> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> this fall, it is a season of revelations, from the choice of america's favorite novel. >> it's 100 books we want people to take look at. we are hoping to get people to fall in lo with novels again. >> to the fate of a hero's love. >> i'm still here. >> and i. >> from the secret lives of the most amazing cats to new discoveries abouthe first peoples of the americas.

>> our history goes back to the beginning of time. >> all this and more, this season. >> and now, "bbc world news." laura: this is "bbc world news america."g reportom washington, i am laura trevelyan. sentencing drama -- former aitional security advisor michael flynn mustt until next year to learn his fate as the judge rebukes him strongly. forging a new all the way to the arctic -- how china'ueeconomic inflnce has spread 40 years after landmark reforms. >> the tiny population of this vast, empty country, is not going to know what hit it. laura: plus, gorillas are among the greatest treasures of the democratic republic of congo, but despite vast resources, the country's fortunes aren't rising.

welcome to our viewers on public television here irothe u.s. andd the world. we begin with two very different stories concerning president trump. first, a judge in washington agreed to postpone t sentencing of michael flynn, the former national security advisor who pleaded guilty to lying to e fbi. also today, mr. trump's charity agreed to shut down amid allegations that the president and others used funds illegally. north america editor jon sopel reports. jon: election night 2016, and donald trump is soaking up the wapplauseas rendered by his children. but they are also trustees in his charity, the donald j.

foundation. fort from being a vehicle flynn to become of the new york attorney general described in the most scathing terms how the trumps were using this for their own purposes. there was a shocking pattern of illegality, includingat unlawful nation with the coordination with the trump presidential campaign, amounting to the trump foundation functioning as little one than a chkbook to serve mr. trump's business and potical interests." here in washington, the president's formertyational secu advisor michael flynn has been appearing in court over coersations he had with the russian ambassador at around the time of the election. he lied to the fbi about it. the sentencing should have been routine. nyit was aing but. michael i flynn arrivedcourt this morning hoping he would be judgea sentence, but thema r that he took the offenses

far more seriously. rguably, you sold your country out," he said. my disgust, myg disdain for this personal offense." th judge mused whether he should be tried for n. the threat of incarceration has not gone away. ironic, really, as the general was the mentoring the ection who let the chance of "lock her ivalabout donald trump's hillary clinton. gen. flynn: yes, that's right, lock her up! jon:s the president'anding by him, tweeting, "good luck in court, michael flynn. it will be interesting to hear what he has to say a theme picked up at the briefing. sarah sanders: the fbi broke

standard protocol in the way that they ambushed genee l flynn e d y they encouraged him not to have whithouse counsel's office president. jon: as michael flynn left court thehance of "lock him up," white house was doing nothing to dispel the impression that in this case the whit president was more on the side of the man who broke the law. laura: for more on these development i spoke a brief time ago s to democratator chris van hollen from maryland. senator van hollen, this was a dramatic day with the judge say ing to michael flynn that hedi wausted with what he had done. what do you make of what we saw today? sen. van hollen: the judge did not mince words with respect ton michael he said he arguably sold out his country. he made it very clear that michael flynn committed serious crimes. michael flynn in his

testimony acknowledged that he knew that he committed crimes, and the fact that the judge delayed the sentencing was a clear gnal that the judge viewed what michael flynn did with great seriousness, and it was a serious crime. laura: and yet the white house is saying that any actions michael flynn engaged in had nothing to do with the president. based on what we knew, that is the case, isn't it? sen. van hollen: to my knowledge that is th case, although we also know that presiennt trump has aking things up like that michael flynn was framed by the fbi, something michael flynn himself acknowledged he committed a crime and did it knowingly. , the president has been tweeting about different investigations. he can have his own views, but the facts are different and the

judge laid down the facts today. ura: if we moved to the question of russians and social media, as targeting american voters, the russian operatives tried to target special counsel robt mueller himself and to discredit him. what do you make of that? sen. van hollen: it shows the ongoing campaign by the russian government to try to disrupt and sow seeds of division te the united s we know from that report that there was additional evidenc that russia interfered in our16 lections and did so to help donald trump, and now were know ts a continuing pattern including trying to undermine the special counsel.s this is serisiness. this is why senator rubio and i introduced legislation which would make it very clear up front, not after the fact, that if we catch the russia government interfering in our elections, there will be swift and certain economic penalties. laura: you introdud the legislation, but do you have any hope at all at it will pass or

will it be down to social-media companies to police their own platforms? sen. van hollen: well, it is important that social-media companies do monitor their platforms, but that is not we are asking the companies to do their part. the united states government should do its part to deter this kind of interference in thepl firse. we intend to reintroduce the act next year, and this most recento report othe senate intelligence committee givesum even more momeo the need to get it done. laura: is the real problem that the russians are exploiting divisions that exist in america, the very deep divisions on whether it is race or religion, and we should heal them ourselves? sen. van hollen: there is no doubt weave a lot of work to do in this country to unify americans regardless of their political views. we should have active and vibrant debates in this country,

