Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. And now, bbc world news. This is bbc world news sacked for lying. Mike flynn is under formal investigation for taking cash from russia. Living in fear of Islamic State. A special report on egypts coptic christians. Eutting marriage vows abov voting preference. How politics plays a part for these newlyweds. We are not in election mode. Until he is impeached. But i still love you. Tim hello and welcome to world rto our viewers around the globe. General mike flynn made headlines after he was fired up to 24 days in office when it emerged that he misled the Vice President about his communications with the russian ambassador. The shortest serving former National Security advisor is back in the spotlight again. U. S. Defense Department Says it is investigating payments he received from companies linked to russia. A short time ago i caught up with our north america editora jon sopel about the controversy surrounding mike flynn. Were going to learn quite a lot more about flynn. Jon we understand the Inspector General of the pentagon is looking into whether he brokered the emoluments clause, which means you are not allowed to take money from a Foreign Government or agency without prior permission from the. Pentagon he was the head of the Defense Intelligence agency. He goes to moscow and photograph ed next to vladimir putin. Since he got fired, he was advising the turkish government and received 500,000 from them to lobby, even though he had previously treated the right tod the wests mistrust islam. Tim his lawyer denies these jon the lawyer says he contacted the relevant people. What we do not know what the form it took. I do not know whether there are forms you have to fill in. He says he contacted him. It may not be that the contact was quite aligning with what was said. Its extraordinary that you have a congressman like jason chaffitz, the chair of the House Oversight committee, saying i see no evidence or no data to support the notion that flynn compliant with the law. Complied with the law. That is a damning statement from one of the key congressmen investigate. Tim the white house reaction . Donald trump sacks him and described them as wonderful met. Man. Jon and said he was right to seek immunity and return for giving evidence. The white house is confused. I think donald trump has a core of loyalty and does not want to admit i made a bad appointment in appointing Michael Flynn. I think he was hoping the story would go away. What the white house has done today is to say, it is excellent actually its all Barack Obamas fault because it was obamas who gave him security clearance. We took it at face value. There was no need for further background checks. There was no transitional plan. I think a lot of things fell through the cracks. This one is turning out to be very embarrassing. Tim thanks. Well, as jon mentioned, the white house is keen to pin any claim on the Obama Administration. Here is what was said at todays press briefing. He was issued a security clearance under the Obama Administration and spring, 2016. The trip and transactions you are referring to occurred in december, 2015. So, obviously, there is an issue that you point out the department of defense is looking into. We welcome that. But all of that clearance was, was made during the Obama Administration, and a purely apparently with knowledge of the trip he took. Tim my colleague spoke to the democratic senator chris coons who sits on the Foreign Relations committee as part of the bbcs 100 days program. Senator coons, the National Security adviser sits in the west wing right now the near the president. He advises the president on vital issues of National Importance and intelligence. How on earth was general Michael Flynn able to get the job of National Security adviser to President Trump . That is a great question. That clip i heard from sean spicer was a pathetic attempt at making it somehow the Obama Administrations fault that general flynn, despite conflicts of interest, was the National Security advisor to President Trump and a participant about vital National Security issues. Im encouraged there is bipartisan movement in the House Oversight committee to insist on an investigation and that the pentagon Inspector General is taking this matter up. But this strongly suggests the Trump Administration, although they almost certainly knew about Michael Flynns, general flynns, contact of interest, conflict of interest, either did not take them seriously enough, did not investigate them, or did not care. What do you think is going on . Is the white house trying to hide something about general flynn . Well, this is just another billowing column of smoke that suggests there are complicating relationships between russia, russias intelligence services, russian representatives, and the Trump Administration and his team of advisers. I dont know what the administration might be hiding here, but it seems truly odd that after the president fired general flynn he would not step forward and have his administration cooperate with the congressional and the defense departments investigations into general flynns conflict of interest. Christian general flynns story has changed over time. He originally said he was not paid, and then he said it came from speaking agency in london, it was paid secondhand. Is it possible the white house did not know . After all he had lied before about his meetings with the ambassador. Look, i wasnt paid, and they just did not know. That is conceivable. The way to put that to rest would be for the white house to fully disclose the records they have got about the clearance process for general flint. General flynn. But ill remind you we have a number of cases like this where there is not full cooperation and where the administration is not doing everything they can to clear up questions such as the questions about general flynns conflict of interest. Tim chris coons speaking there on the bbcs 100 days program. Talking of 100 days, saturday marks that milestone. Since donald trump took office. The president will be in pennsylvania to mark the occasion with a rally. Back in november, the state flipped from the democrats to the republicans. Laura trevelyan joins us now live from philadelphia. Laura welcome to the city of brotherly love and the city that is the birthplace of not only the declaration of independence but also the United States constitution and a state the donald trump won by 1 , helping propel into the white house. How is he doing . That is the question of the day. Joining me now to answer this question is joe watkins. Joe, you are a republican analyst and worked for george bush. You have a radio show. Hows donald trump doing . Joe not very well on domestic policy, on Foreign Policy gets may be slightly better marks, because of his response to assad and syria, and the bomb he dropped on isis. Here at home in the u. S. , he has are having a tough time getting his to mystic agenda passed. Domestic agenda passed. Laura does that matter to his supporters, many of whom call into your radio show . Joe they dont mind. Hes keeping 95 of them. A matter what he does, no matter how low his ratings might be him and his Approval Rating might be, he has got a very strong support from his base. They are sticking with him. Laura if we look at the polls, we see donald trump has historically horrific Approval Ratings, the lowest he won the state despite the fact that hillary does it trouble you as a longtime republican that if its good for the party to have such an unpopular figure head . Joe everything is for the time being. What happens for the first 100 they does not tell the whole story of the presidency. At the end of the day, i think republicans, like democrats, care about the country. We want the country to be healthy. I would love to see the country come back together because we are pretty fractured right now. I think, overall, donald trump right now probably gets about a d on domestic policy. He can move up. Just because you start a slow does not mean you end up so. End up slow. Laura when you look at the domestic policy docket, it is tax reform, tax cuts for the rich, Corporate Tax cuts, and reform of obamacare, which will leave millions without health insurance. Joe a lot of people that are part of his base who really are people who could use obamacare, medicare expansion meets the need of lots of these lower income people who support donald trump in big numbers. Much more so then repeal or replace, he should be talking about fix and repair or fix and amend. Hes not doing that. But there is a new Health Care Plan they are talking about. Theres a shot it will get to the house. I do not know it does to the senate because the senate has to consistently be concerned about medicaid expansion. They have to take care of all of their citizens, the whole state. Laura that could bite him on the buttom bottom. With midterm elections next year if people in this state are worse off as a result of health care reform. Joe you have to have something to show. You have to be able to say this is what i accomplished. Every member of the house of representatives is up for reelection in 2018. They will have to be able to say, this is what we accomplished. Its going to be tough sledding for them. Laura thank you for that analysis. There you have it from the horses mouth, someone has been watching republican politics not just in this statement at the National Level for many years. Tim, back to you. Tim you are watching bbc world news america. Boris johnson has said it would be very difficult for the u. K. To say no if asked by washington for support for a strike on syria. He suggested the government might not seek parliamentary approval if it decided britain should be involved in military action. Syria has accused israel of causing a huge explosion in damascus airport by firing missiles. State media described it as a desperate attempt to raise the collapsing morale of terrorist groups. Other sources say the attack targeted in arms supply operated by the Lebanese Ministry group militant group hezbollah. A russian spying drizzle has sunk off turkey. North of the bosporus straits. All 78 crew have been rescued. Contacted russian authorities to convey their sadness over the incident. Pope francis arrives in egypt tomorrow for a visit as a show s solidarity with the country coptic christians. The community is the target of attacks by Islamic State. 49 christians were killed when two of their, churches were bombed resulting in a state of emergency being declared. The bbc has sent this report from the scene up one of the bombings in alexandria. Reporter entombed, egyptian christians killed for their faith. Not in roman times but earlier this month. Priests at the ancient monastery of st. Nina say they were modernday maters, martyrs. The socalled Islamic State has said worshipers of the cross are its favorite prey. And this the anguish. When some of the dead were brought to the monastery for burial. He cries out for his oldest son. He was my dearest one, he says. At his small shop, the two worked sidebyside. This is ibrahim. This is me. He should have buried me. Not the other way around. I was gasping for breath. After that, they covered him. And sent him to the morgue. I saw it with my own eyes. Reporter outside one of the bombed churches, christians vented their fury on Senior Police officials, enraged that i. S. Could strike their community again. The extremists killed 20 in cairo last december. The latest attacks robbed this family of three of their loved ones, including an 18 year old. They say he went to church very often and told them he wanted to die as a martyr. His sister says they are all victims of discrimination as well as i. S. If things stay like this, we definitely do not have a future. We would be better off daed, dead because we do not have any place anywhere in the country, in schools or in government departments. We dont have any value. Security has been stepped up near st. Marks cathedral. Where obama got right to the gates but it turned away and deployed at been sensitive locations as part of a state of emergency. But many are asking why all this didnt happen sooner . Why security was not titans tightened before . As they pray for their new dead, copts are seeking consolation in their ancient beliefs. Francis arrives here, he will find new fears for the future in one of the oldest Christian Communities in the middle east. Tim youre watching bbc world news america. Still to come, united by love , a landscape artist in the most literal sense. How one british artist is turning a stately home into an outdoor museum. At least nine pro democracy activists in hong kong have been arrested and charged with taking part in a protest against the Chinese Government last year. The arrests are part of a clampdown before a possible visit from chinas president in july to mark the anniversary of hong kongs return to