and author of many bestsellers, including a brief history of time, has died at the age of 76. he became possibly the most talked—about scientist since einstein for his ground—breaking work with black holes and relativity. russia has ignored a midnight deadline, set by the british government to explain how a nerve agent, thought to be russian made, was used to poison a former spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical condition in hospital. moscow continues to deny any involvement in the attack. us secretary of state rex tillerson has made his first statement since being sacked by president trump, conspicuously failing to thank his boss, or praise his policies. the president told reporters that he and america's top diplomat had a "different mindset" on key issues, including the iran nuclear deal. now on bbc news — hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen

sackur. the democratic republic of congo boasts assets that should make it the envy of all africa. plentiful land, resources, and the youthful population. but the prc has never come close to fulfilling its potential. thanks to political division, intercommunal violence, and epic levels of corruption. my guess today is the drc‘s prime minister, bruno tshibala. can he is country finally find a pathway to prosperity? prime minister bruno tshibala,

welcome to hardtalk. thank you. mr prime minister, would you agree that no african country has been more letdown by its political leaders over the last a0 years then it your own country, the democratic republic of congo? but isn't it your own leader, the president of the country today, joseph kabila, who has generated a huge amount of instability in your country by refusing to leave office when he was supposed to leave office. his term in office should have finished in december 20 16. it is still not clear, even today, if he is prepared to leave the presidency. prime minister, that deal is not

really worth the paper it is written on. in several important ways, president kabila has already broken the transition deal that was signed in december 2016. that deal made it clear that the prime minister should be nominated by the opposition, but you were the prime minister and you we re you were the prime minister and you were not nominated by the opposition, you were nominated by president kabila himself. exactly. the president pointed your prime minister. the opposition did

not choose you, the president chose you. in fact, the leader of your own opposition party, when you decided to cross the lines and joined the government as prime minister, your own leader of the macro six party, which was your party, said he needs the money. and by appointing bruno tshibala, president kabila has violated the terms of the transition agreement. you make it sound so smooth, mr prime minister, but in fact what you did was seen by the opposition in

the drc as a betrayal. you are a former opposition man, you are now at the head of a government which is shooting political protest is. how do you feel about that? why have your troops been firing tear gas into churches? why have dozens tear gas into churches? why have d oze ns of tear gas into churches? why have dozens of people being killed? and why is the spokesman of the president now describing the catholic church as a trojan horse of ambitious politicians who are hiding

inside churches? what is going on here? how many political prisoners are there in b drc today, prime minister? just give me a number. two cases. how is it the secretary general of the un stabilisation mission in your country, on the fifth of january, expressed mission in your country, on the fifth ofjanuary, expressed deep concern that at least 107 political prisoners are currently in detention. hang on. are you accusing

the chief of the un stabilisation mission of lining? —— lying? well, that sounds like a very subtle distinction to me. the same stabilisation mission said this in january, that is just two short months ago. journalist, political opponents, and civil society activists are the systematic targets of violations by agence of the state and 98%, 98% of the perpetrators of these abuses, estate agents, are enjoying impunity, they never being prosecuted. —— state agents.

you seem to have a very subtle view of what represents an opposition activist. but i put this to you, i wonder how your own conscience fails when, in october 2017, wonder how your own conscience fails when, in 0ctober2017, dozens wonder how your own conscience fails when, in october 2017, dozens of opposition members, from your own political party, were arrested. and you are now the prime minister overseeing a security force that is arresting members of your own party. how did you feel about that? so yourformer party so your former party colleagues, yourformer so your former party colleagues, your former party colleagues have 110w your former party colleagues have now become revolutionaries, have they? they are fermenting an uprising. what strikes me is that your first duty as prime minister is to ensure the peace and stability of your nation, but you seem, with respect, in the past eu have been in your job, respect, in the past eu have been in yourjob, to have completely failed. the international crisis group says that right now in drc at least ten

provinces are in the grip of armed conflict, generating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. so there is no stability in your country today. but, mr prime minister, you seem very confident the elections will ta ke very confident the elections will take place at the end of this year. you know that right now in the west of your country and in the east of your country there are the most terrible, terrible violent conflict is taking place. we are seeing civilians, including women and children, being murdered. and there are very serious allegations from independent human rights groups, backed by the united nations, that the drc armed forces are involved in some of those egregious abuses. are

you aware of that? and do you believe that is true? take care. this militia you are talking about... but are just want to be clear with our audience who do not know, this militia you are talking about who has beheaded people, has killed pregnant women and their unborn foetuses, this militia is accused of being in alliance with elements of your own armed forces. but, prime minister, prime minister isi... the

but, prime minister, prime minister is i... the thing is, prime minister, there is a very serious allegation at the heart of this humanitarian crisis in your country andi humanitarian crisis in your country and i put it to you in the words of the national federation for human rights. they said recently, "the atrocities being committed in drc are part of a scheme of president joseph kabila's regime to mobilise tension and violence in order to retain power". that is a very shocking allegation. you make it sound as though all of these humanitarian and security problems are in the past at the figures suggest they're not. in the last year, nearly 2 million of your citizens have been forced to flee from their homes because of violence. that's the figure from ca re violence. that's the figure from care international, one of the ngos that works in your country. i put it

