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: a warning from pyongyang, north korea tells the bbc it's ready for war if america launches a military attack. translation: if the us is reckless enough to use military means it would mean, from that very day, an all—out war. are nuclear weapons protect us from that threat. —— our. donald trump telephones turkey's president erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in sunday's referendum. facebook orders a review after a video of a man being shot dead was posted on the social media website. the hunt for the killer continues. as the french presidential election enters its final stages, we take a look at the far—left candidate, who may yet

cause a surprise. hello. in a rare interview, a senior north korean official has told the bbc his country is prepared to launch a nuclear strike and "all—out war" if the united states decides to attack it. he also said missile tests would continue, "weekly, monthly, yearly," despite international condemnation. president trump has suggested the leadership in pyongyang needs to "behave", and vice—president pence warned pyongyang not to test the us. the north korean vice foreign minister was speaking to our correspondentjohn sudworth in the north korean capital, where his movements are being closely monitored. north korea is all about shows of strength. the first today came in this tae kwon do demonstration. the next, in kim il—sung square, close to the centre of power, by way of a rare interview. translation: if the us is reckless

enough to use military means, it would mean, from that very day, an all—out war. our nuclear weapons protect us from that threat. we will be conducting more missile threats on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. today, the us vice president, mike pence, was in south korea, visiting the demilitarised zone that separates the two halves of this divided peninsula. he, too, was talking tough. it was a period of strategic patience but the era of strategic patience is over. president trump has made it clear that the patience of the united states and our allies in this region has run out. but, despite the posturing on both sides, the risks are limited. for the us and its allies, war would be far too costly. and north korea's threats, although deeply alarming, are always conditional. if you could send one message

to donald trump today, what would it be? translation: i would tell him that if the us encroaches on our sovereignty, then it will provoke an immediate counter reaction. if the us is planning a military attack against us, we will react with a nuclear pre—emptive strike by our own style and methods. tonight, although all options apparently remain on the table, the us appears to be signalling that diplomacy and toughened sanctions are now the most likely way forward. it's yet unclear how, having failed before, they will persuade this most totalitarian of states to disarm. there is strong evidence that beyond the gloom of this city lie vast political prisons, gulags in which all dissent, however mild, is crushed. although, in his interview, the vice minister called that accusation a lie.

militarised, isolated and repressive, north korea has the right to follow its own path and, he insisted, no—one will be able to stop it. john sudworth, bbc news, pyongyang. as we heard, the country with most to fear with the rising tensions is of course south korea. our correspondent, stephen evans, is in the capital, seoul. have a look around. it is a completely normal city and doesn't feel like a city that fears war. food markets everywhere, people going about their business. that's because for pretty well 60 years now they've lived with threats from the north. bloodcurdling threats and they never come to out and out war. that's how it feels now.

the american vice president has been here and has used all of those words, "shoulder to shoulder", "alliance", "100% support", but what he hasn't made clear is how he is going to persuade orforce kimjong—un to dismiss his nuclear path. he says if north korea attacks this place, only 50 miles from north korea, there would be an overwhelming response. but they've always assumed that here, but it would have been what president obama had done. that central question of how you make kim jong—un change his policy remains unanswered. ken gause is director of the international affairs group at the research and analysis organisation cna. he's in our washington bureau. thank you very much for your time.

he was saying that the south has lived with bloodcurdling threats for some time. these phrases pre—emptive nuclear strike, all—out war, they will scare people. how much does rhetoric matter? i think the rhetoric matter? i think the rhetoric coming out of pyongyang is very familiar. we have seen that before. it is basically the words and actions of the us that are very different at this point. i think what is raising tensions on the peninsula is basically the us reaction. it is different than we have seen before. when mike pence says the era of strategic patience is over, what do you think that means? it is hard to tell. there are three options you have for dealing with the north korean problem. you

negotiate, you continue what we are doing now, which is basically ratcheting up the pressure, or you ta ke ratcheting up the pressure, or you take military action is. so, military action would be different than strategic patience. what we are doing is a continuation of the obama policy, just at a higher level. doing is a continuation of the obama policy, just at a higher levelm it is ata policy, just at a higher levelm it is at a higher level and the us is upping the pressure, is that the push beijing to do more, and do you think that strategy will work? —— to push. it is pressure on beijing and pyongyang. beijing, to force them to put more pressure on north korea. as far as pyongyang is concerned, what the united states, i believe, is trying to do, is to try to help them see that the nuclear programme is not in there best interest. it is actually possibly destabilising for the regime. listening to north

