welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: prosecutors in the us charge thirteen russian nationals with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. donald trump visits a hospital in florida, where victims of wednesday ‘s high school shooting are being treated. battling criminal gangs in rio de janeiro. brazil's president orders the army to take over security in the state. and south africa's new president sets out his plans to end corruption, in his first state of the nation address. senior officials have charged thirteen russians with interfering in the presidential election that brought donald trump to power. they're the first charges from the us department ofjustice, as part of a long running investigation into alleged

meddling in the 2016 poll. 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 wa rfa re" 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. 0n 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. earlier i spoke to david tafuri. he is an international lawyer and a former us state department official. i asked him from a legal perspective, just how serious the charges were against these russian nationals. well, the indictment is stunning in the level of detail and the presentation of evidence of russia interfering in our 2016 election. now, as the previous report mentioned, there is no reference

to americans participating or supporting that interference, however, as deputy attorney general rosenstein said, he's refered to just this indictment. now, we do not know what's coming in the next indictment or whether there will be more indictments in the future, but a careful prosecutor, like mueller, would go about this on a step—by—step process and this could be just the next step in a long investigation that is going to result in more indictments. it is also notable that this is activity and interference, while very serious, and having poteltially very serious consequences on the 2016 election, it is not include everything that we know happened in the 2016 election. for instance, if you look back to the intelligent assessment report last january, it talks about the hacking of dnc e—mails and that also was illegal interference by russia. this indictment doesn't go to that at all. so perhaps the next indictment will go to that and who is responsible for that illegal activity and then the question there will be,

was the trump campaign or were any other americans involved in that. the fbi has admitted it failed to act on warnings about the teenager charged with the mass shooting in florida on wednesday. nikolas cruz is accused of killing 17 people at a high school in the miami suburb of parkland. meanwhile, more funerals have been held for the victims of the deadly attack. 0ur 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 0liver, 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. well, president trump has arrived in florida in the last couple of hours. during visits to a hospital and the sheriff's office in parkland, he praised emergency workers and medical staff for their response. they have done an incredible job. the doctor was amazing. we saw numerous people and incredible recovery. incredible. first responders, everybody.

the job they've done is incredible and i want to congratulate you. you've done a greatjob. reporter: did you see some victims, mr president? yes, i did, yes, i did. idid indeed. very sad that something like that could happen, but the job the doctors did, the nurses, the hospital, first responders, law enforcement, really incredible. the speed that they got the victims over to the hospital — in one case 20 minutes, in one case 19 minutes, from the time of the shots. it's an incredible thing. thank you very much. do gun our laws need to be changed, mr president? a short time ago we spoke to our correspondent, barbara plett—usher, from outside broward hospital. yes, a very brief mention and a very brief visit. i don't think he was here for more than 15 or 20 minutes. he says he met with victims

and medical staff and congratulated them on an incredible job and as you said didn't really respond to that question about gun laws. he hasn't spoken about the issue of tightening laws so far in his speeches. he has spoken about ensuring the safety of schools, making them safer and has also deflected the issue to a mental health one. he said this is evidence of a mental health crisis and people should be more vigilant about reporting signs of disturbed behaviour. but the people here are asking amongst other things for tighter gun controls. how could this young man find it so easy to purchase an assault weapon that could cause so much damage, when there had been some signs of troubled behaviour in his past? they are also asking for practical steps at schools, things like metal detectors and more security. and i suspect when president trump takes this up, if he does further, that will be more what he will focus on them that very complex and for the issue of changing gun control laws. let's take a look at some

of the other stories 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. 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 on friday. 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". a court in turkey has ordered the release of a german journalist. the

order came as prosecutors filed an indictment and penalties can carry —— carry an18 indictment and penalties can carry —— carry an 18 year prison sentence. he was accused of spying after writing articles about the kurdish minority. 0xfam has agreed to stop eating for government funds in the wa ke eating for government funds in the wake of a sexual misconduct scandal. the news comes after a woman employed by 0xfam told the bbc she was abused a more senior colleague. _by was abused a more senior colleague. —— by a. the brazilian government has given the military full control to oversee security in rio dejaneiro — in response to growing gang violence. rio‘s governor issued an appeal for help after the annual carnival celebrations were marred by violence. stefan levy reports. carnival singing and music plays. from this... gun fire. ..to this, just a week on from the beginning

