the united nations is warning that one and a half million people are "on the brink of famine" in south sudan, with half the country facing severe food shortages. armed conflict is fuelling the crisis, many people are unable to grow food, and dozens of aid workers have been kidnapped and murdered in recent months. after years of civil war, a peace deal was signed three years ago between south sudan's government and rebel fighters. but it's been largely ignored by both sides. from juba, our chief africa correspondent, anne soy, reports. a troubled beginning for the world's youngest nation. tens of thousands have been killed. one in three here is displaced, and now they face the threat offamine. the youngest suffer most. this is the face of starvation. christine jackson weighs half as much as she should at almost two years. she's now on life—saving treatment, but her father worries that he won't be able to feed her well when they get discharged. jackson should be one of the better off south sudanese; he has a full—time job and a farm, but four years of civil war and high inflation have left him destitute, and there are many families like his. the doctor in charge here tells me this ward is always busy. so, roughly how many children do you see in a month? in a month we receive around 80—100 cases. right, and that isjust in the capital, juba. this is the hospital that takes care of children from outside the capital, and this ward, really, is the one that takes care of the severely malnourished children. injuba, one in ten children has been found to be severely malnourished, but then the statistics are higher outside the capital, where life is way more difficult. it is a harsh terrain and security has resulted in the death of more aid workers than anywhere else in the world. they are forced to use air transport, particularly in rebel controlled areas. we are not heading in with much food, and the violence has meant that many of the farmers have fled their farms and this will occur throuthuly, when the next harvest begins to come in. so this is a crucial time in south sudan. this is when we have do save the lives of the children. explosion. after decades of civil war, south sudan gained independence from its northern neighbour, but its troubles were far from over. fighting broke out between supporters of president salva kiir and the now expelled former vice president, riek machar. a number of ceasefire deals have been struck and broken — sometimes in a matter of hours. there was a peace process... it was violated by them. it was violated as soon as it was signed... it was violated by the rebels. by both the liberals and government were to blame. no, because the rebels find themselves like a spoiled child and they can just do anything they want. with no end in sight to the fighting, these people are at the mercy of donors, and the youngest generation here suffers most. anne soy, bbc news, juba. and you can find more detail and analysis on the current situation in south sudan, including claims that the country's leaders are failing their people, on our website. simply go to bbc.com/news. let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. white house officials have outlined proposals to give 1.8 million young, undocumented immigrants a path towards us citizenship. in return, the trump administration is asking congress to approve the creation of a $25 billion fund to finance a border wall with mexico. the plan also envisages tougher immigration controls. myanmar has accused bill richardson of carrying out a personal attack on aung san suu kyi. the veteran us diplomat resigned from a burmese investigation into violence in rakhine state, calling it a whitewash. he was particularly critical of ms suu kyi, saying she lacked moral leadership. scientists say plastic in the world's oceans is posing a growing threat to coral reefs. they estimate that there are 11 billion items of plastic waste on reefs in the asia—pacific region, and which comes into contact with plastic is 20 times more likely to develop diseases. contact has been lost with a european rocket carrying two satellites, after it suffered a problem during its latest launch. the ariane 5 couldn't be reached nine minutes into the flight from french guiana. the rocket has flown more than 80 times without incident, it regularly takes satellites into orbit. the oscar—winning actor, casey affleck, has pulled out of this year's oscars ceremony, where he was expected to present the award for best actress. the star won, despite having been accused of sexual harassment by two female crew members on an earlier film, claims he denies. for more on this story, i'm joined live from los angeles by entertainment journalist, kj matthews. what do you make of this?” what do you make of this? i will be honest, many people in hollywood we re honest, many people in hollywood were not surprised that casey affleck did not want to do this. in the last two months we have had all of these issues, including the times up initiative. casey affleck was accused of sexual harassment back in 2010 in the movie i'm still here by two female co—workers. he denied those allegations, but settled out of court. some people felt he would not be the best person to present to the winner of the best actress award this year even though he got best actor last year for manchester by the sea. it is not a good look. this has been cooking for a while. when brie larson gave him his oscar, she made it clear how she felt. 20,000 signatures online in a petition as well. many people were against and even showing his face at many premiers, let alone on the red carpet and the oscars. his publicist and keen you it would be difficult for him to walk on the red carpet without being inundated with questions about the accusations he faced many years