welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the founder of huawei hits back. in an exclusive interview, ren zhengfei says american actions against his company, and his daughter, are politically—motivated. translation: there's no way the us can crush us. the east will still shine and if the north goes dark, then there is still the south. 16 us states sue the federal government over donald trump's national emergency declaration to fund his border wall. british teenager shamima begum tells the bbc it was her choice to join the so—called islamic state, but asks the people of britain to forgive her. and a medicalfirst. a woman gets dna treatment to halt the most common form of blindness in the uk. the founder of the chinese telecoms giant huawei has told

the bbc that american attempts to ban it from any stake in 56 networks in the west will not crush the company. several countries are investigating whether huawei poses a security risk. ren zhengfei's daughter, the company's chief financial officer, meng wanzhou has been detained on the request of the united states. he described that as a politically—motivated act. our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani has been speaking exclusively to him. this is the man the us says is helping china spy on the world. ren zhengfei, a former engineer in the chinese military, started huawei 30 years ago with just three people. he's built a global telecoms giant, bigger than apple, nokia and ericsson, with some of the fastest 56 technology in the world. but now his life's work is under attack and his daughter's freedom hangs in the balance.

the us says huawei's equipment could be used by china to spy on other countries, but in an exclusive interview with me, the company's 74—year—old founder says that would never happen. translation: we will never undertake any spying activities and we will never accept anyone's instructions to install a back door. if we take any such actions, then i will shut the company down. what kind of impact would it have on your business if the us is successful in getting many of its partners in the west to shut your equipment out? translation: there's no way the us can crush us. the east will still shine and if the north goes dark, then there is still the south. america doesn't represent the world, america only represents a portion of the world. but the us is putting pressure on huawei.

it has slapped multiple charges on the company and at washington's request canada has arrested mr ren‘s daughter, also the company's chief financial officer. translation: i object to what the us has done. this kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable. the us likes to sanction others whenever there is an issue, they will use such methods. we object to this. still, questions about huawei's independence from the chinese communist party have been raised. in the last several years the chinese communist party has been a lot more coercive and this really crystallises worries that companies like huawei will be forced to help them conduct espionage. chinese companies have only started threatening the dominance of western businesses over the last decade. as they have come up, the world has had to grapple with the different

system they operate in. central to this is the fear that these companies are obliged to serve the interests of the chinese communist party. whether they do or not may be beside the point, the perception in itself could determine their success in the future. president trump is trying to increase the pressure on venezuela's president nicolas maduro. mr trump was in miami, again throwing his support behind opposition leaderjuan guaido, who's declared himself president. south florida has one of the largest venezuelan populations in the us. mr trump is pushing for the removal of nicolas maduro from power, and calling on him to allow aid into venezuela. from miami, barbara plett usher reports. this wasn't a campaign rally but it felt like one. cheering. the people of venezuela are standing for freedom and democracy and the united states of america is standing right by their side.

president trump's support for the opposition is wildly popular among these venezuelan and cuban exiles and it's a chance for him to boost the hispanic vote in an important swing state. they love president trump here because they love his tough policy in venezuela and he's capitalising on that support. he's also using this speech to step up pressure on the venezuelan leader nicolas maduro ahead of a looming confrontation over humanitarian aid. the us has been stockpiling food and medicine in colombia in response to venezuela's humanitarian crisis. mr maduro has dismissed this as a political show, a coverfor invasion. so getting the aid across the border is crucial for the viability of the opposition leader, juan guaido, who's declared himself interim president. he's given the maduro government until saturday to lift a blockade on the shipments.

president trump demanded the military let them pass and that it throw its support behind mr guaido. if you chose this path, you have the opportunity to help forge a safe and prosperous future for all of the people of venezuela. or you can choose the second path, continuing to support maduro. jeering and booing. if you choose this path, you will find no safe harbour, no easy exit and no way out, you will lose everything. cheering and applause. strong words but the us doesn't want the generals to remain loyal to mr maduro and drag this out for months. neither does the opposition, that's why it's forcing a confrontation this weekend.

barbara plett—usher, bbc news, miami. let's get some of the day's other news. here in britain, seven members of parliament from the opposition labour party have resigned over differences with the leadership on brexit and a row over anti—semitism. they will sit in parliament as a group of independent mps. and two conservative mps have told the bbc they are thinking seriously about leaving their party to sit as independents with the new group. summit has been cancelled because of a row over israel and poland. the government has been angered by comments from israeli leaders suggesting polish visiting in the holocaust. scientists say the genome of the great white shark may provide information to fight cancer and age—related diseases, and improve treatments to heal wounds in humans. sharks are known for their impressive ability to recoverfrom injuries. researchers say they've barely begun exploring the white shark genome.

