>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman n,undation and kovler foundatursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ap>> planning a vacation e that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a 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, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news." jane: this is "bbc world news" americ reporting from washington, i am cine o'brien. , ree years aftevil war started in yemene death toll continues to rise. both sides are fighting for the biggest prize, the capital, sanaa. the: to take the fight into heart of this historic, densely poputed city would be a bloo urban battle. jane: president trump's communications director hope hicks is resigning. the latest high-prile departure from the white house. returning to class forhe first time since the deadly shooting in florida, students come to

high school forever changed. and tributes to america's pastor. billy graham lies in honor at the u.s. capitol as the natio's leaders pay respects. jane: welcome to our viewers on public television inndmerica and arhe globe. after three years of fighting in yemen, the human suffering is being described as castrophic. civilians are trapped in the middle of a fight between houthi rebels backed by iran and forces loyal to the president, backed by a saudi-led coalition. there are severe shortages,nd millions are in danger of famine. for this report, lyse doucet has traveled with saudi and yeme government forces to the front line.se high above the arabian peninsula just off the coast of

yemen, saudi arabia and its allies have ruled these skies since the war began. and they control the seas below. these shipping lanes of vital -- a vital gateway for the world's energy supplies. and a smuggling routoo, for ilcit goods. among them, the saudis say, weapons its archrival iran supplies to houthi fighters. we arrived on board assembly -- a saudi warship inspecting vessels in the port. it is in houthi hands, so saudis are on the lookout for suspicious vessels.t e captain, -- for the captain, his mission is a crucial front line in the war. your operational rules are to treat all vessels as suspicious. >> yes.

hse: even humanitarian ones. the naval blocka been lifted for now. food andni obstructing fuel from yemein desperate need. but this war grindsn, and on army,ound, it is yemen's troops, and tresmen who are battling houthi fighters from advancing slowly on hostile terrain mountain by mountain. seizing strategic heights on approach to the capita sanaa is the prize in this war. the houthis want to keep it, the ousted government wants it backu to take the fight into the heart of this historic, densely bpopulated city woua bloody urban battle.hi all roads inwar lead to this capital. yemeni forces and their allies ha an ambitious plan -- surround sanaa and force the houthis to surrender.

but their enemy is well entrenched. supported by iran, the houthis are now well trained and well supplied. the ballistic missiles have reached the heart of the saudi kingdom. and fear is part of their arsenal, too. hundreds of journalists and political opponents have been detained arbitrarily. many have fled. in a government-controlled area, we meet a 27-year-old. his crime, posting comments on social media. " he tells uey hung me up, tortured me until i fell unconscious." when he woke up, he couldn't move. "imagine," he says, "in a second you cannot walk. what can i be now," he asks. aryemenis live with other too. this is the impact of a saudi airstrike in sanaa.

a neighborhood close to the defense ministry. the saudi-led coalition has been pounding enemy positions with the most sophisticated weaponry from allies like britain, the u.s., and france.is amily, like many others, lost their home in a coalition bombing.e they hken refuge here.g "we are beggr help. yesterday my three children didn't eat. i'm ill, always ill. neither dead nor alive." there is no escape from this war. it has pushed these families from place to place. at this temporary settlement, they are digging in, trying to make a new home from the littl they now have. the arab world's poorest nation now a battleground for regional powers in a middle east which grows ever more combustible. saudi arabia and iran know tt they are playing with fire. lyse doucet, bbc news, yemen.

jane: in syria,gh meanwhile, ng in the rebel-held enclave of eastern ghouta has continued despite the cease-fire ordered by russia. the united nations humanitarian chief says the violence has made it impossible to send aid or evacuate the wounded. medics say 500 people have bee killed. a short time ago i was joined by a senior fellow at the middle east institute. thank you very much indeed for joining me. you have called these cease-fires part of an evil strategy -- psychological warfare. do you think russia has any interest in stopping the violence? well, i mean, listen, russia has to play a variety of different games.ay it does he diplomatic game on the international level, where it wants to show itte cane the ial peacemaker in syria, but at the same time, i w ink when you look at russian domestic media, e russian air force and its ground forces have postured themselves with

