welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: john mccain, the us senator and former presidential candidate, has died. senator mccain was 81, a vietnam war veteran who'd been taken prisoner. he'd been diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. tributes have been paid across the political world, led by presidents trump and obama, who said mccain was an american hero. the us senator and former presidential candidate john mccain has died at the age of 81. the vietnam war veteran had been suffering from brain cancer.

although a republican, he was a frequent critic of president trump. chris buckler looks back at his life. john mccain was a politician of principle. a patriot who believed in his country, and fought for it at tremendous cost to himself. as a young navy pilot, he was shot down over hanoi, interrogated and tortured. his capture saw a potential propaganda coup, when his father became the commander of us forces in vietnam and offered him release. but john mccain refused despite the many beatings he had suffered. on his return, he was hailed as a war hero and entered politics. and would eventually spend 35 years representing republicans inside congress. but he was fiercely independent and often spoke out against the party, notably challenging the influence of big money on american politics. the party establishment will not finish me off anywhere.

why is that? because i will break the iron triangle in washington of money, lobbying and legislation and they know would that would be very, very disruptive financially to a lot of people's lives. he may have challenged washington, but he was respected here too. and in 2008, he was selected as a republican presidential candidate. but his campagin was not without mistakes and he was criticised as choosing sarah pailin as his running mate. ultimately, he was to lose to history in the form of barack obama. i wish the outcome had been different, my friends, the road was a difficult one from the outset. but your support and friendship never wavered. in the divisive and aggressive world of american politics, there was always respect shown between pesident obama and john mccain. but donald trump didn't always show mccain such courtesy. he's not a war hero. he is a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, 0k?

i hate to tell you. he was a war hero because he was captured! his influence was still obvious in the twilight of his career. after brain surgery, he walked into the senate and stopped donald trump's attempts to get rid of the obamacare health reforms. with a grand gesture, he turned his thumb down. john mccain was a fighter till the end. he lived longer than expected after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. his family said it was with his usual strength of will that he chose to stop receiving medical treatment, but he was a man who never gave up hope in politics, or in his own personal battles. i'm going home for a while to treat my illness. i have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me. and i hope to impress on you again that it is an honour to serve the american people in your company. thank you, fellow senators, mr president.

applause. katty kay, the bbc‘s presenter of beyond 100 days joins us on the line. you have covered washington since the mid— 90s, how big a figure was john mccain? well, he ran for president twice during the time i have been in washington and has been in the senate for many years as well. he became well known because he was one of those senators who chose to speak his mind, whoever was in power. he would speak out against republicans as well as democrats. he

had a very high profile amongst the media, during the 2008 campaign and icky security republican nomination. he was a rare figure in washington as someone he was a rare figure in washington as someone who would buck against the system, enjoyed the spotlight, was quite irascible, was certainly a flawed human being and happy to add meat it. he could be very grumpy and taciturn, but he also got this prominence because he was outspoken against his own party and that was increasingly in american politics, a rarity. in most recent times he has been also outspoken against donald trump. i was going to ask you about that because it almost feels like he is from eight different era with his criticism of vote is parties and his willingness to work across the aisle. he was willing to work with

democrats and was good friends with ted kennedy, the former senator. 0ne of his key ambitions while he was a senator was to pass comprehensive immigration reform and he drove that in 2007 along with democratic colleagues. you look at politics now and that happens so rarely, that people are to cost the political divide and john mccain came from that era of ronald reagan and tip o'neill that era of ronald reagan and tip 0'neill in the 1980s when he was prepared to do that. he ran against barack obama in 2008, a bitterly fought campaign and yet the two men, after barack fought campaign and yet the two men, after ba rack 0bama's fought campaign and yet the two men, after barack 0bama's election, became close and worked on a number of things and barack obama tonight is full of praise forjohn mccain. what sort of legacy do you think you is behind in terms of foreign

policy? that was another arena where he was very well—known there. policy? that was another arena where he was very well-known there. he was a hawk consistently on foreign policy, he wanted america to intervene and believed the possibility of america influencing foreign policy over the world. he was a hawk on russia, on syria and was a hawk on russia, on syria and was a hawk on russia, on syria and was a critic of barack obama for not intervening more directly in the syrian civil war. although intervening more directly in the syrian civil war. althouthohn mccain was a self—styled maverick, who called himself a maverick and a straight talker, the one thing you could rely onjohn mccain being throughout his political career was a hawk on american foreign policy. he wanted america to intervene around conflict around the world, very difficult —— very different from donald trump, believed there was a role for the american military around the world. his relationship with donald trump, to put it mildly,

