affecting saving, lending and mortgages, interest rates are held at 5.25% for the fifth time in a row. the horizon it scandal. the bbc has found that an expert witness was asked by a post office prosecutor to consider changing his testimony. and spotting breast cancer using artificial intelligence. how ai picked up tiny tumours missed by the human eye. and coming up on bbc news, it's a big night for wales. they'll be one win away from euros 2024 if they can beat finland in their play—off semifinal in cardiff. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the government should apologise

and pay compensation to women affected by the increase in their retirement age. that's the recommendation from the parliamentary ombudsman, which has been been looking at the impact of raising women's retirement age to bring it in line with men's. the report says the department for work and pensions hasn't acknowledged its failings, or put things right for those affected. campaigners say millions of women born in the 1950s have suffered financially because they weren't properly warned in advance about the changes. sanchia berg has the story. # it's off the court we go. after years of protesting, a victory for women born in the 1950s. the government changed the age they would get their state pension, and didn't let them know in time to plan. didn't let them know in time to ian. ~ , didn't let them know in time to ian, ~ , ., . ., didn't let them know in time to ian, ~y ., , didn't let them know in time to plan. my reaction is today is glad the re ort plan. my reaction is today is glad the report is _ plan. my reaction is today is glad the report is finally _

plan. my reaction is today is glad the report is finally out, - plan. my reaction is today is glad the report is finally out, and - plan. my reaction is today is glad the report is finally out, and with parliament. parliament actually decided to take the action to increase the state pension age for women, and they didn't do the job properly. the department for work and pensions should have told us and they didn't. find and pensions should have told us and the didn't. �* �* ., they didn't. and iti'm important? 270,000 they didn't. and iti'm important? 270.000 of— they didn't. and iti'm important? 270.000 of us — they didn't. and iti'm important? 270,000 of us have _ they didn't. and iti'm important? 270,000 of us have died - they didn't. and iti'm important? 270,000 of us have died since i they didn't. and iti'm important? | 270,000 of us have died since we started this campaign 13 years ago so one of us are dying every 30 minutes without justice, so one of us are dying every 30 minutes withoutjustice, without knowing that parliament have the decision to make good what it got wrong. decision to make good what it got wronu. a , decision to make good what it got wron, , , wrong. many say they struggle with mone . wrong. many say they struggle with | money. suffering financial hardship. what they did was absolutely wrong. they could _ what they did was absolutely wrong. they could have had a pen and paper and an— they could have had a pen and paper and an envelope and stamp, and sent it to all— and an envelope and stamp, and sent it to all of— and an envelope and stamp, and sent it to all of us— and an envelope and stamp, and sent it to all of us in 1995, was it, when — it to all of us in 1995, was it, when they— it to all of us in 1995, was it, when they came to this decision, and let us_ when they came to this decision, and let us all— when they came to this decision, and let us all know and we would have all been _ let us all know and we would have all been prepared. | let us all know and we would have all been prepared.— let us all know and we would have all been prepared. i want to ask you all been prepared. i want to ask you all to help- — all been prepared. i want to ask you all to help- it— all been prepared. i want to ask you all to help. it was _ all been prepared. i want to ask you all to help. it was the _ all been prepared. i want to ask you all to help. it was the post-war - all to help. it was the post-war labour government _ all to help. it was the post-war labour government led - all to help. it was the post-war labour government led by - all to help. it was the post-war - labour government led by clement attlee that brought in pensions for

all, starting at 65 for men and 60 of the women. 50 all, starting at 65 for men and 60 of the women.— all, starting at 65 for men and 60 of the women. so that we can buy what we need. _ of the women. so that we can buy what we need. nearly _ of the women. so that we can buy what we need. nearly 50 - of the women. so that we can buy what we need. nearly 50 years i of the women. so that we can buy i what we need. nearly 50 years later, the conservative _ what we need. nearly 50 years later, the conservative prime _ what we need. nearly 50 years later, the conservative prime minister - what we need. nearly 50 years later, the conservative prime ministerjohn| the conservative prime ministerjohn major decided that should change to 65 for all, a change that was exonerated by the coalition government. that led to confusion for some, government. that led to confusion forsome, ignorance, then government. that led to confusion for some, ignorance, then hardship for some, ignorance, then hardship for many. the ombudsman said the women should be compensated but it also said the department for work and pensions had made it clear it would not comply. the ombudsman said this was unacceptable. in a statement, the department for work and pensions said it would consider the ombudsman's report and respond in due course. it said the government had always been committed to supporting all pensioners in a sustainable way. so it is quite a big day for the waspi campaigners. i have been speaking to them since 2017, and

