bbc news did ensure it got away from westminster on tuesday to seek some public reaction to the news of the snap election. all this voting doesn't please everyone, like brenda, in bristol. she's lived through 19 elections. we told her about the 20th. you're joking! not another one. oh, for god's sake. honestly, i can't stand this. there's too much politics going on at the moment. why does she need to do it? this struck a cord with some. brenda swiftly became the overnight media sensation. the bbc rode the wave enthusiastically with a follow—up report on the following night from jon kay. you are trending on twitter. do you know what that means? this was all too much. such as anthony parry, who begged, please, please, stop showing brenda from bristol. mr kingston added... there will be plenty more to say on newswatch about the bbc election coverage over the next few weeks. but, for now, let's leave it with this plea from clare. away from all the political excitement in britain, world news has been dominated by escalating tensions between the united states and north korea. the highly repressive and secretive state was preparing for a fixed nuclear test. on monday it warned of all—out war if the united states used military force against it. amid this war of words, the bbc'sjohn sudworth was invited to pyongyang, where he interviewed the vice foreign minister. we asked him on his expectations of the journalistic trip with a difference. north korea is all about shows of strength. the first today came in this tae kwon do demonstration. the journalists, when they arrive, and i've been on a few of these trips now, you are met by at least one government minder. in our case, on this visit, two government minders, who were our own personal minders for the rest of the six days we were in pyongyang. so, they basically followed our every step. in fact, more than that, they set our itinerary in the first place. they came along and watched over every interview that we did, occasionally quibbled over questions we asked, or took issue with things that i'd said to camera. my own sort of recorded thoughts for the reporting i was doing upset them on occasion. and it's the same for anyjournalist who is ever given permission to go into north korea. you might think, what's the point, and it's a good question. i would argue there is a point. we can, given all the limitations, still speak to ordinary north korean citizens. and we are able, of course to judge for ourselves how much of what they are telling us is what they really feel, or how much is being filtered because they know they are being watched by an official. the dear marshall, kim jong—un, feeds and clothes us, this nine—year—old girl tells me. somebody who wants to speak their own mind, tell something a little different, that would challenge the official line. the risks would be so extreme that we have to assume that we're not getting anywhere close to real opinion. that said, you know, you can stilljudge in people's reactions to the sort of questions you ask. you can tell through the sorts of pauses that they may take before answering. you can see them second—guess the questions, and you can learn a lot from doing that. and even, leaving aside the difficulty of speaking to ordinary people, just to be inside north korea, this most totalitarian state, to feel for ourselves the way in which every aspect of civil life, of social life, is utterly owned and controlled by the system, i think is useful. it is an extraordinary sight. this is state power expressed... every now and again, it wants the world to hear something. we were invited in, along with a couple of hundred other foreign reporters, to witness its grand, great military parade. this was a show of strength. this was a signal to the world, of course, about the state of advancement of its missile technology. and this was, if you like, a message of defiance, that north korea had carefully calibrated, that it wanted to send to one particular audience, of course, in president donald trump. and it wanted the world's media there, to amplify and broadcast that message on its behalf. so we're being used, to some extent. another word of caution, i suppose, about these trips. but again, standing alongside that parade, watching the crowds, trying to judge for ourselves whether the extraordinary emotion on display is real or manufactured. again, all of that is useful. there have been instances where foreign reporters have found themselves in a tricky situation, as a result of the regime taking issue with their reporting. i think, on the round, it's fair to conclude that, because north korea has invited the foreign media, because they want us to project a certain message on their behalf, that they also understand that, with that, comes a certain nuisance and annoyance. and you know, i think for me, on the ground in pyongyang, myjob is to work out how far i can push being a nuisance and an annoyance, without crossing a line, and getting me or my team into difficulty. we need to afford the people we are dealing with inside north korea, at least that due respect. as long as we do that i think we are on pretty safe ground. thank you very much. finally, coverage of the gun attack that killed a policeman on the champs—elysees in paris on thursday evening raised again a thorny issue forjournalists, outlined here byjeff richmond from worcestershire. thank you to all of you who got in touch with us this week. if you want to share your opinions, or even appear on the programme, you can call us. or e—mail newswatch. you can find us on twitter. and do have a look at previous discussions on the website. that is all from us. we'll be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello there. we may well be heading towards the end of april now, but the weather is feeling a little bit wintry. particularly next week, we have got some fairly chilly weather on the cards. during friday there was some glimpses of sunshine, this was the view taken in south yorkshire by one of our weather watchers, and through the weekend there will also be a bit of sunshine, and things will be mostly dry. but temperatures still on the cool side, not quite as cold and frosty as it was earlier on in the week. during saturday we've got this weather front working its way slowly south across parts of england and wales. so that is going to introduce a bit of cloud, perhaps the odd spot of light rain here. northern ireland also seeing some cloud and some drizzle. and then, through the day, some showers pushing into the north of scotland, but elsewhere, actually quite a good deal of dry weather. this is at ii:00pm on saturday afternoon. fairly cloudy for a time in central and southern parts of england, perhaps the odd light shower and temperatures up to 15 or so. sunshine in east anglia, the midlands, parts of north wales, mostly cloudy for northern ireland but there could be some brighter spells. and for scotland and northern england, some sunshine, but i think towards the north of scotland we'll continue to see some showers, and perhaps even a little bit of snowfall on top of the mountains. then moving through saturday evening and overnight we'll continue to see the showers in the far north and north—east of scotland. the winds tend to come down the east coast, too, so it will be quite chilly around that east coast. and clearer skies, so first thing sunday morning, temperatures lower than this in the countryside. but even in towns and cities, down to around five or six, so a cold start to sunday morning. if you're planning on running or watching the marathon in london you might want to wrap up warm first thing. but by the afternoon, sunshine breaking through, it that should lift the temperatures into the mid—teens. across much of the country sunday not looking like a bad day. probably a fair amount of sunshine, some rain for the far north of scotland. most other places dry, and temperatures typically between 11 and 12 in the north, perhaps 15 or 16 further south. high pressure not far away as we look through sunday night and into the new working week, and then we see low pressure moving in from the north. and this is when we introduce that very cold air. look at the blue colours, and those northerly arrows moving monday into tuesday. we could even see some sleet and snow showers around too. monday into tuesday, one or two wintry showers particularly in the north and east. further south, it's colder, and there will still be some sunshine in between those showers. so to summarise the weather into next week, it is staying pretty cold, a bit of sunshine around, wintry showers and most places largely dry. bye— bye. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's tom donkin. our top stories — french officials say the gunman who shot dead a policeman in paris had beenjailed previously for trying to murder officers. us ground troops have killed a leading member of the islamic state group in a commando raid near mayadin in syria. standing together — the us vice president and australia's prime minister say they're determined to curb north korea's nuclear ambitions anti—government protests continue in venezuela — 11 people are killed in the latest violence and looting. and from takeaways to box sets — wills and kate take to the airwaves for some revealing regal radio.