welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: president trump confirms negotiations to set up his meeting with kim jong—un are under way, and the talks could take place in may. and we are doing things that are good. i think we will have a meeting over the next three or four weeks. it could be a important meeting. the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula, of north korea, to denuke. denuke! president trump says a meeting with north korea could happen over the next three to four weeks. earlier he'd tweeted that he'd 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. at a rally in michigan, mr trump told his supporters about the role he played in making friday's historic summit come about. andrew plant reports. a glamorous a list extravaganza, a fixture of the washington calendar. —— a—list. fixture of the washington calendar. -- a-list. at fixture of the washington calendar. —— a—list. at this year's white house correspondence dinner had one notable absentee. —— but. the president, who left in helicopter marine one earlier in today, snubbing the event for the year running, holding a rally in michigan instead, and talking about the recent summit between north korea and south korea. you know, you may have heard i was invited to another event tonight, the white house correspondence dinner. booing. butl

would much rather be in washington, michigan than washington, dc right now, that i can tell you. the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula, of north korea. to denuke. denuke! but we will see how it goes. and again, whatever happens, happens. look, and may go m, happens, happens. look, and may go in, it doesn't work out, i leave. members of the washington press corps gathering for a black—tie supper, traditionally a night when the president gets to show that and ta ke the president gets to show that and take themselves too seriously. mr trump was done here seven years ago before his presidency by barack obama, who mockingly called mr trump the donald and ridiculed his alleged belief in conspiracy theories. mr trump has said it is due to fake news stories that he chooses to forego the event, often arguing he receives on their media coverage.

the white house press secretary, sarah sanders, has attended the event instead, to represent as administration. the correspondence association dinner now attracts the biggest names in american entertainment, but after around 100 yea rs of entertainment, but after around 100 years of evenings with the president, the biggest name in american politics has clearly decided he won't be continuing the tradition. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the united states is urging its allies in the middle east to impose sanctions on iran to curb its missile program. the new american secretary of state mike pompeo, who's on his first overseas tour of the middle—east, has arrived in saudi arabia. it is expected that iran's missile program would be a major topic in talks on sunday between pompeo and leaders from saudi arabia and israel. huge crowds have taken to the streets of yemen's capital sanaa, for the funeral of the houthi rebels' top political leader. saaleh ul—samad was killed earlier this month in a saudi—led—coalition airstrike on sanaa, which is controlled

by the houthis. around 4,000 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. 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. a volcano known as piton de la fournaise or the "peak of the furnace" has begun to erupt on reunion island, for the second time this year. the volcano lies on the eastern side of the island, which is a french territory off madagascar in the indian ocean. the area around the volcano is uninhabited, so the eruptions don't pose much danger to the population of reunion. stay with us here on bbc news.

still to come: saving the tasmanian devil. scientists discover a family of marsupials free of a disease threatening their extinction. 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. the supermarket giant is sainsbury‘s and asda are in advanced talks about merging. sources say sainsbury‘s would buy its rivalfrom its american owner, walmart. the two firms are the second and third—largest supermarket in the kingdom and is combined would overta ke kingdom and is combined would overtake tesco in terms of market share. —— united kingdom. they are two of the best—known brands in the uk, but now they want to merge into one company. the surprise announcement that asda and sainsbury‘s are tojoin up has shaken up the grocery market, and it may affect where and how we shop. in a statement, sainsbury‘s said that it confirms that it and walmart, which owns asda, are in advanced discussions regarding a combination of

the sainsbury‘s and asda businesses. a further announcement will be made at 7am on monday. this whopper of a deal could certainly shake up britain's supermarket sector. at the moment, tesco is the biggest grocer in the uk with 28% of the market. asda and sainsbury‘s have almost 16% each. put them together and their combined 2800 stores would hop over tesco into the top spot. but not everybody likes it. it makes no sense to me at all. the trouble is you've got businesses which are on opposite poles of the mass—market. asda are attracting a younger, less affluent customer. sainsbury‘s an older, more affluent one. as much as you try to bring those businesses together, you will end up undermining both. britain's retail market has already been shook up by the emergence of the german discounters aldi and lidl. and amazon is beefing up its presence in the fresh food sector with one hour deliveries. so this deal could be in anticipation of that happening. but it could yet falter. the competition and markets authority could well say that cutting the number of supermarkets

that consumers could choose from is not on. the competition and markets authority will look at this line by line, store by store, location by location, and that's what their concern will be. will competition lessen as a result of this? so the deal may get approval, but with some very long strings attached. senior government ministers have rallied around the home secretary amber rudd, amid criticism for being unaware her department had targets for removing illegal immigrants from the uk. amber rudd has apologised and insisted she didn't see a memo detailing the targets. labour says she should take responsibility for what had gone wrong. our political correspondent, iain watson, reports. morning, home secretary. we've been seeing a lot of amber rudd lately. probably more than she would like. home secretary, will you resign over windrush? was it theresa may?

