welcome to 100 days. the us sends hundreds of troops into syria. marines have been deployed to help to capture the isg hold of raqqa. candidate donald trump said he had a plan to defeat so—called islamic state, is this? —— is this it. —— is stronghold. we are probably the to most vilified people in the west over the course of the last couple of years. also, happy families, senator ted cruz and his family enjoy dinner at the white house, as the charm offensive over replacing 0bamaca re house, as the charm offensive over replacing 0bamacare begins, but relations were not always so warm. you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time.

donald, you are a snivelling coward, leave heidi the hell alone. prime minister theresa may attends her last summit of eu leaders before brexit talks. will britain really be landed with a 60 billion euro divorce bill? we'll hearfrom berlin. we'll speak to donald trump's preferred choice for uk ambassador to washington, nigel farage — about his friendship with the president. and we're in arkansas to hear from the voters the president calls the "forgotten men and women" of america. i'm katty kay in washington, christian fraser's in london. are we seeing the return of american hard power in the middle east? the united states has just sent some 400 troops to syria to fight against so—called islamic state. the deployment is made up of marines and army rangers who are there to help capture the is stronghold of raqqa. they reportedly arrived in the past few days to establish an outpost from which they will be able to fire artillery at is positions around 20 miles away. the white house press secretary sean spicer has just taken a question about this. not n ot exa ctly not exactly trying to disguise their identity. sean spicer, now. today, hundreds of us marines were deployed

to syria, so i'm wondering, how involved was the president in that decision—making process? involved was the president in that decision-making process? the president was obviously made aware of that, this has been done in consultation, he understands the regional issues that need to be addressed there. i would refer you back to the department of defence. with us to discuss this more is andrew exum, who was one of president 0bama's top advisors on middle east affairs. during the campaign, president trump kept saying, i have a plan, iwill campaign, president trump kept saying, i have a plan, i will keep it secret, we will defeat islamic state fast, is this part of the plan? yes and no, this does not diverge significantly from a plan that was in place, working with local partners, but this perhaps addresses one of the fundamental problems that the united states and its coalition partners have in syria, syria and iraq, in iraq, the iraqi army, heavy equipment, in syria, the kurdish do not have every

equipment. you have two options, you can give them it, train them on it, train them on the types of things they need to breach defences around raqqa. that will anger the turks, nato ally, or, deploy us forces to breach out. —— the kurdish do not have heavy equipment. for trump took office, they were looking at those options, ways to help the kurdish and arabic partners get into raqqa, i think that is what this is. every time barack 0bama talked about the possibility of putting us troops into syria he was accused of mission creep, where would this end, what are the risks for american forces going into syria? two, first off, it is true barack 0bama was fine sending in special ops, people is true barack obama was fine sending in special ops, people that would work by with and through local partners but they did not want us to owfi partners but they did not want us to own the fight, for a very good reason, in iraq, 2003—2010 we owned the fight and as a result, vocal partners on the ground were not

invested in the victory. the whole idea of working by with and through is to get local partners involved, the problem here, we own the fight, we begin to own more of what takes place after the defeat of isis, and the real issue is, how long will you leave us forces there to referee what are going to continue to be some pretty tense dynamics in northern syria? if you are there as a referee, it is a pretty complex battlefield, i have the list here, so battlefield, i have the list here, so you have... turkish backed syrian rebels, us backed kurdish fighters, you have iran, hezbollah, not to mention the syrians and the russians... and turkey want a role as well! how will they pick their way through all of that? laughter. exactly right, you have seen us armoured personnel carriers driving around northern syrian cities almost as if they are referees on the battlefield! try to keep the turkish backed forces and the rest back largely kurdish forces away from one another, on the battlefield, look,

