voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. just an average person in the world is rear—ended by a drunk driver. isaid, "0k, well, mr chelsea, we need to leave now, "or we're both going to die." they described exactly what happened with the accident, and then, i wasjust in shock. he was burned over 75% of his body. he was almost unrecognisable. 68—year—old robert chelsea is the first african american and i the oldest person to receive i a full face transplant surgery.

feeling all right? that's good. what we didn't really realise is what we were up against. facial transplantation has a lot of risks. squeeze. relax. he's notjust going to have this procedure and everything'sjust going to be smooth sailing. it's good that african—american patients that suffer from major facial deformities are aware that there is an option for them.

i got a phone call and he says, "oh, we have your dad". we just all got in the car and we rushed over there, so... they described exactly what happened with the accident, and then, i was just in shock. yeah.

one thing i like about my dad is his love for the lord. i can really lean on that. the role of faith means everything to my godfather. we were thrilled and our prayers had been answered when he woke up. but what we didn't really realise is what we were up against. he was burned over 75% of his body, mostly upper body. he had lost his lips, a part of his nose, a part of his ear. he was almost unrecognisable. my godfather has since been through upwards to 40 surgeries. if it were me or somebody else,

we would dwell on whether or not we were going to survive, or dwell on how we looked. you know, he's the type of person that's always going to ask you how you're doing, even when he's sitting in pain.

we then had to wait almost two years before we received a donor. he said, "we're not going to accept the donor." and i was like, "what? wait, skrrt! "let's talk about this." it was quite significant when you think about,

you know, how he was going to look afterwards. there's a serious lack of donors in the black community and minority communities, as it relates to the need. my godfather had to be prepared, packed, and ready to fly to boston from los angeles the next morning.

you had this whole accident, and then now, all of a sudden, you have a whole facial transplant, and go through a whole �*nother situation. i'm like, "why are you doing it?" how's my friend? hey there. you're hanging in there, you're doing good? - good to see you, too. you look good. yeah. feeling all right?

i realise he's doing it for health purposes. now i'm like, "oh, 0k. "i kind of see the benefits of it." i'm so happy for you! yeah, that's right! the fundamental principle of all transplantation- is that we recover organ — in our case, it's the face — then we package it and cool it down, so that it doesn't l require as much energy when it doesn't have blood flow. i and we literally bring it to - robert, whose old scarred face is partially removed. some of the things that are left behind — - remaining structure ofl the nose, for example, remnants of lips that he had. and then, the new face is essentially brought and l gradually connected — l the nerves, the vessels, the arteries, everything. i'm doing good. i'll be better in -

about 15 hours, but... could be 24, so i don't know. yeah. so many logistical things that we'll have to figure out. i they laugh thank you. not going anywhere! so, what we will do is - we'll probably be able to get the scalp somewhere all the way up here, i maybe even a little bit back, but just about there. - in this case, the donor was in another state, _ so it required flyingi to recover and back. the deciding factor — - how far we can travel and where the donor can be from — is the time that we have - between when the blood flow through the tissue stops - to the time when . it's re—established. facial transplantation has... ..a lot of risks. the ideal scenario is that - we come with the donor face,

and robert would be on the or table - with everything ready to go. so all the vessels l would be prepared, all the nerves- would be prepared. all the structures are essentially ready - to be connected. welcome. we all know about disparitiesj in health and health delivery, and it's good that - african—american patients that suffer from major facial deformities are aware that i there is an option for them. he came out and, believe it or not, he was already moving. there were already facial expressions. i really do see the same person. now, what looks really different is he has hair. it actually is funny- because the next day,

you see the hair growing. doesn't matter that . it's on someone else, it just continues to do. the things that it does. it's probably one of the most amazing experiences i've ever seen. i saw the picture, but to see him first time was, like, shocking, overwhelmed, and ijust started crying. and then, i had to ease myself into it. it's like, you can close

your eyes and say, "oh, my dad looks like this, that's great. "and his accident was like this, "and it made him look like this." and as soon as you open your eyes, you're like, where is your dad? he's a different man. like, that man, like, i don't know, like, i would have been like, "hey, how are you"? like, make a regular conversation with him, like i don't even know him. how are you, robert?

your temperature is still a little bit high. it's not too high, but it's like a low—grade temperature — it's 99.0. that's a lot for one day, too, riuht? . ., , ., one day at a time, robert. all types of things are going on with this. he's a science experiment. and then, all of a sudden, you're wondering, "what is really wrong with you?

