welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the former us attorney general says she warned president trump's administration that general michael flynn was open to russian blackmail — before he was forced to resign. the russians also knew what general flynn had done — the russian also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others. preparing for power — france's incoming president begins the transition process before taking office in under a week's time. record numbers of migrants have tried to reach europe so far this year — we have a special report on the rescue efforts in the mediterranean. an investigation into rupert murdoch's bid to take full control of sky tv — will it be engulfed by allegations of sexual harassment at fox news? hello.

a congressional hearing has been told president trump was warned against hiring michael flynn as his national security adviser — because general flynn was open to blackmail by the russians. sally yates — a former acting head of the justice department — told senators general flynn had lied about his contacts with the russian ambassador. despite this, he stayed in his highly—sensitivejob for more than two weeks before he was forced to resign. here's some of sally yates‘ testimony. we weren't the only ones that knew all of this. the russians also knew about what general flynn had done and the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others because in the media accounts, it was clear from the vice president and others that they were repeating what general flynn had told them. and that this was a problem because not only did we believe that the russians knew this but they likely had proof

of this information. and that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. live now to the bbc‘s neda tawfik in new york. what also becomes clear from this. general flynn was present for an oval office conversation between trump and putin. despite warnings from a very senior legal authority, the president continued to give a copper most person access to highly sensitive information. absolutely. when you look past white house comments on this, reince priebus had said, oh well, there were no alarm

bells that sally yates had rang and it was just a heads up. their lawyers looked into it and there was no problem with michael flynn when they forced his resignation. there had been waiting for months to hear from sally yates and today she said that she had urgently want the administration. she spoke with them three times about how michael flynn's comments and lies could really put the country and himself ina really put the country and himself in a vulnerable position, open to russian blackmail. she forcefully came out today to go against the administration's narrative on this so administration's narrative on this so far, saying this was an issue she had raised with them and they asked her at the time he should be fired and she said that was not something for her to answer, it was for the administration. she was subsequently fired, if you remember, for refusing to support trump's travel ban. this fills the gap in what kind of

happened that made michael flynn stay on for so long. sean spicer blend the obama administration for not revoking general flynn's security clearance back in 2016. the president himself weighing in on twitter saying that the whole story of collusion is a hoax and a taxpayer funded charade. director clapper told everybody no evidence of pollution. actually, he was not made aware of the evidence because he was not made aware of the investigation —— collusion. he was not made aware of the investigation -- collusion. this senate judiciaries committee is one ofa senate judiciaries committee is one of a few probes. there is also the fbi. president trump has for a long time, been critical of comments about this, calling them a hoax. he wa nts to about this, calling them a hoax. he wants to get passed this in his

presidency. he feels that it delegitimise as his presidency and has called it a hoax that there is any collusion between the trump administration and the russians. president trump has been forceful to cou ntera ct president trump has been forceful to counteract this narrative. what we have seen from the testimony, directorjames comey of the fbi are looking into connections with the trump administration and russia. the director of national intelligence revealed today that an american, whether it was a member of the congress or the trump transition team, have been revealed in the incidental collection of evidence and they were investigating that individual. while president trump tries to highlight some parts of the testimonies debate in this hearing, it still does not really closed the door to the overall investigations that are ongoing. it doesn't clear

this issue for him and that's what's really frustrating to the president. he wants to move on from this. there seems to be more questions raised then answered. russian interference, he said, the transit —— transcendent issue. he's the youngest french leader since napoleon bonaparte — and today emmanuel macron has been trying on the trappings of office, a day after his decisive presidential victory. mr macron, who's 39—years old, has been receiving a number of congratulatory phone calls from world leaders; has begun forming his government; and he's even been carrying out some of the more symbolic duties of the presidency. our europe editor katya adler reports on the day's events. it has been a day of reflection in france, paying tribute to the world war two fallen. taking stock of fresh challenges ahead. france's brand—new and youngest ever president elect here at ve day commemorations. a little hesitant, a little unsure, taking his cue

