a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: instagram says it is removing all graphic images of self—harm, after the outcry over the suicide of a british teenager. 50 days to go. theresa may meets the leaders of the european union in brussels, but there's no breakthrough on brexit. jeff bezos, owner of amazon and the washington post, says the parent company of the national enquirer tried to blackmail him with "intimate photos". fears for a repeat of brazil's mining dam disaster. are hundreds of similar sites at risk of collapse? you have got this huge load of highly toxic waste held back by a dam, that i am standing on, that literally no—one is maintaining. and set to search for life on the red planet. a naming ceremony for the new british—built mars rover. hello.

instagram has told the bbc it will act swiftly to remove all graphic images of self—harm. it's a response to the suicide of 14—year—old molly russell. she had been viewing such images on the site, before she took her own life. her father has suggested instagram "helped kill" her. adam mosseri, head of the company, has acknowledged it is "not where it needs to be on the issues of self—harm and suicide." our correspondent angus crawford, who first highlighted molly's case, has the story. i've seen videos. i've seen pictures. nothing's blocked. no. nothing's blurred. i haven't seen anything blurred. meet grace, lucy, shani and julia. if you search for self—harm, you are then suddenly guided to how to commit suicide, how to hang yourself, how to tie a noose.

horrified by molly's story and spurred into action, though their own families haven't been affected, this week, each set up a brand—new account. and they have a message for the head of instagram. you can still go and read how to kill yourself successfully. and you need to take a stand and you need to do something now, you have a moral responsibility. so that's what a proportion of british society now feels about your platform. i mean, it's powerful. it's heavy stuff. i think we have an immense amount of responsibility. i think that it's clear that we are not yet where we need to be on the issues of self—harm and suicide. because the concern from, i think, some of those mothers and others is that, in effect, instagram, in the words of molly russell's father, has been monetising misery. we're not looking to monetise misery. we look to connect people with their friends and the interests that they love and care about. we think that we create a lot

of good in the world. and we were not as focused as we should have been on the risks that came along with connecting so many people. but moving forward, actually, we're going to change our policy to not allow any graphic images of self—harm, whether or not it's admission or promotion. so you're going to take all self—harm images off of instagram? graphic self—harm images, yes. so i might have an image of a scar where i say, "i'm 30 days clean", and that's an important way for me to share my story. that kind of content can still live on the site, but we're actually, the next change is that it won't show up in any recommendation services, so it'll be harder to find. it won't be in search. it won't be in hashtags. it won't be in recommendations. but graphic imagery, we're going to take off instagram entirely. that's going to take some time, but we're committed to doing it. she said, "if i get over 2000 likes, i will cut myself on live feed". any success won't be measured in the boardroom or even parliament, but in homes and by families across the uk. angus crawford, bbc news. a day of meetings with

the british prime minister has produced no breakthrough on the brexit impasse, according to the president of the european council, donald tusk. theresa may is trying to get legally binding changes to her withdrawal agreement to help it get through the parliament in london. this from our political editor, laura kuenssberg. the prime minister is well used to unexpected obstacles being thrown in her path. an anti—brexit protester bundled away from her motorcade in brussels. after mps kicked out the deal she reached with the eu, her only choice is to try to keep going. here to plead with the eu for changes, knowing already they'd say no. we must secure legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement to deal with the concerns that parliament has over the backstop. and taking changes to the backstop, together with the other work that we're doing on workers‘s rights

and other issues will deliver a stable majority in parliament. the european union very firmly keeps saying no. donald tusk said some of your colleagues should be "sent to hell" in the end yesterday. aren't you stuck in some sort of purgatory? i've raised with president tusk the language that he used yesterday, which was not helpful, and caused widespread dismay in the united kingdom. the point i made to him is that we should both be working to ensure that we can deliver a close relationship between the united kingdom and the european union in the future, and that's what he should be focusing on. behind closed doors, of course, both sides hope there can be a deal. they want this to work. but look at how her expression changes, once in front of the public. as a cabinet minister said, this situation is grim. theresa may wants to change the deal they shook hands on before christmas because it can't get past mps. that's down to the so—called backstop, that guarantee against a hard border in ireland. brussels‘s top brass say no breakthrough.

