this is bbc world news. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: this is bbc world news. i'm gavin grey. ourtop stories: former national security adviser michael flynn pleads guilty to lying to the fbi over his contact with moscow. us media is reporting that he will testify that donald trump's son—in—law, jared kushner, was among those who directed him to make contact with rush hour. the white house says that nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicate anyone other than michael flynn. in other news, pope francis comes face to face with the agony of rohingya refugees in bangladesh. and publicly uses refugees in bangladesh. and publicly uses the word rohingya in recognition of their identity. the eu will refuse to begin talks on a post—brexit trade deal if ireland is not satisfied with the uk's offer on the northern irish border. also in the northern irish border. also in the programme: prince harry and his new fiancee, meghan markle, a the their first public engagement since announcing their plans to wed. hello and welcome to bbc world news.

president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contact with russia. mr flynn is the most senior former official to be charged so far in the investigation into alleged russian meddling in last year's us presidential election. in response, a lawyer for the white house has said: "nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr flynn." this is mr flynn leaving court earlier — us media say mr flynn is prepared to give testimony that mr trump's son—in—law jared kushner was among the senior members of the president's transitional team who directed him to make contact with the russians. aleem maqbool reports.

it has sent political shock waves through washington. general michael flynn, donald trump's former national security adviser, turned himself in to the fbi, and to a judge admitted lying about his contacts with russian officials. in court, he was asked if he wished to plead guilty to making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements, to which michael flynn answered simply, "yes, sir." well, we now know general flynn had conversations with the russian ambassador about the possibility of lifting sanctions against moscow. but given barack obama was still in the white house, he was just unauthorised to do that. but he now says, crucially, that he was directed to have those conversations by a senior official in the transition team of donald trump. announcer: general mike flynn,

retired, united states army! michael flynn developed a close relationship with mr trump during the election campaign — at one point, even being talked of as a potential vice—president. a truly great general right here. mike, thank you. at the republican national convention, he famously led chants for hillary clinton to be imprisoned. yeah, that's right, lock her up! it was revealed michael flynn had previously had contacts with vladimir putin, but he made his costly mistake late last year, after president obama had just imposed more sanctions on russia for interfering in the us election. on the 29th of december, michael flynn spoke to the russian ambassador on the phone. on the 15th of january, vice president mike pence said that sanctions were not discussed by michael flynn in those calls. only after the ninth of february, when a newspaper revealed general flynn did discuss sanctions when he wasn't authorised to do so did pressure increase and michael flynn lost his job. michael flynn then became one key focus of the investigation into russia's attempts to influence

the 2016 election and potential collusion with the trump campaign. the white house is now trying to distance itself from general flynn's actions and the lies he told the fbi, but there is no question that this latest development brings the russia investigation ever closer to the president himself. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. and today's developments sparked quick reaction on capitol hill. here are the top democrats on the house and senate intelligence committees. this is part of a broad pattern of the trump administration and campaign people lying about the contacts with the russians. so that in itself is very substantial and serious. it makes certain things about the present all the more troubling. but given the dental charges against michael flynn, it could provide some substantial

information to rob my love. let people pleading guilty. where the campaign managerand his people pleading guilty. where the campaign manager and his deputy still under indictment. how many more figures have to be brought to justice because of their ties with russia before we and our connecting all these dots? i've been speaking with our washington reporter laura bicker about mr flynn's admission and how it affects the trump administration. well, the problem for the white house is michael flynn was not an reverie figure within the campaign. he was directly involved or the way through the drum campaign, the leading those chants of up in regards to hillary clinton. —— lock up. he was part of the transition team, rewarded for his hard work with the post of national security adviser. —— "lock her up". he was

close to donald trump throughout. the charges that during the transition period, while resident barack obama were still in office, that he spoke to the russian ambassador, specifically about russian sanctions, about sanctions imposed on moscow, four, at the time when intelligence committees cover the findings, they said russia had interfered in the election, and barack obama had rated by slapping on the sanctions. the conversation that michael klim was told to have with surrogate is the act at the time was do not react to those reactions. —— sergei kislyak. the question is who directed him to have those conversations. at the moment, there is much speculation about her. but there were other conversations he also had with the russian ambassador about you and those, for instance, and in regards to that conversation, it seems that jared

kushner is the reported as the person who urged him to go to the russian ambassador to talk about a un vote on israel. so when it comes to various conversations he had, there are various those of the trunk cashes in team who have ocean to do that. —— trump transition team. that is what he will testify. that is why it is so significant. he is because member of donald trump's campaign tea m member of donald trump's campaign team and administration to be caught up team and administration to be caught up in this investigation. and does donald trump, has he issued any reaction to it? has jared kushner reacted to this? we have had no ration from the white house on this investigation. what we had was a tweet from donald trump about rex tillerson, who, 2a hours ago, we we re tillerson, who, 2a hours ago, we were wondering if rex tillerson had a future in the state department. and today, donald trump says that he does. there is maybe a bit of diversion tactics going on from the

