this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: a woman is shot dead and dozens of protesters are injured during may day clashes in venezuela's capital, caracas. the us attorney general refuses to testify before a second congressional committee about his handling of the mueller report. on the hunt for stolen treasures — we travel to turkey to find out how traffickers are smuggling antiquities for sale via facebook. as the sacked uk defence secretary denies leaking discussions about huawei, what does this mean for the chinese firm's global contracts? also coming up in the business briefing — the us tightens sanctions on iran,

and the fed defies president trump's calls for an interest rate cut. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation — the makers of the board game scrabble have included 300 new words in their latest dictionary — words like manspreading and remainer are now accepted as modern parlance — what words would you add, or ban? let us know — just use #bbcthebriefing.

one person has died and at least 27 people have been injured in new clashes between the police and demonstrators in venezuela. it's despite the apparent failure of a coup attempt against president maduro. opposition leaderjuan guaido has rallied his supporters to remain on the streets. the crisis threatens to suck in global powers with the us and russia accusing each other of making the situation worse. ramzan kamali has the latest. president nicolas maduro claimed to stamp the attempted coup on tuesday. but he has not stopped tens of thousands for protesting against the government. those wanting the president ousted a showing no signs of stopping and trying to get their voices heard. a guide to protest

because at this moment, the government has to understand that their time is over. i had to leave. everyone is tired, we don't have enough money, i prefer to cry here and fight for my country than to be in my house. there have been called to the streets by the opposition leader, juan guaido was up he has called for the daily protests and elisas that is free. —— venezuela. everything that we have done have brought us here. protest to work, they listen to us. he declared himself interim leader injanuary and has been recognised by than 50 countries including the us and most of latin america. but mr madero, backed by russia, china and the top of the country ‘s military has

refused to concede leadership to his rival. fist pumps from his supporters and a warning to those who he says i try to oust him in a coup. they keep fleeing and other security bodies are going after the ca ptu re. security bodies are going after the capture. they are looking for those responsible for the attempted coup who are now isolated, alone and have defeated. the us has once again reiterated support for juan defeated. the us has once again reiterated support forjuan guaido. and hasn't ruled out military intervention but it was warned by the russians against further aggressive steps. the power struggle in venezuela is no longer isolated in the streets of caracas, it is now being played out on the international stage as well. we'll be getting expert analysis in around about her menaces —— in around ten

minutes on the programme. the us attorney general, william barr, has said he will not testify before a senior committee of the house of representatives. it follows tough questioning from senators about his decision to clear president trump of obstruction ofjustice. mr barr dismissed accusations that he'd downplayed the conclusions of robert mueller‘s report into alleged russian interference in the 2016 election. here's our washington correspondent chris buckler. the us attorney general knew he was walking into a battle. having now seen most of the report, into clans of collision involving the trump campaign and allegations that the president tried to obstructjustice. democrats have been publicly questioning the finding that donald trump did nothing wrong. you exonerated or cleared the president.

no, ididn't exonerated or cleared the president. no, i didn't exonerate, i said we did not believe there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction. but time and time again during heated exchanges, democrats accused mr barr of our —— acting less like america's general. no more about your deep involvement and trying to cover up a donald trump. then attorney general of the act states, you have betrayed that trust america deserves better. he should resign,. the anger of democrats was met by the fury of republicans. you slandered this man from top to bottom. so if you want more of this, you are not going to get it. but it's now clear that robert muller the one that wrote the report was not happy with how his conclusions we re not happy with how his conclusions were presented. in the g department ofjustice, he said the summary did not fully capture the context,

nature and substance of the special councils work in findings. democrats still have unanswered questions. he is terrified of having to face a skilled attorney and i can understand given how dishonesty has been. democrats have issued a subpoena for the unredacted report. they are threatening another one to try to fort —— forced barr to testify. i want to hear from mueller himself, the one who examined the actions of the president. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. hundreds of polish nationalists have joined anti—eu rallies through warsaw, just weeks from casting their vote in the upcoming european election. the protest also coincides with the 15th anniversary of the country's admission into the european union. police were forced to get involved when clashes broke out between the right—wing protestors and pro—eu supporters. residents in canada are assessing the damage

