this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump's former campaign manager has been jailed for nearly four years for money laundering, conspiracy, and fraud. paul manafort must also pay more than $24 million to the us government. a very warm welcome to bbc news, he hid millions of dollars he earned broadcasting to viewers as a consultant for ukraine's in north america and around the globe. former pro—russian government. my name is mike embley. our top stories: britain has escalated efforts president trump's former campaign to free nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe chief is jailed for from an iranian jail. nearly 4 years, she's an aid worker, for conspiracy, money laundering and fraud, but is accused of spying, and must repay more than $24 million which she denies. she has dual nationality, to the us government. and the uk government has made britain steps up efforts to free the unusual move of granting her nazanin zaghari ratcliffe diplomatic protection. fromjail in iran. it means the row over her detention the uk government is giving her becomes a formal legal dispute. diplomatic protection. el salvador‘s supreme court frees facebook says it will three women who spent a decade try to stop the spread of misinformation about behind bars, accused of breaking vaccines on its network. strict abortion laws. the company has faced pressure to tackle the problem, amid outbreaks of measles around dealing with an outbreak the united states attributed of misinformation — to growing numbers of parents who facebook says it will crack down on anti—vaccine content. refuse to vaccinate their children. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s

stephen sackur speaks to lord ricketts, president trump's former campaign chief paul manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for money laundering, conspiracy and fraud. a much longer sentence had been expected but he must also repay more than $24 million to the us government. special counsel robert mueller revealed the crimes as part of his investigation into russian interference in the presidential election. our north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest. he was once a highflying businessmen known to his dapper appearance and lifestyle. paul manafort crimes started with the collusion of russia allegations. the charges related to the money he was paid working for politicians in ukraine, with connections to moscow. prosecutors said paul manafort he'd bought than

$55 million from the us tax authorities. seated in a wheelchair, he addressed the court and asked the judge for compassion. he said the last two years had been the most difficult of his love. to say i humiliated and shamed would be a gross understatement. the judge said he was surprised that paul manafort did not express regret. you should have remorse for that. paul manafort could have been jailed have remorse for that. paul manafort could have beenjailed for up have remorse for that. paul manafort could have been jailed for up to 25 yea rs could have been jailed for up to 25 years but thejudge could have been jailed for up to 25 years but the judge thought that would be excessive. other than these are very serious crimes, he had lived a blame less live. are very serious crimes, he had lived a blame less livelj are very serious crimes, he had lived a blame less live. i think most importantly what you saw today is the same thing that we had said from day one, there is absolutely no evidence that paul manafort was involved with any collusion with any

government officialfrom involved with any collusion with any government official from russia. paul manafort will be back in court next week to face sentencing in another case related to illegal lobbying. it could bring an extra ten yea rs lobbying. it could bring an extra ten years injail. i spoke to professor sahar aziz, at columbia law school. she is chancellor's socialjustice scholar and director of the center for security, race & rights at rutgers university law school. this is an unusually light sentence. i think that the judge clearly had quite a bit of sympathy for paul manafort for unknown reasons. many court watches, particularly those who were critical of the appointment process for federal judges of the appointment process forfederaljudges in of the appointment process for federaljudges in terms of their ideological leanings based on who appointed them, may wonder whether because this was a reagan appointee that he may have more likelihood to be sympathetic, or perhaps the judge thought payment of the $24 million was sufficiently punitive and that in factjail time was not necessary,

oras or as much time as they had wanted because he is 69 years old and ill. as he comes into court with that wheelchair he is working the system to make himself appear more vulnerable than perhaps you actually is. he also faces more jail time in this case next week, in washington, dc, where he has pleaded guilty on two conspiracy charges? yes, andi conspiracy charges? yes, and i think thejudge in that case, who was appointed by barack obama, i expect he will be less pathetic. one, because he has lied, and he has spoken in court in ways she has found to be disrespectful and he has pushed back on her. i suspect she may not be as sympathetic to him, particularly because he was caught lying, and in that case it is more about his failure to report lobbying effo rts about his failure to report lobbying efforts and working with ukraine,

