this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. our top stories: notjust one, but now a second balloon. after a chinese balloon flew into us airspace, another is reported over latin america. in the uk, the search for missing mother—of—two nicola bulley enters another weekend after police say they believe she fell into the river while walking her dog. forest fires in chile sparked by a devastating heatwave have left at least 13 people dead. the boss of tesla, elon musk, is cleared of fraud charges brought against him by the company's shareholders. raise your voices against injustice — the call from pope francis to south sudan's christian leaders on his first full day in the world's newest country, which remains plagued by violence

and extreme poverty. hello and welcome to bbc news. us defence chiefs have identified what they say is a second chinese surveillance balloon, this time over latin america. the first balloon is floating across the us mid—west. antony blinken, the us secretary of state, has cancelled a trip to beijing, and accused the chinese authorities of being irresponsible. china insists the balloon is a weather monitoring device which has blown off course amd has called for tensions between the washington and beijing to be handled in a "cool—headed and prudent" manner. our north america correspondent

peter bowes reports. a surreal but increasingly serious international row. this speck in the sky could be spying on the us — the chinese balloon that's been hovering over the country for several days. china insists it's a platform to conduct weather—related research that's deviated from its route. beijing has apologised but the us state department says it stands by its assessment that the balloon is being used for surveillance, and defence officials now say there's a second balloon. antony blinken had been due in beijing this weekend to hold talks on a wide range of issues, including security, taiwan and covid—19. but he said that was no longer possible because the purpose of the trip — to forge better relations between the two countries —

had been undermined. the presence of this surveillance balloon in us airspace is a clear violation of us sovereignty and international law, that it is an irresponsible act and that the prc�*s decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the subsequent discussions that we planned to have. beijing says in a phone call on friday night, antony blinken was told by his chinese counterpart that accidental incidents had to be dealt with in a calm and professional manner and that both parties needed to avoid any misjudgements. us defence officials say the first balloon is still hovering somewhere over the united states and they're keeping their options open. and i can tell you that the balloon continues to move eastward and is currently over the centre of the continental united states. again, we currently assess that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time. officials say the immediate objective is to get this balloon out of us airspace.

peter bowes, bbc news. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has been guaging the response from beijing. there had been great hope here in beijing that the visit by us secretary of state antony blinken could provide something of a breakthrough, of a reset in us—china relations. but this balloon or these balloons have put a stop to that. there was, however, a call between china's most senior foreign policy official, wang yi, and antony blinken and according to official readout of that call from the chinese side, they're saying that wang yi told antony blinken that both sides should maintain steadiness and with timely communication, they could avoid misjudgment in terms of this balloon affair, but that beijing would not accept any groundless conjecture or hype regarding the balloons. also, in a separate statement

from the chinese foreign ministry, they said that some politicians and media in the us have hyped up this as a means of attacking and smearing china. so you can see, even as china is trying to reassure the us that the balloons have accidentally floated into us airspace, they're still trying to take a strong stand, i guess maintain some face either way. a lot of work is going to have to be done to rebuild the trust that would be required for anthony blinken to set another date to come to beijing to have these talks, which, as i say, are supposed to be designed to ease tensions between the world's superpowers. let's get more on this, then. joining us live now is isabel hilton, who is the founder of china dialogue and visiting professor at the lau institute. lovely to speak to you again. we

might have thought that a chinese balloon or satellite of any kind might head over the pacific american coast, but alaska? find might head over the pacific american coast, but alaska?— coast, but alaska? and then travelling — coast, but alaska? and then travelling apparently - coast, but alaska? and then travelling apparently across| coast, but alaska? and then - travelling apparently across canada. canada have also cold in the chinese ambassador for a stern meeting canada have also cold in the chinese ambassadorfor a stern meeting over this. it raised the alarm when it was passing over montana, which has 150 intercontinental ballistic missile sites. that i think is what made it a particularly sensitive balloon. d0 made it a particularly sensitive balloon. , ., ~ . balloon. do you think that the chinese were _ balloon. do you think that the chinese were expecting - balloon. do you think that the chinese were expecting the i balloon. do you think that the - chinese were expecting the reaction to reach the point of the secretary of state cancelling his visit? if they want, then they don't really read american politics very closely because whatever the american military might think about the seriousness or not of the appearance of this balloon, and they seem to

