this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 22 and half years for derek chauvin, over the killing of george floyd. accountability at last, say his supporters and family. no one is above the law and no one is beneath it. 159 people are still unaccounted for, after the collapse of an apartment block, near miami beach. borisjohnson accepts an apology from his health secretary, matt hancock, after pictures emerge of him kissing and embracing a colleague, in breach of covid guidance.

researchers find the skull of what could be our closest relative. ajudge in the us city of minneapolis, has sentenced the former police officer, derek chauvin, to 22 and half years in jail, for the murder of george floyd. the 46 year old african american died in may last year, after chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. the lawyer for mr floyd's family says the sentence is "historic, bringing america a step closer to healing, by delivering accountability. " our correspondent, neda towfeek is in minneapolis, and a warning, her report contains some distressing images. this courtroom has been the scene of powerful testimony. today, it became a place of

closure for the floyd family. the judge began proceedings by inviting them to speak. you may proceed. his daughter gianna appeared first, on video. atjust seven years old, she is too young and innocent to comprehend fully what happened to her father. ilove him. is part of the struggle to speak as he tried to address derek directly. i speak as he tried to address derek directly.— speak as he tried to address derek directly. i wanted to ask the man himself, _ derek directly. i wanted to ask the man himself, why? - derek directly. i wanted to ask the man himself, why? what. derek directly. i wanted to ask - the man himself, why? what were you thinking? _ the man himself, why? what were you thinking? what _ the man himself, why? what were you thinking? what was _ the man himself, why? what were you thinking? what was going - you thinking? what was going through— you thinking? what was going through your _ you thinking? what was going through your head _ you thinking? what was going through your head when - you thinking? what was going through your head when you i you thinking? what was going i through your head when you had jordahhee — through your head when you had jordannee oh _ through your head when you had jordannee on my— through your head when you had jordannee on my brothers - through your head when you had jordannee on my brothers neck. | jordannee on my brothers neck. -- had — jordannee on my brothers neck. —— had jordannee. _ jordannee on my brothers neck. —— hadjordannee. when- jordannee on my brothers neck. —— had jordannee. when you . jordannee on my brothers neck. . —— had jordannee. when you knew that he _ —— had jordannee. when you knew that he posed _ —— had jordannee. when you knew that he posed no _ —— had jordannee. when you knew that he posed no threat _ —— had jordannee. when you knew that he posed no threat any - that he posed no threat any more? _

it has been difficult for me to hear and read what the media, public and prosecution team believe derek to be an aggressive, heartless and uncaring person. i can tell you that is far from the truth. and then, derek chauvin himself spoke. i want to give my condolences to the floyd family. _ the judge said his decision was not influenced by public opinion or meant to send any messages. the sentence for count one, the court commits you to the custody of corrections for a period of 270 months. it is rare for the justice system to punish a police officer and it took an extraordinary series of events to get to this moment. crucially, his murder was caught on camera in chilling detail.

george floyd was pinned to the ground within knee of derek chauvin for nine minutes and 27 seconds and mr floyd cried out several times, i can't breathe. it traumatised the community and shocked the world, prompting the biggest protests since the civil rights era. do you need a minute? the trial was so compelling that the jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict afterjust ten hours of deliberations. this outcome was in no way inevitable. still, this one sentence of this one disgraced police officer will only do so much to advance racial inequality and the struggle of being black in america. this is the longest sentence a cop has received in the state

of minnesota. following the sentencing, they do feel some measure of accountability. they hope this is a turning point in america because they feel that the activism surrounding this case could mean real change moving forward and told those gathered here outside of the courthouse to keep fighting for justice. early the court heard emotional testimony from the relatives of george floyd, ahead of the sentencing. george's brother — philonise floyd — spoke of how he hasn't been able to escape the harrowing images of george's final moments. one yearago, one year ago, may 25, my brother george was murdered by derek chauvin and his codefendants in broad daylight with in the to his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. i

was a trucker and immediately my life changed forever. i began to speak to the world for george from the united nations, africa, canada, japan, and so many other countries. every day, i have been asked for justice to be served, reliving the execution of george while others begged and pleaded for officer chauvin to simplyjust allow george to take a breath. i haven't had a real nice sleep because of the nightmares that i have and plead for his life over and over again. even saying we are going to kill me, please, officer. screaming for our mother. i have had to sit through each day of officer derek chauvin�*s trial and watch the video of george dying for

hours, overand the video of george dying for hours, over and over again. the video of george dying for hours, overand overagain. for an entire year, i had to relive george being tortured to death every hour of the day, only taking naps and not knowing what a good night sleep is any more. i've been lifting my voice tirelessly every day so that george's death would not be in vain. honourablejudge peter, i think you for allowing me to share this today. george's life mattered. so, my family and i, most of all, my niece... my niece, she needs closure and i'm asking that you please find it soon to give officer chauvin the maximum sentence possible to show that he has been found guilty for.

