florida shooting, democrats in the us have criticised president trump and the republican speaker of the house, paul ryan, for refusing to discuss gun legislation. the president reacted to the florida killings by saying school safety would be his top priority, but he failed to address calls from congress for a review of gun laws. the suspect, nikolas cruz, had obtained the firearms used legally. our correspondent aleem maqbool reports from parkland. police radio: we don't know where the shooter is! for hours, children at a high school found themselves in a combat zone. police radio: 17 julia five, i have the gunshot victim. there was mayhem and bloodshed as a gunman stalked its corridors. shots can be heard close by as these terrified pupils sheltered in their classroom, fearing for their own lives. he went up and down the hallway, just banging and shooting into the classrooms. he shot through my door and broke the window. then all of a sudden we hear one of our student government teachers say, "run as fast as you can," and we hear a gunshot. 17—year—old kevin mizen, originally from coventry, moved to florida three years ago and is a student at the school. he was barricaded in a storage cupboard for two hours during the shooting. we heard the door to our room being unlocked. we heard somebody say, "police, police". there were two different people. we didn't know how many shooters there were. we didn't know if it was police. and i remember my teacher turning to me and saying, "what do we do?" that's terrifying. so, she opened the door and the relief when you realised it was these guys in military getup, holding pistols and assault rifles. i have friends who have been killed, friends who have been shot. how can this be real? this is a school i go to. i'm watching video footage and it's my friends coming out with their hands up. police did finally get to every classroom. the fear palpable. please put your hands up. survivors were ushered through the corridors with hands on their heads, police marksmen watching closely in case a gunman was still among them. the first of those identified as having been killed was aaron feis, a football coach and security guard at the school. in the coming days, we'll learn the details of the young victims too. this is one of many vigils being held for those who died, and shocking here to see the faces of so many young people who yesterday were attending what they thought was a regular day at school, and today, are mourning friends who sat beside them in their classrooms. the killer escaped with fleeing schoolchildren, but was soon arrested without a struggle. he's19—year—old nikolas cruz. a young man known for having a fascination with guns, and who even, it now appears, threatened in a social media post to become what he called "a professional school shooter". are you nikolas jacob cruz? yes, ma'am. the leader of a white nationalist militia says cruz had taken part in paramilitary training with them. i've got something very important to tell you, you're charged with some very serious crimes. kevin trejos found the girl who'd sat next to him in an english class earlier in the day was one of those who died. he also knew the gunman, who'd been a former student at the very same school he attacked. he's someone who used racial slurs, who was just awful to other people. and i'm sure he was bullied himself by some, but he was the type of person where people were scared to bully him because they knew they just didn't think this would happen. it makes me angry because we all knew him, we all knew that there was a potential for something to go wrong. it just sucks that we couldn't stop him. these thoughts are the type with which no children should have to burden themselves. but in a country where there have been more than 200 school shootings in less than five years, more and more are being taught by such horrors. —— touched. aleem maqbool, parkland, florida. ivy schamis is a teacher at the marjory stoneman douglas high school. she's been describing, in harrowing detail what took place in her classroom. i was teaching history of the holocaust class actually, and i was in the end of a lesson and i left my board and all of a sudden, we hear gunfire very, very loud. i had never heard gunshots before, it was unmistakable what that was. this students, they were mostly seniors in the class, were incredible. they instantaneously went down to the ground, they instantly were looking for cover. we had been practising a little bit of these drills but we did not know it would happen the way it did, and we went to the perimeter of the classroom, trying to hide behind, i had file cabinets, a teacher's desk, anywhere they could hide in, then within seconds, the gunmen shot is automatic weapon right into the panel of the door and shot into the classroom and hit some of my students. when you say hit some of your students, how are they? well, two of them have passed away and several of them were injured. well, two of them have passed away and several of them were injuredlj am and several of them were injured.” am so and several of them were injured.” am so sorry, and several of them were injured.” am so sorry, thank you for talking to us about this. as i say, if you need to moan a bit, that is absolutely understandable. i can the gunmen then goes across the corridor where your best friend is teaching. yes sir, he could have easily put his arm into the panel of the door that he shot out that miraculously, he did not and he kept going, but u nfortu nately, he did not and he kept going, but unfortunately, he went across the hall to my friend and she did the same thing in her classroom, and some students were injured and they we re some students were injured and they were deceased as well. and then he shotin were deceased as well. and then he shot in the hallway of, security specialist, and then he made his way to the hallway and continued there. you just mentioned aron price, lacey to himself in front of students and was killed. —— aaron feis. to himself in front of students and was killed. -- aaron feis. yes, he did. iwas was killed. -- aaron feis. yes, he did. i was very frustrated comic frightened in front of my students. we were trying to break because we we re we were trying to break because we were afraid he was going to come back, so we were holding on to each other and the students were extremely mature. they were incredible, i just want everyone to know how incredible the students were. they held onto each other, they were consoling each other, they we re they were consoling each other, they were trying to be quiet, the ones who are injured were being helped by other students in the corner, they we re other students in the corner, they were shielding themselves with textbooks and laptops, they did anything they could to protect each other, and we were very, very frightened. kids were shaking. there are people, as i'm sure you know, who say that all this actually is an argument for more gun, sales go up when this kind of thing happens. there are people you say that teachers should be armed, should you have been armed? 