welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump fires the director of the fbi james comey, the man leading the investigation into possible collusion between his election campaign and russia. leading democrats say the sacking "reeks of a cover up" and call for the appointment of an independent special prosecutor. the american people need to have faith that an investigation as serious as this one is being conducted impartially, without a shred of bias. south korea's new president says he favours more dialogue with the north. he'll be sworn into office in just a few hours. and fine tuning one of the world's iconic buildings — renovation gets underway to improve the acoustics inside sydney's opera house. hello.

president trump's decision to fire the director of the fbi has been met with widespread shock and a mass of questions. james comey was the man in charge of investigating russian interference in the us presidential election, and whether or not the trump campaign colluded with the russians. the white house says mr comey has been dismissed on the recommendation of the attorney general, jeff sessions, and his deputy. their letters to him have been made public. president trump told the fbi director he "was not able to effectively lead the bureau." and went on to say he was... "hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately" and that it was "essential" to find new leadership. the democratic leader of the senate, chuck schumer, told president trump he was making a big mistake. the first question the administration has to answer is why now.

if the administration had objections, they had those objections the minute the president got into office, but they didn't fire him then. why did it happen today? we know the house is investigating russian interference in our elections, that benefited the trump campaign. we know the senate is investigating. we know the fbi has been looking into whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians, a very serious offence. were these investigations getting too close to home for the president? it is troubling that attorney general sessions, who had recused himself from the russian investigation, played a role in firing the man leading it. so what happens now?

deputy attorney general rosenstein sat in the judiciary committee and promised to appoint a special prosecutor at the appropriate time. that time is right now. the american people's trust in our criminaljustice system is in rosenstein‘s hands. mr rosenstein, america depends on you to restore faith in our criminaljustice system, which is going to be badly shattered after the administration's actions today. this is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the trump administration. they fired sally yates. they fired preet bharara. and now they fired director comey, the very man leading the investigation. this does not seem

to be a coincidence. this investigation must be run as far away as possible from this white house, and as far away as possible from anyone that president trump has appointed. given the way the president fired director comey, any person who he appoints to lead the russia investigation will be concerned that he or she will meet the same fate as director comey if they run afoul of the administration. the american people need to have faith that an investigation as serious as this one is being conducted impartially, without a shred of bias. the only way the american people can have faith in this investigation is for it to be led by a fearless, independent special prosecutor. if deputy attorney general

rosenstein does not appoint an independent special prosecutor, every american will rightly suspect that the decision to fire director comey was part of a cover—up. the white house has rejected the democrats‘ charge that the fbi director was fired for political reasons. the bbc‘s north america editor, jon sopel, has been absorbing events in washington. surprised is a word that is rather mild for the tectonic shift of the political plates that has unfolded this evening in washington. as i understand it, james comey, the director of the fbi, was addressing agents in los angeles. an aid goes up to him

and hands him a note, and says you had better read this. and he reads it, looks down, addresses the audience and says i have just been fired. he knew nothing about it. no—one else knew anything about it. it was a bolt out of the blue from the white house. they didn't see it coming. and james comey had been determined to carry on with his work, to carry on the investigation. and you talked about the white house saying, look, this is nothing to do with the inquiry into russia. as we all know, in politics, perceptions matter, and it looks like the person who was conducting the investigation has been fired by people who didn't want him to carry on with it. and it is going to take an awful, uphill struggle for the white house to convince the public that it was more innocent than that. i think it is a rather fraught relationship, and it always has been. and in particular over

this particular issue, and russia in the narrowest sense, and russia in the widest sense. you remember that, when donald trump first became president, he refused to accept the assessment of the intelligence services that russia had intervened in the election by hacking the democrats‘ e—mails, by affecting the outcome in that way. then it was confirmed byjames comey, the head of the fbi, that there was an ongoing inquiry by the agency into whether there were links between russia and the trump campaign. donald trump was absolutely insistent, and remains absolutely insistent, there is nothing there, there is nothing to be seen. but the person who was leading the investigation has now been fired, and the reason being given is because of something that happened a year ago, when he was looking into the use of hillary clinton's e—mails, which didn't result in a prosecution. and so you had those words that you read out from donald trump, the kind of brutalfiring

of the head of the fbi. you are hereby terminated, removed from office, effective immediately. i think what it says is he doesn't want much dissent. he wants to have his own people in, and that is fair enough. you know, if you are the chairman of the board, you quite like appointing your own chief executive officer. dare i say it, in broadcasting, if you want to change the way a news station looks, you fire your presenters and bring in some people that you like. but this has a different resonance, because it looks like, and the word that is being used tonight in the us is nixonian, in the final years of the nixon government, when he fired the special prosecutor who was called to investigate him. and people are using that phrase, and we heard it from chuck schumer a moment ago — cover—up. that is deeply damaging, and i have heard it being reported that there is some surprise in the white house that this is causing the ructions that it is.

