welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: questions surface after reports that donald trump's former lawyer secretly recorded him, discussing payments to silence former playboy model karen mcdougaljust months before the us election. police confirm nine members of same family were among those killed when a tourist duck boat sank during a storm in missouri. with just months left to finalize a brexit deal, the eu's chief negotiator says there is progress, but there's still work to be done. former cricketer imran khan remains the frontrunner in pakistan's elections next week, but is the campaign being overshadowed by his links to the military? hello and welcome to bbc news.

donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen, secretly recorded his client discussing payments to a former playboy model, that's according to a us media report. the tapes were reportedly discovered during an fbi raid on mr cohen's property. the new york times reports that on the recording, mr trump and mr cohen discuss paying karen mcdougal. she says she had a 10—month affair with donald trump in 2006. the tape was reportedly made two months before the election. for more on this, our correspondent chris buckler joins me live from washington. give us more details to clarify what's going on. it's a complicated story but basically it's alleged karen mcdougal had an affair with donald trumpa mcdougal had an affair with donald trump a decade before he stood for

the presidential election in the united states. that was into thousand six, but in 2016 she sold her story to the national enquirer. he's always denied he had that affairand he he's always denied he had that affair and he also denied that he knew anything about a payment by the national enquirer. it seems the national enquirer. it seems the national enquirer. it seems the national enquirer didn't even publish the story. it is a tabloid newspaper owned by a friend of donald trump and there were suggestions that what took place was a kind of catch and kill, that's a statement used to talk about whenever a publication buys a story and then doesn't publish it. effectively ibehre is the story. but a nondisclosure agreement means that person cannot talk about it with anyone else —— effectively it varies. michael cohen was donald trump's lawyer during that period and also was seen as this mist fixit —— varies. essentially he sorted out problems for donald trump —— mr fixit. ——

varies. in they talk about potentially buying they talk about potentially buying the rights to the story from the national enquirer, which would in effect mean they could stop that story from ever being published because it included a nondisclosure agreement by karen mcdougal. 0f course, that is something that is being denied by the trumpet agreement, the trump campaign. they have said that as far as they're concerned no payment was made even if these discussions did happen —— trump administration. it was said by rudy giuliani? we talk about lawyers. it's worth reflecting that michael cohen's i'm lawyer has now released a statement. in it he says obviously an ongoing investigation and that's because michael cohen is being investigated by the fbi ——

michael cohen's i'm lawyer. he's been investigated for tax and bank fraud —— michael cohen's own lawyer. suffice to say that when the recording is heard, it will not hurt mr cohen. any attempt at spin cannot change what is on the tape. that of course leads too very obvious questions, first of all if it will not hurt mr cohen, will it hurt anyone else? and secondly what is on that tape? —— to two very obvious. let's get some of the day's other news. the israeli army has launched a number of bombardments on what it describes as military targets across the gaza strip in response to what it says was gunfire aimed at israeli troops. health officials in gaza say four palestinians have been killed in the latest violence. the new escalation of fighting comes as palestinians have been holding another friday of protests on the gaza side of the fence with israel. a man who became seriously ill after being exposed to the nerve agent novichok in the uk last month has been discharged from hospital.

charlie rowley is thought to have found the substance in a perfume bottle. his partner, dawn sturgess, who was also poisoned, died earlier this month. 1a people have been wounded in a knife attack on a bus in northern germany. local police say a man forced his way on to the vehicle in the city of lubeck and started attacking passengers with a kitchen knife. the attacker has been detained. it's not thought the incident is connected to international terrorism. it's emerged that nine members of the same family were killed when when a tourist boat sank during a storm in the american state of missouri. in total, 17 people died, including several children. 31 people were on board the amphibious vessel, known as a duck boat, when it overturned in strong winds on table rock lake, near the town of branson. 0ur north america correspondent, james cook, reports. oh, this is not good.

this duck boat made it back to the shore. the passengers, not wearing lifejackets, apparently unaware of quite how much danger they were in. oh, my god. oh, it's going under. further out, a second duck boat was in bigger trouble, unable to cope with the blast from a severe thunderstorm. of the 31 on board, just 1a survived, brought ashore in shock. among the dead was a one—year—old baby. emts — tell one of the emts, please. the missouri government said that nine of the dead were from one family, and two other family members survived. again, i say it's been a long night, a very trying night. and please keep all of the families involved, and all the first responder personnel, in your thoughts and prayers. now the questions —

