this is the briefing. i'm ben bland. our top stories: a new ebola warning as the outbreak in the democratic republic of the congo is branded a public health emergency. president trump hits out at his democratic opponents and ridicules them after a vote to impeach him is canned. nearly six months after a dam collapsed in brazil, killing hundreds, there are new questions about safety concerns before the disaster. in business: streaming glitch. netflix shares plunge as subscriber growth falls far short of the company's own target.

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. netflix shares sink 10% as subscriber ta ke—up slows. are there now too many streaming services, or has itjust become too expensive? tell us what you think, just use #bbcthebriefing. the outbreak of ebola in the democratic republic of the congo has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. things escalated this week after the first case was detected in the city of goma, which is home to around one million people. gareth barlow reports.

in the democratic republic of the congo, ebola has wrought death and devastation. now the world health organization has declared an international emergency. as a reason of this concern for potential farther spread, the committee recommended that i declared the outbreak a public emergency of international concern — pheic — and i have accepted that advice. the warning is the most severe the who can make. it's only the fourth occasion the organisation has done so. "it's time for the world to take notice" was the stark message for those who care to listen. since august, more than 1600 people have been killed, with 12 new cases reported every day. between 2014 and 2016, more than 11,000 people were killed in an epidemic that devastated swathes of west africa.

the latest outbreak is the 10th to grip the drc. tackling the disease has proved difficult. the region is blighted by conflict, health workers often aren't trusted and some people just don't believe ebola exists. on top of that, the shortage of a highly—effective vaccine is causing serious concern. the who says it lacks the funds to properly tackle the crisis. the hope will be that the new warning prompts donors to offer more support to help stop the deadly disease. gareth barlow, bbc news. democrats in the us house of representatives have voted alongside the republicans to block an attempt to launch impeachment proceedings against president trump. some democrats had been hoping to capitalise on the growing criticism of mr trump for his racist comments about four ethnic minority congresswomen. a little earlier, the us president addressed the issue at a rally

in north carolina. ijust heard that the united states house of representatives has overwhelmingly voted to kill the most ridiculous project i've ever been involved in — the resolution, how stupid is that, on impeachment. booing so now we have that behind us, and i have to say this, and i'll say itjust once, what happened to me with this witch—hunt should never be allowed to happen to another president of the united states. never, ever again! cheering president trump also returned to the four congresswomen who'd been the subject of his racist tweets earlier this week. david willis in washington has more. he took aim at these women one by one.

as he turned his attention to the ‘squad', as they are known, these four women, a couple of hecklers interrupted him and they had to be removed from the crowd. president donald trump said these women were favouring isis, favouring al-qaeda and disrespecting the united states. he had a go at one of them, alexandria 0casio—cortez, saying her name was far too long for him and he would just call her cortez in future. he's trying to paint these four democratic congresswomen, mike, of emblematic of socialism, which he believes is taking over the democratic party. he says america is not going to be a socialist country, it's not going to happen, but there were chants at times of "send her back", which is an echo of those racist remarks donald trump made on twitter, and that is, of course, disconcerting. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news.

nato‘s secretary general has warned that russian missile forces will pose a greater threat than ever before if moscow abandons a key treaty. in a bbc interview, jens stoltenberg called on moscow to return to compliance with the treaty, a cornerstone of arms control for three decades. the number of fatal drug overdoses in the united states has fallen for the first time in almost 30 years. the epidemic is rooted in decades of over—prescription and it's thought hundreds of thousands of people have died. americas‘s health and human services secretary said the epidemic would not be cured overnight. the two candidates vying to become the next british prime minister, jeremy hunt and borisjohnson, have taken part in their final hustings. 0n the subject of brexit, both said they would seek an alternative deal to that negotiated by theresa may. the winner of the contest will be announced next week.

