this is the briefing — i'm victoria fritz. our top story: federal agents search on a sorting office in florida — the hunt continues for whovever mailed a series of pipe bombs to prominent critics of donald trump. at least 18 people, are killed by a flash flood during a school outing, nearjordan‘s dead sea. emergency services rescue over thirty people. the first bilateral talks in seven years — japan's prime minster is in beijing, for a summit aimed at repairing relations between china and japan. and in the business briefing. a disappointing sales forecast for the christmas season sent amazon shares sliding on thursday night. and google's parent alphabet‘s results disappointed as well. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. the philippines has reopened its famous holiday island of boracay after it was closed to mend decades of harm caused by unchecked development. is this the future of tourism for the world's beauty spots? let me know your thoughts using the hashtag #bbcthebriefing police in the us have intensified their search for a serial bomber, after more suspect packages were sent in the post. ten have been discovered after being sent to prominent critics of president trump, two weeks before the us mid—term

elections. investigators believe some of the pipe bombs were posted from florida. let's go live to washington now and our correspondent chris buckler. this is a nationwide investigation and all authorities say they are working diligently. they say it involves dozens of agencies and organisations but it does seem to be there are focusing very carefully at there are focusing very carefully at the moment on florida. they have been to a facility north of miami conducting searches there and it's a sign of their concern that the bomb squad from miami police were called and they were there throughout that search. it gives you a sense they are narrowing down where there focuses. they believe these packages we re focuses. they believe these packages were sent from florida to critics of donald trump and that is why their

main investigation is taking place at the moment. none of these bombs have gone off but it's become a hugely political issue. it's less than two weeks to the us midterms. if both sides. democrats and republicans saying there needs to be a different tone to political debate. they have called for it to bea debate. they have called for it to be a more civil tone. there does seem be a more civil tone. there does seem to be little sign of that. president trump and his political opponents are blaming each otherfor the kind of aggressive rhetoric we've seen in the lead—up to these congressional elections. there is a real sense that these elections matter. it means, who controls congress and for a president that is important. at the moment, donald trump as his republican party and charged. they have both the house of representatives and the senate. if that was to change, forcing —— pushing his agenda could become much

more different. really, at the moment, there is a sense there is an attempt to back down a bit. the truth is, over the next 1.5 weeks, i suspect that fiery language will return. till the meantime —— on the meat —— in the meantime, in new york, they have evacuated the time warner building which is where cnn we re warner building which is where cnn were based. that is a news network which received a package. it turned out to be a false alarm and are com pletely out to be a false alarm and are completely harmless package but it gives you a sense that america is on edge. at least 18 people have been killed and dozens more injured. most of those killed were students and teachers. travelling on a bus which was swept away. the incident has prompted a major investigation.

alert in the dark, rescuers in jordan search this canyon on the edge of the dead sea for any sign of those missing. this was the scene earlier in the day. eyewitnesses say a torrent swept away everything in its path, including families picnicking in the area, and a bus carrying students and their chaperones on a school outing. later, bodies were recovered from the seashore. many of those killed were under the age of 1a. translation: the water came up strongly for 11—5 kilometres, which is the location between the pool and the bridge, and near the beginning of the dead sea. there were people who ended up in the seawater, and there were people who managed to reach rocks and save themselves. the dead sea is the lowest point on earth and a popular tourist destination because of the natural buoyancy and rejuvenating properties of its waters. however, the area's dry conditions and deep canyons make it susceptible to flash flooding. dozens of people have now been

rescued from the area. at this hospital, frantic family members wait to be reunited with their loved ones. some people are said to be in a critical condition. meanwhile, the rescue mission has been called off for now as those involved wait for the weather to improve. kathryn armstrong, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories google is reported to have given a huge pay—off to a senior executive after he was alleged to have sexually harrassed another member of staff five years ago. the man in question has denied any wrongdoing. the company says it's fired 48 employees accused of sexual misconduct over the past two years. joel kibazo, is a partner atjk associates and a former director of communications at africa development bank an hejoins me now. silicon valley is seen as a mail preserve. what does this mean how significant is it? it is significant

