this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump has urged muslim leaders to drive out terrorism from their countries. speaking in saudi arabia, he described it as a battle between good and evil. he also used strong language against iran, saudi arabia's biggest rival, accusing it of fuelling sectarian conflict and terror. north korea has confirmed that it successfully tested an intermediate—range ballistic missile. south korea's new government says the latest test has dashed its hopes for peace. the united nations security council will discuss the launch on tuesday. the charity save the children is warning that a cholera outbreak in yemen could soon become a major epidemic. almost 250 people have died of the disease this month alone, with hundreds of suspected cases being reported every day. the world health organisation has described the outbreak as alarming. and now on bbc news, dateline london. hello, and welcome

to dateline london. this week: donald trump's travels abroad and trouble at home. can one escape the other? and now britain's political parties have published their manifestos, their contract with the people — if we vote for one of them, just what are we signing up to? with me, david aaronovitch of the times. annalisa piras, the italian writer and film—maker. nabila ramdani, the algerian journalist. and stryker mcguire, london editorfor bloomberg markets. a warm welcome to all of you. good to have you with us. let's begin with donald trump, because he may have been onboard air force one friday night, en route to saudi arabia, but his team was still trying to fire—fight the latest twist in the sacking of the fbi director, and the russia connection — if there is one. "i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy, a real nutjob," the new york times claims he told

the russian foreign minister, "i faced great pressure because of russia. that's taken off." well, if he did say it, that last part looks very premature. john mccain, the veteran republican senator, is among many to observe that this all feels horribly familiar. stryker mcguire, they are of course all thinking of watergate. you were in the states, working as a journalist back then, all those years ago. do you have a sense of deja vu? i was a mere child. precocious journalistic talent! journalists started at a young age back then. so, is it like watergate? no and yes. i mean, it's — one thing is that, remember, watergate began with two break—ins. may and june 1972. it built rather slowly, the break—ins themselves were rather inconsequential — the cover—up, we all know that was what did it. so two years and four months later, nixon resigns. in this case, it starts out much bigger.

the — the germ of all of this is the possibility of russian interference in the us electoral process. so that's where you begin. you begin at quite a high, serious level about protecting your national electoral integrity. then you have all these revelations while trump is in the white house. one thing about — you know, that quote that you just gave, that is in a white house document. and the white house has said it is authentic. he said it, right. there was no question about what he said. what is interesting here, i think, is the sourcing of all of this stuff. it's coming from officials — officials in and out of government. most of them still, you know, serving officials and that,

i think, is super important because it tells you there are people who are really worried about the conduct of the presidency and the way, not just what trump does, but why he does it and how he does it. he seems totally unable to separate anything that happens from himself. it's all about him. in the midst of all these revelations, we have trump going to give a commencement address at a university, where we all know what happens at commencement addresses. you talk to the young people, you talk about their lives ahead, et cetera, et cetera. no, he talks about himself and talks about how he is the most vilified, hounded president in the history of the united states. politician. in the history of the world! "no politician has been treated worse or more unfairly," he told the coast guard academy.

david, stryker was saying there is this poisonous drip of stories coming within government. in a sense, some of these officials are behaving worse than the president, aren't they? no, of course they are not. do they not have a duty of allegiance to the president, the holder of the office of president? i also presume they have some duty and obligation to the people of the united states. i mean, we have a difficulty... the very fact that you used the term "alleged" earlier when it is not alleged, it is actually true, shows you the problem we have with this. essentially, we all know it. you have a man who is not fit to be president of the us, or fit to be the leader of a large democracy but was nevertheless elected. almost everything he does shows he does not have the temperament for it. to call the previous director of the fbi, the man who hasjust gone out, who is about incidentally to testify before house committees,

a nut job and to do that to a senior russian intelligence agent, you don't actually have the words to describe it. for a while, the white house officials, or other officials, sucked it up and gave him a couple of months to see what he would do and how he would react. we have created this potential narrative, the bbc and other people, that he might be all right, he might be captured by the system, he might somehow or other be modified by it, it will close in around him, there will good things. we've all been at this and it is nonsense because the man actually is ignorant, he's not interested, he's completely incurious. and i'm not saying this as insults, i say them simply as observations. when he said to comey, as he certainly did, " lay off old flynn, would you?" it wasn't just wrong to do it, it was profoundly ignorant because he had no idea how the fbi