i am astonished that anyone thought the reaction would be anything other than what it is. it's the start of a new political era in south korea as a new president takes the helm. a short while ago, the national election commission formally confirmed the victory of moonjae—in. the election had the highest turnout in 20 years and mr moon won with just over 40% of the vote — almost double his nearest competitor. the new president is expected to be inaugurated in about two hours. stephen mcdonnell is in seoulfor us. what are you thinking about this? here in the south korean capital people are waking up to a completely new political landscape and there will be ramifications throughout

asia and the on. former human rights lawyer and advocate of greater engagement with north korea, moon jae—in, has been voted in co mforta ble jae—in, has been voted in comfortable it is the new president this is also a drastic rejection of the conservative side of conservatism with the old president facing charges. park geun—hye. conservatism with the old president facing charges. park geun-hye. how do you expect the policies to change? people are waiting now for change? people are waiting now for change to happen almost immediately. this is not the way power normally changes in south korea. this election was caught on because the previous leader ended up injail and so previous leader ended up injail and so he is the president from today.

moonjae—in will go along to the national assembly, then to the national assembly, then to the national cemetery and then there will be a small inauguration ceremony and then he will basically start running the country. people are wondering what will be the ramifications of south korea and us relations. he has been critical of the missile system saying the ca reta ker the missile system saying the caretaker government should never have put that in and they should have put that in and they should have waited for the elections stop how will an relations with china go? they have been punishing south korean companies. it is all to happen. it will probably start to be seen what sort of leader he will be almost immediately. an impressive exercise in democracy. and absolutely historic turnout.

and we'll be speaking to another expert a little later in the programme about what mr moon's election will mean for korean and us policies towards north korea. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll get more reaction to president trump's sacking of the fbi director, james comey. 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: president trump has fired the director of the fbi, james comey, the man leading the investigation into possible collusion between his election campaign and russia. south korea's new president has called for cooperation with the north. his inauguration will take place in a few hours' time. let's stay with that top story now, and sacking of the fbi director james comey. for analysis we can speak to political journalist sarah kendzior, who's in st louis missouri. the man in charge of an

investigation has been removed from it by the people who have most to lose from that investigation. what do you make of that? i think it is a dire state for our democracy. it is notable that it was notjust trump who fired james comey but also the attorney general, jeff sessions, who had to recuse himself from the investigation earlier because he is implicated in it. you have two people who are being investigated, removing the one person in charge of the fbi division of that investigation. that is an alarming sign. let's be fair. bill clinton fired a director of the fbi, of course, and the trump administration say the james comey fouled up and made serious mistakes into the investigation into the hillary clinton e—mail scandal. but that was backin

clinton e—mail scandal. but that was back injuly. clinton e—mail scandal. but that was back in july. why now? that can be looked at by yesterday ‘s hearings and the testimonies given as well as the earlier testimony of james comey. they have accumulated a large array of damning information that could hurt the trump administration that could lead to impeachment and, you know, donald trump is an autocratic leader who has been pushing back against smi democratic system of checks and balances. he will manipulate the laws and use them to protect themselves from prosecution, even if that is not in the spirit of you know, american democracy. we have democratic members of congress, talking about an extraordinary conflict of interest, nothing less than nixon — like. chuck schumer calling for a special prosecutor. however, special prosecutors have to be appointed by the attorney general, who just

sacked james comey. and, again, that attorney general is implicated in the investigation. this is part of the investigation. this is part of the problem, we are running out of time and they should have been handled months ago and, hopefully, under the lama administration. it has now been nearly a year that the public has had or information about the role russia play during the campaign and much of that information has not been revealed to the public. i think the odds of us getting a non—partisan independent investigation are lower each day. however, i think that is absolutely what is needed and i hope that democrats and patriotic republicans who are briefed on these intelligence issues a step forward and inform the public, you know what? that we need to know because it could falsify the election results. it is a big deal and we still do not have the information. recently, sarah, if you can, the fallout from this is still spreading but is there a rescue for president

