welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: saudi arabia rejects a un report that says there's evidence to suggest that crown prince mohammed bin salman is among those liable for the murder of the journalist, jamal khashoggi. the leader of a cult in the united states who treated women as sex slaves is found guilty of all charges against him. russia condemns a decision by dutch prosecutors to put three russians and a ukrainian on trial for shooting down malaysia airlines flight mh17. satellite pictures show that himalayan glaciers are melting at a rapidly accelerating rate, threatening long—term water supplies to a vast number of people.

it was a murder that sparked an international outcry and condemnation from human rights groups. but saudi arabia has angrily rejected a report from the united nations, which says there is credible evidence that crown prince mohammed bin salman and other high—level saudi officials are individually liable for the killing of the journalist, jamal khashoggi. the saudi minister of state for foreign affairs claims the report, from a un special rapporteur, is biased and contains false allegations. james landale has the story. jamal khashoggi was a columnist for the washington post, a critic of the saudi leadership and a proud husband—to—be. but in october last year, he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul to get some papers he and his fiancee, hatice cengiz, needed for their marriage. he was never seen again.

an independent investigation for the united nations has now concluded he was the victim of a deliberate premeditated execution by the saudi state. the 100—page report sets out in grim detail how officials at the saudi consulate planned and carried out the murder, from the initial struggle to the sound of the body being dismembered. many of the saudi officials who flew into istanbul and are suspected of involvement are named in the report. but crucially, it also says mohammad bin salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of saudi arabia, should also be investigated, citing experts who said it was inconceivable he was not aware of the operation. that evidence demonstrates that further investigation is required to determine individual liability, including of the highest level of the government of saudi arabia. that includes the crown prince.

her report urged un member states to impose targeted sanctions against individuals allegedly involved in the killing of mr khashoggi. these should include the crown prince of saudi arabia, unless or until proof emerges that he had no responsibility. the crown prince's foreign minister said the report contained nothing new, just contradictions and unfounded allegations. but this report matters because it puts pressure on saudi arabia's allies — the united states, the united kingdom and others — that they can'tjust ignore this murder and carry on with business as usual, such as ministers discussing trade and intelligence as if nothing had happened. the foreign office said those responsible must be held accountable, but right now that includes only 11 unnamed suspects being tried behind closed doors. so this report is not the last word on what happened to jamal khashoggi. james landale, bbc news. let's get some of

the day's other news. pyongyang is preparing for a visit from china's president. it's xijinping's first visit to north korea, the first time any chinese leader has visited in m years. in february, a nuclear summit between kim jong—un and president trump broke up without a deal. the chinese leader has talked of working with north korea to draw up what he called a ‘grand plan' for stability in the region. there's been furious debate at the us congress at the first hearing in a decade on the contentious issue of whether descendants of slaves should be compensated. some say reparations are essential to achieve justice, others that they would further damage relations between black and white americans. among those giving testimony, democratic presidential hopeful cory booker, and the actor danny glover. despite much progress over the centuries, this hearing is yet another important step in the long and heroic struggle of african—americans to secure reparations for the damages inflicted by enslavement

and post—emancipation and racial exclusionary policies. the un high commissioner for human rights has arrived in venezuela in the latest attempt to solve its political crisis. michelle bachelet will hold separate meetings with president nicolas maduro and opposition leaderjuan guaido, who's given his support to a call for more protests during her visit. there are nowjust four candidates vying to become leader of britain's conservative party and the next british prime minister. the latest vote among the party's mps has eliminated rory stewart. former foreign secretary borisjohnson is still strongly in the lead, and has increased his support. the new leader will be in place by the end ofjuly. in the united states, a self—help guru accused of leading a sex cult that enslaved women has been found guilty of all charges against him.

