welcome to bbc news, broadcasting at home and around the globe. i'm lebo diseko. our top stories: no presidential show: donald trump says he'll skip this year's dinner for white house correpondents. the exodus of civilians from western mosul as iraqi troops push deeper into territory held by militants. a vigil is held for the indian victim of a shooting in a kansas bar — the authorities suspect it could be a hate crime. following a search for traces of a deadly nerve agent at kuala lumpur airport, the authorities give the all—clear. president trump says he won't be attending this year's white house correspondents dinner. it's being seen as a snub to reporters — some of whom he's accused of running "fake news".

on friday, several media outlets, including the bbc, were excluded from a white house press briefing with no reason given. laura bicker reports from washington. this seems to be a further deterioration of his relationship with the press. this event is a star—studded, glittering event. a chance for the president to put any animosity aside and president trump has decided this year, he will not attend. 15 presidents have been to this dinner and it's only been skipped on three occasions. president nixon in ‘72, president carter in ‘78 and ronald reagan in ‘81 and ronald reagan couldn't go because of an assassination attempt and he even phoned in. that is how rare it is for a president to step aside and not attend that it comes after a number of stepping up of the attacks on the media.

president trump has described some outlets as they can use and says that fake news is the enemy of the american people and then on friday at a white house briefing, certain selected members of the media were not allowed in. cnn and the new york times and bbc, among others. our editor is still asking for an explanation as to why we were not allowed in and we are not sure whether this will continue. what this message that president trump has put out on a tweet is clear is that his animosity and his relationship with the press is not going to get any better. meanwhile, the democrats have elected a new national chairman. tom perez is a former member of barack obama's cabinet. the role is seen as key when it comes to driving the party's message and criticising president trump. here's what mr perez had to say after his election some day they are going to study this era in american history and study it alongside the know—nothing movement

and will ask the question of all of us, where were you in 2017, when we had the worst president in the history of the united states? and we will all be able to say, whether you are sitting here, outside, or whether you are looking across america, we will be able to say, the united democratic party led the resistance, ensured that this president was a one term president and elected democrats across this country. from the board, to the senate, to the state attorneys general, to secretaries of state and senators and governors, to district six. to newjersey and virginia. it's the biggest festival families

gathered on the roadside, didn't stand a chance. among those injured, children as young as three years old. it happened in a matter of seconds. we had an impact and people scattered. we expect someone is highly intoxicated and is in custody. he is at our office. an eyewitness said the driver seemed disoriented, possibly drunk and didn't appear to realise what he had done. a sense of shock and disbelief here, only tempered by the realisation that this is unlikely to have been a terror—related incident. a seventy—three year old man has died after being severely injured when a man drove his car into pedestrians in the city of heidelberg, in south—western germany. police say the driver

was a thirty—five year old german, armed with a knife. he was arrested shortly after the incident. the motivation for the attack is still not known. in iraq, troops are pushing deeper into western mosul in their offensive to drive out so—called islamic state from the country's second city. this area of mosul is the last is stronghold in iraq. the militants are surrounded, along with an estimated 750,000 civilians. 0ur correspondent wyre davies is at an advanced iraqi military base — where american troops and advisers are a key part of the offensive. this woman is a victim of islamic state's latest tactic in its desperate bid to avoid defeat in mosul. the 55—year—old mother of seven from the eastern part of the city was hit in a drone strike. her leg shattered. "i was lying on the ground and people were pointing to the sky from where the bomb came", she told me. one of dozens of drone attack

victims they've treated at this hospital. this is pretty new for this conflict but also for conflicts all over the world. these mortars can be very effective and the impact on the population really, really brutal. this is video eulogises the use of commercially available drones to drop bombs and grenades. an organisation which governs according to brutal feudal codes, adapting modern technology to lethal effect. drones are yet another threat for government troops now pursuing fighters from so—called islamic state into the narrow streets of mosul. after days of fierce clashes on the edge of the city. but from a field just to the south, big american guns are helping to sway the battle perhaps decisively in the government's favour. this is an overwhelmingly iraqi military operation but the role

