welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president macron promises notre—dame cathedral will be rebuilt within five years, donations have already reached almost $1 billion. ecuador‘s president tells the bbc the shocking details that led to him ending julian assange‘s asylum. the stage is set for indonesia's elections — but religious issues are crowding out many other concerns. the push for power in afghanistan — how women's roles are changing in the deeply conservative country.

in france, grief is now mixed with defiance and hope. hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring in to rebuild a spiritual and cultural landmark within five years, president macron has promised. there is relief that so much of notre—dame cathedral, and what was inside it, has survived. but much has been lost for good. from paris, lucy williamson reports. what burned with notre—dame, high above the paris skyline, was 800 years of history. for some, the physical anchor of paris, the cultural soul of france. it took 23 minutes to confirm the fire alert and send emergency crews to the scene. the fire was spreading quickly, oak rafters that had held the roof for centuries turning to ash in the evening sky.

this was the first glimpse of what they faced, footage of the building filmed from above, the flames mapping a cross against the night sky. inside, burning embers were still falling when the first crews made their way in. the pews where people had been waiting for mass that afternoon now covered with smouldering rubble. the empty space lit from above by a blaze of fire where the roof had been. tonight president macron addressed the nation. translation: we found that what we thought was indestructible can be damaged. everything that makes france is alive and therefore fragile. and yes, we will rebuild the notre—dame cathedral and it will be more beautiful than before and it will be done in five years. this is where france kept not just its relics but its stories, a place to mark both heroism and loss.

those two things were felt here again last night, a new chapter in the tale of notre—dame. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. you heard france's deputy interior minister mention there. there was a crucial time window of barely half an hour that made all the difference to saving so much of the cathedral and its treasures. the firefighters were working to a practised plan, but so many people have been talking of the courage it took to do what those fire crews did. gregg favre is a firefighter of 20 years experience and gregg, i know you're also a professor in emergency management at the university of st louis, missouri. and a catholic. those images from 30 hours ago must‘ve been a tough watch in so many ways for you. suddenly. i saw it relatively quickly on twitter and the initial images as a firefighter who works in an urban area, as a fire fire —— firefighter who used to work in a cathedral, i'm

not only familiar with the building structure, and what overseeing initially was so deeply concerning, the fire went about as expected. save for the fact that the paris fire brigade didn't incrediblejob in the back half of the fire, of managing to wrangle some of the control bark and save large portions of the building. it was a monumental effort that they put forth and even among firefighting banks it is a heroic effort to every measure of the word. from your experience, can you talk us through that in more detail? what they are up against? you have some really interesting initial concerns. 0ne, whether is located. everything indicates right now, the investigation will turn inclusively, the fire started up near the roof in a loft or heavy timberarea.

near the roof in a loft or heavy timber area. this building is not designed for a lot of traffic through, to actually get physical bodies into that space. it's certainly not designed to get equipment like big hoses and things like that into position to fight a fire up there. you also have the issue of smoke and heat dissipating. not being able to fight the fire right away is a concern at first. if you try to search for a fire in a cavernous structure like this. the other concern is a fire captain, as a chief of operations, that you have to be worried about is all the people that are there in the moment, you know you have cathedral staff, you know you have cathedral staff, you have contractors who are working on the renovations and you have visitors. i read today that the mass was going on at the time, as a fire commander, you only have a finite number of initial resources going to be on scene, and you have to decide how you are going to be up those resources for a fire attack,

evacuation, searching for people who may be didn't hear the fire alarm can't find their way out. they were up can't find their way out. they were up againstan can't find their way out. they were up against an eight ball. the moment that fire came in, again, i spoke with fire chiefs around the country yesterday as a source unfolding and everybody said this is tremendous. they are willing to do what they did, the building is a national treasure, but it is a building and those are things they were saving. this is not human life. sure. i was really moved by the story of those who donned fire gear and took firefighters into areas of the cathedral he knew had important a rtefa cts , cathedral he knew had important artefacts, that's a tremendous thing to do, not only from a firefighting standpoint but from a cultural sacrifice, to be willing to go in and put your life on the line to say things that mean so much not only the country but to the world. again, it's a heroic effort by so many.

