welcome to bbc news. broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika — our top stories. clashes at the united nations — as the us warns syria it will carry out more missile strikes, if necessary. if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the united states is locked and loaded. syria and russia have condemned the strikes, calling them an illegal act of aggression. but president assad says he's now more determined than ever to keep fighting — and defeat his opponents. in other news — huge anti—government protests in hungary as tens of thousands demand a re—run of last week's election. hello and welcome to bbc news.

america's envoy to the united nations has warned president trump could authorise further attacks on syria if the assad regime used chemical weapons again in future. nikki haley was speaking after the us, britain and france launched an initial round of strikes in response to last week's suspected chemical attack on the town of douma. the russian president, vladimir putin, a close ally of syria, said he condemned the action "in the most serious way". our north america editorjon sopel starts our coverage. from a french warship in the eastern mediterranean to a british raf base in cyprus to the uss monterey in the red sea, days of planning was replaced by execution, with the bombing and missile strikes. the president said britain, france and the us had marshalled their "righteous power against barbarism and brutality." a short time ago, i ordered

the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al—assad. and he singled out syria's two principal backers. to iran and to russia, i ask, what kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. in damascus last night, flashes, bangs and streaking missiles lit the night sky. those launching the attack seemed as keen to define what this mission wasn't as what it was. this was not about intervening in the civil war. it is not about regime change. as i discussed with president trump and president macron, it is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. daylight reveals the extent

of the destruction. this is all that's left of the scientific research centre near damascus, one of the targets that took the greatest pounding. at a pentagon briefing this morning, the defence chief said all targets had been hit with no casualties suffered. we're still conducting a more detailed damage assessment, but initial indications are that we accomplished our military objectives without interference from syria. i'd use three words to describe this operation, precise, overwhelming and effective. but in damascus this morning, regime supporters were celebrating

a success in repelling american aggression. perhaps more accurately, this strike was more limited than they'd anticipated. this apparently is president assad strolling to work today, although we don't see a close—up of his face. if he is able to walk tall, it's only because of the support he's receiving from the russians. today at the un they turned theirfire on britain, france and the us. translation: the us and its allies continue to demonstrate blatant disregard for international law. but as permanent members of the security council, they must be especially firm in protecting the un charter. that was positively restrained compared to what syria's ambassador had to say. translation: i say that you a liars, you are spoilers, you are hypocrites. you are attempting to see failure in actions of this organisation which do not pursue your interests. tonight, some of the french jets returned home. along with the british and the americans, they are hoping

this isjob done. but now the world waits to see if there will be retaliation or any further use of chemical weapons. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. our correspondent, in the us capital, chris buckler told me about the reaction to the attacks in washington. i think inside washington there has been some kind of satisfaction that this has been, in their words, a success. they really feel that this has achieved many of its aims. it was a limited strike and if you consider the battle inside the white house about what they should do in syria, i suspect they feel they have achieved something. of course, there are others, including political opponents of president trump who will be saying in the long—term, what have you actually achieved? this is not dissimilar to the strike from a year ago. whenever they were missiles sent, there was destruction and whenever there was a message but president assad didn't seem to listen. as a result, you are hearing people starting to talk again about happens next. certainly at the un security council, you got the impression that they were

feeling that further military action was a possibility but it feels that the discussions that might lead to some progress in syria, that is something quite else. i was looking at some of the reports coming in and i thinkjohn mccain was tweeting support of trump's actions. is that the sort of thing happening in washington? yes. i think at the moment there are many who feel that what has been done has been measured. that's the important thing from their point of view. in saying that, there are democrats who feel that if there were some wider military action, or if there was to be a greater focus on what happens in syria, there needs to be a greater strategy.

but from the administration's point of view, they have this idea that they like this whole idea of working alongside the uk and france and trying to come up with a joint strategy to address some of these issues. the problems have not gone away and if you listen carefully to what the administration have been saying, they have been talking about the fact that they have degraded the chemical weapons programme in syria. they haven't got rid of the threat of chemical weapons and that is something they accept. they are still looking for these reports, still waiting for the evidence outside syria, although they do say they have evidence and some of that indicates, according to them, that notjust chlorine but potentially sarin was used in douma and that gives cause for concern. as a result, there will be pressure on america, uk and france to try to have some kind of an idea about what will happen in syria in the future. they are going to have to act, i suppose, as a watchdog, in a way. but of course, that creates a real division with russia and iran and syria is a fault line in that relationship that is not going away.