feel they have it pretty well contained and can presumably cancel any signals that it is sending, but unfortunately the political reaction in the united states is not so easily containable and within hours of this news being public we can see the american republican writes, donald trump, being very, very large about the failure of the joe donald trump, being very, very large about the failure of thejoe biden administration to take a strong line on china. had anthony blinking proceeded with the visit as planned, that would have left the biden administration hostage to these attacks about its failure to deal with china, even as anthony blinking would be sitting down in beijing, the republican right would say that they were allowing a spy balloon to hover over the us�*s most sensitive

military sites, so you can see this just created an impossible situation, betterto just created an impossible situation, better to postpone and let the thing die down. is it imparted — let the thing die down. is it imparted this _ let the thing die down. is it imparted this reaction - let the thing die down. is it imparted this reaction has been driven by the publication in the united states just a couple of days before of this memo apparently written by a senior general predicting the possibility of america and china being in potential conflict over taiwan?— conflict over taiwan? everybody knows there _ conflict over taiwan? everybody knows there is _ conflict over taiwan? everybody knows there is the _ conflict over taiwan? everybody knows there is the possibility i conflict over taiwan? everybody knows there is the possibility ofj knows there is the possibility of conflict over taiwan. the general was relying on his guts to put a day on it. we are in a very delicate situation over taiwan and that was one of the things that was totally anthony blinking visit would at least get under control. there is a confrontation over taiwan but the danger without open communications and confrontation can produce an incident and an incident in a

crisis. it was important for both sides. the chinese were confident of the anthony blinking visit, there were hints that the chinese president would meet him. there were signs that preparations were being made for a more contained in reasonable conversation between the us and china than we have seen for some time. it fits in with a charm offensive that china has launched in the last two months to say, look, lockdown is over, come back, come and invest. all of these things have been quite badly damaged by this episode. it is mystifying. i through the pla, whose presumably whose balloon this is, was not looking at the diplomatic moment, or it was a rather stupid provocation. here in the uk, lancashire police investigating the disappearance of mother—of—two nicola bulley

believe she fell into a river. the 45—year—old was last seen next to the river wyre in the village of st michael's on wyre on a dog walk a week ago. a major search for ms bulley continues, but no trace of her has been found. in response to the police's theory that she may have fallen into the river, nicola's friend of ten years emma white said it's important to keep searching for evidence. we can't be talking about a life and basing it on a theory. we can't go and tell those girls, well, the theory could be x, y and z. we need some evidence. whatever the news is, then we'll deal with whatever the evidence is. so again, we're out in force today and raising that awareness. if anybody does see anything here, anything jogs the memory of last friday, please share. but on the bulletin yesterday we're asking for factual information so that influx of calls yesterday,

we want we want the facts. 0ur reporter 0livia richwald joins us live now from the village of st michael's on wyre in lancashire. she sat down on a bench near to here, made a word call and then she disappeared. her phone was found on the bench still connected to the work call. the dog was found of its lead. there has been no sign of nicola since then. please try entered their second week of

searching. just this morning we had a police helicopter overhead scarring every inch of this river. the police said yesterday they have thoroughly searched the one kilometre area around here. this river is 14 kilometres long before it enters the sea so there is a lot of ground to cover. today, the underwater search teams will resume their work, along with riverflow experts. yesterday, the police held a press conference where the superintendent was keen to stress that they don't believe there are any suspicious circumstances. they don't believe there's been any criminal activity. they are working with the hypothesis that nicola accidentally fell into this river. until she is found there is still hope for her friends and family, as we heard there from her good friends, emma white. today, more

