welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: president trump has blocked the release of a document which rebuts claims of anti—trump bias in the fbi's russia probe. us officials consider what action to take after two british jihadis are captured in syria. families of the victims say the fighters should face trial. uber agrees to pay waymo $245 million in shares to settle allegations it stole trade secrets. funding cuts threaten to take the shine off the world's biggest street party as 1.5 million tourists take to the streets for rio‘s annual carnival. hello.

in the past hour, president trump has blocked the release of a classified memo that rebutted claims that there was anti—trump bias in the fbi's russia investigation. the white house said the memo, written by democratic congressmen, couldn't be released because it contained classified material. let's go now to our north america correspondent peter bowes for more. i had some very smart questions to ask about with redacted information and why this was going to appear as double standards but apparently the democrats are now saying something else? they are saying they will consider some reductions and actually it isn't a huge surprise. i think we have been half expecting that this would happen, certainly over the last few days, the signs we re over the last few days, the signs were that the white house would probably come back and say that out of security considerations, it was not able to release the document

which, as you have already said, is essentially a reduction, is essentially a reduction, is essentially a reduction, is essentially a rebuttal of the very controversial document that we saw last week from the republicans that essentially accused the fbi of being biased against donald trump. and if these reductions can be got through, do you think the president will agree to release the memo? well, but is certainly the suggestion from the statement we had from the white house, that the president has instructed the justice house, that the president has instructed thejustice department house, that the president has instructed the justice department to work with the committee in the house looking at security matters that is responsible for this memo. to see if there is a way to release it without jeopardising any issues of security, that would suggest that the white house and president trump is open to its eventual release. this old thing is becoming a politicalfor all the both republicans and democrats? —— this whole thing. i have to say a

political football that has left a lot of americans quite baffled by, certainly, the small print that we have seen initially in the first memo and is likely in this, people are saying probably a longer memo from the democrats. certainly, it highlights a lot of strength of feeling and also highlights, and we saw this last week, the strength of feeling about the very release of memos addressing security matters and details about the fbi and how they operate. there is certainly a body of opinion that says the initial memo should not have been released and this one should not be either. thank you, peter. us officials say they're considering what action to take after two british jihadis were captured in syria. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh were part of a team of four british is members who the americans say killed 27 hostages. families of their victims have called for them to stand trial. daniel sandford reports. they became the most infamous gang of foreign fighters

in the self—styled islamic state. callous torturers and public executioners of hostages. jihadijohn — his real name, mohammed emwazi — now dead. aine davis, in prison in turkey. and the two men we now know were captured last month, alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh. the gang are suspected of beheading alan henning, a driver and aid workerfrom eccles, and david haines, a long—time aid worker from perth. his daughter now contemplating what punishment his newly captured suspected killers should face. they should die a long, slow, painful death and i think quite a lot of people will understand that, that they should be allowed to live. but, realistically, that's not going to happen, and you have to come to terms with that. the best thing for them is to be locked up and throw away the key. they should never be allowed back in society, because they willjust recruit

people and they willjust do this again. and, for the sake of her father, if they end up in court, she will go to watch. if it goes to trial, i'll certainly be there. i certainly want to look them in the eye and let them know that i am who i am and they have destroyed a big part of my life and, hopefully, there will be some sort ofjustice. some of the gangs hostages were freed, including former french reporter nicolas henin. he wants them to have the fairest trial possible. i would not be happy if they were just sent to guantanamo bay, because this is denial ofjustice. el shafee elsheikh arrived in syria from britain in 2012. alexanda kotey left the uk on an aid convoy to gaza in 2009 and also ended up in syria. their gang is accused by the us of beheading at least 27 hostages, including alan henning, david haines and americans james foley, peter kassig and steven sotloff. they're also suspected of waterboarding, mock executions, crucifixions and electric

shock torture. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh grew up close to each other in quite a small area of west london, near to the a40 flyover. it became infamous as an is recruiting ground. as well as mohammed emwazi, jihadijohn, some half a dozen other men from these streets died fighting for is in either syria or iraq. elsheikh and kotey had already had their british citizenship removed by the home secretary. now a trial, possibly in the united states, seems the most likely outcome. daniel sandford, bbc news, west london. with is on the run in syria, how useful is the capture of these two british jihadists, and what information could they provide? here's our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville. they call it home, and raqqa was their capital, but their caliphate is now a ruin.

