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

but theirjoint press conference was remarkably free of any question at all about the issue hogging the headlines, the future of mr trump's national security adviser, michael flynn, who's had to apologise for his discussions with russian diplomats before the inauguration. this from our north america editorjon sopel. 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. but 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 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. and a developing story of course we will keep an eye on. around 200,000 people living close to america's tallest dam have been told it's still not safe for them to return home. the area around the 0roville dam in northern california was evacuated after a hole was found in one of its emergency overflow channels, prompting fears it could collapse. greg dawson reports. after historically high levels of

rain, officials got the dry weather they needed to drain the water from they needed to drain the water from the dam and its crumbling overflow channels. rock filled bags were loaded onto helicopters and dropped onto the eroded areas to plug any gaps. with the water drains, workers we re gaps. with the water drains, workers were finally able to check the scale of the damage. at one stage, water was surging so quickly out of late 0 roville was surging so quickly out of late 0roville that it taught through emergency slipways. fearing the worst, authorities ordered nearly 200,000 people in the surrounding areas to leave their homes. after a night at evacuation centres they have been told it is still not safe to return. getting those people home is important to me. i want that to happen as absolutely as soon as possible. but i have to be able to sleep at night knowing that they are backin sleep at night knowing that they are back in that area. as repairs continue, questions are now being asked about whether the damage had

more to do with bad luck or bad planning. i2 more to do with bad luck or bad planning. 12 years ago environmental activist warned of the hillside below the dam needed to be reinforced with concrete but officials said it wasn't necessary at the time. well, i'm not sure anything went wrong. i think, you know, that system has been installed since the early 1960s. it has been looked at, it has been monitored. so, you know, iam not sure looked at, it has been monitored. so, you know, i am not sure other than the cause of the damage itself, this is the first time it has taken water over the system. it is 5:13; -—: mi $3215.35.” w— ~ ~——— clear senator, thank you for your time. what do you make of this situation? it is ofa what do you make of this situation? it is of a magnitude of great significance to us. many people are

affected by this. it could be a greater disaster. right now we are holding our own but there are continuing problems and they will last well into the spring. we have a lot more storms that well could come through and that is not unusual. and we have a very enormous snowpack with a lot of water and moisture in that which needs to come into these reservoirs. so it is key to get these weak spots in the dam and spillway stable and certain for the long run. some of your senate collea g u es long run. some of your senate colleagues i think and also the state governor is seeking a disaster declaration from the president. that would mean disaster assistance as well, funding, wouldn't it, particularly in relation to the storms? yes, i would b make to and to the president. 1 and to the president. do government and to the president. do you think you will get that? to ensure that help will be available. do you think you will get it?”

ensure that help will be available. do you think you will get it? i am hopeful. i believe that the administration will be favourably disposed. you know, it is a process one has to go through but i am very confident. the reason that i am confident, though there has not been so confident, though there has not been so much destruction of person and property at this point, the potential is enormous. and the need, because of the long—standing problem this will be through the spring, i think that is what calls the fact that this is an emergency situation that this is an emergency situation that has got to be proactively dealt with. and immediately. and then that effort sustained over a long period of time. there seems to be strong suggestions that managers of the dam dismissed concerns about flooding about 12 years ago. yes, indeed. and that concern, whether or not that has been substantially and significantly enough addressed yet remains to be seen. the collapse to the spillway is of great concern.

