welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: after weeks of threats, president trump now says he would be honoured to meet and have talks with north korea's leader, under the right circumstances. if the conditions are clear, if the circumstances present themselves, we would be prepared to. but they're clearly not at this time. violent scenes on the streets of paris, as the city's traditional may day march becomes a protest against marine le pen. they can't even agree to disagree. britain and eu leaders offer rival explanations for what happened at a downing street dinner. after months of protest, venezuela's president says he is creating a new citizens assembly, which could give him much greater powers. and the faces of war. a new portrait exhibition focuses on the americans who fought in iraq and afghanistan. president trump has said he would be

willing to meet the north korean leader, kim jong—un, despite weeks of tough talk against the pyongyang regime. in an interview with bloomberg, mr trump said he would be honoured to meet mr kim in the right circumstances. in a separate interview with fox news, the president himself reverted to a stronger line. he called north korea's stance on its missile programme inflammatory and very threatening to the united states. he said he would take action if he had to. barbara plett—usher has more. during the election campaign, donald trump said he might be willing to sit down for a burger with kim jong—un. but the drop that notion of burger diplomacy after the north korean leader declared he was working on a missile powerful enough to hit the united states. you do you

have to do, and you don't talk about it. so when people say, i was asked a question yesterday, exactly when would you go in? at what time would you go in? i mean, it is ridiculous. i don't want to talk about it. i can say this. he is very threatening, he isa say this. he is very threatening, he is a big threat to the world. how safe our troops along the demilitarised zone, and our ally in south korea, safe are they with some defence systems we have provided, and what is the status of those? nobody is safe, who is safe? the guy has nuclear weapons, i would like to say he is safe. these are great troops, we have 20,000 troops on the line, and they are right there. so nobody is safe. we are probably not safe over here. if he gets a long—range missiles, we are not safe here either. so we have to do something about it, and we will see what happens. now, after weeks of tough talk and escalating questions, mrtrump has again tough talk and escalating questions, mr trump has again alluded to the possibility of meeting kim jong—un

under the right circumstances. the white house spokesman, sean spicer, quickly clarified that conditions are not right at the moment. we would have to see their behaviour ratcheted down immediately. there is a lot of things that have to happen with respect to their behaviour and signs of good faith. clearly conditions are not there right now, but i think the president has made it clear, as secretary rex tillerson has the other day, that if the conditions, if the circumstances present themselves, we would be prepared to, but they are clearly not at this time. the secretary of state, rex tillerson, has said north korea must take concrete steps to reduce the threat of it illegal weapon. mac weapons programmes, before talks can even be considered. in the meantime he is pressing for an international campaign to tighten sanctions on north korea, while keeping open the threat of military actions. but president trump likes to keep his adversaries off—balance. true to form, in the last few days he has range from predicting a major conflict with north korea to

describing mr kim is a pretty smart cookie by holding on to power by wiping out his rivals. let's cross live to los angeles and speak to the bbc‘s david willis. david, this seems to be the latest ofa david, this seems to be the latest of a series of approaches. does it seem to you like an actual policy programme, kind of designed to keep an adversary off—balance, or an administration grasping around for a policy? a very good question, mike. the trump administration has tried a number of different approaches to tackle this growing threat from north korea. it has attempted to get china to exert the leveraged that it, as north korea's chief benefactor, has over the country there. it has also sought to beef up there. it has also sought to beef up the military angle, if you like, sending an aircraft carrier group to the region. now we see a sort of charm offensive, if you like, on the pa rt charm offensive, if you like, on the part of president trump. we heard in

barbara's report that that he referred to president kim jong—un as a smart cookie, and now he is saying that he would be willing to negotiate with kim jong—un directly. he would be willing to meet back, and would be honoured, in fact, to do so. now, the white house very swiftly had to say, well, this is not imminentand swiftly had to say, well, this is not imminent and there are no plans to go ahead with this. but it has led to some saying that this sending of different signals, if you like, is rather confusing, and it demonstrates a sort of lack of coherence as far as the trump administration is concerned, in its dealings with north korea. that particular word, david, dealings with north korea. that particularword, david, does the north korean leader who starved and imprisoned thousands of his own people, threatened to destroy the united states, now president trump is honoured to met him, or would be. it is only fair to point out that if barack 0bama had used that phrase, he would be under a republican