my he has been found guilty for. my family and i have been given a life sentence. we will never be able to get george back. that is our daughter's first love. he will never be able to walk gianna down to her wedding, attend the magical moments of her life, a daddy daughter dance. sweeti6 moments of her life, a daddy daughter dance. sweet 16 party. seeing her out for prom, graduations and she will never be able to have any personal memories with her father. be able to have any personal memories with herfather. with a smirk on his face, officer chauvin used excessive force and acted against his training. chauvin had no regards for human life. george's life. i stand before you today asking you to please help us find closure by giving chauvin the maximum sentence possible. making sure he does his time consecutively without the

possibility of parole, probation or getting out early for good behaviour. thank you. officials in florida say the apartment block that collapsed near miami on thursday leaving more than one—hundred—and—fifty people missing was due to undergo extensive repairs this year. the building — which had been affected in the past by subsidence — was in the middle of a survey and repair programme required every forty years. four people are confirmed dead and a major operation is continuing to search for survivors and more bodies. our north america correspondent will grant is at the scene — and he sent us this update. the longer this search goes, the more harrowing to become. the families are doing the very best to hold out hope of good news, but the difficulty is, there is simply no positive update to be had so far and they are gradually losing the

faith. just a warning that my report does contain images of the moment the building collapsed itself. as the desperate search for survivors at the collapsed apartment block entered its second day, the full gravity of the situation was laid bare. the exact number of those lost in this tragic incident still isn't known, but it's clear this has the potential to be the most deadly building collapse in florida's history. the awful moment itself happened so fast, it took everything and, it is feared, everyone, with it — i2 storeys and entire lives reduced to rubble in seconds. the methodical work of the rescue teams hasn't stopped since then. they say they're still hearing occasional knocks from inside the debris and are following every lead, at one stage trying to enter the spaces between the rubble via the basement. family members are gathered at a community centre as their unbearable wait for information goes on. magaly ramsey's mother

lived on the ninth floor. it feels like the world gets to know more information before we know more information as family members. i don't live in the area, so i came here hoping to get information and i'm still waiting for that. her mother, also called magaly, is one of the oldest of those missing. the youngest was ashani patel, the one—year—old daughter ofjoint british—american citizen bhavna patel, who was pregnant, and her husband, vishal — an entire family missing. but the city will keep up the search, the mayor promised. we will continue search and rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive. that is exactly why we're continuing, and that is why we're using our dogs and our sonar and our cameras, everything possible, to seek places where there still may be people. as the rescue effort continues, hopes are beginning to fade. for the family members, this initial period has been one of shock and a desperate

wait for information. now, though, many are beginning to face up to the possibility that they may not see their missing loved ones again. magaly is clinging on to hope of updates about her missing mother. but she's also under no illusions about what she's facing. the choices you hold onto are either that there's a miracle with god's grace, and he does have lots of miracles in store for us, or god's grace was that she didn't feel a thing and she's in his hands and his arms right now, in a good place. will grant, bbc news, miami. south florida hatzalah is a jewish volunteer first responders group who have been organising medical triage close to the collapse site. my colleague shaun lay spoke to one of their volunteers about the moment they first got news of the collapse. we've received the call on the

hotline is to do for all medical situations and this particular call came in for a cardiac chest pain and patient in elderly patient and the call came with the understanding and the request that they may have been some sort of explosion is with the caller put in. we just watch the call as we do for all of our extended calls and we send out for units in once so units come to the field and saw there was something substantially greater than that, the centre had upgraded the call from a mass scandal and begin to deliver additional resources to the field immediately.- resources to the field immediatel . ~ ., , ., ., immediately. we are showing for the audience, _ immediately. we are showing for the audience, you _ immediately. we are showing for the audience, you will— immediately. we are showing for the audience, you will not - immediately. we are showing for the audience, you will not be - the audience, you will not be able to see this, but we are seeing some life pictures of the scene at the moment it's just a reminder of how dramatic this collapse was and the people that you have been able to treat, presumably sadly the numbers have been relatively

small. . , , small. initially, while they were doing _ small. initially, while they were doing the _ small. initially, while they were doing the extraction | small. initially, while they - were doing the extraction and evacuations, we were getting all of those in the initial triage area. we were handling each one of them individually and passing them along for transport to the hospital and since then, it has slowed down and more of our patients that we've been dealing with her more of the family members that are coming into the family unification centre and having to deal with very difficult tasks of looking at lists and finding the families names on sides of the list. is a finding the families names on sides of the list.— sides of the list. is a hard question _ sides of the list. is a hard question and _ sides of the list. is a hard question and forgive - sides of the list. is a hard question and forgive me | sides of the list. is a hard l question and forgive me for asking it, buti question and forgive me for asking it, but i know it's when people will be asking you at home. what prospect is there that anybody else could be in the rubble and still alive?

