this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. the headlines at 8pm. president trump says he has "total" confidence in his attorney general, despite growing cells forjeff sessions to resign over his contact with the russian ambassador. the police watchdog is warning that cutbacks to forces in england and wales are putting the public at risk, because services are having to be rationed. england's nhs is on a ‘burning platform' — unable to meet the needs of the population — a warning from the chief inspector of hospitals. shares in the company that owns the messaging service snapchat have jumped by more than forty per cent on its stock market debut. also in the next hour...what does it take to become the uk's capital of culture? 11 locations around the uk put their hat into the ring to take over the title from hull in 2021. and at 8245 howard jacobson talks about his latest novel inspired by the rise of donald trump in meet the author

good evening and welcome to bbc news. the american president donald trump has said he has every confidence in his attorney generaljeff sessions after mr sessions was accused of lying under oath to the senate about his contact with a russian diplomat. the senate hearing to a permanent appointment as attorney general, he said he had not communicated with any russians during the presidential election campaign. after it was confirmed he had two meetings with russia's ambassador to the us in july and september, senior democrats demanded his wreck resignation and

called on the fbi to launch a criminal investigation. jon sopel reports. well, that didn't last long. the afterglow from president trump's acclaimed joint address has now been taken over by claims that the newly installed attorney—general lied under oath during his confirmation hearings over his contacts with the russians. and that's brought calls forjeff sessions to resign and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate links between the administration and vladimir putin's government. the fact that the attorney—general, the top cop in our country, lied under oath, to the american people, is grounds for him to resign. is grounds for him to resign. he has proved that he is unqualified and unfit to serve in that position of trust. republicans aren't going that far, but are backing calls that he should probably withdraw or recuse himself from any investigation into those links. based on what we've read, and the information is not complete, i think the attorney—general should further clarify and i do think he's going to need to recuse

himself at this point. what's emerged is that then senator sessions met the russian ambassador at the republican convention injuly. he met him again in september, but at his confirmation hearing this january, he denied any contact with the russians. if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government, in the course of this campaign, what will you do? senator frankin, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i didn't have any communications with the russians and i'm unable to comment on it. today, the attorney—general denied any wrongdoing. i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false and i don't have anything else to say about that. so, thank you.

we've now had the national security adviser fired over his links to russia. we've had the attorney—general accused of perjuring himself because of his contacts and the white house is absolutely insistent, there is nothing untoward, there is nothing to see and the crowd should move on. but the questions keep piling up. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. we'll be speaking to our correspondent in a few minutes time to get more on all of that. we'll find out how this story and all the other top stories are being covered on tomorrow morning's front pages. my on tomorrow morning's front pages. my guests will be ben riley smith, deputy political editor at the telegraph and john crowley, editor in chief of the international business times uk. day with us for that. policing in some areas is putting the public at risk, that is the warning from the police standards watchdog which says there

are too few detectives, leading a third of police forces in england and wales in a potentially perilous state with victims being let down from a criminal case is not investigated and suspects not followed up. home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has more. officers from bedford police raiding the home of a suspected drug mule this morning. on a day that inspectors graded the force has inadequate. the worst force in england and wales. a grading the chief constable claims on chronic underfunding. this grading is not a correct grading for bedfordshire. if you're going to talk about inadequate, talk about inadequate resources and funding, that has been a case in this force for some ten yea rs a case in this force for some ten years now. among the many failings, the inspectors found anti—social behaviour, like this motorbike riding ina behaviour, like this motorbike riding in a park in dunstable, has soared, while shannon mcmahon told me she was assaulted on boxing day and has had an inadequate response.

when i called the police they were like, yeah, we'll send someone out and nobody turned up until three days later. then the guy went on leave until the 27th of last month andi leave until the 27th of last month and i still haven't heard back. while bedfordshire police was the only force branded inadequate, inspectors said they were raising a large and deep red flag about other forces, warning they were arresting fewer people, shelving crimes without investigating properly, and failing to track down suspects relentlessly. while two thirds of forces were rated as good or outstanding, inspectors found that in some places local policing is being eroded. there is a national crisis in the severe shortage of detectives and a lack of grip in tracking down suspects. with that erosion of local policing the greatest concern. some forces are beginning to take officers out of neighbourhood policing to focus on other areas. we are saying that erosion of neighbourhood policing

