welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. i'm andrew plant. our top stories: president trump sparks outrage after allegedly making racist comments about african countries. mr trump says he won't pull out of the deal aimed at curbing iran's nuclear programme for now but it has to change. a makeover for facebook — the social network says it should be more about family than business. and the burden of the crown — the queen's unique insight into her coronation. welcome to the programme. the african union has expressed outrage and demanded an apology from donald trump, after he allegedly made derogatory and vulgar references to african countries, at a meeting in the oval office.

president trump has denied making the remarks, including the use of an expletive. a democratic senator, who sat next to mr trump, insists the president did use the phrase, repeatedly. from washington, nick bryant reports. this is a great and important day to martin luther king... the forces of american history seemed to collide at the white house today. donald trump signing a proclamation in honour of the civil rights leader, martin luther king, of the civil rights leader, martin luther king, at the moment he stands accused of using a slur directed at african nations. here though he stuck to his script. today we celebrate dr king for standing up for that self—evident truth americans hold so dear that, no matter the colour of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by god. reporter: mr president, will you give an apology for the statement yesterday? after the ceremony came a very unceremonious commotion. mr president, are you a racist? a sitting president

being asked by a reporter if he is racist. ...answer serious questions about your statement, sir? man: no. that's a lie. i'm talking to the prsident, not you, sir. i'm talking to you. mr president, are you a racist? it was behind closed doors in the oval office that donald trump allegedly claimed that immigrants from haiti, el salvador and african nations came from "shithole" countries. donald trump said he used strong language during the meeting on immigration reform, with senators, though not that word. but he has been fiercely contradicted by a senior democrat who was present. i cannot believe that in the history of the white house and that oval office, any president has ever spoken the words that i personally heard our president speak yesterday. the no surprise, the president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used those words. it is not true. he said these hateful things and he said that repeatedly. from the united nation, in genveva, came the stiffest of rebukes. but on this continent,

that word is an insult. chant: build the wall, build the wall. "build the wall" was the cry of voters who loved donald trump's hardline stance on immigration during the election. we are going to build the wall, folks, don't worry. and he was said to be doing a victory lap at the white house last night, believing this row will rev up his base. donald trump launched his campaign for the white house with an attack on mexican immigrants and rose to political prominence by claiming, falsely, that barack obama was not an american. this latest racial controversy will doubtless

please at least some of his supporters at home but it undercuts us leadership abroad and shows again how america first can mean america alone. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. president trump has warned that he'll re—impose sanctions on iran in less than four months, a move that would undermine the agreement under which tehran curbed its nuclear programme. he now wants the us and its european allies to impose new restrictions on the iranians. iran has said the deal isn't negotiable. bill hayton reports. is it isita is it a good buy to the iran nuclear deal? as president trump departed for another weekend at his florida estate, he left the state of the 2.5 hugh robertson rim and hanging in the air. in a statement he announced this is the last time he will hold

off on major sanctions on iran but one former diplomat says this is just a tactic. he wants to do something to improve the environment of the agreement but does not necessarily want to pull out of it because it will not get support from the international community. he says i will do it this time, four months from now, iwant i will do it this time, four months from now, i want an agreement with britain, france and germany. on thursday, or an's foreign minister held talks with those three countries and the european union, saying it was making the countries and the european union, sayinng trump's ng the countries and the european union, saying mr trump's move countries and the european union, sayinng trump's move was to break safer. mr trump's move was to break up safer. mr trump's move was to break up this close the club, in effect saying he will kerevi agreements u nless saying he will kerevi agreements unless the right restrictions on iran's only stick missile programme, are tightening up of the agreed inspection arrangements and he wants to make the agreement permanent there's been a breakthrough

fizfieiéifis'éfiea , , 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. hundreds of supporters of recently—pardoned, former president alberto fujimori have staged a rally on the streets of lima, to counter anti—pardon demonstrations that have taken place over recent days. alberto fujimori was serving 25 years for human rights abuses and corruption, but was controversially pardoned by the peruvian president on christmas eve. a number of catholic churches have

been vandalised in chile ahead of a visit by pope francis. police said homemade bombs were used to damage two churches in the capital santiago. the attackers left messages threatening the pope, saying the money for the visit could better be spent on the poor. women in saudi arabia have made history by watching a football match from the stands for the first time at a stadium injeddah. the new measure comes after the deeply conservative kingdom announced it was lifting a ban prohibiting women from driving. 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. our 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a new discovery that will delight

laurel and hardy fans. a solo film of stan, that was long thought to be lost, has been found in the netherlands. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws, passed by the country's new multiracial government, and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,6ioth performance of her long—running play, the mousetrap.

when they heard about her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the african union has expressed outrage and demanded an apology from donald trump, after he allegedly made derogatory references to african countries. president trump has said he will not pull out of the deal aimed at curbing iran's nuclear programme for now, but it has to change. let's return to our top story and the comments by donald trump. peter bowes is our north america correspondent. peter, quite a reaction to his comments from across the world. yes, universal outrage, shock and

dismay from the african union, which is the most recent group to explain how it feels about what the president is alleged to have said. this group which represents african nations demanding an apology and a retraction from the president. in fa ct, retraction from the president. in fact, the group went as far as to say he should issue an apology to africans and all people of african descent around the world. also today, peter, the president has undergone, we understand, his first official health checkup, something which is an annual event, but his first one was today. what was the reaction to that? little reaction so far because we don't really know a huge amount about what's happened at the health check, apart from the doctor coming out and saying that it went exceptionally well. and that the president is in excellent health. the doctor saying that he

