on the way to hospital, as he was dying, he told police he was grabbed from behind and had liquid splashed in his face. some south korean media say he was poisoned. rupert wingfield—hayes has the story. this is kim jong—nam, whose body is thought to be the one now lying in a malaysian morgue. officials there say he died after being sprayed in the face with something at kuala lumpur airport this morning. south korean media immediately claimed north korean agents had assassinated kim on the orders of his own younger brother, kim jong—un. north korea's young dictator has been tightening his grip on power, ruthlessly purging potential opponents. what's so sensitive? last year i saw for myself how strange north korea can be. i was detained and expelled for insulting the kim leadership. much more telling is what he did to his own uncle, seen here on the left. jang sung—taek was hauled away from a party meeting, accused of treachery, and executed. has he now also eliminated his brother? kim jong—nam was once his father's favourite, being groomed to one day take over as north korea's supreme leader. but his downfall began here in tokyo, when he was caught sneaking into japan on a fake passport. these pictures of his humiliating deportation from japan are said to have deeply angered his father, north korea's late dictator kim jong—il. his place at his father's side was taken instead by his younger brother kim jong—un. kim jong—nam then went into exile in macau. in interviews, he repeatedly said he had no interest in power. so why kill him? kimjong—nam, although he had been quiet and lying low for a while, not low enough it seems, had gone off—message badly before. he'd said some stuff about not believing in hereditary succession. and maybe, in this kind of a system, like medieval europe, any other possible claimant to the kingship could potentially be a threat. in the 21st century, fratricide is normally confined to history books. yet again, north korea is showing it is not a normal country. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, tokyo. peter hayes is an expert on north korea and works for the nautilus institute in australia. hejoins me now. this was a man, by all accounts, who kept saying he had no interest in power. he was in exile for more than a decade. do you think you was killed on the orders of the leadership? i doubt that very much. of course, it's not yet confirmed except indirectly through south korea and reports of information from the malaysia and police that this actually was a murder. we actually still don't know what is really going on. on the assumption it was a murder, the obvious suspect, of course, is north korea. all north korean agents are state—controlled and even though he was thought to be the air apparent but discarded by his father, kim jong il, infavour of but discarded by his father, kim jong il, in favour of the youngest son, kimjong—un, and was known to be critical of kim jong—un. son, kimjong—un, and was known to be critical of kimjong—un. he son, kimjong—un, and was known to be critical of kim jong—un. he was a poor candidate. i'm not sure if you can still hear me. i gather there have been reports that he was known for gambling and doing deals. there are suggestions in some quarters of criminal elements. no, ithink are suggestions in some quarters of criminal elements. no, i think we've lost together the moment. peter hayes, we will try to get you back but we have definitely lost that connection. the white house has rejected suggestions that donald trump's presidency is in turmoil, after the resignation of his national security adviser general michael flynn less than a month into the new administration. general flynn had admitted misleading colleagues over his contact with russian diplomats which took place before mr trump took office. our north america editor jon sopel reports. they were oh—so—close, politically inseparable. but, afterjust three weeks as national security adviser, michael flynn has gone, in a stunning fall from grace, after a day of chaos and confusion at the white house. the camera—loving president suddenly becoming camera—shy when asked about his future. do you have full confidence in him? but today, the president's spokesman came out all guns blazing. the former "close friend" had lost the president's trust. we got to a point, not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue, where the level of trust between the president and general flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change. the president was very concerned that general flynn had misled the republican leadership, always uncomfortable about the unorthodox general, were relieved to see him go. you cannot have a national security adviser misleading the vice president, and others. so i think the president was right to ask for his resignation, this all goes back to action taken over the christmas period by the former president, barack obama, to impose sanctions against russia over its interference in the us election. on 29 december, michael flynn speaks to the russian ambassador, in the first of a series of calls. on 15 january, vice president mike pence denies that sanctions were discussed. what i can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations, that happened to occur around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats, had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. but, in late january, the former acting attorney—general warned the white house it might have been misled by general flynn's account. no action was taken. but then, on 9 february, the washington post revealed that flynn did discuss sanctions, and it was then that pressure grew. and democrats are not going to let the matter go. michael flynn was a spear—carrier for donald trump during the election, making hillary clinton's honesty a central point of attack. we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. but now it is michael flynn who on a question of trust has been found wanting, and finds himself very much alone. jesse byrnes is editor of the hill newspaper and he joins us from washington. we have president