welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: chinese state media confirms north korea's leader kimjong—un did travel to beijing this week for talks with president xi jinping. nato expels seven russian diplomats over the spy poisoning in britain. moscow calls it part of a western policy to contain russia. president putin calls a national day of mourning for victims of the shopping centre fire and blames criminal negligence. angry crowds denounce local officials. cricket australia says only three players knew about plans to cheat against south africa, but big questions still remain. confirmation of that breaking news

in the past few hours. chinese state media has now confirmed the ruler of north korea has made his first foreign trip as leaderfor talks in beijing with china's president xi jinping. there's been much speculation that kim jong—un was on his first trip abroad in seven years, since a special train used in the past by the north korean ruling dynasty was spotted in the chinese capital. the white house says mr trump has been briefed on the visit, in a personal message from the chinese president. our correspondent steve mcdonell has more details. well, the worst kept secret in china has been confirmed, yes, it was been kim jong—un all along. people who have been following this in recent days know that reporters have been chasing this mysterious motorcade around beijing. there was the train that pulled up at beijing station which looked uncannily like the train that had taken former north korean leaders to beijing. it has been confirmed

that it was him. this was first confirmed international trip from the north korean leader since he came to power. it is interesting and kind of bizarre that chinese official state media waited until his train had left chinese territory and gone back into north korea before confirming that the obvious took place. we have some details. he went to the great hall of the people, met xi jinping. there was a performance there, we are led to believe. he met other senior members of the chinese communist party. including li keqiang, the premier and the vice president. pretty historic meeting, really, given developments on the korean peninsula. and it has been confirmed. steve mcdonell there. drjohn park is director of the korea working group at the harvard kennedy school.

he gave me his reaction to this meeting. this is the first time that kimjong—un has left north korea. in terms of what took place, this is what we are piecing together in terms of significance. we have to keep in mind that when the chinese meet with a senior level official in this capacity, it is a done deal. there are things that have been done in terms of that transaction. that is part of the broader, looking at how this played out. we are basically in freefall right now. this has taken everyone by surprise. with the summit proposed in may between the north korean leader and president trump and south korea's president moon, it would have been diplomatically very odd if kimjong—un had met with them before meeting his main ally. in many respects, the summit announcement with the koreas and president trump and kim jong—un, those happened very quickly in the sense that we saw a lot of the statements rather

than the process in place. what we know of the chinese style of this type of summits, that is the end of a mini process in itself. we can expect some big announcements coming out about some sort of freeze or resumption of the six party talks. these are the types of conditions that the chinese would put on any meeting with kim jong—un at this level is quite we are told by chinese state media was a banquet. we are told that kim jong—un talked about denuclearisation. he does not mean unilateral disarmament. he means nuclear weapons off the korean peninsula. for the united states, that is quite a different matter. that is correct. if you look from the chinese set point as well, the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula is a long—standing goal. notjust of north korea. denuclearisation is aspirational. this is a goal that the parties will work towards. that was a big emphasis

of the six party talks. that is where we see the gap. the goal of denuclearisation is common to all parties. the pace and expectation of when that happens, that is where the differences lie. that is where high—level meetings will be important. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. fire chiefs have apologised for their response to the suicide bombing at the manchester arena last year. an independent report has found firefighters were kept away from the scene for two hours, because of poor communication between emergency services. the boss of larry nasser, the disgraced doctor at the centre of the usa gymnastics sex abuse scandal, has himself been charged with criminal sexual conduct. prosecutors allege the former dean of michigan state university, william strampel, assaulted female students, and stored nude photos of others on his office computer. through his lawyer, he's denied doing anything wrong. the israeli prime minister has been released from hospital. doctors found he was suffering from a mild respiratory infection. benjamin neta nyahu tweeted:

