welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: explosive eruptions at hawaii's mount kilauea. the volcano spews more ash and toxic gas. thousands of residents are told to find shelter. ongoing investigation or partisan witch hunt? one year into robert mueller‘s investigation, the white house questions its purpose. it's gone on for over a year. they've found no evidence of collusion, and still strongly believe that it's a witch hunt. we have a special report on the refugees selling their eu passports and travel documents, prompting fears of a security risk. and meghan markle confirms her father won't be attending the royal wedding, to focus on his health. high levels of toxic gas have forced emergency workers

on hawaii's big island to retreat from the latest eruption of mount kilauea. people have been warned to get away from a sulphur dioxide cloud which is killing large swathes of vegetation. one of the world's most active volcanoes has erupted explosively, sending ash more than 5.5 miles into the sky. geologists are warning that rocks the size of cars could be ejected over a wide area. mount kilauea, one of five active volcanoes on hawaii, has been erupting continuously for 30 years, but there has been nothing like this since 192a. our north america correspondent james cook reports. in the dead of night, kilauea exploded. by dawn, this webcam was splattered with ash, and a cloud was rising 30,000 feet into the sky. the blast had been brewing for weeks, if not years. kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes. it has been erupting constantly since the ‘80s.

it's a real dynamic situation up there. we could have additional events like this morning, that punch up and then die back down really quickly. the one this morning was definitely the biggest we've seen so far, just in terms of energy and how high up into the atmosphere it got. on the ground, fissures continue to fizzle and boom. parts of the island have been ablaze for weeks. there is no way to stop the lava oozing from the cracks in the earth. it consumes everything in its path, including at least 26 homes. and still there is no end in sight. the seething magma in kilauea's crater is now draining into the water table, producing steam and, scientists predict, more powerful and dangerous explosions at any moment. james cook, bbc news. joining me now to tell us the latest

on this is drjulia hammer, a vulcanologist from the university of hawaii. welcome, thank you very much for your time. you must be very busy indeed. what are you expecting from the volcano, and how concerned are you? well, kilauea is pulling out all of its tricks. we are seeing such a wide variety of activity types. there is lava spattering that is continuing at the east rip zone, and additional outbreaks are quite possible within the existing system, or even at either end of that system. the ground deformation at the summit area and all along the planks is continuing, predominantly with deflation at the summit. seismicity is elevated, in the entire area, and we expect that to continue. and then of course there was the explosion this morning at 4:15am in the morning, that sent at ashton cloud to 30,000 feet, or about nine kilometres. so it is

doing just about everything. we have heard worries, too, about this concern about steam powered explosions as the magma meets underground water. right, that's right. so as you mentioned, the lava la ke right. so as you mentioned, the lava lake has drained out, and that is what we see in the ground deformation, in the deflationary signals. and that means that the ground table... sorry, the groundwater has access to hot rocks that it formally wasn't able to meet up that it formally wasn't able to meet up with. and so the water flashes to stea m, up with. and so the water flashes to steam, and it is simplyjust that rapid expansion of the scheme that drives particles, the rock fragments, out of the crater. whether or not magma is involved is ha rd to whether or not magma is involved is hard to tell at this time. we need samples of the ash. but the steam powered explosions don't really require interaction with magma, just hot rocks. you have got a lot of monitoring, of course, on hawaii, with five active or ken is there. how possible is it, though, to

predict what is going to happen? well, i mean, yes. iwish we predict what is going to happen? well, i mean, yes. i wish we could predict with even greater precision what is going to happen, but with geologic mapping and the intense amount of monitoring, as well as understanding what has happened in the past, we can make pretty good assessments of the styles of corruption, and the intensities of eruption, that we can expect to see. we just can't predict exactly when each start and stop, when it will be at its maximum intensity rather than just a prodigious something just bigger. and just briefly, do you expect is to have long—term effects on the way humans live on hawaii? wow. well, long—term is hard to say, because i was talking to a friend just yesterday who formerly had property in leilani estates, and he said when he bought that property it was formally so forested and

