it was hit by three explosions. officials say a letter was found near the scene — but warn against assuming it was a terrorist attack. president trump is facing calls to sack his press spokesman sean spicer for insensitive and inappropriate remarks. talking to a press briefing about the recent sarin gas attack in syria, he asserted that "even hitler did not use chemical weapons during world war two." he has apologised to anyone who was offended. russia is hardening its support for the assad regime — even with the us secretary of state in moscow for crisis talks. president putin is still disputing the syrian government's responsibility for this month's sarin gas attack, and has accused rebels of setting up fake attacks to justify more american missile strikes. that's all for me, now it's time for hardtalk. she has been a singing star since the ‘60s, a civil rights activist and a woman

you don't mess with on or off stage. she's worked with martin luther king and has sung everywhere that's anywhere. and once she even shot at someone who threatened to cheat her in a business deal. still a huge star and as powerful as ever, she is our guest today on hardtalk. # i love you, porgy, # don't let him take me, # don't let them handle me, # and drive me mad. # if you can keep me, # i wants to stay here with you forever,

# two days after forever, # with you forever... # ‘cause i got my man. nina simone, dr simone, a very warm welcome to the programme. thank you tim sebastian, you have the same name as bach, my first love. i can't lose with that, can i? no, you can't. you can but i can't. tell me about music as a political

weapon which you've used it as. 0h, now. that's a hard one. um, as a political weapon. it has helped me for 30 years defend the rights of american blacks and third world people all over the world and to defend them with protest songs. and it helps to change the world. when you get up on the stage and you sing, what's in your mind? just the singing, or... no, to move the audience. to make them conscious of what has been done to my people around the world. so, you sing from anger?

no, i sing from... intelligence. i sing from letting them know that i know who they are, and what they have done to my people around the world. that's not anger. anger, anger has its place. anger has fire and fire moves things! but i think from intelligence, i don't want them to think that i don't know who they are, darling. who are they? they are the white people around the world with exception of nelson mandela whom i met this year. i went to his his marriage and his anniversary in 1998. and you weren't disappointed? oh no, my god, he is a saint, he's the greatest person on the planet. how much does fame mean to you, how much does your success mean to you?

my success means a great deal to me and my stage presence and being on stage means a great deal to me. my music is first in my life. and what's a second? what do you sacrifice for your music? i don't sacrifice anything for my music. but secondly, i would love to be married, you know, i think i'll marry the cameraman over there. but i would love to be married and have a man of my own but that's second to my music. my music, nothing takes its place, nothing. you've been married before. i've been married twice. unlucky in love? unlucky at marriages. not so unlucky at love. lots of love, few marriages. yes, two marriages. why didn't they work out? the music got in the way in the one where i married the cop from the united states. the music got in the way

and he treated me like a horse. you know, a non—stop, workaholic horse. and the one in tunisia, well, that was very hot like a volcano and his family didn't want him to move to france and france didn't want him because he's a north african. and the volcano didn't last? no but it lasted long enough for me never to forget it, i'll tell you that. among all the unforgettable things and unforgettable people in your life, there was martin luther king, wasn't there? yes, well i marched with him, i knew him, i composed a song for him, i knew his wife, all his children and i was in the selma march with him and the march on alabama at the college and the march on washington. i was right right beside his side.

we saw the public face, the public man. what was he like in those private moments when he was out of the public eye? darling, he was always on stage. his dedication was of such immense proportion that he never forgot for a minute that he was there to lead my people. he never forgot that for a minute. and when he was not on stage, he was still on stage. he was always talking about equal rights. you've said in the past that you would have worked to try to get him the presidency. do you think realistically that he could ever have had a shot? yes, he could have.

yes, he could have, baby. he could have if he hadn't gotten killed and we'd had a little bit more support. you really think america was ready for a black president? yes, i do. because even black politicians in washington these days say they don't think that's the case. not now! jesse jackson was no match for him! there's not been a man since then. and his dream came true with nelson mandela. because nelson got it done in south african. in south africa. so the same thing that was done in south africa could have... could have been done in the united states, yes. i distinctly believe that. i need a cigarette. you're making me hot. can i have a light? please? go ahead. how did you feel when he died? oh, god, man, iwas devastated.

