this is bbc news. i'm chris rogers. our top stories: saudi arabia says it has shot down a ballistic missile fired from neighbouring yemen. a loud explosion was heard in the saudi capital, riyadh. meanwhile an anti—corruption commission headed by a powerful saudi prince, is reported to have detained numerous princes and ministers as part of an apparent purge. lebanon's prime minister resigns — saying his life is in danger. he blames iran. president trump departs hawaii on his way to japan — the first stop in his 12 day tour of asia. and, saying sorry to sue — an english farmer uses a tractor, gps and crop sprayers to apologise to his wife. hello and welcome to bbc news.

state media in saudi arabia say the military has shot down a missile over the capital, riyadh, close to the international airport. the weapon appears to have been fired from neighbouring yemen. houthi rebels, who are backed by iran, have claimed responsibility. it's first time the rebels have tried to fire a missile directly on the saudi capital. mohamed taha, from bbc arabic, says it's clear the houthis intended to cause major damage. it could not be denied because, as you said, whether the missile or parts of it hit the airport and whether it has been intercepted or not, at the end of the day, there is afire, not, at the end of the day, there is a fire, the recent explosion in parts of the airport. flights are happening normally and movement is happening normally and movement is

happening normally and movement is happening normally but, as you said, the fact that these missile manage to get to riyadh is significant. sadly, the war in yemen is offered described as the forgotten war. it goes months without making their international news. it is difficult for journalists to international news. it is difficult forjournalists to get into yemen to find out what is going on. did you think they perhaps chose the international epoch to get it back onto the international agenda? how much is at the airport use? for sure, the international airport is the main airport in the whole of saudi arabia. this is the main airport in the capital. it has two terminals, the northern and southern terminal. riyadh is a big capital, it isa terminal. riyadh is a big capital, it is a business hub, so many

international is this as a going to saudi arabia and companies are in saudi arabia and companies are in saudi arabia. the crown prince, crown prince mohammed bin salman, is to evolve saudi arabia by 2030 to be a financial hub so what happened tonight i think, will have lots of thinking from the crown prince. another big developing story in saudi arabia: a newly—established anti—corru ption committee is reported to have detained ten princes, several current ministers and dozens of former ministers. reports said the committee, headed by crown prince mohammed bin salman, was set up by his father, the king, earlier on saturday. the heads of the saudi national guard and navy appear to have been replaced, as part of what looks like a major purge. we'll bring you more on that when we get it. iran has rejected accusations by the lebanese prime minister that it's spreading violence across the region. saad hariri resigned

from his post unexpectedly — saying he feared for his life. iranian officials say his resignation is a saudi plot to create tension in lebanon and the region. martin patience reports from beirut. it is an honour to be here with you, mr president. for the prime minister of a small nation, saad al—hariri has had some very powerful friends. that is because lebanon matters in the middle east. it is a country outsiders fight to control. and today, an extraordinary sign of that. the prime minister resigned, saying he feared assassination. speaking from saudi arabia, which backs him, saad al—hariri fired this warning to iran. translation: i want to say to iran and its followers, that they are losing in their interference in the affairs of the arab world. our nation will rise up, as it has done in the past

and cut off the hands that wickedly extend into it. iran and saudi arabia are fighting a proxy war across the middle east. in lebanon, tehran backs hezbollah, which commands strong support. but its opponents say it operates as a state within a state. and its armed wing was accused of killing saad al—hariri's father, rafic, more than a decade ago by a massive truck bomb. it traumatised the nation, but ultimately reshaped the middle east. now some are asking whether his son's resignation will do the same. this announcement has left people here stunned and created enormous uncertainty. lebanon has been spared the violence seen elsewhere. but now many lebanese fear their country could be

a casualty in the wider regional struggle. for more on the situation i was joined a short time ago by hanin ghaddar, she's an expert on lebanon from the washington institute for near east policy. this is not a new thing. these has been going on for a while. saad al—hariri has recently been visiting and we have hearing a lot of his meetings in riyadh because riyadh is not happy in the way saad al—hariri has been compromising with hezbollah in lebanon. his meetings have not been a very players in. this happened in riyadh for two reasons. 0ne, apparently he's not coming back to lebanon. he will be prime

