this is bbc news. our top stories: brazil's former president lula is negotiating his surrender — hours after a police deadline expired. doctors say sergei skripal — the former russian spy poisoned with a nerve agent is making a rapid recovery. russia warns of a tough response as president putin's inner circle is implicated in new sanctions from the us. police in new york charge martial arts fighter conor mcgregor with assault and criminal mischief. hello. the former president of brazil, luis inacio lula da silva, has defied the deadline set by a court for him to surrender to police. his lawyers are in negotiations with the authorities and have filed a motion to the supreme court

to suspend a prison order. lula was sentenced to 12 years for corruption — although he says the charges against him are politically motivated. lebo diseko has the latest. his supporters had demanded ‘no‘ to jailfor lula, and it seems they've got that for now. federal police say they won't exercise the arrest warrant while negotiations continue for his surrender. luis inacio lula da silva had been holed up in this union building in his hometown of sao bernardo do campo hours after he was meant to surrender to police to start a 12—year prison term for corruption. his supporters say the conviction is political, designed to stop a man of the people from running for president in october, a poll that he was favourite to win. translation: if lula is arrested, it will be as if the underprivileged class was arrested as well.

translation: people will go in the street, people will come tomorrow and won't let anyone enter to get him out. but the anti—lula voices arejust as loud. outside the police headquarters, his detractors called lula a crook and a thief who belongs in prison. translation: i came herejust so i could see up close when this crooked man, lula, goes to prison. federal police say they hope they can bring an end to the stand—off on saturday, but with his legal team doing all they can to keep him out of prison, whether that will actually happen remains to be seen. doctors treating the former russian spy who was attacked with a nerve

agent in the uk say he's no longer in a critical condition. it's nearly five weeks since sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, were found slumped on a park bench in salisbury. britain says russia is behind the poisonings — but moscow continues to deny any involvement. leila nathoo reports. they were targeted with a chemical weapon. sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, seen here in newly—released family photos taken in russia. they were hospitalised more than a month ago after being exposed to a nerve agent, a toxic chemical designed to shut down the human body. but they have been fighting its effects, and today, the hospital gave this update. as yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily, and she can look forward to the day when she's well enough to leave hospital. i also want to update you on the condition of her father, sergei skripal. he's responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and is no longer in a critical condition. it was on 4th of march that the two

were found incapacitated in the centre of salisbury. they were critically ill. a police officer, who was one of the first to respond to the incident, was also admitted to hospital. he was discharged a fortnight later. the skripals had been heavily sedated and unable to communicate, but last week, yulia regained consciousness. now her father too appears to be making progress. it's fantastic news. somewhat unexpected, i think. we were obviously concerned they were in a very serious state, but we heard earlier this week that yulia is getting better. but to hear that sergei himself is also recovering well is excellent news and i hope to hear more encouraging news in the weeks ahead. in a statement, a foreign office spokesperson said: yulia skripal is communicating.

yesterday, she put out a statement via the police, saying she was getting stronger daily. but it's not yet clear whether sergei skripal is recovering to the same extent. but how is it that either of them have been able to withstand the impact of such a deadly substance? there are so many variables that a poisoning from novichok might take. so you have the environmental conditions in which the poison might have been left and how he might have picked it up. the quantities that actually got into him. we hear that it's through the skin, which is a lot more of a protective barrier than, for example, if it was inhaled. so, overall, it is a pleasant surprise, good news for him and good news for the investigation. yulia, and perhaps herfather too, will now become crucial witnesses in the investigation, described by counterterror police as one of the largest and most complex they have ever carried out. while former russian spy sergei skripal recovers in hospital

from the nerve agent attack nearly five weeks ago, the us has made its most aggressive move yet, imposing sanctions on russian officials and companies accused of profiting from president putin's efforts to undermine the west. the list includes oligarchs close to the president and a dozen companies they control. chris buckler reports. wealth of russian oligarchs does lie in business. oleg deripaska became a billionaire from his dealings in aluminium. but like so many of russia's super rich he has benefited from a relationship at the kremlin. he isjust one from a relationship at the kremlin. he is just one of a long from a relationship at the kremlin. he isjust one of a long list from a relationship at the kremlin. he is just one of a long list of individuals close to vladimir putin targeted by these us sanctions. actions intended to financially punish them and intended to send a message to moscow. in a statement, oleg deripaska said: but the white

