a us intelligence report says the saudi crown prince approved a plan to capture or kill the dissidentjournalist jamal khashoggi in 2018. the report said the conclusion was based on the crown prince's willingness to use violence to silence critics. saudi arabia has dismissed the american claims. the nigerian president says his government won't give in to blackmail after more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped. he described those behind the latest abductions in zamfara state as bandits and said they should not interpret the government's restraint as a sign of weakness. the us president, joe biden, has traveled to texas to see how the state is recovering from the freezing weather that left millions without power or clean water. mr and mrs biden worked with volunteers at a houston food bank and toured a covid—19 vaccines centre.

here in the uk, the former first minister of scotland alex salmond has said there is no doubt that his successor nicola sturgeon broke the rules governing the behaviour of ministers. he made the claim during his long—awaited appearance at an inquiry into the scottish government's mishandling of sexual harassment claims against him, but mr salmond said it wasn't for him to say what the consequences for nicola sturgeon should be. he has previously accused people close to her of plotting against him. nicola sturgeon has denied his claims. our scotland editor sarah smith has the story. alex salmond arriving at the parliament he once dominated as the most powerful man in scotland, armed today with allegations nicola sturgeon is lying and that he is the victim of a conspiracy. i swear by almighty god that i will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. scotland's institutions aren't failing, he says. he blames people, including nicola sturgeon, at the top of the system.

the scottish civil servant hasn't failed. its leadership has failed. the crown office hasn't failed. its leadership has failed. scotland hasn't failed. its leadership has failed. he says nicola sturgeon misled parliament over when she first heard that complaints of sexual harassment had been made against him. if the first minister has broken the ministerial code, should she resign? i have no doubt that nicola has broken the ministerial code, but it is not for me to suggest what the consequences should be. that is for the people judging that, including this committee. nicola sturgeon originally told parliament that the first she knew about complaints against alex salmond was on 2 april when he told her about it at a meeting in her home. she later had to admit she had forgotten about a meeting on 29 march with salmond's former chief of staff in which he says the complaints were discussed. salmond that says that she is

lying, and he knows why. some people say, what difference does four days make? the difference, of course, is if the meeting of 29 march is admitted and the subject matter is admitted, it makes it very difficult to argue that the meeting of 2 april was on party business as opposed to government business. if it was a government meeting, it should have been officially recorded. not doing so could be a breach of the ministerial code. two years ago, alex salmond won a legal battle with a scottish government, who had badly mishandled the way it investigated complaints about his behaviour. he believes that as the government was facing defeat in court, a plot was hatched to have him arrested for sexual assault before the government had to admit they had acted unlawfully. in my opinion, there has been behaviour which is about not just pressurising the police, like the one you've read out, but pressurising witnesses, collusion with witnesses. we're talking about the construction of evidence,

because the police somehow were felt to be inadequate in finding it themselves. during the criminal trial in which mr salmond was acquitted of all sexual assault charges, he did admit to inappropriate behaviour towards women he worked with. of the behaviours that you have admitted to, some of which are appalling, are you sorry? over the last three years there have been two court cases, twojudges and ajury, and i'm resting on the proceedings of these cases. alex salmond's evidence does raise significant questions for nicola sturgeon to answer. tonight, her spokesperson said that he had failed to provide proof of the alleged conspiracy and says the first minister is looking forward to addressing all the issues raised today when she gives evidence next week. sarah smith, bbc news. the amazon rainforest is one of the most beautiful and bio

diverse places on earth, and if you want to buy a chunk of it, now all you have to do is go online. we have discovered facebook has become a go to marketplace for brazil's illegal land grabbers, ready to turn pristine rainforest into profit for buyers around the world at the click of a button, no matter what or who they harm. iamjoao i am joao fellet and i amjoao fellet and i am going to take you undercover to meet the sellers behind the online ads. to find out who they are and how they are getting away with it.

deforestation in the brazilian amazon is at a ten year high. is facebook fuelling that destruction? deforestation is happening in every corner of the amazon. it is not hard to find communities of illegal loggers working away. we were invited by a logo to actually visit the place where he is chopping the trees right now. we are about to enter the forest. this logger says he has been caught by the authorities twice, but all they did was give him cautions.

one of the federal agencies that polices deforestation in the amazon is this, but they have had their budget slashed by the government. —— ibama.