from the outgoing head of state. it will be a steep learning curve. emmanuel macron is pretty new to politics but the crowds here were hopeful. it's very difficult to put some reforms in france and having such a guy who is so young will help to change things. translation: we hope he keeps his promises, politicians normally don't, we want france for the poor as well as the rich. vive la france. tonight, emmanuel macron‘s fans and foes will be watching this with interest. a fly on the wall documentary filmed during his presidential campaign. intriguing because france is about to be presided over by a politician known for his charm but whose person, party and policies are pretty much unexplored. what we do know is that he is the europhile, a passionate one, and leading europeans are cock—a—hoop,

in understated tones. translation: emmanuel macron carries the hopes of millions in france and across europe. he led a courageous pro—european campaign and stands for openness to the world. emmanuel macron has raised high expectations, promising many things to many people. to dramatically reform france, caring for the fragile while boosting business, and to change the european union and be very tough on brexit, but he doesn't have his own government or mps in parliament so is he flexing muscles he doesn't yet have? france's president—elect has made brexit threats aplenty.

damp and desperate in calais today. after brexit, mr macron has vowed to tear up an agreement where france prevents thousands of migrants making their way to dover each year. he has talked too about luring banks and businesses from the city of london this side of the channel. but domestic discontent, not brexit, will be mt macron‘s main focus. it is what drew one in three voters to marine le pen, his far right presidential rival. she's popular here in the pool halls of calais where unemployed youngsters wile frustrated days away. in struggling towns like this, there is little faith in elite educated metropolitan emmanuel macron. young people vote for marine le pen because they can't find anyjobs. the unemployment rate is sky—high here in calais unfortunately. "there are no jobs

and too many migrants," daniel said, "almost 60% of calais thudded marine le pen and maybe next time the whole country will be ready." this evening in paris, there were small but demonstrations against emmanuel macron, some organised by the trade unions. as a centrist politician, he faces opposition left and right. and only weeks away from crucial elections. katya adler, bbc news, paris. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a verdict is expected on tuesday in a case that's widely seen as a test of indonesia's religious tolerance. on trial, on blasphemy charges, is governor basuki tjahaja purnama — known widely as ahok. he's accused of insulting the koran. he denies any wrongdoing. 82 nigerian schoolgirls just freed by the extremist group boko haram have met their country's president. they were escorted to the reception

in the capital abuja by armed soldiers, after a check—up at a medical centre. they were among more than 270 kidnapped from their school in chibok three years ago. candidates standing in south korea's presidential election are making their final appeal to voters before balloting on tuesday. opinion polls suggest that the left—leaning, moonjae—in, has maintained his lead over his nearest rival, the centrist ahn cheol—soo. the election was called early to fill the vacancy left by park geun—hye, who was impeached in march for corruption and abuse of power. four people are missing after some of the worst flooding in decades in parts of canada. a state of emergency has been declared in the city of montreal. police are searching for a man and a toddler who were swept away after their car swerved into a river in quebec. water levels are expected to rise further, and the military has tripled the number of troops helping to evacuate the thousands of people affected. record numbers of migrants have already tried to reach europe from north africa this year. more than seven thousand have been rescued from the mediterranean over the last few days alone.

the italian coastguard says as many as 200 may have drowned. most of them have set off from libya — attempting the treacherous crossing — in search of a new life in europe. reeta chakrabarti has spent the last week on a rescue ship. seven uneventful days at sea with the rescue mission and then suddenly this: we have two rubber boats possibly one wooden boat. team, please prepare on deck for rescue. a scene, said the crew, like never before. first two, then three, then as we were spotted, more and yet more boat loads the people veering towards us to rescue and to safety. these women look really exhausted. they're coming on one by one. one of the women i've seen has a little child with her. this toddler named blessing is one of the tiniest travellers. her motherjoy, who's nigerian, said she risked the journey

