president trump sparks outrage after allegedly making racist comments about african countries. mr president, are you a racist? as he comes underfire from the press, his alleged remarks are criticised by the united nations as racism. it all stems from a meeting in the whitehouse about immigration. the president denies the remarks. the man who sat next to him says they're true. that's what he used, those vile and vulgar comments — calling the nations they come from, "shitholes". the exact words used by the president, notjust once but repeatedly. is what's become an international row going to cause serious problems for the president — or will itjust add to his appeal among his core support? also tonight: the government is urged to bring construction giant carillion into public control amid fears it could collapse. a fine of £10,000 for the surgeon who branded his initials onto his patients‘ livers. facebook gets a status update — it says it will prioritise your family and friends over advertisers and news. and weighty reflections on the crown

— the queen as you've never seen or heard her before. speech up, because if you did, your neck would break! later in the hour, we have sportsday on the bbc news channel with all the latest reports, interviews and features from the bbc sports centre. good evening. president trump is embroiled in a row about whether he's a racist after being forced to deny making derogatory remarks, including the use of an expletive, about african countries. he's been accused of making the comments in the white house, during a meeting about his plans to overhaul the immigration system. a democratic senator, who sat next to mr trump insists

the president did use the phrase, repeatedly, and a united nations the president did use the phrase, repeatedly, and a united nations spokesman has accused the president of making racist comments. a number of african countries have reacted with outrage. from washington, nick bryant reports. this is a great and important day... the forces of american history seem to collide at the white house today. donald trump signing a proclamation in honour of the civil rights leader, martin luther king at the moment he stands accused of using a slur directed at african nations. here he stuck to the script. today we celebrate dr king for standing upfor today we celebrate dr king for standing up for the self—evident truth that americans hold dear, that no matter the colour of our skin or the place of our birth we are all

created equal by god. mr president will you give an apology for the statement yesterday? after the ceremony, an unserve mownous commotion. mr president are you a racist? can you answer these serious questions about your statement, sir? no! mr president are you a racist? it was behind closed doors that donald trump allegedly claimed that immigrants came from shithole countries, donald trump said he used strong language with the senators, though not that word but has been contradicted by a senior democrat present. i cannot believe in the history of the white house, and the oval office any president has spoken the words i heard our president speak yesterday. to no surprise, the president started tweeting denying he used

those words. it is not true. he said the hate—filled thinged and said them repeatedly. from the united nations, the stiffest of rebukes. these are shocking and hateful comments from the president of the united states. there is no other word that we can use but racist, you cannot dismiss entire countries as shitholes. the comments were called reprehencible and racist. maybe just once maybe reprehencible and racist. maybejust once maybe in reprehencible and racist. maybe just once maybe in another pa rt maybe just once maybe in another part of the world but on this part of the continent that word is an insult. build a wall was the cry of voters who loved the donald trump hard line sta nce who loved the donald trump hard line stance during the election. we're going to build a wall, folks. don't worry. and said to be doing a victory lap, belief eking that row will re—up his

votes. donald trump launched the campaign for the white house with an attack on mexican immigrants and claimed falsely that barack 0bama was not an american. his latest racial controversy will please at least some of the supporters at home but undercuts us leadership abroad and shows again how america first can mean america alone. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. president trump's visit to britain next month is off. he had been due to attend the official opening of the new us embassy in south london. but he tweeted he was not a "big fan" of the new building and blamed barack 0bama's administration for a "bad deal". downing street says an invitation for a state visit will still take place, although no date has been set. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale has more. the new us embassy, more than $1 billion of prime american real estate in south london, with its own

moat. a machinement, we are told, to america's commitment to britain, that the us ambassador had hoped would be formerly opened by donald trump next month. yes, ido trump next month. yes, i do hope. we will welcome him when he comes. but he is not coming. donald trump said he cancelled the trip as he owe postsed the sale by barack 0bama of what he killed: 0nly to build a new one in an off location for $1.2 dollars. a bad deal. wanted him to cut the ribbon, no! a decision welcomed by his critics. here is a head of state of another country, not only promoting hatred and division in his country but is surely giving his online activity guilty of doing the same in our country. the decision to sell the old embassy was taken by president bush, to find a more secure location in a time of

terror. the old embassy had been the scene of demonstrations. and diplomats said it was the threat of similar protests that had spooked mr trump. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, said there would be mass protests like these but peaceful ones. boris johnson accused mr khan of putting us lincolnshire uk relations at risk. here we have many others encouraging large scale street protests against him. ithink large scale street protests against him. i think it must be part of his calculation. that is the point, in his first year of office, donald trump has visited the world. visiting most other g7 countries and other european nations, including france, germany and belgium, the uk is notable for its absence. the us ambassador says that the fortress of glass

represents a new era between the us and the uk, a strengthening of the relationship. the fear of the diplomats is that the president's decision not to open the building signals for him, at least, that britain is not a priority. ministers hope it will change when he comes, if he comes. it's an important diplomatic partner for the uk. we want the close eest possible relationship with the us and look forward to a visit at some point in the future. for now, the closest we will get to seeing donald trump is this wax work, part of a pr stunt, life like in every respect but he does not speak or tweet. but he does not speak or tweet. 0ur north america editorjon sopeljoins me now. the real president trump tweets and makes comments and causes some real offence. yes it is hard to overstate in america ares how puritan call public discourse is. the networks, the newspapers are agonising weather to use the word that the president did.

