a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the pentagon launches an inquiry into president trump's former national security advisor. michael flynn's accused of accepting unauthorised payments from foreign groups. protestors storm macedonia's parliament, attacking politicians after the election of an ethnic albanian as speaker. little more than a week before france's decisive presidential vote, polls suggest emmanuel macron‘s lead over marine le pen is shrinking. and facebook says it's launching new ways to uncover fake accounts and fight abuse on its platform. hello.

the pentagon is investigating payments to president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn, including one to attend a gala dinner in russia where he sat on a table with president putin. general flynn made headlines when he was fired by mr trump afterjust21i days in office, it emerged he'd misled vice president mike pence about his dealings with the russian ambassador. let's speak to the bbc‘s laura bicker, whojoins us live from washington. laura, what is the latest on this? we know the pentagon is investigating this $45,000 payment that was made to michael flynn for an appearance at a gala in moscow. when it comes to those payments, the reason this is all under scrutiny is because it's not allowed, both under the constitution and under guidelines. when asked about it,

certainly michael flynn's lawyer went ahead and said that he had asked permission. that is allowed if he has asked for permission but the pentagon said so far there's no evidence of this. they're looking for evidence as to whether or not he for evidence as to whether or not he for permission. his lawyer said the documents made available so far would prove his client's innocence but some have been redacted. this could result in criminal sanctions against michael flynn if he is found guilty but the investigation is ongoing. another developing story, some movement on efforts to end north korea's missile and nuclear programme? there have been to developments in the last hour. first of all, rex tillerson, the us secretary of state, has given a rare interview to fox news where he talked about the security council

meeting he will attend where he will push international members to push further and tougher sanctions on north korea. and he talked about chinese willingness to help. he said china had told north korea that if they did test another nuclear missile, beijing was prepared to impose sanctions on its own. that's the toughest threat yet china has offered its neighbour. and within the last few minutes donald trump we here has spoken to the news agency reuters ahead of his 100 days in office and he said there was a chance we could end up having a major, major conflict with north korea, absolutely, he said. he said we would love to solve things diplomatically but it's very difficult. he also said and praised the north korean leader, who said he was very young for his job. it's actually something rex tillerson said, he said he was aware this was a new, young leader in kimjong—un and he said us intelligence agencies

do not rate him as crazy. ruthless perhaps, a murderer perhaps, but not crazy. and rex tillerson has been speaking to npr saying the us favours direct talks with north korea on ending the nuclear programme. bilateral talks as opposed to anything back channel hasn't been policy since the bill clinton days? that's right, it hasn't been policy but what rex tillerson has said is he did not wa nt to tillerson has said is he did not want to negotiate their way to the negotiating table. to get there north korea has to change its stance, so it has to look as though it is willing at least to give up its nuclear programme and that's what they're looking to get towards to get to these negotiations. key to all of this of course is china and what rex tillerson has told these various news agencies is that china is showing willing when it comes to putting pressure on pyongyang because they feel that north korea

is now a serious threat to the region. it's worth remembering 85% of north korean trade is with china, so if china imposes sanctions it could have very serious sex.“ so if china imposes sanctions it could have very serious sex. if it actually does of course! laura, thank you thank you very much indeed. there's lots more on our website about president trump's first 100 days in office, including this trump tracker, which asks how much the president has achieved so far. you'll find it at bbc.com/news, or on the bbc news app. in london, a man carrying knives near the houses of parliament has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. the man, aged 27, had been under surveillance by the security services. he was stopped close to whitehall and wrestled to the ground. security in the area round parliament has been heightened since the westminster attack last month, which left five people dead. june kelly has the story. under arrest in the shadow of government buildings in whitehall. this wasn't a random stop search and arrest. the man was under surveillence as part of an ongoing operation by scotland yard's

counterterrorism command. close to parliament square before 2:30pm this afternoon, the suspect was quickly in handcuffs. police had wrestled him to the ground on a traffic island. it's close to the foreign office and entrance to downing street. he was led away to an unmarked car and taken to a high security police station in south london. and this is what he left behind, his rucksack and his knives. one of them, there was like kind of a long one really, it looked like... i don't know what kind of knife was it, but it was like really a proper strong knife. seemed quite calm. not much more than that. he didn't say anything. i wouldn't say panic but the firearms officers were running and they were all tense. the prime minister was away from london on an election visit to derbyshire.