of american advisers and troops, so—called boots on the ground, is also critical. us artillery pieces pounding targets in mosul. american commanders are reluctant to divulge too many sensitive details, but say us military support will be decisive. the fight in western mosul would be a tough fight for really any army in the world. so the iraqi army, the iraqi federal police again will face a tough fight. it will be a lot of house—to—house fighting. the enemy is cornered. they don't have any choice but to fight. a kurdish reporter, shifa gardi was killed today covering the government advance into mosul. a handful of refugees fled in the opposite direction but there are an estimated 750,000 civilians still trapped inside the besieged city. wyre davies, bbc news, northern iraq. the un's peace envoy for syria says suicide attacks on two government compounds in the city of homs were designed to derail peace talks

taking place in geneva. at least 30 people were killed and dozens injured in the co—ordinated bombings riot police and protesters have clashed in the city of nantes in france. over 2,000 people gathered to demonstrate against the far—right national front leader and presidential candidate marine le pen ahead of her rally on sunday. french police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. the indian embassy in washington has expressed deep concern over the killing of an indian man in kansas. another man was injured in the shooting. more than 100 people gathered at this vigil honouring the victims — in what the authorities suspect could be a hate crime. srinivas kuchibhotla died shortly after the attack on wednesday in austin's bar & grill. the suspect — adam purinton, a white, navy veteran has been charged with first degree murder.

0ur correspondent rajini vaidhyanathan joined us from outside the bar where the shooting took place. srinivas and alok had both moved from hyderabad in india to gar, —— 0lathe, kansas. they both worked for the tech company, garmin. it was a nice evening. both of them decided to come here for a drink after work. they often did. they had been friends for a long time. through the course of that evening, things got tense after a man approached their table and started talking to them and by the end of the evening, both were victims of a gun attack in which srinivas was killed. alok survived that incident. his leg was injured and he is still recovering at home and he did speak to me earlier today and told me a little bit more about what happened. he came up and started pointing fingers. obviously he was sitting closer to srinivas's table.

we knew something was wrong. the way he started the conversation and the way he was pointing fingers, that's not something you see every day, so we knew something was wrong. what did he say? he came towards me and said, which country are you from? are you here here illegally? now, police are investigating the possible motives, including the possibility that this was a hate crime. other witnesses in the bar have reported that the attacker said "get out of my country". that's what is being investigated at the moment. srinivas wife, sunayana dumala, is performing his last rites in india. i did speak to her yesterday and she told me a little bit about her fears about hate crimes in united states. when the recent elections happened,

he was watching it so closely. i was so worried. i just couldn't sleep. i was talking to srinivas and i was like... srinivas, will we be safe in this country? i'm so worried. i think these hate crimes will be more open now. will it be safe for us to go to a mall? will it be safe for us to go to office? i am so worried. he hugged me and he said, "don't worry, we should be ok. "we should be ok." srinivas loved america. this was a country that he loved living in, he loved working here. sunayana told me he was a really hard worker and would leave

the office late everyday. he was dedicated to this country and she says when she comes back from india she wants to come back to america. she loves this country, despite the concerns she expressed. we are hearing that one indian society in the us is advising stay with us on bbc news, still to come: all aboard for a unique big screen experience — prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos‘s sanctuary, malacanang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. every vehicle was greeted as if it was the first in the relief

of kuwait and in the city once among the richest in the world, kuwait is can gather freely again. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of the swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time the public will see this pope. very soon, for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi will, in his own words, be hidden from the world for the rest of his life. this is bbc news. i'm lebo diseko. the latest headlines: president trump says he won't attend this year's white house correspondents‘ dinner. an event attended by every american president for almost a century. and an exodus of civilians from western mosul, as iraqi troops push deeper into territory held by islamic state militants. let's return to events in washington. earlier, i spoke tojoseph uscinski from the university of miami,

about president trump's ongoing battle with the media. this is just indicative of how badly the relationship between the press and donald trump has broken down, isn't it? it has been going on for a long time. donald trump thinks the media will not give him a fair shake. most of these outlets came out in favour of hillary clinton. most of the campaign coverage of him was absolutely terrible. not much has changed since he won. the press is very antagonistic against him. even when it does something right he gets not much notice of it here. the fact he doesn't want to attempt this then makes perfect sense. and, you know, as much as he is not getting along with the media, it works perfectly in his favour and in favour of the media. it seems the strategy is to cut the media out. does he need them? with twitter, he has a perfect get—around.