good morning. and inconvenient questions keep coming. on wednesday the home secretary denied knowledge of targets to remove migrants. targets for removals, when were they set? we don't have targets for removals. but on thursday she was summoned to parliament to clarify. the immigration arm of the home office has been using local targets for internal performance management. on friday, the guardian newspaper reported a leaked civil service memo copied to amber rudd from june last year which talked explicitly about targets. in a series of tweets, she said she hadn't seen it, and she'll be back before parliament to explain herself again on monday. the home secretary's apologised, saying that of course she should have seen it. but she can't be held accountable or responsible for a document she didn't see, and for decisions she didn't take. usually ignorance isn't enough to save a ministerial career, so why on earth is amber rudd still in a job?

well, i'm told downing street has made it clear to her that she still had vital work to do and that the prime minister retained confidence in her. certainly it would upset the delicate balance in the cabinet between those ministers who backed brexit and those who, like her, voted to remain in the european union, if she were to resign. critics say she is still there because she is in effect being used as a human shield to protect her predecessor in the home office. the prime minister herself. amber rudd cannot be the right person to clear up this mess. she didn't realise there was a mess until there was so much publicity in the newspapers. and the fact she doesn't seem to know whether she has targets or not just reinforces the understanding that she's just not the right person. amber rudd has said targets were only used to assess internal performance but now it's her own performance that's under scrutiny. iain watson, bbc news. 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. the chant from these protesters — "alone or drunk, "i want to return home". for the third day in a row, tens of thousands of demonstrators have filled pamplona's streets. mostly women, they are protesting against what they say is a severe injustice against rape victims. 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 unfair. it was during the popular running of the bulls festival in 2016 when five men surrounded an 18—year—old woman. according to a police report, they had nonconsensual sex with her. they filmed the attack and shared it

on the messaging service whatsapp under the group name la manada, spanish for "the pack". on thursday, a judge dismissed the rape charge against the men because there was no intimidation or violence, a technicality in spanish law that protesters want to change. prosecutors were pushing for 20 years' jail, but the men were instead found guilty of sexual abuse, a charge which carries a more lenient sentence. they have each been jailed for nine years. supporters of the victim have criticised how the five—month case was handled, saying it often felt like she was the one on trial. it's caused a national outcry. rallies have been held across spain, including in seville, where the men are from. translation: we believe this sentence is intolerable. justice blames us, and justice doesn't protect us. the government wants to emphasise it has always been with victims. it is for that reason that our first agreement of this legislature was the agreement against gender

violence. we are still fighting to defeat the scourge of society. an online petition calling for the dismissal of thejudges online petition calling for the dismissal of the judges who acquitted men has gathered more than acquitted men has gathered more than a million signatures. donald trump says he's plannig to meet kimjong un in the next three to four weeks. earlier i spoke tojonathan schanzer in washington. he is senior vice—president of the foundation for defense of democracies. i put it to him that president trump is sounding very optimistic. he is sounding optimistic and he has every reason to feel proud of what has been accomplished. his unpredictability, his unorthodox style of threatening north korean regime has paid dividends, however controversial that may be. so he does appear to be on the path to a summit with north korea. it's

important to remember 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. the north korean regime has been claiming that the regime has been claiming that the regime has been claiming that the regime has been duping the west were quite sometimes the president has every reason to be guardedly optimistic at this moment. when it comes to diplomacy and international relations, the personal touch is important. certainly, we have heard about mike pompeo, representing the president. then of course, we will see what these two men, as they come together, what kind of chemistry

they have. insulting him. that might be part of what brought this unlikely partners together.“ be part of what brought this unlikely partners together. if you are the president of the united states, your foreign policy are the president of the united states, yourforeign policy in trade is constantly bulging. i think mike pompeo is having a tour of the middle east. in terms of scrapping the iran deal. does president trump have enough support either in the region or with other allies to scrap that deal? obviously we have the deadline coming up on may 12. the president has sworn that he will not wage sanctions. those falls sanctions that existed. the iran

deal signed in 2015. most of these middle eastern countries that are deeply flawed. many of them have grown accustomed to a certain time line were they don't have to worry about uranium nuclear bombs. the president tried to be tougher on iran, perhaps not quite sure what to do because no one knows what it looks like even when this deal is scrapped. and to hype of the -- high profile visits. both of them have been trying to persuade the president to stick with the deal. i'm not sure they have succeeded. there is some agreement on the need to try to revise things. i don't know the next few weeks, there will be enough time to come up with the new understanding of what that kind of deal might look like. i do think it's important we see europeans

begin to understand how that deal was. patient pathway to a nuclear weapon. in other words, the deal left quite a bit on the table. we heard that this was a real achievement. we are now hearing a bit more of a tepid response to the deal that yes, there are flaws. the question is, now, how does one move forward with the understanding it is flawed? we have some news coming from the office of moonjae—in. apparently, the north korean leader said during that meeting with moon jae—in that he will close the country's nuclear test site next month. that is what is called. that

