this is bbc news. welcome, if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories. china has made another attempt to calm the diplomatic dispute over the presence of a chinese "spy" balloon in american airspace. the presence of this balloon in us airspace is a clear violation of us sovereignty and international law. documents obtained by bbc news show magistrates in england and wales were told to wave through a bulk of applications by energy companies to focibly install prepayment meteres in homes. pope francis and other christian leaders continue their peace mission to south sudan. they've been addressing crowds at the mausoleum

of the independence hero, john garang. the family of nicola bulley, who went missing in lancashire eight days ago, urge people to "keep an open mind" about what's happened to her. police believe she fell into a river. health leaders in the uk 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. and 18—year—old juliette lamour has won $a 48 million canadian, on the gold ball lotteryjackpot, on her first try, but she still plans to finish her university studies and become a doctor. china has called for a cool—headed handling of the dispute about a chinese spy balloon that's

been seen over the united states. a senior chinese foreign ministry official has spoken with the us secretary of state antony blinken by phone, after he cancelled his trip to the country this weekend. presidentjoe biden says the united states is, in his words, "going to take care of" the balloon. beijing insists it is largely for meterological purposes and had been blown off course. a second balloon has been spotted over latin america. our north america correspondent barbara plett usher sent this report from beijing. americans are looking up to spot the spy balloon in the sky. it's actually a weather balloon that blew off course, the chinese said. but the pentagon's convinced it's more than that and defence officials say it's not the only one. the balloon burst plans for america's top diplomat antony blinken

to travel to beijing for rare talks about covid, trade disputes, and the security situation over taiwan, but mostly to calm sky—high tensions. this crisis shows just how fragile relations are. because of the fact that it stopped over the us air force base, it stopped over some of the strategic missile silos for icbm, intercontinental ballistic missiles, that's not a mistake, and i think they knew we would see that. the chinese have dismissed what they call "groundless conjecture" and accused american politicians of hyping things up. but they've also expressed regrets that the balloon flew over us territory. wind patterns took it on an epicjourney, from china across the pacific. then floating over alaska and canada, before arriving in the us. the balloon lingered over rural montana, and this could be why — you're looking at a satellite image of an air force base that houses intercontinental missiles. the chinese made some pointed comments in their defence but they also really made an effort

to salvage the trip because they wanted it to happen. it was important to them, and that is why analysts here believe the balloon crisis could very well have been the result of some sort of mistake. antony blinken said he still plans to come when conditions are right. first, the balloon has to exit us airspace and it is nearly there, then work starts to reschedule the trip. but this has been a huge missed opportunity to try and stabilise a damaged but crucial relationship. barbara plett usher, bbc news, beijing. in the meantime, the balloon had reached north carolina where these pictures we are showing you are coming from. this is the balloon, a little more than a couple of hours ago, over north carolina. dr thomas withington is an expert in electronic warfare, radar and military communications. he explains more about why it's so difficult to deal with the balloon,

the balloon is, judging by all appearances, made of a soft, probably rubber or plastic—like material that makes, i would imagine, does make it very difficult to detect. and because it's difficult to detect, it's hard to effectively guide either a surface—to—air missile or a fighter onto it. both of those capabilities require radar in some shape or form, to be able to fix the target, follow it and then to be able to guide the aircraft or the missile in. dr withington also says the balloon could be there for multiple reasons biraghi is a possibility and another is that it biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is you biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is you being biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is you being used biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is you being used to biraghi is a possibility and another is that it is you being used to test the reaction of the usair defence. usually you do this by flying a lot of military aircraft, usually quite provocatively towards the country you are interested in. this is something china does against taiwan quite often. it will fly a load of

aircraft into that zone in order to test what their reaction times of the taiwanese air force is like. doing this against the west coast of the united states becomes fraught with danger if you decide to fly a load of aircraft towards that stretch of territory, you're going to get quite a hostile response. earlier i spoke to susan shirk, chair of the 21st century china center — she started by explaining whether antony blinken was right to cancel his visit to beijing(tx i think so because it made it impossible to really have a diplomatic engagement in beijing at this time. the domestic hue and cry

here in the united states would put tremendous pressure on secretary blinken, so they would talk only about this instead of the other disputes they need to work on. so he had to cancel the trip. but i'm struck by how both sides are trying to get back on track. the chinese apology is very unusual. and they said it was beyond their control. on the us side, we've said that we are going to get the trip on the calendar as soon as possible, to make it a productive engagement. hmm, i was struck by something you said, there. that it's a distraction from other matters. is it too cynical a question to ask whether such a distraction might be done deliberately?

