i'm katty kay in washington, christian fraser is off this week. he's in france but he's not hanging out with the new french president — that's what vladimir putin's been doing today. the two leaders had a get—to—know—you meeting at versailles. and you really have to wonder how cordial it was given that days before the french election mr macron accused moscow of interfering in his poll. at a tense press conference, vladimir putin insisted any implication of russian meddling was rubbish. from paris, lucy williamson reports. despite the sweltering weather, this meeting held a touch of frost from the start. at the entrance to france's versailles palace, the two leaders greeted each other with brief handshakes and small grin smiles. two hours later after their first meeting, the mood was, if anything, even cooler. france and russia have backed different groups in the syrian conflict. emmanuel macron said that while france did not want to destabilise the syrian state they were red lines that must not be crossed. i stress in my meeting with president putin are firm rejection there is a clear red line that exist on our part, the use of chemical weapons by whoever it may be. the use of chemical weapons will be the object of immediate retaliation on the part of the french. the two leaders are also divided over the situation in ukraine with the russian president condemning the sanctions imposed on his country as a result of the crisis the sanctions against russia are not helping to find a solution to ukraine. we must fight to list these economic restrictions. this is these economic restrictions. this is the only way we can be more free and be able to restore peace in the region. mr putin also denied any interference in france's presidential race despite accusations by emmanuel macron. translation: he banned to russian agencies covering his campaign, calling them of propaganda. there is an exhibition on 300 years of france and russian ties here was meant to highlight the relationship between the two countries. more recent events have made this a stiff and awkward meeting and it showed. joining us now from london is andrew jack, a journalist with the financial times, who was the paper's moscow bureau chief and also paris correspondent. you looked at that press conference. how tense didn't seem when they got onto involvement in a french pretty frosty. we had handshake diplomacy and this time around there was a little bit more assertiveness than the famous handshake between emmanuel macron and donald trump but emmanuel macron and donald trump but emmanuel macron and donald trump but emmanuel macron did his best to hold his ground and draw a number of distinctions on syria but also the question of the elections and his justification of the decision to ban a couple of russian media outlets. i know after the election there was a lot of heated rhetoric from emmanuel macron‘s camp. do russia and france need a reset on their relationship? we have to work on some issues like ukraine but with so much political mistrust because of interference in the vote, how much can they actually achieve on other things? this is a good initiative. angela merkel knows emmanuel macron very well and those who stalemate in relations. it needs formal and informal contact so emmanuel macron really took the lead to leap ahead of putin's meeting at the t20 and develop a relationship that had got very cold under his predecessor francois hollande including after the bombing of syria, the use of chemical weapons and the decision at that point in 0ctober and the decision at that point in october to cancel a previous visit by vladimir putin to paris.|j october to cancel a previous visit by vladimir putin to paris. i was struck by something the russian ambassador to paris said ahead of the meeting. he seems to suggest he got emmanuel macron would be more flexible on the issue of syria. you heard emmanuel macron say there were red lines that chemical weapons and france wouldn't hesitate to intervene if syria crossed them will stop what did the russian ambassador mean by that? what is president macron prepared to give on to russia on syria that he wouldn't have done? both sides are trying to create opportunities for negotiation and flexibility. the red line seems to be on chemical weapons. the shock and disgust that even change donald trump's opinions for the current regime but prior to the french presidential elections, emmanuel macron seemed presidential elections, emmanuel macron seemed more presidential elections, emmanuel macron seemed more open to the idea of new routes towards easing sanctions against russia for example. it's not quite clear what his stance is on continuing to cooperate with assad or if there is some possibility for discussion to ta ke some possibility for discussion to take place before assad's departure which previously was being pushed for. kristian is off this week, but i'm happy to see our political a nalyst i'm happy to see our political analyst is going to be with me for the next four days. ron, you heard andrew jack talking about the next four days. ron, you heard andrewjack talking about president putin's involvement in the french election, i imagine coming out of the american election you might have some questions for the russian leader. no question about it. good afternoon, we're going to have fun this week! there is no doubt vladimir putin has had a strong hand in influencing the election here, the hacking of the dnc, of hillary clinton's campaign manager. the question for me when i look at this is, where else is likely putin trying to destabilise the region in europe and elsewhere and why? one area will be looking at is germany and angela merkel i'm sure is watching that, too. she is fast emerging as a european thorn in donald trump's side. she doubled down today on criticism of america's president and his policies on climate change. the german chancellor has dumped diplomatic niceties since the tense g7 meeting last week. today she said it was right not to gloss over differences with the us, which follows her weekend comments that europe could no longer completely rely on its allies. translation: we europeans must really ta ke translation: we europeans must really take her feet into our own hands,in really take her feet into our own hands, in friendship with the united states of course —— our fate, and with the united kingdom and even with the united kingdom and even with russia but we have two now we must fight