hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm nkem ifejika. 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 ten—month affair with donald trump in 2006. the tape was reportedly made two months before the election. the bbc‘s chris buckler in washington told me more. basically, it is alleged karen mcdougal had an affair with donald trumpa mcdougal had an affair with donald trump a decade before he stood for the presidential candidacy. in 2006 she sold her story to the national enquirer. he has all was denied he has had that effect and also denied he knew anything about a payment by

the national enquirer. it seems the national enquirer did not even published a story. it is a tabloid newspaper owned by a friend of bernal trump. it was used as a catch and kill, that is a statement used when a newspaper effectively buries the story. because of an agreement, that person cannot talk to anybody else about the story. michael cohen was donald trump's rawa and seen as mrfix was donald trump's rawa and seen as mr fix it. was donald trump's rawa and seen as mrfix it. —— lawyer. it was seen by fbi officers during a raid at his officers. donald trump apparently described this payment and they talk about potentially buying the rights to the story from the national

enquirer which could effectively mean they could stop the story from ever being published because it included a nondisclosure agreement. that is something denied by the trump campaign. they have said that, as far as they are concerned, no payment was actually made. this was according to reallyjulia, mr trump's new lawyer? —— rudy giuliani. michael cohen's lawyer released a statement saying there is an ongoing investigation, michael cohen is currently being investigated by the fbi, no charges have been brought against him, but he is being investigated for tax fraud. when the recording is heard, it will not hurt mr cohen, any

attempt of spin cannot change what is on the tape. that leaves the question is, if it will not hurt mr cohen, at will it hurt somebody else? and secondly, what is on that tape? 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 responseto 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. fourteen 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 it's not thought the incident is not connected to international terrorism. the french president, emmanuel macron, has sacked one of his bodyguards, more than two months after he was filmed hitting a protestor while dressed as a policeman. alexandre benalla was given a 15—day suspension shortly after the incident in may, but was allowed to return to his job protecting the president. he's now been arrested. the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, has said he's invited britain to work on a solution to the irish border issue next week. speaking after a meeting of european affairs ministers, mr barnier said they were open to any solution as long as it could be transformed into a legally operative text in time for the withdrawal agreement. with an assessment of where the negotiations stand, here's our europe correspondent damian grammaticas in brussels. michel barnier, we saw today,

seemed to me more angry, more frustrated, more determined then he has appeared before. why? well, he said there's 13 weeks to sort all this out. the key issue remaining is that border in northern ireland, and it is that backstop, the insurance policy in case they cannot agree in the future on a trade deal, how to avoid border checks. both sides agreed in december they would have one. today mrs may stood in belfast and said the eu's proposal was unacceptable. michel barnier said there has to be one and it has to be "legally workable," otherwise there is no agreement and the uk crashes out. so he's concerned about that, the eu 27 ministers are concerned. we heard from them as well. they said they are growing

increasingly worried that they could see this no deal chaotic brexit. michel barnier also turned to that white paper and he did poke holes in it. he said he simply couldn't see, or he had questions, about how it was compatible with the eu's single market. real questions and real difficulties for the negotiations. you can get more on that story on the website. stay with us here on bbc news, still to come: we meet meghan, the nine year—old who's helping to keep a quarter of a million london commuters safe on the underground network. it's emerged that nine members of the same family were killed when a tourist boat sank during a storm in the us state of missouri. in total, 17 people died, including several children. thirty—one people were on board the vessel, known as a "duck boat", when it overturned in strong winds

near the town of branson. our 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 14 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.

we're nowjoined on the line from philadelphia by us attorneyjeffrey goodman whose firm has represented people injured in past duck boat accidents. thank you forjoining us. what exactly is the issue with the duck boat? the main issue is the canopy. that has been a long consistent theme in all the accidents. going back to 1999, in arkansas, a duck boat cinque, the same thing happen in philadelphia in 2010, u nfortu nately. in philadelphia in 2010, unfortunately. what happens with these duck boats is the canopy above these duck boats is the canopy above the passengers, when the boat sinks,

the passengers, when the boat sinks, the passengers, when the boat sinks, the passengers are drawn into the canopy and it draws them down. they have no ability to get out from the trap of the canopy. that is the death trap. the national classification board, when they investigated the disaster came out with a safety recommendations that the canopy is must be removed. —— canopies. unfortunately did not have the authority to command anything, it is merely a recommendation and one of the industry ignored and it is the ignoring of that recommendations by people continued to die from these duck boats. you have strong views, you feel they

should be banned. whether on land or water, on land they have a bowel like no other vehicle that create massive blind spots, they run over pedestrians, scooters, they are not any pedestrians, scooters, they are not a ny safer pedestrians, scooters, they are not any safer on land van on the water. 0n the water they have no stability. they tend to sink. the best way to promote tourism is not by killing tourists and this is what they have done time and time again. in philadelphia, we have been calling for their land but unfortunately the industry has not been listening and this is another sad reminder of that. 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 headlines from bbc news: 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. let's get more on that. i'm joined now byjulia manchester, journalist at the hill. thank you forjoining us, julia. hush money, you might have your concerns about the ethics of hush money, of getting someone to keep quiet and not tell a story, but it is not necessarily illegal, is it? right, so the issue is the timing of all of this. basically we now know that the fbi has a recording that

