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. earlier the pope spoke with aung san suu kyi who has been criticised for failing to speak out against the treatment of the rohingya, many of whom are now living in refugee camps in bangladesh. the pope is it is spoken of the rights of ethnic groups to refuse to refer to the persecuted rohingya muslim minority by name. the pope said peace can only be achieved through justice and respect for human rights. our south—east asia correspondentjonathan head is following the mass in yangon. this is the biggest mass of the 4—day 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 pastoral and spiritual. he has done his classic tour around the crowd behind me in a popemobile, an electric golf cart. but the crowd is not as big as i may have expected. there's a lot of space, but there are probably 10,000 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 an 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 and the pope is 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 handled it, 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. 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 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 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. in the last few minutes north korea's state tv has claimed its military has successfully launched what it called a " n intercontinental ballistic missile. the news programme claimed the missile was technically capable of reaching the united states. the report also pictured leader kim jong—un at his desk. the missile — named hwasong—is — flew 950 kilometres for 53 minutes while reaching an altitude of four

kilometres according to a statement read by a television presenter. leaders in south korea, japan and the united states have condemned the test. 0ur correspondent paul adams has been watching the reaction from seoul. this test comes after a long pause in which people had started to wonder whether there was something significant in the fact that we had not had a missile test in such a long time. well, in the early hours of the morning, in the dead of night, kim jong—un gave as an emphatic and so. —— and so. —— answer. after two months without a test,

north korea is back at the top of president trump's agenda. a missile was launched a little while ago from north korea. i will only tell you that we will take care of it. this is the 23rd north korean missile test this year, the first since mid—september. it took off in the early hours of the morning from pyongsong, north of the capital pyongyang. it flew east for about 1,000 kilometres, landing after 50 minutes in the sea ofjapan. american officials believe this was an intercontinental ballistic missile and say it flew higher than any previous test. in response, south korea conducted a precision strike missile test of its own. the bottom line is it's a continued effort to build a ballistic missile threat that endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the united states. thank you, general. and we will take care of that situation. thank you all very much, iappreciate it. thank you. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has been seen in recent days visiting largely economic ventures. in the absence of fresh missile tests, observers wondered if his focus had shifted. this, it seems, was wishful thinking. here in seoul, the president has convened a meeting

of his national security council. most experts still think that north korea needs two to three years to complete its nuclear weapons programme, but yesterday a government minister said he wouldn't be surprised if kim jong—un finished the job within the next year. north korea he said was developing its nuclear weapons much faster than anyone expected. the united states has stepped up pressure on north korea throughout the year. military exercises the most visible sign of donald trump's uncompromising approach. officials believe the pressure is making life harder for the north korean leader but kim jong—un seems determined to achieve his nuclear ambitions and unwilling to talk in the meantime. plenty of reaction here in the region. shinzo abe, japan's prime minister, calling for a meeting of the un security council, and, in the last hour or so, we have been hearing from the korean president, moonjae—in. he has said that this is a reckless provocation, he has accused north korea of military adventurism, says peace with the north will not

be possible unless this stops. i think what's alarming people about this test, as the experts analyse it, is the fact it was at this very high trajectory, suggesting to those experts that almost the entire continental us is now within range of north korean ballistic missiles. that is, of course, not the same as saying that north korea yet has the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental us. that is still the bit of this nuclear programme that's yet to be completed but, as the south korean unification minister says, yesterday, he thinks that it is just possible that that final leap, putting an effective nuclear warhead on top of an effective ballistic missile, is something the north korea could complete within the next 12 months so on. 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, under attack. 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 the long—term trend is still a good one with the number of cases and deaths declining significantly. we do need to be concerned about the plateauing of the reduction in the last year or two and it is a reminder to us that the job is far from over with malaria. we really do, asa from over with malaria. we really do, as a global community, need to continue focusing on it and accelerate our efforts to finish the job. last year saw over 2 million new infections across 91 countries, and about half a million deaths. diseases like tb and hiv/aids each kill twice as many last year. the hope is that one day 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 fear is 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. i spoke to doctor markjacobs, a director at the world health organisation's western pacific region, who is in manila. 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 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. 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 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. i suppose it will be the poorest people in the poorest countries who pay the price for that.

