a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a close aide of the north korean leader arrives in new york for talks about the trump—kim summit. the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein is indicted on charges of rape and sexual assault. it was fake news. the russian journalist reportedly murdered in ukraine is alive and well after all. i'm sorry you had to experience it that there was no other way. —— but. sprinterfor hire. usain bolt is training in norway and looking for a job in the beautiful game. hello to you. the most senior north korean official to visit the united states in nearly 20 years has begun high—level talks aimed at salvaging a summit between his country's

leader, kim jong—un, and president trump. general kim yong—chol is having the first of two meetings with the american secretary of state, mike pompeo, in new york. earlier, the white house said that preparations for the summit — expected on june 12 — have been "positive". our correspondent nick bryant reports. this is the week in the american calendar when the nation honours its fallen soldiers. among them, the 36,000 us personnel killed in the korean war. that conflict has never officially ended. the threat from north korea has intensified, not gone away. this memorial in washington reminds us of the horrors of war and the decades of failed diplomacy. in new york tonight, the latest diplomatic manoeuvre, the arrival on american soil of the most senior north korean official to visit this country in nearly 20 years, a mission to salvage the singapore summit. kim yong—chol is the korean leader's right—hand man, at his side at the recent summit with the south koreans, a former spy master who satjust

yards from ivanka trump at the closing ceremony of the winter olympics. he's received a guarded welcome from the white house. the conversation is gonna be focused on denuclearization of the peninsula. that's what these ongoing conversations taking place now will be centred on, as well as this summit that would take place in singapore, and we're going to continue... as long as that is part of the discussion, we're going to continue to shoot for the june 12. this on—again, off—again diplomacy has been hard to keep track of. last thursday, in what read like a break—up letter, donald trump cancelled the summit, citing north korea's "tremendous anger and open hostility." but the north korean response was conciliatory. that clearly mullified the president, who yesterday tweeted. .. so tonight, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo,

will renew acquaintances with kim yong—chol, who he recently saw in pyongyang. it's their third meeting in the last two months. the main stumbling block is likely to be what precisely is meant by the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula? the two sides have very different definitions. and the latest cia assessment is pessimistic, that north korea has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons, but rather, it's considering a number of goodwill gestures, such as opening up a western hamburger franchise in pyongyang. that's not the kind of deal that donald trump is looking for, not even close, and the fear about a singapore summit is that it could be all sizzle and no steak. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. barbara plett—usher is in new york outside kim yong—chol‘s hotel. she told us how significant it is that he is in new york now. he was sanctioned by the us because

of his role in the nuclear weapons programme, so of his role in the nuclear weapons programme, so those sanctions had to be waved him to come quite an effort has gone into this and then of course he is the point man very much on the summit and is well on the diplomacy that has led up to it. he has been with kim jong—un for most of those meetings that have been going on over the last week, so he knows the detail of what the north koreans mean when they say talk vaguely about denuclearisation, what they are willing to put on the table on what they actually are not willing to put on the table. your man for that and the fact that he is having dinner now and will have meetings with the secretary of state, shows just how much the leaders of two countries, president trump and kimjong—un, won't leaders of two countries, president trump and kim jong—un, won't this summer to happen. —— want this summit. a grand jury in new york has

indicted the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein on charges of rape and a criminal sexual act. he's been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 70 women, which he has denied. the bbc‘s chris buckler joins us from washington. this puts the case on track to go to trial. yeah, it essentially means that it goes to the grand jury, which is the next step to go to trial. harvey weinstein was himself invited to appear, however, he decided not to. his lawyer said he was not given sufficient time to properly prepare and he only learned the identities of his accusers on the identities of his accusers on the specific charges on friday and that was before a memorial day holiday weekend here in america, and he said as a result they advised him not to appear but it means that this case has now reached the next stage. and he faces additional investigations i think in los angeles, london, and by the federal government. his lawyer is arguing that unfair political pressure was

placed on prosecutors because of a high—profile case. placed on prosecutors because of a high-profile case. and this is undoubtedly a high—profile case, what we're seeing is a number of women coming forward and are several high—profile women, particularly actresses, who have made allegations about harvey weinstein. 0f actresses, who have made allegations about harvey weinstein. of course, this case involves two accusers that there are many other cases beyond that. and i think that notjust harvey weinstein's lawyers, who said that he will plead not guilty in this case, is notjust them that are aware of this, it is the manhattan district attorney as well. they have released a statement, i think it is very interesting to look at closely because it says this indictment brings the defendant a step closer toa brings the defendant a step closer to a accountability but it also goes on to say that the court will try this case not in the media but in the court where it belongs. this case is being discussed widely and given the high profile nature of many accusers were not involved in this case and of course, the high profile of harvey weinstein himself,

