a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: as donald trump meets with canada's prime minister, his national security adviser is forced to apologise for his talks with russia. us officials impose sanctions on venezuela's vice—president, accusing him of involvement in drug trafficking. they are still inspecting the damaged dam in california. thousands who were evacuated want to know when they can return home. and a stitch in time: we meet the nifty knitter whose sweaters hello. president trump and the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau have emphasised their shared interests

on trade and immigration, after their first summit meeting at the white house. but there was little talk about the story that has been gripping the headlines: national security adviser michael flynn has apologised for his discussions with russian diplomats before the inauguration. our north america editor jon sopel reports. announcer: the president of the united states and the prime minister of canada. this is the neighbour just dropping by. but were there ever two elected leaders so different in style and substance than donald trump and justin trudeau? both men were on their best behaviour, because on one particular issue they are thousands of miles apart — and that is whether to allow those fleeing persecution into the country. on the day after president trump signed his controversial executive order banning refugees and travellers from seven mainly—muslim countries, justin trudeau tweeted this: "to those fleeing persecution, terror and war, canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. diversity is our strength.

welcome to canada." so how would they deal with this obvious policy difference at theirjoint news conference? we cannot let the wrong people in, and i will not allow that to happen during this administration. and people, the citizens of our country, want that, and that's their attitude too, i will tell you. there have been times when we have differed in our approaches, and that's always been done firmly and respectfully. the last thing canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves. astonishingly, no questions were either asked or allowed about this man, who was in the room for the news conference. he is general mike flynn, the president's national security adviser, a key white house figure. this was him two weeks ago, after iran had tested a ballistic missile. instead of being thankful

to the united states in these agreements, iran is now feeling emboldened. as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. thank you. but it is him who now seems to be on notice, after not being entirely candid about conversations he had with the russian ambassador prior to donald trump taking office, and he may well have lied to the vice president about it. he flew back to washington last night with the president, on air force one, and was at the news conference today. he is still national security adviser, though with a high degree of insecurity. john sopel, bbc news, london. let's pick up on the controversy surrounding the national security adviser micheal flynn with our correspondent david willis. i think the words that we have full confidence in michael flynn, and he is evaluating the situation, that is not a good sign, is that? it is not a good sign. i think you would have two conclude that. michael flynn spoke several times to the russian

ambassador during that handover period, if you like, between the brack obama administration and the incoming administration of donald trump. around that time, mr obama had announced sanctions on russia for its intervention in the us election. —— ba rack. for its intervention in the us election. —— barack. now, michael flynn initially said that the conversations did not include any mention of possible lifting of the sanctions that barack obama had imposed. the vice president, mike pence, went on television based on that, to say categorically that there had been no such discussion of sanctions, only for intelligence intercepts to prove the opposite. and that, of course, let's mike pence looking rather embarrassed to me to say the least. now, there was a weekend of deafening silence, so

far as michael pence was concerned. ben kelly and conway, the special adviser to the president, came out and said michael flynn continue to enjoy donald trump's full confidence, only for the white house press postman, sean spicer, to say an hour later that michael flynn's situation was being evaluated, as he put it, by the president himself. —— press spokesman. but it is a very ancient law that it is to have contravened. —— contravened. but i often say it is the alleged cover—up than the offence that causes as much trouble. that is right. if he is found to have had these conversations about lifting sanctions, once his administration took office, or his president took office, then that would be a breach office, then that would be a breach ofa office, then that would be a breach of a law banning private citizens from engaging in foreign policy. but

not only that, as you correctly point out, he would have misled the vice president and effectively, as the democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi, put it, he would have missed played the american people. —— miss levy american people. and in a lusty minutes, the associated press has reported that the us justice department alerted the trump administration about michael flynn's contacts with russia. it does not say when, but some weeks ago. —— misled the american. we will keep oui’ misled the american. we will keep our eye on this. thank you for joining us. the united nations security council has unanimously condemned north korea's latest ballistic missile test. the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley, said it is time to hold north korea accountable with actions not words. our correspondent neda tawfik is at the un in new york. well, the security council issued a very strong statement,

as you said, unanimous there, saying that they would basically look to see what further actions they could take. now, they didn't specify what they could be, but certainly security council members over the last decade have issued increasingly harsh sanctions on north korea, to try to persuade pyongyang to take a path away from nuclearisation. so we had very strong language from the us ambassador, nikki haley, urging security council members to basically take all actions, not words, actions, she said, to force north korea to basically depart from its action. so one thing that a senior security council member mentioned to me was implementation of the current resolutions, and current sanctions on the table. and we know that that is something that, if north korea continues to launch missiles in defiance of those security council resolutions, that they are hoping could be again looked at. a verdict is due any time now on seven police officers.

