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: as the persecution of rohingya muslims intensifies, we ask the leader of myanmar, aung san syu kyi, if she's failing to stop ethnic cleansing. i don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on. i think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening. the us signals a new stance on syria after the chemical weapons attack that left 70 dead. i will tell you, it has already happened, that my attitude towards syria and bashar al—assad has changed very much. a reshuffle at the white house, as chief strategist steve bannon loses a key post. but why? floods in north—west rude leave many homeless. —— peru.

#we are the chosen#. and is any publicity good publicity? pepsi pulls a controversial ad. almost 18 months since aung san suu kyi led her party to power in myanmar‘s first openly contested election in 25 years, questions are being asked about her leadership and her silence on the persecution of minority groups. in the past six months, around 70,000 rohingya muslims have fled their homeland in myanmar amid reports that the national army is responsible for mass killings and gang rapes. aung san suu kyi spoke exclusively to our special correspondent, fergal keane. it is a relic of the absurdity and paranoia of military rule, a capital marooned far from the people, designed to keep the generals safe, but where the new democratic government is trying to consolidate its hold on power. its leader, aung san suu kyi, has undergone a rapid transformation

from pro—democracy icon. it's good to see you, a year later. a period of intense scrutiny and criticism. now, for the first time this year, she's agreed to a face—to—face interview. in terms of change in the lives of ordinary people, one of the things that's happened, it's happened in south africa, for example, is a massive sense of disappointment when a liberation movement comes into power. what have you done to make their lives better? you go through the whole list of things we have done, such as how many miles of roads and how many bridges and so many townships electrified. last year, we started out by saying that at the top of our priorities was job creation and we discovered, over this one year, that if you start constructing all—weather roads and if you provide electrification, then people start creating jobs for themselves. there've been advances in healthcare and, critically,

more free elections. but all of this has been overshadowed by the terror in rakhine state where tens of thousands of rohingya muslims have fled what human rights groups call ethnic cleansing, and about which aung san suu kyi has condemned for failing to speak out. what exactly is it that they are condemning? they want you to allow a un fact—finding mission into rakhine state. that is just now. that is just what they asked for last month. but what is that they have been condemning over the last year? many, many people, including those who would be sympathetic to you, look at the situation and say "why hasn't she spoken out?" "here's an icon of human rights..." what do you mean by "speaking out?" now, fergal, this question has been asked since 2013 when the troubles, the last round of troubles broke out in the rakhine, and they would ask me questions, and i would answer them and people would say i said nothing simply because i didn't make the kind

of statements which they thought i should make, which is to condemn one community or the other. so, what we're trying to go for is reconciliation, not condemnation. do you ever worry that you will be remembered as the champion of human rights, the nobel laureate, who failed to stand up to ethnic cleansing in her own country? no, because i don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on. i think "ethnic cleansing" is too strong an expression to use for what's happening. it's what i think, as an outsider, i have to say. fergal, i think there's a lot of hostility there, and, as i pointed outjust now, its muslims killing muslims as well, if they think that they're collaborating with the authorities. so, it's notjust a matter of "ethnic cleansing," as you've put it, it's a matter of people on different sides of a divide. she remains the most popular

politician here by a very long way, and her goal remains to negotiate the military out of politics, with people power at her back and a steely interior determination. do you think that people in the west misjudged you or mischaracterised you or misunderstood you, expecting you to be this sort of amalgam of mahatma gandhi and mother teresa, for example? and, actually, maybe you're closer in your determination and steeliness to someone like margaret thatcher? well, no, i'mjusta politician. i'm not quite like margaret thatcher, no. but, on the other hand, i'm no mother teresa either. fergal keane, bbc news. you can watch the full interview with aung san suu kyi and stay up—to—date with the latest developments on that story on our website. that's at bbc.com/news. president trump has accused the syrian regime of crossing "many, many" red lines with its latest chemical weapons attack on a rebel—held area. he called it an "affront to humanity. "

at least 70 people were killed in idlib province on tuesday. mr trump said the deaths, including 20 children, had changed his attitude towards president assad. at a tense and bitter session of the un security council, moscow was accused of allowing its syrian ally to carry out war crimes. nick bryant reports from new york. five—year—old ibrahim went to bed in his spiderman pyjamas and woke up to the latest horror in syria's unending war. his grandmother was at his hospital bedside caring for ibrahim and his sister, tebba, because their father was killed in the attack. lives ended, lives ruined, by a toxic cloud that filled victims‘ lungs with poison. translation: my grandchildren were sleeping. everyone woke up to a loud noise. they went outside and that's when they came across the chemical attack. they just fell to the floor and died. it's all too easy to become desensitised to the suffering