fresh violence in indian—administered kashmir, as tensions rise over last week's suicide bombing that killed at least 40 indian paramilitary police. officials say nine people, including four indian soldiers and a policeman, were killed in a gun battle on monday. the militant groupjaysh e mohammed, based in pakistan, has said it carried out the bombing. sangita myska reports from delhi. security police sealed off a village in the district of pulwama. security forces say they fired warning shots into the air. militants immediately returned fire. hours of fierce fighting followed, leaving several dead, including soldiers and militants, some of whom indian police say were behind last week's terror attack. the aftermath of that attack was caught on camera. this was all that was left of the bus, part of a huge military convoy transporting over 2,000 troops. it was blown up by suicide

bomber adil ahmad dar, one of a new generation of kashmiris radicalised in a region where the majority of the population is muslim. the islamist militant group jaish—e—mohammad has claimed responsibility. based on pakistan, it's been fighting for kashmir‘s independence for nearly 20 years. pakistan's prime minister imran khan has vehemently denied the accusations that his country has had a direct hand in last week's attack. pakistan recalled its ambassador from delhi to discuss rising tensions between the two countries. kashmir has been a source of conflict between the two countries since 1947. the nuclear neighbours have fought three wars over it. so far, india's primary response in dealing with pakistan has been to try and have it isolated diplomatically. to that end, it's been widely reported here that indian officials have compiled a dossier that they say proves the pakistani government has been directly financing the organisation responsible for last thursday's attack. in the meantime, narendra modi's

government has yet to announce whether it will go one step further and order military action. sangita myska, bbc news, delhi. shamima begum, the teenager who left the uk to join the islamic state group when she was 15, has told the bbc, she never intended to become a poster girl for the terrorist organisation. now 19, and with a two day old baby, she says she wants the uk's forgiveness, and while it was wrong that innocent people died in the terror attack in manchester, she saw what happened, as a kind of retaliation, for attacks on is. she's been speaking to our middle east correspondent, quentin somerville. underneath her black abaya dress, she cradles her two—day old son. only four years have passed since she left britain, but that's a lifetime in the islamic state group. shamima begum stuck with the extremists until the very last moment. but now she wants forgiveness.

myself, yeah, iwill admit, i was the one that made the choice. even though i was only 15 years old, i did have... i could make my own decision back then, i did have the, like, mentality to make my own decisions and i did leave on my own knowing that it was a risk, but... you know, iwill admit it's my fault right now. and ijust want, ijust want forgiveness, really, from the uk. like everything i've been through, i didn't expect i would go through that and, you know, losing my children the way i lost them, i don't want to lose this baby as well and this is really not a place to raise children, this camp. maybe temporarily but not permanently. if the islamic state hadn't fallen, if they hadn't been defeated, would you have stayed? no, i would've left. she was brought to this camp in northern syria after she and her dutch armed jihadi husband surrendered to kurdish forces. she says she no longer supports

is but still mouths its propaganda. so here's your opportunity then to apologise to some of the people who were murdered by the group that you joined. some of the british men, some of the women, some of the kids from manchester who were killed in the manchester arena, you must have heard about that attack? what did you think about that? i was shocked, but... but? i just couldn't. .. i didn't know about the kids actually, but...you know. i do feel that is wrong that, like, innocent people did get killed. shamima begum is unwanted here in syria and unwanted at home. as the islamic state's caliphate collapses, it leaves more than just rubble in its wake. 12 more british women arrived at this camp in the last week alone. quentin somerville, bbc news, northern syria. still to come:

we'll tell you about the budding businessman from ghana who is trying to save the environment, and make a living at the same time. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. it has a terrible effect on the morale of the people, i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island,

away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they've called it mir, russian for peace. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: ren zhengfei, the founder of chinese telecoms giant huawei, has told the bbc that the arrest of his daughter, at the request of the united states, is a politically motivated act. sixteen us states sue the federal government over donald trump's national emergency declaration to build a border wall. a coalition of 16 states led by california is suing the trump administration. it's over his declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for his promised wall along the us—mexico border. the president invoked emergency powers on friday. earlier i spoke to our los angeles correspondent peter bowes

about trump's campaign promise that mexico would pay for the wall. yes, that was always the promise and it hasn't turned out like this and clearly last week congress denying the president the $5.7—billion that he wants to build the wall, giving just, about $1.3—billion, so the president's response to that, declare a state of emergency to essentially get around, circumvent the decision of congress to get the funds he needs to build a wall. interestingly, almost in the same breath he predicted that this would result in legal action, that he would be sued, he said it would probably end up in the supreme court of the united states. well, this is just the first step. california, one of the border states, of course, new mexico as well as new york are the big states. hawaii also involved in this, all getting together to sue the president because they say what he's essentially doing is taking money from funds,

