many people are exploration plans. many people are saying if it were the russians and americans in the 60s, it is now the indians and the chinese who are the space rivals. in 2013, india sent a satellite to mars at a fraction of the cost of a satellite that was sent by the united states. i think it was one tenth of the cost. there was a joke that the movie gravity cost four times more than the indian satellite launch. it underlines how strongly india has approached this new market, basically allowing countries to take advantage of its technology, also the fact that it is being offered at a very competitive price. thank you very much for that. the pictures on your screen now, live from the space centre in india that has sent a record number of satellites into space, 104

satellites into space, 104 satellites on a single mission. this is bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: confusion surrounds the death of kimjong—nam — was the half—brother of the north korean leader poisoned by assassins? damage limitation at the white house as officials admit president trump knew there was a problem with michael flynn weeks before his resignation. a special report from the central african republic as rival militias drive the country towards anarchy and the un warns of a potential genocide. and going home, more than 200,000 people, evacuated from the area around america's tallest dam are told it's now safe. hello. the estranged half—brother of the north korean leader has been killed — apparently assassinated — in malaysia. kimjong nam was at kuala lumpur

airport, about to catch a flight to macao, where he's been living in exile. some south korean media outlets are saying he was poisoned, authorities there say he was definitely murdered. on his way to hospital, as he was dying, he told police he'd been grabbed from behind and had liquid splashed in his face. rupert wingfield—hayes has the story. this is kim jong—nam, whose body is thought to be the one now lying in a malaysian morgue. officials there say he died after being sprayed in the face with something at kuala lumpur airport this morning. south korean media immediately claimed north korean agents had assassinated kim on the orders of his own younger brother, kim jong—un. north korea's young dictator has been tightening his grip on power, ruthlessly purging potential opponents. what's so sensitive?

last year i saw for myself how strange north korea can be. i was detained and expelled for insulting the kim leadership. much more telling is what he did to his own uncle, seen here on the left. jang sung—taek was hauled away from a party meeting, accused of treachery, and executed. has he now also eliminated his brother? kim jong—nam was once his father's favourite, being groomed to one day take over as north korea's supreme leader. but his downfall began here in tokyo, when he was caught sneaking into japan on a fake passport. these pictures of his humiliating deportation from japan are said to have deeply angered his father, north korea's late dictator kim jong—il. his place at his father's side was taken instead by his younger brother kim jong—un.

kim jong—nam then went into exile in macau. in interviews, he repeatedly said he had no interest in power. so why kill him? kimjong—nam, although he had been quiet and lying low for a while, not low enough it seems, had gone off—message badly before. he'd said some stuff about not believing in hereditary succession. and maybe, in this kind of a system, like medieval europe, any other possible claimant to the kingship could potentially be a threat. in the 21st century, fratricide is normally confined to history books. yet again, north korea is showing it is not a normal country. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, tokyo. for more on this story, karishma vaswani went to the morgue where the north korean national‘s body was taken. she filed this a short time ago from kuala lumpur. iam standing i am standing outside the morgue where the wadi was brought by

immolation police overnight. since then, we have seen several police ca i’s then, we have seen several police cars carrying what we believe to be that body away. what we know is that on monday, a north korean national was taking off for a flight to macau from kal airport when malaysian police say he complained of being attacked by women who covered his face with a cloth of burning liquid. he was taken to the clinic at the airport and was then taken to hospital, but he died on the way to the hospital. malaysia and police initially said that the man who died on monday was kim jong initially said that the man who died on monday was kimjong nam. there is a lot of confusion and speculation as to what is going on in this case. malaysia police have said until a com plete malaysia police have said until a complete investigation and autopsy is confirmed, they will not be saying very much else. the white house has rejected suggestions that donald trump's

presidency is in turmoil after the resignation of his national security adviser michael flynn less than a month into the new administration. general flynn had admitted misleading colleagues over his contact with russian diplomats, which took place before mr trump took office. 0ur north america editor jon sopel reports. they were oh—so—close, politically inseparable. but, afterjust three weeks as national security adviser, michael flynn has gone, in a stunning fall from grace, after a day of chaos and confusion at the white house. the camera—loving president suddenly becoming camera—shy when asked about his future. do you have full confidence in him? but today, the president's spokesman came out all guns blazing. the former "close friend" had lost the president's trust. we got to a point, not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue, where the level of trust between the president and general flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change. the republican leadership, always uncomfortable

about the unorthodox general, were relieved to see him go. you cannot have a national security adviser misleading the vice president, and others. so i think the president was right to ask for his resignation, and i believe it was the right thing to do. this all goes back to action taken over the christmas period by the former president, barack 0bama, to impose sanctions against russia over its interference in the us election. on 29 december, michael flynn speaks to the russian ambassador, in the first of a series of calls. on 15 january, vice president mike pence denies that sanctions were discussed. what i can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations, that happened to occur around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats, had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. but, in late january, the former acting attorney—general warned the white house it might have been misled by general flynn's account. no action was taken.