so shocking. but if a pollster were to speak to trump supporters and ask if was presidential, they would say no, and were they surprised? they would say also, no, and does it change your view of the president? also, no. what makes donald trump popular is that he says the unsayable, could say what others are thinking and would get in trouble if they did. it's as though given the account of the meeting that donald trump believes that there are the countries, the nato countries and the shithole countries. and the president has been talking about another controversial issue today? he has been talking about iran. the iran nuclear deal done in barack 0bama's time so, that if iran stopped the nuclear programme, sanctions would be lifted. donald trump was desperate to reimpose sanctions as he believe it is is a lousy deal. the european nations

have managed to persuade him to row back. so for another 120 days the iran nuclear deal is intact without change. i suggested to a diplomat, is it a victory but he said not so much a victory, as a stay of execution. thank you. the government is being urged to bring contracts from the construction giant carillion into public control amid fears it could collapse. it's a major supplier to the government and has contracts in the rail industry — including building hs2 — in education and in the nhs. it's struggled since reporting half—year losses of over a billion pounds and a significant pension deficit. our business editor simon jack is here. the bbc has learned tonight that ministers are drawing up plans to take over carillion prison contracts. that's right. what we learned this afternoon is a £200 million contract to run 50 prince. the ministry of justice is drawing up plans to bring it back under public control. this

isa it back under public control. this is a company in big trouble. it owns the banks £900 million. it owns the pension scheme, £600 million. it is haemorrhaging money. it needs new funds, the lenders don't want to give them to them. it has had crisis talks with banks, on thursday a huddle with a huddle of ministers and today in talks with the pension fund to find out what happens to 28,000 members' of that pension scheme. the damage to the company is severe. losing 93% of its value since this time last year. an army of sub—contractors worried about what happens and the model of outsourcing some of the critical public services to the public sector is under attack. you said that the labour party, the unions are saying that they should be brought back to the public control. is carillion too big, to sensitive to fail? no, it is not. will the government bend over

backwards to save the company? yes, it will. but only bending so far. so a very anxious weekend for the company in prospect. thank you. a surgeon who branded his initials onto the livers of two transplant patients has been fined £10,000 and given a community service order. simon bramhall pleaded guilty to two counts of assault in december. his crimes — carried out at queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham — were discovered when the patients returned to hospital for further surgery as sima kotecha reports. reporter: mr bramhall, what's your reaction? simon bramhall, once a respected surgeon, now a convicted criminal. what would you like to say to the patients, mr bramhall? today, he was fined £10,000 after pleading guilty to assaulting two patients by marking his initials on their livers. his victims were undergoing liver transplants at the time. in court, judge paul farrer qc told him: well, it was here at the queen elizabeth hospital

in birmingham where bramhall committed his offences. he marked the livers in 2013 and it was a year later, after a disciplinary hearing, that he resigned from his post. another of his patients, who also underwent a liver transplant by him, says he shouldn't be punished. signing his work is just his way of showing the artwork he's done. the fact that he's saved so many lives through all the operations he's carried out, mine included, because without him i wouldn't be here, just makes me think he needs to carry on doing what he's good at. bramhall branded ‘sb‘ on the organs with an argon beam machine, a heat—projecting device usually used to stop any bleeding. the crown prosecution service compared its imprint to a minor burn. what happened was a crime. the rule of law applies equally to everybody, including doctors, so it's important to hold people

to account when they commit a crime of assault, and that's what's happened here. the markings were discovered after other surgeons noticed them during operations. bramhall betrayed the trust of his patients and took advantage of them when they were at their most vulnerable. the general medical council, which has already issued him with a formal warning, will now decide whether to take any further action against the surgeon. sima kotecha, bbc news, birmingham. families searching for missing relatives after the manchester arena bombing were subjected to intrusive media attention, according to a progress report. it's part of a review by lord kerslake into the response to the bombing in may last year in which 22 people were killed. 0ur north of england correspondent judith moritz has been speaking to one of the families affected. within moments of the manchester arena explosion, the attack was worldwide news. phone footage was shared immediately. camera crews and journalists