christine that he couldn't believe that it had ever, within 1000 years, been the that it had ever, within1000 years, been the subject of an eruption, and yet it has. the rift zone is co nsta ntly yet it has. the rift zone is constantly repaved in a geologic time frame, so what humans do in that geologic time frame is also ha rd to that geologic time frame is also hard to predict. so all bets are off. thank you very much. banks. -- thanks. a year ago, special counsel robert mueller took over the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and whether anyone from the trump campaign colluded with the russians. mr mueller was given sweeping legal powers, but 12 months later, there are still many questions unanswered. president trump regularly calls it a witch hunt. jane o'brien reports. never a fan of the russia investigation, president trump marked its one—year anniversary by calling it notjust a witch—hunt, but a "disgusting, illegal and unwarranted witch hunt." and he has consistently denied any involvement in attempts by russia to meddle with the 2016 election. the president knows that there was no collusion in the campaign, and he has been quite

clear about this. it's gone on for over a year, they've found no evidence of collusion, and still strongly believe that it's a witch—hunt. the fbi opened the investigation in the summer of 2016, after us intelligence agencies warned that russia was trying to undermine the presidential race. but mr trump fired the fbi directorjames comey, a move that prompted the appointment of a special counsel, robert mueller, last may. the first criminal charges came a few months later, against a former adviser to mr trump, george papadopoulos. he was charged with lying to the fbi, and has since been cooperating with the investigation. soon after, former trump campaign chairman paul manafort surrendered to the authorities. he has pleaded not guilty to charges including money—laundering and tax fraud. in february, 13 russians were charged with stealing the identities of americans and pretending to be political

activists online in an effort to sway the election. a total of 19 people have now been indicted, four of them trump associates. three companies have also been charged. so a year on, amid continuing controversy and partisan rancour, an investigation unique for its lack of leaks has no end in sight, and so far, there is no public evidence of collusion. president trump has contradicted a suggestion by his national security advisor, john bolton, that the ending of libya's nuclear programme could provide a model for north korea. that idea had alarmed pyongyang, so much so that north korea's leader threatened on wednesday not to attend the planned summit next month with the us president. there was no deal to keep gaddafi. the libyan model that was mentioned was a much different deal. this would be, with kimjong—un, something where where he'd be

there, he'd be in his country, running his country. his country would be rich. his people are incredibly industrious. if you look at south korea, this would be really a south korean model in terms of industry, in terms of what they do. they're hard—working, incredible people. but the libyan model was a much different model. we decimated that country. we never said to gaddafi, "oh, we're going to give you protection, we're going to give you military strength, you all of these things." we went in and decimated him. the model, if you look at that model with gaddafi, that was a total decimation. we went in there to beat him. now, that model would take place if we don't make a deal, most likely. but, if we make a deal, i think kimjong—un is going to be very, very happy. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news:

the us senate has confirmed gina haspel as the next director of the cia, the first woman in the job. she faced strong opposition in confirmation hearings over her links to the cia's use of brutal interrogation techniques. she ran one of the intelligence service's secret prisons outside the us, where terror suspects were subjected to waterboarding. she replaces mike pompeo, now president trump's secretary of state. at least two people have died when a school bus collided with a truck in newjersey. a teacher and a student were killed, at least a0 injured. the bus was one of three taking fifth grade students on a school trip. police are investigating the collision, on a newjersey interstate. a close friend of khamzat azimov, the islamist shot dead by police after he stabbed a man to death in paris last weekend, has been placed under formal investigation. chechen—born abdul hakim anayev is accused of associating with a terrorist conspiracy. police have also detained two women accused of having links with khamzat azimov. police in malaysia say they've made a massive seizure of cash, jewellery, and designer handbags during raids on homes and offices