whereas the first case that we are speaking of now is more about him failing to pay taxes and hiding money abroad, and so arguably that might seem more of a mundane white—collar fraud case, whereas the other one might be seen as more of a pernicious case, in terms of corrupting the political system. britain has escalated efforts to free nazanin zaghari ratcliffe from an iranian jail. she is an aid worker, but accused of spying. she has dual nationality, and the government has made the unusual move of granting her diplomatic protection. it means the row over her detention becomes a formal legal dispute. she denies any wrongdoing and recently went on hunger strike in protest at her treatment. here's our diplomatic correspondent james landale. it is extremely rare for the british government to grant diplomatic protection to any of its citizens. no—one at the foreign office can remember it ever happening before. essentially, what it means is that the british government has decided that the way nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is being treated by iran has not

met its international obligations. she has not been given the right medical treatment, or due process in the law courts. and as a result, the british state has decided that it should give full protection to mrs zaghari—ratcliffe. now, what that means is that, instead of this being a consular issue, this is now a formal legal dispute between the british government and the iranian government. in practical terms, that does not mean that iran is now forced to do anything to treat her in a better injail, anything to treat her in a better way injail, in tehran, where she is being held since 2016, but what it does mean is now the british government can raise her case more easily in internationalforums, like the united nations, because it is not a consular issue, as i say, it is a formal international dispute between two nations. so the british can look for more allies and try and put more pressure on iran. it does potentially, theoretically, open potential legal avenues — the uk could, in theory, end up trying to sue the iranian regime for compensation,

but officials make it very clear, they are not goingto go down that route, they do not want to get this bogged down in international courts the next two or three years. what they want is to put mores diplomatic pressure on iran, to essentially, say, look, the way you have been treating her is not acceptable, you have to release her soon and that this issue is not going away and the british government is not give up on her. so it's a pretty strong signal. the question now, of course, will be how the iranians respond. do they respond positively or do they double down and say actually no, this is going to worsen relations rather than make things better? let's get some of the day's other news: two islamist militants have been found guilty of an anti—semitic attack that killed four people in brussels in 2014. mehdi nemmouche had opened fire in thejewish museum of the belgian capital with weapons supplied by his accomplice, nacer bendrer. the archbishop of lyon, one of the most senior figures

in the roman catholic church in france, has been given a six—month suspended sentence forfailing to report child sexual abuse. the case was brought privately by a victims' association. cardinal philippe barbarin says he will go to rome to offer pope francis his resignation. president trump's former personal lawyer, michael cohen, has started legal proceedings in new york against the trump organisation. mr cohen, who was sentenced in december to three years in prison accuses the group of failing to reimburse him for nearly $4 million legal fees incurred while working for trump organisation. el salvador‘s supreme court has freed three women who spent a decade injail after being accused of aborting their babies. the women say they suffered miscarriages but were convicted of aggravated homicide. they were welcomed by well—wishers and activists near the capital san salvador. ramzan karmali has more. after a decade behind bars, alba rodriguez, maria del tra nsito orella na and cinthia rodriguez emerged from prisonjust outside

the capital, san salvador. translation: we feel so happy, so happy. we are grateful to the citizen organisations, the national and international organisations, that have supported us, and we hope the state will also recognise the fact that there are many women inside that are also innocent and hopefully one day they will regain their freedom. the three women were released after the supreme court commuted their original 30—year sentences. since 1998, when abortion was banned in el salvador, dozens of women accused of aborting their babies have been sent to prison, even in some cases where the women had been victims of rape. campaigners say at least 30 women jailed for abortion have been freed following retrials and reviews in the past ten years, but around 20 remain in prison. translation: we want to do this injustice to be recognised.