of the syrian people, but consider the plight of abdul hamil al—yousf, he lost 20 members of his family, including his twin children, killed in a second explosion. translation: i left them in good health. why did this happen? i went to help other people and thought my children were 0k. now they are gone. yesterday, donald trump derided his predecessor, barack 0bama, for warning the assad regime that using chemical weapons crossed a red line, but not following through on that threat. but today, in the fragrant setting of the rose garden, he deployed similar language himself and signalled a change in thinking on syria. these heinous actions by the assad regime cannot be tolerated. my attitude towards syria and assad has changed very much. it crossed a lot of lines for me. in an angry emergency session at the united nations security council,

western nations pointed the finger of blame at the assad regime and also its diplomatic protectors here, russia, but moscow claimed that syrian rebels were to blame for the deaths. translation: the syrian air force conducted an air strike on the eastern edge of khan sheikhoun on a large warehouse of ammunition and military equipment. 0n the territory of that warehouse there was a facility to produce ammunition with the use of toxic weapons. but that prompted this electrifying moment of diplomatic theatre, the us ambassador, nikki haley, getting to herfeet and holding up graphic images of the dead. then, eye—balling her russian counterpart, she blasted moscow. if russia has the influence in syria that it claims to have, we need to see them use it. we need to see them put an end to these horrific acts. how many more children have to die

before russia cares? today, we saw the usual divisions at the security council, the usual deadlock over syria, and the usual inability of the international community, even to agree about basic facts on the ground. the italian coastguard says humanitarian groups operating rescue ships off the coast of libya have picked up more than 700 migrants out of seven flimsy and overcrowded boats. the number of migrants arriving in italy on boats from north africa are up 30% so far this year, according to official data released last week. the authorities in columbia say at least 290 people are now known to have died following saturday's mudslide in the city of mocoa. the government has ordered an investigation to find out whether building safety regulations were properly enforced. meanwhile the search continues

for more than three—hundred people who are still missing. the united states says illegal border crossings from mexico have fallen to their lowest level in seventeen years. the homeland security secretary, john kelly, says fewer than 17,000 undocumented immigrants were detained in march. he said the fall was the result of president trump's tough immigration policies. one of donald trump's closest advisors, steve bannon, has been stripped of his position within the national security council, reversing one of the most controversial early decisions the president made back injanuary. a white house aide said the reshuffle was not a demotion for mr bannon, who used to head—up the right—wing website, breitbart news. it is ridiculous to think you would need a babysitter

for the national security advisor. that does not really pass the laugh test. what we are seeing is reports that steve bannon had fallen out with jared kushner, the son—in—law of donald trump, and this tension is rather the reason why this move has been made now. and there are reports the president himself has been growing uneasy with the amount of limelight steve bannon is getting. so, while we should say this is good for hr mcmaster and the regular process, there is a lot of drama and speculation going on about why this is happening, and really, we do not know what is going on in the inner workings of the donald trump administration, and it certainly could be the kind of drama we see play out between steve bannon and jared kushner and steve bannon and the president himself.

for weeks now, peru has been under siege from floodwaters. using makeshift boats, and carrying whatever they could, a series of catastrophic floods in peru have left 100 people dead and tens of thousands homeless since the start of the year. entire roads and bridges have been swept away. peru's air force has deployed planes to airlift thousands of people. now satellite images collected by the amazon monitoring project and conservation groups show how the floodwaters have changed the landscape in north—west peru. sarah corker reports. maria has just been maria hasjust been rescued by troops in her flooded maria hasjust been rescued by troops in herflooded village maria hasjust been rescued by troops in her flooded village of north—west peru. 0n troops in her flooded village of north—west peru. on board the helicopter she goes into labour. a military doctor manages to deliver her baby girl midflight. this is her afterwards recovering in hospital. translation: i thought the helicopter was not going to arrive. i was already in pain but the commander called and said the helicopter was on its way. for weeks now, peru has been under siege from raging floodwaters.

using makeshift boats, and carrying whatever they could, hundreds of families escape the rising water, after the piura river burst its banks. 800 towns and cities have declared a state of emergency. 100 people have been killed. and the rescues go on. warm temperatures in the pacific have led to torrential rains and mudslides ripping through everything in its path. satellite images show how the landscape in northern peru has rapidly changed. this is the region at the start of the year on the left. that on the left shows how a lagoon had formed by march. this is january. this is after the river burst its banks. the yellow line is the pan—american highway. the homeless have found shelter inside some of nehru's most ancient ruins,

some of nehru's most ancient ruins, some dating back to 900 a.d. . —— peru. we are here because the people have basically been shifted by this water. the whole nation is suffering. these are the worst floods in peru in almost three decades. and ongoing crisis affecting half the country. —— an. sarah caulker, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come. remembering the victims of london's terror attack. we hearfrom melissa cochran, who lost her husband, kurt. iam i am extremely proud of him and i am very happy that the world now knows what a wonderful man he was. 55 years of hatred and rage, as theyjump up on the statue.