a tree like this is worth twice the monthly salary for someone on minimum wage. this young logger tells us he has cut down thousands. but loggers like this are only part of the story. the

destruction of the amazon is driven by the demand for land. we have discovered that land deals these days are moving online. we started this investigation by typing some words on facebook like forest. and there were hundreds of ads. people were selling chunks of the amazon rainforest. we started going through the ads one by one. we quickly discovered that a lot of sellers openly admit they do not have any documentation which proves they own the land they are advertising. this plot in amazon estate has just been deforested. the seller says she has no documents and she would take a motorbike as part of her payment. chunks of rainforest as large as 1000 football pitches were being offered. it

got worse. using satellite imagery, we were able to confirm a lot of the plots on sale were in fact inside protected areas. some of the most bio diverse places on earth were being advertised on facebook as perfect for timber harvesting and cattle farming. but how do we prove that this is notjust but how do we prove that this is not just an but how do we prove that this is notjust an online scam? how do we prove that this is real people selling real plots of land? we have to go there and find them. a lot of the ads we found were coming from one place in particular. the state of rondonia. it is known as the wild west of brazil. a state famous for its violent land disputes and for having one of the highest rates of deforestation in the amazon. in the 2018 election, people here voted heavily in favour of now

presidentjair bolsonaro, who president jair bolsonaro, who told presidentjair bolsonaro, who told amenities like this that the amazon rainforest was theirs to develop. we have come here to try to find the sellers we saw on facebook, but to do that we need to send someone undercover. we found an operative with a good knowledge of land deals who is willing to help expose what is going on. using undercoverfilming equipment, he is going to pose as a lawyer checking out land on behalf of wealthy investors from sao paulo. but land development is a dangerous business in rondonia. in the past five years alone, more than 50 people have been

murdered in land disputes here. so to protect our operative, we are going to hide his real identity. you can call him lucas. we arrange for lucas to meet the first seller at a local cafe. would our cover story work? fabricio is a normal guy with a steadyjob. he seems to have a

comfortable life in the city, but still he is involved in this, which makes us think that he is doing it as a side gig. fabricio begins to open up. the plot he is selling is the size of 57 football pitches, but he tells lucas he does not have any legal proof of ownership. sellers and buyers rely on the culture of impunity that exists in the amazon. they are just very comfortably negotiating plots of land that they don't legally owned. it is so easy to play the system here.

a very important detail about this ad is, when he posted it, there was a satellite picture showing an area that was fully covered by forest. but fabricio tells us that is no longer the case, and he invites lucas to come and see for himself. lucas follows fabricio in his car two hours out of the state capital. we track his movements remotely. they arrive in an area that should be covered in primary rainforest. but, since posting his advert online, fabricio has chopped down the rainforest and set the area on

fire. last year, there were 103,000 reported fires in the amazon. clearance is done for profit by people like fabricio account for much of the deforestation. fabricio has now tripled his asking price. areas ready for cattle farming or agriculture are more valuable, and that is how he will profit. the illegal land market in the amazon is booming. access to buyers on social media could help make it international.

we co nta cted we contacted fabricio for his response to the investigation, but he declined to comment. almost entirely covered in rainforest until the 1980s, rondonia today looks like a patchwork of cattle pastures. there are eight cows for every person here. protected areas and indigenous territories are almost all that remains of the once vast numbers in rainforest in this state. and now even they are under threat. we meet up they are under threat. we meet up with environmental activist eva. she has been fighting deforestation in rondonia for more than 30 years.

ivaneide wants to show us area of protected rainforest. her charity works with indigenous peoples to help people protect their territories from land invaders. but it is dangerous work. 2a environmental activists were killed in brazil in 2019 alone.

ari was living in the largest indigenous territory, uru eu wau wau. he was found with stab wounds on his neck. no—one has been arrested for his death.

one of these sellers we found on facebook was advertising land inside avi's home, the uru eu wau wau indigenous territory. he is one of the invaders grabbing land from avi's family stop the uru eu wau wau indigenous territory as a rainforest paradise in the middle of rondo near�*s farming heartland. —— rondonia was mike. we have come here to meet bitate, the leader of the uru eu wau wau indigenous community. bitate is only 20 years old, but under his leadership the community has set up a team to monitor and catch invaders. ari

was a member of the team. this man was caught inside the territory with a gun. the federal agency meant to protect is ill�*s indigenous peoples does not have an office here. the closest is 200 kilometres away. bitate says the invasions are getting worse and worse. i show him what our investigation has uncovered.