but then, on 9 february, the washington post revealed that flynn did discuss sanctions, and it was then that pressure grew. and democrats are not going to let the matter go. the resignation of michael flynn was brought about, not —— michael flynn was a spear—carrier for donald trump during the election, making hillary clinton's honesty a central point of attack. we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. crowd: lock her up! but now it is michael flynn who on a question of trust has been found wanting, and finds himself very much alone. earlier, i spoke to michael mcfaul a professor at stanford university. he was us ambassador to russia and special assistant to president 0bama. i pointed out that he was from the previous administration, but this would be a big hit for trump and could he recover? yes, i mean, this is a bad start for the administration. whether you are a democrat

or a republican, there is wide consensus that if you have to fire one of the most important people to you in terms of formulating foreign policyjust three weeks in, that is a blow to president trump. having said that, they can recover and certainly i think senior administration officials from other agencies are hopeful that president trump will replace general flynn with somebody that they trust and can work with. we're in the beginning of what i predict will be a long slog about trying to figure out exactly what more will happen during the election period. the new york times has posted a major article where they can confirm, their sources confirm, anonymous sources, that senior people in the donald trump campaign had contacts with russian

intelligence officers during the 2016 election. that suggests we will be talking about this for many days and weeks to come. you are a diplomat and know the act that stops private citizens engaging in diplomacy on behalf of the us, but donald trump is saying that relations with russia could hardly have been worse and that they had to do something. so what? this is not a debate about policy. there is not a debate about what the russian policy is. this is a loss of confidence that general flynn had among elected officials. first and foremost, as sean spicer said in explaining this, when he misled the vice president and had the vice president go out on national television and deny that mr flynn had talked about sanctions, he lost the faith of the vice president. he had to go. whether you are a democrat or a republican, that still remains.

what do you think russia wants out of this and what are they getting out of it already? i think the initial reaction, that i have seen in the press today, and from government officials, is that they have lost somebody that they thought was going to be a close partnerfor them in general flynn. we heard in the hearings leading up to the appointments of various secretaries and ambassadors, much more confrontational approaches towards russia. very consistent with the 0bama administration's policy. flynn was considered a great hope in terms of lifting sanctions, recognising... recognising and perhaps acknowledging crimea being part of russia. i think all of those hopes of a big change in policy have dimmed as a result of today. the us office of government ethics

has called on the white house to investigate a senior presidential adviser for publicly endorsing the product line of mr trump's daughter, ivanka. kellyanne conway urged people to buy ivanka trump—branded products in a tv interview last week. a statement from the ethics office — which is bi—partisan — says there is strong reason to believe that violated standards of conduct for government officials. the retailer nordstrom had just dropped the ivanka trump brand. this is just, it is a wonderful line, i own some of it and i am going to give a free commercial here. go and buy it today everybody, you can buy it online. 0ur washington correspondent david willis has more on the possible implications of all this. it is difficult to think of a more audacious advertisment for the president's daughter's clothing line. this followed the announcement that the nordstrom department chain was dropping her products from its stores, because of falling sales. it prompted donald trump to take to twitter to condemn the move.

then we had kellyanne conway going on to fox news to say, go and buy these products. it's available online. the office of government ethics has now taken on the matter. they are urging disciplinary action against kellyanne conway and they are asking the trump administration to consider this whole issue, and to give it two weeks to decide what action they are going to take in terms of discipline. kellyanne conway is a special adviser to donald trump. she referred to the bowling green massacre, something which didn't exist. she also came out yesterday afternoon to say that michael flynn, the former security adviser, enjoyed the full support of president trump, only for him to resign a few hours later. the white house has said that kellyanne conway has been counselled about her comments regarding

ivanka trump's products, we will wait to see whether any punishment is handed out to her. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the bbc‘s fergal keane has a special report from bambari in the central african republic, three years into a war between rival christian and muslim militias. the un is warning it could descend into a genocide. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal, completed in good order but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. explosions as the airlift got underway, there was no let—up

in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they've called it mir, russian for ‘peace'. this is bbc news, i'm mike embley. the latest headlines: confusion surrounds the death of kim jong—nam. was the half—brother of the north korean leader poisoned by assassins? a postmortem is due to be held to establish the cause of death. damage limitation at the white house. officials admit president trump knew his national security adviser, general michael flynn, had misled colleagues, weeks before he was forced to resign. a few minutes ago, india has set a space record by launching 104 satellites on a single mission.

