president trump has launched a fierce personal attack on robert mueller. it comes a day after the former special counsel refused to exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. mr trump described mr mueller as "totally conflicted". the united nations is warning that tens of thousands of children are at immediate risk of being killed or forced to flee for their lives because of intense fighting in northern syria. the ukrainian captain of a cruise ship which was involved in a crash on the river danube, in the hungarian capital budapest, has been arrested. seven people are known to have died — 21 are missing. rescuers have said there is little hope now are finding anyone alive.

the proportion of workers on low pay in britain has fallen to its lowest level since 1980, according to reports. the chancellor philip hammond says he wants to end low pay altogether and is naturally attracted, he says, to setting the main minimum wage. at the moment, i've £13 in the bank... this is minimum wage britain — craig in lancashire works unpredictable hours in a supermarket. even with the national living wage, the minimum for over—25s, he struggles to pay his bills. i'm averaging maybe £90—100 a week. my universal credit is making it up to about 560 a month. 0bviously, with rent, my rent is 350, um... it doesn't leave much at the end of the month to be paying bills off. a little extra would help, and that's the prospect

the chancellor presented today to the low—paid. the point of today's presentation is around where we go next with the national living wage. we will have reached 60% of median earnings by next year. that puts us pretty much at the top of the leader board internationally, and the question is, can we push the national living wage rate further, possibly as far as eliminating low pay altogether? the national living wage is being pushed up in stages to that 60% of average earnings. it's got to £8.21 an hour so far, with two million getting this or the lower rates for under—25s. the new target could be 66% of average earnings — that would be around £9.50 an hour, most likely phased in over several years, expanding to 4.7 million day numbers helped by minimum wages. big hikes in minimum wages will benefit millions, more than doubling the number of people who are at the minimum,

and probably pushing up other people's wages as well. but businesses are concerned that they'll have to pick up the bill. like the busy bees kindergarten in essex, where the owners say they could hardly afford the last increase. our weekly rates went up by about £500 a week for wages, and that was with that quite small increase, so with the amount they are predicting, it would probably triple that. but with labour saying they'd bring in a £10 minimum wage, it looks like employers will have to brace themselves to pay more. simon gompertz, bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for our world — which this week travels to iraq and syria to discover the disturbing story of the yazidis‘ secret children. the yazidis...

an ancient religious minority and the victims of one of the islamic state's most ritual attacks. but they are a minority now hiding a secret. many yazidi women were forced into sexual slavery, and some have had children fathered by their islamic state captors. children who were often their only solace through years of torture. translation: i was in prison for four years, but i've been able to put it all behind me now because of this child. but women like rojin are being forced to choose between their children and returning to the yazidi community. children born of rape are not welcome.

translation: i want to ask you, are we wrong to miss our children? i mean women like us, are we wrong? over the past year, i've travelled across northern iraq and syria to find the women being forced to make this agonising choice, and to tell their story, the story yazidi leaders want to silence. in, 2014, these pictures of desperate yazidis fleeing islamic state fighters shocked the world. trapped on northern iraq's sinjar mountain, hundreds of men were massacred and over 6000 women and children were forced into captivity. the yazidis are an ancient religious minority of around 800,000

people, most of whom live in northern iraq. they've been persecuted for centuries, but the attack by the islamic state was different. their main objective was to abduct women and girls to be traded as sex slaves. five years later, and with the so—called islamic state all but defeated, i've come to a safe house in north—east syria, where a group of yazidi women are about to be sent home after surviving years as is prisoners. the fate of these women has

captivated the world's media. the ultimate tale of good versus evil. but part of their story is being hidden, and the yazidi leadership wants to keep it that way. after five years of rape and forced marriage, many of these women have had children with their islamic state captors. sorry, sorry. hi, how are you? everyone did interview with her. but everybody, sheikh... this is the head of the yazidi community in syria. there are some cases, you can interview them

from the morning to the evening, while others, there are some speciality with that and we don't accept that. but she already did interview. but sheikh! so where is her kids? the women are swiftly placed into some cars and driven off to the iraqi border to be reunited with theirfamilies. we followed, but were warned against further recording. this is the point where these women are finally leaving syria, and we know at least two of them here have had children with is militants, but it seems both of them are going back to iraq alone. some of these women have been forced to abandon their children before returning to the yazidi community. it makes for a bittersweet reunion with their long—lost

relatives in iraq. because, for one family to reunite, another has been ripped apart. it was one year ago when i first met an islamic state survivor who had been through this. because of the stigma attached to having a child with an is fighter, we have hidden herface and given her a different name. like thousands of other women, jovan‘s ordeal started on sinjar mountain. translation: all the women and girls were captured. while the men were gathered, and i believe they were killed. they took girls as young as eight. we couldn't do anything about it. they really tortured us.

