>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america' neglected needs. >> planng a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, theing trade winds, a crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports.

more information for your vacation planning is availableba at aom. >> and now, "bbc world news." wsane: this is "bbc world america." reporting from washington, i'm jane o'brien. u.s. intelligence chiefs say russia's election meddling isn't over, and they warn congress abouthe ongoing cyber threat >> frankly, the united states is under attack. jane: putting pressure osouth africa's president -- jacob zuma clings to office as his own party calls on him to step down. and send in the clowns, or not. 250 years after they first appeared in london, the painted faces are no longer welcomed by everyone.

ne: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. the leaders of the u.s. intelligence agencies have been updating senators on the threats the country faces. they spoke of military and nuclear challees around the world and warned of more election interference at home. domestic politics also featured, with the head of the fbi contradicting the white house version of events over the departure of senior aide rob porter. heres a look at today's testimony. part of the job of america's intelligence chiefs is to sound the alarm, and dan coats rang it loud and clear. mr. coats: the united states is under a attack, undack by entities using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the united states.il jane: and iran, north korea, and china were all named, russia was emphasized.

mr. coats: we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokesman, and othemeans to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the ited states. jane: u.s. intelligence agencies all agree that russia middle in -- metale with esidential election and will try with the november midterms, an assessment apparently at odds with the president's view. >> we cannot confront this onreat, and it is a seriou with the whole of government deresponse, when the lof the government continues to deny that it exists. jane: this was the first majorwl appearance by appointed fbi director christopher wray. his predecessor james comey was fired after coming into conflict with president trump over thrussia. todafbi contradicted the white house over rob porter, a senior aide who left amid allegations of assaulting his

two ex-wives. the administration has been vague about what it knew and when, but mr. wray gave a clear timeline. mr. wray: the fbi bmitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march, and we administrative closed the file in january, andl r this month we received additional information and we passed that on as well.e jane: ite house had said that the fbi checks were ongoing. >> this hearing is adjourned. jane: the rest of the hearing took place behind closed doors, but the public statements imply that america's domestic divisions are becoming a threat even as its foreign enemies circle. for more on all this, my colleague katty kay spoke earlier with leon panetta for her program "beyond 100 days."

stshted by asking the former cia director about the strong message of russian interference in thelection. katty: the message from those intelligence chiefs in the senate was pretty clear -- this has been a threat, it is still t thit is going to continue being a threat to american elections. and yet the president has still not yet held a cabinet-level meeting on the issue. why the disconnect?l, mr. panetta: wveryone is asking that question particularly after the testimony today, which made clear that russia is continuing to do exactly the same thinghey did in the 2016 election, which is to undermine our election institutions. i think it is extremely important that the president must address this issue, because, frankly, if he doesn't send a message to the russians that this is unacctable, then in many ways it is an open invitation to the russians to come in and do exactly what they did in 2016. this is a critical nationalha security issuethe president of the united states

should address. katty: and there was clearly frustration from at least one senator today saying, there is no deterrent here. we have not acted against russia since they did this, and the message seems to be to moscow to go ahead. mr. panetta: well, and vladimir putin understands the message. he is someone who, if he senses weakness on the part of an adversary, will take advantage of it. i think right now he senses weakness. that is what got him into the crimea, the ukraine, syria, the 2016 election, and now this facingbecause he is no any kind of deterrence or defense -- katty: let's turn to another serious issue there raised in the hearings, north korea. it was interesting to hear director coats say that a decision is near on what to doko about norta. what is that decision, do you think? mr. panetta: i think the question that has always confronted not jt this

president, but other presidents, is do you continue a policy of deterrence and containment and hope that by increasing that pressure, you can force north koreto the negotiating table or do you resort to some kind of military preemptory attack? i think the reason the military option has nev been used is because the consequences of that are horrendous. it could take us io a nuclear war. so for that reason, i wod hope that the decision is how do we open the door to negotiationswi north korea now that south korea has at least laid some of the groundwork. katty: ok, you were chief of staff under president billi clinton, sve to ask you about what is happening in the white house at the moment. and the situation surrounding rob porter, the aide who stepped down after allegations of domestic violence. what have you made on this white

