this is bbc news, our top stories: defiance as north korea test—fires another ballistic missile. the us says the world must do more to curb its nuclear ambitions. failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences. as president trump approaches his 100th day in office, we report from ohio where somes say he's sparked a rustbelt revival. praying for peace. pope francis urges all faiths to renounce violence as he visits egypt's besieged christian community. and it could be the biggest fight in british boxing history. anthonyjoshua and vladimir klitchko square up ahead of saturday's heavyweight showdown. hello and welcome to bbc news.

we start with breaking news from north korea. in the last couple of hours, the us military and south korean officials have confirmed north korea has fired a ballistic missile which exploded shortly after lift—off. the launch, from an airfield in pukchang, camejust hours after a special session at the un security council in which the us pushed for tougher sanctions on the pyongyang regime. barbara plett—usher reports from un headquarters in new york. after weeks of mounting concern in washington over north korea, the secretary of state arrived in the united nations to make his case. un sanctions aren't working was the message, there needs to be a new campaign of pressure. and he clarified the stakes, ultimately this is being driven by america's of

national security concerns he said, so national security concerns he said, so it's serious. with each successful detonation and missile test, north korea pushes east asia and the world closer to instability and the world closer to instability and broader conflict. the threat of and broader conflict. the threat of a north korean nuclear attack on seoul or tokyo is real. it's likely only a matter of time before north korea develops the capability to strike the us mainland. indeed the dprk has repeatedly claimed it plans to conduct such a strike. given that rhetoric, the united states cannot either leave standby, nor can other members of this council who are within striking distance from north korea mitchells —— missiles —— idly. despite un pressure on north korea has been able to accelerate its weapons programme, and shortly after mr tillerson spoke it fired another missile, although that test seems to have failed. still, it was an act of

defiance, like this massive live fire exercises last week. only tighter sanctions and greater diplomatic isolation might force north korea to give up its weapons, said the secretary of state, and its powerful chinese neighbour was the key to make that work. but the chinese foreign minister pushed back. translation: china is not a focal point on the peninsula. the key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsular does not lie in the hands of china. but as a close neighbour and with the attitude for peace and stability on the peninsula and the region, china has over the yea rs and the region, china has over the years made efforts and played a unique role in promoting a nuclear solution to the issue. china wants immediate negotiations, not a blue military buildup like this us missile defences to in south korea, oi’ missile defences to in south korea, or more us warships in the reason,

region, thatjust escalates tension, it says. but the trump administration is keeping open the threat of military action in case of further provocations. the latest missile test probably won't be another triggerfor that missile test probably won't be another trigger for that but it will help strengthen international resolve to put the economic squeeze on north korea's determined young leader. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, at the united nations in new york. let's speak to the bbc‘s laura bicker, whojoins us live from washington. looking at that week, is the us looking to china to lean on its neighbour? yes, that we would suggest that's where donald trump is

placing his hope. but as you heard from the chinese ambassador to the un, that hope may be slightly misplaced. one thing they may have been discussing this evening, and we understand this from us officials who have talked to the news agency reuters, and that is they may be looking at deploying more ships, perhaps more military aircraft to the region as a show of strength. that's not going to be a strategy that the chinese will like, but it may just forced the that the chinese will like, but it mayjust forced the hand of the chinese. other strategies we understand they are discussing is implementing the new economic sanctions and speeding those up —— force. they could include targeting the likes of banks, north korean banks and perhaps even chinese banks. remember when it comes to the sanctions the reason china is the key is 85% of north korean trade is with china, so if china tightens the

screw it will have an affect. but yes, it is an act of defiance that north korea has committed in the last few hours, and i would imagine as donald trump heads into his 100th day it will become a bigger global worry to him. in the recent days and weeks we've seen tensions between north korea and the us increase. the us perhaps expecting some kind of provocation in response to its military exercises? again, we understand from those us officials who spoke to the reuters news agency on the condition of anonymity that they were expecting some kind of provocation but they were expecting it before the south korean elections on may the ninth. so it does seem they are monitoring the situation, that they have a number of sources that they have a number of sources that are telling them what could be happening on the ground in north korea. and we know from three years

ago, president obama asked for a cyber unit to be set up to monitor what was happening in north korea. so there is a lot of effort going into this. this has been two weeks of high profile talking about north korea, describing what they want to do, and discussing strategy, not just at the un but here in washington as well, senators were briefed on that, very unusual briefing at the white house. so president trump has his sights squarely on dealing with the young leader in pyongyang. whether or not he's able to do so, well, we'lljust have to wait and see. laura, thanks very much. laura bicker in washington. on saturday us president donald trump marks 100 days in office. he'll spend the actual anniversary at a big rally in pennsylvania. coincidentally the rally is being held at the same time as the white house correspondents' dinner, which is traditionally attended by the incumbent president. on friday mr trump met possibly some of his staunchest supporters,