this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's works were beautiful, they were intelligent, and it's a sad loss to everybody who loves art. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: myanmar‘s de facto leader, aung san suu kyi, has spoken

to the bbc, defending her record over atrocities against the rohingya minority. president trump has called the deadly gas attack in syria an affront to humanity, and said it changed his view of bashar al—assad. a service of hope and reconciliation has taken place in london, a fortnight after four people were killed close to the houses of parliament. the duke and duchess of cambridge, along with prince harry, joined almost 2,000 people attending the multi—faith service. melissa cochran, from utah, was also there. she and her husband, kurt, were both hit by khalid masood's car. kurt was killed, melissa badly injured. the couple had been in europe celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. melissa cochran spoke exclusively to fiona bruce. kurt was probably the best man i've ever met. he was...

..sweet, and kind, and... i'm extremely proud of him, and i'm very happy that the world now knows what a wonderful man he was. he would probably hate all the publicity that's going on, he's a very private kind of person. very generous, very sweet, and... ..the love of my life. what can you remember about the day? we just were having another wonderful day in our vacation, and just enjoying the sights, taking pictures, making our way to the abbey. and i don't remember much more after that, so crossing the bridge, and we were almost there. you have no recollection of the car, the attack itself?

i don't, i don't. there is a photograph that has been printed, i imagine you're aware of it, of you on the ground, being helped by a passer—by. i do recall all of that, and the panic, you know, of not being able to see my husband anywhere. 0r really know what was kind of going on. it was — it was quite scary. and when did you find out that kurt had been killed? it was after my surgery on my leg. i had come out of recovery, and they had placed me in a hospital room. and my parents had come to visit, and they were there waiting for me when i came out. i asked them to find out what had happened to my husband. my parents walked out of the room, and came back in, and they both grabbed my hand and said

that he didn't make it. which, you know, crushed me. very striking, the press conference where so many members of your family came, and stood in solidarity with you, and also said that your husband would not have felt ill will towards his attacker. i think that would have surprised a lot of people. i don't think i could heal my injuries or as a person if i had hate in my heart. and kurt wouldn't want that either, so there's no hate. the outgoing head of britain's surveillance agency — gchq — has called on technology companies to do more to tackle extremist content online. in his final interview before leaving the role, robert hannigan spoke to our security correspondent gordon corera — who was given exclusive access behind the scenes of gchq.

gchq's iconic building houses a mix of people and machines working at the cutting—edge of technology, countering threats to national security. in the heart of its headquarters, the outgoing director told me that so—called islamic state will, as it faces defeat on the battlefield, increasingly turn to the internet. they will continue to try to use the media to crowd source terrorism, to get people around the world to go and commit acts of violence on their behalf, but it's notjust for governments to do operations online, it's for the companies and for the rest of media and society to have the will to drive this material off the internet. so this is our 24—hour operation centre. inside the building, teams of analysts pour over communications and data from around the world. so there maybe a team monitoring the kidnap of a british hostage

overseas, for example, or a counter—terrorist operation that's live at the moment, in support of m15. this, for example, is our cyber 24—hour monitoring cell. we were shown a map which visualises cyber—attacks on the uk, and high on the agenda is the cyber threat from russia. the scale has changed, they've invested a lot of money and people in offensive cyber behaviour and, critically, they've decided to do reckless and interfering things in european countries. clearly, they aspire to do similar things in the uk. there has been this accusation, that's been aired in the united states, that gchq was asked to spy on donald trump by the 0bama administration. is there any truth to that? well, we get crazy conspiracy theories thrown at us every day, and we ignore most of them. on this occasion, it was so crazy that we felt we should say so. it's a ridiculous suggestion.