and that is going to be examined later. we are not doing postmortems right now. we are actively engaged in insuring that nothing happens immediately and that long—term things are taken care of. it does of course make people wonder, you know, why things are being looked at now and also whether they can trust the people doing the looking. well, there is always that problem with trust in government. i am one of the most distrusting of governments that there is. and we are making sure that we stay on top of it now and we will be examining things in retrospect for a long period of time about this. so that such things do not happen in the future. it is also a call to orderforfuture — or examinations and studies of other dams to make sure they have been sufficiently inspected and look into. although there have been

records of inspections, we need to look how deeply they were done and how successful at the time. right now, not very successful. senator nielsen, thank you very much for talking to us. in other news: a verdict is due on seven police officers charged with beating pro—democracy activist ken tsung during protests in october 2014. the case centred on one of the most controversial nights of the 0ccupy campaign, when demonstrators clashed with police trying to clear the area outside government headquarters. the former goldman sacks banker, steven mnuchin, has been sworn in as the next treasury secretary. he took the oath of office in the oval office on monday. president donald trump said mnuchin had spent his entire career making money in the private sector and now will go to work for the american taxpayer. however, some democrats have 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. hundreds had gathered

to protest at new rules on the sales of pharmaceuticals. a faction of the taliban has said it carried out the attack. with president trump said to be evaluating the situation surrounding michael flynn, national security advisor, my correspondent told me his position doesn't look good. it is not a good sign, mike. you would have to conclude that, i think. michael flynn spoke several times to the russian ambassador during that handover period, if you like, between the barack 0bama administration and the incoming administration and the incoming administration of donald trump. now, around that time, mr 0bama had announced sanctions on russia for its intervention in the election here in the united states. now, mr flynn initially said that the conversations that he had did not

include any mention of possibly lifting the that 0bama 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 intel it is intercepts to prove the opposite. and that, of course, left mike pence looking rather embarrassed, to say the least. now, there was a weekend of deafening silence as far as the defence of michael flynn was concerned, and then a a few hours ago, kellyanne conway, special counsellor to the president, came out and said that michael flynn continue to enjoy donald trump's full confidence, only for the white house press spokesman, sean spicer, one hour later to say that michael flynn's situation was being evaluated, as he put it, by

the president himself. and, as ever, with this case, it is an ancient law he appears to have contravened, but as so often in politics it is the alleged cover—up as much as the alleged cover—up as much as the alleged offence that causes the most trouble. you are absolutely right. now, if he is found to have been having these conversations about lifting sanctions once his administration took office, or he presidentjuncker offers, then that would be a breach of a law engaging in foreign policy —— or his president's office. he would have missed led the vice president and effectively, as the democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi, put it today, he would have misled the american people. separate to all this, the associated press in the last few minutes has reported that the justice, the us last few minutes has reported that thejustice, the usjustice department, alerted the trump administration about michael flynn's

contacts with russia. it doesn't say when but presumably some weeks ago. david willis for us in washington. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: jumpers for goalposts, sweaters for landmarks. we meet the man who takes knitting and tourism very seriously. there's mr 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. 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. mark weisbrot of the centre for economic and policy research is critical of us policy towards latin america. he told me sanctions are nothing new as far as venezuela is concerned. there have been sanctions on venezuela for over 1.5 years. president 0bama declared three times, once just before he left office, to be fair about this, that venezuela posed an extraordinary and unusual threat to the national security of the united states. you can't really believe any of these statements coming from the us government. i don't know anybody who is paranoid or ignorant enough to think that venezuela poses any security threat to the united states. the sanctions, i think, are a way of ratcheting up tensions

with venezuela and letting the opposition know that the united states supports regime change. the opposition in venezuela has been divided for some years in trying to get rid of the government through an electoral process, there is an election 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 feel about the us and the venezuelan governments' decisions. what about the vice president. is there any suggestion that he is involved in drug trafficking? they haven't provided any evidence. if you look at the statements coming out of the us government on venezuela. they are not credible. some of them, i am sure, are true but they do not give us any evidence.

