welcome to bbc news. i'm lucy grey. our top stories: shot out of the sky. the us military targets the chinese balloon that had been floating in american airspace. they successfully took it down, and i want to compliment our aviators who did it. three airports were shut and the airspace was closed — it came down off the us east coast. a peace mission to south sudan. the pope makes an unprecedented visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. we'll tell you about the bbc journalist trying to make amends for her own family's

connection to slavery. hello and welcome to bbc news. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites, appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. our correspondent david willis has more from washington. officials here are saying that this chinese balloon was brought down about six miles off the coast of south carolina by a single missile fired by a us fighterjet. now, president biden had apparently given permission for such a strike on wednesday, that is a day before the actual presence of this balloon was made public. military officials decided to hold back for fear that it could spray debris down

onto the mainland and hurt people on the ground below. then, today, as it was crossing the coast of south carolina, they closed local airports, they cleared all airspace and the order was given to fire. well, a short while ago, this is what president biden had to say about the operation. they successfully took it down, and i want to compliment our aviators who did it, and we will have more to report on this a little later. i told them to shoot it down. on wednesday? on wednesday. they said to me, let's wait to the safest place to do it. the challenge now will be to retrieve equipment from that downed balloon and to try to find out if indeed it was on a spying mission or if it was just attracting meteorological information, as the chinese have alleged. the challenge, of course, is to retrieve that data and to decode it before all the equipment on board sinks to the bottom

of the atlantic ocean. a short while ago, at a briefing, the pentagon said they thought this balloon was part of a fleet but had violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents, as they put it. a short time ago president biden was asked if he thought this operation was provocative, as far as the chinese were concerned, and he declined to comment. david willis reporting there. earlier, i spoke to the director of the kissinger institute on china and the united states in washington, robert daly, and he told us how serious this situation is for us china relations. firstly, as you say, it is going to be fascinating. the question is, how important is it going to be. this has been a very dramatic few days. there is a very good plot, it is getting a lot of attention. the balloon does not tell us anything about chinese us relations that we didn't already know, so that is one aspect of the story.

secondly, as you say, china claims this is a normal meteorological balloon. but there are a number of these balloons, all not over chinese airspace, and the american military seems quite certain this is in fact an intelligence balloon, and now america is in a position to discover that. the debris only came down in 47 feet of water. we will be able to get it pretty quickly. and of china, as seems likely, is mischaracterising this, we are going to know that shortly. how damaging is all of this? even before we know the exact contents of it, we have had the accusations from the us, secretary of state antony blinken has cancelled his planned trip to china. how damaging is it? i think the biggest long—term impact of all of this is that it is now going to make a much higher percentage of americans see china as a threat. china has been seen primarily as a threat within washington, dc for several years, but for most americans, they haven't felt threatened by china. china has been over the horizon, and now chinese right overhead.

and so this is going to spread the bad china narrative that has been gaining more adherence not only here in the us but in canada, in the uk and europe. people are going to see this in a more personal light, and it is going to give a sense of urgency to those parts of the american government and military and congress that are determined to counter and condemn and weaken china if they can, and so i think the bigger impact is that it lends more credence to that broad accusation about the nature of the chinese government. yes, it is quite interesting, isn't it? that it was visible with the naked eye so people could film it with their smartphones. if it was a spy balloon, why would they want to do something so blatant and so unnerving for the members of the public in the us, as you say? so, this is a key question. it is not in china's interests to have more americans see in china as an enemy. and the timing is particularly

bad because china, this spring, after the end of the zero covid policy, really wants to focus on its domestic development, its demographic crisis, a whole series of economic crises, and china had been looking for a sort of timeout from friction with the united states. so this appears to fly in the face of that. one possible answer is bureaucratic incompetence. did some agency of the chinese government move without getting the full sign—up? that is possible, there is incompetence there as there is here. other than that, it is sheer speculation. do they want to send a message to the people of the united states thatjust as our flights and cruise around taiwan, what china sees as its sovereign territory, threatens them, they see it as a threat, but that is sheer speculation. it really doesn't make sense that china would do something which damages its own interests right now. how important was the us secretary of state's trip, which has now

been cancelled? i know that you said china wanted to be focusing a bit more perhaps domestically. it is always better but they speak then not speak. i think there was always going to be a difficulty in this trip had secretary of state blinken gone to china. what china wants is a timeout from friction. that is not the us wants. it wants or a floor comment on some rules for communication such that we can continue to pursue what resident biden wants to call extreme competition with china, while lowering the danger this would result in war. so those are two very different goals. china, to date, rejects the idea that us—china relations are fundamentally competitive, whereas a growing number of people in the us see this as a new kind of cold war. certainly the whole story of this balloon and it being shot down had a cold war feeling to it, from beginning to end.