house says russia has been abusing its power internationally, as well as meddling inside america. as the president has said he wants to have a good relationship with russia, but that will depend on some of the actions by the russians, however at the same time the president is going to continue to be tough until we see that change take place. the sanctions are in response to claims that russia interviewed with america's residential election. the retaliation for the way the country has used its influence in syria and ukraine. but despite the tough actions of some observers believe donald trump has been relatively quiet perhaps protecting his own relationship with the russian president. the rhetoric coming out of the president's mouth has been quite different. he has never criticise russia, certainly not

criticise russia, certainly not criticise vladimir putin. never taken the criticise vladimir putin. never ta ken the russians criticise vladimir putin. never taken the russians to task for their aggressive behaviour. vladimir putin was chairing a meeting of russia's security council when details of those affected by the sanctions were released. the list included individuals inside the room. translation: i only now learn from your report is that i have been included in the us list. it appears they have just made it. well, included in the us list. it appears they havejust made it. well, i included in the us list. it appears they have just made it. well, i am on other lists as well, that means i exist, and we are at it, we are internationally active. —— we are active. the sanctions were used by american who deliberately target president putin's in a circle. after days of tit—for—tat expulsions and diplomatic disputes, the kremlin will once again be considering its response. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. south africa's former presidentjacob zuma has appeared

in court, facing corruption charges linked to a 1990s arms deal. mr zuma appeared for just 15 minutes, smiling as he walked in. he's facing 16 charges of corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering. syrian activists say that heavy airstrikes on the last rebel—held town in eastern ghouta have killed at least 32 civilians — including five children. douma is surrounded by government forces — and the syrian army says the rebels still holding out there should leave, orface destruction in a full—scale military offensive. members of the us national guard from texas and arizona are being deployed to the border with mexico. texas is sending 250 personnel; arizona is planning to deploy 150. president trump has said he wants up to 4,000 troops stationed on the border until the wall is built. palestinian officials say ten people have died and hundreds more wounded during fresh protests along gaza's border with israel. the israeli army said it opened fire on people who tried to breach its frontier defences.

the palestinians began holding demonstrations along the border a week ago — demanding refugees and their descendants be allowed to return to land which is now in israel. from gaza, yolande knell reports. billowing black smoke. young palestinians burn huge piles of tyres as a smokescreen, as they hurl stones at israeli soldiers, who fire back with tear gas and bullets. this was another bloody friday on the gaza border. but ahmed, his son and grandsons came to peacefully protest and pray. as a toddler 70 years ago, ahmed lost nearly all his family and his village when the state of israel was created. i was one day expelled and deported from my original country of palestine, i want to return back again. i am here to tell them, i am, with a peaceful way,

want to return back to my homeland. israel rejects the claims of palestinian refugees. its military says it has been acting here to stop mass infiltrations into israeli territory. it blames gaza's hamas leaders for stirring up violence. i've just come from the gaza border and to my right are israeli homes, israeli communities, mothers and fathers trying to protect their children. and just a few football fields away were crowds gathering, who have made it clear their intent is to wipe israel off the map. the plan is to continue the border demonstrations into the middle of next month. despite the obvious dangers, palestinians here say they will keep up their protests. they will keep pressing their demands and confronting israel. on the other side of the border, israel sees all of this as a huge provocation, and is threatening a harsh response. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: unique and radical new york pianist, cecil taylor, dies at age 89. how he's being remembered as one of the great innovators in modern music. 55 years of hatred and rage have come toppling down with the statues. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, the day

when we heard the line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's works are beautiful, they were intelligent, and it's a sad loss to everybody who loves art. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the legal team of brazil's former president lula asks the supreme court to suspend his 12—year jail sentence, hours after he was due to hand himself in to police. russia's foreign ministry has warned there'll be a "tough response" to new us sanctions on president putin's inner circle. let's get more on that story.

brian o'toole is non—resident senior fellow at the atlantic council. he was a former senior us treasury sanctions official. i asked him if the sanctions would be effective. i think, gauging whether sanctions work or not, that is a tricky thing. you have to look at the overall policy. i think they will have a significant effect, especially on those targeted, and i think this is the first time, really, since the early parts of 2014 that we have seen significant action. i think they will sit up and take notice of this. but if you take something like travel, for example, many of these guys have diplomatic passports, many of them are out of reach of the stations regimes because they use shell companies to invest in the western world. so perhaps this isjust more barking than biting? i think that is a common misperception. anybody who plays in the global

financial sector is going to fall afoul of these sanctions because of the prevalence of the us dollar and especially us services. we heard similar scoffing in 2014 when, as part of the obama administration, we imposed sanctions on several of president putin's money men. timchenko especially laughed off the sanctions but found out a few weeks later he couldn't fly his plane because it requires us navigation systems and us spare parts. they may have shell companies but they will have to access those assets at some point, and they will be touching them, and that is when the financial sector can push back. there is also the big impact of us goods and services. if rusoil is using, say, workday or some other us company

