this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm: —— 3pm. the former labour foreign secretary, david miliband, says his party is now at its weakest in 50 years. jeremy corbyn insists his leadership is not to blame and his deputy says he needs to stay. 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. oxfam says it is preparing for a huge influx of civilians fleeing homs —— western mosul as iraqi forces push further into territory held by the islamic state group. the white house has excluded the bbc, the new york times and others from a media briefing. the block came just hours after president trump used a major speech to attack sections of the press. suicide bombers have attacked two security compounds in syria's third city of homs, killing dozens of people. some reports put the number of dead at more than a0. first blood to wield against

scotla nd first blood to wield against scotland at murrayfield. a quick thinking trai has put the dragons ahead in the first of the weekend's six nations games. also coming up: recreating a galaxy far, far away. how virtual reality was used to create some of the most exciting effects in the latest star wars movie. that's in click at 3:30. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. 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 copland — in cumbria — where the conservatives overturned a majority of more than two thousand

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 in stoke, where labour held the seat, had been repeated in copland, there would be fewer questions forjeremy corbyn. but it was theresa may's tories who celebrated an historic win in cumbria, turning this rock—solid red seat blue for the first time in 80 years. not for the first time, labour's former foreign secretary has spoken his mind. in a newspaper interview, david miliband said he feared labour is losing support in its core base and added he is 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. in an article for the new statesman magazine, dave prentis, the leader of the union unison, says copland was a disaster. and whilst not pinning the blame onjeremy corbyn, he does say that since his election as leader five months ago,

labour has not risen much closer to setting up shop here in downing street. that said, for the most part the unions are still with jeremy corbyn. this is not about one person. it is about us reconnecting with our grassroots. it is about getting the working class vote back and by defeating ukip in stoke, we have successfully done that because we were told we could not. so, let us share our successes, work and get back into government where we should be. and labour's current deputy leader says he does not agree with mr miliband either. but i do understand the point he is making. we are in very difficult times and we need to change tack in order to make sure that we can build a winning coalition for the next general election, whenever that may come. holding stoke central has tempered the potential for other attacks onjeremy corbyn, and noticeably his strongest mp critics have held off calling on him to quit following the vote, the copland catastrophe, which is probably just as well as he is insisting

he is going nowhere. earlier i asked matt whatjeremy corbyn is likely to make of these comments. from jeremy corbyn‘s perspective on those who support him, they would be thinking he would say that, would he not? david miliband, the former foreign secretary, was from very much the opposite side of the party from jeremy corbyn. at one time, he was tony blair's policy chief, putting him into perspective. he ran for leadership once but got beaten by his little brother, ed miliband. it is not the first time that he has been critical ofjeremy corbyn. i think the reason he is speaking now, that defeat in copeland is pretty historic. 80 years, since its inception that was a labour seat. the swing of votes from labour to the conservatives took a 2000 majority for labour and gave the

tories a 2000 majority, about a 6% swing. that were reported across the country, the tories would get back in the general election with a 125 seat majority, labour sub 200 number of seats. he is clearly very concerned for the party for him he was once a frontbencher, david miliband, butjeremy was once a frontbencher, david miliband, but jeremy corbyn‘s was once a frontbencher, david miliband, butjeremy corbyn‘s people say they are still moving forward, pointing to the fact they won in stoke central, a seat which was probably safe, but say it is proved they can still win and say they are moving forward. mr corbyn has said he is not looking at his position. we do the unions stand? well, they play an important role. they have offered support tojeremy corbyn throughout. 0ne they have offered support tojeremy corbyn throughout. one thing we probably do want to watch in the coming days, there is obviously an election going on for the position of leading tonight. len mccluskey has been running that union and is 110w has been running that union and is now being challenged. now, the contention there is that len

