this is bbc news, i'm simon pusey. our top stories: hope for the people of yemen as rebel and government forces begin to withdraw from several key ports. an attack on a luxury hotel in south west pakistan ends with three gunmen killed — a militant group says it was targetting foreign investors. migrants who survived when their boat capsized off the coast of tunisia have given their account of the disaster in which at least 60 people drowned. dozens of us states join a lawsuit against major drugs companies accusing them of price—fixing and trying to reduce competition. it's known as the olympics of the art world, artists descend on venice for its biennalel international art festival.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the united nations says houthi rebels trying to topple the government in yemen are honouring a pledge to withdraw troops from key ports in the country. the unilateral pull—out from hudaydah and a number of smaller harbours is scheduled for the next four days and marks the first significant step in a ceasefire agreement brokered by the un last december. the ports are crucial for the distribution of international aid in a country where millions are on the verge of starvation. forfour years, the houthi rebels, supported by iran, have been fighting the yemeni government which is backed by a coalition of countries led by saudi arabia. this report from our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, does contain some distressing images. the first signs of life in a deal that was almost dead. today, houthi fighters started pulling out from all key ports saying

they would be out in three days. they had been in charge here for nearly five years. now, the coast guard will be running yemen's vital gateway. they put on a bit of a show today. the yemeni government says it is all a show. accusing houthi fighters of changing uniforms to keep their men in place. the holy accuse them and their saudi led backers of blocking any progress. now the ball is in the court of the un and the government and the people of yemen who will pressure those who are trying to obstruct this agreement. we cannot move forward unless other countries keep their promises. un vehicles were on the move today, too. it is up to them to monitor this fragile process. if this first step succeeds, both sides are meant to

withdraw their forces from this strategic area. it would help move yemen toward peace talks and away from a looming famine, almost all of its crucial aid and imports come through here. we anticipate and we expect that as the ports become demilitarised, the united nations in the form of mission here, will have unhindered access to carry out their responsibilities to support the port authorities. the shocking starvation has come to symbolise yemen's plight. millions of yemenis need aid but more than that they need peace. and lysejoins me now. yemen's government saved the rebels are staging this withdrawal, why would they say that? there is great

suspicion, no confidence at all between the warring sides. the hoof heat have made promises before and not carried them out. —— the houthi is. in this case, the allegation is that the fighters will appear to pull out but they will leave people behind, they will change their uniforms, put on the coast guard uniforms, put on the coast guard uniforms and in effect be houthis in disguise. the process seems to have started and it will all come down to monitoring. it will be up to the un monitoring. it will be up to the un monitoring process to confirm whether or not this pull—out is credible. why is this port so significant? you cannot underestimate the significance of hudaydah, the main port at hudaydah. 80% of food aid and food imports go through this port. if this port is compromised even for a day, the un

says that yemenis will die. this is why the un is emphasising that this port is important for peace but also to the survival of people. this is the world's biggest aid operation anywhere. tell us about the humanitarian crisis in yemen. yemen is facing the prospect of a famine, it is on the edge of a famine, the un is monitoring it closely. it is an economic famine which means there is food but the yemenis cannot afford to buy it. if there is more unrest, more fighting, the fighting goes on in other parts of yemen, it will create even more disastrous conditions and will push yemenis ever closer to what would be called afamine. ever closer to what would be called a famine. tell us a bit about the ceasefire that is currently in place, do you see it lasting?” ceasefire that is currently in place, do you see it lasting? i was in the area of hudaydah earlier this year, it is largely holding, it doesn't mean all the fighting has stopped but compared to what it was

before, i mean, the un says that hudaydah has been brought back to life, and the fear is that if this fragile deal reached in december now colla pses, fragile deal reached in december now collapses, it will unleash other wave of fighting. given this port is now open, is the idea that international aid floods in? now open, is the idea that international aid floods mm now open, is the idea that international aid floods in? it will make it easier to come in, there has a lwa ys make it easier to come in, there has always been the suspicion that the houthis are diverting the aid, that they are making money for this port, so they are making money for this port, so if it is seen to be run by professional coastguard, held by un experts, it should speed up the delivery of aid. where do you see this conflict going now? the road to peaceis this conflict going now? the road to peace is very, very difficult in yemen. there are many who believe that yemen will not be able to move away from war by the only way for it to start is to start at least with one step. this could possibly be one step but all eyes are on it. just

the start. thank you for coming in. let's get some of the day's other news. two french tourists rescued from kidnappers in burkina faso have been welcomed home by president macron. earlier, they paid tribute to the two french soldiers who died during the operation to free them. they were seized from a national park in neighbouring benin last week. in a new rally, the venezualan opposition leader has again urged his supporters to go on nationwide protests against president nicholas maduro. juan guaido is recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries. this follows a failed military uprising in an attempt to oust mr maduro last month. four people have been killed and at least ten others injured by an explosion in the colombian capital, bogota. the cause of the explosion has not been established but the police said the building was used to make gunpowderfor the popular local game of tay—ho. officials in pakistan say an attack on a luxury hotel in the port city of gwadar in baloistan has ended with the deaths of all three gunmen. at least one security guard at the pearl continental hotel was killed.