it is not known yet how long alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh stayed here, but kurdish and arab fighters fought in these streets for months, and more than 650 died freeing the city from the so—called islamic state. the corpses of foreign fighters litter the alleyways but even then we knew that plenty had escaped. in a ceasefire deal, hundreds of is fighters were allowed to leave the city. across syria, is members began to flee through kurdish regime and rebel lines. the two british men, part of an is cell from west london, were picked up by kurdish forces trying to flee to turkey. the two are a significant prize. they may be able to answer questions about what happened here. this is dabiq, where mohammed emwazi, jihadi john, murdered aid worker peter abdul—rahman kassig.

the same cell killed britain's alan henning and david haines. their bodies have never been recovered. the west london cell were seen as the worst of the worst, is superstars who had an air of invulnerability. but no more — now, all are dead or in captivity. they may also have information on the missing britishjournalist, john cantlie. kidnapped by is, he has fronted some of their propaganda videos. this was his last appearance from mosul, before it too was taken from is group. and do they know the whereabouts of abu bakr al—baghdadi, the is leader? despite repeated claims that he is dead, he was last heard from in september last year. the captured men have served one significant purpose, though — a new front has opened in syria. turkey is attacking kurdish forces —

it calls them terrorists, but the coalition sees the kurds as vital and effective allies against is and it wants the world to know those allies have just captured two of the caliphate's most wanted. daniel sandford, bbc news, beirut. uber has settled its legal battle with the self—driving car company waymo. the dispute was over allegations that the ride—hailing app stole trade secrets about waymo's self—driving technology. as part of the settlement, uber has agreed to give waymo shares in its firm worth about $245 million. however, it could have been a lot worse, as the bbc‘s dave lee explains. we were talking in the region of more than $1 billion if all of these trade secrets — if the jury ruled all these trade secrets had been stolen and used. and it is that crucial part there — using them — was what waymo was trying to prove over the course of this trial. there is a suggestion

that the reason why these two companies have come to this settlement is because it is mutually beneficial. 0n uber‘s side, they can put this behind them, they can move on and not have to worry about this case going on and airing any more dirty laundry. and on waymo's side, they get an increased stake in uber. they already had some, a small ownership in uber, and now they have a bit more. and also, they can keep an eye on what uber is doing in self—driving technology, which has really been their aim all along. this is about making sure for waymo that they stay ahead in the race to bring self—driving cars and a self—driving fleet of taxis to our roads. and that's what they were trying to do from the offset, was to slow down uber‘s progress by accusing them of getting an unfair advantage by stealing these trade secrets. they were not doing a particularly good job, i have to say, in court, convincing the jury. i do not think that those trade secrets were used so, like i say, a settlement like this has benefits for both parties. the european union's chief brexit

negotiator, michel barnier, has warned that a transition period for the uk after it leaves the bloc is not guaranteed, unless what he called substantial disagreements, can be overcome. brexit is coming and time is running short. just 13 months before britain is officially out of the european union and today, the eu had a sharp warning sort out key sticking or there will be no deal and no transition. britain's brexit secretary met the eu chief negotiator in downing street on monday. friendly enough, but there's just weeks to thrash out the shape of a brexit transition. 0h, here we go. today, in brussels, with a big eu summit coming next month, michel barnier had a blunt message, in terms easy to understand. if these disagreements persist, the transition is not a given. so much to sort out, and talks are getting prickly. 0n the rights of migrants,

who arrive after brexit day, will brussels block trade if britain breaks eu rules? the brexit secretary called that plain discourteous. "oh, no, it isn't", said mr barnier. translation: throughout these negotiations, our attitude and my attitude has not been in the least discourteous or vindictive. we never wished to punish the uk. it's totally foreign to my state of mind. and how to leave the eu without bringing back a hard north—south irish border? no one wants that, but... it is important to tell the truth. a uk decision to leave the single market and to leave the customs union would make border checks unavoidable. it's notjust a political problem at this shoe shop in newry, northern ireland. these shoes are meant for walking, on both sides of the border. customs and tariffs could mean a business like this

running into trouble. what we need is easy access from the factory to our shop floor. and if there is a hard border, then there will be hold—ups all the way along that we cannot predict. tonight, the brexit secretary is saying he is surprised mr barnier is not clear britain just wants to go on trading as now during a transition. the government is hoping for compromise in negotiations, whatever anyone says now, but if there is no transition deal next month, ministers will have to prepare britain and british business for the real possibility of a cliff—edge brexit. if there is a transition deal, it's on to deciding the ambitions for brexit, which divide parliament, tory mps and the cabinet. one day, one crisis at a time. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: capturing intimate photos of complete strangers. for more than a decade, one photographer has been turning his focus on this eye opening project. there's mr mandela.

mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories.

head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump has blocked the release of a classified memo that rebutted claims that there was anti—trump bias in the fbi's russia investigation. us officials consider what action to take after two british jihadis are captured in syria. families of the victims say the fighters should face trial. egypt's army has begun a major operation against terrorist organisations in several parts of the country. the government said a military campaign — involving defence forces and the police — is being carried out in the sinai peninsula, the nile delta and western desert. security forces have for years battled an islamic state insurgency in north sinai that has killed hundreds of soldiers, police and civilians.

