If you want to get this briefing by email, sign-up here

Image copyright Reuters

May 'to reveal No 10 exit timetable'

Senior ministers have told the BBC that they expect Prime Minister Theresa May to announce on Friday her plan to quit Downing Street and trigger a leadership contest in the Conservative Party. While there has been no official confirmation from No 10, she met two members of her cabinet on Thursday - Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid - who told Mrs May they had concerns about her new plan for taking the UK out of the European Union.

The prime minister has been under increasing pressure to resign following a backlash from MPs against her latest Brexit proposals - announced on Tuesday - and is due to meet the chairman of the backbench Conservative 1922 committee on Friday. It's thought Sir Graham Brady is looking for Mrs May to outline her departure timetable.

The BBC's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, says her sources believe a Tory leadership contest will begin on 10 June - after US President Donald Trump's visit to the UK and the D-Day anniversary commemorations - with ministers pushing to have the process wrapped up by the end of July.

Assange faces further US charges

The news out of the US overnight is that the Department of Justice in Washington has laid 17 more charges against the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. The new indictment accuses Assange of receiving and unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources after Wikileaks posted military and diplomatic documents in 2010. Assange is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK for jumping bail, and he is also wanted by Sweden over a rape allegation made against him in 2010. The decision as to whether the US or Swedish extradition requests take precedence will be made by Home Secretary Sajid Javid. We've put together a Julian Assange timeline, which you can read here.

Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning

Surgeons warn over dog lead injuries

Thousands of people could be at risk of seriously injuring their hands because they wrap their dog's lead around their fingers, say surgeons. Problems can arise if a dog becomes distracted and runs off, pulling the lead off over the fingers and potentially causing lacerations, friction burns, fractures and ligament injuries. One person who knows how this feels is 65-year-old Jillian Tisdale from Cornwall, who suffered serious cuts to her fingers and a dislocation of the index finger when her dog bolted. While she made a full recovery, surgeons say such injuries may require long-term treatment and can mean fingers do not return to normal.

Is Facebook undermining democracy in Africa?

By Larry Madowo, BBC Africa business editor

Facebook is under fire in Africa for undermining democracy, with critics saying the social media giant has allowed its platform to be weaponised for co-ordinated misinformation campaigns. The role of false news has taken centre stage in every single one of the continent's eight national polls this year - and last week Facebook said an Israeli political consultancy was behind much of it. It banned the Archimedes Group, which it said was responsible for a network of those masquerading as African nationals. But Nanjira Sambuli, from the World Wide Web Foundation, says it has taken Facebook too long to pay attention to this problem in developing countries.

Read the full story

What the papers say

Image copyright Daily Mirror, Times

Theresa May's future as prime minister dominates the front pages, with the Daily Mirror predicting she will quit on Friday. The Daily Telegraph and the I both point to the apparent role of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in bringing matters to a head, while Metro says senior Tories appealed to the prime minister's husband to step in and tell her time was up. The children's author Judith Kerr also features in the papers, following the announcement on Thursday of her death at the age of 95. The Telegraph reports that the Beckhams were so star-struck upon meeting her that they paid her restaurant bill. Click here for a full look at the front and inside pages.

Daily digest

Sovereign Royal Mint selling rare gold coin for £100,000

Londonderry Petrol bombs thrown at police

Jabs Vaccines call over measles and mumps cases

Quiz 7 days, 7 questions about the news

If you see one thing today

Image copyright Getty Images

Should we all try to be less angry?

If you do one thing today

Sign up for a weekly chat about climate change on Facebook Messenger

If you read one thing today

The Jews who came back to Portugal

Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your phone

Lookahead

09:30 Latest quarterly migration statistics, covering the period to December 2018, are released by the Office for National Statistics.

Evening The Spice Girls begin their Spice World reunion tour at Croke Park, Dublin.

On this day

1968 French President Charles de Gaulle issues an ultimatum to striking students and workers.

From elsewhere

IQ rates are dropping in many developed countries and that doesn't bode well for humanity (NBC)

In western France, a village remembers D-Day's 'secret massacre' (Reuters)

Ian Rankin donates Rebus manuscripts to National Library (STV News)

Argentina and Algeria stamp out malaria in 'historic achievement' (The Guardian)