npower announces one of the largest price rises by a major energy supplier in years. standard tariff electricity will cost 15% more from next month. the government says customers are already paying more than they need to. we would like to see more done, particularly for vulnerable and low—income customers, to get them off these expensive deals. three million people will be affected. the government says it may act if customers are not treated fairly. also this lunchtime: the prime minister's in malta for an eu summit. she'll brief foreign leaders about her recent meeting with president trump and the government's brexit plan. in paris, a man armed with a machete is shot after attacking a soldier outside the louvre. a warning that russia's using cyberattacks to destablise the west. and rebuilding bridges — tadcaster‘s bridge is about to re—open more than a year after it collapsed in the floods of christmas 2015. and coming up in the sport on bbc

news, tiger woods‘s injury woes continue. he has dropped out of the second tournament since his return with back spasms. a very good afternoon to you. theresa may is attending a european union summit in malta, where she'll brief leaders on her recent meeting with president trump. downing street says she wants relations with the eu to be more constructive and positive. ahead of the talks, the german chancellor, angela merkel, said the leaders needed to focus discussions on europe, rather than dealing with other parts of the world. our europe correspondent damian grammaticas is in malta.

yes, you join us in on ancient fortress perched on the edge of malta. the island sits in the mediterranean on the edge of the eu, and this feels a very apt place for leaders to be meeting today to discuss the many challenges they see facing them. multi's ancient canons. europe feels threatens again. so this volley was an appropriate welcome to a summit that feels besieged, challenges on every side, migration, terrorism, now donald trump's america. theresa may believes her nascent relationship with president trump means she can be a bridge between europe and america. that could be an asset dealing with the eu, but it could also become a liability. today we have mixed speaking —— feelings.

the dangerous aspect of mr trump's politics are raising some concerns. europe's leaders are wary of mr trump and what they see as his hostility to the eu, said they were keen to see mrs may's first—hand impressions. i think there are room for explanations, because sometimes there is the impression that the new administration doesn't know the european union in detail, but in europe, details matter. if you any's president, always to the point, added europe didn't need a bridge. today we communicate with the americans on twitter, she said. the sense there are threats all around is driving eu leaders to focus on the challenges they face. this meeting's agenda, the migrant boats still crossing the mediterranean, and the eu's future after brexit. finland's prime minister told me there is no way trade with britain will be as smooth once it is out of the eu. of course there will be a

change, because being a part of the single market, there are no barriers at all, but create a distance between the european union and the uk, there will be some barriers anyway. soon theresa may will be negotiating with all these leaders as she gears up for brexit she is facing a eu that under pressure is seeking to close ranks and shore up its defences. and we can speak to damian now. it is not going to be easy for her with this exit elephant in the room? it's not, but the leaders today will put that to one side. what several of them said on the way in was that they are very keen to hear from mrs may have first—hand report of her meeting with donald trump. that is one of the huge issues facing the eu, what to make of the new

president, his pronouncements and policies. but it is important at this point that while that is something of an asset for theresa may, it is also tricky for her. the french president went into the meeting saying that countries should remember that their first priority was within the eu, wasn't some relationship he said with the us, and so eu countries faced by all of these pressures, the new administration, the migrant crisis here, migrant boats still crossing the mediterranean, there is a sense that they are seeking to try to find ways to work better together, and the finnish prime minister said that to me. he said they want to focus on the things where they can deliver more and close ranks, and that is an important message for the uk. thank you, damian. the energy company npower has announced one of the largest single price rises implemented by a big six supplier. standard tariff electricity prices will rise by 15% from next month, and gas prices by almost 5%. nearly three million people

are expected to be affected. the company blames increases in wholesale energy costs, and the cost of delivering government policies such as smart meters and the renewables obligation. it also adds it's the first time it has raised prices in three years. just two weeks ago, the regulator ofgem told suppliers they should absorb the costs of wholesale price rises by buying energy in advance. our business correspondent john moylan reports. try telling that to tip back one's customers. 1.4 million are facing a jump customers. 1.4 million are facing a jump in energy tariffs. npower says it is the first major rise in more than three years. it is leaving rising wholesale gas and electricity cost, and the impact of government policies like the roll—out of —— the roll—out of smart meters. npower‘s dualfuel roll—out of smart meters. npower‘s dual fuel customers roll—out of smart meters. npower‘s dualfuel customers will roll—out of smart meters. npower‘s dual fuel customers will pay an