professor, interesting to talk to you. thank you so much. the president of ecuador has renewed his allegations about the behaviour of the wikileaks co—founder, julian assange, during his seven year stay at the ecuadorean embassy in london. julian assange was arrested last week by british police and now faces possible extradition to the united states on hacking charges. the president spoke to our north america editorjon sopel. translation: several, from verbal insults against ecuador, when he referred to our country as a completely insignificant country, on one hand. and on the other — excuse me that i have to say this here — but even smearing his faeces on our embassy‘s walls. i think these are sufficient reasons to revoke and terminate his asylum. so what did jon sopel make

of what president moreno told him? it was a kind of a shocking claim, as you can imagine, coming from the country's president, which gives it all that additionalforce. i should say thatjulian assange's lawyer has denied any suggestion that he behaved in that way. the president also went on to talk about his bullying of stuff, attacking stuff, even spying on stuff, putting cameras in the embassy. and what you kind of see there is the breakdown of a relationship, that he had been in that embassy for seven years and i felt, from president moreno, speaking to him, there was a kind of huge sense of relief thatjulian assange was now somebody else's problem and not ecuador‘s. let's get some of the day's other news: parts of central london including waterloo bridge and parliament square are blocked to traffic for a second day by climate change protestors.

extinction rebellion say they want to shut down london until the end of the month. police have arrested nearly 300 people. new zealand's terror threat level has dropped from high to medium. prime ministerjacinda ardern announced the change after a review by authorities. the level has been high since 50 people were killed in a terror attack on mosques in christchurch. a medium threat level, however, means an attack is still believed to be feasible. president trump has vetoed a bill passed by the united states congress last week that would have ended us support for the saudi—led coalition in the conflict in yemen. in a statement, mr trump described the resolution as "an unnecessary and dangerous" attempt to weaken his constitutional powers and a threat to the lives of american citizens. a reuters news agency team, including two journalists who are injail in myanmar, has won a pulitzer prize for reporting on the murder of rohingya muslims by the burmese military. the prestigious prize is the latest given to wa lone and kyaw soe 0o, who are serving seven years in prison for their investigation

into the killing in 2017 of 10 unarmed men. 193 million indonesians head to the polls today in what may be the world's most complicated election. indonesia's presidential, parliamentary and regional elections are all happening simultaneously, for the first time in its history. karishma vaswani reports from jakarta. a rock star welcome forjoko widodo and his message of unity and economic growth. joko widodo can definitely pack in the crowds. he is selling the same vision this time round, but in a decidedly different political landscape, and some of the choices he has made have disappointed his supporters. two years ago, hardline protests broke out

against his former right—hand man, chinese indonesian christian, basuki tjahaja purnama, or ahok, as he's known. he was accused of blasphemy against islam. and, as the nation watched, ahok went through a highly politicised trial and eventually went to jail. jokowi stayed silent. today, jokowi's running mate is a hard—line muslim cleric, and one of the leaders of that witch—hunt. a visible attempt to silence those who have questioned his religious credentials. his main opponent, former military general, prabowo subianto, has also tacked into a growing desire for power amongst hardline muslim groups. both sides in the presidential campaign have used religious issues, they have used islam as a tool to get support. after the election is over,

will they be able to put this genie back in the bottle and go back to business as usual? i think it will be difficult because they have certainly excited a lot of people and they've increased tensions in society and they've really put religion at the front of politics. much of this has not been felt yet in daily life, except for a growing piety in indonesian society. translation: i only wear a headscarf to work but there is growing pressure to wear one. if my friends are wearing the hijab in a photo on social media and i'm not, ifeel bad, so the next time i will wear it. for mulyaningsih and millions of other indonesians, this election is about so much more than religion. it is about the economy, jobs and a better future, but religious issues are threatening to overshadow that narrative, putting indonesia's democracy and pluralism at risk. and karishma vaswani joins us

now live from jakarta. you've been saying that the election is so much more about, about so much more than religion. it is about the way the two candidates are defining themselves. very much so, you've seen that in the choice of the running mate for residentjoko widodo, the incumbent, he's got the 76—year—old cleric as his vice president shall candidate and on the other side you've got prabowo subianto and businessmen running after having courted their critics saying, many hard lines... you can see those hardline groups represented with the flags, at the rallies that they have held in jakarta. that's just one of the choices that these residents and people across the archipelago will make today, voting kicked off an

hour or so ago and on the ballots, amongst the choices indonesians are making today, beside the president and vice presidential candidates are thousands of seats across a local and national legislative parliaments. it's a really complicated election and they're trying to do it all in one day. i gather they will be preliminary results within hours of the final results, not until next month. that's right, one of the big concerns in the lead up to this election has been the issue of voting regularities of voting lists as well as the concerns over tampered ballots, overseas voting booths from thousands of ballots in malaysia, for instance. the election commission has said they may end up asking for that vote to be redone. there are also —— there are also long queues outside of the voting booths for overseas voters in places like sydney where some have

complained about not being able to cross their vote at all, even here injakarta cross their vote at all, even here in jakarta we cross their vote at all, even here injakarta we are getting reports of those long queues and lack of efficiency at polling booths across the country. all of this of course, will add to the fact that voter participation may not be as high this time round as we have seen in previous elections and something that the opposition would use to say when they contest, or if they contest the results of they don't go their way. thank you very much for that. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: what a difference a day makes. this dog found 100 miles of the thai coast, welcome on dry land. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated

1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news.

the main story this hour: president mccrone has promised notre—dame will be rebuilt in five yea rs. notre—dame will be rebuilt in five years. the fundraising has almost already reached $1 billion. peter sealy is an architectural historian with the university of toronto, although currently in montreal. be restored and rebuilt do you think, in five years, as the president promises? five years is asking quite a lot and we will probably have more of an idea in the next few weeks when engineers and architects and other experts are actually able to access the structure. first they will need cranes and equipment to allow them to study at properly. having said that, yes, certainly it can be restored. going to a site like this after such a fire, what kind of problems will they be facing? the

desire not to be standing on parts of the structure that may not be secure. secondly, the fact that parts of the building which have never, at least not for a long time been exposed to the elements, which now are. there is a danger of the stone reacting badly. so there is still quite a lot of hurdles to jump over to properly assess the situation. that will be an issue for the stained—glass windows, i guess. it seems as if the news was somewhat positive with the main windows, but of course that is something that we will need to study. other other exa m ples of will need to study. other other examples of anything like this? are there actually, yes. notre—dame has a long history of fires and disasters and other gothic cathedrals. these buildings have been around for almost a millennia now, especially if we turn to the first and second world was, various cathedrals were destroyed in the first world war or partially

destroyed, and they were rebuilt in a timeframe of around 20 years, cologne cathedral in germany was damaged in the second world war and was rebuilt quickly. so there is a history of this. in a sense, i suppose, the cathedral has been in a state of restoration very very long time. it took 200 years to build, i think, and has across the centuries. it's crucial, yesterday was a horrible catastrophe, but of course, if he draws evolved greatly over time, this one, two. it was damaged in the french revolution, and parts of it that were lost yesterday, some of it that were lost yesterday, some of them date back to the 12th century, but this fire was built in the 19th century. it has been continuously changing over time, it is important to remember that returning to reconstruction. due expected to look much the same as when the restoration is finished, or would you expect a modern twist? my

belief is that, my guess is that it will be rebuilt almost exactly the way it was or rather whatever appropriate techniques can be used today will be used to make it look the way it did before. but that is actually a very interesting question. i think that is a place for architects and architectural historians to engage the public in a debate is the first of many options for that. thank thank you very much. my for that. thank thank you very much. my pleasure. women from afghanistan are calling for more say in talks this weekend between the taliban and an afghan government delegation. afghanistan is still a deeply conservative society, where women have to fight for their rights. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports from kabul. building a different afghanistan takes time, it takes effort. even body—building has been taboo — for women. hooria kurbani's family used to say this is no place for a woman. now she has her own gym but faces threats in this conservative

society to shut it. translation: we have fought for our rights up to now. we will never give up. we will continue to fight. do you worry now, now that there's talks with the taliban, that you could lose some of this? i have spent all my life in a society that's full of fear, we are always in danger — i'm used to it now. zan tv — women's tv, trying to change a man's world. not just a channel for women, a place to train them to do all thejobs. 0gai wardak was born in 2001, the year the taliban were ousted from power. last year, during a rare 3—day ceasefire, she came face to face with taliban fighters. the taliban that we have in this

time, it's not like the past. the past taliban that i heard your stories, they are really scary. do think the taliban will let you work here at zan tv? they won't, yeah. so what will you do? so i have to fight with them, because it's my dream, and i have to work for my sisters. a deeply conservative society is changing — slowly. this is usually men's work. not the best of work, but it feeds a family. this country has undeniably changed since the years when the taliban were in charge here. women of kabul couldn't even go out on the streets then. but the taliban also say they've changed. the question is, have they changed as much as their society has? that question is being asked by women who have broken through the thickest of glass ceilings. nargis nehan is a senior government minister.