at a meeting of the gun lobby group, the national rifle association. the eight—year assault on your second amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. applause you have a true friend and champion in the white house. no longer will federal agencies be coming after law—abiding gun owners. applause if you follow the trail of support for mr trump, you'll find he enjoys popularity in the so—called rust belt, a region suffering from economic decline, population loss and urban decay. the bbc‘s nick bryant travelled to the state of ohio, one of the key swing states of last november's election, to see what voters there make of donald trump's first 100 days. when we visited the ohio river valley last summer, this stretch of water was suffering a slow and agonising death.

but since donald trump became president, locals have seen a dramatic and instant turnaround, a rust belt revival. coal barges are full again, partly because of the relaxation of environmental regulations. 150 boats now work this part of the river, compared to just 25 last year. back then, bob harrison told us america needed a businessman as president, and in 25 years, he has never seen such a turnaround. like the switch was turned on. we're busy. we've got more stuff going on, and our business has dramatically picked up. and you think that's the trump effect? yes, i talked to lots of different people, we call it the trump bump, so it's been good for us. last summer, in the town of clinton, pennsylvania, we came across this huge trump sign erected by one—time democrat mike leber. now it has been put away in the barn, but not

through embarrassment. if anything, his admiration for donald trump has grown. just speaking with people, they‘ re more upbeat. they feel like the government isn't on their back. feels like the jackboot of the government's off their neck. so it gives them a chance to thrive. he promised to revive regions like this. do you think he's doing that? yes, i do. it was trump's hothead temperament that put off american football coach bill timko when we spoke to him last year. he's bombastic, he's obscene, and i don't like the guy. now, not only a change of sport, but a change of opinion. in these first 100 days, trump has won him over. well, i've changed my mind because he made campaign promises and he came through. and that's what you want. you want to see that the guy is going to do what he said he was going to do. what about twitter? he needs to stay off of that. you know, that gets him

in a lot of trouble. a republican who voted for hillary clinton, amber thompson, was a staunch trump critic, and remains so, but nonetheless applauds his decision to strike syria. even a blind squirrel finds the nut sometimes. i believe that trump's response to the chemical attack in syria was 100% correct, and i hope that putting pressure on the russians and the assad regime will help to bring an end to this war. i hope that syria will be donald trump's nut. donald trump has been suffering from historically low approval ratings, but in this run—down region, we did not find much evidence of buyer's remorse. president trump has been much like candidate trump, and while that's horrified liberals in america's major cities, who regard him as a national embarrassment, here in the rust belt, he is still widely viewed as a potential national saviour. two trumps, two americas. but the region that won him the presidency remains a stronghold. nick bryant, bbc news, ohio. let's take a look at some

of the other stories making the news. brazil's first general strike in more than twenty years has paralysed public transport and closed schools and banks across the country. there've also been reports of striking workers blocking roads and police using tear gas to disperse the crowds. trade unions called for the stoppage to protest against president michel temer‘s pension reforms. us defence officials say two american special forces soldiers killed in eastern afghanistan on wednesday may have been accidentally shot by their own side. they died soon after dozens of us and afghan personnel launched a helicopter—borne raid targeting the islamic state leader in afghanistan. former first lady michelle obama appeared to rule out running for elected office in herfirst public remarks since leaving the white house. speaking in orlando, the former first lady described her family's new—found freedom. although mrs obama has played down her political ambitions before, this is the first time she has done so since the election campaign.

pope francis wants funding to be cut off from groups that promote violence. he says such acts cannot be committed in the name of god. the pope's appeal comes just weeks after egypt's coptic christian community was targeted with two deadly church bombings on palm sunday. during a speech in cairo, the pope said religious leaders were duty—bound to unmask such violence. our eeligious affairs correspondent martin bashir reports. at the start of this trip, a papal greeting on the plane. i asked the pope what he hoped to accomplish. he responded with a smile, knowing that words would come later. the warmth of the official welcome

from president sisi for this first papal visit in almost 20 years contrasts with the treatment of egypt's 9 million christians, 10% of the population. three weeks ago on palm sunday, so—called islamic state says it was behind the bombing of two coptic churches, that killed dozens and injured more than 100 people. inter—religious dialogue was therefore centrestage at pope francis's most important event of this two—day visit. sharing a podium with the grand imam of the al—azhar mosque, the historic centre of sunni muslims, pope francis offered a traditional greeting in arabic... as—salamu alaykum. ..and then launched into an unequivocal condemnation of religious brutality. "let us say once more a firm

