john sudworth, bbc news, china. studio: finally, there are many questions surrounding the ancient stones circle of stonehenge. but might sound help in the search for answers? new technology is helping to recreate some of the strange acoustics of the mystical english site from thousands of years ago. much of the stone circle has been lost over the years, but as david sillitoe reports, the technology can even help us experience what the original prehistoric site might have looked like. eerie sounds. people have been coming here for at least 4000, 5000 years. so we are walking in the feet of history. when the wind blows, some people say they hear a strange hum. thomas hardy wrote about it in tess of the d'urbevilles. and dr rupert till is convinced the sound of stonehenge is part of its magic. wind blows eerily. you here between each beat a little echo as the sound leaves you, hits the stone and comes back to you here. —— you hear between each beat a little echo as the sound leaves you, hits the stone and comes bac

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. to syria now, where the united nations says 40,000 people have returned to their homes in the east of aleppo, the city devastated by years of civil war. some still say they‘re confused, but we did get some clarity this week on britain‘s plans for brexit as theresa may announced her 12—point plan, including a pledge to leave the single market. the prime minister insisted that people were coming together, but she also acknowledged just how divisive last year‘s referendum campaign had been. we sentjeremy cook to see how those on different sides of the argument felt about her speech. boston, an ancient english town, a changing landscape. on the bus, plenty of support for the prime minister‘s speech, the brexit vote here was 75%. more than one in ten people here are eu migrants. we want that cutting, definitely. what effect has it had on the town? it‘s killed it. is it a price worth paying to come out of the single market in order to control immigration? i think so, yes. you've

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. laura: for more on the international anxiety some of the president-elect's comments have caused, i spoke briefly with go with robin wright of the woodrow wilson center. donald trump is creating waves abroad with his comments on everything from china to nato but what is the overall effect of this uncertainty in diplomatic capitals? robin: particularly striking given that it comes a week after the confirmation hearings for the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and the head of the cia, and there is a sense after those hearings that you have people with experience, with a sense of realism about the challenges and the obstacles and the history of u.s. involvement. the president-elect's comments once again reflect the uncertainty that people have during the election campaign with these one-liners, these tweets, that were acerbic and bitter and often went against decades of u.s. foreign policy. laura: if we look at the fight against the islamic state, donald trump says he has a plan

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. to syria now, where the united nations says 40,000 people have returned to their homes in the east of aleppo, the city devastated by years of civil war. most are living on aid, in very difficult conditions. syria's largest city became a major battleground in the summer of 2012, but after four years of bloody conflict, government forces cut off the rebels‘ supply lines and they were able to take full control at the end of last year. jeremy bowen has been back to eastern aleppo and found a city still haunted by the conflict. this is the calm after the storm. the final battle for aleppo swept through the city like a man—made malevolent tornado. all sides in this war were prepared to destroy aleppo to possess it. in the end, the firepower of the regime and its russian and iranian allies was too much for the fractious rebel coalition that controlled east aleppo. this city is the key to northern syria. right across the country, rebels who are still fighting, are on the defensive. explos

john sudworth, bbc news, china. the former war correspondence, claire hollingworth, who reported the outbreak of the second world war died this week at the age of 105. she was the first journalist to report on the build—up of german troops on the polish border in 1939. she went on to witness some of the most significant events of the 20th century. our world affairs editorjohn simpson knew claire hollingworth and he's been looking back at her life and achievements. file voiceover: this is a national programme from london. germany has invaded poland and has bombed many towns. it was claire hollingworth‘s first story. three days earlier, she had spotted the build—up of german armour, ready for the invasion. i rode along a valley and there was a tarpaulin up to prevent you looking down into the valley. and suddenly a gust of wind blew the tarpaulin away from the moorings. i looked down into the valley and there were scores, if not hundreds of tanks lined up. that set the pattern for her long career, scoop after sc

john sudworth, bbc news. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has suggested her preferred option of a second referendum on independence could be put to one side if the uk follows a strategy of so—called soft brexit from the eu. let's talk to our scotland correspondent glen campbell outside holyrood, does this signal a change of heart by ms sturgeon? does this single a change of heart? not quite, she remains committed independence. watch it has made clear today is that she would be prepared to put talk of another independence referendum on hold for at least the next couple of years. —— what it has. whilst brexit is being negotiated. if the uk government accepts her proposals for what she regards as a compromise. you may remember, she set out last month her idea of a compromise deal that would allow her to hold her nose and accept that travel tobacco leave m ea ns nose and accept that travel tobacco leave means leave if the scottish parliament becomes more powerful and if the uk government seeks to r

