welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the westminster attacker is identified, a british muslim—convert with a history of violent crime. tributes have been paid to those killed. one was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary. a vigilfor the victims in trafalgar square, and london's mayor says the attack won't divide the city. those evil and twisted individuals who try to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed. and a key vote on president trump's replacement for obamacare is delayed, as republicans in congress fail to agree. hello to you.

the number of people killed in wednesday's attack at westminster has risen to five, including the attacker. within the past few hours, police have confirmed that a 75—year—old man injured on westminster bridge has died. his identity has not yet been released. detectives have confirmed the attacker was a 52—year—old british man, khalid masood. he had changed his name. he grew up as adrian elms. overnight and on thursday, police made eight arrests, five men and three women, in london and in the midlands city of birmingham. tributes have been paid to those who lost their lives. the three identified victims are aysha frade, us national kurt cochran, and police constable keith palmer. nearly 30 people are still in hospital, six of them critically ill. with the latest on the investigation, here is our special correspondent lucy manning. with a car and a knife, he brought terror to parliament. he is khalid masood,

a british—born attacker known to the police, with a 20—year criminal record, although not for terrorism. the 52—year—old responsible for the murder of a policeman, a mother on her way to collect her children, a tourist, and a pensioner. today, on their knees, police slowly, meticulously searching for evidence, on the same ground where one of their own lay, just a day ago. as they searched outside parliament, just metres away, inside, the prime minister spoke. what i can confirm is that the man was british—born, and some years ago he was investigated by mi5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism. he was a peripheral figure. the case is historic. he was not part of the current intelligence picture.

there was no prior intelligence of his intent, or of the plot. intensive investigations continue. so what more is known about khalid masood? he was born in kent, and was most recently living in the west midlands. he had a range of previous convictions, including gbh, possession of offensive weapons, and public order offences. his last conviction was in 2003, for possession of a knife. he was also known by a number of aliases, so they're determined to find out everything they can about the man who murdered pc keith palmer in the shadow of big ben, and ran over thosejust walking on westminster bridge. notjust routine police work — this time, it's personal. it is still our belief, which continues to be borne out by this investigation, that the attacker worked alone. to be explicit, at this stage, we have no significant information

about further threats to the public. the police‘s attention in birmingham. overnight, in the ladywood area, police searched a flat. neighbours said it was like a scene from a film. like a war, yeah. down the streets. it's something you see only in movies, and i saw it behind my windows on the street. it was very frightening. it was like, you know, what the hell is happening here? another flat in the winston green area of the city was raided. neighbours said they thought masood lived there recently. it is now known the car he turned into a weapon was a rental car he had hired in birmingham, at the spring hill branch of enterprise cars. there has been intense police activity all day here in birmingham. with the attacker dead, the focus is on his friends and family, whether they knew about his motivations, his intentions, whether he had any help with the attack on parliament. police have made arrests in a number

of different locations. three properties were searched in birmingham, and one one woman was arrested in east london. they have also been searches in brighton and south—east london. the eight have been arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. at a house in luton, where it is believed masood lived a few years ago, neighbours described him as a houseproud family man. as far as i'm aware, he had two children at the time he was here. they appeared to be primary school children. he had a people—carrier, and he was loading his children into a people—carrier with child seats. but today, so—called islamic state described him very differently. without providing evidence, it said he was one of their soldiers. the police are now tracking masood's movements. the man who got into a car and drove terror into the heart of westminster.

among the victims honoured today, two tributes to the police officer keith palmer, unarmed when he was stabbed to death within the grounds of the palace of westminster. at new scotland yard, headquarters of london's metropolitan police, a minute's silence. and members of parliament praised his bravery, among them a conservative mp who had known him since they served together in the military. he was a strong, professional public servant, and it was a delight to meet him here again, only a few months after being elected. would my right honourable friend, the prime minister, in recognition of the work that he did, and the other police officers and public servants here in the house do, consider recognising his gallantry

and sacrifice formally, with a posthumous recognition? the dead and injured came from across the globe. our correspondent sarah campbell reports on the victims, the dead, and those still lying injured in hospital. a mother on the school run, mown down in broad daylight, aysha frade was 43 years old, and leaves behind a husband and two young daughters. friends and neighbours have been paying tribute to her. she was just a lovely person, with two lovely children. two lovely, lovely girls. how are these children? they've lost their mother. you leave your kids, you took them to school, to go and pick them up, and now this has happened to you. she worked at a college, near westminster bridge, and was on her way to pick up her children when the attack happened. she was a lovely person. helpful, supportive, smiley, always willing to help out with whatever the challenges