a growing number of women are now in topjobs. they're anxious to preserve this progress in any taliban talks. they're coming as a political group, there is no fear, and we are fully ready to discuss with them and all the difference is that we have negotiate with them. but if they're coming for a political capture only, that they will come and capture and arrest people and take us backward, it is of a big concern for us. women insist they must be at the table. former mp fawzia koofi is one of the only women who attended the first round of talks. how did it feel to meet the man who once stopped girls, including her, from going to school? so i felt powerful, and ifelt visible, and ifelt also, i think they listened. yes, they did not agree to my view perhaps, we did not share many things in common, but they listened, and i think that was the moment that i realised, you know, they cannot take us back. afghanistan is called one of the hardest places to be a woman.

women have lost so much in war — they are determined to win when there is peace. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. you may have seen the story about a dog that was risk from the ocean was 200 plumbers the coast of thailand and 135 miles now the animal has been brought back to port to be given a health check. he was discovered swimming in the gulf of thailand on monday. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. back on dry land, a miracle on four legs. this little champion has been named boonrod, a thai word that roughly translates as" saved one." you can say that again. he looks 0k now, a little dehydrated but basically you're right. it was a very different story a day earlier. this was boonrod when he was pulled

onboard and oil rig in the gulf of thailand. bedraggled and exhausted, the animal had been found swimming in the water where he came from, how he got there, and how long he was in the sea — no—one knows. there has been some speculation he may have fallen off a fishing trawler. whatever the answer, this was quite a feat of dog paddling. after his rescue, boonrod was transferred onto a ship and brought to this port in southern thailand. when he is com pletely southern thailand. when he is completely recovered and given the all clear, he will then move to a new home in the north—east of the country, about as far away from the sea as you can get. another great story. just ruefully, a reminder of our menus, the french president, emmanuel macron has promised notre—dame cathedral will be rebuilt within five years, it was devastated by fire just about 30 hours ago.

business tycoons have played is almost $1 billion towards the reconstruction. that's it for now. thank you very much for watching. hello. good morning, tuesday was a cloudy day for many of us, rain and drizzle around as well. this was the scene in the north—west of england where it was quite a bit cooler thanks to that rain and drizzle in low cloud. we had a taste of things to come here in cornwall, the sun was out and it was a good deal warmer as well. we're going to find more sunshine more widely as we head the easter weekend, and as a result it will be turning warmer everywhere. still some cloud on the scene. this is heading towards iberia to bring some cooler, wetter weather. this cloud brought rain and drizzle earlier on. further south, clearing skies mean some mr and fog

forming. does make mist and fog. that will take a little while to clear away in the morning. western scotland, the cloud breaks, the sunshine develops more widely, that we could bubble up some cloud in east anglia and squeeze out a late light shower. 0n the whole it is a dry and warm afternoon with temperatures reaching 19 or 20 in the south—east of england. with all this warmth and sunshine, high pollen levels across england and wales in particular. as we head into the evening and overnight, watch out towards the east to see some mist and low cloud coming off the north sea, that will push its way further inland across northern areas, so a bit misty and murky in the hills. chilly in northern areas, those other temperatures in towns and cities. it will get warmer as we head towards easter, really warming up head towards easter, really warming up across head towards easter, really warming up across central europe. this is where ourair is up across central europe. this is where our air is going to be coming from, hence those rising temperatures on that south—easterly

breeze. there will be some mist and low cloud on thursday, the cloud tending to break up, sunshine developing quite widely. a south—easterly breeze. it's quite cool are among those south—east coast, but otherwise temperatures are continuing to rise. 20 or 21 is quite likely on thursday. by day, hardly a cloud in the sky. we will see a lot of sunshine as light south, south—easterly breezes push that warmth northwards. 21 — 22 in the central belt. 23 from london with winds from the north—west of england. this is a flavour of what to come for the easter weekend. northern areas may be seeing some rain on sunday. the south—east still dry with some sunshine.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the french president emmanuel macron has promised notre dame cathedral will be rebuilt within five years after it was devastated by fire. a number of companies and business tycoons have so far pledged almost $1 billion towards the reconstruction efforts. voting is underway in indonesia's presidential and parliamentary elections, where almost 200 million people are eligible to vote. the incumbent president, joko widodo, is running against an ex—general prabowo subianto seen here voting in a race which correspondents say has seen both embrace hardline islamic allies. the president of ecuador has made renewed allegations about the behaviour of the wikileaks founder, julian assange, during his seven year stay at the ecuadorean embassy in london. lenin moreno told the bbc that mr assange had insulted his country and had even smeared faeces on the embassy‘s walls.