extra £109 per year, that is 10% more. it includes 4.8% on standard gas prices and a whopping 15% increase on standard electricity braces. this is a significant price rise will that will cost a million customers £100 per year more on energy, so customers really need now more than ever to look around to get the best deal. it's not the first of the best deal. it's not the first of the big suppliers to move. edf was my customers will pay around 8% more for electricity from the 1st of march, and some warned that other firms may follow suit, adding to pressure on household budgets. but the energy regulator has criticised the energy regulator has criticised the move, saying we don't see any case for significant price increases we suppliers have bought energy well in advance. npower must therefore justify the decision to its customers. and npower‘s move could spark a political row by highlighting the rising cost of government policies like subsidies for wind farms. today the department

for wind farms. today the department for business warned that where markets are not working, it is prepared to act. and john's with me now. the government response to this has been strong — it says it will act if customers are being treated unfairly. are they on a collision course? it is unusual for the government to talk about specific companies, but todayit talk about specific companies, but today it has said it is concerned by npower‘s plans to increase prices, and making the point that where markets don't work the customers, it will act. the reason it is concerned is energy bills are big part of household expenditure, and the government knows that this plays into the debate about the millions of households that are just about managing. two thirds of households are on standard tariffs, these are loyal customers who haven't switched and end up paying more for the energy then people on fixed tariffs. the companies tell me they face cost increases that they have to pass on, so it is notjust wholesale price costs, the government policy costs like the green energy, the rich rule

—— the roll—out of smart meters, and those costs will hit loyal customers the hardest. what will the government do? we have had a two—year investigation into the energy market, and in the end they stepped back from protected loyal customers. if we get all the other companies increasing prices, too, and hitting loyal customers, will the government wonder if it needs to step in and act help them? thank you. a french soldier has shot and seriously wounded a man who attacked guards at the louvre museum in paris. a police spokesman said the man — who was wielding a machete — had shouted "god is great" in arabic. the french prime minister said it appeared to be a terrorist attack. france is still in a state of emergency because of the attacks in paris and nice. 0ur correspondentjonny dymond sent this report. in the heart of the french capital outside one of its greatest treasures, the louvre, an attack in broad daylight.

translation: we heard gunshots. we didn't know what it was. then we evacuated the employees and we left, thatis evacuated the employees and we left, that is what happened. some colleagues were crying, and we were afraid, we were panicking. translation: it happened very fast, we saw death coming for us with everything that has been happening at the moment. we were very, very scared. the reason for the shots, a machete attack by a man on soldiers guarding the area, explained a police spokeswoman. translation: in the commercial area, the man threw himself at a soldier who was there, armed with at least one knife, possibly two, with the appearance of a terrorist. the soldier was injured, and his collea g u es soldier was injured, and his colleagues fired at injured the individual. he was very seriously

injured in the stomach area. france has seen much like this, and worse, before. in attacks in 2015, first 12 then 100 and 30 were killed across paris. six months ago, more than 80 were killed in nice. both times, the attacks were claimed by islamist terrorists. before he launched his attack, the man called out allahu akhbar, but is great in arabic. the french prime ministers said it was a terrorist attack, as the louvre was closed. president trump has continued his twitter attacks against iran's test launch of a ballistic missile, warning the country that it's "playing with fire". he said his predecessor, barack 0bama, had been "kind" in making a deal with tehran over its nuclear programme. yesterday, mr trump said iran had been "put on notice". tehran responded saying we will