a militant separatist group, the balochistan liberation army, said it carried out the attack, saying it was targeting chinese and other foreign investors. gwadar is the centrepiece of a multi—billion—dollar chinese project, which militants say is little benefit to local people. our correspondent secunder kermani who's in islamabad has more on how the attack unfolded. well, what we know is that three gunmen, we believe, entered the heavily guarded pearl continental hotel in the port city of gwadar, killing a security guard who was attempting to stop them. security forces then surrounded the gunman inside the hotel and engage them in a gunfight. we believe that is still ongoing although there are some reports that the episode could be coming to an end. the balochistan liberation army is a separatist militant group, they have claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was targeting deliberately chinese and foreign investors. now, this group is part of a long—running nationalist insurgency in the south—western

province of balochistan. it is pakistan's most deprived province. militants claim its natural resources are being exploited by outsiders. the port city of gwadar, where the attack took place, is the focal point of the huge chinese infrastructure project which aims to cut import and export times to china from the middle east by moving goods through pakistan so it is probably why the militant groups have decided to target this city. these same separatists have targeted chinese interests in pakistan before. the same group last year attacked china's consulate in the city of karachi. i've been inside that hotel myself on a trip a few years ago, i know that it is quite heavily guarded. indeed, the whole city has quite a strong military presence, security force presence there, so there will be concerns about how this breach took place. christine fair is an associate professor from georgetown university and specialises in south asian political and military affairs. she joins me from washington.

christine, just why were chinese and foreign investors targeted in this attack? i think for the reason that your correspondent said. the balochistan have a very big set of grievances. their primary concern is that the resources of the state are being exploited by a condominium of the pakistan army and the chinese. when i talk about other investors, the primary investors that that really irritate them are of course the chinese. if you think about the chinese pakistan economic corridor is having two hinges, the first is the north and the border of hsing zhang, there is a lot of unrest there as locals are also displeased about it but there is not an access of insurgents. but the entire project in balochistan exacerbates

grievances about periphery relations, unfair distribution of resources , relations, unfair distribution of resources, enduring negligence to invest in balochistan. this is the most invest in balochistan. this is the m ost rece nt invest in balochistan. this is the most recent issue that exacerbates things that are much more enduring in the relationship between the balochistan of the state. . tell us more about balochistan. prior to partition, there were several princely states. parts of balochistan is often clubbed with this problem at princely states but actually the relationship that the princely territory had with the british was quite different from the other princely states and there was a legal argument that was quite robust that this area could have

actually remained independent and notjudge actually remained independent and not judge pakistan at actually remained independent and notjudge pakistan at all. another issue was that in the 194647 elections, widely seen as a referendum on the creation of pakistan, the baloch were not allowed to vote. they will tell you they never wanted to join pakistan, they never wanted to join pakistan, they were forcefully annexed and from the pakistani state's point of view, they need to have a strong hold over this province because of the very important natural resources that are there. but the problem is that are there. but the problem is that the state is incredibly unfair in how it extracts those resources. so the gas coming from balochistan is sold below market rate. if you are selling gas from somewhere else, you will get an exceedingly larger price for your gas. and the baloch don't really get to benefit from their own resources. the only time any baloch will get a gas per capita

in the pakistan military builder containment. these are the kind of centre periphery problems that have been going on for decades but with the chinese commitment to develop those resources, including the state at gwadar, all these tensions are brought to a further head. the chinese business model is that they don't hire local labour, they bring their own employees in and when you have chinese labourers who are perceived to be benefiting com pletely perceived to be benefiting completely from a project that exploits baloch resources, you can imagine this becomes very quickly a target for baloch militants. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll find out why there's big crowds, big money and some big names in venice. the pope was shot,

the pope will live. that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon. that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they called the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has triumphed over the well chess champion garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a world reigning champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the un says houthi rebels trying to topple the government in yemen, are honouring a pledge to withdraw troops from key ports in the country. the security forces in pakistan say a militant attack on a five—star hotel in the south west of the country is over. all three gunmen were killed. more than 40 states in the us have filed a lawsuit against 20 pharmaceutical companies. they are accusing them of price—fixing and conspiring to reduce competition. this follows a five—year investigation into why prices have sometimes suddenly increased and in some cases by over 1000%. chris buckler, our correspondent in washington, explained why over 40 states are filing these lawsuits. there has been widespread concern about the rising cost of medications here in the us. according to our investigation, at times they seem to be doubling, tripling, or as you mentioned there,