and demands that teaching staff might have at any given time. aysha's mother was spanish, and today she was remembered by people in the galician town of beta nzos. her family are understood to be travelling to britain. in london, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, melissa and kurt cochran, from utah, in the united states. they were due to fly home today, but kurt was killed and melissa was left seriously injured. president trump described kurt cochran as a great american. his family said they are heartbroken. the couple's next—door neighbour said kurt was friends with everyone. this is going to be a sad, tough time for us, in the neighbourhood. i really feel bad, and i... i think of melissa, and what she's going to have to face in the next little while. and i'm sure the neighbourhood will gather around her, and help her any way they can. and this evening, another death. a 75—year—old man who had been

in hospital following the attack had his life support withdrawn. he is yet to be named. the people who were injured came from 11 different countries, including the united states, china, france and germany. they were taken from westminster to hospitals across london, including here at kings college. undergoing treatment for a fractured leg is 19—year—old travis frain. he was with fellow politics students on a field trip to parliament when he was hit head—on by the car. he was pictured as emergency crews stretchered him away from the scene. waiting for news inside the locked—down parliament building was his tutor from edge hill university. she told me today that travis is doing well. he's been checking his facebook. you know, lots of messages from other students, wanting to know how he is. so, you know, clearly he's not well, but he's — you know, he's dealing with it,

and he's staying as cheerful as he can. another school trip caught up in the chaos — three french students from this school in brittany were injured. two of them were reported to have suffered serious fractures. romanian officials say this woman, andreea cristea, who fell into the thames, has undergone surgery to treat a blood clot on her brain. her boyfriend, andre burnaz, sustained a broken foot. they had been celebrating her birthday. several people remain in hospital, including two police officers with serious injuries. this was an attack in london, but its effects are being felt across the world. sarah campbell, bbc news. since the 7july london bombings of 2005, counter—terrorism agencies have worked to improve their capacity to uncover major plots involving groups of people. but lone operators, low—tech, avoiding sophisticated methods, are harder to pick up. our security correspondent gordon corera looks at the difficulties for the intelligence services. questions about surveillance.

khalid masood, the prime minister said, did come across mi5‘s radar a few years ago. but he was not being watched at the time he was planning his attack. that has led some to question whether more could have been done to stop him. it is not a new question. after the 7july bombings in 2005, it emerged some of the men had, like masood, cropped up in the periphery of an mi5 investigation. and the same was true of those responsible for the killing of lee rigby in woolwich. the security services and their colleagues in the police do a magnificentjob, and the intelligence services altogether know a great deal about what's going on. but there will always be the possibility to that somebody can get through. so why does this happen? one problem for the authorities is scale. at the moment, there are around 3,000 people suspected of some kind of terrorist—related activity, and there are more than 500 live police investigations.

it takes dozens of people to watch one individual round the clock. that means there have to be choices. it is very difficult to prioritise which ones should be looked at closely, and scrutinised closely, at any one time. you know, it is not an exact science. these are fine judgements that have to be made by senior police and senior intelligence officers. you know, at haste, often, with limited resources and partial information. many people cross mi5‘s radar. but the challenge, as one person puts it, is working out who to put under the microscope, and to try and spot if their behaviour changes over time. for instance, are they moving towards planning an actual attack? all of that is getting harder in a world of low—tech terrorists, who sometimes can act alone. so—called islamic state today claimed masood was their soldier. but that doesn't necessarily mean he was directed, rather than just inspired by them.

investigators will want to know if there was any contact. police and mi5 rely on communities here for help. even if someone acts alone, it is rare for no—one else to have had any knowledge or suspicions. but they need to be willing to pass them on. where they have come across people who they feel are creating divisions within our community, are purporting extremism and fundamentalism, you know, they are saying to our security services, you know, just be mindful about this individual. but they're also reluctant to do so, because sometimes they're not sure whether the security services will deal with them in a fair manner. surveillance by police and mi5 has foiled many plots in recent years. but, at this early stage, it is impossible to say if this attack could have been stopped. gordon corera, bbc news. and you can find much more on the westminster terror attack on our website, including details

of what we know about the killer, khalid masood. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a vote on president trump's new healthcare plan is postponed. there aren't enough republicans ready to support it. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. applause so proud of both of you. with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. streaking across the sky,

the white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. the perpetrator of wednesday's attack outside the houses of parliament in london has been identified as a 52—year—old british man who converted to islam and changed his name to khalid masood. two of those who died have been named, one was a local school worker, the other was an american tourist celebrating his wedding anniversary in london. the tussle over how donald trump will fulfil his election promise to repeal and replace obamacare is becoming more bitter, and that's just within the president's own party. the vote has been delayed until friday, mr trump now