worked and he hadn't been interested enough to find out. the thing with donald trump is — and we will talk about this in an international context — there is no way you can get in. he is full inside his skin. he is so full within that carapace of donald trump there is no room for anything from the outside to get in. the only thing about people on the outside is loyalty. so take mike flynn, even after trump fired him, he continued in private to defend him. that's because he had this feeling that mike flynn was on his side. i think you were asking about similarities with the watergate. there are echoes of watergate in a sense that we were talking about allegations of immense corruption at the heart of the american government. but i suppose it is worth remembering that nixon resigned by his own accord and was not succesfully impeached and that will give trump an awful lot of confidence. having said that, there has been so much hyperbole about the donald trump story — almost from day one, he has been one of those stories that people expect will end in a cataclysmic way almost all the time. but he seems to be able

to ride the most scandalous of allegations and accusations and he keeps on going. it has to be said that the witchhunt terminology that he uses reflects his own typical language. the question is whether his opponents and those investigating him will be able to sustain the assault on him so as to try to get him out. i would contend that it will be difficult indeed and in the end, an alt—right populist politician like him thrives on scandal. he is a politician who has spent the last couple of years through his campaign and through becoming president, turning a lot of the negatives into positives for him. do you think he can carry on doing that? i don't think so. i think it is a matter of time because at the end of the day,

what is at stake here is the check imbalances of the american system. all the evidence points to the fact that this needs to take a certain course and the only obstacle to it is the electoral power as a deterrent for the republicans and congress. having said that, it is worth noting that investigations into highly classified subjects take a lot of time and they are unlikely to be resolved, certainly not in the short term. also bearing in mind that donald trump has the look of a one term president written all over him, i don't think he will be caring too much. that presumably is a problem for the republican agenda. because this is now overshadowing everything. there could come a time when what he thinks doesn't matter, that the party will go to him

and say, "this has to stop." there is not only the special counsel investigation but there is the senate intelligence committee and the house intelligence committee. you have three investigations that are about to begin. it hasn't even begun yet. there are mid—term elections next year, they are not that far away. that is very serious for the party. also what can accelerate everything is the economy. if the economy starts taking a real knock... and we forget, the american economy did rather well under barack obama for quite a long period. after that, his initial arrival, a difficult period, then it started... under trump there was this weird, almost economic equivalent of a fake war period where there was a so—called trump trade and markets were going up. this is largely because people thought they weren't going to be taxed any more. or regulated. or regulated or anything else. the trump trade seems to be over. the dollar has weakened.

it seems there is a lot of childish what—about—ery in this debate and certainly supporters of trump and indeed trump himself believe that hillary clinton got away with dodgy dealings when she was secretary of state. why shouldn't he? it informs this primitive debate, and really the only losers are the american people. you talk about primitive debate, it is interesting that lindsey graham who is regarded as one of the more erudite senators and often a critic of donald trump, observed that a lot of us here are quite glad he is leaving for a few days. he may be leaving washington and they may have got a bit of a breather. there was a wonderful photograph of mike pence. the vice president. taken on the white house lawn, taken on a long lens. his face is inscrutable, the nearest thing to a little smile that mike pence has given. kind of like this... as donald trump took off. he has landed as far as saudi arabia is concerned and he's on the rest of the week,

an eight—day tour. his first tour around the world. what is important about this tour? what should we be looking out for? he has embarked on his first international trip. mainly to the middle east, he has arrived in saudi arabia and will go to israel and palestine. he has clearly made out that he can make some progress with the israel— palestine situation and that has been his claim all along. we have to know his most memorable statement was the possibility of moving the us embassy to jerusalem. that would have been a disaster. but he — you know, it was well thought—through and it is typical of the kind of headline grabbing, shocking tactics he revels in. he seems to have gone quiet with this idea. to give him some limited credit, he also, when he first met

netanyahu in the white house, he asked him to hold on to the building of illegal colonies. a settlement bill which is illegal under international law and has been condemned under international law and is a huge sticking point. in terms of progress and peace. let's be honest, this trip is about armament. he will sell weapons to saudi arabia and inded israel. david, do you see an opportunity here, not necessarily created by trump, it would be an accident of timing, but that somehow there is an opening here because we have had words from mahmoud abbas, relatively positive sounds out of the israeli prime minister. is there an opening here? imean... you're giving me the mike pence look! without the smile, but with a kind of a quip. what is it about this american president, this administration or even his senior officials, which will give us any reason to believe that they would have the sophistication and the subtlety to succeed

where their predecessors had failed? what is it about the circumstances in the middle east that would give rise to a belief that there was a significant opportunity being created now that didn't exist in the immediate past? what he's going to talk to the israelis about mostly is iran because that is the principal concern that they have. we should note that it is pretty good news that rohani is winning the election, or looks like winning the election this weekend. possibly helped by washington not reimposing sanctions. possibly, but the major game is syria. i don't imagine that trump wants to invest a scintilla of his energy and status in the question of what happens between israel and the palestinians. i think we have been talking about openings since the late 70s. theyjust occur and then the window closes.