even after the defeat of daesh, and islamic state falls, that's dynamic will still be there, how you avoid conflict between what is going to be an empowered kurdish group in north—eastern syria and the turkish state not quite happy about that, fighting the pkk and its allies for decades... that will be a real trick for any administration to face. unfortunately, us troops are going to have to play a role playing referee, exceptionally large, the good news, we have some very experienced officers and operators on the ground. of which you used to be one. bank you very much for joining us. donald trump is spending $54 billion extra on the military, he wants to look like the strong commander—in—chief, dumping new not being. a number of battle zones now, where the americans could get sucked in. —— something new cues barack 0bama of not being. now, they are saying that they are sending more

troops into afghanistan to train the afg ha ns, troops into afghanistan to train the afghans, he has a lot on his plate? the conundrum of the presidency, throughout the campaign, he criticised america's was in the middle east and said they should never have got involved in them. he was very critical of the us military and the generals and barack 0bama. now he is in the position of owning the fight, of owning what happens there, what is he doing? 0ne the fight, of owning what happens there, what is he doing? one of the first things he is doing more within the first month of presidency, putting more troops into the middle east, every time barack 0bama added troops, he faced criticism for upping america's stake in the fight. it will be interesting to see what is the reaction from republicans and what donald trump wants from american leadership in that part of the world. moving on. the 28 leaders of the european union are meeting in brussels. by the end of this month 28 will become 27 as britain pulls

away. those brexit negotiations could begin at the end of next week. though there's still a bit of work to do in the uk parliament on brexit bill before the prime minister can formally trigger article 50. i keep promising cathy that they will start(!) one of the chief architects of brexit is of course nigel farage of brexit is of course nigel farage of the uk independence party, and as many of you will know a man who sometimes dines with the us president. and we were speaking to him a little earlier. and by the way, i do still believe you(!) good evening. good evening. we are about to hear an interview with dr fuchs germany, close ally of angela merkel, i asked fuchs germany, close ally of angela merkel, iasked him fuchs germany, close ally of angela merkel, i asked him a question about the alimony, the severance payment, for the uk to pull away from the eu, estimated to be around 60 billion euros, i asked estimated to be around 60 billion euros, iasked him if estimated to be around 60 billion euros, i asked him if that was negotiable, he said, no, not really... well, the truth is, we are paying the alimony already, it is 110w paying the alimony already, it is now nine months since we voted to leave the european union, assuming article 50 gets triggered by the end of the month, and we go through a further two years, we will net, not

gross, but net, we will have paid almost £30 billion into the european union cough is between voting to leave and leaving, and do you know what, i think that is plenty. the issueis what, i think that is plenty. the issue is that it is already a big stumbling block before we even get to the nitty—gritty. stumbling block before we even get to the nitty-gritty. as i say, a net 30 billion anyway, the idea that we will pay another 50, 60, it is not going to happen, they can whistle for it. in britain today, after the budget yesterday, the row is a tax rise on the self—employed, this morning the chancellor of the exchequer has been doing the rounds in the uk, he has been forced to break an election promise, that is the way it is portrayed. he appears to be blaming "brexit", is this a sign of things to come? no, they are very good at blaming "brexit", promised us the sky would fall in, actually, nearly all the economic data coming out of the uk is very good, much better than it is in the

eurozone. i think it was a badly judged budget. the people that voted for "brexit" were the small and medium—sized businesses, sick to death of too much regulation coming from brussels, believing that a " b rex it" from brussels, believing that a " brexit" vote from brussels, believing that a "brexit" vote would see a uk government on their side, and to put up government on their side, and to put up taxes on sole traders, and the self—employed, was, ithink, a big political mistake. i wanted to ask you about your relationship with the united states at the moment, it seems congratulations are in order, you have become britain's man in trumpland so what is that like? you have become britain's man in trumpland so what is that like ?|j supported him in the campaign, shared a platform in mississippi, took part in discussions and everything, and i will say this to you, i saw him a couple of weeks ago, had dinner with him, and one thing really struck me, this guy believes that he has a contract with the american people, elected on a