onslaught for kind of humiliating the us, wouldn't he? absolutely, and you know what? it is controversial language and it has attracted criticism. also, in another interview with fox news network, president trump said that nobody was safe, as he put it, from the threat posed by north korea. he was referring to the united states particularly, and he said it is very unsettling. the north korean regime poses, as he put it, a big threat to the world. but as far as the red line, as it were, is concerned, mike, he refused to directly answer that question or to define what would constitute a red line as far as the north korean actions are concerned. he said as he has said before that he doesn't choose the telegraph is military intentions in advance. thank you very much for that. both rivals in the french presidential race have traded blows at the start of the final week of campaigning. on sunday, voters will chose between pro—eu candidate emmanuel macron and the far—right candidate marine le pen.

in a rally on monday, she characterised him as the establishment candidate. he said he would fight until the last second to make sure she didn't reach office. here is our paris correspondent lucy williamson. the second round of french elections has been the graveyard of far—right dreams of power. used to facing a united front of all her rivals, marine le pen is now calling on voters to unite against someone else, her liberal opponent, emmanuel macron. translation: the enemy of the french people is still the world of finance. but now it has a name, it has a face, it has a party, it wants to be elected, and it's called emmanuel macron. her image in this campaign has become ever softer, a woman of the people, a mother, and a protector of what she calls forgotten france.

translation: the french are being fooled less and less. they're fed up of taking orders from people who have always deceived them. that isn't working any more. the barrier now is against macron, and all he represents. that's the future. for decades, the front national has influenced french politics from the margins. now, marine le pen says the party represents the mainstream on issues like immigration and the eu. but many voters still fear that she would unravel france's democratic traditions, and that fear, as one paper put it, is her political glass ceiling. by the river seine today, emmanuel macron honoured a moroccan man killed by far—right supporters two decades ago, a reminder of the controversial history that dogs the front national. but support for the far—right is growing here, and on a visit to france's rural heartland over the weekend, he told us that this election was the last call for france's membership of the eu. you have almost half of this country angry with the european idea, so we have to reform this europe.

we need a new european union in situation, to protect our people and to regulate our globalisation. if, the day after, i decide to follow up and pursue the current functioning of the european union, i will betray my people. i don't want to do so, because the day after, we will have a frexit, or we will have the front national again. there were scuffles today on the margins of an anti—fn march, injuring several police. but the success of france's far—right party isn't the shock that it used to be, and rather than voting for liberal reform to keep the front national from power, some on the left are wondering whether to vote at all. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: three young women have been arrested in east london on suspicion of terrorism offences. the arrests are linked to a raid on thursday in another part of the city in which a woman

was shot and wounded by police. a further seven people arrested after the raid are still in custody. the united states has issued a new travel warning for europe, saying americans should be aware of the continued threat of terror attacks. the us state department cites recent incidents in britain, france and russia, and warns that so—called islamic state and al-qaeda have the ability to plan and carry out attacks. officials say the warning has not been prompted by a specific threat. at least 27 people have been injured in severe turbulence on an aeroflot flight from moscow to bangkok. these pictures show the aftermath of the incident. the jet hit an air pocket about a0 minutes before landing. russian officials say no injuries are life—threatening, but several passengers suffered broken bones and three needed surgery. britain's prime minister, theresa may, has dismissed reports of a sharp disagreement with the european commission president, jean—claude juncker, during a dinner last week. a german newspaper has suggested they clashed over the rights of eu citizens and the cost of brexit. it said mrjuncker left the meeting more sceptical than before. but the prime minister insisted

the talks were constructive, and said the story was brussels gossip. here is our political correspondent ben wright. may day means a bikes and barrows festival in this lancashire village, and people seem keen to peddle their politics. but the election was not the main concern here this morning. a different sort of contest was. ready to shoot. the tories are targeting many marginal seats like this in lancashire. and their message, that brexit negotiations are going to be tough, and that theresa may is best—placed to handle them, sits at the heart of their election campaign. but this tough? a german newspaper has published an account by unnamed eu officials of a dinner held last week at number ten between theresa may and the eu negotiating team.

