welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: child abuse on a staggering scale at more than 4,000 institutions. a five—year australian enquiry hands over its final report. in a deal worth more than $52 billion, disney buys most of rupert murdoch's fox business, creating the world's biggest movie company. off the coast of papua new guinea, one company is getting ready to mine the ocean floor. environmentalists are worried. that humanity should just plough with no regard for the consequences, because they don't know what they are. the most expensive american embassy a european summit late on friday is expected to unlock the latest stage in brexit talks. hello.

a five—year inquiry into child sexual abuse in australia has handed over its final report, identifying abuse at more than 4,000 institutions, including religious institutions, sporting clubs, foster homes and the military. up to 60,000 survivors may now be eligible for compensation. the royal commission heard harrowing testimony from survivors across australia. its report stretches to 17 volumes. prime minister malcolm turnbull has paid tribute to the courage of those who came forward to gave evidence. leonie sheedy is from the survivors organisation care leavers australia network. she travelled to canberra to see the report being handed over to the governor general. it is a very momentous day. you know, the country now knows that children in australia's orphanages, children's homes, missions

and foster care were sexually used by the churches, charities and the state governments, and they know they can no longer hide this horrible history. it needs to be taught in every school, in every university of this country. and children like us, we're now elderly adults. we deserve justice, we deserve redress. we deserve redress for all forms of abuse and neglect, the loss of our families, and the lack of opportunities that life... you know, they didn't provide us for a life, and we had to grow up without their parents, and pretend it didn't matter. it surely mattered to every single person here standing behind me, and many elderly australians, who are hidden in lonely houses across australia because they're so burdened by the shame and stigma of their childhood. well, the shame and stigma needs to be squarely put on the churches, the charities, and the state governments of this country. 0ur correspondent phil mercer

is in sydney, he told me more about the investigation. it's extraordinary really. as you say, mike, 17 volumes handed over to the governor general from the royal commission. it began its work in the early part of 2013, so working for the best part of five years to uncover a massive catalogue, a shameful catalogue of child abuse in institutions right across the country. we're told tens of thousands of children across australia were abused across various institutions over the decades, and we now know the government has this report, it's been published online, and the prime minister, malcolm turnbull, says the contents of the report are a national tragedy. of course now we wait to see what the government is going to do

with more than 400 recommendations handed down by the royal commission, royal commission, by the way, mike, is australia's highest form of enquiry. phil, we heard just there from leonie sheedy from the survivors network about many things they would like to change but the idea that compensation is voluntary so far, surely it shouldn't be another ordeal for the survivors to try to get financial help? we understand up to 60,000 people could be eligible for some kind of redress, some kind of compensation. those details have not been sorted out by the state or federal governments here in australia. what the royal commission is advocating is a new national office for child safety. it also makes some interesting recommendations around the catholic church. many of the allegations of abuse were centred around religious organisations and the commission says information passed to ministers

during a confession, for example, related to abuse, those ministers should be forced to hand over that information to the authorities. the royal commission also suggesting celibacy in the catholic church be voluntary. so this is a wide—ranging enquiry and as i say, we'll have to wait and see what the federal government intends to do with those dozens of recommendations contained in those 17 volumes. a sure sign today of the way the media landscape is changing, and how streaming, especially, has changed broadcasting for ever. the entertainment company walt disney is buying a large part of twenty first century fox, the business controlled by rupert murdoch and his family. the deal is worth more than $50 billion and covers the film business and international operations of fox.

not, though, its us news network or the times and sun newspapers in britain. 0ur media editor amol rajan has the story. when rupert murdoch bought the news of the world in 1968, he was an outsider. but this canny australian with news in his veins made his way to the heart of the establishment in both britain and america, wielding extraordinary influence. from his base in tabloid newspapers, he moved aggressively into film and television, owning studios and networks that entertained hundreds of millions of people. but now, fox has become a division of disney. in a phone call, he explained his strategy. i know a lot of people will be asking why the murdochs came to such a momentous decision. we are pivoting at a pivotal moment. andrew neil was at murdoch's side as an editor and executive for years. for him, this is the end of a dynasty. he's been trying to do