"i am on my way home, sure some rest and hot soup will put things right." he's 68 — he'd been taken to hospital with a high fever and coughing. in the latest diplomatic response to the chemical attack in salisbury, nato has expelled seven russian diplomats from its headquarters in brussels. 25 countries have now taken similar action, expelling at least 140 diplomats in total. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has said moscow will respond in kind. steve rosenberg reports. it looks like a game show, but this was russian tv on the diplomatic war with the west. the names in the frames, the string of countries who had expelled russian diplomats over the salisbury attack. 26 countries have now ordered expulsions. moscow's point is that the west has got it in for russia. this is not about poisoning some former agents. this is about containing russia,

creating problems for russia with its sovereign and independent foreign policy. and could a diplomatic war morph into something more dangerous? this confrontation has certain logic, and this logic is to step up — each next move should be stronger than the previous one. and with this, we can reach a pretty dangerous situation where militarisation of behaviour will be inevitable. the one expression you hear more and more to describe the growing tension between russia and the west is "new cold war". but in fact what we have now is potentially more dangerous than the cold war, because back in the days of communism against capitalism, both sides stuck to the rules of the game. today, it seems, there are no rules. sergei skripal and his daughter

yulia are still in a critical, but stable condition in a british hospital. up to now, their relatives in russia have said very little about the incident, but now in her first tv interview mr skripal‘s niece, viktoria, has told olga ivshina, from the bbc russian service, that she's not interested in the political war of words. i spoke just now to the research scientist vera zakem who's a disinformation and diplomatic specialist at the cna — the centre for naval analyses in the united states. i asked her first if she was surprised at the concerted diplomatic response from countries in expelling russian diplomats. no, iam no, i am not surprised at all, one bit. i think this is, by the international community, a first step ina international community, a first step in a broader set of actions, not just the united step in a broader set of actions, notjust the united states and uk, but the broader internet ——

international community may take. in terms of what happens next, i suspect there will be a series of potentially covert and overt actions. some could be retaliatory actions. some could be retaliatory actions that russia may take, in expelling diplomats from the countries that expelled russian diplomats. in addition, russia may choose to take actions at a time of their choosing. and we absolutely cannot forget that. it may be expulsion of diplomats in one month, two months, next week. but it may be cyber attacks. it may be similar types of attacks that we saw in the uk against the international norms and laws. it may be more propaganda and laws. it may be more propaganda and disinformation campaigns that are designed to sow doubt and discord. i don't think this is the end. i think this is something that is going to continue. it will further escalate tensions between russia and the west. how dangerous

to feel that is, and what can be to calm the situation? i think there is an element of danger. again, i think one is to see what steps russia will take. it has already been said there will be some steps they will take. in terms of steps that could be taken to calm the situation, first and foremost, russia must abide by the international norms and treaties, such as the chemical weapons convention. and then acting, potentially, things may be escalate. in terms of things that could escalate, and would not be surprised if we see things like sanctions and both the united states and potentially other western countries going after the money, such as russian oligarchs. vera zakem, speaking to me just now. president putin has declared a national day of mourning for the 64 people who died in a fire at a shopping centre in siberia on sunday. most were children.

people in the city of kemerovo have been protesting as mr putin blamed what he called "criminal negligence" and suggested safety certificates had been obtained with bribes. paul adams reports. grief turning to fury on the streets of the siberian mining town. two days after the fire, people are angry. "resign, resign," they shout. local officials are bombarded with questions — how many people really died, were children locked inside, why were the fire alarms not working? the crowd smells corruption. the sign above the mayor's assistant reads, "how much are your closed eyes worth?" translation: i've got nothing more to lose, my whole family has died, my younger sister, my wife and my three children. my wife rang me quite late, shejust wanted to say goodbye to me. inside what's left of the shopping complex, a scene of utter devastation. this place was packed on sunday.

when the fire broke out, it swept through the building with appalling speed. on one of the upper floors, the cinema, where many of the children died. the man leading the investigation says those responsible for safety simply run away. the view from above is equally shocking. is there evidence here that corners were cut? vladimir putin visited the city this morning, offering condolences, saying what happened was inexcusable. translation: an investigation group of 100 people is working here. they will go through the whole chain, starting with those who issued licenses and up to those who were responsible for safety. in moscow this evening, a silent vigil for the victims, the people here promising not to forget what happened in siberia two days ago. what began as a local tragedy now has the potential to turn into a national scandal. fires like this are not uncommon

in russia, and behind them there's often a story of corruption, fast money and lax oversight. this disaster raises a host difficult questions. pauladams, bbc news, moscow. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: music with a mission, we meet the malawian singer who's looking to change her country with song. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa

should be excluded from the 1970 competition. chanting streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: chinese state media has revealed north korea's ruler did make his first foreign trip as leader, to beijing, this week, for talks with president xijinping.

