welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories... the bells ring out for pope francis as he arrives to celebrate mass for the first time in myanmar. north korea test fires another ballistic missile triggering condemnation from washington, tokyo, and seoul. a warning that the fight to stamp out malaria could be damaged due to a lack of funding. also in the programme, a fairytale wedding for prince harry and meghan markle. it'll take place next may in a royal castle. tens of thousands of people in myanmar have gathered in yangon to attend the first mass to be held by pope francis.

so far on his trip, the pope has not publicly referred to the country's persecuted rohingya muslim minority by name. let's take a look at the open air service in the chaikasan sports ground. you can see there are thousands of people gathered for mass with pope francis. it has been going on for a short while. the catholic community in myanmar is relatively small, consisting of a few hundred thousand catholics. earlier in the day, pope francis called for what he said was respect for each ethnic group and its identity. some interpreted in that as an indirect reference to the rohingya people. he held talks with myanmar‘s leader, aung san suu kyi and he will have more talks behind

the scenes, we believe, in the coming hours. you can see there that mass ongoing in yang gone —— yangon. our correspondent says it was not quite as large as expected but people have been registering all over the country and making the journey for this unprecedented mass from her brand —— francis. —— pope francis. our south—east asia correspondentjonathan head is following the mass in yangon. this is the biggest mass of the four day to. —— tour. he made a keynote speech yesterday and met aung san suu kyi, he has also met the armed forces commander as well. given the political tone to this tour. this is the moment where it becomes post— oral and spiritual. he has done his

classic tour around the crowd behind me in classic tour around the crowd behind meina classic tour around the crowd behind me in a poke in the deal, and electric golf cart. bug row —— crowd is not as big as i may have expected. is a lot of spacey but there are probably ten or 20,000 people behind me. the catholic minority is quite small and many of them had to travel long distances to get here. it is a enthusiastic and joyful atmosphere and most of the people got a good view of him as he went to ground and reached out to them. the mass has started in the papers on stage and we expect he will speak on later in the day. he has a meeting with the buddhist council, which is quite important. buddhist monks have led the nationalist movement. we know that the pope is avoiding controversial public comments but we don't know what he is saying in private to the people he is meeting. it has been a difficult balancing act, isn't it? it is and i would argue that he has

alan stead although i think there may be disappointment from human rights groups and advocates for the rohingya who wanted him to make a point of highlighting the plight of the rohingya because it is so awful. notjust the rohingya because it is so awful. not just that they have suffered terrible abuses and been driven out of their homes but they have been subjected to institutionalised discrimination, a form of apartheid so discrimination, a form of apartheid so many years and they feel that it would have been good of the pope if he could have used the word rohingya, it is controversial here, the majority and the government do not accept it. having done that, he would have gotten an angry reaction. here in myanmar they do not recognise the rohingya crisis in the way the rest of the world reports that. it is seen here is —— as a problem. they have militants and security forces and everyone is rallying around aung san suu kyi. had the pope spoken out he would have had a hostile reaction from some and it would have closed doors

in terms of reaching out to key leaders here. and there's more on the pope's tour of myanmar on our website: bbc.com/news — or download the bbc news app. leaders in south korea, japan and the united states have condemned the test launching of what appears to be an intercontinental ballistic missile by north korea. it reportedly reached an altitude of well over 4,000 kilometres. 0ur correspondent paul adams has been watching the reaction from seoul. there has been considerable reaction. donald trump was quickly briefed on the matter. he said that the united states was going to deal with the issue. he did not indulge in any of the more colourful rhetoric that he has used in the past when talking about north korea. we also heard from japan's prime minister, calling for the un

security council to discuss this issue. there was also a meeting here for the national security council in seoul after which the korean president, president moon, said it was a reckless provocations by the north and peace talks could not possibly resume with north korea still on this path. people had been hoping that this pause would last a little longer, perhaps even into the new year, perhaps even as far as the winter olympics due to be held here in south korea in february. 0bviously that is not going to happen and now people are wondering at what stage, if at all, kim jong—un is willing to return to the negotiating table. it may well be that he is not willing to do that until he has completed his nuclear programme. that means putting the last stage in place, the all—important last last stage in place, the all—importa nt last stage of last stage in place, the all—important last stage of putting an effective warhead on top of an effective ballistic missile. experts believe that is all three years away but yesterday, the south korean

minister said that he thought it was possible that the north koreans may achieve this within the next 12 months or so. and for more on the situation in north korea, i spoke to dr david wright, a physicist and co—director of the global security programme at the union of concerned scientists in massachusetts. here is his take on the newly launched missile. this appears to be a return to what north korea was doing this summer when it was doing test that went almost straight up and then back down falling in the sea ofjapan. this appears to be the longest range test that they have done. we think that it test that they have done. we think thatitis test that they have done. we think that it is a variation of the missile that they launched in july, twice, that had long—range. and we are speculating that they may have modified the second stage somewhat to make a little more capable. we expect as photos come out, north

korea always release them, we hope that those photos may tell us more. you mentioned modifying the second stage. can you explain that to us? in trying to get a longer range want to try and increase the thrust is much as possible. missiles are made of them multiple stages because that is an efficient way to use propellant. the last time they launched this in latejuly we noticed that because of where the second stage was designed it seemed they may be able to do something to increase the capability of it. my guess is that that is what they have done this time. from a technical point of view i would say it is a somewhat marginal change, from a political point of view it is a big deal. this comes after two months of quiet. was a too hopeful on the part of observers, do you think, to think that pyongyang could show restraint? it is difficult to know. some of the chinese researchers we have spoken to say that they thought it was just