following days of heavy rain. much of the flooding in ontario and quebec came from an unusually large amount of snow melting into the ottawa river. the quebec premier, francois legault has pledged $1 million to help victims. a small ink sketch of a bearded man has been identified as one of only two known portraits of leonardo da vinci. it's thought to have been drawn by an assistant not long before the artist's death exactly 500 years ago. the sketch is part of the queen's art collection held at windsor castle. it's due to go on display in london later this month. the sacking of the british defence secretary gavin williamson over his leaking of discussions about huawei is all over the uk front pages this morning. he's alleged to have briefed about prime minister theresa may's plans to give the chinese company huawei a role in bringing 5g technology to the uk —

a move opposed by him and several ministers. he is denying that he lead to any information whatsoever. priya lakhani, founder and ceo of century tech. good morning. let's talk through this story, i had when i was making dinner for this story, i had when i was making dinnerfor much older this story, i had when i was making dinner for much older and this story, i had when i was making dinnerfor much older and the this story, i had when i was making dinner for much older and the fact that he had been fired. its dramatic headlines and many are saying this is theresa may, the prime minister showing that she is in control. is she? well, that's a different conversation. the united states have highlighted huawei is a concern and arrested a very top person within the organisation. the daughter of the organisation. the daughter of the founder, it's been in discussion, it's been a big debate whether this company wants to be feared or not. the concern is working with a company with such

close links to chinese government. the idea is that if huawei is able to work on fivejune at x, if they have access —— access to data and information on countries, investor to the defects government, other than compelled to share that information but the chinese state. that's huge concern. it's putting at risk potentially our relationship with what we fall —— all the five eyes countries. we share intelligence with the us, canada, new zealand and australia. the usa we should have nothing to do with huawei. why they taking that stance? the us led by president trump, many would argue it is a very protectionist resident and huawei is a company that is way ahead of most of its rivals around the world which is why every government in the world prior to all this concern was looking to huawei to help with the sg looking to huawei to help with the 5g tax. looking to huawei to help with the 56 tax. president trump basically alleges they have done some investigations and they have found that they have potential security

breaches. others are saying, it's a us- breaches. others are saying, it's a us— china well. they don't want china to be essentially the world leaders in 5g technology. we don't know the, because we haven't seen investigations was not we haven't seen the results. the us is not well known for divulging all their information. those concerns are there and it's a case of the national security council considering the pros and cons. the minister has decided that in technology infra structure that one should be involved. distracting bonnet. that'll be discussed a bit later. facebook is being used by traffickers to buy and sell looted antiquities, the bbc has learned. private groups also discuss how to illegally excavate ancient tombs. and antiquities are still being smuggled from iraq and syria into turkey, despite a police

clampdown and the retreat of the islamic state group. caroline hawley has this special investigation. we only stumble with the syrian archaeologist on a secretive mission. for his safety we will call him under a different name. he fled syria when is not ecstatic of his city, doubt he's going to meet someone city, doubt he's going to meet someone who is offering to sell it at a rtefa cts, someone who is offering to sell it at artefacts, illegal trade we have been majoring for months. he was offered the small religious book which she was told was a thousand years old from southern syria.

another seller has approached him with photographs. he works very serious charity that convert the tracks and documents the damage being done. millions of pounds worth of looted a rtefa cts a re millions of pounds worth of looted artefacts are crossed into turkey despite a release —— a recent clampdown. this lucrative business is now being done somewhere else as well. these are offering up a sale is based in northern syria. i'm sure and how networks of looters are now using facebook as a marketplace. we have seen an explosion of size and uses on facebook and essential allowing it to happen on its watch. this in hundreds of items for sale, many are fake but some are genuine

and very valuable. people are even exchanging should tips on how to loot sites. facebook says people should report anything which breaks the community standards. what netting illegal activity is not allowed on facebook and following the bbc‘s investigation, we have removed 49 groups where there was evidence of this taking place. but we know of dozens of groups that are still active. what is going on in syria is dreadful. as heartbreaking. every site that is damaged is damaged forever. experts at the british museum a key role in monitoring the world of them did art. it's very difficult to do much work in syria until there is peace. backin work in syria until there is peace. back in the stumble, they have been said new images of antiquities for sale. including this. a mosaic from northern syria of enormous value.

