including introducing the death penalty for drug dealers in certain circumstances. over—prescription of opioid painkillers such as morphine and codeine has created a nationwide addiction crisis. police in texas say a serial bomber is on the loose in the city of austin. three parcel bombs earlier this month killed two african—american men and wounded an hispanic woman. two white men were injured in sunday's attack. officers say it's not clear if the attacks are hate crimes or terrorism. uber has suspended testing its driverless cars after an american woman was run down and killed. it's the first time a pedestrian has died in an accident involving a self—driving car. uber described what happened as incredibly sad and said it was fully cooperating with local authorities. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. on stephen

sackur. we will be presented with foreign policy choices that could define, from's presidency. a meeting with kim jong—un is define, from's presidency. a meeting with kimjong—un is looming, so to a decision on whether to dump the nuclear deal with iran. never far from the surface, how to handle relations with vladimir putin's russia. my guest is one—time us north korea emissary bill richardson. what is trump‘s brand of disruption doing to us foreign policy? bill richardson, welcome to

hardtalk. thank you, nice to be with you. i want to tap into your wide experience in washington, inside and administration and as a congressman and a former un ambassador for the united states. when you look at foreign policy—making in america today, how are the big strategic decisions being made? well, u nfortu nately, decisions being made? well, unfortunately, i think they are being made on the flight, on the spur of the moment by the president, by tweets, and i don't like the disarray. i am a traditionalist. i think diplomacy is a very important statecraft and i worry that we don't

have a national security team in place that the president, while making a right decision to meet with kimjong—un, might not be prepared, that he is listening to his political instance as opposed to what is in the best foreign policy of the united states. i am very u nsettled, of the united states. i am very unsettled, yet, at the same time, on this north korea issue, i think the right approach was a face—to—face meeting, but i wonder if we will be prepared. i am intrigued that you actually approve of the notion that too many people, shocking notion of a trump kimjong—un summer. before we get there, tell me in your experience, what does it say that rex tillerson for example only learnt of that summit, we understand, by reading it on twitter, he only learned of his own dismissal by reading about it on twitter. what does that say about the way the president operates? well, it says that it is an

undisciplined approach. it says that the sleek, tillotson and the president did not have personal chemistry. i think tillotson was more moderate, he wanted to stay in the iran nuclear deal, he wanted diplomacy with north korea a lot earlier, he wanted to be tougher on russia, and they just earlier, he wanted to be tougher on russia, and theyjust didn't mesh. the chemistry wasn't there. it's very important for a president and his chief foreign policy adviser to basically have confidence in each other. that didn't happen. but i just think the unceremonious way that tillotson was dumped, the in ceremony is way decisions are made on personnel, white house staff, there are reports that the national security adviser may be next. i know him, he is a capable man and i worry that the presidentjust him, he is a capable man and i worry that the president just wants to have around him individuals that will not disagree with him, that will not disagree with him, that will just reinforce his

will not disagree with him, that willjust reinforce his views, which in many cases, i believe are not internationalist views, not the best in the interest of the united states. we are going to talk plenty about north korea. i want to start the substance with russia, partly because it is a huge issue in the uk, as a result of the nerve agent attack on a former soviet agent, sir j scrip attack on a former soviet agent, sir jscrip in attack on a former soviet agent, sir j scrip in a town in the uk along with his daughter. —— sergei skripal. it has accused —— was used tension. going back to tillotson and his firing, he chose, after his firing, to brew pointedly made these remarks about russia. he said, much work remains to respond to the troubling behaviour and actions of the russian government, and he warned that russia could face yet greater isolation. do you think that tillotson was pushing donald trump to co nfro nt tillotson was pushing donald trump to confront britain in a way that