"is this face really worth it?" ebony hasjust been amazing. both of her parents are ill, both are elderly, and she moves from one house to the other, splitting her week. having parents that are ill and being the only child is hard. but you have to know inside your heart, you are willing to sacrifice some of your life. they sacrificed for you. are you willing to sacrifice for them? i met robert through his tragic car accident,

where i pulled him from the car. ironically, that particular night, i was finishing a job, and i left particularly early that day. i took a different route than i usually took, and as i was coming over the off—ramp, i literally thought a missile came across the freeway. so, i pulled forward, pulled where i saw the explosion and the fire, pulled up to it, and ran to the first vehicle. i noticed that it was fully engulfed in flames, and i couldn't see anything inside, so i ran to the other

vehicle that was in front of it. saw the driver passed out, drunk, window was broken, but i could smell the alcohol, and he was snoring. so, i'm like, "he's ok". so, i went back to the other vehicle, then that's when i saw robert chelsea on fire, flailing around, screaming. i did pull him out, he fell on top of me. he said, "what happened?" i said, "a vehicle hit you." he goes... robert's... this is one of the things that remains in my mind. robert's first words to me were, "how's the other driver? "is he 0k?" and i said, "yes, sir, he's fine." and i tried to get him to move, and he screamed, because his skin was completely melted. i said, "we need to leave now, or we're both going to die." then, as soon as we got to my truck, his fuel tank exploded. the vehicle popped up in the air, about 16ft in the air. there was actually marks on the top of the freeway wall from his tyres. pretty traumatic for robert.

robert, do you want to say grace? i have been blessed to have been introduced to robert. robert and i have become very, very, very close friends. when do you have to go back to boston? did it help? good. i've explained this to you before, but... ..yourfaith gives me tremendous strength.

yeah, you had hair. yeah, it was receding, but you had hair. uh-huh.

right. it was joyful. i was very happy, and i... i just saw the people around. and it was just finally, you know, i accomplished getting my high school diploma. even though i got it late, i still succeeded. you can never be too old to finish getting your diploma. even today, a year later, easing in is still a little process for me, but i'm getting much better than i was before. even today, a year later, easing in is still a little process for me, but i'm getting much better than i was before. robert's transplant surgery was

over a year ago, and due to the coronavirus restrictions| on travel, we postponed his in—person visits for now - a number of months. a year out, i think. robert's doing great. he's progressing well from the transplant standpoint. | i think, for him, i the biggest issue is adjustment of his daily life to the new routine. - the overarching problem| that we're trying to avoid is rejection. every patient develops a rejection. - the body essentially is trying to get rid of tissues that - it recognises at - a given time as foreign. yeah, we need to open up the eyes a bit, huh? - look at that — that would be better, wouldn't it? - so, there are things. we could do surgically to make things better, but we don't have to. i

everything kind of sagged down by gravity. _ and by the fact that the new face - is not as strongly - connected to the bone. and i would have to open up the entire incision all around — - so all the way - around your head, all the way down to the neck — and then, i would have to liftj things up and suspend them. this is completely elective, so it doesn't have to happen next month or tomorrow. i the nerves are reconnected, but your brain is learning - which ones are supposedj to be controlled by what. and trying to differentiate movements, with help of| our speech therapist, will helix _ you will still be getting - better. there's another year that we know our patients are getting fairly- dramatically better. and then, at aboutl two years from the surgery,

that's where it plateaus. robert is a unique man. he's very spiritual, thoughtful. - he really believes in god's plan for him. i yeah. yeah. we'll keep chatting. all right? _

hello there. settled and warm again on friday, with plenty of late spring sunshine around and temperatures rising across the four nations into the low 20s in celsius. the warmth is set to last as we head through the weekend. temperatures will remain above the seasonal average, warmest towards the east. and it's still dry for the vast majority of us on saturday.

a scattering of showers, with the real breakdown happening on sunday. heavy, thundery showers out towards the western half of the uk. further east should stay largely dry. and here is the area of high pressure that's keeping these dry, settled conditions for the time being. it will eventually push further eastwards into scandinavia. but we've got a bit of an easterly breeze, and that's been dragging some mist and low cloud in from the north sea. but that will lift and clear across the south—east of england and east anglia through saturday morning. still maybe a hang—back of cloud towards parts of the yorkshire lincolnshire coast, though. lots of sunshine to start the day and we'll keep the sunny skies for most through the afternoon. but a scattering of showers across scotland pushing northwards, perhaps some heavy and thundery, but they'll be fairly isolated. it's still very warm — 2a degrees celsius in glasgow. chance of a shower, too, across northern areas of northern ireland and north wales. a little cooler towards these north sea—facing coasts, with some of the cloud possibly lapping onshore again at times. 25 or 26 degrees celsius in london and south—east england. so the high pressure starts

to push further eastwards as we head through sunday. that allows for these low pressure systems to roll in from the west. and this weather front will bring us thickening cloud across the south—west of england, western wales, on sunday morning. some showers across the western isles and western scotland, pushing into northern ireland, and the chance of some thunderstorms developing all across the western half of the uk. but it should stay drier further east. again, there will be a lot of sunshine here, and once again we could see temperatures in the low to the mid—20s in celsius. but cooler out towards the west, of course, underneath the cloud and with the eventual rain. and here comes that low pressure system swinging in as we head through monday. it's going to give us quite widespread rain on monday, especially through the afternoon, so expect it to turn a lot more showery as we head through next week. and there'll be a drop in temperature, too, so unsettled and cooler as we head through next week. bye—bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. billions head to the polls around the world this year, as concerns grow about the impact of deceptive artificial intelligence on elections. us officials warn foreign adversaries could use the technology to influence elections, as the deep fakes become more convincing and sophisticated. hello, i'm katrina perry. you're very welcome to this bbc special report on the influence of artificial intelligence on global elections. more than 60 countries will head to the polls in 2024, and many already have. half the world's voting population, about 2 billion people are expected to cast ballots. artificial intelligence has

already begun to play substantial role in elections.