minister of a caretaking government from riyadh and the second reason for security concerns because they have been assassination attempts in the past few days on him. these all happened also right after iranian... his highest consultant, when he came to lebanon yesterday when he met with saad al—hariri, immediately after this meeting he was asked to go to riyadh. the meeting was a very, very bad and a statement indicated that iran does control lebanon and has the highest upper hand in lebanon. saudi arabia has not been happy with these developments in lebanon but they have not been paying attention because of everything that has been happening in the region but now they have to do something about it. after this meeting, they called him in and asked him to resign. the regional

context is very important because this is not isolated from what is happening in the iranian — saudi conflict in the middle east. mainly in lebanon but of course in syria, iraq and yemen. this is part of the saudi rhetoric, the escalating rhetoric in the region. being less involved in syria are raising concerns in syria and also being very involved in yemen and this is pa rt very involved in yemen and this is part of the rhetoric. president trump is en route to japan on the first leg of an asian tour, which is certain to be dominated by the crisis over north korea's nuclear programme. later in the week the president will travel to south korea, and then china, the key stop on his five—nation tour of east asia. tom donkin reports. a moment of quiet reflection before donald trump begins his tour of

asia, the longest and american president has attempted in a quarter ofa president has attempted in a quarter of a century. he spent this stopover ina wide of a century. he spent this stopover in a wide pan respected by hundreds of american servicemen killed in a surprise attack by japan in the second world war. today, old enemies now allies and president trump ordered air force one bound for tokyo. talk horsfall now involves north korea and there is little doubt his discussions will focus heavily on regional security. his wife meant with a minister are being ahead of their stash his daughter. ahead of her father ‘s arrival. he will be welcomed by the japanese leader and the president will have strong support in seoul. he will need commitment across the region to squeeze the north even tighter, through sanctions. and that means getting china on board. 0n through sanctions. and that means getting china on board. on wednesday donald trump meets xijinping. they

talk may be less than cordial if he presses his counterpart to take a stronger line with pyongyang and raises the issue of china's unfair trade practices. this marathon on 12 day tour will end with regional summit in vietnam and the philippines. there they will be listening to how committed this america first president is to the region at a time when china continues to emerge as the dominant force. and you can keep up with this story on our website. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... former us president george hw bush is reported to have said he voted for hillary clinton in last year's election. in an interview with a historian, mr bush is said to have described donald trump as a blowhard, a pompous and boastful person. the younger george bush said he had

abstained from voting. donald trump's former campaign manager paul manafort has offered to pledge $12 million in real estate and life insurance assets, and limit his travel in a bid to avoid continued house arrest, according to us court documents. earlier this week manafort, and his associate richard gates pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including laundering money, and conspiring against the united states. labour has called on all the main political parties to agree a new, independent system to tackle sexual harassment at westminster. it comes ahead of a meeting planned by theresa may with 0pposition leaders on monday to discuss proposals for fresh grievance procedures for staff and mps. the crisis has now spread to holyrood, with the scottish nationalist msp mark mcdonald resigning as a government minister over "inappropriate" behaviour. 0ur political correspondent iain watson reports. this is the week when politicians‘ private lives became very public.

past actions by some mps have had serious consequences. there have been accusations, resignations, investigations and it's clear the current crisis at westminster will continue to fill the front—pages. tonight, there are newspaper claims that sir michael fallon lost his job when a journalist contacted downing street to say he'd behaved inappropriately towards her 14 years ago. friends of michael fallon don't deny that this took place but i understand no single incident led to his departure. and tonight, a new resignation, this time, the childcare minister in the scottish government. in a statement the snp‘s mark mcdonald said... and he went on to apologize to anyone he may have upset. political parties are now responding to the spate of allegations. the conservatives have toughened their code of conduct.

the shadow foreign secretary has said a younger generation no longer put up with harassment and many women mps have been pressing for an independent body to hear any complaints and labour's leadership has now agreed. we need to make sure that our youngsters know, that we will listen to them, that we will help, that it is not acceptable, and that they do not need to put up with any of it. you know, we've got to say no to this and they will find friends and allies, people like me, who will not put up with this. you know, some of the things i've heard in the last week have been so disgusting. the physical structures of parliament are being made fit for the 2ist—century, and, on monday, theresa may wants to do much the same thing with the wider the culture here at westminster. much the same thing with the wider culture here at westminster. she is holding cross party talks to try to get broad agreement on tackling harassment and inappropriate behaviour, but some mps are worried that political careers could end on the basis of rumour