robin wright, a journalist and author, is a joint fellow at the us institute of peace and the woodrow wilson international center and shejoins me now from washington. perhaps mission accomplished was an u nfortu nate perhaps mission accomplished was an unfortunate freight to use because perhaps the most difficult question is what happens next? what is the endgame —— an unfortunate phrase. the imac the us never wanted to get mashed in syria after the obligations in iraq and the long war in its afghanistan. the challenge is, it calls assad a monster and

there is still no diplomatic engine to move it forward in this horrific war. the us stilljust militarily wa nts to war. the us stilljust militarily wants to focus on isis. chemical weapons came up over and over wants to focus on isis. chemical weapons came up over and over and over and wanted to draw a red line and now it has stopped the question is the huge void that plays out afterwards. in some ways, it appears that the administration is prepared to allow assad to stay because it has made clear it won't get involved in the civil war. and while that happens, president assad is almost ina sense, happens, president assad is almost in a sense, on a still free to use weapons as brutal as barrel bombs which he has been using since the start of the war. and civilians are still being killed. the rebels are still being killed. the rebels are still being killed. the rebels are still being slaughtered, in assets.

the message is it you can kill but not with chemical weapons. the estimated half a million people who have died over the last seven years have died over the last seven years have not died from chemical weapons. they are from artillery or aircraft oi’ they are from artillery or aircraft or barrel bombs at missiles, rockets, gunfire. the real tragedy is that assad still has licence to kill as many as he wants. is there any way to bring the side of say the united states and russia, for example, who are willing to accept a syria with assad still at the helm at some point and the rebels who see that as they redline. we shall not come to the table is assad is here in any shape orform. come to the table is assad is here in any shape or form. there have been to diplomatic efforts. one started by the united nations in 2012 and one started i the troika of russia, iran and turkey. last year. neither has managed to bring the two rival sides together. first of all,

assad is now willing to step down and meet some of the conditions of the opposition. the opposition is 110w the opposition. the opposition is now very fragmented and very weak. unable to come up with the kind of programme that would make a diplomatic process possible. as a result, you find that some of the initiatives haven't even got the two sides in the same room. if you want to be in the know, read robin wright in the new yorker. russia has failed to win the backing of the un security council for its condemnation of those missile strikes. our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, explains the kremlin‘s reaction. since moscow is president assad's biggest backer, the russians were never going to mince their words about a us—led strike on syria. that's why the words we have been hearing today in moscow have been so strong. we heard about vladimir putin talk about an act of aggression. unlawful, unacceptable,

said sergei lavrov, the foreign minister. we heard a senior russian senator saying that america was acting like a school bully. so in this geopolitical school playground, there's lots of shouting and shadowboxing behind the bicycle sheds but crucially, it hasn't come to a fight between russia and america. neither want to go to war over syria and we know because the us ambassador in moscow said so today that before the strike, the two sides took measures to try to keep out of each other‘s way during the strike. of course, syria is a crowded theatre of war and the danger of this conflict spreading and growing still exists. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a militant attack in the malian city of timbuktu has left one un peacekeeper dead. another ten un personnel were wounded as a result of the assault. the un force said the situation was now under control. seven un peacekeepers have been killed in mali

since the start of 2018. the us vice—president, mike pence, has urged regional leaders at the americas summit in peru to do more to isolate the venezuelan leader, nicolas maduro. mr pence told delegates meeting in lima, that the united states would not stand idly by as venezuela crumbled. mr pence called on mr maduro to allow humanitarian aid to reach venezuelans facing shortages of food and medicines, amid an economic crisis. the chief executive of the world's largest advertising agency, wpp, has resigned. sir martin sorrell, who had been at the helm of the firm for 33 years, stepped down even though an internal investigation cleared him of misusing company funds. he said the claims had put "unnecessary pressure on the business". stay with us on bbc news. still to come — we'll have the latest reaction to the western air strikes on syria. pol pot, one of the century's

greatest mass murderers is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust, the magazine's offices have been attacked and it is said that staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she is seenjust to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: the us ambassador to the un has threatened the syrian government with more missile strikes if chemical weapons are used again. syria and russia have condemned the attack, calling it an illegal act of aggression so, the strikes may appear to have been very clearly targeted, but they are being seen by some as a limited punishment on syria. so what impact will they have on syria's chemical weapons programme and what do they say about the strategy of america, britain and france? here's our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins. this is what provoked the strikes, last saturday's apparent gas attack on civilians in douma. britain, france and the united states are convinced this was the latest in a long line of assad's chemical attacks and had to be punished. so what was achieved? the strikes sent a deliberate,

