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. hello and welcome. we start with that us intelligence report on the killing ofjamal khashoggi. it accuses saudi arabia's crown prince, mohammed bin salman, of personally approving the operation which led to the murder of the journalist in 2018. it is the first time the us has officially and openly accused the crown prince, who is a key american ally in the middle east. saudi arabia has dismissed the american claims as false and unacceptable. here is nick bryant. it was at the saudi consulate in istanbul that jamal khashoggi met his brutal end. he had been lured there

to discuss paperwork for his upcoming wedding, but he was strangled as soon as he entered the building by a team of saudi assassins, who then dismembered his body. a saudi dissident who wrote a column for the washington post, often criticising his country's authoritarian leadership, the motive was to silence him. the damning conclusion of the declassified intelligence report is that saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman, the country's de facto leader, approved an operation in istanbul to capture or kill the saudi journalist. the assessment was based on the crown prince's control of decision—making in the kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of his protective detail in the operation. these aren't new findings. the trump administration had suppressed this report. ahead of its release, presidentjoe biden spoke by phone to king salman of saudi arabia, the crown prince's father, all part of a deliberate move by the new administration

to alter the relationship with the saudis, to be tougher on this oil—rich kingdom. we have significant ongoing interests. we remain committed to the defence of the kingdom. but we also want to make sure, and this is what the president has said from the outset, that the relationship better reflects our interests and our values. so what we've done by the actions that we have taken is really not to rupture the relationship but to recalibrate it. already mr biden has ordered an end to arms sales and other us support to the saudis in their war in yemen. as a candidate, he referred to saudi arabia as a "pariah state", but he has stopped short of imposing sanctions on mohammed bin salman, the future king, who is known as mbs. this new, tougher approach has drawn support from both democrats and leading republicans. look, this is a journalist working on american soil, working for an american

publication, and he was murdered and dismembered. this is something we can'tjust look beyond. there has to be a consequence of that. donald trump was very much in step with the saudis. significantly, it was the first foreign country he visited as president. and as well as turning a blind eye to the country's human rights record, he had a warm relationship with mohammed bin salman. when they met at a 620 summit injapan, he was asked about the murder of the saudi journalist but clearly did not want it to sour their personal rapport. mr president, have you addressed the murder of jamal khashoggi, sir? uh...thank you very much, i appreciate it. under donald trump, the saudis almost had a blank cheque. those days are over. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. president biden hasjust been speaking to a reporter from univision, a texas—based hispanic broadcaster in houston. he was asked how far he was willing to press saudi arabia to comply with human rights laws.

i spoke yesterday with the king, not the prince. i made it clear to him that the rules are changing, and we'll announce significant changes today and on monday. we will hold them accountable for human rights abuses, and we will make sure that they in fact — you know, if they want to do with us, they have to deal with us in a way that human rights abuses are dealt with. and we're trying to do this across the world, but particularly here. well, earlier i spoke to abdullah alaoudh, who is research director for saudi arabia at the non—profit organisation dawn, democracy for the arab world now. i asked him what his reaction was to the us intelligence report. well, first of all, we were glad that it came out finally, and the administration finally followed the law that was enacted by the congress after the killing of khashoggi. and we think it's a very — a huge step, but also a first step.

0k, a first step, then. would you like to see the crown prince be held accountable in some way? absolutely, and that's why — that's when we get disappointed at the administration today. while we were glad that the report points the finger to mbs, implicates him in the murder in a very transparent way, we think that not sanctioning him and falling short of that move is unfortunate. so you would want sanctions. what would that mean? well, things like freezing assets, banning him from travel and coming to the us or any other western country, and putting him actually — allowing for legal actions against him.