was fully. why do thinking think yet to speak out so openly against president trump? he can be a prickly man, i have been on the wrong side of it during the course of his career and he was quite happy to turn on journalist myself if they thought they were asking the wrong question and would try to make a different point and i have been on the receiving end of his tongue and over the last two years it has been donald trump who has been on the singing and of that sharp tongue. john mccain believed in an america that could act like a guide for the rest of the world, that was present in the rest of the world. he was a globalist and believed in international organisation like nato, and along comes donald trump who is a lot more isolationist, who has not had a career in public service, whojohn has not had a career in public service, who john mccain has not had a career in public service, whojohn mccain had, including being a prisoner of war

for five years, dedicated including being a prisoner of war forfive years, dedicated his including being a prisoner of war for five years, dedicated his life to public service and he had little time for donald trump and had little time for donald trump and had little time for donald trump and had little time for donald trump personally, he criticised him all the way he treated women during the course of the campaign, he was outspoken about the campaign, he was outspoken about the tapes that came out hollywood. he had little time for donald trump's view on america and america's position in the rest of the world, in the last years of his life he made his views known, he did it consistently on twitter and was prepared to be outspoken. it almost became a legacy forjohn mccain that he was go to spend the last years of his life saying what he really felt about donald trump and he didn't hold back. the bbc‘s anthony zurcherjoins me live from washington. he's recently produced a radio documentary on his life and career. clearly he was a towering figure,

but what was it about him that prompted you to do your documentary, ican imagine prompted you to do your documentary, i can imagine there will be lots of pages of stuff written about him. there will be and there are already has been. i think the most amazing thing aboutjohn mccain's life, he was born on the eve of world war two and came of age in what has been called the american century. the time period where the united ace was ata time period where the united ace was at a peak of its military, cultural and political power across the globe. he embodied a lot of that, a son ofan globe. he embodied a lot of that, a son of an admiral, the grandson of an admiral, suffered in vietnam as a prisoner of war in the same way that the american nation suffered and from that he emerged as a hero, capitalised at two go into politics, became a congressman and a senator very early in his career. he had an interesting moment where he was engulfed in this influence peddling

scandal, the corrupting influence of power and money, and emerged from that to come a reformer and said we need to take on head on the idea that money is too influential in american politics. a couple of other interesting moment is that stand out, he ran for president in 2000, doing so as an entire establishment candidate. he was a straight talker, travel the country on the straight talk express bus, talked about issues that people were hungry for and in 2008 he ran against and lost to barack obama as the economy started to sour and you saw within the republican party at the time that anti— establishment attitude that anti— establishment attitude that he established, turning against some members of his party leading to the election of donald trump. if you followed john mccain life from the very beginning, he spans this arc of

american politics and influence in the world, a towering figure for our time. and a summary that has come from both sides in tweets, from the cracks and republicans. that was a point that was just made, one of the things that was unique aboutjohn mccain, particularly in the past 20 yea rs, mccain, particularly in the past 20 years, was his willingness to work across with democrats, work with his own party but he stuck up for his principles, what he believed in, you regardless of where the partisan wind was blowing. that made him friends among democrats and by and large, republicans respected him. although i will tell you, there are people in this point of time in the past few years who were not fans of john mccain, particularly from his own party. there were people who thought he was too much against his own president, when he spoke out against donald trump they did not approve of that and thought he

should eat more of a loyal soldier. there were people on the left thought he was too much in favour of using american military might. so the very fact that he was an iconoclast, that he did his own thing and marched to the beat of his own drum, that has won him across the but it has also won him some criticism. thank you. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: we'll be having some personal reflections on the life ofjohn mccain by someone who was a long—standing friend. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disk that is brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet, mars.

