this is bbc news, the headlines: two years after the killing of kim jong—un‘s half—brother in malaysia — murder charges against one of the defendants have been dropped. siti aisyah from indonesia has been discharged from court. she and a vietnamese woman were accused of killing kim jong—nam by smearing nerve agent on his face welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers at kuala lumpur airport. in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. our top stories: two years after the killing syrian forces backed by the us have begun their assault on the last of kim jong—un's half—brother in malaysia — murder charges against one enclave held by so—called of the defendants are dropped. islamic state. thousands of women and children have left the area in recent days — with many is supporters families and fighters leave surrendering to kurdish forces. the islamic state group's last stronghold in syria — as the final assault by western—backed forces begins. a day of mourning has been declared we have a special report. in ethiopia after a plane ethiopia declares a national crash killed all 157 day of mourning — people on board. after the plane crash outside the boeing 737, owned by ethiopian airlines, was carrying passengers from more addis ababa that killed all 157 than thirty countries. people on board. it came down shortly after taking off from the capital addis ababa. it's the second air crash in five months involving this type of plane. yelling. and, thousands protest in moscow now on bbc news, against plans to cut off russia's stephen sackur is in internet from the rest of the world.

one of the defendants charged with the murder of kim jong—nam, the estranged half—brother of north korea's leader kim jong—un, has had her charges dropped. indonesian defendant siti aisyah was discharged from court in the malaysian capital, kuala lumpur. our south east asia correspondent jonthan head told me more about the dramatic development in court. as expected, today was the day we were supposed to be hearing from the vietnamese defendant, doan thi huong, the second woman to smear a liquid on the face of kim jong—nam two years ago at the airport, but in fact it was siti aisyah, the indonesian defendant,

who unexpectedly had her charges dropped by the prosecution. the lawyer believes that it was because the evidence against her was not as strong as it was against the vietnamese woman. critically, there was no security footage of her smearing anything on kim jong—nam's face, or any footage of her going to that toilet to wash off the liquid. that's what is prosecution allegest to suggest that the vietnamese defendant knew that the substance she was using was dangerous. both have said that they believed they were part of a televised prank, they had no idea that the men they were working for were north korean agents. siti aisyah's lawyer believes because the evidence was weaker against her, that is why they have dropped the charges. it leaves just one single defendant. where does that leave the case? what happens next? we don't know yet whether the vietnamese defendant is going to testify or not.

she is supposed to be giving a sworn statement today in court, the first time we would have heard directly from any of the defendants explaining her role on how she got involved in this extraordinary story. we don't know whether that's going to go ahead, but as far as we know the case against her proceeds. but siti aisyah's lawyers did say, they have separate legal teams, that given the charges being dropped against her that the vietnamese defendant's lawyer may also now petition the government to say what they have said all along, which is that obviously this was a political assassination, the north koreans all fled for malaysia or in some cases were allowed to leave, and clearly it is not fair, that these two women who have no motive, are on trial,

and so it is possible this case will also go the same way. we are expecting to hear from doan thi huong, who is still on trial, in the next couple of days. remind us why this is such a significant case in the region. well, the assassination was extraordinary. kim jong—nam, the strange half of the north korean leader, kim jong—un, often travelled around south east asia. he didn't live in north korea any more. but he suddenly died two years ago, and it turned out he had been killed in this extraordinary way. it was very shocking, in an international airport, clearly using a deadly nerve agent was very risky for passengers. and for a while, malaysia pretty much broke off relations with north korea, or downgraded them, and it shows just how far north korea is willing to go to get to people who they believe are hostile to the regime. having said that, all the governments in the region now seem to be trying to manage their relations with north korea. we saw kim jong—un in vietnam's just at

the beginning of this month, being treated as a visiting head of state, with no mention apparently being made of the fact that a vietnamese woman is on trial here for something he is believed to have ordered. western—backed fighters beseiging the last patch of territory in syria occupied by islamic state, say they have now reached the middle of a camp once controlled by the militant group. here are the latest pictures of the assault. is once had dreams of a global caliphate, but most of the group's die—hard supporters have now surrendered to kurdish forces. the remaining jihadists are now confined to a tiny piece of land under a mountain outside the village of baghouz. earlier, the bbc was given an exclusive look inside baghouz. our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville, and cameraman jewan abdi, sent this report. this is the end of the road. beyond here, we are given a first look inside all that remains of the islamic state

group's caliphate. is are close enough to shoot. under their black flag — it was raised only the day before — the diehards hold firm. improvised bombs are left behind, but the caliphate is reduced to squalid camps. no—one knows how many remain inside. the men of the syrian democratic forces wait for the final assault. just a mile away, is true believers meet their apocalypse. more than 12,000 supporters, including their children, gave up to kurdish forces in the last week. girl sings. the daughter of a french is fighter. this is not a lullaby, but a propaganda ballad. she sings of martyrdom and paradise. her extremist father was killed earlier this week.

