hello, you're watching bbc world news. i'm ben bland. our top story this hour: malaysian police have identified the highly toxic nerve agent vx on the body of the murdered north korean leader. kim jong—nam died last week after two women wiped a substance over his face in a check—in hall at kuala lumpur airport. welcome to the programme. our other main stories this hour: iraqi troops make a key breakthrough in the battle for mosul, recapturing the city's airport from the so—called islamic state. shock defeat — in a parliamentary by—election, britain's main opposition labour party loses a seat they've held for more than 80 years to the governing conservatives. i'm aaron heslehurst. in business: "made by american hands". yep, trump pledges to bring millions of factoryjobs back to the us. but who really took them?

mexicans, or machines? plus — go home early, it's premium friday! japanese firms bring in a 3pm finish once a month, starting today. but can it really change a culture that has a word for "death by overwork"? hello. malaysian police have declared that vx nerve agent, which is rare, restricted, and hugely toxic, was used to murder the half brother of north korea's leader. kim jung—nam died shortly after an attack at kuala lumpur airport early last week. it is the first outcome of the postmortem examination that malaysia has made public and is a strong indication pyongyang was behind the killing. malaysian authorities say they will sweep the international airport and other locations for radioactive material.

rupert wingfield—hayes is at the hospital where the forensic investigation has been carried out. this is the place we understand kim jong—nam's what is being held and where those tests were carried out, that have now revealed the presence ofa that have now revealed the presence of a nerve agent called vx. one expert described this to me as a huge deal and the three basic reasons. firstly vx is a very powerful merge eight and. just 100 ofa gram powerful merge eight and. just 100 of a gram smeared on his skin or i would have been enough to kill him. secondly, it is very difficult to produce. this is not something you can make in your back room. it suggests involvement of a nationstate and that of course points to north korea. thirdly, the xisa points to north korea. thirdly, the x is a banned chemical weapon under the un chemical weapons convention. -- vx. which the un chemical weapons convention. —— vx. which means if this attack was carried out by north korean agents they've not just was carried out by north korean agents they've notjust committed an assassination of foreign soil but they are responsible for releasing a banned chemical weapon inside a major international airport. in other news:

a news conference by france's far—right presidential candidate marine le pen has been interrupted by a semi—naked female protester. the national front leader was outlining herforeign policy when the woman burst into the paris venue. she had "marine fictionalfeminist" scrawled on her back. she was removed by security. a leading critic of the philippine president, rodrigo duterte, has been arrested on drugs trafficking charges. senator leila de lima was detained by police after an overnight vigil at the senate. just before she was taken away, senator de lima insisted she was innocent and would continue to fight for the truth. mexico's foreign minister has expressed concern and irritation about us policy towards his country. luis videgaray told the visiting us secretary of state rex tillerson and the head of homeland security, john kelly, that current us proposals on migration were harmful. mr kelly said there would be no mass

deportations of foreign nationals staying illegally in the us. and here's aaron with all the business news. what have you got? back to the future! remember that film? "we want products made in america, made by american hands". that was the pledge of us president donald trump when he addressed cheering workers at boeing last week. and he continued the theme on thursday when he met with the bosses of more than 20 top us companies at the white house, the likes of general electric, lockheed martin, ford and dell. he told them all he plans to to bring millions of manufacturing jobs back to the us. but, really, how realistic is this? let's take a look. well, according to president trump's official website, since it signed the north american

free trade agreement with canada and mexico, more than two decades ago, america has lost nearly one—third of its manufacturing jobs. official numbers into back up that claim. america's bureau of labour statistics says five million factory jobs have been lost since 2000. that's leftjust 12.3 million americans employed in manufacturing, well under one in ten of the workforce. definitely a huge decline from the one in four who worked in factories in 1960. but are bad trade deals and cheap mexican and chinese labour really to blame? or is it simply the march of technology? one recent study by ball state university says the vast ajority —— majoriry of these jobs, 85%, have gone because of automation. persuading companies to reverse this trend could be difficult. the boston consulting group

estimates that a human welder costs $25 an hour to employ, while a robot costs less than a third of that, around $8, to do the samejob. still, president trump told the assembled ceos he's already delivering on his campaign promises. more coming up on world business report in about 20 minutes. we're also injapan, where thousands of workers will be going home early today. it's part of a drive by government and business groups to tackle overwork and it's being called ‘premium friday'. the idea is companies make staff go home at 3pm on the last friday of the month, starting today. death from overwork injapan is such a longstanding problem it even has its own word, karoshi. staying —— stay tuned. all of that coming up. see you shortly. thanks. iraqi forces have made a significant breakthrough in their offensive to drive the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, out of mosul. government troops have regained control of the city's airport. they seized it in hours,

