hello. this is the briefing. i'm victoria fritz. our top stories today: jeff bezos, owner of amazon and the washington post, says the parent company of the national enquirer tried to blackmail him with "intimate photos". the body recovered from the wreckage of the plane that went down in the sea between france and britain is identified as footballer emiliano sala. and the pipeline and the president. a new plan to deliver russian gas to europe proves too much for donald trump. and robots to the rescue. the new deliverr service for supermarket shopping to thousands of busy brits. coming up in the business briefing: the world's biggest oil reserves, but not enough to eat. venezuela faces financial collapse, as the political standoff continues. hello and a very warm welcome to the

programme, briefing on all you need to know in global news and sport. —— global news. the head of instagram says all graphic self—harm images will be removed from the site. this are tech companies waking up to their responsibilties to users at last? you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think. just use the hashtag, #bbcthebriefing. jeff bezos has accused american media incorporated, the owner of the controversial celebrity magazine the national enquirer, of extortion and blackmail. the amazon founder posted a message online, showing what he said were emailed threats from the publisher's legal team to publish intimate photographs of the billionaire and a woman with whom he was having an affair. dave lee reports from san francisco. it appeared on the website medium,

which many viewers will know is a blogging platform that is popular online and in that post, he went into great detail about what he says is an attempt from the publisher of the national enquirer to blackmail him into stopping an investigation he was conducting. that investigation related to a story the inquirer published in january, investigation related to a story the inquirer published injanuary, that went into detail about the affair that he had been having with lauren sanchez, a former tv host. in that story, there are 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 with the national enquirer, and so the national enquirer, and so the national enquirer, and so the national enquirer, jeff bezos alleges, was threatening to release more intimate details, intimate photographs of other pair unless he

stopped that investigation, so quite an extraordinary claim from jeff bezos, and it has been on the internet now for just a couple bezos, and it has been on the internet now forjust a couple of hours but as you can imagine, it has got incredibly viral. police in the uk have confirmed the body recovered from the wreckage of the plane is that of the premier league footballer, emiliano sala. the plane went down last month as he was travelling to wales to join his new club. the body and the pilot david ibbotson is yet to be found. emiliano sala's family and friends will have known this moment was coming and is now been officially confirmed he is after being recovered from the wreckage of the small plane on wednesday, police say his body has been formally identified by the dorset coroner. the 28—year—old argentinian‘s family, who visited the channel islands to assist in the search, have been informed and are being supported by specially trained

police officers. the body of the pilot, 59—year—old david ibbotson from lincolnshire, has not been recovered, but the air accidents investigation branch says it has taken the difficult decision to end its search operation. part of city fa ns its search operation. part of city fans have continued to pay tribute to emiliano sala, who had only been signed from the french club, nantes. ona signed from the french club, nantes. on a statement posted on social media, cardiff city football club said... as friends, family and friends have to come to terms with emiliano sala's death, investigators will now be focusing on what caused his plane the crash. —— to crash. theresa may will travel to dublin today to discuss the northern ireland backstop

with the irish prime minister, leo varadkar. the british pm wants legally binding assurances that there won't be checks along the border, but the issue remains the main sticking point in the brexit negotiations. new details have emerged about a possible third man linked to the poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal in salisbury last march. the investigative website bellingcat says a man calling himself sergey fedotov may also have been in bulgaria at the time of a possible poisoning there. russia has consistently denied any involvement in the poisonings. australian intelligence agencies are investigating a possible hacking attack on the national parliament, reports say they are trying to determine whether any foreign countries, including china, might have been behind this attack. staff have been behind this attack. staff have been behind this attack. staff have been told to be set all passwords as a result. —— reset. thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in new zealand's south island, where a spreading forest fire has

already burned more than 2000 hectares of land. several homes have been destroyed, but there are no reports of deaths or injuries. 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 a 14—year—old girl, molly russell. she had been viewing such images on the site, before she took her own life. her father has suggested that 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." the bbc‘s angus crawford asked him whether the site is "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 are 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. oliver cornock is editor—in—chief at the oxford business group. he was listening to that. thank you very much for coming in, oliver. do you think that these big data companies, these big tech companies, that hold so much information and sony pictures of us all now, are doing enough in terms of their