white house. what the white house lawyer has said is that the only person implicated in today's hearing is michael flynn himself. so what they are trying to do is distance themselves from michael flynn. laura bicker, there. let's look at some of the other news making the news is sour. protests against perceived fraud in honduras‘ presidential election have turned violent leaving one person dead and 20 injured. supporters of the opposition candidate, salvador nasralla, have blocked major highways, set vehicles on fire and attacked property across the country. mr nasralla has accused the electoral court of manipulating the vote counting system to favour presidentjuan orlando hernandez. german police have evacuated a christmas market in potsdam near berlin after a suspicious parcel was found nearby. they later confirmed that the package contained an improvised nail—bomb. security has been stepped up at christmas markets across germany, after 23 people were killed in a terrorist attack on a market in berlin last year.

us media are reporting that president trump is likely to make a speech recognising jerusalem as israel's capital on wednesday. the international community does not recognise israeli sovereignty over the entire city. palestinian authorities want eastjerusalem to be the capital of a future state. pope francis has been meeting some of the rohingya muslim refugees who've fled to bangladesh from myanmar after a wave of ethnic violence. the refugees had been brought to the capital dhaka from cox's bazar, where more than 600,000 men, women and children from myanmar‘s rakhine state have fled. the pope publicly called them rohingyas for the first time, something he stopped short of doing in myanmar where their ethnic identity is not recognised by the government. from bangladesh, martin bashir reports. on the fifth day of his visit to south asia, pope francis arrived in typically unpretentious style at an interfaith gathering in dhaka. in the audience were 16 rohingya adults and children who'd fled from myanmar.

one of them was 12—year—old shawkat ara. shawkat‘s entire family lived in a village in rakhine state, when the army arrived in september. in recalling what happened, she said, "they shouted, ‘you rohingyas, you bengalis,‘ and then killed everyone. they killed my aunt, my uncle, and others in the village. they killed my whole family, my four brothers. my sister and my parents are dead. i have no—one left." the pope invited the refugees onto the stage and blessed all of them, including shawkat. and having not used the word

once during his visit, he decided to give a name to the people and their suffering. "the presence of god today," he said, "is also called rohingya." a papal visit brought global attention to the suffering, and comfort to a child who has lost everything. martin bashir, bbc news, bangladesh. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: prince harry and his fiancee meghan markle are on their firstjoint official public engagement in the uk, we'll find out why the city of nottingham in the english midlands has a special place in the prince's heart. it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory.

i am feeling so helpless, that the childrens are dying in front of me and i can't do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippy cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11:00am this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle. then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands with and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite number from dover. this is bbc news. the main stories this hour:

former national security adviser michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi over his contact with moscow. us media's reporting he will testify that donald trump's son—in—law jared kushner was among those who directed him to make contact with russia. we can go live to san francisco where we can talk to political journalist and time magazine contributorjay newton—small. thank you forjoining us. in president from's presidency so far, is this his biggest crisis so far? absolutely, this is the biggest crisis that the administration has faced in that this is, as much as they try to downplay it, this is a huge deal. the only people above michael flynn that could be potentially implicated that would be worth this kind of amazing plea deal

for him would be either the vice president of a president, and the court documents today made it clear that he is cooperating with the special counsel and that he is providing them with information and placate others. so as much as the white house tried to downplay and say that the only thing that happened today concerned michael flynn, the reality is that it is very very bad for president trump and there is potentialfor very very bad for president trump and there is potential for his son—in—law and there is potential for his son—in—lanared kushner, and there is potential for his son—in—law jared kushner, who, and there is potential for his son—in—lanared kushner, who, word has it is the one that directed flynn to have those contacts with the russians. and if this is the only concrete thing to come out of the investigation being held, is still enough to bring donald trump down? keep in mind this is not the only concrete thing. this is something where, something that is one more steppingstone and the investigation is far from one more steppingstone and the investigation is farfrom over, in fa ct investigation is farfrom over, in fact robert mueller‘s people have indicated that this is far from over. it does not end with michael flynn getting indicted, it continues. this is not somebody like

george papadopoulos who was below level figure in the miller probe, and the white house could say that this guy was never on the inside, he was never close with the president —— mueller. but with michael flynn it is not something they can say. he has been incredibly close to the president, he was national security adviser of the united states. the only person, he was original target of the probe and so people thought it might end with michael flynn, the fa ct it might end with michael flynn, the fact that he made this deal and is escaping really with just a slap on the wrist says that they have much biggerfish to fry the wrist says that they have much bigger fish to fry here. one of the biggest things will be proved, isn't it? that is why you get someone like michael flynn to testify, it becomes his word, testifying, saying that it is the truth as he noted, and he also could produce proof himself in terms of interviews or papers are