0h teachers should be armed, should you have been armed? oh my gosh, no. i am not one who agrees with that, i am not one who agrees with that, i am afraid of guns. i do think anyone should have guns and i to think this kid should have had an assault rifle either, so no. if no one had guns and teachers would not need those guns, and teachers would not need those u and teachers would not need those guns, so no, i do not live in guns. —— believe in. a former new york high school teacher and his twin brother have appeared in court on bomb making charges. christian toro is accused of paying students to dismantle fireworks for gunpowder so he could eventually make a bomb. his twin brother, tyler, has also been charged. they were detained during a search of their home injanuary, where investigators say explosives were found. deputy commissionerjohn miller has been giving more details. in the course of that search, which was conducted beginning this morning and went on through much of the day, over 30 pounds of chemicals, which taken together in certain combinations, constitute explosive precursor materials were recovered. christian and tyler toro were taken to the 49th precinct, where they were taken into custody by the fbi and charged. as you see in the complaint, with possession of explosive precursors and giving explosives to minor. the charges have to do, as is outlined in the complaint, with allegations that at least two students who were present in the toros's apartment emptied explosive black powder from fireworks, harvesting them from fireworks, and then putting them into separate containers. as well as the explosive materials and what appeared to be simulated weapons, that were found in the course of the search, there was a diary appearing to belong to toro's brother, that had notations in it about something called operation flash. statements contained in the diary about discarding and doing away with physical evidence. let's round up some of the other stories making the news. president trump's former chief adviser, steve bannon, has again refused to answer key questions as he was interviewed by the house intelligence committee, which is investigating alleged russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. the committee is reportedly considering holding him in contempt. the brazilian president, michel temer, has signed a decree to send emergency resources to help venezuelan migrants. around 40,000 have fled across the border to escape the deepening economic crisis, they are living on the streets. venezuelan authorities are co—ordinating a security plan with their colombian counterparts to deal with an increased number of venezuelans taking part in attacks by the eln rebels. the hollywood actress jennifer anniston and her husband justin theroux have announced they're separating after less than three years of marriage. the star of friends, and 46—year—old leftovers actor, said in a joint statement that the decision was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year. the leader of the african national congress, cyril ramaphosa, has been sworn in as south africa's new president. jacob zuma resigned from the post after pressure from his party over various corruption allegations. this was the moment he took the oath of office. would you please raise your right hand, mr president—elect, and say "so help me god"? so help me god. i confirm that we have both sealed the oath by signing and it's my honour and privilege to congratulate the president of the republic of south africa. congratulations. stay with us on bbc news. much more to come. the biggest show on earth. the chinese tv spectacular that welcomes in the lunar new year. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm was murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no letup in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flowed down to the sea on the east of the island — away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is bbc news. the latest headline: nikolas cruz, the teenager accused of killing 17 people at his former florida high school, appears in court. vic micolucci is anchor and reporter for the florida tv station wjxt. he's in parkland, where the school shooting took place. i know that you comfort the pulse nightclub shootings this keep happening. absolutely right, it shouldn't, we as journalists seem to be going through the drill again and again and again, not too long ago i was in 0rlando for the pulse nightclub shooting, 49 people lost their lives there and we heard the ripper and eve ryo ne there and we heard the ripper and everyone said don't let this ever happen again, we are going to push to change the law, we will make the country safer, nick sure that we don't see tragedies like this happen again. unfortunately, that isn't the case. we had a mass shooting in las vegas and so many other wash over for mass shootings and yesterday afternoon we had the horrific news not only that there was a mass shooting but that the targets were innocent children. 