this is bbc world news. our top stories: us special counsel robert mueller brings charges against russian nationals for trying to help donald trump win the 2016 american election. the indictment charges 13 russian national ‘s and three russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the united states political system. the fbi says it mishandled information warning about the danger of the florida school shooter. battling criminal gangs in rio dejaneiro — brazil's president orders the army to take over security in the state. the new south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has been setting out his plans to end corruption — in his first state of the nation address. every time someone receives a bribe, there is someone who is prepared to pay it. we will make sure that we deal with both of them. hello and welcome to bbc world news.

the office of robert mueller, the special counsel investigating russian interference in the us presidential election, has filed charges against thirteen russian individuals and three companies. the charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. president trump has again insisted his campaign team did nothing wrong. our north america editor jon sopel reports. there's probably not a person anywhere in the world who doesn't know who won the 2016 presidential election. but how it was won and who influenced the result is still the subject of rancorous dispute. today, in a dramatic development, charges were brought against a number of russians for their efforts to affect the outcome. the defendants allegedly conducted

what they called "information warfare" against the united states. with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general. they used stolen or fictitious american identities, fraudulent bank accounts and false identification documents. the indictment says they had a strategic goal to sow discord in the us political system, including the 2016 us presidential election. it says operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then—candidate donald] trump and disparaging hillary clinton. from that famous night of his election victory onwards, donald trump has always sought to play down russia's role. could very well have been russia but i think it could well have been other countries. ..both on the effect they had and on whether his campaign colluded. on those two points the deputy attorney general had helpful words today.

there is no allegation in this indictment that any american was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. there is no allegation in the indictment that the charge conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election. and donald trump didn't wait long to tweet his reaction. the russia campaign was allegedly under the direction of yevgeny prigozhin, a close ally of vladimir putin. tonight he was scornful, dismissing the americans as being "very emotional." "if they want to see the devil," he said, "let them." donald trump left washington this evening to fly to his home in florida. he'll be buoyed by the indictment saying nothing about collusion, but the russia investigation goes on. and that is a source of fury to the president. and for reaction to today's news,

my colleaguejane o'brian spoke to democratic congressman joaquin castro — a member of the house intelligence committee whojoined us from munich. congressmen, this investigation has been consuming washington to sometime. how significant are the charges? this is a major breakthrough in the investigation, first it confirms the russian involvement in our 2016 presidential election, something that u nfortu nately election, something that unfortunately president trump has not fully acknowledged, but it also gives a sense of scale, the fact that 13 individuals and three companies have been indicted and also how widespread it was in the united states, including in my home state of texas, the fact that a targeted not only hillary clinton's campaign but also the campaigns of many of president trump's primary opponents. this is quite

significant. you are on the intelligence committee and have been breached continuously about the russia investigation, are you shocked by the scale of this alleged conspiracy? when i first found out much of this information a few months ago, certainly, and i think as most americans are now, reading that indictment, the level of detail and the scale involved here, the fa ct and the scale involved here, the fact that russians basically tried to pour acid in every wound of american politics and divide americans, i think this is not anything that we expected to or three years ago, or that social media like facebook and twitter would be used to such bad purposes in interfering with american elections. this week we heard us intelligence chiefs warning that russia will try to meddle in the midterms this year. how can you stop them from doing that? that's right, them from doing that? that's right, the first thing is that people have

to be held accountable. of course these folks who have been at the —— indicted, we need to determine which if any americans help them pull off what they did. and make sure that those folks are held accountable. if we don't present a strong and united front, if president trump continues to refuse to acknowledge the fact and the depth of russia's interference, it invites further interference, it invites further interference by russia, by other adversarial nations, and even by nonstate actors who will seek to interfere with american elections in the future, and also elections all around the world including europe. president trump has just tweeted that there was "no collusion", the youth think the investigation is to continue to settle that matter? absolutely. i believe president trump openly inviting russians to hack into hillary clinton's e—mails, the meetings that were arranged by members of the trump family and the trump campaign, the attempted meetings and e—mail exchanges back

and forth, already shows some level of collusion. what we are trying to determine is the extent of that collusion, and whether any laws were broken. that is not something that the house or senate will do, we don't prosecute anybody, but certainly robert mueller in his investigation will do that. congressmen castro, thank you for joining me. let me bring you some breaking news thatis let me bring you some breaking news that is coming into us, reports say a powerful earthquake has the south—western mexico state of oaxaca. the 7.5 magnitude quake was felt across southern states, it caused buildings in mexico city to shake. at the moment we have no information about casualties, and there have been no tsunami alerts. we will keep across the latest developments on that and bring them to year on bbc world news. —— ring them to you here.