other things like that. so having michael clinton on the president like this is a huge deal and by all accou nts like this is a huge deal and by all accounts from sources in the white house, it took the white house com pletely house, it took the white house completely unaware. they knew michael flynn was cooperating with the special counsel, he knew he had cut off ties with the president's council and lawyers last week, but what they did not know was that he would really escaped any kind of major charges and get what is essentially the legal equivalent of a slap on the wrist. he could have been facing kidnapping charges, he could have faced charges of obstruction of justice, could have faced charges of obstruction ofjustice, just looking into public statements that he could have been facing, instead he got let off with one count of lying to federal officials. that is an amazing dealfor michael federal officials. that is an amazing deal for michael flynn and it means they gave —— that he gave them something equally as amazing. we must leave it there, thank you. the european council president, donald tusk, has warned theresa may that the eu will not begin discussing trade in the brexit talks until ireland is happy with the uk‘s offer on the future of the irish border.

it comes as the head of the world trade organization has told the bbc that the uk faces a "very bumpy" and "long road" to secure a trade deal. our economics editor kamal ahmed reports. on the banks of lake geneva, the organisation that holds the rule book for trade around the world and is helping both sides, britain and the eu, as they tread their way gingerly towards separation. the man in charge told me that a hard, disruptive brexit would carry costs. i don't think this is going to be an easy negotiation, to be frank with you. i think it's going to be very tough because of the number of elements and variables involved in this conversation. trade negotiations are extremely complex. they are very sensitive politically. people have talked about what has been described as a hard brexit. would that be a disaster for the british and european union economies? clearly, this is not going to be a situation where all trade stops,

there is collapse in terms of the economy as a whole. so that, for me, is the end of the world. but it's not going to be a walk in the park. it's not like nothing happened. there will be an impact. the tendency is that prices will go up, of course. you have to absorb the costs of that disruption. that question of disruption affects so much in these negotiations. what about the irish border and how to keep it open once brexit happens? in dublin, the eu offered the irish prime minister what amounted to a veto. if the uk offer is unacceptable for ireland, it will also be an acceptable for the eu. unacceptable for the eu. this is why big key to the uk's future lies, in some ways, in dublin. is there any example we can look to which could solve this irish problem? i can't think of a close parallel anywhere else. it's challenging,

i have to tell you. to the extent that there is no longer a customs union. no easy solution comes to the mind. here in geneva, and a warning — no free trade deal with the european union would be costly for the uk. next week, the focus moves 500 miles north to brussels, where a lunch may be frosty between theresa may and the president of the european commission who will try and unravel some of these difficult issues. millions of people download antivirus software onto their computers every year to try to protect themselves from hackers and cyber crime. but now british government is warning that using russian software could be a risk to national security. one of the most popular antivirus products is made by a russian company, kaspersky.

but the company's boss has told the bbc there is no evidence they are involved in spying. here's our security correspondent gordon corera. fears of russian cyber—espionage have been growing and, tonight, the government issues a new warning about the risks posed by a widely used russian company. our mission has always been to protect the big and the small... kaspersky labs provide security products designed to protect systems from criminals and hackers. it's used by consumers, and also businesses, and some parts of government. we keep the secrets of global significance... for a system like kaspersky to work, this software requires access to almost all the files on someone's computer, phone or network, to scan for viruses. and the software may also need to communicate back to the company's headquarters in moscow. the fear is that this could be used by the russian state for espionage — stealing secrets.

and so today, they've told government departments not to use kaspersky for systems containing sensitive data. this is specifically about, um, entities that may be of interest to the russian government. and so that, for us, is about national security systems in government, of which there are a very small number. and, for example, if you have a business doing negotiations that the russian government may be interested in. kaspersky labs has already faced allegations that it's been used for espionage in america. earlier this week, i spoke to the company's founder and chief executive at their london offices about those claims. my response is that we don't do anything wrong, and we will never do that. it's simply not possible. and, er, what's in all these publications, they are just speculating about some rumours,

opinions, and there is zero of the hard data. 400 million people use kaspersky products around the world. ba rclays actually offers kaspersky‘s award—winning... in the uk, barclays has provided it to customers. but officials say they're not telling the general public to stop using it. kaspersky labs denies any wrongdoing, but today's warning is another sign of growing fears over the risks posed by russia. prince harry and megan markle have carried out their first official public engagement since they announced they were getting married. the couple were greeted by crowds of well wishers in nottingham as they visited a world aids day charity fair and then met teachers and children at a school nearby. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. as an actress, she's been used to a public stage.