women shout. their hateful ideology, which brought terror here, still pollutes minds. allahu akbar, allahu akbar! "go film the men", they scream, "we are the women of the islamic state, god is great", as they attack our camera. hundreds of is fighters have been killed, but hundreds more have survived the battle to retake the last tiny village of baghouz. they are headed for kurdish prison. many of the islamic state supporters view the surrender not as defeat, but as only a setback. the is leadership told them to give up. the wives expect to see their husbands again, and those husbands expect to take up arms again. that leadership has already fled, and now, all across northern syria, there are tens of thousands of hardcore is supporters being held

together in camps and prisons, and they're waiting for what comes next. allahu akbar! ii—year—old amar, from iraq, told us he wants to be a jihadist. allahu akbar! adiba, a yazidi woman, is revealed casting off is oppression. they burn the abaya she was made to wear. forcibly converted to islam, adiba was passed from one moroccan fighter to another. she says she suffered regular beatings, was raped, and had a child. nearby, we meet her latest captor, ahmed. "she wasn't a slave", he says. "she lived with my wife and parents". he had taken her after her previous ca ptor was killed. is committed a genocide against adiba's people.

now, her life begins again, and the nightmare caliphate ends. but, here in syria, the islamic state group's people and its toxic ideology still cling on. quentin somerville, bbc news, syria. a day of mourning has been declared in ethiopia to remember 157 people killed in sunday's plane crash. the boeing 737 max 8 came down within minutes of taking off from addis ababa on its way to the kenyan capital, nairobi. the passengers came from more than 30 countries. from nairobi, alistair leithead reports. there is very little left of ethiopian airlines flight 302. this is where it crashed, just moments after takeoff. there were 149 passengers and eight crew on board.

from the relatively small area of debris, aviation experts believe it would have plunged vertically into the ground and exploded on impact. people nearby said it happened very quickly. translation: it came directly from the sky downwards. we heard a huge explosion, there was no fire before it crashed but once it crashed we saw a huge cloud of smoke. the flight, bound for nairobi, took off from the ethiopian capital, addis ababa, at 8:38am local time. butjust 6 minutes later it disappeared off the radar. it crashed near the town of bishoftu, just 37 miles from the airport. the cause isn't known, but the pilot had reported the problem and had asked to turn back. those awaiting its arrival in nairobi saw that the flight was cancelled, then came the terrible news.

the airline released details of the nationalities on board. people from 35 different countries. 32 passengers were kenyan, 18 were canadian, and 17 were from the uk. in south london, ben courier heard this afternoon that his father, who had dual british and kenyan citizenship, was among the dead. i found out that nearly everybody had passed away, and it was just a frantic rush to work the phones to try to get any information that we could get. a major international conference is being held here at the un headquarters in nairobi. a number of delegates travelling from all over the world were on the plane. the executive director of the un's world food programme said a number of his staff and other un employees were killed. another briton who died has been named asjoanna toole, who was heading to that un conference. the aircraft was brand—new. ethiopian airlines, africa's biggest and most successful

operator, received its first boeing 737—800 max aircraft last june. the plane that crashed was only delivered in november four months ago. it had flown up from johannesburg this morning. it is the same kind of aircraft bought by lion air that crashed off indonesia last year, operated by lion air. there was a loss of 189 passengers and crew killed, and it also crashed shortly after takeoff. boeing said it was deeply saddened and that a technical team was ready to provide assistance. while all thoughts are with the families of those killed, work has already begun to find out what caused the crash. the us federal aviation authority says it will be involved in the investigation. the venezuelan government have told people to stay at home after the power has been disconnected for 72

hours. there has been reports of looting in the capital. our correspondent in caracas sent us this report. tempers already afraid we re this report. tempers already afraid were boiling over as hunger and desperation takes hold. in the market in caracas, a group of mothers demand to be letting in search of food for their children. turned away, they took matters into their own hands, sacking and looting their own hands, sacking and looting the supermarket and clashing with police. dozens were arrested and ta ke police. dozens were arrested and take away that taken away, prompting hysteria. translation: we shouldn't have to do it at this age, we only did it because of our grandchildren dying of hunger. who is to blame? we are not, we are not to blame. we are

