this is the briefing. i'm maryam moshiri. our top story: # r—e—s—p—e—c—t # just a little bit...# tributes for aretha from musicians to former presidents, praising her contributions to music and the fight for social justice. one year after the barcelona attacks, spain honours the 16 people who were killed. as a government investigation into italy's private motorway operator begins, we ask what might have caused the genoa bridge to collapse. coming up in the business briefing: a big puff for vaping, as e—cigarettes get the backing of the uk parliament, despite warnings from the world health organisation. also in business: electric shock — tesla founder elon musk under pressure from financial regulators over his plans to take the firm private. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think, just use the #bbcthebriefing. uk mps recommend the relaxation of rules around e—cigarettes, we want to know what you think about whether or not they will help people quit, or not they will help people quit, orare or not they will help people quit, or are you worried about the potential health effects? i will read out some tweets later in the programme. tributes have been paid around the world to the soul legend, aretha franklin, who's died aged 76. sir paul mccartney said the memory of her greatness would live with us forever. the former us president, barack obama, said she graced people with a glimpse of the divine.

our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. festooned with flowers and framed by photos, the queen of soul's star on hollywood's walk of fame, a place for fans to pay tribute to a superstar. i am a baby of the '60s, so superstar. i am a baby of the '60s, so in my household aretha franklin was a well—known name, she was the queen of soul, she was everything that glamour and divatude personified. i loved her music and also as i became older i realised how powerful and important she was asa how powerful and important she was as a humanitarian, and activist, someone as a humanitarian, and activist, someone involved in the civil rights. # they tell me that you aint no good. she captured the hearts of millions with her music, distinctive and powerful, a voice that was

unique. she inspired and empowered like no other. this is the church in detroit where aretha franklin first started singing. now it is the focus ofa started singing. now it is the focus of a growing memorial. started singing. now it is the focus of a growing memorialli started singing. now it is the focus of a growing memorial. i was born and raised in detroit, born, you know, on her music, raced on her music, oh, yeah, it is a sad day.” am going to miss seeing her in concerts, but i still have her music to live on, so i am good, as long as ican hear to live on, so i am good, as long as i can hear her, i am good. aretha franklin was bigger than music. she became a symbol for civil rights in the ‘60s. performed at the funeral of martin luther king. and the inauguration of america's first black president. in his tribute, barack obama black president. in his tribute, ba rack obama set black president. in his tribute, barack obama set aretha helped define the american experience. the

civil rights leader jesse define the american experience. the civil rights leaderjesse jackson knew the singerfor civil rights leaderjesse jackson knew the singer for more than 60 yea rs. knew the singer for more than 60 years. a singer whose music impact of the world but whose sense of globaljustice of the world but whose sense of global justice was of the world but whose sense of globaljustice was global. she also fought for doctor king, she fought for nelson mandela, she fought for barack obama. her sense of community service was as broad as was her music. aretha franklin's final performance last november was at a gala in new york for eltonjohn's aids foundation. sir eltonjohn said her loss was a blow for everybody who loves real music. sir paul mccartney said the memory of her greatness as a musician and a fine human being would live with us for ever. # all i'm asking is for a little respect... the queen of soul, respected by so many and missed by all. # all i'm asking in return, honey... ceremonies have begun in spain

to mark one year since a terrorist attack which killed 16 people and injured more than 150. the country's prime minister and the spanish king will attend a gathering to honour the victims on friday. so—called islamic state claimed responsibility for the 2017 attack. andrew plant reports. flowers and messages of remembrance layed in the place the attack began here on 17 august last year. it happened in the height of summer. a van driven through the crowds on this busy spanish street. by the time it stopped, dozens had been seriously injured. translation: i remember the sound of the engine as it hit against the people. the van was only a metre away from me, less than a metre, and it didn't touch us, and then it left that trail of death and pain. now survivors and relatives of those killed are returning to las ramblas

to remember the lives that were lost one year ago. we wanted to come of course and remember my father but also remember all of the victims of this terrible event, and to remember and thank the incredible people who put their own lives at risk to help my mother and father, the first responders, the police, ambulance. investigators are still piecing together how closely the attackers were linked to the so—called islamic state group. prime minister pedro sanchez and spain's king felipe attend a ceremony on friday to honour the victims of what was spain's worst terrorist attack since the bombings in madrid 13 years before. andrew plant, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news.

