pledge their commitment to the special relationship. i am a people person. i think you are also, theresa. i can often tell how i ll get along with somebody very early, and i believe we are going to have a fantastic relationship. after a spate of accidents, a call for lorry drivers to be banned from using satnavs designed for cars. in sport: they haven t met in a grand slam finalfor eight years, but serena williams is taking on her sister venus for the australian title and a record breaking 23rd major crown. it is now 2 2. and chris has the weather. it is not as cold as it has been over recent days, but we have got some rain to contend with today and it is stilljust about cold enough for some of that rain to fall as snow in the hills of scotland. good morning. first, our main story. the actor sirjohn hurt has died. he was 77 and had recently been ill with cancer. he starred in around 200 films including harry potter and was nominated for an oscar for his roles in the elephant
in business: free to fire the brexit starting gun, but how prepared is the uk economy? we make sense of the latest data. the waiting game. toshiba shares plunge in tokyo, as it delays its results announcement for a second time. britain has stepped significantly closer to leaving the european union. parliament has given its final approval to a crucial law that allows the government to trigger brexit. mps in the house of commons overturned amendments from the upper house, the lords, seeking guarantees on the rights of eu nationals in the uk, and on how much say parliament will have on the final terms of the brexit deal. here is our political correspondent chris mason. contents, 118. not contents, 274. so the knot contends have it. with those words, the government achieved what the supreme court told ministers they had to, parliamentary approval to start brexit. the debate here in the house of lords and in the house of commons, are for now at least, done. what came very clearly
point that everybody united on was that there needed not to be an escalation of this and there needed to bea escalation of this and there needed to be a return to the un for political talks. thank you very much for now at un headquarters. let us speak to james geoffrey, a former us ambassador to turkey. he was deputy national security adviser during the george bush administration. welcome to peep buts, donald trump saying that this is a one off attack that this is meant to be an deterrent. what is your feeling about whether this indeed has been a deterrent or will prove to be? i am sure if there is another chemical attack by the syrians there will be another strike almost immediately by donald trump. he has put his prestige on the lean to stop chemical weapons being used against syrian civilians and he has done it in a way that has brought in the entire diplomatic community. we saw the support america is getting among friends and ally, britain, france, germany, australia, jap
cause a surprise. hello. in a rare interview, a senior north korean official has told the bbc his country is prepared to launch a nuclear strike and all out war if the united states decides to attack it. he also said missile tests would continue, weekly, monthly, yearly, despite international condemnation. president trump has suggested the leadership in pyongyang needs to behave , and vice president pence warned pyongyang not to test the us. the north korean vice foreign minister was speaking to our correspondentjohn sudworth in the north korean capital, where his movements are being closely monitored. north korea is all about shows of strength. the first today came in this tae kwon do demonstration. the next, in kim il sung square, close to the centre of power, by way of a rare interview. translation: if the us is reckless enough to use military means, it would mean, from that very day, an all out war. our nuclear weapons protect us from that threat. we will be conducti