responsibility and duty of care towards all users? well, i think, victoria, we just heard there from the head of instagram that clearly they are not. last year, tumblr, a sort of picture state that streams information, a blogging sites if you like, changed its rules on pornographic content. we have seen a lot of criticism of facebook, fake news and the continuation of huge amounts of data. all those companies are amounts of data. all those companies a re clearly amounts of data. all those companies are clearly on the back foot here, i think that gentleman is dismayed that very, very clear. i think they will need to do rather more than they are beginning to do that but it is very late in the game and interestingly, the uk health secretary matt hancock said that the government were prepared to step in and legislate if necessary. is that what is required, a statutory duty of care? is very difficult one as someone of care? is very difficult one as someone who is involved in media and publishing, it is a very difficult, thin line to walk, but it may still be be that the companies are too

slow to act and they need a nudge from the authorities. —— it is. slow to act and they need a nudge from the authorities. -- it is. and i think one of the things that seems apparent now listening to these bosses, the head of instagram perhaps taking a slightly different sta nce perhaps taking a slightly different stance on this, is that they have been almost sort of blind to the sort of social ills or the dark side of media because of the wonderful nature of connecting hundreds, thousands, billions of people across the world via these platforms, and as angus crawford rightly pointed out, monetising those connections. as angus crawford rightly pointed out, monetising those connectionslj was just out, monetising those connectionslj wasjust going to out, monetising those connectionslj was just going to point out the value of these companies now underscores that comedy is usually value prices. however, ithink underscores that comedy is usually value prices. however, i think step backin value prices. however, i think step back in the social impact is really beginning to be felt. we have heard the stipulations from governments about the time that children should be spending on screen time and yes, there are huge benefits to social media. however, we are now learning about the darker side and the downside. of course, like

everything, there is a pendulum effect, what the government and the companies have to do is find a happy medium and it is clear that happy medium and it is clear that happy medium has not been found yet. not yet. oliver, do come back because we have got some papers to run too late in the programme. thank you very much. thank you. a controversial pipeline linking russia and germany will go ahead despite significant resista nce will go ahead despite significant resistance from a number of countries. representatives to the eu are due to discuss concerns about the pipeline. the relationship between germany and the united states has been... i think a horrible thing that germany is doing. he has attacked germany's trade... my

my apologies there for the sound, we will look into that and hopefully try and bring you that package a little bit later on. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: an outbreak of equine flu brings horseracing to a halt across the uk for at least five days. 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. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: jeff bezos, owner of amazon and the washington post, says the parent company of the national enquirer tried to blackmail him with intimate photos. the body recovered from the wreckage of the plane that went down in the sea between france and britain is identified as footballer emiliano sala. is running for prime minister

in next month's election — a move unprecedented in the country's history. the princess will be one of the candidates competing against prayuth chan—o—cha, the army chief who made himself prime minister after overthrowing the last elected government in 2014. our correspondentjonathan head is in bangkok. quite a radical departure for thailand if this happens. absolutely, would never have a senior member of the royal family competing for a top political position. it completely up ends the military‘s plan. it also drafted constitution which is meant to extend its influence and there is a party which is in effect a proxy military party that was hoping to run on a platform of continued stability to allow general prayut chan—o—cha, the coup leader, to carry on as prime minister. that was

designed to weaken the parties. now, those parties have a former princess, a very prominent member of the royal family, running is the prime ministerial candidate. it not only defects any criticisms of them being against the monarchy but it gives them a high—profile and quite fla m boya nt gives them a high—profile and quite flamboyant figure is their figureheads so it really changes the dynamics of this election and i think many people would figure that given the reverence for royalty here, even though she has really wished her titles, she would be in a very strong position to be selected as prime minister. a very strong candidate. do tell is a bit more about her. she's eldest daughter of the late king bhumibol adulyadej. she distanced herself from the royal family when she married an american commoner but she has come back in

the last decade in particular. she loves singing, was seen perform on stage, she is very outgoing and has starred in number of thai movies. she is also involved herself in various popular programmes, one in which is quite committed to. taking kids of drugs. in many ways, she is less formal than other royal members, some might even say a little bit eccentric. we're not sure what she will be like as political candidate and what she will be like asa candidate and what she will be like as a political administrator, an actual prime minister but the position of the royal family areas such that a guaranteed celebrity and somebody, it's an unprecedented situation. we are not sure how it will work on the cut and thrust of politics. the uk's biggest power station is

