president trump and his secretary of state are both saying relations with russia are at an all—time low. rex tillerson‘s talks in moscow with president putin and his foreign minister were never going to be easy, but it now seems clear the kremlin has not budged in its support for syria's president assad, despite last week's chemical attack. the us and russia are poles apart on pretty much everything, from syria to the many questions about russian interference in the us election. from moscow, steve rosenberg. the last time he was in russia, rex tillerson was an oil man, doing multibillion—dollar deals with the kremlin, drinking champagne with vladimir putin. he even got an award from him. but in moscow today, it was a political deal secretary of state tillerson was seeking, over syria, not easy with us—russian relations at their worst since the end of the cold war. he met his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov. then, behind closed doors in the kremlin, president putin. there was a lot to talk about, including this. last week, america launched cruise missiles, targeting a syrian government air base. an act of aggression, said russia, against moscow's ally. washington claimed it was an appropriate response to the recent chemical weapons attack in the syrian town of khan sheikhoun. today, america and russia publicly disagreed about who was behind it. the facts that we have are conclusive, that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned, and it was directed and executed, by syrian regime forces. translation: we saw no evidence of this. and, from tv pictures and eyewitnesses who were at the base when the planes took off, it's clear there were no signs of any chemical substances present there. there was disagreement, too, over president assad. moscow appears unwilling to do what america would like it to, stop supporting him. today, donald trump called president assad "truly evil", and criticised russia for backing him. clearly, our view is that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end, and they have again brought this on themselves, with their conduct of the war these past few years. translation: we've been through this before, this obsession with ousting dictators, and we know only too well how it all ends. rex tillerson may in the past have drunk champagne with vladimir putin, he may even have got a medalfrom him. but that was business. this is geeo—politics. the reality is that russia believes it has nothing to gain and a lot to lose from abandoning president assad, and until that changes, it is not going to do it. later, at the un security council, russia vetoed a draft resolution on the chemical attack, one that would have required the syrian government to co—operate with an investigation. tonight, moscow and washington acknowledged that relations must improve. but so deep are the divisions over syria, and other issues too, it is hard to see how that improvement is going to happen. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. our north america editorjon sopel has this assessment of where this leaves an already—strained relationship. what we don't know, of course, is what the wider strategy is towards syria. we have heard rex tillerson in his news conference talking about the assad regime being at its end and they have brought it all themselves, but does that mean that themselves, but does that mean that the us policy is now actively working towards regime change? and if that is the case, how are they going to pursue that? where does it leave relations with russia? we have heard president trump talking about, he still hopes it will be possible there will be a reset in the relations with vladimir putin. but with each day that passes sounding less and less confident that will be possible to happen. i think what's going to happen next is that we will see rex tillerson coming back to the united states and there being a full debrief on the talks that he had with the russian foreign minister and the talks that he had with vladimir putin. and seeing if there is any way, which is what the americans would love to do, of prising russia away from backing assad and the syrian regime. and you can get more on the latest developments on us—russia relations on our website. that is at bbc.com/news, or you can download the bbc news app. president trump has reaffirmed his support for nato. at a news conference in washington with the organisation's secretary general, jens stoltenberg, mr trump said he no longer believed nato was obsolete. we must also work together to resolve the disaster currently taking place in syria. we are grateful for the support of nato members and partners in their condemnation of assad's murderous attack, using the most horrible weapons. the secretary general and i had a productive discussion about what more nato can do in the fight against terrorism. i complained about that a long time ago, and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism. i said it was obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. police in germany investigating the three explosions that hit the bus carrying the borussia dortmund football team on tuesday have detained a suspected islamist extremist. they are treating it as a terror attack. the match against monaco did go ahead on wednesday night, and there were shows of defiance from both sets of fans. jenny hill reports from dortmund. after an attack on home ground, this is how the world of football responded. dortmund's fans and their monaco rivals