bit you're watching bbc news. our main headlines... north korea's leader has offered to meet donald trump face—to—face. the us president has accepted. vice president mike pence claims the breakthrough is a result of the administrations tough strategy. the first aid convoy since the beginning of the week has crossed the front line into the besieged syrian rebel enclave of eastern goutha. schelling forced many trucks to turn back on monday. british military personnel have been deployed to salisbury to help in the investigation into the attempted murder of a russian double agent, sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia, both of whom are still seriously ill. martin shkreli, found guilty of defrauding investors, has been given seven years in prison, he had been found guilty of hiking the price of a life—saving medicine in 2015. at ten o'clock fiona bruce

will be here with a full round—up of the news. but first, it's time for witness. hello and welcome to a special edition of witness to celebrate international women's day here at the british library. we are looking back at five remarkable women who have featured in the programme over the past year. we'll meet the civil servant who challenged one of india's top policeman after he sexually harassed her, a pioneering racing driver pandey member of the

women's land army, who helped to feed britain during the second world war. but first, in 2004, the kenyan environmental campaigner became the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize. she spent much of her life trying to protect kenya's forests. we went to the forest on the edge of nairobi to talk to her daughter. my mother was often asked, we re daughter. my mother was often asked, were you afraid? you were fearless, how can you do all of these things? she said i wasn't a friend, but what needed to be done was so compelling that i had to do it. she grew up surrounded by nature, surrounded by the beauty of nature. i always remember her describing her mother being a farmer, her mother grew all the food that they ate. and then she

goes away to school, to university, out in the united states, and she comes back and she was a very young member of the academic staff at at the university. she was struck by the university. she was struck by theissues the university. she was struck by the issues that were being presented by women who were very much like her mother. there was a lack of fuel, lack of water and lack of nutritious food. and everything with a described she felt was connected to a degradation of the landscape, and so a degradation of the landscape, and so why not plant trees, she asked them? the women here till the land so them? the women here till the land so it is important that they know how to convert conserve the soil. she founded the green belt movement in 1977 to help women plant trees and at the same time begin to understand how to look after the land themselves. it is 50 million trees now and counting. very quickly, the green belt movement became more than just about planting trees, because we had an extremely

dictatorial government and a 1—party system. the land was being parcelled out to the friends of the administration of the day. and so, protect thing it necessarily becomes political. —— protecting it. this was by far one of the scariest battles. people are showing a lot of anger because nobody knew the extent to which the forest is destroyed. it was vicious. she got very physically hurt and she was in hospital, but she survived. and so, whenever she survived she knew it was time to go back and finish the work. we are here in karura forest, of the most beautiful urban forests in the world. and it is ranked to the movement and the efforts of my mother at the time that saved it. but she also was a human rights activist, a women's rights activist.

i have no idea where these police men are taking me now. i have done nothing... to challenge the president and the party of the day, that was gutsy. an ecologist from tenure has become the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize. wangari maathai... woman to win the nobel peace prize. wangari maathai. .. she just didn't believe that it was her. i think for a while she probably thought, maybe it isa a while she probably thought, maybe it is a mistake! but it was one of the most amazing moments, to see her enjoy the spotlight and the platform, which she had never had before. i think the whole day she sort of spent salient, i didn't know anyone was listening. my mother died on the 25th of september 2011. she has left quite a legacy i think. suddenly, for us as kenyans, as women, as africans, to believe in

the power of one, i think the fact that one woman from the highlands of kenya could be such a potent force for change, it is one of the most inspiring things. wangari maathai, talking to the programme in the beautiful karura forest in nairobi. in 1988 india's first ever sexual harassment case was brought to court and the accused was a senior policeman celebrated for fighting militants. she may be educated, an educated, working class, an officer, a high—ranking officer like me. nobody is immune, and it happens every day. in october 88, i am serving as special secretary for finance. i had about 20,000 people

under me and 90% were men. there was a dinner party. hosted by the home secretary and the director—general of the police was also there, and he called out to me and he said that i wa nt to called out to me and he said that i want to talk to you about something. he got up and he came and stood in front of me, towering above the. he put a finger on my face like that and said, up, come on. come along. come on, you come along with me. so, isaid,| come on, you come along with me. so, i said, i said above mr gill, go away from here, you're misbehaving. and so i got up and that was the time when he slapped me on the bottom. that's what he did. always