keith raniere founded an organisation called invm, which claimed to offer seminars for self—empowerment. but the court heard he manipulated and abused female members of the group. let's get more on this from our north america correspondent peter bowes. peter, give us more on the background here if you would, also what is likely to happen next? keith raniere set up invm in 2003 and it was said to be a self—help group to help people with human empowerment, the details have come out during this trial and a very different picture has been painted of an organisation that was a cover for enslavement of women and for sex trafficking and many other crimes as well. it was described as a kind of a pyramid organisation where there we re a pyramid organisation where there were loo tenants further down the ladder whosejob it was were loo tenants further down the ladder whose job it was to entice women into the organisation to become sex slaves. prosecutors

described him as a master manipulator, a conman, a crime boss. we have heard since from many of the vic terms who have survived —— victims who have survived the ordeal. we understand what people close to them have been saying that it will take them a long time to recover, although very relieved at the outcome of this case. during the trial, he didn't give evidence, in fa ct trial, he didn't give evidence, in fact the defence did not bring anyone to speak on his behalf. his lawyer did have this to say, though, to the jury. lawyer did have this to say, though, to thejury. he lawyer did have this to say, though, to the jury. he says, you lawyer did have this to say, though, to thejury. he says, you might lawyer did have this to say, though, to the jury. he says, you might find him impulsive, disgusting and offensive. we don't convict people in this country for being a positive oi’ in this country for being a positive or offensive. unpopular ideas are not criminal. disgusting ideas are not criminal. disgusting ideas are not criminal. disgusting ideas are not criminal. clearly, thejury not criminal. disgusting ideas are not criminal. clearly, the jury did not criminal. clearly, the jury did not buy that. he was convicted on all counts. he is due to be sentenced in september and is very likely to spend the rest of his life in jail. likely to spend the rest of his life injail. although

likely to spend the rest of his life in jail. although the lawyer says that he will be appealing and he believes that he has grounds for the appeal. we will be back to this case then, peter. thank you very much indeed. it was almost five years ago. ..oleg pulatov, leonid kharchenko... charged with mass murder. three men, all russians, all former military and interlligence officers, and one ukrainian. prosecutors say they were commanding separatists in eastern ukraine in 2014. losing on the battlefield, they phoned senior military and government officials in russia, desperate for weapons and support.

the calls, intercepted by ukrainian intelligence, are part of the evidence unveiled today, along with footage found on the internet of the missile launcher dispatched from russia, and more. there is forensic, that is witnesses, that is wiretap that is data analysis and when you go through all those layers, than at the end you could say one and one and one is five. we have enough evidence to go to court. and this is what happened when the missile was fired. not a ukrainian fighterjet, but malaysia airlines mhi7 brought down. the pieces retrieved from ukraine were reassembled by prosecutors. they said the men may not have fired the missile but are culpable anyway. there are more people responsible. silene frederiksz‘s son and his girlfriend were among the 300 people on the plane. 23—year—old bryce and his girlfriend daisy heading on bali on holiday. who do you think is ultimately responsible for what

happened that day, shooting down that airliner? vladimir putin. he knows everything. this could not have happened without his permission. this is far from the end of the investigations. prosecutors say they will pursue the evidence as far as it takes them to identify both those who pressed the button and fired the missile and those all the way up the chain of command in russia itself who might have had anything to do with it. you saw a telephone call with a high—ranked person from the russian federation, so, yeah, well, it can go high up. russia maintains the investigation was biased. it won't send its citizens to stand trial abroad, but the family say just the truth being established will be justice enough. damian grammaticas, bbc news, nieuwegein in the netherlands. police in the uk investigating the death of the footballer emiliano sala in a plane crash injanuary this year have questioned a man on suspicion of manslaughter. the man, who has not been formally identified, has been released while

investigations continue. emiliano sala died along with pilot david ibbotson while flying from france to wales, tojoin his new club cardiff. sian lloyd is in cardiff with the latest. the us military says a mine used to attack one of the two tankers damaged last week in the gulf of oman strongly resembled those used by iranian forces. tehran has denied any involvement in the incident. but on wednesday, the us navy took journalists to see the damaged ship, currently anchored nine miles off the united arab emirates. our correspondent mark lowen was among them. it has brought a volatile region closer to conflict — attacks last week on two ships in the gulf that the us is blaming on iran. washington says this was the iranian patrol boat involved. tehran denies it. today, american forces showed us what they say are fragments of the mine that caused the blast, and a magnet, allegedly part of an unexploded device, resembling those iran is known to have.