precise, if limited, message to president assad — you are not the target, your chemical weapons programme is. the united states fired missiles from two warships and from the submarine ussjohn warner. plus, in the air, two b1 lancer bombers. the raf flew tornadoes from akrotiri in cyprus, staying out of syrian airspace to fire their storm shadow missiles. france launched missiles from its frigate languedoc, as well rafale and mirage strike aircraft flying from france. so the us was not acting alone, but with two close allies this time, and that's politically important. the targets of all this firepower, syria's chemical weapons production. the main target for 76 missiles was a research and development centre close to damascus. but also a chemical weapons storage site near homs. 22 weapons were aimed there, including the raf‘s eight storm shadow missiles. and target three, a nearby chemical weapons bunker, the main french target for seven of their nine missiles.

but has military action damaged prospects for eventual peace in syria ? definitely not according to the head of nato, america's wider military alliance. if you start to normalise the use of chemical weapons, then you seriously risk that chemical weapons will be used more and more. for me there is no contradiction between the strikes that took place last night and the efforts to support a politically negotiated solution. still, western strategy is to stay firmly out of syria's war on the ground. today, the syrian army declared all of douma under its control, the town apparently attacked with chemical weapons last weekend and the rebels' last holdout in eastern ghouta. russia with its forces in douma now is helping president assad take back more and more of syria and it is that alliance which will surely dictate much of the terms of any eventual peace. james robbins, bbc news. dr zaki lababidi is president

of the syrian american council. hejoins me now from tampa, florida. thank you forjoining us. do you think the airstrikes achieved their objective? let me first say thank you for president trump and the government of the united kingdom and france for holding the red line that mrobama did not. france for holding the red line that mr obama did not. if it wasn't for this red line and unfortunately chemical weapons would have been used in syria over and over. in that context, probably the attack did achieve the objective. probably we did not destroy everything but i doubt the butcher syria has the guts

to use it again now that he knows there's somebody in the white house that will hold the red line. the war isn't over, president assad is probably going to rage war against, for example, the rebels in eastern,, in douma, so granted there have been some airstrikes but there's still no change in the status quo? there will be no change in the status quo u nfortu nately be no change in the status quo unfortunately when russian air force and russian air power is supporting the butcher of syria and iranian militias on the ground, including the biggest iranian militia, hezbollah, attacking syria and is and killing them in their own homes in their own countries. why not come

to the table and negotiate with president assad? we are at the table in geneva for the last four years, can you tell me what did we achieve? we're not the ones who don't want to negotiate. in the last round his tea m negotiate. in the last round his team didn't even show up for the negotiations, even after communication with russia that forced them to come to the table, his team did not negotiate on anything. of course now he has been given a certificate to kill when you are telling him over and overfrom all capitals in the world that this is only to remove the chemical weapons. we did not talk about anything else. more than half a million syrian dead were telling assad basically that you are free to kill as long as you don't use chemical weapons. how is there going

to be peace and how can we force them to negotiate? thank you very much, doctor zaki lababidi, them to negotiate? thank you very much, doctorzaki lababidi, from florida. more than 100,000 people have attended demonstrations in the hungarian capital, budapest, against the right—wing government of prime minister viktor orban, who was recently returned to power. speaker after speaker denounced what they called mr orban‘s "theft of the election". nick thorpe reports from budapest. it might be the swansong of opponents of viktor orban or the beginning of a new radical resistance of his rule. tens of thousands of hungarians marched from the opera house to the parliament to voice their anger with last weekend's election result. they blamed it on the electoral system mr orban and his fidesz party built. they blamed it on his domination of the media and they called

for new elections. translation: if we do not fight in a unified way, then we lose this battle. we don't want another 150 years of oppression. we do not want another era of eastern pressure and we do not want to see another wave of retaliation like in 18a8. but while his opponents protested, the national election committee completed their tally of postal votes. more than 200,000 hungarians in neighbouring countries took part. 96% of them voted for viktor orban. the final result gives mr orban 67% of seats in parliament. he commands the devotion of the 2.7 million hungarians who voted for him. but while his voters see him as a champion of national sovereignty against communists in the past and liberals in the present, he arouses the disgust of those who believe he's turned the country into a business venture to enrich his own narrow circle. another protest rally has been called for next saturday.