so, this is one of our high performance computers. deep under the building sits the electronic brain of gchq, humming with data and super computers. this is the first time cameras have filmed inside. today, our map editions are again using them to tackle our most difficult problems, including on terrorism. critics argue there is too much intrusive power within these walls, but gchq says it's needed to pursue those who pose a threat. technology and the internet are overwhelmingly brilliant things for human progress. unfortunately, there will always be people who want to abuse the latest technology and it's ourjob to deal with that dark side. gchq acknowledges it may have been too secret in the past and to succeed in the future, it needs greater public understanding of what really goes on here. gordon corera, bbc news, inside gchq. pepsi has pulled its latest advert, starring the model kendalljenner, and apologised for missing the mark. many had complained the video was tone—deaf, and mocked

and undermined the black lives matter protesters. pepsi said they were trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. elaine dunkley with the story. # we are the chosen. # we're going to shine... it is a global brand that's caused a global backlash. # we are the lions. # we are the chosen... supermodel kendalljenner handing a can of pepsi to a police officer during a protest. pepsi says the message was about harmony, but it has caused outrage on social media. they've basically set this advert in a protest situation. donald trump just got elected, black lives matter‘s just fresh of the boat. and i think people have a right to be upset, because essentially pepsi's just gone out and said, "with a can of pepsi, we can fix and heal the world". and that's just not true. in america, this is the reality of protests. anger and arrests, not soft drinks and supermodels. in baton rouge, louisiana last year, there was widespread unrest following the shooting of a black

man, alton sterling, by police. critics say pepsi have tried to replicate this iconic image from the protest, and it's in bad taste. i'm tired of black pain being used for commercial gain. it made no sense and it was a parody, basically, of some serious situations. i'm wondering if they even have an inclusive and diverse board of advisors, because if anybody who saw that before it went out... they would know that that was just inappropriate, and disrespectful. they say any publicity is good publicity. ad agencies are constantly trying to push the boundaries. but how far is too far? when you trivialise it, or make it seem like — you know, just put everybody in a melting pot, kind of thing, i don't know if they're really about the issues, or if they're just trivialising the whole thing. probably bigger problems in the world, isn't there? but i think when you say insulting... it's insulting in that, you know,

there are serious problems in the world, and pepsi have used the problems to try and give them some value. # we are the chosen... bowing to pressure, pepsi has now pulled the advert and apologised. it has cost the company hundreds of thousands of pounds, but it is a drinks campaign which has fallen flat, and the cost to pepsi's reputation could be even greater. elaine dunkley, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. also our interview with aung san suu kyi. thank you for watching. hello there.

the weather story is pretty quiet for the next few days. a lot of dry weather, variable cloud, some sunshine, and generally light winds as well. it is all because of high pressure. now, during the course of the night, most places will be dry, maybe a little bit of light rain across the north—west of scotland. more of a breeze here. but where you have the cloud, relatively mild, 7—9 degrees. where the skies clear, cool, and a touch of frost in some rural places. so it is a quiet—looking start to thursday. most of us will be seeing light winds, but across the north, high pressure. in towards northern and western scotland, here more of a strong, north—westerly breeze. that will fit in quite a lot of cloud to the northern isles. west scotland, some light rain or drizzle, with the east of scotland potentially seeing some shelter, so you could be seeing some breaks and some sunshine. variable cloud, maybe a bit of sunshine, same too for northern england.

i think much of wales and england, variable cloud and some sunny spells. i think probably the best of the sunshine in south wales and the south—west of england, where we could make 15, maybe 16 degrees. light winds for most, variable cloud, also some sunshine. the high pressure is with us for thursday and friday, but it moves position as we head towards the weekend. this is pretty crucial, because we then start to pull a southerly wind off the near continent. it is drier air, and eventually it will be warmer air, particularly as we head on into sunday. notice the blue colours behind me, though. this is an approaching weather front, a cooler mass of air, which will arrive across the far north—west of the country as the weekend wears on. so i think, for saturday, probably a greater chance of seeing more sunshine around. it is looking pretty good for the grand national, as well. aintree on saturday, a lot of dry weather, temperatures around the mid—teens celsius. on sunday, that weather front approaches scotland. so strengthening winds, feeling quite cool here, outbreaks of rain.

but, for england and wales it is looking much sunnier, and because we are pulling down to warmerand drierairoff the near continent, it is going to be really warm, with temperatures in the low 20s celsius. we could make 23 degrees across the south—east. so the main message for the next few days — because of high pressure, it is going to be largely dry, with light winds. there will be some sunshine around. it is going to get warmer this weekend, especially on sunday. but, like i mentioned, that weather front with the colder air behind it spreads its way southwards during monday. so a cloudy, cool day generally. still fairly mild in the south—east. the latest headlines from bbc news. aung san suu kyi, who is in effect the leader of myanmar, has been talking exclusively to the bbc. she rejected international criticism that she's stood by while the rohingya muslim minority is ethnically cleansed, killed or gang—raped by the national army in rakhine state.

president trump has called the deadly gas attack in syria on tuesday an affront to humanity and said it changed his view on bashar al—assad. previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority. a series of devastating floods in north west peru have left 100 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. entire roads and bridges have been swept away and 800 towns and cities have declared a state of emergency. peru's airforce has been deployed planes to airlift thousands of people. now on bbc news, hardtalk.