i wrote a song in his honour the next day called the king of love is dead. how much did that devastate you? i think i must have cried for two weeks. and it killed my inspiration for the civil rights movement... i'm ready. ..and the united states and i moved away. you were also scared, weren't you? because of all the killing going on... yes, i was scared. ..because jack kennedy was killed, robert kennedy was killed. do you think they were coming after you? not only that, the fbi was after me! they had a file on you. mm—hm. in washington. you never saw it, did you? uh, no, we were told about it and it's in my book, i wrote a book called i put a spell on you,

and i did a film called nina simone — the legend, and it's in there that the fbi has a file on me, and indeed they went to curtis institute of music, where i was rejected for a scholarship, and asked vladimir sokoloff if i had ever been mixed up in the rebellion. and he said they never found anything but they actually went to curtis institute and enquired about me. dr simone, you were born in north carolina. yes, i was. very poor, your family. very poor, yes, very poor. a lot of love. a lot of love but not much to it? at times... my mother had a saying, she'd say, well, we don't know what we're going to get dinner tonight but i'll pray and it'll come. and sure enough, she prayed and it came. she's been a minister for 57 years.

she's now 97 years old. and you first sang in her church. mm—hm. what was that like? it was fun because i had never studied the piano. i was a child prodigy. so when they got up and started shouting, istarted playing. literally just sat down and started... started playing. the first song i played was god be with you till we meet again. i played that at three years old. and then you went on to train as a classical pianist. yes. that was your love, wasn't it, classical piano? i'm not over it yet. are you disappointed that you didn't, in the end, become what you and your parents... yes, yes! ...the first black concert pianist. yes, because we don't have any!

all we have is andre watts and they don't accept in very much because he's part german. the blacks don't accept him but they would've accepted me. at the age of 12, you were playing in a library, weren't you? a music library. yeah, it was my first recital. and something happened, somebody said something to your parents, didn't they. what did they say? they put them in the back of the room to watch me and i got up bravely, i was only 12, and i said "if my parents don't sit in the front seat, i don't play." and they were put there because they were black. that's right. how did that make you feel? it was my first encounter with racism. my favourite record that i listen to now is marian anderson who is the first, the world's first black contralto, i listen to her every morning. she wakes me up and gives me inspiration to start the day.

she sings a song, 0 rest in the lord, wait patiently for him and he will give you your heart's desire. and he will give you your heart ‘s desire. religion is deeply ingrained in you. deeply ingrained. all religions? all religions. you have an interest in religion, don't you? i don't believe in any one religion. no, i don't believe in one religion. i believe in allah, i believe in the hindu religion because i studied yoga for 2! years. i believe in buddhism, i believe in all of them because they are necessary for the sheep, darling. the sheep have to have something to follow. and religion is necessary. i believe in all of them. so when you got turned down by the curtis school in philadelphia, you needed to make some money, didn't you? yes, i did, to help my parents. so you started playing in bars and supper parties...

yes, idid. what was that like? it was awful. but it got you some money. it got me $90 a week, 50 of which i gave my parents. and they came to philadelphia to be close to you. yes, they did. what was your big break? my big break was going to atlantic city and playing in a supper club, and singing the song porgy which was given to me by a fan, as student there. and he liked billie holiday. i can't stand her but he liked her. and he asked me if i would sing it. so since i didn't have to practise the piano, while i was cleaning up my room in atlantic city to work every night from 9—4, i learnt the song and first sang it there in a bar. and an agent heard me and took me to new york and put it on a record. and then in 1957 came carnegie hall.