well, of course there's a lot of speculation about that. ijust listened to secretary pompeo saying that the chinese are too capable to make a mistake. this reminds me of when i was the deputy assistant secretary of state in the clinton administration. the united states and nato accidentally bombed the chinese embassy in belgrade. people in china were certain that it must have been intentional because the us was too capable to make such a mistake. and to this very day most people in china and certainly the chinese government believe that the clinton administration intentionally bombed the chinese embassy in belgrade. so, these accidents happen and the two countries view one another as so capable that they believe they must be

motivated by intentions. the bbc has learnt that courts were given advice suggesting warrants for the forced installation of pre—payment meters in people's homes could be waved through. more than 1,000 warrants a day were approved by magistrates last year, as the cost of living crisis put many customers into arrears. earlier this week the regulator 0fgem asked firms to suspend the compulsory installation of the devices — after a times investigation showed british gas subcontractors breaking into the homes of vulnerable people. our business correspondent noor nanji has the details. this was the footage that thrust energy companies firmly under the spotlight for prepayment meters. an undercover reporter from the times showed debt collectors working for british gas, breaking into the home of a single father with young children, to fit the device. the times found evidence of other stories like this, too.

energy suppliers can legally forcefit prepayment meters. it should be a last resort if people are in arrears and vulnerable customers should not be switched. every day last year over 1,000 warrants of entry were granted to energy companies, mainly in order to forcibly install prepayment meters. energy companies identify customers who are in arrears, then their agents apply for a warrant by telephone. they send in large spreadsheets with between 100 to 1,000 cases. according to evidence from pilot, the hearings will sign off, issue and send all the electronic warrants in a maximum of 15 minutes. this new advice to all magistrates, obtained by the bbc, reflects internal disquiet that the process had been watered down and that magistrates were being obliged to take energy companies�* claims in good faith with little or no questioning. advice was issued by the top magistrate leadership executive to other magistrates, saying it would be irrational to block the warrant because they had been made by energy

companies under oath. some legal experts said the advice showed that magistrates had no safeguarding role in the process. i don't think this is what the public would reasonably expect of a process that empowers a private company to come and break your front door down. this is turning the process, has turned it into a rubber stamp when it should be a safeguard. campaigners said energy companies�* systems were not correctly identifying vulnerable customers to whom these processes should not apply. vulnerable customers, when faced with energy companies forcibly entering their homes to fix in a prepayment meter, expect protection from the courts. that appears to not be happening and that is very concerning. the government said this was a matter for the independentjudiciary. judicial sources suggest the document was an explanation of the current law and processes that magistrates are bound to apply. the magistrate leadership executive

have been approached for comment. noor nanji, bbc news. the pope, archbishop of canterbury and moderator of the church of scotland are on an historic three—day visit to south sudan. they've called it a pilgrimage of peace to the country, where more than 400,000 people have been killed in violence since independence 12 years ago. 0ur religion editor, aleem maqbool, is travelling with them. it's his 40th foreign trip as pope, but it's a visit like no other. a journey that takes him to south sudan, but what makes it unique is that for the first time, leaders of other global christian denominations are visiting with him. when we landed, the moderator of the church of scotland, iain greenshields, and archbishop of canterburyjustin welby climbed on board to greet the pope. they're here together to persuade leaders in this young, troubled nation to put aside their differences for the sake of their people.