1a, 15, 16 years old. as all of the administrators at the school. we heard an assistant football coach died a hero, jumping in front of the gunman to catch some of the bullets to save his students. also the athletic director. as you said, it is absolutely so heartbreaking that we are going through this process again and again and again. we as a journalist, it is deja vu, using the same people from all over the world descending on the heartbreak to cover the tragedy it is something that personally, i don't want to do any more. in this case as you know there were flags, weren't there, warning signs and stu d e nts weren't there, warning signs and students thing we knew him, he had threatened others, he had been banned from the campus in effect, his social media feed is full of guns, violence and hate. it was reported to the fbi who investigated up reported to the fbi who investigated up to reported to the fbi who investigated uptoa reported to the fbi who investigated up to a point but essentially what they seem to be saying, correct me if i'm wrong, is actually, this is not unusual. that is what we heard, they were rather mum about the details of the investigations but it appeared they didn't have enough evidence, according to the agents who spoke with us, to pursue any charges, to pursue a big investigation, and we are also hearing they never even interviewed the suspect, nikolas cruz, they never even asked him questions about what he was doing. but it didn't ta ke what he was doing. but it didn't take long for us to go on social media and forget his instagram account. he had pictures of an arsenal of high—powered rifles. he was shooting animals, he was looking through the sights of the gun, talking about an uprising, and in fa ct talking about an uprising, and in fact there was the youtube post linked to him right now where he said he wanted to be a professional school shooter. all of these things, red flags. it goes back further, and it isn't just red flags. it goes back further, and it isn'tjust on social media. i spoke to so many students here in south—east florida and they told me they saw this coming. 0ne south—east florida and they told me they saw this coming. one said" eve ryo ne they saw this coming. one said" everyone predicted it." the question is why didn't anyone stop it? i looked at video, it shows the young man in the backyard of his family's home last year walking around with a bb gun pacing, obviously doesn't look to be in his right mind. 0thers told me he had been kicked out of school for having a knife will stop before he was kicked out of school, he wasn't even allowed to bring a backpack because he was perceived as a threat. he bounced from class to class to class until he was eventually expelled, he was trying to get his ged to get his education but apparently dropped out from that. so many kids, i talked with two seniors at the high school where this happens and they told me they had known him since middle school so probably five or six years, and he had always been a scary individual, a lone wolf, somebody that they were concerned about and this is an example, they were watching a tribute video to the september 11 attacks on september 11 and a couple yea rs attacks on september 11 and a couple years ago, they said everyone was crying, they were upset about just being the carnage on tv, but not nikolas cruz. he was in the back of the room laughing. chuckling. and smiling. seeing all the death and destruction. i just smiling. seeing all the death and destruction. ijust need to ask you this briefly, because we have to move on, president trump you know has been speaking and he used the word gunfire but not a word gun, he didn't use the word gun control. he is coming to visit the area and the school. what kind of reception is he going to get there?” school. what kind of reception is he going to get there? i think it is going to get there? i think it is going to get there? i think it is going to be mixed by people see a lot of people going up against him, a lot of people upset. we are starting to hear from the family members that are blaming the government, that are blaming police, leaning school officials were not being able to recognise these threats. we are going to see an immediate push to change. this is going all across the united states, people coming from far and wide to come down here to south—east florida just to talk about the things that they want to see. i mean, this is going to have to go to the capital and something is going to have to be done. president will come down here just like you did to the pulse nightclub massacre in orlando and we can only imagine he will get a lot of pushback and kickbacks are not directly addressing the issues, as many people would call them, with guns, with gun laws, because this is a 19—year—old man who had a history of mental health problems, a history of mental health problems, a history of behavioural issues, who was able to buy a high powered a r 15 rifle that he did it legally. thank you so much. more than a million people have signed a petition asking snapchat to get rid of its latest redesign. the new layout attempts to stop fake news by separating out message from people's friends from posts from publishers. the redesign was aimed at broadening snapchat‘s appeal, but has sparked a backlash among some users, with many saying it's confusing. for more on this lets go to charlie brown, a technology commentator in sydney, australia. the problem here is that snapchat is really u pset the problem here is that snapchat is really upset that core base, the 18— 25 —year—olds. if you lose them, you aren't you? exactly, these other customers who made snapchat what it is today and they are the ones who have made the service get a multibillion—dollar valuation when they floated it at the issue that snapchat management has is it isn't about that group of customers at the moment. but lourey are appealing to them and are already having that group signup. they have to make snapchat appeals or wider of customers. that is if they want to keep growing the service and improving the valuation. but this petition is fair and square in the core group and that is why it is so troubling. so many young people view snapchat because they don't want anything to do with facebook because people my age all over that! there isa people my age all over that! there is a problem that if you split off your friends from the so—called social influences, those influences have a influence? exactly right. those influences are largely those quys those influences are largely those guys who have bought a lot of equity and value to snapchat, like the nightclub, a lot of people want to go to nightclub, a lot of people want to gotoa nightclub, a lot of people want to go to a particular nightclub because the cool kids go there and as soon as the cool kids don't want to go there any more does anybody else. the other issue the snapchat is it makes things difficult for them, guess they need to make the service more appealing but every time they doa more appealing but every time they do a really good feature