the rocket blasted off from the sriharikota space centre. it is carrying only three indian satellites. most of the load are nano—satellites from other nations, including 96 from the united states. the previous record holder was a russian mission which placed 37 satellites into orbit a few years ago. let's cross live to delhi. sanjoy majumder has been watching the launch. this is a big moment. yes, it is. it has never been done before. the previous record was by the russians, and from 2013 they launched rockets ona and from 2013 they launched rockets on a specially designed ballistic missile. this has been a huge shot in the arm for the indian space programme. 96 satellites, as you said, already belong to the united states. 0thers belong to israel, kazakhstan, the united arab emirates, and one of the three satellites as a cartographic satellites as a cartographic satellite which is capable, we understand, of taking very high resolution images. and we are being

told this is specifically aimed at india's long—standing rivals pakistan and china. so yes, it was a very significant mission notjust in terms of what it achieved but also in terms of what is on board. the space race in asia is really hotting up. i know china and japan have outlined bold plans. south korea also looking to get in on the act. that's right, mike. india and china are at the moment firmly in the lead when it comes to the asian countries. interestingly enough, india has a low—cost programme but has already increased its budget this year by 23% and it has announced it is planning new missions to venus, and also a second missions to venus, and also a second mission to mars. it had a very successful mission a few years ago, and it is also looking at a manned mission. china is already had a map front, it has set an astronaut out into space so a very interesting rivalry taking shape here, very

similar, i suppose, rivalry taking shape here, very similar, isuppose, to rivalry taking shape here, very similar, i suppose, to that between the russians and the americans in the russians and the americans in the 60s. the united nations says it is willing to use further force against militias in the central african republic, to prevent the country sliding back into anarchy. thousands of un peacekeepers have been deployed, amid fears of genocide. rival christian and muslim militias began fighting in the car more than three years ago. 0ne fragile un red line is around the town of bambari, where thousands of civilians have sought shelter. from there, our special correspondent fergal keane reports. out in the countryside, the un has already fired the first shots to ward off an assault on bambari, but the town itself is divided between rival militias. muslims live in the centre of town, the christians on the other bank, civilians protected by soldiers of the united nations. 23 years after i watched the un fail to stop a genocide in rwanda, i've come to bambari, where the blue helmets try to avert

tragedy in central africa. every burned building here speaks of lives erased when the country descended into sectarian massacre in 2013. civilians slaughtered, hundreds of thousands displaced into camps. now, amid fears of renewed violence, there is no hope of going home. "leave here, i don't think so", this man tells us. "here, we're protected by the united nations." civilians are facing renewed terror from warlords. these are christians, but it is not as simple as just a battle of religions. numerous warlords fight for power and wealth. veronique's husband was murdered, leaving her to care forfive children.

madeleine lost her husband, and three of her five children. translation: they were killing people. they killed two on a motorcycle. they were going from killing to killing. it created a panic. some people even lost their children as they were running. 0ne name kept cropping up here, a muslim warlord they blame for the most recent attacks. what about ali darassa? translation: his name creates fear and terror. even now, here, when he sent his men to bacula, all the people ran away. it wasn't hard to find ali darassa. he and his bodyguards live directly opposite the un hq. guns are supposed to be banned here, but try telling that to these men. the un is unwilling so far to provoke a conflict over this.

the fighters are muslims from the ethnic minority, whom ali darassa claims to protect. you portray yourself as the protector of the people. but there is another view of you, and that is that you're a ruthless killer? translation: all is clear. everything that happens is reported by people. if i was a ruthless killer, people could not live peacefully near me. the un escorted us back across town to meet ali darassa's enemy, the leader of a christian militia, also accused of atrocities. meet general gaetan, and his deputy, who calls himself general tarzan. the fighters hid their guns

while we were there, but general gaetan was blunt about his own role. are you a warlord? translation: yes. i have thousands of men, ready to protect the population. the self—styled protectors thrive because the central government is weak. there are too few peacekeepers, and troops are of mixed quality. it is a familiar story of peacekeeping in the modern age. but tensions around bambari are now so dangerous the un mission's top officials are flying in. diane corner is a veteran british diplomat, now trying to ensure this country doesn't slide into chaos again. the warlords are summoned. first, ali darassa. and then gaetan, who waits in a room next door for his enemy to leave.