linked to the former prime minister, najib razak. mr najib unexpectedly lost power in elections last week and he is being investigated after millions of dollars were alleged to have been stolen from a state development fund he set up and ran. he has denied any wrongdoing. police in brazil have arrested more than 130 people in a major operation against paedophiles. thousands of officers were involved, uncovering a million pieces of paedophile content. andy beatt reports. dawn raids across brazil. the co—ordinated operation by 2,500 police officers saw equipment seized and suspects arrested in 25 of the country's 26 states. translation: this was the biggest ever operation in brazil, and the largest in the world in one single day, against the crimes of child abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. authorities say the suspects include

men, women, lawyers, doctors and teachers, ranging from 20 to retirement age. between them, they have downloaded hundreds of thousands of explicit sexual images of children. translation: they all had a considerable amount of files stored, so it wasn't a matter of downloading one or two by mistake. they were individuals who had downloaded at least 150 files. no—one accidentally downloads 150 files. it is the second nationwide operation against paedophilia injust over six months. the first, in partnership with the us, led to 112 arrests. authorities say they have managed to compile a database which will make future arrests and prosecutions easier. police will now examine evidence on computers, mobile phones and hard drives. those charged could face prison sentences of up to eight years. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: a picture—perfect match. we join the crowds getting ready for prince harry and megan markle's big day. the pope was shot, the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, garry kasparov.

it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc news. the latest headlines: there have been more explosive eruptions at hawaii's mount kilauea. thousands of residents are told to find shelter. ongoing investigation or partisan witch hunt? one year into robert mueller‘s investigation, the white house continues to question its purpose. let us stay with that story. i recently spoke to eric ham, a washington based political analyst, who's also written a biography

of the republican party, has been following the ongoing investigation. we don't know there is any evidence of collusion. five guilty pleas have been entered by people. the chairman of the trump campaign will actually go on trial, beginning this summer. after one year we have seen this investigation yield enormous results for this. which is considerably more substantial results than, say, the whitewater investigation. that's right, where we saw millions upon millions of dollars spent. and of course, the president was impeached, but in terms of where it actually led and where it went too, many saw it as just a colossal waste of tax money. also if you look at the special investigation into the outing of former cia agent valerie plame, where that did yield a guilty verdict of the vice president's chief of staff, scooter libby. but again, here we're seeing

enormous results just in terms of the people that have already been swept up in this investigation. and, like the reporter said, we still don't know where this investigation is going, but we do know that it's circling directly around this president. and, just to be clear, people talk rather loosely about the trail possibly leading to trump's door, no sign of that so far, possibly about impeachment. but actually, impeachment is a political decision and not a legal one, and therefore very, very unlikely. that's exactly right, and i'm glad you brought that up. because it's the policy, actually, and this is important for your viewers, the policy of the united states is that no sitting president can be indicted. the vehicle to actually adjudicate an issue around wrongdoing, or the president violating his oath of office, is actual impeachment. and so many are waiting for bob mueller‘s report to come

out, and that will determine if congress is willing to move forward on such an issue. the world health organization will convene an emergency committee on friday to consider the international risks of an ebola outbreak in the democratic republic of congo. it was first reported in the rural bikoro region nine days ago, but the situation‘s now worsened, because some of the latest cases have been reported in the city of bandah—ka. and to make matters worse, that city is a major transport hub on the congo river. the bbc has uncovered a growing and illegal trade in eu passports and travel documents, many of them being sold by refugees who've decided to leave europe. german politicians have described it as a huge and worrying problem for european security because such documents could allow access to europe's schengen zone — within the zone, people can travel between countries with few checks. from the greek—turkish border, nawal al—maghafi has this special report. under the cover of darkness,

