will clear away but sunderland—man city could be a soggy affair. hello, this is bbc news. i'm alpa patel. the red cross has condemned the apparent use of chemical weapons during the battle to drive so—called islamic state out of the iraqi city of mosul. doctors have told the bbc that at least 12 civilians were injured by an attack, with several suffering blistering to their skin. our correspondent, wyre davies, reports from northern iraq where thousands of civilians are fleeing from mosul. an 11—year—old boy rushed to hospital after his house was struck. it released what was described as a "noxious, nauseating gas". there were 12 victims, including a month—old baby. no doubt, say doctors, it was a chemical weapons attack.

we have mainly a section of the respiratory tract, so people have breathing problems, like a spasm in an asthma attack, and the majority of the patients have developed different types of blisters, especially in the exposed areas. tonight, the international committee for the red cross said the chemical used was very likely to be mustard gas. is has threatened to use chemical weapons before, but what isn't known is what chemicals they have, how much they have and what weapons systems they have to deliver those chemicals effectively. fighting is fierce, but iraqi government forces are slowly gaining the upper hand against so—called islamic state. but, as we saw this week, what they say they are finding as they advance is evidence is has been stockpiling large amounts of chemicals.

this man is a senior is commander and spoke to the bbc at the detention centre where he is being held, in northern iraq. to him, chemical weapons, drones dropping bombs and using civilians as human shields are alljustifiable tactics to prolong is control over mosul. translation: anyone would hide himself behind others. like if you are drowning you might drag someone down with you. even a member of your family. in order to survive, people do anything they can, even if it means using humans as shield. the fight for mosul has driven thousands of people to refugee camps, already full to overflowing, with 700,000 civilians still trapped inside western mosul. that is may now be using chemical weapons is a huge concern. this man and his family

survived the warped logic of is and say they are lucky to have escaped with nothing but their lives. "under is, having a phone card or a woman refusing to cover her face could mean certain death", he says. this latest incident showing no—one is safe in the organisation that offers its own people precious little humanity. the centre—right candidate for the french presidency, francois fillon, is facing growing calls to stand down, after a series of setbacks for his campaign. now his spokesman and campaign manager have announced they are leaving. mr fillon had been the favourite to win the election, but has been dogged by allegations he paid his family public money for work they did not do. earlier, mr fillon made a direct appeal to the french people in this video message.

translation: i invite everyone to come next sunday at 3pm, with a calm and assured strength. you will make your voice heard. i hope that many of you, really many of you, will come to show everyone what the will of the militants of france looks like. us vice—president mike pence has insisted that there's "no comparison" between the way he used a private email account when he was governor of indiana and how hillary clinton used a private email server when she was secretary of state. democrats have accused the vice—president of gross hypocrisy. but mr pence insists that all his email activity complied with the law. we issued a statement on that. i am confident our e—mail practices were in full compliance with all of indiana's laws.

and my service as vice president will continue. reporter: is there a comparison to hillary clinton's practice? there's no comparison whatsoever between hillary clinton's practice in having a private server, mishandling classified information, destroying e—mails when they were requested by congress and by officials. we have fully complied with all indiana's laws. we had outside council review all of my private e—mail records to identify any e—mails that ever referenced or mentioned business... state business—related activities and we transferred all of those to the state of indiana, subject to public access. in other news: former haitian president rene preval has died aged 7a. the cause of death was not given. he is the only

democratically—elected leader in haiti's history to serve two separate full terms. his second term will be remembered more than anything for the earthquake that destroyed much of the capital port—au—prince, killing some 200,000 people. the american man who was shot while trying to intervene in a deadly gun attack on two indian men at a kansas bar has been invited to visit india. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the elusive british graffiti artist banksy opens a hotel on the west bank, with a message for the middle east. the pilot of the plane which caused the shoreham airshow disaster in which 11 people died performed an acrobatic manoeuvre that was too low and too slow. those are the findings of the final report into the crash in 2015

by air accident investigators. the pilot, who survived, says he remembers nothing about the crash but investigators say he could have aborted the manoeuvre to prevent the accident as richard westcott reports. it's still shocking. a vintage jet crashing out of the blue onto a packed road, killing 11 people. today's report explains what happened. as pilot andy hill begins his loop, he's more than 300 feet too low and nearly 50mph too slow. at the top of the manoeuvre, the engine should be at full power but it's not. he's still too low and too slow but doesn't seem to realise. and four seconds later, by around this point here, he could, potentially still have saved the plane. he didn't. andy hill says he can't remember anything about the accident, so we may never know why. the investigators found