their scheduling, either for technical reasons or scheduling reasons they were delaying. there has been some speculation that in fa ct has been some speculation that in fact north korea may have been showing restraint but putting them back on the list of countries that sponsor back on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism beside the situation that they would test again. in truth, nobody really knows. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the senate democratic leader in the united states says democrats and republicans need to come to an agreement on the budget to avoid a shutdown. senator chuck schumer was speaking after he and representative nancy pelosi pulled out of a scheduled meeting with president trump to discuss the issue. mr trump says there is a fundamental disagreement over tax that needs to be addressed. one of the most prominent saudis being held in an anti—corruption drive is reported to have been freed after more than three weeks. prince miteb, once seen as a leading

contender to the throne, was arrested on the orders of the crown prince. officials say he has now been released after agreeing to pay more than one billion dollars. a graphic video ofjapanese fishermen harpooning whales in the southern ocean has been released by the australian government, after the anti—whaling group, sea shepherd won a freedom of information battle. the video was filmed by australian officials nearly ten years ago but canberra kept it hidden for fear of damaging "international relations". the world health organization is warning that progress made to eradicate malaria could be damaged unless more funding is made available. their latest report provides a status update on the fight against the disease, with experts saying targets to cut infection by 90% by 2030 will be missed unless budgets are increased. andrew plant reports. malaria. spread by mosquitoes and

responsible for millions of deaths throughout history. but this deadly disease is, itself, underattack. the world health organization aiming to cut deaths by 90% by 2030 and in some countries, wipe out malaria altogether. a new report, however, says that progress is stalling due to underfunding. worldwide, the prevention and eradication programme got 2.7 billion us dollars last year. experts say that is well short of the money they need. last year saw over 2 million new infections across 91 countries, and about half across 91 countries, and about half a million deaths. diseases like tb and hiv/aids each call twice as many last year. the hope is that one day at malaria, like smallpox, could be at malaria, like smallpox, could be a disease of the past. insecticide

treated bed nets are the most effective way to stop malaria. spraying walls with insecticide is also popular. while net use has risen, the use of spray has dropped. the series that without more money the gains made against the disease could slip back. in recent years, seven countries have been certified malaria free including the maldives and sri lanka. it is hoped many more will be free of the disease over the next decade. but scientist say that could only happen with more funding to fight malaria. joining me now via webcam from manila is dr markjacobs, a director at the world health organisation's western pacific region. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. this is quite shocking, isn't it, given the progress that was being made? well, there is certainly some concerning information in this news report that it is not all

concerning information by any stretch. the long—term trend is still a good one with numbers of cases and deaths declining quite significantly. but we do need to be concerned about the plateauing of that reduction in the last year or two. really, it is a reminder to us that the job is far from done with malaria. we really do, as a global community, need to keep on focusing on itand community, need to keep on focusing on it and accelerate a lot of our effo rts on it and accelerate a lot of our efforts to finish the job. is it all about funding? no. certainly one of the concerns, one of the practical concerns we have is about the plateauing of the funding, the levelling off of funding in recent yea rs. levelling off of funding in recent years. but it is not all about that. it is also about how we go about tackling it. one of the fundamental challenges we have is that services for malaria, be that prevention services or diagnosis services or treatment are not reaching everybody that need them. of course, partly that need them. of course, partly that of the funding issue but it is

also about how a health systems operate, how the programmes operate. until we come to grips with that, there big gaps in coverage of those services, we will not hit those ambitious targets for malaria. services, we will not hit those ambitious targets for malarial suppose it will be the poorest people in the poorest countries who pay the price for that. often... the people who cannot get access to the services or the services cannot be reached, that is not the only challenge they face. they can often be living in more remote parts of their countries or they may be in minority populations or they may not be very mobile. —— they may be very mobile. it may be that malaria and tb services, maternal and child care services are not reaching them. this isa services are not reaching them. this is a fundamental challenge for health services more broadly and not just malaria services. when we talk about malaria prevention, in practical terms what does that come down to? the biggest part of the

prevention of malaria is their bets. bed nets treated with insecticide, they are highly effective. there is also the technology to use residual spraying inside houses. they are the two main things. the huge focus of the current programme is on making sure that people can get access to quality bed nets. thank you for speaking to us. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, prince harry and meghan markle are to be married next may. the venue — st george's chapel in windsor. president kennedy was shot down, and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world, the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister.

before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot—air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." when bob geldof of the boomtown rats saw the tv pictures from ethiopia, he decided he had to do something. and he found his rock music friends felt the same. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: pope francis celebrates mass for the first time in myanmar. north korea test—fires

another ballistic missile, triggering condemnation from washington, tokyo and seoul. thousands of visitors are stranded on the indonesian island of bali, after aircraft were stopped from using its only airport for a second day over fears a volcano may erupt. mt agung is sending gas, ash and smoke thousands of meters mount agung's eruptions show no sign of slowing. thick and muddy flows are spilling from the surface. they are dangerous, but not as devastating as the red—hot lava which could follow.

as long the impact of the eruption is already spreading. with more than 800 flights cancelled, the only way in and out is by boat. for kerry rannie, it is time to leave. it is quite scary. it seems pretty close. this flower satisfies; '

cele; $54! “5414.5 9224915? ch; m“ “5:24? the“ the has d raft parliament has approved a draft law the wan, legalisation - gay marriageesfgfilfi 7 fi 7 7' " ——— by ——— an attempt by conservatives to broaden religious freedom exceptions. it is expected to be passed by the lower house of parliament in coming weeks. earlier this month australians voted overwhelmingly in favour of the measure in a nationwide postal survey. we are starting to get details of the upcoming royal wedding of prince harry and the american actress meghan markle. kensington palace announced they will marry in may at windsor castle. ms markle will be confirmed

into the church of england before the service.