once again syrians are starting a journey. families, together with all their belongings, hoping to make a new life. but these people aren't entering europe — they are giving up on it. they'd rather face poverty in turkey or the prospect of conflict back home in syria. translation: it's impossible for me to go back to germany. we're muslims, but they say we are terrorists. they look at us and they're afraid of us, like we're monsters, not humans. as these refugees leave europe we've discovered some of them are selling their european ids to people looking for an easy route in. the next stop is here, in istanbul. the crossroads in syria's migration route, and now, as we've discovered after weeks of investigation, this is the centre

of a lucrative trade in eu travel documents. as the syrians leave europe, some of them are now advertising their ids online. there are just so many facebook groups where people are buying and selling passports, travel documents and european residency ids. i've clicked on this one group and it has over 5000 active members. we've put up a post asking for a passport for someone who is around 30 years old and within just a few hours we've received a dozen responses. posing as a syrian couple hoping to go to europe, we're going undercover to buy our eu travel document. we're meeting a smuggler who says he has dozens of passports for sale. it's not long before he pulls out german documents. he says as long as you look similar to the passport picture it's easy to travel.

here it is. i've just been able to buy a refugee travel document, which the germans call a blue passport. i don't think i realised how simple this process is, until now. we went from talking to the broker on facebook, to meeting him a few hours later, and now i'm holding the document in my hand. in theory this enables you to travel across the eu schengen territory. this new trade is worrying security services across the eu. we've come to germany to return the passport we purchased. a spokesman for angela merkel‘s

party says he's worried that fighters from the islamic state group could get their hands on an eu passport. for us in germany it's a tremendous problem because our task must be to prevent terrorists to travel to germany by using stolen or lost documents, or false documents. every night more and more syrians are being smuggled through what they call europe's back door. while they turn their backs on the continent, militants in turkey are thinking about new opportunities. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news, turkey. thousands of people in the north of colombia have been told to leave their homes, over fears of massive flooding. there's already been some, on saturday, at the itwango hydroelectric dam, after a blocked tunnel was cleared. now heavy rains are worrying authorities, who fear the banks could breach. lebo diseko reports. evacuate right now —

the message from police as they order people to grab what they can and head for safety. nearly 5000 have been told to leave their homes over fears about massive flooding. this hydroelectric dam under construction in ituango was to be the largest in the country. but heavy rains have increased water levels in the river which feeds it, leading to concerns its banks could burst. problems with the construction project itself have added to that danger. translation: this is an undesirable situation. a complex one. because that water hitting the base of the dam could erode and possibly destabilise its infrastructure. water levels have been rising by the hour and the state's governor has declared it a public calamity. thousands living in the surrounding towns have started the long walk to safety.

many have been placed in temporary shelters like this one. their homes may not be safe, but at least these people are. lebo diseko, bbc news. we will keep an eye on that story. of course. meghan markle has confirmed that her father will not be at her wedding to prince harry on saturday. thomas markle had been expected to walk his daughter down the aisle, but in a statement she's said he is staying in the united states to focus on his health. she and herfiance prince harry were in windsor on thursday, along with what seems to be a large percentage of the world's media, for wedding rehearsals. also there, our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. time to end the uncertainty and focus on the wedding. harry and megan were driven to windsor castle for a private rehearsal in st george's chapel as it was confirmed that the bride's father, thomas markle, will not be at his daughter's wedding. kensington palace issued this statement from miss markle: in windsor, preparations

for saturday. a rehearsal for the 250 members of the three armed services taking part. the most visible element will be the mounted escort by harry's old regiment, the household calvary. they'll accompany what, weather permitting on saturday, will be an open carriage procession through the centre of windsor. also rehearsing has been the choir of st george's chapel, and preparing for his role presiding over the service, the dean of windsor. my impression is that they love one another very much. they are very committed to each other. they are very serious about their relationship. and that's why i think they particularly want to see it grounded in a religious ceremony. the royal wedding can be said to be back on track after three days

when even its most committed supporters may have felt a little bemused. but, in thomas markle's absence, who will escort miss markle to the altar? might itjust be that the father of the groom, prince charles, whose marriage to the duchess of cornwall was blessed in the chapel — might he escort his new daughter—in—law to the altar? we should know tomorrow. the bbc is the place to be for all your royal wedding coverage. we'll have lots of build up to the ceremony. and of course we will have a special live programme on saturday, from windsor castle, starting at 9am gmt, right here on bbc news. much more and all the news on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you for watching. hello there.