this type of attack is a threat to international freedom of navigation in international waters, as well as freedom of commerce. as they build their case, the us navy took us out on a rare trip to see one of the stricken tankers. we travelled for an hour from the coast of the uae, through choppy waters, where a fifth of the world's crude oil is transported — a geopolitical flashpoint that feels nervous. as we approached the japanese—owned vessel, the impact of the attack was clear, gouging out the side. if it was a warning shot, it had a crippling effect. well, you can see the force of the blast here. this is the hole that the americans say was caused by the iranian limpet mine that ripped through the outer and inner hull of this ship. it may have been designed to damage rather than sink, but either way, it has sparked huge international tension.

iran says it will increase its nuclear stockpile next week, due to us sanctions that were meant to force tehran to the negotiating table. "they're putting us under economic pressure while at the same time asking us to talk," said president rouhani. "that would be like an act of economic surrender." in this crucial choke point, peace is being strangled. neither side may want war, but the risk of an accident is perilously real. mark lowen, bbc news, off the coast of fujairah. scientists say the melting of the himalayan glaciers is accelerating rapidly and that has consequences. hundreds of millions of asians who depend on them for water supplies. these images show the dramatic extent of the ice lost. scientists compared images from cold

war spy satellites dating back a0 years, and found the amount of ice melting has doubled in that time. the main cause is climate change. let's go live to our reporter. thank you for your time. can you just isolate for us what is new, what is particularly alarming. good evening. as you said, the most alarming sign is the doubling of the melt rate in such a short period of time. and maybe even more worrisome is this completely homogeneous pattern over 2000 kilometres of our observation area, basically across the entire himalayas. and that really m ea ns the entire himalayas. and that really means that the entire ice bodies, everything up there, is responding, is overwhelmed by the temperature increase that is, of course, anthropogenic. it is easy to predict what is happening now in the next 20—50 years, and it is a dire

reality we have ahead of us. but you may have to define, at least to me, anthropogenic, please, and tell us more about the likely consequences of this. it is pretty clear what we are seeing globally and in central asia, the warming is triggered by the greenhouse gas emissions that we, as society, are putting in the air. and the consequences on many timescales they are happening right now, these melting glaciers, they are the only source of water outside the monsoon season, so the meltwater is really critical they are. and if the frost goes up and then goes away it has huge consequences on the agriculture, the entire alpine ecology, and down the road all these huge big rivers like the ganges are sourced in the himalayas. and the

hydrology of those will be impacted as well down the road. it's not in the moment, but if you go on like that it will become relatively soon. can you see anything that can be done, in this area at least, to mitigate the consequences for millions of people? another very clear robust result of our study is that it clear robust result of our study is thatitis clear robust result of our study is that it is the temperature, so the only mitigation, really, would be to call the planet. it's just only mitigation, really, would be to call the planet. it'sjust another outcry of urgency that we have to really react, respond immediately and change our co2 emissions. in the short term, what the good news in this study is that it makes the predictions relatively robust and solid. and, as i said, the picture is not pretty, but at least we know what is coming, so in the short term it's really, it gives you a relatively good platform to adjust

and mitigate. it will be hard. joerg schaefer, thank you very much for talking to us a. thank you. good night. thank you for being with us. stay with us on bbc news. much more to come, including this, scotland are out of the women's world cup. they drew pre— triggers argentina for some england beat japan drew pre— triggers argentina for some england beatjapan to finish top of the group. —— 3—3 against argentina. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for a0 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race. germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. just a day old and the royal

baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. the real focus today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. welcome back. good to have you with us on welcome back. good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines, saudi arabia has rejected aun headlines, saudi arabia has rejected a un report that says there is credible evidence to suggest that crown prince mohammed and salminen is among those personally liable for the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi. the leader of a cult in the united states who treated women as sex slaves has been found guilty on all charges. the crippling disease polio