prosecutors in massachusetts have dropped sexual assault charges against the actor kevin spacey. he'd been accused of groping an 18—year—old waiter at a bar in nantucket three years ago. the star had pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied more than a dozen other allegations. let's turn to our top business story — netflix shares have fallen sharply, down almost 12% in after hours trading after the tv streaming giant released disappointing results. it signed up 2.7 million new subscribers in the past three months compared with last year, around half the five million it was forecasting. inga beale is director is at business lobby group london first. inga, it's interesting, because they

put their prices up for subscribers in some key markets and may be this is subscribers saying actually we are prepared to pay, but there is a limit. i think there's more to it than just the pricing. limit. i think there's more to it thanjust the pricing. pricing is going to be one thing, and i think as netflix are thinking about going into all those other new high—growth markets where you've got these huge populations, price is really important there. but to me, it's about the choice that's out there for everybody. and people are going to be less loyal to brands. so i don't think people are going to be thinking of supporting netflix as a brand, they're going to be looking at the content, they're going to be looking at the shows they want. if you think about the conversations people have and the successful shows, that's what they're talking about. they're shows, that's what they're talking about. they‘ re not shows, that's what they're talking about. they're not talking about the fa ct about. they're not talking about the fact it's a netflix production or something shown on netflix, they're talking about the content and its the population now wanting to use many other streaming services that are already out there.

it's interesting, you mention the content but of course netflix is $0011 content but of course netflix is soon to lose some of its most below shows, things like the friends back catalogue will be moved to another platform and. yeah, and all of this isa sign platform and. yeah, and all of this is a sign of the competition. when you first enter and you are that really new breakthrough honeymoon period, you haven't really got anybody competing with you. now, of course, there's competition out there and it's really showing, particularly in the virtual space. when you think about physical goods, you've got really high barriers to entry because you've got to set up distribution systems around the world. this is all virtual. this is all streaming. this is over the internet, so in a way the barriers to entry are much lower than they would be in other sectors and it's the sign of the world today. and interestingly more competitors $0011 and interestingly more competitors soon to launch, but we'll talk more about that in the news review later

on. inge, for now, thanks very much. —— inga. nearly six months since 248 people were killed when a dam collapsed in brazil, 22 people are still missing. bbc news has now learned that serious questions have been raised about the german company that issued the dam's safety certificate. as our correspondentjenny hill reports, tuv sud knew about potential problems with the dam for up to a year before the catastrophe happened. no warning, no time to run. the dam collapsed in a matter of seconds — a mountain of mining waste now a torrent of toxic sludge. nearly 300 people died here. aramaio's sister was serving lunch at the mine's canteen just below the dam. her body, he told us, still hasn't been found. translation: we are devastated, we feel destroyed. we're trying to understand what really happened.

with every hour that passes, the traces of this disaster disappear into a new landscape, but at the same time, fresh evidence continues to emerge. what happened here could and should have been prevented. for this brazilian prosecutor, questions for a german company. tuv sud certified the dam safe, even though two other firms refused to do so even though investigators believe staff knew it was at risk of collapse. translation: what we see now is that tuv sud, as a corporation, is choosing to stay silent. i have no doubt a more collaborative attitude might bring more light to the case, and also clarify what happened behind closed doors. we've seen internal e—mails and documents seized by investigators. they reveal that tuv sud knew

for about a year that the dam was liquefying and at risk of collapse, and they suggest that tuv sud had access to data from the dam right up to the disaster. we know now too that tuv sud changed the way the dam was certified, enabling inspectors to sign it off despite its weakness. what we don't know is why or whether tuv sud‘s managers in munich knew what was happening. they didn't want to talk to us, but in a statement they say they're working intensely towards establish what happened. tuv sud exports its reputation internationally. it carries out inspections all over the world. this was its big chance to gain a foothold in the lucrative brazilian mining sector. it's ended in disaster. a company famous for its high standards at home faces questions now about its accountability overseas. in brazil's mining region, one fear persists — that those questions will go unanswered, brumadinho's dead forgotten.

jenny hill, bbc news, brumadinho. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a full round up of the day's sport, including the start of the open championship in nothern ireland. after months of talks and missed deadlines, a deal has been struck to keep greece within the eurozone. the immediate prospect of greece going bust, in the worst crisis to hit the eurozone, has been averted. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worse floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the "great white way" by americans, but tonight it's completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problems that the energy crisis has brought to them. leaders meet in paris for a summit on pollution, inflation and third world debt.