the first to reverse climate change, by burning woodchips they can ca ptu re by burning woodchips they can capture the c02. the bbc‘s environment and energy allen the a nalyst environment and energy allen the analyst has this report. we humans oaktree is a greek debt. when they are growing, they absorb much of the carbon dioxide emissions that are overheating the planet. that's why the uk's biggest power station in dracks, has moved away from coal. they will be burned with wood pellets. when burned, they will only reduce batch release the co2 that was captured in the first place. this is known as carbon neutral. now it is going one step further. with

this equipment, it is taking the exhaust gases from the wood—burning and stripping out the carbon dioxide. the flue gas comes in here and these tanks use a special chemical to separate out the c02. the chemical to separate out the co2. the c02 chemical to separate out the co2. the co2 will lead to be able to be sold for industrial purposes. capturing the carbon dioxide from wood is a radical step. / libby coming carbon negative power station which we believe is absolutely critical if we are to hit our global warming targets and keep temperatures below preindustrial levels. many environmentalists are appalled. they say if we cut down forests to burn them, it will actually harm the climate. here's our briefing on some of the key events happening later. we begin in istanbul where hatice cengiz, slain fiancee of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi will hold a news conference to present her book. then to quebec city

and the sentencing of alexandre bissonnette who has convicted for killing six worshippers at a mosque injanuary 2017. and in paris a rare alfa romeo is expected to be sold at auction at an astronomical price. the 1939 alfa romeo 8c 2900b berlinetta is estimated to fetch over 20 million euros. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm marc edwards and here is your friday sport briefing. it's not often an entire sport is forced to grind to a halt, but that's exactly what's happened to horse racing in the uk. there were supposed to be four meetings on thursday, but they've all been called off due to an outbreak of equine flu. three horses — which had been vaccinated against the disease — tested positive. there are now concerns for next month's cheltenham festival. aleksander cheferin has been re—elected as uefa president

after running unopposed. he'll now serve a further four year term as the man in charge of european football's governing body. there are meant the items on our agenda, starting with international calendar. national associations, we will vigorously defend your interests so that you can continue playing the same number of matches every year. europe's clubs will rigourous —— rigourously defend your interests so the calendar meets high level requirements and we will rigourously defend the interests of players who are many times forgotten in these discussions. bayer leverkusen can climb to 5th in the bundesliga on friday with victory over mainz. leverkusen will be hoping to end their week on a high after crashing out of the german cup in midweek. what a difference a few days can make. last saturday they beat

bayern munich in the bundesliga, then on tuesday lost to second tier heidenheim. maurice mult—haup scored their winner. the alpine skiing world championships resume in sweden on friday with the women's combined competition. but the new super g champion mikaela shiffrin will be a notable absentee. the american is skipping the combined event to concentrate on next week's slalom and giant slalom. the favourite is the defending champion wendy holdener of switzerland. she'll be aiming to retain the title she won in st. moritz two years ago. the best in the west take on the bottom team in the nba later as golden state travel to phoenix. if wednesday night is anything to go by, you should keep an eye on the scoreline. the nba champions destroyed the san antonio spurs. it finished 141—102 in oakland. while san antonio rested some key players, the nba champions had a full—strength side including kevin durant and stephen curry. it was an explosive third quarter —

kevin durant was ruthless — helping the warriors score a massive 49 points. we know mo salah is clinical in front of goal, unerring accuracy one of the many tools in his armoury. just take a look at this video he posted on instagram. here he is doing keepie uppies, butjust keep your eye on the can on top of the tyre. take number 545. just kidding. here we see it again, there one minute, gone the next. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. how many takes to you reckon it

took? anyway, shall we move on? let's talk about internet shopping. many of us already buy our shopping online but what if you could choose to have it delivered straight to your door by a robot? the idea has been piloted in several cities and has proved popular. now the company behind the technology in the uk says the service is being expanded. tim muffett reports from milton keynes. taylor's life is busy. when the dust settles, she craves convenience. with managing a house and working and everything else, it makes it way more comfortable to have something delivered to your door than having to go out. i would choose the items... but like many in milton keynes, her groceries won't buy come by van be handed over by human. since last april she's had the option of delivery by robot. fantastic. new technology. milton keynes is laid out perfectly the robots. we have very wide pavements,