i'm aware that an individual has been arrested in whitehall today and that that individual has been arrested on the basis of a terrorism charge. obviously i can't say much more about it because it is an ongoing police investigation, but i think it shows that our police and our intelligence and security services are on the alert, as they always are, looking to keep us safe and secure. for the second time in just over a month, westminster was once again on a terror alert. securities are concerned with the police and everything like that. overall, i think people still feel safe, and tourism... people are going to continue to do what they do. scary to be honest because it's happened the second time in one month. so, yeah, it makes me really, really worried. we saw the helicopters, like, circling there. people got in touch with you to find out if you're 0k. friends and family up north had kind of said, you know, make sure you're all right down there, you're not walking about. the suspect is said to have no link

to the killer khalid masood, who launched his assault first with a car and then a knife. he took the lives of five people, including pc keith palmer, and injured many more. since then there's been a heightened sense of security here. the fact that he's in a location which has recently been subject of a terrorist attack that would tend to make any investigating officer think that this is the time we need to step in before he causes some harm. the fact that perhaps he was making his way towards parliament as well is a very key point that they would want to take him out while he was least expecting it. so what do we know about the man arrested here today? well, he's 27 and lives in london. it's said that while he's a british national, he wasn't born in the uk. counterterrorism detectives and the security service m15 will have been trying to build a picture of his background and they've been monitoring his movements. as he begins his first night in custody, in the coming days police will be examination his

beliefs, his mental state and his associates. june kelly, bbc news, westminster. in a separate incident, a woman has been shot by police and four people arrested in an anti—terror operation in london. it was caught on camera by a passer by. gunshots two men and a woman were held after the shooting and another woman was arrested outside the capital in kent. the bbc‘s alexandra mackenzie has the details from where the incident took place in willesden, north london. police say this is an ongoing counterterrorism investigation. the house behind me had been under surveillance for some time, as have the people connected to it. now,

armed police raided the property at around 7pm this evening. a woman in her 20s was shot by police, she has been taken to hospital, and we have had an update on her condition, she is said to be serious but stable. now, she's not been arrested due to her condition but is under armed guard in hospital. 0thers her condition but is under armed guard in hospital. others have been arrested. we have been told that two people were arrested at the property, one person close to the house and a 43—year—old woman was arrested a short time later in kent. and all four were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism acts. this is an ongoing police enquiry that is still a police enquiry that is still a police presence here and searches are being made of the property. police have also said other searches of other properties are taking place across london and they are connected to this incident. police in macedonia have used stun grenades inside parliament to end chaotic scenes which erupted after a vote to elect an ethnic

albanian as speaker. protesters in skopje stormed the chamber and attacked mps after a coalition of parties backed talat xhaferi for the role. they fear moves to improve the status of albanians threaten macedonian unity. sarah corker reports. around 200 nationalist protesters, some wearing balaclavas, used chairs, tripods and otherfurniture as weapons to attack mps inside parliament. in the press room the fist fight broke out —— a fist fight. with blood pouring down his face, opposition leader was among ten people injured. the violence erupted just moments after an ethnic albanian was elected as parliamentary speaker. protesters oppose a coalition between mr zaev‘s

party, the social democrats, and ethnic albanian parties, which they see as a threat to national unity. local journalists say there's see as a threat to national unity. localjournalists say there's been months of political deadlock since an inconclusive election. the elections were in december, now we are end of april and still no parliament, functional parliament, no parliament and no government in macedonia. and at this level tensions were rising high. on social media un commissionerjohannes khan wrote: the secretary general of nato, jens stoltenberg, wrote: riot police tried to block the

entrance to the parliament and eventually had to use stun grenades to restore order. the president has called for calm and he has said he will meet with political leaders on friday. sarah corker, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: 0pposites attract. we catch up with the us newlyweds whose political leanings are trumped by love. nothing, it seems, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government to build better government housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration.

this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting forfor so long. it was 7am in the morning, the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the pentagon has launched an inquiry into president trump's former national security advisor. michael flynn's accused of accepting unauthorised payments from foreign groups. protestors have stormed macedonia's parliament, attacking politicians after the election of an ethnic albanian as speaker. facebook has announced it is

stepping up security to counter effo rts stepping up security to counter efforts by people who are spreading information and manipulative in public opinion through the social network site. it says operational installations will distort political censoring. they said a co—ordinated to influence the presidential election through fake news. let's talk to a cyber security expert. i guess this is not surprising. you assume facebook has been lent on politically to do this?” assume facebook has been lent on politically to do this? i would expect so. it's kind of counter to the business model to do this otherwise. they rely on advertising revenue and anything that goes viral, whether fake or not, certainly contributes to the business model. when you say it is counter to the business model to do this, you mean lose their money, but it could instil more confidence in the website? yes, i certainly can't

