this is bbc news, the headlines at four: 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 was settled last year, but we have to do better, we cannot sustain this level of distance from our electorate oxfam 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. 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. and a scottish backpack at murrayfield. it puts them in a

commanding position in the first of the weekend's six nations games. also coming up; the national trust receives an unexpected gift, the island that inspired its creation. grasmere island in cumbria had been held in private hands for 124 years but has now been gifted to the organisation in a will. 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 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 in stoke,

where labour held the seat, had been repeated in copland, had been repeated in copeland, 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. says copeland 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. 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. 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 copeland catastrophe, which is probably just as well as he is insisting he is going nowhere. 0ur political correspondent, matt cole says he doesn't think

jeremy corbyn will be too bothered by david miliband's comments. from jeremy corbyn‘s perspective and those who support him, they will be thinking, well, he would say that, wouldn't he? let's remember david miliband, the former labour foreign secretary, is a man who was from very much the opposite side of the labour party tojeremy corbyn. at one time he was tony blair's policy chief. it really does put him into perspective. remember he ran for the leadership once and he got beaten by his little brother, ed miliband. so it is not the first time that he has been critical ofjeremy corbyn and i think the reason he is speaking now, well, 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, they took a 2000 majority from labour and the tories got a 2000 majority, about a 6.7% swing. if that were replicated across the country, you would see the tories getting back in at a general election with with a i25—seat majority, labour sub 200 seats. so clearly he is very concerned for the party

for whom he was once a frontbencher, david miliband. but i thinkjeremy corbyn‘s people will say, you would say that, we are moving forward and they point to the fact that they won in stoke, a seat they probably should have held, it was a safe seat, but they will still say this is proof they can still win and think, right, we are moving forward, thank you, mrmiliband, we don't need to listen to you. mr corbyn said he is not looking at his position. where do the unions stand in all this? well, they play an important role. they have offered support tojeremy corbyn throughout. one thing we probably do want to watch in the coming days, there is an election going on for the position of leading unite. len mccluskey has been running that union and he has now been challenged. the contention is that len mccluskey, one of the big backers ofjeremy corbyn, is too close to westminster politics. the challenger says we are going to move away from that. if that does change, if len mccluskey were to lose,

that could change the relationship between labour, jeremy corbyn and the unions. but for now i think at the moment, broadly speaking, we are seeing the unions mostly backing jeremy corbyn still, albeit with a friendly criticism that he needs to do better because copeland was a disaster. and briefly we will be hearing from the scottish labour party on day two of their spring conference. indeed, up in perth. we have heard from tom watson, labour's deputy leader for the national party, who has been reflecting on the by—election defeat in saying we shouldn't be pleased on the by—election defeat and saying we shouldn't be pleased about holding onto or be worried about losing seats that have always been oui’s seven years into our time in opposition. he says they need to do better, but he too made it perfectly clear this is not a time for leadership elections. 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 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 the 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 preparing for the worst. they're already calling it a humanitarian crisis. a woman has been charged in connection with the death of a three—year—old boy who was attacked by a dog in halstead in august last year. jade dunne, aged 29, has been charged with owning a dog dangerously out of control that resulted in the death of dexter neal. the dog, an american bulldog, has since been destroyed. dunne has been released on bail to appear at colchester magistrates' court next month. 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. earlier i spoke to our news correspondent simonjones who was outside the court. today in court we had the appearance of a 15—year—old, a 16—year—old, two i7—year—olds and a 19—year—old. to run you through the charges, the 16—year—old from lambeth is accused of preparation of terrorist acts. the 17—year—old from hounslow is also accused of preparation of terrorist acts and dissemination of terrorist publications. another 17—year—old from merton is accused of preparation of terrorist acts and also the collection of information contrary to the terrorism act. now, we cannot name those three because of their age, but we can name the 19—year—old who has been charged in relation to this. he is ahmed al—sayed. he is charged with preparation of terrorist acts and also the collection of information. a magistrate here said the case

was so serious that it needed to go to the central criminal court and there will be a hearing 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 then a separate hearing for the 15—year—old where the court here effectively became a youth court. the 15—year—old is from waltham forest. he is charged with collection of information and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. he has pleaded not guilty to those charges and his case will be heard later at the youth court. 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. 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. 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 50 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. suicide bombers have attacked two security compounds in syria's third city of homs, killing dozens of people. some people put the numbers at 40. people. some people put the numbers at a0. and in scotland at murrayfield scotland is winning in the game against wales, 19—13. claudio ranieri has been at leicester city's training ground to say goodbye. he was sacked on thursday. after a year out of competition, lizzie yarnold has won bronze at the skeleton world championships in germany. i will have more on all those stories at

5:30 p.m.. 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 to 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 under way 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. 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. 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 fillery, 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. it's the biggest weekend in the movie industry, with the musical lala land expected to dominate tomorrow's

0sca i’s ceremony. the event, however, 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 la dreamers is nominated in ia 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, where the crowd was addressed by the actors michaelj fox and jodie foster. there are people giving up everything. they have lost everything they have and are struggling to keep their families alive and to keep food in their mouths and keep diseases from their bodies,

and taking tremendous risks to get here, to get to this country, and then we... we say no? it is our time to tell our elective officials to do theirjob. we will not tolerate chaos, ineptitude and warmongering. there is also expected to be a political mist to be a political mood surrounding the event, with many anticipating acceptance speeches with an anti—trump message. one of the nominated films, the white helmets, has been dragged into the political frame. the documentary is about rescuers on the journey through training to the syrian front line. its cameraman khaled khatib has been barred from travelling to los angeles for the ceremony. officials say they have found

what they called "derogatory information" about him. sunday'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 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. malaysia police say they want to to sweep kuala lumpur international airport for toxic chemicals following the attack on kim jong—nam. mr kim, the half brother of north korean leader kimjong—un,

died last week after he was accosted by two women at the airport in the malaysian capital. tests show mr kim was killed with a highly toxic nerve agent huge rallies have been held in the south korean capital seoul in protest calling for the impeachment of president park geun—hye 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 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 formation of the national trust has been gifted to them after more than a century in private hands. it was left to the trust by its former owner in her will. 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. it is beautiful. every parent knows a baby's first outing can be quite a stressful experience, but this baby, a polar bear at munich animal park, took her first steps to the outside world in her stride. she is yet to be named, but she checked at the enclosure to the delight of the viewing public. just far too cute. so clean! let's find out how the weather is looking. jay wynne is in the newsroom. it is a bit windy out

there. yes, it is and it has been pretty grey out there. it has brightened up in scotland and northern ireland with sunshine and some showers, but quite a lot of rain in england and wales. by the end of the night most of that will be gone. there will be some breaks in the north east in particular. not so in the west because there is another band of cloud and rain on a fairly brisk wind and that will be moving steadily southwards and eastwards. some snow for a time in the hills of scotla nd some snow for a time in the hills of scotland and really windy on the western side of wales. northern scotla nd western side of wales. northern scotland should see something a bit drier and brighter. largely drive for the east midlands, east anglia and the south east and temperatures of 11 or 12. it is not going to last because in the early part of the

week we see colder air spreading south and lots of showers around, some could be heavy with hail and thunder.