nato is expelling seven russian diplomats from its headquarters — the latest international sanctions in response to the nerve agent attack in the uk. in uganda, there's concern many more women could die giving birth, now the trump administration has halted american funding for pro—abortion organisations. in the past five years, the number of ugandan mothers dying in childbirth has reduced by a quarter, but the health minister has warned those figures could rise again. on a village outreach mission, the bbc‘s anne soyjoined one of the teams at risk of being disbanded. an unique way to get people to use contraceptives. this is a team on an outreach mission just outside of kampala. the response is instant. there are plenty of condom is on offer here. those who want long—term

birth control methods are asked to report to the local health centre. this 51 your old man is taken up the offer. his firstborn is a week old and he has done having children. he has chosen to undergo vasectomy. and he has done having children. he has chosen to undergo vasectomylj decided has chosen to undergo vasectomy.” decided to do this because i have already eight children. outside the clinic, a group counselling session is under way. like many african countries, uganda has a high fertility rate but mobile teams of health workers like this one are helping parents plan theirfamilies better. and they don't need to pay anything. the cost is already covered by donors. in this case, the us government. but not for much longer. byjune this year, this service will come to an end because the us does not fund pro— abortion

organisations like this any more. the intention to reduce abortion is counter—productive because when you desire contraceptive to people who need them, they will get pregnant and when a woman makes a decision to end a pregnancy, they will go to any length. it is estimated that one in every five pregnancies here in uganda is terminated and affected mothers and procuring unsafe abortion and put their lives in danger. there are fears the gains made in the health sector could be reversed. marie stopes has been cleaned —— key in planning these services in the countryside so they are services in the countryside so they a re key services in the countryside so they are key in really the achievements that we have attained in the last five years, reducing maternal mortality. the minister says providing health services is the government's well but in many cases,

there are gaps. health centres like this one usually have one nurse running it. and health workers pay for using donor money coming to provide specialised services. their imminent exit will leave many people here without access to key healthcare services. australia's two leading cricketers have been sent home from south africa for their part in the ball tampering row — they've been told they will face significant sanctions. steve smith and david warner will travel back along with cameron bancroft after an initial investigation by the chief executive of cricket australia. but the team coach darren lehmann is still in his job, for now. this report from our sports editor dan roan does contain flashing images. in the eye of a cricketing storm. reporter: david, are you going to get banned today? australia's players arriving here injohannesburg this morning, their preparations for the final test against south africa totally

overshadowed by the ball—tampering scandal that has shocked the sport. reporter: did you cheat during the ashes as well? have you done it before? are you going to resign, darren? the most powerful man in australian cricket also in town, in a bid to get a grip of the crisis. i want to apologise to all australians that these events have taken place and particularly to all the kids who love cricket and idolise the players. an investigation has found that the plot was confined to three players — cameron bancroft, who used sticky tape to tamper with the ball, captain steve smith and his deputy, david warner, all will be sent home in disgrace tomorrow. in regard to the three players on report, i want to stress that we are contemplating significant sanctions in each case. these sanctions will reflect the gravity with which we view what has occurred and the damage it has done to the standing of australian cricket.

meanwhile, head coach darren lehmann was found to be unaware of the cheating scheme and, despite concerns over the culture he presides over, remains in hisjob. cricket australia knew their announcement here at this johannesburg hotel this evening came amid intense scrutiny, notjust from the cricketing public, but also sponsors and even the australian government. a sense of outrage ensuring that this is now a test case for the integrity of the sport. i think it's desperately sad. obviously, individuals occasionally cross over the boundaries between fair play and unfair play, but to have organised, orchestrated cheating in this way, with the australian captain, captain of a side that set itself out to claim the moral high ground, now they're caught doing this, and i really don't think almost any punishment is too big. shame and anger now follow this team. australia hoping that swift action and appropriate punishments allow them to move

on from this cricketing crisis. dan roan, bbc news, johannesburg. the afropop singer hazel mak is on a mission to change gender issues malawi's music industry. her project malawian girls rock helps young women interact with others to get advice and mentorship. she hopes her career will inspire them to help their own communities — putting their money where their mouth is and investing back home. come winter, comes spring. i know my faith won't fail me now. so i can't be run this project called malawian girls rock and it's basically a platform to encourage young women and also already grown women to interact with each other on an entrepreneurial level and political and social level. i think gender issues within the malawi and music industry are definitely issues that