cannot be allowed to happen. despite eight years of austerity, the policing minister insisted this was not about forces being under resourced. this is very clearly about how forces use those resources , about how forces use those resources, how they are able to adapt. the scenes of the really good police forces judged as good, even outstanding. the per capita funding is lower than some of those failing. though crime has been failing, police are grappling with new issues like cybercrime and a wave of historic allegations of sexual offences. as other public services like mental health have to austerity, the police have become the service of last resort. with money short, the inspectors found some forces had been quicker to adapt to the new policing environment. daniel sandford, bbc news, bedfordshire. joining me from our central london studios is keith best, chief executive of survivors uk — a charity that helps male victims of rape and sexual abuse. thank you forjoining us. we heard

in that report, some police forces are saying because they have inadequate resources and funding, having to cut back on dealing with anti—social behaviour... some minor assaults being ignored or put on the back burner. is your very real fear that the people you represent, the people you are trying to help, their problems and issues may also be put on the back burner because of problems we're seeing with funding in the british police? that is a concern, we acknowledge the police are under enormous pressure. when you're dealing with adult males who have been raped or sexually abused, as we do, and that is exclusively the work we do, providing therapeutic counselling and emotional support for people who have been through that experience, i should add 75% of our clients have been abused as children. when you realise over the last three years there has been an 80% increase in

complaints about sexual abuse, not just by men, but across the spectrum, men and women, and when you have the chief constable of norfolk, who also heads up operation hydra nt, norfolk, who also heads up operation hydrant, which is the operation trying to provide a more welcoming atmosphere in police stations and among police forces so people can disclose what has happened to them... he's saying by the year 2020 them... he's saying by the year 2020 the police will be dealing with something like 200,000 cases of child sexual abuse. the problem is that it child sexual abuse. the problem is thatitis child sexual abuse. the problem is that it is extraordinarily difficult to persuade people to come forward and talk about what's happened to them. it can take decades before people feel able, for reason, to be able to come forward and talk about their experiences. somejust able to come forward and talk about their experiences. some just want to come to an organisation like ours,

and receive the emotional support we can offer. when you have that great relu cta nce can offer. when you have that great reluctance for a vast number of reasons i won't go into for reasons of time, when you have that relu cta nce of time, when you have that reluctance you don't want to put any further impediment or barriers up for people coming forward and saying, this is what happened to me. but the fact the police are under resourced and the fact, as you've pointed out, we are seeing a massive increase in the incidence of abuse allegations and so on, the fact police are under pressure, does that mean they are not giving the kind of service you would hope they would be able to give in dealing with these abuse cases? that is the fear. operation hydrant, i mentioned chief co nsta ble operation hydrant, i mentioned chief constable simon bain, i've had many meetings with him, i believe their heart is in the right place, they have got protocols and procedures

now which, when they've tried to change the culture among the police, to actually make the police much more welcoming of people who are reporting abuse, to try to show they are accepting their evidence, until such time as there is evidence to the contrary. and to try to create a much more forgiving climate in which people can come and talk about what has happened to them. that is from the top. what we can't be satisfied about is that it's filtering through down to the local bobby on the beat or local police station in a remote area, something of that nature. when those people are under enormous pressure, the danger is they won't follow those guidelines and they will tend to dismiss or put on the back burner and allegation from a complaint of sexual abuse, when they've got something that they consider to be more important. of course at the end of the day it all does come down to chief constables

and police and crime conditioners, as to where they put the emphasis. —— police and crime commissioners. what they want to go after by way of criminality in their particular area. it's about their priority and what they decide to pursue. keith best thank you very much forjoining us. the chief inspector of hospitals in england has given a stark warning about the state of the nhs, saying it's standing on a "burning platform", with four out of five trusts needing to improve patient safety. professor sir mike richards says the traditional model of caring for patients is no longer capable of delivering the needs of today's population. our health editor hugh pym has the story. bring your baby across and let you know about the checks we are going to do on him today. a new birth today and a new beginning for this hospital in cambridge. maternity and other services were rated inadequate by the regulator, the care quality commission, in 2015. the trust, which includes addenbrooke's, was put into special measures, but now it's tackled the problems and is rated "good".