a weather warning had been issued, so why were the boats on the water? and were the passengers wearing personal flotation devices, or pfds? it has happened so quick. i guess everybody should have had a pfd a little closer, i don't know. they were up over our head when we rode in it. you don't think that stuff like that's going to happen, and then, man, it happened. based on the amphibious landing craft of the second world war, duck boats are popular with tourists, but their safety record is now under scrutiny. worldwide, more than a0 people have died in accidents involving them in the past 20 years. this is just the latest in a long line of tragedies. james cook, bbc news. the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, has questioned whether the british prime minister's latest proposals for trade after the uk leaves the eu are workable. earlier, theresa may used a speech to urge the eu to evolve its position on the

irish border issue. 0ur deputy political editor, john pienaar, has the latest. the protesters often turn out for theresa may, but the problems of brexit follow her everywhere. today she was in belfast, with a plea and a promise — a promise there would be no hard irish border when the uk leaves, and a plea to the eu. she had compromised on her brexit plan. now, it was brussels's turn. the white paper represents a significant development of our position. it is a coherent package. it is now for the eu to respond, not simply to fall back onto previous positions, which have already been proven unworkable. as for the border, her plan sees goods moving freely between the uk and the eu, including ireland, with no customs or other checks. so no special status for northern ireland, no undermining the union. the solution that we have put forward is a practical, workable solution to do that, which respects the vote

of the british people, protects jobs, but also ensures that we don't see a hard border between northern ireland and ireland. in brussels, the stage was set for an important moment. how would the british compromises go down? eu foreign ministers had met and set the tone — wary, not convinced, at least not yet. i will remain an optimist, but it's hard to be an optimist in these challenging times. we will work on the basis of our principles, and see to what extent our british partner fully gets it, including the british parliament. then, it was the negotiator‘s turn. he wasn't ready to buy britain's offer as it stood, but he was willing to talk. "there are several elements that open the way to a constructive discussion," he said, but his doubts and questions piled up. how could britain trade with europe's single market without following the same rules? what about protecting eu consumers?

and, in plain english, the eu was ready to contemplate the outcome many fear most — talks ending in no agreements. even if you want to reach a deal, it is also our responsibility to be prepared for all scenarios, including no deal. as the european council said, we have to step up preparation at all levels for all scenarios. this was no moment of breakthrough, and it was never likely to be. there will be some relief in government that the british plan wasn't dismissed out of hand. but now the going gets really tough. brussels will want more concessions, and there were some mps who are already plotting mutiny when and if those concessions are made. as things stand, senior figures on all sides are telling me it is hard to see mrs may's blueprint getting through parliament in the autumn. as mps prepare for their summer break, brexit looks like a crisis waiting to happen. it also ensures that there isn't a border effectively down the irish sea.

if only all talks are as friendly as this. but nothing is easyjust now — not her party, not parliament, not brussels, not brexit. certainly not brexit. john pienaar, bbc news. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has urged members of the un security council to maintain economic pressure on north korea until it acts on its promise to give up nuclear weapons. mr pompeo said pyongyang was still evading sanctions by smuggling fuel into the country, mainly by transfers at sea. the countries of the security council are united on the need for final, fully verified denuclearisation of north korea, as agreed to by chairman kim. strict enforcement of sanctions is critical to achieving this goal. members of the un security council, and by extension all un member states, have unanimously agreed to fully enforce sanctions on north korea, and we expect them to continue to honour those commitments.

when sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearisation of north korea are diminished. right now, north korea is illegally smuggling petroleum products into the country at a level that far exceeds the quotas established by the united nations. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet nine—year—old megan, who's helping to keep 250,000 london commuters safe on the underground network. 0k, coming down the ladder now. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde,

the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm, unable to swim properly. thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime, as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: questions surface after reports that donald trump's former lawyer secretly recorded him discussing payments to silence former playboy model, karen mcdougal, just months before the us election. police confirm nine

members of same family were among those killed when a tourist duck—boat sank during a storm in in missouri. more now on all top story, the allegations of a recording made of donald trump. live now to daniel lippman who's following events in the white house and is the co—author of the daily news letter, politico playbook. why is this a big deal? if you want to call it hush money which they say was not paid, it happens, it is not necessarily illegal, why is the story a big deal? it is a big deal because of the rastrick campaign finance deals. —— strict. offers of