and we already started this, so it means — part of this is to not give him immunity as the head of a state. i see, but the flip side of that, of course, is that the us does have to have very important strategic relations with this very important country. yeah, but the strategic relationship should actually be established with the saudi institutions, with the saudi public, with the saudi long—term kind of relationship that actually should go beyond mbs and should not — i mean, we should not put all the eggs in the basket of mbs. mbs isjust a guy. he does not represent saudi arabia. he does not represent the saudi public. he does not represent the saudi interest. i mean, it is not in the saudi best interest to go to war in yemen or to blockade qatar or to put the prime minister of lebanon under house arrest or to cut a relationship

with canada over a tweet or to imprison prominent human rights defenders or kill jamal khashoggi at the consulate in istanbul. this is not in the best interests of saudi arabia. 0k, just lastly and briefly, i'm afraid, because we're almost out of time, but no sanctions. you listed what you would like to see. just in a couple of words, how confident are you do you think you will see any of that? well, i think from how the biden administration actually treated the saudi government, it's — i'm very hopeful that this will happen at one point in the nearfuture, i guess. because they already downgraded him from the de facto ruler and crown prince to defence minister, and this is really a good deal and a big deal. it is a big deal because the trump administration used to protect him, to give him this kind of protection. this is not the trump administration anymore. to nigeria now, and another abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren.

president muhammadu buhari says the government will not succumb to blackmail by criminals who target innocent children, following the abduction this time of 317 schoolgirls from a boarding school. the kidnapping occured in the north—west state of za mfa ra. the governor has ordered all schools to close in response. mayenijones reports. the lucky few — these students were amongst those that were not kidnapped on friday morning. over 100 gunmen stormed this all—girls secondary school in the town ofjangebe, taking 317 students with them. security forces have been deployed to the area. we are on the trail of the kidnappers. that's why you find us in the fringes of the forest here as part of our locational efforts and as part of our cordoning efforts. anxious parents gathered outside the school all day, waiting for news of their loved ones. abductions of this type have

become increasingly common in northern nigeria. just last week 42 people, including 27 students, were kidnapped in the central state of niger. they are yet to be released. in december, more than 300 boys were kidnapped by gunmen and later released after negotiations. it's not clear who carried out that attack. but it was the 2014 kidnapping of 276 girls in the town of chibok by islamist militants that brought global attention to mounting insecurity in the country. that kidnapping was carried out by the extremist group boko haram. although they have not been active in north—western nigeria, there is evidence their area of activity could be expanding. we know that one of the major institutions objected by boko haram, that has been operating in nigeria for over ten years, is secular education. and we know that

boko haram has been infiltrating the criminal gangs in the north—west and they have succeeded in the past 18 months or so. so i wouldn't be surprised if these people were doing it for some ideological reasons, or at least this indicates to us the pathological hatred they have for school, possibly because they did not have the opportunity of attending any. criminals have been encouraged by the publicity that followed the abduction of the chibok girls. they know it is an effective way of pressuring the government. and with no clear strategy to stop them, northern nigeria remains one of the most unsafe places in the world for children. mayenijones, bbc news, lagos. to the us, and the latest on that extreme winter storm in texas. president biden visited the state to see how it is recovering from the freezing weather that left millions without power or clean water. the president and first lady went to a food bank in houston, where they helped put together supplies for distribution. they also met staff at a coronavirus vaccination centre and had this message for texans.

jill and i wanted to visit texas today for a couple of reasons. first and foremost, to let the people of texas know our prayers are with you in the aftermath of this winter storm. and secondly, to let you know what i told governor abbott and mayor turner and judge hidalgo and the congressional delegation — that we will be true partners to help you recover and rebuild from the storms and this pandemic and the economic crisis. we're in for the long haul. reggie young works at the houston food bank that the president and the first lady toured. he told me what mr biden said to him. we showed him everything. we showed him ourfleet, our trucks, we showed him our warehouse. we also introduced him to some of the clients of the families that have been impacted by the freeze. so he got the chance to hear their stories first—hand as well as meet the volunteers who have been helping

us to respond. and what was his thoughts, what did he say to you? yeah, so he was very concerned about what was going on. we talked a lot about the amount of people that were impacted by this struggle. we talked a lot about how we were responding to it. he really said that he supported our work and he thought that our operation was amazing. but he was really touched by the families that were there and the work that they were doing to bounce back, based on all the things that happened to them. and what are some of the stress points right now? what are some of the things that people need? yes, absolutely the number one thing people absolutely need is going to be water. so even though water is back and running in most of our region, the challenge is that a lot of people have broken pipes. and they can't run water, they can't cook their food with this water, they can't do a lot of things.

