hello and welcome to one hundred days. just three weeks into the new us administration and there is already a high—profile resignation. the national security adviser mike flynn did speak to the russian ambassador about sanctions. and later withheld that information from the vice president. the evolving and eroding the level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. the justice department warned the white house last month that general flynn had not told the truth about those calls. why did the president sit on that information for three weeks? ties with the kremlin. democrats are demanding an investigation into president trump's team and their contacts with russia. we want to know, by what authority did general flynn have these conversations and who did he report to after that? it's a story that points to confusion at the top. on flynn, the white house advisor kellyanne conway gave us one story, the press secretary another.

so who really does speak for the president? and the israeli prime minister arriving in washington to start a new relationship with the white house. iran, hezbollah, syria and settlements. there is plenty to discuss. this story begins at the end of december. president obama had just imposed new sanctions on russia in retaliation for moscow hacking the election. donald trump's senior foreign policy advisor, general mike flynn, hopped on the phone with russia's ambassador to discuss the penalty. now us law bars any private citizen from conducting foreign policy. but the greater mistake was to mislead the vice president. the national security advisor told mike pence that sanctions never came up in his calls with the russian ambassador. not true.

the conversation had been bugged by us intelligence, disproving the general‘s account. in his resignation letter, flynn sai, "unfortu nately, "because of the fast pace of events, i inadvertently briefed "the vice president elect and others with incomplete information "regarding my phone calls with the russian ambassador." not telling the truth exposed the president's highest security advisor to potential blackmail by the russians. and thejustice department said they warned the white house about flynn's problem back in january. well, in the last few minutes, the white house press secretary sean spicer has been taking questions. do the president instructed to talk about sanctions? absolutely not. the president had no problem with him attracting —— acting in

accordance with his job. as has been noted, that is what the national security adviser does, they begin the process of preparing their incoming job by talking to cou nterpa rts incoming job by talking to counterparts and the blue previously held thejob. if counterparts and the blue previously held the job. if he counterparts and the blue previously held thejob. if he had not done that, there would be questions as to its proper preparation on day one. the issue is not what he discussed, there has been a legal review of that and there is no issue. the issue isn't whether or not he failed to properly inform the vice president or not be honest with him or not remember it. that is the issue. when he lost trust with the president, that is where he asked for and received his resignation. well, there is definitely a lot of damage control taking place at the white house today. yes, but the administration may be better off without general flynn — he's been a lightning rod for a while now. i've been taking a look at the road leading up to this resignation. a25in

a 25 in the first casualty of a trump white house scandal. michael flynn, a retired us army three star general is no stranger to controversy. in 2040, president obama fired him because of its extreme views on islam. flynn said it is rationalfor extreme views on islam. flynn said it is rational for americans to fear muslims and called the islamic world and epic failure. before the election, the general made his views clear to me. radical islamism is like communism or nazism. we are facing it right now, it is for real and we have seen it expand around the globe. he was one of the first and only senior national security figures to endorse donald trump. it earned him a lot of loyalty. former director of the defence intelligence agency, michael flynn. the republican national convention, flynn gave one of the most red—blooded speeches, criticising hillary clinton. yes, that is right. walk her off. if i did a tenth of

what she did, i would be injail today. he hosted conspiracy theories on social media and compared clinton to be al-qaeda militants in iraq and afghanistan. but what finally pushed him out what is too cosy relationship with russia. general flynn lied about his pre—inauguration discussions with the russian ambassador. and then he put the vice president in the awkward position of also lying on national television. never a great way to protect your job. national television. never a great way to protect yourjob. the story of michael flynn suggests confusion in the white house. over the weekend, the president said he knew nothing about it. his top policy adviser declined to say the boss still backed flynn and then hours before he was kicked out, trump councillor kellyanne conway said this... he does it enjoyed a full confidence of this president's

