a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the us attorney general says he won't resign over contact with russians during the election campaign, but will sit out any investigation. donald trump says the controversy is a "total witch hunt". freed from is for the second time — russia and syria say their forces have retaken the ancient city of palmyra. curbing popular criticism and a free press — china fights to control the narrative ahead of the national people's congress. french presidential hopeful emmanuel macron sets out his vision, and jackie's life afterjfk — the lost letters which reveal a love affair with a senior british diplomat. one of president trump's most trusted colleagues,

us attorney generaljeff sessions, is under intense pressure after allegations that he lied under oath about his contacts with russian officials during the presidential election campaign. mr sessions has denied any improper conduct but he has withdrawn from the official investigation into claims of russian interference in the election. president trump has said mr sessions could have been more accurate but hasn't done anything wrong. he accused the democrats of taking part in a witch hunt. our north america editor jon sopel reports. marine one touching down on the navy's newest aircraft carrier, and the president feeling the full downdraught of the latest setback to buffet his administration. his attorney general, jeff sessions, facing charges that he lied under oath during his confirmation hearings over his contacts with the russians. but the president is standing by him. reporter: mr president, do you still have confidence in the attorney general? total. reporter: when were you aware that he spoke to the russian ambassador? i wasn't aware at all.

what's emerged is that then—senator sessions met the russian ambassador at the republican convention injuly. he met him again in september. but at his confirmation hearing this january, he denied any contact with the russians. if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communications with the russians. i'm unable to comment on it. we've now had the national security adviser fired over his links to russia, we've had the attorney general accused of perjuring himself because of his contacts and the white house is absolutely insistent there is nothing untoward, there is nothing to see, and the crowd should move on. but the questions keep piling up. senior democrats are demanding

jeff sessions‘ resignation and for the appointment of a special prosecutor. the fact that the attorney general, the top cop in our country, lied under oath to the american people is grounds for him to resign. it is grounds for him to resign. he has proved that he's underqualified and unfit to serve in that position of trust. republicans aren't going that far, but a growing number have said that you can't have an attorney general overseeing an investigation into russian activities, if he himself is comprised. they are demanding him recuse himself. based on what we have read on the information is not complete, the attorney general should further clarify and i think he will need to recuse himself at this point. at a news conference a short time agojeff sessions insisted he'd done nothing wrong, but he did bow to pressure from within his own party. i've decided to recuse myself from any existing or future

investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the united states. # god bless the usa...# there's no disguising the warmth of the reception the president received today aboard the aircraft carrier. his hope is that these service personnel and rest of the american public are more interested in what he's doing about national security and jobs than they are in latest washington brouha ha. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. i spoke just now to dr larry sabato, director of the centre for politics at the university of virginia. he told me what he thinks was in store for the attorney general and the trump administration. he's not going to resign, he is not going to be fired, he acted quickly and recused himself into any investigation.

but there are an awful lot of questions about not only sessions but other members of the trump entourage, including his son—in—law a senior adviser in the white house who also met with russians. so why do you say that matters? it matters because of the russian ambassador, who is an impressive individual, i met him myself and had him in my home, by all accounts he is a senior official in the ssb —— fsb and he is considered to be notjust an ambassador but aspire. —— a spy. this is not a normal relationship between the united states and russia. no president since world war two has ever consider to russian leader like donald trump has cosied up to vladimir putin. a bunch of people must surely be more interested in what the administration

is going to do aboutjobs, roads, bridges, immigration and national security. that is certainly true and i'm not comparing this to watergate but i remember during the early part of the investigation that was the argument used. no—one was interested in a third rate burglary. it turned out to be pretty important, didn't it? what about the latest assertions that mike pence when governor of indiana used a private e—mail server for state business — that will strike some echoes with allegations against hillary clinton? it is pure hypocrisy. mike pence led the fight on hillary clinton about the private e—mail server she had at her home — it turns out he also had a private account and while hillary clinton to our knowledge was not hacked, his account was hacked and there

was sensitive information on homeland security on his private account. the syrian army says it has seized back control of the city of palmyra from militants of so—called islamic state. is has twice held palmyra, which is famous for its ancient ruins, during the six year syrian conflict. during that time they've destroyed some of the city's greatest monuments. sarah corker reports. across the ancient sands of palmyra, syrian troops backed by russian jets enter the city's western districts. for weeks they've battled through the desert to reach the unesco world heritage site. this video released by the syrian government shows heavy shelling across an almost deserted city. is fighters have now fled. translation: counter-terrorism operations will continue until the last of our territory is liberated from the hands of these foreign terrorist organisations which are wreaking havoc