donald trump simply doesn't want to do? yes, i do think he was trying to push the president in the right direction, which was to stand with you guys, you are our main ally, and the evidence is overwhelming, that this nerve agent was deposited by the russians. you have concrete proof. and we stand behind you. yes, the press secretary should, the secretary of state should, but i haven't heard the president himself say, we stand with great britain, with the prime minister, with the enormous evidence, and russia should stop. they have interfered in our election, there has been substantial demonstrations of that involvement, certified by our intelligence agencies, so russia, you should stop doing this. you should stop doing this to our allies, to the united states, stop getting involved in

elections throughout the world, which they are doing. i didn't hear that from the president. so i think tillerson was nudging him and obviously we still haven't heard it. i want to see the president. i want to see him succeed. i want him to stand behind our allies like you guys, stand behind our allies like you guys, that are facing this real dilemma in your foreign guys, that are facing this real dilemma in yourforeign policy guys, that are facing this real dilemma in your foreign policy with an important state actor. several points come out of what you've just said. it should be said newly re—elected vladimir putin described allegations that the russian state was behind the attack on sergei skripal of nonsense. we need to put that on the record. also, are you being fairto that on the record. also, are you being fair to donald trump? he did ultimately come out and issue a joint statement alongside the uk, germany and france, condemning the outrageous attack in the uk. just last week, the us expanded its sanctions against targeted individuals in russia. when you compare trump with obama, is trump

doing so much less on russia than obama did? well, in my view, he's not doing enough. yes, he made that joint statement. but i want to hear him also with our election. it is very strong evidence by our intelligence agency of enormous involvement in the election. maybe he didn't decide the us presidential election. i have yet to hear the president in very strong terms condemn what russia did. the president himself. and, yes, all right, we are making joint statements, but i want to see that outrage because vladimir putin was re—elected, some say with 107% of the vote. i saw that. maybe he will now recognise that he has got to be a world leader again, that it's responsible in the next six years. but their continued interference in

family activities around the world and elections, it is incomprehensible. yes, russia wants to get restored as a major power again, but not at the expense of human rights and people and possible nerve agent killings and syria, conspiring with assad. maybe now, putin will change. i doubt it, but thatis putin will change. i doubt it, but that is my hope. don't you think democrats need to be careful right now? the way they are pushing the notion that donald trump stands not just accused, but in many democratic rights, guilty of collusion with the russians over the last potential of election, —— presidential election, isn't that hamstring in the us administration's ability to really direct a coherent russia policy right now? well, what is important here is this muller investigation needs to keep its course. let him come up with whatever the facts are.

two, i think it is important that we, as democrats, notjust attack the president. let's find the facts, but at the same time, let's, with a message that eluded us in the last election. and i think elections in the united states are moving our way, in pennsylvania, we won an election in a district that president trump won by 20%. we won that. so the public is turning towards a democrat slowly, but we have to just be positive about our vision. we need an economic message. people want to make more money, they wa nt people want to make more money, they want higher wages, they want the working class to do better. i think that escaped us. but i think on this russia issue, i don't think the democrats are wholesale saying there was collusion. i think there is enormous suspicion about it, this is why this investigation, mr muller needs to be concluded. the present

needs to be concluded. the present needs to be concluded. the present needs to stop attacking that investigation. after some extremely strong condemnation by tweet from donald trump about investigation over the weekend, there are any speculation that the president might even fire robert muller. if he did, what would that produce in washington? one senator said it would start the end of his presidency. i don't know. i think it is up to the republicans who, i would hope, looking at our past history, watergate, would say this is untenable. this shouldn't happen. and that this would read contested enormously. democrats would, but remember, republicans have a majority in the house and senate. also, the american people i think would find this enormously troubling and it would be demonstrations in the streets like you've never seen if this happens. i'm not sure it's going to happen. i don't know what

