very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: north korea is claiming it's tested a new type of tactical guided weapon. it would be the first public missile test since the hanoi summit with president trump. peru's former president alan garcia dies. he shot himself as police tried to arrest him on bribery charges. gearing up for the mueller report. washington braces for new revelations in the russia investigation, but still not everything will be made public. bells toll and church bells bring out across france to mark the exact time notre—dame went up in flames.

hello to you. north korea is claiming it has test—fired what it calls a new type of tactical guided weapon with a powerful warhead. state media says the test was overseen by kim jong—un himself and describes it as having weighty significance. it would be the first public weapons test since talks with president trump ended without agreement in february. live now to the south korean capital, seoul, and the bbc‘s laura bicker. laura, there is very little detail i think unusually in what north korea is saying but i think the terms it is saying but i think the terms it is using usually imply it sees this asa is using usually imply it sees this as a defensive weapon, not a long—range missile and not nuclear capable. you are spot on. i think when it comes to what state media

has released, very few details. compare that back to 2017 when they we re very compare that back to 2017 when they were very specific about the kind of missiles they were launching. this time it is described as a tactical weapon. we are not even sure if it isa weapon. we are not even sure if it is a type of missile. when the word tactical is used it usually implies a short range so many analysts are telling us they don't believe it was a long—range missile. and although they mention a powerful warhead, at this stage it certainly doesn't look like they have tested a nuclear weapon. this is a low—key provocation in terms from north korea when it comes to the kinds of weapons that they have and what they could have tested. but certainly when it comes to the significance of it, it could be a warning shot, perhaps not a direct challenge, but a warning shot to the united states and others about what could be to come if talks and if the stalemate remain. any reaction, laura, from the south korean capital or from washington? we have waited -

certainly we are waiting from reaction from the presidential palace known as the blue house here in seoul. there will be disappointment among many when it comes to this test. they had hoped that north korea would engage in talks. not in testing of further weapons. when it comes to certainly what north korea might be up to next, we are hearing that kim jong—un and certainly there is speculation, and this is not confirmed, that kim jong—un speculation, and this is not confirmed, that kimjong—un may be planning a summit with vladimir putin in russia in the next couple of weeks. it looks like kim jong—un is exploring his options for now. sanctions remain from the united states and the donald trump administration has made it clear that those sanctions will remain until they see key efforts towards denuclearisation. however, north korea has asked for the sanctions first. so that is why we are at the stalemate at the moment and it does look like kim jong—un, having stalemate at the moment and it does look like kimjong—un, having given the warning that the united states has a year, they are saying, look of

these are the other options we have and one of them includes further weapons testing. laura, thank you very much for that. peru's former president alan garcia has died after shooting himself when police arrived at his home to arrest him. mr garcia, who was 69, was being investigated in connection with the payment of bribes by a brazilian construction company in order to win lucrative contracts in several south american countries. he had repeatedly denied wrongdoing. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson reports. when news broke of alan garcia's death, there was raw emotion. disbelief and anger. shouts of assassin from his supporters held back by tight security outside the hospital where doctors had tried in vain to save him. translation: they couldn't demonstrate that alan garcia was asleep. there was no sentence, nothing. - that was a thief. he served twice as peru's

president. the youngest man ever to leave the country. named by some as latin america's kennedy. he returned to power in 2000. it was during his second term that he was accused of being involved in a massive corruption scandal. the bribery allegations against alan garcia relate to this company, the largest construction company in south america. it is a household name in the region but its roots began here in brazil. it has become infamous for giving bribes in return for lucrative building contracts across many countries and the resulting scandals have brought down both politicians and business leaders alike. the company helped build venues for the rio 0lympics, alike. the company helped build venues for the rio olympics, the brazilian world cup as well as major infrastructure projects across the region. it has admitted to paying bribes of nearly $30 million in peru since 200a. but mr garcia always

protested his innocence, most recently this week, saying he was a victim of political persecution. translation: i am at peace with this andi translation: i am at peace with this and i will repeat it until i die. other people may sell out, i don't. a prescient statement, when officers who had been sent to arrest mr garcia arrived at his early on wednesday morning, he asked to make a phone call, went into the room and closed the door. minutes later, gunfire rang out. he had shot himself in the head. like is ill, peru has been hot on prosecuting politicians tied to the probe. four of his most recent presidents are all being investigated for alleged corruption. the scandal has upturned the whole region, sending politicians to prison and to the grave. let's get some of the day's other news. cheering crowds have turned out to greet the new mayor of the turkish city of istanbul. ekrem imamoglu told thousands of supporters that his win marked a new dawn for the city. electoral authorities