mccluskey, one of the big backers of jeremy corbyn, is too close to westminster politics. the challenger says we want to move away from that. if that does change, is len mccluskey was to lose his position, that could change the relationship between labour, jeremy corbyn and the unions but for now, i think, at the unions but for now, i think, at the moment, broadly speaking we are seeing unions mostly backing still jeremy corbyn, albeit with friendly criticism that he needs to do better because copeland was a disaster. briefly, we will be hearing from the scottish labour party on day two of her spring conference. indeed, up in perth. we have actually heard from tom watson, labour's deputy leader for the national party, who has been reflecting on the by—election defeat and saying, "we should not be being pleased about holding onto or worrying about losing seats that have always been hours seven years into ourtime in have always been hours seven years into our time in opposition." he says they need to do better but he also made it perfectly clear he does

not think this is a time for leadership elections. several news organisations, including the bbc, have been barred from entering a press briefing at the white house. president trump's spokesman said the administration would "push back" against what it sees as false reporting. 0ur washington correspondent laura bicker reports. president trump has stepped up his battle with the media. a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. they are the enemy of the people. because they have no sources, theyjust make ‘em up when there are none. he is angry at recent reports claiming his campaign aides had contacts with russian intelligence officials. the new york times used anonymous sources for their story. this should not be allowed, he said. they shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody‘s name. let their name be put out there. this latest tirade during a speech to a conservative conference was 15 minutes long and just a few hours later things changed at the white house.

this is the usual briefing by the white house press secretary, all accredited media can attend. instead a member of selected media groups were invited into sean spicer‘s office and others were barred, including the bbc. he was asked why. this ban saying cnn and others have been blocked from media briefings, are cnn and the new york times not in here right now because you are unhappy with their reporting? why are they not in here? because we had a pool and we expanded it and we added some folks to come and cover. it is my decision to expand the pool. the president said, "we are going to do something about it," in reference to the stories that he says are false by the new york times and cnn and others. what is he talking about? we are going to aggressively push back. we are notjust going to sit back and let false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts, get out there.

the white house correspondents' association says it is protesting strongly and is encouraging those who were allowed in to share material. the bbc is also asking for clarification as to why it was barred. five teenagers from london have appeared at westminster magistrates' court today charged with terror—related offences. the boys, aged between 15 and 19, were arrested on tuesday, following a series of raids across the capital by the metropolitan police's counter—terrorism unit. earlier i spoke to our correspondent outside the court. today, we had the appearance of a 15—year—old, a 16—year—old, two 17—year—olds and a 19—year—old. the 16—year—old is accused of preparation of terrorist acts. a 17—year—old is also accused of preparation of terrorist acts and dissemination of terrorist publications. another 17—year—old is

accused of preparation of terrorist a cts accused of preparation of terrorist acts and also the collection of information contrary to the terrorism act. we cannot name those three because of their age but we can name the 19—year—old who has been charged with preparation of terrorist acts and the collection of information. a magistrate has said that the case was so serious it needs to be at the central criminal court and will be a key ring of that next month. when the arrests were made in london at the start of the week, the met police said it related to plans to travel to join a proscribed organisation. after this initial hearing, of the four teenagers, there was a separate hearing for the 15—year—old, were the court heard effectively became a hit squad. the 15—year—old is from waltham forest and is charged with collection of information and two accou nts collection of information and two a ccou nts of collection of information and two accounts of dissemination of terrorist publications. he has pleaded not guilty to those charges

and his case will be heard later at the youth squad. that was simon jones. three men have been charged with slavery offences, following the discovery of a cannabis farm at a former nuclear bunker in wiltshire. they have appeared in court in swindon today, facing charges of conspiring to produce cannabis, and abstracting electricity without permission. 0ur correspondent andrew plant sent this update outside swindon magistrates' court. police have said this is one of the largest cannabis hauls that they have ever raided in the county, giving it a street value of around £1 million. they say they were acting on information on a tip—off that they had received when they went to stake out a disused nuclear bunker that sits out in the wiltshire countryside. it was built by the ministry of defence back in the 1980s to house government officials in the event of a nuclear attack. no longer owned by the mod but clearly still intact. it has still got its impenetrable blast doors. police say they had to wait until those were opened late on wednesday night before they moved in, arresting six people and finding inside, they said, 20 rooms across two different floors, all of which were covered