-- of this white house's handling othis story over the past seven days? mr. panetta: this has been handled badly from the very beginning, and as they tried to fill in all of the questions ey areave been asked, getting themselves deeper and deeper in trouble. i think they ought to be upfront, admit the mistake that have been made, and say it won't happen again. katty: i want to show you numbers we have pulled on the amount of turnover in this administration's staff compared to previous administrations. % % under reagan, 11% under president clinton,der president obama, 34% turnover in this administration in its first year. what does that suggest to you? that they aren't competent, that they haven't got good people, that there isn't good management, that people don't want to work there? mr. panetta: i think it is his

trouble on all fronts, because what it indicates to me is that llinit when the administration came in, they had a very haphazard process in terms of how they hire people to rk on the white house staff. that is reflected in the fact that there is so many interimri se clearances that have not been completed.ac the verythat there has been that much turnover tells me that it is very difficult toua attract goodty people to that staff. that is trouble. were the trump administration to call you up and y, what do we need to do -- it has turned into a soap opera just in terms of personnel -- what would you tell them to do? mr. panett has done a good job in trying to put some kind of structure into place, chain of command, but his difficulty is he is still depring with an ictable principal, meaning the president of the united states. if the president isn't willing to accept the scipline, it makes it very tough to try to

f and thether the st president so everybody's going in the same direction. jane:ta leon panetting to the bbc's katty kay there. a quick look at some of today's other news. israeli police say they will recommend indicting prime minister benjamin netanyahu for, br fraud, and breach of trust. mr. netanyahu has been s questioneral times since the start of 2017. he has spoken on israeli television and denied any wrongdoing. a man convicted of planting bombs in manhattan's chelsea neighborhood in 2016 has been sentenced to life inn. temad khan rahimi was conv in on all eight counts including october planting aomb that wounded 30 people when it exploded in 2016. africa, thesouth ruling african national congress has asked president jacob zuma to resign. the anc says he has reed to stand down, but only after a transition period of three to six months, which the party rejected. mr. zuma came under mounting

pressure to leave his post following a series of tion scandals. our africa editor fergal keane reports from johannesburg.it fergal: not the night of the long knives, but still a party moving definitively to be rid of a defiantresident. late last night, the convoy of cyril ramaphosa, to tell the exutive that after a short meeting, jacob zuma was refusing to resign voluntarily. the part debated what to do next. half past midnight, and they are still talking, more than 10 hourafter they started. there is a sense that the whole future of the anc and this country hinges on what happens now. this afternoon in johannesburg, after a meeting that eventually n for 13 hours, the anc revealed that its patience was exhausted.

>> we decide as follows -- one, to recall comrade jacob zuma -- fergal: "recall" -ther words, they were ordering jacob zu h to resign. doesn't, they will likely force him out with a motion of no-confidence in parliament. but it is potentially risky. the president has many supporters in the party. do you wor that this will spli movement irreparably?e >> i don't know whether the anc will split. but we are leaders, we belong to branches and we are apg to understand that the national executive committee is making the decisions. fergal: the anc officials believe they are thrown down a esgauntlet to ent jacob zuma, they have given him time, lots of time, they say, to respond to their demand that h step down. it is now up to him. nobody could accuse the anc of rushing to remove jacob zuma.

the leadership did nothing while corruption scandals multipliedye during nins of his rule. an indian immigrant family was allowed to purchase vital national enterprises, employing the president's son, in what became known as state capture. now the oppositi believes jacob zuma no longer cares about party or country. >> now he is just defian the last kicks of a dying horse. but it becomes dangerous. he doesn't care. he is not even scared of impeachment. he is prepared to lose everything. fergal: jacob zuma has lived and ruled in the shadow of greatness. however it comes about, he will leave office a humiliated figure. fergal keane, bbc news, johaesburg. jane: for more, i spoke earlier with an associate fellow at the institute for policy studies and a member of the international working group for afri rising. thanks so much for coming in.