$100,000, paying off women inaudible and using an american tabloid newspaper to help accomplish this task could inaudible they never reported this in campaign finance inaudible. i do not know why this would happen on such a juicy story, we lost daniel because the sound went. unfortunately, technology lets us went. unfortunately, technology lets us down. we will try and get him back. more than 100 million pakistanis will head to the polls next week to choose their next leader. the former cricketer, imran khan, is running to become the country's next prime minister. but campaigning has been overshadowed by claims that pakistan's military is backing mr khan by cracking down on his political rivals. secunder kermani reports from lahore. they've come to see the man

they hope will be the next prime minister. cricketer turned populist politician imran khan tells the crowd he'll create a new, corru ption—free pakistan. but he's been forced to deny allegations elections are being fixed in favour of his pti party. what you are seeing is all these status—quo parties certainly saying that, you know, the election is not going to be free and fair. the reason is all the opinion polls now show pti is going surging up, and so they're already seeing the writing on the wall. the reason why they're going to lose is because of the track record. pakistan has been directly ruled by the military, rather than politicians, for nearly half its existence. the country's now had ten years of civilian rule, one of the longest periods in its history, but there's growing concern that behind the scenes,

the pakistani military is still pulling the strings and is trying to manipulate the results of this election. former prime minister nawaz sharif, imran khan's main rival, was sentenced to ten years in jail earlier this month by an anti—corruption court. he couldn't prove where the money came from to buy these central london flats. many believe he was once corrupt, but is only being punished now because he clashed with the army when in power. ijoined sharif as he flew back to pakistan last week. he was damning about the build—up to the elections. 0ur party workers are being arrested by thousands. and, er... the loyalties of our party men were forcibly changed, and they were asked to leave our party and join mr imran khan's party.

this amounts to a massive pre—poll rigging. minutes later, he was arrested. both khan and the military dismiss his claims. but many pakistani journalists say the military isn't allowing them to air sharif‘s side of the story. if you have soundbites expressing people's anger and frustration, those soundbites often don't make it to the screen. i honestly have not seen anything like this in myjournalistic career. even under military dictatorship? even under military dictatorship, no. nawaz sharif‘s party is being led by his brother in his absence. they still have sizeable support, but whoever wins this election, many fear more political instability awaits. secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore. the battle of britain was a pivotal

moment in world war two. the youngest pilot in the battle is now died at the age of 96. he joined the air force died at the age of 96. he joined the airforce when he died at the age of 96. he joined the air force when he was only 17 and a year later he was engaged in the row she is dogfight. the chap said to me, go and fly yet but don't you dare break it. the chap said to me, go and fly yet but don't you dare break itm the chap said to me, go and fly yet but don't you dare break it. it was the start of a true partnership. after a few months training he was in the cockpit of his first spitfire and by the summer he was a veteran. day after day, he and his young friend scrambled to beat german attacks. you are absolutely... it

was a difficult time. once you were strapped in your aeroplane and airbourne, it was up to you. flying an aeroplane is a knack. taming the beast, making it do what you want it to do, gives you great satisfaction. in later life, his experiences were dramatised in the film, first light. for much of the battle british forces were outnumbered. the spitfire only carried enough ammunition or a few minutes of combat. i can remember the controller coming on, 150 plus, coming in, and my goodness, it looked it too. we went into a head on. like a lot of maps on a summer evening. it was unrelenting. when i spoke to geoffrey earlier this year,

he said survivors had to shut out there in motion. youjust accepted it. it was a dangerous game, it was a dangerous war. if you lost a particularly close friend, there was a little but you went out to the local pub, you accepted it. he eventually suffered an emotional and physical breakdown and left at service. but his memoirs and sure that we never forget that short period in our history. we were young fighter pilots doing ourjob, defending our country against the king ‘s enemies. a competition has been launched to name a robot being built to explore mars in the future. at the moment, the rover is called exomars but the european space agency hopes the public can come up with something more inspiring, as caroline rigby reports. it isa

it is a competition out of this world. currently exomars called this rover will travel across the red planet in search of light. it will also look for microbes deep below the surface. it is set to be a fascinating mission and that is why scientists think this little robot deserves a big name. british astronaut tim peake is a leading the hunt which he hopes will inspire future generations to follow in his footsteps. if we can encourage them in an early age, but it is also about developing character and personality. in america, nasa has previously opted to call rovers names like opportunity and curiosity. a public competition has been launched to find something equally as inspiring but in order to

avoid the repeat which saw more than avoid the repeat which saw more than a thousand people vote to call an arctic explorer boaty mcboatface, an expert panel will have the final say. we all have our own experiences of hearing announcements over the loud speakers at railway stations. actually, they probablyjust blend into the background for most of all. some are easier to understand than others. for the last six months, one of london's busiest underground stations has been trying an unusual way to get passegners attention. dougal shaw reports. around a 250,000 people use victoria station in london each weekday, and for the past few months, they've been hearing an unusual voice. meet the station's newest and youngest safety announcer, nine—year—old megan. her proud parents both work at the station. i said to my colleague that my wife was bringing down the two kids to meet me after work, and he said, "would megan mind doing a pa announcement?" she does like a bit of acting, so i knew she'd be up for it. i was really nervous

