The us State Department. That wouldnt normally be headline news. But lets talk to Barbara Plett usher and she can explain, hi barbara, that this is an event of note. Yes, its the first briefing that the State Department has had in six weeks. We used to get them every single day. Even in between transition administrations, theres been a hiatus of a few days. The place was packed. As you can imagine, there were questions about why the State Department had been silent for so long. The Spokesman Mark Toner put it up to the administration finding its sea legs, he said. Presumably that means that the Secretary Of State was coming up to speed with the department and coming up to speed with the white house. Mr toner said he contacted white house regularly and was building relationships with his foreign counterparts etc, so he was busy. He didnt really address the glaring lack of public diplomacy. Even more so, there were a lot of questions about the State Department budget, because mr trump wa
The us State Department. That wouldnt normally be headline news. But lets talk to Barbara Plett usher and she can explain, hi barbara, that this is an event of note. Yes, its the first briefing that the State Department has had in six weeks. We used to get them every single day. Even in between transition administrations, theres been a hiatus of a few days. The place was packed. As you can imagine, there were questions about why the State Department had been silent for so long. The Spokesman Mark Toner put it up to the administration finding its sea legs, he said. Presumably that means that the Secretary Of State was coming up to speed with the department and coming up to speed with the white house. Mr toner said he contacted white house regularly and was building relationships with his foreign counterparts etc, so he was busy. He didnt really address the glaring lack of public diplomacy. Even more so, there were a lot of questions about the State Department budget, because mr trump wa
Its new Electric Version of the mini in the uk. We talk to amal clooney about her legal battle on behalf of the persecuted Yazidi People. And the Pressure Mounts for Arsene Wenger as arsenal we talk to amal clooney about her legal battle on behalf and the Pressure Mounts for Arsene Wenger as arsenal are heavily beaten again in the Champions League. Coming up in Sportsday On Bbc News arsenals last match in europe this season as Bayern Munich knock them out of the Champions League again. Good evening. The government has suffered a second defeat on its brexit bill in the House Of Lords. Peers are insisting on what they call a meaningful parliamentary vote on the final deal to leave the eu. The government will now try to overturn the changes in the House Of Commons. Ministers accused some in the lords of trying to frustrate the brexit outcome. Theresa may is still hoping to start the formal leaving process by the end of the month, as our political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, reports. They ar
The north korean leader. The bbcs Sharanjit Leyl is outside the north Korean Embassy in kuala lumpur. What is the latest around that area . I see behind you a couple of police cars. Thats right. It has been relatively quiet all morning. We have been standing out here watching the embassy for signs of movements. Security wise it has been quite. We have had to make police cars out at the front gates, two police bikes went past earlier but where it has been busy has been the number of media who have gathered here, also watching the embassy for signs of movement. They are all camped out here, like we are. And essentially what we did see a short time ago was signs of movement. We saw a black Mercedes Benz drive into the front gates. A man got out carrying what appeared to be breakfast, and that is it so far. We also seeing potentially more cars going past but we are watching for signs. And essentially what has happened is this latest row was triggered on tuesday, where we sought the north k
Be a lonely place, defying conventional wisdom and the powers that be. My guest today has known that loneliness. Irish journalist david walsh was convinced that cyclings untouchable champion Lance Armstrong was a drugs cheat long before the sport revealed the scale of his deceit. Armstrong is now history of course but doping continues to devalue elite sport. Maybe its a problem that no amount of truth telling journalism can fix. David walsh, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. I wonder if you could cast your mind back to starting as a Young Journalist in ireland, working on sports. You memorably described yourself then as a fan with a typewriter. Do you still regard yourself as a fan . In certain respects, yes, but in a general sense, no. I think a journalist has to leave that behind. I think the predominant reason why people want to be Sports Writers is because they love sport. In my case, i knew from a very early stage i wanted to be a Sports Writer and its because i liked writing essays