i think the state has a responsibility to put things right for them. the injustice that has been committed is a threat to us all. efforts to decriminalise abortion have been unsuccessful. in 2018 two bills were put forward but never even made it to vote in the legislative assembly. last may, officials from the country's far—right party gained the upper hand, quashing any possibility of relaxing the law. and the incoming president, nayib bukele, has indicated he will only legalise abortion in cases where the pregnancy is a threat to the mother's life. facebook says it will try to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines on its network. it will remove misleading content and disable accounts that continue to violate facebook‘s policies on vaccine information. the company has faced pressure to tackle the problem. outbreaks of measles in the united states and elsewhere were attributed to the growing numbers of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. japan is also fighting the worst measles outbreak in years.

for more on this lets get the thoughts of dr david hawkes, founder of the australian group stop the anti vaccine network, the avn being a leading anti—vaccine group down under. ina and you have been working the nearly ten years trying to combat anti— vaccination on line. —— i know. why has it taken so long and why it are they doing it now? at think it is a fantastic positive step ina think it is a fantastic positive step in a new direction and a lot of this has been driven out of the us by congress starting to ask questions about how social media is the source of aggregating a lot of anti— vaccination misinformation. the source of aggregating a lot of anti— vaccination misinformationm may be used to so many people that many anti— vaccine groups are moneymaking enterprises not just people who may be misguided. absolutely. the abn in australia had

an income of $2.7 million —— the avn. ona an income of $2.7 million —— the avn. on a big yet they had 340,000 australian dollars from something run out off somebody‘s front room. there is a lot of money to be made and that is not counting book sales, youtube video ads. all sources of income for these organisations. they we re income for these organisations. they were not just letting income for these organisations. they were notjust letting these posts appear, they were taking money to promote them. this page is our quite ha rd to promote them. this page is our quite hard to shut down. is there more for facebook to do? when you have an organisation recognised such as the avn, their on line presence is easy to trace and that would be the low—lying proof. once you start getting other organisations and

individuals, it becomes a lot harder. having some high—level investigation would be probably a really good way to start. it is probably manageable. in case people do not know, australia has taken a really firm action is against pa rents really firm action is against parents who do not vaccinate. in australia we have two policies and basically they mean that if your child is not vaccinated according to the immunisation schedule and there isa the immunisation schedule and there is a medical exemption, it you lose someone of your income that the government gives to support kids and also keeps you not go to preschool education if they are not vaccinated and that has been driving a massive u pta ke and that has been driving a massive uptake in vaccination. over a year ago, 250,000 children are now

vaccinated that were not before those policies came in. thank you very much for your time. and thank you to you for staying with us. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: we report from greenland where a rise in winter rainfall means a gloomy outlook for the ice sheet — and possibly the world. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90,

travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much do you think? i don't know really. i've never been married before. welcome back. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president trump's former campaign chair paul manafort has been jailed for nearly four years for money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy — and will have to pay millions in fines and restitution. britain has escalated efforts to secure nazanin zaghari ratcliffe's release from an iranian jail, making the rare move to grant her diplomatic protection. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, has defended his handling of a growing controversy, that's already led to two ministerial resignations. he's denied one of his key aides

tried to put inappropriate pressure on the thenjustice minister jody wilson—raybould, not to pursue charges against a leading engineering firm, that's accused of corruption. but she maintains she was pressured. nada tawfik reports from ottawa. he's the golden boy of progressive politics, who outshines other leaders on the international stage. justin trudeau came into power promising to be different — honest, transparent, and inclusive. but now he's facing allegations that his office improperly pressured the former attorney general to shield the engineering firm snc—lavalin from a corruption trial. in a press conference — meant to put the controversy to rest — trudeau defended his government's actions, but admitted mistakes. over the past months, there was an erosion of trust between my office and, specifically, my former principal secretary, and the former minister ofjustice and attorney general. i was not aware of that erosion of trust but, as prime minister and leader of the federal ministry,