regards to eastern g specifically, everything is pointing towards the russian determination to actually secure a regime victory in eastern outa. any lk from the russian side about a cease-fire, as far as i can see, ia methodical component or methodical part of a broader strategy to secure the victory. for vladimir putin to der a five-hour cease-fire in the middle of the day, that is not a cease-fire. you cannot have a cease-fire in which 19 hours of the day civilians are being indiscriminately bombed at an unimaginably heavy level, and then for five hours it pauses. i don't think that can be called armanitarianism as much as psychological wastrategy, in which civilians are given brief pause to come out into the open and to put pressure on the armed opposition, i assume, to surrender. jane: how much influence does russia have over the assad regime at the mo dnt? could thsomething if they wanted to?

charles: that is actually the most important question, and we hear political fures in europe and the united states who repeatedly make the judgment that it is only moscow that can secure the regime acceptancef a cease-fire, attendance to geneva or wherever the political talks are taking place at the time. but the reality on the ground io somethin complicated. when we look back at previous significant regime pushes likela in alepp year and homs before that, it has been iranian militias and iranian-influenced ound troops and the regi army that have launched the operations, and it has been later that the russians have joined in. in another example, when there have been diplomatic agreements that russia has been part of, it is more or less iranian-commanded militias and regime troops that have violated the agreements, undermining russia's diplomatic standing in the international counity.

, actualdon't think we have got a great deal of evidence that the russians have the influence we want them to. jane: if, as seems increasingl likely, assad does retain power, what should the u.s. strategy be long-term? charles: again, that is another really big question. looking at syria the last seven years, looking at where we are today in 2018, i don't think inere can be any real question that assad is st what does that mean for u.s. strategy? well, when you hear, as we havet in the recent secretary of state rex tillerson say publicly that assad will still have to leave as part of a politically negotiated transition, and that u.s. strategy is focused on removing iran and syria, we have to raise the questions, how itactly are we going to achieve those objectivesthe very little leverage that the u.s. and its allies have established on the ground. those are open questions we don't have the answer to yet. the question of what is the u.s. strategy is very much an open question.

we have heard the vision. we haven't had any kind of laid out design of the white house,he fromtate department, from the department of defense, that explains how we will achieve the jaobjectives. : thank you very much for joining me. now, there is another major parts of the report from the white house tonight. the president's communications director, hope hicks, is resigning. her departure will come in the next few weeks, and adds to a longist of those in senior position who have left senior positions. for more on the announcement, the bbc's nick bryant joined me a short time ago. what more do we know about the circumstances of her resignation, because she isd someone who tr keep a low profile. nick: she did. she was one of donald trump's longest-serving political aides. press secretary during his first campai the presidency. she is almost family. she worked for the trump organization for a good many years. she says she's leaving her job as communications director because she feels she has done

all she can do in the role, no controversy in the departure. timing is interesting, of course, because hope hicks has come under a lot of scrutiny in the last two days. yesterday she was on capitol o hill, in frothe house intelligence committee investigating russian meddling, and was subject to 8 hours of questioning, and during the questioning she said she said white lies for donald trump in thpast, although she never lied to investigators about the russia investigation. jane: how significant is this going to be for donald trump himself? his core circle is diminishing. kushner lost his secur clearance yesterday. nick: his inner circle is looking like an inner semicircle, isn't it? it is just shrinking all the time. donald trump was very f hope hicks. she was a great trump ally. she was there from the creation, the first day that he stood in trump tower and declared his presidency, hope hicks was off to the side.

she was a familiar presence during the campaign, reassuring presence for dond trump in the white house. as you say, it comes a day after jared kushner, his son-in-law, lost his clearance. ivanka trump lost her security clearance. the inner circle is shrinking, aand the churn we have se the white house is unprecedented. jane: nick bryant, thanks for joining me. before the hicks announcement, the news of the white house was on president trump hosting democrats and republicans for a discussion on gun control. two weeks after the shooting in parkland, florida, they are ill trying to find common ground on what can be accomplished. as lawmakers continued their isate, corporate america starting to take action. today, dick's sporting goods, largest gunount's retailers, said it would no longer sell assault style rifles, nor fiunarms to anyone r 21, and would no longer