in this prefabricated office, the international community struggles to make peace. diane corner tells them the un is willing to fight. i'm giving them very clear messages, that we are going to do everything to prevent a battle in bambari, that we are reinforcing our positions, that the un is impartial, we're not taking sides with either one group or the other, and that we expect them to respect the civilian population. in the protected zone, the old life of the lost villages shows signs of revival. a father studies, planning for a future beyond all of this. but the calm depends on the un continuing to enforce its red lines north of here. over the years, i've seen

the failings of un missions, sometimes catastrophically, for example in rwanda. and yet, standing now on the bridge at bambari, between the christian and muslim districts, it is clear to me that, without a united nations presence, there would be slaughter here. fergal keane, bbc news, bambari. parts of california hit by recent storms will get federal disaster assistance, approved by president trump. that includes the damaged 0roville dam, america's highest, which authorities have now declared safe. more than 200,000 people can go back to their homes. they were evacuated on sunday, for fear a spillway might give way and cause catastrophic flooding. dave lee reports. emergency crews used giant sandbags and boulders to repair the damage. they were able to lower the water level enough so that the emergency

spill walls were no longer in use. taking into account the current level of risk, the predicted strength of the next round of inclement weather, and the capacity of the lake to accommodate increased inflow associated with those storms, we have concluded that it is safe to reduce the immediate evacuation order, currently in place, to an evacuation warning. this allows evacuated residents to return to their home and for businesses in the area to resume operations. the dam can handle a storm expected over the coming days, experts said. officials defended their decision to evacuate residents, who were at one point told they were in imminent danger. but people have been warned there is potentialfor more evacuation orders if the situation changes. any time on the bbc website and on

twitter. —— more news any time. hello, there. we are looking at changes to our weather now. we've lost that cold easterly, the grey weather. something a bit milder coming from the south. but, in the next 24 hours and for the rest of this week, weather will be coming in off the atlantic. and that is what we're looking at, i think, overnight. some weatherfronts pushing up from the south, introducing more cloud around. some rain across central, northern areas, which will be clearing its way northwards. then we have two areas of rain pushing in toward southern england by the end of the night. generally quite a misty, murky, cloudy night to come, but that will blanket in temperatures, so we should be looking at anything lower than 5—9 celsius, but some chilly spots in northern scotland to begin the morning. we have rain pushing toward south—west england and towards south wales. heavy bursts mixed into there. wouldn't be surprised if you heard a rumble of thunder, perhaps, through the morning. quite a mild start. elsewhere, dampness

across the south—east, but generally cloudy for england and wales, and quite grey, misty and murky. a little bit of rain, some showers affecting the irish sea coasts. maybe some of it pushing towards northern ireland and south scotland. central northern scotland, a cold start here, perhaps a touch of frost in northern glens. but, at least for you, you'll probably see the best of the sunshine through the day. same too for northern ireland for awhile. further south, we will have the weather front pushes northwards and eastwards as the day wears on. and again, some of it could be heavy towards the midlands and towards the south—east,, potentially some heavy bursts for northern counties of england, too. a mild feel to things here. a little bit cooler further north, but you've got the sunshine, so it will compensate. now, that weather front pushes towards the north. things turns dry for england and wales. winds turn light as well. a cool night, maybe mist and fog to start thursday morning. an area of low pressure will sweep to the north of scotland. this brings frequent showers to northern ireland and much of central northern scotland and fairly strong, blustery winds. but for england and wales,

actually, quite a quiet day. with light winds, some sunshine, it will feel pleasantly mild, 11 or 12 celsius. that area of low pressure pushes in towards scandinavia. and a ridge of high pressure nudges in for friday. that means with light winds and damp air we could start the day on friday with some dense fog patches around. but they should generally clear and lift, to allow for sunshine to develop, certainly through friday afternoon. so this is friday in a bit more detail. we will start off with some dense mist and fog, particularly england and wales. but through the day, i think skies should tend to brighten up. feeling mild, temperatures in double figures. but notice out west there will be strengthening winds and outbreaks of rain. that takes us into the weekend, and for most of us, staying mild. there will be a little bit of rain in the forecast, but for most of us it should stay dry. the latest headlines from bbc news. my name's mike embley. india has launched a rocket into space carrying 104 satellites, a

record for a single mission. it blasted off from a space centre in andhra pradesh. only three of the satellites are indian, with most of the load made up of cargo from other nations — including 96 from the united states. the estranged half—brother of the north korean leader kim jong—un has been killed in an apparent assassination in malaysia. police say before kimjong nam died he told them he was grabbed from behind and had liquid splashed in his face. a postmortem is due to be held to establish the cause of death. the white house says president trump knew weeks ago that his former national security advisor, michael flynn, had misled officials about his secret talks with the russian ambassador. they insist he was asked to resign over an erosion of trust, not over the legal question of whether he broke american law in his contacts with the russians. time now for hardtalk.