rising by more than 1000%. sometimes with no explanation whatsoever. that is why the states had been looking into this and have now brought lawsuits. they are suggesting 20 of these companies, along with 15 individuals, have been involved in some kind of conspiracy to try to manipulate and influence prices and also to try and restrict competition. of course, extremely serious charges. they want to bring the suit to try to force change but also to claim damages and try to ensure drug prices to remain lower. what have the pharmaceutical companies in question said in response to these allegations? well, obviously, there are 20 companies and 15 individuals. it seems clear that the majority of them, if not all, will fight the suit. we had a response from a pharmaceutical giant, they say they have done nothing

wrong, they insist they have broken no rules, they have broken no laws and that really what is included in this lawsuit are a number of claims, and the official statement they say they provide high quality medication to patients around the world while maintaining a commitment to applause. they will examine the issue internally and there is nothing in its conduct, it insists, that could lead to civilian criminal accountability. is there a larger issue surrounding the pricing of medications within the industry? yes, if you listen to any politicians here, including president trump, they say time and time again that americans are paying more than people in other parts of the world for their medications and they cannot understand the reason for that. it is one of the rare issues in the us at the moment that unites republicans and democrats, they both want something done about it that i can't quite agree what that should be. some democrats had suggested

they should try to tie the prices of these medications and we are talking about generic drug is here that are much cheaper than some of the brand names but do the same jobs, to tackle conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and the like. they feel if they tie the prices at the generic medicines to the cost paid in other parts of the world, that would ensure americans were getting a fair deal, but so far we don't have any proposals for legislation that will really address this issue properly and i suspect it will be talked a lot about in the 2020 presidential campaign. migrants who survived when their boat capsized off the coast of tunisia have given their account of the disaster in which at least 60 people drowned. initial reports said those on board were from sub—saharan africa. but the survivors say most of the passengers were from bangladesh. rahuljoglekar reports. these are the faces of men who had seen death at close quarters.

some too shocked to say anything. 0thers devastated by what they saw. they all set off to start a new life in italy. a dream interrupted by the harsh reality of death at sea. this man from bangladesh is one of just 16 who survived. fighting for life, we fighting, we swimming, eight hours swimming. then people dying, one of one, every minute people going under, down. every minute people going down. i have lost my two brothers. 0ne his cousin brother, one is brother—in—law. in front of my eyes.

another survivor recounts the horror of what happened on board. our boat, the zodiac, started filling up with water then it sank and capsized. this was at 12 o'clock, midnight. we ke pt this was at 12 o'clock, midnight. we kept floating in the water until eight o'clock in the morning. then a small tunisian brooch came to our rescue. along with a tunisian army, they came and took us. thank god we are here in tunis, thank god. italy doesn't want people like this and is tracking down on those making this journey. as 30 migrants were being too —— brought to lampedusa, the italian interior minister declared this was the last voyage for the rescue ship. it is a stance that wins elections in italy and has

brought down the number of migrants making the journey. 15, 900 brought down the number of migrants making thejourney. 15,900 migrants arrived in europe from the mediterranean this year. that is a 17% drop from last year. but the un's refugee agency, the unhcr, looks at the numbers differently. they say that while the number of deaths at sea has halved, the rate of deaths per number of people attempting the journey has risen sharply. we were shocked that 250 died crossing the berlin wall during a generation of cold war. and now we seem to accept 2500 or more people dying per year in the mediterranean. again, it is a damning verdict of the so—called european civilisation. we cannot have that happening. as the arguments continue for a long—term solution to a complex problem, thousands still gamble everything they have, including own lives, to cross over to europe.

south africa's governing african national congress has promised a fresh start after winning another five years in office, with a reduced majority. president cyril ramaphosa acknowledged the anc had made mistakes in government and that it had lost the trust of many people. the main opposition democratic alliance also suffered a fall in its share of the vote. the radical economic freedom fighters gained seats. in france, the yellow vest movement is marking six months of weekly protests with a series of marches throughout the nation. it's hoped the anniversary will galvanise support for the group. last weeks protest saw the lowest turnout the yellow vests have seen since it began in november last year. it's been called the olympics of the art world, attracting big names, big money and big crowds. the venice art biennale opened today with british, scottish, welsh and irish pavilions all on show.. 0ur arts editor will gompertz has more. if a city could ever be called a work of art, surely it is venice? that man—made masterpiece rising

out of a salty lagoon, with its magnificent palazzos, shimmering canals and napoleonic gardens. at the end of which is the british pavilion. a neoclassical building that plays host to a disturbing and, at times, brutal installation by the artist, cathy wilkes, whose display of eerie mannequins and household objects is representing britain at the 2019 venice art biennale. she trained in belfast, as did the sculptor eva rothschild, who has filled the irish pavilion with an array of materials and shapes that create a sort of landscape of art to wander through — and to climb on. to talk about the biennale's founding idea, dating back over 100 years, an artist representing a country. is there an argument against it? that it's an anachronism? i think there could be, if it happened everywhere. i think it's the fact that it is anachronistic and it is the only thing. i mean, if every major art exhibition was themed around national identity, i think that would be deeply problematic. but this is the only one.