bomb threats have forced the emergency landing of nine planes in chilean, argentine and peruvian airspace. at least two of the planes were operated by latam airlines and others by a low cost chilean airline. the threats were made by anonymous phone calls and appeared to target some flights flying in or out of santiago. all of the planes were eventually declared free from explosives. hundreds of google employees have written to the company to protest against plans to launch a censored search engine in china. they said the project raised urgent moral and ethical questions. google quit the country eight years ago in protest at the country's censorship laws, but reports claim it had been secretively working on a new chinese search service. the vatican has expressed shame and sorrow in response to a damning report into the sexual abuse of children by priests in pennsylvania. a grand jury found more than 300 priests in the state had abused minors in the past 70 years.

the pope said he wanted to root out the tragic horror of priests abusing children. us defence officials have postponed a planned veterans day weekend military parade through the streets of washington dc until at least 2019. the parade was meant to commemorate the centenary of the end of world war i. let's turn to our top business story, because there's been a major boost for the e—cigarette industry here in the uk. a report by parliament's science and technology committee says vaping is far less harmful than smoking and should be subject to lighter regulation. it says there's no evidence e—cigarettes encourage young people to take up smoking and that they could in fact be a key weapon in helping smokers give up. joel kibazo is a partner atjk

associates and a former director of communications at africa development bank and joins me now. and you were telling me before you we re and you were telling me before you were on air that you are not the smoke and you never have been, but you have an opinion on e—cigarette. it wasn't for want of trying that i was not a smoker, i tried very hard, but i just couldn't was not a smoker, i tried very hard, but ijust couldn't do it. at the age of 13. this is an interesting one. there are different views on this. although this report says that this. although this report says that this should be encouraged, the world health organization is quite cautious on this. the importance of the story is that tobacco companies such as bat, philip morris, have been putting a lot of money into vaping and the next generation of vaping and the next generation of vaping products, for instance bat said this year that it was spending

$700 million into these new products, and it is seen as the future as people move away from smoking tobacco, are we? without really know, the who is cautious and one of the reasons is the research isn't clear —— we don't really know. for instance, there was a report that said the long—term benefits on things like the heart and lungs was not clear at this stage, so that is why perhaps who might be cautious. however, the companies on the other hand, they are supported by such as this, argue that we moving full stea m this, argue that we moving full steam ahead, so we will have these reports until there is definitive research that says one way or another. interesting, isn't it, joll, and we will be back to talk in the paper review at the end of the hour, so thank you very much —— joel let's move on to the tragedy in

genoa. the italian government has begun an investigation into the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. another 20 are still missing. people living near the bridge have been moved from their homes because of safety fears and have been told their homes may be demolished. our science editor david shukman has been investigating what could have caused the bridge to collapse. battered by the weather and patched up over the years, this is the bridge pictured before the collapse. it was in a forlorn and worrying state, and then disaster struck. the tangle of wreckage where there should be the clues that investigators will need as they ask if the structure was substandard, or if the steel had corroded inside the concrete, where no—one could see. so what went wrong? well, let's look at a virtual model of the bridge. an unusual design from the ‘60s, it's needed a lot of reinforcement over the years. a key focus in the investigation will be on these diagonal sections. they're called the stays.

they're a mix of steel and concrete and they carry the road. but they were in bad condition, and i understand were due to be replaced next year. another weakness might be the anchors that fix the stays to the road. one of them might have rusted and snapped. and then there are steel cables that run through the bridge to give it strength. if they were in poor shape, inspectors might not have noticed. the investigators face a massive challenge and finding a single answer might not be easy. a big concern is that the concrete was getting old and that water was getting into it and may have weakened the steel inside. concrete does deteriorate with time, does age. but the main problem in this kind of construction is the steel inside the concrete, which if it corrodes, that can lead to severe problems. that needs to be investigated, inspected and maintained. when the bridge was built, it was heralded as a symbol of futuristic engineering.

but the standard of construction back then has left a legacy. italy now has an estimated 10,000 bridges that need to be modernised. the cost will be tens of billions of euros. and the collapse has sent shock waves to other countries as well. inspections are now under way on bridges in france and germany. the tragedy has sparked a crisis of confidence far beyond genoa. david shukman, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a secret of the mummies is revealed. scientists work out the 6,000—year—old recipe for successful embalming. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed, i did have a relationship with miss lewinsky that was not appropriate.