ticket, on a manifesto, and come hell or high water, he is going to deliver that manifesto. in democratic terms, that is refreshing. in terms of the man himself, i have to say, i really believe this man has got very strong moral courage, he wants to see this through. so that is your political relationship, and you have a sense of conviction you share with him, we have seen the photographs of the two of you together, seems to go beyond that, seems to be a personal chemistry, when you had dinner with him at trump tower, why do you think it is that you and he get on so well? the one thing we have in common, we are probably the two most vilified people in the west over the course of the last couple of years! laughter everybody, everybody has thrown just shed loads of abuse at us, so... we have been through the same baptism of fire, with the media, and with other political commentators. i think that what donald trump, and

not just think that what donald trump, and notjust him but the people around him, what they see is that i was a pretty lonely warrior, battling for " b rex it" pretty lonely warrior, battling for "brexit" for over two decades, we finally got there, and i think team trump believe that they would not have won had it not been for the dynamism and the optimism that " b rex it" dynamism and the optimism that "brexit" gave people who do not normally bother to vote. i think they are very pleased. i'll be honest with you, i have known some of the people around donald trump for many years. they are what i would regard as friends. how often do you talk? 0ften? would regard as friends. how often do you talk? often? you are asking me questions that you know that i'm not going to answer... worth a try. of course, that is yourjob. i'm not going to betray any personal confidences or discuss specifically anything that we talk about. i have anything that we talk about. i have a good relationship with donald trump and his team in the white house, and if! trump and his team in the white house, and if i can be of any help to them or any help in forging a new

relationship between my country and there is, i am happy to do so. one of the issues, which we talk about over here, is whether you serve as a sort of unofficial ambassador for the uk, perhaps the uk governments don't want that, but we also read the ukip has set up the de facto embassy in georgetown, this building that serves as a place to meet people... is that true? are you using it as an embassy to meet people? from the administration? point number one, whatever i do is in an unofficial capacity. number ten do not want me in any way at all, fine, up to them, i think it is short—sighted and silly, i think there is a constructive role i can play with them. everything i do is unofficial, as for the embassy, i understand arron banks has taken a five year lease on a house in georgetown, which he says, incidentally, will have a very good dining room and wine cellar, beyond

that, i don't... dining room and wine cellar, beyond that, idon't... it dining room and wine cellar, beyond that, i don't... it sounds like fun but beyond that... it is my neighbourhood, i will be round the corner. please, come and visit. i have do ask you about a photograph which you are aware is doing the rounds on social media, you coming out of the ecuadorian embassy, i think your radio producer is in total, so i perhaps know why you we re total, so i perhaps know why you were there, it has been said on twitter that you have been there to interviewjulian twitter that you have been there to interview julian assange twitter that you have been there to interviewjulian assange and there is also the talk that you are serving as a back channel tojulian assange for the trump team. all i can tell you is that i was in the building today, as you know, the ecuadorian and the colombian assembly, assemblies, embassies are in that building, i am not going to confirm or deny what i did at all, you will have to wait and see. we will have to listen to your programme at the weekend. interesting timing, given thejulian assange had been speaking today

about the big dump of cia documents, and there is nigel farage, coming out of the ecuador embassy. what you make about this relationship that he has with donald trump? there is something they're beyond bolasie, the degree to which nigel farage has been embraced by the trump circle and donald trump himself is interesting, and the degree to which the trump administration is now starting to talk about elections in france and germany and looking at this populist movement. you wonder whether nigel farage is not nudging them in that direction as well, i cannot help but wonder. talking of wrecks it, once it is under way, then the real work will begin. and among many thorny issues the two sides must resolve, is the severance payment the eu will expect britain to pay. another is the issue of financial passporting, currently british banks can trade anywhere in europe without needing further authorization in each of the 27 countries. but what happens after brexit? well those are some of the questions