the eu 27 will not reopen the withdrawal agreement. the discussion was robust, but constructive. despite the challenges, the two leaders agreed that their teams should hold talks. so, negotiations are back on. there'll be many more handshakes and hellos. but if brexiteers at home believe there'll be a farewell to the backstop, well... mrs may today, in the meeting, assured us that there will be a backstop. but is the way out of the hole back at home? labour's infuriated many of its own side by showing willing, publishing five demands for the deal. legal promises on security, the single market free trade area, customs and workers‘s rights.

jeremy corbyn‘s not about to sign up for the deal, but he too wants to talk. a lot of our manufacturing industries are very frightened and very worried at the moment that on the 29th of march, there'll be a cliff edge. there cannot be a cliff edge. we will do everything we can in parliament to prevent this cliff edge exit. so now labour says it wants to compromise, the eu wants to keep talking. but the truth is, theresa may at the moment won't budge to meet the opposition. the eu shows little sign of moving to meet her. so, as the clock goes down, the pressure on the prime minister goes up and up. and although just keeping going doesn't sound a cunning strategy, right now, perhaps, it's the only one she's got. all along, this has been a process of small, tricky, forward moves. a grand finale could be a long wait yet. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. the un expert investigating the death of jamal khashoggi has said the journalist and saudi government critic was the victim of a brutal

and premeditated killing by saudi arabian officials. agnes callamard, who hasjust returned from a fact—finding mission to turkey, said she was given access to information including "chilling and gruesome audio" obtained by turkish intelligence. imogen foulkes has the latest from geneva. we should stress that this initial statement from the united nations special investigator on extra judicial killings, these are preliminary findings. nevertheless, reading them, they‘ re pretty damning. to —— agnes callamard says that based on a week—long visit to turkey and the evidence she saw and heard and was given an audio recording to listen to, which apparently recorded the moments ofjamal khashoggi's death, that all of this evidence points to a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and prepared, carried out by saudi arabian officials. she says that subsequent to mr khashoggi's death, the actions of saudi arabia did not

help at all turkey's investigation. in fact, it appeared that they were actively hindering it. now, she's asked to go to saudi arabia herself to investigate there. as far as we know, there's been no positive response to that request. in the meantime, she's expressed doubt that the trial currently under way in saudi arabia, of 11 individuals, will actually be fair and be a fair reflection of exactly what happened here. now, let's stress, this investigation is not over yet, she will be going back to turkey, she wants to have a proper official look at turkey's forensic and police records. so this is an investigation really that will go on for several months, but what we do expect is a final report to the united nations human rights council in june, and as i said at the beginning, the initial findings are very, very damning towards saudi arabia's alleged involvement in this crime.

let's round some more of the day's news. it has been confirmed that a body removed from the wreckage of a plane in the english channel is that of the premier league footballer emiliano sala. he was being flown from nantes to cardiff last month when the plane ditched into the sea. the body of the pilot, david ibbotson, has not been found. president cyril ramaphosa of south africa has announced that elections will take place in may — the first since he took over from jacob zuma a year ago. he said a probe into corruption during his predecessor's term in office had revealed wrongdoing that challenged the foundations of the state. australian authorities are investigating the apparent hacking of the national pa rliament‘s computer network, officials say there is no evidence yet that any data had been accessed or stolen. everyone in the building has been