jovan was kidnapped with her three yazidi children and to keep the family together, she was forced to convert to islam and marry a tunisianjihadist. translation: that is when the monster took us. i stayed with that tunisian is member for 11 months, until he was killed, but by that time, i was seven months pregnant, and three months after his death, i gave birth to my son. eventually, jovan‘s yazidi husband located her through a network of people smugglers and paid for their children to be brought back to iraq. butjovan remained in syria for another two years because her husband refused to accept the child fathered by her is captor.

translation: i was being held with eight or nine other women and girls. they also had children with members of is, and so couldn't come home because of their families. her husband finally allowed her to return to iraq with her son, but she didn't keep him for long. translation: i wanted to keep my son, but i couldn't. the community wouldn't accept him. is did terrible things to us. they kidnapped and killed lots of us. i didn't want to offend my community by keeping my son. a decision that continues to cause her pain. translation: i want to ask you, are we wrong to miss our children? i mean women like us, are we wrong?

this is lalish, the holiest temple in the yazidi faith. the yazidis say that their religion is the oldest in the world, but it is a religion that is not open to all. maintaining a pure bloodline is central to the faith. amongst this group are a number of young victims of the islamic state. five years ago, they would have been banished from the community for having sexual relations with someone outside of the yazidi faith, even though they did so under duress. but in a historic move, baba sheikh, the religious leader of the yazidi community, issued a ruling that those enslaved by the islamic state could rejoin the community. it is incredible to see these young victims of is being

welcomed back into the community, and now thousands more yazidis are arriving in lalish to celebrate the new year. the yazidi faith seems to be modernising, yet another ancient doctrine remains in place. to be a yazidi, both of your parents must be yazidi. so for women raped by is fighters, their children are not accepted. but if their religious leaders changed the rules once, couldn't they do it again? to find out, i've had to leave the celebration in lalish to meet ali khedar alyas.

so if it wasn't because of the iraqi law, would yazidi community, yazidi council, and baba sheikh, would they accept these children? but i met families that they said that there should be a fatwa. if there is a fatwa from baba sheikh, we will accept, otherwise, we won't accept these children.

a week later, the yazidi council published a statement saying children born to islamic state fighters are not accepted. despite what ali khedar alyas told me, this policy of non—acceptance had clearly been in place for a while. during our year—long investigation, we identified 20 yazidi women who had given birth to children under the caliphate. none had been allowed to bring their child home. we did find one woman who had kept her baby. we arranged to meet her in the privacy of my hotel room. she doesn't want the community

to know she is speaking to us. rojin, not her real name, fell pregnantjust weeks before she was freed by the islamic state and gave birth seven months later when she was back in iraq. she is now secretly raising the child, who we've called nadia, as a yazidi, with the help of her husband. translation: neither my parents, nor the community, know the truth about this child. i'm always worrying about that. i was in prison forfour years, but i've been able to put it all behind me now because of this child. do you think that if they know, if they find out, they would force you to leave nadia? translation: yes, if they find out, they will take the child from me or i will be forced

to leave my family. so it must be very difficult to live with all these concerns and fears all the time? translation: yes, it's really difficult. i was held by isis for four years and we suffered a lot — beating, thirst and hunger. but what would be even worse would be to have my son taken off me now. this is the al—hol camp in north—eastern syria. it is home to over 70,000 women and children from the islamic state. they were rounded up when coalition forces defeated jihadist fighters.

conditions are dire and many of the inhabitants still cling to isis's hate—filled ideology. yet it is thought that many yazidis are also among its residents, hiding the children they bore to islamic state fighters. dr ghaufouri is a kurdish activist who searches the camp, looking for yazidi women and children, to persuade them to go home. how many women with is children are we talking about and how many children? those who are coming back now, eight of ten. and how many each? most of them, they have one, up to three or four kids. you know, the feeling of a mother, you know — you will not believe how they are holding their babies because a mother is a mother.

the feeling, the love of mother comes above all kind of religion or belief or anything. dr ghaufouri helps the yazidi women and children who go home, even if that means leaving is—born children behind. she has a team of yazidi women who escaped is. they have come to the camp to work undercover, dressed in niqab, to find the yazidis. it is a dangerous job. the islamic state's female police force still operate in the camp. a number of yazidi women have left al—hol. i spent months searching in north—east syria for their is children but no—one would tell me where they are. still, i am determined to find out

what has happened to them. i have been told about an orphanage in mosul, in northern iraq, which has seen an influx of children since the war against is started. this government—run orphanage takes care of more than 50 children. sakineh muhammed ali is the local government official responsible for running this place.