it was a very big shock for our patients. the boss who helped steer the hospital from the low point of special measures back to where it should be, told me how they went about it. the wider leadership teams invested a huge amount of their time, you know in some cases well over two days a week, in going out to frontline clinical areas and talking to staff and listening to them and listening to patients about what needed to improve in the organisation. the care quality commission makes clear that while there are successful turnarounds like at this hospital, there are others where there is cause for concern and where care is still falling short. the cqc report said across major hospital trusts in england, 68% were rated as inadequate or needing improvement. 81% was said to need to improve safety but 93% were praised for the caring attitude of staff. but those ratings were done before this winter's extreme pressure in hospitals and the cqc says

the whole system needs a complete overhaul. of course i have concerns about what has been happening and i think we need to take a long look at that to see what more can be done in terms of improving the acute care model, from emergency admissions, through the hospital, through to discharge. so we need to look across the country at all of those things. but some hospitals are managing it better than others. the system as a whole is under strain but for some hospitals the mood is more relaxed. those who having had a bad inspection have turned things around and got high marks for patient care. hugh pym bbc news. let's turn to the top story and the controversies surrounding president trump's top legal officer jeff sessions. washington correspondent anthony zurcherjoins me now. it's good to see you as ever. how much trouble as mr sessions in. even

republicans are beginning to break ra nks republicans are beginning to break ranks and say at the very least he needs to recuse himself from any investigation that he might have been involved in looking at the trump campaign's alleged ties to russia. it's certainly an uncomfortable situation for the attorney general. so far the republicans when they are breaking ra nks republicans when they are breaking ranks are only doing it as far as asking for recusal, the real tower will be whether any republicans start calling for him to resign, certainly, or at the very least an independent investigation, whether a special congressional committee, tasked solely with looking into trump campaign ties to russia or an independent counsel free of executive and legislative branches that will have a duty to look into all of this independently. that is where you could really get into a whole can of worms for the trump administration because we seen in the past independent counsel such as the past independent counsel such as the one that looked that bill clinton in the 1990s can become a

wide—ranging enquiry. clinton in the 1990s can become a wide-ranging enquiry. that is the last thing the president wants. —— inquiry. he says he has 100% confident in mr sessions and that he will stick with him. right, and one of his spokespeople said he had 100% confident in michael flynn the day before michael flynn was asked to resign as national security adviser. the difference between michael flynn here and jeff sessions isjeff sessions was instrumental in crafting policy, in being an advocate, in supporting donald trump during the campaign. he was the first high—profile politician to endorse donald trump when he ran for president, before he became the frontrunner in that campaign. he also had to be confirmed by the senate. so it would be much more difficult to replace him as attorney general. but the thing that some claim, remember, is there were revelations about exactly what he talked to russian officials about. if any of that came out, the details

of these conversations, with attorney general sessions, then i think it would be extremely damaging, make it much harder to continue to stand by him. thanks for that, anthony zurcher in washington. the headlines on bbc news: president trump says he has total confident in his attorney general. despite growing calls forjeff sessions to resign over his contacts with russia's ambassador. the police watchdog is one input cutbacks to forces in england and wales are putting the public at risk because services are having to be rationed. a warning england's nhs is on a burning platform, unable to meet the needs of the population. time for a bit of sport. olly foster has the details. where were you last night when manchester city were thumping huddersfield? i had ben brown

instead. you don't want a liverpool fan ona instead. you don't want a liverpool fan on a night like that. a terrible week for british cycling. in 2a hours they have issued two statements. yesterday admitting serious failings in their record—keeping. those missing medical records. today they apologised for failings again after the conclusion of the review into a culture of bullying and discrimination at the organisation. he raised dan roan. for years the story was one of success, british cycling defined by medals and glory. but now there is an image crisis amid a damaging tide of allegations. all deny but today the man tasked with salvaging the governing body's reputation told me it was time for cycling to say sorry. do you go ride stuff and apology today? we've already met with groups of riders and stuff and we've made it very clear that where there have been failings we apologise for those, we recognise them and we're going to do