trump's national security adviser secretly communicating with russian officials ata time communicating with russian officials at a time when russia was trying to undermine the democratic process in the us. he was discussing the sanctions the obama administration had just imposed on russia. a lot of people must be thinking, it is almost inconceivable he was doing something so important independently. that's been the big question. we are seeing a lot of lawmakers, even republican lawmakers, even republican lawmakers, starting to push the a nswe i’s , lawmakers, starting to push the answers, and this is someone who was answers, and this is someone who was a good tenant general in the army, somebody who comes from that tradition of following the chain of command. they are pushing to see, duty act in some kind of rogue fashion in bringing up us section —— sanctions on russia? or was he directed to have some kind of support for blessing for bringing matter from someone else who is now in the white house. and by support oi’ in the white house. and by support or blessing, journalists i tried to find out, what did president trump know about all this and when was general flynn acting at his behest? what you alluded to in your report is the former acting attorney general who trump —— trump let go, she did identify the white house on january 26 about the different comments that flynn had made and potentially being misleading, based on what the vice president had said in some interviews but it wasn't until two weeks later that we understand that mike pence learned about these conflicting reports. there is even within the white house ata there is even within the white house at a senior level some kind of withholding of information. even at this point. let's not beat about the bush. is the implication the ultimate question, was there some kind of trade—off? was russia being involved in a deal? mr trump wins the election in return for sanctions being used by president trump when he comes into office. there is no evidence of that. there has been some kind of reporting on the transcript of those calls that we saw between mike pence and the russian envoy to the us but we have not seen a full transcript and it's unlikely that will be. another factor is that the fbi interviewed mike pence in the early days of the trump administration so that will be another point, regardless of what he said publicly, which might have been misleading towards white house officials, what did he tell the fbi? that can carry legal implications but the broader political impact, with russia and any kind of tit—for—tat, so to speak, would sanctions, that of course is a huge debate and neither side, republican oi’ debate and neither side, republican or democrat, will let the administration move on from that very quickly. on that last point, it has emerged the fbi did interview general flynn in the first few days of the administration. that raises the stakes for him considerably. it is one thing to embarrass your colleagues, to even lie to the vice president and the american public but to lie to the fbi, that can get you thrown in jail. but to lie to the fbi, that can get you thrown injail. it but to lie to the fbi, that can get you thrown in jail. it comes with the implication of a felony charge. it is something more decent to the fbi, remains unclear what that was. we look forward to seeing some more pressing questions about that. another law that people are looking at, the logan act which buys a citizen, who flynn, he was a private citizen, who flynn, he was a private citizen when he spoke to that envoy, dealing with in speaking with a foreign government about us diplomacy, the legal implications are something the white house is pushing back on strongly, saying its just about trust but that's something that lawmakers will continue to press for here today. jessie burns, they give very much. —— thank you very much. authorities have declared it safe for people to return to their homes, after they were evacuated from the area around lake oroville in california. 200,000 residents were told to leave on sunday over fears that a spillway could give way and cause catastrophic flooding. the united nations has warned of a serious escalation in the conflict in the east of ukraine. an official said since january the distance between government and rebel forces had narrowed to hundreds of metres, and in some places it's almost face to face. india hopes to set a new space record later, by launching 104 satellites into space in a single mission. these pictures are from the indian space research organisation that launched eight satellites with one rocket in september last year. russia currently holds the record, with 39 satellites sent into space in a single mission. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the bbc‘s fergal keane has a special report from bambari, in the central african republic, three years into a war between rival christian and muslim militias. the un is warning it could descend into a genocide. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal, completed in good order but the army defeated in the task it had been set out to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island away from the town for the time but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they call it mir, russian for 'peace'. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: confusion surrounds the death of kim jong—nam who was the half—brother of the north korean leader. was he poisoned by assassins? a postmortem is due to be held to establish the cause of death. the white house says that donald trump's national security adviser michael flynn discussed nothing illegal in his contacts with the russian ambassador, but resigned over an erosion of trust. the us office of government ethics has called on the white house to investigate a senior presidential adviser for publicly endorsing the product line of mr trump's daughter, ivanka. kellyanne conway urged people to buy ivanka trump branded products in a tv interview last week. a statement from the ethics office, which is bi—partisan, says there is strong reason to believe that violated standards of conduct for government officials. the retailer nordstrom had just dropped the ivanka trump brand. this is a wonderful line. i own some of it. i am going to give a free commercial. go and buy it today, you can buy it online. the bbc‘s david willis is in washington. how significant is all of this? how significant is all of thi57m is difficult to think of a more audacious advertisement for a president's daughter's products, given by kellyanne conway. this followed the announcement that the nordstrom chain was dropping her products from its stalls because of falling sales, which prompted mr trump to take to twitter to condemn that move. then we had kellyanne conway going on to fox news to say, as we heard, go and buy ivanka's stuff, it is available online if you want. so the office of government ethics has now taken a matter and it is urging disciplinarian action against kellyanne conway and is asking the trump administration to consider this whole issue and to give it two weeks to decide what action it will take, disciplinary wise. kellyanne conway is a special adviser to donald trump. it was she who referred to the bowling green massacre, something which didn't exist, and she also came out yesterday afternoon to say michael flynn, the former national security adviser, enjoy the full support of president trump, only for him to resign if you hours later for the white house has said that kellyanne conway has been counselled about her comment regarding ivanka trump's products and we will wait to see what punishment if any is given to her. another one to watch. thank you for that. the united nations says it's willing to use further force against militia in the central african republic to prevent the country sliding back into anarchy. thousands of un peacekeepers have been deployed amid fears of genocide. rival christian and muslim militias began fighting in the car more than three years ago. one fragile un red line is around the town of bambari, where thousands of civilians have sought shelter. from there our special correspondent fergal keane reports. out in the countryside, the un has already fired the first shots to ward off an assault on bambari, but the town itself is divided between rival militias. muslims live in the centre of town, the christians on the other bank, civilians protected by soldiers of the united nations. 23 years after i watched the un fail to stop a genocide in rwanda, i've come to bambari where the blue helmets try to avert tragedy in central africa. every burned building here speaks of lives erased when the country descended into sectarian massacre in 2013. civilians slaughtered, hundreds of thousands displaced into camps. now, amid fears of renewed violence, there's no hope of going home. "leave here, i don't think so", this man tells us. "here we're protected by the united nations." civilians are facing renewed terror from warlords. these are christians, but it's not as simple as just a battle of religions. numerous warlords fight for power and wealth. vernonique's husband was murdered, leaving her to care forfive children. madeleine lost her husband and three of herfive children. translation: they were killing people. they killed two on a motorcycle. they were going from killing to killing. it created a panic. some people even lost their children as they were running. one name kept cropping up here, a muslim warlord they blame for the most recent attacks. what about ali darassa? translation: his name creates fear and terror. even now, here, when he sent his men to bacula, all the people ran away. it wasn't hard to find ali darassa, he and his bodyguards live directly opposite the un ho. guns are supposed to be banned here, but try telling that to these men. the un is unwilling so far to provoke a conflict over this. the fighters are muslims from the ethnic minority, whom ali darassa claims to protect. you portray yourself as the protector of the people, but there is another view of you and that is that you're a ruthless killer? translation: all is clear. everything that happens is reported by people. if i was a ruthless killer, people could not live peacefully near me. the un escorted us back across town to meet ali darassa's enemy, the leader of a christian militia also accused of atrocities. meet general gaetan and his deputy, who calls himself general tarzan. the fighters hid their guns while we were there, but general gaetan was blunt about his own role. are you a warlord? translation: yes. i have thousands of men, ready to protect the population. the self—styled protectors thrive because the central government is weak. there are too few peacekeepers and troops are of mixed quality. it's a familiar story of peacekeeping in the modern age. but tensions around bambari are now so dangerous the un mission‘s top officials are flying in. diane corner is a veteran british diplomat, now trying to ensure this country doesn't slide into chaos again. the warlords are summoned. first, ali darassa. and then gaetan, who waits in a room next door for his enemy to leave. in this prefabricated office, the international community struggles to make peace. diane corner tells them the un is willing to fight. i'm giving very clear messages that we are going to do everything to prevent a battle in bambari, that we are reinforcing our positions, that the un is impartial, we're not taking sides with either one group or the other, and that we expect them to respect the civilian population. in the protected zone, the old life of the lost villages shows signs of revival. a father studies, planning for a future beyond all of this. but the calm depends on the un continuing to enforce its red lines north of here. over the years, i've seen the failings of un missions, sometimes catastrophically, for example, in rwanda. and yet, standing now on the bridge at bambari, between the christian and muslim districts, it's clear to me that without a united nations presence there would be slaughter here. fergal keane, bbc news, bambari. the president of venezuela has demanded the united states apologise and withdraw the