in our country. but the syrian opposition, in switzerland for peace talks, declined to congratulate president assad on retaking the city. translation: this is the second time that we have seen this handover and this is obviously being used for political reasons. if we want to follow the game of assad and palmyra, it will be like watching tom and jerry. the historic city of palmyra has changed hands several times during syria's six—year civil war. is held the ruins for ten months after seizing them for the first time in may 2015. it blew up temples and destroyed burial towers. the militants were forced out in march 2016 — russia celebrated by bringing an orchestra to the amphitheatre where the militants once staged beheadings. but by december, is had retaken control as pro—government forces were focused on the

battle for aleppo. now those syrian troops are back inside the city. these were once amongst the best—preserved classical monuments in the middle east. the destruction here now a symbol perhaps of the civil war that continues to consume syria. sarah corker, bbc news. in other news: egypt's highest appeal court has found the former president, hosni mubarak, not guilty of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power. since his arrest six years ago, the former president has spent most of his time in a military hospital. it is unclear whether he will return home. scientists in britain have created artificial embryos using two types of stem cells from mice, in what they say is a world first. the researchers at cambridge university say their artificial embryo is unlikely to develop into a healthy foetus but they hope it will lead to improving fertility treatments. scientists in france say they've

developed a new treatment based on gene therapy for people with the serious blood disorder known as sickle cell disease. doctors claim their patient is free of all symptoms. the disease causes normal blood cells to become sickle shaped, blocking the flow of blood around the body, causing serious health issues like strokes. the french presidential candidate, emmanuel macron, has unveiled his policy agenda promising to boost the economy and fight corruption. mr macron, who's running on a centrist manifesto, had been criticised for being too vague. and it's emerged police have searched the home of one of mr macron‘s rivals, francois fillon. mr macron now finds himself in the unusual position in this election of being the only major candidate not facing possible criminal charges as our paris correspondent, lucy williamson reports. his stage may not be as glitzy as the oscars, but emmanuel macron knows how to play the star. never mind that critics describe his campaign

as "blah blah land" — all talk, no real policies. today, this 39—year—old first—time candidate came armed with plenty of them. he has promised big tax cuts, spending cuts, and the sale of government stakes in some companies. but he has also promised 50 billion euros of investment, and help for those on low incomes. mr macron‘s supporters are largely young, urban professionals. so, one journalist asked, why does a former investment banker deserve the working—class vote? translation: i was born in a provincial town, and in a family that had nothing to do with the world of journalists or bankers. i climbed the ranks, it's with a lot of pride that i say i am the candidate of the working and the middle classes.

and frankly, when i compare my project with marine le pen‘s, she wants to withdraw from the eurozone and destroy 30% of people's savings. expanding his vote to blue—collar workers is key for mr macron. here in lyon, he has won over the socialist mayor, but the support of the city's factory workers is proving much more difficult. translation: if it's between macron and marine le pen in the second round, i will vote for macron. but it would be a vote of necessity, not the one i really want. i think he will better try to get closer to people, in general. by "people", i include, of course, older people, more conservative people, and workers, blue workers. polls suggest marine le pen has the support of almost half the blue—collar vote in france, and is gaining among farmers, and some public servants, too. but she is also battling claims that she misused eu money to pay party staff. emmanuel macron‘s strategy lies in holding together two different

political tides, the centre—left and the centre—right. critics say the glue in that formula has been mr macron‘s personality, and his deliberately vague ideas. this programme tries to offer something to both sides. but will it be enough to keep them faithful and get them out to vote? with his centre—right rival francois fillon under investigation for embezzlement, this presidency could come down to a choice between mr macron or marine le pen, between globalisation or protectionism, the new political divide. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: curbing popular criticism and a free press — china fights to control the narrative ahead of the national people's congress. first the plates slipped gently off the restaurant tables.

then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards and it was a matter of seconds before the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb on a remote pacific atoll. the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier and so my heart went bang and bang. the constitutional rights of these marchers have their rights as citizens of the united states and they should be protected even in the right to test them out so they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy, i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you it's going to boil up when you get to the stage?

well, it worries me, yeah. but i hope everything will be all right in the end of the day. this is bbc news. i'm mike embley. our main headline: the us attorney general, jeff sessions, has denied lying over his contact with russians in last year's election campaign, but said he'll sit out any investigation. donald trump says the controversy is a "total witch hunt." and staying with that story, earlier, ispoke with taylor griffin, who worked in the white house under president george w bush, and stood for congress in the last campaign. i asked him for his thoughts on the incident. i would encourage people to go and watch the video on youtube of the exchange between jeff sessions and senator franken, where this came up. between members of the trump campaign or surrogates talking to the russians, and he said i don't know much about that. i'm a surrogate for the campaign, and i certainly didn't talk to the russians. what i think you can draw

from that is sessions was talking about that in terms of his role as a surrogate from the trump campaign, not that he had never met with the russians, broadly. and so i think it was perhaps a mistake. but it was certainly one that has raised questions, and it is appropriate that he recuse himself. but clearly what he said, one way or the other, is not true. we are getting into similar territory, aren't we, to the problems that brought down general mike flynn, the white house national security adviser. they are saying they didn't know anything about this until last night, apparently. just help us with the inside track, politically. we know that sessions has taken criticism for his record on rates, on civil rights, but he seems generally to have more friends in the republican party than general flynn did. he is less exposed, isn't he? yes, that's right, and there is actually a deference that other senators give each other, even former senators, and that helps a little bit as well. also the fact that i think this is a little bit different.