never use our weapons against anyone exceptin never use our weapons against anyone except in self defence. let's speak to our correspondent in washington kim ghattas. we are now at the end of a week of this sort of language. how are we to assess mr trump's comments? it is quite the day when a tweet by the iranians foreign minister is more measured and diplomatic than a tweet by the american president. it started early this morning with this latest tweet from president trump saying that his predecessor had been too kind towards iran, and as you said, it has been quite a week of people in american foreign policy, with not just people in american foreign policy, with notjust america's people in american foreign policy, with not just america's foes people in american foreign policy, with notjust america's foes being put on notice, but also it allies. we had this tense conversation with the australian prime minister yesterday, and tense conversations with the mexican president. but the

question now is, is reality setting in? is the president being tempered by his cabinet secretaries? because at the same time as he is rewriting the textbook on american foreign policy, his cabinet secretaries are sending a very different tone. the secretary of defence in asia reassuring allies about the stea dfastness reassuring allies about the steadfastness of the relationship between the us and its allies in asia. we have the us ambassador to the un saying that although the united states would like better relations with russia, it also condemns russia's actions in ukraine, and then a statement on israeli settlements being built in palestinian occupied land, with a statement saying that the united states would like to caution israel against building more settlements. however it also did add that settle m e nts however it also did add that settlements were not an impediment to peace, and that is a departure from long—standing american state m e nts from long—standing american statements and policy. so president

trump rewriting us foreign policy, sounding belligerent but also a bit more traditional, and of course the word hanging on his every word and every tweet. kim, thank you very much indeed. while the president has commented on iran's nuclear capability, his new defence secretary says the states will deliver an effective and overwhelming response of north korea uses nuclear weapons. speaking at the end of his two day visit to south korea, the new american defence secretary, james mattis, said any attack on the united states or its allies would be defeated. 0ur seoul correspondent steve evans reports. what to do about the nuclear arsenal being developed in north korea? that's the problem facing the americans, japanese and south koreans. kim jong—un tested two nuclear devices last year, and is making progress towards getting missiles capable of, in his words, turning washington and seoul into a sea of fire. mr mattis is doing a reassurance

tour, his first foreign foray of the trump administration. "we stand side by side" was today's message in south korea. any attack on the united states or on its allies will be defeated. any use of nuclear weapons will be met with a response which will be effective and overwhelming. there are 28,000 us troops in south korea. the american threat to retaliate with massive force if attacked will not be news to kim jong—un. the bigger question is whether to talk to the north korean leader, to try to persuade him to abandon or limit the size of his nuclear arsenal. on that, the trump administration is so far silent. it is 16 minutes past one.

our top this lunchtime. npower puts up some electricity prices by 15%, one of the biggest by a big six energy supplierfor years. coming up: will england be the team to beat again? they kick off the six nations campaign at twickenham tomorrow. coming up in sport at half—past: mark hughes says he's happy to play saido berahino against his former club west brom tomorrow, after it emerged his new striker served an eight week fa ban last year, before his january move. the only road bridge linking the two halves of the north yorkshire town of tadcaster will re—open later today. it was destroyed by severe flooding more than a year ago and people living and working in the town have faced a long detour to get across the river wharfe. 0ur correspondent danny savage reports. 0pening day of tadcaster‘s road bridge. 13 months after it was swept away.

they were working right up to the last minute, putting the surface down. there is a will to get traffic going across it from the moment it's finished. go on, go on, get going. the destruction of the ancient crossing was one of the defining images of the 2015 winter floods. the force of the river wharfe caused it to collapse. it left the town completely divided, an 18 mile round trip was required to get from one side of the river to the other. after several weeks a footbridge was put solving the problem. i think the footbridge has been great, people have talked to each other. and instead ofjust waving to each other from the passing car as they are crossing on the bridge, the people of tadcaster have stopped to talk to each other, it's been great. but it hasn't been so great for businesses. they've lost trade and have been desperate for the road bridge to reopen. i live on the east, i have a business on