provided round—the—clock coverage for days afterwards. and there were countless posts on social media, as well. there was huge interest in the stories of those most closely affected. they included the family of martyn hett, one of those killed in the blast. martyn had a large online following and had previously been on tv. his relatives quickly found themselves in the spotlight. press reporters arrived at their house, before the family knew that martyn had died. we had people coming round, knocking on the door, ringing the bell, basically saying, "sorry for your loss, but would you like to comment?" he wasn't even officially dead yet. how can anybody be so cruel and say, "sorry for your loss"? we didn't find out officially until that evening that he was dead. the way the emergency services responded to the arena attack

is already being reviewed by an independent panel. now, it will also examine the role which the media played during the aftermath. much of the media handled families in a very respectful way. but we've heard examples where that wasn't the case and we think that needs to be explored and understood. # walk on #. the long struggle of those whose loved ones died at hillsborough has recently inspired a charter for families bereaved through public tragedy. there are elements of the response that could have been better. the arena review asks organisations to sign up to it and put the needs of such families before their own reputations. i want anybody who works in our emergency services to know that they will be supported in coming forward to tell it exactly as it was. because that is what we need. we need the families to have the truth as quickly as possible. in march, the full review into the attack will be published. eight months after these 22 people died, their families' lives are still dominated by the tragedy.

judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. facebook has announced what it says is a major change to its news feed — prioritising posts from family and friends over those from advertisers and media organisations. the change follows criticism that too much fake news and misinformation has been ending up on the social network. facebook‘s founder, mark zuckerberg, admits it could could mean people spending less time on it, which has hit the company's share price. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. mark zuckerberg's social network has become of the biggest distributors of news in history. today, the company went back to its social roots. he said, one of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on facebook is time well spent. facebook‘s founder admits users are being fed a heavy diet of news and adverts, together with the more personal posts from friends and family.

in bristol today, many young facebook users agreed. it's quite clogged up with adverts for shopping and baby things at the moment, stuff i search on google. so i think it would be a lot better if it was just based around friends and family, without any adverts. ijust feel like i'm being sold to the whole time. people are making assumptions about my opinions, my tastes, the things i'm interested in. zuckerberg says, i'm changing the goal i give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content, to helping you have more meaningful social interactions. this is the biggest change to facebook for many years. it follows controversy over the promotion of fake news, with fears the platform has been used by foreign powers to subvert democracy. today's changes aren't driven by those concerns over disinformation, but they're clearly an attempt to restore trust in a global brand and the impact on our news ecosystem could be huge.

mark zuckerberg clearly accepts that not all news is of equal value, but his changes could seriously damage some reputable news providers that have come to rely on his platform for both eyeballs and income. brands like huffpost need the ad revenue facebook can drive. the elephant in the room is fake news and how they're trying to clean up the timelines. the fear for publishers like us is that the baby gets thrown out with the bath water and we lose the really important real journalism, along with the fake news that they're trying to get rid of. google is often described as part of a duopoly that is swallowing the advertising and news industries, together with facebook. today, in a rare interview, google's most senior british executive seemed to see this as an opportunity. there's an upside to traditional media moving to the digital world. you can reach 5 billion people on any device, you can use video if you come

from the print industry and vice versa. you know yourself as a journalist, there's a huge ability to tell the important stories in new ways, and people are turning to the digital world more than ever before to understand the news. for facebook‘s young missionary founder, a short—term hit in revenues is worth it to allay accusations that it's becoming the anti—social network. amol rajan, bbc news. a brief look at some of the day's other news stories. there's been a breakthrough in the talks aimed at forming a new coalition government in germany between the chancellor, angela merkel‘s christian democrats and their rivals, the social democrats. they're now expected to discuss a detailed programme for government, including a pledge to work closely with france to strengthen the eurozone. a huge fire that closed nottingham railway station is being treated as arson. over 60 firefighters took several hours to bring the blaze under control. it is believed the fire, in the recently renovated station, started in a toilet block. fortunately no—one was injured.

women in saudi arabia havejoined spectators at a professional football match for the first time in their country's history. the move is being seen as the latest step in the gradual easing of restrictions on women in the deeply conservative muslim kingdom. young women with the faulty brca genes who have gone on to develop breast cancer have the same survival chances as those who don't have them. a study of almost 3000 women also found outcomes were the same whatever kind of treatment the young women had — including mastectomies. mutations in the brca genes can significantly increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh has more. diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 35 years old and five months pregnant, laura faced childbirth and then cancer treatment. she carries a brca gene mutation and so, like many women in her position, she opted to have both breasts removed.