i put to dr michael fuchs, he is extremely close to the german chancellor angela merkel and is deeply involved in germany's response to brexit. we were told by donald tusk yesterday that within 48 hours, of britain triggering article 50, the would have its opening gambit, its first negotiation to put to the british side, why don't you give us insight into that? will it deal solely with the divorce, the separation? will it deal in tandem with both the divorce and the future relationship? first of all, i have to say that of course, we are not happy that the uk is going to step out, to make a "brexit", we are not happy with it at all. it is very clear for us that at the end of the day, in his in and out is out, if somebody wants to step out, they have to see there is some risks, being a memberof have to see there is some risks, being a member of the year is not for free. we want to have a four

freedoms: capital, goods, labour movement, and, of course, assistance. you cannot... we want to haveit assistance. you cannot... we want to have it but of course you cannot cherry pick, something you do not like, so we have defined clear solution, either in or out. let me push you again on the opening negotiation, are you dealing solely with the divorce, the separation, or are you dealing in tandem with the divorce and the future relationship, which is what the british government wa nts to which is what the british government wants to do? we want to have a future relationship and we need the uk, not only as a partner in europe but also in nato, and things like that, so it is definitely a necessity to negate she ate things like that. on the other hand, you have to see, as far as the four freedoms is concerned, there is no big room to negotiate, because it is very clear, some points are very

clear. look at the banking passport, thatis clear. look at the banking passport, that is something that is not negotiable, if somebody is not a memberof the, a negotiable, if somebody is not a member of the, a bank needs to step into the uconn into whatever country it could be governing, frankfurt, the lane, paris, but they have to step into one of these countries, because otherwise they cannot do banking in the normal proper way, so they need to be in one of the countries, that is something that is not negotiable. what about the 60 billion euro bill to separate, the alimony, if you will, the separation payment, the british government says it is too much and will not pay such a huge amount, is that negotiable?” don't think so, first of all, the uk needs to know what they want, do they want to have, status, like for

instance, norway, if they want status like that, then they have to pay more than they pay actually, because you have to see that the norwegian pro capita are paying more than the uk is paying right now. so there is some big part to manoeuvre around and we have to find out if it is going to be for free. issues at home, two months ago, the opposition in germany, the spd, now headed by martin shields, who we know from the european parliament, they were 11 points behind the ruling party, and now according to the polls, you are neck and neck, so the one constant that we have all been familiar with, through recent history, angela merkel, there are now looks to be a real threats to her position as chancellor. —— martin schulz. real threats to her position as chancellor. -- martin schulz. it looks like this but we are still six months to go to the election, and polls are polls, but look at the polls are polls, but look at the polls in the united states is, nobly

could believe that donald trump is going to make it, and look at "brexit", every poll showed there would be no "brexit" but all of a sudden we have a "brexit". i do not trust polls too much anymore. on the other hand, we have to see the situation. it is closer, this fight... we do not know who britain will be negotiating with, because that election is getting very close. we will show you the second part in a short while, at the moment, there is an extraordinary row underway between turkey and germany. breaking news from washington, john huntsman, the next us ambassador to moscow. enormous attribute, former ambassador to beijing, but this is a toughjob because ambassador to beijing, but this is a tough job because russia ambassador to beijing, but this is a toughjob because russia is such a toxic issue for this administration. there he is, he ran as presidential

candidate, looks the part, doesn't he, film star looks, that is the kind of thing that donald trump likes, he likes his representatives to look like american representatives. he is a hawk on president vladimir putin, and press reports in moscow are not happy, they have been critical. it was also president 0bama's ambassador to china, somebody who whilst he is a republican is a fairly centrist republican, somebody who during the course of the campaign was not common entry about donald trump, after the access hollywood tape came out he called for him to drop out of the race and said the american campaign had become a race to the bottom. very interesting selection, if this is going to be confirmed by the white house, doesn't like vladimir putin, and has not always been on the same side as donald trump, none of which is what you would have expected from the white house pick for ambassador... and he isa house pick for ambassador... and he is a mormon, from utah. yes, yes he is. we will watch that bosley. -- we