sanctions it's imposed on his deputy. it's accusing tareck el aissami of drug trafficking. he says the move is an imperialist aggression. this is venezuela's vice president tareck el aissami this is venezuela's vice president ta reck el aissami being this is venezuela's vice president tareck el aissami being sworn in last month. the us treasury has described him as a drug kingpin who worked with traffickers in mexico and columbia to ship drugs to america. they've now imposed sanctions on him. during a televised event, the venezuelan president he. -- hit event, the venezuelan president he. —— hit back. event, the venezuelan president he. -- hit back. translation: i event, the venezuelan president he. —— hit back. translation: i have ordered the foreign minister to call in the united states representative in venezuela and present to him a letter of protest and demand a retraction of the outrageous accusations that were made by the representatives at the united states embassy. the sanctions freeze his assets in the us and bar him from entering the country. so who is tareck el aissami? before becoming vice president, the 42 u roald was a lawmaker, interior minister and state governor. —— a2—year—old. he isa state governor. —— a2—year—old. he is a powerfulfigure in state governor. —— a2—year—old. he is a powerful figure in the governing psu party. he has been touted in some circles as a possible future president. sanctions were also imposed on wealthy venezuelan businessman lopez, described as tareck el aissami's front man. this was a very long effort, but the implication is quite significant. we expect there will be frozen tens of millions of dollars and again sanctions are an important way for us sanctions are an important way for us to send a message that we will not stand for illicit activity, whether they be drug trafficking or terrorism. both men strongly denied the allegations. mr aissami took to twitter to dismiss the allegations are —— twitter to dismiss the allegations are n as twitter to dismiss the allegations are —— as imperialist aggression, but the vice president is the highest ranking venezuelan official to ever be sanctioned by the us. much more on all of the news any time now bbc and on twitter. thanks for watching. hello, there. we are looking at changes to our weather now. we've lost that cold easterly, the grey weather. something a bit milder coming from the south. but, in the next 2a hours and for the rest of this week, weather will be coming in off the atlantic. and that is what we're looking at, i think, overnight. some weatherfronts pushing up from the south, introducing more cloud around. some rain across central, northern areas, which will be clearing its way northwards. then we have two areas of rain pushing toward southern england by the end of the night. generally quite a misty, murky, cloudy night to come, but that will blanket in temperatures, so we should be looking at anything from 5—9 celsius, but some chilly spots in northern scotland to begin the morning. we have rain pushing toward south—west england and towards south wales. heavy bursts mixed into there. wouldn't be surprised if you heard a rumble of thunder, perhaps, through the morning. a mild start. elsewhere, dampness across the south—east, but generally cloudy for england and wales, and quite grey, misty and murky. a little bit of rain, some showers affecting the irish sea coasts. some of it pushing towards northern ireland and south scotland. central northern scotland, a cold start here, perhaps a touch of frost in northern glens. but, at least for you, you'll probably see the best of the sunshine through the day. same too for northern ireland. further south, the weather front pushes northwards and eastwards as the day wears on. and again, some of it could be heavy towards the midlands and towards the south—east,, potentially some heavy bursts for northern counties of england, too. a mild feel to things here. a little bit cooler further north, but you've got the sunshine, so it will compensate. now, that weather front pushes towards the north. things turns dry for england and wales. winds turn light as well. a cool night, maybe mist and fog to start thursday morning. an area of low pressure will sweep to the north of scotland. this brings frequent showers to northern ireland and much of central northern scotland and fairly strong, blustery winds. but for england and wales, actually, quite a quiet day. with light winds, some sunshine, it will feel pleasantly mild, 11 or 12 celsius. the low pressure pushes towards scandinavia. the ridge of high pressure nudges in for friday. that means with light winds and damp air we could start the day on friday with some dense fog patches around. but they should generally clear and lift, to allow for sunshine to develop, certainly through friday afternoon. so this is friday in a bit more detail. we will start off with some dense mist and fog, particularly england and wales. through the day skies should tend to brighten up. feeling mild, temperatures in double figures. but notice out west there will be strengthening winds and outbreaks of rain. that takes us into the weekend, and for most of us, staying mild. there will be a little bit of rain in the forecast, but for most of us it should stay dry. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm mike embley. the estranged half—brother of the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has been killed in an apparent assassination in malaysia. police say before kim jong—nam died, he told them he was grabbed from behind and had liquid splashed in his face. a postmortem is due to be held to establish the cause of death. michael flynn's departure as national security advisor raises more questions than answers. they stress he was forced to resign over an erosion of trust, not over the legal question of when he broke american law in his contacts with the ambassador. the central african republic is descending into anarchy, possibly genocide. christian and mush and —— was the militias began fighting more than three years ago. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.