hello. i'm tom donkin. welcome to bbc news. donald trump's presidency has run into further controversy, after two separate american newspapers made two new allegations about possible links between the white house and russia. the first relates to a meeting the president had with russian officials, with the new york times claiming donald trump told them this. and then this from the washington post. the reports were made publicjust as donald trump was leaving for his first overseas visit as president. and, in yet another development this evening, we've heard that james comey will testify in an open session before

the senate intelligence committee. i spoke to the bbc‘s laura bicker in washington and began by asking her about that it's one of those hearings where the entire washington and parts of the united states may grind to a standstill. remember, this is james comey, who allegedly wrote a memo after a private meeting with the president in which the president is alleged to have leaned over and said "i hope you can see your way to letting this go, letting michael flynn go," with regards to an investigation, and enquiry coming to the former national security adviser, michael flynn, and his alleged links to russia. so, the allegation is that president trump asked the fbi director to drop an investigation into michael flynn. now, mr comey will be able to give his own account of both his firing and exactly every dealing that he has had with the president.

let's just take your viewers back to the report by the new york times which talks about something which donald trump said to russian officials in the oval office. why does that matter? the reason this matters is not only did he described former directorjames comey as a nutjob, he more damagingly went on to describe the investigation, saying he hoped it would relieve the pressure over russia. now, according to the white house, i've got a statement here, they've said that by grandstanding and politicising the investigation into russia's actions, james comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to negotiate and engage with russia. the investigation would have always continued and obviously the termination ofjames comey would not have ended it. the interpretation some may take from the words of donald trump

to russian officials is that he was relieved to get rid of the fbi director and this investigation, perhaps, into russia. however, what the white house is saying is that that is not correct. they're saying that donald trump acted in the interests of the nation, not in his own. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the self—proclaimed libyan national army says an attack on a southern airbase on thursday, claimed at least 140 lives. this included civilians and was more than twice the number originally reported. the lna forces support an administration based in tobruk. the internationally—backed libyan government in tripoli has denied ordering the attack which breached a ceasefire. yemen could have as many as 300,000 cases of cholera within six months, and an "extremely high" number of deaths. that's according to the world health organisation. nearly 250 people have died in the past three weeks alone. a judge in the us state of minnesota has ruled that the six brothers and sisters of the pop star prince are the heirs to his estate.

the six, including tyka, who is seen here, shortly after his death last year, will take shares of the singer's 300 million dollarfortune, although other people can still lodge claims with the court. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come. theresa may is forced to defend her election pledge to scrap winter fuel payments for some pensioners, as party divisions begin to open. the wikilea ks founder, julian assange, is claiming a "victory," after swedish prosecutors decided to drop their investigation into claims he carried out a sexual assault. but, he remains in the ecuadorean embassy in london, where he took refuge five years ago. british police say if he was to leave they would still arrest him for failing to attend court. caroline hawley reports. 0ut into the fresh air. cheering. 0n the balcony of the ecuadorian

embassy, julian assange emerged this afternoon to have his say on the end of the swedish investigation against him. today is an important victory, for me and for the un human rights system. seven years without charge, why my children grew up without me. that is not something that i can forgive. it is not something that i can forget. but the prosecutor in sweden hasn't cleared julian assange. she said that, in his absence, she simply couldn't pursue the case any further. translation: the decision to discontinue the investigation is not based on an assessment of the evidence but because we don't see possibilities to advance

the investigation further, so we do not make any statement on the issue of guilt. this complex international drama began in 2010 when two women alleged thatjulian assange had sexually assaulted them on a visit to sweden, accusations he's always denied. he was detained in britain under a european arrest warrant. in may 2012, the supreme court upheld a decision to extradite him to sweden for questioning. and injune, mrassange walked into the ecuadorian embassy in london asking for political asylum. the metropolitan police mounted a 24—hour guard at the embassy. by october 2015, it had cost over £13 million. and it's not over yet. julian assange is no longer wanted on an international arrest warrant, but the police say that if he stepped out of the embassy, they're still obliged to arrest him for failing to surrender to a london court back in 2012. at the embassy this evening, his supporters were jubilant. but in sweden, the woman who accused him of rape issued a statement saying he was evading justice and expressing her shock at the investigation was being shelved. julian assange was not held