when this was relatively new, they had been only going a year or so. what struck me then about them was a lot of them were embarrassed to be campaigning, they were women who had been very organised, planned their lives, anticipated their pension coming in at 60 and then itjust didn't arrive, or a year or two before, they learned it wasn't going to come. so and now, they hope, this will become as one put it, the beginning of the end of a long campaign. thank you, sanchia berg. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoojoins us. leila, this report seems to really put the ball in the government's court now. put the ball in the government's court nova— put the ball in the government's court now. , ., , , ., put the ball in the government's courtnow. , ., , , ., ., court now. yes, the ombudsman has no ower to court now. yes, the ombudsman has no power to compel _ court now. yes, the ombudsman has no power to compel the _ court now. yes, the ombudsman has no power to compel the government - court now. yes, the ombudsman has no power to compel the government to - power to compel the government to act, it can only recommend. it says in its report in pretty strong terms that from what it has heard from the department for work and pensions that it doesn't expect the government to volunteer to do anything so it is asking parliament to try to find some way to intervene. it's nokia what that

could mean. in theory a backbench mp could mean. in theory a backbench mp could amend an existing piece of legislation going through the commons to force action, that doesn't seem likely. there could be some sort of vote but that would be unlikely to be binding. all the department and downing street are saying is that they will consider the report, that tells us nothing. mps have been asking already in the commons this morning, they have been told there is a hope that the minister will deliver a statement before the easter break next week. why would the government have an interest in putting of this report, because it could result in a costly compensation bill and we are already dealing with the horizon post office it scandal victims, the infected blood scandal compensation also coming down the track, both of which could be sucking up potentially billions of pounds. labour really have not responded to this, they would inherit this situation if they were to win the next election. so, yes, this does add pressure on the government but it is by no means certain when or if anything will

result. . . ~ certain when or if anything will result. ., ., ,, , ., in the last hour, the bank of england has announced it's holding interest rates at their 16 year high, of 5.25%. it's the fifth time rates have remained unchanged, after 1a consecutive increases. the bank has been keeping interest rates high to try to slow sharply rising prices, and now says "things are moving in the right direction". so, with inflation on its way down, when can we expect interest rates to follow suit? 0ur chief economics corrspondent dharshini david is here to explain. you might wonder if the rate setters at the bank of england failed to tune in yesterday when we told you about this. the fall in inflation, this line, to its lowest in two years, and it's expected to drop to its 2% target soon. the bank had hiked interest rates 1a times to engineer that. it's working, so why aren't they cutting them? that's because some prices are still rising fast, such as for car insurance, rents, mobile phone

tariffs and broadband. they are part of what's called services inflation, running at over 6%, and that troubles rate setters. ultimately decisions about your borrowing and saving costs depends on these, the nine people on the bank's interest rate panel. theirjob is to get inflation to its 2% target and keep it there. you can see they're not all in agreement. this is how they voted last month. two of them wanted to rise interest rates even further. but now they're more relaxed, feel price pressures are easing, so all are content for rates to at least stay unchanged. in the words of their governor, they're not yet at the point where they can cut interest rates, but things are moving in the right direction. that raises hope for borrowers like dharmesh who's now looking to fix his mortgage later this year after seeing repayments soar on his variable rate mortgage. never in a thousand years