is the report coming out. our correspondence is tweeting. north korea will also change its time zone to match that of south korea. they are currently to match that of south korea. they a re currently half to match that of south korea. they are currently half an hour apart. this might not seem like a big deal but it is symbolic because it was in 2015 at north korea switched to a new time zone. in fact, it appears to be on the same time zone. they are saying they will put their clocks forward 30 minutes. being in alignment with the south. these are the two pieces of news. the first

one is the nuclear test site will be closed. that is going to happen in may. that north korea will revert to having the same time zone as south korea. this is the news coming out in the past few minutes. 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. 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 to become pm instead. janey mitchell reports. the chant from these protesters — "alone or drunk, "i want to return home". for the third day in a row, tens of thousands of demonstrators 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. intensive talks are reported to be under way behind the scenes to try to defuse the turmoil. all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, and in a country traditionally allied with moscow. scientists working to save the tasmanian devil from extinction have discovered a small, 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 found in the australian state are all healthy. a museum in southern france — dedicated to the art of the painter etienne terrus has discovered that many of its canvasses are forgeries. a close examination carried out during renovation works revealed that dozens of them had not in fact been painted by the artist.

it's estimated the cost of the forgeries amounts to almost $200,000. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. etienne terrus was a relatively obscure artist. a friend of henri matisse, he specialised in the use of light and colour. he studied in paris but spent most of his life and career in the pyrenees, where this museum displays his work — or at least they thought they did. translation: we have appointed a commission of experts which has shown that the vast majority of the paintings that we have at the museum are fakes. the exact figure was 82 — at least half of the entire collection. paintings, drawings, and watercolours bought over a period of 20 years. the fact that they were fake?

well, there were clues. translation: you see this tower? in the background is a building that was added in 1958. terrus died in 1922. there were several types of fake in the museum and other pieces made to look like his work. the local mayor has apologised to anyone who visited the museum in good faith. an investigation is now under way and there are question marks over the work of other regional artists. it may not be just the paintings of etienne terrus that aren't the real thing. tim allman, bbc news. president trump says the meeting with north korea could happen over the next 3—4 weeks, earlier tweeting he had a very long in the conversation with the south korean president following the groundbreaking summit between the leaders of the two countries. the last few minutes, we are getting used during that meeting between the

leaders of two countries, moon jae—in got reassurances from kim jong—un that he would make public the nuclear test site. that is the report coming out this morning. also, that the north koreans will switch their times back to match that of south korea. it will mean north and south korea being in alignment timewise. they are currently half an hour apart. this is being seen as very symbolic. now it's time for the weather with chris fawkes. yesterday we had a lot of cloud in the sky across much of england, thick enough to bring some rain as well. further north—west, showers developed through the day, but that cloud has been melting away as well. some passing showers in scotland, but a fine looking sunset

here in oban. as the skies have cleared more over recent hours we have more pictures of the full moon being sent to us, spectacular shots from people out and about under those clear skies. clear skies, yes, but a chilly start to the day. for the early risers, frost patches to look out for in the rural areas of scotland. not quite so cold further south under this zone of thick cloud. most areas of cloud could be thick enough to give us a few spots of light rain on and off through the day. the best of the early morning sunshine again through western areas, but slow—moving showers will form again, particularly in northern ireland. later in the day we will see a band of rain moving in from the continent, bringing some wet weather to end the day across south—east england, with strengthening winds here making it feel particularly chilly. that wet weather will continue to extend across south—east england and east anglia as we go on through sunday night. on into monday. we are going to get this area of low pressure moving up from the near continent. the rain gets more extensive and the winds get colder and stronger. this is what is in the forecast on monday. heavy rain, a windy day with gales

around the east coast, and it's going to feel cold, more like a february day than one in late april. so the wet weather is there. a bit of uncertainty as to how far west this band of rain will reach. there is the chance of seeing a few snowflakes mixed in with this and some sleet, mostly on high ground, above 200 metres of elevation. even that won't settle. it's mostly cold rain that will be falling, with those chilly winds. temperatures really struggling. highs in birmingham, five celsius. it is going to feel that cold. on into tuesday, that area of low pressure continues to feed cloud and bits of pieces of rain across eastern areas. another weather front moving in from the atlantic, bringing wet weather to northern ireland later in the day. in between these two systems the weather should be quite quiet on tuesday with some sunshine around. chilly where it is cloudy with the rain moving in, and in the best of the sunshine, temperatures climbing at least up into double figures fairly widely.

looking at the outlook over the next few days and the week ahead, you will be pleased to hear once we have got rid of that chilly weather and the rain to start the week, the weather should improve. highs of 19 in london as we head towards next weekend. this is bbc news. these are the headlines: after friday's historic summit between north and south korea, us president donald trump says his meeting with the north korean leader, kim jong—un, could happen in the next three to four weeks. mr kim has promised to invite us experts to watch the closure of the country's nuclear test site next month — that's according to the south's presidential office.