0ur egypt correspondent sally nabil sent this report. the egyptian army has decided to strike harder than ever against islamist militants in sinai. the army has released footage of a full—scale offensive targeting insurgent groups operating in the turbulent peninsula for more than five years. translation: egyptian air forces have targeted terrorist hideouts and their arms depots in north and central sinai. the forces have been beefing up their security measures to cut terrorist supply lines. the scope of the military operation is perhaps unprecedented. while it focuses on northern sinai, a military zone with sparse civilian population and no media access, it is also intended to cover other parts of the populous nile delta and the western desert, bordering libya. people in northern sinai have told

us highways in and out of the area have been closed, as well as petrol stations. schools will be shut down too until further notice. the offensive takes place after gunmen killed more than 300 worshippers at a mosque in northern sinai last november. since then, president abdel fattah el—sisi gave his armed forces a three—month period to wipe out the deeply rooted insurgency in the area. a deadline, seen by many as unrealistic, has been set for february. translation: you cannot have a precise timeframe when you're battling terrorists. the operation has started but these developments on the ground that will decide when it is going to end. i do not think the troops will go back to their

barracks before they complete their mission and destroy the milita nts's capabilities. sinai has witnessed similar military operations before, even if not that big. many wonder if this one will succeed in what the past ones failed to achieve. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: the british government says it is reviewing its work with the aid charity, 0xfam, following reports that 0xfam staff regularly used prostitutes in haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. the department for international development said 0xfam had serious questions to answer about how it dealt with the abuse of vulnerable people. 0xfam has denied a cover—up. an asteroid up to a0 metres wide, which was only discovered five days ago, has skimmed past earth at a distance of 64,000 kilometres. this is less than a fifth the distance between earth and the moon.

while the pass is relatively close in astronomical terms, it's nowhere near enough to be a threat. researchers at edinburgh university have grown human eggs in the laboratory for the first time. they say the breakthrough is an opportunity to explore how human eggs develop, much of which remains a mystery to science. the hope is these findings could lead to new ways of preserving women's fertility. it attracts 1.5 million tourists every year and is arguably the world's biggest street party. rio de janerio's annual carnival has officially started, but it's feared funding cuts could take the shine off brazil's famous festival. the mayor says the cuts are because of a financial crisis. but critics say the evangelical mayor disapproves of the raucous annualfestival, which is rooted in catholic culture. sarah corker reports. rio carnival means costumes... music... and movers. thousands of

people poured into the city's famous samba district to see the colourful performers and dancers. earlier the first of many street parties got under way. "carnival is happiness, pure love", this man said. and continuing with tradition, the five—day festival officially started when the man handed over the keys of the city to the fictional king of misrule. at the city's evangelical mayor has been accused of acting on his conservative views by cutting funding for this year's carnival. and as the brass band struck up an anthem, he had to defend himself. translation: it isn't true what

people say, that the mayor has any prejudice against carnival. i am not prejudiced, i admire, prejudice against carnival. i am not prejudiced, iadmire, respect, applaud and have made every effort so applaud and have made every effort so that carnival continues with much success. so that carnival continues with much success. funding for rio's top samba schools has been halved. cut the mayor says are because of rio's financial crisis. his critics say he justis financial crisis. his critics say he just is not like the festival despite the fact it attracts more than a million visitors. and as brazil and mergers from its worst ever recession, many here are just happy to have something to smile about. now to south korea — where pyeongchang is hosting the winter olympic games. canada dominates the early stages of the curling. after four sessions of the round robin mixed doubles it leads on points, but onlyjust. canada, norway, 0lympic athletes from russia and switzerland have all played four games, winning three and losing one. russian athletes evgenia tarasova and vladimir morozov top the board after the first event