something about them and move forward. there was a bullying culture british cycling? there have been somewhat reported incidences where behaviour was unacceptable. today with training here continuing as normal, british cycling unveiled as normal, british cycling unveiled a39 as normal, british cycling unveiled a 39 point action plan to overhaul government and athlete welfare. last yearformer government and athlete welfare. last year former sprint cyclistjess varnish complained about sexism and bullying amid a culture of fear with the sport's high—performance coaching programme. a decade ago jenny culshaw was national mountain biking champion and had she was a victim of discrimination. i've certainly known of staff who have said to me down the years, particularly when i retired, that they supported and had felt bad for my situation. but hadn't been able to say anything. because they were worried about their job. to say anything. because they were worried about theirjob. the idea of job preservation was almost a joke amongst riders in the way that

management behaved and decisions we re management behaved and decisions were made. british cycling's credibility was further damaged yesterday when mps heard about a failure to keep records and medical treatments for riders. this is my house. the man at the centre of the storm, sir bradley wiggins, today refusing to speak about the contents ofa refusing to speak about the contents of a now infamous medical package delivered to him in 2011. and those who fund the sport are unimpressed. your most successful governing body is in crisis, isn't it? there is a lot going on around british cycling, a numberof fires lot going on around british cycling, a number of fires that seem to be going off in different areas. and it's difficult for them at this point in time. i was shocked and disturbed by what i heard yesterday, particularly around the area of medical management. and medical record—keeping. medical management. and medical record-keeping. these are dark days for the sport and with publication of what is known to be an explosive report into cycling's culture expected in the coming weeks, lifting the gloom will not be easy.

dan roan, bbc news. andy murray had to say seven match point against philipp kohlschreiber to reach the semifinals at the dubai championship ‘s tonight. the german had beaten murray just once ‘s tonight. the german had beaten murrayjust once in five meetings. he'd always taken at least one set off the scot. he took the first on a tie—break. the world number one got the first break of the match early in the second to go to — one up but wasn't able to hold onto that lead. the set went the way of the first, into a tie—break. this was epic, marie said he had never played a tie—break like it in the whole of his career, it lasted over half an hour. he took it 20—18 to level the match. it really knocked the stuffing out of the german because murray lost just one stuffing out of the german because murray lostjust one game in the final set. he'll what a quarterfinal at once. two games into billy tonight, castleford

tigers who started the season with two winds of made a really strong start at home to leeds rhinos. just over two minutes on the clock. when they worked the ball up to greg eden. they've scored twice more since then. 14—0. greg minnich and with both tries. that is the sport for now. more in the next hour, see you then. that news has come into us, our top story concerns the potential future of jeff sessions, the us attorney general. newly installed. of course there are allegations he had unauthorised meetings with representatives from the russian government in washington as part of the trump campaign. during the election last year. now the attorney general mr sessions is going to hold a news conference in about... just over half an hour's time. 2100 gmt

london time. we're going to find out what he's going to say on all of this. he gave a statement this morning as he was heading to work, saying he didn't believe he'd done anything inappropriate. democrats claim he lied to congress, lied to the senate, the senate committee hearing. looking into whether or not hearing. looking into whether or not he lied when ascot straight question, what would you do if there we re question, what would you do if there were any connections between members of the trump campaign and the russians doing that election campaign? jeff sessions made it clear as far as he was aware there had been no meeting is whatsoever between trump representatives and the russian ambassador in the weeks and months leading up to last month's election. last year's election. jeff sessions, the man on the screen, will be giving a news conference to flesh out a little bit more and that will be coming up in about 35 minutes time.

french police have raided the home of french presidential candidate francois fillon as part of a probe into alleged corruption. the centre—right candidate is accused of spending tax payer money on fake parliamentaryjobs given to his wife. this evening he campaigned in the city of nime, after vowing to stay in the race despite the controversy surrounding the corruption claims. the ongoing investigation has severely damaged fillon's chances in the upcoming elections. meanwhile the leader of the national front, marine le pen, has lost her european union immunity from prosecution for tweeting graphic images of atrocities carried out by so—called islamic state. the european parliament voted to lift the french presidential candidate's immunity in the case, which was opened by french prosecutors in 2015. until now, le pen's position as an mep had meant she couldn't be prosecuted. all of the controversy came as the candidate who many see as the front—runner, emmanuel macron, unveiled his manifesto. the centrist promised to ban

