this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm: sinn fein celebrates a surge in support in northern ireland's assembly elections. the dup is still the biggest party but with just one more seat than the republicans. president trump accuses the obama administration of tapping his phone during the presidential election campaign. concerns over the impact for 4,000 vauxhall workers in britain, as a french car company reportedly reaches a deal to buy general motors‘ european operations. a house of lords report says britain is not be legally obliged to make a final budget payment to the eu after brexit. also in the next hour: thousands of people march in london to demonstrate over nhs cuts. this is the scene live in central london. protestors have travelled to the capital from across the country. jeremy corbyn is expected to address the crowd. and click is at europe's largest tech conference, in barcelona. that's in half an hour

here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. sinn fein are celebrating their best ever showing in elections to the northern ireland assembly. with all the votes counted, they've won 27 seats, just one behind the democratic unionists. sinn fein‘s president, gerry adams, has described the result as "an end to the old status quo". the two parties now have three weeks to agree a new power—sharing coalition. from belfast, chris buckler reports. the battle between unionism and nationalism has been at the centre of politics in northern ireland for decades. and the harsh words of old returned during this election campaign. the dup leader even compared irish republicans to crocodiles.

if you feed a crocodile, they are going to keep coming back and looking for more. this vote saw republicans bite back. the increase in support for sinn fein has left them just a single seat behind the democratic unionist party. until the start of this year, they worked in coalition with their old rivals, but now the animosity has returned, and that leaves major questions about the future of power—sharing at stormont. it is time for political leadership, it is time to get back to the principles of the good friday agreement. it is time to fix what is wrong. i think that is all doable if people come at it with the right attitude. but after such a bitter break—up, getting unionists back together with republicans will not be easy, and that is particularly true because of one demand sinn fein is making of the dup. they want arlene foster to step aside as first minister while a public enquiry takes place into a financial scandal linked to a botched green—energy scheme. last night, the dup leader left her count centre having refused

all bbc interview requests. a lot of what they are asking for are undeliverable, because whilst they dress it up with nice platitudes and nice language, actually it is incredibly one—sided, it does not fit with the notion of partnership. for so long, the big beast of politics here, unionism is facing a fresh roar from nationalism. just months ago they seemed to be working together, but in unionist east belfast, where the cs lewis square has been built in honour of the author's mythical tales of battle, there is a certain concern about what is emerging. our whole government system is not working for the people who need it, because they are up there squabbling over very little, be honest. republicans are already gaining force, so they are, we should get off our backsides and get out and vote now. many see the current divisions as a return to the politics of the past, and once again a time of uncertainty for stormont.

earlier, chris buckler explained how northern ireland is experiencing turbulent times. brexit poses particular problems for northern ireland, which is remember the only part of the uk with a land border with another eu country. there's a lot of trade that crosses that border. this election result has had consequences. the ulster unionist leader has stepped down because of the poor result of his party within these elections. beyond that, the dup reduction in seats means they've lost the petition of concern, basically, a veto at stormont to block any legislation they don't like, for example, they used that to stop the introduction of same—sex marriage here. looking towards a future, the dup and sinn fein have to pick up the pieces to see if they can form a power—sharing government together that. government together. that is not going to be easy.

it raises the prospect that westminster might have to take over, at least for a time, and run government here in northern ireland while they try to come to some sort of agreement. four men have been arrested in connection with the escape of a convicted prisoner in liverpool. he was on the run last month, when two armed men confronted prison officers, guarding him. police say none of those arrested was the escaped murderer. the french carmaker which owns peugeot and citroen is reported to have reached an agreement to buy vauxhall from general motors. talk of a deal has raised concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories — at luton and ellesmere port — which employ more than 4,000 people. an official announcement is expected on monday. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. this vauxhall plant is one of the more efficient car—making factories in europe. 82% of the astras made here are exported, mostly to europe. but the workers here may have new bosses from monday, when it is likely that the company which makes peugeot cars, psa,