will watch that closely. president trump says he has removed himself from the day to day operations of his businesses. but has he done enough. his critics say he still stands to gain, they might point to his mar e lago resort in florida where his fees have doubled. in indonesia, mr trump has signed a deal to build two resorts with a billionaire — worth about a billion dollars in total. the bbc‘s karishma vaswani went to indonesia to ask trump's business do you know who donald trump is?” do not, i am from indonesia. he is the president of america. made indonesia's donald trump, one of indonesia's donald trump, one of indonesia's richest men. in 2015 he signed a billion—dollar deal to build a trump tower in westjava, and the first trump resort in bali.

i met with donald trump, donald junior, then we signed the agreement. just a few months after the deal was signed, donald trump announced he would be running for president of the united states. normal business—related ship, i have to underline this. today is also a business relationship will stop the fa ct business relationship will stop the fact that he's the of america, he is not involved in the business. so i deal with it, ideal with not involved in the business. so i deal with it, i deal with the children. but they were given vip treatment at the us president's inaugural parade, they attendedattended donald trump's wearing in and posted pictures on their social media of time with him. ie concerned about the perception of a conflict of interest? there is no conflict of interest, conflict of

interest, me, if the project is... he's the president. this all happened before he even decided to run from president. as president, donald trump has made some controversial decisions, in january, he signed a travel ban on people from seven muslim majority nations, revising that to six, this week. indonesia is not on the list but it is the world's most populous muslim nation. why would you want to work with someone who appears to have anti—islamic views? with someone who appears to have anti-islamic views? donald trump is not banning the muslims, needs banning the country, the people of those seven countries, we have to be very clear on that. he has set up his own political party, and has already run for office once. and he has not ruled out being president of

indonesia one day. studio: you might recall the race to the presidency started out with many republicans, texas senator ted cruz was one of them. and his relationship with his then competitor donald trump was, how shall we put it christian, frosty, strained... just awful? katty, "lying ted" was one of trump's catchphrases, but this photo took the rivalry to a whole new level. 0n the left is heidi cruz, ted's wife and on the right is the now first lady, melania trump. it was posted almost 12 months ago by mr trump, the implication being that his wife is prettier than ted's. and then, the tit—for—tat took a turn when the texas senator gave this reaction. i don't get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. donald, you are a snivelling coward,

leave heidi the hell alone. will you support him as the nominee? i'm going to beat him for the nomination. that is not answering the question. donald trump will not be the nominee. ok(!) you think it could never go right, but look at this picture, this is ted cruz‘s daughters, at the white house, last night, with donald trump at a make up night, with donald trump at a make up dinner. there it is... children with a giraffe. you are watching 100 days, from bbc news. still to come for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — do you think donald trump should tone down his tweeting? we'll ask a former presidential adviser for this thoughts. and, they‘ re former presidential adviser for this thoughts. and, they're looking to the new president to change america “so the new president to change america —sodo the new president to change america — so do these supporters think mr trump is making any difference so far? that's still to come on 100 days, from bbc news.

it has been a beautiful day across many parts of the country today, beautiful spring sunshine, here was the scene sent in by one of our weather watchers, not everywhere has been clear, we have had more cloud going into south—west england, and moving through the rest of the evening, quite cloudy for western parts of the uk, drizzle for northern ireland, central parts, staying clear and dry, and here we will see temperatures dipping down, a touch of frost for north—eastern part, further west, turning milder and also cloudier and murkier, first being friday. eight o'clock, friday morning, clear skies, improved morning, clear skies, improved morning, for the west of scotland, cloudy, drizzly, a few spots of drizzly rain also affecting northern ireland, into the north of wales but for north—east england, right down to east anglia and the south—east, a bit of a fresh start. sunshine to get off the morning. further west, cloud, some of it low over the