curious relationship with russia and what it means for america. our north america editor jon sopel is here. it is about personnel i want general flynn said to the vice president. the story of loyalty from the president himself. do you agree it isa president himself. do you agree it is a style america was matter relationship with russia and the white house relationship with russia? one of the most striking things for me, is not what happened to mike flynn, it is the attempt to recast what donald trump's stance is toward russia. sean spicer says no one has been tougher toward russia. we have been tougher toward russia. we have been really tough and yes, we want to have better relations below what we have done. maybe i've not been paying attention and sometimes in classes, as a school boy i was

guilty of that, but i can't help thinking of what? sorry? really? have i missed all of this? and i think there was a recognition of so much of what trump is doing is playing well with his pace, mexico, the border, the travel ban, all going down grey. but cosying up to russia? i suddenly being appalled . the we do not know ' ' ' relationship. we do not know behind—the—scenes what has been going on between donald trump and the russians. but let me ask you about the personnel issue and the question ofjudgment. about the personnel issue and the question of judgment. michael about the personnel issue and the question ofjudgment. michael flynn, and i've heard this on countless members of the national security advisers, had extreme views about islam, was too friendly with the russians are not very competent either. was it a good idea for president trump to bring him in and then keep him on the three weeks after the justice then keep him on the three weeks after thejustice department then keep him on the three weeks after the justice department said then keep him on the three weeks after thejustice department said he could be blackmail by the russians?

like you, i remember going to reception and there were a whole group of foreign policy experts and they were all saying flynn? really? are you kidding me? do they know his views and that is a conspiracy theorist? how will you temper that? but he had been as you said, the first senior national security person who backed him. there was loyalty. they thought alike and were ideological soul mates and trump probably thought he gave him heft. but he was an insurgent, rescued from the outset and ultimately proved deeply damaging and therefore the decision... the other interesting thing was this morning it was being said that donald trump... that he resigned of his own volition, but it's become clear donald trump said you can go quietly oi’ donald trump said you can go quietly ori donald trump said you can go quietly or i push up. he donald trump said you can go quietly ori push up. he was donald trump said you can go quietly or i push up. he was fired. donald trump said you can go quietly ori push up. he was fired. he donald trump said you can go quietly or i push up. he was fired. he was fired. the other issue is that the

illustration you for 17 days and we now hear that the transcripts were brought to the white house counsel with all the consequences are risks that it it entailed for flynn. yet when the president was asked about it, this was his answer. what you make about the general flynn conversations with russians about sanctions? i don't know about it. what report is that? i don't know anything about it. i haven't seen that. i will look at that. he doesn't offer any and so on the most important part of that question. he says he's talking about the washington post article. that was a piece of elegance footwork by sean spicer in the news conference. no, no, president truman knew about the issue because we've just said we've been looking at it since it was brought to our attention adding

acted in a general three weeks ago. but trump was saying he wasn't aware of the article and his answer was solely related to the washington post article. they are difficult questions. he does look as though he was the lie that has cost mike flynn and hisjob, was the lie that has cost mike flynn and his job, it was the lie that has cost mike flynn and hisjob, it is being found out. it is the 11th commandment that moses carried down on the stone ta blets, moses carried down on the stone tablets, thou shalt not get caught. there are so many angles we need to get to. let's bring in olga ivshina from the bbc‘s russian service. yesterday, the spokesman for president putin denied that michael flynn and the russian ambassador had spoken about sanctions. and now we have michael flynn's resignation because he has spoken about sanctions. so the russians were not

telling the whole truth? welcome to the club. they have quite a long record of that. one of the most famous examples is back in 2014 when the russian president first said there is no russian service personnel in crimea and then he said, yes, of course there were. they were helping conduct the referendum. i guess that moscow's lesson is that if you are lying, remember what you are lying about exactly remember what you are lying about exa ctly a nd remember what you are lying about exactly and keep going. he refused to comment today and said it was an exclusively internal matter for the united states refused to comment. but he is still there, doing his business. it is interesting to note that the russian foreign ministry has not commented. some russian officials and mps ahead of the foreign committee on the upper chamber commented and used the cold war language, saying it is a witchhunt, is russian ——