thewe should try to mak has civil as possible and not engage in the divisive and polarizing rhetoric we have seee nning with donald trump's campaign and continuing into his presidency. all of us have to do our partof here, buhis and that we -- but at the same time we should do everything we can toia prevent the ru from using social media or whatever means to exploit those divisions. we have enough challenges in our own country trying to make sure that we come together. should not be allowing foreign power to make this worse. laur senator chris van holle thanks for joining us. sen. van hollen: thank you. laa: in other news, the trump administration has banned bump stocks, which allow semiotic weapons toirhundreds of rounds per minute. gun owners have 90 days to turn in or destroy the devices. calls to ban bump stockscr

ineased after last year's las vegas shooting in which 58 people were killed. the manager of manchester united has been sacked from the english premier league club. he has been under growing pressure after his football team made the worst start to a season p nearly three decades. actor and directorny marshall has died at the age of 75. she costarred in the hit american tv show "laverne & shirley" before moving onto to box office success behind the camera with films including "big" and "a league of their own." family says she died peacefully at their home in the hollywood hills. the democratic republic of cgo is holding elections this week, two years after they were delayed by the government. the new leaders will face stubbornly high vels of poverty, which endured despite the drc's many natural resources. the bbc's africa correspondent alastair leithead spent nearly six weeks travelingrihe congo r. a

jeroms alastair: the congo is one of the world's fastest flowing rivers and could power africa to the hydroelectric potential was harnessed. the democratic republic of the congo is rich in natural resources. yet it's people are poor. it has the largest continuous rain forest outside the amazon and is home to animals found where else on earth. we have come in search of eastern low land gorillas. families are used to humans and can be visited, if you can find them. there is no path to fo how. e to cut through the deep rain forest. i think we are getting close because we can hear -- a couple of times that the guys are trying to pick up the trail. it is tough going.ur after three we got our

first glimpse just a few meters ahead. the young ones caught us by surprise coming so close. the maskwe are wearing protects the gorillas from our germs. there are probably fewer than 5000 of them left. but few tourists bring their money here. athere truggle between reserving nature and cashing in the country's resources. the congo is rich in copper, cobalt, gold, diamonds, and uranium. cobalt has become a key ingredient in car batteries. 60% of the world's supply is here. this is the final produc 35% cobalt. it will be refined further, but this is what they export from here. wealth like this should

transform a country, but the expectation continues. >> we have a lot of resources, and the resources have been a malediction. but at the same moment these resources, if we can manage th very well, we can make it. alastair: is it corruption lth of away at the w this country? >> yes, corruption is one challenge among which we have deal with. alastair: the congo has minimal reserves worth trillions of dollars. if used properly t ty could chan country's fortune ands pull millit of poverty. alastair leithead, bbc news, on the congo river. laura: the promise and the challenges for the congo there. you are watching "bbc world news america.on still to comonight's program, why the surgeon general's warning about the rise of e-cigarettes, especially among teenagers.

a new amnesty international report says that twitter is a toxic place for women. it reports widespread abuse on the social-media platform and found that black women were targeted more th other groups. the report made a particular point saying that this group of men were 84% more likely than white women to be mentioned in abusive or problematic tweets. our technology correspondent has more opothis story. er: headlines from troll patrol reports are sobering. oneve woman received an abur problematic treat every 30 seconds, and black wen are far more likely to be targeted than white women. it is worth having a look at hoa the study waied out. nnesty followed 778 women the u.k. over a year but they

and generals, who were more likely to be attracting posite and negative -- i canell you that from personal experience as a journalist myself -- and about issues that are more likely to morepeople feel angry, likely to be controversial. twitter has not set an awful lot. it wants to discuss with amnesty how it defines problematic because one person's coproblematic, it saysd be another's freedom of each. -- freedom of speech. twitter says it is doing a lot to tackle abuse and is looking into reports. hower, according to amnesty, there were 8 million accounts that rlect through twitter for abusive behavior -- that reflect your twitter for abusive behavior and only 9% of them were removed. this problem is not unique to twitter. social networks are robust

places and anecdotally the experience is that many women seem to be gting a particularly difficult time. the issue is what can twitter do about it and cap it was fun -- enoug respond quickly laura:an the highestng health official in the u.s. has issued a rare warning about thee risk of e-cies. the surgeon general says the fed t to young people's especially dangerous. one in fe high-school students arrently use e-cigarettes 78% increase from last year. in the past year more than one third of 12th graders, usually 17 or 18 years old, have used e-cigarettes. overall, more than 3.6 million young people smoke e-cigarettes in the united states. for more on these findings i spoke earlier to dr. vivek murthy, former suron general.

we are seeing e-cigarette use is ngincrea dramatically not only among high schoolers but middle schoolers. what is the health risk that vaping poses to our kids? dr. murthy: it is important to recognize that there are serious health considerations. many children and adults think that vaping is harmless but it is not the case especially with young ople. with young people, the brain is still developing, and when they they areape devices, exposed to nicotine, which is number one, highly addictive, and it c on the developing brain and backing memory and learning. the third point is that using addictive substances like nicotine can not only create an addiction to that substance but increased risk of addiction to other substances like methamphetamines a heroin. it is incredibly important that we protect kids from exposure to not just e-cigar product like that. -- any product that contains nicotine.