the fbi has said it was warned last month about the florida school shooter nikolas cruz, but failed to act on the information. in a statement, it admitted it was tipped by a person "close" to mr cruz, who spoke about his gun ownership, desire to kill people, and potential of him conducting a school shooting. meanwhile more funerals are taking place for the victims. our north america correspondent aleem maqbool reports. they are coming to mourn a girl shot dead inside her school, one of the 17 victims of america's latest mass shooting. alyssa alhadeff had been passionate about playing football and had been a popular and talented pupil. earlier, thousands had gathered to remember all of those who died, in many cases friends that only a few days ago they had shared classrooms with. they included 14—year—old jaime guttenberg, who family members say stood up for those who were bullied. her father spoke at the vigil. i sent her to school yesterday. she was supposed to be safe. among the others who died,

meadow pollack, who was heading to university next year. joaquin oliver, a basketball player who loved writing poetry. and 14—year—old cara loughran, who her family says was a great student who loved being at the beach. all lives that were cut short by nikolas cruz, who the fbi admitted today it had received a call about to its hotline number at the beginning ofjanuary. and that huge mistake has now allowed gun advocates to divert attention from the other big concern, how easily the attacker was able to arm himself.

this is where nikolas cruz bought his weapon. all he had to do was produce his driving licence, give the most basic of personal details and then answer a question to say that he was not mentally ill. he was 18 at the time, too young to buy alcohol here but old enough to walk out of this shop with an ar—15 rifle. young survivors here are insisting on better gun control but feel many adults are letting them down. the fact that i have to say this is absolutely horrifying, but i feel the need to, because this is the blood of children that is on the floor of the school now. these are 17 children that are dead. the politicians, again, are promising change. you call this a talking point, but why would this be any different to all the atrocities that have gone before? what makes you feel this will be different? i have never seen students speak out as boldly as they have. maybe this is the turning point. close to the school,

students demonstrated to demand a solution to stop this type of tragedy happening again. in truth, america remains a long way off finding a way to end its problems with guns. let's ta ke let's take you live now to the hospital in florida, where many of the victims are being treated. president trump and the first lady there have just arrived. president trump and the first lady there havejust arrived. wejust president trump and the first lady there have just arrived. we just saw them in the corridor there. we understand they will be speaking to some of the medical staff who helped treat the victims, and some of the law enforcement officers as well. barbara plett—usher is outside broward hospital. the big unknown it seems is whether president trump is going to meet any of the victims? i'm sorry i didn't hear the question, can you repeat

it? the big unknown it seems is whether president trump is going to meet any of the victims? we haven't been given specific information about who exactly he will meet, we know we have been told family members of survivors and victims, we know there are still seven people in hospital who were injured, but he has definitely want to send the message that he stands in solidarity with them, so he will be certainly meeting family members if not victims themselves. he will also be speaking to medical staff and the sheriff, who was very much at the forefront of the response to the attack, as well as first responders who helped protect the children, or helps to evacuate them to safety. ijust wonder, what sort of reaction there has been there among the community, after this admission by the fbi that they failed to act on a tipoff they have

been given about the potential danger that nikolas cruz post?m been given about the potential danger that nikolas cruz post? it is another point of frustration because one of the questions that has been asked among several here, is how law enforcement could have missed signals or red flags as they say, that this young man was potential trouble, and given that very detailed report that we got from the fbi, the kind of information they received which went into all the reasons why the caller was concerned, i think those questions arejust magnified, concerned, i think those questions are just magnified, the concerned, i think those questions arejust magnified, the fbi did admit it did not follow protocol at the time and that it would investigate, it adds to the sense of frustration here, equally with the president's trip, people will see it iam sure president's trip, people will see it i am sure as a symbol of presidential solidarity, and it is important that, but the sense here is that this past couple of days that we are really fed up, something has to happen. we need to see action of some kind from law enforcement, from the president, we need to see a change, and so they are going to be