that he was used to flying a much smaller plane and may have got confused. this pilot was also qualified to fly other aircraft at displays, including another vintage jet aircraft called thejet provost. we found that the jet provost, at the top of such a manoeuvre, would achieve the speed and height very similar to that achieved in the accident flight. it's certainly a possibility that he had misremembered the figures from the other aircraft type. the report says a lack of safety planning was the reason this accident was so deadly. no—one was clear who was in charge of safety, was it the organisers, or was it the regulator? plenty was done to protect people inside the airshow, but almost no thought went into protecting people who happened to be driving by. i remember seeing it hit the ground and at that moment ijust instinctively turned away and covered my face. thomas was standing on this spot when the hunter crashed just feet away, the fireball burning

his hands and legs. slightly angry that not enough thought was put into the planning, into the risk assessment. the report showed there was a lax culture around the preparation of these displays. the feeling was that it was safe last year, if you put it on again, it will be the same. among the 11 who died was mark reeves, a 53—year—old plane enthusiast whose family gave their reaction. the early days of this crash were getting over, trying to move on with, you know, get back to normality with the funeral but as time has gone on it has turned to the investigation, why this has happened. it's turned to how it could happen and i don't see a near end in sight. the families now know why this plane crashed but with the pilot still being investigated for manslaughter and the inquests to come, it may be months before they know if anyone will be

held to account. the latest results from northern ireland's assembly elections show a significant increase in support for sinn fein. the democratic unionist party look likely to be the biggest party though the full results won't be known until later today. following that, coalition talks will need to succeed to avoid direct rule being re—imposed from westminster. this report, from our ireland correspondent chris buckler, contains some flash photographer. this election marks a moment for sinn fein. a time the leadership were keen to capture and remember. if walking out of government was a gamble for the party, it's paid off. they've increased their share of the vote, narrowing the gap between them and the coalition members of the dup. a victory for sinn fein‘s leader at stormont, michelle 0'neill.

i said consistently we weren't interested in going back to the status quo. that remains the position. the dup have fundamentally changed their ways. the democratic unionist party still have the largest share of the first preference votes, but only just. arlene foster! and to an extent arlene foster is putting on a brave face. she was forced from the office of first minister and sinn fein broke down the power—sharing. now there is work to be done and work to quickly mend the relationship which has been frayed by the discord of this election. belfast has long had reputational links to divisive politics. if anything this election in stormont has cemented that. people will turn to the ballot box to make their choice. that follows the bitter fallout over many things.

that's anything but a laughing matter for those who find themselves voting again, just ten months after the last election. i think there's too much bickering and fighting. instead of what they are elected for, instead of looking after the people and trying to do something for the people, there is too much in—house fighting. but if there is public frustration with that old battle between irish nationalists and british unionists, it didn't benefit stormont‘s opposition parties. i shall make my statement and leave the stage. this evening the ulster unionist mike nesbitt stepped down, taking responsibility for his party's poor performance. in contrast, this now seems to have been a picture—perfect campaign for sinn fein‘s michelle 0'neill. some claim arlene foster may have squandered the republicans‘ vote, having compared them to crocodiles during the campaign. sinn fein benefited most in this snap election. the human remains of infants

and children have been uncovered at a former home for single mothers and babies in ireland. forensic scientists say they've identified significant numbers of human remains, including those of babies. excavations have been underway at the site in county galway since october. digging began after a government commission was set up in response to claims about the deaths of nearly 800 infants between 1925 and 1961. this news is very disturbing and will touch everyone's heart. there we re will touch everyone's heart. there were strong suspicions about burials for some time and it was one of the reasons for setting up the commission of investigation. the information i have received confirms the suspicions and trace the remains at specifically to the period of the

homes operation rather than to earlier time in our history, such as during the famine.. reports from france suggest the owner of peugeot and citroen has reached an agreement to buy vauxhall and 0pel from the american car—maker general motors. the deal will raise concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories, which employ more than 4,000 people. sir bruce forsyth has returned home from hospital after spending five nights in intensive care. the veteran entertainer was taken to hospital on sunday after developing a severe chest infection. the 89 year—old is now recovering at his surrey home. this is bbc news — the headlines: twelve people have been injured in what seems like a chemical weapons attack on mosul. the iraqi government said is militants were responsible. french presidential candidate francois fillon suffers yet another blow as his campaign manager quits. the prime minister has set her

sights on the scottish nationalists as she accused them of tunnel vision at the tory party conference in glasgow. the snp a accused her of mind—boggling hypocrisy. mrs may claimed this snp is pursuing independence at any cost and called on the party faithful to campaign for a united britain post brexit. the snp said she was making a power grab. welcome to glasgow. a lonely protest came out to greet the prime minister who has come here to train resist another referendum scottish independence. theresa may has heard the warning is that the snp might try to call and other vote. she said