confirms that it has bought vauxhall and 0pel. but with too many factories in europe and not enough demand, psa is likely to have a long, hard look at which plants to keep open. and that puts vauxhall under the microscope. vauxhall employs just under 2000 staff and its ellesmere port plant, which makes astras. it van—making factory in luton employees 1,400 people, with around 18,000 jobs dependent on vauxhall throughout the uk. in all, vauxhall makes just under 200,000 cars a year, in the short—term we will see the ellesmere port plant staying open till 2021. you can't change things that quickly in the car industry. in the longer term it's very bad news for vauxhall manufacturing in the uk. it presents a lot of issues, psa has capacity to build more cars in its own plants. it doesn't need these plants in britain. of course, there are obstacles in the way with currency fluctuations, the problems posed

by brexit, with freedom of movement, freedom of movement of parts as well. nissan said this week it now needs £100 million to support car manufacturing in sunderland. bmw said it might now make battery—powered minis in germany instead of britain. and ford looks like it could be shedding more than 1000 jobs at its engine—making plant in bridgend in wales. all of these companies are demanding sweeteners from theresa may to protectjobs. and they all need to knowjust as she is in the middle of intensive and possibly divisive talks about the future trading relationship with the eu. 0ur correspondent megan paterson is in ellesmere port. there must be a lot of worry about what's going on yes, that's right. a lot of worry, a lot of apprehension

here in ellesmere port. the plant behind me employs around about 2,000 people. speaking to people in the town centre today, not far from here, there's worry about the impact it will have, notjust on the workers behind me and their families, but also on the businesses, the supply chain and all of the economy which relies very heavily on this plant here. speaking to people today, they told us there isn't really another large employer like vauxhall in this area. ifjobs we re like vauxhall in this area. ifjobs were to be lost, unemployment would bea were to be lost, unemployment would be a big concern here. union representatives, members of parliament, have already been campaigning hard here forfurther guarantees for workers. that campaign likely to be stepped up dramatically as we hear news of those meetings yesterday. it's understood that jobs those meetings yesterday. it's understood thatjobs would be protected here until 2020, but what would happen after that is clearly a major worry. we hope to see full announcements on monday of what exactly will happen here. speaking to people, they say the uncertainty in the factory has been rumbling on for a number of weeks. people now

wa nt to for a number of weeks. people now want to know what will happen and how and if theirjobs will be protected here. megan, many thanks. mercedes is recalling 75,000 cars in the uk because they're at risk of catching fire. they are among one million cars affected worldwide, after 51 fires were reported. the company says the risk is small and that nobody has been injured. many mercedes models built between 2015 and 2017 could be affected. thousands of people are marching in london today to to protest at cuts to nhs services. 0rganisers say theresa may's demands on austerity in the nhs represent a real risk to patients and safety. we can cross live now to richard lister who's at the rally. no cuts, no closures, no privatisation is the mantra here. this rally has taken something like three months to organise. this morning 150 coaches from all across

england and from wales descended on the centre of london for protesters to ta ke the centre of london for protesters to take part in this. whitehall, to my right, on the approach to parliament square, has been solid with people for about an hour now. they're still streaming into the square to hear the speeches that you can probably hear behind me, among the speakers will be senior union leaders and also, of course, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, will be speaking to crowd later. they will be hoping for tens of thousands of people here. it looks like they've probably got their wish. it's hard to say how many people have taken part. it's a substantial number. what they‘ re have taken part. it's a substantial number. what they're really concerned about is that perhaps the government eye has been taken from the ball a bit when it comes to the nhs because of what one protester described to me as the oxygen of debate being taken up by brexit over recent months. the people here want to make the point that the government —— to the government that they are not satisfied with the direction the government is taking

the nhs. they are deeply concerned about the fact that, for example, pay rates in the nhs have fall anyone real terms by about 14% since 2010. that waiting times are up. that hospital beds seem to be on the verge of being cut again. those here are trying to send a message, a week before the budget is due to be revealed, that they don't want to see that continue. richard, thank you the us president donald trump has accused his predecessor, barack obama, of wire—tapping his phone a month before he was elected. he described president obama as a bad or sick guy but offered no evidence to support his claims. using his personal twitter account, mr trump claims that mr obama is behind tapping trump tower's phones in the lead up to last november's presidential election. in a following tweet, the us president compares this alleged episode to the watergate scandal. 0ur correspondent laura bicker is in washington. president trump offered no evidence

for these assertions, where has this come from? it seems that if you look at the bright bart news, a conservative publication, the former publication of his chief strategist, they came out with a story alleging that there should be an investigation into president 0bama's conduct, because they believe it was under his orders that the fbi started to conduct an investigation into whether or not some of the trump campaign aides during the election had contact with russian officials. there is certainly no confirmation that such an investigation is going on. it's understood that there is. there have been media reports that the fbi asked to tap the phones at trump tower, during the presidential election last summerer. they were —— summer. election last summerer. they were —— summer. they were denied that

request initially, according to the media reports. they were eventually granted access in october, again according to those media reports. nothing has been confirmed. what president trump seems to be saying is that any investigation being conducted by the fbi is under the orders of president obama. he says that in itself warrants an investigation. what happened to president trump's appealfor unity what happened to president trump's appeal for unity in his speech to congress just two days ago? appeal for unity in his speech to congressjust two days ago? just, we we re congressjust two days ago? just, we were talking about his most presidential hour so far as president. here we are, saturday morning here in washington dc. he flew to florida for the weekend and he woke up and started tweeting. it was a series of tweets. he has been angered by the recent ramping up of reports into whether or not his campaign aides had contacts with russia. earlier this week, the attorney—general, jeff sessions, had

to stand aside from any investigation into those russia claims, because he himself is said to have misspoke during a hearing under oath, where he said that he did not meet with any russian officials. it turned out well, actually, he met with the russian ambassador to the us on two occasions. now he said that he didn't meet them under his guise as —he didn't meet them under his guise as — he met him in his guise as senator, rather than a campaign aide. the newspapers, television, us networks have been focussing on whether or notjeff sessions lied under oath or whether or not he's done the right thing. when it comes to why he's making these claims, he seems to be trying to turn the fire back to president obama rather than his own administration. 0k, laura, many thanks. police in birmingham have launched an investigation after a nine—year—old boy died from a suspected allergic reaction. the child collapsed at the al hijrah

school in bordesley green yesterday afternoon. police say a postmortem examination will be carried out, to establish the cause of death. the headlines on bbc news: sinn fein make big gains in northern ireland's assembly elections. the dup is still the biggest party but with just one more seat than the republicans. president trump accuses the obama administration of tapping his phone during the presidential election campaign. there are fears for the future of vauxhall plants in britain after a french car company — which produces peugeot vehicles — reportedly reaches a deal to buy general motors' european operations. a ten—man bournemouth hold on for a draw at manchester united. the incident—packed game ended 1—1 after zlatan ibrahimovic‘s late penalty is saved at old trafford. rangers are thankful joe garner wasn't sent off in their scottish cup quarter—final.

he went on to score a hat—trick as they beat hamilton 6—0 at ibrox. andy murray goes for his first dubai title. the world number one is taking—on fernando verdasco in the final. they're just out on court. and laura muir gets ready for the first part of her european indoor double. the scot is racing in the 1500m final in belgrade today. tomorrow she goes in the 3,000. i'll be back with more on those stories later. a group of peers has dismissed claims the uk could face a so—called "divorce bill" of up to £52 billion when it leaves the eu. the lords eu financial affairs committee says the government might not have to pay anything if there is no post—brexit deal but says concessions are likely if the government wants to secure access to eu markets. earlier this lunch time, baroness kishwer falkner, the lib—dem peer and chair of the eu financial affairs subcommittee, explained the thinking behind the house of lords report. we took legal advice

from a variety of experts, and where that legal advice conflicted, we tested that against our own select committee's legal adviser and came to a judgment that the two pertinent bits of law, one is of course article 50, everyone is very familiar with that, which says that you have two years to negotiate a withdrawal agreement, and if you do not do that within two years, at the end of the two—year period, the treaties, the eu treaties cease to apply, those are the words they use. then there is another treaty called the vienna convention on international treaties, which goes back to 1969. that says that when parties are breaking their legal obligations, pulling out of treaties, withdrawing from treaties, then they are still to some extent bound by their existing liabilities. we looked at that very clearly

and it also said are only bound by their existing liabilities, unless there are arrangements in place in that treaty. so our conclusion is that, yes, if there is no agreement, the united kingdom can leave without having any legal obligations. that can be adjudicated by any court. interestingly, the government has acknowledged that there are some programmes such as the common agricultural policy, research funding, something called horizon 2020, that they have already committed to paying until the end of the budgetary period, which was supposed to be 2020. they have said that even if we leave we will continue to make up, this was to give confidence to farmers that the payments would continue. we expect the government to define in greater detail over the next period what other things it would expect to pay if it lost receipts, if the united kingdom lost receipts from the eu.