korean rhetoric of late, they are still adhering to their calculus, which is basically to have a nuclear programme and regime survival. and the way that kim jong—un sees it, if he gives up the programme he will possibly undermine his leadership. do you think this can be de—escalate it? i believe it can be. both sides have to ratchet down the tension, not just one have to ratchet down the tension, notjust one side. thank you very much indeed. we will have much more on north korea here on bbc news. until then, go to the website. donald trump has congratulated turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan, on winning a referendum which will give him sweeping powers. earlier, international observers criticised the poll,

calling it unequal. but at a rally in ankara, mr erdogan said the vote ended all debate. to the. we will continue to walk our apart. we have had an election that has never been had before in any other country. james jeffrey joins us on the line from washington. he previously served as us ambassador to turkey and iraq, and he was deputy national security advisor to president george w bush. he's now with the washington institute. thank you very much for your time. this may not be the massive mandate that president erdogan wanted but it is still clearly a win and gives him enormous power. he and his supporters see it as a step forward for turkey. what about you? that depends on what kind of turkey you want. half of the population wanted a strong man rule. institutionalising the kind of thing he has been doing for some time and legalising it. the other half wanted to see turkey on a different road.

the result was a slim margin we have to see if there was any voter fraud. they voted for him. do you see this asa they voted for him. do you see this as a done deal? an absolute victory for president erdogan despite the criticism of observers and hopes for court challenges? we will have to see. what the oecd said, who looked at this, they said they were vote in regularities and stamps that a judge said did not have to be on the ballot at the last moment. it wasn't afair ballot at the last moment. it wasn't a fair playing field because president erdogan dominated media. that is not saying that the vote was wrong. that would be a significant change. at the moment, we believe he won fairly. turkey is an important country, strategically important in the region. it is a nato member and is sheltering millions of refugees who might otherwise be in europe.

how do you think europe and the west should deal with the situation? president trump made the right decision. this is not 15 years ago in the post end of history where eve ryo ne in the post end of history where everyone is tried to become good, liberal democracies. we have north korea and iran running amok. up in the last week there was sarah and gas in syria. there is russia and china. —— sarin gas. we need someone who we can work with who supports the global status quo. turkey, for all of its faults, it does. thank you. more of the main news for you briefly. south korea's former president has

now been officially charged with bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets. park geun—hye, who is in police custody, is accused of allowing her close friend to extort money from companies in return for political favours. the 65—year—old was removed from office last month. at least 30 people are still missing, and 29 confirmed dead after a landslide in sri lanka. the tragedy happened when several tons of rotting rubbish collapsed onto a slum just outside the capital colombo. another 400 families have been moved by the authorities for their own safety. the russian federal security service the fsb says it has arrested a suspected organiser of the suicide bomb attack on the st petersburg metro earlier this month. a major manhunt is under way in the united states, after a man shot dead a grandfather, apparently at random, then posted footage of the killing on social media. facebook has said it is reviewing the way it deals with violent videos like this one, which remained on the site for over two hours

before being taken down. well, for more, the bbc‘s peter bowes is in los angeles. the manhunt is still going on. yes, it is. a huge manhunt. notjust in 0hio it is. a huge manhunt. notjust in ohio where this happened, but clevela nd, ohio where this happened, but cleveland, right across the united states. from the police are saying, they have no idea where this man is. they have had a few reports of possible sightings, but nothing especially substantial. it is a huge manhunt. many, many resources, people, they are working on this across the country. and the police are describing this man as, of course, potentially dangerous and armed. first of all, these story seems to be the murder was committed on murder live. —— the. viewed live. now it seems that is not the case. now it seems that is not the case. no less horrifying. now it seems he has claimed more victims. it was not on facebook live, as you said.

facebook released a timeline in terms of when the various videos we re terms of when the various videos were uploaded. there were three videos. the third was facebook live. that was essentially the confession after the murder. there were two earlier videos. 0ne after the murder. there were two earlier videos. one a minute or so before the actual murder in which he said he intended to commit murder. then there was the killing itself, which he shot on his phone and then uploaded to facebook to be and then just a few minutes after that, and people have seen this it is a video shotin people have seen this it is a video shot in his car. this was live. he was ina shot in his car. this was live. he was in a conversation rambling to an unknown person. he talked about how he just unknown person. he talked about how hejust snapped unknown person. he talked about how he just snapped and described himself as a monster. it seems he blames everyone but himself what just happened. the family of the victim have been responding. they are understandably distraught.