john sudworth, bbc news. serena williams will pay croatia's mirjana lucic—baroni in the semi—finals of the australian open tennis. williams has beaten the number nine seed from britain, johanna konta, 6—2, 6—3. before that, lucic—baroni made it through to her first grand slam semi—final since 1999. there were tears ofjoy for the world number 79 as she beat the number five seed, karolina pliskova, in three sets. sweden's daniel bodin has pulled off the first successful double backflip in a snowmobile. the double backflip has been the holy grail of freestyle snowmobilers, and bodin has done it. his reaction afterwards was... idid it! i can't believe i did it! the rush! itjust can't be described. nobody in this world can understand the feeling. i've nurtured the dream about nailing this trick more than two years. 0thers others have crashed while trying. an annual festival in which people express their hopes through miniature representations has been taking place in bolivia. it is the native american

john sudworth, bbc news, shiijazhuang. a cycle courier has won an employment rights case against the logistics firm city sprint, in a ruling that could have implications for other workers in the so—called "gig economy", where people are employed on a job—by—job basis. maggie dewhurst was classed as self—employed but argued she should be treated as a worker and given greater rights, including holiday and sick pay. the company has said it is "disappointed", asjohn moylan now reports. maggie dewhurst delivers medical supplies by bike to hospitals and labs, but despite being a city sprint careerfor the labs, but despite being a city sprint career for the last two yea rs, sprint career for the last two years, she doesn't have basic workers' rights. she's one of thousands in the so—called gig economy, characterised by temporary, insecure jobs. city economy, characterised by temporary, insecurejobs. city sprint economy, characterised by temporary, insecure jobs. city sprint say she is an independent contractor. in other

sudworth reports. somewhere, underneath this murky gloom, is a city of 10 million people. and for the unfortunate residents, this is normal. for the past 30 days, the average air quality in this city has measured as hazardous on the official scale. you can smell, even taste the coal dust in the air, the grim, tangible reality of this country's model of economic growth. and people have no choice but to live, eat and sleep in this toxic smog, 2a hours a day. "it's like living under a cloud", this noodle seller tells me. "the smog is harming my children's health". "of course i want to leave", this man says, "but i can't afford to, and anyway, the whole country is polluted". it's not much of an exaggeration. 200 miles away, the pollution literally rolled into beijing earlier this week. and stayed. a toxic mix of coal dust from power stations and car exhaust. the smog now regularly blankets a huge swathe of northern china. and it is believed to cause more than a million premature deaths a year. public conce

john sudworth, bbc news, shiijazhuang. finally, 0rthodox christians around the world are celebrating christmas as eastern churches believe jesus christ was born on the seventh of january. many christian communities have also been marking the epiphany day, which commemorates the baptism ofjesus in thejordan river. let's take a look at some of the celebrations. from me and the team, thank you very much for watching, as always. compared with other parts of your europe our weather is quiet indeed. we had rain and drizzle pushing southwards during the day yesterday. rates in the cloud later perhaps in scotla nd rates in the cloud later perhaps in scotland so here it could be a little chilly to start the weekend but on the whole be mild. do not worry about frost. there will be a lot of cloud around and probably not much rain. most of the renewal be seeing overnight across the southern parts of the uk. that will keep temperatures up. could turn chilly across the glens of scotland we are skies are clear. central and eastern scotla

john sudworth, bbc news. beijing. katty: getting a bit of chinese tough talk. it is going to be interesting to watch that relationship and see exactly how the trade dispute shapes up between donald trump and the chinese. two british politics. ministers will introduce a bill within days to start the process of getting out of the european union, known as brexit. that's after a major ruling by the british supreme court today. the judges determined the government cannot trigger the formal negotiations for leaving without approval of parliament. reporter: democracy, said abraham lincoln, is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. beneath this statue outside the supreme court today, they were debating that very issue. the ruling, when it came, made clear that the court was not trying to frustrate the vote to leaving the european union. the judgment with only determine whether the government could start brexit process without parliamentary consent. >> today, by a majority of 8-3, the supreme court rules that the government cannot trigger article 5

john sudworth, bbc news, shiijazhuang. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: oh, my god! are you joking? unsigned soul singer ray blk wins bbc music's sound of 2017. the japanese people are mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief. after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news. i'm gavin grey. the latest he

john sudworth, bbc news you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: after a huge row last year, the oscars gets a lot more inclusive. we look at the films that make it the most diverse nomination list for a decade. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after liftoff. 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 who queued up today won't find it cheap, with a big mac costing half the day's wages for the average russian. this is news