deny that and i'm sure that they've looked up the give—and—take on that. if users don't have confidence in the website they won't use it. it will have to reach a tipping point for them to make this move. you know how this works. what are the chances do you think that this will work? near zero. we've been watching advertising box trying to get paper click and pay per merchant revenue for the last many years. —— bots. everyday and advertisers think they have a problem of basically fraudulent advertising, the hackers basically find a way around it. so i highly doubt this will work. whether it works or not i guess other companies will have to make the same gesture, won't they? i would expect sirandi gesture, won't they? i would expect sirand i think gesture, won't they? i would expect sir and i think it will have to do a lot with popularity of the site and how much it feels like the fake news

problem is hurting their business model. i suppose the key question is, is there anything you can see from your experience that would work? facebook is in the drivers seatin work? facebook is in the drivers seat in this. as far as the data harvesting versus the fake news piece, they can certainly see when attackers are trying to harness key individuals. but as far as the application of fake news, i don't see what they can do. and you very much. in the run up to the french presidential run off on 7th may, the front national candidate marine le pen has been campaigning in the southern french city of nice. the city was hit injuly last year by a truck attack. 0ur europe correspondent james reynolds has been speaking to voters. this candidate in white wants immediate action. he was in his clothes shop when an attack killed

86 people. the 31—year—old has come with thousands more to hear marine le pen. translation: in the city it is so —— hit so hard by terrorism i will show no weakness in the face of islamic fundamentalism! the audience hears her promise to deploy more police and to deport suspects under surveillance. everyone is scared now. even to come here, no family and friends spoke about maybe it is dangerous to come, we are scared in front and we all think she is the strongest person to be able to protect us and protect france. these are the true believers, campaigning for their leader. but they won't be enough alone. in order to win the election, marine le pen must find and win over new voters. that means that she has to win the mood of the city that still recovering. some here do want greater action, but many believe the

front national is simply not the answer. this 18—year—old fled from the attacks on this promenade. what happened here has not made her turn to marine le pen. i don't think it changes how i think about security. because i don't think we can always stop everything. i think a lot of people just wanted to gain votes and it has really shocked me. in order to quieten marine le pen they and others like her will make a simple choice. vote for opponent, emmanuel macron. front—runner emmanual macron took his campaign to the paris suburbs where he told his supports that he aimed to heal the divide in france. translation: france is not the

narrow face of hatred that marine le pen presents. i will not let her be the face of france. i will not let to trivialise the national front party, of racist party. she puts up helm of the party someone who expressed extraordinarily grave opinions. she herself expresses extremely grave opinions. emmanuel macron talking of divide. it is often said in matters of the heart opposite struck. —— opposites attract. that's certainly true for one pennsylvania couple whose politics couldn't be more divided. before the election, we met democrat gretchen wisehart and herfiance tom ellis, who supported donald trump. well now they're married, and although they've both said i do to tying the knot, they still say i don't when it comes to agreeing about the president. rajini vaidya nathan's been catching up with them. iam i am gretchen and i voted for your printed. i voted for donald trump. and wejust got printed. i voted for donald trump. and we just got married. we have a —— had a couple of days after the election when i said, i can't talk

to you. i did know what to say. during the election they were engaged in a lot of heated political discussions. don't talk over me yet! i caught discussions. don't talk over me yet! icaught up discussions. don't talk over me yet! i caught up with them again six weeks into their marriage. this is the room you got married in! and 100 days into the grubby presidency.” never thought anyone would say that i would be living under a trump presidency. every day i wake up with a stomachache and wonder what happened overnight that i am not aware of. i told she should be very happy because our wedding and our honeymoon was paid for by the donald trump increase in the stock market. i think the travel ban was an ill—conceived, racist ban that was never going to pass constitutional muster. the travel ban was too quicker rollout and that was the problem. the philosophy was foreign, the rollout was poor. the president totally flopped on healthcare reform. it really was amazing that he didn't have a plan in place when he didn't have a plan in place when

he finally got to the white house. he tried to roll it out too quickly. it is going on right now. there's always an albatross around every president's net. it takes a long time. i did support the strike in syria. i think the measured response to the atrocities that occurred in syria was long over due. it was well done, well orchestrated strike that i was very proud of the president. the president promised to come to washington and drained swamp and instead of doing that he dredged it might fill it with nepotism and clipped 0xy. might fill it with nepotism and clipped oxy. except for steve bannon i think the staff has been to repeat and his staff on national security is one of the best. you might wonder how they make their marriage work with these political differences but they do. we've had disagreements about these arra nt they do. we've had disagreements about these arrant tie a relationship, but we can have arguments and argue and disagree with our disrespecting each other. we aren't in election mode any more