i should have been. the former attorney general, jody wilson—raybould, contradicted the prime minister's account and accused his office of demoting her, in retaliation for her refusal to strike a deal that would keep snc—lavalin out of court. i experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of protectorial discretion. justin trudeau won praise for his commitment to women and minorities. he even touted the symbolic appointment ofjody wilson—raybould, who is a prominent indigenous woman. yet this scandal has pitted him against her, and it's not a good look for the prime minister, even as he tries to assert that he did nothing wrong. with a general election looming in october, trudeau is on thin ice with canadians. i think he should offer

some kind of apology. he's a politician. i mean, he's doing the work of politicking. i think he should resign and call an election. trudeau's star power was cemented when he took on president trump, china, and saudi arabia, but controversy at home could remove him from the world stage. nada tawfik, bbc news, ottawa. let's get some of the day's other news. in pakistan the man who led a campaign to expose one of the country's most notorious so—called "honour killings" has been shot dead in the city of abbottabad. afzal kohistani drew attention to the case in 2012 in which a group of women were allegedly killed after being filmed singing a wedding song while two men danced. medicins sans frontieres says the response to the ebola outbreak in the east of the democratic republic of congo is failing to bring the epidemic under control. the charity says this is partly due to what it calls a climate of deepening community mistrust. british and european union negotiators are preparing to work through the weekend to try to break

the deadlock over brexit, before a crucial vote next tuesday. there are nowjust 22 days to go until the 29th of march — the date britain is due to leave the eu. concerns are growing about the possibility of britain leaving without a deal. eu officials have given the uk until friday to come up with fresh proposals for brexit negotiations. in thailand, a court has ruled that an opposition political party be dissolved , for having nominated a member of the thai royal family as its candidate for prime minister. last month the thai raksa chart opposition party sent shockwaves throughout the country when it broke with convention and nominated princess ubolrata na as their candidate. the move comes with just more than two weeks before voters head to the polls. a new study finds that rainy weather is becoming more common, in greenland. as a result, the ice there is melting —

and scientists say they're surprised to find rain falling, even during the long arctic winter. our science editor, david shukman, reports on what the long—term impact of climate change could be. a torrent of water pouring off the greenland ice sheet. there's so much ice locked away here, that if the whole lot melts the level of the sea around the world would rise by seven metres. and then once its level, i'll will leave it to to take the measurement. until now, scientists thought the big threat to the ice was from the warm sunshine of summer, but there's now something else for them to worry about — rain. these pictures were taken at a research camp while rain was falling, and it melts the ice, notjust in the summer, but also in the winter, when the ice should be expanding. a big shock for researchers. it shows us that the ice sheet is becoming vulnerable,

even in winter. and that's frightening to see, because you expect there's a huge ice sheet and a lot of ice and if you see the big area, the vastness of the ice sheet, and you see how vulnerable it becomes, even at times when it should gain mass. the big surprise is that even when greenland should be at its coldest, there can be flows of warm, wet air coming up from the south, and these are happening more frequently. so after five days of clear sky conditions we have this rain. this scientist, jason box, needed shelter from the rain on the ice sheet. and he says that global warming will make rainfall more likely in future. there is a simple threshold, the melting point. and when the temperature goes above that you get rain instead of snow. so in a warming climate it's not rocket science that we're going to have more rain at the expense of snow. two years ago i saw for myself how the ice of greenland is melting. what happens here has the potential to threaten cities and communities

on coastlines everywhere. which is why watching it so closely really matters. david shukman, bbc news. international women's day will be celebrated around the world on friday, as people come together to champion equality. in china many companies offer female employees a half—day on this day. the bbc spoke to three of them about what it means to be a woman in modern china. i would rather do my own thing and enjoy my own life. translation: i hope all chinese women can learn to enjoy the pleasures of sex. translation: i have no interest in having a baby. the main stereotype of girls in china is that you are ready to get married, and second, it's kind of normal if you go to college, but don't go too far. like, if you ended up studying at phd, people will say you will be an old virgin and nobody will marry