they are charged with beating pro—democracy activist ken tsang during protests in october 2014. the case centered on one of the most controversial nights of the occupy campaign, when demonstrators clashed with police, who were trying to clear the area outside government headquarters. the us senate has confirmed the former goldman sachs banker steven mnuchin as treasury secretary by 53 votes to a7. he has also now been sworn in, by mike pence, we are told. some democrats raised concerns that he made much of his fortune by foreclosing on families during the financial crisis. a bomb has exploded in lahore in pakistan, killing 13 people and injuring more than 80. it happened as hundreds of people had gathered to protest about new rules on the sales of pharmaceuticals. a faction of the taliban said it carried out the attack. more than 180,000 people evacuated from underneath the us‘s highest dam will not be allowed to return to their homes immediately. they were ordered to leave the area downstream of the oroville dam on sunday because their homes

were in danger of being engulfed in a wall of water, after the 230 metre high dam's spillways were found to be damaged. several sikh temples in the area have opened their doors to people in need of places to spend the night. shivpreet singh is based in california and is helping with the relief efforts. how many people are you dealing with? how are they? what are you managing to do? it is good to talk to you. there are a lot of people coming down from that error into our temples. there are over 200,000 people who are evacuating. we have been able to take care of about 500 people in our temples, in about six oi’ people in our temples, in about six or seven of our temples in the sacramento and surrounding errors. you getting any idea how long people

will be with you, when they could return to their homes? they have no idea, in fact. return to their homes? they have no idea, infact. in return to their homes? they have no idea, in fact. in fact a family asked us today if they can stay indefinitely, and we said they will welcome too. we have no information from anyone as to how long it will take. how quickly we you able to act on this? i know you don't live in the air... i live about an hour and a half from there. we were able to get about 50 blankets in about six of our temples, at about 201 of them. so we were ready for over 500 people within an hour and a half of when this happened. tel—$5 had prospect n had prospect of gizfing my was pretty this giving way was pretty terrifying, was that? it is terrifying. it up roots families. we

had people coming in from all over and they had nowhere to go. it took them for — six or seven hours when it should have taken 30 minutes. they would come at 1am, 2am, and had no food. all they had was close and relatives. we were glad that we are able to be of service. thank you very much forjoining us. stay with us on bbc news if you can. still to come: jumpers for goalposts. sweaters for landmarks. we meet the man who takes knitting and tourism very seriously. there's nelson mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa.

iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc news. my name's mike embley. the latest headlines: president trump has been meeting with canada's prime minister — justin trudeau.

it comes as mr trump's national security adviser michael flynn apologised for his discussions with russian diplomats before the inauguration. more than 180,000 people evacuated from underneath the us‘s tallest dam will not be allowed to return to their homes immediately. safety inspections are under way. the united states has slapped sanctions on the venezuelan vice—president, tareck el aissami, accusing him of involvement in drugs trafficking. the us authorities say mr el aissami facilitated huge shipments of narcotics from venezuela by air and sea — and protected other drugs traffickers. there was no immediate reaction from the venezuelan vice—president, who denies criminal ties. we can get more now from the united states — mark weisbrot of the centre for economic and policy research is in washington. there have been sanctions on venezuela far over 1.5 years.

president obama declared three times, oncejust president obama declared three times, once just before president obama declared three times, oncejust before he president obama declared three times, once just before he left office, to be fair about this, that venezuela posed an extra ordinary unusual threat to the national security of the united states. you can't really believe any of these state m e nts can't really believe any of these statements coming from the us governor. i do not know anybody who is paranoid or ignorant enough to think that venezuela poses any security threat to the united states said sanctions, i think, are a way of ratcheting up shanks and —— tensions with venezuela and leading them know that the united states supports regime change. for some yea rs, supports regime change. for some years, there has been a divide between trying to rid of the government through an electoral process , government through an electoral process, there is one next year, or not waiting for that and trying to do it through extra legal and violent means. it gives the more

extreme elements of the opposition some encouragement. you have made it clear about what you think of the us and the venezuelan's government 's decisions. they haven't provided any evidence about the drug trafficking. you look at the statement coming out of the us government on venezuela. they are not credible. - of of the us government on venezuela. they are n are edible. of -,%,