itjust doesn't happen. and i think david is making a good point, this administration is totally distracted. where is this terrific cadre of people that are going to make this happen? jared kushner? the first son—in—law. also how can you talk about an opening for peace when this man is going to saudi arabia to sell weapons? saudi arabia is in an arms race, the country in the world that is spending more money in proportion of his wealth into weapons. it is antagonising iran and trump is there to give them more weapons. i don't know how you can talk about openings. certainly not for peace, in my view. what about the next stage of his trip? he will be at the nation summit

in brussels and goes to sicily for the g7. he also meets the pope, and will have some potentially interesting conversations notjust with pope francis but he also has a first meeting with emmanuel macron, the new president of france who is old europe and proud of it. indeed he wants to revitalise the eu. it is quite hard to see much meeting of minds going on. it will be a steep learning curve, even for a man like donald trump. he will learn something in meeting the pope and macron. they will tell him that actually the world is not as he sees it. especially what is relevant and important to watch is the 25th of may, nato summit in brussels. trump and his view of the world and nato is going to have a wake—up call to reality. we have this intriguing briefing we've had, david, that apparently the notes for this summit are being designed in such

a way that they keep mentioning the president's name to keep him interested but they are trying to keep them short because he doesn't apparently have a big attention span. what are the chances, in two months time he will be back in the white house and have a delegation saying he met the pope and was not very impressed with him? there is a big chance that is what he will do. the pope says, actually, we want greater human rights etc, around the globe and more emphasis on poverty, and maybe your capitalism should not be so rapacious. and donald trump says, i have learned a big lesson here. i think i will significantly change my outlook. or is he going to go around saying the pope is a nutjob? chuckling let's leave that question hanging in the air, and perhaps we'll find out after next weekend. now, we know it's just under three weeks until polling day, and britain's major political parties have published their manifestos. the policies are there, but which are the vote winners? david, when you look at these documents, do you feel,

i know now where they stand? i have a clear idea when i go into the polling stations and i know what i will be voting for? it is important that we pretend the manifestos matter, isn't it? this is the game that we absolutely have to play, this is the bbc. i don't know whether we are as sold on the rules the bbc has to abide by as everybody else. but we have to pretend the manifestos matter. but they do matter in practical terms. because if the house of lords stands in the way of any legislation a government introduces, it doesn't stand in the way of manifesto commitment. ok, so it will matter to the house of lords in three years' time. but i don't think most people vote on the basis of what they think the house of lords is going to do in three years' time. we saw from the national insurance debacle before the election, if you have something specifically ruled out by your manifesto, which is a different kind of category of problem, then it is more difficult to enact.

there are a few of those things, at least in the conservative ma nifesto. so in the labour manifesto, you have an incredible wish list of things you will spend money on which someone else is going to pay for — the rich, the companies, etc. in the tory manifesto, you have a melange of things that make you look realistic and tough. and also that allow you to suggest that what you are going to do is the thing that you learn from the brexit vote, which is you are going to take up the left—behinds and make sure... somebody pointed out today that the word "protect" runs through this manifesto. it gives you an idea of the way in which theresa may thinks of itself. she is the oliver cromwell, the lord protector of the british people. and there is actually something vaguely cromwellian about her. what about the return of the state, stryker? it is writ large notjust in the labour manifesto, you might expect it there, not least under the quite

old—fashioned view of labour thatjeremy corbyn has, or "traditional" you might call it. it is there very strongly in the conservative manifesto also. well, yes. ifind it hard... maybe like david, i don't believe that this manifesto represents the soul of the tory party. what she seems to be doing is she's casting an incredibly wide net. she wants to get the blair electorate of 1997 and somehow get that same group of people. that big tent? absolutely. when the tories were not wiped out but certainly cut back. what is happening now is i almost feel she could say whatever she wants to say because there is no real opposition. the labour party seems to be simply designed as protest to whoever is in power. they don't seem to have aspirations

of power themselves. they seem to be content with trying to do whatever they can do to change the agenda a litle bit. we talked about older voters and how in the past there had been a real desire to embrace them, not least because they are the ones most certain to vote. after david cameron, theresa may is offering them candour, instead. saying, we will not be able to afford to provide social care, no we will not maintain the commitment on pensions going up 2.5% at least, every year. these kinds of things are no longer being given to you. you have to accept things will cost money. it's a different approach. certainly, and one thing people abroad found very strange is that david cameron rightly resigned after effectively losing the brexit vote and hisjob has been taken over by a remainer. one thing that fascinates me more generally speaking,

is how pragmatic and non—ideological everyone has to be. theresa may knows the biggest challenge facing britain at the moment is brexit. she has to try to shape a britain to cope with that. yet everybody knows that she was a remainer and that is why comparisons with the conviction politician like margaret thatcher are ridiculous. theresa may is happy to u—turn and there is no tina, to use jargon. it's interesting seeing how this fact is so obvious in the rest of europe and it has been forgotten in britain. the rest of europe looks with dismay at theresa may because she is seen as a turncoat. she campaigned to remain and now presents herself as almost a fanatic hard brexiteer.