you and i have been here before. >> many times. jane: is it safe to assume that zuma is going to go? >> w the question is when.. clearly, the anc has made a decision to ret,ll the presido he will leave. the issue is negotiating -- is it three months, six months? when you have is people in the streets, opposition parts, not people who really -- young people whoun really ed this "zuma must go" campaign, trade unionists, all say enough is enough, that the anc has a new leader and the control of the government, and all the these issues of state capture, the lack of public trust, be finally dealt with in a way that there can be some measure of confidence going forward in the anc government. ajane: we have talked oftbout the factions within the anc. do you see that there will be any real effort at reform once he is gone?

emira: i think there's a lot on the table, particularly around the economy. you have high unemployment and inequality around southfra, a country that has been growing rapidly. it is the second-largest economy on the african continent. and yet you have young people without jobs. there is a lot of pressure - pressure to have greater manufacturing, pressure to movey rom what many see as a flawed nuclear deal, to push forward nuclear power in south africa at a time when many are t ndering why there isn'ch more effort around renewable energy in the midst of the e imate catastrophe. so there is a laenda around decent jobs, decent wages, uplifting the economy in the interest of all. and fundamentally, the anc is being tested. it is now -- you know, since 1994 the anc has been in power. i think there was a real hesitance with this party of

mandela to live up to its values. jane: how damaging is this delay , then, zuma refusing to go now? emira: i think in a day or two we will see. if it goes on three or six months, even beyond then, in a negotiated process that is protracted, there will be efforts to have votes confidence in parliament, many other measures that are taken in the interest of the people. jane: very briefly, do you think it is possible for south africa to regain itleposition as a ing nation on the continent? emira: south africa will always be leading nation on the continent. i think the issue is to what extent the economy serves not the inrests of a few but the majority of people in the country. that has been the liberation's struggle. that ended the apaheid regime, and that is still the desire of many south africans throughout the country and the world. jane: thank you so much joining me. emira: pleasure, thank you. jane: you are watching "bbc rld news america." still to come on tonight's program, what happens when lung cancer strikes with no warning?n

moremokers are getting the disease. we bring you a very personal story. on the eve of valentine's day, prince harry and meghan markle have made their first official joint visit to scotland, starting with a tour of the famous edinburgh cas the trip is part of a round of ficial engagements in th run-up to the royal wedding in may. it is the fourth appearance they've made since the engagement wasnnounced in november, and hundreds of well-wishers break cold and wet condheions to catacombs of couple. from edinburgh, nicholas witchell priess this report. edinburgh castle and welcome to scotland on a day when the temperature was barely above zero. overcoat,a good, warm and there was meghan markle wrapped up in a ce patterned

in green and blue. offering a welcome, the band of the while marine scotland and the royal regiment of scotland, a pony with sharp teeth. watch harry's left hands -- oh, nearly got him. harry moved on, ring finger intact, meghan amused. bang went to the 1:00 gun. out came the thoughtfully provided your plugs. as harry and meghan gazed over this become those whcame to see them were positive. todayame to see meghan and she is absolutely pitiful. > they are the future -- absolutely beautiful. >> they are the future of the royal family. nicholas: this is another important introduction on the meghan markle familiarization tour of the united kingdom. the message is hma much scotland tters.

the union, of course, is a sensitive issue, when the royals inow they must engage with care. the navigation wileasingly be the task of younger royals bke harry and his wife to scotland will needed to be regular destination. nicholas witchell, bbc news, edinburgh. jane: two months ago, our legal correspondent clive coleman lost sarahng cancer. she was one of a growing number of healthy non-smokers to contract the disease. lung cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, and yet it esreceives farfunding for research. the consequences for non-smoking victims can be devastating.e >> when you arfirst diagnosed with cancer, it is really scary, and i was very scared. i was diagnosed with lungancer