well, for most of the uk, thursday was a glorious, sunny, dry day. saw so many weather watcher picture scenes like this one, in warrington in cheshire, of a flowerful field and shrubs, with the blue skies above, and a lovely end to the day with some gorgeous sunsets. but, like the last few nights, temperatures really falling away under those clear skies, particularly across eastern scotland. for much of england and wales, close to freezing in one or two places, with a touch of frost in fact, but not so much for the north and west of the uk. in western scotland and northern ireland, here a veil of cloud will continue to move in from the atlantic, so it'll be less cold here to start to friday. a chilly start elsewhere, another lovely sunny one expected for england and wales. more cloud, though, across scotland and northern ireland could spoil things a little bit bit. some holes still, with sunny spells, and those temperatures up a notch, i think, compared to thursday, around 19 in the south and the east. high pressure still the dominant feature of our weather as we head into the weekend, but weather

fronts never too far away from the north—west. so for saturday itself, there's some big football matches going on. top and tail of the country, it looks like it'll be fine and dry for all of them, and, of course, the royal wedding in windsor. a cool start with those temperatures rising quite quickly through the afternoon and we should see a top ten of 20 or maybe 21 with good sunny spells. this is the picture for saturday, a cool start, clear skies to start, lots of sunshine around. a little bit of fairweather cloud just bubbling up here and there. close to the west of scotland, though, these weather fronts will be floating, bringing thicker cloud and maybe the odd spot of rain. most places should be dry, and temperatures up a notch still, maybe 21 or 22. as we get on into sunday, though, looks like these weather fronts will begin to make inroads across scotland and northern ireland. so here a cloudier, breezier day, with outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and western scotland,

maybe pushing further southwards and eastwards, but i think some parts of northern scotland should see sunshine. for england and wales, another gorgeous day on the cards with temperatures reaching highs of 22 or 23, but a bit cooler further north and west, because of the cloud and rain. similar picture as we head on into the start of next week. high pressure still dominant but still these weather fronts plaguing the north and west, so outbreaks of rain in northern ireland into northern and western scotland. the further south and east that you head, it should be dry and bright, with plenty of sunshine. could see the odd sharp shower developing in the south—east later on, and those temperatures even warmer — 23 or maybe 2a celsius. this is bbc news.

the headlines: high levels of toxic gas have forced emergency workers on hawaii's big island to retreat from the latest explosive eruption of mount kilauea volcano. people have been warned to get away from a sulphur dioxide cloud, which is killing large swathes of vegetation. the volcano has been erupting for three decades, but there's been nothing like this since the 1920s. a year into robert mueller‘s investigation into russian interference in the us election, and possible collusion with it by the trump campaign, the president has again called the inquiry a witch hunt. the special counsel has requested an interview with mr trump, but the terms and date have not been agreed. president trump has rejected claims that a peace deal with north korea could be modelled on the agreement which brought an end to libya's nuclear programme. the idea, suggested by his national security advisor, had alarmed pyongyang which threatened to pull out of the summit planned forjune. you are up—to—date with the

headlines. now on bbc news — panorama. it's the household tech we're told makes our lives easier, and safer, but does it? the more devices you have in your house, the more vulnerable you potentially are, the bigger the chance that one of those devices has a big security problem. tonight, we reveal the hidden dangers in this so—called smart technology, as we uncover how products designed to protect are being hacked. these devices are made by companies that haven't put enough effort or thought into the security. we meet a couple who had no idea they've been watched by thousands of strangers online. oh my gosh. unbelievable, isn't it? i'm really shocked.