it describes deep disagreements between the two sides. according to the paper, the prime minister and the eu commission president, jean—claude juncker, seen here before the dinner, clashed over the exit bill britain must pay, the structure of the talks, and the prospects of a quick trade deal. apparently mrjuncker left the dinner ten times more sceptical than he was beforehand, and he found theresa may showed no willingness to compromise. the prime minister was also in lancashire today, on the stump and trying to stamp out talk of a fracas with brussels. is the account of the meeting true, and has brexit gone off the rails before the talks have even started? i have to say that, from what i have seen of this account, i think it's brussels gossip. and just look at what the european commission themselves said immediately after the dinner took place, which was that the talks had been constructive. but describing the account of acrimony and division between britain and the eu as brussels gossip is not the same as dismissing it as nonsense.

she and mrjuncker clearly don't see eye to eye. may day means workers' solidarity for labour, but there was no fraternity from opposition parties, for a prime minister under pressure. to start negotiations by threatening to walk away, with no deal and set up this sort of no—tax economy on the shores of europe, is not a very sensible way of approaching people with whom half of our trade is done at the present time. the revelations overnight showed theresa may being guilty of astonishing arrogance and complacently, that she feels that somehow the lack of any kind of deal, no free trade deal, no co—operation on peace and security, that that's somehow acceptable to families up and down this country. this matters, because brexit will shape how people in lancashire and elsewhere will vote. if she does it, which i presume she will, it strengthens her argument, doesn't it? obviously it's going to be a difficult time during brexit, and if she wants to push through

and put through what we need, as a country and as a government, she needs the backing and to know that she can have the support of the country, with her being elected. i think she's called it because she knows she's going to win, doesn't she? i think she's coming under the brexit banner, really. but it wouldn't change the way i was going to vote, anyway, i don't think. which is? labour. brexit will be a difficult balance between the uk and brussels, and this leaked account from the eu side shows a willingness to brief about the talks to their advantage. but it also reveals that, on many issues, the sides are far apart, and the mood is farfrom merry. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the faces of war. a new portrait exhibition focusing on the americans who fought in iraq and afghanistan. 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 o'clock 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: president trump has said he is prepared to meet the north korean leader kimjong—un if the circumstances are right. there've been clashes during protests in paris — at the start of the final week of campaigning for the presidential election. violent may day protests have broken out in venezuela, marking one month of upheaval, with anti—government protestors demanding fresh elections. in the centre of the capital caracas, government supporters gathered to hear a speech by president maduro but as daniel pardo reports, it's a different story on the city's outskirts, where riot police fired tear gas at angry protestors. 0nce once again, this city has been taken over by protest. here in the east by people who opposed the government of

president maduro and in the city centre, of people who support him. in both cases, radically and sometimes violently. we just tried to enter the city centre but it was com pletely to enter the city centre but it was completely blocked by all sorts of barricades, either by the national guard or the police. people here we re guard or the police. people here were trying to protest at the supreme court as well as the electoral board. they believe support the government and are against all these people. it has been a month since protests started in this country and it is difficult to see where they will end up. pope francis said during the week and the dialogue should solve the crisis but the opposition said there is no way to dialogue with this so called dictatorship. meanwhile the economic crisis only gets worse. there are shortages of basic goods, inflation,