anti—russian sentiment. witchhunt, is russian —— anti-russian sentiment. sean spicer just said he was the problem about the discussion about sanctions, but the discussion about sanctions, but the lack of trust. if sanctions had been imposed on november, would they have retaliated? been imposed on november, would they have retaliated ? did been imposed on november, would they have retaliated? did they retaliate in the past when sanctions were introduced and why not this time?m isa introduced and why not this time?m is a good question. we don't know the answer. from mr putin's points of view, it was quite unexpected, because he usually follows a hard—core policy. because he usually follows a ha rd—core policy. this because he usually follows a hard—core policy. this time, yes, he said no, we are not retaliating or sending out diplomats. we don't know what made him think so. maybe on the other hand he is known for interesting steps and he does like to get trump cards out of his sleeve. well, now, he is probably

waiting for signs from the trump administration, because at the moment, the signals which moscow has received were conflicting. thank you. i would love to know whether the russians agree with the idea that this administration has been tough on moscow. we will return to that. let's go to capitol hill now and speak to congressman adam kinzinger, a republican from illinois who sits on the foreign affairs committee and is an iraq war vet. how seriously are you taking all of this from a national security point of view? it is serious. i think the question of what conversations did he have is important to answer, but i think general flynn and the president today did the right thing by saying you have become a distraction than it is time to resign. and that is where we are at. i think having discussions is an incoming ministration with the

future could you going to be working with is not improper in itself. weather was an proprietor is in try to talk about our ministration under barack obama to talk about our ministration under ba rack obama that to talk about our ministration under barack obama that will implement sanctions, let us talk about what looks like and the next administration. i think when he lied to vice president spends about it, he went out on sunday shows and defended him and became a major distraction and he did the right thing and the president did so in asking for his resignation. you served to macro terms in the iraq war as an american military service member. users in the iraq war as an american military service member. users on the foreign affairs committee and i'm agitator relationship with russia very seriously. will you and your fellow republicans push for an investigation into what happened with michael flynn and more generally, into the trump team's relationships with moscow? there's the oversight committee who are investigating the idea of what do moscow do in the campaign. to the extent there is relationships in the administration we even knew this.

many are saying we need to call for a massive investigation. the reality is, what he did was wrong. it was arguably illegal, based on this logan act which has not been enforced yet and then he resigned and he is done. the question from 110w and he is done. the question from now is, the broader issue is what is this administration doing about nato and russia ? this administration doing about nato and russia? what we have seen us been solid. mike pence will be in germany this week reassuring nato allies and challenging them to me that 2% commitment to gdp. nikki haley said we will not really sanctions until you get out of crimea. directions have been solid. some will say we need to investigate every infraction, i think that is a bridge too far. the president has also said that america is no more guilty than president putin when it comes to the issue of murder. it is not true what sean spicerjust said in the white house, that the president has been tough on russia. right. well, look. ithink the

administration is being tougher now. i've been critical of the somehow moral equality between the us and russia. we will be critical when those comments come out and i think they are damaging. but on the broader scale of reassuring nato and the european initiative and in terms of calling for liberation of crimea and a return to the ukrainian people, this has been very much a departure for the last administration. where there is involvement we will find out, but in terms of saying we need to launch major investigations every time someone resigns as it will paralyse this administration from going on and doing what we need to do to restore the west's role in the world. part of a problem yesterday using one story from kelly and conway —— kellyanne conway and then another story from sean spicer and then at the end of the day, we get

then at the end of the day, we get the resignation. it looks chaotic. like they are always on the back foot. yes, it does. and with conflicting messages, it is very bad. but there is there something in mind. this is a new administration. if you look at the obama administration and the bush administration and the bush administration and the bush administration and any administration and any administration prior, there are hiccups. is an entirely new government. 5000 new employees. there will be difficulties. right now, there are problems in the national security council. my hope is now the flynn has resigned and he is now the flynn has resigned and he isa is now the flynn has resigned and he is a very honourable man, i disagree with him russia, but he did a great job in iraq and afghanistan, the now they're ministration should take a deep breath and hopefully we will see that. but you keep saying that. you said the distractions, many self—inflicted, could well help the president's ability to move forward with a new agenda. and here we are a fortnight later saying the same thing. yes, i agree. and i would say