that is right. a huge success, wasn't it? yes, it was. but something disappointed you because you wrote a letter to your parents, didn't you? i don't remember that now. you apparently wrote a letter to your parents saying "this is where you wanted me to play, but i should have been playing bach." bach. your favourite composer. idid. i did do that. so this was your glorious occasion, but you were still disappointed. well, i loved the audience, but i wasn't playing classical music, and i wanted to be, and so i wrote, and i quote again what you have just said, i wrote, "yes, i'm in carnegie hall, finally, but i'm not playing bach." and then came "my baby

just cares for me." oh, well that's years later. years later, but it was huge, wasn't it? yes, it was huge. it started out as a song for it an ad, didn't it? no, it started out as a piece of play—doh for children in england. it started out as a video for children. and then it, umm, it got bigger and bigger, and everybody started to hear it, and it became very famous, and it is the most famous song i have recorded. people say it turned you from cult into legend. yeah. i think so. so, you knew after that you are on your way. yeah. i was on my way before that because, let's face it, i had been playing, i was playing, around

the world before then. i heard about it in switzerland. when you left america in 1972, you left because you couldn't stand the... racism. just that? racism. you couldn't stand it any longer. i couldn't stand it. i stil can't stand it. crossing the street! you get racism crossing the street! you get it in every... it's in the very fabric of american society. you cannot stand to go to america? no, i can't. i went this year for the first time. two times. and i worked in newark, new stadium, and seattle, and they were so happy and surprised to see me because they had not seen me in how many years, clifton? seven. in seven years.

but you didn't feel well treated? this time. yes. this time they were more than happy to see me. they had not seen me in so long they thought i was dead. but you would not go back and live there? no way! and you keep telling them that? no way am i going to ever go back there again. and i am not the only one. josephine baker went back twice, and after her second time she never went back. so you travel to liberia, didn't you? oh, yes. and that was apparently the happiest time in your life. it was. why? i was at home. and, you remember that liberia had a liaison with america, so it was known as a place for blacks whom they could not contain, and they were all rich, i lived on the beach. i had house servants and the president's daughter gave me

a house on the beach. i stayed on the beach every damn day. it was fantastic. i was happier there, and what's more, i got engaged to the foreign minister's father, who was at that time 70 years old. but he was killed, wasn't he? yes, he was killed, they killed 13 of them. ina coup. life seems to have gone wrong for you. no. i wouldn't say that. my music has always lifted me, and i have had a few love affairs. life has not gone wrong for me. i have been unlucky... no, i haven't been. no, i have no complaints about my life. but in 1978, in england, you told a newspaper "my personal life is a shambles, i'm black, and i've been struggling for half my life.

well, that's true. my personal life was a shambles. and it still is. i don't have a lover. i have a friend, but not a lover. my personal life has been a shambles because everything has had to be sacrificed for the music. but then there were reports in the late 70s of a drug overdose and... no, no, no. running out of money... i had enough money, i was never homeless, i have never been homeless. that's a lie. you also seem to have had a lot of problems with the music industry. racqueteers... for god's sake, they don't pay you. i still have 60 albums being pirated in england right now! nobody‘s actually paying you for these? no! i have a great lawyer

from san francisco, and he goes after as many pirates as he can, but he can't catch them all. they run the streets too fast. i've been pirated all over the world. when you get up on a stage now, and they said this in 1987, when you were at ronnie scott's jazz club in london... oh, yes. they said "you get the whole nina simone when she's up on stage. "you get her mood, you get the monologue, you get the music." is this the whole nina simone experience? that's true. and you keep waiting until you're ready? yeah. why? because i have to be composed, i have to be poised, i have to remember what my first piano teacher told me, "you do not touch that piano until you are ready, and until they are ready to listen to you." you just make them wait. how do you judge that moment?

0h, ijudge it from my... .from my head, and from my instincts. and then when it's ready, and when you're happy, and when the crowd's happy. when they are ready i play for them. is it always a buzz, is it always a huge kick for you? yes, it's always a huge kick. does it get better with the years? yes, it does. do you still enjoy it? oh yes, i enjoyed as much. do you happen to be travelling as much as you did? do you ever get tired? yes, i get very tired. i stay tired. but i don't mind being on the road for my music. before i let you go, one question, there is a report that at a business meeting once you pulled out a knife.

