a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's lebo diseko. our top stories: russia tried to hijack the us election through "propaganda on steroids," says a democratic senator investigating alleged kremlin political meddling. russia's president vladimir putin ordrered a deliberate campaign carefully constructed to undermine our election. reports that the president's former national security adviser will testify over russian involvement if he's given immunity from prosecution. behind bars — the former president of south korea is arrested over a corruption scandal that cost park guen—hye herjob. and blast—off for space x, as the company makes history by sending a used rocket back into space. russia tried to hijack the us election through "propaganda

on steroids," the startling words of a senior democrat who's on the senate intelligence committee, as it began investigating alleged russian interference in last year's us election. meanwhile in a new development a seniorformer aide to president trump, michael flynn, is reported to have offered to testify about what he knows but only if he is given immunity from prosecution. our correspondent in washington is laura bicker. she has all latest for us now. it is understood that he was asking, and is in discussion with, the senate house and house intelligence committees,

about giving testimony in return for being granted immunity or protection from what he calls unfair prosecution. now, it is worth remembering that general flynt was the national security advisor but was forced to resign from the administration after it was disclosed that he misled the vice president about the nature of his calls with the russian ambassador, and the fbi is investigating his links to russia. but his lawyer in a letter says he has a story to tell and very much wants to tell it to the senate and house intelligence committees, he said, but no reasonable person would submit to questioning in this witch—hunt environment without insurances against unfair prosecution. so that's the latest that we have on michael flynn, who may or may not give evidence. but with regards to the evidence that has already been heard, here is what democratic senator mark warner had to say. russia's president vladimir putin

ordered a deliberate campaign carefully constructed to undermine oui’ carefully constructed to undermine our election. russian propaganda outlets like rt and sputnik successfully produced and peddle disinformation to american audiences in pursuit of moscow's preferred outcome. this russian propaganda on steroids was designed to poison the national conversation in america. the committee heard about a sophisticated operation that was alleged to have taken place. cyber security experts said that in key swing states there were operations under way, fake news operations, to disseminate disinformation to those who may be persuaded to vote. and when it comes to some of the information that russian agents are alleged to have put out there, many believe — and certainly it was the belief of cyber security experts — that they were trying to target donald trump himself. clint watts, who is a former fbi agent, testified that when it came

to online habits they were monitoring the then campaign and wondering when he was online in the hope that he would see the fake news and then repeat it at one of his rallies. and he also said to the senate that they should follow the dead bodies because he said several russian officials that may have been involved in this have been killed in recent months. vladimir putin has always denied any involvement. translation: did the russian government attempt to influence the result of the us election? translation: at one time reagan debating i think about taxes, he said, read my lips, no. donald trump has said repeatedly that he has never been involved in any of this, and he says that —

and he has dismissed it as fake news. the ousted south korean president, park geun—hye, is being held in a cell after being arrested on corruption charges. ms park, who denies wrongdoing, is accused of allowing a close friend, to extort money from companies in return for political favours. well, this scandal‘s been swirling around for about two years now, and it's a raft of allegations, but the main allegation is that the president brokered a corrupt deal to her best friend and the big conglomerates, but what happened at three o'clock in the morning was that she learnt that she will not be allowed her freedom, pending a trial. so, she came into the court at 10am the previous morning, listened to the hearings with the prosecutor arguing, well, if she is allowed to go three she might destroy evidence, very serious allegations. and she then sat that out while the justices debated her argument and the prosecutor's argument,

and then at 3am a rude awakening, she was told, you can't go free. she was put in a black limo with law enforcement officials and taken to a detention centre, where she will remain for at least three weeks. but the expectation is that the prosecution will come back before that and say, we need an extension and furthermore charges are being brought. so, she could now face an extended period injail if she's found guilty. and this, remember, is a lady who, three weeks ago, was in the presidential palace. the average jail cell in korea, the standard jail cell in korea, is five square metres. basically her length by her length — a little bit more. no bed, only her mattress, you do your own washing—up. it's a change in lifestyle. straddling authorities have told