because she couldn't return to her home country. she was working in libya, but she was repeatedly kidnapped and ransomed for money. i asked her what she hoped for from the future. blessing is happily ignorant of her mother's grief and oblivious to the peril she just faced. still they come, goodness knows how many people were cramped into that rubber dinghy there. they're all processed now, checked — this man clearly in pain. the vast majority on board are men of working age, from west and east africa, and also from asia. there are many factors driving them,

but the turmoil in libya is key. these scars, imran told me, were inflicted on him in bangladesh, which is where he's from. he says he was targeted by the local mafia and so left for libya to work as a cook. but he went months unpaid and was beaten if he asked for his wage. he told me he took the rubber boat because libya was dangerous. he had a chance of life if he left. libya was intolerable, he couldn't do it any more. last year broke records for the number of migrants making the crossing, and this year looks set to top that. italy has borne the weight of housing and caring for them, but opinion is hardening with claims that these rescue missions are a taxi service for migrants and even that the aid agencies are colluding with libyan people smugglers to bring the migrants to europe. our sole mission is to save the lives of people and especially

children who are escaping violence, persecution and extreme poverty. we have no contact whatsoever with people smugglers. earlier in the week, a body was spotted. the sea is a graveyard too. the search will go on. this crossing from libya has become an established route run by ruthless criminals who care little whether their desperate passengers will see another day. reeta chakrabarti, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we visit a church in chicago offering sanctuary to families fighting president trump's deportation orders. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand.

the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the former us attorney general says she warned president trump's administration

that general michael flynn was open to russian blackmail before he was forced to resign. preparing for power. the fox news presenter, bill o'reilly, has been one of the most famous in america for years, but he stepped down last month after being accused of sexual harrassment by a number of women. now, one of them has flown to london to try to block rupert murdoch, who owns fox, from taking full control of sky. she met the media regulator, ofcom, which is investigating whether murdoch's company, 21st century fox, would be fit and proper to take full control of sky. our media editor, amol rajan, has more. riot police fired tear gas at protestors in venezuela on monday at the start of another week of demonstrations planned by the opposition. organisors say the want to stop president nicolas maduro's plan to reform the constitution. thousands of people in caracas clashed with police when they were blocked from marching to the education ministry.the protestors say mr maduro's plan to establish a constituent assembly will sideline the national assembly. local rights groups said more than 100 civilians were being tried in military courts over their role in recent protests. the governor of texas has banned so—called "sanctuary cities"

in his state. those are areas where police tend not to carry out checks on a person's immigration status. the signing of the bill could set the stage for the first legal battle over the issue, one that has even drawn churches into the line of fire. the bbc‘s olivia lace evans visited one parish in chicago that has offered to hide undocumented families, and is daring we are going to tell them, here they are. if you are going to separate this family, you will do it while the whole world is watching. the election of president donald trump, it has injected, umm, an incredible amount of fear into our community. we have five families that have already been given a deadline where they have to go with a one—way ticket to be deported and their family will be basically destroyed. after the church services we go through each case individually to

see what we can do. we have attorneys that are with us and are fighting those cases of deportation, using whatever legal avenues are open to us. but at the end of the day, we want our families as a last resort to take factory here in the church. —— sanctuary. lama iamaus i am a us citizen. i have a right to be in the country. but if somebody makes a mistake with our application, we don't have any rights at all. are whole lives we are living here. —— our. this is the shower we created. now,

people don't have to leave the building in order to take a show here. that is what sanctuary is. we provide them everything they normally have in a home so they don't have to leave. donald trump, right now he is fighting syria to protect children. but they are here in the country. these are us citizen children separated from their fathers and mothers. i don't know how he is doing this to the community. olivia lace—evans. in malaysia, customs officers have seized more than 700 kilos of pangolin scales,