confimed his victory over the governing ak party, despite numerous challenges to the result. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has officially been asked to form a government following the publication of final results from last week's election. he accepted an invitation from president rivlin to put together a new administration. mr netanyahu's likud party won the same number of seats as the blue and white alliance led by benny gantz, but the prime minister is in a better position to form a coalition. robert mueller‘s long—awaited report on russian meddling in the 2016 us election is set to be published on thursday. but controversy is already surrounding its release. white house attorney general william barr is set to hold a press conference on the reports findings before it's publication. moments ago, us housejudiciary chairman jerry nadler criticised attorney general barr's decision. rather than letting the facts of the

report speak for themselves, the attorney general has taken unprecedented steps to spend mueller‘s nearly two—year investigation. well, here to give us an idea of what all this means is our correspondent david willis, who joins me from los angeles. what is going on, what is the background here, david? well, mike, it has been called the most anticipated political read since kenneth starr issued his report into whitewater, bill clinton, monica lewinsky and so on more than 20 yea rs lewinsky and so on more than 20 years ago. a once in a generation moment to quote somebody else in washington, dc, talking about this. and whatjerry nagler is angry about is he feels this report should be issued to congress before if you like the trump administration as he seesit like the trump administration as he sees it gets a chance to spin it —— nadler. the first details of that report will come out as you say 9:30am in the morning, 2:30am london

time when the attorney general william barr gives the conference at the department ofjustice. copies of the department ofjustice. copies of the report will then be made available to members of congress and the report will be published on the special counsel's website. now, as you mentioned, it will be heavily redacted in places. to prevent people who are involved in the report but not facing any sort of criminal investigation whatever being drawn in. and of course to protect classified information. but there will be a frenzy of spinning that begins as soon as this nearly 400 page document is revealed in whatever form. you can 400 page document is revealed in whateverform. you can bet your bottom... and of course it does lay the white house open, david, doesn't it, to suspicion that we are only going to see what the trump administration chooses to show us, even robert miller's own summary hasn't been made public. that's right —— mueller. what a lot of

people will be looking at tomorrow with great anticipation, if you like, is whether the report in its entirety, as much of it as we get to see, measures up to entirety, as much of it as we get to see, measures up to the 4—page summation that the attorney general william barr put out last month. and in his summation mr barr said that the findings of the special counsel found no evidence of collusion on the part of the trump campaign as far as diverting the outcome of the 2016 election was concerned but left open the question of obstruction of justice on the part of the president. now, mr barr has since said that he believes, based on the mueller enquiry, that there is no evidence that the president had committed a crime in that regard. but there are those who believe, mike, that the special counsel left that issue open for congress to decide, not the attorney general. david, thank you very much for that.

in the indonesian capital, jakarta, supporters of presidentjoko widodo have been celebrating the news he has likely won another term as leader. unofficial results give him a lead of ten percentage points over his rival, former general prabowo subianto, but president widodo is already facing challenges ahead. the bbc‘s karishma vaswani is in jakarta. a decisive victory for indonesian presidentjoko widodo, according to unofficial quick count results. translation: from these initial exit polls we've seen that we have won, but we must be patient and wait for the official results. supporters ofjoko widodo have gathered here to try to and catch a glimpse of the man they have just voted in as this country's next president for the second time. the celebrations are just beginning, but already he's facing challenges ahead. his rival and former general, prabowo subianto, says exit polls conducted by his camp show that he is the president.

translation: our exit polls show that we have won with 55.4% of the vote. mr prabowo may well lodge a complaint in the coming days and challenge these results. but as simple as it looks, indonesia's quick count system has been shown to work and, by the end of the day, with the sample votes counted, all signs point to a joko widodo victory. voter turnout was 80%, thought to be the highest ever in indonesia's democratic era. behind these numbers, though, issues that matter to indonesians. translation: the economy and jobs are the most important issues for me. but my religion says, a good leader is someone who is close to the clerics. translation: i want a president that cares about all indonesians and doesn't look at our differences. i don't care what religion he is,

but he must be honest. now the votes are cast the hard work begins. this campaign has divided indonesians more than ever before and it will be the task of its next president to bring his people together and ensure the unity of this diverse nation. karishma vaswani, bbc news, jakarta. at least 28 people have died in a bus crash on the portugese island of madeira. the bus, carrying german tourists and it's thought some local people, plunged off a road and overturned. the crash happened just outside the capital city, funchal. there were around 50 on board altogether, and it's feared pedestrians may be among the dead. ben ando reports. the coach, which was carrying german holiday—makers, came to rest on its on its side after apparently coming off the road on a tight curve and rolling down the mountain. exactly how it happened isn't clear. the bus is badly damaged with most of its windows broken. it seems many of the victims