to you that when you tell me the election will take place definitely, for sure, election will take place definitely, forsure, in election will take place definitely, for sure, in december 2018, election will take place definitely, forsure, in december2018, it election will take place definitely, for sure, in december 2018, it is impossible to imagine how a meaningfulfree, fair, impossible to imagine how a meaningful free, fair, safe impossible to imagine how a meaningfulfree, fair, safe election can take place in this context. how can take place in this context. how can it? perhaps the single thing that could make the biggest difference to the situation in your country today is if president kabila himself would confirm publicly, once and for all, that he is not going to run again, he is not going to seek to change the constitution, he is not going to seek a third term in office and then perhaps the dic could begin to look toa perhaps the dic could begin to look to a new future. —— drc. will the president say those words? do you trust, do you trust, do you

trust... do you trust president kabila? because in the end, mr prime minister, you have an importantjob but let's be honest, if the president who calls the shots in your country so if he wants to run for a third term, you're not going to be able to stop him. not only that, he also, he and his family, control unimaginable amounts of wealth in the drc today. they sit at the top of what many people believed to be one of the most corrupt systems of governance in the entire world. 13 million of your people, 8 million children, currently need humanitarian assistance and security

protection because of the crisis in your country and at the very same time, there is a small elite who are making vast amounts of money from the mines, from the foreign companies, from the revenues that come from the mining industry and most of that money, according to the global witness group, is not go into the drc treasury, to be spent on healthcare and education. now, you, as prime minister, have not tackled that corruption, have you? ifi

if i may, i'm sorry to interrupt. global witness had done a lot of work on the mining revenues that come from all of the different mines you have, the foreign companies that pay revenues to the drc government, according to global witness, several 100 and $50 million worth of those reve nu es 100 and $50 million worth of those revenues never reached the treasury of your government. —— revenues never reached the treasury of your government. -- $750 revenues never reached the treasury of your government. —— $750 million worth. they don't know where that money went, do you know? my my last question, prime minister. i began by suggesting that for many decades the politicians, the leaders of drc have failed the people of your country. what promise or what faith can you give to the people of your country that the next five and

ten yea rs your country that the next five and ten years ago to see better, more honest leadership? prime minister, thank you very much for being on hardtalk. hello there. plenty to talk about in the weather story for the remainder of this week. we closed out yesterday in the south—west with a beautiful sunset. however, u nfortu nately, that's the place today where we will see some of the wettest and windiest weather courtesy of an area of low pressure moving in from the atlantic. it is bringing quite a lot of heavy rain and gale force winds to parts

of portugal and spain. this low will sit out in the atlantic and influence the story for the next few days to come. good news, a southerly wind will bring milder air across the country so if you managed to escape the rain and get sunshine, it will feel quite pleasant. quite a west—east divide with our weather today. central and eastern areas seeing the best of the sunshine and further west will see increasing and strengthening winds and rain, some turning heavy as we move through the middle of the day. gale force gusts through the isles of scilly, up into cornwall and affecting south wales as well. eventually, we will see the rain pushing steadily northwards into lunchtime into northern ireland and western fringes of scotland. there is a level of uncertainty as to how far inland that frontal system will turn as we go through wednesday but central and eastern areas should state dry, bright and sunny. we should see highs peaking at 1a which will feel quite pleasant with the sun. moving into thursday, we still keep the winds across the south—west noticeably and a weather front making slow progress north and east. behind it, sunny spells and scattered showers. some could be heavy

and possibly thundery. we keep the mild air down to the south but things are starting to change into the north—east. as we move into friday, more of an easterly breeze driving in a few showers and these will turn wintry to higher ground chiefly on friday but milder air still sits over england and wales for one more day at least. as we move out of friday and into saturday, under the influence of high pressure yet again, into scandinavia, and circulating around that high, we will continue to see that easterly wind returning. not quite as extreme as last time but nevertheless it will be noticeably colder as we head into the weekend and there is a risk of snow showers falling at lower levels across eastern parts of england through the day. it is worth bearing in mind as we head into the weekend, there is the potential to see the return of some snow

which could cause some issues. keep watching the weather forecast. we will firm up on those details. take care. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: professor stephen hawking, world famous physicist and author, dies at the age of 76. russia could face new sanctions, and international isolation, after defying a deadline to explain the nerve agent attack in britain. us secretary of state rex tillerson bows out of public life after his shock sacking on twitter. and 0prah hits the red carpet, as fans and fantasy collide for the london premiere of a wrinkle in time. we take a look at theresa may's possible options against russia,

covering a complex and lucrative web of interests, that include energy and football. in business briefing we'll also discuss why stock markets in asia are falling in anticipation of the new us secretary of state, mike pompeo.