in the general flynn situation, he specifically said that he had talked to the russian ambassador, but he had not discussed sanctions. now, this was an issue, because he had several phone conversations with the russian ambassador the day the sanctions were announced, and actually he had discussed sanctions. he had lied about that directly. i think in senator sessions's case, i think that senator sessions was kind of answering a different question, that i didn't meet with the russian ambassador, i didn't meet with russians in terms of the context of my role in the campaign, but as a senator, is not all that unusual. i worked in the senate once, i met with the russian ambassador a few times. it is not that unusual a thing to meet with them, and i think he just answered the wrong question. just briefly, when you're talking to other republicans, do you see this stream of leaks as the kind of revenge of the intelligence community? is it a reminder to incoming presidents, if they needed one,

not to attack their own intelligence agencies? well, i think donald trump, coming into the white house, did not do a lot to make friends with the intelligence community. but i think it would be wrong to chalk this up as just petty revenge. our intelligence community is made up of a lot of brave men and women, who take a lot of risks, along with the british intelligence community, to keep our country safe. and so i think that it is not my experience of the intelligence community, that they would not be the kind of people to exact petty revenge. they would try to improve those relationships, and do theirjob serving their principal clients, principal customer, the president of the united states. more is developing on this in the next few hours. that was taylor griffin. this weekend, china will open its annual parliamentary session the national people's congress. as usual, the weeks leading up

to the congress have been marked by a nationwide effort to stop some of the most marginalised members of society from reaching beijing. these petitioners are often prevented from airing their grievances and this year our correspondent, john sudworth has had first—hand experience of the tactics deployed by the authorities to silence criticism. there are some violent images in his report. give us the camera. our interview is not going to plan. we are stopped from meeting the family we've come to see. this woman and her sister claim that their father was beaten to death by a policeman in a land dispute. they're among the many thousands of chinese people who travel regularly to beijing seeking justice, known as petitioners. so the petitioners hope to use china's annual parliamentary gathering to make their point. but here is the reality. china's communist party doesn't want the pomp and pageantry spoilt by... ..by this country's dispossessed and marginalised. the thugs force us out and smash our cameras. before the start of the national people's congress this weekend,

a major security operation is underway. while local officials work to stop petitioners reaching beijing, at the petitions office, where in theory their complaints and grievances can be lodged, hundreds of plain—clothed security guards now lie in wait to catch people and send them home. we meet two women who show us their petitions, one claiming that a well—connected company boss stole money from her, the other trying to overturn an alleged miscarriage ofjustice. "we come here during the congress because there's a chance for to us meet upright officials", this woman says, "but instead we're treated as troublemakers, and threatened." the interview is abruptly stopped, although for now, at least, the women are free to leave. few petitioners ever succeed in getting justice. along with the persecution, it makes their faith in the system all the more remarkable. we are just a few blocks away from the people's congress, but the reality made plain here is very different indeed. for those who need political representation the most, this is a system marked by suspicion, surveillance and control. jon sudworth, bbc news, beijing. the two accountants responsible

for the wrong film being announced as winner of best picture at the oscars, have been given bodyguards, after receiving death threats on social media. brian cullinan and martha ruiz are also being provided with additional home security. they have been told they will not be employed to do the oscars job again after they muddled up the envelopes naming the winners. a series of lost love letters detailing the relationship betweenjackie kennedy and a british aristocrat and senior diplomat are to be auctioned this month. the letters were written after the assassination of president kennedy but ended whenjackie kennedy married the greek tycoon aristotle onassis. our correspondent, david sillito, has been studying the letters. dear david. your last letter was such a cri de coeur of loneliness. i would do anything to take that anguish from you. it doesn't seem that we can ever help the people

