if it is not el chapo making that money, it's el mencho or el mayo or various other drug traffickers. here in mexico, the 18 years i have been here, i've covered things i could not imagine in terms of the bloodshed fighting over that money. i have seen so many dead bodies that have been shot, i have been to morgues where there have been 49 corpses all decapitated, all with their hands and feet cut off. i have seen so many crying parents over their children who have died, often innocent, in this bloodshed. so here quite a bittersweet feeling about this conviction. is this any kind of victory would you say or has itjust helped the remaining cartels by removing a competitor? if someone breaks the law — and el chapo was a man who not only trafficked tonnes of

drugs to americans — cocaine, heroin, and there are many people who have died of that heroin. he has also been involved in a cartel that has killed many people. i would consider him a warlord leading a faction here so the fact that he is going to prison is a good thing. it does send a certain message that, if you get so famous or infamous, then the united states could take you down, however, in terms of the bigger picture, there's going to be plenty of people trafficking drugs, and plenty of people fighting over those drugs. last year, while el chapo was on in the united states awaiting trial or serving trial, was the most violent a year in mexico on record, with 33,000 murders, just last year alone. he was plainly a torturer, a murderer, he made billions out of other people's misery yet he is still a kind of folk hero in parts of mexico. can you tell us more about his impact in human terms and politically in the country?

i have been up to the village where he is from, i have met his mother, i've stayed with his cousin, talked to people in that area and there people say he is a robin hood figure. they say he built roads, he helped people. that's a relatively small area in mexico. but other places often echo those same feelings. they see him as a rebel against the system. and because it is very hard, if you're poor in mexico, to become rich, they see him as someone who has kind of beaten the system. but other people have much more mixed views or aggressive views towards him and towards drug trafficking generally. they say these people are like demons, they've caused so much violence and trouble in this country. it is a quite painful mixed feelings amongst many people here.

he put a lot of bribes around the place, that is one way he survived. are there going to be political and legal consequences more widely? maybe that is one of the big questions everyone is asking. in the trial it was also said that he bribed the former president, pena nieto, with $100 million, a former secretary of public security. it doesn't look like there's going to be a big trial but it is a possibility. all flights into and out of belgium have been cancelled because of a 24—hour strike by the main transport unions. belgian air traffic control authorities cite safety concerns because of uncertainty over staffing levels. the home of the european union's capital has ground to a halt. nearly 600 flights into belgium have been cancelled and planes flying below 7500 metres have had to be re—routed, all due to a national strike by transport unions that has brought this small european nation to a standstill. translation: we had no alternatives but to close the airport today for two reasons. on the one hand, we know that there will be substantial roadblocks around hte airport that will hinder

the arrival of passengers. and on another hand, we know that the air—traffic will be affected because entities outside the airport, who work for and with the airport, will be impacted. the workers that belong to belgium's main transport unions have gone on strike because they want to see wages increases faster than their planned 0.8% annual rate. they also want to see increases to pension and benefits, as well asa better work—life balance. and it's notjust belgium's skies that have been impacted. public transport is also disrupted, although limited trains are still running into and out of the country. that has meant that some airlines have decided to reroute flights instead of outright cancelling them. translation: tui is not cancelling any flights because the 10 flights planned to or from the charleroi airport will be diverted to lille or amsterdam. we really want to allow our passengers to continue on their holiday destinations as fast as possible.

the strike is set to end by 10pm brussels time. until then, stranded travellers are attempting to look on the bright side. as one commentor put it, the best thing about brussels is that it is easy to get out of. kim gittleson, bbc news. the australian government has responded to a major defeat on immigration policy by announcing that it will reopen the christmas island detention centre. the centre closed last year — it held around 300 asylum seekers in 2017. earlier i spoke to our correspondent in sydney, hywel griffith. i asked him if reopening christmas island was a way of getting around this policy defeat. it's certainly drawn attention towards the government's border protection policies and allowed it to look tough on immigration, and accusing the opposition, which had a major victory in parliament last night. accused it of being soft and potentially opening the door

to more people smugglers and more people trying to seek asylum in australia, by landing here illegally. so, scott morrison, who was himself the immigration minister at one stage saying he needs to reopen the controversial christmas island centre which was the scene of protests and hunger strikes, that in anticipation, he says, of more people smuggling efforts coming into australia. he's also claimed, and so has his ministers, that this new law in australia that doctors will be able to decide which asylum seekers and refugees need to come here for medical treatment, that will open the door for rapists and murderers and child molesters, says the government, claiming that these people will come into australia taking advantage of the doctors being in charge of the policy, and not ministers. so, i think we need to see all this in the context of the forthcoming election in may where the government, trailing in the polls at the moment, wants to look tough on immigration and accuse the opposition, which is ahead in the polls, of being a soft touch. and i think that's what led to this announcement on christmas island. football greats have been paying