it's amazing, do you think it's real? he is appalled of the dismantling of his heritage. he knows it's going to be a long battle against acquirement that reached across borders, criminals emboldened by going online demand. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we will have all the sport, including yet more messi magic. he helps barcelona build up a daunting lead in the first leg of the champions league semi—final. nothing, it seems, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no

warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7 o'clock in the morning, the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony.

you are watching the briefing. our headlines: the us attorney general, william barr, has decided not to testify before the judiciary committee of the house of representatives on thursday. a woman has been killed and dozens of people injured during another round of opposition protests across venezuela. president maduro says the attempt to topple him has failed. let's stay with that now. victoria gaytan is an author and expert in latin american foreign policy and works for new york—based think tank global americans. thank you for being on the briefing. we have been reporting that president maduro is saying he remains in power, and that is his intention, he has no plans of going. give us your take on where we are at their at the moment. that is right, sally. maduro remains in power, while there were massive protests today in the country. as you know,

yesterday guaido called the country to protest on the streets and support what he is calling operation freedom, operation liberty, to oust maduro once and for all. he did invite the military, unfortunately he didn't gain the support that he was expecting, as the top military brass is still backing maduro, but we saw some signs a fracture in the government, one of the most important signs was the appearance of lopez, side—by—side with the opposition leader, lopez remained yesterday under house arrest and his appearance in the street was very symbolic. another symbol of a small fracture within the government is the presumed break of christopher figura, the head of the national

security services, breaking with maduro. and of course, the international support backing up guaido, there are 50 countries backing up guaido, the us has been very vocal but another group will gather in lima, peru, the countries of latin america discussing how they can support venezuela and guaido as he tries to focus on freeing venezuela, and his objective of introducing free and fair elections. so what do you think will happen, given the fact that we seem to be in a very intense period right now, and it could swing either way. there is a real concern of many more casualties in the process. writes, u nfortu nately casualties in the process. writes, unfortunately it is very difficult to put a timeline right now and the situation on the ground is very uncertain. opposition leader guaido has been leading efforts to take the country into the path of democracy

and freedom for three months, and that may seem a long time, and obviously the situation on the ground is pretty desperate, the people are facing violence, increasing insecurity, hunger, and of course a public health system thatis of course a public health system that is fractured. so it is really difficult right now to put a timeline as to what will happen in the short term. but as long as the opposition are still resisting, as long as they are still backing up guaido, there are some signs that this could produce a hopeful future. we can't say for sure when, but if this situation is prolonged, we can remain hopeful. thank you very much indeed. here is our briefing on some of the key events happening later. in the next couple of hours, we are expecting the first quarter results from volkswagen to come out of their headquarters in wolfsburg, germany.

a little later, in london, wikileaks founderjulian assange faces a court hearing over an extradition request from the united states, a day after he was jailed for 50 weeks for jumping bail. and also today, a sketch by nelson mandela of his robbin island jail cell door is to go up for auction, with an estimate of between $us60,000—90,000. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. i'm gavin ramjaun, and this is your thursday sport briefing. barcelona's formidable form at home goes on. they convincingly saw off the challenge of liverpool at the nou camp in the first leg of their champions league semi—final, 3—0 the score. and the home side were off the mark thanks to former liverpool striker luis suarez. after half—time, it was down to lionel messi to put some distance between the sides, the forward scoring his 600th goal for the club. it leaves liverpool with huge task in the return leg at anfield if they are to make a second

successive champions league final. before this game we had a bigger chance, let me say it like this. it is difficult, what can i say? it is barcelona, and i knew before that lionel is a world—class player, and i saw it again. i am not too surprised, to be honest. it is the europa league semi—finals on thursday. the top two scorers in the competition go head—to—head. chelsea travel to eintracht frankfurt, and there is all to play for between arsenal and valencia. the spanish side have lost three of the last five, while the gunners have lost three in a row in the english premier league. both hope the europa could offer the best route back to the champions league next season. they are a big team with a great history, and also with a lot of