did we think the rates would go up to this level. i think there's lots of people in our situation where rates have gone to that sort of level, hundreds of pounds extra, there will probably be people who can't afford to carry on paying that, and the hope of interest rates reducing, it's not happened as quickly as i think everyone expected. what the million or so borrowers remortgaging this year want to know is when the first cut will come. and they're not alone, rates have been kept on ice too in the eu and the us. so spring's finally arrived, but it may bejune or even august before that first cut. jane. thanks, dharshini. the energy crisis caused by the war in ukraine led to the biggestjump in people living in absolute poverty in the uk for three decades, according to new official figures. 0ur bbc verify correspondent

nick eardley is with me. nick, first of all, reminders of that definition, what is absolute poverty? that definition, what is absolute ove ? ~ that definition, what is absolute ove , that definition, what is absolute ove i, that definition, what is absolute ove , poverty? absolute poverty is about our poverty? absolute poverty is about your standard _ poverty? absolute poverty is about your standard of _ poverty? absolute poverty is about your standard of living. _ poverty? absolute poverty is about your standard of living. if - poverty? absolute poverty is about your standard of living. if you - your standard of living. if you cannot afford a certain standard of living, then you are classed as living, then you are classed as living in absolute poverty. that definition matters because it is the one that the prime minister tends to use when he talks about poverty in parliament. what these figures do today is, they remind us about a lot of what was just being talked about, that a lot of people will be seeing in their everyday lives, higher prices squeezing household spending particularly if you are on a lower income. these figures show that 12 million people in the uk in the year up million people in the uk in the year up to april 2023 were living in what was classified as absolute poverty. it is the biggest rise in 30 years. it is the biggest rise in 30 years. it went up 600,000 over the course of the year. some of the reasons are obvious, inflation being one of

them, rising energy prices being another crucial one. the government argues that if it had not introduced the cost of living support that it did, 1.4 —— that the cost of living support that it did, 1.4 -- that 1.3 the cost of living support that it did, 1.4 —— that 1.3 million more people would have fallen under this definition. it's important to say that since april 2023, a lot has changed. inflation has gone down, pensions and benefits went up considerably in that period as well. but particularly in an election year, it is a reminder of some of the real challenges that households have been facing. mil the real challenges that households have been facing.— have been facing. all right, thank ou so have been facing. all right, thank you so much _ have been facing. all right, thank you so much now, _ have been facing. all right, thank you so much now, nick— have been facing. all right, thank you so much now, nick eardley. l in the horizon it scandal, the bbc has learnt that an expert witness was asked by a post office prosecutor to consider changing his testimony to avoid what he believed was a "damaging concession". an engineerfrom fujitsu, garethjenkins, rephrased parts of a report about the it system, after advice from barrister warwick tatford. that evidence was used in the case against subpostmistress seema misra who was wrongly jailed,

while she was pregnant. our business correspondent marc ashdown has the story. the horizon it system was central to the post office scandal. testimony supporting its credibility was used time and again to prosecute sub—postmasters accused of theft or fraud. one was seema misra, accused of stealing £75,000 and eventually sent to jail while she was pregnant. at her trial in 2010, garethjenkins, the architect of horizon, was called as an independent witness. but evidence submitted to the public inquiry raises questions aboutjust how well he carried out that role. he sent his draft witness statement to warwick tatford, the post office's barrister. in it he said he could not 10%... he meant 100%. ..rule out problems with horizon screens as a possible cause for some cash shortfalls. mr tatford responded, saying, "please rephrase, as this will be taking as a damaging concession." in the final testimony, mrjenkins said, "no scenario had

been presented that could explain losses because of poorly calibrated touch screens." mrjenkins also agreed with an expert defence witness that there could have been issues with training on the horizon system. he wrote... "i support his finding regarding discrepancies in cash in almost every period." mr tatford wrote back... "your agreement might be interpreted as a concession that the crown," ie the post office's case, "is entirely flawed." again, mrjenkins changed his statement and instead wrote... "cash discrepancies indicated at least poor management within the branch and probably something more serious." by law, all the draft documents should have been shared with seema misra's defence team, but all they saw was the final version after all the changes have been made. she told us she found it horrible, the idea that words were being put into the mouth of an expert witness. and herformer solicitor said it was clear her client had been denied a fair trial. seema misra has previously spoken about the toll her conviction took on her. if i wouldn't have been pregnant, i would have killed myself. because for me, like, i gave a bad