there is no doubt that there will be huge public attention once it reaches a public trial. and is a clear at all when this case will come to a public new york courtroom? yeah, it is difficult to say at this time. we are going through the various hoops that will lead this to trial. there have already been questions asked about the court case, not just the questions asked about the court case, notjust the date but exactly what form it will take. already, people are looking back at the bill cosby case that happened recently, another one that has been connected to the metoo movement, as the harvey weinstein case has as well. there are questions being asked about will other accusers be allowed to bring their accusations into the courtroom as well, as they were in the bill cosby case, to and show a pattern of behaviour? as it stands, we do not know. we are still a long way from the trial be being conducted at harvey weinstein does deny all the charges against him. thank you very

much for that. —— from the trial be conducted. —— being conducted. much of the world has been watching the extraordinary turn of events in ukraine where a russian journalist, who was reported to have been assassinated on tuesday, appeared alive and well at a news conference in kiev. the journalist arkady babchenko, who is a critic of the russian governmment, was said to have been shot dead at his home. but on wednesday, we learnt that the incident had been staged by the ukrainian security service to expose russian agents operating in ukraine. 0ur correspondentjonah fisher reports from kiev. this was the scene last night outside arkady babchenko's apartment. ukraine's police had just announced that the russian journalist had been assassinated. a fearless and outspoken critic of vladimir putin, mr babchenko's death seemed another chilling example of the way the kremlin targets its opponents wherever they live. translation: it's calculated, deliberate, international terrorist crime. this morning, we were at the apartment. somewhere around here, as he went into his apartment, he was shot in the back several times.

there was a strange lack of police, but at that point, we had no inkling of what had really taken place. neither did most ukrainian politicians, who were quick to point the finger of blame towards the east. it marked another dark moment in the awful relationship between russia and ukraine. a steady stream of anti—kremlin figures have been assassinated on kiev‘s streets, but arkady babchenko, incredibly, is not one of them. 19 hours after he was declared dead, he was brought forward very much alive to gasps at a press conference. cheering colleagues at his tv channel responded — as you might expect — in amazement. it turned out that mr babchenko had

been a willing participant in a security service sting, apparently to catch a russian—linked man who really was trying to kill him. translation: first, i would like to apologise for what all of you had to experience, for what you had to get through. i have buried friends and colleagues many times and i know the sickening feeling. i'm sorry you had to experience it, but there was no other way. as mr babchenko went to meet ukraine's president, the debate as to what had happened began in earnest. for many, the ends have justified the many lies. translation: i was the only one who knew about this at the presidential administration. i was sure there was no other way to do it. you've done very well. others are wondering about the lasting impact on ukraine's credibility.

it claims to be on the front line, fighting against the russian war of disinformation. now, it's been responsible for perhaps the greatest of all fakes. jonah fisher, bbc news, ukraine. let's speak not to michael bociurkiw, a global affairs analyst and former 0sce spokesperson for the special monitoring mission to ukraine. he joins us now from sidney in canada. good to talk to you again. just first of all, this is a fake plot as we understand it. are you absolutely certain, is it clear to you whether there was a real plot? well, i think a lot of us are asking has reality finally become stranger than fiction? most of us woke up this morning seeing this news in thinking that it was actually fake news but it wasn't, and then it was. so i think coming from everything i have seen, is that this was a very, very

dangerous line that has been crossed by the ukraine state security service, that they collaborated in a way with this journalist. now, service, that they collaborated in a way with thisjournalist. now, if the suspect did in fact planned to kill the journalist, then this the suspect did in fact planned to kill thejournalist, then this is the suspect did in fact planned to kill the journalist, then this is a good thing that ijust spoke to someone good thing that ijust spoke to someone who interviewed arkady babchenko and it may have looked like he may have been played a little bit. in fact, he did not see very much in evidence. the bottom line here is that if he wants to continue hisjournalism, it will be very difficult because people will not trust him and he will now acquire 24/7 protection because the price on his head will have gone up, i think. and it certainly gives impetus to every politician, eve ryo ne impetus to every politician, everyone who has used the term take news. absolutely, and of course, donald trump. but you have to question the trump administration, what they have done here, because it

does, ina what they have done here, because it does, in a way you take a page out of the russian playbook of fake news and utilise it and can't weaponise it, and secondly, it has to be said that an election is around the corner. petra pro shankar‘s ratings are in the single digits, the state security service has been under a lot of pressure at not solving previous murders, including the murder two years ago of a journalist. —— poroshenko. murder two years ago of a journalist. -- poroshenko. let's go back to basics for a second, michael. it is not clear, not immediately clear least, how faking an assassination helps catch a real assassin. it is not clear and i think the onus will be on the administration to provide more evidence of what exactly happens. look, it, publicity yesterday when another journalist was apparently killed, but it is also very bad publicity for the government to be