we would wish to help. david is the man here in the middle, david ormsby gore, britain's ambassador in washington. the person writing to him was the woman he wanted to marry, jacqueline kennedy. this is a love story in letters, that was, for the last 30 years, locked in this box. a few weeks ago the lock was forced, and it all came spilling out. this was a man who was close to the kennedys, a confidant inside the white house. david ormsby gore had known jack kennedy for many years. he was more than just an ambassador, he was a friend. the story of this glamorous golden couple and the tragedy of the assassination shook the world. these letters reveal the private story. how, when david ormsby gore lost his wife, romance blossomed. but his heart was broken whenjackie left him for aristotle onassis. one letter from 1968 says it all. he writes about their plans for a marriage,

a possible secret marriage. all that, he says, has become irrelevant trash. as for your photograph, he says, i weep when i look at it. why do such agonising things have to happen? we also have jackie kennedy's response to that letter. she writes back to him, painfully, on aristotle onassis's own stationery, from his yacht, and with a greek stamp on the envelope, and says, no, you know, it's not that bad, really. you know, i'll always love you, and we'll always have something special together. but i don't know how much that placated him. david ormsby gore died 32 years ago. no—one knew what was in the box. there wasn't even a key. these letters are a fascinating glimpse into the world of the white house, the kennedys, and a romance bound by grief. i've shared so many lives and deaths and hopes and pain.

we will share them forever, and be forever bound together by them. david sillito, bbc news. and in other goings—on—about washington, the white house press corps will remain alerted and caffeinated thanks to one of the biggest names in hollywood. tom hanks sent an espresso maker for the working press of the white house. it's the third time the forrest gump star has done so. this time he sent a note that said this. "keep up the good fight for truth, justice, and the american way. especially for the truth part." a reminder of our top story. america's most senior law officer, the attorney general, jeff sessions, has denied lying, on oath, to a congressional hearing, over his contact with russians during last year's election campaign, but he's withdrawn from all investigations into russian interference. democrats want him to resign. donald trump has said the controversy is a "total witch hunt." and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter.

i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello. the winter months were quite dry. the first week of march is trying to turn that around. and certainly, during friday, many of us will see some wet weather at some stage of the day, and all the way through the weekend it is looking very unsettled. we'll get to that. this is how early friday is looking. and we're dragging in some rainfall from the south, so already across a large part of southern england, south wales, edging through the midlands, and into east anglia, as the day begins. another area of wet weather producing a bit of hill snow for parts of the far north of england and southern scotland. let's take a look around things at 8:00am in the morning. so a wet start across southern england, but you can see that rain advancing through more of wales, the midlands, east anglia, at this stage.

it is only going to move further north, so eventually it will get into northern england. but, as you can see, some of us in northern england and into southern scotland seeing some rain, and some snow as well. some of us, even modest elevations, could be waking up to a covering of snow here. further north, in scotland, it is a frosty start. still a few showers in the far north. so, as we go on through friday, we are taking rain northwards through england and wales. eventually, by late afternoon, and into the evening, that should be across much of northern england. we will pivot an area of rain, starting just to flirt with the eastern side of northern ireland, through northern ireland by the end of the afternoon. the best of the sunshine, without a doubt, will be in northern scotland. turning a bit dry, though, in the afternoon in south—east england, and it actually could feel quite mild, given any brightness. one or two spots mayjust reach 13 or even 1a celsius. a few heavy showers reaching through parts of south—west england and wales as we go through friday night. the rain marching further north, across into southern scotland, eventually into the central belt, staying with us into northern ireland.

frost—free for most as saturday begins. will be frost, though, across northern parts of scotland. so that takes us on to the weekend, and friday. well, the theme of the wet weather continues into the weekend. we will see more rain at times. some of that could be quite heavy and persistent, and particularly on saturday, with this area of low pressure just stalling its rainfall from northern ireland and into parts of scotland, whereas further south there will be still some areas of rainfall or showers, but it is not going to be a washout all day long. but we will see raining for much of the day, we think, into northern ireland and southern and eastern parts of scotland. and, particularly through eastern scotland, it will be quite cold with that rainfall, and there will be quite a lot of snow developing into the grampians. further south, it is showers. and then, on sunday, it looks like it turns a little bit better. still a few showers around for scotland and northern ireland. we see another area of rainfall pushing its way through england and wales, with temperatures at around seven to 10 celsius. the latest headlines from bbc news.

i'm mike embley. america's most senior law officer, the attorney general, jeff sessions, has denied lying on oath to a congressional hearing over his contact with russians during last year's election campaign but he's withdrawn from all investigations into russian interference. donald trump has said the controversy is a "total witch hunt! the russian government says the syrian army, backed by russian air strikes, has completely retaken the city of palmyra from the islamic state group. palmyra, famous for its ancient ruins, has changed hands several times during the conflict. thousands of chinese people have been blocked from seeking justice ahead of the annual national people's congress

in beijing this weekend. authorities have staged a nationwide effort to stop some of the most marginalised members of society from reaching the capital. now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from singapore.