and venice itself is an anomaly. who can believe it exists? not far away, across a narrow canal, is the welsh pavilion, where the cardiff—based artist sean edwards has created a forest of art. it's based on woodlands on the estate where i grew up in llanedeyrn in cardiff. and how these woodlands where the boundary of the estate as you grew up... so there was this idea that what is actually a boundary suddenly becomes an open space that leads you on to somewhere else. i've come from the welsh pavilion, which is just down the canal there, walked over this wooden bridge and arrived at this spot, which is the scottish pavilion. up until a couple of months ago it was a working boatyard. but the vessels have moved out and art has moved in, with charlotte prodger, the turner prize—winning artist, showing the third in her trilogy of films, which is a memoir or love, loss and queer identity. and it's in this space, which is a rather disorientating black hole. you have visited what that meant, don't you? idid. and after that, it was like a switch

went off and i didn't go back. there are 90 national pavilions competing for this year's prestigious golden lion. every one is fascinating in its own way, revealing not only how a country sees itself but also how it wants to be seen. will gompertz, bbc news, venice. just before we go..a huge waterspout surprised singapore residents on saturday morning. videos were posted on social media showing the waterspout swirling off singapore's southern shore — with witnesses saying it lasted for around 20 minutes. the local environment agency say there are generally three waterspout occu rances each year. they form when strong winds occur over water. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @sipusey. don't forget you can see more news on our website. thank you for

watching. sunday still looks like being the best day of the weekend, quite a few showers around on saturday, a good day for chasing rainbows. mind you, here in yorkshire, some of the showers earlier on were heavy and thundery. pretty much everywhere is dry now. there may be first in scotland, elsewhere across the uk a colder night. that weather front approaching the far north—west may turn the sunshine a little bit hazy at times — western parts of northern ireland, later in the north—west of scotland. but a good deal of sunshine, as you can see. limited amount of convection, patchy cloud bubbling up. may get an isolated shower over

the peaks, the pennines, and may be the downs in the south—east. but more dry weather around more widely and for most of us, temperatures will be higher than they were on saturday. mind you, as we head into the evening, it gets chilly very quickly as the sun goes down. not so much across northern ireland with a southerly breeze and it won't be as cold in scotland either. much more cloud coming in overnight so maybe escaping a frost here this time. maybe not quite so lucky across east anglia, temperatures won't be far from freezing in some rural areas. but this is the story really as we head into next week. high pressure, dry weather, more in the way of sunshine and as a result it's going to feel warmer, much better than it has been over the last week or so. we have still got some patchy cloud around i think a monday. the sunshine probably a little bit hazy in places, cloud coming down from the north—west. so it's not blue skies everywhere but for many others those temperatures are continuing to rise, helped by the southerly breeze in northern ireland and in scotland, temperatures could be close to 20 degrees also on monday. as we move into tuesday, we are going to find still very

light winds for the most part across the uk. they will be more in the way of sunshine this time. more of a breeze picking up towards the south east. warmer southerly winds from northern ireland and into scotland as well. so mixed fortunes in terms of temperatures as we head through next week. high pressure setting where it is. the air towards the south—east of the uk won't be quite as warm with the warmest air and the highest temperature is more towards the north—west. but we are still better than we have been, so we are 17, may be 18 degrees here in the south—east of the uk. but we've got more of an easterly breeze. whereas if you head towards the north—west of the uk, it's more of a southerly breeze so it'll be warmer in the north—west of england, northern ireland. typically scotland temperatures could get as high as 23 or 24 celsius.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the united nations says houthi rebels trying to topple the government in yemen, are honouring a pledge to withdraw troops from key ports in the country. it marks the first significant step in a ceasefire agreement brokered by the un last december. an attack on a luxury hotel in pakistan has ended with the deaths of all three gunmen. at least one security guard at the pearl continental hotel was killed. a militant group said it carried out the attack, saying it was targeting chinese and other foreign investors. more than 40 states in the us have filed a lawsuit against 20 pharmaceutical companies. they are accusing them of price—fixing and conspiring to reduce competition. it follows a five—year investigation into why prices have sometimes suddenly increased and in some cases by over 1000%. now, which british coastal towns are thriving,