sell high-capacity magazines. businesses say they are acting in the wake of the tragedy in parkland. classes resumed today at the school where 17 people were killed the bbc's nada tawfik was there, ed us a short time ago. i can only imagine what how emotional today must have been. what was it like? nada: absolutely. the walkway into campus behind me was absolutely lined with members of the community, police officers, staff from the school, students from surrounding schools, comfort dogs.ey ere acting as cheerleaders for the students as they took their journey back into a place filled with so much pain andau for them.th they gave high-fives and said welcome back. even though the students return lf a day, this was a ver important part of getting the readjusted and back to a sense of normality. they played games.in some clas in other classes they opened up and talked about the students no longer there with them in the classroom.

when i spoke to some of the studentsi asked how the first day was. one of them to me that she is still fearful to go back even tomorrow, and shthinks it could be that way for the next several days, but she did say it is an important part othe aling process. jane: do they still feel that they are helping to shape the debate over gun control?: nasolutely, jane. i think every student i spoke to really raised the point thatic their are being heard. this is the first time we heard from survivors of a mass school shooting, they have been very blunt and vocal that they want to make gun control ng issue. in the past, we have not seen eople vote based on just politician's stance on gun control. they want that to change. theyre been unafraid to go after the nra, the national rifle association, gun lobby, and the politicians. one student i spoke to continues to wear a red ribbon on his clothes, and he says that shows they will persevere and maintain

momentum on the issue. jane: you were the first bbc correspondent on the scene when the shooting actually happened. how is the community as a whol sponding now? nada: you know, jane, one of the things that really struck me was that parents were still out here too anxious and nervous to leave until they could retrieve their kids again wey got out of inhool. kids were still teup when they were speaking about their friends and teachers that they lost on campus. a at of the students were i bit of a daze. it is different stages of healing. it did strike me that this is l community steling from what happened. jane: nada tawfik, thank you very much for joining me. the european commissionrs published its draft of the official treaty of brexit today. it included proposals for a rcommulatory area for the island of ireland, which would effectively mean keeping northern ireland in a customs

union, unlike the rest of the k. prime minister theresa may said the idea would never be agreedan toit threatened the constitutional integrity of the u.k. rob watson reports. rob: breaking up was never going to be easy, as efforts to finalize the divorce agreement,a or withdrawal , as it is known in brussels, are proving. "don't blame me," says the eu negotiator. it was the u.k. that wanted to leave, throwing upll sorts of problems, including the thorny issue of the bord between northern ireland and the irish republic. >> i'm not trng to provoke or create shockwaves. i want these negotiations to be a success. det let me remind you that it was the uk'sion to leave and nobody should underestimate the consequences of the action. rob:rn that nort ireland would have to effectively stay in the eu to avoid the hard border hard response

from theresa may. she said she would sign no such treaty. prime miplster may: if ented it would undermine the u.k. common mket and threaten the integrity of the u.k. by creating the customs and revelatory border -- regulatory border, and no.k. prime minister could ever agree to it. rob: pro-brexit mp's and her conservative party applauded the tough line. outse parliament, these freezing anti-brexit protests may have a powerful new ally. former prime minister and r conservative party leadehn major launched a scathing attack on the government's handling of brexit, accusing it of caving into a handful of hartline --li har anti-europeans and pursuing a policy that would leave britain poorer, weaker, and more divided than ever. mr. major: brexit has been the most divisive politicaissue of my lifetime.

it has divided not only thehe nations ofnited kingdom, but regions within the nations. it has divided political parties, political colleagies, families, s, and the young from the old. rob: many people in britain are probably more worried about the weather right now than the thtails of britain's drawal from the eu. voters will cool onn major brexit, too, as the reality of leaving the eu unfolds. certainly a chl has set in between london and brussels with no obvious prospect of a thaw in relations. rob watson, bbc news. jane: you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, royalty comes out for charity. prince harry and meghan markle joined forces with the duke and duchess of cambridge.