accused of spreading false information. and if it turns out that he was played, they are going to have a very dirty pr mess on their hands. a feel very badly for arkady babchenko, i feel very badly for all the journalists who wrote his obituary. i think it is going to cause a lot of problems up the road. some difficulties with the communications there that thank you very much for persevering. thank you for talking to us. more discussions have been held in rome to try to avoid another italian general election. it's reported the country's prime minister—designate carlo cotta relli has abandoned efforts to form his own interim administration, to focus instead on a renewed attempt to put together a coalition involving the populist five star movement and the right—wing party, the league. emotions here are running really high. migration weary, recession

weary italians are fed up of their traditional ruling classes here at home and in brussels. they want those changes that populist politicians have promised them, so their president trying to foist an unelected government of technocrats, threatening the same old, same old, trying to put a lid on things, that didn't go down well. if there were fresh elections it would explode into even more support for the populists. now we're really in a waiting game, can italy avoid those fresh early elections, will italy get that antiestablishment government? and if it does, will those antiestablishment politicians be as radical and as fiery as promised, all ill being in government temper their policies? —— all well. everyone is watching, financial markets, investors and brussels. i've said this before but as the third largest economy in the eurozone, you can't underestimate italy's importance to the european project. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.

president trump has weighed in over the scandal surrounding roseanne barr. her hit tv show has been cancelled by abc, after the star published a racist tweet about an adviser to former president 0bama. the tv network apologised, but president trump has accused abc of hypocrisy because, he says, nobody on the channel has ever apologised to him over false reporting. the authorities in algeria have seized more than 700kg of cocaine aboard a container ship. the liberia—registered vessel was due to offload its cargo in the algerian port of 0ran, but the captain mysteriously refused to dock for three days. acting on a tip—off, the algerian coastguard boats forced the ship into port. the drugs were found in boxes marked as "halal meat". stay with us on bbc news. still to come: what lies behind the disappearance of dozens of shia men in pakistan? we have a special report. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen,

up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletics events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she's left the spice girls. argh! i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. not geri — why? this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: one of the north korean leader's closest aides has arrived in new york for talks with the us secretary of state about plans for next month's trump—kim summit. the disgraced film producer, harvey weinstein, has been indicted on charges of rape and sexual assault. officials in belgium have said a man who shot dead three people in the city of liege on monday had already murdered another person the night before. prosecutors said they were still trying to establish a motive, but are treating the incident as an act of terrorism. 0ur europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, reports. they were colleagues, police officers, both murdered in cold blood. 0n the left soraya belkacemi, a single mother who leaves twin 13—year—old daughters as orphans. 0n the right, lucile garcia, recently married with a 25—year—old son.

"shoot him, shoot him," a woman shouts. she was filming the attacker yesterday from her balcony. this wasjust moments after he had gunned down the policewomen and a man in a car. he can be seen brandishing two guns. when he gets close, the woman retreats. and just a few minutes later, armed officers have now arrived. you can see them advancing cautiously up the street. the attacker is hiding in a school. he runs out firing. prosecutors say the killer, benjamin herman, was on temporary overnight release from prison. he had been in and out ofjail for ten years for minor offences. the killer, benjamin herman, had been in and out of prison for a decade — drugs crimes, theft. prosecutors here say he was on temporary release this week because he wasn't seen as a threat. now they think he was radicalised

in prison and these were terrorist crimes. herman's killing spree started here on monday nightjust after his release from prison. his aunt saw him come to visit a former inmate he knew. the man, too, was murdered. translation: he didn't seem stressed. he was normal, laughing, he went up to michael's. i heard nothing after that. but was yesterday's mayhem avoidable? belgium's justice minister today said he was examining his conscience. "i am responsible for prisons. the question is, should this man have been released ? " he said. so, today, a silence for the victims of benjamin herman and hard questions for belgium to answer. damian grammaticas, bbc news, brussels. dozens of pakistani shias have gone missing in recent months after, according to their families, being detained by the security forces. they've never been produced in court or charged with an offence, but sources in the community have told the bbc it's believed they're being secretly held by the intelligence services,

accused of links to a brigade of shia foreign fighters in syria. but their families say they're innocent, and are desperate for any information about them. they've been speaking to secunder kermani. this cctv video shows this 30—year—old being taken away by members of the security forces in the city of karachi in november 2016. he hasn't been seen since. both the police and the intelligence services deny holding him custody. his family say he had just returned from pilgrimage in iraq with his pregnant wife. now, over a year later, she's given birth to a son who's never met his father. translation: no-one is telling us where he is or how he is. we are so worried. at least tell us what he is accused of. my kids are always asking me,