the foreign office has announced that borisjohnson will visit russia in the coming weeks. in the meeting, the foreign secretary is expected to hold talks with his russian counterpart, sergey lavrov. mrjohnson has stated that britain's policy towards russia is to "engage but beware". discussions will focus on the uk—russia relationship, as well as current international issues including syria and ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. earlier, our political correspondent ellie price told me it could be an awkward visit. we've had borisjohnson suggesting that moscow has been guilty of war crimes in syria. he suggested that there's no case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. of course, the suggestion that russians have been up to dirty tricks with regards to cyber attacks. the russian embassy have countered that by suggesting that borisjohnson wants to re—open the cold war.

it would seem much to talk about during this visit. we're told that this visit will be, during this visit, borisjohnson will be robust. there's no suggestion that this is cosying up to moscow, but it might be in britain's national interest to engage with russia, as you said there, not to engage but beware. so plenty to talk about. there's another context here, of course, as well, we're waiting to hear what donald trump wants to do. there's suggestions that donald trump would like to engage with russia over the issue of counter—terrorism. the whole world is waiting to find out exactly how that relationship is likely to pan out. perhaps not that surprising that britain would like to re—engage with russia and re—engage with its own relationship. it is significant, isn't it? this is the first visit by a senior british politician in five years. the first visit by a foreign secretary in five years. i think that gives you some kind of measure of exactly how strained these tensions have been.

of course, theresa may and vladimir putin have been in the same room, talking about all sorts of things at different summits. yeah, it gives some sense ofjust how difficult these things can be. probably about time, cow say. more on the story that four arrests have been made in relation to a prisoner scaep last month. tell us about the circumstances of these arrests. this happened yesterday afternoon about 3. 45pm, in a small seaside town on the south coast in dorset between poole and bournemouth. we've seen pictures on social media. pictures yesterday afternoon saying something's happened. the police have made quite a heavy operation. there were armed police in the street with guns. they stopped this car and shot out the tyres on the car. people knew something serious had happened. it's only now that we realise that we've

been told that this is connected to the disappearance of shaun walmsley, his quay from custody —— escape from custody two weeks ago. the police have arrested four men, all from liverpool, in connection with his escape. they've been handed over to merseyside police, who are investigating the escape. they will question these four men about exactly what happened. two 24—year—olds, two 25—year—olds, all from liverpool. there were three others, already arrested, in liverpool, two men and a woman. they've been bailed and no sign of the prisoner. do the police have any idea where he is? no, it doesn't look like it. they said that this was going to be a national investigation, as soon as he scaeped. they involved —— escaped, they involved police forces across they involved police forces across the country. no surprise that forces as far away as dorset are involved. speculation that he may have gone quickly abroad. he was serving a serious sentence, expecting a minimum of 30 years in prison. he's

a convicted murderer with gangland connections. the sort of person who might have been able to disappear himself very quickly. it looks like the police are working on this, building a network, getting an understanding of who may have been involved in his escape. no sign of the prisoner himself yet. 7 involved in his escape. no sign of the prisoner himself yet. ? thank you malaysia says the north korean ambassador must leave the country in the next 48 hours. the two nations have fallen out after pyongyang was accused of being behind the death of kim jong—nam — the estranged half brother of north korea's leader. he was poisoned last month at kuala lumpur airport. meanwhile, a north korean held in malaysia in connection with the death says he is the victim of a conspiracy by the malaysian authorities. speaking in beijing after his deportation from malaysia, ri jong chol accused the malaysian police of threatening his family — and trying to tarnish the honour of north korea. the united nations estimates that over the past seven days, 15,000 children have been forced out of the iraqi city of mosul, where a mass exodus of civilians is happening. iraqi government forces are pressing