40,000 people to evacuate to high ground as flash flooding from the cyclone worsens. we spoke with deputy commission art wrote short while ago and asked about the latest rainfall in the region. we have got some significant rain over here, not only over the last few hours but the past few days. overnight there is some parts of the south coast and the gold coast hinterlands in queensland that have hit well over 600 millimetres of rain, so it really has packed a punt, which means that there is a lot of rescue, water rescue, people have been surprised by how quickly the water has come up. we are still maintaining support for the community. we have had well over 5600 requests for assistance to our ses folk and they are out helping the community at the moment. we have had well over 100 and flood related rescues that we are actually still

dealing with at the moment. we knew it was going to be a big event, a long event, and we actually knew that by probably late afternoon yesterday afternoon we would get 400 to 500 millimetres of rain, and that it occur. i think a lot of the community were surprised but a lot of them did this to the warning and it is good to see that the community has been listening. because we have got our troops out that not only from those within queensland but we have brought some people interstate to assist with the cleanup and also the devastation of the cyclone. now, it's being called one small step for a technology company, one giant leap in the search for cheap space exploration. a used rocket, the falcon 9, has made history by being sent back into space. normally rockets are only used once before being discarded. greg dawson reports. you are looking at a rocket with a difference. unlike the rest, it is fitted with a booster that has been used before. lift off falcon nine.

and now history. as it successfully relaunched back into space. boosters cost tens of millions of dollars and are normally discarded and destroyed during an ascent. but the private californian aerospace company spacex has found a way to eject them safely back to earth. after the successful launch, another key moment in the flight launch, another key moment in the flight to see if the second—hand booster can safely detach and fly back to its landing pad in the atlantic. cheering and applause. rapturous cheers from the mission crew tell you it is a success. minutes later it is back on earth — an unprecedented double achievement of launching a reusable rocket and recovering it for a possible third mission. this is gonna be ultimately a huge revolution in spaceflight. it

is the difference between if you have aeroplanes where you throw away an aeroplane after every flight versus an aeroplane after every flight versus you can reuse them multiple times. it has taken years for spacex to reach this goal and there have been some tough lessons along the way it including last january's failed attempt to re— land the rocket. but it represents a new era in the space race where private enterprises compete against each other instead of countries. this excess will be a boost for a company with much more ambitious long—term goals that intends sending unidentified space tourists to the moon next year. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the women who could have been suicide bombers. we report from nigeria on the brutal tactics of the militant islamist group, boko haram. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears

about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he'd been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is bbc news.

i'm lebo diseko. the latest headlines: a senior democrat on the senate intelligence committee has accused russia of trying to hijack the us election through what he calls "propaganda on steroids." and a lawyerfor one and a lawyer for one of president trump's former aides michael flynn says he has offered to give evidence on russian meddling in exchange for protection from prosecution. we will go to washington to speak to a policy analyst for the cyber security initiative think tank in america. ijust security initiative think tank in america. i just want to start by asking for your reaction to michael flynn's lawyer's statement about possible testimony in return for protection. it is an interesting element that has drop in the last couple of hours here. the flynn

situation is quite different from the overall russian hacking situation. we have two parallel streams going on where there is the question of how much the trump administration and the trump campaign at the time colluded with the alleged russian hackers and then the alleged russian hackers and then the existing conversation that have been playing out over the last couple of months about whether or not the russians actually were the ones behind the influence operation targeting the democratic campaigns. soi targeting the democratic campaigns. so i would say... go ahead. targeting the democratic campaigns. so i would say... go aheadlj targeting the democratic campaigns. so i would say... go ahead. i was gonna say, so, how worrying might this be for donald trump? 0h, gonna say, so, how worrying might this be for donald trump? oh, you know, it is too soon to speculate. you know, flynn is offering — general flynn is aware that he is under investigation at this point. so, offering to provide testimony which we don't know what that testimony will say in exchange for immunity which is essentially what he is asking for. it seems like

every logical move at this point. there were a lot of allegations made earlier at the hearing, strong state m e nts earlier at the hearing, strong statements from democrats and republicans. what did you make of them, especially marco rubio's claim? so, sure, ithink actually to be honest the interesting claims came from senator warner from virginia, i believe. and to break those down, he essentially outlined the facts of what happened, saying essentially that the kremlin orchestrated a series of commuter network operations to compromise key dnc and democratic e—mail servers and e—mail accounts and then use that information for a series of lea ks that information for a series of leaks including that information for a series of lea ks including wikilea ks that information for a series of leaks including wikileaks to attempt to influence the us election. and senator warner also drew some flimsy in my opinion, but nonetheless portable, connections between the kremlin, those actions and the drum campaign. as for marco rubio's

statement, it frankie wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if senator rubio's campaign was indeed targeted by the russians. i think there is a strong chance that the kremlin in fact targeted all of the campaigns they thought were potentially real contenders for the general election. all right, we really appreciate the time — thank you very much. thank you for having me. nigeria's militant islamist group, boko haram, has spent the past seven years carrying out bombings, assassinations and abductions, with the aim of overthrowing the government and creating an islamic state. the militants, who've now been pushed out of several cities by the nigerian army, have intensified a suicide bombing campaign, often involving women and children. the bbc‘s clive myrie has been to gwoza, the former stronghold of the group, in north—east nigeria. you may find some of the images in his report distressing. welcome to nigeria's badlands. bandit country, with an unseen enemy happy to die. our heavily armed military convoy snakes around fresh craters, blasted by roadside bombsjust hours before we arrived.