he can tweet people and get his message out very easily and simply. most people do not use the media on his side anyway. republicans do not read the york times. surely he needs to speak to people other than the ones who already support him. he will have a hard time doing that through the new york times and the washington post so he has given up on those kinds of papers. look at the coverage of them. all of the mainstream outlets are playing to their base. they have many liberal readers who are more than happy to read terrible things about donald trump and his administration, because that is what is selling right now. the headlines are always catastrophic, the end of the world is coming because of something donald trump did. at some point the world will not end and people will calm down and realise these headlines are out of proportion. so you are saying this works both

for the media and donald trump? of course. donald trump need somebody to beat up on. and republicans already do not like the media so it is a perfect scapegoat. and the media do not like him and have a lot of people who are right now very nervous in this country and scared about what is going on. they are happy to hear news that plays to their fears. let us talk about the democrats briefly, because they have had an election. it is rare we care about who runs the dnc and the rnc in this country, but this has been a protracted discussion with the dnc. part of this comes out because of the scandal last summer were the chairman of the dnc, we found out she had herfinger on the scales against bernie sanders and in favour of hillary clinton. then the person who replaced her,

it turned out, from some leaks, that she was also helping clinton's campaign. so now you have these factions within the democratic party which are fighting it out. we saw that happened today. there was more than one vote that had to take place. and the person who won is more of an establishment person. the second—place winner has been placed as the vice—chair to placate people. malaysian security officials say the airport terminal where the half—brother of north korea's leader was murdered is safe. earlier, police searched the building in kuala lumpur looking for traces of the deadly nerve agent, vx, or other toxic chemicals. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley, reports. a departures hall usually bustling with travellers. at the scene of the crime, the security services came kited out against chemical weapons. they were looking for traces of deadly toxins, including the nerve agent vx, an internationally banned weapon. the malaysian authorities announced yesterday that it was vx that killed

kim jong—nam and they've been under pressure to reassure the public that kuala lumpur‘s second international airport, known as klia2, was safe. we confirm, number one, there is no hazardous material found in klia2. number two, klia2 is free from any form of contamination of hazardous material. thirdly, klia2 it is declared a safe zone. the victim, kim jong—nam was the exiled elder half—brother of the north korean dictator kim jong—un. his alleged assassins, two women. one from vietnam, one from indonesia. indonesian diplomats who've now visited her said she had been paid about $90 to take part in what she thought was a reality show prank. she apparently told them she had no

idea what she was handling. translation: she only said she was given a kind of oil like baby oil. this is the other suspected killer. the vietnamese government said she too thought she was taking part ina prank. in the real world the malaysian authorities are still investigating kim jong—nam's extraordinary murder. a north korean diplomat wanted for questioning has yet to come forward. for more on that story, go to our website. there's also more bankground there on the death of kim jong—nam. staying with movies, this weekend's oscars in los angeles this weekend's oscars in los angeles

will showcase more breakthrough movies with diverse casting in its history. however, the event is likely to feature a lot of political debate. keith adam reports. it is oscars weekend and the red carpet has been rolled out to signal the start of the 89th academy awards. millions of people around the world will tune in to see if la la land sweeps the board. the musical about two la dreamers is nominated in 14 categories and is expected to come away with a raft of major prizes. but politics is expected to loom large this year. on friday, a demonstration took place in support of immigrant rights, where the crowd was addressed by the actors michaelj fox and jodie foster. there are people giving up everything. they have lost everything they have and are struggling to keep their families alive and to keep food in their mouths and keep diseases from their bodies, and taking tremendous risks to get here, to get to this country, and then we... we say no? it is our time to tell our elected officials to do theirjob.

that we will not tolerate chaos, ineptitude and warmongering. there is also expected to be a political mood surrounding the event, with many anticipating acceptance speeches with an anti—trump message. one of the nominated films, the white helmets, has been dragged into the political frame. the documentary is about rescuers on the journey through training to the syrian front line. its cameraman khaled khatib has been barred from travelling to los angeles for the ceremony. officials say they have found what they called "derogatory information" about him. sunday's ceremony is sure to have the glitz and glamour you would expect, but this year look out for more political digs than usual. nothing beats a trip to the cinema to see the latest films, but a family outing can get quite pricey. now a young entrepreneur has come up with a new idea to fix that. she's converted a bus into a cinema to screen films to children in deprived areas of the uk. caroline davies went to have a look. it doesn't look like