you because you are too intelligent, too knowledgeable. this is in luang prabang in laos. and this is a picture i took in pyongyang in north korea. a female solo traveller in china, especially for a lot of men, is not acceptable. some people would comment on my blog, saying, if a girl is travelling around the world by herself she is just a "human sofa" because everyone is sitting on her. i want to be who i am, not what society wants me to be. translation: my company is the first online sex resource for women in china and we teach them how to enjoy their sexual relationships. china's sex education makes people here think sex is vulgar. there is barely any reliable sex information here for adults, and i want my company

to fill that void. the first thing we teach is that women's bodies are their own. you should study it, use it and learn how to pleasure yourself. some have said we have opened a new world for them, that we are like a beacon of light, giving women their confidence. translation: the situation in china is that your mother will say, you know, women must have children. such stereotypes are objectifying us to be like machines. a woman's value should not lie in giving birth. now is a prime time for my career. i never want to have a baby, not now or in the future. i am considering having an endometrial ablation. it is a very good way to avoid getting pregnant. i also hope a future partner

would consider a vasectomy. voices from modern china. and before we go — a moment to put in your schedule for the next few hours. at the international space station the inner hatch of the spacex dragon vehicle has been closed by astronauts. it's so that america's first private space craft can return to earth — and that will mark the end of its test flight. it's been docked at the space station for the last six days as astronauts ran tests which could see it approved by nasa to carry people later this year. that menus, president trump's, campaign manager, mauled —— paul ma nafort campaign manager, mauled —— paul manafort will have to pay millions in fines manafort will have to pay millions infines and manafort will have to pay millions in fines and restitution —— had been in use. he has a separate case next week in washington, dc. he pleaded guilty for conspiracyjudges there. thejudge said in guilty for conspiracyjudges there. the judge said in this case the prosecution calls for a sentence of

19 years imprisonment were excessive. that is all for now. much more on all the news any time on the website. hello. if you thought thursday was windy, get used to it. very blustery weather on the way all the way through the weekend into next week. unsettled too, wet at times. a bit of a lull though as we start friday. frosty, but sunny for many of us, but clouding over with rain later. here's a look at the satellite picture. this area of low pressure has brought the windy weather, the wet weather in places during thursday. a bit of a gap between weather systems now. we are in that gap as friday begins, but we're in a cold gap. you can see the blue showing up where temperatures will be at their lowest as friday starts.

fairly widespread frost around, bit of scraping the ice off the car, a little misty in places too. but actually a lots of sunshine for most of us at the start of the day. already a bit of wet weather though into the western isles. we see more cloud pushing across the uk during the morning and then further outbreaks of rain spreading from west to east as the day goes on. becoming increasingly light and patchy as it does so. and it's notjust rain, the hills of scotland, north of the central belt, will see a bit of snow out of that as well. it's not going to be as windy as thursday, though it is still breezy out there. temperatures mostly around 7—11 degrees. a bit of snowfall also into shetland before that system begins to clear away. as we go into friday night, still some showers pushing in towards the north—west of the uk on the breeze. wintry on the hills. it's not going to be as cold as friday morning, by the time we're up and about on saturday for the start of the weekend, but it is going to be an unsettled one, with low pressure close by all the time. the atlantic in charge of the weather, pushing in disturbances occasionally. at the very least that means we're going to be getting some showers, carried on strong to gale—force winds. it will make it feel quite cold,

even though temperatures will not be too farfrom average. some wet weather at times, notjust in the form of rain but some snow, more especially on hills, but also some sunshine occasionally too. the best of the sunshine will be across the east and south—east of the country during saturday. showers already towards the north—west will push further east during the day. it will be a windier day once again. we are expecting gusts fairly widely of around 40—50 miles an hour, and that will make it feel colder than these temperatures might suggest. and some of these showers might merge to give longer spells of wet weather at times. still plenty of showers coming in during sunday and there is a more wintry component to these showers, so we could well see some sleet or some hail to lower levels out of these as well. again, it's going to be windy. these are average speeds, but gusts will be around 40—50 miles an hour once again. temperatures are a little lower on sunday, so it will feel even colder in that wind. that's your forecast.