this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. 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. suddenly we saw something tackle from and when you're with the missile and we saw the explosion. we did not hear anything but we saw the explosion of the balloon. 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 bbcjournalist trying to make amends for her own family's connection to slavery. 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. tim allman reports. for days now, all eyes have been on this solitary object, floating serenely through us airspace. was that a harmless

weather balloon? or a spy in the sky, sent by the chinese? whatever it was, the american government has decided enough is enough. look at that trial of white paper on the left of the screen. that is a us f—22 fighterjet, streaking towards fighter jet, streaking towards the fighterjet, streaking towards the balloon. then, a second trail, the this time from a sidewinder missile, about to bring itsjourney to sidewinder missile, about to bring its journey to an abrupt end stop suddenly we saw something tackle from the jetta knew it was a missile and you could see the explosion. didn't hear anything _ could see the explosion. didn't hear anything but _ could see the explosion. didn't hear anything but felt - could see the explosion. didn't hear anything but felt the - hear anything but felt the explosion of the balloon. almost like it was a cloud coming _ almost like it was a cloud coming down. then the smoke was down _ coming down. then the smoke was down - _ coming down. then the smoke was down - is_ coming down. then the smoke was down — is gone and then it started _ down — is gone and then it started slowly going down towards the ocean. did started slowly going down towards the ocean. did you hear that? a few _ towards the ocean. did you hear that? a few moments _ towards the ocean. did you hear that? a few moments after- towards the ocean. did you hear that? a few moments after the l that? a few moments after the im act, that? a few moments after the impact. the — that? a few moments after the impact, the sound _ that? a few moments after the impact, the sound of— that? a few moments after the impact, the sound of the - impact, the sound of the explosion could be heard at ground level and then the

remains of the balloon, it's canopied on to shred, falls to the earth. a satisfying moment for president biden although we had to wait a few days for the operation to carry it out. i want the pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible and they decided not to damage anyone on the ground and decided the best way to do that was to wait till i got overwater.- was to wait till i got overwater. ., , ., overwater. in a statement, chinese — overwater. in a statement, chinese foreign _ overwater. in a statement, chinese foreign ministry i chinese foreign ministry accused the of overreacting: it added:. the whole incident has caused tensions in what is already a delicate relationship. the us secretary of state antony blinken cancelled a state visit to beijing as a result. the balloon is believed to have come down in relatively shallow water and any wreckage easily retrieved. the americans hope

they will then be able to work out exactly what the chinese were up to. tim allman, bbc news. 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. it is not clear if the balloon incident 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 if 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 china is 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 way, and it is going to give a sense of urgency to those parts of the american government and military

and in 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 seeing 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 signup? 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 cruisers around taiwan, what china sees as its sovereign territory, threatens them, they see it as a threat to us, 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 that 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 guard rails or a floor on some rules for communication such that we can continue to pursue what president 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 in 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 their country as if their country is, you know, stupid not to understand that, you know, doing such a thing like a balloon spying out in the 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, joining us from manila. 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 2000 residents have been forced to leave their homes following a cargo train derailment near the ohio—pennsylvania state border. the 50 carriage 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 a historic 3—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 capitaljuba. 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. violence has erupted in peru between demonstrators and riot police in the capital lima. there were clashes when a group of protesters stormed through a street, throwing objects including firecrackers, at a wall of riot police officers, who fired teargas canisters to disperse the crowd. the demonstrators are demanding the resignation of president dina boluarte and for new elections to be brought forward. the protests began in december when the then president, pedro castillo, was ousted. more than 50 people have been killed as a result of the unrest. meanwhile, president boluarte has maintained she will stay on as president until elections are held.

stay with us on bbc news. still to come: venice puts on a show. we'll bring you the sights and sounds as the famous festival gets underway. this is the moment that millions in iran have been waiting for. there is mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, freeman, taking his first steps into a new south africa. ., �* , first steps into a new south africa. . �* , , , . africa. iran's spiritual leader. _ africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah - africa. iran's spiritual - leader, ayatollah khomenei, africa. iran's spiritual _ leader, ayatollah khomenei, so she has passed a distance and song british author salman rushdie, the author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous.— which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have — blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked _ blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to - blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church | blasphemous. the people of i haiti have flocked to church to give _ haiti have flocked to church to give thanks _ haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for— haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the _ haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting - haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting ofl give thanks for the ousting of their— give thanks for the ousting of their former— give thanks for the ousting of their former president, - give thanks for the ousting of their former president, babyl their former president, baby doctor— their former president, baby doctor valley. _ their former president, baby doctor valley.— their former president, baby doctor valley. because of his considerable _ doctor valley. because of his considerable value _ doctor valley. because of his considerable value as - doctor valley. because of his considerable value as a - considerable value as a

stallion, shergarwas considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a secure block in a central block. he was driven away and also to the thieves had brought with them. also to the thieves had brought with them-— with them. stepped down from the lane with them. stepped down from the plane a _ with them. stepped down from the plane a figure _ with them. stepped down from the plane a figure in _ with them. stepped down from the plane a figure in morning. | the plane a figure in morning. elizaheth— the plane a figure in morning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm _ elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith _ this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us military shoots down the chinese balloon that had been floating in american airspace. here in the uk, detectives trying to find a mother who has gone missing in lancashire say a new witness

has come forward after a cctv image was released of a woman in a yellow coat. police have said that the woman was part of their enquiries to speak to as many members of the public as possible. 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." 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. a powerful arctic blast has been sweeping across the northeast 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 — 10 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 one thousand 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 granada 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 granada 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? laura trevelyan talking to my colleague. after three years of toned—down celebrations, the famous venice 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 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's great, it's magical, what else i is there to say? come and feel the spirit here! masked balls are held in ancient venetian palaces, while concerts and gondola parades are organised in the piazzas and canals, and costumed participants gather at the epicentre, saint mark's square. the tradition of this carnival dates back to the 11th century, and it is still going strong.

emb hashby, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @lucyegrey. 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.

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've found a woman they described as a key witness.