they can't bathe. one of the main things we're trying to do is really source a lot more water into the region so we can get it to the families in need. there are people who are now there are people who are now comin- back to their homes with coming back to their homes with high electric bills, no running water because they need the plumbing, and they have low incomes. what they have to do is make tough decisions about how they will utilise their money. the thing that we try to do is provide enough food so that that can at least offset some of those costs that they will incur in trying to make their rent, trying to make sure that they can pay for medicine, as well as trying to pay for plumbing. i as well as trying to pay for plumbing-— plumbing. i see. and it is humbling, the richest - plumbing. i see. and it is- humbling, the richest country on the planet and people need water and those basic supplies. it is a pretty sobering reminder of the fragility of things. 0n reminder of the fragility of things. on top of that, of course, covid—19. things. on top of that, of course, (avid-19.-

things. on top of that, of course, (avid-19. yes, covid-19 has been _ course, (avid-19. yes, covid-19 has been a _ course, (avid-19. yes, covid-19 has been a challenge. _ course, (avid-19. yes, covid-19 has been a challenge. this - course, (avid-19. yes, covid-19 has been a challenge. this has. has been a challenge. this has been a disaster on top of the disaster. we have already seen an increase in the number of people who are coming to our pantries that need food based upon covid—19, because of the loss of employment. now we are seeing not only that but more people based upon the fact that they have been struggling throughout this time. so the response has to be really strong. and our partners along with the global food bank network are helping us to respond to that so that we can ensure that people have what they need to move on. you are watching bbc news, the headlines: a declassified us intelligence report says that the saudi crown prince approved and likely ordered the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi. the crown prince denies the accusation. security forces in nigeria are searching for more than 300 girls who were abducted from a school, the second kidnapping in just over a week. there's further evidence vaccines may help prevent the spread of coronavirus as well as protecting

against getting ill. a study of healthcare workers in cambridge here in the uk, found a single dose of the pfizer vaccine dramatically cuts the risk of getting the virus without symptoms. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports. like thousands of healthcare workers in cambridge, daniela does a weekly swab test for coronavirus before she goes to work at addenbrooke's hospital. it will show whether she could be carrying the virus without displaying symptoms. that swab is analysed at these university labs, where they compared the results from staff like daniela who'd received the pfizer vaccine with those yet to be immunised. in early data, they found that two weeks after the first dose the risk of asymptomatic infection — carrying the virus without knowing it — was reduced by 75%. an england—wide study of health workers found a similar protective effect.

this is a genuine good news story. people should be really pleased that the vaccine will protect them, and they should have the vaccine in order to prevent themselves and others from getting infected. but i think it will help us get out of lockdown, help other countries get out of lockdown and it will allow us to eventually get back to normal. hi, laura. hi. can i check your blood pressure? daniela is a nursing apprentice at addenbrooke's. nearly nine in 10 staff here have had their first dose of vaccine — important, as it reduces the chance of getting infected and may protect patients. it makes me feel very happy knowing that i will not pass the virus to anyone around me. it's very reassuring, very reassuring. it was one of the big unknowns, can vaccines help slow transmission of coronavirus? the study here adds to growing

evidence that they do. that has huge implications. it suggests vaccination benefits notjust the individual but the wider community. it's vital people have both doses of vaccine. but while highly effective, they don't offer 100% protection from catching coronavirus or passing it on. so while infection rates remain high, social distancing will continue to be important. fergus walsh, bbc news. we've been reporting in recent days on how to get covid vaccines to lower and middle income countries — and first deliveries to some of the poorer regions in the world have been happening in the past week. but now the un has raised another issue: vaccine distribution to warzones. on friday the security council voted in favour of an immediate ceasefire in armed conflicts around the world to allow covid vaccines to be delivered. agreeing to consider further measures if warring parties choose to block vaccinations.