and at the same time a terrible security situation. as president maduro announced just a few days ago that he will increase minimum wage by 60%. that, for the opposition, only generates more inflation. for him it is a way to combat inflation that he says is induced by the opposition. the palestinian militant group hamas has published a new policy document, in which it declares for the first time a willingness to accept a transitional palestinian state, without recognising israel. the group has also dropped its association with the muslim brotherhood, in an apparent bid to improve relations with gulf arab states and egypt. the bbc‘s rasha qandeel explained how the new document has been viewed among arab states in the region. it was expected to be sharper than this, more obvious than this. but the wording that came today in this report is actually a little bit,

like they said, a little in between. a softer wording of what we were expecting. it was not a surprise in the eyes of many but it had to be more sharp than this to be something ofa more sharp than this to be something of a significance israel, egypt, the gulf, people who classify the muslim brotherhood as a terrorist organisation. what we have now, it is not surprising as what we were wishing for. hamas is under two pressures at the moment. the first is the palestinian leadership trying to find another stands for partnership and trying to impress donald trump, if i may say, especially with this the announcement comes hours before the meeting between the president of hamas and the american president. the other thing is that there is no future for the muslim brotherhood in the eyes of many in the region and hamas is under the pressure of its

two main big allies, qatar and turkey. and this is to dismiss any speculation of dispute between the muslim brotherhood and either qatar or turkey. so i think, and so many a nalysts or turkey. so i think, and so many analysts i have interviewed today think that this is a pressure from the allies rather than from the other side. an israeli government spokesman has rejected the document as an attempt to fool the world. for more on israel's reaction to the statement by the hamas leader khaled meshaal, here's yolande knell. it has been muted because this briefing took up playset the time when israel was marking memorial day, the end of memorial day, when there are events to remember the fallen soldiers of israel and victims of terror. so government leaders are taking part in those events and getting ready for the celebratory holiday which follows,

which marks israel's independence day. we did have an israeli official coming out, as we mentioned. he said hamas is attempting to fool the world that will not succeed. he said they build terror tunnels out of gaza and have launched thousands upon thousands of missiles at civilians. this, he says, is the real hamas. and i don't think this will change things to lull at either revealed that the united union or united states which both classify hamas as being a terrorist organisation because hamas continues in this new policy document to talk about its commitment to what it calls armed resistance, which will mean, we imagine, more attacks on israel, possible attacks in the future. i think we really need to look for is changing relation in the region hamas has seen increasingly isolated recently. the gaza strip, run by hamas, does have a border

with egypt's. the japan several of the gulf arab states have recently deemed the muslim brotherhood to be a terrorist organisation so it is very interesting indeed. there is not a single mention of the muslim brotherhood in this new document although, of course, hamas was an ideological offshoot of that bigger islamist organisation. more than 2.5 million american soldiers have been deployed to iraq and afghanistan in the 16 years since the start of the so called war on terror. but the politics of war often gets more attention than the men and women who actually fight in them. now the national portrait gallery in washington is quite literally, putting faces to those who serve, with a new exhibition — jane 0'brien went along. in spite of the title, faces of war, some of the most moving images in this exhibition show nobody. these are the empty bedrooms of fallen soldiers, their very absence creating a haunting presence. that familiar intimacy is captured more traditionally in the work

of stacy pea rsall. this picture i took of specialist garcia, i had to catch him chain—smoking, the smoke drifting around his head like a halo. an airforce combat photographer in iraq, she was seriously wounded twice and awarded a bronze star for bravery. we have this idea of a soldier being impenetrable, being invincible. and what i wanted to remind folks photographically was that there is more to a soldier than the bullet and the blood. there is humanity. what happens in the downtime? what do we do with that suspended time between fighting a war? other images captured soldiers in the midst of battle. these works from afghanistan reveals the psychological impact of conflict. and there is more of the unexpected. cataloguing is the approach of this archivist who was inspired by seeing the rollcall of dead