people have considered it to be a very trivial thing but i could not get over the enormity of it. letting it go meant living with lowered self—esteem, meiji humiliation, facing all the other people. the consequences of complaining i had not really estimated at that time. nobody was willing to take up the case for me because they were so frightened of him being the highest ranking police officer, no—one wa nted ranking police officer, no—one wanted to do anything against him. and ifound that no—one had ever filed in section 509, which is the lesser offence as well,... 17 years, long years, of my life, all of it

was taken up by this, by this one case. the lords had quashed the case, the case reached the supreme court and it was the supreme court which called for all of the records, reinstated the matter and they gave the definition of modesty. they've reprimanded the high courtjudge and said, this cannot be treated as something trivial. all the people in every household, this was the talk between husband and wife. the limelight was not on gill, it was on me, why had i registered the case? must be something wrong with me! i attended the proceedings of the trial throughout, along with my husband. but on the day the verdict

came, i especially requested, i said, i don't want to go there. kps gill was expecting to win and then my husband's driver rang up and said, he has been convicted on both counts. i never fought said, he has been convicted on both counts. i neverfought against kps gill, ifought counts. i neverfought against kps gill, i fought against the mindset ofa gill, i fought against the mindset of a society. people have seen that offences against women are increasing. no. now, now more women are speaking out. and rupan bajaj is 110w are speaking out. and rupan bajaj is now retired from the civil service. next we're going back to the second world war, when thousands of british women signed up to work on farms to grow vital crops for a country under siege. they became known as the land girls. and rhona mcleod was one of them. ican girls. and rhona mcleod was one of them. i can look back on the war and ican them. i can look back on the war and i can know that what i did was worth

doing. creating food was essential. radio: down on the farm the land girls are doing their bit and a bit more! i was 17, study in, girls are doing their bit and a bit more! iwas 17, study in, i girls are doing their bit and a bit more! i was 17, study in, i thought, to go to cambridge. and i knew nothing about the land army. my father appeared one day and said, i wa nt to father appeared one day and said, i want to talk to you. and he said, i believe i have always spoken about the importance of the higher education of women, but first we should concentrate on winning the war. and so i said, yes, daddy. and a week later or so i had left school andi a week later or so i had left school and i was on the train to scotland. newsreel: the war has taken most of the younger men away from scotland's

farms leaving the farmers without enough help to produce our vital supplies... they treated me very nicely, and it was a dairy farm, about 65 cows. and the first week i was sent into the dairy. and i was told to and milk the difficult cows. and i'm sorry to say that at the end of the week they have all gone dry. and the dairymen said he thought i ought to be sent to the stables. fortu nately ought to be sent to the stables. fortunately i love horses and the horses and i got on very much better. work was very hard, and we have no protective clothing, and the uniform we had was absolutely useless for keeping you warm in winter. so, the first winter i had chilblains, my arms, my ears and my hands and my knees and my heels and my toes. and until i got my

brother's cast—offjackets my toes. and until i got my brother's cast—off jackets and my toes. and until i got my brother's cast—offjackets and i got some wonderful wooden knickers that came down to my knees, i discovered that you didn't have to be freezing. but when i first went out i thought, you have just got to suffer to win the war. the land girls i knew all worked quite separately on different farms. i never met a girl who worked in again. all the girls i got to know were isolated, totally and absolutely. —— in hse. one girl on a farm, and the nearest girl ever was four miles away. newsreel: women have proved themselves able to undertake the most skilled work. all thanks and honour to the land girls, who are doing this magnificent job. honour to the land girls, who are doing this magnificent joblj honour to the land girls, who are doing this magnificent job. i never for one moment thought of giving up.