in unison. security fears put aside, for a match which mattered. we want to show that we don't care for the terrorism, we want to see football. we want to see a good match. and that's important, i think. this was, police believe, a targeted attack on the dortmund team. three explosive devices, packed with metal pins, planted along their route to the stadium. explosives with a range of 100 metres. investigators have yet to establish a motive, but they're examining letters found at the scene. translation: three letters were found at the site. they suggest a possible islamist background. among others things, they demand the withdrawal of german tornados from syria, and the closure of ramstein air base in germany. these letter are being investigated by islamic experts. the dortmund team arrived earlier tonight, without one of their defenders. marc bartra posted this picture earlier, following surgery on his wrist. a policeman was also injured in the attack, though not seriously. translation: we were all appalled yesterday when we heard about the attack on the bus of the bvb players in dortmund. we sincerely wish the injured, the player marc bartra, and also the policeman, full recovery, and we all agree that we are dealing here with a disgusting deed. dortmund's defeat tonight may have disappointed some. that the match was played at all was, for most here, the real victory. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: thousands of people have protested against the government in the hungarian capital, budapest. they are opposed to official plans which will undermine civil organisations that receive backing from abroad. it is the fourth such demonstration in ten days. the speaker of south africa's parliament has postponed a vote of no confidence in president jacob zuma. first, the constitutional court will rule on whether it can be a secret ballot. thousands joined demonstrations around the country, calling on mr zuma to stand down, on what was his 75th birthday. in a surprising development, iran's former president mahmoud ahmadinejad has put himself forward as a candidate in next month's presidential election. the move is seen as a challenge to the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei's authority. he has told mr ahmadinejad not to run. mr ahmadinejad says he is only entering the election to support his former deputy. lawyers for the passenger forcibly removed from a united airlines flight have filed an emergency request in an american court for the airline to preserve evidence. the video of david dao being dragged by security guards has been watched hundreds of millions of times. the head of united airlines, oscar munoz, is insisting he won't resign. new zealanders are bracing themselves for more severe weather, just days after cyclone debbie hit the region. this time it is what is left of cyclone cook, which has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, but still packing enough destructive power to cause concern. a state of emergency has been declared in some local regions, with hundreds of schools shut, and flights cancelled. brigitte purcell is a correspondent for the new zealand herald newspaper. she is in auckland for us now. thank you for your time. you must be busy there. so soon after cycling debbie, you guys are having it tough. how bad is it looking? well, tough. how bad is it looking? well, to be honest this is going to be the mother of all storms for new zealand. the country has been told to hunker down, and that cyclone cook is as strong as the storm 50 yea rs cook is as strong as the storm 50 years ago which killed nearly 50 people. so the country is really preparing for the worse. the cyclone has made landfall yet, but we are seeing updates of carnage and chaos coming to the newsroom by the minute. we are expecting the news a mac come and reach landfall about 6pm new zealand time. the areas which are going to be affected tonight are the bay of plenty and plenty and edgcumbe, and people in those low—lying areas on the coast are being told to evacuate immediately, because we are going to be seen waves of up to five metres along the coastline. so that is likely to mean tidal flooding, i guess, a lot of erosion. many people will know those areas, hugely popular travel destinations. could be very tricky at that. absolutely, and not only that, at easter weekend, this is a hot area for people to be going on holiday. so people to be going on holiday. so people are being urged to cancel their plans, don't go to the area, there are going to be waves along there are going to be waves along the coast, severe winds, really we don't even know the extent of the damagejust yet don't even know the extent of the damage just yet but they are saying this is going to be the most powerful storm to hit new zealand in the last 50 years. they were talking about closing the auckland harbour bridge. would that be the first time ever? i don't think it will be, but we are expecting winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour in the auckland region, so as a precaution they are thinking about closing the auckland harbour bridge. this does mean it is going to be chaos, rest, it is really a gateway in and out of the city. so we just need to play it by year at the moment, but flights have been suspended right across the country. public transport has been absolutely crammed impact to the limit. people are rushing to get home, it is really an emergency here, but there are concerns that some people are not taking it as seriously as they should be. in some areas people are saying, come on, bring it on at authorities are warning people that they really need to prepare for the worst, especially the coromandel area, in fact some of the coromandel area, in fact some of the defence units there are saying have as much spare water as you can to last an entire week. so we are going to see some real damage in the area. well, good luck to everyone. thank you so much. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: we meet the chinese centenarian who has been a communist, a dissident, and secretary to chairman mao. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock and as for a sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: after hours of talks in moscow, russia and america fail to resolve their differences over the syrian chemical attack and president assad's future. borussia dortmund have played their big european game, after a 2k hour delay. german police say a man with islamist links has been detained, over the attack on their team bus. venezuela's president has been pelted with eggs as protests grow over the country's deepening economic crisis. 0pposition activists say the leader nicolas maduro is becoming increasingly authoritarian and are demanding early elections. the oil rich country has been hit by the slump in the price of oil and there are severe shortages of food and medicine. stephen sackur sent this special report from the capital, caracas. caracas, capital of the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world and yet, a city where people queue all day hoping for bread, nappies or baby milk. we had to film these scenes undercover. journalists aren't welcome, as venezuela sinks deeper into economic chaos. filming inside supermarkets is a crime, here's why — many of them are empty. the government is drowning in debt, imports have dried up, inflation is over 1000%. the people suffering the most are the poor, in the city's sprawling slums. i'm in one of thejeeps which specialises in transporting people up—and—down the mountain and the principle here in the slum is pretty straight—forward — the higher up the hill you live, well, the poorer you are. this barrio used to be a stronghold of the late hugo chavez's socialist revolution, not any more. people here are desperate, struggling to find food and to stay safe. caracas has become the world's most dangerous capital city. i met a heavily armed kidnap gang, nervous young men, barely out of childhood. as venezuela's crisis deepens, political tension rises. this a voter registration drive—by the opposition, justice first party. why don't they let us have elections? theyjust put more obstacles and more obstacles and more obstacles. that's why we have to do all this for and many people who are here are poor, too. and i wasn't poor, but now i am poor. they've been weeks of clashes between protesters and police since the socialist government tried to abolish the powers of the opposition—controlled national assembly. 0pposition leaders called it a coup against democracy and they want president nicolas maduro out. the last time the street violence was this bad was three years ago. the leader of the anti maduro protest back then was leopoldo lopez, who was imprisoned for 1h years. i met lopez's mother, a tireless campaigner for his release and for political change. something's going to happen, and it's not going to be only for leopoldo's cause, it's for venezuelans. she took me to the military prison where her son is held. she yelled to him, he yelled back. look at them, look at the guards. ajeep has just come out of the prison. maybe they'll take your camera. as we filmed, guards emerged from the prison. we managed to conceal the camera in our car, but our cover was blown. the next day we were deported. the venezuelan government doesn't want the world to see the mess it's in. stephen sackur, bbc news, caracas. just by living so long, this man has seen some just by living so long, this man has seen some extraordinary changes. he joined the communist party and became secretary to chairman mao. yet the fervent communist then became a dissident and spoke out in favour of democratic reform. as our china editor, carrie gracie, found out, li rui remains an independent voice to this day. oh no, i am in trouble. a failing cameraman as well. born in 1917 and growing up mid—civil war and famine, he dreamed of becoming a communist. the 18—year—old did not listen, but did not get killed either. soon, the communists were ruling china, and he was secretary to chairman mao, who he later described as terrifying and inhumane. but it's dangerous to talk like that now. i think i do understand. when he spoke out about the mistakes of chairman mao, he was expelled from the party and spent eight years in solitary confinement. after chairman mao's death, the party let him back in. but then came the tiananmen square democracy protests. he spoke out again. after the massacre, the party saw enemies everywhere. in his 80s and 90s, li rui and the party finally learned to tolerate each other, and he concentrated on writing. but censorship is tightening up again, and his books, not welcome to party leaders. melania trump has accepted damages, understood to amount to almost $3 million from the publishers of the british daily mail newspaper. the first lady had complained about an article which made allegations about her modelling career. the high court in london was told the report included "false and defamatory claims. " the daily