working people who live in and poor neighbourhood. these mothers whose children have been taken because they were allegedly trying to break into a supermarket is overwhelming. they are absolutely beside themselves. they say they face no other choice but to try to get food evenif other choice but to try to get food even if it was illegal. it was yet another sign of a city, an entire country in terminal decline. armed pro—government motorcycle gun that gangs enforced order at gunpoint and to add to the situation, the vast blackout shows little sign of ending. in those area where power has been restored, it's patchy, often lasting for only a few hours. in other states, hospitals, maternity wards and homes for the elderly are said to be a breaking point. drivers are queueing for hours to fill up their cars amid fears of an all—out energy shortage.

translation: the really strong currency that is working at this moment is the dollar. our currency is worthless. who is going to charge 20 or 50,000 believer in bills? —— boliver. president maduro was saying the blackout was part of the attempt to force him from office. the government has been accused of failing to maintain the hydro plants that made that keep the lights on in venezuela. ordinary venezuelans are exhausted at the situation. the country is collapsing around them and they fear that the weeks ahead will only get worse. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: india braces for the world's biggest election. 900 million could vote next month — with prime minister narendhra modhi seeking a second term.

the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief, this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours, then, the soviet union lost an elderly, sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years hisjunior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts, and, god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really. i've never been married before.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: two years after the killing of kim jong—un‘s half—brother in malaysia, murder charges against one of the defendants have been dropped. syrian forces backed by the us have begun their final assault on the last enclave held by so—called islamic state. russians have been protesting in moscow and two other cities against plans to give the kremlin the capacity to isolate the country's internet service from the rest of the world. activists say 15,000 people took part, double the police estimate. eliza philippidis reports. this is all about freedom. last month, russian lawmakers backed plans to stop internet traffic from being routed

on foreign servers. the government says it is to improve russian cyber security, but protesters say this latest attempt to control online content puts the country on track to be completely isolated from the rest of the world. they say it would put them on par with north korea, and that it is an attempt to increase censorship and stifle dissent. in russia, lots of people use a messaging app called telegram. it lets users send encrypted messages to each other, but could be shut down if the bill went through. the app urged users to rally against the bill, saying it would result in total censorship. translation: we are here because anonymity is being liquidated in russia. authorities pass laws that put people injailfor no reason, block online content

and access to information. this bill would give increasing power to the russian internet watchdog, roskomnadzor. it has already threatened action against twitter, and fined google for failing to blacklist sites. social media say 29 protesters were detained at the moscow rally, with banners and balloons confiscated. this man was dragged away by officers. authorities have not confirmed any arrests. the second reading of the bill is planned later this month. if it is passed, it will go to the upper house of the parliament, and then for a final signing by president putin. bruce mcconnell was deputy under—secretary for cybersecurity in the obama administration, and now advises on global cybersecurity. i asked him if russia's actions were a matter of security or censorship.

so, it is both. it is a matter of national security. countries have the requirement to protect their citizens and the internet is a place, as we have all seen, where bad things can come from. so that is one side of it. the other side is that in more autocratic regimes, big government views political stability as part of stability, so you are seeing that side of it in russia. —— the government. will it work? welcome you cannot cut yourself off as a country from the internet a very long. you need the banking systems, international finance and trade information. so it is kind of a one size fits all solution that is not very subtle. but there is other things with it, other services may be blocked, particular services.

linkedin has been blocked on and off in russia for quite a while. you see this around the world, governments trying to manage the downsides of this new technology while keeping the upsides. how does russia's approach or capabilities compare with china, which is the obvious example winner much more about? right, so, china's approach is more nuanced. they have put a lot more money and people into it. they have been at it longer. they are able to filter content both coming in from outside, going out, and internally within the country because they have a lot of people working on this for them and they have made a lot of investments. the russians are taking a simpler approach. larry bit newer at this. i haven't made the investments. -- they haven't. the algerian president has flown back to the country. at 82, he is rarely seenin the country. at 82, he is rarely seen in public, after having a stroke in 2013. he had been receiving medical treatment in

