welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: preparations for donald trump's meeting with kim jong—un are under way. singapore and mongolia are reported as possible venues. tens of thousands return to the streets in spain after a court acquits five men of raping a teenager — convicting them of sexual abuse instead more mass demonstrations in armenia. the ruling party says it won't put forward a candidate for a new prime minister, to try to ease the crisis. thousands of civilians forced to flee, after an upsurge in fighting between myanmar‘s army and kachin rebels. president trump says he's had a long and very good phone conversation with the south korean president moonjae—in,

following the ground—breaking summit between the leaders of the two koreas. mr trump said the time and location of his own meeting with the north korean leader kim jong—un was being set. us media reports say singapore and mongolia are being considered as possible venues, but this has not been confirmed. speaking at a campaign rally the president also spoke about how the summit came about. it started with the olympics, because, frankly, the olympics was not going to have a lot of people, and all ofa not going to have a lot of people, and all of a sudden north korea called in and said, you know, we'd love to participate in the olympics. everybody said, excuse me?!. but that was a good thing, it was a great thing. and they went from having a real potential disaster. you know, they worked on it for 15 yea rs you know, they worked on it for 15 years to make it great, and they did a greatjob, south korea had a great job. they didn't have people. who was going to go? all of a sudden

they had a tremendous olympics, very, very successful. we are doing things that are very good. we will have a meeting of the next three or four weeks. very important meeting. the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula of north korea, denuke, denuke. i may go in, it may not work out, i leave. jonathan scha nzer is senior vice—president of the foundation for defence of democracies. he joins me from washington. president trump sounding very optimistic. he is sounding very optimistic. he is sounding very optimistic. i think i has every reason to feel proud of what has been accomplished. i think his unpredictability is very, well, his unorthodox style of threatening the north korean regime, i think, has paid dividends, however controversial that may be. he does

appear to be on a path to a summit with the north korean leader. i think it is important that we remember that this is not necessarily a victory for the president. it is a small win. the ultimate victory will be, as he noted, the denuclearisation of the peninsula. that is a long way away. we know the north korean regime has been claimed. the president has every reason to feel guardedly optimistic at this moment. when it comes to diplomacy in international relations. the personal touch is important. i think that is why it is being very significant if these two leaders actually meet. absolutely. we have heard about mike pompeo who met with kim jong—un as a cia director representing the president, who has been close to the president, that had a significant role to play here. of course, we will see what

these two men, as they come together, what kind of chemistry they have. of course, the president has exchanged barbs with the north korean leader, calling him rocket man, insulting him, but that may have been part of what brought these two unlikely partners together.“ you are the president of the united states your foreign policy in trade is constantly bolting. there is iran on the horizon as well. i think mike pompeo is having a two of the middle east to try to get people on side in terms of scrapping the iran deal. does president trump have enough support either in the region, the middle east, or other allies to scrap the deal? we have the deadline coming up on may 12. the president has warned it will not wait ages. we may see the reimposition of those full sanctions that existed before

thejohn konrads a plan of action, thejohn konrads a plan of action, the iran deal signed in 2015. what is interesting is that most of these middle eastern countries have been steadfastly opposed to the deal. they found it deeply flawed. many of them have grown accustomed to a certain timeline where they know they are not going to have two worry about iranian nukes for several yea rs. about iranian nukes for several years. they are probably all scrambling, properly supporting the president on being tough on the orion and possibly not being sure what to do. no one knows what it looks like if and when this iran deal is scrapped. there have been two high profile visits from emmanuel macron and angela merkel. both of them have tried to persuade the president to stick with the deal. they have. i'm not sure they have succeeded. there is probably some agreement on the need to try to revise things. i don't know if the next few weeks will be in time to come up with a new understanding of what that kind of deal might look

like. but i do think it is important that we see the europeans begin to understand how deeply flawed that was in the first place and that it does not get out some of the intrusive inspections that were needed, that the iranians still have a part were to renew their weapons, a part were to renew their weapons, a lot of these centres will find that within the next decade or so. the deal is quite a bit on the table —— sunsets. there is more of a tepid response to the deal. there are flaws. the question is how does one move forward with the understanding that it move forward with the understanding thatitis move forward with the understanding that it is lord? thank you very much. jonathan scha nzer. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. huge crowds have taken to the streets of yemen's capital sanaa, for the funeral of the houthi rebels' top political leader. saleh al—samad was killed

earlier this month in a saudi—led—coalition airstrike on sanaa, which is controlled by the houthis. hundreds of people have welcomed the former president of malawi, joyce banda, on her return home after four years of self—imposed exile. it's not clear whether ms banda plans to engage in politics. she fled malawi when she lost power following a massive corruption scandal. scientists working to save the tasmanian devil from extinction have discovered a small but healthy population of the animals in the remote south west area of tasmania. more than eighty per cent of the carnivorous marsupials have been wiped out in the past twenty years by a form of facial cancer. but the fourteen creatures discovered in the australian state are all healthy. thousands of people have returned to the streets of the northern spanish city of pamplona to continue protesting, after a court acquitted five men of raping a teenager at the annual bull—running festival. the men were convicted of sexual abuse instead. it's the third straight day of demonstrations. sophie long reports.