they are understandably distraught. they say they have seen the video, which of course makes it all the more terrible for them to have two experienced that, and have seen what this man in theirfamily, their grandfather, 7a years old, had to go through, so a family that is grieving, and many other people just looking into this situation and saying, how could this happen? because he seems to have had quite a good reputation, and the people who have known him have been talking as well, and say they cannot understand what went on in his mind and what prompted him to do this. for the moment, thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a political fightback in the deep south. why the democrats are hoping georgia could become ground zero in the battle against donald trump. the stars and stripes at half—mast

outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. the headlines:

a member of north korea's government has told the bbc his country would react with a pre—emptive nuclear strike if it saw signs that the us was preparing an attack. donald trump has telephoned turkey's president erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in sunday's referendum. that's despite international condemnation. the french far—right presidential candidate marine le pen has said she will suspend all immigration if she becomes president. she told a rally in paris that she would do it in order to stop what she called a mad, uncontrolled situation. ahead of sunday's first round of voting, the race is looking very close, with the centrist candidate emmanuel macron and marine le pen pretty much neck and neck. and if, as expected, no candidate wins a majority, a run—off election will be held on may 7.

0ur correspondent lucy williamson has more now on the far—left candidate who is making a surprising run. jean—luc melenchon has been enjoying a different kind of political party, the kind which comes with a big group of people and a sense of celebration. 0nce seen as the protest vote, the communist backed candidate has surged to within a couple of points of the presidential favourite, with his lively way of speaking and his anti—elitist slogan, "chuck ‘em out." translation: this campaign has become more than a campaign, it is huge populist mobilisation which rings in a new dawn. mr melenchon wants to pull france out of eu treaties, ramp up public spending and introduce a top rate tax of 90%. frederick hasn't voted for anyone in more than a decade. translation: i am a worker and most workers today vote

for the right or the far right, it is not in their interests. camille says she is 80% sure of voting for him and that her friends are leaning towards him too. all my friends are going to vote melenchon, all of them. i think there is really a big change among people my age and the youth in general. the trump election made me realise that i need to take a position. his rivals are starting to worry. campaigners for the liberal favourite, emmanuel macron, are now targeting underprivileged areas where his far—left rival is expected to do well, with specially written leaflets and instructions to target melenchon supporters, nobody knows what will happen, that is why we are here today, because we have to convince more and more people to vote for him. this is now becoming a four—way race with three of the candidates seen

as political outsiders and a third of voters still undecided. analysts say france is in uncharted territory and the election is impossible to predict. mr melenchon first drew attention to his campaign by appearing at his rallies via hologram. he is planning to appear simultaneously at six locations tomorrow. if this election has shown anything, it is that the constraints of one candidate or another can turn out to be just a trick of the light. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. now to the us and the well—heeled suburbs of atlanta may seem an unlikely place to start a political fightback against the republicans, but that's exactly what democrats hope to do on tuesday. tom price's appointment to donald trump's cabinet means his congressional seat is up for grabs. democrats believe a backlash against the president can help them win it. rajini vaidya nathan reports from georgia's sixth district. we need some more

democrats in washington, trump is a disaster. who do you think should win the seat? a republican candidate. for the very first time i'm voting democrat. flip the sixth! the sixth congressional district in georgia's been in republican hands for decades, but democrats think this man can win it back. let's win this on april 18th... jon 0ssoff is a political adviser turned documentary maker and he has raised more than $8 million in a race that has been dubbed the ‘make trump furious' campaign. more than anything i think it would be a win for the thousands of grassroots volunteers who are getting involved in this community, many of whom have never been involved in politics before who see this is a moment where we need to stand up and make a statement about the kind of politics we want. there's no limit to the number of candidates standing for the party and so there are a whopping 18 contenders, ii are republicans,

which could split that party's vote. unlike on the democrat side where a coronation, republicans believe in competition. that competition has seen a number of antiestablishment candidates enter the fray, including businessman bruce levell, who's close to donald trump. this whole game's been changed across the country and you'll see over the next two years you will see in mayoral races, city council races, state house races, congressional races, because people are tired — republicans and democrats have done a horrible job of getting involved with special interests and lobbyists and pay to play, that's the tension now in dc. this crowded field of candidates includes local politicians, business people who have never held office and democrats trying to fight back. in many ways this race reflects politics across america and that's why it is being watched so closely. in november, donald trump won this