the west. i do school runs every morning, so to get us back as one community instead of divided is just amazing. it's a really, really good day. it's been devastating for the town, it's broke the community in two, families have been split up. parents live on one side, children live on the other, grandparents, grandkids. and for some people it's been a really difficult task, getting from one side to the other. one thing residents are still concerned about is the risk of flooding. that bridge may be rebuilt but they are worried it could happen again. the footbridge will vanish in the near future. one, two, three. so people were grabbing souvenir photos to recall the 13 months this town struggled to get by. danny savage, bbc news, tadcaster. britain's vegetable shortage is continuing with some supermarkets rationing the sale of produce. the shortage is due to bad weather particularly in spain where there's been snow and now the worst rainfalll for 30 years. tesco and morrisons are limiting

customers to three iceberg lettuces and morrisons are reported to be preventing shoppers from buying more than three heads of broccoli. frankie mccamley reports. they are part of our staple diet and we have them with almost every meal. so for many, vegetables are not considered a luxury. but with poor growing conditions in southern europe the iceberg lettuce is the latest vegetable to fall victim to the shortage. it was chris yates last month. so much so that supermarkets have been selling out and are now restricting the number we can buy to two or three. the russians are not targeting us when we go for our weekly shop, let's face it you can get through three lettuce in a number of days? what they are trying to do is stop small businesses from buying in bulk when they are facing shortages. and for weeks some market sellers have struggled to get their hands on the lettuce. you cannot get it and

whatever you can get is very expensive. and it's affecting aubergines, lettuce, courgettes, chinese page has gone through the roof. when it goes like that i backed off. and this is the reason for the shortage, severe weather in spain. it's where the majority of the uk's vegetables come from through the winter months but crops have been damaged which has meant a poor harvest. and if things don't change there the prices of some vegeta bles change there the prices of some vegetables may continue to rise here. what i do is buy what i can afford. £1.49 i thought it must be 49p, they must have marked it wrong, idid not 49p, they must have marked it wrong, i did not question it, i did not realise there was a shortage. i did not question it, i did not realise there was a shortagem i did not question it, i did not realise there was a shortage. it is not clear how long rations on one of the country's favourite salad vegeta bles the country's favourite salad vegetables will last but if things don't change it could be four months. ten year olds are being used as gun—runners by gangs in liverpool, according to police.

the comments came as police staged a show of strength in the city — with a high—profile police operation in some of the areas worst affected by a spike in gun and gang crime. 0ur correspondent helena lee reports. two victims of gun crime in the past week in liverpool. 0n the left 26—year—old aaron lewis who was shot on wednesday. thomas baker on the right was killed last friday. this was last night in liverpool, police out in big numbers heading to the most problematic areas in the city targeting gang and gun crime. and making arrests. police say there has been an influx of new weapons in the city, and gangs are targeting the most vulnerable to help them get away with their crimes. we are aware of people as young as ten who are being coerced into storing and minding firearms for criminal groups.

gun crime in liverpool is on the rise. since last april there has been a 28% increase in shootings compared to the previous year. four men have been shot dead since last april. and there have been 79 incidents involving firearms leaving 27 people injured. police operations in the city are continuing in the light of the rise in gun crime. but the police say they cannot do it alone. they need the community to help them bring those responsible to justice. helena lee, bbc news. the defence secretary is warning that russia is using sustained cyber attacks to target democracy and infrastructure systems in the west. sir michael fallon says moscow is "weaponising misinformation" in an attempt to destabilise nato. 0ur correspondent daniel boettcher reports. attacks in cyberspace a risk to personal data, infrastructure and

there are increasing concerns about there are increasing concerns about the dangers of what is being termed cyber warfare is a risk to national security. in a speech sir michael fallon has accused russia of carrying out a sustained campaign of cyber attacks against the west. we find ourselves dealing with a country that is weaponisation information and creating what we now see to be them post—truth age. finally there is the usual of cyber weapons to destruct credible infrastructure and disabled democratic machinery. the russians have engaged in cyber attacks against the naked states... russia stands accused of meddling in the american presidential election, us intelligence saying that was sanctioned at the highest level but that was denied by the kremlin. germany believes its parliament was attacked in 2015. the comments were made by the nato secretary general last week. i trust the reports we

