this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: china says north korea's leader kim jung—un is ready to denuclearise and meet american officials. a national day of mourning and the first funerals for victims of russia's deadly shopping centre fire. and france honours the police colonel killed after he swapped places with a hostage. "the world is seeing the first movements towards a global trade war," warns the head of the wto, but he says "it can still be avoided." and as google's self—driving car unit launches its new vehicle, we'll hear from the boss about how safety is their top priority. hello.

a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business, and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. we are covering many stories today. tell us what you think. just use the hashtag bbc the briefing. and you can tell us what you have found on line as well. so, let's get started. chinese state media has now confirmed the ruler of north korea has made his first foreign trip as leader to beijing for talks with china's president xi jinping. there's been much speculation that kim jung—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. so, it was him. now we know that

this is what was happening behind closed doors. the wives were there as well for this first face—to—face meeting. china's leader was given a substantial ceremonial welcome. we usually see pictures of others taking notes as kim jong—un speaks, but this time it was different. china is the only big benefactor of north korea. the relationship has soured juju the weapons programme. —— due to there. this was to tell the world they are friends again. so, why all of this now? china wants

influence in the upcoming surprise talks with the us. kim reiterated he is committed to denuclearisation, thatis is committed to denuclearisation, that is ambiguous and not new. china says it got a message. one thing is clear. china wants to be front and centre when the nuclear talks take place. the first funerals for the victims of monday's deadly fire at a shopping centre in siberia are due to take place shortly. president putin has blamed "criminal negligence" for the blaze in the city of kemerovo that killed 64 people, many of them children. we can go live now to kemerov and to sergei goryashko from the bbc russian service. the first funerals take place today, and it's a day of national mourning. four people have been charged since the fire. do people feel now that the authorities are getting to the bottom of what happened?

todayis today is a day of national mourning. in many cities in russia, there were many memorial services in the main squares. this is the cathedral for some of the victims of the fire to be held shortly. the funerals will ta ke be held shortly. the funerals will take place through the day. in a few hours they will start. there is a lot of grief now because there were too many victims and it's a devastating story for kemerovo. as you say, a difficult day ahead with so you say, a difficult day ahead with so many who died on monday. many of them children. four people have been charged since the fire. there have been huge demonstrations. people are very angry about what happened. is

that anger changing now in terms of how this is in handled, the fact more are being held to account? yesterday, people gathered at the square have asked the governor to resign and ask officials how these fires could ever happen. they may go to another rally though i do not know much about that yet. for now, the square is blocked with police cars. people are outside the big no rallies. still, people who lost relatives think officials are responsible. —— outside. they are angry. as for those detained, there are already five people, four from

the management of the shopping centre and another security guard who switched off the fire alarm, presumably, when the fire started. today, it will be decided whether they go to home arrest or prison for a couple of months. so we will follow that story. thank you so much. from the bbc russia service. the french president, emmanuel macron, will lead a national memorial service in honour of the police officer who died saving the lives of hostages in a supermarket siege in southern france last week. lt—col arnaud beltrame was shot and stabbed after he traded places with one of the captives. the body of arnaud beltrame arrived in paris ahead of today's national memorial service. the policeman who died during a terrorist attack in the south of france last week has been called a national hero by the french president, emmanuel macron. he will lead a national memorial service for the gendarme who offered

himself in exchange for a female hostage during the attack last saturday. he was killed by the terrorist who also killed another three people. in the french parliament yesterday, a minute's silence was held. the french prime minister, eduard phillippe, paid tribute to arnaud beltrame. he said that france, which has been the victim of many terrorist attacks in the past two years, will defeat the terrorists. translation: we will defeat them because we are larger and stronger than does who seek to harm it. he said that to applause. the french public have in paying tribute to the police officer since the attack. arnaud beltrame's coffin will be brought along the bank were his colleagues and friends willjoin the public for a national commemoration which is expected to bring many thousands onto the streets to show their respect ——

where. keith doyle, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. 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. i am 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. the head of the world trade organization has said he believes the world is seeing the first signs of movement towards a trade war. roberto azevedo told the bbc it was as a result of the steel and aluminium import

tariffs announced by us president donald trump earlier this month. mr azevedo said the tariffs could prove to be a big problem if other countries retaliated. china and the european union are both threatening to do so. mark davies is the chief executive of the strategy consultancy, camberton. hejoins me now. it is good to see you. he was given a good grilling. it is called hardtalk. stephen sackur gave him a ha rd hardtalk. stephen sackur gave him a hard time. interesting what he had to say. the wto is in the eye of the storm at the moment. definitely. many people around the world want a trade war because they do not think the flows of trade that have lifted so the flows of trade that have lifted so many out of poverty are working for them. politicians around the world as a result are taking