nick thorpe, bbc news, budapest. four years since more than 200 nigerian school girls were kidnapped by the jihadist group boko haram, their parents are renewing calls for their release. more than 100 of the chibok girls are still missing. nigeria's president says disagreements within the militant group have led to setbacks in negotiations, but he insists his government would not give up. lebo diseko has more. it's a road no parent would ever wa nt to it's a road no parent would ever want to walk. four years since their children were kidnapped by boko haram, mothers, fathers and the community in chibok marched to demand action. truly our people are traumatised, especially the mothers.

we are suffering for sin, we are looking for our children, we never see it, we cry, cry, cry, we never see it, we cry, cry, cry, we never see our children. in april, 2014, islamist militants abducted more than 200 girls from their school in chibok in the north—east of nigeria. some have since been released, but more than 100 have still not been returned. one journalist with links to the jihadists claimsjust 15 one journalist with links to the jihadists claims just 15 are still alive, but the government has told the bbc it is still in discussions with the group over the 112 still missing. the president says he is committed to getting all the girls back. i want to appeal to the chibok community, never to lose hope or to despair. we are determined, as never before, to bring back our remaining chibok daughters, and this we must accomplish and that it will be soon,

by god's grace. president buhari had previously said that boko haram had been defeated, but as recently as february the group was blamed for more kidnappings. activists say the government needs to do more to bring back the missing girls. the government has not done enough in bringing back the chibok girls. enough means having all of the girls come back. it's four years we are having to commemorate now. for the families, this is the most painful of anniversaries. all they can do is pray and plead once more for the return of their children. lebo diseko, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @nkem|fejika. thanks for watching, bye—bye. hello there.

if scenes like these have left you wanting more spring warmth and sunshine, well, i have to say, the second half of the weekend probably won't live up to the promise of the first. that is how saturday ended across north yorkshire. orkney shrouded in a bit of low cloud but some blue skies overhead as well. sunday does look a little bit different because of this area of low pressure, which is now pushing its way in from the west. it will strengthen up the winds. this frontal system will also bring some outbreaks of rain northward and eastward across the uk. so, sunday, a cloudy day. quite a breezy day as well. there will be some rain at times but not all the time. it is by no means a complete washout. we will, though, see some rain into the south—west, parts of wales, northern ireland, through the first part of the morning. that rain pushing its way across the midlands and northern england and southern scotland through the day. it will be quite on and off, quite sporadic, it will not be raining all day. as the main band of rain clears we'll be left with showers pushing into the south—west.

very windy across northern ireland. the brightest of the weather across the north—east of scotland, i suspect, and perhaps the highest temperatures. inverness could get to 16 or 17 degrees. some showers drifting north and east through sunday night but by monday morning most places will be dry with some clear spells. temperatures not dropping too far, six or seven or eight degrees. that's about it, as we start the new working week. during monday, not a bad—looking day for many. we'll see spells of sunshine. always more cloud and a few showers across scotland. the cloud will thicken up in northern ireland later in the day. outbreaks of rain here as well. particularly in the late afternoon. the wind is still pretty brisk in those western areas. temperatures not as high as they were on saturday, no, but 13, 14, 15 degrees will not feel too bad if you get some sunshine. that relatively warm feeling will stick with this as we move out of monday and into tuesday. low pressure to the west, high pressure to the east, squeezing between the two we have this south—westerly wind. across northern ireland and scotland there could be some pretty wet weather on tuesday, outbreaks

of rain, which could spill down into north—western england and northern wales at times. further south and east we'll see the best of the sunshine and the highest of the temperatures, 19, maybe 20 degrees. that's a mere taste of what's to come. as we get into wednesday and thursday, we will start to import some very warm air indeed from the near continent. watch these deep orange colours spreading across the map. how high will the temperatures get? perhaps 25 in the south—east, plenty of other places not far behind, so there is more spring warmth on the way. this is bbc news. the headlines — the united states has warned syria it will carry out further missile strikes if the government of president assad uses chemical weapons again. the american ambassador to the un, nikki haley, told the security council the us was "locked and loaded". the strikes have been described as "hooliganism" by the russian ambassador, vassily nebenzia. he said there'd been a blatant disregard for international law. the un secretary—general, antonio guterres, has appealed for restraint in what he called "dangerous circumstances".

there've been huge anti—government protests in the hungarian capital, budapest. tens of thousands of people were demonstrating against the right—wing government of prime minister viktor orban. a week ago, his party won two—thirds of the parliamentary seats with less than half of the national vote. now on bbc news, it's time for click. old mackelly had a farm, e—i—e—i—o.