laura: you warned of these risks as the surgeon general. the new surgeon general is w sayineed to protect kids, but how? dr. murthy: it is important to realize that there are two separate questions with e'garettes which we shouldt conflate. number one is the credits should -- the question of should kids be usi e-cigarettes, and do they help adults who already smoke quit smoking? those are separate questions. on the first of whether kids oould be vaping, there is question of the scientific perspective that kids should not be ung e-cigarettes. very important. the way we get to the state where kids are not using e-cigarettes, number one, we have to inform them and their parents about at the consequences are of e-cigarette use. the majority of children using juul products, t most popular type of vaping product, don't think they are using a nicotine-containing product.

laura: they don't, and yet we learned that every juul contains as much nitine as regular cigarettes. should the sales be banned altogether? dr. murthy: what is important in -- is learning what is driving these sales. the most common reasohethey cite islavors. why do we allow e-carettes and flavored e-cigarettes in particular to be sold to kids? this issue has been taken up by the fda in thenited states. they are taking steps to restrict the sale of e-cigarettes to kids. but we are not moving nearly fast enough. if we cannot protect kids from using e-cigarettes, which the last few yearsavshown we have not done a good job of, we need to think about a wholesale ban or we need to say that e-cigarettes, if they're going to be used for cessation, should be prescription devices prescribed by doctors or health care professionals.la a: would you favor a ban on e-cigarettes? dr. murthy: i would favor a ban on flavors.

also, if we cannot get the use rates to come down -- here is what i think we really need to do. if we think that the benefit of e-cigarettes is for cessation, to help people who smoke to e,quit, we should, number study that. number two, compies producing e-cigarettes should submit them to the fda like any other prescription product. number three, we should ke sure they are available for prescription use only. laura: dr. vivek murthy, thank you for joining us. dr. murthy: of course. thanks for having me. , china40 years ago today began to open up its economy with a series of landmark reforms. noit is looking to the arctic asr new opportunities. greenland is see vital stop linking china to europe and north america. e but the concerns about beijing getting a foot heldot a hold there. -- getting a foothold there. reporter: the chinese are

coming. they are getting icebreakers ready.l there are mini be extracte and a huge scope for development. china is demanding ess in the whol future of the arctic, although it insists his interests are entirely peaceful. greenland is the ideal place to start. everything a bit neglected, it has a chip on his shoulder where distant colonial masters are concerned. erhing is about to change. to tiny airport is going disappear. cthe company inharge of turning all three into big international -- orts we are doing these th airports and they are the biggest construction project to the state.

it will be important for the infrastructure in greenland's future. reporter: china is among those bidding for the contract. you have to be here to get an idea of how enormous greenland is. tiny.t the population is less than 60,000. sith of a small town in western europe. greenland is minimal-rich and cash-poor. there are people here who would be only too glad if the chinese in in large numbers it gets dark at:00, but in the capital people are selling things. shcondnd clothes and cakes anything to get inuits, indigenous

selle, are trying to imports. in the freezing cold, a couple -- inuits -- in.s. are hunting more. >> i think it is good for greenland. greenland canit grow. s good. >> good for everybody? >> yeah, i think. reporter: attitudin to chinese lvement are divided among ethnic lines. the majority are mostly teen. the minority of danish descent tend not to be. the men who delivers water to the outlying communities was worried. >> for me, i don't like it. leave greenland with nothing. i think the greenland should do by themselves.

reenlandicthe government wants eventual independence from denmark. the prime minister and foreign minister would not be interviewed about china's involvemt. previous prime minister was prepared to talk. >> we live in 2019 soon. greenland needs urgently is investments from the outsi. you don't really see in the western front, u.s. or europe. reporter: you would be happy to see china putting money into greenland in a big way, would you? >> yes. reporter: denmark doesn't agree. just recently the dani prime minister came here on an attention abbing visit. both denmark and the united states are seriouslyed wor the chinese market strategic protect her. therasmussen visited

american missile detection based to show his support. the foreign affairs spokesman explained their nervousness. >> we should be very worried about how they should evolve around the world. i would be worried. reporter: the trouble is the havecans and the danes granted, and neither of them have spent too much money on it. now that china is showing interest, things are about to change. just over four years time, there will be three big new international airports operating here, bringing in investors, .orkers, andourists the tiny population of this vast, empty country will not

know what has said it. -- has hit it. s interest in the arctic. i am laura trevelyan. thanks so much for watching "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work and your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day an wstay up-to-daith the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible byfr thman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> a new chapter begins. >> now you can acces of favorite pbs shows than ever before, with pbs passport, a member benyfit that lets you binge of the latest shows and catch up on your favorites. >> we really a living in the

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, courtroom drama-- prisonen sentng for president trump's former national security adviser ge postponed after harsh words from the federal j then, president trump sits at the center of a fight over a cosouthern border wall thad shut down parts of the federal government at the end of the week. and, an exclusive report from a vital port city in yemen as ae fragile ceasefpears to take hold. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: