good afternoon. the former labour foreign secretary david miliband says the party is the furthest it's been from power in 50 years. he was responding to labour's by—election defeat in copeland — in cumbria — where the conservatives overturned a majority of more than 2,000 to oust labour from a seat it had held for 80 years. jeremy corbyn has said he won't step down as leader. here's our political correspondent matt cole. if these scenes had been repeated in copland that receiving stalker would be less problems forjeremy corbyn. not for the first time, the former foreign secretary has spoken his mind ina foreign secretary has spoken his mind in a newspaper interview, where he said he feared labour is losing support at the core base. he added... iam

support at the core base. he added... i am obviously deeply concerned that labour is further from power than at any stage in my lifetime. mr miliband is not the only one being critical of labour in print. dave prentice, the leader of the union unison said copland was a disaster and whilst not penning the blame on jeremy corbyn, disaster and whilst not penning the blame onjeremy corbyn, he does say since his re—election five months ago they have not moved an inch closer to setting up shop in downing street. that said, for the most part, the unions are still with jeremy corbyn. it is about as reconnecting with our roots and getting the working class back. we we re getting the working class back. we were told we were not doing that and were told we were not doing that and we did. labour's deputy leader says he does not agree with mr miliband. i understand the point he is making that we are in difficult times and

we need to change tack to build a winning coalition for the next general election. holding stalker has tempered the potential for other attacks onjeremy corbyn and his strongest critics have held off calling him to quit following the catastrophe in copland which is just as well because he is insisting he is going nowhere. several news organisations, including the bbc, have been barred from entering a press briefing at the white house. the new york times and cnn have expressed concern over the exclusion of their reporters — calling the decision unacceptable — while the bbc has said it is seeking clarification. president trump's spokesman, sean spicer, was challenged about his decision. reporter: are cnn and the new york times not in here because you're unhappy with their reporting? why are they not in here? because we had a pool and then we expanded it and we added some folks to come and cover it. it was my decision to expand the pool. reporter: the president said "we're going to do something about it" in reference to these stories that he is saying are false

by the new york times, cnn and others. what is he talking about? we're going to aggressively push back. we're just not going to sit back and let false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts get out there. five teenagers from london have appeared at westminster magistrates‘ court today charged with terror—related offences. the boys, aged between 15 and i9, were arrested on tuesday, following a series of raids across the capital by the metropolitan police's counter—terrorism unit. three men have appeared in court on slavery charges after the discovery of a cannabis factory at a disused nuclear bunker in wiltshire. a police raid there on wednesday found plants with a street value of around a million pounds. all three men were remanded in custody. iraqi forces have entered parts of western mosul in what is expected to be an arduous and dangerous battle to remove so called islamic state from iraq's

second largest city. wyre davies reports from an advanced iraqi military base where american troops and advisers are proving to be a key part of the mosul offensive. the battle for mosul is in a critical phase. fierce clashes on the western edge of the city. fighters from so—called islamic state recede into narrow streets where government forces will have to follow. but they're not alone. from a field just to the south, these big american guns are why local commanders are confident they can finally drive is from its last major stronghold in iraq. this is an overwhelmingly iraqi military operation, but the role of american advisors and troops, so—called boots on the ground is also critical. us artillery pieces pounding targets in mosul. us commanders are reluctant to divulge the most sensitive

details particularly about special forces at frontline, but say american support can tip the balance. the fight in western mosul will be a tough fight for really any army in the world. so the iraqi army and iraqi federal police will face a tough fight. it will be a lot of house—to—house fighting. the enemy is cornered. they don't have any choice, but to fight. the iraqis will certainly defeat daesh and mosul. they will prevail. but in this brutal conflict, is fighters will use every tactic they can. this is video eulogises the use of commercially available drones to drop bombs and grenades. the effects are terrifying. this woman's leg was shattered in a drone attack. "i was lying on the ground. there were people pointing to the sky from where the bomb came", she told me. this is pretty new