there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it'll take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved in just hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clock maker john vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. john mccain — the us senator and former

presidential candidate — has died at the age of 81. he'd been suffering from brain cancer and decided to stop treatment earlier this week. senator mccain had a reputation as a political maverick and was one of the republican party's fiercest critics of president trump. mica mosbacher was national co—chair of women for mccain whenjohn mccain ran for president and she knew him for over 20 years. she's been speaking to me about her fondest memories of senator mccain. i have a personal story to share. my husband and i have decided to help john mccain in the 2008 presidential election, but we were helping him on thought of a marginal basis, and in about 2007, john mccain's money dried up. and you know, money is the mothers milk of politics. john mccain's campaign was pretty much gutted. and my husband and i had decided that after my son got married in 2007, we were going to sort of semi—retire from politics

and take a honeymoon cruise kind of really have the honeymoon to the bahamas, and one night a husband came to me and said, i have got to help this man. i thought, i guess i'm not packing for a cruise. he said, i'm going to washington, his money has dried up, and bob, who was the secretary of commerce and was a legendary fundraiser for george bush senior who really credited him with putting him into office, and so bob went to washington and they offered him an extension of the pentagon, kind of crummy headquarters, quite frankly, certainly not commerce department, and bob sat with finance chair susan nelson and made the phone call

and would slowly, one by one, procure a cheque from donors, and they sent a messenger out to pick up the cheque and rick davis was the campaign manager, and he would walk across the street to the bank and deposit the cheque. slowly, the money came in. i relocated to washington as well and bob and i shared an office, we outshouted each other on the phones raising money tojohn mccain. we spent a lot of time in our home in houston withjohn as well helping to raise money and to strategise, and i talked to his wife and daughter, and both women of independent spirits. cindy did so many things worldwide the charity including operation smile, and followed other interests. she was very quiet about what she did. megan was a fiercely independent bright young woman, and i know that her father as well as cindy's husband was the light of their lives. my husband lost his life in 2010 and john mccain was speaker at his funeral in washington. this is a very emotional

moment for me. ican imagine. we have seen various pictures, for example, the last statement he made on the senate floor before leaving to go and receive treatment, and also pictures of both of you together. we often talk about his childhood and the fact that he moved around a lot because of his father's job as an admiral in the navy. but he found a home in arizona where he had thought of the, staple of the community, and we saw pictures, people were commenting on how sad they are seeing the pictures of the hearse pulling in to his ranch in arizona. yes, it's such a beautiful place, very peaceful. he met the love of his life, cindy, who was from arizona, but that explained why he was drawn to that state. i would like to think of it this way. he was the phoenix that rose from the ashes so to speak during the campaign, especially after his monetary funds dried up.

and i think that it amplifies who he was. —— and i think that it exemplifies who he was. he kept rising from the ashes, and so graciously gave such a wonderful concession speech the night he lost and he reached out to president obama and as you said earlier on your programme, your correspondent said, that he was able to reach across the aisle and to understand john mccain, you had to have known his mother, roberta. she was the most fiercely independent woman i have ever met. during the campaign, she shrugged and said, i don't want any aid, i don't want any assistance. she was so fiercely independent that when she was too old to rent a car in europe, she just went out and bought one. that is tojohn mccain was. driven by eric camp, a former

security adviser. what you think his legacy will be? in international affairs, he was very vocal. -- eric ham. great patriot... can you hear me, eric ham? i came here. we will just here again. —— try again. what will his legacy be, given that he was so will his legacy be, given that he was so vocal in international affairs? yes. i think we have lost them. we can't seem to hear eric ham, so we will try to get hold of him again. but for now, we willjust give you a recap. senatorjon mccain, the former us presidential

candidate and senator has died at the age of 81. he served in the senate for more than 30 years and he was a prisoner of war in vietnam, where he was held for five years. he had been a naval pilot when he was shot down and refused to leave, to be released, until those captured before him, were released, because they wanted to release him, being an admiral‘s son. earlier i spoke to steve herman. he is white house bureau chief with voice of american news. he's been telling me about how the press pack in washington took tojohn mccain. we are hearing from both sides of the aisle. both republicans and democrats. they are free their condolences and clearly stating what a remarkable senator and statesman john mccain was. i can tell you as a journalist, those of us who had

interviewed him over the years, he was always available for a quote. he had in fact the big knowledge about what was going on in the world. —— encyclopaedic knowledge. he was the chair of the armed services committee. in recent months, remarkably, and in the past couple of years, he was the most prominent republican willing to take on, directly, donald trump, both during the campaign and during donald trump's administration, as well. let us trump's administration, as well. let us touch on some of those issues in turns global affairs. —— terms. a lot of people know him from his frequent trips to other countries. what you did his legacy is an upfront? is to be that showed compassion fault what is happening all over the world. but somebody who was a fierce defender of america's