"i've come with two brothers," said the pope, "stretching out our hands, we present ourselves to you and to this people." since independence in 2011, south sudan slipped quickly into conflict. it is along tribal and not religious lines, but the leaders are mainly christian — catholic, anglican, and presbyterian. back in 2019, in one of the most powerful moments of his papacy, pope francis kissed the feet of the south sudan's rivals at the end of a meeting at the vatican. they promised to work for lasting peace, but little changed. so, the religious leaders came here. does the same thing happen — you make a dramatic gesture and you go away and things don't move forward? dramatic gestures are to kick open doors, to create momentum.

they don't solve problems. what they do is they may unstick stuck situations and then they have to be followed up. and in response to the visit, south sudan's president says he'll meet rivals who for years he shunned. but in spite of the fanfare and celebration here now, there's much scepticism about long—term impact. aleem maqbool, bbc news, injuba. at a meeting with displaced people, the pope has urged all parties in the conflict to work for peace. translation: i want to renew with all my strength _ a heartfelt appeal to stop conflict and renew the peace process in a serious way so that the violence can end and people

can live in dignity. only with peace and stability and development can there be social integration. there is no room forfurther delay. bbc africa correspondent merchuma has the latest from thejohn garang mausoleum. an estimated 50,000 people are at thejohn garang mausoleum behind me. some of them were coming from 7am, coming and waiting to hear what the pope and other religious leaders have to say. there are messages of peace and reconciliation they want to pass to the people. it is very significant that these prayers are being held at a mausoleum named afterjohn garang who is a national hero who people in south sudan say they miss his wisdom and political acumen. it is a divided nation along ethnic lines. it isn't something

john garang would be proud of and they hope the fact that the prayers are being held here is symbolic and sends a message to the political leaders of the country as well as to the people of south sudan that they need to change. here in the uk, lancashire police investigating the disappearance of mother—of—two nicola bulley believe she fell into a river. a major search for 45—year—old continues, but no trace of her has been found. nicola was seen by a fellow dog—walker last friday morning shortly before 9am. she was last seen at 9:10, in a field further along the river bank. at 9:20, police have now established, her phone became stationary at a riverside bench. 13 minutes later, her phone is found along with her dogs harness. in response to the police's theory, 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, hear 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 the facts. 0ur reporter 0livia richwald has been in the village of st michael's on wyre in lancashire. well, the light is fading now, but it has been another day of searching, both from the police and also an army of community volunteers.

the community have been helping out, volunteers have been coming to do their bit to look for nicola bulley. the searches are likely to continue for the rest of the weekend. ukraine says it's recovered the bodies of two british men who were killed in the east of the country. the bodies of christopher perry and andrew bagshaw have been reportedly handed over by russian forces as part of a prisoners swap. they were killed by shelling last month while doing voluntary work, evacuating civilians from conflict zones. a 16—year—old girl has died after being attacked by a shark in western australia. she was pronounced dead after being pulled from the swan river in freemantle. reports say the girl was riding jet skis with friends when the incident happened and local police say it'ss possible the girl had jumped in the water to swim with dolphins nearby. it's believed to be the first fatal

shark attack in the swan river in a hundred years. an award—winning iranian film maker, jafar panahi, has been released from jail on bail on friday, two days after he went on hunger strike to demand an end to his imprisonment. mr panahi was arrested last july when he protested against the detention of two fellow film—makers, who had been critical of the authorities. earlier i spoke to kasra naji from the bbc persian service. he was released yesterday evening, early evening, and he was released two days after he announced, as you said, going on hunger strike because he was in legal limbo. he didn't know why he was in jail, on what charges and the judiciary officials were not announcing anything about his case. and after quite a bit of publicity about him going on strike, authorities released him. for what had he been arrested?

he actually went, seven months ago, went to prison to inquire about two other film—makers who had been arrested earlier. when he went to the prison to ask about them, he was picked up and put injail. previously he had been given a six—year sentence for signing a petition in which he along with 1a others had called for a peaceful transition to a secular democracy and he was saying in the petition that the regime in iran is incapable of reforming itself, the leaders are incapable of reforming themselves so they asked for a regime change, in a sense, but a peaceful one. he'd been given six years. but the sentence was overthrown by an appeal court. so technically he had no sentence against him to be put in prison.

he is well—known abroad, his films have won prizes at major film festivals. do you think that's made a difference? of course it has, because once he's announced he's going on hunger strike there was quite a lot of publicity around it because he's a well—known person. he was nominated for an oscar, twice winning prizes at the cannes film festival and also in the berlin film festival, so he's very well—known. alongside the publicity you had a lot of international film—makers, artists, actors coming out in support of him. that and the whole issue of him going on hunger strike managed to draw the attention of the iranianjudiciary. maybe they thought it's not worth keeping him in prison. they released him on bail, by the way, not completely.