has been eradicated in many parts of the world, but in pakistan there has been a rise in cases recently. at least 20 have been reported this year. the resurgence is partly due to mistrust of the immunisation scheme. it has led to several health workers being murdered. as part of a series looking at the level crisis interest in vaccines, we examine why this is still an issue in pakistan. these health workers are on the frontline. they must go house to house to persuade parents to let them give the polio vaccine to their children. but it's hard to convince parents when there is so much misinformation. it can be any rumour or myth that it's a government plot. and that they are giving birth control medicine in the guise of the polio vaccine. sometimes the parents fear the vaccine contains forbidden ingredients, so they refuse the polio drops. pakistan is one of the three countries in the world where polio is still prevalent. the government was forced to hold

a vaccination campaign earlier this year after 800,000 refusals, an attack on vaccinators and police officers, killing three of them. in pakistan's biggest city, karachi, localities like these are run—of—the—mill reservoirs of polio virus. it's the same city, where almost eight years ago, a new chapter of the country's formidable fight against the disease was started, with an attack on who's team. people fear vaccination is a western ampaign against muslims. nearly 100 people have been killed in polio vaccination campaigns since 2012. this man lost the use of his legs due to the disease. it ended his childhood. now he wants to stop its spread, but it is getting harder. what are the authorities doing to tackle fake information on twitter and facebook? when the government wants to trace

someone on social media they can do it easily. these anti—vaccine videos have been created openly and uploaded from somewhere. the government has managed to get some videos from youtube and facebook taken down, but knows it faces a bigger task. i seriously believe that efforts have to be made to de—link the polio programme fromt he rest. we have to own the programme ourselves, we have to come up with an open dialogue sort of a strategy where we should straightaway answer all the concerns of parents. and convincing these parents is more important than ever. more polio cases have been reported in the first six months of 2019, than during all of last year. in football, scotland are out of the women's world cup. they drew 3—3 against argentina. england beat japan 2—0 two top their group.

this was argentina's third world cup in scotland's first, but the competition looked to be growing on the scots. less than 20 minutes gone they were ahead. kim little the scorer. 1—0 at the break, jen beattie then doubled their lead. erin cuthbert was a constant thorn in the side of the argentina defence, seizing on any error. 3—0 scotland. but argentina won't die. milagros menendez pulled one back on her debut. scotland had been coasting, but they began to fall apart as florencia bonsegundo made it 3—2. and then the var drama. the penalty awarded to argentina. bonsegundo's shot saved by lee alexander, but she was judged to have left her line. it was retaken. this time no mistake, 3—3 the result. scotland had blown it. they're on the plane home, argentina may follow. to give away 3—0 goal in a world cup is absolutely gutting. but on a positive note, the girls have been unbelievable.

it's been such an incredible journey being here for the first time. i felt like we've well and truly and a place on the stage and we'll hopefully be back in four years' time. in nice, england absorbed early pressure against japan, but soon answered back. georgia sta nway played through, elllen white a cool finish. 1—0 england. and england's toni duggan was injured before the first match, she returned desperate to make her mark. in her way, ayaka yamashita. japan improved after the break, constantly threatening an equaliser. when, against the run of play, england won the game and the group. jim lumsdon, bbc news. the revol vita said used by vincent van gogh to take his own life was sold at auction in paris for more than $180,000. the rusty weapons of almost three times more than expected. ramzan karmali reports. it is said to be the gun that renowned artist vincent van gogh used to kill himself. it went on sale at a paris auction house where there was plenty of interest, including one potential buyer with a very special reason for wanting the rusty revolver. we are here for the

gun, the van gogh garden, because we are opening a museum in holland, in rotterdam, a van gogh museum, so it would be nice to have it in the museum there. so fingers crossed. would be nice to have it in the museum there. so fingers crossedm july 1890, after years of mental anguish, van gogh walked into a field, near a village near paris and shot himself in the chest. the pocket sized revolver had limited power and it took days for the troubled artist to die from his injury. more than seven decades later, a corroded gun was found in a field behind the shadow where he stayed. but doubts have been raised about the gun's authenticity and the auction house that sold the weapon admitted there is no way of guaranteeing that the gun is the same, though there are a pretty certain it is. translation: is a seven millimetre calibre, that corresponds to the bullet that was found in his body --it is bullet that was found in his body ——it is a. the position of the triggers open. normally it's in closed position. it's up, it's in