for our own future on our own, for her destiny as europeans and that's what i want to do, together with you. —— for our destiny. so, how are chancellor merkel‘s comments going down around the globe? i'm joined now by william cohen, former us defense secretary under president clinton and now a bbc world affairs analyst. when you listen to what angela merkel has said and her take on how the g-7 merkel has said and her take on how the g—7 meetings went and donald trump's trip to europe, what do you make of it? how do you compare it to his visit to saudi arabia? he was well received in saudi arabia. his trip went quite well throughout the re st of trip went quite well throughout the rest of the travel schedule except when it got to brussels and there he made a mistake in myjudgment in not reaffirming america's commitment to article five of the nato treaty. that was something the europeans are anxious to hear because they have had from spokesmen they're spokesmen, vice president pence during the conference in munich, but they were unsure of what the president himself felt. he more or less reaffirmed their doubts and scepticism during that meeting, pointing out that they had to pay up there do is and that's not something anyone would disagree with, but that was not the place to do it, in a public forum, to focus on what they have not done as opposed to what they are doing today and what will hopefully do tomorrow so i think he upset the europeans and i think that contributed to angela merkel's statement that they had to go out on their own. the only people who could ta ke their own. the only people who could take any kind ofjoy in that is president putin and i'm sure he's breaking open the vodka as we speak because this is something he has longed to do, break the transatlantic connection between the united states and our european friends. you make the point that the europeans carry some of the burden of this and should have paid more of the defence budgets into nato's coppers. is it alarmist at this stage in president trump's presidency to suggest the post—2nd world war order, the alliances that we have grown used that that produced stability on both sides of the continent, are up for review at the continent, are up for review at the moment? are we looking at a shake—up of that order? the moment? are we looking at a shake-up of that order? is to be determined. —— it is to be determined. —— it is to be determined. it is important for the us to reaffirm the transatlantic bond and for anyone to suggest that it's no longer as relevant or needed, the notion that we are a mess and i —— mercenary military, like its a fee, you pay up and get protection, that to me is undermining not only european security but american security. i don't want to see us take the position of america first and america alone. no one wants to see america alone. no one wants to see america is second, but we can only be first if we have the support of oui’ be first if we have the support of our allies and to the extent you ta ke our allies and to the extent you take any action, see anything that undermines that link, and you're painting us at greater risk as well as our allies. i'm sure it's a maximum of american republicans that when they're together, they will talk. i'm very curious, you were one of the erased republicans during the watergate scandal to call for the impeachment of president nixon. some are talking about impeachment and starting the process. 0ther any parallels you can drop between what happened in the 70s to what we're seeing with president trump and the calls for the democrats calling for his impeachment? first, it is premature for anyone to talk about impeachment. there are certain parallels that have been taken by this administration and what the nixon administration did but there are also closer parallels to the iran—contra scandal, which i was involved in, too. the issue for me in terms of the potential abuse of process or the covering up of presidential staff activity is of concern. for example, president trump has fired three of the top investigators looking into the russian connection. three of his closest advisers have failed to disclose that they had any connection, any conferences with the russians. that would include the attorney general, it would include mr kushner and also includes general flynn, so those three individuals all fields to acknowledge they had met with russians —— all of them failed to acknowledge they had met with russians. there is nothing wrong with setting up a separate channel to communicate with the russians. the problem is, there is so russians. the problem is, there is so much doubt hanging over what the russian influence has been. we know, oui’ russian influence has been. we know, our intelligence agencies have certified, they have tried to influence and attacked our democratic system. we know that. we should lease acknowledge that from the highest levels including the president so the question is, what was really being communicated? what will be trying to do with the russians that couldn't wait until after the president was sworn in and why did we have to go to the russians and easily —— use their encrypted communication facilities? those questions cast a cloud over the administration and its not going to go away until we have much more forthcoming information. don't about impeachment, don't talk about scandal, led the special council do their work. thank you very much. the secretary was referring to these latest reports that jared krishna, the son—in—law of the president, went to the russians and said could he set up a private communications channel with moscow during the transition and that has put the spotlight again on ties between russia and the trump white house so i guess the question for you is, how serious is this for the president? we know that mr trump releases statement in support of his son—in—law and said he is total confidence in him, adding that he is doing a greatjob for the country. what are you hearing from the white house about this? and healing is very serious. i spoke to number of officials and the white house week behind closed doors and will tell you it is creating a cloud of suspicion over the white house but they're worried about mr kushner‘s rule. there is a very broad portfolio in the white house and i've heard he walks in the room and since he is the master of everything but has never served in government. witnesses knowledge base coming from how to act