welcome to bbc news — i'm lisa—marie misztak. our top stories — guilty verdict, signed by the forelady. disgraced lawyer alex murdaugh is convicted of murdering his wife and son at a trial in south carolina. a meeting of 620 foreign ministers in delhi ends in acrimony because of bitter divisions over russia's war against ukraine. every 620 member and virtually every country, period, continues to bear the cost of russia's war of aggression — a war that president putin could end tomorrow if he chose to do so. the inquiry into the manchester arena bombing finds mi5 missed a significant opportunity to take action that might have stopped the attack. and the netherlands pilots a new scheme that could lead to the full legalisation of cannabis production.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. in the united states, thejury in the double murder trial of alex murdaugh has found him guilty of murdering his wife and son. prosecutors had said the lawyer, from a well—known and wealthy family, carried out the killings in an effort to distract from the fact he had been stealing from the family firm. here's the moment the verdicts were read out in court. guilty verdict. signed by the forelady, 3—2—23. we willjust renew our previously argued motions for the directed verdict and at this — on the grounds — on those grounds, we would make a motion for a mistrial and to set aside the verdict.

by the state, response. your honour, based on our previous arguments, we would submit that the case properly went to the jury and the verdict was proper and we'll rely on those arguments. the court found at the end i of the state's case that there was sufficient evidence to find the defendant guilty, - if the evidence was. believed by the jury. likewise, at the end i of the defence's case, when the motion was renewed, the court found that _ the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find - the defendant guilty, - and the evidence of guilt is overwhelming and i deny the motion. l david willis is our correspondent in america. he correspondent in america. joins us now. so, we know the verdict, david, but this case has caused

an awful lot of headlines. in the us. this six—week trial has captivated people in the united states. they have been almost blanket coverage of the proceedings on cable tv channels and people have queued in some cases for hours in the hope of getting a seat in the public gallery to watch the proceedings for themselves. alex murdaugh is the sion of a very wealthy legal family in south carolina —— scion. they were the law, was one analyst's description, of how much dominance the murdaugh family had over that part of south carolina for so many years, going back, infact, carolina for so many years, going back, in fact, three generations. on the stand, alex murdaugh admitted embezzling funds, admitted lying, but he denied murdering his wife maggie and his 22—year—old son

paul, despite the fact that video evidence emerged which show that contrary to his own assertion, he was in the vicinity of the killings at the time that they took place. find time that they took place. and the 'u time that they took place. and the jury decided _ time that they took place. and the jury decided on _ time that they took place. and the jury decided on the guilty verdict rather quickly? the? verdict rather quickly? they did, less — verdict rather quickly? they did, less than _ verdict rather quickly? they did, less than three - verdict rather quickly? they did, less than three hours l verdict rather quickly? they| did, less than three hours of deliberation. clearly forming the opinion that because he had admitted lying and lying frequently that alex murdaugh was lying about the death of his son paul and wife maggie. outside the court, a short while ago, the prosecutor creighton walters is said it doesn't matter who your family is or how much money you have or how prominent you are... justice will be done in south carolina. sentencing of alex murdaugh has been deferred until tomorrow. murdaugh has been deferred untiltomorrow. he murdaugh has been deferred until tomorrow. he faces the

possibility of life in prison. david willis, thank you for the update. in india, the meeting of 620 foreign ministers has ended without a finaljoint statement due to bitter divisions over russia's war against ukraine. it's the first time the us and russian foreign ministers met in public since the invasion, but their exchange was tense. the us secretary of state antony blinken said the talks were marred by moscow's "unprovoked and unjustified" war. were china to engage in material, lethal, support for russia's aggression, or were to engage in the systematic evasion of sanctions to help russia, that would be a serious problem for our countries. i made clear that there would be consequences for engaging in those actions. so, i'm not going to detail what they would be but, of course, we have sanctions authorities of various kinds — that would certainly be one of the things that we and others

would look at. and i say "others" because this concern that china is considering providing lethal military assistance to russia, this is a shared concern and many other partners have raised this — and notjust raised this with us but it's my understanding have raised it directly with china, including here today in delhi. and the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov held a meeting with his chinese counterpart qin gang and russian officials said moscow and beijing had agreed to oppose what they called "western blackmail and threats". here's what mr lavrov had to say. translation: unfortunately, the declaration on behalf- of all 620 ministers could not be approved. our western colleagues, just as they did a year ago under the indonesian presidency, tried by all means, using various rhetorical statements, to bring to the fore the situation around ukraine — which they, of course, present under the guise of so—called