protective measures. if you were in charge of the wto, you would be very, very frustrated by that. charge of the wto, you would be very, very frustrated by thatm charge of the wto, you would be very, very frustrated by that. it is interesting. something was highlighted and we will hear rate —— a bit soon. the world trade organization has been seen as a bit benign and has a real threat is now. many people in the world have no idea what the wto does. it is supranational and sits in the background. all of a sudden countries start doing things which, over the last 50—60 years people are not used to seeing. if you are in charge of those organisations, it must be frustrating to be an expert in the subject, and as the director—general says, to be viewed as someone who is boring and adding

nothing to the party. in fact, your organisation is responsible for so much of the development in the world, and people do not understand that. when you have a us president who says trade wars are not a bad thing and we will win, that does not make the wto's life easy. why can he say that? because so many people who have elected him are saying that, trade has not worked for them. they do not understand the link between world trade and their own prosperity because they have seen their own prosperity not grow at their recent yea rs. prosperity not grow at their recent years. they do not understand how the wto and world trade affects prices. all right. thank you for now. mark will be back for the news briefing. you will get a part of that conversation between stephen sackur and the head of the wto later. another boss to talk about now. the head of organisation

for the prohibition of chemical weapons, says results of their tests on the nerve agent used against sergei and yulia skripal should be ready within two to three weeks. ahmet uzumcu says the chemical appears to be four times more toxic than any his organisation has seen before. he also said britain was not in the wrong to give russia just 48 hours to bbc‘s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. how important is this investigation into the possible use of a nerve agent in britain? umm, the incident itself is very serious. so, this is a rare incident during which a nerve agent was used. and reportedly, this is four times more toxic than any nerve agent with which we have seen so far. so this is serious. and the

united kingdom has undertaken an investigation. we offered them assistance under the convention, which was received positively. are experts were deployed to the united kingdom to collect samples. —— us. they were brought to our laboratory in the hague and were split into several sets and sent to designated lavatories. we have several designated ones. —— laboratories. we expect the results to be available within three weeks and we will share those results with the international committee. and what will the results be able to show? what kind of nerve agent and what kind of authority was capable of using them in this way? umm, the nature of our work will be purely technical. and it will have the purpose to determine what was used, what was the nerve agent, is structure. but we will not get into

attribution. —— it. that is not our job. russia says britain did not respect terms in giving them a longer period of time, two weeks, to respond to the accusation. who is in the wrong? actually, article eight gives both parties the ability to request assistance from us, with which we have done. other articles give the opportunity to enter into consultations. that is through the secretariat. that is what the russian federation was referring to, article nine, on which basis the united kingdom could undertake consultations. but the uk chose to put on article eight. they were within their rights? absolutely. russia has no point? actually,

article nine is also right, but not an obligation. stay with us on the briefing. also on the programme: we'll be talking to an expert on the likely impact of mass diplomatic expulsions on ties between russia and the west. 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. woman: wow! you're watching the briefing. our headlines: the chinese government says north korea's leader told xijinping he's prepared to de—nuclearise and hold a summit with the united states. the first funerals are taking place in the siberian city of kemerovo, after more than sixty people died in a fire at a shopping mall. 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. yuval weber is a fellow at the daniel morgan graduate school at the the wilson center. he lived in moscow for four years and worked as associate economics professor at the national research university. he joins us now from washington. thank you for being on the programme. clearly, vladimir putin has got his hands full at home with a very awful situation, tragic situation in siberia. to what he said is that hampering what his response can be to the diplomatic expulsions? tremendously. in these

rounds, we would have expected russia to not only respond tit—for—tat, to do exactly what the us previously, all what the uk did, or to escalated further, in order to see just how far the west would go. he is being hamstrung right now by what is a terrible tragedy happening in siberia, and kemerovo. more than 60 victims have been identified, with more than a0 of those children. if you chose to pivot back to his co re if you chose to pivot back to his core strength of foreign policy, he might be eviscerated, sort of, domestic league. people want him, andi domestic league. people want him, and i have been checking the russian news all day, the people to pay attention and sold as domestic tragedy, and that is something that he is relatively less comfortable in doing good. he would be doing foreign policy and hitting back against them you know, this coalition of western nations. and he does fill in a position of strength

when he is doing that. he is portraying that image at home, as it were, which is a message he feels his electorate want to hear. but what do you think is going to happen in terms of, you know, moscow's reaction? sergei lavrov says it will bea reaction? sergei lavrov says it will be a strong reaction, which we would expect. sure. from the meddling in the election, whether that has been proved not, donald trump expelled to promote. and we found out that michael flynn told the then russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, not to do anything. that eventually led to, once michael flynn left his job, the 755 american physicians eliminated by the russians. when theresa may and the uk government expelled 23 russian diplomats over the sergei

skripal incident, another needed russia respond with expelling 23 british muds, but also closely british muds, but also closely british council, but also the british council, but also the british consulate in moscow. —— ridge diplomats. so we had expected it to happen. every country that expeued it to happen. every country that expelled and russian diplomat knows that it will be responded to tit—for—tat. —— british diplomat. so at minimum russia will respond in that way. the united states also closed the russian consulate in seattle. so for short one american consulate will be closed. so there are three outside moscow. one in st petersburg, one in the middle of the country, and one in vladivostok, on the pacific coast of the country. so for sure, given that the united