what i said there, too. but again, no matter how far we are into the administration, it is still early days. i hope the communications team gets together with their message and gets together with their message and get straightened up in the process and the actions we have seen and the people we see in these positions, with the exception of the general flynn, are outstanding. when the message gets tied together and we get past these hiccups, either you will see a very strong usa and a strong president trying to regain the lesser role in the world which has been lost frankly over last eight years. thank you. let's get more from ellen nakashima, the national security reporter from the washington post and one of the journalists who broke the story about michael flynn. i wanted to ask you is something on the actual phone call itself. how much do we know about what general flynn talked... talked about with

the russian ambassador? we know that the russian ambassador? we know that the general outlines of the phone call, on about december the 29th, the day the obama administration imposed economic sanctions and the punitive measures against russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election. there was a summary of the calls and the content of them prepared by the fbi and circulated along the top national security officials in the obama administration. that indicated the contents and the nature of the call but not the bait in the transport —— transcript. speaking to former senior officials who have seen the summary, we understand that general flynn, while he may not have given... made it clear that he felt

russia should not overreact to the sanctions imposed, because the incoming trump administration would handle it when they took over. so there was a suggestion that they would somehow ease up on moscow wa nts would somehow ease up on moscow wants the trump administration came in. the idea is that there would have been a recording of these conversations as will other russian side and they were concerned, the intelligence agencies, that if he was lying and trying to cover his tracks, then he would be or could be blackmailed by the russians at a later date. he had been compromised. that's right. and not only that is, but the ambassador sent a cable or a ripple back to moscow summarising the contents of the call. so they did know what was discussed and other topic of sanctions came up. it was a other topic of sanctions came up. it wasa main other topic of sanctions came up. it was a main topic of the call, not

just something that came up in passing. do we think it talks to the ambassador with the authority of the best of the transition team if it was the bulk of the conversation?” believe sean spicer said today that president trump did not direct him to make the call, but he would certainly know generally the outlines of the foreign policy and as you've been discussing, its friendliness towards moscow and desire to get on a good footing with the kremlin. so whether or not he did this expressly at the directional president trump, there is no evidence of that. thank you. fascinating. the bulk of the call was the issue of sanctions, and it's ha rd to was the issue of sanctions, and it's hard to see how general flynn could forgotten that. some of the day's other key developments: the uk government has rejected a petition calling for donald trump's state visit

invitation to be withdrawn. it said it recognised the "strong views" expressed, but looked forward to welcoming the president. more than 1.8 million people signed the petition, which said a state visit would cause "embarrassment" to the queen. a counter—petition calling for the visit to go ahead attracted more than 300,000 signatures. the european union's brexit negotiator has called for profound reform of the organisation, saying it always delivers too little, too late. guy verhofstadt, who used to be prime minister of belgium, said the union had failed to tackle issues, including the migrant crisis and economic stagnation. he also said brexit, presidents trump and putin were reasons to reform the eu. around 200,000 people living close to america's tallest dam have been told its still not safe for them to return home. the area around the oroville dam in northern california was evacuated after a hole was found in one of its emergency overflow channels, prompting fears that it could collapse. authorities have managed to lower the water levels, but they don't know how long it will be before residents are allowed back.