for two reasons. one, significant is it? it is significant fortwo reasons. one, it significant is it? it is significant for two reasons. one, it shows that a company the size of google is prepared to take action over sexist behaviour. let's not forget, it is one year since the campaign, metoo, started against behaviour that is inappropriate in the work place. google said it is against this kind of culture and it will take every action it can. the other point is, silicon valley being very male—dominated, this shows that accompany such as google is determined to retain staff because it is not seem to be taking action over complaints such as this, we are moving to where it is no longer a cce pta ble moving to where it is no longer acceptable to have a completely male—dominated workforce or a male—dominated workforce or a male—dominated culture so in that sense, there will be a retention

problem it acts like these are not addressed. we are going to run through some of the paper is little a little later on. work has begun on moving more than 40,000 bodies in order to build the new high speed railway between london and birmingham. it's just one of a series of excavations now getting underway in what will be britain's biggest ever archaeological operation. david sillito reports. this is used on in london and here inside this giant tent, a small army of archaeologists are at work because this is a site with a history. beneath the trees and grass oui’ history. beneath the trees and grass our bodies. thousands of them. this is where london's high—speed railway station is about to be built but

this site, an old city park, used to be, around 150 years ago, a cemetery and all the bodies are going to have to be moved. how many people are we talking about buried here? so the records for the entire area suggest 60,000 people were interred in the cemetery. of course some have over the years already been moved but there is still a huge number of people buried here. we are looking at probably digging around 40,000 individuals but one of the largest excavations ever. you are excavating 40,000 plots? yes. and this huge tented site is only the beginning. where i'm standing at the moment is going to be one of the platforms and it's going to run 500m along there. that's what gets you about this site. it's the sheer of it. 11,000 square metres. but what will happen to all the bodies? matthew flinders, the first man to sail around

australia is buried here. so too is bill richmond, one of pitson‘s most celebrated boxes. initially they will be taken for analysis, so to laboratories. they will be stored in a morgue and again, that is with the agreement of the church. and then, after that, everyone will be reburied in consecrated doubt —— ground. this is just reburied in consecrated doubt —— ground. this isjust the beginning. this is the location near stoke mandeville, the site of the lost church, iron age, roman and saxon sites criss—crossing the whole route. overall on the whole line, during the peak, we are going to have 1000 archaeologists excavating over 60 sites. that sounds pretty big in archaeology terms. it's the biggest archaeological excavation ever undertaken in the uk and probably your up. in this part of london, any development is always going to be building on history but this one is rather more ghosts than normal. stay with us on bbc news,

still to come: the french spiderman who scaled one of london's tallest buildings — before being caught in a police web. only yesterday, she had spoken of dying in the service of the country and said she would be proud of it. every drop of my light will contribute to the growth of this nation. after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded that chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. ignition, and lift off. this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born

today, this girl in india is the 7,000,000,000th person on the planet. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: federal agents search a sorting office in florida — as the hunt continues for whovever mailed a series of pipe bombs to prominent critics of donald trump. the philippines is re—opening its crown jewel resort island of boracay today. it was shut for six—months to clean up and repair the damage which was inflicted by years of mass tourism.

it will now have fewer hotels a nd restau ra nts and a cap on the number of visitors. and there are also new rules aimed at taming its party—hard reputation. michael bristow reports. with just days to go, workmen were still transforming the island. a new sewage pipe has been laid along the sea front. the main road has been widened. restaurants and shops have been spruced up. many shabby and illegally built hotels are being torn down. the ugliness of what boracay had become has not yet completely vanished. in the future, behaviour will have to change, as well. smoking and drinking alcohol on the beach are now banned. tourists will have to sign an oath promising to keep the island pristine.

the philippine president, rodrigo duterte, ordered the island to close for six months because he said it had become a cesspool. the islands turquoise waters were polluted from the two million people who visited each year, and the unplanned way they were allowed to enjoy themselves. the authorities say they want sustainable tourism. other popular sites have been told to cut visitor numbers by half. it's notjust a problem for the philippines. rising incomes in east asia means more tourists. many places famed for their natural beauty have, for many, been spoiled. the picturesque bay in thailand used in the film the beach has been closed indefinitely to save it from destruction. boracay in the philippines was known as a paradise island, but once lost, that reputation is not easily regained. michael bristow, bbc news. japan's prime minister shinzo abe is holding formal talks with chinese leaders as asia's biggest economies seek to boost cooperation in the face of us tariffs. it's the first official visit to the country by a japanese head of government in seven years.