in august 2015. clive: this my younger sister sarah. shdied of lung cancer in december, two years after being diagnose in the months before her death, she made this film about h condition. before she got the illness, i knew relativy little about it. i shared the common view that it was a smoker's sease. i had no idea how many healthy non-smokers got it, orhat in the u.k., it kills more than breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancer put together. >> keep it at the side, that's it. safely. clive: like my sister, joanna has never smoked, but has stage t ur lung cancer because of a non-inherited fa her genes. she has been treated with targeted drug therapies. they provide -- >> they provide a very effective stay of execution. for me, i've beeon targeted

therapy for about a year, which meant i could live essentially a normal life. i was very active, i could breathe proply. t ey don't last forever. that is the problem, cancer is one step ahead. the children help just by being here. r we ally doing everything we can. my husband, his life has completely changed, and it is not what i wanted for him. but, you know, if we get througs this, we will strong. clive: scientists don't know why seemingly more and more healthy non-smokers are getting lung cancer. visiting joanna and hefamily, i learned that the disease people each day in the

u.k. 40% of those who get it have never smoked. in terms of resech funding, it receives a small fraction of the money spent on breast or testicular canr or leukemia. >> it is a massive problem because these people who are diagnosed with lung cancer never oked, are really quite angry that they are assumed that they have smoked and that they have self-inflicted cancer upon them, and clearly they have not. because of the way the disease behaves, and these people are t expected to be diagnos with lung cancer, they are not high-risk, they are usually diagnosed at a later stage, and therefore treatment can often not be curative, which is a complete and utter disaster for them. clive: lung cancer remains the ugly poor relaon of the cancer family. it does not discriminate between smokers annon-smokers, and there will be many more cases like my sister's before a long-term treatment is found.

clive coleman, bbc news. clive bringing his own experience of cancer to that report. they are the stuff of treasured childhood memories and more than a few nightmares. since the late 1700s, clowns have held a unique place in our culture, but as londonsiarch 250 yeare the first circus opened its doors, they are under threat. ♪ >> this face is old-fashioned in a way, now. >> over the years, the numbers have dropped i shows. reporter: once upon a time, every circus had its own troupe. clowns bring down the house. reporter: the face paint, the big shoes, they were the heart of circus heritage.

but the wigs and face paint are in decline. maybe it is the clown horror films, but on this anniversary year, there is a big issue for the man hoping to be world clown president. you realize there is democracy in clowning. >> there's a lot of politics as well. reporter: what are the issues at the moment? >> you highlighted the main question -- are people scared of clowns? reporter: it is the big issin. even here he heart of clowndom, more and more clouds are giving up on looking like clowns. >> if you had seen me in 1973, when i firsttarted coming here, you would have seen a completely different face. reporter: you don't look like proper clowns. >> children over the years have gotten a little bit wary of clowns. reporter: but there is a fight back against all of this an-clown prejudice. >> i am the regional director

for the world clown aeuociation for pe and the whole of africa. reporter: yes, there really is a e gional clown director. >> you press peoke a negative story. positivity doesn't sell. fortunately, we keep busy, we akeep getting work, and y obsessed with we might not getting work because of a silly film. reporter: i stood corrected. there is still, it seelo, a lot of c love out there. but clown politics? >> [laughter] it is only when it gets meeting that it becomes quite heated. reporter: there are clown meetings? >> there's a committee. [laughter] they take it seriously. reporter: elsie won't for world clown president, but someone has to, because when it comes to the future of clowng, there's a lot to think about.

jane:ie i am jane o' thanks for watching "world news america." ur> with the bbc news app, vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through stthe news of the day and up to date with the latest headlines you can trust. downad now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for amera's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape i thats relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think.nd you can t here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystablue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbworld news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, top ence officials say the white house clearance system is broken as questions surround tha did aide who left his job last week.so head, the senate tries to tackle the immigration debate.ma will lrs be able to reach an agreement on the fate of hundreds of thousands of people who came to the u.s. without documentation? then, freezing classrooms and hazardous buildings-- why baltimore students are being left behind in aolng public sc plus, mecaid changes in diana put coverage for recipients in question. owe debate over new state requirements for lncome americans. >> there's a great stigma that s