it is very suburban. 55 robots are now making more than 1000 deliveries per week. in december, tescojoined the co—op in signing up. per week. in december, tescojoined the co-op in signing up. once the order is placed, an employee will pick up the rock products and will place them in the robot. so it's better to open the door and there is a robot there rather than a human? don't think it's better, it's different, it's a customer choice and people will decide how they want to interact. with the address programmed in, kayla's delivery is on its way. the robot is navigating itself and is programmed to stick to paths and pavements and if it finds something blocking its way, in this way, me, it will know what to do. excuse me, can way, me, it will know what to do. excuse me, can you way, me, it will know what to do. excuse me, can you let me pass? the robot has had the best —— a protection bubble around but then it will safely stop, it will manoeuvre around the obstacle and if it's a very narrow pavement, it can even back up and get out of the way. how

do you ensure you can get on the way of cars or traffic? if it's waiting at the edge of a road crossing, it is understanding its environment around it up to 250 metres sillitoe on the crosses the road when it's safe do so. the robots can only be opened by the customer who placed the order and the alarm will go off if they are tampered with. the scheme is being trialled with 10,000 homes in some university campuses. big it's really good. they've been running so long now you get used to them, you come out the door and you see that thing go by. i'm not sure. i prefer somebody coming around to my groceries personally. i prefer somebody coming around to my groceries personallylj i prefer somebody coming around to my groceries personally. i do worry sometimes on the internet now, we'll get to the point where we don't speak to each other sea won't have to leave home. get robot delivery. yes. hello, here's your delivery. to leave home. get robot delivery. yes. hello, here's your deliverym saves me a lot of time over the past few months and the funny thing is, we refer to it as a person. either

he ora we refer to it as a person. either he or a sheep. it doesn't feel like it's a machine. goodbye. kind of cute or kind of creepy? in milton keynes, robots are changing the way people shop. tim muffett, bbc news. but will they navigate all those roundabouts at milton keynes, i wonder. let us know what you think. and tell me what you think about our talking point today. instagram's decision to route all graphic images of self harm. some twea ks a re graphic images of self harm. some tweaks are coming. fine tuning towards better safety standards, welcome changes. these things emerge over time and they will be a reality in future. plenty more coming up later on. stay with us. well, we're ending this week on a very unsettled note,

something we haven't seen in quite a while, deep areas of low pressure. we had one on wednesday—thursday and this one on friday, today to saturday is looking particularly vicious. a very wild day friday with heavy rain around. this is the culprit, this deep low moving in off the atlantic has been named storm erik by met eireann, into northern and western parts of the uk, also a very active weather front pushing in some heavy rains, so we are starting friday morning off extremely wet across many western areas, an atrocious morning commute and the wind will be a feature, picking up through the day, certainly in through the morning through to the first part of the afternoon, looking very windy. gust of a5—55mph widely across the country, 60—70 in exposure across western areas, so there's potentially going to be some disruption from this. the rain will be heavier, a squally band of rain reaching central and eastern areas. and it will stay very wet across much of scotland too. could see a litttle bit of wintriness over

the higher ground. on the plus side, temperatures will be quite high. 8—12 degrees but with the wind and rain, it might not feel quite a smile. storm erik could be moving slowly eastwards. a swathe of strong winds through northern ireland and northern england and southern scotland during the course of friday night into saturday morning so this could also cause some issues, gusts in excess maybe of 70mph miles per hour in some places. saturday is blustery day on saturday, bright for many. heavy rain through the northern half of scotland. perhaps some localised flooding. milder in the south. further rain pushing into the south—west later on today. today and into saturday, likely to be some disruption from the very strong winds. heavy rain in places to some extent. you could see disruption like i mentioned, stay tuned to the forecast. saturday night and sunday, someone blustery weather across the southern portions of england. eventually it should eventually move away, slowly through the morning. skies brightening into the afternoon as winds turn the north—west. a cooler direction, and a band

of showers moving across scotland and northern ireland and england with some snow on the hills. those temperatures will be dropping back into single figures across the board. this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. the world's biggest oil reserves, but not enough to eat. venezuela faces financial collapse, as the political standoff continues. plus, trade warfears return, as president trump says he won't meet president xi jinping before their truce expires on march1. and on the markets, shares in asia have had biggest drop in a month as hong kong reopens after a three—day break for lunar new year. mainland chinese stocks, though, have yet to react. they‘ re closed until monday. us shares also hit the skids after those trade war concerns.