they have ordered thousands of far—right demonstrators to disperse over safety concerns. they say that the anti—migrant rally, which drew more than 4,000 participants, had overrun its authorised time limit. earlier, several thousand counter—demonstrators attempted to block their route. tributes have been paid to the late senator, john mccain, at a memorial service in washington. two former presidents, george w bush and barack 0bama, led the mourners, praising his patriotism. president trump, who'd feuded with him, was not invited to the service. there's been criticism of the decision by the united states to withdraw all funding from the un agency that provides assistance to palestinian refugees, amid fears it could further destabilise the region. a spokesman for president mahmoud abbas described the move as a flagrant assault against the palestinian people. now on bbc news, it's winning it big. with prizes now bigger than ever,

who hasn't dreamed of winning the lottery, and dwelled on what you'd do with all that money? but would winning it big really make us happier? i'm mike thomson, and i'm on a trip to meetjackpot winners around the world in search of an answer. a once—penniless ghanaian who is now becoming a movie mogul. a transgender ex—taxi driver who has transformed her life. a former canadian beauty queen who is giving it all away. i've come to hull, britain's city of culture last year,

to meet one of the country's most colourful and controversial lottery winners. my first task is going to be to get a taxi into town. this looks a possible. hi there, is it mike thomson from the bbc? yes, it is. is that multimillionaire lottery winner melissa ede? it certainly is. tell you what, mike, jump in. i'm assuming that you being a bit of a local celebrity now, you could well be spotted in the open top? not many blonde—haired people driving around in an open top car on a day like this. 0nce i'd scratched it, once i'd realised, i had to check it and keep checking it. in december last year, melissa ede bought a scratchcard and got the best christmas present of her life.

within three days, my bank balance went from about £1 odd, to £4 million. melissa, a 57—year—old transgender woman, had struggled to make ends meet working night shifts as a taxi driver. life was hard, wasn't it? life was very, very difficult, yeah. just to live day by day. some days, couldn't even afford to eat. it was a bowl of cereal, just to get by that day. could we perhaps go to where you used to work? definitely, let's go and have a look and let's go see some of my old friends. where from? and where are you going to?

ok, no problem, then. thank you. so this is it. so here it is. carmen was one of melissa's closest colleagues at work. how are you doing? really good. what have you been doing? all sorts. i haven't seen you for a bit. i've been lying low. how come? just have, so much to do. you've got lots to tell me, then. shall we go in there? it went crazy. it did, yeah. everyone... it was everywhere. yeah, i know. have you spent the lot, then? no. haven't you ? i've invested £3 million. i've invested £3 million, i'm paying the house off cash, and then i'm treating some of my close friends as well. and family.

and we've still got enough to have some good holidays and that as well. so i'm not as crazy as people thought i was. you know what you're doing, then. i've proved that it can happen to anybody. because if i was ten minutes later somebody else might have had that scratchcard. after her win, melissa thought she'd reached the end of her struggles. she'd been living in a rundown rented bedroom. when the house of her dreams came up for sale, melissa made a cash offer, and it was accepted. then the sale fell through. i'm out there, i'm in the public eye. a lot of people don't agree with what i do. i don't know, i really, really don't know. everybody thinks that having money solves everything. i'm living proof, it doesn't. even though you've got the money, you can't have everything you want. when the light falls

and the darkness draws in, melissa can be found in search of the supernatural. bad spirits, can you please show your presence? can you make one of the lights flash? are there any spirits in this room that would like to speak to anybody in this room? please, can you give us a sign? melissa met herfiancee rachel and a ghost hunting session. it is one of her more unconventional hobbies. make a noise. boo! melissa, i knew you were going to do that! move the ball on the table. tap somebody on the shoulder. for some, melissa's belief in ghosts might make her appear gullible, but she says she is well aware there are some downsides to winning a fortune.

one of the problems with winning such a vast amount of money is, who do you trust in your life any more? who is there because they want to be? 0r who is there because you are now a millionaire? it wasn't me who popped the question, it was rachel, rachel popped the question, and it was just before, luckily for her, just before the lottery win. it was only a matter of a few days. after 15 years working nights as a taxi driver, melissa is used to getting by on very little sleep. even though she spent all night ghost hunting, that won't stop melissa going clubbing later. and as you can see... there it is. hello, what have you got for me to wear my big night out tonight, then? a nice prom dress in the window. i don't think i can go in a prom dress, do you? pink to make the boys wink.