they should focus on governing scotland. politics is not a game and governance is not a platform for which to pursue constitutional obsessions. a tunnel vision nationalism which focuses only on independence at any cost sells scotla nd independence at any cost sells scotland short. butjust in case, she is already rehearsing the argument against scottish independence and for the union. we are four nations but at heart we are one people. let us live up to that high ideal and let us never stop making loudly and clearly the positive optimistic and passionate case for our precious union of nations and of people. thank you. clear message from to to nicola sturgeon. stop all this talk about independence. people of scotland don't want another referendum. it is certainly the very last thing the

prime minister wants. nobody he wa nts to prime minister wants. nobody he wants to fight a referendum while also negotiating brexit. scottish tories are on the up. once written off, they are now the snp's biggest challenges. they insist they want to stop another referendum because it would be divisive. not because they might lose. if there is to be another referendum on scottish independence do you think you would win? eleanor there is every chance that the campaign could win by even more. the economic case for independence has utterly collapsed and also the snp forcing us onto a public in scotland and don't want it would see them make an immediate hit. it will make a far higher mountain to climb. outside the conference, some people are already preparing for the fight. senior snp figures say it is the proud minister's refusal to a separate bespoke exit dealfor minister's refusal to a separate bespoke exit deal for scotland that might lead to another referendum. bespoke exit deal for scotland that might lead to another referendumm the uk government doesn't reach a concert —— compromise with the

scottish people there will be another referendum because we have to protect place in europe. 0ver another referendum because we have to protect place in europe. over the rhetoric means something and shirov packs ash respects the people of scotla nd packs ash respects the people of scotland and scottish government or there will be another referendum. there may soon have a battle on their hands. all drivers applying for a minicab license in london will have to pass a written and spoken english test before they can get behind the wheel. that's because the taxi app, uber, has lost its high court battle with transport for london. uber‘s claim that the requirement was discriminatory was thrown out by the high court. the taxi firm says tens of thousands of drivers could now lose theirjobs as they can't pass the written test as sophie long reports. uber, the smartphone app that's become a popular way to get about town.

but transport for london set a requirement that from october all private hire drivers, which include minicab and uber drivers, should not only be able to speak english, but pass a written test too. such a lovely man. he loves his comedy. hasan has been a private hire driverfor 15 years and driving for uber for three. he passed the speaking and listening test, but failed the written one. i took the test. they was asking me about mars. can you write anything about mars? i'm only a minicab driver in london. how i know about mars? they can ask me anything about london, about prime minister's name, about any mp name, about uk, not about mars. i don't know what to do in the future. i have no idea. uber operates in 25 towns and cities across the uk. over 40,000 drivers have signed up to work with them. of those, the vast majority work in london, where they make over a million journeys every week. horns blare.

traditional london cabbies protesting about the taxi app and changing regulations in part prompted the introduction of the test. uber challenged it, saying it would lead to indirect racial discrimination and result in more than 30,000 of their drivers losing their livelihoods. the mayor of london welcomed the ruling, saying, he's delighted the courts have backed his plans to drive up standards and improve passenger safety. and drivers of the traditional hackney cab are with him. i'm pleased it's coming, because it keeps standards high in the capital. they've got to go through some sort of test. we have to go through a test. write an essay for a teacher about a festival in a country you know. you should give examples of what happens at the festival and explain why the festival is important. yeah, well, i mean, i don't know what to say about that to be honest. do you think it's fair enough? i'd say definitely, yeah. oh dear! the more difficult they make it for uber, the better it is for us london cab

drivers, to be honest. uber say writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from a to b, and they'll appeal. in the meantime, hasan and thousands of other private hire drivers like him will need to think about other possible routes ahead. sophie long, bbc news, london. the football association wants to introduce new rules to make life easier for referees. it's to help them make accurate decisions on the pitch — and be less a target of abuse. a meeting of the international football association board also made plans to introduce video playback for controversial decisions in next season's fa cup. richard conway has more. foot all is behaving badly. —— footballers. they want to improve

footballers. they want to improve football behaviour and give referees are helping hand. captains will be asked to take on a greater leadership row —— that role. today at wembley, the men and women who stand guard over football's laws are proved a package of measures including sin bins for yellow card offences in amateur foot wall and a greater use of technology as planned. sensors to determine if a goal has been scored are already in use but experiments with video replays will now be extended to decide other contentious decisions. with a reason should be reassured tonight after these measures. definitely referees should be reassured. they know they have the full backing. they already have tools today they can use but we will make sure we can assist them even more. many sports such as rugby have a long established culture of respect. well, at least when it

comes to dealing with officials. now football wa nts comes to dealing with officials. now football wants to follow suit. discipline, 0k? football wants to follow suit. discipline, ok? it is tough to be a rapper rewrite now but officials hope these new rules will make it easierfor them in the hope these new rules will make it easier for them in the long time. hope these new rules will make it easierfor them in the long time. at the grassroots level there are fears of some referees will simply turned their back on the game given the treatment they say they received. this weekend the number of amateur rapper rhys planned to strike. the s a say just rapper rhys planned to strike. the s a sayjust under 4000 quid per season. “— a sayjust under 4000 quid per season. —— the fa. 0ne young referee is now in talks with the governing body over his concerns. he believes a stand must be taken. —— amateur rapper ariz. we have tried speaking. we have tried dealing with players. —— referee. if you are abusing them ona —— referee. if you are abusing them on a regular basis, this is what you are coming up against. sorry but we are coming up against. sorry but we are striking and enjoy your weekend