without charge for seven years, he was subject to extradition proceedings within the eu, under the european arrest warrant scheme. he would have received a fair trial in sweden, had he chosen to go back, and the fact that proceedings lasted seven years was entirely down to him seeking refuge in the ecuadorian embassy rather than going to face trial in a country that is governed by the rule of law. light ‘em all up. come on, fire! it was this footage of an american helicopter shooting civilians in iraq that first brought wikileaks to international attention. a flood of other state secrets followed. julian assange has always said it was his fear of extradition to the us that drove him through the doors of the ecuadorian embassy. thanks, guys. free assange! so, despite today's dramatic twist in this long—running diplomatic and legal saga, tonight, he's back inside, not,

for the moment, going anywhere. divisions are opening up within the conservative party over its manifesto commitment to means—test winter fuel payments for pensioners. the scottish conservative leader, ruth davidson, said she was in favour of retaining the payment for all pensioners in scotland. but, the prime minister argued it was unfair that wealthy pensioners received the money, while some families were struggling. here's our deputy political editorjohn pienaar. would you trust her to keep things running or to run your economy? but has theresa may dropped a spanner in the works by keeping people guessing about her tax and spending plans, and then keeping pensioners guessing about who'd keep and who'd lose the winter fuel allowance. she wasn't giving much away. we will continue to ensure that the least well—off pensioners are protected. but if you look at the situation at the moment, we see well—off pensioners able to be supported with theirfuel bills,

when struggling ordinary working families are not. i think there's a principle of fairness that underpins this. but that's not how all tories see it, especially scottish conservatives under their leader, ruth davidson, who greeted mrs may in edinburgh. the scottish tory manifesto, published today, says, "social security devolution allows us to make different choices in scotland, and so we will protect universal winter fuel payments for all older people and they will not be subject to means testing." we believe there shouldn't be means testing for the winter fuel payment. the reason that we've said that is, as many of your viewers will acknowledge, scotland has a colder climate, we also have a different amount of housing stock, and devolution allows you to make different decisions. mrs may's answer? she's writing policy south of the border. as a government, we have given the scottish government significant powers in relation to welfare, and they make a number of decisions about various welfare benefits in scotland. you are a breath of fresh air. and who knows?

more voters might feel the same ifjeremy corbyn‘s promise to protect the fuel allowance and pensions catches on. labour's been attacked over tax and spending plans critics say don't add up. now he's hitting back. what she's done is she's caused a huge amount of anxiety, she hasn't said what level she's going to change it. we think the winter fuel allowance should be kept, and it will be kept under labour, and it will be universal. just one way for the snp full to go, right at theresa may. well, i think taking the winter fuel payment away from pensioners who have worked hard and paid in all their life is just wrong. you know, the winter fuel payment is not a king's ransom. not all tories south of scotland agree with mrs may on pensioners, on policies like social care. one former minister told me they'd be opposing her, except there's an election on, and that's one reason it's happening. mrs may wants more backing for potentially unpopular decisions if public money gets tighter after brexit, and you can bet she'd hesitate to make risky promises if she wasn't so confident of winning.