threatening just to walk away from the issue if republicans who are unhappy don't fall into line. but it's also become clear in the latest assessment from the congressional budget office that his replacement for the affordable care act will save less money than predicted, and leave many more americans without health insurance. from washington, here's laura bicker. donald trump is done doing deals. after a frantic few days his message to republicans, vote for change or there'll be no changes at all. this has forced the hand of the house speaker. for seven and a half years we have been promising the american people that we will repeal and replace this broken the law because its collapsing and it's failing families, and tomorrow we're preceding. but the votes are far from assured as different factions of the party can't agree. for some the health reforms go too far. for

others, not far enough. i'm still unknown at the moment, i'm desperately trying to get to yes and i think the president knows that. outside the capital they gathered in fear and frustration. 24 fear and frustration. 2a million americans could lose their health insurance if the reforms go ahead and. jessica sanchez has spina bifida, herfamily is already struggling to afford her medication. we try our hardest to save money because we know the medications are going to finish in 30 days. they only last me 30 days and so every month we have to start saving more and more money so it lasts longer and sometimes it's not possible. protesters circled the white house, hoping the president would hear their cries. they worry about losing maternity and mental healthcare. but inside the gates he was rounded by those who support his

key campaign pledge. —— surrounded. for many the price of health insurance has shot up and that's one of the reasons they chose change and trump. by the way, they know obamacare is no good, everybody knows it's no good, it's only politics, because we have a great bill and i think we have a very good chance but it's only politics. but the president still has some arm—twisting to do. the president still has some arm-twisting to do. we're going to have a long talk, i'm not going to make it too long because i have to get votes, i don't want to spend too much time with you and then lose by one vote, then i'm going to blame the truckers! donald trump has issued his ultimatum. after a delay there will bea ultimatum. after a delay there will be a vote in the morning, but this isa be a vote in the morning, but this is a political role of the dice with a very real prospect of defeat. laura bicker, bbc news, washington. british scientists believe they have made a major breakthrough

in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. using genome sequencing they can isolate different strains of tb more quickly, giving patients a greater chance of recovery. the leading candidate in the french presidential election, the centrist emmanuel macron has won the backing of a senior member of the socialist government. defence ministerjean—yves le drian is expected to make his support public in a newspaper interview on friday. russia's state—controlled television has rejected an offer from organisers of the eurovision song contest to let their contestant perform via satellite. host country ukraine has banned the russian singer yulia samoilova from the country, accusing her of illegally visiting crimea, which was annexed by russia three years ago. the man who ran hillary clinton's failed presidential bid has accused the fbi of double standards in its investigations during the election. john podesta has told the bbc fbi directorjames comey kept quiet about the investigation into possible collusion between russia and the trump campaign, but went public about its inquiry into mrs clinton's hacked e—mails just days before the vote itself.

philippa thomas asked him if he was suspicious during the campaign of course we thought that was going on for some time and argued to the press that they had to really look at that and try to dig into that and cover it. but it was a revelation that the fbi was looking at that as early as now evidently they were, it's kind of one more drip in something that i've been highly critical of the bureau about, which is the double standard they applied in this campaign. the intervention, the number of resources they spent, the scores of fbi agents they had poring over hillary clinton's e—mail server, which jim comey, the fbi director, ultimately concluded that it wasn't even a close call, there was nothing worth prosecuting there, compared to their engagement on the russian side, his interventionjust 11 days before the election to say i'm going to reopen this.

the clinton investigation, he had this total silence on with respect to the russian intervention and now the potential collusion between the trump campaign and the russian actors was really a double standard that is still inexplicable to me. you're very calm about this but i imagine that when it was confirmed... i'm very angry about it. i've just learned to appear calm. do you have confidence in the fbi investigation given that you clearly don't have confidence in their impartiality during the election? i think at this point i've never accused mr comey of trying... i think he made very bad errors ofjudgement. i think he was being pressed by forces inside the fbi who may themselves have wanted to influence the election... not to see hillary clinton elected? yeah, to see hillary clinton lose.

i think mr comey was motivated more from the pressure coming from republicans on capitol hill, pressure coming from people, particularly in his new york field office, that were putting pressure on him but against the advice of the department ofjustice, against the long—term practice of democrat and republicanjustice departments and fbi leadership. he got involved and i think it was a terrible error in judgement. john podesta, thank you. thank you. not far from the scene of wednesday's attack, several thousand people gathered in trafalgar square for a candlelit vigil to honour the victims. sophie raworth spoke to some of those who went to show solidarity and respect. shoulder to shoulder. police, politicians, faith leaders from all over london.