when will our dad come back? what answer can i give them? haider was picked up from this working—class, predominantly shia neighbourhood and he's not the only one. seven young shia men have gone missing from this one area in karachi. across the country, over 140 have disappeared over the past two years. their family say they've never been told why. but it's believed the missing men are suspected of links to this militia in syria. made up of around 1,000 pakistani shears on fighting on behalf of of bashar al—assad. this man has led the campaign for the missing men. he says most of them were detained after having travelled to the middle east for pilgrimage. translation: some officers from the intelligence agencies met

others to try and convince us to end our protest movement. they told us we think these men have gone to syria to fight against daesh and al-qaeda. i said, if that's the case then you should put them on trial, otherwise what's the point of having courts. these images of dead fighters were uploaded to social media. the intelligence services seem to fear those returning from syria could increase sectarian tensions in pakistan with the country's sunni majority. but the families of these disappeared men say they deserve to know what, if any, evidence is against them and where they are now. secunder kermani, bbc news, karachi. 0lympic legend usain bolt is spending a week training with a norwegian football team as part of his ambition to take up the game professionally. the record—breaking athlete has already trained with german side borussia dortmund, and he says his ultimate ambition

is to play for manchester united. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. he is arguably the greatest 0lympian and perhaps the greatest athlete of all time. usain bolt won countless races, countless golds in an illustrious career. but his heart has always belonged to the beautiful game. and this was the reception he got from the players and coaches as hejoined the side got from the players and coaches as he joined the side for training.|j don't think i can teach them anything when it comes to football. for me it is to learn movement, touches, get better at my vision and stuff like that so i'm just here to open my mind and to learn as much as possible. bolt said he has serious ambitions to be a professional footballer. this is not a joke. a

few days' training will help him improve his fitness ahead of a couple of upcoming friendly matches, including a charity game in the uk. but bolt is nearly 32, that's quite an age to start a career in football. translation: an age to start a career in football. translationzlj an age to start a career in football. translation: i don't know what his plans are all what football background he has but he can come a long way with his speed. and the shirt number he was given? 9.58. his record time in the 100 metres. they do say pace is vital in the modern game. tim allman, bbc news. much more on all the news any time on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you very much for watching. hello there. the weather once again

looks in turbulent mood through the day ahead because while there will be some spells of warm sunshine, there will also be some vicious thunderstorms, torrential downpours, which could lead to localised flooding and certainly the risk of some travel disruption, especially a cross central and southern parts of the uk. now, the earlier satellite picture shows these showers and storms have been gathering across continental europe. they are drifting their way northwards at the moment and these showers are going to start to show their hands during the first part of thursday. not a bad start for many but with a lot of mist and bad start for many but with a lot of mistand murk bad start for many but with a lot of mist and murk and low cloud, a few showers up towards the north—west, but these heavy downpours towards the south—east we a close eye on. it's really ha rd the south—east we a close eye on. it's really hard to predict exactly where the worst of the weather will be but right across the south—east, east anglia and eventually into the

midlands, wales and the south—west, there's a risk of intense, thundery downpours that could give enough rain to cause some flash flooding. across northern england here we could see one or two showers breaking out through the day once the cloud break sub through the morning across northern ireland and scotla nd morning across northern ireland and scotland and the sun comes out, again there's the potential we'll see one or isolated showers but the heaviest downpours always likely to be found in southern areas. a very warm and muggy day as well, 21 in edinburgh, 21 in belfast and perhaps 23 in london if you get some sunshine. some of these showers and storms will continue to rumble through the evening and overnight as they drift westwards but they will tend as we expect to fizzle away to some extent. some cloud, mist and murk around, and temperatures not dropping very far, 12 to 15 degrees, quite a muggy start to friday. friday will start with a lot of cloud, misty, murky conditions in places. sunshine developing but a scattering of showers and thunderstorms again in western parts

through wales, northern ireland, north—west england and scotland for the most part. very slow moving heavy downpours, which again could cause issues with flooding. some showers and thunderstorms in north—western areas by saturday but a change in england and wales here, fewer showers, more in the way of sunshine, the weather turning quite a bit quieter in southern areas as we go into the start of the weekend. still warm, in the twenties. 0n sunday and monday, things looking generally quieter, not as many showers, still some sunshine and generally feeling warm. this is bbc news. the headlines: one of north korea's highest—ranking officials is holding talks in new york, aimed at finalising plans for a historic summit next month between his country's leader, kim jong—un, and president trump. prospects for a summit appear to have improved since mr trump briefly cancelled it last week. a grand jury in new york has indicted the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein

on charges of rape and sexual assault. the offences relate to alleged attacks on two women — one in 2013 and another in 2004. his lawyer has said he will deny all the charges. russia has criticised ukraine after it emerged that the murder of a russian journalist in kiev was faked, apparently to foil a genuine assassination plot. 0fficials claim to have arrested a ukrainian man who offered a hitman $30,000 to carry out the proposed killing. you are