tribute to england's world cup winning goalkeeper gordon banks, who's died at the age of 81. the brazilian superstar, pele — who he famously denied during the tournament in 1970 — said he was a fine human being. during his career he was named fifa goalkeeper of the year no fewer than six times. russia's parliament has passed draft legislation that would give the state tighter control of the internet, to defend it from foreign meddling. the bill seeks to route russian web traffic through points controlled by state authorities. its authors say it would create a sovereign internet that could function even if russia was cut off by a cyber attack. but critics are calling it a move

towards internet censorship the husband of congresswoman gabby giffords, who was severely wounded in an assassination attempt in 2011, has announced he's running for the us senate. mark kelly — seen here accompanying his wife to a senate hearing on gun violence — is a retired nasa astronaut. he's hoping to become democratic candidate in arizona. he's expected to make gun control a major part of his platform. malaysia has become one of the leading destinations for the world's plastic waste. a group of villagers, in an area drowning in tons of rubbish, have decided to take the matter into their own hands. this is the story of how they fought against that giant pile of plastic. fightin back in malaysia. finally, a mayor in france has been accused of hounding residents after banning dogs from barking too much. dog owners will face a $77 dollar fine for prolonged or repeated barking. animal rights groups have asked whether it's 'fur‘ real. more on that story on our website — bbc.com/news. thanks for watching. hello there. on tuesday the temperature reached 1a degrees in northern ireland, actually at giant's causeway. and over the next few days, the rest of this week it is going to stay very mild everywhere.

with high—pressure essentially in charge, there will not be much rain around at all. the high is centred towards the south—east of the uk. so this is where our air is coming from around the high, from a long way south, which is why it is so mild. those winds are tending to push away most of the rain although, having said that, we do have more cloud around at the moment so it is not as cold. the cloud continues to be thick enough to bring some rain and drizzle across scotland, pushing its way northwards. these are the temperatures we're looking at towards the end of the night, so typically 6 or 7 degrees. on wednesday, most places will start rather cloudy. there'll be some further rain and drizzle, mainly for scotland, heading away from the northern isles. still a bit damp for a while in the north—west of scotland. with the cloud breaking and some sunshine arriving in the moray firth, aberdeenshire

and more widely across east wales, the midlands, southern england and east anglia. here the winds are lighter. towards the north—west of the uk where we've got more cloud, the winds are stronger. for all of us it is a south or south—westerly wind so for all of us it's mild. those temperatures very similar to what we had on tuesday. overnight, probably some stronger winds for the northern half of the uk and a bit more cloud around too. another weak weather front topples into the north—west of scotland. more breaks in the cloud, more widely across england and wales. a little cooler, temperatures around 3—4 degrees. into thursday, we are going to find those strong south, south—west winds pushing away that weather front. we're actually going to draw in our airfrom the near continent, and this is drier air as well so that means more sunshine, more widely on thursday. still some cloud to greet the day across northern scotland. any rain soon gets pushed away. cloud then breaks up. some pockets of cloud through the irish sea, but a lot of sunshine around on thursday. still quite breezy, very mild. temperatures could get 15 degrees around the moray firth. and easily 13 or 1a in many other areas as well. so an exceptionally mild day —

it should be around 7 or 8 degrees at this time of the year. towards the end of the week, we've still got high—pressure close by. these weather fronts are trying to move in to that but, as they arrive, they are weakening and they're slowing down as well. so it's really the far north—west of scotland, perhaps northern ireland, that could see some rain later on in the day, but otherwise there's going to be plenty of sunshine around. we've still got those south to south—west winds so another very mild day with temperatures of 11 or 12 celsius. goodbye. this is bbc news. the headlines: the infamous mexican cartel leader, joaquin "el chapo" guzman, is facing the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty at his drugs trial in the united states. guzman was convicted on numerous counts including the distribution of cocaine and heroin, illegal firearms possession and money laundering. thousands of supporters of the venezuelan opposition leader, juan guaido, have staged an anti poverty rally in the centre of the capital, caracas. the president, nicolas maduro, has told the bbc there is no humanitarian crisis.

he also promised to defend the nation against the threat of a us military invasion. the trial of 12 catalan separatists accused of rebellion and sedition against spain has begun in madrid. they were arrested after a banned referendum in 2017 and an attempt to declare catalonia independent. the offences carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. it is about 4:30am