the mayor of london urged people tojoin him in trafalgar square. thousands answered his call. those evil and twisted individuals who tried to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed and we condemn them. some were on their way home from work. others had felt compelled to head into the capital to be there. i'm a quiet person, i don't protest, i don't wave a banner, but today we wanted to come up just to show that we're with london, part of london, part of britain. just half a mile from westminster bridge, one man contemplating what might have been. i would have been there but i changed my plans for the day, so i kind of wish i did gojust thinking if i could have helped stop it all. among the crowd, men in blue t—shirts written on them the words

"i am a muslim, ask me anything." it was extremely important for us to come down, especially as muslims, to come here and stand with fellow londoners, fellow countrymen, shoulder to shoulder, irrespective of religion, faith, creed, colour, and give out a message that these attacks cannot divide us. many of the police officers i spoke to say they'd been amazed by the number of people who'd wanted to thank them. this doesn't happen to you every day, does it, that members of the public come up to you, hug you, say thank you. no, not at all. when the first person did it i was shocked actually, i had to doubletake, but it makes you feel really warm to be honest. what was it like for you being here? it was very touching. i've never had so many people come up to me and thank you for what we've done but this isjust ourjob. candles for those who died and for the dozens more who's been injured. but the message is one of defiance

and quiet dignity in a city that refuses to be cowed. that report from sophie raworth. tributes have also been paid around the world to the victims particularly striking was this image of the british flag, projected onto the brandenburg gate in the german capital. just before christmas 12 people died when a truck was driven into crowds at a market in berlin. much more on all the news any time for you on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you for watching. hello there. good morning.

things looking pretty good over the next few days. the satellite sequence shows that we saw a fair bit of cloud across the south and that tended to melt away, but it's coming back in overnight and there's more cloud across the north as well. but in between, large areas with clear skies, meaning temperatures will drop. a chilly start to the day for most places but with the clear skies overnight there should be a good deal of sunshine through the day today. temperature—wise this morning, starting off at around six or seven degrees underneath cloudy skies in cardiff and in london. northern england northwards, bottom end of single figures, particularly in more rural spots. i think we'll see a frost developing in parts of scotland and northern ireland. not so in the south—west. more cloud, some outbreaks of rain, six or seven degrees through the morning. a little bit brighter in the western side of wales. the eastern side of wales, through the midlands, east anglia and the south—east, fair bit of cloud in the morning but staying dry, breezy and 6—8. heading further north and west into the sunshine for much of northern england, northern ireland and much of scotland as well. lovely start to the day here.

yes it's cold in scotland with some sunshine, but a bit more cloud, bit more of a breeze and some rain brushing into the far north of scotland. that area of rain will move away towards the east so it will be drying up here. probably stays a bit on the cloudy side and that cloud further south tends to melt away from the east, so some good spells of sunshine coming through for the afternoon and we'll see ii—i3. maybe a bit cooler along the immediate north sea coast. a bit cloudy in the far south and west but even that tends to melt away as you get into the evening. then it's fine and dry through the small hours of saturday morning. temperatures again dropping away, just a hint of blue on the map indicating a touch of frost developing. again it's north wales northwards where we'll see the lowest temperatures, particularly in more rural spots, we'll see a bit of frost developing. a chilly start to saturday. all in all, a decent start to the weekend. high pressure in charge not moving away too far, too quickly, keeping things fine and settled. a bit of a breeze to the north and south of the uk on saturday. but many places having a very pleasant day with some good spells of sunshine.

quite warm in aberdeenshire, 14—15. we might even see 16 down towards the south and west. however, around the south—eastern coastline along the immediate coast, temperatures probably in single figures, 8—9 in that breeze. move a little bit further inland and we'll get up to 14, 15 or maybe 16. it looks like a pretty decent second part to the weekend. on balance probably a bit more in the way of cloud coming in butjust about everywhere staying fine and dry and those temperatures still quite respectable. maybe a bit more in the way of cloud by monday. all in all the weekend is looking pretty good, fine and settled. sunshine by day will be quite warm, but overnight, quite cold and maybe a touch of frost. the headlines on bbc news: the man who carried out the terror attack outside parliament in london on wednesday has been identified. he was a british man, born adrian elms, who changed his name to khalid masood when he converted to islam. he had a history of violent crime. police are questioning eight people arrested on suspicion of terrorism, in london, birmingham, and west wales. the number of people killed has risen to four. a 75—year—old man, injured

on westminster bridge, has had his life support switched off. two more of the dead have been named, local school employee aysha frade and american tourist kurt cochran. president trump has insisted congress must vote on his healthcare plans on friday, even though the bill may not have enough support in his own republican party to pass into law. his changes to obamacare will leave many more americans without insurance. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.