told to reset their passwords as a precaution. national broadcaster abc is reporting that intelligence agencies were looking into whether foreign governments could be behind the attack. amazon founderjeff bezos has accused american media incorporated, owner of controversial celebrity magazine the national enquirer, of extortion and blackmail. the billionaire posted a message online showing what he said were emailed threats from the publisher's legal team to publish intimate photographs of him and a woman with whom he's been having an affair. dave lee is our north america technology reporter and joins me from san francisco. that was an extraordinary post. absolutely. i mean not something you would expect any ceo, let alone the world's richest man, jeff bezos. it appeared on the website medium, which many viewers will know as a platform that is popular online. he says there was an attempt by the

publisher of the national enquirer to blackmail him into stopping conducting investigation he was conducting. —— mike has gone public about what he says. he had been having an affair with lauren sanchez, a former tv host, and in that story, that there were several m essa 9 es that story, that there were several messages sent between the couple that were of course private messages and the investigation thatjeff bezos had paid for privately was looking into how those messages ended up in the possession of, ended up ended up in the possession of, ended up with the national enquirer, and so up with the national enquirer, and so the national enquirer, mr bezos alleges was threatening to release more into the details, internet photos about the pair and messy stock that investigation, so quite extraordinary claim from mr bezos. as you can imagine, it has gone incredibly viral. there is also a kind of political needle here because jeff bezos, kind of political needle here becausejeff bezos, not only the

founder of amazon, the owner of the washington post, the national enquirer very much aligned with mr trump? yes, well, when it comes to the national enquirer, the magazine recently admitted that it co—ordinated with a trump campaign to pay for what is known as the catch and kill, that is buying up the likes of salacious story, in this case about mr trump before he was elected, and rather than run that story, keep it secret instead and remove the ability of the person involved in the story to talk about what happened more widely. mr bezos, he is saying that since it has become the owner of the washington post newspaper, which has been incredibly critical of the president, he says he has become a political target and because of that is, he may be under increased scrutiny and potential attacks like the one we have seen. i should point out at this point, that we have not heard any response yet from the publisher of the national enquirer, and so we are not yet heard their

side of this remarkable story but jeff bezos certainly believing that his personal life is becoming entwined with the reputation of the newspaper he owns, the washington post. more to come out on this quite possibly. thank you very much for that. thank you to you for being with us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: woody allen launches legal action against amazon studios, accusing it of breaching their contract by refusing to distribute his latest film. there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks

for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: instagram says it's removing all graphic images of self—harm — after an outcry over the suicide of a british teenager. 50 days to go — but no breakthrough in brussels. theresa may meets eu chiefs in brussels. the actor and film director woody allen has launched legal action against amazon studios,

accusing it of having breached their contract by refusing to distribute his latest film. kim gittleson has more. kj matthews is an entertainment journalist based in los angeles. helpless with a background, what's going on? woody allen had this multi—year deal with amazon to make for films multi—year deal with amazon to make forfilms and multi—year deal with amazon to make for films and what he is saying is that his latest film, a rainy day in new york, was supposed to be distributed by now from amazon and they have shelved the idea of distributing that film altogether and according to woody allen, in his lawsuit, he's saying it is because of the allegations against him by his daughter that he sexually molested her in what he's saying is that these allegations, he is denied them and they've been out there for more than 20 years so there is simply no reason that amazon has to

have a breach of contract with him that's what he is alleging. some of the actors in the film have spoken out, haven't they? jude law says it's a shame that it's going to not be he doesn't know he dashed if he will work with him. we haven't heard selena gomez say she wants to work with him again. a lot of people are distancing themselves from woody allen because we are now living in a time's up, me too era where studios are taking allegations against inappropriate behaviour very seriously, designing —— deciding whether they want to work with someone whether they want to work with someone in a way they had not maybe five or ten years ago. had he think this particular case is going to end 7 this particular case is going to end up? it'll be interesting you compare it to the director bryan singer who