their defence fund in particular, that could have been allocated to the states and that's where they come in. they are essentially defending the rights of the people in the states who may well have benefited from those funds that the president now wants to spend on the wall. and peter, whatever the rights and wrongs of this, whatever you think of the politics, i know there's concern among some republicans, too, that are saying a democratic president could declare a national emergency to bring in gun controls. yes, they are looking forward and saying this could set a precedent. that this tactic, this tool if you like, that presidents have had at their disposal since the 70s to declarer state of emergency to get something they want could be used again on policies that they dislike. it should be said that this is quite a unique situation right now because although there have been many other states of emergencies, none have been essentially to get around a decision of congress on funding. it's all about the separation of powers in american government between the executive branch which the president is in charge of and congress. what the states are saying

is that the congress decides funding and the allocation of money and not the president. the japanese car maker honda is to shut down its factory in britain, with the loss of thousands of jobs. a formal announcement is expected on tuesday. the british government and the local conservative mp says it has nothing to do with brexit. a senior union official has blamed what he calls "chaotic brexit uncertainty". jon kay reports. for 30 years, honda cars have been heading out of this factory to a showroom near you. but for how much longer? workers leaving the swindon plant tonight were stunned by news that the site could close. i've got two kids, i've got a missus, obviously this is my full—time job, this is my life, this is my lifeline, so obviously without this, i'm now, well, technically i'm jobless. ijust think all these companies that are closing down, shouldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening. i'm hearing there might be a meeting tomorrow,

so we'lljust wait and see what they say about that tomorrow. but obviously it's all over social media, so, yeah, that's all we know at the moment. so, you found out on social media? yes, we found out on social media, yeah. last month, honda announced it would shut the swindon operation for six days in april to deal with any brexit disruption. and some of the 3,500 workers now blame brexit for a more permanent closure. i can't imagine a starker warning for the government. no deal will be catastrophic for the uk car industry and if there's no deal in particular, this won't be the only plant closure. there will be more to come. honda has helped transform this old railway town into a vibrant business hub, and many here believe the threat to the plant now is more about global trade and vehicle trends than it is about uk politics. whatever the reason, the unions are furious. for the last two years, the uk car industry has been the jewel in the crown of british manufacturing. today's announcement,

should it be confirmed, just rips the heart out of that. a lot of people in swindon, all they've ever known is honda. martin's worked at the plant since the 1990s. his honda parked proudly on the driveway. but tonight, he's worried notjust about the thousands ofjobs at the plant, but the thousands more in the chain. all the companies that supply honda, all the lorries that come in and out, picking up the cars, all the people that supply the parts, they're not going to have the money to go into the shops to spend and things like that. so then that's going to hit the shops, the retail. it's just going to be a catastrophe. honda is the biggest thing to ever hit swindon. without honda, there is no swindon. well, tomorrow morning, the thousands of workers here hope to get some kind of explanation, but many of them have told us they're less bothered about the why

and that they care far more about what next. john kay, bbc news, swindon. it's being celebrated as a medicalfirst. a woman from oxford here in the uk has had gene therapy to try to halt the most common form of blindness in the uk, age—related macular degeneration. surgeons injected dna into the affected eye under local anaesthetic, to try to protect her remaining vision. this exclusive report from our medical correspondent fergus walsh. can you see the letters on this line, the next one down? no, it's become a blur. little by little, janet osborne is losing her sight. just look straight ahead. she has age—related macular degeneration, amd. it's a massive problem in the uk affecting several hundred thousand people. the condition means her central vision is blurred. you're not clear, but i can see your glasses and your ears. can you see the colour of my eyes?

no. you can see the light, can you? in a world first, this professor of ophthalmology at the university of oxford is going to use an injection of gene therapy to try to halt amd in her left eye. so, how does it work? in some people as they age, genes responsible for the eye's natural defences start to malfunction and begin destroying cells in the macula, the most sensitive part of the retina responsible for such sharp central vision. in this trial, an injection is made at the back of the eye. a harmless virus infects the retinal cells and releases a synthetic gene. this is used by the cell's own machinery to make a protein. it's hoped this will stop the immune system overreacting and keep the macula healthy. the procedure at oxford eye hospital is done under local anaesthetic and takes less than an hour. if it works,

the implications would be huge. imagine a future in which the commonest cause of blindness in the uk could be prevented by a single injection. that's what's at stake here because if this treatment is successful, it could be offered to patients before they've lost any vision, stopping their disease in its tracks. approximately 350,000 people in the uk are severely sight impaired by age—related macular degeneration. a genetic treatment administered early on to preserve the vision in patients who'd otherwise lose their sight would be a tremendous breakthrough in ophthalmology, and certainly something i hope to see in the near future. it's too early to know if janet's sight loss has been stopped, but she'll be monitored over the coming year, along with other patients on the trial. it would mean a lot to you to keep your vision? it would be amazing, absolutely amazing. put some compost... there is already a gene therapy treatment for another rare form of blindness.