that for 35, 40 years. i used to sit with him in restaurants in london in the mid—1980s, and he talked about a murdoch dynasty, about putting his children into key positions, letting them fight for the top position, and whoever wins would take over, and the murdoch name would go on forever. and here, at a stroke, he's unbundling the empire, and the dynastic ambitions are gone. the deal still needs regulatory approval, but if it goes through, it will create a new media superpower. mr murdoch is selling his world—famous film studio, 21st century fox, international tv businesses, including sky in europe and star in india, cable networks such as fx and national geographic, and perhaps most strikingly, a stake in hulu, a streaming service with access to millions of customers, which could rival netflix. and that's the key for disney. streaming has changed broadcasting forever, allowing you at home to watch a seemingly infinite number of shows how you want, where you want and when you want. streaming services such as hulu, in which disney will now have a controlling stake, cut out the middleman of domestic television stations, broadcasting directly

into millions of homes. the fox international footprint has some extremely high—end technology to deliver all this content to consumers in more modern ways. sky in europe is a good example of that, star india another one. and so, to the consumer, not only will they be getting more great content, high—quality content, but they'll be getting it in ways that they demand. sky news and sky sports look set to continue, while fox says its own bid for full control of sky, currently stuck with regulators, remains in place. even with this acquisition, disney is playing catch—up with tech giants like facebook, amazon and apple, who, if they aren't there already, are coming to a small screen near you. amol rajan, bbc news. the communications regulator in the us has voted to repeal rules aimed at ensuring a free and open internet. net neutrality as it's known was introduced in the 0bama era,

it means that internet service providers must treat all data the same and can't block access to content. for more on this here's the bbc‘s business reporter yogita limaye. i'm just outside this building, the federal communications commission, that's where the vote took place and three members of the 5—member panel voted to repeal this legislation. essentially what's happened is they've lifted the rules that didn't allow internet service providers, the companies that brought you the web, they didn't allow these companies to charge different prices for different websites, so in essence it could mean for a consumer that now your internet company could actually say that if you want to access these four websites at a certain price, if you want to access another set of websites, that's at a different price. it will also mean companies could go to web—based businesses and said

if you pay us a certain amount of money we could give you your website or service at a faster speed than perhaps your rival. this of course isn't something we will probably see come into effect tomorrow but it's also a ruled that doesn't need to be voted on by congress. however, we've had lots of protesters here outside this building today and many groups of people saying they will go to court and sue the fcc. so we'll have to see procedurally how this will be in the lamented here in america. nick frisch is a foreign affairs journalist and resident fellow at yale law school. he has written extensively on internet access and control china. i began by asking him why internet regulation is so vital. the major difference between the internet before 2015 and after the rules being rescinded now is a question of scale and the role the internet plays in our public discourse.

there was a time when electricity wasn't an important thing, there was a time when running water wasn't an important thing, but over time it got to a point where everyone used those things and the government had to treat them as a utility. the internet was very young and as time went on there was the potential for corporate abuse and that's when the government stepped in to insure it would be like a utility and that's what we saw under the 0bama administration and that's what's being rescinded now. the former chair of the fcc has been critical of the business case for this, he says there's no evidence that investment being put off why the regulations, he said surely verizon and at&t don't need any more money and the setup now, which is meant to regulate the new situation, is not a quick for it, either legally or technically, what do you make of those criticisms? i think those criticisms are very valid. i think the fact even things run from private companies have a strong public interest, water and electricity, but unlike those other public utilities, what happens with the internet concerns a core american value

and that is freedom of speech. it doesn't matter if you're a major corporation, young start—up or a blogger, you have equal access to this important public square and the rules currently constituted with the vote today make companies less accountable and create less transparency so that we don't know what's happening with our internet, even though there is a compelling public interest in knowing. i know you see china as a horrible game warning here, why? china is a different system, they make no bones about that. they're very straightforward about the fact they believe the internet should be regulated, they have a concept of internet sovereignty and they do not apologise for how they handled the internet within their system internally. the risk is that china is such a large market and many american firms are so eager to get access to china, and china has such a compelling interest in shaping the narrative about china overseas, that it creates a perfect storm of bad incentives for american corporations who have potential business before

the chinese government. not just for what happens on the internet within china, but for what happens on the internet across the entire world. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: an exclusive new hospital opens in dubai and all its patients are camels! after eight months on the run, saddam hussein has been tracked down and captured by american forces. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict, a conflict that has claimed over 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today.

romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life. the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: after a five—year investigation, an official inquiry in australia has uncovered evidence of abuse at over 4,000 institutions. the entertainment company walt disney is buying a large part of 21st century fox, the business controlled by rupert murdoch and his family. the deal is worth more than $52 billion.