in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we're all with them now, within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people, in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope, "so you want me to desert rome?" you're watching the briefing. our headlines: spain is marking the first anniversary of islamist attacks

in and around barcelona that left 16 people dead. there has been an outpouring of tributes to the soul singer, aretha franklin, who has died at her home in detroit, aged 76. let's stay with that now. i'm joined from new york by simon vozick—levinson, deputy music editor at rolling stone magazine. simon, thanks so much forjoining us on the briefing on bbc world news. firstly, talk me through aretha franklin's massive influence on the music industry over the last few decades. well, this is a titanic loss for america and the world. aretha franklin was the greatest voice of the 20th century. she was something that in her music defined djourou,

she was influential on virtually every singer in pop music from the mid—1970s up to the present—day —— soul. she affected the civil rights movement as well? in many ways she was the voice of the civil rights movement. john lewis, the us congressmen and civil rights leader, spoke of his memories about leaving jail during a non—violent protest against segregation and then went to against segregation and then went to a club to hear aretha franklin. that's what she meant to him. how difficult was it for her to get into the massive music industry as a black woman when she did? the massive music industry as a black woman when she did7m the massive music industry as a black woman when she did? it wasn't easy and she did that through talent, through her incredible skill and genius as a musician. you talked about artists who have been

influenced by her over the past decades, can you tell me a few names? who would you pinpoint as the ones that have taken influence from aretha. perhaps beyonce? certainly beyonce, lauryn hill, any musician that sings with that kind of soil and triumph in their voice are following in her footsteps absolutely. -- sole. what do you think it will do for future artists? —— soul. the union between church and secular music, pop and the church will resonate for decades.“ you could think about one aretha franklin song that is your favourite, up there as the song that defines herfor you, favourite, up there as the song that defines her for you, what favourite, up there as the song that defines herfor you, what would favourite, up there as the song that defines her for you, what would that be? it has to be respect, a song that otis reading road but he didn't understand that song in the way aretha did, she understood the way it spoke to women, black women specifically, and she opened up a revolutionary new road for that

song. —— otis reading wrote. simon, thanks forjoining us, deputy editor of rolling stone magazine. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm chetan pathak. coming up on your thursday sport briefing: simona help wins in cincinattie in five minutes, and deli ali sets a new trend in goal celerbations. the new football season is well underway in england, now it's time for spain's la liga to get underway. there are two fixtures on friday night, while champions barcelona host deportivo alaves on saturday. atletico madrid finished second in la liga last season ahead of city rivals real, who they beat to lift the uefa super cup this week too of course, and spanish football journalist eduardo alvarez reckons they are the ones to watch. they've been fairly competitive since the owner took over. they were

missing something extra in terms of character, and probably diego costa gives them that. and also some depth on the bench, and the signings they have done this summer gives them that as well. so i think this combination of players, squat and coachis combination of players, squat and coach is extremely competitive. -- squad. france's ligue1 began last weekend when their was a surprise win for newly—promoted reims. they beat nice 1—0 but now they face lyon. a third—place finish last season gave them a champions league birth and their former manchester united winger memphis depay is in red hot form. he scored in their opening 2—0 win over amiens. he finished last season with 10 goals in their last nine games. it's rained for much of the day at the cincinnati open and that means the schedule's been badly hit. however, simona halep needed just five minutes to finish her interrupted second round match against ajla

tomljanovi . the number one seed, who won the canadian open on sunday, rattled through two games to beat the australian qualifier by 2—1. she faces another australian asheligh barty in the last 16. head coach trevor bayliss says the decision to include ben stokes in the england squad for the third test against india on saturday was taken for the all—rounder‘s wellbeing. he joined up with his teammates on thursday after he was involved in a fight outside a nightclub last september but was found not guilty of affray. bayliss was asked how stokes himself was feeling. well, we'll find that out over the next couple of days. i haven't actually spoken to him since, i'm sure he's had plenty of phone calls. we've got the next two days to assess where he's at and whether he plays or not. you know, we've got some guys in form in the team. look, it's going to be a difficult decision to make whoever misses out,

whether it's ben or whether it's someone else. it's a position we've been trying to get in the test team for a while now. now, with the european football season underway, it didn't take long for the new goal celebrations to appear. but there is one that's caught the imagination of fans and taken social media by storm. have a look at this. after dele alli scored in tottenham hotspur‘s 2—1win at newcastle on saturday this is how he celebrated, but the strange movement has confused teammates and fans alike as they try to copy the england star. can you do the dele? not as easy as it looks necessarily. that's as good as i'm getting. this is after about 3.5 hours of practice. probably easierjust to do that if you want to! that's it from us.

you can get all the latest sports news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me chetan pathak and the rest of the sport team, goodbye. i won't try and do that movement! this is what's going on later around the world. imran khan is expected to be voted as the new prime minister of pakistan's. he will lead a coalition after his victory in the election in july. i'm so sorry, wrong pictures over that. if you've ever been at the antiquities section of a museum, looking at those egyptian mummies and wondering how they lasted through the ages. well, now we know. our science correspondent, victoria gill, has more. fabric fragments of ancient history. these 6,000—year—old pieces of linen contain the chemical secret of mummification. the egyptian mummy, the body preserved for the eternal soul, is an icon of the ancient civilisation.