russian aggression. india's prime minister narendra modi called on foreign ministers to put their differences aside and find common ground. it is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day. we all have our positions and our perspectives on how this tension should be dissolved. however, as the leading economies of the world, we also have a responsibility toward those who are not in this room. our us state department correspondent barbara plett usher has travelled to delhi. this was how she assessed the meeting. well, we know what the americans say was discussed. mr blinken said he raised three points. he made the point that the us and its allies would support

ukraine till the end of the war. he asked the russians to restart that nuclear arms treaty — new start — which it has suspended and also asked for the release of a american detainee, paul whelan. he said it was less than a ten—minute discussion, it was informal, it hadn't been arranged ahead of time but it was the first time the two men had met face to face since the war started. moscow really played it down. they said that mr blinken had asked for the contact and that it wasn't a proper meeting, it certainly wasn't a negotiation. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 57 people are known to have perished in the train crash in greece on tuesday. a government minister said austerity during 6reece's economic crisis in the 2000s contributed to a lack of investment in the railways. rail workers across the country have held a one—day strike, blaming government neglect of the network for the disaster. two men have fired at least 14 shots at a supermarket owned by relatives of the footballer

lionel messi in his home city of rosario in argentina. security camera images show the two men approaching on a motorbike in the middle of the night and opening fire. a threatening message was left inside the building. shahida raza, a member of pakistan's women's national hockey team, has been identified as one of 64 people who died on a boat travelling from turkey. the boat was found wrecked off the coast of italy on sunday. shahida's sister saadia told the bbc she had been trying to reach italy to get medical treatment for her three—year—old son. the wooden boat was thought to be carrying around 200 people. the families of the 22 people who died in the manchester arena bombing say the final report into what happened that night in may 2017 is a "devastating conclusion". the inquiry found that the uk security service, mi5, missed a significant opportunity that might have prevented the attack in the months running up to the bombing at an ariana 6rande concert. judith moritz reports.

only salman abedi detonated the bomb which killed 22 people at manchester arena, but others bear responsibility — those who radicalised him, helped him make the device, and the agencies failed to stop him. —— and the agencies who failed to stop him. the manchester arena inquiry report spells it out starkly — mi5 let abedi slip through the net. i have found a significant missed opportunity to take action that might�*ve prevented the attack. there was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could've been obtained which might have led to action preventing the attack. the reason for this missed opportunity included a failure by the security service, in my view, to act swiftly enough. abedi set off his suicide bomb in the foyer at the end of an ariana 6rande concert. teenagers were leaving. parents were waiting for their children. the youngest to die

was just eight years old. for the families of those who were murdered, the report's findings are hard to take. all we, as families, have asked for from day one is the truth. acknowledgement of failures. hopefully next time, there won't be as many families going through the utter heartbreak we have had to endure for the last five years, nine months, one week and one day. forgiveness will never be an option for such evil intentions and those that played any part in the murder of our children will never, ever get forgiveness. from top to bottom, mi5 to the associates of the attacker, we will always believe that you all played a part in the murder of our children. tonight, mi5 has said it's profoundly sorry that the security service did not prevent the arena attack. this is didsbury mosque, where the abedis worshipped.

the report found that leaders here were wilfully blind to extremist activity on the premises. its chairman was described as an unreliable witness who downplayed the links between the abedis and the mosque — something he continued to deny outside court today. i can tell you here and now, there is no place for radicalisation or politics or any evil acts. no—one can be radicalised with a ten—minute sermon. but this is about political meetings, it's about other activities the mosque. —— activities in the mosque. i repeat again, and i hope you have it on, there are no political meetings — i do not care what people say. the inquiry said there were political meetings. of course they would say. have they been to the mosque? have they been in 2016, 2017? they heard what they were told. people would sometimes lie. they heard evidence from one of your imams, who was said to be reliable. that imam and i stood in the court and i said that imam is a liar. many things he did were not correct. i do not care what he said,

