this is g w news live from berlin tonight taking to the streets to demand that president nicolas maduro give up power waving flags and calling for free elections protesters ratcheting up the pressure on the president's we'll take you live to caracas for the latest also coming up it may look like a winter wonderland but the life threatening freeze gripping the american midwest is colder than even in antarctica it has literally frozen daily life for tens of millions of people and it is not budging on grex it britain's parliament votes to

send prime minister jerusalem a back to brussels for more negotiations but the e.u. that insisting talks cannot be reopened. and he is a refugee player who's been detained for more than sixty days in thailand hakim. is from bahrain and fears that he will be tortured or even killed if he sent back tonight efforts to free him are gathering pace. i'm off to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and around the world welcome tonight then it's where you live political standoff is deepening and it is moving back onto the streets in just the last few hours people across the country have been leaving their homes and their workplaces. to join protests against president nicolas maduro they're calling on

the armed forces to allow humanitarian aid into the country and to abandon the president now the walkout was called by opposition leader and the self-proclaimed interim president one goh idea. to count take away our right to protest the spanish wayland's in the capital caracas chant there referring to the government of president nicolas maduro media to tory as one of the protests she's the wife of a prominent opposition leader who has been in jail for four years she told you it was time for a new government comes. to resist. the urge to this is why we are protesting we wait this can't work everybody together. can tare and many of these protesters are supporting her ongoing don't who proclaimed himself interim president last week the country's

chief prosecutor has opened an investigation into his challenge for power. are not underestimating the threat of jail and i don't want it to be understood like that very responsibly i say there is nothing new coming from a regime that doesn't answer to the venezuelan people's needs their only response is repression and persecution than israel and authorities are accusing him of helping foreign countries such as the u.s. to interfere in internal matters washington recognizes quite those claim too late for this way low on wednesday president donald trump phoned him to eat a rate his support. for his past president mature wrote try to convince americans that intervention would backfire on them they don't want to i call upon your conscience a column on your solidarity be aware of the truth we must not allow a second vietnam to happen this time in latin america if the us intervenes it will

be worse for them than vietnam. according to a russian news agency material has to negotiate with the opposition in an attempt to regain support domestically. but talks i'm not what these protesters one and. a half my time was. up to him on to screen. must go. all right let's take the story down to oscar schleicher he's our correspondent in the venezuelan capital caracas good evening to you so we see those protests are happening right where you are is this a clear symbol that more pressure is building for madeira to step down what we've seen we've seen this before in two thousand and fourteen and two thousand and seventeen lockouts today went peacefully they gathered many support

and credit went back to their places were we're back home after that not just in most but we see in this organized protests strategy drone that you thousand and seventeen protests and are effective in showing that the opposition protests can be peaceful now on saturday not the solution was all a mass demonstration and the government's response was to organize a mass march as well classes with armed forces are expected from those protests that will happen in the evening and then from communities that protest the food and medicine shortages so also looting can be undone later forward russian we are seeing that there are definite pressure points in society that are asking whether or not to step down. or we understand that the self-proclaimed interim president one he is joining those street protests why isn't the government why aren't authorities detaining him in a resting him to prevent him from being in public. well that is

a question that we've asked ourselves in the past week because in other instances and with other political leaders of the opposition have been put in jail when the pressure rises for the government but one way though i was something under the sleeve and that's that the u.s. has threatened the venezuelan government run by the word out that they won't do proportionate actions if any harm comes to one way though we've already seen that yet they're not reading the sanctions against their isaak and that will definitely hurt the mode of governments pocketbook when it comes to seeking out my answers and support from his government you know you mentioned the united states there's also a russian component here we've got russian media reports that president mature row is now offering to talk to the opposition in the country what do you make of that well the opposition has said that they will not fall under any or false. tables we

seem. to break open and mary publicized attempts to talk the talks between the government and the opposition needed by the vatican and spain and yes they are because the government has failed to hold up to their end of the bargain which is to change the. electoral council in venezuela and hold free and fair elections and to allow humanitarian aid in the country and that's what people are protesting today to let humanitarian aid in the country. are at a very fluid situation again this evening in venezuela our correspondent oscar flanker on the story for us in caracas oscar thank you. when now a little bit northward america's midwest is in the grip of a life threatening deep freeze which is known as the polar vortex if you take a look at right here no this is lake michigan in chicago weather colder right now