hills, mist and cloud, some of it low over the hills, mistand murk cloud, some of it low over the hills, mist and murk across the south—west of england. west east to the weather, eastern parts of scotla nd the weather, eastern parts of scotland staying with the sunshine, cloud in the west creeping ever so further east as we head through the day. spots of drizzle towards the north west, where the cloud breaks, it will feel reasonably present, temperatures 13 degrees. —— reasonably pleasant. rugby six nations, looking cloudy as we head into friday evening, 10 degrees or so, mild, things should stay largely dry. through the weekend, atlantique weather front moving west to east, introducing slightly cooler air, particularly later on. for saturday, decent looking day, for northern ireland and scotland, sunshine on offer, bit of rain for parts of wales and northern england but it will break quickly, 17 degrees or so, not dry everywhere. into sunday, we will see frontal systems moving west to east across the country.

return to sunshine and showers later on in the day, temperatures between nine and 13 degrees. for saturday, largely dry, for much of the uk, pleasa nt largely dry, for much of the uk, pleasant sunshine around as well, by the time we get to sunday, bit of rain should clear a way to the east, temperatures looking a bit cooler. goodbye for now. welcome back to 100 days. i'm katty kay in washington, christian fraser's in london. the us sends hundreds of troops into syria. the marines have been deployed to help capture the is stronghold of raqqa. and coming up: we're in arkansas to hear from the voters the president calls the "forgotten men and women" of america. members of the us house of representatives stayed up all night last night to debate the republica ns' new health care plan. the president is facing quite a bit of turbulence from within his own party as lawmakers get to grips with the first draft.

a short time ago, the speaker of the house tried to ease some of those concerns with a powerpoint presentation. sleeves rolled up. i have to tell you, this has now become immune all over the internet! —— become a meme. joining me now is ron christie — republican strategist and former adviser to president george w bush. you have to feel for paul ryan, he is selling something with all his heart and doing a greatjob at that powerpoint presentation. but so many conservatives don't like it. they are saying, this is 0bamacare like. why are you still having a tax but on people for their health care quiz night why are you still allowing medicaid to be expanded, why republicans doing this? we are at the greatest juncture republicans doing this? we are at the greatestjuncture since 1929 of being in power, and we are essentially not feeling and not replacing the presidentsignatu re accomplishment. in the end, don't

you think the white house will get this through? they are doing a massive charm offensive. we have still got the picture of ted cruz, the arch enemy during the campaign, lyin' ted goes to the white house, guns are down, no more duels. family dinner instead. 0ne guns are down, no more duels. family dinner instead. one of his daughters even brought her classroom giraffe along with her. that is the kind of charm offensive that donald trump is putting on republicans that don't like this plan. he is going to win because of this? i think ultimately he will. he is using the charm offensive to have pizza and beer at the presidential bowling alley across the street. it will be tough. what you need, the republicans can only lose two votes in the united states senate. there are a number of conservative republicans who say they will not vote for this. it will bea they will not vote for this. it will be a test of presidential leadership

for president trump to get this over the finish line. goodness, that bowling and pete is a party, if that doesn't work, nothing will! it is characterised stick. surely the biggest stick of all from where i was sitting is that this is what he campaigned for, this is what the base once, the repeal of 0bamacare? no question about that, christian. you look at people like senator rand paul, the senatorfrom kentucky, where the president is going this weekend. they are saying first we should repeal the spill, then we should repeal the spill, then we should replace it. president trump when he ran said, i'm going to replace this. i said to katya moment ago, it is a critical test of his leadership. now that he is in there and he is president, he has cobbled together the majority to govern and find a way with the conservatives and moderates to say, this is what the country needs. it will be critical to see how the president will use his leadership to get it over the finish line. you have moved

in political circles for a long time and you have always been diplomatic when i asked you about these tweets! i have found a poll, 59% of 1000 people said, mr trump should stop tweeting so much. let's talk about these polls and tweets! i was joking with my wife the other day, his first tweet of the date was at forrer of 0re. and his last tweet from the night before was that 11pm. i'm thinking, when are you sleeping?! in all honesty, the president of the united states should not be on twitter as often as he is. he should have a staff that should have the discipline and respect to look at him and say, that is not presidential, mr president, put down the social media. put down the putter, go cold turkey! the rest of us will have to go cold turkey as well, but it is off we all watching! we are all mesmerised!”