but i will tell you he lied. and you did not turn a blind eye, you say? and we did not turn a blind eye. the report found salman abedi's father ramadan holds significant responsibility for radicalising his sons. ismail, bbc news. can i ask you a few questions, please, ismail? who's this? it's bbc news. and there was heavy criticism of the eldest abedi brother, ismail, who fled the country in defiance of a court order to appear at the inquiry. the report found that mi5 and counterterrorism police each failed to share intelligence — that's something that both organisations say has improved since, allowing our cameras inside theirjoint operations centre to illustrate the way they work together. this is the first time that journalists have been allowed inside this building and the obviously tight security prevents us from filming much of what goes on here, but this place is being held up as an example of positive change. it was built in direct response to the manchester arena bombing and the other terror attacks which happened that year.

in five years since this incident happened, there's already been an internal inquiry by m15 and 104 recommendations were made. 102 have already put in place. the last two are being put in place as we speak. and there are no doubt many more changes that are going to be needed from the reports that sirjohn has written, and i will be making absolutely sure that they are put in place as well. the arena bombing was manchester's darkest day. tonight, its mayor said the country was simply not prepared for a terror attack like it to happen here and the inquiry�*s findings must be used both to protect and respond better in future. judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. stay with us on bbc news. still to come — the netherlands pilots a new scheme that could lead to the full legalisation of cannabis production.

first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards. it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier and so, my heart went bang, bang, bang! - the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights as citizens of the united states and they should be protected, even in the right to test them out so that they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy — i know you don't want to say too much about it — but does it worry you

that it's going to boil up? oh, it worries me, yes, but . hope — everything'll be all right at the end of the day. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: disgraced lawyer, alex murdaugh, is convicted of murdering his wife and son at a trial in south carolina. a meeting of 620 foreign ministers in delhi ends in acrimony because of bitter divisions over russia's war against ukraine. staying with the news of the 620 meeting: we can speak to sameer lalwani who's a senior expert on south asia at the united states institute of peace. thank you very much forjoining us. it is unusual to not have a joint statement at the end of a summit like this, do you think india will see this as a failure. it india will see this as a failure-— india will see this as a failure. , , ., , , failure. it is unusual but they don't know — failure. it is unusual but they don't know if _ failure. it is unusual but they don't know if it _ failure. it is unusual but they don't know if it will _ don't know if it will necessarily go down as a

failure. i took a close look at the chair�*s summary and outcome documents and they acknowledge that they agreed on about 22 inaudible and they agree to ideas on food and energy security, climate change, global health, counter narcotics, so a lot of stuff was agreed to.— narcotics, so a lot of stuff was agreed to. the two areas of disagreement — was agreed to. the two areas of disagreement for _ was agreed to. the two areas of| disagreement for understandable reasons were first condemning the war in ukraine and the consequences on human life and the second is the affirmation of international law in the multilateral system by will also say a few sort of read between the lines, maybe this is actually a win for both the united states and the west. secretary blinken said that only two countries were opposed to those paragraphs so if the rest are on board that is a supermajority that were in favour of that entire set of statements including india. you

mentioned some potential when. ukraine dominated discussions. do you think it is a sign of some success that the russian foreign minister is actually met? , ~ , met? yes, i think its productive _ met? yes, i think its productive for - met? yes, i think its productive for there | met? yes, i think its i productive for there to met? yes, i think its - productive for there to be exchanges in communication at some level, you need to have guardrails in the relationship and india fora guardrails in the relationship and india for a long time has been posturing itself as this bridge builder with its ability to reach across east and west so the fact that there was an encounter and a discussion and at least some communication i think is ultimately productive and much better than no communication at all which i think has been a problem for the past year. think has been a problem for the past year-— think has been a problem for the past year. what you think the past year. what you think the role of — the past year. what you think the role of china _ the past year. what you think the role of china is _ the past year. what you think the role of china is at - the past year. what you think the role of china is at the - the role of china is at the moment in all of this? well, china really _ moment in all of this? well, china really took _ moment in all of this? well, china really took a _ moment in all of this? well, china really took a strong i china really took a strong position back in russia which is quite different from where india seems to be on this, so