i sure damn did! did you? yes, idid. why? well, because... bleep. oh dear. because it was a record company. you were about to say something else weren't you? i dare say it was a record company that stole my albums and did not pay me and they came to switzerland and i said "where is my money, they said, we are not going to give you any money." i said, "oh, yes you are." and i got a gun. it was a gun! it wasn't a knife, and ifollowed them to a restaurant and i tried to kill him. i missed him and i went back to america. you actually pulled the trigger? bleep. 0h... excuse me. yes, idid. and felt better for it? oh, yes! sorry i didn't get him! but that is how i met my lawyer, because lawyers, in these times,

they heard i pulled out a knife, and, umm, in switzerland, and tried to kill somebody who stole my record. so now we have advertised that side of your life, you say that you are still looking for a lover... people, men, are going to be a bit nervous, aren't they? they are very. do you manage to put them out? no. you don't try too hard. no. i refuse to cook or to clean. so they have to take you as you are? they have to take me as i am and recognise that i'm a star as well as a woman, and they have to deal with the two. and they have to treat you properly. absolutely. nina simone, doctor simone, it has been a pleasure having you on the programme. can i say one more thing? i am a doctor, do you know why? you are a doctor of humanities. yes. from malcolm x university in chicago. and a doctor of music. from ambrose college in ambrose massachusetts. 0k, thank you for setting the record straight. it's been a great pleasure.

hello there, good morning. cooler, cloudy weather is more likely as we head into the easter weekend. there was some sunshine around yesterday. it was quite warm in the sunshine too, that was pontypridd in wales. but further north it was rather grey, threatening skies that we had here in stirling in scotland. and we had this thick cloud across more northern parts of the uk, and that's slowly pushing its way southwards. we've got a westerly breeze, though, and that is dragging in cloud even across england and wales, so temperatures here won't be as low as they were last night. the rain, though, is further north and that will push its way slowly southwards during wednesday. but we'll start with some rain in the central belt. wetter in glasgow than it will be in edinburgh, some rain for northern ireland, some heavy rain perhaps over the hills of cumbria

and into lancashire and by 9am a little rain for liverpool and manchester. that rain here is on a weather front but as it heads southwards, it's a familiar story, the weather front weakens considerably. little or no rain on it. to the south we're looking at one or two showers but some brightness, some early sunshine before it clouds over more during the afternoon. some sunny spells following behind that weather front across the north and a few showers around. quite a cool breeze blowing across scotland will take the edge off those numbers. ten in glasgow, 16 in london, not far off what we had on tuesday. that weather front then, no rain on it really to help the gardens at all. it clears away. then behind that on thursday we're into a cooler north—westerly airflow. it could be quite a chilly start for many eastern areas of the uk, especially in the countryside first thing. but some sunshine in the morning. the tendency is, though, for things to cloud over more and more from the west with gradual

moistening up of the air to bring us a few showers. but a lot of places will be dry further south and east. and those temperatures, ten to 1a degrees. some sunshine and a few showers for scotland on good friday. something drier and a little bit warmer towards the south—east but in between a cloudier zone where we're more likely to catch a few showers from time to time. and that really sums up the easter weekend. it's certainly not going to be a washout by any means and when the sun comes out, as it will do, it will actually feel quite warm at this time of year of course. and we could, on saturday, have some sunshine and a few showers. we're getting chains of depressions, areas of low pressure pushing our way. so for easter day it could be more persistent rain across northern parts of the uk, and then between two areas of low pressure, easter monday may bring us something a little bit drier and brighter. now, i'm going to leave you with this temperature comparison. easter day, ten to 15 degrees, about average for this time of year. quite a bit cooler, though, than we had on christmas day. hello you're watching bbc world news. i'm james menendez.

our top story this hour: german police say attackers deliberately targeted the borussia dortmund football team. a bus carrying the squad to a champions league game was hit by three explosions. one player was injured — officials say a letter was found near the scene. welcome to the programme — our other main stories this hour: tough talking on syria: the us secretary of state prepares for crucial meetings in moscow — as russia appears to be hardening its support for the assad regime. he told a press briefing adolf hitler didn't use chemical weapons. the backlash forces sean spicer into an apology — and yet more misstatements.