sakineh told jovan that she was only giving up her son for a week, knowing full well that her husband would not allow her to return and collect him. this would be the last time that jovan would ever see adam.

months later, the orphanage ran into financial difficulties and decided to put some children up for adoption. it turns out i am not the only one to have visited sakineh‘s orphanage. jovan did came back looking for her son but it was too late. the news he had been adopted without her consent must have been devastating. i wanted to find out how she is coping and decided to track her down. sadly, she is now living in a woman's refuge far from home, having been divorced by her husband.

translation: my family and my husband were extremely strict and they separated me from my son. i got depression and i left my other children. it is now impossible for me to go back to them. i betrayed him. i did not want to abandon my child. i felt like i betrayed that child. i betrayed that kid. she cries. my three other children know that i have not betrayed them because they are old enough, but this child was just a poor, poor kid. it was such a terrible

day when i left them. a woman has adopted my child, and has taken him for herself. my baby does not know me but i think about him every day. but i think it is betterfor him to live with the other person now. it is betterfor him. it is horrible to seejovan so upset after losing all four of her children. ijust had to try to speak to her family to find out if there is any way they could have saved themselves from this pain. surprisingly, jovan‘s husband agrees to meet me and seems keen to talk. translation: i told you that the child is not at fault. i've said it was god's

will that the child was born. but when someone comes and kills all the men in a community and then that killer fathers a child with your wife, it does not matter whether they are is or from any other religious group — who would accept that child? perhaps in the west that's acceptable, but in the east it's not. we do not accept these kind of things here. it is an unforgiving position and one that i did not expect to find shared byjovan‘s son. translation: i do not want her to come back. she came back from isis and left us again. so i do not want to see her. you do not accept that child as your brother? no, it is true our mother gave birth to that child, but he's not our father's,

so it is not possible. he is the son of isis and we cannot accept him as our brother. jovan may have left the horror of the islamic state but the demands of the yazidi religion now casts a long shadow of her life. but there are no winners when a mother is made to choose between her children and her religion. translation: i decided to name him adam and i called this one after my son, hatton. i hope my children will not forget me. hopefully one day, if god has mercy on me, then we will see each other again.

well, you may have heard by now that it's turning a lot warmer, but the forecast isn't quite so straightforward. in fact, it's not going to be turning hot everywhere, and in fact, some areas are still in for some rain. but i think the main message is that yes, broadly speaking, we are all in for at least some warmth. but a lot of cloud out there right now. it's very muggy — a very muggy night, with temperatures in the mid—teens across some southern areas of the uk. but rain, too. this is what it looks like the early hours of friday, so some bits and pieces of rain around western scotland, some in northern ireland, a scattering of rain across parts of the lake district, and the temperatures 1a early in london on friday, but a lot fresher there in the far north, in lerwick,

only five degrees. so here is the forecast for friday, moist south—westerly winds dragging in a lot of cloud, mist and murk around the coast. rain in northern ireland, in parts of western scotland. by the time this weather front is through, we will have seen about 40—50 millimetres of rain. that's a lot, a couple of inches of rain. the warmest and brightest of the weather will be across central and southern areas. temperatures reaching 22, but not clear, blue skies. there will be a fair amount of cloud around during the course of friday. so on saturday, the orange is the warm air spreading across much of europe. in fact, the near continent, temperatures will be approaching 30 degrees. we will get some of that warmth, it will be reaching towards southern and central areas. so this portion of the uk will probably see temperatures in the mid 20s, maybe the high 20s in one or two spots. but further north, it's a case of more cloud. even a few spits and spots of rain. only 17 in belfast, squeezing

19 there in newcastle. and then it's all change, because on sunday, a low pressure comes in off the atlantic, brings some showers almost anywhere, really. there will be some sunshine too, but it does sort of spoil the second half of the weekend a little bit, and it will turn fresher. in fact, temperatures will start to drop away into the low 20s across the southern and eastern areas. so that 27—28 degrees on saturday is just a one—day wonder. in fact, the low pressure is with us during the course of monday and tuesday. you can see there it's anchored just to the north of scotland. so that does mean that, after that brief spell of very warm weather on saturday, from sunday onwards and into next week, it will be turning cooler and more unsettled.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump lashes out at former special counsel robert mueller over the russia inquiry. the whole thing is is a scam. the whole thing is a giant presidential fiasco. russia did not help me get elected. you know who got me elected? i got me elected. russia did not help me at all. police arrest the captain of the cruise ship involved in wedesday‘s deadly crash on the river danube. syria's humanitarian crisis: the un warns that tens of thousands of children are still at risk. scientists develop a genetically enhanced fungus that