and the settling of old scores. there is a febrile atmosphere, and there's a feeding frenzy that some have described, i think probably rightly, as a witch—hunt. yes, this may sell tomorrow's chip wrappings but this is more serious than that. and i believe that my colleague, members of parliament have a right to the same naturaljustice as everybody else and they are not getting it. party leaders want to be seen to be taken tough action against harrassment but they know, perhaps even fear, that they are not entirely in control of events. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... the fertility treatment that changed the world. we look back on a0 years of ivf. the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested, and an extremistjewish organisation

has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear — the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened that, should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyager one is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going. tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of ourarms, or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: state media in saudi arabia say

a missile fired from yemen has been shot down close to the international airport in the capital riyadh. there are no reports of any damage. meanwhile an anti—corruption commission headed by a powerful saudi prince is reported to have detained numerous princes and ministers as part of an apparent purge. lebanon's prime minister has resigned, saying he fears for his life. he's accused iran of sowing "fear and destruction". netflix has cut all ties with kevin spacey — who plays the lead role in one of its most successful programmes, ‘house of cards‘. the company said it would no longer be involved in the series if the actor continued to be part of it. i was joined a short time ago by bbc arabic hollywood reporter, sam asi. he's met and interviewed kevin spacey numerous times and says the star's fall from grace has been swift and brutal. this show put netflix‘s original programming on the map. it was the first show they started

original programming. his publicist left him, his agent left him. now, even his 0scar campaign has been cancelled by sony for all the money in the world, where he plast paul getty and everybody thought he would be a very strong candidate to win another 0scar this year. so the damage is immense, it's almost like the end of his career, if it's not the end already. many people say it should be the end of his career, but netflix have made these decisions about him and his future and other studios without a proper police investigation, without even being charged. that was the case with harvey weinstein, that was the case with all of them. this is a question i posed to some of hollywood stars, including matt damon and ben affleck this morning. you've just interviewed ben affleck. yes, he said that the public has

the right to judge these people, because they harm members of the public and that somehow the reaction of the public has awakened the authorities to these issues. because now they are investigating, at least they're opening some investigations. but there is, i appreciate what ben affleck is saying, and that is the power of social media as well, but what we have got to remind ourselves there is a huge argument that people shouldn't be named by people who accuse them of things until they have been charged. i also asked matt damon, who was nearly dragged into this quagmire, if you recall, when it started when a journalist falsely accused him of trying to kill a story about harvey weinstein. and he said, no, this is not about me. this is about the victims. i know who i am, i'm a decent guy, everybody knows that. and it is true, matt damon is one of most decent stars in hollywood.

but you know the risk, it could happen even to somebody like matt damon. why do you think it's been an open secret for so long? what have people like ben affleck had to say? did they know that, i mean we all know there is some kind of a casting couch culture in hollywood, but why do you think it has been such an open secret, why haven't people like ben affleck, who say that, come forward and said something themselves on social media, why are actors so scared to speak out? i don't think, when you ask them this question, they mostly say, yes, we knew that harvey for instance was a womaniser. everybody was aware of the casting couch. but i don't think, when you ask them that question, they also say, we never imagined it to be that brutal. nobody imagined rape. 0r such systematic, systemic sexual harassment and abuses. do you think some people are too scared to come out and say anything? absolutely.

absolutely, because these victims, these women were too scared to speak up and you know pay attention to the victims. even the stars of today, they were all abused when they were powerless. when they were just on the brink of starting their careers. none get harassed or abused when they are in a powerful position. so this is the abuse of the powerful over the powerless. 0nce they're powerful, these women when they're powerful, they‘ re untouchable. that was sam azzi who spoke to us earlier after interviewing ben affleck. it's a0 years since one of the biggest advances in human fertility — in vitro fertilisation — or ivf. since then more than a quarter of a million healthy ivf babies have been born in britain alone. here are some things you might not know about the procedure. around the world, people release helium balloons or sky lanterns to mark special occasions.

but campaigners here in the uk say the objects are a growing threat to animals, which can die from becoming entangled in them, or swallowing them. dan johnson reports. the litter in our seas, an issue largely hidden. and how it gets there isn't always clear. so look at this, and think about it. where do they land ? what goes up must come down. and the result is trouble at sea. it's wildlife getting tangled in them, the plastic litter is very unsightly, and... campaigns have been running for years but the message isn't getting through. most people think, "0h, we're having a great time, we will let balloons off, there isn't much of a problem." but it is when you bring that visual impact that has been ingested and getting wrapped up with bits of string and bits of balloon out of their mouths as well.