were thrown onto the ground in the crash. local people quickly gathered, some assisting the emergency services as they helped injured survivors get clear of the wreckage. 55 people were on board the bus when it crashed in the early evening in in the city of canico, east of the island's capital, funchal. madeira is one of a small group of islands off the coast of north africa that are part of the republic of portugal. it is a popular destination for those seeking early—season sun. tonight, work at the scene goes on. here, the foreign office is it standing by to offer assistance to any britons caught up in the tragedy, but so far those involved appear to be german tourists or locals. ben ando, bbc news. much more to come on bbc news, including this: from palace to prison, sudan's former president is taken to the same jail where political dissidents were sent under his rule. 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 latest headlines: north korea says it's tested a new type of tactical guided weapon — the first missile test since the hanoi summit between kim jong—un and president trump. who's former president has died. this might carew, as police tried to arrest him on bribery charges —— peru's resident has died. —— former president. the trump administration on wednesday imposed new sanctions and other punitive measures on cuba and venezuela, seeking to ratchet up us pressure on havana to end its support for venezuela's socialist president, nicolas maduro. speaking in miami, the us national security advisor, john bolton, announced new restrictions on cuba, including tightening the rules on remittances and travel to cuba. our correspondent will grant is in havana. we'll, tell us more about this. how significant does this seem to be?

it's very important, i canjust remember how important remittance is asa remember how important remittance is as a source of income to cuba. millions of ordinary cuban families depend on their cousins, brothers and sisters in miami, new york and elsewhere in the united states to send dollars home every month. that is going to be a big hit stopped and travel restrictions as well, the tourism economy on the island is beginning to pick up, it's finding it's best numbers, 4 million visitors also a year. suddenly all of the advances and changes made under president obama is being made back by the trump administration. how much support is cuba giving to venezuela? is how much support is cuba giving to venezuela ? is it likely how much support is cuba giving to venezuela? is it likely that it might roll back on that? in a sense it's venezuela giving support to cuba. it's the support that comes in terms of the oil, very preferential

rates paid for by doctors and teachers and intelligence services to venezuela. that deal is in trouble, i would say. just given given how difficult the situation is in venezuela. for the time being, it is limping along. fidel castro somewhere in the region of 100,000 barrels of oil a day in exchange for the doctors, we know that is not happening, it is somewhat reduced. the relationship is under strain. happening, it is somewhat reduced. the relationship is under strainm there any way that cuba can mitigate any of the impacts? we've seen for example, the european union come out, canada come out, all opposing a step that was taken simultaneously taken by the state department secretary of state mike pompeo cold total three of the helms burton act, what that means is that americans who have property seized and

expropriated by fidel castro's revolution in 1959 can take those issues to court. that can have a real knock—on effect on foreign businesses investing in the country, they might be benefiting from those properties and obviously the european union can determine where some of those businesses are from have come against that. it's going to cause a real diplomatic spats and i think cuba will be looking to the european union and canada to back it in this argument. it's quite possible there could be more coming down the pipe for the trump administration. the president has made it clear here is no friend to cuba, unlike previous occupant of the white house. absolutely right. we— the white house. absolutely right. we — the trump administration and specificallyjohn bolton we — the trump administration and specifically john bolton has discussed these three countries venezuela, cuba and one other, is

literally use the references of a 19th—century us foreign policy, the munro doctrine, which too many latin americans simply means washington's backyard. latin america is washington's backyard. a huge rejection of that. mister bolton says the munro doctrine was alive and well. thank thank you very much. the ousted president of sudan, omar al—bashir, has been moved to a high security prison, according to members of his family. months of protests against deteriorating conditions in the country culminated in him being deposed in an army coup last week. and protesters are now calling for theirformer leaders to be held to account for their crimes — as our africa correspondent alistair leithead reports from the capital, khartoum. change has already come to sudan, but you wouldn't have thought so on the streets of khartoum today. in a place where dissent is dealt with through intimidation and torture, these people risked it all to stand their ground and now say they won't stop

until they get what they want. and there's a long list of demands. all three of these protesters were picked up from home by the security forces at night and held for months in terrible conditions. abdullah isjust 21, an it student — he described being forced into stress positions all night and being tortured with an electric stick. he saw a lot of other young people beaten many times. morua is a secondary school teacher, she's 32 and was held in custody for weeks. demands like arresting former leaders haven't been met, she says — the military‘s made promises, but nothing's been done yet, it's all talk and no action. junior officersjoined the protesters and protected them. the military remains split.