senior health leaders have warned that strikes in the nhs are making it harder to clear the treatment backlog. the industrial action is believed to have led to the delay or cancellation of about 90,000 appointments and operations — and more walkouts are due next week. the government has urged unions to carefully consider the impact of any action on patients. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. escalating strikes across the nhs in england. next week, nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and others, will walk out demanding higher pay in some of the most widespread industrial action the health service has seen. the impact on patients has been clear, and so far figures suggest nearly 90,000 operations and appointments have been cancelled. health leaders say it is getting harder for hospitals and other services to cope. it's absolutely vital in the interests of patients in terms of those waiting for operations and those coming in as urgent cages, that we see a resolution

to the industrial action, and all trust leaders across the country really want to make sure that we can find a resolution to this, but to do that we do need negotiations at a national level. i mean, it is all brilliant. rishi sunak has promised to bring down nhs waiting lists but says his main priority is halving inflation and argues paying public sector workers more would keep prices rising. the health secretary steve barclay has urged unions to keep talking and described previous discussions as constructive, but there is clearly an impasse on pay. what do we want? fair pay! when do we want it? now! in wales, most of the strikes planned for next week have been postponed as union members consider a new pay offer from the welsh government of an extra 3%. for now, any similar pause to ongoing action in england looks unlikely. jonathan blake, bbc news. chile has declared a state

of disaster in several central—southern regions, after a heat wave sparked forest fires that left at least 13 people dead. 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. doing what they can to salvage the dry earth on arable land. 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. and how's this for beginner's luck? 18—year—old juliette lamourjust scooped nearly $36 million in canada's gold ball lottery

jackpot on her first try. although she's the youngest canadian to ever win such a big prize, she still plans to finish her university studies and become a doctor. i'll see you soon, bye. grey skies featuring heavily in saturday's weather but i hope that loose guys will be more widespread. albeit with a colder feel. today, unrelentingly cloudy in many places. the clouds on the satellite picture have been thick enough to produce some drizzle and then this band of rain moving south—east. behind that, clearer skies albeit with showers and some cold air. as the last of the rain moves south during the night, clearskies the rain moves south during the night, clear skies following on behind. we get into the colder air,

so temperatures will drop to around freezing, perhaps a touch below. warmer in the south of england, staying pretty mild overnight. tomorrow, the last cloud clearing away. some sunshine. that said it maybe that in northern ireland, northern england and scotland we see areas of high cloud in the sky that may turn the sunshine hazy at times. all in all, a brighter day. slightly colder, 9—10 but if you keep loose quys colder, 9—10 but if you keep loose guys it isn't going to feel bad. tomorrow will have this area of high pressure in charge. tomorrow, the high is likely to slip further south. underthat high is likely to slip further south. under that we might see some foggy patches. to the south. under that we might see some f0ggy patches. to the north—west, northern ireland and scotland, more of a breeze and more cloud creeping in which will hold up the temperatures. in england and wales, a cold and frosty start. foggy patches in the south—east will tend

to clear. in england and wales, plenty of sunshine. northern ireland and scotland, more cloud, more of a breeze, maybe some drizzle and temperatures again, 7—10. heading deeper into the weak, high—pressure holding on across southern areas, keeping it mostly dry. a risk of some fog patches. to the north—west, frontal systems pushing in with a chance of rain and certainly some stronger wind, especially in the north of scotland. the greatest chance of wind and rain is to the north and west of the uk. further south, mainly dry but with some patchy fog.

this is bbc news, the headlines officials from beijing and washington speak by phone to try to ease tensions over a suspected chinese spy balloon in american airspace. the us secretary of state has postponed a trip to china, saying the presence of the object was unacceptable. documents obtained by bbc news show magistrates in england and wales were told to wave through a bulk of applications by energy companies to focibly install prepayment meteres in homes thousands of people join pope francis, and other christian leaders, to pray for unity and justice at the mausoleum of south sudan's founding father, john garang. the service was part of what's being called a "pilgrimage of peace" to the country torn by internal conflict.