let's have a look. yes, let's see. what do you think? it's surprising what you can find. and i do know, from past experiences, even people who are into designer labels, you can find them in charity shops as well. why pay full whack for something? no, you can get it for cut—price, and you're also helping out a charity. i am being very, very careful with my money because i think in life, when you haven't had something, you learn to value things in life. after she won the lottery, melissa decided she needed a makeover. years of taking hormones and a violent attack when she worked in the taxi business have caused serious damage to her teeth. now she can finally afford to fix them.

i'm going to have that hollywood smile. so, that's something i really, really can't wait for. before winning the lottery, melissa would drive customers around hull on a saturday night. now she's the customer. money doesn't bring happiness, but it can certainly make you enjoy life more. lottery fever has been transforming lives in africa, too. here, in the steamy bush, around an hour's drive from ghana's second city, it has turned once penniless movie writer into a veritable movie mogul. action!

last year, 25—year—old kwame took a gamble on his football knowledge. he placed a bet on the scores of 15 matches being played around the world. get them all right, and he would be in the money. kwame sat back and waited for news of the scores to come in. kwame had won nearly a million ghanaian cedis, the equivalent of more than $200,000 us. kwame soon began putting his winnings to good use,

ploughing it into music and films. action! he's yet to finish making his action movie but has already made a trailerfor it. kwame‘s life before winning the lottery was very far away from the hollywood dream. ghana's economy is growing, but much of this wealth goes to a minority of the population, and inequality between the rich and the poor is greater than ever.

for many people in ghana, winning the lottery is their only hope of making it out of poverty. we have turned off the road and we are now in a slum area where you can smell the open sewers. there are enormous holes in the road. i'm getting the impression that this must be close to where kwame spent most of his life. in this impoverished slum, few would risk spending the little they have on lottery tickets. only a true optimist would take that gamble. rap music. how times have changed.

back in his slum days, kwame lived in a makeshift home with no windows. not bad, is it? kwame, you have gone up in the world, haven't you? kwame's parents advise him about how to spend his newfound wealth. kwame realised that he needed help from his parents so he asked them

to authorise any large cheques he might want to write. kwame's big win came on his sister lydia's birthday. but since kwame's win, the family has been pestered for money, particularly by some relatives. kwame's parents say they want

their son to use his money to secure his own future, and kwame has some very big ambitions. my investigation into money and happiness takes me now to the french—speaking province of quebec in canada. this is the ticket i win with, and this is the photo. it's proof i'm the winner. 57—year—old lottery winner rachel lapierre lives in the town of saint—jerome near montreal. rachael won it big in 2013,

but chose payments for life instead. every week, she gets cad$i,000. that's around us$800. rachel, a former miss quebec, has tasted riches before. une, deux, trois. razee, razee, razee! go! but having won a fortune that most people can only dream of, she is now giving it all away. you know, money is money. when you get born, you don't have anything. you arrive in life, and when you go, you're going with nothing. you know? so, but you're going with your memories, wou're going with what you did here in life.

i give that to her last week. rachel uses her lottery win to fund her own charity. running this has left her with less money than she had before. but rachel believes that by living her dream, she's richer than ever. everybody brings something here to give it back to somebody. they sign it here, their names, so you can see all of them. oh, the children have bought a bike for another child! yeah! we have a lot of refugee families, you know, from the war. so they arrive and they don't have any toys, they don't have bikes. we just try to promote good deeds.

so a good deed, it can be so many things. it can be a bike today, it can be food, it can be transport to go to the hospital. it can be just listening to somebody on the phone because they're so lonely. so it can be so many things. you're welcome, you're welcome. ok, let's go. phone rings. bonjour. i really need help right now. what kind of help? i'm alone with my four kids and i've just lost myjob. what we're going to do, if you agree, we're gonna bring you a grocery today. oh, thank you so much! thank you! you've made my day. thank you very, you very, very, very much! this pleasant—looking neighbourhood seems an unlikely place to find

anyone needing help from rachel's charity. butjust around the corner, a man is living in what used to be his garage before his house burnt down. hello, miley! so, how you feel today? not bad. a little bit — comme ci, comme ca. comme ci, comme ca. yeah, a little better than most days. harvey was a successful businessman, but then everything changed. soon after his company went bust, he became seriously ill and a fire destroyed his home. it was diabetes, bad circulation. i lost a kidney and my kidneys shut down.