tories look upbeat about this campaign whether or not they always agree, but life could get tougher for them, for a lot of people afterwards, whoever wins. john pienaar, bbc news. hassan rouhani is on course for a victory in iran. a big turnout, 70%, led to polling being extended by six hours. with me to discuss is a reporter from hours. with me to discuss is a reporterfrom our hours. with me to discuss is a reporter from our persian service. we are expecting results from the interior ministry at 7am in iran. expectations are that hassan rouhani will win. high turnout has changed

that? yes. what are the differences between the hard line and the moderate, hassan rouhani. relations with the outside world. social freedoms. the state of the economy. the conservative conservative camp has always been arguing the government has mismanaged the country and they did not reap the benefits of the iran nuclear deal. they promised three times more benefits than the people are getting. they appealed to the poor who have not received the benefits of what was promised from the iran nuclear deal. on the other hand, hassan rouhani promises better relations with the west. he promises social freedoms and so on. he also promised to reduce the biting impact of sanctions. by and large has he done that? some argue that for years is not enough. the united states has made it hard to deal with the banks

due to sanctions. —— four. we will have to wait and see. at this point, the ball is in the court of the us, as donald trump goes to saudi arabia, the archrival of iran. with the promise of extensions of sanctions on iran, it may be difficult. iranians have had a choice, but a limited one. the candidates had to be vetted by the supreme leader. they say iranian elections are free and fair, but not really. once you pass the guardian council you are free to vote. in iran today are the sanctions are still biting regular people? the sanctions have caused a lot of... the economic growth in iran has

improved by 7— 8% over the last four yea rs. improved by 7— 8% over the last four years. that has to do with the sale of higher oil revenues. sanctions removal benefits have not touched most factories. that is what the conservative candidates were seizing on and challenging hassan rouhani on. thank you. we expect the results $0011. on. thank you. we expect the results soon. thank you. the top stories this our: —— the top stories this hour: donald trump departs on his first foreign trip, leaving in his wake fresh turmoil in washington. he's reported to have told russian officials that firing his fbi chief eased "great pressure" on him. the wikileaks founderjulian assange has claimed a personal victory, after sweden dropped a long running rape investigation against him. the serial killer, stephen port, was jailed for life last year after he killed four men. their bodies were all found outside his flat or in a churchyard nearby.

yet their deaths were not initially treated as murder, and detectives missed a number of chances to catch the killer. now, the families of the victims say they're dismayed by the slow progress of an inquiry into why police took so long to catch him. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. the graveyard in barking that was stephen port‘s dumping ground for three of the bodies of the four men he killed with the date—rape drug ghb. his first victim was 23—year—old anthony walgate, the last 25—year—old jack taylor. theirfamilies have been waiting for an investigation by the independent police complaints commission into why detectives failed to spot that there was a serial killer at work for so long. but this week they told me their patience has run out. i don't feel that the ipcc are in control of the investigation at all. i think it's the police dictating to what stage it goes, what pace it goes, which is disgusting. i think we had to fight the police to listen, and now we're having to do the same for the ipcc to move onto the next stage. stephen port used dating apps

to lure the men to his home. he then gave them lethal doses of ghb. his first victim, anthony walgate, was found outside the door of port‘s flat, the others in or near the local churchyard over the next 15 months. the police were asked on numerous occasions if the deaths could be linked. the ipcc investigation is designed to work out why detectives were so reluctant to connect them. but 20 months on, not a single police officer has been questioned. the bbc has been told that the independent police complaints commission investigation team is itself frustrated and dismayed by the delay in interviewing the officers. i understand that's being caused by the officers, the police federation and their lawyers asking for more time to examine the 7000 pages of evidence. though in public today, the ipcc was playing down the row, saying it had agreed that the detectives should

have more time. the families told me they're worried that any further delays will lead to officers forgetting why they made the decisions they did. it's like very frustrating, it's disappointing, it's like you're being let down all over again, and i think we all feel that, that we're just being let down. you shouldn't have to keep chasing things up — after everything that we've been through. it is very, very frustrating, because i really thought the ipcc would be totally independent, be more professional, and a lot faster than they have been. they want to know if police just jumped to conclusions and assumed that gay men dying from date—rape drug overdoses was something normal and not worth treating with suspicion. daniel sandford, bbc news. the former us congressman, anthony weiner, has pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit messages to a teenage girl in 2016. it's likely, he'll now face a prison sentence. his wife, huma abedin, was a top aide to hillary clinton. she has now filed for divorce.