into the western side of the city, but are facing fierce resistance from so—called islamic state. the un says it has seen a significant increase in displacement in recent days. as david campanale now reports, the hamam al alil refugee camp is approaching maximum capacity. the desperate escape from fierce fighting in western mosul. an endless stream of thousands of people. these residents of iraq's second city have nothing on their feet. and un aid coordinators say they've escaped with nothing, no luggage and the bare minimum of clothes. inside the city, islamic state are using car bombs, suicide attackers and snipers to resist the iraqi army's advance. as battles rage in these residential areas, civilians are being forced out from their homes. but as they run, they must first evade the merciless tactics of islamic state fighters,

who openly admit residents are useful to them as human shields. translation: we fled at night. families which are caught fleeing are beaten, the men executed and women are sent back home. we hardly managed to escape. iraqi government forces, backed by western allies, are making headway against the islamists, and are advancing north of a sprawling military base near the city's airport. but mosul has 750,000 inhabitants. those displaced by the fighting have to endure wet conditions as they wait for the military to organise buses or trucks near a checkpoint to the south of the city. translation: the number of people who have arrived at this point is around 1,000, including women, men and children. they're in a desperate condition. they're malnourished and in a dire need of water and food. they're in a very miserable condition and they need medical and health care. the camp intended for internally

displaced people is now close to its maximum capacity, with 150,000 places already occupied. agencies are already calling the battle for mosul the worst humanitarian crisis they've seen globally in a decade, but they're expecting it may be about to get a lot worse, with is fighting to hold on to last foothold in iraq. construction is under way, the united nations says, to accommodate up to 250,000 people in just this one camp. the french centre—right presidential candidate, francois fillon, has suffered another blow with the resignation of his campaign director. mr fillon is being investigated over claims that his wife and two of his children were paid more than one million euros for parliamentary work, which was never carried out. sarah corker reports. he has been putting on a brave face, but more cracks are appearing

in francois fillon's presidential campaign. the scandal over allegations he misused public funds to pay his wife and family members just will not go away. heavyweight supporters are abandoning him. the latest defections, his spokesperson and campaign manager. but in an effort to fight back, francois fillon made this direct appeal to the french people. translation: i invite everyone to come next sunday at 3pm at place du trocadero, with a calm and assured strength of those who respect our democratic institutions. you will make your voice heard. but mr fillon has also lost the backing of the allied union of democrats and independents. many within his republican party are now are calling for him to step aside. translation:

we're in a countdown, it is either the stopwatch or the detonator. this is likely to explode our politicalfamily, and i do not want it. the election takes place in two rounds in april and may. on friday, one poll put emmanuel macron out in front on 27% in the first round on the 23rd of april. he is followed by far—right leader marine le pen on 25.5%, though the pair remain close in popularity. francois fillon, once the front—runner, is lagging behind on 19%. in the scenario that former prime minister alain juppe replaced mr fillon, the same poll puts him in the lead at 26.5%. marine, marine, marine! marine le pen also faces legal issues — her national front party accused of misusing eu funds. it is mr fillon's campaign, though, that's struggling. he strongly denies the "fake jobs for family" claims and fights on.

let's get an update on the weather now. if you have plans for the evening, that are taking you out and about, you'll need to keep an eye open for the weather. some areas more than others perhaps. that's going to be the way of it across northern parts of scotland. showers are slow moving and heavy across northern ireland, coming into the south—west of scotland. they've always been there 01’ scotland. they've always been there or there abouts across wales and the south—west. late on in the night, these will die away, own to be replaced by new cloud, wind and rain coming in from the atlantic. that more northerly feature creeping up towards the shetland isles. a cool start to sunday and windy across the south—western quarter. 60mph, some of the gusts. the band of weather moving northwards. blustery showers following on behind. a much improved day across scotland and northern

ireland and the north of england. 0ne ireland and the north of england. one or two showers but nowhere near the amount of rain of today. monday morning, very wet across the south—west. elsewhere, a fair amount of cloud, the heaviest of showers across scotland and northern ireland. at best, temperatures could make it into double figures. see you in halfan make it into double figures. see you in half an hour, take care.