nepotism in parliament, and spoke about transforming france's rigid labour market. translation: we in our project have chosen first of all to look to the future. the transformation of the world of work, the transformation of our productive model. the digital transition. these are risks. but they are also brilliant opportunities, and so at the heart of this project this is the refusal to acknowledge defeat. i will not say in this project that we have already lost the battle over the nature of work. no, work is going to change and we will be part of that change. we will go with it and transform the balance of forces. earlier i spoke to our paris correspondent hugh schofield. he began by talking about today's search of fillon's home. this is the running story this

evening, francois fillon, we've had used there has been a police raid, not a rage, it's not that, but they have searched his flat looking for evidence relating to the investigation. that is news but not surprising because we know there is an investigation open, and we know ina an investigation open, and we know in a couple of weeks he will appear before thejudge. he is expected in a couple of weeks he will appear before the judge. he is expected to before the judge. he is expected to be placed on the from an investigation personally, hence the crisis, because there is a crisis in the fillon camp. we're seeing defections by large numbers of people from his party, the republican party, people who were aligned with his rival in the primaries are distancing themselves from him. he lost the deputy director of his campaign, more and more mps say we should be looking foran more mps say we should be looking for an alternative candidate at this late date. there is a sense things

are moving fast on the fillon front, though he is in the south talking to an audience. on telly he says he's not budging, he says, the people with me, i'm not moving. we're showing the viewers some of his speech in mina. the man who seems to have benefited the most is emmanuel macron. he's finally laid out an agenda, a lot of people suggesting he's a little bit too much of a style merchant, not having much substance. but he did lay out an agenda today that could be the platform for a successful run. yeah, those accusers are silent. there will be perfectly legitimate attacks and criticisms on what he has said but to accuse him out ofjust being a style merchant, as you put it, is wrong. there is substance here, some of it quite controversial. he's

talking about changing the pension system so there is no longer this two ca re system so there is no longer this two care system between private and public sector, it means bringing the two together. they've tried in the past and it's brought thousands of public sector workers onto the streets. he's talking about com pletely streets. he's talking about completely revamping the whole social security system so it is paid by tax, not contributions, so where the state runs it it's not one in partnership between unions and business. a complete break with the way the country has long been since the second world war. and it shows, i think, his proposals are very real, very concrete, and certainly need to be taken seriously. and that he is not just need to be taken seriously. and that he is notjust someone who is like an internet style guru, like some people have said he is. hugh schofield reporting. time for a look at the weather with jay wynne. a reasonable day for many parts of the uk. breezy but with spells of sunshine particularly early on. charles towards northern and western areas. notjust rain, there will be

snow over the hills of northern ireland, snow for the southern uplands as well. rain at lower levels, northern scotland, showers few and far between. it turns cold with a touch of frost. temperatures held up for the south with this area of cloud and rain moving in. it will affect many southern counties in england and parts of south wales first thing in the morning. not great on the roads with spring and surface water for the morning great on the roads with spring and surface waterfor the morning rush hour. the rain moves ever north. the southeast should begin to dry into the afternoon. wet in wales, parts of the north midlands come into southern parts of northern england with more rain into the south—west. the top temperature 11—12d in the south—east. keep the umbrella handy for the weekend. not a complete wash—out but there will be rain. hello.

this is bbc news. president trump says he has "total" confidence in his attorney general, despite growing calls forjeff sessions to resign over his contact with the russian ambassador. he is getting a news conference in a half—hour. we will bring it to you live. the police watchdog is warning that cutbacks to forces in england and wales are putting the public at risk, because services are having to be rationed. england's nhs is on a burning platform unable to meet the needs of the population — a warning from the chief inspector of hospitals. 11 locations around the uk put their hat into the ring to take over from hull as city of culture in 2021. newcastle council has denied claims it's running a campaign

against drivers after a single bus lane in the city brought in more fines than any other in england. over sixty thousand drivers were caught by the camera onjohn dobson street raising five thousand pounds in fines a day. but the council says it's not using motorists as a cash cow. mark denten reports this is david. as he drives around newcastle, something annoys him. no warning signs at all at the moment as we are about to turn off. he was snapped by a bustling camera here last year. he has since won the money back on appeal but thousands of other drivers have shelled out because this is the big daddy of bus lanes, a record breaker, taking more fines ina lanes, a record breaker, taking more fines in a single day than any other. it is just 70 yards long but