mark lobel has been speaking to britain's ambassador to the un. vital vaccines landing in the ivory coast thanks to the covax global sharing initiative. in the safety of afghanistan's presidential palace, jabs for doc is, security guards and journalists. but getting it to other parts of this and other war—torn countries to what diplomats call the last mile, the hardest to reach groups, is perhaps the greatest challenge in the global race to beat the ever mutating virus. to speed things up, un diplomats want vaccine ceasefires in conflict zones, covering 160 million people world wide. so far over

a hundred countries have backed the resolution which was led by the resolution which was led by the british ambassador to the un. i caught up with her. this resolution _ un. i caught up with her. this resolution builds _ un. i caught up with her. this resolution builds on _ un. i caught up with her. ti 3 resolution builds on the success we had in afghanistan in 2009 wherein a two day ceasefire period, 35,000 humanitarian workers managed to vaccinate 5.7 million children against polio —— covax. you against polio -- covax. you have got — against polio -- covax. you have got negotiations - have got negotiations at country and field level, what will people see happen next you will see the parties to the conflict, the united nations, special envoys, humanitarian groups negotiating on a case—by—case basis for access to refugee camps, idp camps, or conflict affected areas. find to refugee camps, idp camps, or conflict affected areas.— conflict affected areas. and if that feedback _ conflict affected areas. and if that feedback comes - conflict affected areas. and if that feedback comes back - conflict affected areas. and if that feedback comes back to | conflict affected areas. and if. that feedback comes back to you and says that there is a problem in syria or yemen, what can you do about it? i problem in syria or yemen, what can you do about it?— can you do about it? i don't imagine _ can you do about it? i don't imagine it _ can you do about it? i don't imagine it will _ can you do about it? i don't imagine it will be _ can you do about it? i don't imagine it will be easy - can you do about it? i don't imagine it will be easy but. can you do about it? i don't i imagine it will be easy but the point is we have got a mechanism now that if we do come across barriers to address them in the security council. now that you have the prospect

of offering people the vaccine, is that making yourjob easier? it would be very helpful i think if through the ceasefires, we were able to roll out vaccines, and i know we have been talking to the who for example about if we can have a ceasefire for currowan for the covid vaccine. whether we should also do —— covax, and whether we should do polio and malaria at the same time. securing vaccine corridors in the hard—hit places like yemen won't be easy. while trying to stem a health crisis that affects us all. mark lobel, bbc news. vets in spain say that nearly 900 young bulls held on board a ship for nearly three months with little food will have to be destroyed. they say the animals had suffered for too long after the lebanese—flagged vessel was refused entry at several mediterranean ports over fears the cattle had contracted bovine blue—tongue virus.

an iceberg the size of greater london has broken away from the antarctic. the split was detected just 20 kilometres from britain's halley research station, on the brunt ice shelf. scientists who've been predicting such a event for months say they'll use satellite images to track the iceberg, and to monitor instabilities on the remaining ice shelf platform. helen fricker is a glaciologist and professor at the scripps institution of oceanography in san diego. earlier i asked her about the size of the iceberg that had broken off from the ice shelf. so, it's about 1,300 square kilometres, about the size of manhattan or greater london, as you said. and is that a big, medium, small...? it is, we do get very large icebergs coming from antarctica, i would call it a medium one. there have been larger icebergs. also, there are very small events as well. this is quite a large one. we will see it for a long time in the ocean in satellite imagery.