there is hope. but it's grim. there is hope. but it's grim. the weather hasn't been very well, we have had very strong brains that are prevented things from happening. there was a fire inside the rubble as well. that has prevented people from doing what they need to do. it is grim but we are all very hopeful and there's a lot of people here that are very hopeful. there are groups of rescue workers still determined to search through the rubble in case they can find any survivors. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: is this the remains of our closest evolutionary relative?

chinese researchers discover the skull of what they believe to be a new species of human. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade centre armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a rightful claim in certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council have now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due, mainly, to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie,

which for 29 years has stood on the border as a marker of allied determination to defend the city. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. ajudge in minneapolis has sentenced the former us police officer, derek chauvin, to twenty—two and—a—half— years in prison for the murder of george floyd. officials in florida say the apartment block that collapsed near miami on thursday leaving more than one—hundred—and—fifty people missing was due to undergo extensive repairs this year. downing street says, the british prime minister has accepted his health secretary, matt hancock s apology, for breaching social distancing guidelines, after the sun newspaper published images of him and an aide, gina colad—angelo, kissing and embracing in the department of health. in a statement mr hancock said he'd �*let people down' and is �*very sorry.�* borisjohnson now considers the matter closed. but labour is calling on mr hancock to resign.

with the latest, here's our deputy political editor, vicki young. he's been telling all of us to stick to covid rules. keep doing your bit, remember the basics, hands, face, space and fresh air. but they did not take that advice. this picture of the two of them were both married was taken inside the department of health in early may. government social distancing guidance says in the workplace, people should keep two metres apart. mr hancock and ms coladangelo have been close friends since university. during the pandemic, she's accompanied the health secretary to meetings in downing street and interviews.

speaking to radio 4 last year, she talked about first meeting him. we met at the student radio station, oxygen fm. i read the news and matt read the sport. i've always joked with him that he did the sport because he wasn't good enough to do the news! she laughs but i think it gave him a bit of an early heads—up into aggressive questioning from journalists and hacks. in september, she became a non—executive director on the board of the department of health, with a salary of £15,000. downing street say the appointment followed correct procedure. but labour's calling for an official investigation into whether the ministerial code of conduct has been broken. matt hancock either needs to resign or, if he's not willing to do that, then the prime minister must remove him from his post. this isn'tjust a question of, yet again, a conservative mp disobeying those rules and thinking that they only apply to the rest of us. it's a case where we've seen

cronyism on cronyism. this comes after other high—profile breaches of the rules. dominic cummings, who used to be borisjohnson's top adviser, caused outrage when he travelled hundreds of miles during lockdown. and professor neil ferguson, one of the most prominent scientists advising the government, resigned after his married lover visited his home. this was mr hancock's reaction at the time. i don't understand. you're speechless? iam. that doesn't often happen to me. i think that he took the right decision... to resign. yeah, you wouldn't have fought to keep him? it's just not... that's just not possible in these circumstances. now after his indiscretion, there has been support from ministers and downing street. i think the secretary- of state has said everything he needs to say on this. he's apologised. and the prime ministerj is backing his secretary of state and considers the matter closed. - and the prime minister is

showing no sign of sacking him. police in germany say three people have been killed by a man with a knife who attacked passers—by in the central city of wuerzburg. others are injured, some seriously. police say they shot and wounded a suspect as they arrested him. a senior official said that the man had recently spent time in a psychiatric institution. presidentjoe biden has told the afghan president ashraf ghani — on a visit to washington — that the afghan people must decide their future. but he also said us support for afghanistan would continue, despite the us military withdrawal. the visit by ashraf ghani and his former political rival abdullah abdullah comes as taliban forces have escalated fighting in recent weeks, seizing control of dozens of districts. this was what mr biden had to say about ongoing us involvement in the country: the partnership between afghanistan and the united states is not ending. it is going to be sustained and you know, our trips may and you know, our troops may be leaving but support for afghanistan is not ending.