the half—brother of the north korean leader kimjong—un is reported to have been killed with poison in malaysia. south korean media sources say kim jong—nam, who was 45, was targeted at the airport in the capital, kuala lumpur. i guess general flynn got it easy, right? yes, they were differently in other countries. let's take a quick look at one of the president's tweets the two of us had been talking about before we came on air. "the real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks "coming out of washington? "will these leaks be happening as i deal on n.korea etc?" it got me thinking. you can come to washington as a disrupter and threaten to pull down the establishment and go on the offensive with the intelligence agency, but at some point, it come back to bite you. interesting. sean

spicer also raised this issue of the lea ks spicer also raised this issue of the leaks as the president is concerned about it. what happens if he's on a major call with a foreign leader and thatis major call with a foreign leader and that is leaked? this is a question of loyalty. there are people in the president's inner circle who are prepared to talk to journalists when they feel things are not going as they feel things are not going as they should or that there is a story they should or that there is a story they want to get out there. if your tea m they want to get out there. if your team is loyal, they do not leak. someone, somewhere in the white house feels they have more to gain by giving the story is out. there is also the issue of friends. you attack everybody and general flynn attack everybody and general flynn attack the intelligence agencies, the president has also done that, if you like that with everybody, at some point, you have no friends. and in this time, if you take on the intelligence agencies, they will come back to bite you. that is what we have seen in the flynn story. lots going on an investigation is

still pending into those leaks. sean spicer saying he was very, very worried about the leaks. you're watching one hundred days, from bbc news. still to come for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — is america's relationship with nato up in the air and was donald trump right to criticise fellow members for not paying their share? we'll speak to the former secretary—general to find out. and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is in washington. what chance does the middle east peace process have now with donald trump in the white house? that's still to come on 100 days, from bbc news. it is milder this week. a bit of

rain around. various cloud coming in off the atlantic. no great amounts. one area of cloud will produce some drinks and drugs moving south to north overnight tonight. many places of avoiding that. it will be a murky night with fog, too. more rain in the far south—west by the end of the night. not particularly cold. 5—7d typical first night. not particularly cold. 5—7d typicalfirst thing in night. not particularly cold. 5—7d typical first thing in the morning. wet across parts of cornwall. rain pushing it a somerset, wiltshire, south—western parts of wales at 8am tomorrow. further east and north, it will be a slow start. grey and misty. not dreadfully cold. none of the fog will be too widespread audience. shari bursts in northern ireland. scotland looking dry. the

best of the sunshine as we go through the day on wednesday. elsewhere, the struggle to brighten things up for some of us. the rain pushes northwards. some places seeing sharp bursts, others not much. but in the south—western parts of scotland, something a bit brighter following. a milder one of scotland, something a bit brighterfollowing. a milder one and double figures in a few spots. that feature wanders away and we look to the north for low pressure and some blustery showers as we get into thursday, particularly for scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. further south, things settle down. nice on thursday. mr and fog first thing. sunshine also. temperature is doing pretty well friday, high pressure. normally means dry. could be faulty. —— could

be faulty. the best of the sun in the east. thickening cloud and increasing wind and rain knocking on the door of the west. welcome back to one hundred days... just three weeks into the new us administration and already the president has had to sack some one. the national security adviser, mike flynn did speak to the russian ambassador about sanctions. and later with—held that information from the vice president. the evolving and erroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. and we speak to the former nato chief about the future of the alliance and if donald trump is right to demand more money from other members. the principle of collective

defence is the very heart of nato's founding treaty. it binds the 28 members together, an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies. but does that solidarity still exist? on the campaign trail donald trump didn't sound all that convincing. that makes america's nato allies nervous — as does mr trump's warmer relationship with moscow. appeasement might bring some short term stability but what about the longer term consequences. here's a tweet from the former nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen. "giving up #russia sanctions unconditionally will embolden #putin and undermine security of europe #dontbetrayukraine @potus @realdonaldtrump". and i am pleased to say mr rasmussen joins us from copenhagen. the me ask about the events today.