the open position, which means a shot is fired with the weapon falling to the ground. the gavel fell as the revolver sold to a private collector via telephone. the price, just shy of $182,000, almost three times more than expected. but a long way off what you have to pay for one of his paintings. ramzan karmali, bbc news. let us leave you on a high, if possible, although probably nervous flies should look away. this is a shot from a pilot ‘s eye view inside a stunt plane's cockpit. his dayjob as life or air france. hearing is performing at an air show stop does make here he is. he says there's quite a difference between an abarza mislaid aircraft and promises he would never fly like this with passengers “— would never fly like this with passengers —— and airbus and this light aircraft. more for you on any time on the bbc website. you can

reach me and most of the team on twitter. thank you very much were watching. hello there. the recent warm, humid, thundery, weather across the south—east was just a little taster of what perhaps might be a bit more widespread across the uk as we head on into next week. more on that in the moment. this is the thundery front which brought those downpours to the far south—east recently, low pressure will be more the dominant feature as we had through thursday. and that will feed in some showers maybe to northern and western areas early on this morning. and also a cooler west or north—westerly wind. so it will be a fresher start to the day this morning, most noticeably across the south—east. at least largely dry with some sunshine. and today, in fact, will be a day of sunny spells and scattered showers. these heaviest and most frequent across northern and western areas. it will be quite blustery as well across scotland, wind gusts in exposure, 30 or 35 miles an hour. the showers here could be heavy and thundery, same into northern ireland.

further south we will see a few showers spreading across england and wales but there's also a good deal of sunshine around, but it will feel noticeably cooler and fresher. 19, maybe 20 degrees in the south—east, closer to 12—16 celsius across scotland and northern ireland. as we head on into friday, high pressure is building in from the south, that will settle things down, but we have low pressure still anchored to the north of the uk. so that will bring another fairly blustery day for scotland on friday, with scattered showers, again a few heavier ones. further south, a better chance of staying dry although there could be a few showers around, close to that high—pressure, the winds will be lighter, so in the strong sunshine it will feel a bit warmer, 20 or 21 degrees, but still on the fresh side for the time of year in the north. high pressure though, builds in, moves across in towards the north sea, during saturday and that will bring us a run of fairly warm south, south—easterly winds. but we will have this area of low pressure nearby slowly encroaching in as the weekend wears on.

for much of the country, it is going to be a fine saturday, a little bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up in the afternoon. we could see an isolated shower but most places will be dry and temperatures away from the east coast reaching below 20 celsius. high—pressure still dominating the scene, i think, on into sunday, this is the area of low pressure which will start to bring more cloud and perhaps a little bit of rain to western areas later in the day on sunday, but we will be importing some warm and humid air during sunday and into next week. so we could see 2a, 25 degrees in the south—east on sunday, and for parts of the country, a bit of uncertainty. it could turn briefly very warm into next week, but that could spark off widespread heavy, thundery showers.

the latest headlines from bbc news. saudi arabia has angrily rejected a united nations report saying that is credible evidence to suggest crown prince mohammed in and other high—level officials are individually liable for the murder of jamaal individually liable for the murder ofjamaal shoji. individually liable for the murder of jamaal shoji. he was individually liable for the murder ofjamaal shoji. he was a prominent government critic. they have complained of false allegations and bias. the founder of the invm culture in the us who treated women as sex slaves has been found guilty on all charges. thejury as sex slaves has been found guilty on all charges. the jury has convicted keith raniere of racketeering, forced labour, sex trafficking and child pornography. the russian foreign ministry has criticised a decision by dutch prosecutors to put the russians and a ukrainian on trialfor prosecutors to put the russians and a ukrainian on trial for shooting down malaysia airlines flight mh 17. the team says the four separatist paramilitaries will go on trial in the netherlands in march, almost certainly in their absence.