20/01/2018 BBC Weekend News

Halova,

good afternoon.

The US national government has

officially shut down,

a year to the day after Donald Trump

took office as President.

Senators had failed to agree

a stop-gap budget -

amid a bitter dispute

President Trump's Republicans

and the opposition Democrats over

immigration and border security.

The impasse will affect hundreds

of thousands of federal workers.

But essential government services

will carry on.

The recriminations

have already begun.

David Willis reports

from Washington.

The ayes her 50 and the noes, 49.

The last hope of avoiding and

embracing shutdown missed.

The

motion is not agreed to.

The bill

had passed in the House of

Representatives 24 hours earlier but

that issue aside from the money

itself was how that money was spent.

Democrats sought a provision in the

bill protecting the so-called

dreamers, 800,000 young people

brought into this country illegally

who's right to remain is due to be

revoked in a few weeks' time. The

Democratic leader in the Senate met

with President Trump for more than

an hour at the White House but the

two men failed to reach a deal.

The

way things went today, the way you

turned from a bipartisan deal, it's

almost as if you were rooting for a

shutdown. And now we will have one

and the blame should crash entirely

on President Trump's shoulders.

Many

Republicans support efforts to

legitimise the status of the

dreamers but they want it tired to

other provisions such as President

Trump's border wall and not made

part of the government funding bill.

What we have just witnessed on the

floor was a cynical decision by

Senate Democrats to shove aside

millions of Americans for the sake

of irresponsible political games.

The government shutdown was 100%

avoidable.

The last government

shutdown here in 2013 lasted 16 days

and led to around 800,000 government

workers being placed on temporary

leave. For President Trump, the man

who brands himself the deal-maker in

Chief, this is a political

embarrassment. The first day of the

government shutdown coincides with

the first anniversary of his

inauguration. David Willis, BBC

News, Washington.

Mary Lou McDonald has been confirmed

as the only candidate nominated

to replace Gerry Adams

as Sinn Fein president.

As the only candidate nominated Mary

Lou McDonald will be formally

elected at a special conference next

month.

Mr Adams is retiring after leading

the Republican Party

for 30 years.

Our correspondent Kevin Sharkey

is in Belfast for us.

What everyone thinks of Sinn Fein's

President over the last few decades

Gerry Adams has unquestionably been

a world figure as well as in the UK

and Ireland. How will Mary Lou

McDonald lead her party differently?

Yes, Mary Lou McDonald said this

morning, filling the shoes of Gerry

Adams will be impossible, she said.

No one can do that. That gives you a

sense of the status he is held in

within the party and also

politically here and globally over

the last 30, 35 years or so. Mary

Lou McDonald on the other hand is

perceived to have a clean pair of

heels politically, she doesn't have

any of the baggage from the troubled

times in Northern Ireland. Over the

decades. She was a member of the

European Parliament for Sinn Fein.

She is a sitting TD in the Irish

Parliament in Dublin at the minute.

There is no doubt she will have a

significant role and one of the

important issues facing Sinn Fein

and politics here in Northern

Ireland at the moment is trying to

get devolution restored, and talks

will begin in Belfast next week

between the parties in an attempt to

get power-sharing restored at

Stormont. Mary Lou McDonald will not

be imposed when the talks resume

next week but there is no doubt she

will have a very significant impact.

Kevin Sharkey in Belfast, thank you.

The French President has suggested

the UK could get a bespoke trade

deal with the European Union

after Brexit, but again warned that

Britain could expect full access

to the Single Market unless it

accepted its rules.

In an interview to be broadcast

in full on the Andrew Marr Show

tomorrow morning, Emmanuel Macron

said he respected, but regretted,

the Brexit vote, but the EU

would love to welcome the UK back.

To get full access

to the Single Market

unique contribution

to the

budget and you have to accept...

The freedoms.

..The freedoms and the four pillars,

and you have to accept

the jurisdiction.

As soon as you decide not to join

these preconditions,

it's not a full access.

So, it's something

perhaps between this full

access and a trade agreement.

Police in Sheffield are appealing

for information to help find two

children have been

missing since last night.

Marcel Menyhart who's 12

and 13-year-old Marcela Menyhartova,

were last seen at the city's ice

rink near the suburb of Attercliffe,

at around 8pm yesterday evening.

British tourists travelling

to Jamaica are being advised to stay

in their resorts after a state

of emergency was declared

in the area around Montego Bay.

There's been a surge in gang-related

violence in the area

There's been a surge in gang-related

violence in the area.

Around 200,000 Britons

visit the popular holiday

destination each year.

Nick Davis reports.

For a country that depends

on tourism, the pictures of troops

on the streets in Montego Bay,

Jamaica's biggest resort,

isn't ideal, but the

government says it is

something that needs to be done.