trump and the way this was done that he puts himself at risk of more damaging leaks from inside the fbi oi’ damaging leaks from inside the fbi or the intelligence agencies?” think that is certainly possible. at this point i think we have information versus power. we have a situation in which information may not be power in and of itself if the executive branch continues to abuse its position to quash intelligence investigations forcefully with actions like removing james comey and potentially other officials. it is possible, however that other information will come out and that information will come out and that information may cause the public to be quite upset and mostly, where public outrage has effect on elected officials in the directions on how administration and branches will go. the administration would have something to say about all of that and we should ask them. thank you very much indeed. let's return now to the news that south korea now has a new president, in the form of a liberal human rights lawyer moon jae—in.

joining me from seoul isjohn delury, associate professor at yonsei university in seoul. he recently wrote an article arguing that a the us and south korea should take a more open approach to the north if they want to make progress with its supreme leader, kim jong—un. how do you think that could be done? the election of moonjae—in is a game changer because he comes at the north korea question with a fundamentally different mindset than we have seen out of the capital for the last ten years. this is a new variable. south korea, because of this political vacuum caused by the impeachment of the previous president has really been at the table and so the trump administration has been grappling with how to approach north korea without an active role for south korea. moving forward i think we will see a whole different set of

situation as this new president will try a very different approach to handling kim jong—un try a very different approach to handling kimjong—un and try a very different approach to handling kim jong—un and the try a very different approach to handling kimjong—un and the north korea problem. which influenced you think a liberal human rights lawyer will have with the trump administration? i think that the trump administration is hurtling down a dead end in terms of their north korea policy. we saw them try military threats, got a lot of attention, you know, there has been much media focus on some concern but at the end of the day it does not work. there are too many vulnerabilities. i am with unite hillary fire here in the city of seoul, a city of io hillary fire here in the city of seoul, a city of 10 million, 25 million for the larger metropolitan area. there is really not a military option. you cannot pre—empt their nuclear arsenal. they have many weapons are multiple means of delivery. there is no military play. sanctions is what we have been trying and what the obama administration tried for eight years

and north korea has only improved its nuclear capabilities and strengthened its resolve to keep the capability. so that's where the focus of the trump administration has been so far what we will see is that after some initial tension and conflict, the trump team will be grateful that they have a liberal in seoul to create a door at the end of the wall of what is really going to bea the wall of what is really going to be a failed north korea policy from washington. how do you think pyongyang will react to a new president in the south. they will test him soon, won't they? it will be very interesting. if you study the signalling out of north korean media there have been looking forward to this. have spent day after day of blistering attacks on conservatives and the whole history of conservative rule in south korea and how that has prevented the creation of relationships. kim

jong—un send positive signals to the south after the conservative had been impeached. i think, you know, eve ryo ne been impeached. i think, you know, everyone is a waiting for the next nuclear test and they are technically ready but i expect that we will see, at least for some period of time, a window of opportunity here. it is a major test for kimjong—un and we have not opportunity here. it is a major test for kim jong—un and we have not seen him be engaged yet. he has not met with the president of china nor any other world leader. moon jae—in with the president of china nor any other world leader. moonjae—in may try to be the first bus, certainly, it is an unknown in terms of what kimjong—un is capable of as far as being engaged and that is something we need to see. it's one of the most iconic buildings in the world but did you know that the sydney opera house has bad acoustics? a four—year renovation project is now under way, to address this, and other issues. hywel griffiths has the story. the building that defines notjust sydney, but australia, is like no place in the world.

in the baking sunshine, the opera house's tall sails are iconic. but inside, the sound is not so stunning. its resident symphony orchestra is filled with frustration. the shape of the concert hall makes it hard to hear themselves and each other play. it is a bit like playing ball on a pitch that's surrounded in fog. you know your teammates are out there somewhere, but they're hard to see and for us the issue is that they're hard to hear. often i don't feel like we're really always playing together and then with some of the other sections of the orchestra we can have time delays at times as we are following the conductor. the problem dates back to the very beginning. changes were made to the original design. the architect fell out with the engineers and never saw the finished building. after decades of trying out different fixes, a new system of reflectors and rises has been tested and it is claimed will finally deliver