robert daly from the kissinger institute on china and the united states. i've been speaking to anna malindog. she's a china analyst and a columnist for the asean post, based in manila, in the philippines. i asked how the shooting down of the balloon was received in the region. the chinese people and even the chinese government are not accepting, or blatantly not accepting the so—called speculation that the balloon itself is like a spy balloon. according to them, and most of the statements coming from the official statements coming from china, is that they would want to have an open discussion about this incident, this unfortunate incident they were regretful about this. but i think from my vantage point, the way i see it, it is better for the two sides, the chinese and americans, to discuss this open mindedly speaking, because it will further deteriorate the already deteriorating us—china relation if this incident will not be handled in a proper manner. and at the same time, it is not good as well for the world, if the us—china relation will deteriorate further.

well, i suppose it all depends on what they find, doesn't it, when they piece together the bits of balloon when they pull it out of the water. in terms of the reaction to normal people, are you in a position to tell us that all about how people themselves and china have been reacting to this? i think there are various different various kinds of reactions, but generally speaking, i think the chinese people does not agree or does not accept the hyping of this incident, and smearing the country as if their country is, you know, stupid not to understand that, you know, doing such a thing like a balloon spying air, so blatantly speaking, would not be good for china. i think the chinese people are very smart and very intelligent. i myself was not really... i am thinking at the moment that really, if china would do such a thing, not given the already negative perception of china in the united states. so there is a lot of speculation, there is a lot of comments on the social media as well, but at the end of the day i think it would be nice for the both countries to talk it out, discuss it,

and avoid escalation of the incident. because it is something that the world doesn't want. i was just speaking to our previous guest about the visit by the us secretary of state which has been cancelled. what do you think china will feel about that? will they be disappointed? actually, there are two sides to the story, based on what i have monitored. the chinese side said there is no such thing as a visit, really, and they did not announce that there is such a thing as a visit of blinken to china, it is only the us side that is saying that. so there are two sides to the story. so it is really up to the public and it is up to the two sides to clarify which is really true, because the chinese side is claiming that they did not announce that blinken would be

visiting china and there is no such thing. anna malindog there. let's get some of the day's other news. forest fires in chile have killed at least 23 people and injured almost a thousand more. a number of countries including argentina, mexico, and spain have offered help. authorities said there were more than 200 blazes still active on saturday. there's been a fifth saturday of protests against the new israeli government's plans to limit the powers of the judiciary. hundreds of thousands took to the streets of 20 cities. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has dismissed the protests as a refusal to accept the results of last november's election, which produced one of the most right—wing governments in israel's history. as many as 2,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes following a cargo train

derailment in near the ohio—pennsylvania state border. the 50 car train came off the tracks late on friday and residents living within a mile of the crash site were asked to evacuate their homes. officials said the train was carrying the chemical vinyl chloride. the pope, the archbishop of canterbury, and the 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 a country where more than 400,000 people have been killed in violence since independence 12 years ago. our religion editor aleem maqbool is travelling with the papal party and sent this report from the capital, juba. it's his 40th foreign trip as pope, but it's a visit like no other he's ever had before. he's previously postponed this because of ill health and mobility issues, but was always clear, in spite of a reduced international schedule, there was one country he was sure to go — south sudan.

but what makes this visit different is that for the first time on a foreign trip, he's accompanied by the leaders of other global christian denominations. the moderator of the church of scotland and the archbishop of canterbury are injuba, too. "at last, i am here," said pope francis told a crowd of displaced people, "together with my brothers on this pilgrimage of peace." since independence in 2011, south sudan slipped quickly into conflict. it's 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 sudanese 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. tonight, the three christian leaders held a cross—denominational prayer service. it's been a remarkable coming together of churches and has brought somejoy. that's not to say many south sudanese are confident it will lead to real change. aleem maqbool, bbc news, injuba. 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 perth. it's thought there hasn't been a fatal shark attack on the stretch of water in more than 100 years. police gave this update. it is very early on. what we have been advised as she was with friends on the river. they were on jet skis. there were possibly a pod of dolphins that had been seen in nearby and the young femalejumped in had been seen in nearby and the young female jumped in the water to swim nearby the dolphins. so we have spoken to the department of fisheries in relation to the location and whether it is unusual for a shock to be in that area and the information we have been provided is that it is unusual for a shock to be that far down the river. but, again, we are relying on the experts and their knowledge and at this point in time and alert has been put out, a text alert, a shark wanting just to let people know that this incident has taken place.