four children have died when a train crashed into a school bus at a level crossing in southern france. 20 others were injured — eleven critically — in the accident, close to the town of millas, near the city of perpignan. bill hayton reports. either side of the rail line, the two halves of the bus. about 20 children from a local secondary school were on board when it was hit by the train. the country's prime minister flew down to meet their families. translation: i want to express my sadness, shared with all those who witnessed, directly or indirectly, this incident. i'd like to salute the emergency response by the firemen, the ambulances and all those who try to help in the best way possible when they found out about the accident. as the survivors were taken to hospital, a judicial enquiry was opened to find out what happened.

no other vehicles were involved and the train company says the level crossing was operating as normal. it's the third multiple casualties accident on french railways in the past four years, a point made by france's former president. translation: we are not used to these types of incidents but they keep on happening. accident prevention and vigilance are notjust words but rather obligations. we cannot just accept that children are dying. local officials have described the scene of the crash as like a warzone. investigators are waiting to investigate what brought calamity to this quiet corner of france. eu leaders are expected to formally agree to start talks on negotiating britain's future relationship after it leaves the european union.

the european commission has said "sufficient progress" has been made on the first phase to move onto discussing how issues such as security and trade will be tackled in the future. kevin connolly has more from brussels. this has not just this has notjust been a summit about brexit. have been talks about migration, what eu should do about those migrants reaching europe across the mediterranean. rizwan has been an issue, and the future of the eurozone. that you cannot get away from brexit for long. this was the moment when the leaders of the eu 27 decided the uk had enough —— had made enough progress on phase one issues in the talks about is the irish border, citizens' rights, and a financial settlement, to allow the whole thing to move on to phase two, talking about trade and issues of transition. it feels like a big moment, but there isn't the

slightest doubt there are plenty of difficulties and plenty of sticking points to come in the future. you can gauge the sense of relief year at the progress made so far when you consider that when theresa may talk about her personal commitments to a smooth brexit, she was greeted with a round of applause from herfellow leaders. probably the first round of applause of the whole process so far, and perhaps the last one. time to come. a mile underwater off the coast of papua new guinea, preparations are underway for the world's first deep—ocean mine. rocks found on the ocean floor are exceptionally rich in copper and gold and could be worth billions of pounds. but scientists are warning that mining the rock will devastate marine life, and the broadcaster and naturalist sir david attenborough has condemned the plans. 0ur science editor david shukman has been given exclusive access to the project. in the brilliant tropical waters of papua new guinea a controversial project is taking place that could have a huge impact

on the oceans. a vast lumbering machine is going through final testing. it looks like a cross between something military and an invention from science fiction. its whirling steel teeth are designed to break up the rocks of the sea bed. this will be part of the world's first deep sea mine. this is the first time that anything like this has ever been tried, sending these massive machines a mile down to the ocean floor and there, well, tearing it up to send valuable metals up to the surface. and because this is all so new, no—one really knows exactly what the impact is going to be. the company behind the mine portrays it as a neat and efficient way to get at rich deposits of gold and copper, and it claims there will be less disruption than there is in mines on land. the offshore alternative is in fact from an environmental perspective a far better way to provide the world with the minerals

that it requires. 0ffshore there will be no clearing of rainforests, there will be no relocation of communities, there will be no large waste dumps. but not everyone believes all that. fishing supports thousands ofjobs in papua new guinea and some here worry that important tuna stocks will be at risk. the un development programme wants the mining project stopped. 0ne sixth of the tuna in the whole world comes from this, the pacific, and from this one country. huge numbers of people's lives depend on fisheries and this project potentially will jeopardise all of that. so there's a difficult balance for papua new guinea. millions here live below the poverty line. this is one of the poorest countries on earth. but mining projects on land have often failed to improve conditions.

as a developing country, papua new guinea is obviously looking for new sources of income and deep sea mining may help provide that, and if it works — and it is a gamble — there are dozens of other mining projects around the world that are likely to follow. so what happens here could really usher in a whole new era of what we do to the oceans. the first project will target deep hot springs known as hydrothermal vents. they're packed with minerals, needed for electronics and renewable energy, so some scientists say we'll have to mine them. but others warn that teaming communities of rare forms of life could be wiped out. it's heartbreaking. we showed david attenborough our video of the ocean mining machines. he's horrified at the idea of the destruction of hydrothermal vents. that's where life began. and that we should be destroying

these things is so deeply tragic, that humanity should just plough on with no regard for the consequences — because they don't know what they are. back in papua new guinea, testing continues. one major concern among critics is that the government here is a shareholder in the mine, raising doubts about its ability to step in if things go wrong. but staff here say they'll try to minimise the impact. we're not in an environment that we can just do whatever we want. people are watching, there are regulations that we need to abide by and modify to suit, so that the environment is the winner in the end. one of the giant machines is tested under water. in the next two years it will be lowered to the sea bed and put to work.

