welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: prosecutors in the us charge 13 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 how, in the wake of tragedies like the florida school shooting, dogs may bring some comfort to survivors. in a major development in the fbi investigation into russian meddling in the us election, 13 russians have been charged with interfering in the process.

three russian companies have also been named in a lengthy indictment. the charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and identity theft, with false social media accounts created to spread misinformation. russia says the claims are "absurd". our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the result of the 2016 presidential election is still the subject of much debate and rancorous dispute. now a finger is firmly pointed out outside interference, with 13 russian citizens accused of trying to affect the outcome. the defendants allegedly conducted what they called information warfare against the united states. with the stated goal of spreading mistrusts towards the candidates and the political system in general. the indictments, —— said the defendants used fictitious online personal

accou nts used fictitious online personal accounts and posted political m essa 9 es accounts and posted political messages in social media that impersonated real us citizens. they had forjoint bank accounts and false identification documents. 0peration supported the campaign of candidate donald trump who disparaged hillary clinton. mr trump has always strongly denied that his campaign had anything to do with russian interference in the election and the words of the deputy attorney general added credibility to the president's view. there is no allegation in this indictment that any american was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. in a statement, the white house said the president was: mrtrump added: russian foreign ministry spokesman

has ridiculed as absurd the idea that 13 could work against the billion—dollar budgets of the security services. with the allegations of interference focusing on social media, twitter said this is the most significant development in the russia investigation, but it isn't over yet. peter bowes, bbc news. 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. it appears as though, david, there will be so many layers and so many elements to robert mueller‘s investigation and, i suppose, that it could upset some people who think he is exceeding his remit. well, this doesn't exceed his remit at all. in fact, this is fully within his remit — remember, his remit was to investigate russian interference in the 2016 election and, if you look at this indictment, it goes right to the heart of that. in fact, identifying specific individuals and entities, russians who were responsible to this interference so perhaps in the future you could make that argument

about some of the things he might do in the future, but this one, no, this is right on. but here's the crucial question is whether the russian interference had any bearing whatsoever on the result of the election? from a legal perspective, that does not make a difference. if russians broke the law and if americans helped them break the law, those are very serious violations, go to the heart and sanctity of our democracy that robert mueller is clearly going to move forward on prosecuting and trying to punish those who are responsible. whether or not those things made a difference in the election, that is in the past, and no one is ever going to be able to tell whether this russian interference — which clearly happened — and the indictment shows even more evidence that it happened — we will know whether it actually made a difference. that is not provable. 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. 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 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. i did indeed and it's 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. they 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. the brazilian government has given a 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. who are 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. well, staying with that story, the city of parkland is grieving after the shooting tragedy. to help with that process, 18 comfort dogs with 30 handlers from 10 states have come to assist. earlier i spoke to richard martin. he's director of deployments for k9 comfort dogs for lutheran church charities. i asked him what they have been doing in the city. today

—— today we spend our day at the park, we were in the amphitheatre with a large memorial set up. we met with a large memorial set up. we met with community members, students, faculty and some of the medical staff that have attended to the victims and the survivors and it was a very moving day and night was a huge night of remembrance as many of the students came to remember their classmates and their coaches. for those who don't know, explain what you do? canine comfort dogs, we placed dogs in churches around the

united states and they use them as outreach tools in the community. we have over 100 dogs in 23 states and when a tragedy like this occurs when never go anywhere where we are not invited, so in this case we were invited, so in this case we were invited by saint paul lutheran church, they had some of their members of the congregation that not only work at the school but had children connected with the school and so when we got that call to come and so when we got that call to come and help in this situation, we had boots and paws on the ground within that would be for hours. tell us about those of. who are those two with you and what have they been up to? jacob was the first one to arrive yesterday, as i said it was a long day today and a long day yesterday and then ruthie here, she flew down from chicago. she is one

of our well seasoned, well travelled dogs and both of these dogs have been at both man—made and natural disasters, hurricane in texas, shootings in las vegas and they both love to comfort people stop it i was going to say, whenever i do the school run with my kids the most popular creatures are the dogs at. let me tell you, any time you leave home, whether it is just going to school going to work going on vacation, the number one thing you miss is your dog. and of course, what happens is 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 size, we often hear this is my best

day ever. it is just 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 packed. —— pet. a powerful earthquake has hit the south—west of mexico. the 7.2 magnitude quake was felt across the southern states of guerrero, puebla and oaxaca. it caused buildings to shake in the capital, mexico city, more than 300kms away. many people said they feared a repeat of the devastating quake in september which killed nearly 400 people, but there have been no reports of casualties so far. let's take a quick look at what's been happening on day eight at the winter olympics in south korea and there's been a big upset on the ski slopes. the czech republic's ester ledecka has taken gold in the women's super g. she's neverfinished on the podium

in any world cup event before, but she denied defending champion — austria's anna veith. to keep up to date with the latest action, go to the bbc sport website. let's head to the south of france now and a daring adventure to cross the mediterranean. a french man 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. tim allman, bbc news. 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. and now you know what is happening in the world. exitjonny howson. ——

thanks forjoining 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. there's been a massive decline in the number of orangutans