0ften... 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 is a fundamental challenge for health services more broadly and notjust 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 announces it has test—fired 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. mount agung is sending gas, ash and smoke thousands of meters into the air. from bali, hywel griffiths sent this report. with ash billowing overhead, and tremors growing underground, mount agung's eruption shows no sign of slowing. thick, muddy flows known as lahars are already spilling from the surface. they are dangerous, but not as devastating as the red—hot lava which could follow. in the mountain's shadow, they have been preparing for months. everyone knows the drill. these children have been reassured they will be safe, as long as the evacuation plan is followed. for the thousands forced from their homes two months ago,

when the tremors started, the wait has been unbearable. and there is no way of knowing when it will end. translation: i have two young children. what will we do? 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's quite scary. it seems pretty close at the minute. yeah, so not sure whether it's due to erupt, or if it's in the middle of erupting. some here are determined to stick to everyday life, whatever the risks. this flower seller lives within the exclusion zone, but is refusing to leave. she will run if the lava comes, she laughs. through the day, the island has been hit by tropical storms and blackout, just adding to the sense

of disruption and unease, as everyone here waits to see just how the eruption will end. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: at least two people have died, with three others in a critical condition, after a car bomb exploded outside the yemeni finance ministry offices in aden. officials say they believe there are more casualties at the scene of the blast, but they are unable to reach them due to an exchange of gunfire. no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. ajury in the united states has acquitted a libyan militant of murder, but convicted him on lesser terrorism charges, in connection with an attack on the us consulate in benghazi in 2012. ahmed abu khatallah had been facing 18 charges, but was acquitted on all but four. kenya's president, uhuru kenyatta, says he will work to reunite his country following his controversial re—election last month. mr kenyatta was inaugurated for his second term on tuesday, despite continuing

opposition protests. he won a repeat election held in october, with 98% of the vote, after the opposition boycotted the poll. 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. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has the details. they have, in the words of their spokesman, been overwhelmed by the amount of the support they have received, from britain and elsewhere in the world, to the news of their engagement. and now, harry and meghan are starting to organise the wedding, leading the process for all aspects of the ceremony

themselves, according to their officials. as they do so, other members of the royal family have been expressing their happiness at the news of the engagement. william and i are absolutely thrilled, and it's such exciting news. it's a really happy time for any couple, and we wish them all the best, and hope they enjoy this happy moment. the ceremony will take place inside windsor castle, in the historic st george's chapel. the month on the invitations will be may. a precise date has still to be decided. the 15th—century chapel, festooned with the banners of the knights of the garter, is where harry was christened. the disadvantage is its size. it can seat only 800 guests, fewer than half the capacity of westminster abbey. it is, though, a more intimate setting. it was where the marriage of the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall was blessed in 2005, after their wedding in a register office. aside from wedding preparations, meghan will be applying for british citizenship. as she made clear in yesterday's interview, she wants to get to know britain better.

i think, in these beginning few months, and now being boots on the ground in the uk, i'm excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, smaller organisations, we're working on the same causes that i've always been passionate about. that process of getting to know her new country will start this friday in nottingham. the city will witness the first official engagement of the new royal team, prince harry and meghan markle. nicolas witchell, bbc news. the upper house of the australian parliament has approved a draft law paving the way for the legalisation of gay marriage. senators rejected an attempt by conservatives to broaden religious freedom protections. the law 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. here is something surprising — space is filling up with junk. old bits of rocket, fragments of spacecrafts, even old satellites, are all up there, and the amount of rubbish just keeps growing.

now, a british team is hoping to solve the problem, with a spacecraft that could grab some of the space junk and bring it back to earth. our science correspondent rebecca morelle explains. trois, deux, un — lift—off. blasting off. for decades, we've been launching into space. but what goes up rarely comes down, and space has become crowded with junk. the remove debris spacecraft could be the answer, the world's first attempt to test how we can clean up celestial clutter. it will see if it is possible to snare a satellite in a net, and review how effective a harpoon is. it will then bring everything back down, burning up as it enters the earth's atmosphere. it has been assembled in surrey, and has cost £15 million. this is the last chance to see it before it is packed up for its launch early next year.