and clear no to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of god." an audience of christians and muslims responded positively to the pope's message. so we need the message of peace now, for the middle east is suffering a lot. translation: his visit has been long—awaited. it brought a message of coexistence across religions. it was an honour. while a 36 hour visit to cairo is unlikely to transform relations between islam and the catholic church, pope francis has said that engagement and encounter must be given the opportunity to triumph over conflict. the day concluded with the pope

visiting his coptic counterpart, pope tawadros, in st mark's cathedral, where they prayed for peace. martin bashir, bbc news, cairo. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: 100 days into the trump presidency, what about that wall? we report from the us—mexico border. 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 for for so long. it was 7:00am 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. hello. this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. our main story this owl: —— hour. north korea has test—fired another ballistic missile, sparking international condemnation. the us wants the world to do more to curb its nuclear ambitions. in a speech to the national rifle association today, president trump hammered home the point that he would build a wall with mexico. that's despite recent signs of backing down over

funding the barrier. so what can we expect in the next 100 days on this issue? the bbc‘s james cook explained how things now stand along the us—mexico border. there is a fence across quite a significant stretch of the border at the moment. perhaps a third of the border, perhaps slightly less, is fenced at the moment. you can see it here. we're the pacific end — the pacific ocean is just over there, that's mexico over in that direction. it runs along that way. the border itself goes some 2000 miles or 3000 kilometres towards the gulf of mexico. so building a wall all the way along it, almost everyone you speak to actually on the border itself tells you it's just not really practical or necessarily desirable. nonetheless, there is plenty of support amongst border agents for beefing up security and spending more money on the border and building some new barriers. i've been speaking to one of those border agents, a union representative,

joshua wilson, from the border council. because during the obama administration there was frankly no consequence for crossing the border illegally and it only invited people to come. this newfound will to enforce the law has been a real deterrent and agents are finally glad to have someone in the white house who supports us and our mission. would a wall work? you know, a wall is just one layer in our defence posture. it allows us to more easily monitor those who are crossing illegally and interdict them. but of course, people who work with immigrants, some people who have crossed this borderfrom mexico, say they have a very different view. they are very concerned about the trump administration and are concerned about the direction it is heading in and concerned about the attitude of some of these agents under the new administration. i spoke to someone who founded an organisation called border angels, that looks after some of those migrants. i was born in san diego and have been here all my life. we really hope donald trump doesn't go through with the wall.

there continues to be less people crossing. we hope he will use his rhetoric and say, i'm president, i don't need to build the wall now. we never needed it. we should be building bridges of communication, working with our neighbours to the south. we are friendly nations. let's treat each other with dignity and respect. not building these walls of hate. in terms of whether that wall is actually going to be built, there is going to be, says president trump and his team, what some people are calling ‘a beauty contest‘ for the wall in california. more than 200 companies have expressed interest. somewhere between four and 20 will actually build the wall. it could happen as soon as the summer. but the funding to actually build it has not yet by any means been agreed. france's far—right national front has replaced its leader for the second time in three days, after a row erupted about holocaust denial.

jean—francois jalkh had been named as the interim party president on tuesday after marine le pen stepped aside to fight for the french presidency. mrjalkh denies claims that he has has questioned the reality of nazi gas chambers. he is now being replaced by one of the party's meps. sarah corker reports. once again, marine le pen's far—right national front party found itself fighting controversy over alleged holocaust remarks by a senior official. this man, jean—francois jalkh, who she named the party's interim leaderjust days ago. he is accused of praising the work of a holocaust and i are. and so that —— and so outside her campaign headquarters, it ran the pen was on the defensive. translation: he sees it as unfair. he will sue over the claims. i have appointed the vice president to be

the interim president. this is an unwelcome episode. earlier on french television, marine le pen emphasised her work to purge the party of the anti—semitism that was its trademark under herfather. anti—semitism that was its trademark under her father. and anti—semitism that was its trademark under herfather. and emmanuel macron visited the site of a nazi massacre on friday. brands's wartime pastis massacre on friday. brands's wartime past is taking centre stage in the race for the presidency. translation: i want, in race for the presidency. translation: iwant, in the race for the presidency. translation: i want, in the context of this campaign, to come here and pay respect to the victims and their families and to a sombre page in our history. french voters face a stark choice between a resurgent far—right and a pro—eu former banker whose political movement is barely a year old. meanwhile, jean—luc melenchon declined to back either candidate, dismissing it as a contest between extreme finance and the far—right. translation: amongst the 7 million

people who voted for me in the first round, iam people who voted for me in the first round, i am certain that there must bea round, i am certain that there must be a minority that are going to vote for the national front. emmanuel macron may be the front—runner, but marine le pen has attracted a record number of voters and there are more intense days of campaigning ahead of the run—off. one of the biggest bouts in british boxing history will take place at wembley stadium in london tomorrow night. it's between british heavyweight anthonyjoshua and the veteran ukrainian vladimir klitschko. joshua only turned professional after the london olympics, but is the favourite to win. our sports correspondent, natalie pirks, reports on one of the most eagerly anticipated contests for yea rs. one is the young world champion who has brought integrity back to heavyweight boxing. the other is the elder statesman who has been the man to beat for 19 years. but in a build up free of histrionics, the tone has been distinctly more intelligent.