and it could be internal, we find that out when we're able to do a post—mortem on that. the amount of plastic in the ocean is already a threat to marine ecosystems and sea life. and the truth is, it's impossible to tell how much balloons are adding to that problem, because the impact is out there, offshore, unseen and unmeasured. so balloons get released without consideration of the consequences. it's landed in the field, and, being curious, she swallowed it. and they can be just as deadly on land. jennifer's horse died after choking and panicking. right through here with it tangled up, in her back leg, crashed into this, broke her neck, and then she laid dying horrendously for what seemed an eternity. the horse was aiming to be a top showjumper just like her sister here. they don't understand that they are releasing litter into the air, airborne litter, and if anybody dropped that on a pavement they would get heavily fined for it.

the call is for a wider ban on balloons and people to keep their impact in mind before they drift off out of sight. there are many ways to send a message these days — but a mysterious one the size of a field in 0xfordshire, to the west of london, has caused some bafflement. the name "sue" with a kiss in giant letters was spotted by a police helicopter. a farmer, murray graham, has now admitted he used his gps—operated tractor to spray the crops in the shape of his wife's name to apologise for being moody. i had some chemical left over in the ta nks i had some chemical left over in the tanks so i thought i would spray it out and see whether i could write my wife's name. i did over two weeks ago, it does take a while to those who is your wife. were you trying to

say to her via the media of crops braying getting that i am not as grumpy asi braying getting that i am not as grumpy as i perhaps make out so far. does put the rest of us to shame. if you can beat that, send your photos to us via twitter. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @chrisrogersbbc after the rain cleared through on saturday afternoon, cold bright conditions moved in place but plenty of showers rattled in from the north—west. through the course of the night, showery one across wet skin areas. thunder and hail and further east it has been dry with

clear spells. we start sunday morning on a chilly note. generally speaking it will be dry, drier than saturday. 20 of sunshine but noticeably cold in all areas. start sunday off with some of the showers across western areas. they will slowly fizzle away into the afternoon and become more confined to western and south—western and eastern coastal areas. many places tried but cold, eight, 10 degrees. they will be struggling. as we head towards bonfire night that temperatures will be falling. you can see that blue hue there across scotland. a few showers for the northern coast, a few through the northern coast, a few through the north channel. there will be some showers across the east coast. the most showers across the east coast. the m ost pla ces showers across the east coast. the most places it will be dry for bonfire night. but cold and she may well need to wrap up warm. a few showers around the channel islands

as well. as we had further an end to sunday night it turns even colder. you can see these blue colours across the north, extending south. some places potentially seeing lows down to —5 minus six degrees. it could be a misty and cold start for monday to frost around. the reach of high pressure, that brings fine weather on sunday and monday morning ebbs away and allows this to push it off the atlantic, bringing in thickening cloud, strengthening wind and cold start on monday but dry with plenty of sunshine. the sunshine diminishes from the west as the weather front moves in that will stay bright across east anglia and the south—east. spots of rain developing across the west of britain and persistent heavy rains in northern and western parts of scotland. it will be mildly but. for tuesday, a messy picture. the weather front will continue eastwards and heavy persistent rain as it travels eastwards. mild but

turning cold again across the north and west with sunshine and showers. 0n into wednesday, we are between weather systems. at clear from the south—east in the cold clear conditions in its wake with more wind and rain pushing into the north and west later on. this is bbc news, the headlines: state media in saudi arabia say the military has shot down a ballistic missile fired from neighbouring yemen. a loud explosion was heard near the international airport in the saudi capital riyadh. there are no reports of injuries. meanwhile an anti—corruption commission headed by a powerful saudi prince is reported to have detained numerous princes and ministers. it's thought to be part of a major purge. iran has denied accusations that it is destabilising lebanon. the claims were made by the lebanese prime minister, who announced his resignation earlier. saad hariri says he stood down because his life is in danger. a us historian says he's been told by both former president bushes that neither of them voted for donald trump in last year's election. the older bush is said to have voted

for democrat hillary clinton, while his son apparently abstained. now on bbc news it's time for britain's best new building.