of this year's rio carnival. despite thousands of police on the streets during the annual celebrations, a series of armed robberies and confrontations between rival gangs shown a spotlight on the city's deteriorating security situation. tourist areas usually considered safe transformed into a hot bed of crime and violence. on friday, brazilian president michel temer signed a decree giving the military full control of security operations in rio. translation: organised crime has virtually taken control of the state of rio de janeiro. it is a matastasis that has extended throughout the country and threatens the tranquillity of our nation. for that reason we have just called for a federal intervention in the public security for rio de janeiro.

the army already patrol some of the most dangerous areas of the city, where drug gangs operate but now that presence will be felt all over rio. a situation unheard—of since brazil's return to democracy in 1985, after 21 years of military rule. rio‘s police budget has been slashed, in recent years, because of an economic crisis. finances in the state have been badly hit by a national recession and a slump in oil prices, as well as high levels of alleged corruption. mr temer‘s decree is expected to be approved by brazil's national congress next week and, with it, hope amongst local people that something is being done. stefan levy, bbc news stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we look at peddle power in the skies. the little airship trying to cross the mediterranean. 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 with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: thirteen russian nationals have been charged by the us special counsel robert mueller with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. donald trump has met survivors of wednesday's high school gun attack in florida, in which seventeen people were killed. just sticking with that story, with speaker richard martin who is the director of deployment of the canine comfort dogs with lutheran charities, telus, what have you been doing today? j we were -- today we spent the entire day out at pine trails park, the recreation centre also held with counsellors, for the stu d e nts also held with counsellors, for the students in the amphitheatre, there

was a large memorial set up with candles still burning from the vigil last night, and we met with community members, students, faculty, some of the medical staff that attended to the victims, and the survivors, and it was a very moving day, and tonight was a huge night of remembrance as many of the stu d e nts night of remembrance as many of the students came to remember their classmates, and their coaches. for those who don't know, just explain what you do. our canine comfort dog ministry at lutheran church charities, we place dogs in churches across the united states, and we use them as outreach tools in our community, we have over 100 dogs and 23 states, and when a tragedy like this occurs we never go anywhere

where we are not invited, so in this case we were invited by a simple —— by saint pol lutheran church, they had several members of their congregation who were connected with the school, so when we got that call to come and help in this situation, we had put st paul's on the ground within 2a hours. —— boots and paws. tell us about those boots and paws, who are these with you? these two, jacob was the first to arrive yesterday, it was a long day today and a long day yesterday, and then ruby here, we flew down yesterday from chicago, she is one of our well seasoned, well travelled dogs, both of these dogs have been at both man—made and natural disasters, hurricanes and texas, the shooting

in las vegas, and they both love to comfort people. whatever -- whenever ido comfort people. whatever -- whenever i do the school run with my kids, the farmers to popular creatures other dogs. —— far most popular. the farmers to popular creatures other dogs. -- far most popular. any time you leave home, whether it is going to school going to work or vacation, the number one thing you miss your dog. and what happens is that people want to play with them and it hopefully makes them feel better? it certainly does, just the sight of the dogs, the expressions on people ‘s faces, the sighs, we often hear "this is my best day ever", and it is a comforting feeling to have your hands on a dog thatis feeling to have your hands on a dog that is well—trained and calm, and just loves to be pet. thank you very

much, richard martin. the new south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has warned that the country faces "tough decisions" after inheriting a stagnating economy and a large national debt. in his first state of the nation address he pledged to fight corruption. 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. switzerland's roger federer has become the oldest player to top the world tennis rankings. five years after losing his spot at the top, roger federer, has reclaimed the position at the age of 36. his elevation in the rankings came after he beat dutch player, robin haase, in straight sets to reach the semi—finals of a tournament in rotterdam. federer, a 20—time grand slam champion, said being number one at his age is a "dream come true". when you're older, you know,