the president is going to do, but is of the earthly in a very contested fight with robert muller, notjust publicly, but i hope he is not plotting to terminate him. i think that would be a huge mistake for him, a disaster. itell you that would be a huge mistake for him, a disaster. i tell you what is weird. we are talking about this and it will unfold. at the very same time coming back to foreign affairs, the very same time that donald trump is going to make to make key decisions. let's get to north korea, you are one of the very few americans who knows what it is like to negotiate with north korean officials in pyongyang. it intrigues me that you say you approve of trump's decision to go one—on—one with kim jong—un. why do you think, given trump's character, that is a goodidea? given trump's character, that is a good idea? well, i have been involved with this issue for many yea rs. involved with this issue for many years. i have been there eight times, negotiating with the north koreans. i have never seen the

koreans. i have never seen the korean peninsular so tense, so troubled, soap potential of the conflict, either missile. he threw a game changer, which hopefully will reduce tensions. my worry is that we are setting unrealistic expectation that we are going to expect north korea to dean regularised. they are not going to do that. that doesn't mean we don't have these talks to talk about freezing or slowing down the missiles or nuclear activities or conventional warfare are finding ways to defuse tension. so i commend him for the trip will stop what i worry is that we are not ready with a strategy. york position leaves me puzzled because we know that the north koreans regarding meeting president to president as on the ultimate prizes for their diplomatic strategy, so why give them a rise when you say to me, look, we can't

expect them to eliminate the nuclear weapons programme and they won't be nuclear right. in essence, you are saying we give them the prize and we get really nothing substantial in return. well, we did get something in return. we got them to agree that we will continue our military activities with the south koreans. they are not shooting any missiles orany kind of they are not shooting any missiles or any kind of nuclear activity. they have made concessions to. i agree. meeting president president isa agree. meeting president president is a major concession because it legitimises what kim jong—un has been doing, but at the same time, it shows a boldness by our president. my shows a boldness by our president. my point is that the negotiations should not just be my point is that the negotiations should notjust be about denuclearisation. they should be about freezing missile activity. they should be about three americans detained in north korea. they should be about the remains of soldiers from the korean war, about

conventional weapons pointed out south korea, about chemical weapons in north korea sent into syria, about missile exports and you clear exports that north korea sent to pakistan and other world states. so i think there is a lot more and denuclearisation, if it happens, should be a goal, but it has to be very long—range. it will take a long time. here is a question that taps into the wave that your experience of government works. if they happen, we are expecting by the end of may, which side you think is better equipped to conduct the highly complex, detailed negotiations? is a trump administration which currently has no ambassador in south korea, the undersecretary of state responsible for arms control and has just lost the top state department north korea expert, or is that the north korea expert, or is that the north koreans who had been thinking

about little else but how to get into this place where they have talks with the us president on the other side? which side is better equipped? well, i think we are better equipped because we have japan on ourside, better equipped because we have japan on our side, we have south korea on our side, we have china most of the time on our side, but yeah, ido most of the time on our side, but yeah, i do worry that we are not prepared in terms of our personnel, our strategy, but we do have 60 days. now i have negotiated with the north koreans, they are disciplines, they do not think like us, they do not believe in quid pro quo, they believe in the cult of personality and everything they believe in, everything they say has to happen. so there are going to be so very tough negotiations but we do have time. what i worry about is this opening that you made about iran, may 12 is the deadline that the president has to say whether we stay in the deal. i hope we do the because i think iran has complied on the nuclear agreement. it has been

terrible on terrorism, it has been terrible on terrorism, it has been terrible on terrorism, it has been terrible on getting involved with syria and yemen, but i do think that if we pull out of it may 12 and we are negotiating with the north koreans, the north koreans are going to say well, how can we negotiate with an american president is an ex—president might pull out of another nuclear deal? so i am very concerned about that too. well, let's talk about that iran decision because it seems to me again the democrats had to face a difficult question here. the problem with the deal going back to 2015 was that barack obama, in pushing the deal, and it was a signature policy for him, he never got a truly national consensus around the deal. the republicans in the congress almost toa man republicans in the congress almost to a man and woman opposed it vehemently. all of the republican candidate to run for president in 2016 said that they would trash the