to run its technological backbone, it will have to stop doing that. those companies wander or longer be able to deal with rusoil or many other companies. in an ideal world the sanctions would alter the alleged behaviour of president putin. does he really care if these guys cannot fly their private jets? i think at some point there will be a breaking point. he is kept in power because there is an elite class in russia which benefits from his largesse. if he is no longer able to provide that protection, if merely being associated with the kremlin and its foreign ventures — which do not help these businessmen at all, right, it's not like hacking the us election is helpful for these companies — if those things become toxic to these businessmen, i do not think you would necessarily see a very fast turnaround for them,

but i do think you would start to see some of them potentially splintering. facebook has announced that anyone placing political adverts on its network will have to state who is paying for them. under the new rules, those posting such ads will also have to verify their identity and location. the company's chief executive, mark zuckerberg, said he wanted to make it harderfor fake news to be shared. our correspondent, dave lee, reports from san francisco. one of these measures is to monitor the funding of advertising, to see where adverts that have been paid for by a campaign to be on facebook, to make sure that's completely clear. they're going to make sure that anyone who is placing an advertisement and on facebook around political interests is being verified, and they will do that by making sure they are using a us government issued id, they will send an access code to a physical address in the us to prove that a person is based here, and only once they input that access code into facebook will they allowed to do any advertising. when it comes to large pages, they have many millions

of followers, facebook will make some efforts to verify who is looking after those pages, to make sure they are who they say they are, because that was one thing russian interests did during the election campaign, they pretended to be americans running pages about american politics, when in reality they were russian trolls, as has become known, operating out of st petersburg. two things facebook is hoping to do in order to make sure that these tactics used by russia perhaps cannot be used again. more than seven million companies, people use facebook advertising every single month, and so the idea that the company can go through each of those individually will be incredibly difficult. all of this comes ahead of some hearings next week in washington, mark zuckerberg himself is going to be in congress to answer questions on two separate days. i think many of these changes announced on friday here in california are going to be designed to make sure that mr zuckerberg can be

in front of those senators and representatives saying that they are doing things, here are the measures they have put in place. whether those changes will be enough to keep politicians happy will remain to be seen, there is a lot of ground that facebook has to make up before it can say they has the situation under control. but it does seem like things are going in the right direction. the mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor, has been charged with assault and criminal mischief, by police in new york. the former ufc champion, is accused of vandalising a bus containing rivalfighters. he's been released on bail, as our sports correspondent richard conway reports. even in a sport where the hype comes as standard, conor mcgregor may have overplayed his hand. get a medic! as the ultimate fighting championship, or ufc as it's known,

held a media day in new york, mcgregor and his entourage stormed the backstage area, attacking a coach containing rivalfighters. video appears to show mcgregor throwing a metal trolley, while others rain objects towards the vehicle. with his privatejet grounded, the irishman turned himself into police. and, after a night in the cells, was led to court today. astarof ufc, mcgregor‘s future in the sport now appears to be in jeopardy. it's disgusting. and i don't think anybody is going to be, you know, huge conor mcgregor fans after this. ufc is hugely popular around the world. the company which organises and promotes the sport was sold two years ago for more than £3 billion. competitors use a combination of fists, knees, elbows and feet in a mix of martial arts. chanting: we want conor!

conor, the bbc, how are you? and within that world, there is no bigger attraction than mcgregor. supported by ufc, he turned to boxing last summer, taking on, but eventually losing to, floyd mayweatherjr, in one of the most lucrative pay—per—view bouts in history. as a master showman, he revels in creating a circus, courting controversy, and being outspoken. all publicity is said to be good publicity, especially for a man who has forged a career as a flamboyant outsider. but any criminal conviction could yet see conor mcgregor lose his right to work in america. richard conway, bbc news. one of america's most influentialjazz pianists, cecil taylor, has died at the age of 89. born in new york and classically trained, taylor was known for the physicality of his playing — at times using his fists or palms. with his distinctive percussive

style he challenged jazz tradition and launched the free jazz movement. this his him playing in 1973. exuberant jazz plays. earlier i spoke with philip freeman, a freelance journalist for the wire magazine. he interviewed cecil taylor in 2016. he says cecil taylor wasn't so much a rebel but created his own style within the jazz tradition. he started playing the piano aged six. i mean, he was classically trained, a complete master of the keyboard. i think that is one of the most common misconceptions about taylor, that he was some sort of iconoclast or rebel against jazz tradition, when, in fact, he loved more