in terms of support and maintenance of helping maintain their military as well as economic and political support. speaking at a press conference following the meeting, ashraf ghani paid tribute to the thousands of americans who'd lost their lives fighting in afghanistan. asked about the us decision to withdraw militarily, he said he respected the move: the decision of the president has been taken on the basis of very significant national consultation and deliberation. this is a sovereign us decision. we respect that decision and our course is to manage the consequences and to ensure that the people of afghanistan rise to the challenge. chinese researchers have discovered the skull of what they believe to be a new species of human that they claim is our closest evolutionary relative. this report by our science correspondent, pallab ghosh.

meet the dragon man. a perfectly preserved skull of what is thought to be a species of human that lived in asia around 146,000 years ago. a 3d scan shows a huge head with a brain that was about the same size as ours. but otherfeatures, such as a prominent brow ridge around the eye socket, suggests something more primitive. i said "oh, my gosh, i can't believe that." and it is so well preserved you can see all the details. this is what researchers think he looks like. stocky and powerfully built, able to withstand the freezing temperatures of what is now north—eastern china. so, where does dragon man fit into the new human family tree? well, 7 million years ago, the first humanlike creatures emerged. they became progressively more developed, until 2 million years ago, our ancient ancestor

homo erectus emerged. that led to our close cousins, the neanderthals and us, and we coexisted a few hundred thousand years ago. dragon man, it's claimed, is a new species that lived alongside us. not only that, it's more closely related to us. one of britain's leading experts in the field is part of the research team. after examining this replica made from resin, he believes that the dragon man is a hugely important discovery. i've been studying human evolution for the last 50 years or so and this, for me, is one of the most significant fossils that i have seen and studied in all of that time. and it really gives us a new view of human evolution, because it looks like, on our analyses, this is a sister species homo sapiens, our own species. some experts believe that the dragon man might belong to a mysterious branch of humans called the denisovans. all we know about them is from

a handful of human fossils. the denisovans is this fascinating mystery. population from the past. because we have had indications that they existed and then - they found more in the jaw - from tibet suggesting that that jaw may have been denisovan. now because thisjaw- from tibet and dragon man look like each other, - now we may actually have the first face of the denisovans. these early skulls found in china have baffled scientists until now. the discovery of dragon man suggests they might represent the gradual evolution of the latest member of the human family, called the denisovans. more on our website. that is it for me at the moment. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @ samantha tv news. hello there. friday evening brought some quite dramatic weather for some of us, especially across parts of england. through the western side of the midlands, there was some heavy, thundery rain. that was how it looked for a weather watcher in south staffordshire. and then to the northeast of london, and up into essex, some really vicious thunderstorms, with reports of localised flash flooding and even reports of a tornado in east london, or at the very least some squally gusty winds in amongst the showers, which did cause some damage. and the weather system responsible will still be quite close by as we head through this weekend. it will become slow moving across northern france, but from time to time, it will throw showers or longer spells of rain back in our direction. and we will see some showers during saturday, across england

and wales particularly. through east anglia, into the midlands and wales, we could see some particularly heavy, thundery ones during the afternoon. more cloud for northeast england, southeast scotland. some patchy rain here. brighter skies for northern scotland and for northern ireland, and top temperatures between 14 and 22 degrees. so, some of those heavy showers in the south will continue during saturday evening and some more persistent rain is likely to start to slide across the channel islands, and that will come into play across southern counties of england as we get into the first part of sunday. elsewhere, we start sunday on a mainly dry note. those are your temperatures for sunday morning, nine to 14 degrees. so this weather system that will become very slow moving through the weekend is likely to throw a band of rain back northwards as we go through the day on sunday. there is uncertainty aboutjust how far north the rain will get, but it's likely to affect southern counties of england. it may spread into south wales and parts of the midlands as well. further north, it should be largely dry, with patchy cloud and some spells of sunshine. i think thicker cloud across the far northwest

of scotland and temperatures between 18 and 22 degrees in most places. so, to sum up for the weekend, we will see some spells of sunshine, but there will be a few showers around on saturday. some of those could be quite heavy. and potentialfor some more persistent rain in southern parts as we head through sunday. and southern areas could see further rain during the week ahead. some of that rain could be quite heavy. further north, it looks drier. some of the highest temperatures likely to be across scotland, up to 24 degrees.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ajudge in minneapolis has sentenced the former police officer derek chauvin, to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of george floyd. the 46—year—old african american died last year, after chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. officials in florida say the apartment block that collapsed near miami on thursday leaving more than 150 people missing was due to undergo extensive repairs this year. four people are confirmed dead and a major operation is continuing to search for survivors and more bodies. borisjohnson has accepted an apology from his health secretary, after pictures emerged of him kissing and embracing a colleague, in breach of covid guidance. matt hancock says he's "let people down" and is "very sorry" after the images showed him with gina coladangelo.