ago. —— publicists and team said it would. i will be honest with you, i think there may be other actors in hollywood who made the reconsidering going to the oscars, or perhaps even reconsidering walking on the red carpet if they do not want questions about this change in hollywood. there are many men in hollywood hoping this goes away and keeping their heads down. do you think this has peaked, or is it the beginning? there is no way this will go away. there is no way this will go away. the momentum is really huge. in fa ct, the momentum is really huge. in fact, this weekend, the largest music awards in the us, the grammys, on sunday, in new york, and guess what, the times up initiative has said people should wear a white rose on sunday to honour the change in hollywood and stand with women in hollywood. it is not slowing down. and the oscars take place on march fourth! a lot is happening, and there is no sign slowing down. thank you very much. the seine is flooding in paris, inundating the capital. it is not expected to peak until the weekend. this is an area east of paris. suburbia submerged. houses underwater. emergency services and even soldiers have been enlisted to rescue residents. this isjust one area hit. the misery is being caused by the river seine which goes through the capital of paris. record rainfall has pushed it and other rivers over their banks across the east of france. parts of paris have been inundated as well to be tourists and residents have been asked to stay clear of river banks, with famous attractions closed, even the louvre. it is crazy. i have been to paris before. this is crazy. so much water. it gives paris another perspective. it is still beautiful, but we just travel differently. the river seine's levels are steadily rising, yet to peak. translation: the situation is under control but we will continue this weekend. we are not certain the pick of the flood will be this saturday, but weather forecasters say this is the case. “— weather forecasters say this is the case. —— peak. weather forecasters say this is the case. -- peak. untilthen, the city will have to cope. the mayor says this comes off the back of summer heatwaves and earlier flood. this comes off the back of summer heatwaves and earlierflood. paris we re heatwaves and earlierflood. paris were just have to adapt to climate change, expecting more of the same. bbc news. president trump has threatened to withdraw american aid from the palestinians, unless they return to peace talks with israel. his comments came after the palestinians responded to his recognition ofjerusalem as the capital of israel, by refusing to meet vice president, mike pence on a recent visit to the region. mr trump was speaking at a news conference in davos alongside the israeli prime minister. when they disrespected us a week ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them and we give them hundreds of millions of dollars of aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands, that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace. because, i can tell you that israel does want to make peace. and they will have to want to make peace too. otherwise we will have nothing to do with them. there was an immediate reaction from the palestinians. he ambassador to washington, dr husam zomlot, told the bbc that only an international body could oversee peace talks in the region. the most important thing is that we solidify and strengthen our commitment as palestinians, and the palestinian president has been clear that we remain absolutely committed to the two—state solution of 1967, committed to the international consensus, and committed to nonviolence, and we remain committed to our adherence to a genuine peace process. and that peace process requires international intervention. for many years we were made the exception. in all other conflicts, it was only international mechanisms to deliver principles and success. now, we are seeing no way, we need an international table. president trump has not taken jerusalem off the table, he has taken the table altogether. we need a genuine table that can actually deliver us where we want to go. it is no secret. they feel they are being blamed for the lack of a peace process. it is richly clear they feel israel holds all the cards. palestinians see this as the table being taken away. there is essentially no forum to negotiate now since the status ofjerusalem is so now since the status ofjerusalem is so crucial to any peace agreement. donald trump is playing hardball. to some extent, he is rolling the dice on his stance, whether money will talk more or the lack of money, if he withdraws funds for the palestinians, whether that will in some way for the new round of peace talks. it seems, especially based on what the palestinians have just said, it seems very unlikely. rather than being the president who would preside over a peace deal, as he promised during his campaign last year, this remains to be seen. it is looking rather unlikely. donald trump prides himself on being larger than life unlike anyone else, dominating centre stage. is it actually clear what he wants, if he knows what he wants? well, as far as trade and international business relations, i think what the president wants is at least back at home to be seen as the president, as the leader, who is selling america, putting america first, as he has said many times. he wants, and i think his audience back at home, he wa nts think his audience back at home, he wants them to see him on the world stage fighting for his country. he has some good cards at the moment, because the economy is doing really well, and even some of his critics, sceptics back at home, are saying look at what the dow is doing and the status of trade, with the weak dollar, though trump says not for long, it is making trade easier. that is what his base wants to see. how much did he inherited? a lot of america likes what he is doing. that is right. although you might have expected a bit of a frosty reaction. perhaps there has been in some quarters. he genuinely seems to have had a good response from the european leaders. a lot will hinge on the details of his keynote speech, how far he pushes things. of course, he is the protectionist president, which goes against the grain as faras president, which goes against the grain as far as leaders in germany and france are concerned, who prefer to have more of a sharing of policy and attitude towards the global economy. we will have to see what the president has to say and the details at the end of friday. thank you very much. much more to come, including a glimpse of the greatest royal collector's art in history. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word revolution. the earthquake singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. the new government is firmly in control of the entire republic of uganda. moscow got its first taste of western fast food as mcdonald's opened their biggest restaurant in pushkin square. but the hundreds of muscovites queued up today will not find it cheap with a big mac costing half a day's wages for the average russian. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the un warns one and a half million people are on the brink of famine in south sudan. president trump has been accused of leading the middle east towards chaos, after he warned the palestinians he'd cut aid unless they cooperated with the us. now to some breaking news, at least 31 people are reported to have been killed in a fire at a hospital in south korea. dozens more have been injured and officials say they expect the number of dead to rise. the fire is thought to have started in the emergency room of the hospital in the city of milyang in the south east of the country. about 100 patients are believed to have been inside the building. we will bring you more as soon as we can confirm it. a group of mostly us scientists has moved the hands of its so—called doomsday clock — a measure devised to illustrate concern over the world's destruction, by nuclear weapons and other threats — forward by 30 seconds. the clock now stands at two minutes to midnight, closer to the symbolic point of annihilation than it's been since the height of the cold war. the scientists, backed by 15 nobel laureates, cited north korea's nuclear and missile programme, climate change and conflicting american policy statements during the presidency of donald trump. in 2017 women the clock to 3.5 units to midnight. an unprecedented step. increasing recklessness around nuclear rhetoric and increasing attacks on experts and expertise world wide at such moments went expertise is needed. for the first time in many years no nuclear negotiations are under way and the d raft negotiations are under way and the draft review its any indication, there will be none for the foreseeable future. instead, we could see a return to a nuclear arms race. researchers have identified remains of the earliest known modern humans to have left africa. a new dating of a jaw bone found in a cave in israel indicates that our species was living outside africa around 185,000 years ago, some 80,000 years earlier than previously thought. our science correspondent, pallab ghosh has the details in the distant past, the first of our kind evolved in africa. our ancestors then left the continent and spread across the globe. just when and where that happened is one of the biggest questions in human evolution. this fragment of a jawbone has shattered the current theory. it has rewritten the story of how we emerged on this planet. the fragment was found in caves in northern israel. a study, published in the journal science, shows it was 80,000 years older than scientists thought that modern humans left africa. i think that the whole biological history should be revised. if we have modern humans here about 230,000 years ago, it implies that our origins go back in time notjust 230,000 300,000 years ago, but probably much earlier, to about half a million years. theories may need to be changed. the previously was that our species began to live africa 100,000 years ago, but the new discovery in israel suggests it was much earlier, possibly 250,000 years ago. that means our species may have lived alongside other kinds of more primitive humans who lived outside of africa at the time, and that contact may have helped shape our culture and the way we look. it changes our understanding of the interaction between other populations such as neanderthals. if we say that we have modern homo sapiens in earlier times, these dates, we need to reconsider our knowledge regarding the environment, the culture, and interbreeding with other populations. the current view is that we evolved relatively recently, just as other types of humans were dying out. that new research suggests we were more ancient species that show the planet with primitive humans shared the planet with primitive humans for tens of thousands of years. he's probably best known as the king who lost his head, but charles the first was also the greatest royal collector of art in british history. among the masterpieces were works by van dyke and rubens. now, for the first time since the 17th century, a major exhibition brings together the most important paintings from the collection. our arts editor, will gompertz, has been to the royal academy to have a look. the show starts by setting the scene. we meet the main protagonist, king charles i, king of england, scotla nd king charles i, king of england, scotland and ireland from 1625 — scotland and ireland from 1625 - 1649. he had a great from 1625 -1649. he had a great eye for art, as did his misses, henrietta maria. both porkers were painted by this fella, the flemish artist anthony van dyck, who king charles i hired as his court painter, and what we would now call now as his artist in residence. he has two main focuses for his collection — that's montegna's the triumph of caesar, by the way — his first passionate was for the german flemish and dutch artists of the northern renaissance. hence we have this wonder wall of hans holbein portraits, at the end of which is this absolute cracker, of robert his other great love was the artists of the italian high renaissance. people like pisano and here tintoretto, painted this dramatic biblical scene. injust two decades, charles and henrietta amassed enough ofa charles and henrietta amassed enough of a collection to rival any court in europe but it all came to a very abrupt end when charles had his head chopped off and oliver cromwell flogged the lot. the collection was scattered to the four winds which is the point of this exhibition. the royal academy is uniting for the first time since 1649 as many of those famous artworks as it possibly can, increasing this hunting port of king charles i which is now owned by the louvre. ina way by the louvre. in a way this exhibition isa in a way this exhibition is a tragedy, a story of what could have been. great masterpieces once owned by this country but are now owned by others. take this ball of titians, for example, the one on the left now belongs to the prada in madrid, and the other two are the louvres in paris. still that is the nature of things, i suppose that this exhibition does make you wonder what if king charles had not lost his head and continued to collect at the same sort of rate. britain would surely the greatest collection of renaissance art in the world. mind you, it probably would have bankrupted mind you, it probably would have bankru pted the country. before we go, have a look at these pictures from cairo. a 83—tonne statue of the ancient egyptian king ramses the second, has moved into a new home. the 3,200—year—old statue was transferred to the atrium of cairo's new grand egyptian museum. it's hoped the artefact will help win back tourists. speaking at a ceremony to mark the move, an official underlined the importance of the museum project to egypt's tourism sector, which has been damaged by political violence in recent years. hello. friday will be the coldest day of the week but, with lighter winds, most of us seeing some sunshine at some stage of the day. our perception may well be, as we are in between weather systems with lots of dry weather, it's the most pleasant weather day of the week but weather fronts are coming in for the weekend as we will show you in a moment. this is how it looks for early risers. a few showers dotted about through parts of england and wales. and cold enough for a touch of frost where you've been clear for any period of time overnight, particularly across parts of scotland, into northern ireland and maybe north—west england, some spots in wales as well. a few fog patches into northern ireland to begin the day will take a few hours to clear. and as i mentioned, a few showers dotted about, particularly through central and eastern parts of england. very hit and miss. by no means everybody will catch one, but be aware that is a possibility first thing in the morning. we are more likely to be seeing some sunny spells once the sun is up into wales and south—west england. some spots will be around four or five degrees for 8 o'clock in the morning. not going to get too much higher during the day, but as you can see there's a fair amount of sunshine around. though, even though the showers are going to clear away from central and eastern england, some of us here will have more cloud compared with thursday. but even here, a few sunny spells coming through into the afternoon. fairly light winds, and as you see, temperatures top around 4—5 degrees in scotland. 7—9 the mildest parts of northern ireland, england and wales. going into the evening, the breeze picks up. we get outbreaks of rain into northern ireland scotland, and that pushes further east as we go through friday and into sunday morning. the lowest temperatures will be in the east. there could be a touch of frost developing in places that have been clear overnight. here is the big picture into the weekend. weather fronts coming in. as you can see, initially through western parts, with some heavier bursts as the day begins. it also all starts to move eastwards. in england, early sunshine, outbreaks of rain pushing into the afternoon. just touching into northern scotland. a milder day there. the wind picks up even further on saturday night and into the first by the sunday across the far north. there could be some severe gales. still a lot of cloud on sunday, with patchy rain across western parts. heavy rain in northern scotland. mild and windy. this is bbc news. the headlines: the united naions is warning that 1.5 million people are "on the brink of famine" in south sudan, with half the country facing severe food shortages. armed conflict is fuelling the crisis, many people are unable to grow food, and dozens of aid workers have been kidnapped and murdered. donald trump has threatened to stop aid to the palestinians unless they engage in peace talks with israel. he was speaking in davos alongside the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. a former palestinian negotiator‘s accused mr trump of leading the region towards chaos. casey affleck says he won't attend this year's oscars. he was expected to present this year's best actress category. the actor has been accused of sexual harassment by female crew members on previous films, claims he denies. now on bbc news, thursday in parliament.