been antarctica has grounded flights it's disrupted travel and it's brought wife to a standstill for tens of millions of people the polar vortex is a massive freezing air that normally spins around the north pole in winter but this time it has slipped southwards into the united states. it's one of the coldest blasts of arctic air in recent memory. tens of millions of people across the midwest and eastern states are shivering through freezing winds and record low temperatures. some parts of the states are thought to be colder than the arctic circle right now it's definitely not the best time to be outside. wind chills in the negative double digits are dangerous in the extreme cold can cause frostbite in a matter of minutes and slippery roads continue to cause accidents. hundreds of flights have been counseled schools are closed and workers have been told to stay

home. americans will have to endure a similar temperatures over the next few days because the cold air mass shows no sign of moving on just gets. even cold to look at for more on this situation in the midwest we want to go down to adam roberts who's joining us from the epicenter of this vortex chicago he's the midwest correspondent for the economist good evening good afternoon to you adam so how cold is it right now i mean have you been outside today. it is bitterly cold i had a very short walk to noon just to post a letter and i can tell you that in about five minutes of walking down my own street i came back really frozen solid and desperate to get something inside me it was a really bitter afternoon walk yet you were able to do something earlier today you put it on twitter we want to show our viewers that an extraordinary video that you

put online and let's run that and i think that it will illustrates your you go outside in that what is that that's a mug of water it's boiling water and i boiled it and took a mug of boiling water outside and you threw it up into the air and it immediately froze. it is a remarkable thing it's always a little risky you know one point in water to fall on you but when it when it hits the very dense and obviously very very cold air it was minus twenty seven degrees when i got up this morning it instantly vaporizes so most of it turns into interstate i mean that that is simply amazing and it speaks to how dangerous this is we understand that a meteorologist have been saying that you can get frostbite exposed skin within a matter of minutes if you go outside so what are people doing then in an effort to try to go about you know a normal day's activities. well the obvious reaction against frostbite is you cover

up if you do go outside you see people with goggles and scarves around their faces and every patch of their skin is covered but there are other dangers if you inhale such cold air deeply into your lungs you can cause great damage to your lungs as well so the general advice that everyone is being given here is if if you can stay inside don't go outside even the short walk that i took is being discouraged and certainly for the for the younger children for the elderly they're just staying indoors and that makes a lot of sense makes a lot of sense and there are reports that some people have died as a result of this weather what do you know about that. yes there have been reports of some deaths today and in the last few days car crashes because the slippery conditions from work for driving but also exposure if you are outside with the wrong clothing and your coat outside locked out of your house for example the risk of dying rather quickly is great and there have been reports not just in chicago

but in the wide in this midwest of perhaps eight people today who have died and i mean this is happening in the midwest the epicenter as i said is chicago and we have to tell people around the world that chicago really is the transport hub for the u.s. midwest and when something like this happens it causes all kinds of travel headaches doesn't. it hasn't so already this week we had heavy snowfall on monday and that led to the cancellation of many hundreds i think of one thousand flights at the o'hare airport which is one of the busiest airports in the world amtrak the railways company has council trains in and out of chicago today and i think tomorrow the the local rail provider the metro and overland rail that serves the city has also canceled various services so in terms of getting worked on getting freight ships getting passengers to and fro it's become a lot harder for people to go about their business for these crucial days yeah

definitely and i'm robert with the economist joining us tonight from a very very bitterly cold chicago and we appreciate your time and please do stay warm thank you. thank you. well here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world german police have arrested three suspected islamic extremists on suspicion of planning a bomb attack federal prosecutors say the men who are iraqi refugees were detained near the danish border and that they had not yet chosen a target schools in the thai capital bangkok have closed as authorities struggle to contain choking air pollution the city has been shrouded in a toxic these for weeks efforts to seed rain clouds and to regulate truck traffic have failed to clear the air officials are urging residents to curb the use of incense and fireworks when they celebrate next week's lunar new year more years defending the mexican drug lord known as el chapo have rested their case at his

trial in the u.s. after calling just one witness walking goods months brief defense followed a prosecution case lasting almost three months the leader of the sin aloa cartel is accused of trafficking massive amounts of cocaine heroin and other drugs into the u.s. the united states and china have begun a new round of trade talks in washington the latest effort to resolve a trade dispute that has disrupted business around the globe the u.s. accuses china of industrial espionage and unfairly using state subsidies. back here in europe britain and the european union appear to be headed for a break sit blockade british lawmakers last night voted to send the prime minister back to brussels to reopen talks on the terms of the u.k.'s withdrawal from the e.u. now at issue is that so-called irish backstop well that's the plan to avoid