i feel young, hungry, humble, ifeel young, hungry, humble, and totally obsessed. he's obsessed, he's got passion, he's in love. so when i do defeat him, i'd like people to say i faced the best man possible, and a man coming off defeat is the best man, because you learn from your mistakes. i think that's why i'm looking forward to the challenge. with just 18 pro fights under his belt, though, joshua concedes 1a years of experience to the erudite a1—year—old, a man whose camp he joined as a youngster to learn from the olympic gold—medallist. joshua, of course, went on to become one himself. the audience of 90,000 here inside wembley stadium will break post—war boxing records. the fight will be watched in more than 140 countries, and in britain alone more than one million people are expected to pay to watch it. the fight could generate up to £60

million, which would mean, for anthonyjoshua, that come sunday morning, he could be £15 million richer. the world may well be watching, butjoshua's mum won't be. honestly, i've hit people before, and i admire the shot, because it's — i have the best seat in the house. you know? that's why i don't want my mum to be that close to seeing her son go through war. she's important in your life? she's important, yes. let's keep a smile on herface. i can't remember the last time i see her cry, or worried, and i'd like to keep it that way. she might well be about to miss a career—ending fight for klitschko, and a career—defining one for her son. natalie pirks, bbc news, wembley. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm at @benmbland. the bank holiday weekend is upon us.

let's see what the weather is up to. it is looking a bit mixed. a little breezy, but reasonably warm for most of us and there is some rain on the way, but not everybody will get the rain. this is the weather map in the short term. weather fronts are fairly close to the uk, but far enough to give us a dry start to the day. this is what it looks like around 11—5 in the morning. lots of clear spells around. temperatures in towns and cities around 6—9 celsius, so not an especially chilly start to the day. saturday morning dawns on a bright if not sunny note for most of us. there will be a bit of cloud here and there, but it breaks up through the morning and the best of the sunshine on saturday is expected across the southern half of the uk, especially

the south coast. so looking out to sea, might be clear blue skies. temperatures at lunchtime — 15 degrees in london. for most of us, around 12—13 degrees and just maybe one or two light showers around, but that's pretty much it. nice enough in inverness as well, about 12 degrees with sunshine. the afternoon won't change much. it will turn breezy across some of these western areas. maybe even later in the day in northern ireland, around the coast, it could touch gale force. compared to the rest of europe on saturday, fairly similar. 17 in paris. we are doing better than madrid. madrid about 1k degrees. rome will be sunny — 22. the real heat at the moment in greece, into the 30s. back to the uk, saturday and into sunday, low pressure still out in the atlantic. starting to push weather fronts ever closer. so already on sunday the weather will be going downhill across south—western parts of the uk. quite strong winds as well. notjust in the south—west but also

in these sunnier spots. along the north sea coasts, really blustery winds. ahead of this weather front and the rain it could get up to 18 in london and possibly up into the mid or high teens in scotland as well. through the course of the evening, this is sunday, the rain will push further north and east. by the time we get to monday you can see the weather front in the north and the chance of catching some showers across southern areas. so a bit of a mix. certainly the best day of the weekend looks as if will be sunday, with dry weather across the uk. this is what the average temperature at this time of year. 16 in the south and 1a in the north, so that's roughly what we will be getting. this is bbc world news. the headlines: north korea has launched another ballistic missile from a region north of its capital, pyongyang. but a us government source has told the reuters news agency the test failed and the us might speed up sanctions against pyongyang. it came hours after the us secretary of state called for a tougher

international approach towards the government in pyongyang. rex tillerson warned of potentially catastrophic consequences if the world failed to deal with north korea's nuclear programme. pope francis has prayed for peace on a visit to egypt to encourage tolerance between christians and muslims. earlier this month 45 people were killed in the bombing of two christian coptic churches. there've been violent scenes across brazil after the country's first general strike for 20 years. millions were protesting over proposed pension reforms, forcing schools and banks to close and paralysing public transport. tom donkin will be here at 2am, but now on bbc news it's time for click.