waiting to see what comes out of this, whether it will have any long—term impact and address some of their concerns. barbara, thank you very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making making the news. a state of emergency has been declared in ethiopia, a day after the resignation of prime minister hailemariam desalegn. the governing party says emergency rule is vital to "safeguarding the constitutional order". ethiopia only fully lifted its last state of emergency in august, which was imposed after years of anti—government protests. hundreds died in the unrest. a court in turkey has ordered the release on bail of the german—turkish journalist deniz yucel, whose detention in istanbul has been a major source of diplomatic tension. the order came as prosecutors filed an indictment on charges that carry an eighteen—year jail sentence. mr yucel was accused of terrorist propaganda and spying after writing articles about turkey's kurdish minority. germany's chancellor, angela merkel,

says she's "not frustrated" by the brexit process, but is "curious" to know more about the uk's aims, after meeting britain's prime minister theresa may in berlin earlier. mrs may reiterated her desire to maintain the closest possible economic ties with germany and the eu, but said there would have to be a "new balance of rights and obligations". the brazilian army is to take full control of security in rio de janeiro state. president michel temer ordered the intervention, saying organised crime has virtually seized control there. in brazil's most famous city, street crime is on the rise and criminal gangs have regained control of the shanty towns. the bbc‘sjulia carneiro is in rio and gave us more details. this has never happened in recent past, it is the first time, it is something that was established by the 1988 constitution, the prerogative of calling a constitution if there is a case where law and order needs to be

restored but it has never happened. the president michael temer has said an extreme measure like this was necessary because criminal organisations were spreading like a cancer, as he said, in rio, and it was necessary to take strong measures to show the state would be able to take control of the situation. this is a decree that is virtually transferring the power of how policing is organised in rio from the state of the federal government. the president has named a general who is to lead the police operation in rio from now on and will respond to him to the president. so we will see lots of changes in the coming months and we will have to see how this runs. the situation is deteriorating in rio and people are hoping for strong measures and for a response but there is also disbelief in politicians and also mistrust that they can really bring something off that will have an impact. we hear words like violence and lawlessness, but can you tell me what is actually like living

day—to—day in rio in practice? what is it like? everyone here is trying to lead their normal lives, it is not like it is chaos on the streets and carnivaljust happened and it was a big celebration but there is a daily life more and more interrupted by violent events. it seems like things are drawing near to you or that the possibility of something dangerous happening is drawing near to you or to someone you love and so people start taking precautions and they are more afraid and you hear more and more of cases of things happening. you could be the next one in line, of course, so there is a sense of fear in the city, and this becomes even more evident when events become more extreme like we have seen over the past few weeks. let's see what will happen and if this will help improve the situation. our correspondent in rio. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: we look at the reasons why the number of orangutans in borneo has halved in just sixteen years. nine years and 15,000 deaths

after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm was murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no letup in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flowed down to the sea on the east of the island — away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: the us special counsel investigating possible interference in the presidential elections, robert muller, has brought charges against thirteen russian suspects. the fbi has acknowledged that it mishandled a warning that it received last month about nikolas cruz, the man who killed 17 people at a school in florida. the new south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has delivered his first state of the nation address to parliament in cape town, a day after being sworn into office. he set out his plans for the economy and for ending the corruption scandals that forced his predecessor, jacob zuma, to resign. our africa editor fergal keane reports. to those who remember the birth of this democracy nearly a quarter of a century ago, the day had echoes of past greatness. he helped forge the historic compromise that delivered this nation. now he has risen to lead it.

across this most diverse of nations they have waited, through years of corruption, but with the patience which has always forestalled catastrophe here. # give me hope, cyril ramaphosa...# and tonight he tried to do that, in a speech that blended lofty rhetoric with a blunt warning. we are determined to build a society defined by decency and integrity, that does not tolerate the plunder of public resources, nor the theft by corporate criminals of the hard earned savings of ordinary people. specifics, there weren't many. next week's budget and the composition of his new cabinet, due in days, will tell a lot. he finished with an appeal to basic patriotism. this is now the time where we should honour the memory of nelson mandela, to build a new, better south africa for all our people. now is the time.

thank you very much. even the anc‘s strongest opposition critics joined the standing ovation, something that would have been unthinkable in the jacob zuma years. i've just come out of the parliament chamber, and the goodwill there was quite extraordinary, even from the opposition. and that exists across this country. above all, an overwhelming desire for change. cyril ramaphosa now has a short time to capitalise on that. with such support, president ramaphosa is now in an unprecedented position to take on those who captured the state through corruption. after the joy will come the battle. expect him to be ruthless. fergal keane, bbc news, cape town. there's been a massive decline in the number of orangutans

on the island of borneo. a study has found that within sixteen years, the population has plummeted by half. deforestation is one of the reasons but a large number of the animals are also being killed by hunters orfor raiding crops. victoria gill reports. hanging onto survival. zoo programmes like this preserve small populations of bornean orangutans. but in the wild, they are being pushed rapidly towards extinction. their rainforest home continues to be cleared for agriculture and mining, but a 16—year—long study has now revealed that borneo's orangutans are disappearing from areas where the forest is untouched. they are being targeted by hunters. even in the areas where we think they're safe, we are losing them. and in some of the large populations where we have measured this loss, it's 50% over 16 years. it is an astonishing decline at the population level.