tens of thousands of people — one message. it's not sexual abuse, it's rape. this is the third day people have filled the streets of pamplona and other cities across spain after a court acquitted five men gang rape. their 18—year—old victim had been at pamplona's bull running festival when they surrounded her and made her have sex with them. they used smartphones to film it and brag about it. calling themselves la manada, or "the pack". but this court acquitted them of rape and found them guilty of the lesser offence of sexual abuse. jailing them for nine years. that, say these women, is not justice. translation: we believe this sentence is intolerable, justice blames us and justice doesn't protect us. translation: all we want is that when we go out at night not

to feel fear. we feel it constantly, and this is so horrible and so unfair. the ruling has led to an outpouring of support for the victim, and mass protests about what's being seen as patriarchaljustice. the government says it will review the legal code on rape. translation: the government wants to emphasise it has always been with the victims. it was for that reason that our first agreement of this legislature was the agreement against gender violence. we're still fighting to defeat the scourge of society. an online petition calling for the disqualification of the judges who acquitted the men has gathered more than 1.2 million signatures. state prosecutors say they'll appeal the ruling. sophie long, bbc news. alfie evans, the terminally ill baby at the centre of a long legal battle here in the uk, has died, nearly a week after his life support was withdrawn.

alfie, who would have been two next month, had a degenerative neurological condition. judith moritz reports. they call themselves alfie's army, but today their fight turned to grief. they gathered to remember the little boy outside the hospital where he died. for the first weeks of alfie evans's life he seemed healthy, happy, and well. but he soon started to develop problems. scans showed that his brain was being destroyed. he spent a year in intensive care before doctors said they felt his life support should be stopped. alfie's parents, kate and tom, strongly disagreed with the medical view that their son could not be helped. on the outside, he's shown the biggest fight and that's what's given us the biggest thrive to get us through this. it's heartbreaking knowing the doctors just because they can't find a diagnosis think it's ok to come to me and mum and say, we can't find an answer, so we think it's time that we give up on alfie.

no. if you're going to give up on him, please reassure us, and refer him. the couple took their legal case unsuccessfully through all the available courts several times in the uk and twice to europe. but on monday alfie's life support was switched off. and this morning, in a facebook post, alfie's father said his son had laid down his shield and gained his wings. fly high, alfie. little soldier. as news of the little boy's death spread, crowds came to the hospital to pay tribute to him. they've just been so brave, they've been, they've done everything haven't they, all they can, and this has happened. they've been so brave. for a mum and dad to stand that strong with their son. i would do the same. they've done everything they can for him from day one. obviously, we don't know him personally. i think there's a lot of people, a whole nation that don't know him personally, but when you read somebody's story, it captures you massively. this has been a difficult time at alder hey. police are investigating complaints staff and patients were intimidated by some protesters. today, the hospital said

its thoughts were with alfie and his parents after their devastating journey. last week, alfie's father went to meet the pope, having fought to move his son to a hospital in rome. today, the pontiff tweeted to say he was praying for the family, and the catholic church in liverpool also praised the hospital. they couldn't have done better or done more. i think we have a really wonderful hospital staff. one to be proud of. i think they've kept their integrity, and they've kept quiet about what's gone on. i think they've done it in a most wonderful way. alfie's parents say they're heartbroken. after many weeks in which their plight was played out in public, they were with their son in private at the end. judith moritz, bbc news, liverpool. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: not the real thing — the french art museum that's discovered half of its exhibits are fake.

nothing, it seems, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. it was only when radioactive levels started to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they have taken the capital, which they have fighting for for so long. it was seven o'clock in the morning on the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years,

reclaimed its last white colony. this is bbc news. the are the latest headlines: —— these are. preparations for donald trump's meeting with kimjong—un making progress. singapore and mongolia are reported to be possible venues. also, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the spanish city of pamplona, over the conviction of a group of men for sexual abuse rather than rape. around 4000 people have fled renewed fighting in northern myanmar, where the burmese military is reported to be pounding ethnic kachin rebels with airstrikes and artillery. the united nations says thousands more civilians are trapped by the violence. myanmar human rights expert, david baulk, from the group fortify rights, told us more about this long—standing conflict.

the conflict between the myanmar in military and the kachin independence army is one of the longest running in the world, it has been raging for more than 60 years. in essence, what the conflict is about, is the kachin ethnic minority population demanding a federal myanmar in which their minority and other ethnic minorities in the country have a substantive say about how the country is run and how it is governed. and the myanmar military have consistently refused to listen to the demands of the kachin and other ethnic minority populations in the country. and that is a big part of the reason why we have seen as uptick in violence in recent months. there is a common denominator between the conflicts in northern myanmar and kachin state and the conflict in kent state —— shan state further south and the atrocities we have seen meted out

against the rohingya muslim population in the west of myanmar. that common denominator is the myanmar military. it is the same personnel who are killing, torturing, perpetrating sexual violence, and forcibly displacing thousands of people across the country. although the complex in myanmar are long and each have independent histories, the common denominator is the myanmar military. armenia's political turmoil continues, with three days to go until the country's parliament is due to choose a new prime minister. it follows the resignation on monday of serzh sarks—yaan, after weeks of street protests against official corruption. —— serzh sargsyan. he'd just taken up the post after ten years as president. armenia's ruling party says it won't nominate a new candidate for prime minister in an effort to ease tensions. the country's protest leader is rallying support for his own bid to become pm instead. janey mitchell reports.

he describes himself as the people's choice. opposition leader nikol pashinyan canvassing support and calling for the demonstrations against the country's ruling elite to continue. translation: power belongs to the people in the republic of armenia. the people are the masters of their country. he says the only way out of the current crisis is for him to be elected prime minister next week. on the 1st of may at 8:00am we will take to the streets, we will fill the streets and squares of yerevan. the mass protests have been peaceful so far. in a bbc interview, the country's president praised the people's democratic will. armenia has shown an example that shows that society exists and that people are courageous and proud to express their opinion. that is a fantastic achievement for a country that has decided to go towards the path of democracy. the ruling republican party has an acting prime minister in place, but it is now says it will not put

up its own candidate on tuesday. it has not indicated who it will back. and it still holds a majority of seats in parliament.