the funeral of an indian actress has taken place in mumbai. many bollywood a listers joined mourners and thousands of fans lined the streets. an autopsy found that 54-year-old drowned in a bath after losing consciousness in a hotel in dubai. an investigation into the deseh has been c evi's body flew into mumbai last night. the body was taken to a local sports club where fans were allowed inside to pay their final respects. i was outside, where they were thousands of fans who turned up to pay the last respects, and they were queuing up, letting up in the early morningch just to t ce to catch a glimpse of sridevi. she was such a huge star in india, and that is why you see the love and respect she commanded in the country, and i was on display in mumbai today. monday, when the police started

to investigate the matter of her death there was wild speculation india,many networks in some speculating as tohaled to her death. some even goingt to eiint this they started to link to some sort of foul play without the facts being in place. that is why the coverage by a section of the media came unsmr huge critinot only on social media, but her fans across the country, because they feel this was not the way they should remember her, given the amount of love she has on the work she has done across movies. everyone wanted to wait for the facts, the final report which came out on tuesday, saying that there was no foul play involved. it was a death due taccidental drowning after loss of sness, which happened in the hotel where she was staying. clearly a lot of her fans and

even people on t streets were upset with the coverage from a section of indiamedia. washington's top political leaders came remember christian evangelist billy graham, who died last week at age 99. president trump and others attended special memorial service at the u.s. capitol, where the religious leader is lying in honor. mr. graham is the fourth private citizen to be given the rare tribute. the last was civil rights icon rosa parks in 2005. here is more from the ceremony. for many, he was america's pastor. the man who brought the word of god to all. an unadorned message in contrast perhaps to the cerony surrounding his death. he treated everybody the same , even the great and powerful who came today to pay their final respects.

graham shared their str decades, but uniquely avoided their politics. he met every president since harry truman, and was counselor to most. he also shaped the evangelical movement into a political force. >> shall we pray jane: from president twho spoke of his own childhood mories of graham came this tribute. president trump:verywhere he went he deliver the same message -- god lov you. that was his message, god loves you. we can only imagine the number of lives touched by the preacher and the prayers of billy graham. jane: billy grahamill lie in honor until thursday, allowing members of the public to pay their respects. he will be laid to resorth carolina on friday.

ofstill capablringing lawmakers together in a rare moment of bipartisanship. now, the highly anticipated rrwedding of prince and meghan markle has been grabbing headlines recently, but today the couple's charity work was the focus. the two joined the duke and duchess of cambridge to highlight the occasion. -- highlight the royal foundation, which ms markle will officially join after shear marries prince in may. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. nicholas: they are the foursome who will take the royal family forward fodecades to come, and on stage together for the first time, they talked about their mission. william said that it was to build on what hiparents and grandparents had achieved. prce william: hold on to the values that have always guided our family, seek to engage in public life in a way that is updated and relevant for our generation. nicholas: attention inevitably focused on the newcomer. meghan markle underlined the rmlevance of her agenda, talking about female empot. meghan: you hear people say that women are finding their voices,n

and i fundlly disagree with that, because women don't need to find a voice. they have a voice and they need to be empowered to use i people need to be encouraged to listen. the climate we are seeing with so many campaigns -- me too, time's up -- there is no better ti to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people helping to support them, and men included in that. nicholas: meghan said she was looking forward to hitting the ground running after her wedding. sitting next to her, her future sister-in-law. how is it working as a foursome? >> working as family does have s challenges. [laughter] they know exactly what it is like. but we are still together for -- stuck together for the rest of our lives, so -- [lghter] nicholas: together and seeking to make a difference. nicholas witchell, bbc news.

jane: you will be ae to find more on that story and all the day'news on our website. do check out facebook. i am jane o'brien. thank you for watching "world news america >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day and e ay up to datth the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentationo is madible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. familiescouples, and friends can all island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal ue caribbean sea.

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

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff.sh on the nr tonight, students return to the florida high school leere a shooting 17 dead, as president trump meets with both democratic and m republicanbers of congress to talk about new gun heasures. also, white house communications director, hope hicks, mr. trump's lst serving aide, announces she ll resign.me then, securingca's ballot box-- wi midterm elections around the corner, fears grow of further russian meddling in the nation'semocracy. and, decoding north korea's nuclear abilities-- how researchers are dissecting the regime's propaganda for clues inside its secretive missile program. >> every time the north koreans