against limited resistance from is militants. the airport is strategically important in the battle to recapture the western half of mosul. government forces retook the eastern side, across the river tigris, last month. quentin somerville has been on the move with them. before the attack came the air strikes, rockets and artillery. it's day five of the offensive to retake western mosul. slowly, the forces make their way past a suspected is car bomb, which lies torched on the route. these armoured columns are now moving forward to mosul airport. the attack for the airport is under way. all night long we've heard coalition aircraft and iraqi artillery slam this area just to the north of us. and in daylight, they didn't let up. this factory flew

the is flag yesterday. today it burned. in less than four hours iraqi forces had breached the airport perimeter, but is fought back. first, the huge roadside bomb. it killed an iraqi officer. despite the air strikes, is fighters were still putting up resistance. the more they advance, the more civilians they meet

and they're in a wretched state. this man says, "they're dead in this house. "all dead. "my brother has already gone to the camp, he's heartbroken. "six of his family were killed in an air strike." this is the last open ground before west mosul. iraqi forces are now less than a mile away. they are also in range of is mortars from inside the city, but it's the islamic state that's under threat. mosul airport may be in ruins, but more importantly it's back in government hands. over there the iraqi flag is flying on the airfield again. this is a landmark moment. iraqi forces now have the islamic

state group on the run. is might transform itself into something else, but right now, here in iraq, we are witnessing the final days of the caliphate. quentin sommerville, bbc news, mosul. mike pregent is a senior middle east analyst and adjunct fellow at the hudson institute, in washington. he is also a former us government intelligence officer. hejoins us live on he joins us live on the hejoins us live on the programme. we've heard about this strategically important recapturing of the airport in mosul. do you think that suggests they are on course to retake... the government forces are on course to reta ke government forces are on course to retake the western part of the city? well, i was in mosul in 2005, 2006 and we secured the airfield prior to that. even though we did that we we re that. even though we did that we were still dealing with al qaeda.

there are still upwards of 750,000 civilians in mosul in the western pa rt civilians in mosul in the western part of that town. us coalition aircraft are not going to drop bombs on civilian targets. the iraqi government wants us to do that, the shia militia want us to do that. because the airfield has been secured, now is the time to do forced protection on the airfield to make it safer for the people from mosul to come to the airfield, to be able to recruit and military resources and to rebuild a sunni force that can actually pinpoint isis and make it a permanent defeat, rather than these temporary defeat that we are seeing to date. in that case, from what you suggested, if the challenge facing the government forces is to both avoid civilian casualties, but continue to push forward , casualties, but continue to push forward, does that suggest that the

rate of progress might perhaps slow at this point? yeah, it will be months in which mosul is secured, not days. the next road into the heart of western mosul, it killed a lot of americans because those streets become very narrow and isis can do sniper overwatch on obstacles like ieds and car bombs, so it isn't an easy fight. especially as the iraqi military has been overtaxed to date. the special forces iraqi military has been overtaxed to date. the specialforces have been fighting since 2014. a lot of the soldiers on the ground have been injured. the most important thing that we keep pushing, the us advisors and us decision—makers to do, is not allowed the shia militias to be part of the mosul offence because it will simply reset the conditions back to 2014 when isis came out. if and when the iraqi

government forces retake western mosul, briefly, what is the most important thing they need to do to secure that and prevent is getting backin secure that and prevent is getting back in and retaking it? if they continue with this current strategy, punishing the population and exiting it from a city like they did in other areas, they will push de sunnis into government areas, they will replace the isis flag with the government flag and isis will move toa government flag and isis will move to a model where they will conduct terrorist attacks, assassinations and high—profile attacks and they will stop claiming that they own territory. they will simply move to an al qaeda model. thanks very much, mike, joining us from washington. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: given the boot: leicester sack their manager claudio ranieri, just nine months after he guided them to the premier league title.