here in the uk detectives searching for nicola bulley, who disappeared during a dog walk in lancashire more than a week ago, say they want to speak to a woman who was seen pushing a pram on the morning the mother of two was last seen, along the riverbank in st michael's on wyre. police have released this image of the woman they believe was walking along the same path — they're urging her to get in touch as a potential witness. police say they are working on the theory that the 45—year—old fell into the river. but friends of nicola have urged detectives to keep an open mind as our reporter juliet philipps reports. the search for mum of two nicola bulley continues, eight days after she went missing. police yesterday said after extensive investigation, they're working on the hypothesis that nicola fell into the river — a theory nicola's friends and family have today questioned. as far as i'm aware, there has been no evidence found in the water that would point to the fact that nikki was in the water or had ever been in the water. you're not going to give up trying to find nicola, are you? no. we can't.

we are continuing as we have been all week. our hope is not gone and we will keep going. nicola was last seen eight days ago, walking her dog not farfrom here. not long later, her phone was found on the bench just behind me, still logged into a work call. her dog was found running off the lead. nicola was nowhere to be seen. police say there's around a ten—minute window where her movements are unaccounted for. the search for nicola has involved police, mountain rescue teams and divers, as well as hundreds of people from the local community and further afield. well, i've been listening to the news of nicola's disappearance for a week and the opportunity came along today — my neighbours and i said, "let's go and see "if we can help in any way." we've seen lots of search parties and people wanting to get out and help, and it's great that the community wants to come together and try and find out what's happened to nikki. police are continuing to appeal for dashcam footage from last friday morning. their search for nicola bulley continues. juliet phillips, bbc news, st michael's on wyre.

let's get some of the day's other news. violence has erupted in peru between demonstrators and riot police in the capital, lima. they were clashes when demonstrators stormed through the street throwing objects including firecrackers at a wall of riot police, who fired tear gas canisters to disperse the cloud. the demonstrators are demanding the resignation of the president and for new elections to be brought forward. the protest began in december, when the then president was ousted. more than 50 people have been killed as a result of the unrest. meanwhile, the president has maintained she will stay on as president until elections are held. a powerful arctic blast has been sweeping across the north—east of the us, bringing plummeting temperatures, which the national weather service has described as "life—endangering". these pictures are of the

observatory in new hampshire's mount washington state park, home to the highest and coldest peak in the region. temperatures are expected to fall to a record low of minus ten celcius, with a wind chill that could drop to —43 celcius. two british volunteers killed in eastern ukraine have been recovered as part of a prisoner swap with russia. chris parry and andrew bagshaw were last seen heading to the city of solendar in january. their bodies are now with ukrainian authorities and as yet there is no indication when they will be flown home to britain. the former british prime minister, liz truss, says her tax policies weren't given a "realistic" chance by her party. writing in the sunday telegraph, herfirst comments since leaving office, ms truss says she still believes her approach to driving growth was the right one. the article is being seen as a return to the political arena. she resigned after seven weeks in office in 2022. an aristocratic british family is due to travel to the island of grenada to publicly apologise for the ownership of more than 1,000 enslaved africans in the 19th century.

the trevelyan family will also pay reparations to the people of grenada, where it owned six sugar plantations. one member of the trevelyan family is my colleague laura trevelya n. she is a bbc presenter, and she spoke to our news reporter azadeh moshiri in a personal capacity. you know, it was really horrific, azadeh, and when i went to granada and i saw for myself the plantations where slaves were punished, when i saw the instruments of torture that were used to restrain them, when i looked at the neck braces, at the manacles, at this system of dehumanisation that my family had profited from as absentee slaveowners of these sugar plantations, i felt ashamed and i also felt that it was my duty — you can't repair the past but you can acknowledge the pain and that i wanted to try to do something to make it better and so, that's partly

what's led our family to this moment, where we're going to issue a public apology when seven of us go to grenada later in february and in consultation with grenada's national reparations commission, we hope that by establishing a fund that will look at economic development in grenada and the eastern caribbean, that we can do something to help an island where all of the wealth was extracted. so, you talked about duty, you talked about acknowledging what happened. you decided to go back to granada and film a bbc documentary there. what impression did it leave on you once you got there? well, azadeh, when slavery was abolished in 1833, slave—owning families like my own were actually compensated for the fact that they had lost what was

referred to as their property — that's how slaves were seen. i wanted to go to granada in the wake of the racial reckoning here in the united states and just try to understand the link between the past and the present and to understand how the past defines the present. and when i went there, i saw an island where poverty is rife, where there's a lot of obesity, of hypertension and of ill—health — which is linked to slavery, health experts feel, because of decades of poor diet, of stress — and so, it was really overwhelming. and so, some people could see what you're doing and argue, you know what? this is a drop in the bucket and that it's not going to fix the generations of difficulties and setbacks that these families have had to face. what would your response be to that? yes, i completely understand that this can seem like a very inadequate gesture — that our family received the equivalent of about £3 million in compensation when slavery was abolished.