to navigate these very tricky waters? i look at the support and it's not good. —— these reports. after a successful foreign policy trip, they don't need to come home and deal with these domestic issues, who's doing what with the russians and why? as a waitress giving you any explanation as to why jared krishna would want to setup back communications with moscow other than the want to avoid being targeted by us intelligence? no one really wa nted targeted by us intelligence? no one really wanted to talk about as to why he was trying to have those channel communications but certainly having worked in the white house for four years, i having worked in the white house for fouryears, ican having worked in the white house for four years, i can tell you that during the transition, you are trying to bring the administration up trying to bring the administration up to speed so that onjanuary 20, you can hit the ground running. what is the need to have those back channel communications with the russians that are off the grid, u nless russians that are off the grid, unless of course maybe you don't wa nt unless of course maybe you don't want our government to officially nor those contacts? there's going to bea nor those contacts? there's going to be a lot more questions about that. it is memorial day here in america, a public holiday to remember the war veterans. president trump went to arlington cemetery to lay a wreath for the fallen. it's his first public event since he got back from his foreign trip. here that this hallowed shrine, we honour the most noble among us, the men and women who paid the ultimate price for victory and for freedom. we paid tribute to those brave souls who roared into battle and ran into hell to face down evil. we wa nted we wanted to give to the state of the us military. in iraq nearly 4,500 us soldiers have been killed since the us—led invasion of 2003. and the number of us military deaths in afghanistan stands at over 2,000. and here's a look at how much the us — and some other countries spent on their military last year. the us committed $61! billion to military spending in 2016,15 billion more than the previous year. china was quite a way behind the us, but still with a total of $215 billion. then there's a big drop to russia, which spent a total of $69 billion on its military. saudi arabia spent almost $61; billion, which was 23 billion less than in 2015. and in 2016 the uk‘s military expenditure was 5a billion dollars. something we have talked about that is interesting is the size of america's military budget and the fa ct america's military budget and the fact that between us, we almost know no one who serves on it. it's remarkable. at the head of world war ii,12% of remarkable. at the head of world war ii, 12% of the remarkable. at the head of world war ii,12% of the us remarkable. at the head of world war ii, 12% of the us population was serving in the armed forces. today it is less than half of 1%. so many people serving our military in america yet so few people it seems in the circles that i'm moving know who they are. i have a handful from high school and one from law school and that's it. as we look at the fallen and look at the people who are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice, it seems to me that a lot of people here in washington, dc don't know who they are, don't know their name and don't understand the value of the service. that is definitely a disconnect worth thinking about on this memorial day. the british intelligence service, m15, is to review the way it deals with information from the public, in light of warnings ahead of the manchester suicide bombing carried out by salman abedi. british police released a picture of abedi that showed him wheeling a blue suitcase on the day of the suicide attack last week. this cctv shows abedi buying food and cleaning products just a day before the attack. police are asking the public to come forward with information about his whereabouts in the four days before the attack. north korea has launched a short—range ballistic missile into the sea insidejapan's exclusive economic zone. it was the north's third ballistic missile test in as many weeks. the launch comes in fresh defiance of tough talk from donald trump, who promised last week at the g7 summit that the "big problem" of north korea "will be solved". there's just over one week to go before the uk election and although campaigning was suspended following the attack in manchester. there's been quite a lot of movement in the polls. this is how the bbc poll of polls looked over the weekend, with the conservatives trending down and labour making gains. and to show you how big this shift is, this is the latest from yougov. it puts the gap atjust five points. ben wright is there. what's going on? i thought this was meant to be queried for theresa may? —— a clearlead. meant to be queried for theresa may? —— a clear lead. this election is proving more volatile than many thought it would be there for weeks ago and at that point, theresa may had a 20 plus point lead in the opinion polls but they have tightened, no question about it, don't perhaps seven or eight points in recent polls. that would still suggest a conservative win but not as emphatic as those earlier polls suggested so perhaps the british electorate is looking again at both theresa may and jeremy corbyn, the labour leader, and having a think. it's a strange atmosphere here because this campaign was in full swing up until that dreadful terror attack in manchester last monday. after that there was a pause for almost a week and i think there is a big tv debate which i'm covering tonight here, hosted by sky tv, which will be the first big television debate of this campaign and potentially could be a bit of a game changer. it's the first time that these are me and jeremy corbyn the labour leader are going to be facing questions live on camera from a studio audience. that is was unpredictable and there just ten days until polling day. they're not going to debate each other though, just taking questions from reporters, voters. what responses are you looking for to see a theresa may can change what seems to be a slide in the polls for her? jeremy corbyn was desperate for a head—to—head debate with theresa may and she was emphatically does not going to happen so this is a compromise they have come to, they will take it in turns to take questions from the audience then they will both be killed by an interviewer. they will both be put on the spot but not at the same time —— both the grills —— both be grilled by an interviewer. they are forced to clarify how it might work in the future. there was a dip in the polls and so theresa may is certainly going to want to do's debate to calm things down for her party and get back on the front foot and return to the subject she's desperate to talk about, the question of leadership and the main keyissue question of leadership and the main key issue after polling day which is how britain takes itself out of the european union, the brexit negotiations. that's the message she will want to be driving home today. looking to next week, how much of a game does she have to make to see it was worth calling the snap election? good question! i think she probably needs to add dozens to her majority. come on, one or two or three?