deal, so in many ways it is no surprise that donald trump, with a mandate, it has to be said, is following through on his promise to undo what he says is the worst deal in america's history. well, i believe that it makes sense to preserve the nuclear deal, which is 15 years. iran does not have a nuclear weapon, serious deterrents on their enriched uranium. now, the possible compromise might be a missile deal that europe, your country, european allies, push iran that to limit or reduce that terrible activity that they do with their missiles. so... we did not ta ke their missiles. so... we did not take my points, bill richardson, did not take my point that donald trump does have a mandate for this particular element of his foreign policy? well, it is not exactly a

mandate. i think there were republican supporters, rex tillerson wanting to keep it. most of the american foreign policy establishment and republican senators think it should be kept. —— wa nts senators think it should be kept. —— wants him to keep it. you know, it is divided, there is no question and i wish that we had gotten more with iran on their subversive activity, their terrorism support, what they are doing in yemen and syria, their threats on israel. look, it could have been maybe a better deal but still, iran has been complying with the nucleoside and we do not want two nuclear act is, north korea and iran, on the world stage and that is my worries is a van zyl is terminated. i understand that you are saying that you know better than ido are saying that you know better than i do that the deal, in terms of its long—term outcome, it allows iran to begin again its nuclear enrichment programme a full—scale, but in the period between six and 13 years from

now, so it is not a finite and to the large—scale uranium enrichment, and at the same time, the iranians are allowed to continue missile testing. so the many people in the united states, and indeed the key allies like those in israel, it looks like a deal that at best simply kicks the can down the road. well, the problem, stephen, is in the midst of a possible negotiation with north korea, you have to admit that the north koreans are going to say why should we make a deal with the united states is on one president to another they pulled the plug on this deal? the timing is very u nfortu nate, plug on this deal? the timing is very unfortunate, may 12. so... and there is no possibility of delaying that decision, as i am very concerned. i just that decision, as i am very concerned. ijust think that decision, as i am very concerned. i just think that the north koreans, i know how they are. they think of every avenue, they are going to find a way to use this potential disruption of the ah van deal. and i am not a fan of iran, i

did not openly support president obama's deal. —— iran deal. i worry now, at the timing and this colossal, important decision to meet with kim jong—un, but these two decisions are going to hit each other and it is not going to be resolved in our interest, that is my worries the president terminates the deal. ok, i want worries the president terminates the deal. ok, iwant to worries the president terminates the deal. ok, i want to change tack a bit and ask you something is very personal to you. you are by aung san suu kyi in the unmarked to be part ofan suu kyi in the unmarked to be part of an advisory committee looking at what had happened to the mahindra people and the exodus of so many of those people across the border into anger ——. you agree to be part of the committee, then it seems you had a stand—up row with aung san suu kyi herself about some of the activities of the myanmar government and you quit your post. —— rohingya people. how disappointed are you in aung san

suu kyi right now? well, i am very disappointed in her. she has not fulfilled, i think, disappointed in her. she has not fulfilled, ithink, her commitment asa fulfilled, ithink, her commitment as a champion of human rights. i have supported her for 30 years as a public official with my foundation. idid public official with my foundation. i did everything, we had a good, strong relationship, and i'm disappointed she is not speaking out against own military on the human rights situation with the rohingya, and this commission she set up, i found out that she did not want any frank advice. i wanted two journalist released, i said you should release them, this is important. we do not have much time, i want to be clear about one thing. do you believe she has become an apologist for state ethnic cleansing? well, i will not say an apologist. she has become an accomplice because she has become a politician that wants to stay in