any maximum level i think china doesn't really have much of a choice, russia is one of its closest partners, it is going to go down swinging with it but it really fitted as an outlier, there have been countries in there have been countries in the 620 who have been averse to taking really strong positions and the fact that most of them were willing to take stands on condemning the war and on affirming sovereignty and international law and condemning also their use of lethal weapons as quote unquote inadmissible i think was a real success for the 620 and puts china up the other end of 85% to 80%... china up the other end of 85% to 80%- - -_ to 8096... i'm so sorry to interrupt — to 8096... i'm so sorry to interrupt but _ to 8096... i'm so sorry to i interrupt but unfortunately to 8096... i'm so sorry to - interrupt but unfortunately we have run out of time and thank you so much for your insight yellow happy to do it. in iran, dozens of students from 26 schools, most of whom are girls, are reportedly being treated for poisoning at hospitals after another wave of apparent toxic gas attacks.

tehran says it's appointed a court to investigate. bbc persian's parham 6hobadi has the latest. panic at the school gates with an apparent poison gas attack on a primary school. bbc persian has verified the video. it's a school in the iranian capital, tehran, on wednesday. at least 26 schools across the country were attacked on this day alone. hospital wards were full of schoolgirls. the main target of the attacks, they reported the smell of tangerine or rotten fish, then fell, faint, nauseous and collapsed. "i can't breathe," the girl says, as medics tell her not to be scared. some iranians wonder if the schoolgirls are being singled out as revenge for their role in anti—government protests, which started last september. the bbc has spoken to one 18—year—old student in a north—western city. she says three months ago, girls in her school took off the mandatory headscarf

and shouted the main protest slogan: woman life, freedom. then, herschool was attacked on wednesday. we are voicing her interview in english to protect her identity. i saw four girls fainting as we walked into the courtyard. nine ambulances arrived. i still have a headache and nausea ten hours later. most of the teachers insulted us, saying we were pretending. even when students faces were turning red with all the coughing, the religion teacher told us to put oui’ scarves on. she didn't care. public anger is rising as these poison gas attacks have been taking place since november. people cannot understand how the authorities don't know what kind of gas it is and who's behind it. translation: we have

not made any arrests, l but our intelligence services are investigating the matter. chants of death to the child killing regime ring out across tehran at night. it is a sign that parents have little hope the regime will find the real suspects. parham 6hobadi, bbc news. the dutch authorities have announced a pilot scheme to license the growing of cannabis. it'll be launched in two cities in the south of the country. the bbc�*s tim allman has the story. the netherlands famous, or notorious, depending on your point of view for its coffee shops. they are places where you can get hold of and consume certain types of drugs. although it is illegal to buy cannabis care —— legal. it is technically illegal for the coffee shop owner to get hold of their supply which can make life complicated. it is of their supply which can make life complicated.— life complicated. it is very shady territory, _ life complicated. it is very shady territory, and - life complicated. it is very shady territory, and i -

life complicated. it is very | shady territory, and i don't say it as criminals, that is what you see in the newspaper, because mostly it is nice people we buy the cannabis from but still, i don't know how it's grown. it is shady. in recent years the dutch government has tried to impose some restrictions on these places making them less open to tourists, for instance but ministers also want to normalise the business, break the connection between coffee shops and drug gangs and ensure a better quality product is sold. ., ., �* ., sold. for me it wouldn't matter that much _ sold. for me it wouldn't matter that much because _ sold. for me it wouldn't matter that much because nine - sold. for me it wouldn't matter that much because nine out - sold. for me it wouldn't matter that much because nine out ofl that much because nine out of ten times i get it from people i know who grow it themselves, but if you are getting it from a coffee shop then yeah, it would be better to have it legalised so you know where it is coming from. for legalised so you know where it is coming from.— is coming from. for now, the licensing _ is coming from. for now, the licensing scheme _ is coming from. for now, the licensing scheme is - is coming from. for now, the licensing scheme is confined | is coming from. for now, the l licensing scheme is confined to two cities, but the plan is to expand it across the country and make every coffee shop a safer and more satisfying

experience. archaeologists in egypt have used cosmic ray technology to uncover a new layer to the largest of the great pyramids. stephanie prentice reports. the big reveal. a cavernous structured tunnel deep inside the great pyramid of 6iza. a head in and an acceptable passage close to the entrance to the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world. congratulations given out to an international team of scientists as they reveal the fruits of seven years of labour. they've been using advanced radiography for detection then collect images by feeding a minuscule endoscope, a tube with a camera on it into tiny gaps in the pyramids stones. a discovery pyramid's stones. a discovery of a head on tunnel as a revelation not only because it allows greater insight into the workings of ancient egypt and how they achieved such feats of archaeology but also because of

what may be inside. it’s archaeology but also because of what may be inside.— what may be inside. it's not built for nothing. _ what may be inside. it's not built for nothing. it - what may be inside. it's not built for nothing. it could i what may be inside. it's not| built for nothing. it could be leading to a tomb, it could be built as a process of building the pyramids and we don't know much about the construction of the pyramids so it is a great discovery. it could be built to hide treasures.— hide treasures. the largest giza pyramid _ hide treasures. the largest giza pyramid is _ hide treasures. the largest giza pyramid is also - hide treasures. the largest giza pyramid is also knownj hide treasures. the largest i giza pyramid is also known as 6iza pyramid is also known as the great pyramid of king khufu. historical accounts of him are rare and conflict and so the discovery of a burial chamber could rewrite or even open up a new page in the history books. for now the next step for the team is to keep using the technology to try to travel 6500 years back in time and get even more answers including crucially what, or who, could lie at the end of this tunnel.

thank you for watching, you can reach me on twitter. hello again. the main difference in the weather we had on thursday from place to place was around how much cloud we saw. the best of the day sunshine was across wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern counties of england. really was a glorious day. but further north we had extensive cloud coming in off the north sea, the thickest cloud for eastern scotland and north east england. and that brought us notjust grey skies, but actually outbreaks of light rain on and off. for much of the day, it turned out to be quite damp. now, over recent hours, we've been detecting some of this light rain still affecting parts of southern scotland, north—east england,

but i think there's a tendency for the weather to become a bit drier here over the next few hours as that damp weather works its way westwards across northern ireland. elsewhere, a lot of cloud, and where we keep the cloudy skies overnight, temperatures frost free. the frost limited to the clearest spots, west wales, south west england and into the north west of scotland. now, as we start friday, there will be a lot of cloud around, a damp start for northern ireland, for example. the cloud coming through across south east england, very thin, it's only 300 metres thick, so it might thin and break to give some sunny spells. there's a lot of cloud set to come through across northern england. so, if you see some sunshine here, it's going to be quite late in the afternoon. should see some breaks for western wales, parts of south—west england and north—west scotland with some sunny spells from time to time. now, through the weekend we'll start to get some thicker cloud coming in across the country, and with that we're looking at some patches of light rain developing. here's the weather picture for saturday, it's an east—west split. eastern areas having the thickest cloud, you might get a few spots of rain falling from that, particularly close to the north sea coast, but in western areas it's dry with the best of the cloud breaks and some sunny spells. temperatures not changing too much and we'll still have that

fairly cool breeze with us. the second half of the weekend, on sunday, the cloud certainly thickens up significantly and we'll start to see patchy outbreaks of rain developing quite widely across the country, but nothing particularly heavy. now into next week, we've got a big change in the weather patterns on the way. northerly winds are set to dive southwards from the north pole, dragging with it much colder air, a return to widespread frost, and for some of us, the snow on the way as well. now, the first place to see potentially disruptive snow monday will be across northern scotland, where the snow, combined with strong winds, will bring drifting and pretty poor conditions over higher routes. through the rest of the week the risk of snow extends southwards.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a prominent lawyer in america has been found guilty of killing his wife and son. alex murdaugh was convicted of shooting the pair at theirfamily property in south carolina injune 2021. prosecutors said he wanted to distract attention from his theft of millions of dollars from clients. in india, the meeting of 620 foreign ministers has ended without a final joint statement due to bitter divisions over russia's war against ukraine. it's the first time the us and russian foreign ministers have met in public since the invasion, but their exchange was tense. the head of britain's domestic intelligence service has made an unprecedented public apology for m15's failure to prevent a terrorist attack in manchester in 2017. ken mccallum's expression of "deep regret" came after an official report found

that the suicide attack that