china. This package defiant. Still civilactivist chant disobedience is not an offense, after being arrested and charged by police, accused of Illegal Assembly and Disorderly Conduct related to a protest last year against the Chinese Government. We will continue to exercise our civil rights, and we will continue to voice our discontent the hongnger towards kong government and the communist party, especially when they are stripped away our basic democratic rights. Dayrter the arrests come a after the detention of six of pro independent activists removed from their positions as democratically elected lawmakers by the hong kong government. They were disqualified last year after taking oaths of office in ways that were considered to be illegal. Out after the Chinese Government added to the controversy by announcing a legal ruling that paved the way for the two to be ousted. Thousand two to the streets in response. Avery was one of the demonstrators that day. The government has denied any political motive behind charging the protesters. But the activists believe they are being persecuted to prevent protests before an upcoming visit by the chinese president. That ins often said matters of heart, opposites attract. That is true for one pennsylvania couple whose politics could not be more divided. Before the election, we met democrat gretchen and tom ellis who supported donald trump. Now they are married and although they said i do they say i dont when it comes to the president. Im gretchen and i voted for hillary clinton. I voted for donald trump. We just got married. We had a couple of days after the election where i said i cannot talk to you. It was only difficult because i did not know what to say to her. Themter if i frst met during the elections. Whoa, whoa, dont talk over me. Reporter i caught up with them again six weeks into their marriage. This is the room you got married in and 100 days into the trump presidency. I never thought i would live under a trump presidency. I wonder what happened overnight i am not aware of. Told her she should be happy because our wedding and honeymoon was paid for with donald trump increase in thes stock market. I think the travel ban was an illconceived, racist ban that was never going to pass constitutional muster. The ban was too quick a roll out. The philosophy was fine. The rollout was poor. The president totally flopped on health care reform. It really was amazing that he did not have a plan in place when he finally got to the white house. He tried to roll it out to quickly. Its an albatross around every president s neck. It takes a long time. I did. A measured response to the atrocities in syria was long overdue. It was a well done, well orchestrated strike that i was very proud of the president on. The president promised to come to washington and drain the swamp. Instead of draining the swamp, he dredged it to fill it with nepotism. Except for steve bannon, i think the staff has been terrific. His staff o n National Security is one of the best. Reporter you might wonder how they make their marriage work with these political differences, but they do. We have had disagreements about this our entire relationship, but we can have discussions and argue and disagree without disrespecting each other. Were not in election mode. Now we have a present. Till hes impeached. Thats coming very soon, but i still love you. Tim what a great pair. For half a century, richard long has used his to find inspiration for his abstract ulcers. Sculptures. His latest exhibition is in the east of england. Reporter norfolk. The grand 18th century home of powerfult walpole, a politician with a passion for painting. Hiss long gone, as is collection, and not his appetite for art shared by the current owner, although his taste is a little different. Contemporary minimalism meet georgian magnificence within a division of richards sculptures. Its an amazing opportunity to make all of these grand works in t his grand, very english landscape. Reporter long is a landscape artist but probably not in the way that sir Robert Walpole wouldve understood. He does not paint or sculpt. My preference is to use the natural Raw Materials of the world. I order these materials into,thats what humans do, they make order out of the natural chaos. Reporter his art is not so much butt taming nature accentuating its beauty with circles of overlapping flint and hand picked stone. I have always used stones, because that is what the world is made of. I can find stone anywhere in the world, almost. So, that means i can be an artists wherever i happen to be walking. Reporter and walking is what he does, from his early days as a student when he made his mark by pacing up and down the field, to his roaming of acres looking for suitable sites for his work. I have always been interested in alignments, ever since very early. One things leading into another. Pretty incredible that they gave me the to make that cross. Reporter the cross, like the rest of the exhibition, is striking, not least in how the mixing of the art of the past and the present can heighten your awareness and appreciation of both. Lets finish the program with great news from space. As we came up here yesterday, the cassini space probe was about to make its first dive between the planet saturn and its rings. [cheers and applause] this reaction at Mission Control in california says it all. These are the new images the spacecraft has sent back from 3 4 of a billion miles away. This one shows a storm raging on saturn along with drifting clouds in the atmosphere. More on that story on the website and all the other news of the day. Make sense of International News at bbc. Com news. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. Planning a vacation escape 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. Bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight, President Trump steps back from pulling the plug on the north American Free trade agreement, instead offering to renegotiate with mexico and canada. Also ahead, we continue our first 100 days review with a look at the Trump Administrations foreign policies the successes and setbacks of a president shaking up the Global Status quo. And, rising medical costs in the u. S. The effect that increasing Prescription Drug prices has on Overall Health care for americans compared with other countries. We spend two or three times what other countries do on healthcare without Getting Better results, which is the key here