office, she does not want to upset the military that is extremely powerful in the unmarked, but she should because she is the head of state. final thought, should because she is the head of state. finalthought, and this should because she is the head of state. final thought, and this takes us away from foreign affairs to your country. the president, and fail, it has to be said, i do not know if you are has to be said, i do not know if you a re interested has to be said, i do not know if you are interested in running again, but are interested in running again, but a lot of people are speculating about whether democrats are going to find candidates capable of hitting donald trump in 2020. he is a man who liked him or loathe him dominate the political scene. frankly, there does not seem to be anybody on the democrat side. how and where the democrats going to find someone to beat donald trump? well, the good news is we have three years. the good news also is i believe that it is, donald trump is not doing well with voters. he is going to be fermentable but i think the democratic party realises it cannot

just be a progressive, liberal party, that we have to talk about economic issues, like we did in pennsylvania, we are moderate, conservative democrat one, and we have been winning in a lot of elections recently. it is either going to be candidates likejoe biden, or a new face, going to be candidates likejoe biden, ora new face, but the going to be candidates likejoe biden, or a new face, but the good news is we have three years and i believe that we will find a strong candidate and count me out. i am done, but i think at the same time, we have a real opportunity to win short—term in these congressional elections, i think within the house of representatives, maybe not the senate, and then we recapture the presidency. i believe that is what is going to happen but we will see. we will see indeed, but will richardson for now, thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you, stephen. hello there.

our weather's showing signs of catching up on the season, going from something that has felt a bit more like winter to something more springlike over the next few days. now, over the weekend, london temperatures barely got above freezing. we've had that heavy snow as well. there is a trend to seeing things warm up and by thursday, temperatures should reach double temperatures in the capital. of course, the big change has been this area of high pressure, which brought us the mini beast from the east. but that same area of high pressure has now just sunk to the south—west of the uk. and so, we're dragging in some slightly less cold air. that will continue to be the case over the next couple of days. on the satellite picture,

we're looking at an area of cloud sinking its way southwards at the moment and that cloud is just thick enough to bring us a few light showers, so for the early risers there is the potential of catching so for the early risers there is a potential of catching one or two showers across parts of the midlands, east anglia and south—east england. i wouldn't be surprised to see an odd flake falling from it, given that the temperatures for most of us are at or below freezing. and a particularly cold start to the day in scotland, where temperatures potentially down as low as —8 in the coldest spots. now, for tuesday, we'll have a cloudy start to the day for most of england. should be fairly sunny across scotland. with this cloud, one or two showers pushing on towards the midlands for a time during the day, but the cloud will tend to shrink and shrivel, with some sunshine either side of it as we go on through the afternoon. so for many of us, a decent kind of day. those temperatures up to nine degrees in london. that was tuesday's weather. now, as we get towards wednesday, we start to drag in some milder air off the atlantic, but with that comes the threat of some rain.

rain will be working into the north—west of the uk. before that arrives, it's going to be another fairly cold night, particularly across england and wales. the temperatures not as low in scotland and northern ireland, where we'll have that increasingly cloudy look to the weather, with outbreaks of rain skirting into northern ireland. the rain heavy at times and quite persistent across the western side of scotland. a few breaks in the cloud, the best of any sunshine probably across central and eastern parts of england. we are looking at highs of around nine degrees in london again, but the temperatures in scotland and northern ireland are reaching double figures. ten or 11 degrees in the warmest spots, and that warming trend continues on into thursday. thursday, well, potentially a little bit of rain around, getting close to eastern england. so it could be quite wet for some. there will be some brighter spells. the weather going downhill further west, as the next band of rain works in. temperatures pretty much across the board will be reaching double figures. that's your latest weather. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story — leaving london — russian diplomats are expected to depart later

in the aftermath of the nerve agent attack on a former spy and his daughter. the uk authorities are seeking a warrant to investigate a company accused of using millions of facebook members data to influence the us presidential election. homes destroyed, cattle killed and thousands of acres of land devastated by wildfires in south—west australia. uber suspends all tests of its self—driving cars after a woman in arizona was killed in a collision — a potential setback to the technology expected to transform transportation. also in business briefing, the tech sell—off continues on the stock markets in asia