name to my family being to prison. so i always say, the youngest one kept me alive and the eldest one kept my husband alive. giving evidence to the public inquiry, warwick tatford apologised unreservedly to seema misra and added this admission. no, i think it is unfair and i'm sorry for that. ican... i think what i was doing wasjust trying to clarify matters and make things clear. but i do agree that i've overstepped the mark there. garethjenkins is one ofjust two people involved with the whole scandal currently under police investigation. what this evidence shows is that the net should be probably widening to take in a much wider group of people, including lawyers working within the post office and outside the post office. neither mrjenkins nor mr tatford wanted to comment further at this stage. the post office said it was focused on righting the wrongs of the past. mark ashdown, bbc news.

an ai tool being tested by an nhs trust has identified tiny breast cancer tumours in 11 women which had been missed by doctors. the technology was piloted alongside nhs clinicians and analysed the mammograms of more than 10,000 women. our technology editor zoe kleinmann has more details. so this is one of the extra cancers that was picked up by the ai. that is so tiny. yes, it is, indeed. and you can see why two human readers would have just looked through, compared it, it looks very much the same, and would have said that that's normal. here in aberdeen, dr gerald lip has just led the first nhs evaluation of an artificial intelligence tool called mia, designed to help improve breast cancer diagnosis. the initial results are encouraging. it's almost like another colleague, and someone, a second, sort of second opinion looking over your shoulder and helping you. so one human reader and ai doing the next read, we could move our turnaround time from 14 days down to three days.

and you know that anxiety, you've had a mammogram or any test in the hospital, i've had tests. you're kind of waiting on that result and you want to know it as soon as you can. so anxiety is another factor in this as well that we want to try and reduce. barbara's cancer was so tiny, dr lip and his team didn't spot it, but mia did. i'm just incredibly grateful. if i hadn't had that, then i don't know when i would have found it. the early diagnosis meant that barbara needed shorter and less invasive treatments. she told me without ai, her tumour might not have been spotted for another three years at her next routine scan, by which point it would have been a lot bigger and might have spread. you say cancer and they say, "oh, i'm so sorry." and i felt a fraud because it was so small. it'sjust so easy. there's no extra appointment or anything. and then when you have the operation, it's at a very early stage. so it's minimal compared to what it could be.

ai is good at this when it's properly trained to spot early, tiny symptoms of a specific disease. but this isn't perfect yet. it has a tendency to over—diagnose. and also because of current health guidelines, it's not allowed to learn on the job and evolve as it's used. right now, this tech is still being researched. mia was built by the medicalfirm kheiron and runs on computing power from microsoft. it was fed millions of images of scans from women around the world to enable it to recognise specific signs of potential breast cancer. within five years, some experts say ai will routinely be used in cancer diagnosis. i struggled to see some of the symptoms dr lip showed me, and i only looked at a few of them. currently, human specialists analyse up to 10,000 scans per year. the hope is that al tech like mia might one day reduce that workload and the strain that goes with it. zoe kleinman, bbc news. our top story this afternoon...

a watchdog recommends the government apologises and pays compensation to women affected by the increase in the state pension age. and coming up... head teachers in england say they're missing out on vital funds to fix leaking roofs and outdated classrooms. coming up on bbc news, former wales star louis rees—zammit, who traded rugby union for the nfl, has caught the eye of three unnamed teams after a day of testing yesterday, as he continues his quest to break into american football. could working in extreme heat increase a woman's risk of miscarriage or stillbirth? as our planet heats up, a new study in india shared with the bbc has found pregnant women faced twice the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or low birth weight if they worked in very hot environments, compared to those in cooler places. researchers are now working with uk