and that could be a problem then, after the election? absolutely, one of the most extraordinary things seen from the rest of europe, is she is telling the british voters, vote for me so you will give me a strong hand and this will be good for britain. actually the rest of europe thinks it would be a catastrophe for europe because she has been incredibly belligerent and has irritated everybody. it is the contrary of what she is presenting to the electorate. i would slightly disagree with the fact that she presents herself as a hard—core brexiteers. i think she seems to be proud not to be a radical conservative. no deal is better than a bad deal. that's pretty extreme. what strikes me about her manifesto, it is mainly made up of worthy intentions and a pragmatic wish list rather than definitive policy. a lot of the things she has offered not are not costed, for example. as far as her vision

for britain is concerned, she is quite sensible to say there is no such thing as mayism. not only because it sounds too close to maoism, for a start, but also because it goes against her pragmatic nature. two things — firstly, she is not like blair at all in that this is a distinctly un—modernising agenda. it is quite backward looking. it fixes into that. there is a little bit of that. when it comes to brexit, one of the important things in the manifesto is the fact that we will pay up. this is a big thing in the tory party because they don't want the pay up. this suggests she is aiming for some kind of trade involvement which as a quid pro quo for making payments. that suggests she thinks the manifesto is aimed at being able to take on the extreme

brexiteer post—election. funnily enough, sean is more of an expert on this than i am. i know you can't give your opinion but you can nod. is that broadly how you see it? iam being delphic. i have this lovely image of theresa may clutching the manifesto and hitting recalcitrant tory mps on the head saying, you stood on this, you elected it. what about her personality? are we warming to theresa may now? has this election helped people to embrace her as an individual? no, i don't. i'm not sure she wants to be embraced and loved. the one show striker. went on the one show with her husband and all of a sudden, it is like ed balls doing strictly come dancing and people saying, "ooh, i saw a side to her that i never saw before". it was just wonderful.

she was asked about her childhood and she said twice it was stable. she had horses! she is who she is. the risk, although there is no risk because she is going to win the election, but there is a risk when you do things that seem to be hurting pensioners, that seem to be hurting schoolchildren by not feeding them... this is the end of certain school meals. universal school meals. absolutely, you risk emphasising the part of your personality that strikes people as cold. the number one thing in theresa may's favour is that she comes across as reasonable, sensible and dare i say extremely careful.

she knows she has an extremely difficult task ahead and potentially very risky indeed. there is no sense of triumphalism or indeed, eminent victory. nabila, annalisa, david and stryker, thank you. great to have you with us, i know we will be talking about both those subjects again in the course of the next few weeks. do join us at the same time next week. thank you all for watching. goodbye. hello there. we have summery feel through the week ahead. a lot of dry weather on the cards and temperatures are on the rise. through monday, a bit of patchy rain crossing northern ireland and then heading into the west of scotland

either middle part of the day, moving eastwards slowly. elsewhere across the uk, it is a dry, warm day. temperatures up to 2a and possibly 25 in the south. a bit fresher under the cloud in parts of ireland and scotland. the rain clears to the north—east and on monday evening, it is dry overnight. misty patch is clear away on tuesday. tuesday, another dry date that it will be cloudy, particularly in the west. a bit of drizzle and hill fog. the brightest of skies will be in the east with temperatures up to 23 degrees, not quite as warm as monday but a pleasa nt quite as warm as monday but a pleasant day to come. and spend the largely dry and warm theme continues into the middle of the week. you might seea into the middle of the week. you might see a bit more than 25 degrees by the time we get on thursday. goodbye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: on his first foreign tour — president trump urges muslim nations to take the lead in fighting terror — framing it as a battle

between good and evil. drive them out of your community, drive them out of your holy land — and drive them out of this earth. north korea confirms the country's latest ballistic missile test. south korea says it dashes hopes of forging peace. cholera sweeps war—ravaged yemen — claiming 250 lives this month alone. hundreds of suspected cases are being reported every day. battling depression: british scientists say an overactive immune system could be to blame.