our north america reporter neda tawfik has more. anthony weiner hung his head as he exited federal court, trying to ignore the throngs of press gathered to cover the fall of a once rising star of the democratic party, now soon to be sex offender. in court, the ex—congressman broke into tears as he admitted sexting and sending lewd images to a teenager who he knew was a minor. he apologised, saying he had a sickness, but not an excuse. mr weiner became infamous and a regular tabloid spread after similar scandals in the past. in 2011, after posting a graphic image publicly to his twitter account in error, he resigned from congress after serving for 12 years as new york was a representative. i make some big mistakes and i know i let a lot of people down. but i have also learnt some big

lessons. two years later he would try to make a political comeback, with a run for mayor of new york. but again, his penchant for exchanging lewd messages with women online would ruin him and make him a pariah of the democratic party. but no—one anticipated that his actions would append the 2016 presidential race. after the daily mail exposed his illegal exchanges with a 15—year—old, the fbi seized a laptop used by both anthony weiner and his wife huma abedin, a top aide to the democratic candidate hillary clinton. in it, they found a new set of emails from hillary clinton's private server. that prompted the fbi director at the time, james comey, to announce he was reopening the investigation into the democratic candidate for president, days before the election. hillary clinton has partly blamed mr comey‘s announcement for her ultimate defeat. i was on the way to winning until a combination ofjames comey‘s letter on october 28 and russian wikilea ks, raised doubts

in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared. anthony weiner‘s impact on the clinton campaign is likely to be analysed for years to come, as one of the key twists in a truly unique election. two more astronauts have been inducted into nasa's hall of fame at a ceremony at the kennedy space centre in florida. they are michael foale — who has british and american citizenship — and ellen ochoa from the us. both took part in numerous shuttle launches and spent time on the international space station. tim allman reports. space: to coin a phrase, the final

frontier. mankind's explosion of the cosmos, one of its greatest achievements. and no british—born astronaut has spent more time in orbit than this man, michael foale. —— exploration. now, nasa is honouring him by inducting him into their hall of fame. a moment of pride, and some poignance. their hall of fame. a moment of pride, and some poignancelj returned yesterday from the uk because my mum died three weeks ago. but the good, the happy part of this is she died in cambridge, and before she died, it she knew i was going to be honoured here. in his 26 year career, he served aboard the

international space station and the russian mir platform. he also helped prepare the hubble space telescope, spending more than a year and orbit. also being honoured was ellen ochoa, the first hispanic woman in space, and now the director of thejohnson space centre. i remember that one of the first pieces of advice i got when ijoined the astronaut office was that, ok, there are really only two ways to mess up as an astronaut. number one, failing to follow procedures exactly as written, and number two, following the procedure is exactly —— procedures exactly as written. so, the hall of fame grows ever larger. a collection of individuals, but also a team who had the right stuff. tim allman, bbc news. a new record has been set for the work of an american artist. a painting byjean—michel basquiat has sold for a huge $110 million.

he came to fame as a graffiti artist in the 1970s and died of a heroin overdose atjust 27 years old. our arts editor will gompertz reports. $57 million. $58 million. the moment is about to arrive at sotheby‘s last night. 65 million on the telephone. when the american neo—expressionist painterjean—michel basquiat, who died nearly 30 years ago. is that a bid, sir? $69 million. hit the big—time. the hammer is up, sir. i'm selling it on this side of the room. it's yuki's bid. a fair warning and selling, thank you, sir, for $98 million. thank you, yuki, congratulations. the sale price when commissions are included puts him in the exclusive auction house $100 million plus club. along with pablo picasso and francis bacon. we definitely had an idea that everybody felt that it was a masterpiece but the air gets pretty thin at those sort of levels financially. so, of course, the previous record price was less than half what we've

achieved this evening so you're going into very new territory. the buyer, yusaku maezawa, a japanese online fashion retailer, was delighted, he said, at winning this past piece, which is great. but why might he have be willing to pay so much? it's the kind of rock and roll way he put images and text together, it's extremely influential. that mixed with a kind of expressionistic style of painting, added to the fact that he is, you know, a black american artist. it's a kind of explosive mix. that's andy warhol. two that you could now add the almost mythical nature of basquiat‘s short life, which was immortalised and romanticised in this biopic with his friend and mentor andy warhol played by david bowie. who himself became a collector of the one—time street artist's work. whatever one thinks of the eye—watering auction price paid for the work, there is no question that jean—michel basquiat fits into the story of modern art.