this is bbc world news. i'm ben bland. the latest headlines: malaysian police have identified the highly toxic nerve agent, vx, on the body of the murdered brother of north korea's leader. the presence of vx is a strong indication pyongyang was behind the killing. iraqi government troops have recaptured mosul‘s airport, a big strategic gain against the extremist group that calls itself islamic state. more on the top story. steve evans joins us from seoul. we understand this nerve agent, vx, was used to kill the half brother of the north korean leader. the way malaysian authorities have brought it is they think north koreans are behind it

but they have stopped short of saying the north korean state is behind it. that is right. one presumes they are simply saying what they think they know. in other words, you can make the inn for all that this substance is not the kind of material that is easily obtained. it is manufactured. it is not created in nature and needs sophisticated laboratories to make it. north korea has been suspected of having this material in the past and having technological links with syria, for example, with this kind of material. malaysian authorities arejust of material. malaysian authorities are just saying this is the evidence, we see links with north koreans, but we haven't got the hard evidence that links to the state itself. but if you have got this kind of material, you do not make it u nless kind of material, you do not make it unless you have really got a state—run apparatus behind it. so, thatis state—run apparatus behind it. so, that is the clear in the rural from the events. —— inferral. what is

intriguing is what were the roles of the two women on cctv? were they precursors? how did they protect themselves from this absolutely deadly toxin? one of them is alleged to have said she thought she was taking part in some kind of prank. if you are using this kind of material, it makes that kind of defence much less likely. and, umm, just briefly, steve evans, the dispute, the row, continues over the release of the body. the malaysian authorities still have kim jong—nam's body and north korea wa nts jong—nam's body and north korea wants it. that is right. north korea is not actually identifying the man itself, it is simply saying... well, itself, it is simply saying... well, it is seen to victory things.

malaysia is playing political games. —— that seem contradictory. they are also seen he is a north korean citizen without identifying him. —— saying. one imagines north korea once the body back because a postmortem might reveal more difficult bits of evidence for it. 0k, difficult bits of evidence for it. ok, steve evans in seoul, thank you very much. here in the uk, the ruling conservative party has won a parliamentary by—election in the north—west english region of copeland. it's the first such gain by a ruling party since 1982. in another by—election in stoke, in central england, labour fended off a strong challenge from ukip, the anti—european union party, to hold on to the seat. our political correspondent, chris mason, was there. that's what was extraordinary about the result in the cumbrian district in the north—west of england. the lake district. the tories gaining a seat,

the governing conservative party in the uk, gaining a seat from the labour party. here in stoke, in the midlands, labour did hold on to a seat they have held since the 1930s. but with the uk independence party, a party that was a big advocate of brexit and the eu referendum that led to it, they failed to beat labour in this seat, despite about 70% of voters backing the uk leaving the eu. they fielded their leader, paul nuttall, to stand here in stoke. they failed, despite many saying corbyn is not up to the job. relief for labour. and in copeland,

hugejubilation from relief for labour. and in copeland, huge jubilation from the conservatives, winning a by—election while in government, something that happens so rarely. for labour, a lot of questions, once again, mainly for jeremy corbyn. let's return to iraq now. unesco is beginning to work out exactly how much damage the islamic state group has done to the country's ancient sites. iraqi officials and international experts are meeting in paris to examine the condition of the cultural heritage in the liberated areas of the country and to work out what to do next. andy beatt reports. images that shocked the world. treasured artefacts from iraq's rich cultural heritage destroyed by so—called islamic state. now, with islamic state seemingly on the back foot, there is a chance to assess the scale of the destruction. as the iraqi forces are leading the operation to liberate west mosul, i wish to take this opportunity to

renew our solidarity with the people of iraq who have suffered so much from the ravages of war, from displacement, from humanitarian crises, from destruction of cultural heritage. unesco's mission is to understand what remains, and determine priorities from now on. translation: nobody can believe the amount of damage to cultural heritage sites after islamic state the control of large parts of iraq especially to mosul‘s history and a rtefa cts , especially to mosul‘s history and artefacts, aimed at raising memory and the collective identity of iraq. —— erasing. and the collective identity of iraq. -- erasing. the un called it a war crime and is pushing a project to protect a rtefa cts crime and is pushing a project to protect artefacts in war crime areas. but after a campaign of destruction, the picture is farfrom clear. little information has been made available from islamic state held regions. in areas already

liberated, iraqi forces said they found tunnels stashed with looted a rtefa cts . found tunnels stashed with looted artefacts. the operation to recover and repair them will take many yea rs, and repair them will take many years, but should help safeguard the story of iraq. andy beatt, bbc news. o nto onto sport now. nine months ago he was a hero, a miracle worker, a man who'd taken a bunch of average professionals and turned them into champions. but now he's a man without a job. english champions, leicester city, have sacked their manager, claudio ranieri, with the club hovering just one point above the relegation zone. here's our sports editor, dan roan. he masterminded one of sport's greatest miracles, but less than a year after claudio ranieri's leicester city became one of the most unlikely premier league winners ever, the manager of the dream has been dismissed. leicester city are the premier league champions! last season's celebrations have turned to fears of relegation. and in a statement tonight, the club's vice—chairman said this.