and now we have a president. until he is impeached. i think that's coming very soon. he is impeached. i think that's coming very soon. but i still love you! now to one of the most ambitious effort is about to explore faraway planets. it is reaching what nasa calls the ground finale. the cassini spacecraft has just dived through the narrow gap between saturn and its spectacular rings and today it has started sending data back to earth. a daring mission deep in our solar system. the spacecraft travelling at 100,000 kilometres an hour hasjust plunged between saturn and its icy rings. taking us closer to this giant world than ever before. at mission hq in california, celebrations as scientists received the news that the manoeuvre had worked. and these are the ultra close—up images of the spacecraft

has just sent back. a colossal storm raging on the planet's surface and drifting clouds in its atmosphere.” was waiting with bated breath to make sure the spacecraft was ok and the data was coming back. this is the data was coming back. this is the first time any spacecraft has been this close to saturn. crossing the rings essentially but hopefully in the gap there is no material. it's never been done before. this is the first time we are doing this. 0ur the first time we are doing this. our understanding of saturn has already been radically transformed by the cassini mission. it has been in space for 20 years, taking cou ntless in space for 20 years, taking countless stunning images and revealing dozens of saturn's moons with its icy crust. but now it's the beginning of the end the spacecraft. after so long in space is running out of fuel. in coming months it will perform more sweeps through the ring system before a final death

dive into saturn's atmosphere, to bring the mission to a close. a reminder of the main news, president trump has warned once more that a major conflict could break out with north korea over its nuclear and missile programmes. he said he preferred a diplomatic outcome but that would be difficult to achieve at the other end of the scale —— google to achieve. at the other end of the scale, rex tillerson says he favours direct talks, what he also said china had told him it had issued its toughest threat yet to pyongyang. it expects north korea would —— expect it will enforce sanctions if north korea carries out another test. much more on albany is any time the bbc website. thanks for watching. hello.

as we've been finding out recently, spring can offer up a wide variety of weather and sometimes we try to cram it all into one day. that was the way of it on thursday. at its best, absolutely no complaints in fife. but elsewhere, nowhere near 15 degrees with cloud around and showers as well. that is how we are going to start friday too. the last thursday's showers tending to migrate away from the eastern side of the british isles down towards the west. but i think you'll notice that wherever you start the new day on friday, it won't be just as cold, as was the start to thursday, where there was quite a widespread frost. i think not a particularly warm start to the day but two, three, four, five degrees — perfectly acceptable for this time of year.

that thicker cloud across southern and western parts comes thanks to this rather weak weather front. if you are desperate for some rain i'm afraid again that is not a feature for you. it will produce a wee bit of rain first for wales and the south—west midlands into south—west england, but even here some areas will be dry right from the word go. and after a glorious start across some eastern parts, as we get on into the afternoon the cloud will bubble up somewhat and there could be some showers from that as well. temperatures in a range at best from around eight or nine on the eastern coast down to around about 14 or 15 on the south coast. the bank holiday weekend, breezy but the wind is coming in from the south and south—east, so milder than of late, and it wouldn't be a bank holiday without the mention of some rain. but we hold off on that prospect. through saturday there is a scattering of showers, no great organisation about them. many areas are dry and, as i say, the breeze coming from the south. this is where we start to mention the rain, with a deal of uncertainty, it has to be said. a lot of isobars there,

so you'll be flying your kite, that's for sure, if you're out on the beach on sunday, but it will be a damp affair certainly we suspect for the south—west, for wales, getting up towards northern ireland, butjust how far north and east that rainbelt gets during the course of the day is open to a lot of uncertainty at the moment. so if you've got a plan for sunday, keep checking the forecast is the watchword at the moment, because that whole weather system could move with time and also in space. but we are more confident that on monday the feature will have moved away to the north sea, leaving behind a legacy of cloud, still a wee bit breezy in places, but there should be dry weather for the holiday monday. this is bbc world news, the headlines: the pentagon says it's investigating payments to donald trump's former national security advisor michael flynn, including one to attend a gala dinner in russia where he sat on a table with president putin. protestors have stormed macedonia's parliament,

attacking politicians, after the election of an ethnic albanian as speaker. police used stun grenades inside the parliament building to bring the chaotic scene under control. little more than a week before france's decisive presidential vote, polls suggest emmanuel macron's lead over marine le pen is shrinking. there've been rallies in several french cities in a protest against both candidates. facebook says it is stepping up its fight against fake news. it's introducing new security measures to counter efforts by governments and other actors that use the social media network to spread disinformation. now on bbc news, the day in parliament.