states close the san francisco consulate last year, we can expect an american consulate to be closed. and the third thing is what will russia do in addition to and above the two things that i just mentioned? and that is essentially what russia was to keep its powder dry and let the rest continue to worry. it will be violence, cybersecurity stuff, or whatever is. yuval weber, think you for your time. we have delivered there. so much and discuss, but we need to move on. —— we have to leave it there. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sport centre. hello. i am tulsen tollett. three selling quicker players wait for news after ball tampering. so stevens continues her run of good form in miami as she moves through to the quarter—finals. —— three australian cricket players. dressed ratten cricketers, including the now

former captain and vice captain will learn of their fate in the coming hours with significant gains from the game expected follow the ball tampering scenes which marred the third test against south africa on saturday. steve smith, cameron bancroft, and david warner, have all of the party—goer with glenn maxwell, joe boyle is, and that the ritual quarter. darren lehmann will not be resigning, says cricket australia. lengthy absences have been predicted for the 3—set home, once the investigation is concluded once the investigation is concluded on wednesday. in regard to the three players on report, i want to stress that we are contemplating significant sanctions in each case. the sanctions will reflect the gravity with which we view what has occurred, and the damage it has done to the standing of australian cricket. football in the semifinals in the women's championship will be decided later on wednesday. an epic of the quarter—finals were lyons,

defeated at idle to barcelona. they have a 2—1 litre going to the second leg of their tie in spain. they hope to stay on course for a first—rate league title. the team always has the goals to win. —— for a third straight league title. you think that the consequences, but that is not the main focus. we want to bring the qualities and the team and i think that is one of the qualities, as well. we always focus on the win and doing another bigger performance every game. in case you missed it, and with the world cup only three months away, there were plenty of high—profile friendlies on tuesday. among them, germany were beaten i—o by brazil in berlin. that was a symonds of revenge for the 7—1 defeat that they suffered from the germans at the world cup years ago.

jonathan knocked out marin cilic to reseat cord evalle jonathan knocked out marin cilic to reseat cordevalle sublimely open on tuesday. —— john isner. reseat cordevalle sublimely open on tuesday. ——john isner. it was reseat cordevalle sublimely open on tuesday. —— john isner. it was a welcome change to the american who had only 12 games in 2018. for the women's, so stevens is through to the semifinals at the straight sets win over angelique kerber. stevens is the number 13 seed in miami as she breezed into the last four with a 6—1, she breezed into the last four with a 6-1, 6-2 she breezed into the last four with a 6—1, 6—2 victory. coming against former world number one. catching our eye on social media has been video system refereeing. that is due to determine italy's late penalty against england at wembley. ——

assisted. mark halsey said... gary lineker said... and you can get more and that and everything else on our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but from me, tulsen tollett, and the team, that is your sport briefing. stay with me on bbc news. i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. we'll have more on these headlines. we will have more of the latest fears about self—driving technology. see you soon.

there is a cold fill in the weather on the day had. some will have some rain as an air of low pressure comes in. still some uncertainty about how far north the wet weather is going to come from this area of low pressure. it certainly south england and wales will see some rain. a little bit of sleet and wet snow to high ground as well. some may fringe further north across parts of wales and into east anglia. some showers will push it was through the day. brightening upper hunter. northern england, northern ireland, scotland, variable cloud, with some shady spells. could the winter and hills. longer spells around the northern isles. they cold a field dismally conveyed to choose a colour particularly into england and wales. —— buta particularly into england and wales. —— but a cold feel definitely. wednesday night, a ridge of high pressure builds on. that means clearing skies, settled weather, but a cold night. so widespread frost

going into thursday morning. but it does mean a fine start for many of us on does mean a fine start for many of us on thursday. but that is not going to last us as we see another area of low pressure coming in from the south—west. slow progress from this one, but it is into south—west england top of wales, perhaps into northern ireland, as well, during thursday. with such a sea of the very least showers moving in on some of those could be quite strong. but mainly dry ahead of it was in sunshine, but still an old weather front in the north of scotland producing some rain, possibly. sleet and snow possible especially on hills. there will be some sunshine around. going to thursday night and into good friday, low pressure is close by, pushing through bands of showers northwards across the uk. some of those could be on the heavy side as well. you can see here darker blue during a four heavy downpours. not ready all the time. still drier, brighter moments, but for most of those temperatures into

single figures. that is the theme for the easter week weekend. —— is to weaken. you will see the risk of snow or northern hills. it averages are moving up, particularly into it on monday, particularly in england and wales. and that is the latest forecast. i will see you soon. —— the temperatures are moving up, particularly into monday. this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the world is seeing the first movements towards a global trade war warns the head of the wto, but he says it can still be avoided. safety is the priority. google's waymo launches its new driverless car amid growing concern about the technology. and on the markets, this

week is proving to be a roller coaster ride. today we are seeing sharp declines with a sell off in tech shares spooking investors.