crystal clear sound. it was honestly like someone had just lifted a perspex box off the orchestra and you could hear them so much better. the sound sounds closer. you feel as if you're actually hearing the bow hit the string. the famous tall sails that form the outside of the building have always placed a limit on what can happen inside. this concert hall is too big for orchestral concerts, for example. the real challenge over the next few years is making sure what happens inside here matches the quality of what people see out there. but there's a mountain to climb. the building with hundreds of steps doesn't offer easy access. special tunnels will be drilled inside to help wheelchair users. but many of the changes will be behind the scenes. it's quite fantastic. very doctor who. much of the equipment used

was ordered 50 years ago and was built into the structure. with 2000 shows a year, there's been a lot of wear and tear since. there's literally someone pulling up and down as you're watching? yes, someone standing in the dark and pulling on a rope is how it is still done for some of the scenery. this will be the first time the opera house will close any of its main theatres, but there will still be music within the walls as they try to finetune one of the world's best loved buildings. not many io—year—olds go into battle with an alligator. but one girl near orlando in florida did just that. juliana ossa managed to fight back when she was attacked by a large alligator. here she is, telling the story i looked in the water and there was a mean, nine foot gator in the water biting my leg. the alligator grabbed my leg, i tried hitting it to release me but it didn't work.

so i put my two fingers up its nostrils. it couldn't breathe so it had to breathe from its mouth. it opened its mouth and let my leg out. the alligator couldn't do nothing because he was too busy biting my leg and holding onto the sand. he was too busy with that so he didn't have any other attack moves to take out my fingers. because, that is what you do when an alligator chews on your leg... amazing. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbc mike embley. hi there.

we had some glorious sunshine yesterday across western parts of the country once again. these were the clear skies in abersock, north—west wales. we have had a lot of sunshine over the last few days across western parts of the country. but if i run through the last few days in the east, you can see rather cloudier weather in from the north sea, with pesky winds bringing cloud across much of central and eastern england in particular. it hasn't felt warm either under the cloudy skies. however, the weather is going to change because the wind is changing direction. we're not bringing cloud from the north sea. the pressure is relatively higher on wednesday. the winds will be a little bit lighter. it will be sunny and warm day for many parts of the country. yes, warmth on the way but it will be a chilly start to the morning. temperatures start around two or three degrees in the countryside. there will be a few spots see temperatures below freezing in the coldest areas. cloudy in scotland. a bit of rain for the northern isles. otherwise, mainly dry. we should see sunshine from the central belt southwards

across scotland, northern ireland, england and wales, mostly starting fine and sunny with a few patches of cloud to start the day for east anglia. i think for most of us temperatures come up quickly with light winds and blue skies overhead. and that's really the way the weather will stay through the rest of the day. again, prone to a few spits and spots of rain across the far north of scotland but otherwise essentially it is a dry picture with sunshine. and temperatures across parts of central england towards the south—west, eastern wales, could reach the 20s, so it's going to be warm and pleasant in the sunshine. heading through wednesday evening and overnight, we keep cloudy weather for scotland. and late in the night we might see just a few showers pushing in from the near continent. signs of a change in the weather on the way. temperatures overnight around 7—9 degrees, so thursday morning starts off something like this — most of us start off on a sunny note and then showers move up from the continent, some of those could turn thundery through the day.

still, for many areas it is a decent day with dry weather, warm sunshine, temperatures rising, 19 degrees or so in london. but then through thursday night and on into friday it looks like we will see some thunderstorms pushing in from the near continent. hit and miss in nature. but some of the downpours might be intense. there might be some hail mixed in. the wind will start to get stronger and then it will be cooler for eastern scotland with cloud and rain here. for the weekend we will have some relatively warm conditions. some bright spells intermingled with one or two showers. that's your weather. this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has sacked the director of the fbi, james comey, the man leading the investigation into possible collusion between his election campaign and russia. in a letter, mr trump told mr comey that he was unable to effectively head the fbi and new leadership was needed to restore public trust in the organisation. the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, said it was now time to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the russia inquiry.

otherwise, he said, the american people would be entitled to suspect that removing mr comey had been an attempt to stifle the inquiry. the new president of south korea, moonjae—in, has formally started his first day in office. mr moon is a liberal human rights lawyer who has called for co—operation with north korea and questioned the deployment of a us missile defence system. his inauguration will take place in a few hours time. now on bbc news as part of hardtalk‘s 20 year anniversary we broadcast an interview first transmitted in july 2015.