friends, emma white. today, more friends and family continue to search this river bank in the hope she will be found. the police are still searching for information, appealing for information, potentially any dash cam footage that captured what happened last friday. i that captured what happened last frida . ~' ., that captured what happened last frida . ~ ., ~ , , friday. i know you will keep us in touch, olivia. _ chile has declared a state of disaster in several central—southern regions after a devastating heat wave sparked forest fires that left at least 13 people dead. chile has declared a state of disaster in several more than 100 homes have been affected and 117,000 hectares of forest destroyed since the wildfires broke out on wednesday. stephanie prentice reports. scenes of devastation in chile. these are just some of the homes razed the ground by fires raging out of control. some of the people living here in santa juana trying desperately to save their communities. more than 100 homes have

been affected and 117,000 hectares of forest destroyed since the wildfires broke out on wednesday. thousands of firefighters and civilian support crews have been sent out to try and contain the fires on the ground between the capital, santiago, and southern farming regions. but on friday, a helicopter trying to assist them came down, killing two of the rescuers. 0ther civilians have died trying to flee in cars through the smoke, at least two when their car crashed. translation: i want you to know l we are not going to leave you alone. today the priority is to put out the fire. that's what our resources are deployed for. as a government, we are concerned about support for reconstruction and recovering everything that has been lost. the most important thing is to save lives. there are fears that strong winds predicted over the next few days

could scorch this landscape further. reconstruction and recovery of these farming areas at least seemingly a longer term goal. stephanie prentice, bbc news. weather forecasters say they have recorded the lowest temperature ever witnessed in the continental united states of —77 degrees celsius in new hampshire. the us weather service is warning of more extreme cold in the north east over the weekend due to an arctic blast with temperatures forecast to fall as low as —40 in new york. notjust one, but now a second — after a chinese balloon flew into us airspace — another is reported — over latin america. in the uk, the search for missing mother—of—two nicola bulley enters another weekend after police say they believe she fell into the river

while walking her dog. forest fires in chile sparked by a devastating heat wave have left at least 13 people dead. ajury in the united states has found elon musk not guilty of fraud over a tweet about tesla. mr musk was being sued by shareholders who claim they lost billions following tweets by the founder of the car—maker that he was taking the company back into private ownership, something which never happened. summing up, the lawyer for the shareholders said that the billionaire was not above the law, while mr musk�*s attorney said his client was not a tweeting monster. james clayton has been following the case. elon musk had a lot to lose, potentially billions. in terms of an individual tweet, this one had already been extremely costly. he tweeted out that he had funding

secured to take tesla private. that would mean buying out tesla shareholders and many investors say they took matters word, buying up tesla stock. after that tweet, the share price rocketed but soon it became clear that the deal was far from done. tesla never went private, it is still a public company. and that became clear, the share price duly fell. investors lost big money. the securities exchange commission had already fined him and tesla $14 million for the tweet and stripped him of his position of chairman of the board. in addition, many shareholders showed. this court in san francisco has been hearing evidence. the question the jury had to decide was whether elon musk had knowingly tweeted out something not true and, if he had, what damages he should pay. elon musk argued in court he had acted in good faith and after deliberation the jury concluded he did not have to

compensate investor losses. this is a lawyer in he is an expert in securities fraud.— a lawyer in he is an expert in securities fraud. ~ ., ., ~ ., securities fraud. when we looked at the case i thought _ securities fraud. when we looked at the case i thought it _ securities fraud. when we looked at the case i thought it was _ securities fraud. when we looked at the case i thought it was a - securities fraud. when we looked at the case i thought it was a slam - the case i thought it was a slam dunk. he comes out, says funding secured. i mean, that is as concrete of a statement of taking a company private as there can be. finding elon musk not guilty is a travesty, because it means that from now on incorporated executives can put out tweets, use social media and skirt the line very thin on what is real and not real, as long as they can say that they believed it and or night. say that they believed it and or niuht. a , say that they believed it and or ni. ht, ~ ., , ., say that they believed it and or niuht. , ., , , night. many legal experts thought that elon musk— night. many legal experts thought that elon musk would _ night. many legal experts thought that elon musk would lose - night. many legal experts thought that elon musk would lose this - night. many legal experts thought i that elon musk would lose this case, but they were wrong. it means one of the worlds richest people has just saved himself billions of dollars. pope francis is continuing his visit to south sudan where he's trying to persuade political leaders to end conflict in the country.