scientists to better understand these findings, saying they could have an impact on advice for pregnant women globally. our global health correspondent tulip mazumdar has been to tamil nadu to meet some of the women who took part in the study. summer is coming. and india is predicted to become one of the first countries where temperatures will top the safe limit for healthy people who are just sitting out in the shade. it's workers like these who will be and already are most affected by the heat. these workers start early in the morning to avoid the worst of the hot sun. it's around 28 degrees at the moment and very humid. i've been sweating quite a lot all morning. this is just one of three jobs sandhiya has to help feed her two children. there was also a third child who she lost six months into her pregnancy. translation: i would work

the whole day in the heat. l my legs would swell. i felt thirsty all the time and out of breath. one day i was cutting the crops, i suddenly felt intense pain and i started bleeding. i went to see the doctor and he told me my baby had died. sandhiya is one of hundreds of pregnant women who took part in a study about the impact of heat stress at work on pregnancy. 800 pregnant women took part. researchers found that those who worked in extreme heat faced double the risk of stillbirth, pre—term birth, miscarriage and low birth weight. the authors say the findings are important for women everywhere because these problems could be seen at much lower temperatures in countries like the uk. researchers in the study used this special temperature gauge to measure the various ways heat affects our bodies.

there is a long way to go to in order to find the exact biological mechanism behind this that may help us to improve the reproductive health of the women globally. and before this was all open, so the sun would just be on the workers? yeah, yeah. at this brick kiln on the outskirts of chennai, the owner has erected these giant sheds to better protect workers as temperatures rise. making these and other changes, he says, is also making him more money. translation: they used to have more health problems, _ but since we started _ using the machinery and got these sheds, they don't suffer as much. this kind of work, mainly undertaken by women, is only going to get harder as our planet heats up. and scientists investigating the impact on the most vulnerable warn the world must adapt now. tulip mazumdar, bbc news, southern india. and if you'd like to see

more about this story, there's a documentary on the bbc iplayer called india's mothers — bearing the heat. tens of thousands of children are at risk of being groomed and coerced into crime by organised gangs, according to a leading child protection expert. professor alexis jay, who revealed the extent of sexual exploitation in rotherham, is warning of an urgent but preventable crisis. following an inquiry for the charity action for children, she's concluded there's no national strategy for dealing with this type of crime. here's our home affairs correspondent tom symonds. if they knew you were talking to me right now, what would they do to you? i don't think i'd be alive. seriously. i genuinely think i would end up six feet under. that's why we're not revealing joe's identity, or the area where, as a child, he worked for a criminal gang in scotland. if they wanted me to go and sell something for them, i had to go and do it.

if i had to go and hit someone for them, i had to go and do it. or it was me that was paying the price. why are children being exploited and coerced into crime? professor alexis jay took evidence from 70 people and organisations in an inquiry commissioned by the charity action for children. a big factor in it appeared to be loneliness, isolation, the desire, and how good it felt, to be part of something, even though it was criminal activity. they controlled my life without me realising they were controlling my life. what i found most shocking generally was the casual violence that was involved. knife crime, of course. but we also heard about the use of machetes, bats, and hammers and axes. it's driving a rise in violent youth crime. and she says the government — all parties — need to act. it needs a national focus and a national strategy. and equally importantly, it needs

the introduction of a new offence of child criminal exploitation. you're saying there's no strategy at the moment? none. no. it's uncoordinated, fragmented, piecemeal. the home office is focused on fighting crime gangs who use dedicated phone lines to sell drugs. £5 million has been earmarked over three years to help exploited children and their families. butjoe's mum said she asked for help and, for years, no—one listened. i tried everything. i tried phoning the police. i tried going to school. i tried social services. what happened ? they told me it was all in my head, like i was a bad parent. _ there was nothing wrong. she was left alone in a battle for the loyalty of her son against the gang. you want to kill - them, but you can't. you can't do anything. can't say nothing.

but she clung on tojoe. and with the help of youth workers, he's now free of the gang. tom symonds, bbc news, glasgow. head teachers in england say they're missing out on vital funds to fix leaking roofs and outdated classrooms, after money was diverted to schools found to have crumbling concrete. some schools have been waiting decades for money for repairs, but those with the dangerous concrete, known as raac, are now taking priority, as our education correspondent hazel shearing reports. in 2005, 14—year—old mark malloch appeared on tv campaigning for a new school building atjoseph leckie academy in walsall. nearly two decades later, we invited him back to talk with current students about what's changed and, more importantly, what hasn't now that the school has given up hope of getting the building replaced. has it ever flooded when you guys have been here? the entrance floods quite a lot when it rains.