this morning, theyjoined the revolution celebrations for a show of military might on the champs—elysees. finally, wildlife officials in australia have been coping with a penguin problem. fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on a huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much they could barely stand. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: a new ebola warning as the outbreak in the democratic republic of the congo is branded a public health emergency. president trump hits out at his democratic opponents and ridicules them after a vote to impeach him is canned. this week we've been hearing

the remarkable story of twins born joined at the head and how they were separated at great ormond street hospital in london. such cases are incredibly rare, but the surgeons performed a similar separation eight years ago. fergus walsh has been to meet that family. hi! salaam alaikum. quite a moment. how are you? i'm good. the twins ritaj and rital meeting the surgeons who separated them eight years ago. how are you? born in sudan, they now live in ireland, where their father's a doctor. it's hard to imagine they were once joined at the head. doctors feared the girls might die unless separated, so — like safa and marwa — the division was performed over several stages. and this was rital and ritaj just

one month after surgery, each parent able to hold a child in their arms. i hope that they will get a normal life and be treated as normal human beings. which one are you? you get it right every time! so what do they think now? we are sitting here with two healthy twins, just like what i hoped at that time, so it's a great moment in my life. your dream came true? exactly. i'm a very proud dad now. laughter. that was very hard time. and at the same time, it was happy time because of the conclusion. we just get our girls, everyone is separated and can live her own life. and now, enas is pregnant again. one child this time? yeah. laughter. i think it's just amazing to see, yeah, how they've come on and grown into happy children. it's just wonderful, really. rital has some learning difficulties, but the long—term outcome of the twins' separation has

been hailed as a major success. the surgeons believe it's because it was done in the first year of life, when the brain and body have the strongest ability to heal. what we put the two kids through, and the brains through, is a lot. and the younger brains and their younger circulations are better adapted and have better regeneration potential, so to do the surgery early does make a difference, we feel. everything is easier. a one—year—old's regenerative capacity is so much better. the skin heals better, it stretches better, the bone grows in better. ready, steady, go! they've set up a charity so that funds are available to allow early intervention in future cases, and to further research. safa and marwa were two when they were separated. the delay was due to problems finding a charitable donor. the surgeons say the girls would have done better if they'd operated earlier.

they're clearly going to face some challenges, but i think overall, it's a positive outcome for them. they're going to need support, but they have a chance of leading a happy life. no one can be sure what the long—term outcome will be for safa and marwa, but the experience of rital and ritaj shows just what is possible. sisters bornjoined at the head, now able to lead independent lives. fergus walsh, bbc news. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is your thursday sport briefing. the 148th open championship gets under way shortly on thursday at the royal portrush golf club in northern ireland. and the favourite to win the claretjug is northern ireland's very own rory mcilroy. the world number 3 has pedigree at portrush, setting the course record as a 16—year—old. but he hasn't won a major

title for five years. having the (this country is a massive thing for golf, and i think as well it will be a massive thing for the country. sport has an unbelievable ability to bring people together, and we all know that this country sometimes needs that, and this has the ability to do that. nigeria came third at the africa cup of nations in egypt. odion ighalo scored the only goal afterjust three minutes, as they beat tunisia 1—0 in the bronze medal play—off in cairo. it's their best finish in the competition since they won it in 2013. algeria and senegal play in the final on friday. frenchman julian alaphilippe wil go into stage 12 of the tour de france with the leader's yellow

jersey later on, after australia's caleb ewan won the 11th stage to toulouse. today's racing enters the pyrenees for the first time. the 209.5 kilometre stage to bagneres—de—bigorre could prove pivotal in deciding this year's overall winner. it includes tough climbs at the col de peyresourde and la hourquette d'ancizan before a downhill finish. britain's geraint thomas, the defending champion, is second in the general classification. the only women's test of the ashes series starts at taunton later on thursday. anything other than an england win means australian retain the trophy, despite there still being three t20 matches to play. australia made a clean sweep of the three one—day internationals played already, and their captain is confident her side won't slack off. we've got ourselves into a good

position in this series, i think we improved with bat and ball as the odi series went on. we are still going out there to win, as obviously england will be, so i think it sets the scene for a great test match, andi the scene for a great test match, and i think both sides will play a great brand of cricket and it will be really exciting, so we're looking forward to the of that. now, there's been plenty of confusion about whether amir khan will fight manny pacquiao later this year in saudi arabia. khan and his camp claimed it was happening on tuesday, but it was denied by pacquiao's later that day. so here's the latest from the wbc welterweight champion. i've been told that the fight is done, and! i've been told that the fight is done, and i don't want to be saying things — if it's not i don't want to be the one who looks stupid. i have been told we have signatures and it has been agreed, and it has been approved by his people.