michael cohen took the conversation that he had president trump prior to the 26th elections, in the weeks before it, of him trying to keep karen mcdougal quiet about the story she had tried to sell to the national enquirer about her affair with donald trump. now, it doesn't seem like it is illegal, however, if there was an intent to try and help president trump win the election somehow, and that this would somehow aid him, then we get into some tricky, murky legal waters there as to the legality of all of it. and so this is, you know, the ways of... i guess if the money is to try and help donald trump win an election thenit help donald trump win an election then it becomes an issue of campaign finance, is that correct? yes, that is correct. does this... did president trump know that he was being recorded at this time? according to his attorney, rudy giuliani, he did not know that he was being recorded, and i think that

has raised a lot of questions as to what michael cohen's intent was in all of this. because michael cohen was seen as so all of this. because michael cohen was seen as so loyal to president trump, as his long—time personal attorney and fixer. so i think a lot of people have been shocked by this. sources have told us they don't know why michael cohen would have brought this up, why colin would have done this up, why colin would have done this in the first place, so a lot of questions there around intent —— michael cohen. what else did rudy giuliani say, as trump's new lawyer, as it were? yes, so rudy giuliani, it seems like he was basically expressing a bit of concern about all this. he said president trump did discuss payment with michael cohen, did confirm that. however, he did say that he did not know he was being recorded, and that president trump did not engage in any wrongdoing. so a bit of a denial in all of this, in terms of wrongdoing, but it comes back to that question of campaignfinance, but it comes back to that question of campaign finance, and if any laws we re of campaign finance, and if any laws were broken in that regard. in fact, i think rudy giuliani was basically

saying that the tapes would exonerate the president. yes, yes, definitely. so i think, eno, rudy giuliani is really... you know, we have seen him be the public face of the president's defence in all of this, and sometimes as messaging does not always line up with the president's messaging in all of this, so i think he is trying to put out a bit of a confidence boost for the president, in saying that, 0k, if these tapes are released, they are not going to show anything wrong, because he didn't do anything wrong, because he didn't do anything wrong, according to rudy giuliani. however, he does say there was the discussion of the payment, and that could raise some eyebrows. 0k, thank you very much, karen mcdougal, eyebrows firmly in place and not raised yet. we will wait and see how that develops. thank you very much. let's get more on the state of affairs of the brexit negotiations. 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 surviving victim of the novichok poisoning in amesbury in wiltshire, charlie rowley, has been discharged from hospital. he is thought to have found the substance in a perfume bottle. his partner, dawn sturgess, who was also contaminated, died earlier this month. 0ur correspondent duncan kennedy reports from salisbury. it has been a life—changing three weeks for charlie rowley, poisoned by a nerve agent but now well enough to leave hospital. the hospital said he'd been decontaminated to ensure the novichok can no longer affect him or anyone else. i'm pleased to confirm that, earlier today, charlie rowley was discharged from hospital.

charlie has been through an appalling experience most of us could never imagine. today is a very welcome milestone in his recovery, and all of us here at salisbury hospital wish him well as he continues to get better. nearly two weeks ago, dawn sturgess, charlie's partner, died after she received a high dose of the novichok. today, in a park in salisbury, a few of those who knew dawn gathered to remember her as a mother and a friend. she was a really nice, friendly person. she always looked out for people. she lent people money if they needed it, she helped them out in any way they could. it's a shame to see her go, really. she was a really caring person. she liked to be like the mother of everyone, really. dawn and charlie came into contact with the novichok here at charlie's home in amesbury. the source of the poisonous liquid was a small glass bottle found here. police have now released these pictures of the park in salisbury where it is possible charlie or dawn picked up that bottle. the operation comes as some reports

suggest officers are close to identifying suspects in the case. four months after yulia and sergei skripal were contaminated with novichok, along with a police officer, it is now charlie rowley who is able to leave hospital, to carry on his recovery alongside a huge, complicated police investigation. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in salisbury. 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 is a competition that's, well, out of this world — what to call a robot set to explore mars in 2021. currently called exomars, this six—wheeled rover will travel across the red planet in search of life. capable of drilling to a depth of two metres, it will also look

for microbes deep below the surface. it is set to be a fascinating mission and that is why scientists from the european space agency 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 at an early age to start getting interested in science, then that's a great step forward, but it's also, you know, about developing character and personality. in america, nasa has previously opted to call its mars rovers names like opportunity and curiosity, and the european space agencyhas launched a public competition to find something equally inspiring but, in order to avoid a repeat of the now infamous poll which saw more than 100,000 people vote to call an arctic explorer ship boaty mcboatface, an expert panel will have the final say on renaming exomars. caroline rigby, bbc news. haven't they learned their lesson?

we all have our own experiences of hearing announcements over the loudspeakers 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. 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 that 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 that 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, ‘cause sometimes children are right. dougal shaw, bbc news. and they do know how to make you feel guilty when you don't do the right thing. let's have a look at the weather. here is nick miller. hello. after some of us had a bit of rain on friday it is back to dry weather this weekend and the temperatures going back up again. a lot of cloud around, i think, the start of saturday morning. misty and places and there will be a few showers dotted about throughout the day, particular across parts of southern england but one or two to wales, northern england, as well. much of scotland and northern england looking dry until we see the cloud increasing far north—west scotland. the breeze picking up,

some patchy rain heading in later in the day and the temperature will be around east anglia and south—east england. sunday morning, there will be some areas of patchy mist and fog around as sunday begins, and overnight temperatures not getting done too far, holding around the mid teens. in parts of northern and western scotland, seeing perhaps some outbreaks of rain for a time on sunday, especially later in the day. may just fringe north. 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.