i decided to have a double mastectomy. my oncologist was keen for me to have it and i was, as well, because i was told that the risk of me getting cancer again was 50%, so it didn't seem worth the risk, really. a new study followed nearly 3,000 women aged a0 or younger diagnosed with breast cancer in britain. it found no difference in survival between those who carried brca breast cancer genes and those who didn't. and it found no survival benefit from a double mastectomy. after ten years, around seven in ten women survived in all groups. so what does this mean for women carrying a brca gene? i think the key message is that it allows them time to consider all of their options. so they may still need to go ahead and have a double mastectomy because of their risk and for long—term survival. but i think it encourages us to think that they can take their time and discuss

and consider all of their options and make the right decision for them. this study didn't look at prevention. one in a50 women carry faulty brca genes. it means they have a 45—90% chance of getting breast cancer, and many women with a strong family history of breast cancer opt for preventative double mastectomies, which almost eliminates the risk. like angelina jolie, the actress and campaigner who revealed she had preventative surgery, it led to greatly—raised awareness of brca gene mutations. this study looked only at young women, like laura. 95% of breast cancers are in the over—40s. laura says if she had her time again, she might have delayed having a double mastectomy, but she has no regrets. fergus walsh, bbc news. it's the queen as you've never seen

or heard her before. to mark the 65th anniversary of her coronation in 1953, her majesty has been giving a unique insight into the day and what it meant to her. she's been speaking to the royal commentator alastair bruce for a bbc programme. a key piece of advice for any would—be monarch — don't look down — as our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. she famously doesn't do interviews. this is probably as close as she'll get. a conversation with questions about the coronation, the crownjewels, and the imperial state crown worn by her and her father, king george vi. fortunately, my father and i have about the same sort of shaped head. once you put it on, it stays. it just remains itself. you have to keep your head very still? yes. it was huge then. yes. very unwieldy. you can't look down to read a speech, you have take the speech up, because if you did, your neck would break, it would fall off. it's difficult to always remember that diamonds

are stones, so very heavy. yes. so there are some disadvantages to crowns. but otherwise, they're quite important things. she rode to her coronation in the gold state coach. it weighs four tons. it's not built for comfort. horrible. it's not meant for travelling in at all. it's only sprung on leather. so it rocks around a lot. it's not very comfortable. were you in it for a long time? halfway round london. really? we must have gone about four orfive miles — we could only go at a walking pace. the horses couldn't possibly go any faster. it's so heavy. 65 years after the event, a monarch talking about her coronation — the crown — the real one. nicholas witchell, bbc news. and you can see ‘the coronation' on sunday evening, at 8pm on bbc one. that's it.

now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes, the headlines tonight... it's al—exit for sanchez — but will it be city or united? could phil neville be the next manager of the england women's football side? and scarlets beat bath to keep alive their hopes of reaching europe's knock—out stages. so lots to get through tonight... we're starting with the big transfer story of the day and that's arsenal's alexis sanchez. will he or won't he move to premier league leaders manchester city? the chilean forward has been told he can leave as long as arsenal find a suitable replacement but city aren't willing to pay the £35 million

plus price tag and could let him go to rivals manchester united. tim hague reports. if you wondered why arsenal were so keen to keep alexis sanchez... here's a reminder. sanchez has scored an absolute beauty! that was unstoppable. and so it seems is the chilean's move away from arsenal. people are always observing you with a microscope when you're on a short—term contract, but i never questioned his professional attitude when he's on the football pitch, sanchez wants to win. where will he go next? it seems that it will be somewhere in england and somewhere in the north—west. he almostjoined pep guardiola's manchester city the £60 million on the final day of the tra nsfer £60 million on the final day of the transfer window in the summer and city seems favourites again, but don't rule out manchester united,

jose mourinho likes to hijack a tra nsfer jose mourinho likes to hijack a transfer and looks to be poised once again. there is even a suggestion liverpool might spend some of the money c00 junior brought on sanchez. clearly now this is a bidding war, isn't it, arsene wenger? a bidding war is always beneficial to the club who can take advantage of it, but we are not in that. he basically, i maintain what i said many times, that normally he should stay here until the end of the season but we will see. thank you very much for torturing me! laughter well, the press also tortured mr wenger on the future of theo walcott as well. he looks on his way to everton very soon, that's according to their manager sam allardyce, but it's the impending departure of a special player called sanchez that arsenal will miss most. well, arsenal and city aren't playing until sunday. chelsea are in action tomorrow at home to leicester and they could go second — for a day at least — with victory. but they'd still be some 13 points

adrift of leaders manchester city and their manager antonio conte is still casting doubt over how long he'll stay at the club. i have another year on contract with this club. but as you know very well, in football anything is possible. in one moment, i stay here, in another moment you stay in another place. 0r another person replaces you and your job. chelsea are investigating allegations of racism made against two ex—coaches. the guardian newspaper has reported that graham rix and gwyn williams allegedly racially abused three black former youth team players during the 1990's. the bbc has approached williams for comment, but rix has declined. chelsea's director of communications made a statement on the allegations earlier today. we ta ke

we take them extremely seriously. we are absolutely determined to do the right thing, to fully investigate and support those, support those affected and we will assist the authorities and support their