if it's successful forjanet‘s common condition, it would help many older people retain their sight and their independence. fergus walsh, bbc news, oxford. africa is the continent with the youngest population on earth and some see it as an engine for global economic growth. other countries have invested billions of dollars betting on africa's future. the bbc‘s tim allman reports on one man in ghana, who has become a budding businessman. here, in his workshop, jeffrey yeboah performs miracles of a sort. he takes old tyres, recycled glass, fabric, different coloured ropes and makes bespoke furniture. coffee tables and armchairs. a thriving business, an example to others. i love myjob, i love what i do.

it's the best thing i ever did for myself. if nothing at all, i feel part of the problem—solving community. jeffrey's been doing this for five years, picking up tyres dumped here and there, which he then transforms. and he's a busy chap. he also studies economics at university and trains other aspiring entrepreneurs. items sell for anything between $30 and $250. for his customers, it's a chance to buy some new furniture and fly the flag. the only exciting part of it is that it's made in ghana, and i want to buy it to promote our products. jeffrey says he wants to teach others about waste management, proving you can help clean the environment and make some money at the same time. tim allman, bbc news. and finally, it's very likely that you've seen this image before. it's arguably one of the iconic

photographs of the 20th century. well, sad to report the american sailor, captured kissing a nurse in new york's times square, as crowds celebrated the end of the second world war, has died. george mendonsa was just a few days short of his 96th birthday. the photo was taken in august 1945 by alfred eisenstadt for life magazine. there is the in 1992. he was on a first date with the woman who later became his wife and the nurse was a total stranger. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbc mike embley. thank you for watching. hello there.

there's a trend for our weather to turn, really, very mild towards the end of this week. what's happening on the big picture is we're seeing southerly winds develop over the next few days, and those winds will be dragging up all this warm air from the tenerife, 2,000 miles to our south, and pushing it northwards across the uk. there's a question mark how much cloud there's going to be. it certainly looks pretty cloudy for the next few days. but towards the end of the week, as pressure begins to rise, that's where we're most likely to see the cloud break, and given some decent cloud breaks towards the end of the week, where we could see temperatures lift as high as 17 or 18 degrees celsius for a few of us. so, some very warm weather, really, for late february on the way. now, back to today's weather. we do have relatively clear skies at the moment across england and wales. the breeze, though, keeping temperatures up for most of us. a few showers across northern and western areas of the uk, but where we have lighter winds across the south, with those clear skies, we also have some patches of frost out in the countryside, even one or two fog patches as well first thing tuesday morning.

so, for the early risers, yes, there will be some fairly chilly weather out there, but a bright start to the day for many of us with some sunshine. those showers across the north—west will probably tend to ease as cloud builds in later in the day, and we'll start to see some wet weather pushing in across northern ireland during tuesday afternoon. the rain eventually reaching western parts of england, wales and western scotland as well later in the day. it should stay largely dry and bright for east anglia, south—east england and also across the north—east of scotland with temperatures into double figures. it will be a mild day. through tuesday night, the rain continues to push its way northwards and eastwards. it's going to be a milder night with temperatures between say around 7 and 10 degrees celsius, but rain quite persistent, really, and quite heavy at times across the north—west. might take us on into wednesday's forecast, and we do have low pressure with us. notice the winds are coming up from a south—westerly direction, so it will be mild, but we'll have rain at times. the wettest of the weather always likely across north—western areas of the country. as the rain tries to move eastwards, it will tend to weaken as it bumps into that building area of high pressure. so there won't be much rain

in the forecast for this week across east anglia and south—east england. that's probably where we'll have the best of any brightness around. there are signs that thursday should start to brighten up with the best of any sunshine most likely to the east of high ground. so, perhaps the midlands. eastern areas of england not doing too badly, and eastern areas of scotland. but in the north—west, still quite a bit of cloud, still the threat of a little bit of rain across the western isles, but those temperatures are beginning to rise, and by friday, with a bit more sunshine around, it's then that we could see temperatures go as high as 18 degrees. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: the founder of the chinese tech giant huawei, has said there's no way the united states can crush his company. several countries are investigating whether huawei poses a security risk. in an interview with the bbc, ren zhengfei also described his daughter's detention at the request of the united states — she is the company's cfo — as a politically motivated act. 16 american states are sueing

the trump administration over the president's decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds to build his promised a wall on the mexican border. president trump has invoked emergency powers to divert funds from the military. a teenager who left britain when she was 15 to join the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, has asked the british people for forgiveness. shamima begum wants to return to raise her newborn baby. she's said she is sorry for people who lost loved ones in is attacks. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.