power and felt that america had a leading role to play in the world. i would run into him in places like singapore, where he would be deeply engaged in geopolitical issues that we re engaged in geopolitical issues that were happening in that part of the world. probably some of that comes from his time being a prisoner in vietnam and, of course, was amongst those, who, despite what happened to him, he was tortured repeatedly over a period of years, as a captive, in north vietnam. the tributes arrive this and this is passing was confirmed and came from across the little spectrum. andrew plant has been looking at them. he made friends and commanded respect, even among logical rivals. many of them have now taken to

twitter to pay their respects. —— among political rivals. president 0bama among political rivals. president obama said... vice presidentjoe biden said... john mccain had a reputation as a political maverick and was a fierce critic of donald trump. after his death, the current president said... close friend george w bush said... john mccain chose sarah pailin as

his presidential running mate, tapping into popular conservative sentiment in the us. she tweeted... john mccain was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and died just one day after his family and announced he was stopping treatment for his condition. they are now say goodbye toa man condition. they are now say goodbye to a man admired by friends and rivals alike. andrew plant, bbc news. john mccain, who has died at the age of 81 at his ranch in sedona in arizona. just to let you know that you can watch the special edition of hardtalk with stephen sackur talking tojohn mccain after the half—hour mark. thank you for watching. hello, good morning.

fewer showers and more sunshine on saturday but it still didn't feel very warm. this is how we ended the day at leigh on sea, shown by one of our weather watchers, but already those skies have changed. everything is coming in from the atlantic, you would expect it to be a bit warmer but that may not be the case. 0vernight, temperatures not quite as low, but it will feel quite chilly, i think, during sunday, because it is going to be dull and it is going to be a bit rainy as well. mainly starting dry for eastern scotland and eastern england, but we will see the rain pushing east. quite heavy at times, especially for wales and the south—west. improving and brightening up in northern ireland in the afternoon, breaks coming out of the irish sea later. quite a blustery day later in the day. the wettest weather in the south—east. 17 perhaps, but only 12 or 13 in scotland even though the rain might not amount to much. typically it all clears away as things start to get dark.

we see the skies clearing overnight. a few showers across the northern isles of the uk, and a bit of a breeze as well. not too cold, despite those temperatures in the day. monday, bank holiday for most, and a much better day. still a blustery westerly wind, with showers blowing in for the western and northern half of the uk. further south and east it is probably going to be largely dry. with some sunshine it will be warmer, significantly so in scotland, low 20s in the south—east of england and east anglia. in between these two weather systems on monday and tuesday, this one arrives into the north—west. we'll keep our eyes on this developing system of low pressure. we don't really see the rain getting going until later in north scotland and northern ireland. also, good spells of sunshine and probably a bit warmer, temperatures into the mid—20s in the south—east. a few showers not far away on the other side of the channel, we saw that high pressure and that could arrive and push some showers north

up the east side of england overnight. a lot of uncertainty about the forecast on wednesday. that weather front is moving in from the atlantic and that could be a bit more dominant. most of the showers and rains steering away from east anglia and the south—east. that weather not amounting to much. some sunshine coming on behind that. slightly cooler and fresher. as we head towards the end of the week and the end of the month we are likely to find high pressure building which will see a return to dry conditions and some good spells of sunshine, and it should feel a bit warmer as well. that's it from me. goodnight. this is bbc news. the headlines: tributes are being paid to the united states senator and former presidential candidate john mccain, who has died at the age of 81. he was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. he was a critic of president trump and continued to play an active role in politics until very recently. on his first official visit to ireland, pope francis has met survivors of abuse by members of the roman catholic church.

among them was a prominent survivor of sexual abuse by a priest in the 1960s, and at least two people born in homes for unmarried mothers. hundreds of venezuelans have been allowed into peru just hours after the country said any venezuelan crossing the border would need a passport. a senior official in one border town said they were requesting refugee status. many had travelled with an identity card only and were stranded at the border. now on bbc news, in a change to our scheduled programme, we are showing an edition of hardtalk from 2012,