ididn't for one moment thought of giving up. i didn't expect the war to go on for five years. but the idea of stopping was not thinkable. you just went on, went on and on. and mona mcleod went on to write a book about her experience as a land girls. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel 01’ every month on the bbc news channel or you every month on the bbc news channel 01’ you can every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on all of our films in our online archive, along with our radio programmes. just go to the bbc website and look for witness. in 1977 racing car driver janet guthrie became the first woman to compete in the prestigious indianapolis 500 motivate. she talked to witness about taking part ina male talked to witness about taking part in a male dominated sport. newsreel: raced rivals are a special breed of american folk hero, they have always been men, untiljanet

guthrie. i had no house, no husband, knowjulie, no insurance, i had one used up race car. i was playing in a millionaire's sport from the very beginning. and not having been born with a trust fund, i learned how to build my own engines and do my own body work. i thought there was a reasonably good chance that i would be successful at it, because i wa nted be successful at it, because i wanted it a lot. i loved the sport. it was the passion of my life, really. pa rt of it was the passion of my life, really. part of the fun is to accept the risk, and deal with it gracefully and well. you have to have an interest in what it's like out there at the limits of human capability. i was saying to myself, you know, you really must come to your senses and make some provision for your old age. and that was the point at which the phone rang and a voice completely unknown to me said,

how would you like to take a shot at the indianapolis 500 ? how would you like to take a shot at the indianapolis 500? it was sometimes said that the indianapolis 500 wasn't the most important race, it was the only race, and that's how most of the united states feels about it. over 400,000 people showed up. you can't imagine how many people but is until you see them in person. when i got my big chance at the top levels of the sport, made a huge commotion. they simply had not had the experience of running against a woman and they were sure i was going to kill them all. all i had to do at the beginning was opened up a newspaper and there was some other driver saying that his blood was going to be on the officials'. handsseriously, when i

say commotion, it was big! oh, i was so say commotion, it was big! oh, i was so happy. i was happy that i had put a car in the field for the indianapolis 500. i think a lot of try—fest would tell you the first time they make the field at indianapolis is a moment you will never forget. of course then you figure out that what you really want to do is win the thing! you're thinking, who's behind you, what are their driving habits? who is ahead of you? what mistakes are they likely to make? on the first lap you just really want to keep yourself out of any trouble. in that race, i had a mechanical failure. out of any trouble. in that race, i had a mechanicalfailure. when we finally decided the car was not going to be fixable, i left the pits and headed back to the garage. there was a lot of enthusiasm in the stands at that point. janet is not a

newcomer to car racing... my best finish at indianapolis was ninth in 1978 with a team i've formed and managed to myself. my best finish in indycar racing was fifth at milwaukee. i wasn't racing to prove anything about women, because the fa ct anything about women, because the fact that i was a woman in my opinion had nothing to do with it. a racing driver was what i was right through to my bone marrow. and in 2006 janet through to my bone marrow. and in 2006janet guthrie was in debt it into the international motorsport hall of fame. and finally we turn to dock doc 64, when the windmill theatre in london's red light district soho closed its doors. it had become a national is to children because for a long time it was one of the few places in britain where it was possible to see naked women on stage. but a change in the law on nude performances met a decline for its fortunes. joon

shapiro was one of the windmill girls. a blend of glamour and shapiro was one of the windmill girls. a i something nour and shapiro was one of the windmill girls. a i something seedy nd shapiro was one of the windmill girls. a i something seedy yet also sweat... something seedy yet also touching in innocence... it was a national in situ she's, there was nowhere else like it, they're never can be. what ever it was, it has a great story... it was by accident, i was walking along the street and i saw the sign saying windmill theatre, stage door. so i walked in, i don't know wide. and i said to the stage door men, can i have an audition, please? and so he found u psta i rs to audition, please? and so he found upstairs to the office and i was sent upstairs, and vivian didn't audition me but hejust said, i like you, we will take a chance on you.

what he didn't know was that i was 14 and a half years old. he signed the contract and then realised my age and told me to go home and come back when i was 15 and a half. so i did. ididn't back when i was 15 and a half. so i did. i didn't realise it was naughty. looking back at it i think yes, it was! the windmill was nonstop review, it was a review theatre. we did six shows a day. once you'd bought your first ticket, that was it. so, the audience could sit there all day. the proudest years of the windmill were during the second world war. it allowed nothing to interfere. they were the only west end theatre open throughout the london brits. really brave girls who stood there while