a hard border between northern ireland which is part of the u.k. and the republic of ireland but since that british decision e.u. leaders have been making it crystal clear that the deal and the backstop will not be changed in a surprise move to find you've already made with the new british lawmakers gave the prime minister a mandate to return to the negotiating table parliamentarians nearly passed a government backed amendment to renegotiate the controversial irish backstop the us come by as may some time but the challenges remain clear on the point there is going to stop or tight such a change in the even negotiating it will not be. seen contrast to a full night of this house has made it clear what it needs to approve the withdrawal of. may's chances of achieving that appear slim the e.u. says the backstop the plan to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland isn't up for

renegotiation. e.u. leader john told you one that the vote in the british parliament to demand changes had increased the risk of a new deal breaks it. that we've told agreement remains the best and the need to proceed. through opinion and set so you know them. we said so in december recent so after the first meeting new full vote in the commons in general. to get a billion dollars of comments yesterday do not change tips. agreement to. renegotiate. with he was bricks and negotiator michelle bundy also defending the existing deal to recently is poised to travel to brussels on what could be mission impossible she may come back with nothing new to offer parliament which means brics it goes back to square one again. so how to solve the problem of the irish

backstop we put that question to the irish lawmaker mcginnis in brussels she's the vice president of the european parliament are there any alternatives to the backstop is right now just about who's going to blink first but i think it the worry we have is that we went through a long negotiation and i'm sure alternative arrangements were looked at and obviously we're not going to work and what's on the table in the withdrawal agreement is something that will work with this insurance policy so that we don't have a hard border it also protects the single market so i think there's a little bit of be weirder meant here in brussels because we're trying to understand fully what the house of commons really wants the idea of reopening the backstop coming from trista made herself is rather strange because only some days ago she was selling this withdrawal agreement as the only option the best option we had and a very good deal for the united kingdom and now she's had to reverse and change her mind i that's very difficult politically from

a european perspective i've just chaired the debate on bracks of before coming to speak to you where we're really. really to understand how we can make progress because we spent a long time negotiating with the british and we accepted a lot of their proposals specifically around the backstop so i don't know what the alternative arrangements are we're inching closer and closer to this deadline and on march thirtieth and the e.u. is unwilling to make any concessions there's no wiggle room whatsoever we might have a hard bricks. we might have a hard border which is something that you want to prevent the first place because with a backstop what at the moment let's be very cold and blunt about if nothing changes in the united kingdom then their law states they will leave on that day at the end of march and this is a hard none of us want us and nor the u.k. i don't think would relish the outcome of that and therefore there are the consequences then as you put it would we have a hard border again if you go back to where geography and history has brought us to on the island of ireland the british prime minister has said on every occasion that

she does not want to see a hard border on the island of our lenders so i think there's no point in us threatening each other when if you don't do this this will happen i think maturity of politics has got to say this isn't a war some of the language coming from the heart breaks a tear sounds like it's a war i heard one for example bars johnson say this is a victory for the united kingdom when he referenced the vote last night in the house of commons that's what you talk about when you talk about war but we're not at war we're in negotiation we are close partners today the u.k. is still part of the european union and will leave i have no doubt about that we have to find a way of allowing the u.k. to leave in a good way and that we have this strong relationship and right now you know intellectually this is quite a difficult issue to get our heads around but the worst thing we could do is to worry ourselves about there will be a hard border or this will end in chaos you know if political realities bice then i

think there is a way to be found to make progress it's absolutely vital that the european union states clearly today that the withdrawal agreement was negotiated with them by the united kingdom taking on board their issues and i suppose we are scratching our heads as to how and what else the united kingdom thinks will work better than what the prime minister herself proposed to uganda where there is growing criticism of the social media tax introduced. last july the latest figures suggest that the number of internet subscribers in the east african country where that number has dropped by more than three million since the tax was introduced there are also concerns that the taxes being used to control access to social media are let's get the background story on this joining me here the big table is alex gore's widing let's start with the background of this tax how did the how do we get here yes so the ugandan parliament introduced it back in the summer in july really at the behest of the president president mr veiny now it follows

a number of criticisms that he has made about social media an open letter was sent out to residents in uganda telling him about this tax and in that letter he wrote social media chatting is a luxury by those who are enjoying themselves all those who are malicious so it gives a pretty good idea of exactly what he thinks about it plus it will also give his government more money well how does this tax work i mean how do they get the money well basically focuses on what's called over the top services ot t. and those can be anything from receiving a phone call over the internet to social media companies like facebook whatsapp instagram and each person who uses it has to pay two hundred ugandan shillings a day that's round about five cents in terms of new ways and they also have to pay a one percent tax on the payment transaction itself now that doesn't sound like a huge amount of money but for many people they don't very much and the african