she's accustomed to meeting crowds and dealing with fans. little surprise, then, that meghan markle handled her first official public appearance in her new role with considerable confidence. husband—to—be was on hand, solicitous and supportive. there was a lot of eye contact between them and supportive arms going around each other‘s backs. at times they met the crowds together, but then meghan branched off on her own, stopping and taking time with people. while harry did the same thing on his side of the street. moments later they were reunited, the queue for more back—rubbing. this clearly is a team effort and the new recruit seems a natural. she will do hundreds and hundreds of events like this in the years to come, but she will remember this one, her first official encounter with the british public. and the verdict on her performance? i think she's great.

a good addition to the royal family. definitely. yeah. an american. go, mixed kids! yeah, mixed kids in the royal family now. the couple heard about the work of the terrence higgins trust, the charity which has worked for years to help people suffering from hiv—aids. it's a cause harry, now with meghan, wants to take forward in tribute to his late mother. and at a local college, they heard about the effort to help young people keep out of trouble. serious issues to which harry, through a charitable trust, is devoting serious attention. but for all that, there was no doubt who sparkled the most today — the woman with the diamond. i saw her ring and the diamond is massive! it's absolutely gorgeous. just knowing that you're sitting near meghan and prince harry, it'sjaw—dropping, it's really nice. a glittering future then? it certainly seems to augur well. the world ‘s majorfishing nations

including russia, china and the united states have made an agreement on commercialfishing united states have made an agreement on commercial fishing in the arctic ocean. once permanently frozen arctic waters are now one of the fastest warming regions on earth. the deal covers nearly 3 million square kilometres, the us ambassador to oceans and fisheries described it asa to oceans and fisheries described it as a rare example of government solving a problem before it happens. the deal is expected to last for 16 yea rs the deal is expected to last for 16 years while scientific research is carried out into the sustainability of the existing marine ecosystem. plenty more on our website, and you can get the bbc news at. —— app. after a fairly wintry end to

november, december has started on a little more of a milder note, and through the course of this weekend it will gradually that bit milder. we will see some sunshine on offer as well as a little bit of light rain and a few showers, but not all of us seeing it through the course of us seeing it through the course of the weekend. as we start of saturday morning, this is how things look. one or two showers lingering around the east coast of england and around the east coast of england and a few coming down the irish sea affecting wales and south—west of england. a little rain pushing across scotland and it will persist over the north in the higher ground. this look a saturday afternoon. quite glad if the south—west of england and wales, a few spot of showery rain, further east across england you are likely to see sunshine here, although temperatures still only around five or six degrees. some sunshine across parts of northern england, a little more cloud over the west and midlands at times, heading northwards into northern ireland and scotland, the cloud will gradually increase from the north—west, and this will turn milder and quite windy further north

of scotla nd milder and quite windy further north of scotland with the arrival of some rain as well. heading through saturday night and into the early hours of sunday morning, that milder air creeps its way slowly southwards and eastwards across the country. so it won't be quite as cold as it has been first in sunday morning, in fa ct m ost been first in sunday morning, in fa ct most of been first in sunday morning, in fact most of us start the day frost free. but it will be quite cloudy in the south as that warm front seeks its way southward with some outbreaks of rain. as we move through the course of sunday, a cold front has its way southward across the country, kind that clearer conditions as original type it tries to ill in from the atlantic. it will bring slightly milder air they have seen, as cold air is pushed away from the continent and mild air spills in from the atlantic. as we move through sunday after that cloudy start to the south with some outbreaks of rain, that should clear away and we are into the brighter skies come sunday afternoon. sunny spells developing across eastern scotland, north and east england as

well, a few spots of rain in northern ireland and the west of scotland, but temperatures for england and wales back into double figures, something we haven't seen in quitea figures, something we haven't seen in quite a while. onto monday, a largely settled day with high—pressure moving in, a bit of a breeze in the north bringing a few outbreaks of rain to the north—west of scotland, sunny spells elsewhere, the best of the sunshine towards the east of the higher ground and temperatures around eight to 11 degrees. similar on tuesday with some rain in the far north—west, but a fairly some rain in the far north—west, but afairly mild some rain in the far north—west, but a fairly mild few days and it could turn cooler again later in the week. this is bbc news. these are the headlines: donald trump's former national security adviser is charged in the probe into possible collision with rush hour. us media are reporting that michael flynn will testify that jared kushner, reporting that michael flynn will testify thatjared kushner, donald trump's son—in—law, was amongst those who directed him to make contact with russia. russia says ——

the white house says that the guilt each plea does not get anyone but michael flynn. pope francis needs rohingya refugees in bangladesh and uses the name to refer to their identity. he had refrained from using the name in his previous visit to myanmar, which does not recognise them as and ethnic group. now on bbc news, an exclusive interview, the