mail is arguably britain's most powerful newspaper and its website, which often includes headlines too salacious even for the paper, is the most widely read english language newspaper website in the world. but the mail's owner, associated, may have met its match in the form of us first lady, melania trump. the former slovenian beauty queen sued the mail titles for libel in september. the cause of her ire — allegations printed in both the paper and online that she worked notjust as model prior to meeting donald trump, but as an escort. here at the royal courts ofjustice, a statement was read out this morning which said that the claims about mrs trump's professional work were both false and defamatory. as a result, both the mail and the mail 0nline have agreed to publish both a retraction and an apology. they accepted an article which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model had no evidence to support its allegations. the mail group will now pay damages and costs close to $3 million. but, of course, we have to remember she was claiming about, well, something close to $300 million. so a settlement of around 1% of that, at $3 million, including costs and damages, is not an enormous victory, but it still has a chilling effect on free speech. newspapers make expensive errors all the time, but rarely do they lead to such high—profile settlements. today will go down in fleet street history as the day the mighty mail was trumped. time for a cute animal story, but we have to ask you to imagine them. two giant pandas a right in the netherlands. they came from china. they were lowered in special plexiglass crates. they are a gift to the dutch royal family, plexiglass crates. they are a gift to the dutch royalfamily, who made a state visit to china in 2015. that's it for now. good morning. it looks like it will be on the cool side for the easter weekend. more on that in a moment. we've introduced cooler air at the moment behind this very weak weather front that moved down across the country. this north—westerly airflow. particularly chilly first thing in eastern scotland and eastern england, but with the cloud more broken in the countryside, temperatures briefly not far from freezing. at least we have early sunshine through lincolnshire, east anglia and the south—east. the tendency through the day is to increase the cloud from the west. that's already happening in south—west england, across wales and in the north—west cloud is thick enough for some light rain or drizzle, mainly over the hills. again, fine to the east of the pennines. as it will be in eastern scotland, with sunshine. western scotland is dull and damp. sunshine for northern ireland too. through the day it clouds over across the eastern side of england and scotland. at the same time in the afternoon we open up a gap in the cloud across south wales, south—west england and that should push into the south—east. here we have the best of the sunshine in the afternoon and the highest temperatures still only 13—14. furthermore north, a lot of places dry. around the western hills primarily we get the damp weather. over the easter weekend temperatures disappointing for the time of year. a cool feel. warm when the sun is out, but on the whole there will be a lot of cloud. probably not much rain around. just a bit a nuisance. these weather systems coming into the uk for good friday are going to be very much on the weak side. but across england and wales we will have a lot of cloud. there will be some pockets of light rain or drizzle here and there. no great amounts. but a bit of a damp picture, especially for south wales and south—west england. to the north of northern england, scotland and northern ireland, something a bit brighter, but also showers. a strong wind will make it feel chilly in scotland. maybe sneaking a 16 in the south—east if we are very lucky. those weather systems pull away and we are back into the cooler north—westerly airflow. so we fluctuate almost from one day to the next over the easter weekend. on saturday, easter saturday, much drier and brighter. most places will have a fine day. a little sunshine at times, not doing an awful lot for temperatures. there could be a few showers in the north of scotland. then we are back into the fluctuation again for easter day. more weather fronts arriving across the uk. higher pressure in the south. those weather fronts again are fairly weak. most of the rain over the hills, across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. to the south, it should be dry and brighter. 15 perhaps in london, nine in glasgow. this is bbc world news. the headlines: president trump has said relations with russia may be at an all—time low, after his secretary of state failed to persuade russia to stop backing president assad of syria. rex tillerson spent nearly two hours in talks with president putin and his foreign minister over the syrian chemical attack. borussia dortmund have played their delayed champions league quarter—final game against monaco. the match was postponed for 2h hours, after the german team's coach was hit by debris from an explosive device. police say a man with islamist links has been detained over the attack. a state of emergency has been declared in some areas of new zealand, as the islands brace themselves for more severe weather. authorities say tropical storm cook will make landfall, days after cyclone debbie hit the region. hundreds of schools are shut, and numerous flights have been cancelled. now on bbc news, hardtalk.