have seen from many national intelligence services including from germany, the united states and other that russia is behind many of the cyber attacks. we have seen the same pattern against nato's on cyber networks. meanwhile an influential group of mps says the government needs to raise its game. they say ministers have not consolidated what they call an alphabet soup of agencies and they are struggling to find enough people with the right skills. if something goes wrong it could close down hospitals, we could have a loss of data, there are serious things which could happen now with the skills of some of the hackers out there. the cabinet 0ffice hackers out there. the cabinet office says the government has acted with pace and ambition and back to £1.9 billion of investment and the national cyber security centre says it has transformed how the uk deals with cyber security. cuts in disability benefits should be delayed until the government clarifies how it will support those

in need of extra money. the work and pensions select committee says they found there was little evidence that lower payments would motivate disabled people to find work. 0ur correspondent sima kotecha reports. there's a lot of things to think about with your cv. a group of disabled people are being taught how to write a cv properly. they‘ re all unemployed, and some are worried about the disability allowance cuts coming into force in april. bob suffers from inflammation of the spine. people need that money. they need the help. like i did, i needed it for mobility. obviously people with different things wrong with them, it's a help to them, as well. today's report calls on the government to postpone reducing the amount of cash given to those who can't work because they're ill or disabled. all these here fall into what the government calls the work—related activity group.

they are those who can't work at the moment, but are judged capable of returning back to work at some point in the future. and it's those who will be put into this category that will be affected. at the moment, they're being paid £102 per week, but from april, the amount will go down to £73, bringing it in line with thejobseeker‘s allowance rate. 0nly new claimants will get this amount. lesley suffers from depression and has a bad back. losing another £30 is making actually people worse off, and that's why a lot of people are actually ending up sort of turning really like to crime and that. like to live, and support their families, their children. mps say they want clarity on how the government will help those in this group who won't be able to make ends meet because of the changes. what we're beginning to see

in britain is the emergence of destitution, of people ground down at the very bottom. and we're anxious that those people, disabled people who cannot make the jump into employment, which the government wishes them to make by cutting their benefits, to ensure that these people are protected properly before this grand strategy is rolled out. ministers argue their welfare reforms are increasing the incentives for people to get into work. they say they're giving extra money to those who need it because they're disabled. sima kotecha, bbc news, west bromwich. 0n the eve of rugby union's six nations tournament the big question is will england be the team to beat again? if england do win all their games, as they did last year they'll

set a new rugby record for consecutive victories. the rivalries will be intense. 0ur sports correspondent joe wilson reports. winters evening, west yorkshire. on stage the man who says he started it. joe stead doing a song he heard in folk club and then sang at his rugby club. in february 1960. # swing low sweet chariot... from there it was learned, repeated and over decades transported to twickenham. and the song, whatever its original meaning, is now england's celebration. in 2016 they won every match, five more wins would set a new world record. yeah, but there are five other nations with huge motivation. who can beat them? well, that remains to be seen. i think it's going to be a tight championship this year. any team that comes up against england will want to try to take their scalp so we'll wait and see. exactly. scotland start this six nations at home, confident but play ireland who are highly rated and buoyant. ireland beat new zealand last autumn. wales are vastly experienced,

even their new captain alun wynjones has over 100 caps. but there is something new for everybody at this year's six nations. for the first time bonus points are available in the tournament as a reward for try scoring and attacking play. but fundamentally, rugby remains a contact sport. england's captain hasn't played since december. dylan hartley's been suspended, sent off for this. and referees will show more red cards to get rid of this kind of dangerous play. i wondered how hartley would adapt. if you want to win games of rugby you have to be right on the edge. you have to be confrontational, physical, because that's the abc's of rugby, is being physical isn't it? so... yeah. look, we prepare well and, yeah. have you had to learn about where that line is, dylan, more than other players, do you think? no, i think we're always learning. if you're regarding

the recent ban i had. player safety is paramount, so as players we have to change. laser beams and innovation, rugby knows its image is crucial but the six nations is defined by tradition as much as change. so cue seven weeks of sporting folk music. # coming forth to carry me home #. joe wilson, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's phil avery. i think if you have a ticket for any of the matches you won't care. look at these images, lovely, the warm spot so far, 10 degrees. but look at this on the isle of light. wet pressure,