we are continuously facing as female artists but i think it's so important for as females to create a dialogue between the media and to create dialogues between ourselves which is where malawi and dashed malawian girls rock comes in as well. it's so important for us to keep dashed to speak about these issues. there is no point in treating them as if they are taboo is in which can't speak, you can't talk about the reasons why you not getting as far as the men does. what inspired my new song, i wanted to work on a project that focused on creativity and i wanted it to be authentic. down to the area in which we shot the video. we included dead dancers from a refugee camp in malawi and they are such amazing dancers. there is a whole squad of

them, i think there are about 150 of them, i think there are about 150 of them roughly. but they are amazing dancers and they range from the age is -- dancers and they range from the age is —— the ages of eight all the way to 30. they have danced all over malawi. what i really want to achieve with my career this sort of what akon has managed to achieve himself. he has made a career out of his music, generated his money and gone back home and invested in his community and his country and that's what i really want to do. i want to go back to malawi and invest my money and my time and my career into aiding our community money and my time and my career into aiding ourcommunity and money and my time and my career into aiding our community and pushing malawi to move forward along with the world and not be left behind. i really feel as though as malawians, we should really do it ourselves and every african should

do that, go back to africa, invest back home because that's the only way africa is going to move forward. couldn't leave you this hour without showing you these pictures. this is sisterjean. she loves basketball. she is 98. and she is america's new darling. as the chaplain for loyola university chicago ramblers, sisterjean leads the players in prayer before a game and they've had their best season in years. a reminder of our top story. the north korean leader, kimjong—un, has met the chinese president xijingping in beijing on his first known foreign trip since he assumed power seven years ago. china's state news agency reported that mr kim had said pyongyang was committed to denuclearisation. the visit comes ahead of proposed discussions between the united states and north korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programme. temperatures on the way

down in the lead—up to the easter weekend. so it's looking unsettled. south wales, southern england most likely to see some wet weather, but it may push further north to parts of wales and the midlands into east anglia as the day goes on, getting some showers, a chance of a bit of sleet and wet snow out of this, especially on the hills into the west of these areas as we go through the afternoon. much of northern england, northern ireland and scotland will have variable cloud, sunny spells and a few showers around, wintry on hills, longer spells of rain in the northern islands into shetland. single figure temperatures. that's the big difference across southern parts of the uk compared with tuesday. some spots reached as high as 16 celsius.

the chill will be around on wednesday night under clearing skies, most of the showers still around on wednesday evening will die away and that means clear skies will be widespread frost settling going into thursday morning. it does mean is thursday begins it will be chilly, but there will be a fair amount of sunshine around, but then we are watching another area of low pressure coming in from the south—west. a bit slower, but it will at least have some showers, some longer spells of rain but at least showers pushing into south—west england, wales and to parts of northern ireland too. gradually on thursday, edging a little bit further north—east. ahead of that, you are likely to see some dry weather and some sunshine of a fairly pleasant day. there is a weather front working in northern scotland with outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow around here, it'll feel quite cold. a little bit milder, those eastern areas have seen the sunshine during thursday and those heavy showers wales and the south—west edging into the midlands, parts of south—east england,

continuing to feed northwards during thursday night into good friday. low pressure very much in evidence during good friday. there will be bands of showers pushing north across the uk but there will be gaps between them, we might get to see some sunshine, but for the most part it's single figure temperatures. that is how we are going into the easter weekend. temperatures on the cool side of average. not cold, but cool for the time of year. it is low pressure so there will be wet weather at times, a risk of snow on northern hills, but it won't be wet all the time. easter day looking like a decent day on sunday. this is bbc news. the headlines: china has revealed that the north korean leader, kim jong—un, did travel in a special train for talks with china's president xijingping in beijing this week. it's his first known foreign trip since he assumed power seven years ago. china's state news agency reports mr kim said his government is committed to denuclearisation, of the entire peninsular, notjust the north.

in the latest diplomatic response to the nerve agent attack on a former russian spy living in the uk, nato has expelled seven russian diplomats from its headquarters in brussels. 25 countries have now taken similar action. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has said moscow will respond in kind. russia's president, vladimir putin, has declared a national day of mourning for the 64 people killed in a fire at a shopping centre in siberia on sunday. people in kemerovo have been protesting over what mr putin called "criminal negligence". now on bbc news, stephen sackur is in geneva for the latest episode of hardtalk.