the nigerian troops are jumpy. gunfire. the shots a warning for anyone lurking in the bush. we stop at the city of gwoza, once the base of operations for the extremists of boko haram. for eight hellish months they held sway here. by the side of the local abattoir, bodies piled up every day. hundreds died, mostly men and boys, often beheaded. women were raped and forced to marry fighters. it took a major assault by the nigerian army to end the slaughter. boko haram had hoped to make this city the capital of a new islamic state run under strict sharia law.

but it's the nigerian military who are in control, and boko haram have taken to the hills. this is the mosque where the group's leader abubakar shekau used to pray, extolling the virtues of his warped brand of islam, in sync with so—called islamic state, to whom he pledged allegiance. but forced back into the bush by nigerian troops, he's having to rely more now on fighters desperate to get to heaven, and is mobilising scores of women suicide bombers. boko haram promised paradise if these three teenagers blew themselves up. but the police convinced them life was worth living. abducted and drugged, amina's target was a petrol station. this picture taken minutes after she was due to die, her suicide vest discarded nearby. we found a woman who was married to a boko haram fighter, who told her she should die for the cause. translation: they're calling the women and saying they are going to teach them how to read the koran. then they tell them to go and detonate a bomb. they tell them if they do that, they will go straight to paradise.

some women would rather do it and die than to suffer under boko haram. my husband asked me to do it, but i said no. so everyone now poses a threat and can be searched, especially women travelling from rural areas. there are claims the military has a shoot to kill policy if a woman, even with children, refuses to stop at a checkpoint. these distressing images filmed by an eyewitness show the aftermath of a suicide attack. two people have blown themselves up, but a third female bomber is nearby. locals urge the soldier at the bottom left of the screen to open fire. he shoots and misses. then someone else takes a shot. the crowds now worry the bomber‘s heading their way. then this. bomb blast.

she detonates her suicide vest. the frequency of such attacks has unnerved the security forces, who maintain they do act within the law to save lives. we have not had any incident where a woman and her child approaches one of our locations and is challenged and is fired at. that does not exist at all. but there are allegations from amnesty international that nigerian security forces have illegally detained and executed hundreds of people accused of links to boko haram. and that government—sanctioned vigilante groups have also carried out human rights abuses against islamist suspects. boko haram once controlled an area the size of belgium. their fighters may now be in retreat. but their war is far from over. clive myrie, bbc news, nigeria. in other news: israel has announced that it's to build the first new settlement in the occupied west bank in more than 20 years. the settlement near the palestinian city of nablus was approved at a meeting of israel's security cabinet on thursday. palestinian officials have condemned the new plan and called for international intervention. south africa's president jacob zuma

has sacked his finance minister, pravin gordhan, in a cabinet reshuffle. it comes after days of speculation that rocked the country's financial markets. despite many senior officials opposing mr gordhan's removal, he's been replaced with the man who was home affairs minister, malusi gigaba. there's been growing criticism of venezuela's president maduro after he allowed the supreme court to take over responsibility for law—making from the opposition—controlled national assembly on wednesday. the head of the organisation of american states said the decision had dealt the final blow to democracy in the country. part of a motorway in atlanta has collapsed after a major fire underneath an overpass.local reports say police believe it was caused by an electrical wire. so far, there are no reports of casualties. people are being advised to avoid the area. a ferry that was raised from the bottom of the sea ok, so, what do you do when the president of

the united states calls up to play golf? greg norman is among those who have had to answer the question and it's not as easy as you may think. recently he spoke to the bbc and started by giving his assessment of president trump's form on the course. his flexibility for a 70—year—old guy is pretty darn good. he hits the ball out there are a fairly long way. you are notjust being nice? no. i have played with him a few times. i am not embellishing his golf swing. i am just telling you. i would mention if he had a bad one. he hits it extremely well. are you surprised with the stick that rory mcilroy got? he did get a lot of it, and wrongly so. if the president of the united states asks you to play golf, you have to play golf with the president of the united states. it is as simple as that. i don't care. a great story, to give you an analogy, i got a phone call from the white house saying the president will be in australia on this day. i said, i am not a democrat.

i don't want to play within. so what i did was i called up president bush 41. and i said, mr president, i need your advice, it is free. ijust got a call from the white house and president clinton requested i played golf with president clinton. i said i am not a democrat, i am a republican. he said, greg norman, let me tell you, respect the position of the president of the united states. you go and play golf with the president. i said "yes, sir." that is why i say with complete authority within myself that i prejudged the president. i was an idiot. it created a great friendship that i still have two this day. because when i got to know him, he was just a because when i got to know him, he wasjust a wonderful guy.