for this conflict. this method can be very effective and impacts on the population. really, really brutal. with 750,000 civilians currently trapped inside western mosul, aid agenies are are preparing for the worst. they're already calling it a humanitarian crisis. the zimbabwean president robert mugabe has celebrated his 93rd birthday. with thousands of supporters attending a party outside the city of bulawayo. activists and opposition leaders have criticised the lavish festivities, which have been taking place all week, despite severe economic hardship in the country. mr mugabe has been in power since 1980 and says he will stand in elections next year. with all the sport, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. claudio ranieri has been at the leicester city

training ground this morning to say his goodbyes to the players and staff. he was joined by the club's thai owners, who flew in by helicopter to help with the goodbyes, after they sacked the italian on thursday. speaking to the media afterwards, ranieri said he hoped that leicester could one day repeat their title success. i don't speak to anybody, just to say to the fans they are fantastic. how do you feel? i feel good. of course, what we achieved in leicester, i hope can happen again. was it emotional with the players? it was normal. do you feel badly treated? and it was normal. do you feel badly treated ? and off it was normal. do you feel badly treated? and off he went. it's a crucial day in the six nations with scotland hosting wales in the first match at murrayfield. our reporter patrick gearey is already at murrayfield, on a day when we'll get a better idea about which team will be the main challengers to england in the race to the title this season. still more than an hour until

kick—off but people are taking their seats. there is a renewed sense of optimism in rugby. —— in scotland. we'll make only one change, a reflection of how well they played in the defeat to england. but a further defeat would count them out of the running for the title, as it would ireland or france. it is a lwa ys would ireland or france. it is always interesting to see howjohnny sexton goes and we will see how ireland deal with the fearsome french pack. everyone is playing catch up to england, who we will expect to still be in charge of the tournament. but who today can emerge as challenger in the final two mac weeks of the tournament?

tonight in hull, we could have some boxing history — britain's first world champion twins. gavin mcdonnell is aiming to become the wbc world super bantam weight champion and join his twin brother jamie who already holds a world title. alex gulra—jani went to meet them. the mcdonnells have never been far apart. gavin is 12 hours away from collecting his own world title.|j got a little bit of a bug forehead. i was thinking, i can do this, just lived in the pub with his mates and then said, i can do it. gavin proved then said, i can do it. gavin proved the doubters wrong as he won the

title is but jamie the doubters wrong as he won the title is butjamie has always been one step ahead. he has always been a champion from day one. all my life i've been trying to outdo him. this title really puts me up there with him. it should earn him a place in doncaster on his parents wall. they know what they are doing. if you show them a photograph they will point to the other one. they are looking at the brother. it is a bond that will never be broken, especially in a boxing ring. would you do it, against him?|j especially in a boxing ring. would you do it, against him? i don't think so, too much of a risk.

tonight, the laughing stops. gavin has his eyes on that number one ranking. that's the sport for now. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5.10pm. bye for now. good afternoon. you are watching bbc news. the former labour foreign secretary david miliband, has said that the party is further from power than it has been at any time in the past 50 years.

in an interview with the times newspaper, mr miliband said he was deeply concerned about labour's future underjeremy corbyn, after the party lost the copeland by—election to the conservatives. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. the party deputy leader tom watson has been speaking in the last hour. when someone has romped home to a historic victory, they have the right to see their vision through. you should not get rid of them just because the results are not going their way. but you are not here to listen to me talk about claudio ranieri. all of us need to have a long hard look at cells and find out what is not working. we should not be facing questions about whether we can retain seats we already hold. ourjob at the next general election is to gain over 100 seats. keeping what we have is supposed to be the

easy pa rt what we have is supposed to be the easy part and here in scotland, we have seen what happens when labour —— labour's long—term supporters stop voting labour. we can't afford to have that happen in england as well. i have said at a lot recently. this is not the time for a leadership election. that issue was settled last year. but we have to do better. we cannot sustain this level of distance from our electorate. from our natural supporters. some things do have to change. tom watson there. earlier, ispoke things do have to change. tom watson there. earlier, i spoke to stephen bush from the new statesman. he said the comments would helpjeremy corbyn rather than hinder him. for a lot of mps, they have decided they need to stay quiet and letjeremy corbyn succeed or fail in need to stay quiet and letjeremy corbyn succeed orfail in his need to stay quiet and letjeremy corbyn succeed or fail in his own time. obviously, most of them think that you will fail. but they think that you will fail. but they think that that tactic is working for him. what —— for david miliband to come

out and say that, then that is helping jeremy corbyn. this time in the last parliament, labour won the seat of crosby, 20 point lead. they lost by four points. so if you assume that happens to labour in stoke and copeland, which is what the historical trend would suggest, thatis the historical trend would suggest, that is very bad indeed. but they think that when someone like edna la batt think that when someone like edna labatt pops think that when someone like edna la batt pops up think that when someone like edna labatt pops up and says he is awful, he actually helps labatt pops up and says he is awful, he actually helszeremy corbyn. labatt pops up and says he is awful, he actually helps jeremy corbyn. -- someone he actually helps jeremy corbyn. -- someone like david miliband. so with the membership rally round him? one of the things that people underestimate is the average labour activist, it is a party founded on solidarity. when the reader is attacked, there is a rallying round of the labour family, attacked, there is a rallying round of the labourfamily, even attacked, there is a rallying round of the labour family, even though there are lots of people in that family who have a great dub rock doubts about his leadership, and my instinct is although i think probably if you ask the majority of people in the labour party, members,

mps, do you think it is working well, they would say no. if you ask the same people do you think we should get rid of him, they would say no. and so i think in an odd way this kind of intervention is quite good news forjeremy corbyn. saying no to both of those questions doesn't really make sense, does it? no, but people don't make sense. people kind of go or i would like my public services to be better but i wa nt public services to be better but i want my taxes to be lower. we will contain multitudes and party activists aren't any different. the trick of a skilled politician is to hold those things together. the difficulty for thejeremy hold those things together. the difficulty for the jeremy corbyn sceptics is they haven't found anywhere in the labour party who can somehow reconcile those two contradictory aspects. what about the aspiration to be in power?” think the difficulty for labour is obviously they are not on a trajectory to win the next election and they are on a trajectory to go back via a considerable degree but the difficulty is although people kind of thoughtjeremy corbyn... they did not think owen smith would

win either, but they thought they would feel uncomfortable. it is like saying if i am not going to go to the gym today, i may as well order a curry. that was the jeremy corbyn vote. until there is a labour politician who can say to the members, iam politician who can say to the members, i am someone theresa may is scared of. i think they will continue to order that currie and vote forjeremy corbyn. is there anyone coming through the ranks?” think there are some interesting younger politicians. john ashworth. on the backbenches, heidi alexander. alison mcgovern. bridget dobson. but the difficulty is you also have an old guard who are not in parliament who are making things difficult, but there is also an old guard of people who fail to beatjeremy corbyn in 2015, failed to win the last election. they are kind of bed blocking in an odd way for a new generation, which i think is needed if labour is going to get outs of this. just one final thought, where do the unions figure in all of this?

the reason the trade union leaders back tojeremy the reason the trade union leaders back to jeremy corbyn was twofold. one, they members were with him. i am not sure of that has changed. and second, they wanted to move labour slightly to the left. not necessarily as far left as jeremy corbyn has come from, but they wa nted corbyn has come from, but they wanted to still be power players. in an odd way, david miliband's intervention is useful for them because it allows them to say we are not the sky, we are worried about the sky, let's have something else. it is useful in terms of internal politics. it is one thing to watch. i love thejeremy corbyn is at risk but if he is, it is because interventions like this give the trade union leaders the space they need to gently ease them out without going back to that blair is of the past. stephen bush from the new statesman talking to me earlier. five teenagers have appeared in court in london in connection with