even without animals being deliberately killed, scientists estimate that deforestation alone could wipe out another 115,000 orangutans here in the next three decades. but this bridge—building project is a much—needed sign of hope. where the forest is fragmented by agricultural drainage ditches, a team from chester zoo and the malaysian charity hutan is physically reconnecting it with tough polyester straps. this remarkable footage captured by a tourist is the project's first sign of success. when these animals use their arms, they move around, they move that height, they swing in the forest canopy and that's what they rely on in the wild. the zoo has learned from that to build bridges that will reconnect that habitat, just like the ones in the zoo enclosure. to actually see them using them and moving more freely across this habitat, that is so fragmented, is a really positive sign.

this is very much a short—term solution. the long—term solution is to reforest the area. palm oil grown here makes its way into a huge variety of our food and other products, so conservationists are urging us consumers to check its sourced sustainably. our choices, scientists say, could decide whether there is a future for these critically endangered apes. victoria gill, bbc news. some newsjust in: reports say a powerful earthquake has hit the south—western mexico state of oaxaca. the 7.5 magnitude quake was felt across the southern states of guerrero, oaxaca and puebla. it caused buildings in the capital, mexico city, to shake. there's no information about casualties and no tsunami alert. these are images in the immediate aftermath. the epicentre is close to

the pacific coast and the area is of course still recovering from a devastating earthquake that caused devastating earthquake that caused devastating damage back in september. tall buildings swayed for more than a minute and seismic alarms sounded throughout the city. reports that tremors were felt as far away as guatemala to the south. a thousand people went out into the streets in the city centre, obviously trying to get away from the buildings swaying. to recap the breaking news, seven .5 earthquake struck the southern mexican region of oaxaca. more details on that as we get it. thank you for watching. let's see what is coming your way

this weekend. for most of us the weather is not looking too bad at all. certainly some sunshine on the way and skies on saturday will probably look something like this, a nice picture from a weather watcher. some sunshine the saturday but sunday does not look too great at least across western areas of the uk. this is the latest satellite image, clouds across the country right now. this gap in place during the course of saturday. in the short term, still some rain around western and northern areas with some hill snow. the clearest in east anglia and the south—east through the early area with a touch of frost. a weak weather front crossing the country first thing on saturday. by the afternoon, the weather would

brighten. initially many will look out the window and it will be fairly cloudy but by the time we get to the second half of the morning, the weather is looking a lot better and the afternoon bright if not sunny apart from the odd light shower developing here and there. on balance a fine day. the forecast for saturday night, initially a lot of clear whether and in fact it will stay dry all the way through saturday night into sunday in the eastern and central areas but notice how the clouds are increasing out west. rain spilling across ireland. a big area of low pressure. you can see the rain on this weather front coming through. this is actually a warm front which means that mild and behind it and it will start to turn very cloudy, murky and drizzly and mild across many western areas.

places like cardiff and eventually the north—west of england, northern ireland and western scotland, you are infora ireland and western scotland, you are in for a cloudy if not damp and even wet afternoon. many central and eastern areas on sunday, it is dry in london, newcastle and those temperatures creeping up to around 11, maybe 12 celsius. as far as the next few days are concerned, it looks like it may be turning colder. this is bbc world news, the headlines: in the us, thirteen russians have been charged as part of special counsel robert mueller‘s investigation into alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election. president trump has tweeted, again, that his campaign did nothing wrong

and that there was no collusion. the fbi has said it did not properly follow up on a warning that the florida school shooting suspect might carry out an attack. nikolas cruz has confessed to carrying out the attack, which killed 17 people. in his first state of the nation address, south africa's new president, cyril ramaphosa, has spoken of a new dawn for the country. he pledged to build a society defined by decency and integrity. the brazilian army is to take full control of security in rio de janeiro state. president michel temer said organised crime has virtually seized control there. now on bbc news, it's time for talking books.