switzerland and there had been major demonstrations across algeria after he announced he will be standing for a fifth term in office. teachers and stu d e nts a fifth term in office. teachers and students have been on strike and many shops have been closed as protests continued. a woman who stepped over a barrier to ta ke a woman who stepped over a barrier to take a selfie at a zoo in the us state of arizona has been attacked bya state of arizona has been attacked by ajaguar. state of arizona has been attacked by a jaguar. as she tried to photograph herself with the big cat it clawed her through the fencing, leaving deep gashes on her arms. the zoo leaving deep gashes on her arms. the zoo director said people should not ci’oss zoo director said people should not cross the barriers and that the animal would not be put down. india has just announced the dates of its forthcoming elections. more than 900 million people will cast their votes, in a rolling poll so large that it takes place over six weeks, with votes being counted on may 23. prime minister narendra modi is seeking re—election. india's recent military action in pakistan will play a part in the campaign, but there are other issues too that could affect the polls. the bbc‘s yogita limaye

reports from kerala. cheering and applause. india's most powerful man. five years ago, he won the biggest majority in nearly three decades. narendra modi enjoys an almost cult following in the country. viva modi! and now, after a tense time for the people of india, he is projecting himself as the man who can keep the nation safe. influence of terrorists and terrorism has been curtailed, and it is going to be curtailed even more! this is a new india. this is an india that will return the damage done by terrorists, with interest! in response to this suicide bombing in indian kashmir in february, the country's air force launched strikes on what it says were terror

camps in pakistan. the strong action has bolstered support for mr modi, but national security is only one issue on the minds of people. the prime minister's record on economic growth and cracking down on corruption has been questioned. one of his main rivals is rahul gandhi, who comes from india's foremost political dynasty, and leads the country's oldest and one—time strongest party. the congress, though, suffered a humiliating defeat in 2014, and for the past five years, they've been trying to regain their influence. in 2019, we will have a government that will make up for all the crimes that narendra modi has done against the farmers over the last five years. there is fresh energy

at the congress's rallies, because the party has seen some success in recent state elections. but indian polls are about so much more thanjust the two national parties. regional players are extremely popular, and could make a big difference to final results. more than 1,800 parties are registered, and hundreds of millions of people cast their vote. in the coming weeks, india's election authorities will need to prepare for a democratic event like no other in the world. yogita limaye, bbc news, kerala. a quick reminder of our top story. to years after the killing of kim jong—un‘s half brother in malaysia, murder charges against one of the defendants have been dropped, and in the last few minutes the trial of the last few minutes the trial of the other defendant, a vietnamese national, has been adjourned for three days as her lawyers petition for charges to be dropped. you can reach me on twitter at any time.

good morning. well, sunday morning started off for some on a wintry note. the far north and west of the country had overnight sleet and snow showers. icy stretches on the roads, as well, as you can see by this weather watcher picture in tissington, derbyshire. it was a different story further south across england and wales. yes, there was some sunshine, but gale—force gusts of wind strong enough at times to uproot trees. and it looks as though the winds will be a key feature to our weather forecast throughout this week. potential for severe gales, could also be some heavy rain, particularly tuesday into wednesday. but, fingers crossed, some drier, brighter interludes. you can see a little bump of high—pressure building as we speak, so allowing for a quieter day today but waiting

out in the wings is another area of low pressure to arrive for tuesday. but it does mean this monday morning we start with the risk of a few wintry showers, which will ease through the morning. further north and west, still a windy start but nowhere near as strong as yesterday. and there'll be some sparkling sunshine, so highs around 8—11 degrees will feel a little more promising as the winds are lighter. by the end of the day, though, we'll see gales strengthening in the far north—west, as the area of low pressure moves in from the atlantic. it will bring significant rain, a couple of inches on west—facing slopes for a time, and some strong to gale—force winds. quite likely 40—50 mph inland, on exposed coasts, 50—60 mph. a spell of wet weather moves south and east, clearing from the south—east corner during tuesday afternoon. behind it, we'll see sunny spells and scattered showers, and some of these showers again with some hail and some sleet and snow mixed in too. now, as we move out of tuesday and into wednesday, we could see the strongest of the winds through the night. to the southern flank of the low as it drifts off into the north sea, we could see a spell of severe gales for a time. that's certainly worth bearing in mind.

so if you're going to be travelling on the roads on tuesday night and into the early hours of wednesday morning, it's worth bearing in mind and keep abreast of your weather forecast, and your bbc local radio station will tell you if there is any disruption. but, as we move into wednesday, it looks as though the winds will slowly start to ease through the day. it is going to be a windy but a showery day. i suppose the good news with the strength of the winds is those showers will rattle through at quite a pace but after those severe gales, the winds will start to slowly abate as we go through the afternoon. temperatures will probably peak at 9—11 degrees as the overall high. take care.