well, but it is off we all watching! we are all mesmerised! i reckon the other people who like him tweeting all journalists like other people who like him tweeting alljournalists like as! thank you. the last few days have seen a stand—off between the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan and the german chancellor angela merkel. erdogan accused germany of "nazi practices" after rallies in support of him were cancelled. when i talked with dr michael fuchs earlier, i asked him about that row, but also about a suggesiton that's been made by president trump, that angela merkel‘s handling of the migrant crisis in europe has been a "catastrophic mistake". no, ido no, i do not accept this kind of statement. i mean, that is by far too harsh. i have to say one thing, it was a very, very difficult situation. so many people in europe, they have been already in europe, not only in hungary but also in austria and other countries, even italy. we need to help, yes. but the situation has calmed down a lot, since we have negotiated with the turks. it is very interesting that you referred to the deal with

turkey. i wanted to ask you about that. the row that you are having currently with turkey seems to be escalating. to remind our viewers, mr erdogan, the turkish president, said that the practice of stopping these rallies in germany at the weekend were not the practices. mrs merkel has hit back in some very strong terms today —— were not the practices. she was very clear and she told him, this is not the way to talk to each other. it was not only mrs merkel, it was also the foreign minister, gabriel. he told the turkish foreign minister that we cannot deal with each other in this language, i would say. 0n the other hand, ithink language, i would say. 0n the other hand, i think turkey knows that they need the eu as well. i mean, we are paying a lot of money to the turks, and we have a lot of turks in germany. i think at the end of the day, we will be at least, that is normal but he does fulfil his

commitments he has made as far as the refugees is concerned. commitments he has made as far as the refugees is concernedm commitments he has made as far as the refugees is concerned. it is good of you to come onto raw programme. do come and talk to us further when we get into the brexit negotiations. the power behind the throne, very close to the german chancellor. he has been doing a lot of work on brexit, as much as the uk government, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. the wikileaks founderjulian assange is accusing the cia of "devastating incompetence" for keeping hacking secrets in one place. during an online news conference, mr assange said he would work with tech giants to help defend them against the cia's hacking tools, which were apparently revealed in a massive leak published on tuesday. the new head of the us environmental protection agency, scott pruitt, is describing the paris climate agreement, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as a bad deal. speaking to the news channel cnbc, mr pruitt also said that he doesn't agree that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. christian, the relationship mr

pruitt has with environmental protection has always been interesting. he has sued this agency several times and is now trying to run it. the bigger question is what happens to climate change agreement under the trump administration. if you look at this white house, it is fairly clear that there are climate change deniers in this administration, and many who would really like to get america out of that paris agreement. but trump himself has been kind of ambivalent on this. and he listens to his daughter, ivanka, who would like america to be at the forefront of climate change deals. it is going to be quite an interesting power balance, pruitt versus ivanka. my money is on ivanka! we should have something coming up on emissions fairly soon as well. aaron and danielle both work two full—timejobs to make ends meet for their young family in rural arkansas. he salvages plane wrecks and scraps them for parts. she looks after young children. but their real love is running a goat farm as a family.