will reveal more details and take questions from reporters on tuesday. this is the normal course of events when presidents have their annual checkup. there is nothing different here that didn't happen with resident of armour and previous residence. —— with president obama and previous presidents. the results will be made public, at least as much as president trump wants them to be. he has the final say over all the details. generally we get details about blood a ship, cholesterol, that sort of thing. —— blood pressure, cholesterol. peter, thank you. families searching for missing relatives after the manchester arena bombing were subjected to intrusive media attention, according to a 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. our 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. tunisia's leaders say they will help the country's poorest families cope with the rising cost of living — following days of protests against the government's austerity programme. but anti—government demonstrations continued on friday. more than seven—hundred people have been arrested in the protests that began earlier this week. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. four days now, in cities across the country, the protests have continued. —— for days now. this was the capital, tunis. with some demonstrators waving yellow cards. they are angry about an economy which is in dire straits and a government they feel is doing nothing to help. translation: this protest is against the budget, which

is leading to poverty and hunger for people. our protest is completely peaceful. we are not calling for the overthrow of the government. we are calling for the overthrow of this budget. despite those claims there we re budget. despite those claims there were some scuffles with police. the prime minister has condemned the demonstrators, accusing them of trying to destabilise the state. it is not just tunis. trying to destabilise the state. it is notjust tunis. this protest at place in the coastal city of sfax. is spreading. how did this come about? at the beginning ofjanuary a new austerity budget came into effect, raising taxes and leading to higher prices. within days, people had taken to the streets. hundreds we re had taken to the streets. hundreds were arrested. now the president and prime minister say they will try to help low income families with new measures coming into effect in the next few days. fresh protests have

in call for sunday, the seventh anniversary of the fall of the country's former dictator. —— have been called. tunisia has long been called the one true success story of the arab spring, but not everybody is convinced. here in britain, a surgeon who branded his initials on to the lives of two transplant patients has been fined and given community service. he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault in december. his crimes, carried out at a hospital in birmingham, were discovered when the patient‘s return to hospital for further surgery. 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. 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. laurel and hardy were one of hollywood's most loved slapstick double acts. oliver hardy was fat and pompous, stan laurel thin and childish, both wore trademark bowler hats. today a new discovery is being celebrated by their legions of fans. fragments from the british actor stan laurel‘s solo film "detained", which were believed to have been lost, have been found. it's believed to be the only

existing copy in the world. anna holligan reports. do you recognise this man? look a little closer. because that is exactly what this archivist did. jurjen enzing had been stocktaking old nitrate films when he realised he'd stumbled upon one of the silent movie world's most captivating characters. the rediscovered scene shows stan laurel playing a prisoner, and eventually exacting a typically absurd escape. this early experiment with special effects ended up on the cutting room floor. these scenes on these fragments that we found were thought to be missing. ted okuda and james neibaur wrote a book about the solo years of stan laurel of which this movie is part and they described this film as being only surviving in a version 01:14 minutes and now we found the second reel of the full version so it's very exciting news.

their diligence has meant this little lost movie gem has been restored. when we discovered this, we first had to make sure that it's digital and when we made contact, he said it was a very exciting moment for comedy movie history and he was very glad we found the scene so the film can be a little bit more whole again. and now a digital copy of the entire 192a film detained has been released, including these missing scenes. anna holligan, bbc news. don't forget. much more is available on the bbc website. that is all from me for now. hello there.

for many of us, the weather has not changed a great deal over the last couple of days. look at the satellite picture from thursday and i will show you what i mean. a largely cloudy day across many areas of the british isles. here's a satellite picture from yesterday again showing extensive cloud cover. we'll leave the satellite picture behind for a moment. today's headline, can you guess what it'll be? yes, another cloudy day. but the weather is not that straightforward. a weather front in the west is bringing outbreaks of rain for some of us. there's at least one change. now, the weather will be fairly slow moving again on saturday because this weather front is coming in off the atlantic and is running into this massive area of high pressure, that's influencing the weather across much of northern and central europe, so the front will not make much progress against that massive blocking area of high pressure. it means where we start off with outbreaks of rain in western areas, that rain band will probably be in the same kind

of errors right way through the day. but further across central and eastern england and central and eastern scotland, for the vast majority of us for much of the day it's going to be drive extensively cloudy, but a bit of breeze around. a few gaps in the cloud to allow some brighter moments. there is the forecast through saturday night. this weather front in the west will fizzle overnight with a bit of rain going in across north—west england, into central and eastern areas of scotland. the winds fall light across england. we could get some mist and fog patches, with maybe the cloud thickening up a bit to allow drizzle on sunday. but for sunday, another cloudy one for most of us. a change coming into the north—west. we will see another atlantic fronts moving in. this one bringing some heavy rain and fairly strong winds with it, but this one will be a big player to finally break our spell of cloudy weather. this is what happens. sunday night and on into monday, the front swings its way southwards and eastwards across the british isles. behind this cold front, the air gets colder. starting to come in with a more north—westerly direction

and the skies will brighten up. down go the temperatures. through monday afternoon, highs of four or five celsius for northern and western areas of the british isles, cold enough for snow in the hills of scotland. colder air on the way for next week, which means more in the way of sunshine. it means the weather will be getting colder and at times it could turn very windy, but it also means there is the risk of some snow next week, particularly in the north down to low levels, but the hills further south could also see some snow at times. this is bbc news, the headlines: the african union has expressed outrage and demanded an apology from donald trump, after he allegedly made derogatory and vulgar references to african countries. president trump has denied making the remarks, including the use of an expletive. president trump has warned that he'll re—impose sanctions on iran in less than four months — a move that would undermine the agreement under which tehran curbed its nuclear programme. he now wants the us and europe

to impose new restrictions on the iranians. 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. now on bbc news, it's the week in parliament.