Hello, I'm Natalia Rosten with the BBC news.

In an emotional speech at the White House, president Obama has detailed his plans to tighten gun controls. He introduced the measures including background checks by executive order, sidestepping congressional opposition. Jon Sopel reports.

"His nickname is No-Drama Obama but not today, not on the issue of gun control. As frustration, impatience and anger over the failure to act turn to roar emotion,as he spoke about the young children who died at the New Town school shooting. 'First graders, and for every family who never imagine their loved one will be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those kids, they get me mad.' "

The proposals from the president are relatively modest. No class of weapons is being banned. It's about tightening background checks. The National Rifle Association said it would fight president Obama's measures. The gun lobby group said the proposals will not have prevented any of the mass killings that the president referred to in his speech. The current Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick said the changes didn't amount to much.

It's political posturing which will have no impact on reducing crime and it will probably not stand up to a challenge in the courts. And lastly I believe Ted Cruz or any other Republicans who becomes president will repeal those orders.

The German chancellor Angle Merkel has condemned as poignant a wave of sexual assaults on women during New Year celebrations in Cologne. About 90 women say they were attacked. Similar incidents on a smaller scale also took place in the cities of Hamburg and Stuttgart. TM reports.

Eyewitnesses report chaotic scenes with dozens of crying women sworn at and attacked by gangs of aggressive drunk men. One eyewitness says there were too few police officers for situation that was clearly out of control. The attackers are described as seemingly of North African appearances. Anti-migrant campaigners say this proves Germany is letting in too many refugees but officials say there is no evidence that the men were asylum-seekers.

Reports from Saudi Arabia say armed men have set fire to a bus which was transporting workers in the country's eastern province. According to the state media, there were no injuries. The attack came at a time of tension in the ares following Saudi Arabia's execution of a dissident Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr accused of involvement in terrorism. The cleric lived and preached in the eastern province which was home to many Shiite people who feel discriminated against Sunni Muslim majority.

An opposition-controled parliament in Venezuela has been sworn in. The governing Socialist Party went down to a heavy defeat in last month's election after 17 years in control of the national assembly.

World news from the BBC.

A US soldier has been killed and two wounded during an operations against Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan. An unspecified number of Afghan troops were also injured in the fighting near the town of Marjah in Helmand province. A military helicopter sent in to evacuate casualties was grounded as the Pentagon's press secretary Peter Cook told a news conference in Washington.

HH-60 Pave Hawk medevac helicopters were sent to provide assistance, one of those waved off after it taking fire and turned safely to its base. The second landed safely but it sustained damage to its rotor blades after it apparently struck a wall. That helicopter remains on the ground. This is an ongoing situation. There is still a fight going on in the immediate surroundings. We will provide more details as they become available.

Fighting in Helmand Province has increased in recent weeks since Taliban forces have tried to regain control of towns including Lashkar Gah.

The oldest mosque in North America has invited the US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump to visit. The imam of the mother mosque of America at Cedar Rapids in Iowa says he wanted Mr Trump to discuss his plan and philosophy with fellow citizens. The invitation comes shortly after the tycoon released his first campaign television advert repeating his controversial call for temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

Police in Spain have seized more than 3 tons of cocaine and arrested 11 suspected drug smugglers. Officers found the drugs during a raid on a warehouse in the northeast region of Galicia following a tip-off from their British counterpart.

Zimbabwe says it will export more of its wildlife to China. The environment minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said the measure would save animals like elephants, baboons, lions and hyenas from dying in droughts. Critics say the exports will deplete the country's natural resources for future generations.

BBC news.