pope francis is on an unprecedented �*pilgrimage of peace' in the world's youngest country. on saturday evening, the pope will lead prayers at the mausoleum of south sudan's independence leader, john garang. 50,000 people are expected to attend. let's go tojuba now where we can speak to bbc africa correspondent merchuma. tell us what is happening today. good afternoon. it is a few minutes past noon and people will be meeting and pope francis and the other creators of the church will be holding a meeting. people were streaming into the mousa leeson from as early as 7am. pope francis today has met religious leaders and political leaders. he has had a very

good session at one of the catholic church is here. another key thing that we expect pope francis to do todayis that we expect pope francis to do today is to meet some of the victims of civil war and conflict in south sudan. it of civil war and conflict in south sudan. , . ,, , of civil war and conflict in south sudan. , ., , , sudan. it is a young country, but one that had _ sudan. it is a young country, but one that had a _ sudan. it is a young country, but one that had a difficult _ sudan. it is a young country, but. one that had a difficult inheritance and things have not really got any easier. how important is this visit in how it is perceived in south sudan? , , ., , in how it is perceived in south sudan? , , ., sudan? this is a very important, rant sudan? this is a very important, grant moment — sudan? this is a very important, grant moment for south - sudan? this is a very important, grant moment for south sudan. | grant moment for south sudan. yesterday when pope francis was coming into the country one woman told me that the joy she was failing can only be equated to what she felt in 2011 when south sudan gained independence. it has been a rough patch, civil wars,

independence. it has been a rough patch, civilwars, intercommunal patch, civil wars, intercommunal conflict. just patch, civilwars, intercommunal conflict. just days before pope francis arrived there was a conflict that killed 27 people. it is a big deal to not only pope francis but two other religious leaders are with him here today. they're hoping the message of peace and hope will be taken in by the political leaders. yesterday when he was addressing the president of south sudan and other political leaders, pope francis said it was time for them to stop fighting, to build this nation and be fatherfigures to fighting, to build this nation and be father figures to the millions of orphans in south sudan. they are hopeful the people here that this will be it for them, that things will be it for them, that things will change. they are hopeful that this will be the time that their leaders will go for it.

here in the uk, nhs leaders are warning that there will be a struggle to clear backlogs and improve emergency care, unless industrial action by thousands of staff is brought to an end. it comes as nhs england prepares for the biggest round of strikes in its history next week, with thousands of nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists planning walk—outs. health leaders have called on ministers and the unions to urgently find a resolution to break the deadlock. the uk's royal navy is conducting an investigation after sailors on a warship needed hospital treatment for drinking contaminated water. hms portland returned to portsmouth after the incident, which is thought to have been caused when a crew member put the wrong chemical into the ship's drinking water system. nearly all of the sailors have been discharged from hospital. the ministry of defence said it's taking measures to safeguard personnel. adults under—50 in england

have a week left to get a free covid—i9 boosterjab, that's a third dose of vaccine, before the scheme ends. (tx it's the last opportunity for healthy people, aged between 16 and 49, to get a top—up if they haven't already. nhs england says almost 400—thousand appointments are still available. 0fficial complaints about energy firms across the uk have reached people, aged between 16 and 49, to get a top—up 0fficial complaints about energy firms across the uk have reached a record high as the cost—of—living crisis continues to impact bills. figures seen exclusively by the bbc show the number of grievances have gone up more than 50% injust two years. all of this comes at a time when energy suppliers are under intense scrutiny, as dan whitworth reports. as energy bills soar, so too do the number of complaints being made. a customer can take their case to the energy 0mbudsman after they first complain to their supplier. 105,000 complaints were registered with the ombudsman last year, up from fewer than 70,000 in 2020.