his paintings reference the so—called low art ofjean dubuffet. .. there's something ifind quite alarming about that picture. ..and the expressionism of vincent van gogh and the street art scene of 1970s new york. he is a significant figure in the canon. of course, nobody knows whether his paintings can sustain $100 million prices but given most are still held privately, the chances are will find out fairly soon. will gompertz, bbc news. what do you think? worth the money? you can tell me on twitter. i am @tomdonkinbbc. hello, there. good morning. it's quite wet across the north and north—east of the united kingdom, through the small hours of this morning, quite breezy, too, in the north—east. elsewhere, much lighter winds, away from the south—west, and there is a scattering of showers to be had, but also some clear spells.

and with the clear spells, it is a little bit chilly, major towns and cities, nine, 10 degrees, rural spots a few degrees below that. so it is a fresh start across the board and still wet through the morning across a large chunk of scotland. some south—western parts will stay dry and largely bright through the morning. northern ireland will see a couple of showers through the morning, but also some sunshine. scattered showers in northern england, but a good deal of sunshine as well, especially in manchester and across hull. early showers across wales and the south—west of england. towards the midlands, east anglia and the south—east, it's largely a dry start. a couple of early showers towards east anglia and they aren't far away from the south coast. as we get on through the day we will see showers developing widely across england and wales, northern ireland and scotland. pretty wet into the afternoon. some of them could contain rumbles of thunder and maybe hail. still some spells of sunshine into the afternoon. 17—18 will be the top temperatures in the south—eastern corner. closer to 111—15 in

the north and west. there could be some wet weather in inverness, where it will be chilly. only 10—11 here. there could be some wet weather in inverness, where it will be chilly. 12—13, with a chance of showers, elsewhere. into the evening, a lot of the showers fade away from england and wales. maybe eventually they fade away from northern ireland as well, but we keep wet weather to the far north. even that moves away by sunday. again, a fresh start. a good deal of sunshine in the south—east. further north and west, more of a breeze and more cloud and at least some rain for northern ireland and western scotland. 111—15 for glasgow and belfast. 19— 20 in the south—east. it should be dry and bright in arsenal and maybe more cloud towards liverpool and manchester. a quick recap for the weekend. a day of heavy showers for saturday and spells of sunshine. sunday, looks like a much better day. should be dry for the most part. way fewer showers on sunday and warmer as well. that warming trend continues for some into monday. equally, on monday, with the southerly breeze to the north—west we've got this low pressure bringing cloud and rain and a bit of a breeze.

so we will have wetter and windy weather towards the north—west of the uk. to the south—east, very little rainfall and feeling warmer — 22—23 degrees. this is bbc news. the headlines: us media are reporting that president donald trump told russian officials that firing fbi directorjames comey eased "great pressure" on him. he's also said to have described mr comey as a "nut—job". the revelations comes as mr trump heads to saudi arabia on his first foreign trip as us president. the wikileaks founderjulian assange says it's a personal victory that swedish prosecutors have shelved a lengthy rape investigation against him. but, mr assange said his legal battle with the us and britain would continue, and he would never forgive or forget that his name had been slandered. voting has ended in iran's presidential election after being extended for several hours beyond the time polling stations were meant to close. the interior ministry says that turnout was about 70%. results are expected to come in on saturday afternoon. coming up later on bbc

news will be newswatch. first, though, it's click.