it's been so many years and still, like, so many| things have not improved. we have a music room and when it's raining the roof is leaking into the instruments and everything. it puts me off that i have to come to this building and work here. other lessons, in different buildings, makes it better, makes it better to learn. the school hall dates from the second world war and is too small to fit even one year group in, so assemblies are live streamed. this building still smells exactly the same. as soon as you get up those stairs, you can smell the damp. the school applied to be rebuilt in 2022 but was rejected. now the final spots on the government's school rebuilding programme in england have been mostly taken up by schools with a specific type of crumbly concrete known as raac. this school doesn't have raac, does it? no, the school's got everything else wrong with it, but what it doesn't have, it doesn't have problems with raac. it feels really frustrating. it feels like we've reached a point where we've tried all avenues to get the funding for our building

and we don't seem to fall and had invested more than £15 billion to improve school buildings since 2015. atjoseph leckie, there have at least been some improvements over the past 20 years. this one works. but with a bigger group of year 7 students set to squeeze in from september, there's still much work to be done. this one works.

all the taps are working! a lot�*s changed in 20 years. hazel shearing, bbc news. the queen has visited belfast at the start of a series of engagements in northern ireland. queen camilla spent time in shops on the lisburn road. she was asked about the king's health and told well—wishers he was doing very well but was very disappointed he couldn't come. wales are aiming to reach their third successive euros but can onlyjoin the party in germany this summer by beating finland tonight. it's a one—match play—off semifinal, with the winners facing poland or estonia next tuesday to decide who advances to the tournament. our wales correspondent hywell griffith looks ahead. the summer of 2016 still lingers in the memory of welsh football fans. the euros in france gave supporters something to shout about as their team made it all the way to the semifinals.

since then, there's been another euros and a world cup, with rather less dazzling results. but there is still belief that wales now belong at major tournaments. the play—offs then provide a chance to prove it. we qualified against all the odds for a world cup. disappointed when we got there. but again, it's stepping stones. we've gone forward two, back one from our performances in the world cup. we've learned from that. if and when we qualify for the euros, we're hoping again that it's forward two steps. the challenge for wales comes in two parts. first up, finland, a match they have to win in order to make it through to a play—off final next week against either poland or estonia. both games come with a home advantage and a red wall of fans who fill the cardiff city stadium. hayley�*s hopes are high. she's already booked accommodation in germany for the euros and will be singing her heart out this evening. the stand is going to be absolutely rocking, so we've just got to hope for the best, really.

we're doing well in terms of the squad. we haven't got any injuries. we're strong, we're good to go. i'm quite nervous! this is a team which has had to move on since losing its biggest star, gareth bale, but others have grown in his absence. tonight's game will be a measure ofjust how far they've come. hywell griffith, bbc news, cardiff. now, if you've ever dreamed of striking gold, look at this — the largest gold nugget ever found in england. it weighs 65 grams and was found by a metal detectorist in the shropshire hills last year. it's been put up for auction and is expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear.

a bit of sunshine? yes, brief glimpses of our own gold nugget i'm afraid today. warmest day of the year yesterday, just shy of 19 degrees in surrey. this is in the south—east, kent, probably where we will see the best of the weather and perhaps the warmth today. different story further north and west because we have some rain, chasing the pot of gold through the rainbows because you are closest to this area of low pressure in the north. north— south divide with the weather story. i set about squeezing together, quite noticeable. light, patchy and drizzly rain in northern england and northern wales, heavier in western scotland and northern ireland, the story through the rest of the afternoon, gusts of wind in excess of 50-60 afternoon, gusts of wind in excess of 50—60 mph. perhaps late afternoon sunshine here and the best of the breaks in the cloud in south—east

england where we could see temperatures