the most complained about topics? bills, switching suppliers and customer service. debbie expected an energy bill of around £300 to £350 just before christmas, only to see british gas take nearly £1,200 from her bank account instead — not once, but twice. it's been the most worrying, stressful time. the impact, you know, has been so severe, financial worries ten days before christmas anywhere — but any time, it would've been, you know, a shock and a worry and a stressful time to get through. and it was the promise that they kept saying that they were going to pay it back and they didn't pay it back. there was just one reason after another why it was delayed. british gas has since apologised for the month—long delay in refunding debbie's money and offered her £200 in compensation. of the cases that reach

the ombudsman, a majority are ending in a customer's favour. this varies a lot depending on the type of complaint and, as you can imagine, from supplier to supplier but roughly, on average, somewhere in the region of three—quarters of consumers who come to us, either we find in theirfavour or, during our process, the supplier realises that they could've fixed this sooner and decides to fix it for the consumer during the process, so i would say around three—quarters of the people who come to us leave with something more than they had when they came in. all of this comes at a time when energy supplies are under intense scrutiny. the industry regulator 0fgem has asked them to suspend the forced installation of prepayment meters in the homes of vulnerable people following an undercover investigation by the times newspaper. dan whitworth, bbc news. more advice and information on that story if you're in the uk on the bbc news website. some advice there on

how to get help if you need it. we will be back with more later. to stay with us on bbc news. hello there. this weekend's weather is certainly going to be a tale of two halves. part one of the weekend, rather cloudy and mild, limited brightness around, but by sunday, it's going to turn chillier and largely sunny as high pressure topples in right across the uk. so today we're in this wedge of milder for one more day before the colder air starts to move in behind this weather front, introducing outbreaks of rain to the north and west of scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon period. some dry and bright weather towards the south and east of scotland for a while. but i think for most of england and wales we're staying dry. a lot of cloud around limited brightness, some of the best of it towards eastern areas. one or two spots of drizzle

towards western hills. top temperatures, 12 degrees in the south, just around ten degrees further north this evening. and overnight that weather front with outbreaks of rain spreads southwards and weakens as it does so. so barely anything on it, just the band of cloud. by around dawn, it should eventually clear from the south and south east of england, introducing much colder air. so it's going to be a chilly start to sunday with some frosts certainly in northern western areas, perhaps a little bit of mist and fog, too. so for part two of the weekend, big area of high pressure sitting across the uk with the chillier air trapped underneath it. although i say chillier, temperatures will be actually closer to the seasonal norm, but it will be a colder start than what we've been used to for sunday. a bit of early frost and mist and fog around and then it's going to be dry, widespread sunshine, i think across the board, a bit of cloud for the northern and western isles there, maybe for the far south west of england, perhaps in towards the channel islands. otherwise it's going to stay dry and sunny for most in temperatures down on what we've been used to the last few days, seven to nine degrees. 0ur area of high pressure still with us then as we head into monday, drifting a little bit further

towards the east. that may allow this weather front to encroach in to the northwest of the uk. so i think it could be a bit cloudier on monday for scotland and northern ireland. breezier too, could see some splashes of rain in the west. a for most of england and wales, after a chilly start with some frost, mist and fog, it's going to be another dry day with pretty much widespread sunshine. temperatures again range from around seven to nine degrees and high pressure holds on for much of this upcoming week. so a lot of dry, unsettled weather to come. quite a bit of sunshine around, too. it will be chilly by day. temperatures close to the seasonal norm. nights will be cold, though, with frost and mist and fog.

this is bbc news. the headlines... after a chinese balloon flew into us airspace, another is reported — over latin america. us secretary of state antony blinken earlier called off a visit to beijing calling the balloons "an irresponsible act". in the uk, the search for missing mother—of—two nicola bulley enters another weekend after police say they believe she fell into the river while walking her dog. the search continues but no trace of her has been found. forest fires in chile sparked by a devastating heatwave have left at least 13 people dead and tens of thousands hectares of forest destroyed since the wildfires began earlier in the week.