terrorism charges. let's not speak to our correspondent simonjones who is outside the court. delaying court we had the appearance of a 15—year—olds, a 16—year—olds, 217—year—olds, and also a 19—year—old, so to run you through the charges, the 16—year—old is charged with preparation of terrorist acts. one of the 17—year—olds is charged with one of the same things and also dissemination of terrorist publications. the other 17—year—old is charged with preparation of terrorist acts and also collection of information contrary to the terrorism act. we cannot name these two because of their age but we can name the 19—year—old who appeared in court. he is ahmed al sayed. he was charged with preparation of terrorist acts and also the collection of information. the case was deemed so serious it was said to the central criminal court and that will be a hearing next month. the four men were arrested by the met police in london on monday. at the

time, the police said it related to plans to travel to join a proscribed organisation. after this initial hearing for those for teenagers, there was then a separate hearing for the 15—year—olds, and that is because the magistrates‘ court was acting as a youth court. this 15—year—old is charged with collection of information and also two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. his case has been now sent to the youth court. simon, thank you. dozens of people have died, including the head of the military security branch after a suicide bombing in homs in syria. the attack targeted security service headquarters in the city. reports say that five militants attacked two heavily guarded districts. earlier i spoke to our arabic correspondent rami ruhayem. well, it is quite a stunning

blow to the regime, given the sensitivity of the environment, as you mentioned. to intelligence headquarters, one military and another state security intelligence and from what we understand two of the attackers at least managed to get inside and blow themselves up and there were also reports of gunmen who also managed to infiltrate at least the area and among the casualties are senior officers, senior intelligence officers. the attack was claimed by a group which used to be affiliated with al quada which has now cut its ties with al quada at least publicly and also merged with several other groups and issued in their first statement a denunciation of the talks under way in geneva and said that the only way for any kind of transition is to overthrow the regime of the syrian president by force.

and the fact that this was able to take place, what that this tell us about security, particularly in homs? well, it probably tells us that this group is not only capable on the battlefield but also capable of infiltrating areas held by the regime. perhaps it says that security in homs is not as tight as the regime would like it to be but at the same time, given the state of syria at the moment, given that the country remains fragmented and full of different armed groups with different agendas, it will not be possible to end this kind of attack. homs in particular has seen many such attacks. the ones claimed for example by islamic state were mostly on civilian targets, but this one is on to quite sensitive military targets and raises all sorts

of questions about the capability of the regime‘s security forces. thank you. iman has been charged with killing a man after opening fire in a buyer. one man died shortly after the attack. an american was also hurt. the duelling dominated news bulletins in india and social. witnesses say the 50—year—old us navy veteran shouted, "get out of my country." before opening fire. three men have been charged with slavery offences, following the discovery of a cannabis farm at a former nuclear bunker in wiltshire. they‘ve appeared in court in swindon today, and will also face charges of conspiring to produce cannabis, and abstracting electricity without permission.

wiltshire police have said this is one of the largest cannabis holes they have ever raided in this country, giving it a street value of around £1 million. they say they we re around £1 million. they say they were acting on information on a tip—off they had received when they went to stake out a disused nuclear bunker that sets out in the wiltshire countryside. it was built by the mod back in the 80s to house government officials in the event of a nuclear attack. it is no longer owned by the mod but clearly still intact because it still has its impenetrable glass doors. we say they had to wait until those were opened late on wednesday night before they moved in. arresting six people and finding insight 20 rooms across two different floors, all of which were covered in cannabis plants. three of those people that they arrested were, we understand, released without charge. three others have appeared here today at swindon magistrates‘ court. one is