you feel like you have to do double the work. this one maybe means the most of my career, getting to number one, enjoying it at 36, almost 37 years old, it is an absolute dream come true. cannot believe it. applause. let's head to the south of france now — and a daring adventure to cross the mediterranean. a frenchman is planning to travel from nice to corsica. all he will use is a small inflatable zeppelin — and a whole lot of pedal power. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. # come take a trip in my airship, come sail away to the stars. # it doesn't fly very high, it doesn't fly very fast, but don't underestimate this little airship. # we'll sail away to mars. # its creator and pilot, stephane rousson,

has big plans for what he calls his zeppie. this is a precise piece of engineering. a bicycle—like structure, two propellers, and a 20—metre long helium filled balloon. it is both daring and delicate. translation: the difficulty is that the machine is extremely sensitive to weather conditions, because you need wind speeds of less than five kilometres per hour in order to fly. that means the sea must be completely flat, not a single wave on the water. the plan is to cross the mediterranean, metaphorically setting sailfrom nice, heading towards calvi on the northern coast of corsica, a journey of 175 kilometres. # come take a trip in my airship...# this was simply a test flight, one that caused a little bemusement for passing traffic. stephane tried crossing the english channel ten years ago

but had to give up after 80 hours of pedalling and a distance of 35 kilometres. the attempted flight to corsica, if flight is the right word, is expected to take place later this year. here are some pictures we wanted to show you, here is a japanese and american astronaut floating outside the international space station, they went on the spacewalk at an altitude of 408 kilometres to service an orbiting outpost. they were up there for 6.5 hours in total. the spacewalk is the 208th in support of the space station, but it is also a first for the japanese astronaut. thanks for being with us. the weather this weekend is looking a little mixed.

most of us will get at least one fine day of weather. it will be saturday. we will have skies like this. this is an image from friday from one of our weather watchers. here is the weekend summary. we have some sunny weather on saturday, it will be bright. from sunday things will turn. clouds are gathering already for sunday. ahead of that this is what we will have in uk over saturday, that window of brighter weather. in the short term, through the early hours of saturday we have some rain around, maybe hill snow across the north. clear and cold weather across east anglia and the south—east. there will be a touch of frost in places. on saturday, a weak weather front moves across northern parts of the uk. first thing in the morning some of us will be waking up to overcast skies. there will be light rain here and there. through the morning, that area of cloud basically breaks up and the sun comes out.

on balance, a fine day. not a completely fine and dry day, there might be one or two little showers developing. on balance, sunshine will prevail across the uk on saturday. the best of the weather, i suspect, on the south coast and some of these western areas, around 11 degrees. the forecast for saturday night into sunday, a lot of cloud behind me, this is streaming in our direction. this is actually a warm weather front, it will be followed by some milder weather conditions. this is the weather map. a cold front there, a warm front here. within this area we have that mild air pushing in our direction. the thinking is first thing in the morning on sunday it will be clouding over across many western areas and it will feel fairly damp. for the tips of cornwall, pembrokeshire, certainly in northern ireland, the rain getting in there during the morning. for many eastern areas on sunday,

you can see norwich, hull, newcastle, all the way up to aberdeen, that eastern portion of the uk should stay dry. all day, we suspect, on sunday, before this weather front crosses you and brings the rain. watch what happens as we go through sunday into monday. still milder air, coming in from the south—west. then there is a sudden shift in the wind direction. it starts coming out of the east. that means as we head through the next few days things are set to turn that little bit colder. this is bbc news. the headlines: 13 russian nationals have been charged by the us special counsel, robert mueller, with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. mr mueller‘s office linked the group to an internet agency that allegedly churned out online posts aimed at boosting president trump's prospects. mr trump has met survivors of wednesday's high school gun attack in florida, in which 17 people were killed.

during visits to a hospital and sheriff's office in the miami suburb of parkland, he praised emergency workers and medical staff for their response, describing the shooting as "ve brazil's president has signed a decree authorising the army to supervise all anti—crime operations in the state of rio de janeiro. michel temer said organised crime was spreading like a cancer in the country. the opposition has blamed austerity measures for the collapse of rio's economy. new figures show a dramatic reduction in the number of young people buying their own homes across the uk in the last 20 years.