the demonstrations started over the price of bread under the basics. it was anger over inflation which transformed into a movement against the president of nearly 30 years and his regime. cash is in desperately short supply. people really are struggling to get by. but life goes on, despite a protest in major parts of the city, as an old regime tries to hang on. it's creating gridlock, and the longer the demonstrations continue, the more angry ordinary people could become. there's been a coup, a change of leadership, a whole series of sackings and reshuffles, but yet still thousands of protesters remain on the streets of khartoum. they don't trust the generals in the headquarters just over there — they think it's just the shuffling of an old deck of cards, and are not moving until they see what they feel is going to bring real

change to this country. alastair leithead, bbc news, in khartoum. cathedral bells rung out across france at ten to seven this evening to mark the exact moment when a huge fire broke out at notre—dame cathedral in paris. today some of the firefighters who saved notre—dame from collapse described how a hundred of them were tasked with protecting the works of art and treasures from inside the cathedral as the roof went up in flames. lucy williamson reports from paris. notre—dame today is a cathedral divided by the fire. marks of tragedy, surrounded by tranquillity. this video, given exclusively to the bbc, shows stained—glass intact under a jagged hole where the roof used to be. polished pews lined up before piles of charred timber. that so much survived is perhaps extraordinary. the local mayor said there was a moment that night when fire crews told president macron they weren't sure if notre—dame could be saved. it's a very difficult site to attack.

they couldn't get there, up there, with their scales. the normal scales are not large, they're not tall enough. so they had to use other devices. they had to get into the building, they had to check the building was safe. they went in there and they did not have 100% certainty that they would be able to get down and get out. this is what firefighters faced that night. today, one of them spoke publicly for the first time. translation: i went up into the towers. it was only when i got to the top that i saw how daunting it was. it was extremely hot and we had to keep moving back, moving back. it was spreading very quickly. at some point, we heard an enormous noise which must have been the spire falling down. investigators have so far interviewed around 30 people. early reports suggest the fire began at the base of the cathedral‘s central spire, where a major restoration project was starting. the main contractor involved in the restoration work told us they were the only ones in the building on monday and had

been putting up scaffolding, not doing anything involving heat or sparks. they left at 5:50pm, he told us, turned off the electricity, and handed the keys to the caretaker. along the banks of the seine today, artists came to record a rare change in the city landscape. the prime minister has announced an international competition for architects to design the cathedral‘s new spire. at churches across france tonight, bells rang out in solidarity with notre—dame. the sound of continuity after a crisis that lets all of paris know they're not alone. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. more on that for you on the bbc website.

and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello again. wednesday was a perfectly acceptable day for many parts of the british isles, but it may well be put in the shade by what we are expecting to see quite widely across the british isles on saturday. the temperatures could peak around london at 25 degrees. for those of you who have opted for the stay—cation for this particular holiday weekend, well, you're certainly beating those who have decided to head down anywhere really, from iberia right across to the eastern mediterranean. the reason for our settled spell of weather is that the jet stream, as we move through the weekend and into the start of next week, should be well away from the british isles. we're trapped on its warmer side. you'll notice there is a pocket

of somewhat cooler air not a million miles to the west of us as we start the new week. more on that in just a second. thursday starts off rather cloudy across eastern scotland and the eastern side of the pennines, but as the day gets going that cloud dissipates. a little bit of fair weather cloud, not much more than that. on the east coast the onshore breeze is around ten, 11, 12. inland is widely in the upper teens, if not in the 20s. for all that we have to thank that big area of high pressure, which i'm sure you're getting used to by now, it's been there over scandanavia for a wee while. it will certainly dominate many of us as we get on through the weekend. friday, just maybe the odd passing shower to start the day in eastern parts of scotland, but friday is a really glorious day across many parts of the british isles. and those temperatures, notjust a south—east phenomena. widely in the upper teens. and again, many locations could see 20—21 or something in that order. a fly in the ointment as we move towards the weekend. the weather front will be pushed

closer to the northern and western parts of scotland, maybe northern ireland too, tempering the feel of the day there certainly. but as i say, widely 22—23, maybe a 24 or 25 across the south—east. not much change into easter sunday, we will have the remnants of that weather front trying to work its way down across scotland, thickening the cloud here, the odd spot of rain more, i suspect, towards the far north—west. sunshine rather hazy across northern ireland. but elsewhere, if you've got plans for the outdoors, get out and enjoy it. a word to the wise, the pollen is really quite high at the moment. and if you're out for any length of time, the uv levels are also worthy of consideration. come monday, the jet stream just trying to work an area of low pressure close to the western side of the british isles, but those fronts lingering far out west for many. easter monday too looking like a pretty decent day.

the latest headlines for you from bbc news: north korea is claiming it has test—fired what it calls a new type of tactical guided weapon with a powerful warhead. state media says the test was overseen by kimjong—un himself, and describes it as having weighty significance. the former president of peru, alan garcia, has died after shooting himself as police arrived at his home to arrest him over corruption allegations. mr garcia who had served two terms as president was accused of taking bribes from the brazilian construction firm, odebrecht. robert mueller‘s long—awaited report on russian interference in the 2016 us election is to be published, in part, on thursday. but there's plenty of controversy about it already. attorney general william barr is to hold a press conference on it before the redacted version is published. that decision has been criticised by the democrats. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur is in berlin