technology consulting company called policy has carried out their own research and they said that around forty percent of people that they spoke to were paying about six percent of that monthly pay just on this tax alone which just gives you an idea of how much it's costing you go and so it's expensive it was big the reaction well there was a lot of protest at the time that has died down to what it appears to on the surface but actually people are still very angry and i've been in touch. with some ugandan's on social media today catty may marry messages she said the social media tax makes it difficult to communicate with loved ones people are only online when they finally manage to pay the tax which is periodic now all this on getting around that tax by using a virtual private network or a v.p.n. and andrew wrote to me in my opinion this tax is nothing but a political move to try to gag or at least punish the most critical segment the

educated middle class i will protest this tax for as long as i am able to now according to the government's own communications commission of the number of users has dropped by three million that was between september and october so it will be even fewer uses now it sounds like a good way to create a society of internet haves and have nots all right alex force why it is always alex we appreciated what tonight there are renewed efforts to free a soccer player from a prison in thailand. are even faces extradition back to his home country bahrain and he does not want to go home he was arrested more than two months ago in bangkok where he was spending his honeymoon now it's important to know here are kim fled his home as a refugee to australia back in two thousand and fourteen and he asked for asylum there he claims that he had been falsely imprisoned and that he had been tortured in his home country. more than sixty days off the first being detained in thailand

became al-arabiya remains in limbo separated from his wife unable to return to his adopted country astray and his job as a professional footballer. a ten year prison sentence awaits al-arabiya if he is extradited to bahrain even though he was playing in a televised football match when the alleged crime took place. activists have been tirelessly advocating for his release with former footballer craig foster meeting with faith and toy officials this week bahrain only in the last few days have escalated this issue in. clearly stated their intention in a brazen fashion to to contravene the international human rights of paki male arriving. on shoes day the asian football confederation weighed into the issue asking thailand's prime minister in an open letter to ensure mr al arabiya

his return safely to a stray leah governing body faith has also called for the players release we agreed that this is now become an emergency situation we want to say progress along with this week given the immediacy of the situation and we continue to call for trial end and to the prime minister. to release have clean immediately enough of these international human rights. with al-arabiya having spent two months in detention foster said he wants the case resolved before friday. or sports news no austria's marcel here sure has stamped his authority on alpine skiing night race yet again his victory in the spectacle that takes place in his home country also means that he's likely to win his eight successive overall world cup title this year. the lights were on in shuttling austria and the home favorite marcel

hit show who was already leading after his first run had one objective to win his tenth victory of the season and he had some fifty thousand fans behind him. the austrian who is the current giant slalom and combined champion managed the fastest time one point two one seconds ahead of frenchman alexis punctual. it was a perfect run the page was so crazy to see i mean this year's crowd was basically once again thank you for another incredible race. it was his shows sixty eighth world cup win keeping him at the top of the season standings he's also a clear favorite for the bi annual world championships coming up next month. so here's a reminder of the top stories that we're following for you people across business where you look protesting today against president nicolas maduro the demonstrations

were called by opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president one. european union leaders are insisting that deal that they made with the united kingdom cannot be renegotiated and that's despite british prime minister teresa mayes winning a parliamentary mandate to do so last night. after a short break back to take you through the day tonight to the deep freeze of a generation in the us midwest.

i was issued when i arrived here i slept with six people in a room as learn. it was hard i was fair. i even got white hair is that. the german language head nodding off this gets me and quit the bunch maybe to in

trouble let's say you want to know their story my parents were fighting and reliable information for migrants and. once upon a time there was a young girl. with a burning ambition. to become a conductor. evison they carry a child and very excited and in love with music and i would go to concerts with my parents and the. horror of being on stage stations and being part of that magic it was a difficult road for. girls she was told to become kind. but this girl. and obsessive. and one day she really did become a world famous conductor brimming over with virtual city and.

london of the not. my stuff. starts february he takes on t.w. . it is historic deadly and it almost defies our ability to describe it with words a cold wave is engulfing much of the heartland of the us and canada bringing subzero temperatures rarely seen except at the north and south poles tonight a once in a generation hard freeze and the cold hard facts about its connection to global warming i bring golf in berlin this is the day.