because we will enjoy power. knowing that we are safe. respect is a much used a word within football. the game's guardians are hoping it will make it more friendly at every level. his works already adorn walls the world over. now the elusive graffiti artist banksy has gone a step further and opened a hotel next to israel's separation barrier in bethlehem which cuts through the occupied west bank. it's a hotel with a political message and is proving a controversial addition to the city's tourist itinerary as alex forsyth has been finding out. steeped in irony — an artist's take on the grand hotels of a bygone age. this one claims to have the worst view in the world. the concrete slabs of the barrier israel has built in and around the occupied west bank are just feet away. this hotel as much a political statement as a new business. inside, echoes of an english

gentlemen‘s club. but the artwork is a sharp contrast. banksy‘s critical view of life under israeli occupation, designed to persuade visitors of the palestinians' plight. as you lay down in your bed and you will look at the wall and you will look at the paintings all around you, and you will see the agony and the images of what could be a different future. and i believe that's the best mobilisation message for people to get on their feet and act. the elusive artist has left his mark on the west bank before. there's even a shop selling his merchandise in bethlehem. his provocative art — not always popular — does attract attention. when banksy‘s work first appeared here in the west bank and then in gaza, there was some concern he was depicting palestinians as downtrodden, and some criticism in that by painting on the wall he was somehow normalising it, even making a feature out of it.

and from an israeli perspective, undermining something they see as essential to their security. the architects of the controversial separation barrier have always defended its existence. we had so many terror attacks from the west bank to israel from 2000, until 2006, and even these days, there is still terrorists, that are trying to cross from the west bank to israel and we have to stop them. but for critics the barrier is an infringement on freedom, a reason to protest, and now, an experience to pay for, with prices from tens, to hundreds of pounds a night, for a room with a view. alex forsyth, bbc news, bethlehem. now the weather with louise lear. friday was a miserable day so few of

us. but friday was glorious. let's look at this weather watcher picture. not a cloud in the sky. a beautiful day at cross the far north of scotland. for most of us, it was grey and grim. a lot of heavy rain around. this poor old garden in ba rnsley around. this poor old garden in barnsley tells the tale, really. it could be a soggy affair for some of us over could be a soggy affair for some of us over the weekend but not all the time. there will be rain around but some of us could manage to get some dry weather as well. particularly where you look at the low pressure. it is circulating around that low on the outer edge and there will be stronger winds. further inland, we should get a decent slice of dry weather. to try and put that in context, it looks like scotland will have a different day today. a lot of cloud, some rain around and snow to the tops of the mountains. showery outbreaks of rain into northern ireland and a fair amount of cloud into northern england. just had a

further south and it is not a bad start on a saturday morning across much of central and southern england and wales. it will be windy and wet at times in the far south—west. the strongest of the wind circulating around the outside edge in that area of low pressure. central and eastern parts of england, not a bad day. there should be a decent slice of sunshine coming through and with some shelter and sunshine, that temperatures will fill reasonable at around ten or 12 degrees. not so the case with the rain further north. for many of the premiership matches, it looks as though it will be a largely dry as they are and we will see are few showers for the liverpool arsenal even in kick off. as we move out of saturday, we have

been talking about the potential of stormy weather. still the risk of snow. significant snow to come. for us, a frontal system pushing into the far south—west brings a different story to sunday. for many, a grim start to the second half of the weekend with some heavy rain moving steadily north and east as we go through the date and the wind is increasing as well. it will be actively —— dismal start. —— today. for the tot and everton match, it could be a soggy affair. as we move into monday and tuesday, it looks as though we will continue to seek an u nsettled though we will continue to seek an unsettled spell of weather. gladly but largely dry down the south. the latest headlines from bbc news: i'm alpa patel. the red cross says chemical weapons appear to have been used in the iraqi city of mosul. government forces are trying to liberate the city from so—called islamic state. it's understood that 12 people have been hospitalised but it's unclear exactly which chemical was used. the centre—right candidate in the french presidential race, francois fillon, has suffered another setback. his campaign manager has quit. mr fillon has already dismissed allegations that he misued public money to employ his wife.

many within his republican party are calling for him to step aside. a former journalist, juan thompson, has been accused of making bomb threats gainstjewish centres and of cyber—stalking his ex—girlfriend. it's lso alleged thompson sent threats to a jewish school in michigan, thejewish history museum in new york and a community center in manhattan.