62, 975 other. it is just 70 yards long but 62,975 fines were handed it to drivers illegally using this bus lane between february and october last year, making a total of £1.5 million, or £5,690 a day. it is part ofa million, or £5,690 a day. it is part of a wider campaign throughout the city which seems to be about making the city as unattractive as possible to order many drivers. the fact of the matter is lots of people need to use their cars and the rest of the award is open to the general public, and yet a tiny bit at the bottom which isn't an accident blackspot only congestion hotspot, and yet a p pa re ntly only congestion hotspot, and yet apparently they have decided to make this unavailable to traffic 2a hours a day. the number of people caught was astronomical. the council should have immediately realised there was something not right about this. they didn't react to the fact that many people being used to the street were

taken people being used to the street were ta ken by people being used to the street were taken by surprise by this bus lane and still find it very difficult to understand why the council would think this was a sensible way of organising traffic. of course, you can change your route to avoid the camera, but that can be easier said than done. somewhere around here that i need to manage to carry it a three time, bearing in mind that fortu nately three time, bearing in mind that fortunately there is an empty space year. i don't think i will be able to do it in three points. have to time round. five point pound, maybe. ifi time round. five point pound, maybe. if i was in time round. five point pound, maybe. ifiwas ina time round. five point pound, maybe. if i was in a wagon, or a large fan, i wouldn't be able to do this the new at all. voting has started in the second election in 10 months to the northern ireland assembly. 90 members will be elected —

18 fewer than previously. polling closes at ten o'clock tonight. we will have special coverage from stormont tomorrow as the results come in. shares in snap, owner of the messaging app snapchat which allows users to send images and messages which then vanish, have begun trading on the us stock market. the flotation valued the company at $17 a share, or $24bn in all, although snap has never made a profit. the firm's inital public offering is the biggest for a us tech firm since facebook in 2012. 0k, ok, let's move on now. when the former prime minister, gordon brown and his wife lost their baby after she was born

prematurely, sarah brown set up a charity to help premature babies. now 15 years later, she says it is very uplifting to discover that the charity's research has helped save the grandchild of another labour leader, john smith. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. there we go, that's better. two—and—a—half—year—old ella, happy and a picture of health. but the little girl was born 12 weeks premature. at birth, she weighed 1lb10oz and was the size of an adult‘s hand. i wasn't sure she was going to survive at all. my husband was more upbeat than i was but, to me, it seemed impossible. but she's alive today, as her mother says, thanks to research done at a laboratory set up in memory of the daughter of gordan and sarah brown. they lost their daughter, jennifer, when she was just a few days old. what i really treasure is the ten, very, very precious days that we had with our daughter because, thanks to the care of the doctors, nurses, midwives around us,

we were able to have an extraordinary amount of time, you know, really being able to be with our daughter and all of that i have inside of me and all that love you have for your daughter, it's still all there. she received 13,000 letters after her daughter died, many from women who had suffered a similar tragedy. sarah and gordon brown went on to have two sons. a rare glimpse here of the family together as they left number ten. the memory ofjennifer remains strong. yeah, jennifer's a really important part of both of us and lives inside, you know, both our hearts and always will. i think for us as a family, with our two amazing sons, jennifer's a part of that family in her own way and for us, in our own way. as to ella, research done here at the lab into the oxygen levels given to premature babies helped save her life and she is now doing well. she's now been signed off from her consultant. they've told us not to darken

their door with a child quite so well as ella. so we are, literally, the luckiest people in the world. it's thought that up to a quarter of babies born in the uk need extra care, the research that helped save ella will continue to help others survive and thrive, just like her. lorna gordon, bbc news, edinburgh. i was talking just before that shares in snap been floated on the stock market. they are floated at $17 a share and let's see what it could mean for snap. it is the first tech stock launch of the year. it is a photo messaging application from california which has become popular among teens. the service deletes images by default

and snap says there's better reflects experiences in real life. investors are reflects experiences in real life. investors a re no reflects experiences in real life. investors are no doubt hoping for more lasting benefit but will they get it? they have no right to vote and it is unclear how the company will make profit and there has been a slowdown in the rate of active users. snap says future profits will come from the growing budget for advertising. joining me now from san francisco is our silicon valley reporter dave lee. good to see you and thanks for joining us. snap loses money hand over fist so how come it is doing so well with this flotation? it seems mad, but in silicon valley, losing money has never been a problem to any company. twitter has never made any company. twitter has never made any money despite being seen as a runaway success, at least a few yea rs runaway success, at least a few years ago. the reason people would wa nt to years ago. the reason people would want to invest then snapchat today