this is the remove debris platform. it's going to be one of the world's first missions to actually demonstrate cleaning up space junk. this mission is incredibly important. we have technologies on here that have never been demonstrated in space before, and it's urgent that we actually launch this mission now, so that we can develop these technologies for use in the future. since the early days of exploration, the area around the earth has grown more and more cluttered. it is estimated there are about 7,500 tons ofjunk, made up of old bits of rocket, fragments from defunct spacecraft, even tools dropped by an astronaut. scientists believe there are now 500,000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or bigger, and each piece has the potential to do some serious damage. last year, the international space station was hit. this chip in a window was caused when it was struck by a tiny fleck of paint. but the bigger pieces ofjunk are a more pressing problem. this european satellite,

the size of a double—decker bus, suddenly stopped working in 2012. since then, it has been circling the earth, threatening other key satellites in its path. the problem is going to grow. it's going to grow because collisions are going to take place in the orbital environment. we're going to lose the satellites that we rely on. that's going to be costly to us, it's going to be costly to the future generation. all eyes are now trained on the remove debris spacecraft. if the technology works, the hope is future missions can be scaled up, and the space clean—up can begin. rebecca morelle, bbc news. that is the way it is looking. we are online and on twitter. stay with us on are online and on twitter. stay with us on bbc news. goodbye for now. hello there.

if tuesday was too cold for you, i don't think you're going to find much comfort in the forecast for the next couple of days. if anything, it will get even colder. these northerly winds diving all the way down from the arctic, the air turning increasingly cold, and with that, some wintry showers feeding in across northern and eastern areas. now, where the showers will have been falling through the night across northern scotland, there is the risk of some icy stretches. could be ice across eastern england, as well. temperatures here generally holding just above freezing for the first part of the morning. many of the showers at low levels falling as rain. but, over high ground, don't be surprised to see some sleet and some snow. and then further west, through the midlands into the west country, largely dry, with some early sunshine. a cold start, though, quite a widespread frost here. the odd shower into west cornwall and west wales, as well. these will continue through the day. for much of wales, dry, bright, but very cold, with a frost to start off the morning. some showers into northern ireland, some of these could be wintry.

just two degrees there for enniskillen. there is a chance of icy stretches for the first part of the morning, as well. but, away from the showers, there'll be a lot of crisp sunshine on wednesday for central south—western scotland and down towards the south coast. largely dry conditions, with some sunshine. a few showers in the west. these wintry showers continue in the north and the east, where it will be windy as well. 3—7 degrees on the thermometer, it will feel a little bit colder than that. and, as soon as the sun goes down on wednesday night, notice this haze of blue spreading across the map. a widespread frost. still some showers in the west, and these showers turning increasingly wintry across eastern areas. now, into thursday, high pressure remains out west. but this area of low pressure, if anything, will try to squash its way in. and, as the isobars squeeze together, the winds will get a bit stronger. very windy across eastern areas. the showers mostly confined to areas close to the coast.

but, if those showers drift any distance inland, they will be wintry, perhaps even some snow to fairly low levels. this is what it will feel like on thursday afternoon, when you add on the strength of the wind. for many northern and eastern areas, feeling sub—zero. now, for friday, the showers will be mostly focused across the south—east at first. these could be wintry at times. then we see some sunshine, still chilly, and then a band of patchy rain pushes in towards the north—west. behind that, just hints of something slightly milder. a slightly milder weekend to come. a lot of dry weather but with a lot of cloud, and some patchy rain at times. this is bbc news, the headlines: the pope has been celebrating mass for the first time in myanmar. the pontiff has already spoken about the rights of ethnic groups but refused to refer to the persecuted rohingya muslim minority by name. north korea has announced its test fired a new ballistic missile — its first since mid—september.

south korean military officials say the missile flew east from a launch site near the capital, pyongyang. it reportedly travelled a distance of around a thousand kilometres before falling into the sea of japan. the world health organization is warning that progress made to eradicate malaria could be damaged unless more funding is made available. experts say targets to cut infection by 90% by 2030 will be missed unless budgets are increased. now on bbc news it is time