traditional players like duke ellington. he was very much on his own path. he was creating his own music. but fitting it within a much broader artistic tradition. for those who'd never witnessed him play, i just want to give this example of a video that i saw — you can search on youtube, and watching him play, i held my breath. i grabbed onto the chair that i was sitting on and just held on to it while he played. yes, i remember, i saw him five times between 1997 and 2016, and there was one time in particular i remember seeing him, at avery fisher hall, part of lincoln center in new york, and he was playing solo. he played this tidal wave of notes. you were sure that it was completely improvised, that it was total

freedom in action. then he paused for one beat and played the exact same thing again. myjaw fell, you know? to realise that he had planned the entire thing was astonishing. tell us a bit about his work ethic. because, you know, he wasn't one of those young musicians who said, "i haven't practised since i was 19." he was a hard—working man. he was. what is interesting is that he would sometimes go years without making a record, but he would be writing new music, assembling a new group, taking it on tour in europe, and then disbanding it again. the project was complete when the audience heard the music. that was enough for him, in a lot of ways. the other thing that is really interesting is that he kind of considered all aspects

of his life to be part of his art. he had a strong visual style in the way he dressed, and he enjoyed the good things in life in terms of eating and drinking well and travelling and experiencing major stuff, but at the same time, there was a side of him... he wasn't a hermit in any way. he knew his neighbours in brooklyn, you know? he was a friendly guy. he would go out to clubs, he would go out to see other musicians play. he was very much a part of the world and allowing everything in, to fuel his own creativity. and how can you not love a man like that? thank you very much, philip freeman. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @nkemifejika. hello.

thoughts on the weekend in just a second, but first of all, i think we should mark the fact that on friday here in the heart of london the temperatures reached in excess of 17 degrees celsius, the warmest day of the year so far. not far behind in the sunshine stakes, this was south wales. but somebody had to have all the cloud and rain and initially it was there in northern ireland and then it moved on to scotland and it was captured beautifully by graham in the heart of sterling. the weekend, for the pessimists amongst you, cloudy, damp and mild. for the optimists, there will be dry weather. this is how friday shaped up. the reason why we had the brightness down towards the south—east and the warmth was because the frontal system never actually made it down into the south—east and into the first part of saturday, the rain still drifting its way slowly towards the northern half of scotland and then it arcs back from the north sea down to a new area of cloud and rain towards the south—west. all of that cloud means that the weekend will not start on a particularly cold note. that frontal system that i've drawn there as a straight line will wave all over, particularly the central and eastern parts of the british isles for a good part

of the weekend. to its east, there is some relatively mild air to be had. as i say, we've already got the temperatures up to 17 and we won't be far off that mark — if we get a little bit of brightness, perhaps, across east anglia and the south—east. but further west, closer to that weather front, perhaps, the rain can be quite heavy for a time and as you see, it really only drifts very slowly further north. it could eventually end up into northern ireland, could get up to the scottish borders and eventually clear from the south. a bit of brightness here, that's where it could hit 16 or 17. some nice dry weather across the north of scotland. and from saturday on into sunday, the same weather front. we've got one little wave on it there. it's a zone of cloud rather than a thin banner of cloud. and, again, at its thickest, it could be producing rain. at this distance, my money is on the fact that there could be cloud and rain across east anglia and the south—east. elsewhere, this is where the optimists get their day, lots of dry weather around and there may be sunshine that could, even as far north as edinburgh, be boosting

the temperatures to around about 13 degrees. just a sneaky peek at the start of next week, when you thought it was this atlantic front coming in to dominate the weather, in fact it is a low pressure over france, which eventually churns cloud and rain in from the east and south—east across a good part of england and wales. the best of the dry weather further north. this is bbc news, the headlines. the legal team of brazil's former president lula has asked the supreme court to suspend his 12—yearjail sentence for corruption. it comes just hours after he was due to hand himself into police. he has been holed up in the headquarters of a steelworkers' union. doctors treating the former russian spy who was attacked with a nerve agent in the uk say he's no longer in a critical condition. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in salisbury, nearly five weeks ago. russia has threatened a ‘tough

response' to new us sanctions imposed on russian officials and companies, who are accused of profiting from president putin's efforts to undermine the west. the blacklist includes mr putin's bodyguard, his son—in—law, oligarchs close to the president and a dozen companies they control. police say they'll take no further action against a pensioner, after an intruder was fatally stabbed at his home.