does it worry you that even in transition, michael flynn was soft—pedalling on russia are reassuring the ambassador to washington that donald trump would perhaps go soft on sanctions? well, first of all, i would like to thank michael flynn for his service, many yea rs of michael flynn for his service, many years of service to his country, but obviously, this conversation raises a lot of questions about the trump administration is with russia and taking into account mr trump's state m e nts taking into account mr trump's statements during the campaign and this has raised a lot of concerns in europe. back in january, you said that you had been encouraged by the trump transition team and you felt it was an administration that was

going to be more pragmatic when it came to issues like nato and russia, do you still feel that way? yes, absolutely. i think mr trump has appointed some very good people in the security team. the secretary of state of the secretary of defence, also the cia director, all of them have made very reassuring statements on the us commitment to collective defence. based on that, i am confident that when nato will have a summit in may, it will be a summit that will send a very clear message to who is a concern, that the article five commitment, the commitment to defend all allies, is strong and unchanged. it is

important that, because i am just reading here, are breaking news lang, the russian military aircraft came close to the us destroyer last week. the aircraft overflying a us warship, they feel emboldened in the east of ukraine and in the east of europe and it is important that mr trump stands behind nato. yes, absolutely. it is important that any doubts after their statement that nato is obsolete, that any doubts are eradicated and i think that should be the main purpose about the upcoming nato summit, to send two messages, firstly our commitment for collective defence is unchanged and secondly, the allies, the 28 allies, seal committed to increasing defence

investment. let's talk about that. mr rasmussen — i'd like to put some figures to you which i'm sure you're aware of — but for the benefit of our viewers, nato members have agreed to spend 2% or more of their gdp on defence by 2024 — and these countries do: the uk, estonia, poland, greece and of course, the us. however of the 28 nato members, 23 don't spend as much on defence as they should — and there are a few surprises... most notably, france, germany and canada — among the world's biggest economies and all in the g8. you are sounding confident about donald trump's commitment to nato but you know and we have spoken about this before and during the course of this campaign, he tied commitment to article five, two countries spending that 2% of gdp on defence spending. this suggests that if they did not, he was not going to stand by article five. in i fully

agree that european allies should invest much more in defence and it is embarrassing for the alliance toad in the hole that's not the question. the question is does article five depend on them spending that money? no. that's important to send a very clear message to vladimir putin and who it may concern, that the commitment to collective defence is unconditional. it cannot be made conditional on financial contributions but having said that, in wales, in 2014, nato had a summit, in which we decided that within the next decade, all 28 allies will live up to the 2% defence investment and i think, we should speed up that process, taking

into account the new security situation in europe. can i take you back to michael flynn? from what sean spicer has been saying in the last hour or so, we cannot rule out that he was acting with the knowledge of others in the transition team when he was talking about sanctions and going soft on sanctions. do you hope that this sends a warning signal to the administration that it mightjust change its tune on russia? yes. in my opinion, sanctions should be maintained. asa my opinion, sanctions should be maintained. as a pressure on russia, as long as russia does not fulfil its commitment within the so—called minsk agreements and as long as russia continues to destabilise the situation in the east of ukraine, we should maintain sanctions, if sanctions were lifted, we would lose

the only possibility to put pressure on russia that we do have. and i feel confident that if the president intends to lift the sanctions, then the us congress would pass legislation that would maintain the pressure on russia via sanctions. thank you very much forjoining us from copenhagen. let's turn our attention to the middle east now and it's clearly on president trump's agenda this week. he's due to host israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the white house tomorrow. so, we thought we'd ask our middle east editorjeremy bowen, to share his thoughts on the relationship of the two allies — and in particular, the contentious issue of israeli settlements. the people who own this house have all sorts of problems because of where it is. that way there is jerusalem and that way there is a jewish settlement and over that way,

on the other side of that wall, part of israel's so—called separation barrier, is a palestinian town of bethlehem. all these problems, 20 or 25 years ago, were supposed to be sorted out by the so—called peace process. but there were years of negotiations and they all failed. so the question is will donald trump in the question is will donald trump in the white house change things? will he make a difference? he is an unpredictable man and the comments he made when he was running for office suggested that he would be a big supporter of the israeli right and in israeli political terms, right wing it means people who support hanging on to some or all of the territory that was captured by israel in the 1967 middle east war, 50 yea rs israel in the 1967 middle east war, 50 years ago. since then, since he entered the oval office he has changed his tune a little bit. he is