soldiers on television. this is a montage of all the american service men and women who have been killed in the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan. they are tiny, tiny intimate portraits arranged on this grid which implies some sort of order. but, of course, it was the chaos of war that caused these deaths. but what links all these images is a tragic timelessness. the continual threat of war and personification of conflict that has gone on for centuries. if you look at the face, that could be gettysburg, it could be yorktown, it could be agincourt. there is a common mythic reality of war. war is the most celebrated subject in human history and what we do is link through portrait photography, we are linking these men and women back to the tradition of the war. while the focus of this exhibition

is squarely on the men and women who fight, it is also a reminder of the bravery of the image makers. most of the artists in this show have risked their lives to get close to their subjects. tim hetherington, who created these pictures, sacrificed his life in 2011 while covering the insurgency in libya. finally and very briefly, a picture ofa finally and very briefly, a picture of a different kind. the duke and duchess of cambridge have released a new photograph of princess charlotte to mark her second birthday. new photograph of princess charlotte to mark her second birthdaym new photograph of princess charlotte to mark her second birthday. it was taken at their home in norfolk. a similar photograph was released last year to celebrate charlotte turning one. much more the bbc website at any time thank you for watching. hello and good morning.

we just had the warmest day of the year in northern ireland. 20 degrees in county tyrone. a lovely day in the sunshine. we also had some similar temperatures in the south—west of scotland. again, nice and warm with some sunshine. the best of the weather over the week ahead will probably be across western scotland and northern ireland. we have more cloud coming into eastern scotland, north—east england, quite low cloud and these are the temperatures by the time we get to early tuesday. seven or eight degrees typically. a little bit of mist and fog towards the south—west after that rain on monday. the showers that we had, some lively, have headed southwards into the near continent and high pressure will come to dominate eventually, but this weather front here could spoil things a bit, coming in off the southern north sea. we'll see some showers. a mishmash in the morning with sunshine and areas of cloud. but more cloud and perhaps few showers coming in off the north sea into more central and southern parts of england. for much of the day, the south—west is likely to be dry as well as wales, nice

and warm in the sunshine, but feeling cooler under this cloud, especially as the wind picks up. showers will be light, but there could be a few heavy ones in south—east later on. showers as far north of northumberland, to the west it is likely to be dry. and temperatures not quite as high across northern ireland and scotland as they were on monday but 18 degrees is quite likely. cool for eastern scotland under the cloud, though that should break up for a while. showers through the evening head in to wales and the south—west and they fade away and then we see, after a brief respite, some more showers coming in again from the southern north sea. a lot of cloud for england and wales, perhaps further north for scotland and northern ireland, but again on the chilly side in the highlands. as we head into wednesday, these showers and cloud thickening, mainly from the humber southwards into south—east of england, further west into england and wales, there will be some sunshine at times but the sunniest weather developing after a bit of a cloudier start for scotland and northern ireland and again we will find temperatures

here in the west into the high teens. another lovely day to come. not the sort of weather for dipping your toes in the north sea, perhaps, where the temperature will be eight or nine degrees. starting to warm up at this time of year. those temperatures are significant because the wind is coming in off the north sea. this high—pressure that's dominating our weather, fairly typical weather pattern for this time of year but means strong winds later on in the week. a lot of dry weather through the rest of the week. there will be sunshine around as well but it is always going to be cooler in the east, near the east coast in particular. more sunshine and higher temperatures further west. this is bbc world news. the headlines: president trump has said he would be willing to meet the north korean leader, kim jong—un, despite weeks of tough talk against his regime. however, a white house spokesman said the right conditions for a meeting did not yet exist. at the start the final week of campaigning in the french presidential race, the two rivals have criticised each other. marine le pen characterised emmanuel macron as the establishment

candidate. he said she fed off hate. britain's prime minister, theresa may, has dismissed reports of a sharp disagreement with the president of european commission during a dinner last week. a german newspaper has suggested they clashed over the terms of brexit. after months of anti—government protests, the president of venezuela, nicolas maduro, has called for a new citizens assembly, with powers to rewrite the constitution. he said it would bypass the opposition—controlled parliament. now on bbc news, hardtalk.