a 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 ring 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. our correspondent in seoul, laura bicker, says north korea has released very little information about the test. i think when it comes to what state media has released, very few details. compare that back to 2017 when they were very specific about the kind of missiles they were launching. this time it's described as a tactical weapon. we're not even sure

if it's a type of missile. when the word "tactical" is used it usually implies 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've 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 orfrom washington? we've waited — certainly we're waiting for 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're hearing that kim jong—un and certainly there's speculation, and it's 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 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's why we're at the stalemate at the moment, does look like kim jong—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 bickerfor us. 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. our 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 garcia was a thief. there was no sentence, nothing. garcia twice served as peru's president — first in the 1980s, the youngest man ever to take office in country. a leader dubbed by some as latin america's kennedy. mr garcia returned to power in the 2000s. 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 back

to this company, 0debrecht, the largest construction company in south america. it's a household name in the region, but its roots began here in brazil. it's 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, the brazilian world cup, as well as major infrastructure projects across the region. 0debrecht 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, and i will repeat it until i die. other people may sell out, i don't.

a prescient statement — when officers who'd been sent to arrest mr garcia arrived at his early on wednesday morning, he asked to make a phone call, went into a room and closed the door. minutes later, gunfire rang out. he'd shot himself in the head. like brazil, peru has been hot on prosecuting politicians tied to the probe. four of its most recent presidents are all being investigated for alleged corruption. the scandal has upturned the whole region, sending politicians to prison and to their grave. 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. moments ago, the chair of the housejudiciary committee, jerry nadler, criticised that decision.

the fact that the attorney general is not releasing even the redacted report until after this conference will again mean the report will come through his own words rather than through his own words rather than through the words of special counsel mueller. the central concern here is that the attorney general barr is not allowing the fact of the mueller report to speak for themselves but is trying to bay in the narrative about the report to the benefit of the white house. well, here to give us an idea of what all this means is our correspondent david willis who joins me from los angeles. how much of this is political argy bargy, how much of this seems to be really significant? i think it is setting the tone, isn't it, mike, because jerrry nadler they're setting the tone, isn't it, mike, becausejerrry nadler they're making the point that this is an attempt by the point that this is an attempt by the white house to spend the contents the white house to spend the co nte nts of the white house to spend the contents of this much anticipated report in its favour by having this press c0 nfe re nce

report in its favour by having this press conference at the department ofjustice at 9:30am in the morning washington time before the report is actually released to congress. well, i think we're going to hear a lot more accusations from both sides coming backwards and forwards because this is all going be about spin once the details of that hefty report i made public. there will be a lot of reductions of course for a variety of reasons, not least because some of the material in the report is classified. but both sides will be looking to spin it in their favour and president trump has intimated that he might also hold a press c0 nfe re nce intimated that he might also hold a press conference of his own. we know that his lawyers have been hard at work for some time now preparing a counter report to that of the special counsel robert mueller.m is understandable why they would be suspicions of spin. president trump said the report completely exonerates him on obstruction of justice. the little we know about

the report, it absolutely does not say that. well, that's right, and the crucial part of all this is whether the special counsel's report bears with the conclusions that were summarised by the attorney general william barr last month when he wrote that 4—page memo basically clearing the trump campaign team of collusion with the russians but leaving open this whole question of whether there had been this obstruction of justice. whether there had been this obstruction ofjustice. now, by leaving that matter open, the attorney general william barr stepped into the breach and said that he didn't believe there was enough evidence of criminality for any sort of criminal case to go forward , any sort of criminal case to go forward, but there are a lot of people, mike, who would have preferred that that matter be considered by congress and that the verdict on that matter be theirs and not that of mr trump's appointment as attorney general. what is the thinking on this, david, longer

term? are there likely to be legal ramifications to this, or is itjust going to be for political pointscoring? 0h, going to be for political pointscoring? oh, this could bejust the start of a long process of arguing over this whole report. of course, the democrats, mike, want the publication of this report in full with no reductions. and they have said they are willing to subpoenaed the department ofjustice if necessary in order to obtain it. and they also want evidence that was gathered by robert mueller and his tea m gathered by robert mueller and his team observed so that it can aid congressional inquiries that are likely to be ongoing now. so, you know, rather than closing the book on this whole matter, this could be just the start of a new chapter in it, if you like. thank you very much. at least 29 people have died in a bus crash on the portugese island of madeira. the bus 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 ben ando, bbc news. much more to come on bbc news,

including this: tintoretto crosses the atlantic. some of the artist's greatest works have left venice for the first time in 500 years. 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. peru's former president, alan garcia, has died after shooting himself in the head as police were trying to arrest him on bribery charges. 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 10 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. for a third day in a row climate change activists from extinction rebellion have been protesting in central london. a group gathered outside labour 0pposition leaderjeremy corbyn‘s home while others glued themselves to a train carriage on the docklands light railway. 0thers spent the day camped at major junctions in london including oxford circus and waterloo bridge. so far 340 people have been arrested. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. extinction rebellion, a new direct action group trying to take control of this and other key locations for up of this and other key locations for up to two weeks. but today please