invasions happen here with or without facebook. but facebook makes it easier than ever for sellers to find buyers. could we find the invader trying to cell part of the uru eu wau wau reserve on facebook? the next day, our undercover operative lucas heads out of town. the seller we found on facebook advertising lands inside the uru eu wau wau territory has agreed to a meeting. just as before, he thinks lucas is a

lawyer inventing the —— representing wealthy investors from sao paulo. the seller is a man cold alvin alvis. —— alvim alves. he has brought with him several —looking legal documents. none of them is a legal land title. one of the documents he shows lucas mentions the curupira association. the federal police labelled this association, curupira association, as a criminal organisation focused on stealing that from indigenous people. these associations occupy protected areas and lobby pro— agricultural politicians to grant the stolen lands to their members.

then alvim invites our undercover operative lucas to meet a man he says is the leader of his association. lucas is introduced to nadia batista. he denies being the leader of the curupira association, but says that like alvim, he has plots inside the uru eu wau wau indigenous reserve. it is hard to evict large groups of people, especially when there is no forest left to protect. president bolsonaro says protected areas hinder brazil's development. he reveals the association has a politician setting up meetings for them in the country's capital, brasilia.

land grabbing in brazil isn't just enterprising hustlers looking for money on the side. organised groups like this, backed by politicians, are more and more common. the politician he mentioned is representative colonel chrisostomo. as we head back to rondonia's capital, we make a call to his team. the colonel degrees to meet us the next day. —— degrees. a former army officer, colonel chrisostomo was elected for the first time in 2018 on the same

political wave and with the same party that helped president bolsonaro rise to power. the colonel admits helping the curupira helping the cu rupira association helping the curupira association meet federal agencies and brasilia, but he tells us his role as a politician is to connect people. we co nta cted we contacted alvim for a response to our investigation, but they both declined to comment. since bolsonaro's government came to power, illegal logging and mining groups have been given unprecedented access to government officials. back home

in sao paulo, we take the results of our investigation to brazil's environment minister. but our experience in rondonia tells a different story, and now facebook is allowing brazil's land invaders to reach millions of buyers around the world. in response to the bbc�*s

investigation, facebook set its commerce policies require buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations when buying and selling on marketplace. the social media giant told us it stands ready to work with local authorities on any of the issues raised in our reporting. but in places like rondonia, a lot of people don't want to preserve the most bio diverse rainforest on earth. they want to develop it. despite decades of international pressure, the destruction of the amazon rainforest isn't slowing down. it is speeding up. hello.

a weekend of very quiet, largely dry weather is on the way. still a bit of rain though to be had across parts of scotland and northern ireland as the day begins — western scotland and northern ireland, and that will fizzle out as it moves a little bit further south with just some cloud into parts of northern england whereas elsewhere, it's variable cloud, some sunny spells, a few early fog patches — wales, south—west england, the west midlands slowly clearing. but for the most part, it's a fine afternoon with temperatures a few degrees above average for this stage of february. on into saturday night, still the chance of the odd spot of rain from the thicker cloud in parts of northern england and northern ireland but elsewhere, some areas of cloud, some clear spells, just pockets of frost where it's clear for long enough and a few more fog patches as sunday starts — gradually clearing. the chance maybe of an isolated shower somewhere in northern england and northern ireland where the cloud is thick enough on sunday. but for most places, it'll be another dry day, some areas of cloud, some occasional sunshine, feeling a touch cooler especially across parts

of southern england in a stronger wind.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. us intelligence officials say saudi arabia's crown prince personally approved an operation that killed the journalist jamal khashoggi. another abduction of schoolchildren in nigeria — more than 300 girls have been taken. president biden visits texas to see how it is recovering from the freezing weather that left millions without power or clean water. 112 countries back a un resolution calling for ceasefires so millions of people in conflict areas can receive a coronavirus vaccination. and an iceberg the size of greater london breaks off from the antarctic ice shelf. scientists say the split is due to natural processes rather

than climate change.