before rachel found harvey, he was struggling to survive the freezing canadian winter in this makeshift cabin, and hadn't had a hot shower for months. and i have a good news today? what? this week, two persons are going to come to do the tiles in the bathroom. i appreciate it a lot, rachel. i'm happy. thank you. merci. my pleasure, my pleasure. you lose faith in people after a while, you don't believe any more. all of a sudden, rachel shows up at my door and i still didn't believe because i'd never asked anyone for anything ever. i never had to. i was blown away, i gotta tell you. i really was. i didn't show it because i'm not that type of person, but i was... yeah.

you never cross someone's path for nothing. i believe that. i believe that too. did you regularly enter the lottery? no, never. and that day, something... i had that feeling i have to buy a ticket because i was already helping people a little bit, but i was working, i had my kids. so i said if i win, this means it's gonna be for me like a salary. la princesse que j‘ai trouve. wow! honestly, i was not surprised to win. in my mind, i was thinking, i have to do le book humanitaire, i was sure about that. so i wasjust coming like, to confirm, "ok, you win,

you were right. " rachel grew up in a poor neighbourhood of montreal, but she was soon to leave that behind. what's all this? some of these mementos, these incredible photographs you've got, presumably all to do with your win as miss quebec? yeah, yeah. i win in 1982 and i was sure i couldn't be a miss quebec. it's made me realise everything is possible. after being crowned miss quebec, rachel didn't rest on her laurels. she went on to start a successful modelling agency and her wealth began to grow. long before rachel won the lottery, she discovered that money alone would not bring her happiness, so she swapped her luxury lifestyle for the dedicated down—to—earth world of an emergency nurse. hi, louis!

bonjour. i think happiness coming from the heart, 0k? so it's nice to have a new car, a new home, a new everything. you knew, it can be really fun. but with the time ijust realise maybe human need to give to be balanced. i'd imagine that a do—gooding lottery winner like rachel might be a little too saccharine and prone to patronise those she helps. bonjour, mama. yet they seem to generally adore her, and i admit to being a bit of a fan myself. i always assumed that happiness forjackpot winners lies in suddenly having mountains of money to do what you like, when you like, where you like. action!

freedom from the financial constraints that bind everyone else. but having met all these people around the world who've won it big, i'm no longer so sure. the thrill of new—found riches seems to fade fairly quickly. international research appears to back this up. academics have found absolutely no evidence that a year after winning those who hit the jackpot are any happier than the rest of us. the secret, it seems to me, is to share what you have and help others to live their dreams too. that way, everyone's a winner. hello. saturday's top temperature was 25.2 in hull, eastern parts of the uk had the lion's share of the sunshine and will again for sunday. high—pressure stood close by for part two of the weekend. this is how it looks first thing. a warm start. some sport into single

figures. early mist and fog patches. a cloud in the west could be losers in coastal hillfort around and damp and grisly for a few spots but even within this zone will be some brighter spells, sunny spells into north—east scotland but particularly into eastern england with a windy day for scotland with a work around 30- 40 day for scotland with a work around 30— a0 miles an hour and friend from the western isles into the west of scotla nd the western isles into the west of scotland in the afternoon and evening as it pushes across northern ireland. ahead of it some sunny spells. northern england, the south—west, cloudy. the odd shower. light rain. east anglia and south—east england, unbroken sunshine, temperatures heading towards the mid 20s. warm and sunny spells in north—east scotland. rain to end the day in northern ireland, western scotland, pushing south—easterly into monday morning. northern ireland and son —— scotland turned clear. along the weather front and to the south of it, quite a warm night. monday has this

weather front slowly moving south. the cold front is the leading edge of cool air so we did, walked but behind it, fresher. temperatures lower. some sunny spells in northern ireland, scotland. 0nce lower. some sunny spells in northern ireland, scotland. once it has cleared that is. rain for time on monday, pushing across northern england, wales, south—west england. behind it, cooler and fresher, called a long weather front where you have rain but warm and any sunny spells east anglia and south—east england. the front gradually pushes further south into tuesday, taking the cooler air with it. the rest of the cooler air with it. the rest of the week delivers a fairer amount of cloud. some sunny spells. some patchy rain or a few showers but actually for the rest of the week, much of the country is looking mainly dry. this is bbc news, i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: police in the east german city of chemnitz order thousands of far—right demonstrators to disperse following an anti—migrant rally. as soon as we try to express our

grief we are put into a certain corner and i don't accept this atwal. washington's farewell. three former presidents are among those paying tribute to senatorjohn mccain at his memorial service. for all our differences, for all the times we sparred, i never tried to hide, and! times we sparred, i never tried to hide, and i thinkjohn came to understand the long—standing admiration that i had for him. palestinian officials condemn a us decision to withdraw