in cannabis plants. three of those people that they arrested were released without charge but three others have appeared today at swindon magistrates' court. one is martin filler, a5, from somerset, the other is 30—year—old ross winter, from bristol, and 27—year—old plamen nguyen. all three have been charged with the same crime — conspiracy to grow cannabis, conspiracy to hold another person in slavery or servitude, and conspiracy to steal electricity. there were no applications for bail, it is an indictable offence and automatically they will be remanded in custody and sent as i said to crown court. we are told they will next appear at salisbury crown court next month. andrew plant. 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 are 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 advisers and troops, so—called boots on the ground, is critical. us artillery pieces pounding targets in mosul. us commanders are reluctant to divulge the most sensitive details,

particularly about special forces at the front line, but the american support can tip the balance. the fight in western mosul would be a tough fight for any army in the world. so the iraqi army and iraqi federal police again will face a tough fight. it they will be a lot of house to house fighting. the enemy is cornered, they do not have any choice but to fight. the iraqis will certainly defeat daesh in mosul. they will prevail. but in this brutal conflict, fighters will use every tactic began. 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. translation: i was lying on the ground. there were people pointing to the sky from where the bomb came. this is pretty new for this conflict, but also for conflict all

over the world. this matter can be very effective and the impact on the population will be really brutal. with 750,000 civilians currently trapped in western mosul, aid agencies are preparing for the worst. they are already calling it a humanitarian crisis. 0ver a0 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. 0ur correspondent rami ruhayem who's in beirut gave us the latest. it is quite a stunning blow to the regime, given the sensitivity of the targets. as you mentioned, two intelligence headquarters, one military intelligence and another state security intelligence, and from what we understand two of the attackers,

at least, managed to get inside and blow themselves up. there were also reports of gunmen who also managed to infiltrate at least the area south of these headquarters. and among the casualties are senior officers, senior intelligence officers. the attack was claimed by group tahrir al—sham, which used to be known by other names and was affiliated by al-qaeda. it has now cut its ties with al-qaeda, at least publicly, and also merged with other syrian rebel groups. they issued, in the first statement, a denunciation of the talks underway in geneva and said that the only way for any kind of transition is to overthrow the regime of syrian president bashar al—assad by force. the headlines on bbc news:

the former foreign secretary david miliband has warned that labour is further from power than it has been at any time in the past fifty years. mr miliband was speaking after the party lost the copeland by—election to the conservatives. 0xfam says it's preparing for a huge influx of civilians fleeing western mosul as iraqi forces push further into territory held by the islamic state group. the white house has excluded several major news organisations, including some it has openly criticised, from a briefing held by president trump's spokesman. mr trump has been angered by what he's described as fake news items published by some media outlets. and in sport, the six nations returns after a week off and wales leads scotland 13—9 at murrayfield at half—time. liam williams with the only try of the game so far.

leicester city's manager has been at their training ground to say his goodbyes. he was sacked on thursday after leading them to the premier league trophy last season. and after a year out of competition, lizzie yarnold has won bronze at the skeleton world championships in germany. more on all those stories in the next hour. 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. dozens of coptic christian families in egypt have fled northern sinai after a number of killings this week by suspected islamist militants. at least seven coptic christians have been killed since the end of january. russell trott reports. an exodus of christian families taking flight from egypt's north sinai province after the so—called islamic state group killed the seventh member of their community in just three weeks. families gathered with their belongings at the evangelical church

in the suez canal city of ismailia, with church officials saying up to three quarters of those living in northern sinai are now fleeing. more than 200 students studying in arish, the province's capital, have also reportedly left. sectarian incidents are nothing new in egypt. more than 20 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the coptic cathedral in cairo last december. is said they were behind the bombing which killed mostly women and children. their tactics include everything from burning homes and crops to forced displacement. but many residents feel this latest campaign may be different. militants have circulated death lists online and on the streets, warning christians to leave or die. islamic state released a video on sunday threatening egypt's christians and vowing to escalate their attacks. 0rthodox copts, who comprise around