|j think come on, one or two or three?” think she needs perhaps a0 or 50 two think she needs perhaps a0 or 50 two think this was worth the gamble. when she called it, it looked like she was going to romp home with a three digit landslide majority. that looks a lot less likely now but this isa looks a lot less likely now but this is a very volatile, peculiar election and a lot can happen in the last ten days. then add the debate, thank you very much. it's 100 years ago today that john f kennedy was born. the young and charismatic politician was a6 when his life was cut short by an assassin's bullet. while he only served two years as president, he is clearly identifiable byjust three letters — jfk — and by many of his iconic speeches. here's a look back at his life. ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. the present's car is now turning onto elm street. president kennedy has been assassinated. it is official, the president is dead. remembering jfk. ron, i rememberingjfk. ron, iwanted rememberingjfk. ron, i wanted to ask you before we go as an american who covers american politics and a republican who has served in the white house, the building behind you, what doesjfk mean to you? white house, the building behind you, what does jfk mean to you? he means a lot to me. he means so much when you look at the civil rights act of 196a and a voting rights act of 1965. if it wasn't for president kennedy having appointed his brother bobby to the attorney general, no previous administration had phoned the enforcement ability to bring these important statutes to life —— found the ability. it gives someone like me who dreams of working in that building behind me, the opportunity to go to law school and couege opportunity to go to law school and college and achieve the american dream so he means so much to me for what he was able to do to really free so many people of colour in the united states at the very volatile time in our history. thank you very much. we would say happy birthday mr president. 100 years sincejfk's birth. you're watching 100 days+ from bbc news. thanks forjoining us. i'll see you tomorrow. 0ver over the next day or two, we will feel fresher air coming over the uk. just know it is somewhere towards the northwest and it has been bringing humid airand the northwest and it has been bringing humid air and storms in the early hours of this morning. the bodies has been pushing the showers northwards today and whilst we haven't seen anything thundery for ana while, haven't seen anything thundery for an a while, there have been a few storms across the channel that could clip southern part of the uk but the tendency is to push the wetter weather northwards up most of it heading to the north sea, becoming a bit heading to the north sea, becoming a bhdw heading to the north sea, becoming a bit dry overnight but hanging on to a good deal of cloud. we still got humid airso a good deal of cloud. we still got humid air so temperatures perhaps 13 or 1a celsius across england and wales but the chance of more sunshine on the. by the morning, most sunshine on the. by the morning, m ost pla ces sunshine on the. by the morning, most places will be dry. still a fair bit of cloud around, particularly across the eastern side of england but we should turn to break up the clipboard or through the day. towards the northwest, one or two showers still feeding in off the idc. eastern areas of scotland, dry, perhaps nesting places, outbreaks of rain from first thing on tuesday morning and the wetter weather comes on at weather front there. we got fresher air coming in behind that. some sunshine developing behind that, 12 showers, most of the rain coming eastwards across scotland, showery bursts for northern england and wales and sunshine after early for northern ireland. getting into the fresher air, temperatures around normal but air, temperatures around normal but a bit of humility and one for eastern areas, 22, 20 three celsius —— humidity. a more comfortable night for sleeping on tuesday night, single figure temperatures across the northern half of the uk. fresher airover the northern half of the uk. fresher air over the middle part of the week, an area of low pressure eventually pushing rain into the northwest but for wednesday and thursday across england and wales, chances are it's going to be dry, still quite warm sunshine, 23 or 2a celsius. some fine weather for the northwest, scotland and northern ireland. the rain pushes into the west of scotland and the west of northern ireland. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines at 7:30pm... police release a picture of the manchester bomber carrying a blue suitcase, asking whether anyone saw him with it between the 18th and 22nd of may. greater manchester police search a landfill site near bury in connection with the attack. a female zoo keeper has died after a tiger entered an enclosure at hamerton zoo in cambridgeshire. de zeeuw has described it as a freak accident and that at no stage was public safety is a concern. —— vizeu. —— the zoo. the police said the animal did not escape from the enclosure. british airways chief executive says he's sorry about the disruption caused by a global computer meltdown but says he won't resign. now on bbc news it's time for the big debate with victoria derbyshire. good morning and welcome to dunstable in bedfordshire. applause. with just over a week to go till the general election, we're here to look at some of the key issues that may influence how you're going to vote. hi, i'm steve. i'm very worried about security in the country and i don't trust any