the start of a new gold rush in the deep ocean. david shukman, bbc news, in papua new guinea. police and protesters have clashed outside argentina's congress, forcing the postponement of a pension reform vote. police used rubber bullets and teargas against demonstrators demanding the government rejects changes. the opposition says it will hurt retirees. the government says it will help cut argentina's deficit. cricket now and play is underway on the second day of the third ashes test at the waca in perth. england resumed on 305/4, and it took malan and bairstow 20 minutes before they added a run. since then, runs have begun to flow. a few moments ago, england were 351 — four. david marr and jonny ba i rstow have now — four. david marr and jonny bairstow have now put on more than 200 runs. —— malan.

a brand new, state—of—the—art, medical facility has opened its doors in dubai. we're talking about an exclusive hospital — only a select number of patients. the unusual thing is that all these patients are camels. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. in this part of the world, camel racing can be a popular and highly lucrative sport. so taking care of your athletes is a top priority. hence the dubai camel hospital, now open for business, treating camels and nothing but camels. translation: this hospital is considered the first of its kind in the world. because there aren't any hospitals that are specialised in treating camels. you must care for camels as part of our heritage, not only by breeding and racing them but also by being able to medically treat them using the latest technology. the hospital costs nearly $11 million to set up and can treat 20 animals at a time. of course, when you're patient weighs anything up to 1000 kilos, moving them around can be a little problematic. but they have big plans here, aiming to introduce mri and ct scans to help diagnose any poorly camel, and this isn't just about treatment... in the future, we are planning to have the research projects

for the camel animal, to unfold the secrets of this strange desert animal. all being well, any stay at the dubai camel hospital will be short—lived. soon the animals will be back in good health and back on the track. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbc mike embley. well, the cold snap‘s not quite over yet.

of course, the snow has stopped, mostly that is, but it's still pretty chilly out there and in some parts of the country we still have a little bit of snow lying around here and there, presumably this is from a snowman. there's also the risk of some ice also first thing on friday morning, a really messy picture, by that i mean there's a lot of cloud, there's showers of rain, there's hail, sleet, snow falling across the hills and with temperatures freezing or below freezing outside of town there's the risk of iciness. you can see carlisle above freezing, couple of degrees above zero in manchester and some of those country lanes will be pretty cold. you know what happens at this time of year after a clear night, the air temperature might be just above zero, two or three degrees, but the road surface, the ground, is below zero, it's frozen, so with rain showers moving through, you get that risk of icy patches, so take it steady. in terms of the weather on friday, there will be some sunshine around in many western areas, beautiful weather in the lowlands, southern scotland, cumbria, lancashire, throughout wales and the south coast but these eastern areas will continue to have some showers. the wind from the north is blowing

in the cloud and showers and only five expected in newcastle. friday night is going to be cold, a frost on the way once again. you can see it developing across scotland, the north of england, all the way down to the south as well, so that means first thing on saturday it's going to be cold. one thing that is going to be happening during saturday is milder air starts to move in off the atlantic but it's a slow process, after days of colder weather, mild air often doesn't march in, it sort of moves in very, very slowly. on saturday, still pretty cold, a frost around in places in the morning and those temperatures struggling, 2—3, a bit milder in western areas, six expected in belfast. then the south—westerlies kick in by sunday, with that cloud and rain, often happens. look at those temperatures, 11s or 12s, glasgow getting up to around 10 degrees. those south—westerly winds all the way from the southern climes will continue to blow in during the course of monday, so that milder trend certainly continues into next week. how are we doing compared to other parts of europe? you can see london is on a par with paris during the course of the weekend.

elsewhere across the continent, athens in the high teens with some showers on the way. bye— bye. this is bbc news, i'm mike embley. it's time for panorama. how have simple medical devices left thousands of women in total agony? i think when you have this amount of pain, it's horrendous, really horrendous. american manufacturers have made huge profits but are now paying out millions of dollars in damages. how can they sleep at night knowing that they injure thousands and thousands of women? tonight on panorama — we reveal one of the world's biggest medical companies who failed to fully inform doctors of the extent of the risks. if you knew there was a problem, you should have told everybody.

and how permanent mesh implants were put inside women before long—term human studies were completed. they're experimental test subjects. they put money in front of the health and safety of women. panorama has been in contact with dozens of women who are in extreme pain.