moved in and made more arrest. does make arrests. we have an emergency here, and i don't think we're causing any harm. using powers designed to balance the right to protest with the need to reduce disruption. the police are taking this extremely slowly, not least to keep the temperature under control, but also because they're starting to run out of police cells. i'm here because humanity is facing extinction and ecocide. i'm here as a peaceful protester, the government must take action. their demands? the declaration of a climate emergency, radical cuts to carbon emissions. "we're sorry for the disruption," they say. the fact of the matter is that we've tried things that are less disruptive for over 30 years. people have been petitioning, marching, writing letters, and nothing's been done. but they also brought a busy rail line to a halt, the docklands light railway, using unusual tactics. cue angry commuters and this from london's mayor. i am worried about protesters that

are targeting public transport, because i am trying to encourage more and more londoners to use public transport because it is good for the environment. another target was oxford circus, used by 23 bus routes, as well as black cabs. it is getting about, people can protest, but for two weeks, i think it is too long. jeremy corbyn received special treatment. protesters fix themselves to his fans, planning to get rid of all greenhouse gas emissions within six years. the government was my considering a 0% target by 2050.. uk undera considering a 0% target by 2050.. uk under a government has played a role in reducing emissions in growing the economy. we have shown you can do both, but i think yes, there is more that can be done in we need to have a serious conversation about the role britain can play.

tonightthe protesters are camped out and organised, not planning to move soon. they say reinforcements are on the way. istanbul has a new mayo, despite challenges to the result —— brexit. the prime minister of israel is now ina the prime minister of israel is now in a better position to form a coalition. cathedral bells rung out across france at 6:50pm 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. it's taken about 500 years, but tintoretto, one of the great masters of the italian renaissance, has finally made his debut in the united states. some of the enormous works now on display at the national gallery of art in washington have left venice for the first time, to help celebrate the anniversary of the artist's birth. jane o'brien went for a look. this year scale of tintoretto's canvases is overwhelming.

some couldn't be included in this show because they wouldn't fit through the gallery doors. those that did are a storyteller‘s paradise. scenes from the bible and classical mythology brought to life in dramatic brushstrokes. tintoretto worked on an enormous scale, and the really big paintings behind me are actually only middle—sized tintorettos. he really had this ambition to cover every wall of his native town. he was born in venice 500 years ago, and he really thought big. for him, a way of conveying urgency was to do things on a really colossal scale. tintoretto was a pioneer in the new medium of oil paint on canvas, and he used the human figure, usually muscular and drawn from life, to drive his narratives. in the last supper, the disciples are clearly shocked whenjesus says one of them will betray him. their actions tell the story. tintoretto painted at least nine

versions of the last supper and they are very different for the time in that they are quite casual, rustic, they are full of movement. and over here we have what scholars believe is a portrait of his young daughter. and down there you've even got a cat. he was also prolific, running a workshop to churn out his paintings to keep up with the huge number of commissions. this is one of the highlights of the exhibition, the paradiso, and it's incredible to think that this is almost 500 years old, because it is so modern, so vibrant and just so... jammy. in fact, this 16 foot long sketch was his calling card and secured him the prize of painting the doge's palace, the principal government building in venice. with so many of tintoretto's big kahunas on display,

it might be easy to overlook his portraits, but they were the inspiration for later artists such as rubens and rembrandt, and critics rank them among the finest of the era. tintoretto's sitters look you directly in the eye, it seems as if they've just seen you, you lock eyes with them. he eliminates anything else from the painting that would distract from this focus on the direct gaze. that gives him a very contemporary feeling. you feel that these are people that you might know today. this is the first time tintoretto has had his own blockbuster show in the us, and with the exception of some works still in venice, this exhibition has assembled his finest paintings under one roof, illustrating why he still packs a punch, centuries later. look at all that magnificence. you can catch up any time on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you for watching.

hello, thanks forjoining me. 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're expecting to see quite widely across the british isles on saturday. the temperatures could well 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've 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 that 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. 0n the east coast the onshore breeze is around ten, 11, 12. inland is widely in the upper teens, if not in the low 20s. and 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 off 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 upper teens. and again, many locations could see 20—21, 22 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 2a or 25 somewhere 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, as i say, 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.

this is bbc news. the headlines: 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 kimjung—un himself and describes it as having "weighty significance". crowds of supporters of the former president of peru, alan garcia, have gathered around his coffin. mr garcia shot himself as police arrived at his home to arrest him over corruption allegations. mr garcia was accused of taking bribes from a brazilian construction firm. robert mueller‘s long—awaited report on russian interference in the 2016 us election is to be published, in part, on thursday. 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.