10% of egypt's 90 million people, are the middle east's largest christian community. they have long complained of persecution. more patrols and checkpoints have been brought in, but sinai's christians say that although the attacks may not yet have reached biblical proportions, the security forces are unable to protect them and are being overwhelmed by the militants. 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. huge rallies have been held

in the south korean capital seoul in protest calling for the impeachment of the president to be sped up following a major corruption scandal. thousands of protesters held a candlelight vigil and performed mexican waves in what has become a regular sight in the city. south korea's parliament voted in december to impeach president park but the constitutional court is reviewing the legality of the decision. the president's supporters have also held their own protest, waving the korean flag while demanding that park's impeachment be nullified. it's 0scars weekend in los angeles with the academy awards showcasing more breakthrough movies with diverse casting — in it's history. however the event is likely to become an arena for political discontent. keith adams reports. it is 0scars weekend and the red carpet has been rolled out to signal

the start of the 89th academy awards. millions of people around the world will tune in to see if la la land sweeps the board. the musical about two illegally murders is nominated in 1a categories and is expected to come away with a raft of major prizes. but politics is expected to loom large this year. on friday, a demonstration took place in support of immigrant rights, were the crowd was addressed by the actors michaelj fox and jodie foster. there are people giving up everything, they have lost everything, they have lost everything they have and are struggling to keep their families alive and to keep food in their modes and it is easily from their bodies, and taking tremendous risks to get here, to get to this country, and then we... we say no? it is our

dev patel are elective officials to do theirjob. —— it is our time to tell our elected officials to do their job. tell our elected officials to do theirjob. we will not tolerate chaos, ineptitude and warmongering. there is also expected to be a political myth surrounding the event, with many anticipating a cce pta nce event, with many anticipating acceptance speeches with an anti—trump message. 0ne acceptance speeches with an anti—trump message. one of the nominated films, the white helmet, has been dragged into the political frame. the documentary is about rescu e rs frame. the documentary is about rescuers on the journey through training to the syrian front line. its cameraman has been barred from travelling to los angeles for the ceremony. 0fficials travelling to los angeles for the ceremony. officials say they have found what they called derogatory information about him. sandy's ceremony is information about him. sandy's ceremony is sure information about him. sandy's ceremony is sure to have the glitz and glamour you would expect, but this year look out for more political digs than usual. 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. 0ur 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. canon rawnsley spent his final years at allan bank on the shore of grasmere. from here he could view the island that inspired him to help create the national trust. now, at last, that island is part of the trust's portfolio, to be preserved and enjoyed by everyone for ever. every parent knows that baby's first outing can be quite a stressful experience. but this baby polar there at munich animal park took her first steps into the outside world in her stride. the baby, who is yet to be named, cautiously checked out the enclosure, to the delight of the viewing public. well, from one cuddly animal to our own resident cuddly!

it is just too easy. i knew you were going to say that. i am not cuddly, iam not going to say that. i am not cuddly, i am not cute. i am sunny but not cute. in mild, breezy sort of day—to—day. the winds are slowly easing down to a certain extent and we have got some clearer skies coming into scotland and northern ireland for a while but workload for england and wales, with some rain. it could be heavier of western hills. peters out eventually overnight and becomes drier for most of us, we from the north—west of northern ireland, where it turns wet and windy again. chilly enough for frost and east of scotland perhaps. pretty marbles. a cloudy start on sunday. a hint of sunshine but