john sudworth, bbc news, shiijazhuang. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: 0h, oh, my god. oh, my god, youjerking? —— jerking? unsigned soul singer ray blk wins bbc music's sound of 2017. scientists say a giant iceberg 50 times the size of manhattan island is ready to break off from an ice shelf in antarctica. matt mcgrath has more. stretching for around 100 miles in length, the 100—yard wide rift in the larsen ice shelf has grown rapidly in recent weeks. just 12 miles of frozen material is keeping this enormous iceberg from drifting away into the sea. collapsing ice shelves are common in antarctica. as these pictures show, these fragmentations can dramatically affect the landscape, creating icebergs of all shapes and sizes. a team of british researchers have been travelling to antarctica to monitor the growing rift in the larsen sea ice shelf for several years, but they have been surprised by the dramatic expansion in the rift that's taken place in just two weeks in december. what we've found is that the rift that's been in this ice shelf for a number of years has br

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. in other news: police in the united states have arrested the wife of the gunman 0mar mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in orlando lastjune. reports say noor salman will be charged with obstruction ofjustice. police interviewed her after the attack, believing she may have been aware of her husband's plans. in venezuela new larger denomination bank notes have been issued against a back drop of spiralling inflation. the first three new notes have entered circulation with the largest being a 20,000 bolivar note. they were meant to be released in december but it was delayed causing chaos as people queued for days to exchange their old bills. the chinese president xi jinping has arrived in davos for the world economic forum. he is the first chinese president to visit the alpine event bringing together some of the world's richest and most powerful players. mr xi is expected to push the need for greater global trade in the wake of a more inward—looking new us administration. t

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. in other news: police have arrested the wife of omar mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in orlando injune. reports say noor salman will be charged with obstruction ofjustice. police interviewed her after the attack, believing she may have been aware of her husband's plans. the brazilian president, michel temer, says thirty new prisons will be built in the next year to ease overcrowding. five of them will be maximum—securityjails to house gang leaders held responsible for a recent wave of riots and killings. at least 140 prisoners have been killed since the start of the year. after weeks of delays and violent clashes, new, bigger denomination banknotes have gone into circulation in venezuela. the introduction of a new 20,000 bolivar note should make transactions easier, and is an attempt to stabilise the country's economy, but some believe it will only worsen the spiralling inflation rate. virginia langeberg reports. venezuelans flocking to the atm lines, wait

this feature from our correspondent john sudworth is popular on bbc.com across asia let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. china daily is reporting on president xi jinping's arrival in switzerland for his first meeting of the world economic forum — an annual gathering of global political and business leaders. the newspaper says xi will offer china's vision on domestic economic growth and a global economy overshadowed by protectionism, the south china morning post is headlining a message from beijing to donald trump. it says relevant parties in the united should recognise the highly sensitive nature of taiwan issues, and to stick to the promise made by the us in the past. and the straits times is reporting on taxidriver problems in singapore. it says the number of cabbies is falling because of competition from private services such as uber and grab. now, babita, what stories are sparking discussions online? flip—flops depicting mahatma gandhi have been removed from sale on amazon after they caused anger in india. the row comes days after the online retailer ap

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a warning that well—meaning aid donations can sometimes make a bad situation worse. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws, passed by the country's new multiracial government, and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard about her death today, the management considered whether to c

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. our north america editor jon sopel is in washington. this latest interview, what does it tell us, do you think, about mr trump's likely approach to foreign policy? i think it tells us there is not an overarching philosophy. in the bush— blair era we had liberalist interventionism and some have posed trump as an isolationist but i don't think that's right. as everything with trouble you have to view him as a businessman and deal—maker. if you look at the transcript of the interview he gave, it is peppered with remarks i'm going to deal with this one, we are going to do a deal with that one and he talks about cabinet choices, what makes them good? they are good deal—makers, he wa nts to good? they are good deal—makers, he wants to do a deal with britain on trade and a deal with nato companies getting them to spend more, deals with china, russia and the middle east and that's the way he thinks. the worry of the diplomatic immunity in washington is if you do one deal it has a consequence somewhere else. it's like three—dimensional

john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. to talk more about china we arejoined by professor ann lee, she is an independent economic advisor to the chinese government. and here in london, diane wei liang, she's an author, and she was one of the students involved in the 1989 tiannamen square protest. diane, you are looking back towards china and looking i'm sure at social media, what do people there make of donald trump and some of these threats? at the beginning when donald trump was campaigning to become president his rhetoric had been very much against china. some chinese including people in the government had believed it was just rhetoric, but donald trump is a businessman and someone china could do business with. but as the rhetoric becomes more and more severe, 110w rhetoric becomes more and more severe, now he is taking actions, taking calls from taiwan and nothing has let up and the chinese are very cautious and very vigilant and stop ifi cautious and very vigilant and stop if i look at the media response within china,