a normal bus, does it? and it isn't. this is the movie—mobile. any parent knows just how expensive it is. i live on a housing estate. i thought, wouldn't it be great if a cinema rocked up? using funding from croydon council and a start—up loan, kerry kitted out an old bus, even down to a popcorn machine. this is the bus‘s first school group. it's so exciting. i like eating popcorn. i like watching the video. it's really cool. it is amazing. it is exactly what i've been waiting for. it is just incredible. i am overwhelmed, actually, seeing them jumping around. it's perfect. the aim is to reach children whose families might not be able to afford to take them to the cinema. she plans to fund it by renting the bus to corporate companies, or for private parties. i think it can open up their imagination, it can inspire them, it can educate them.

nothing can beat the magic of the cinema. it'sjust one bus now, but kerry has plans to turn it into a fleet, so this could be coming to a street near you soon. so, president trump won't attend this year's correspondents‘ dinner in washington. let's look at some of the light—hearted moments from recent years. to the president of the united states. say what you will about mr trump, he certainly brings change to the white house. let's see what we've got up there. what a fantastic audience we have. washington powerbrokers, celebrities, hollywood stars... ozzy osbourne. that was a slap in the face.

party with the animals, sabbath bloody sabbath, face in hell. it has been and honoured to serve. with that ijust have two more words to say. obama out. now to austria where the start of a change of seasons is marked in a rather unusual way. these rather rotund

looking fellows are called signify the winter. padded by their hay stuffed shirts they are then tackled by the riders — who represent the spring. this is all meant to show the struggle between the seasons as winter makes way for spring. the festival has been celebrated for centuries in the alpine town of axam. a reminder of our top story. as we've been hearing president trump has decided not to attend an annual event with the press in washington. a sitting president usually gives a humourous speech at the white house correspondents dinner. hello. it's a very changeable weather pattern in the few days to come. much colder to start the new week. but still some mild weather ahead of us for sunday. this was the rain on saturday. behind me is the next named storm, and that's racing in off the atlantic. that's storm ewan. it was named by the irish met service for the expected consequences here. but it will bring wet and windy weather in the north of the uk. but heavy rain between the two weather systems, generally mild. further west, already the rain and wind is gathering. that will be a feature for northern ireland and scotland

for the morning onwards. while elsewhere we'll see some dry weatherfor a time. as well as rain, cold air. we have talked about that sleet in the hills. snow to come. brightness will fade. some more rain to come back across northern ireland in the morning. but a colder, showery afternoon. england and wales, the dry part of the day is in the morning. could be damp and grey with hill fog in central and eastern areas. temporary lightness but then the clouds will gather as the day goes on. the wind strengthens and pushes the rain into the north and east. gales in the irish sea. possibly severe for north wales, north—west england, northern ireland, and scotland as well. 70 miles per hour on the coast and 50—60 inland. which is, as i said, a notch down on doris. the rain in the west. but for central and eastern areas, clouding up but largely dry. just cloudy. and mild still at 11—12, well above where it should be at this time of year. and it does look to stay set to dry

for england against italy at twickenham in the six nations. some drizzle in the air at the end. you can see the weather front coming in the evening hours pushing east. much colder air will come across the country with some snow. even towards the west country, the mountains of wales, the moors, possibly even at lower levels in the north. icy to start monday morning. that is one of the main hazards. as well as snow from lively showers with hail and thunder thrown in. cold air will take a while to reach southern and eastern areas. it is with us through monday and tuesday and into wednesday. that northerly wind also bringing the potential for some very windy weather on, say, tuesday. monitoring that as always. the warnings are on the website. but as you can see, through the middle of the week it stays pretty cold. stay up—to—date on the forecasts. donald trump says he will not be

going to pursue's white correspondence dinner. the president has called some sections of the press enemies of the american people. in iraq, troops are pushing into western mosul in the offensive to drive out the so—called islamic state from the country's second city. the militants are surrounded along with an estimated 750,000 civilians. american troops and advisors are a key part of the offensive. at least 28 people have been injured after a car ploughed into a crowd watching a mardi gras parade in new orleans. the driver of the vehicle has been arrested. new orleans police chief says terrorism was not suspected. an eyewitness said the driver didn't appear to realise what he had done. coming up at six o'clock, breakfast with ben thompson

and rachel burden but first on bbc news, the week in parliament.