relations have been strained recently over a territorial dispute in the east china sea. stephen mcdonnell is live from beijing. this is the first meeting since 2011? what purpose is it to serve? the main purpose is to signal to the people of japan and the main purpose is to signal to the people ofjapan and china the main purpose is to signal to the people of japan and china that the government finesse in tokyo and beijing are actually, actively trying to build bridges and mend the relationship. you mentioned the east china sea dispute but, really, relations have been strained since world war two between the two countries. the communist party's foundation myth is built upon taking upon japanese forces. there

foundation myth is built upon taking uponjapanese forces. there is a lot of messaging that goes through the chinese people that we faced the japanese military but now, imagine how different the image is today of the japanese flag lying next to the chinese flag. you have shinzo abe up there are expecting —— inspecting there are expecting —— inspecting the troops. this is a way of telling people in china that it is ok to start to do business with japan and the potential is enormous. this is the potential is enormous. this is the number two and number three economies in the world. what can they achieve if they could put to one side their political differences? the potential is huge. and as you say they have often been rivals for influence in the region but they have one frustration in common, correct? absolutely. the united states and its trade policies. china is stuck in this unfolding trade war with the us that

japan has its own trade headaches with its us so they do have something in common. and for both of them, they are trying to plug holes in the economies of the other which are coming as a result of those trade tensions with the us. ironically, the trump administration could end up pushing japan and china closer together as a result of trade tensions between all of them. thank you very much. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm azi farni. coming up in your friday sport briefing, the world series heads to lo angeles, lewis hamilton has a second shot at the f1 title and chelsea maintain their perfect start to the europa league. baseball's biggest stadium will take centre stage later as the world series heads to los angeles. the dodgers will be hoping that home advantage makes all the difference in game 3.

they certainly need a change in form — and fast. so far the boston red sox have dominated the series. this hit from jd martinez drove in two runs as they went on to win 8—4 at fenway park in game 2. they now have a 2—nothing lead in the best of 7 series. the formula one title race is still alive after things didn't go lewis hamilton's way in texas last week. but the briton can win the driver's championship in mexico this weekend. first and second practice take place on friday and hamilton needs to finish seventh or higher in sunday's race to win his fifth world title. uefa have threatened to stage a walk out at the fifa council meeting in the rwandan capital kigali on friday if the world governing body pushes for a vote on a new club world cup and nations league. fifa boss gianni infa n tino will explain his plans for a new and expanded club world cup — to be held every year and featuring some of the premier league and europe's top clubs. but uefa are angry over what they perceive as "emotional

blackmail" to agree to the proposals. ruben loftus—cheek cored a hat—trick as chelsea beat belarusian champions bate borisov 3—0 in the europa league. the englnd midfielder‘s first two goals came in the first 8 minute and chelsea dominated throughout. it's their 12th game unbeaten in all competitions and stretches their europa league group l lead to six points. elsewhere, it was a good night for spanish clubs. real betis won 2—1 at milan, villarreal thrashed rapid vienna 5—nil, while sevilla — who've won the trophy a record five times — hammered their turkish opponents 6—nil. meanwhile, arsenal won at sporting lisbon — that's now 11 wins in a row in all competitions for unai emery‘s side. we wa nt

we want to continue winning and we also want to continue proving things. each match for us is an opportunity for every player to show us opportunity for every player to show us and to take their personality and the way we win and we need every player. in this competition we want to do something important. and defending champion caroline wozniacki is out of the wta finals. she lost to elena svitolina who's now through to the semi—finals in singapore after winning in 3 sets. the ukranian joins karolina pliskova in the last four. now surfing on a board is difficult enough but how would you fancy trying it on a table? well, american austin keen has made it look incredibly easy. he flipped over a coffee table

and turned it into a wakeboard, showing some pretty impressive skills! he then auctioned the table for charity, raising nearly $900. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me azi farni, goodbye. a climber known as the ‘french spiderman‘ has been arrested after scaling one of london's tallest buildings. police cordoned off roads in the city's financial district, as 56—year—old alain robert completed what's called a "free climb" of the salesforce tower — also known as the heron tower. lebo diseko has the story it's not hard to see why they call him spiderman. alain robert setting out on his climb of one of london's tallest buildings. he used no safety gear and no rope, just a bit of chalk and some light gloves, as he scaled the 202—metre tower. traffic had to be diverted,