experience. to make this a semi—final i think is 50—50. watch out for more from caster semenya. the double olympic 800 metre champion is considering how to respond to the ruling that she has to take drugs to reduce her levels of testosterone. she arrived in doha for friday's diamond league meeting, but made no comment to reporters. semenya can run for the next week, but after that either take inhibitors or run longer distances, where she is said not to have the same advantage. the semi—finals of the world snooker championship start later in sheffield. judd trump is the favourite. a convincing win over steven maguire means he will face qualifier gary wilson. first up is four—time champion john higgins against david gilbert. cycling's most successful team of recent years competes again on thursday. team ineos, formerly team sky, is involved in the tour de yorkshire. team sky delivered six of the last

seven tour de france titles. ineos will be hoping for more of the same. the team is owned by britain's wealthiest person, sirjim ratcliffe, who says if the sport and team weren't clean, he would not be involved. and this is a tweet that has been liked a few thousand times already from spain's world cup—winning captain iker casillas. the 37—year—old goalkeeper, who has played for his country 167 times, is recovering in hospital following a heart attack while training with his club side porto. he said, "everything controlled here, a big scare but with the forces intact. thank you very much everyone for the messages and the love." we wish him well. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but from me, gavin ramjaun, and the rest of the sport team, that's your thursday sport briefing.

something that takes place at the beginning of may is the us sanctions against iran, so that is coming up. we have been asking for your views on scrabble, a whole new load of words have been added to the list of those that you are allowed to use to gain that fantastic score, as it were, and many of you have been in touch. i have been asking you what words you would include. we had one reviewer who said i would include boda, which i had to look up, it is a taxi system mostly used in east africa. and we had one reviewer who says as much as i like pizza, i will never respect za as a says as much as i like pizza, i will never respect za 3s a word. says as much as i like pizza, i will never respect za as a word. now, of course, you get a really good score for that, because of course for a z

you get ten points, and za is slang for pizza, apparently. i will be back for all of the business stories, and the news briefing. i will see you shortly. hello. while we did see some showers break out yesterday, the weather was predominately fine. today a different story, i think, it will be ha rd to different story, i think, it will be hard to dodge the showers across the uk. some areas will mist them but if you do get cold in the showers, likely to be pretty heavy and intense. we could even have a few rumbles of thunder as well through the afternoon, especially across the midlands and northern england. so this is how our day starts, with a few showers possibly across eastern england, but they should be a lot of early sunshine. showers feeding in from the irish sea there into wales in the north—west of england quite early on in the day. some organise rainfall across scotland, and then by the time we get into the

afternoon, with a little bit of help from the sun, we will power up some cloud and start to see the showers developing. as i said, you could get one almost anywhere. thunder probably most likely across the midlands and northern england. it is a different beast, though, bringing this rain into southern and eastern scotland. this is a weather front, so some more scotland. this is a weather front, so some more solid cloud around here, and some more persistent rain, but it is this front and its journey south that is the big story, really, for a weather for the end of the week. many of the show as clear as week. many of the show as clear as we get into friday, the front fizzling away to almost nothing for friday. some thicker cloud around, some light rain, but nothing too significant. in that respect, it is what comes in behind it which is of note, showers across northern scotla nd note, showers across northern scotland which are light and wintry, it is much colder air. the snow only really at higher levels, but the field will be greatly different to what we have been used to. we saw 20 degrees in northern scotland earlier this week. add on the wind to the seven degrees on friday and it will be closer to freezing. later on friday and on into saturday, the

cold air continues its journey further south, making its way a good way into the continent as well. it will stay with us through the bank holiday weekend. clearing skies the first thing saturday could mean a frost, so if you have already put out some of your young plants that is worth bearing in mind. saturday daytime should bring some pleasant sunshine, but temperatures barely recover, to just 11 degrees sunshine, but temperatures barely recover, tojust 11 degrees in london. through the course of the bank holiday weekend, though, it should start to feel a little bit milder. not because the weather set up milder. not because the weather set up changes to greatly, there is a lot of dry weather and high pressure will keep things steady, but the wind duties through sunday and the bank holiday monday.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. oil pressure. the us tightens sanctions on iran — ending waivers for its biggest crude customers including china, india and turkey. plus — the fed defies trump. the us central bank says there's no case for a move on interest rates either way, ignoring the president's appeals for a cut. and on the markets: comments by the fed chief confounding market bets that the next move on rates could be down. that hits us stocks but boosts the us dollar. japan and china markets closed for a public holiday.