the bombs landed, all around them. the house manager came out onto the stage and asked this show and asked the audience if they wanted the performance to continue, and almost every time the answer was yes. one of the most important things, the think the audience would come to see, was the nude poses at the back of the stage. it was the obscenity laws, and you were not allowed to move in the nude on a london stage 01’ on any move in the nude on a london stage or on any stage in the country. it was censorship. you can't be sexy and standstill. so, the lord chamber in's office, they'd come, very happily! they were very pleased to come to the shows and say, that's a bit too much, you can't say that. but they always tipped us off when

they were on their way! 1964, by then, soho had changed with all the strip clubs. our little friend miss fifi was three streets away! where we were, she could shake it all about as much as she likes to. so, we lost a lot of the audience, people who perhaps wanted to see more, they could go to the clubs, whereas we were still a theatre. and we found we felt it was better to close while we were still prospective then to even attempt to change, and the girls wouldn't have done. so, we closed with our heads held high. we're all friends to this day, those of us who are still living. i think we were very lucky, privileged to have been windmill girls. jill millard shapiro at her

home near london. that is all from this special edition of witness celebrating international women's day at the british library. we will be back here next month to bring you more extraordinary moments in history and the remarkable people who witnessed them. but for now from me and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. mild and unsettled pretty much covers it for the weekend. how long can that last through our ten day forecast it i will tell you in a moment. but first of all, with low pressure out to the west to the

drawing southerly winds across the british isles, introducing some really mild airfor the british isles, introducing some really mild air for the weekend. temperatures in parts of the south getting up to 15 or 16 degrees, but with that we will have some outbreaks of rain at times. this is saturday, outbreaks of rain moving across wales, northern ireland and up across wales, northern ireland and up into scotland, where we could see some snow over high ground. but much of what falls here will be rain, because things will be becoming increasingly mild from the south. where we have breaks in the cloud we could get up towards 16 degrees even. always a bit colder further north across scotland. moving into sunday the low pressure continues to spin around to the west, touring in the southerly winds. even in scotla nd the southerly winds. even in scotland we can expect many places to get up into double digits on sunday afternoon. there could be quite a lot of mist and fog on sunday morning, which will tend to clear away. some hefty showers

getting going across southern and western areas of england and wales and northern ireland. some of these could contain the odd rumble of thunder. even in aberdeen today looking at highs of 11 degrees. on monday there will be various areas of wet weather swarming around very close to the uk. in between, some decent dry conditions for many of us. decent dry conditions for many of us. a lot of cloud around at this stage. the best chance of any sunny spells in western areas. those temperatures may be down a little bit but still fairly respectable for the time of year. it looks like low pressure will remain in charge in to tuesday, but look at this bump in the isobars, that's a transient ridge of high pressure, so tuesday looks like it should be largely dry. always more cloud we suspect across the eastern half of the country, the best chance of sunshine out west. wednesday, we start of dry and

bright in eastern areas but it looks like we will have some heavyweight in western areas and strengthening winds is why. but this is quite few days ahead, so the timing of this weather system may change. still mild, you will notice. looking further ahead towards the end of next week, the jet stream is further ahead towards the end of next week, thejet stream is really undulating northwards and southwards as it moves across the atlantic. where we get these dips in the jet stream, they will trap areas of low pressure, which will sit and spin as we head into next weekend. however, the change is that we're likely to see an area of low pressure trying to come down from scandinavia —— high pressure —— which will bring a change in fortunes, because many areas will continue to see relatively warm winds. but around this area, scotland might start to tap into something a little bit colder. moving into next weekend we

will see sunny spells and heavy showers, mild for many butjust the chance that things across scotland could turn a little bit colder. that's it for now. the army on the streets of salisbury, as specialist troops arrive to deal with the scene of the nerve agent attack. military equipment and personnel trained in chemical warfare make an unusual sight in the cathedral city. they have the detection equipment that will allow them to properly, safely a very detail survey of those areas. and if there is any contamination, they can then safely remove that and have it destroyed. a forensic team examine the grave of the son of sergei skripal, the former russian spy who was targeted in the attack. tonight, he and his daughter are still critically ill. the people of salisbury are urged to stay calm. also tonight: after the insults, a surprise meeting is to take place between president trump and the leader of north korea. a court sees the contents of the bomb that partially exploded