or add something called at people like, facebook goes and add them in similarto facebook goes and add them in similar to their diverse as well so differentiation between other social media outlet is also getting harder. just briefly if this redesigned socks, there will have to be a compromise, is that it? you would hope so but at the moment the ceo of snapchat has said that he is hoping that the customer base becomes co mforta ble that the customer base becomes comfortable with it over time and that may just happen. comfortable with it over time and that mayjust happen. but if it doesn't, if people continue to install these workarounds, as they call them, and not use the official snapchat application, i think you would have to find a compromise very soon because of the medium term you may see the customer group start to live will stop charlie brougham, good to talk to you. it's the beginning of what could well be the biggest annual celebration worldwide — the lunar new year, also known as the spring festival. more than 1.4 billion chinese people around the world marked the official entry into the year of the dog with lanterns, banquets and colourful celebrations. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. in china, this is how most of the country sees in the lunar new year — state television spring festival gala. by some estimates, the most watched entertainment programme on earth. around 700 million viewers for a 11—hour spectacular of colour and sound. low key and subtle it is not, but this has become a new year tradition. some decided to celebrate in their own way with fireworks and sparklers in beijing. the sound of firecrackers, young and old enjoying the noise and the spectacle. translation: i hope this year of the dog, the children keep growing up in good health and our elders keep well, and i also send our new year wishes to everyone. away from the fireworks, there's food. entire families gathering together to make and consume dumplings and noodles — a tasty way to welcome the year of the dog. at this buddhist temple in shanghai, people prayed for good fortune. they burned incense, looking forward to new opportunities. and it isn'tjust china celebrating — this a sea of red lanterns in kuala lumpur. plenty of dogs were present — some symbolic, some real. hundreds of millions of people coming together to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. tim allman, bbc news. this video is being viewed by many of you, on our website. a restaurant in tokyo is offering customers the chance to fly to a far—flung destination but without leaving the ground. wannabe passengers are invited aboard a replica plane for a full flight experience including a safety briefing, and take—off, a four—course dinner and a virtual reality headset that can take them to paris, rome, hawaii or new york. all that and no jet lag! a reminder of our top story. with 17 dead in wednesday's florida school shooting, democrats in the us have criticised president trump and the republican speaker of the house, paul ryan, for refusing to discuss gun legislation. the president reacted to the killings by speaking of mental health and saying school safety would be his top priority, but he failed to address calls from some members of congress for a review of gun laws. the shooting suspect, nikolas cruz, obtained his assault rifle and ammunition legally. president trump that he will be visiting the area and the school. much more on all of that and the news at any time on our website. the weekend is fast approaching and the weather is looking mixed. a little mixed through the weekend. friday, for most of us, is looking absolutely fine. a lot of clear skies out there so there is plenty of sunshine on the way. but friday is going to start off pretty frosty. here is the satellite image. we have got some snow clouds across scotland right now. there's a cold air stream coming all the way from the arctic regions — from greenland, from iceland, tucking into scotland, so here we could see over the next couple of days or so quite a bit of snow. but that is going to be mostly across the hills. so the towns and cities and coastal areas will be mostly getting rainfall. the rest of the country, the early hours, look absolutely clear, england and wales. ; ;.. ;..,....n sown“. across scotland but for most of us the weather on saturday actually doesn't look too bad at all. some hazy sunshine around and those temperatures will be just about double figures in the south, seven or eight in the north. a lot more cloud in the atlantic. that will be coming our way, so come sunday, thick cloud right across the country here, a very different day, out of the two days, saturday is the sunnier day, sunday will be more cloudy with outbreaks of rain getting into cardiff, birmingham, belfast. maybe a bit of brightness in the north—east of scotland and east anglia for a time. bye— bye. the latest headlines... a day after 17 people were killed in a school shooting, democrats in the us have criticised president trump and the republican speaker of the house, paul ryan, for refusing to discuss gun legislation. the president reacted to the florida killings by saying school safety would be his top priority. the newly elected president of south africa, cyril ramaphosa, has been sworn in. shortly after his unopposed election in parliament, he said fighting corruption would be one of his priorities. he replaces jacob zuma, who faced numerous corruption allegations and resigned on wednesday. it's the beginning of what could well be the biggest annual celebration worldwide — the lunar new year, also known as the spring festival. at least 1.4 billion chinese people marked the official entry into the year of the dog with lanterns, banquets and colourful celebrations. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone half—past three in the morning. time now for panorama. bitcoin‘s made some people very rich indeed — at least on paper. i've made an extraordinary amount of money. for some investors here, it's a roller—coaster ride, as values plunge. my son says, "hurry up and become a bitcoin millionaire, mum!" we discover the power behind bitcoin. every single one of these is a desktop computer. there are thousands of them. but is this alljust some media hype? it's human nature to jump on the bandwagon. it's what every great bubble is made of and they are calling this the greatest bubble of all time.