i am sure there is drug... venezuela is between colombia, one of the biggest cocaine producers in the world and the united states which is one of the biggest cocaine consumers. yes, there is trafficking and yes there is officials involved. but we don't know which ones and our government isn't necessarily going to tell us. i do think this has anything to do with drug trafficking. —— don't think. some of our government's best friends in governments are involved in drug trafficking and always have been. this is about regime change. that has been policy for the last 15 years. i think this administration can take advantage of the fact that venezuela has been sufficiently demonised so they can pretty much say anything and who is going to question it? police investigating the killing of a ku klux klan leader in the us

state of missouri have charged his wife and stepson with murder. 44—year—old malissa ancona and pauljinkerson jr were charged with the murder of frank ancona on monday. they are also facing charges of tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse. the body of the white supremacist was found beside a river on saturday. un security council has condemned north korea's latest ballistic missile attempt. 0ur correspondent is in new york. the security council and announced a unanimous statement. they are looking at further actions to take. they didn't specify what they could be but security council members, over the last decade, has issued increasingly harsh sanctions on north korea to try to persuade pyongyang to take a path away from nuclear vegetation. ——

we had - members nuclearisation. we had from members to basically take all actions, not words, actions, to force north korea to basically depart from its actions. 0ne security member mentioned implementation to me of the current sanctions on the table and we know that that is something thatis and we know that that is something that is north korea continues to launch missiles in defiance, they are hoping that could be a game that looked at. as well as the canadian prime minister, president trump will meet israel's prime minister on wednesday. benjamin neta nyahu arrived in washington in the past few hours. the talks are likely to set the tone for israel's relationship with the us in the coming years — particularly on the hugely contentious issue of israeli settlements — and the chances of any independent palestine. 0ur middle east editor jeremy bowen sent this report — which starts in the village ofjalud on the west bank. land... sharing it, splitting it, taking it, keeping it, is at the heart of the conflict

between israel and the palestinians. their hilltops around the village ofjalud, in the northern west bank have been taken forjewish settlements. some have been built on land owned by this man — an olive farmer. a new israeli law legalises settlements built on privately—owned palestinian land in return for compensation. for palestinians, it's a land grab. translation: we would never take compensation. our land is not for sale. compensation means selling to settlers and we would never do that. the new law is controversial. the israeli president says it makes israel look wrongly as if it's an apartheid state. the chief palestinian negotiator says that is what it is already. all the israeli leaders, who don't believe in a two—state solution, and cannot even hear the term secular democratic state, wherejews, muslims and christians live together. so they believe they can impose on me a one state two systems — apartheid. you don't have the stomach for this.

do you really think the israelis, who pride themselves, as they always say, on being the only democracy in the middle east, do you really think they would preside over the introduction of apartheid here? they are living it. lost in bodyguards, israel's prime minister visited trump tower last year. candidate trump backed prime minister netanyahu's policies towards the palestinians. but, in the last week, president trump has said settlements get in the way of peace. perhaps america's self—styled deal—maker believes he can seal the hardest one of all — between israel and the palestinians. his change of mood wrong—footed israeli ministers, who had hoped they might have american backing for annexation, incorporating the occupied territory they want into israel. this is not unoccupied. this is our land. we're not going to wait for the palestinians for ever. they need to remember this.

so, annexation is a possibility? it's a possibility but we need to do it together with the americans, after seeing the regional options, and after opening all the options on the table. israel has settled around 600,000 jews in the west bank, including eastjerusalem. a un security council resolution calls that a flagrant violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace. the settlements have been planned to allow for expansion. this is ma'ale adumim, one of the biggest on the edge of jerusalem. so ma'ale adumim is big and it's growing but it could become even larger because its municipal boundaries have been zoned to take in great tracts of the desert behind it. you can get some idea of the size of ma'ale adumim by driving along next to it. it takes quite a while to go along its boundary. palestinians worry that this settlement, on its own,

could cut the west bank in two, making their hopes for a state even harder to realise. in this troubled land, more than 20 years of peace talks, sponsored by the last four american presidents, have failed. but the conflict cannot be ignored or whoever is in the white house. because jerusalem, and its hinterland, sit like a time bomb in the middle east. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. now, it's still cold enough to be sweater season here in london. the man you're about to meet puts a new spin on winter wear, all over the map. sam barsky knits images of famous and not—so famous places, then takes selfies in those same sweaters, in those same locations. pretty much anything that crosses my eyes is a possible jumper. i'm sam barsky. i knitjumpers of famous landmarks and scenery all around the world. in 1999, i had a chance meeting