what is going on? why has it happened? antarctica has to lose mass when it gains through snowfall. snowfalls on this massive ice sheet, down at the bottom of the planet, and it very slowly accumulates over a large area and has to lose it as well. so, iceberg calving, you can think of it like housekeeping. 0r, it's like checks and balances for the ice sheets. the ice sheet needs to stay around about the same size. because of all of the snow that is being added slowly over time, over that large area, it needs to lose it as well. very infrequently we get these very large calving events like this one. and because they are infrequent, they take us a little bit by surprise because they do not happen very often.

that is very interesting. this isn't the result of climate change? no, this one in particular, you couldn't put this one down to climate change, we have been looking at this region for a long time. there is no significant thinning of the ice shelf or anything like that. the whole thing is this part of antarctica. 0k. where is this iceberg off to, then, and how are you going to track it? satellite imagery will be used to track it and the most likely path will be — it gets dragged in ocean currents, about nine tenths of the iceberg is below the ocean's surface because it is floating. and the ocean currents will drag it very slowly. it will probably go in the sea, clockwise in the weddell sea gyre. it will be off the continental shelf break, and when it gets to the antarctic peninsula, the arm that sticks up towards south america,

it will follow the east coast of the antarctic peninsula, and that is what we call iceberg alley, where many icebergs go up. in that it will go into near south georgia which is very close to where the iceberg that came off licensee in 2017 ended up came off licensee in 2017 ended up quite recently and where we thought it might drown. you —— ground. helen fricker there. let's bring you an update on a story that we were covering yesterday and it's that lady gaga's two french bulldogs have been found safe after they were stolen at gunpoint in hollywood. the singer had offered a $500,000 reward for their return — although it's not clear who brought them back. koji and gustav were handed in at a los angeles police station on friday. lady gaga's dog—walker, ryan fischer, was shot

in the incident on wednesday and suffered serious injuries. his family now say they expect him to make a full recovery. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones. iam i am lewis vaughan—jones, this is bbc news. goodbye. hello, i haven't got the best weather memory but i would hazard a guess that this is going to be one of the quieter weather weekends of the year so far. that's no bad thing. barely any rain out there, some occasional sunshine, fairly chilly at night. frost, fog a possibility, but it is all very quiet with high pressure right across us, just one weak weather front moving into that area of high pressure and that just lingers with a bit of cloud as we go through the weekend, barely any rain left with it by saturday morning but the cloud will have kept temperatures up overnight and into the morning through parts of scotland and northern ireland. it's eastern scotland, more especially in england and wales with the frost, maybe down to “4 or —5 in the coldest parts of southern england in the countryside, a few fog patches, parts of wales, west midlands and south—west england gradually clearing. and still maybe a bit

of light rain to parts of northern ireland and southern scotland but that will tend to fizzle out and bring just a bit more cloud further south into parts of northern england during the day. elsewhere, well, there will be some areas of cloud around but there will be sunny spells, too and temperatures to several degrees above the average for the end of february. still, that strip of thicker cloud across parts of northern england and northern ireland, the odd spot of drizzle perhaps overnight and into sunday. away from that will be some areas of cloud, some clear spells, a few fog patches around, but not widely as clear as friday night and into saturday morning, so that means the frost isn't going to be as widespread. so, just pockets of frost on sunday morning, some fog patches gradually clearing. still from that decaying weather front, that strip of thicker cloud from northern england into northern ireland, there could be a stray shower. though the vast majority will have a dry day. again, with some cloud but also some sunny spells. and for the most part winds are light, quite breezy in north—west scotland and windier towards the south coast of england into south—west england and south wales on sunday, where it's

likely to feel a little bit cooler and generally temperatures are just a degree or two down on sunday. now, there's a greater chance of more widespread mist and fog as monday begins. it will make for a colder day, especially on monday where that fails to clear. but high pressure's still around for much if not all of next week. just a little weather disturbance running up across western parts on tuesday may bring a few showers, but that'll be the extent of it. and after briefly colder at the start of the week, temperatures head up again before it turns a bit colder again later in the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: 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 vaccine centre.

people in their 40s will be the next in line for covid