you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport team, goodbye. the indonesian government is considering closing the island of komodo, home to the world's largest lizards, because of the pressures of mass tourism. authorities say visitor numbers to see the unique species are rising on a scale that's becoming unsustainable. rebecca henschke reports. there is just one village here on komodo island and despite the dragons having a poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite, the community here say they do not live in fear. they believe they have a spiritual connection with the dragons and tell a story of a dragon princess who gave birth to twins. a baby boy and a baby dragon. translation: if you are a true komodo ancestor, then there is nothing to worry about. they will not disturb you.

the dragons also provide an income for this community. most villagers are now working in the tourist trade as an increasing number of visitors are flocking to see this unique species. the central government is now heavily promoting the area and labuan bajo, the gateway to the national park, is a city undergoing significant change. it used to be a sleepy fishing village when i visited ten years ago. now it is a hive of building activity. the number of tourists visiting has doubled in five years, the numbers are still relatively low compared to bali. there is an atmosphere here of this place being on the edge of a tourism boom. this man, the local governor, says it is unsustainable. he wants to close komodo island to mass tourism. translation: now the komodo dragon is not getting the level of protection and attention they deserve. many people are coming into the island

and paying next to nothing. we need to close the island for one year to return the habitat to a healthy state for the dragons. after that, only a small number of visitors willing to pay up to $1000 us will be allowed in. and the villagers who live with the dragons will be evicted. but while komodos are listed as vulnerable to extinction, researchers say their numbers are stable and there is no need for alarm. and the villagers insist that they do not harm the dragons. translation: we don't want to move. where would we go? we don't disturb the komodo habitat. if we were hunting then the governor has a right to evict us but we don't and we can help protect the dragons. the final decision lies with the central government who are now reviewing the park's management. they say the fate of dragon land

will be decided soon. we have been talking about netflix, and lots of you have been getting in touch. dan says the problems with netflix is the choices in the uk are so netflix is the choices in the uk are so limited, it is barely worth having. it needs content faster and it needs it now. jordi says there are so many it needs it now. jordi says there are so many streaming sites, he has several accounts, but it is difficult to tell what is on each platform and i am paying more than ever. ryan says, pretty soon there will be too many streaming services to manage, with disney, nbc and warner all launching their own. we also had a tweet from erin, saying that this whole idea of relying on

"only available on" is bust. i would pay to watch the same movie, whatever site it is on. hello there. wednesday brought temperatures very close to 27 degrees across parts of eastern england. i don't think we'll see temperatures like that again for a little while anyway because things have been changing from the west. this band of cloud brought outbreaks of rain during wednesday and behind me, more cloud, which is heading our way for friday. in between, though, a zone of slightly clearer weather through the day ahead. sunny spells and some showers. it will be quite breezy. the remnants of what was essentially wednesday's rain still clearing away from the far south—east during the morning and behind that, some spells of sunshine and showers — these most plentiful across the northern half of the uk. thursday afternoon ends like this. maybe one or two showers in the afternoon across parts of east anglia and the far south—east but many parts of england

and wales will be dry with some spells of sunshine. a little cooler than it has been and quite and breezy as well. the odd shower through the isle of man creeping into north—west england and north wales but for northern ireland and scotland, lots of showers blowing through quite quickly in the west or south—westerly breeze. some heavy, some thundery, that's not great news for the first day of the open at portrush. there will be some showers at times, equally some spells of sunshine and a keen westerly breeze. as we go through thursday night, we will continue to see showers for a time in northern areas. some clear spells further south and a cooler, fresher night than we've had recently across parts of eastern england. behind me, cloud and rain gathering down to the south—west. that is our next whether maker, this frontal system pushing in for friday. southern parts of the uk have been pretty dry recently with not much rain at all. there will be a dollop of rain from this system as it slides its way in and it will be working north eastwards, getting into southern

and central parts of scotland, probably not really getting into northern scotland. the best of the dry and bright weather here. quite a brisk wind developing particularly through wales and the south west and those temperatures certainly lower than they have been — 17 in stornoway, 21 degrees in london. friday's wet weather pushes away as we get into the first part of saturday and then we're back to a mix of sunny spells and showers. some pretty heavy downpours with some rumbles of thunder mixed in and signs of things starting to turn a little warmer in the south. sunday, a drier day for just about all of us. into next week, northern areas look unsettled, southern areas could turn very warm indeed.

this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. streaming glitch. netflix shares plunge, as subscriber growth falls far short of the company's own target. plus, where's the beef? why america's burger chains are embracing the plant—based patty. and on the markets, asian stocks fell, hit by concerns about the uncertain global economic outlook, the china—us trade war and tepid corporate earnings reports.