as part of a bbc series looking at what's been dubbed "forgotten america", we travelled to the tiny town of clinton, arkansas, an area that strongly supported donald trump, to meet the people behind the vote. every plane crash is different. they think they are my pets, which they are, i love my babies. my name is aaron nathanial cooper. this is my wife, danielle. and we are one loving family. each time we get a phone call, the adventure starts. we are an aeroplane wrecker service. we'll head out and we take the aeroplane apart. all of these aeroplanes that are out here, we drill parts off of them

and sell them all over the world. ilike trump. everyone liked that he was blunt. a lot of people in the south are like that. if i don't like you, i'm going to tell you to your face, i won't go behind your back and tell you that. as the way it was, we were sinking deeper and deeper in debt. he's already proved that he can do something with his income. why would he not be able to pull the us up? even if he only pulls it up a small amount, it's better than going further in. when you grow up in a small town, there's not a whole lot of options. i am very fortunate to have a job. i agree with not having all the illegals over here. they are taking away from the american people'sjobs. they are paying them half the price of something that we could be doing ourselves. it can be a hard life, you know, working a full—time job and then having to come home and work anotherfull—timejob.

dad. yes, buddy? it's ready to drive. it is a fulfilling life. i'm glad to come home every day. i love working this with my wife and my children. it is a blessed life. hopefully that'll burn. put it a bit deeper, right there at. we nonstop work together. it is a time to rhyme down and be thankful for what you have and look up and see what the good lord has made, and just be thankfulfor good lord has made, and just be thankful for having each other. the view from clinton, arkansas. it is amazing, i love it when we can get this programme out to talk to people who voted trump around the country. and to see whether they are still

with the president. they are the people who will benefit all lose out because of trump's policies and what he does. it will be interesting to see what their barometer for success is. is health care critical to them? do they need him to have a success on that, or do they want to hang onto some of the provisions that they got under president 0bama's health care reform. 0ne they got under president 0bama's health care reform. one of the most interesting things that we can carry on doing is listening to what people are saying. that is the second family we have heard from from clinton. we showed you at the weekend a family of ranchers. both of them have said, he talks like us. he isa of them have said, he talks like us. he is a straight talker who tells it as it is. they like that about him. they also like small government. 0ne of the rogers was saying, why do i need, he was talking about the epa and scott pruitt, why do i need regulations on my river, this is my river, i will look after it myself. that is the american way. that is 100 days for this week. in a moment, my colleagues rajini vaidya nathan

and anthony zucher will be taking your questions live on our facebook page. so do get in touch. we'll be back on monday at the same time. for now though, from katty kay in washington and me, christian fraser, in london, goodbye. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: the chancellor philip hammond has defended his plan to raise national insurance contributions for self—employed people, saying the government faces "new challenges". the prime minister theresa may is in brussels attending what's expected to be herfinal eu summit, before triggering the uk's departure from the european union. this is the scene in brussels, where she is due to hold a news conference. the queen has unveiled a memorial

in london to service personnel and civilians who served and worked in iraq and afghanistan. 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. as you can see, the ftse100 was down after the supermarket giant morrisons weighed heavily on the london market. warning of the impact of imported food prices if sterling stays at lower levels. the founder of a charity which supports people who were forcibly sent abroad as children without their parents has been giving evidence at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. margaret humphreys said the deportation of thousands of children was the "most catastrophic child abuse legacy within living memory." tom symonds reports. margaret humphreys has worked most of her life for the british child migrants. her offices are covered with the pictures of those she's helped. today, 30 years after founding the child migrants trust,

she finally got to give evidence to a british public inquiry, and she didn't hold back. without doubt this is the most catastrophic child—abuse legacy within our living memory. kidnapping, sexual abuse in the uk before they were sent — before they were sent! between 1945 and 1974 britain accelerated the migration of poor sorry... we need to leave that report and go to brussels and listen to theresa may speaking after the european summit. through the new and equal partnership we want to build between the eu and a self—governing global britain. i need to say a few words on each. first, on migration, we have reviewed progress on implementing the action plan reviewed on our last summit in malta. we more to tackle the vile people smuggling rings who profit from the migrants' misery. we

need a manage, control, and truly global approach.