when i first was going to do it, but then once i did it i thought, "this is actually 0k." hello, everybody, and please listen up. take care on the escalators, hold on to the hand rail and your luggage. megan's recorded announcement is designed to tackle a serious problem. around ten people a day get injured on the underground network. what we have noticed is when people do injure themselves it's typically because they're not taking enough care when using stairs and escalators. at victoria alone, on average 15 people a month are injured this way. for some passengers at least, megan's message seems to be getting through. get your attention straight away. you think, "0h, what's going on?" i think everyone takes notice when a child says something because they always mean it. so what does someone who studies the psychology of the human voice make of this? research shows deeper adult voices are perceived by humans as having more authority than higher voices. so a child's voice wouldn't have that authority, but perhaps it's the shock factor

of using a child's voice. it may be just a short—term result from this shock factor, but the station says injuries have dropped by nearly two thirds since megan's announcements started. do you think adults listen enough to children? no, they should listen more to children because sometimes children are right. dougal shaw, bbc news. i will be listening to her. the top story: a recording has been seized ofa story: a recording has been seized of a conversation between donald trump and his former lawyer michael cohenin trump and his former lawyer michael cohen in which they discussed the payment to the former model, karen mcdougal, this was taped before the 2016 presidential election. thank you for watching. hello.

some areas were lucky enough to have some useful rain on friday. 0thers, though, just had the cloud and hardly anything fell from it and it is looking mainly dry for the weekend as the nose of high pressure builds in behind that rain—bearing weather system clearing away south—eastwards. for early risers saturday morning, a lot of cloud around, rather misty and murky in places, for england and wales anywhere at any stage in the day there's the chance of a hit—and—miss shower. most will avoid them and stay dry with warm sunny spells developing. warm anywhere where you get to see sunshine, not a lot of cloud around for northern scotland and north—east scotland and thickening further later in the day. this is apm, south to north across the uk, at this stage parts of southern england and south wales most favoured for an isolated shower. most stay dry. again, warm sunny spells in england and wales, southern and eastern scotland. more cloud for northern ireland, western scotland, especially

into the north—west, where the breeze is picking up. a bit of patchy light rain is starting to move in. for the golf at carnoustie as the open continues, a lot of cloud around particularly early in the day, sunny spells developing. looks like it will be a sunnier and warmer day on sunday, but at that stage it looks like the breeze will be perhaps more significant. as we go on through saturday evening and overnight, what showers have popped up in england and wales will die away. a few patches of mist and fog around but most will be with clear spells. more cloud starting to filter into western scotland, and again there will be a bit of patchy rain the further north you are, and a warmer night to come for scotland and northern ireland compared with friday night. and some spots into the high teens overnight, particularly in south—east england. into sunday then, and a weather system moving in will give some patchy rain for parts of northern and western scotland, perhaps later in the day into northern ireland as the cloud feeds in from the north—west, breezier across northern scotland compared with elsewhere, but for much of south—east scotland and across england and wales, there will be more warm sunny spells to come and it's becoming very warm

to hot once again as those temperatures get close to 30 celsius across eastern and south—eastern england. early into next week, this weather system will bring patchy rain into scotland and northern ireland. ahead of that, though, we draw up even hotter air to england and wales and the heatwave is absolutely back on. anywhere getting to see some sunshine next week will be very warm to hot but again it's got the weather system earlier in the week affecting parts of scotland and northern england. highest temperatures in east and south—east england in excess of 30 once again and dry. this is bbc news, the headlines: there are reports that us prosecutors have seized a recording of a conversation between donald trump and his former lawyer, michael cohen, in which they discuss a payment to former playboy model, karen mcdougal. the conversation is believed to have ta ken place just before the 2016 presidential election.

17 people, including nine members of one family, are now known to have died when their tourist boat capsized and sank during a sudden storm on a lake in the us state of missouri. another two members of the family were among the 1a people aboard the vessel who survived. the eu's chief brexit negotiator says the british govenrment‘s proposal have opened the way to a constructive discussion but it must be workable. michel barnier questioned whether the plans for a common rulebook for goods were practical. earlier, theresa may urged the eu to evolve its position on brexit. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.