The security forces are expected

and have been directed to treat

citizens with respect

and protect the dignity

and safety of all.

Most of the tourists who visit

Montego Bay and much of the north

coast stay in gated or guarded

all-inclusive hotels

where security isn't an issue.

But crime in the city has spiked.

That's the growing reality for the

people that live in the city.

Last year saw the 1,600 people

murdered in Jamaica.

335 of them in St James,

the area where Montego Bay is.

Most of the crime is gang-related

and focused in a small

number of communities.

The Foreign Office has advised

holidaymakers that they should only

travel to and from the airport

to their hotels and when

they do take excursions to make sure

they are arranged by official tour

reps.

The authorities say there will be

more roadblocks and vehicle searches

as they go after the

gangs and their guns.

A similar state of emergency

in 2010, in Kingston,

saw the murder rate drop

to its lowest levels in years,

a statistic that meant lives saved.

In Montego Bay it's hoped

the same will happen again.

Nick Davies, BBC News, Jamaica.

With all the sport -

here's Mike Bushall

at the BBC Sport Centre.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon,

thank you. First of all, the tennis.

Defending champion Roger Federer

is safely through to the fourth

round of the Australian Open -

he beat Richard Gasquet.

Federer has yet to drop a set

at this year's tournament.

And there was an injury

scare for the six-time

champion Novak Djokovic -

he needed medical treatment in his

match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

He did win in straight sets

but he wasn't at his best -

in is his first event

since Wimbledon last year.

His next opponent is Chung Hyeon,

who's become the first South Korean

man to reach the last 16

in Melbourne - and to get there,

he knocked out the fourth seed

Alexander Zverev.

Simona Halep saved three match

points before winning 15-13 in the

decider. That set alone lasted two

hours and 22 minutes. They won in

court for nearly four hours in all.

Chelsea lead 2-0 in the early

Premier League kick-off today after

scoring two goals in the first six

minutes from Eden Hazard and then a

superb team effort featuring two

backheel is finished off in style by

Willian.

And it's been quite a first half,

in the Scottish Cup match

at Pittodrie, where Aberdeen are 3-1

up against St Mirren.

Ryan Christie has become the star of

the show with two goals in the first

half and it's now half time.

English golfer Ross Fisher has

a share of the lead after the third

round of the Abu Dhabi

golf Championship -

he and Thomas Pieters

are 17 under-par.

But just one shot behind,

is Rory McIlroy, back

after three months out,

with a rib injury.

He shot a round of 65 to put himself

firmly in contention.

England Netball has admitted it

may struggle to fund

the national team in the future.

The players turned professional

in 2016 but the majority

of the funding the sport receives

has to be spent on grassroots.

Jo Currie's been investigating,

ahead of England's match

against New Zealand tonight.

Netball is booming. Over 1 million

people play in England and next year

the sport's elite will descend upon

Liverpool for the World Cup. It

should be a defining moment for the

sport. Instead, there are fears of

funding shortfall which could leave

the national team's future in

jeopardy.

It is a huge worry and the

thing that keeps me awake at night

and I wouldn't want it as my legacy

as a CEO, no CEO wants to think that

under their control the England team

did not survive and we just won't

let that happen.

Netball was one of the main

beneficiaries of Sport England's

funding last year, receiving

almost £17 million.

But only 3 million of that can be

used by the elite players.

And once that 3 million has gone

there's going to be a big hole

in the budget.

Of course, that money helps a lot

and because you are getting to train

a lot more and live and compete as

professional athletes. We all know

that that will improve what you see

on the court. We want to make sure

we get the professional athletes

they are so these youngsters get the

opportunity to grow up to be a

netball player, not enable player

and this.

England netball say they

have a plan to raise the money to

keep their players professional and

full-time but nothing is guaranteed.

We have really got to boost our

commercial revenue and it's the one

thing the board has charged me with

doing. We need to have a sell out

arenas and we need to model exactly

how male sport commercialises their

sport. So it's going to be a mixture

of ticket income, sponsorship

revenue and looking at how we

deliver netball.

And what better way

to start than with the Quad series

this weekend when England take on

the world's top teams in London?

It's exciting to start 2018 at the

Commonwealth Games year playing

against the top nations in the

world, we have Australia on Monday,

New Zealand up first and South

Africa, so it's exciting to get the

girls here to play on our home turf.

So England are aiming high ahead of

next year's World Cup. They are just

hoping that success on the court

secures their national team's future

off it. Joe Curry, BBC News.

That's all the sport for now.

I'll have more for

you in the next hour.

Thanks very much. You can see more

on today's stories throughout the

afternoon on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC One

is at 5:30pm, bye for now.