worth over $2 million. they are believed to have arrived on flights from african countries via dubai. pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are among the most trafficked mammals because of increasing demand in asia where their scales are used in traditional medicine. now, the rules of physics are put severely to the test when it comes to drone racing. it's been dubbed the formula 1 of the air, and its popularity is growing fast. what started here in the us has expanded to other countries, including the uk. the best fliers have been competing in the drone racing championships, as duncan golestani reports. the speeds are fast and the circuit hard. but the pilots are far from harm's way. they can see a live feed from the camera of the drone. it is like a real—life videogame. from the camera of the drone. it is like a real-life videogame. these are built for speed. everything necessary is made out of carbon

fibre. it is really pushing the boundaries of what is possible. the racers compete in teams of four each taking a turn to navigate the cost. teammates and spectators can tune into a shared frequency to get the same view. you don'tjust rely on yourself, but also your teammates. there is a lot of strategy to get as many laps as possible without crashing. with speeds of 90 kilometres an hour, crashes are inevitable. 0h kilometres an hour, crashes are inevitable. oh well. but surprisingly, the most important teammate is the engineer, who can fix them and get them back in the air. before we go, a remarkable piece of recycling. residents and tourists on a remote irish island have flocked to see a sandy beach that has reappeared after being washed away by storms more than 30 years ago. a freak tide dumped thousands of tons of sand on a stretch of rocky coastline on akill island, off the west coast. it's turned out to be big deal

for the local economy, and the locals are hoping the beach will stay, at least for the summer. the former us attorney general, sally yates, told a hearing that she warned donald trump against michael flynn as the national security adviser seeing as he was open to russian blackmail. he was in thejob for 18 days further despite that advice. much more on that and other news on the website. thank you for watching bbc news.

hello. we are watching a weather change later this week which will bring some rain to some areas that have been mainly dry for several weeks. until then, it is as you were. this is the satellite picture on monday. cool in the cloud, warm in the sunshine. variable cloud in the next few days. but the main theme is until the end of the week, most places will stay dry. high pressure is stretching across the uk. we are waiting for low pressure to make a move. i will show you that later this week. it will not be bone dry on tuesday. there will be enough cloud to the far north—east of scotland, especially in the northern isles, giving occasional light rain and drizzle. limited sunshine to begin the day. this is 8am. sunny spells in scotland. especially in northern ireland. blue skies to begin the day. cloud in england and wales living western fringes with some sunshine to begin with but elsewhere you can see the cloud cover across much of the midlands into yorkshire and east anglia. another single—figure temperature start to the day. on the cool side like recent mornings. as the day goes on, we will nibble at this cloud. some will start cloudy. sunshine coming through. that's more of wales and the west midlands.

parts of yorkshire, rather cloudy. maybe the odd spot of drizzle once again. essentially dry. some rain in the northern isles. cold with the cloud. warmer in south—east england. the breeze is less noticeable on the north sea coast. a bit more cloud into scotland through tuesday night into wednesday morning. wednesday, starting elsewhere clear and quite chilly. temperatures lower than this away from large cities and town centres. gardeners take note of the potential impact on delicate plants of this cold temperature. a sunny start on wednesday especially in england and wales. southern scotland and northern ireland seeing sunny spells. more cloud the further north you are in scotland. some outbreaks of rain around. some warmth in the sunshine again. warmer around the north sea coast compared with recent days. on thursday, most places staying dry. variable cloud and sunny spells. cloud building in the south of the uk. we begin to get showers and outbreaks of rain. that will lift north in friday and saturday. not a washout. as we move from high pressure to low pressure, though, there will be rain in areas

that have nothing very much for quite some time. this is bbc news — the headlines. the former us attorney general, sally yates says she warned president trump's administration against hiring general michael flynn, as his national security adviser because he was open to russian blackmail — flynn was forced to resign less than a month later — for misleading the white house. france's incoming president — emmanuel macron has received congratulations from world leaders and began the transition process — before he takes office in under a week's time. mr macron must also pick candidates quickly — ahead of parliamentary elections on the 11th and 18th ofjune. record numbers of migrants —

have tried to reach europe so far this year — we have a special report on the rescue efforts in the mediterranean. right police have fired tear gas into protesters in venezuela. thousands clashed with police. now on bbc news, time for hardtalk.