because when i got to know him, he was just a wonderful guy. there would be times when he would even call me up when the whole tiger woods thing was going on and say you are his neighbour, go down and talk to him, help him, help him, you are the only one. i thought, this is pretty cool. it goes back to respecting the position of the president of the united states. that is all i ask everybody globally. it is a common sight in many parts of the world. someone holding up a camera phone and taking a selfie. now, a new exhibition devoted to this most modern form of self expression is opening in london. and it turns out the selfie may be older than you think. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. no matter where you are, no matter who you are, an actor, a politician, a religious leader, the selfie is almost unavoidable. this exhibition claims to be the first to explorer its history, going all the way back to the works of rembrandt. though their selfies took more time and effort.

in the 21st century it seems to be a clash between self—image and realities. and the latter may not always come out on top. it is how we would like the world to see us, rather than who we are and what we are. it is more to do with social circumstances, social standing, how we would like people to see us in an ideal world. critics say the selfie is inane and disposable, but is undoubtedly popular. in a world of cctv cameras and biometric technology, is it really sticking around? translation: if you have a credit card, you already have a selfie. the banks know what you bought and your geographical position and so on. the selfie is not optional. it is part of our identity for good, but mostly bad, creating and controlling society. nonetheless, millions more

will carry on smiling for the camera. good or bad, the selfie is here to stay. tim allman, bbc news. i will have the headlines in just a minute. thank you for watching bbc news. hi there. it was the warmest day of the year so far yesterday, with temperatures reaching 22 degrees celsius in the east, and 72 degrees fahrenheit. it wasn't warm and sunny everywhere. pulses of rain affecting north and western parts of the uk. the rain affecting this part of the country in the next 12 hours. the front very weak, though, as it goes south—east. the wettest weather will always be in the north and western parts. however, wherever you are in the morning, it is going to be a mild start to the day. temperatures around 11—12 degrees for many of us. but there will be some rain around. i think it will be a wet start

to the day across south—west england and wales. fairly heavy rain. a few spots getting across the midlands and hampshire. but not amounting to much, and east of this line it will probably be largely dry. the front will be very weak as it moves on later during the morning. northern ireland, a cloudy and wet note. the rain moves through quickly. skies will brighten up. a different story here in scotland. heavier as the day goes by, with some strengthening winds in the north. north—west england, some wet weather around lancashire and cumbria, though the rain rather patchy. cheshire and merseyside as well. as the weather front goes across south—east england, it will be so weak in the south—east it will bring little rain. the weather will brighten up with sunshine. and there will be some sunshine for a time in northern ireland. temperatures on the mild side, 22 degrees. then, during the night—time, well, low pressure will be swinging towards the south—west approaches, bringing a number of showers across wales and south—west england overnight. quite a bit of cloud elsewhere. damp for northern ireland in scotland. now, this weekend, mixed fortunes. saturday is a day of sunny spells and showers. they clear through overnight. quite chilly. then a fine day will follow,

so sunday the better of the two days for getting out and about. low pressure towards south—west england and wales. that is where we will see the most frequent of showers on saturday. the showers will be slow—moving showers, not much wind to push them through. if you catch one it could be around a while and a hefty downpour too. a chilly night to follow. mist and fog to start sunday. high pressure building in, which means the weather should become nice and quiet for sunday. early morning cloud breaking, sunny spells coming through. similar temperatures ranging from ten in the north to 17 towards the south—east. that's your latest weather forecast. bye for now. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm lebo diseko. the senior democrat on the us senate intelligence committee has accused russia of mounting what he called a propaganda campaign on steroids in seeking to influence last year's presidential election. senator mark warner said they would investigate whether russia interfered with the democratic process. a lawyer for one of president

trump's former aides, michael flynn, says he has offered to give testimony about russian meddling in the us election, reportedly in exchange for protection from prosecution. general flynn was forced to resign from his position as national security advisor. south korea's ousted president park geun—hye has been arrested on corruption charges. they are the same charges that led to her political downfall, when south korea's constitutional court backed parliament's decision to impeach her. now it is time for panorama. five days ago, terror came here, to the heart of london, killing and maiming indiscriminately.

there is a breaking news story over at westminster palace. we are getting reports of an incident outside the palace of westminster. breaking news, there are reports of gunshots being heard outside the houses of parliament. at 2:39pm last wednesday afternoon, khalid masood was seeminglyjust another london motorist. seconds later, he was a killer, driving his rented car onto the pavement, ploughing into pedestrians on one of london's busiest bridges.