district by a tiny margin after many republican voters deserted the party. the result here could hinge on how they vote this time. traditionally i have been voting republican. i've not really been happy with the trump administration and i want this as a message against the trump administration. i think more democrats are excited than the republicans this time around because of what we saw the last election. i'm backing a republican candidate that i think will do a good job. i don't really care for republicans these days, not a fan definitely of donald trump's, i'm probably going to vote for the democrat. whatever happens here will send a message across america. could this be the start of the democratic comeback or will it cement the republican party under donald trump? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, in georgia's sixth district. the first woman to run

the boston marathon has done it again — 50 years later, aged 70. katherine switzer was forcefully removed from the race in 1967 when women were not allowed to compete. this year's marathon was eventually won by two kenyans, policewoman edna kiplagat won the women's race, and geoffrey kirui topped the male runners. the latest instalment of the fast and the furious has raced to the top of the box office chart, breaking an international record in the process. it's estimated the eighth film in the action thriller franchise, entitled the fate of the furious, took an estimated $532 million globally over the easter weekend, which would makeit the strongest worldwide debut ever. now, it wouldn't be easter monday in washington without the annual white house easter egg roll. this year's event is the first for the president and first lady — and about 21,000 people turned up in their easter best to watch. activities include bunny hopping and whacking eggs with wooden spoons. the tradition dates back to 1878, and one member of the trump administration was already

familiar with the event. in 2008, current press secretary sean spicer played none other than the easter bunny himself. this year he was upgraded to reading children's stories. much more at any time on the website. hello there. the weather may provide something of a shock to the system early this tuesday morning because temperatures have been dropping away. a cold and frosty start to the day, but after that chilly start, there are plenty of sunny spells on the way. high pressure firmly in charge of our weather at the moment, giving us largely dry conditions, and behind this weather front, the cloud has been clearing. and underneath those clear skies, temperatures have been dropping. many areas, particularly out in the countryside, starting the day below freezing.

but, as i mentioned, after that chilly start, we will see plenty of spells of sunshine. a little bit breezy down towards the south—east, so that will make it feel particularly chilly, and as we go on through the day, cloud will gradually increase from the west, so the sunshine will turn increasingly hazy. in fact, by the end of the afternoon, i think the skies will be largely grey across northern ireland and the western side of scotland, maybe even the odd splash of rain into the western isles. but for shetland, for 0rkney, for eastern and southern scotland, we should hold onto some hazy sunshine, just seven degrees in aberdeen, eight or nine in edinburgh and glasgow. and with some high cloud spreading across northern england down into wales, again the sunshine here will turn a little bit hazy through the afternoon. 11 degrees there in aberystwyth. fairly light winds across wales. light winds too across the south—west. maybe 13 with a bit of shelter there in plymouth. some patchy cloud across the midlands, east anglia and the south—east should keep plenty of sunshine but pretty cool, particularly around the coast of east anglia. now, as we go on through the night

into wednesday morning, england and wales where we keep clear skies will turn very cold again, a widespread frost. not as cold for northern ireland and scotland because here we'll have more cloud and some outbreaks of patchy rain courtesy of this very weak weather front just sinking its way into the picture. but behind that front we start to bring in more of a westerly wind, so won't be as chilly across scotland and northern ireland on wednesday. some extra cloud also sinking into northern england but through the midlands, south wales, down into southern england, here the best of the sunshine, 1a degrees the top temperature there in london. temperatures in the south particularly could rise further on thursday and friday. there'll be some further spells of sunshine. generally a fair amount of cloud around by this stage. so, to sum up this week, we'll see very little rain, it will be mostly dry. the days will be turning warmer, although some of the nights will continue to be frosty. but then by the end of the week and into the weekend, well, it looks like cold air will return from the north, so those temperatures will drop.

quite a chilly feel, i suspect, by the coming weekend. the latest headlines from bbc news, my name's mike embley. a senior member of north korea's government has warned that his country is prepared to engage in what he called all—out war from day one if the united states took military action. north korea's vice foreign minister han song ryol told the bbc that it would carry out a pre—emptive nuclear strike. donald trump has telephoned turkish president recep tayyip erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in sunday's referendum. it comes as ankara extends the state of emergency in the country for a further three months. emergency powers were first introduced following the attempted coup last july. facebook says it's reviewing the way it handles violent videos and other material violating its standards after a video of an apparent random killing remained on the site for more than two hours. the social media company says it'll make the review process faster. the alleged gunman is still on the run.

now it's time for hardtalk