we got that money in 183a. so, for me to be giving £100,000 almost 200 years later for a fund that's going to look at economic development in granada and the eastern caribbean, maybe that seems like it's really inadequate but i hope that we're setting an example by apologising for what our ancestors did by enslaving the people of granada, and i also hope that we're looking at solutions, at how do you, through a university research fund, how do you come up with ideas for how this wealth gap is addressed? after three years of toned—down celebrations, venice's famous and the world's oldest carnival has returned to its former grandeur. our reporter emb hashmi has more. elaborate opera, dancing and

sparkling masks are back with a bang in venice. the two week—long festivities were launched by this colourful unicorn, a magical trick —— creature that transports dreamers to the stars. the narrow alleys and bridges of the city were lit up by dazzling dancers and spectacular floats for the parade down the canal grande. over the next two weeks the city will be filled with thousands of tourists from across italy and the world. translation: it across italy and the world. translation:— across italy and the world. translation: it is great, it is manical, translation: it is great, it is magical. what _ translation: it is great, it is magical, what else _ translation: it is great, it is magical, what else is - translation: it is great, it is magical, what else is there - translation: it is great, it is magical, what else is there to | magical, what else is there to say? come and feel the spirit here! a r' say? come and feel the spirit here! ,., here! masked balls are held in ancient venetian _ here! masked balls are held in ancient venetian palaces, - here! masked balls are held in l ancient venetian palaces, while concerts and gondola parades are organised in the piazzas and canals, and costumed participants gather at the epicentre, saint marks square.

the tradition of this carnival dates back to the 11th century, and it is still going strong. em hashby, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. china has reacted angrily, with its foreign ministry expressing strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the united states' use of force to bring down a balloon which beijing insists was a stray civilian weather observation device. china's response reflects a further deterioration in relations between the two countries. the shooting down of the balloon was ordered by president biden on wednesday. and just a reminder, there is of course much more understory on our website. just go to bbcnews.com/news, where you will find all the latest news and analysis from our correspondences, including background on relations between the us and china. if you want

to get a hold of me you can on twitter. thank you very much for watching. hello. the second half of the weekend is set to be the brighter half of the weekend. after a saturday that brought mainly grey skies overhead, sunday promises more in the way of sunshine but a slightly chillier feel. high pressure building strongly across the uk, keeping the vast majority dry with those lengthy sunny spells. this cold front has been slipping southwards and that's been introducing colder air, so quite a few places starting sunday morning around freezing. a little bit milder down towards the south of england, where we're closest to this area of cloud first thing, but that will be clearing away quickly and then, as you can see, there will be lengthy spells of sunshine. one thing you can't really see clearly here is some high cloud that's likely to stream in across parts of northern ireland, scotland, and northern england. that could turn the sunshine hazy at times but it shouldn't

spoil things too much. temperatures a little down on where they have been — 7—10 celsius — but with the brighter skies overhead, i think it will still feel fairly pleasant for the time of year. now, through sunday night, this area of high pressure tends to drift a little further south—eastwards. under the centre of the high with light winds, could see one or two fog patches but around the edge of the high will be bringing more cloud into northern ireland and scotland, hence, it will be a little milder here to start monday morning. the coldest weather down across england and wales with a touch of frost and some fog patches towards the south—east corner, but any fog should clear pretty quickly and then, plenty of sunshine across england and wales. some bright skies, too, across the east of scotland. the western side of scotland and northern ireland tending to see a little more in the way of cloud, maybe the odd spot of drizzle, a slightly stronger breeze. temperatures between seven and ten degrees. now, as we get into tuesday, we will see a weak weather front sitting somewhere across the centre of the uk. a little bit of patchy

rain with that. to the north of it, some sunshine, to the south of it, could be some quite widespread fog on tuesday morning which will tend to lift and clear to give some spells of sunshine. temperatures between six and ten degrees. now, as we head deeper into the week, high pressure holds on close to the south and the east of the uk but this frontal system pushing in from the north—west may well bring some outbreaks of rain and it will also bring strong winds at times in the north of scotland through the middle part of the week. further south, things stay calmer, some spells of sunshine, but with some patchy fog. "otherwise, he would

have lost credibility."

this is bbc news. the headlines: a chinese balloon has been shot down by the us military off the coast of south carolina on the orders of president biden. the balloon, which the pentagon believes had been spying on sensitive sites, appeared to plummet straight down into the sea after being hit. pope francis and the heads of the churches of england and scotland have urged the people of south sudan to work towards lasting peace. the three christian leaders met for a prayer vigil in the country. pope francis told thousands of worshippers that true peace harmonised differences. in the uk, police searching for nicola bulley — the 45—year—old who disappeared while walking her dog in lancashire more than a week ago — say they're looking

for a "key witness".