of the team figure skating. the european champions — who are real life partners — produced an ambitious programme to claim ten points ahead of canada and germany. shoma uno ofjapan is out in front in the men's singles. last year's world silver medallist impressing with a series of clean moves and spectacular jumps. meanwhile, france's perrine laffont leads the first round qualification of the women's moguls freestyle skiing. an impressive run at the phoenix snow park pushed her ahead of canadian andi naude and morgan schild of the usa. now most of us are used to posing for that family photo or snapping a selfie with friends. but what if someone asked you to embrace a complete stranger? well for more than a decade that's just what photographer richard renaldi has been doing. the result is a series of intimate photos called "touching strangers." he spoke to us about the project. when i walk up to people to make a touching strangers photograph,

i introduce myself and i tell them that i am a photographer and i am doing a kind of unusual project, a series of portraits. i learned as the practice of making these went on and on, how far i could push people and how much i could ask of people. i wanted to touch on all the different types of relationships that you could imagine. i hope people think when they look at my pictures, i hope that they feel. how they feel or how they think is up to them, and i think that is the subjective and interpretive experience of looking at art. the bride and the

wedding dress image. he is wearing a traditional outfit, so there is a veiling kind of happening with that. he has on his bluejeans and of course, her wedding dress. so there's these nice little touches. this picture ended up being the most interesting, provocative and complex because there's this sense of both protector and predator. it leaves you, i think, with more questions than answers. i think that there are universal truths of humanity, the potential

for any stranger to become a friend or partner or relative. some are beautiful and some are quite disturbing. and if you want to find out more on any of the stories we're covering, just head to our website. you'll find all the latest news, reaction and analysis along with updated live pages and reports from our correspondents across the globe. that's bbc.com/news — or download the bbc news app. hello again.

most of us saw some sunshine yesterday, but there were also some wintry showers out and about. the highlands looked splendid, didn't they? after the recent snowfall here and clear blue skies as well. but looking ahead to the weekend's forecast, not so much sunshine to go around on saturday. sunday sees the sunshine return, along with some snow showers. it'll become windy for a time this weekend. here's the satellite picture. it shows an area of low pressure, a curl of cloud racing towards the british isles, and this cloud is going to be moving in, bringing a band of rain with it. and that rain is going to be quite heavy over the next few hours, turning readily to snow — even low down across parts of eastern scotland. i think we will see things turning rather wintry. the other thing you'll notice if you're out and about first thing is how cold it feels. yes, we're looking at a widespread frost and a risk of some icy stretches first thing. now, looking at the weather in a little bit more detail through saturday morning. the snow across scotland, well, five to ten centimetres possible over the higher ground.

it will tend to transition back to rain as milder air works in from the west as we go on through the early morning. further southwards, for wales and south—west england, it's just rain that will fall really. and after that cold and frosty start across east anglia and south—east england, bright with some sunshine, but then the cloud moves over that cold air. it's probably one of those mornings where temperatures will be very slow to rise across parts of eastern england. not really rising significantly until we get into the afternoon, when the winds pick up and we will start to see the threat of some light rain working into east anglia and the south—east. quite a range of temperatures, turning mild in the south—west. highs up to 11 degrees. we still have the cold air hanging on across northern scotland, where we'll also have some bright weather with some sunshine. now, it's six nations again this weekend and both at dublin and also twickenham, the threat of rain. probably the rain heavier at twickenham as the evening progresses. now, looking at saturday night, a windy spell of weather looks on the cards thanks to this area of low pressure. i've just drawn the fronts in, and it's around the southern flank

of this low pressure that we could see the winds being particularly strong. gales seem likely. gusts of wind 50 to 60 miles an hour. it could be a bit stronger than that across parts of the east, it just depends how quickly this area of low pressure develops. either way, as we get into the first part of sunday, that area of low pressure will be working across to cause problems in the continent. we are left with brisk north—westerly winds, that will drag in plenty of wintry showers, most of them snow inland. towards the coast, there could be a bit more of a mix of rain and sleet. there will be sunshine between those showers, but it will feel chilly, highs generally around three to five degrees. it looks quite likely that we will see another spell of heavy snow for the hills of england, northern ireland and scotland monday night. this is bbc news. the headlines: donald trump has blocked the release of a democratic memo, rebutting claims of alleged anti—trump bias in the fbi's russia probe. the white house says the memo

"contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages" and for this reason, the president was unable to declassify it. us officials say they're considering what action to take after two british jihadis were captured in syria. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh were part of a team of four british is members who the americans say killed 27 hostages. the families of their victims say the fighters should face trial. uber has settled its legal battle with the self—driving car company waymo. the dispute was over allegations that the ride—hailing app stole trade secrets about waymo's self—driving technology. as part of the settlement, uber has agreed to give waymo shares in its firm worth about $245 million. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.