despite being 5000—1 rank outsiders for the title last season, ranieri somehow guided his team to a barely believable triumph. jamie vardy‘s goals helping his side win the title by ten points and admirers across the world. and ranieri deservedly crowned coach of the year. incredible that it's happened. an amazing story. but this season the euphoria evaporated, and leicester are languishing one point above the relegation zone. the champions have lost their last five league matches. manager loyalty is in notoriously short supply in the premier league

but, given what ranieri achieved, many will be dismayed. tonight, former leicester star gary lineker described the dismissal as inexplicable, unforgivable and gut—wrenchingly sad. ranieri's last game in charge was this 2—1 game against sofia last night. against sevilla last night. he was seemingly unaware of his state. we know they are better than us, a very high quality team, very experienced. everything. 0k? but we have a very big heart. very big heart. we help each other. but it is leicester's poor performances in the premier league that could see them become only the second champions in history to see a title defence ending in relegation, and that is what cost ranieri hisjob. the memories of what he achieved will always be cherished, but the fairy tale is over. dan roan, bbc news.

world champion constructors, mercedes, have unveiled their new car for the upcoming formula 1 season. it will be going a lot faster than this when the season starts next month in australia. but for now, lewis hamilton, who was joined by new team—mate, valteri bottas, took the car for a few laps around a very blustery silverstone. hamilton said the car felt "incredible." you will have to take my word for that. before we go, just time to show you some great pictures of a modern day version of cat and mouse. but in this instance, the mouse was a drone, and the cats, a group of large siberian tigers. the rare tigers, in north—east china, were chasing a bird, before spotting the drone which was filming them. it didn't take long before the electronic device became prey, the drone at least managing to capture some incredible pictures before being destroyed. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @benmbland. thank you for watching. as forecast, storm doris brought damage and destruction to the uk

as came in off the atlantic bringing heavy rain and snow and a squeeze in isobars across england, wales and northern ireland. the storm pushed eastwards off towards the near continent. a ridge of high pressure building behind. cold airdigging in behind storm doris. on friday, because of a ridge of high pressure, much calmer and quieter with a good deal of sunshine around. we start off on a chilly note for many after some ice around to watch out for. sunshine through the day. the next weather system pushes in towards the north and the west. in northern ireland and western scotland, the rain will become heavier and persistent. not that way to the east of scotland. here you will hold dry light weather until the end of the day. rain will move in towards the evening. the thickening cloud and a strengthening winds gets in towards western parts of britain through the afternoon with the midlands eastwards you hold onto lovely weather. chilly despite the light winds. that rain continues to advance to eastwards during friday evening. heavy snow in the scottish mountains as it hits the cold out that will be transient as milder air starts to move up from the south. a breezy end to the night

across all areas. cloudy with outbreaks of rain. temperatures on the rise. the week and it looks mild once again. back to the double—figure values. there will be sunshine around, limited and it will be around the south. windy for everyone and some rain across scotland and northern ireland. you can see this area of low pressure bringing tightly packed isobars to the uk. wet and windy but most of it across the north and west. areas closer in the south—east, close to the high pressure, hold onto the dry weather. i windy day in the north and east. heavy rain on the western up slopes. double figures across the board. some sunshine in the south—east, it should be quite pleasant. sunday is dry and bright across central, southern and eastern areas but again the north and the west face the brunt of the winds. quite a mixed weekend ahead. sunday is dry and bright across central, southern and eastern

areas but again the north and the west face the brunt of the winds. quite a mixed weekend ahead. this is bbc world news. the headlines: police in malaysia say they've identified the substance used in the murder of the north korean leader's half brother as vx, an odourless but highly toxic nerve agent. the substance was found on the face of kim jong—nam, who died last week. iraqi troops have recaptured mosul‘s airport, as they continue their attack on the so—called islamic state. iraqi officials say their troops have gained ground rapidly in outlying areas to the south of the city. britain's main opposition labour party has suffered a shock defeat to the governing conservatives in a parliamentary by—election in the north of england. it's the best by—election performance by a governing party in britain in nearly half a century. mexico's foreign minister has expressed concern and irritation about us policy towards his country.