it has been resurrected in many a hollywood film. but far from egypt's great tombs, here in a storage facility in northern england, the ancient egyptians' embalming recipe has finally come to light, contained in textiles in the collection. with things like these textiles, that don't look much to look at at all, but you do the chemistry, and suddenly they become hugely significant to our human past, and really gets to the heart of what they were about at this time through the science, which you simply can't tell by looking. so really the science brings this material to life. the recipe they revealed, an embalming liquid containing plant extracts, was probably mixed in a base of sesame oil. you can actually still find some of the key ingredients from that embalming recipe today. so this is one of them, gum arabic, which is a plant—based confectioner‘s gum that is on sale in egypt. and this is really key ingredient, pine resin, antibacterial, to prevent the body from decaying.

the same mixture of substances was found on this intact mummy from 3500 bc, showing that the process is much older than previously thought. pushing the timeline of mummification back by 1,500 years, it shows to us that it wasn't just at the point where mummification we know was very popular, it was happening much earlier, so it's much more within the culture of egyptology for much longer than we thought. so who knows what secrets scientists will unearth next in the storeroom of a local museum. victoria gill, bbc news, bolton. stay with me on bbc news, i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. we asked you earlier in the programme to talk to us about the cigarettes, uk parliament is relaxing or has recommended the relaxation of rules and regulations surrounding the cigarettes. we want you to tell us if you think they

work to help people quit smoking or whether you think they are harmful to people's health. said neal says i believe nicotine is harmful whatever you call it. charles says i have children —— said neal —— del miguel diaz—canel mac sundell. eric says i'm nota diaz—canel mac sundell. eric says i'm not a smoker, don't have an opinion, but be careful where you buy them from. craig said i smoke for 26 years and smoked with e—cigarettes for a few years and they helped me stop smoking. —— i smoked. stay with us here on bbc news, so much more to come. i will be reviewing the papers and all the latest business in a few minutes to pause time. stay with us on the briefing on bbc news. —— a few minutes' time. hello there.

most of us have had a little bit of rain at least over the last couple of days but with the clearance of that rain during the day, yes, things started to brighten up. but we'll so introduced a significantly cooler, fresher feel. we'll so introduced a significantly cooler, fresherfeel. this is the satellite from early on, you can see this stripe of cloud, that brought the persistent rain and behind that, you can see the shower clouds racing in from the north—west. what we've also brought in from the north—west is cooler, fresher air. in the atlantic, warm air is once again lurking, humid airat atlantic, warm air is once again lurking, humid air at that and that's going to be moving towards us. that's going to be moving towards us. for many, the switch to conditions is only temporary. through the rest of this evening and tonight, we're looking at clear skies for many. a few showers still into the north—west and those temperatures dipping away even in some of the big towns and cities, eight, nine, 10 degrees but in the countryside, well down into single digits. a decidedly cool start to

friday morning but bright for many, and in the north—east of scotland and in the north—east of scotland and the south and east of england, and the south and east of england, and the south and east of england, and the channel islands, staying that way, sunny skies. but thicker cloud will spread from the west, rain into northern ireland and parts of western scotland and the west wales. a fairly breezy day and quite windy in the north—west of scotland and for most places, highs of 15 to 19. when we hold onto brightness in the south—east corner, up to around 23. now, as we get into the weekend, we're going to get into a feed of westerly winds and for the southern half of the country that's going to bring warm, moist air with a lot of cloud. to the north of this weather front, though, we will stick with something significantly cooler. quite windy across the north of scotla nd quite windy across the north of scotland as we start saturday but here bright weather with spells of sunshine. our weather front here bringing outbreaks of rain in southern scotland, northern ireland and maybe northern england and to the south of that, that's where we will have warm and humid air. some sunshine and mist and murk for

western coasts, mid—20s. on sunday, an area of rain moving from northern ireland into scotland, northern ireland, some uncertainty about how far south it will get. on the cool side in the north of scotland. two something is up for this weekend, something is up for this weekend, some rain at times and for many, a humid feel. —— to some things up. —— hello. this is the business briefing. a big puff for vaping as e—cigarettes get the backing of the uk parliament, despite warnings from the world health organisation. plus electric shock: tesla founder elon musk under pressure from financial regulators over his plans to take the firm private. and on the markets some relief after a turbulent week — as the turkish lira extends its recovery and china and the us agree to resume trade talks.