with the owners of a wool shop. and i asked them, "how do you learn how to do that?" and they offered to teach me for free, under the condition i would buy wool from them in the future. i've long fulfilled my wool debt to them. it was unconscious at first. i would choose to wear, wherever we went, the sweater i had representing whatever landmark it was. i realised i had anotherform of art going, and i started doing it intentionally. whenever i would go to a particular place, i would not only wear the representing sweater there, but i would try to get the most perfect picture i could in the location, wearing it. people seem to like the ones of times square and the golden gate bridge the most. maybe the tower bridge as well.

those seem to be the most popular ones of all. i don't think i will ever run out, because i've come up with thousands of ideas in my life. even of the most trivial things, like the pylons we see all the time, and don't even think about most of the time. realistically, given it takes about one month to make one, i can probably do about 300 or 400 in my lifetime. and i have so many more ideas, i'll never get them all done in my life. much more on our bbc website. thank you for watching. morning. well, it was a fairly miserable weekend, wasn't it? cold and bleak for many of us,

so monday was a better day. the exception, though, the far north—east. it was still rather disappointingly cool. across aberdeen, only five degrees, a lot of cloud as well. you can see on a satellite picture from monday, where the cloud is that for scotland. elsewhere, there was a decent amount of sunshine to be found. it was windy but the sunshine hopefully compensated. and in the south—west, in exeter, we had a high of 13 degrees. that's a bit more like it, isn't it? there is some cloud and rain down into the south—west. a weather front approaching into cornwall over the next few hours. staying quite windy with some hill fog through the higher ground of wales, north—west england. a chilly start for many of us, with the exception perhaps into the south—west. so first thing on tuesday will look somewhat like this. cloud and outbreaks of rain through cornwall, eventually nudging into parts of devon. a little more cloud through somerset and south wales, and that hill fog as well. but elsewhere it will be a cold start with some decent spells of sunshine. further north and west again dry, largely sunny, maybe the chance of a little bit bit of light,

patchy frost in sheltered areas of scotland, but not a bad start to the day. and, as we go on through the day, i think you will continue to see some sunshine, and temperatures will be a degree or so up on where they were on monday. the exception really is into the south—west, where the cloud will begin to gather, pushing up through the midlands and into wales, eventually into northern ireland. it will bring the odd spot of showery rain by the end of the day. but temperatures still decent, 11—12 degrees. highs hopefully six or seven into eastern scotland, so we're starting to get there. that weather front will move out of the way, and then we have this series of fronts out to the south—west which produce a messy picture for wednesday. there will be some rain with these frontal systems, but it is going to be very hit—and—miss. as they drift up from the south, there will be outbreaks of patchy rain. it will be cloudy but mild and less windy than we have seen this week. the best of the brightness, perhaps, into the far north and east. eight or nine degrees

by wednesday afternoon. highest values of 11 further south. once we get those areas of low pressure out of the way, things are likely to quieten down as we go towards the end of the week. the isobars will open up, mild weetherin thestorr that will slowly lift, and any rain we get will be the latest headlines from bbc news. my name's mike embley. conflicting messages from the trump administration are fuelling speculation about the future of the president's national security adviser. democrats are calling for michael flynn to be sacked for unlawfully discussing american sanctions against russia with the russian ambassador, before mr trump took office. it's alleged he then lied about it to vice—president mike pence. officials in california have continued to inspect the damage to an overflow channel on the 0roville dam. earlier, evacuation orders were issued for nearly 200,000

californians living near the dam after the overflow channel briefly appeared to be in danger of imminent collapse. the us has slapped sanctions on the venezuelan vice—president, accusing him of involvement in drugs trafficking. his assets in the us have been frozen and he will be barred from entering the country. the us authorities say ta reck el aissami facilitated huge shipments of narcotics by airand sea. he denies this. it is time now for reporters.