45 and from somerset. ross winter is 30 and from bristol. all three men have been charged with the same crime. they had been charged with conspiracy to grow cannabis, conspiracy to grow cannabis, conspiracy to grow cannabis, conspiracy to hold someone else in slavery or servitude, and conspiracy to steal... city. there were no applications for bail. it is an indictable offence so they are remanded in custody and the offence is sent to the crown court and we are told they will next appear at salisbury crown court next month. andrew plant. police in birmingham have released cctv images of the moment a 17—year—old girl was hit and seriously injured by a car — which then fled the scene. the footage, which some viewers might find distressing, was released by west midlands police in the hope that someone will come forward with more information. the girl was walking with her mother on bromsgrove road at around 6.30pm on saturday 28th january when a car mounted the pavement. the teenager was taken to hospital in a serious condition and is said to be still recovering

from her injuries. police want to trace the car, described as a dark coloured bmw 5 series. a third person has been arrested by detectives investigating the escape of a murdererfrom custody. a 25—year—old man from liverpool has been detained on suspicion of perverting the course ofjustice in connection with the hunt for sean walmsley. two people detained on thursday have been released pending further inquiries. walmsley went on the run when two armed men confronted prison officers guarding him at aintree university hospital on tuesday. police have defended the decision to fire a taser at an unarmed blind man in greater manchester on thursday. officers at levenshulme train station mistook the man‘s cane for a gun. the 43—year—old man was unhurt and the police have apologised to him. the united nations‘ climate chief has admitted that she‘s

worried about the election of president trump — because of his threat to pull the us out of international agreements. but patricia espinosa says she is confident that worldwide action to tackle the issue will continue, whatever mr trump does. she is travelling to the us this weekend and hopes to raise her concerns with senior officials. our environment analyst, roger harrabin reports. donald trump will be the next president. much of america celebrated donald trump‘s election, but it was an environmentalists‘ nightmare, a president for fossil fuel, saying he would scrap rules on the industry and pull out of the un climate deal. the un‘s new climate chief was dismayed. i was very surprised. it felt like something was wrong. at the same time very quickly a reaffirmation of this is the more reason why we need to continue. china‘s massive renewables programme was one sign of the world‘s

determination to carry on tackling climate change. china says it will show leadership if the us does pull out of the un climate deal. but even the us itself has a boom in wind and solar power. the election of president trump is a setback for miss espinosa and the un, but she insists the momentum towards cutting emissions is now unstoppable. the only question, is it going fast enough? an island which inspired the foundation of the national trust, has been gifted to the conservation charity after more than a century in private hands. sitting in the middle of the lake district, grasmere island was left to the trust by its former owner in her will. dave guest has been for a visit. it is small but beautifully formed. grasmere island lies at the heart

of the lake district. wordsworth is said to have picnicked here frequently. but back in 1893, the island was put up for sale and the thought of this idyllic spot becoming private property outraged a local clergyman hardwicke rwa nsley. canon hardwicke rwansley had a deep passion that everybody needed access to nature and natural beauty. the journey to grasmere island is an idyllic experience in itself. back in 1893 the new owner decided to make a few additions which did not go down too well with the locals. mr bell erected a flagpole, he planted some shrubbery, which caused a lot of indignation. a respectful letter was written asking him to reconsider some of these changes. the reply was blunt. if you and your friends felt so strongly about what happens to the island, you were perfectly competent to turn up to the sale as i did, and purchase it.

i suppose really that is exactly the issue that rawnsley was concerned about, that bits of the lake district were being sold off to the highest bidder and they could do whatever they wanted with it. absolutely. he was passionate that ordinary people had access to natural beauty in nature. the loss of this island for public use proved the catalyst that inspired rawnsley to become a founding father of the national trust. but it is only now that the trust has been able to take control of the island. the last owner bequeathed it to them. so now this island belongs to the national trust, will it be overrun with hundreds of people? i don‘t think so. whilst we would never stop people from coming, the physical access to the island is difficult, which makes it a little refuge for nature. and as a conservation charity, that is important to us.

this is quite an oak tree, isn‘t it? it is wonderful. a veteran oak tree. heaven knows how many hundreds of years old it is.