directed bohemian rhapsody, he has had his nomination was drawn because of allegations but he has not been charged. if you look at singer r kelly, he has not been charged but he has broken up with sony music company so i think it will be very, very ha rd company so i think it will be very, very hard for woody allen to find some other major motion picture studio to distribute his films if in fa ct studio to distribute his films if in fact amazon decides not to move forward in distributing any of its films. he is suing them for breach of co ntra ct films. he is suing them for breach of contract and as of now, amazon has not released a statement or said anything or responded to this lawsuit. one of brazil's worst environmental disasters was the collapse of a mining dam last month which flooded homes with around 12 million cubic metres of mud and sludge. at least 150 people are known to have died — with many more still missing. much of the focus has turned to the company which owns the mine, vale, and whether it's to blame

for poor safety standards. the town of itabirito not far from where the disaster took place has another mining dam one of nearly 800 in brazil. from there our science editor david shukman sent this report. we travel to the heart of brazil's iron country to investigate a dark side of the mines that the industry prefers to keep hidden. we come across a luridly—coloured stream, a first clue about the pollution created in these hills. and suddenly, we get this rare glimpse of one of the largest mining dumps in brazil. it's full of the same kind of sludge that flooded out and killed so many people. a byproduct that accumulates day after day from a massive business. the reason these places exist is because when you dig

ore out of the ground, you only want a tiny fraction of the rock, the metal that you're after, in this case iron. the rest, you've just got to get rid of. and the cheapest way to do that is to build places like this. the problem is, they're not temporary, they're meant to last forever. and this towering structure holds the sludge back, a dam made of layers of mining waste. there are nearly 800 of these in brazil, and many say they're far too weak. people living in the shadow of the barrier have created this computer simulation of how their homes could be overwhelmed. and when the dam at brumadinho disintegrated last month, it left them more scared than ever. translation: i don't sleep anymore since what happened in brumadinho. it was a warning. if the same were to happen here, in three years, less than three years, tomorrow, later...? i don't know. the fear is constant. no camera, no video,

no monitoring... not far away, campaigners lead me to another source of fear, an old goldmine that's been abandoned. the machinery is rusting. there are pools of liquid. you get arsenic and cyanide with gold mining. it's much more toxic than mining iron ore, and the waste is far more dangerous. the last owners of the mine left a legacy that's poisonous, a small mountain of contaminated dust and rock. and the impact of all of this being released would be devastating. what's truly shocking about this place is that you've got this huge load of highly toxic waste held back by a dam that i'm standing on that literally no—one is maintaining. right beside it, this lake of highly toxic liquid, also held back by a dam

no—one's looking after. and if the whole lot breaks, all these toxins could enter the water supply for millions of people. the mine is in an area that's a vital source of water. the major city of belo horizonte horizontally depends on it. translation: if a very heavy rain falls, who is going to guarantee this dam won't collapse and destroy the river das velhas, which is the main supply for belo horizonte? so it's really serious. so, downstream, there's a risk of the water becoming toxic. and eliane elias, a scientist, says the broken dam at brumadinho highlighted what can go wrong. it was really sad because it was a disaster and i know the importance of the water in this place for all the people. all the cities around the mine. back at the goldmine, a pitiful sight, emaciated horses,

surviving despite the poison. and like the darn, it seems no—one cares for them. there are ideas for making these places safe. but there are so many of them, which means that more disasters are waiting to happen. david shukman, bbc news, in brazil. she was a pioneer scientist and now the rover that will be sent to mars next year will bear the name of rosalind franklin. at least 30,000 people from across europe took part in a competition to name the vehicle, which was build in the uk. the announcement was hosted by astronaut tim peake and our science correspondent rebecca morelle was there. i am here at a mock—up mars where the prototype rover has been put through its paces. it's designed to roam across the rocky martian terrain. this mission is nearly complete. everything is almost ready but one vital element has been missing and that is the name, and today it's been unveiled as the rosalind franklin rover.

to explain why, i'm joined by british astronaut tim peake. tim, why is this rosalind the rover, why the name? rosalind franklin, a great british scientist who did so much to unlock the secrets of human life, the dna and double helix so it's only fitting that the mars rover is named after her because it will be searching for signs of past life on mars. you got the public involved with this naming process. absolutely. the competition was opened up to the public, 36,000 entries to a huge response and it shows that there is so much appetite and public appetite for these exploration missions. this really is a big mission for the european space agency. why is it so vital to get out there to mars? it's a really exciting mission. this rover is going to drill 2m under the surface of mars which is where we stand the best chance of understanding organic molecules which could have resided on mars

so it's going to a very special ancient landing site where there was once a liquid ocean and we know that 3.7billion years ago, earth and mars were very similar so life could have evolved on mars as well. thank you very much, tim peake. this is obviously a robotic mission heading to mars in the real thing is being assembled together at the moment, scientists working round the clock and it really will be a fitting honour for the woman who truly was an unsung hero of science to have this legacy that will now live on mars. the red carpet that is your‘s grammy awards has been rolled out. alicia keys, who takes over from last yea r‘s keys, who takes over from last year's post, james corden. it will be in los angeles this sunday. and people watching. hello there.

the weather has taken a bit of a turn to something a lot more unsettled to end the week. something we haven't seen in quite awhile, pretty deep areas of low pressure bringing gales and spells of heavy rain. and friday is looking very unsettled with a deep area of low pressure to bring widespread gales and quite heavy rain. now, this is actually a deep low that's been named storm erik by met eireann because it will likely bring disruptive winds to the northern half of the country including parts of scotland and northern england as we head from friday night into saturday. but early this morning, the winds will be picking up from the south—west as this storm gets closer. it'll be pushing in some pretty heavy rains in northern and western areas, maybe some snow over the scottish hills. it's going to be a very mild start to friday, particularly across the south—west. temperatures there in plymouth around 10 degrees. so it's going to be a very blustery morning. outbreaks of showery rain ahead of the main band of rain which will spread its way eastwards, bringing some pretty torrential in fact across some central and eastern areas into the afternoon.

the rain remains heavy across much of scotland and northern ireland, those winds a real feature, as—ssmph across many areas. 60—70 across some northern and western coasts, particularly over hills as well. 0n the plus side, it'll be pretty mild because of those south—westerlies but 10—12 degrees might not feel so mild because of the wind and rain. now, storm erik is very slow—moving towards the north of the uk through friday and saturday, and on its southern flank we could see a swathe with strong winds across parts of northern ireland into central and southern scotland and northern england. so a very blustery start to the day, perhaps even disruptive to start on saturday morning. a very windy day for all but further south, we should see some sunshine around, although much of the northern scotland will remain very wet with further snow on the hills. rainfall totals really mounting here with a chance of localised flooding in places. again, another mild day in the south. there will be some more rain arriving in the south—west later on.

so through friday and into saturday, we are likely to see some disruption from these very strong winds, so keep tuned to your weather forecast and to your bbc local radio. now, this feature may bring a spell of wet, maybe windy weather across the very far south of england, saturday night into sunday, but it should slowly clear away into the near continent as sunday wears on, so an improving picture here, with winds turning to a north—westerly direction. so that will be a cooler direction, but at least brightening up. we'll see a band of showery rain moving south across northern areas with some cool air there, so some snow on the hills. it will be turning cooler from sunday onwards. the latest headlines: instagram has told the bbc that it will act swiftly to remove all graphic images of self—harm. the decision is a response to the prominent case of 14—year—old molly russell, who took her own life in 2017. her father said images she viewed on the platform were partly responsible for her death.

the president of the european council, donald tusk, has said there's been no breakthrough on the impasse, despite a day of meetings with theresa may. the prime minister spent thursday in brussels, attempting to get legally binding changes to her withdrawal agreement in an attempt to get it through parliament. amazon founderjeff bezos has accused american media incorporated, owner of the national enquirer, of extortion and blackmail. the billionaire posted a message online, showing what he said were emailed threats from the publisher's legal team.