is the potential for what it might be at the future. at the moment it has around 150 million daily active users, who use it more than ten times a day on average, so that is very appealing, particularly because those users are very young, teenagers and twentysomethings, sober advertisers to reach that demographic that is nowhere better than snatch up for doing that. the potential, investors hope, is for that to grow and for the advertising dollars to roll in. it is all about future potential but that is currently a slowdown in active users? they have had a slowdown and are not attracting users as quickly as they were a few months ago. one of the reasons may be through increased competition from facebook, who own ends the grand, another picture messaging application that is popular among the kind of people they want to attract. in recent

months, amsterdam has been pinching some of snap chat‘s best idea. there has been a migration of people from snapchat text instagram. and if that continues that could be a problem. the selling point is suddenly being matched by facebook who have much bigger pool of people to attract and frankly a lot more money to throw at promoting the service. that is the main concern at this point. so people who buy shares in snap will have no boating rights, so is it really simply all about getting future revenue, potentially, and why don't they have any voting rights? they don't have any voting rights because the co—founders decided not to give them any! it is fairly unprecedented because if you buy shares in apple or google or anyone you do get a say, however small, in how those companies are run. that

won't be the case for the majority of investors in snap today, and the two co—founders will have over 80% of voting power and basically they are seeing if you invest in as you will trust in our ability to keep on innovating at this company. it is all good at the moment when they seem to be innovating but if they start to falter, suddenly those investors might feel like they are powerless to do anything about it. thanks for that. on the water in san francisco. army explosive experts are trying to make safe a—bomb found in north—west london. a large coffin is in place after the device was found any school ever today. the bomb was actually discovered in a building site, literally behind these buildings behind b, the army

run the scene just now trying to make this bomb safe. in the last few minutes the bomb disposal unit has also turned up. this is an extremely residential area and all homes within the squad and had been evacuated. i have been here all this afternoon and have seen people coming in and out of their homes and the police have been allowing people to go back in to collect personal belongings. the council have told me this evening the operation could ta ke this evening the operation could take up to two base but they have said all people evacuated will be put up in hotels or a local bed and brea kfasts. put up in hotels or a local bed and breakfasts. they have also set up a refuge centre in this part of north—west london. we don't know a great deal about the bomb, we have been told it is about £500, extremely begged as we can see from the picture. what people are saying is that because of the cordon it is causing extreme traffic congestion and if we turned the camera around,

you can see all the traffic congestion in this part of london causing problems this evening. eleven towns and cities have applied to become uk city of culture in 2021. perth, paisley, stoke—on—trent, sunderland, coventry and hereford had already put themselves foreard, and now, five more have thrown their hats into the ring. warrington, portsmouth, wells, swansea and the smallest city in britain, st davids. the chosen area will succeed hull, which is the city of culture for 2017. earlier i spoke to the leader of hull city council stephen brady about what the eleven candidates need to do to win. what we weren't prepared to do with the recession setting and was to manage decline. we have wonderful story to tell in hull but unless we won this competition we would never be able to tell that story. there are a lot of false perceptions about hull as there will be in many of those cities that are bedding. we

set about putting a good case for work, which i think we did. clearly because you won it. you made it clear what hull was about. what was true about hull and honest and summed up the area and summed up the city. how would you encapsulate that inafew city. how would you encapsulate that in a few words? i think it is hull's spirit. they have wonderful stories to tell. such a rich history in hull and we went out and we told those judges and we used the community to tell those judges how great the city was. and how important was that then for you to wind it and to actually be the city that you put forward and that you want other people to accept? we have wonderful theatres,

art galleries and museums, the marina area, and it would be a shame is not enough people saw it. when we landed the city of culture, huge investment started to come in, and in the last 12 months alone, £1.5 billion has been invested in the city. we have got a totally denude city. we have got a totally denude city centre. great confidence in hull, the unemployment has dropped dramatically, and people have fresh confidence in their own city. dramatically, and people have fresh confidence in their own citym sounds great, and the boon to the city and the positive message that winning this