and workers are stepped out of their offices to watch the spectacle in the city of london. crazy! i work in that buildingm so we were, like, looking out of the window to see what the police were doing and we were really confused, and then i see this guy climbing up. crazy, but i'm all for that. i saw these people standing looking up there, so i wasn't sure what was happening, and someone told me there was a man climbing up without any support. i thought that's... it's crazy to see something like that. he's brave and more crazy, i think. the rock climber turn his attention to skyscrapers in the mid—1990s. it's thought he's done about 160 of these climbs, including the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa in dubai. he tookjust 40 minutes to reach the top of this tower. but not everyone was impressed. the police arrested him

for causing a public nuisance. they say robert's antics took officers away from real emergencies, and posed significant risk to people in and around the tower at the time. the message from them seems pretty clear, don't try this yourselves. lebo diseko, bbc news. lets brief you on some other key events happening later today. beginning in ireland where voters go to the poll with a presidential election in conjunction with a referendum to decriminalise blasphemy. later at windsor castle in the uk, an exhibition opens. and in washington, the bureau of economic analysis will release its first set of us gdp data for the

first set of us gdp data for the first quarter of —— third quarter of this year. let me know what you think of how social media questioned today. alp talking point on twitter. the philippines is real —— re— opening its crown jewel resort of borocay. send me your tweets, if you dare. i have a fuel already. somebody suggesting that i made it pitching to my boss that i had to the philippines to do a report... that is a nice idea. somebody of saying that the world is changing and we have a responsibility to future generations to protect these places. restrictions may be a good thing. another one from peter in scotla nd thing. another one from peter in scotland saying that this sounds like good news for a change. well done to the philippine president. and another one from an indian viewer saying that opened only during the tourist season is

appropriate for good maintenance and means that the originality of the islands remains unchanged. please get in touch, user has to add if you wa nt to get in touch, user has to add if you want to send your thoughts in on that story and everything else we are covering here on the news. stay with us, next up is the business news in a moment and we will look a little more at the japan — china summitand little more at the japan — china summit and looking at tech earnings that came out from the us. is on was a little disappointing, undershot expectations and also some results from the parent company of google, alphabet. also not looking quite so hot. plenty more coming up injust a few moments time. hello.

the weather is preparing to dish up something considerably colder as we head into this weekend. the winds switching to a biting northerly, there will be some sunshine but showers as well and they will be wintry over some hills in the north. the cold air is coming from a long way north, in fact it's coming from the arctic, brought down on these northerly winds behind this cold front. the front itself showing up as a band of cloud and patchy rain drifting across southern areas through the first part of friday morning and behind that, skies clear out, sunshine and showers packing inc in areas exposed to the wind particularly, northern scotland, the east coast of england, western fringes of wales, northern ireland and the farce out west and those temperatures at the very best between six and 12, a bit below par for the time of year. on friday evening, some showers could drift inland for a time. they'll continue in northern scotland, where snow levels will come down to 250 metres through the night, a few hills in northern scotland will seize no, showers elsewhere, perhaps wintry over the likes of the north yorkshire more

and clear spells temperatures close to freezing so icy stretches to take us into saturday morning. a chilly day on saturday. fairly bright with spells on saturday. showers for northern scotland, northern ireland, parts of pembrokeshire and cornwall and a few more into eastern england, may be drifting into the midlands. the wind is noticeable, brisk from the north. this is what your thermometer will read, 6—11, none too impressive but add on the strength of the wind and this is what it will feel like. a feels—like temperature of seven implement and one in aberdeen. a change on sunday, we shift in the winds to a north—easterly direction and that will focus the showers into eastern areas, some lifting further inland to the midlands and the further west you are, largely dry with spells of sunshine and not especially warm. changes into next week. this area of low pressure, which will make for a rough weekend across the western mediterranean, looks like sliding in our direction bringing outbreaks of rain

and strengthening winds. we'll see wet and windy weather at times next week. slowly but surely, though, it should turn a bit less cold. this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. a disappointing sales forecast for the christmas season sent amazon shares sliding on thursday night. and google's parent alphabet‘s results disappointed as well. and brazil faces the second part of its presidential elections this weekend, we look at the economic issues facing the new leader. and on the markets: asian stocks extended their declines at the end of the torrid week.