showing signs that what he wants to be is the big deal maker and that is how he sees himself. he says that a deal between israelis and palestinians as possible and it would take concessions by both sides. that is the deal that evaded all his predecessors and so, he might see himself, donald trump, president donald trump, the deal—maker as the only man who can do it. we might have clear indications of what is happening after president trump meets binjamin netanyahu in washington. when they talk, it could be that they spend much more time talking not about this place, but about iran. both of them have said that iran is a big threat to peace in the middle east and a big cause of war. it could be that that is the area they will concentrate on and that is the area they will talk about most. we will see. jeremy bowen report imer and news coming in from the white house. we will get a press conference after

that meeting between binjamin netanyahu that meeting between binjamin neta nyahu and that meeting between binjamin netanyahu and president trump and i am willing to bet that another issue of personnel is going to come up because this is just coming into us, that the office of government ethics has sent a letter to the white house saying that it will investigate kelly anne conway, do you remember, she said about nordstrom, people should not buy the clothes after it was dropped. they have said it is a clear breach. she has —— here is another personnel issue. it is this feeling that donald trump is co nsta ntly feeling that donald trump is constantly firefighting. they are still to fill key posts at the white house, including medication ‘s director, scores of embassies are still waiting for their ambassador, it is all looking as though they are putting out fires and they cannot concentrate on what matters. that is

the problem. they have got to fill these positions, it is notjust that they —— there is personnel mis—management. we will see whether this ethics office investigation leads to. he has to fill these posts. it is like trying to run a company but you do not have the cfo, he has to get those people into position. we will see what we get tomorrow at the press conference. that will be quite an important relationship. they have talked about moving the embassy to jerusalem. relationship. they have talked about moving the embassy tojerusalem. he did not have a particularly good relationship with president obama. the israelis are hoping that this will be a better relationship, but i think there will be some wariness because president trump has rowed back on the israeli settlements and warned him about them. just one of the foreign policy issues iran, china and israel, he has already gone back on it. he is getting a

dose of diplomatic reality. that is all from us for today. we will be back at the same time tomorrow and meanwhile you can follow us on social media. goodbye for now. goodbye for now. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. donald trump's national security adviser mike flynn has resigned. it follows allegations he mislead colleagues over contact he had with russian diplomats. the brother of north korean leader, kim jong—un, is reported to have been assassinated, in the malaysian capital, kuala lumpur. inflation has reached its highest level for two—and—a—half years, largely due to rising fuel cost. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day.

and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. the half—brother of north korean leader kim jong—un has been killed in malaysia. kim jong—nam, who was 45 was targeted at the airport in the capital, kuala lumpur. a source has told the bbc, poison was involved in his death. our seoul reporter kevin kim explained more about the leader's half brother. most north koreans themselves in the country do not know this but the father of the current leader had many wives and many children from his numerous buses. ever since he died five years ago, his eldest son kimjong—nam died five years ago, his eldest son kim jong—nam spent most of his time overseas, mostly in asia. many believed that this was not by choice

but from an enforced exile based on rivalry with his younger half—brother kim jong—un, the leader of north korea, before the current leader kim jong—un came to power, most observers believed that the eldest kim jong—nam was being considered as the heir to the leadership, but circumstances changed when he was captured in japan in 2001, travelling on a fake passport, apparently tried to visit disneyland. some wondered if the kim jong—nam had ever been close to his half—brother. in an interview with the japanese media in recent years, he was critical of kim jong—un and questioned his legitimacy. the current leader of the north, kim jong—un has a record for ruthlessness and he is believed to have ordered the execution of his uncle who died in 2012 and ever since the execution of his uncle, intelligence officials have been

trying to analyse the psychology of the north korean leader. this is because he may soon have a working nuclear arsenal in a few years' time. one senior