welcome to bbc news. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: we are lies in beijing. china's annual national people's congress gets underway in beijing, where the communist party leadership will announce its priorities for the coming year. barack obama rejects claims from president trump that he ordered the tapping of his phones during the us election campaign. the french presidential candidate, francois fillon, urges his supporters not to give in amid calls from some within his own party to stand down. north korea's ambassador to malaysia is expelled for criticising the investigation into the murder of the half—brother of north korea's leader. the californian school that reaped a fortune on a small tech investment. hello.

the meeting is taking place in the great hall of the people and will last for 10 days. the congress is the body which debates and approves government policy. these are live pictures. high on the agenda is the state of the chinese economy, and concerns about economic growth. they are also expected to discuss ways to reform finances, the future of international trade policies and how to tackle pollution. chinese premier li keqiang will deliver the country's economic report card to the npc. our bbc china editor, carrie gracie, is in beijing. lots to talk about in the next few

hours and days? that's right. the government work report — this is the state of the union address, effectively, from the prime minister and it sets out the growth rate, the rate of defence spending, other key targets, it looks at achievements and looks to challenge is up ahead. as expected, a key figure in this report is that the growth rate — around 6.5%, possibly higher is why they are aiming at for 2017. a figure import not to the chinese —— not just of the figure import not to the chinese —— notjust of the chinese economy but the global economy. the other really important figure that has come out so important figure that has come out so farfrom important figure that has come out so far from the npc is defence

spending — china is predicting a 7% rise in its defence spending it this year. some have suggested it may be higher because of defence spending in the us with donald trump wanting an increase of 10% and china growing both regionally and globally as a military power. there are some in the chinese establishment, some armchair generals and retired generals, saying they should be doing double—digit military spending growth. but they have other priorities and many difficulties, some set out in the work report. but it is really a ritual, a highly choreographed piece of political theatre. all the delegates filing. 3000 of them. 2000 in the advisory body. and they reallyjust work through and applaud what they are

told to. he could not expect many upsets. but this is a very political year 4 china because it is the year of the party congress so that they are even more tightly controlled than usual. the party is ever more in control of events in china and within the party the leader ever more in control. lots of rubber spending. sometimes we learn more about the thinking of things and more about the relationship they wa nt to more about the relationship they want to have with donald trump? more about the relationship they want to have with donald trump7m will be interesting to see over the days ahead what it is said about relations with the us. it is a very delicate relationship. it is one of the most important if not the most

important bilateral relationship between two nations in the world. it is still uncertain, finding its feet. donald trump said many unflattering things about china on the campaign trail. in office, he has not been talking the same language, china the rapist, china and the thief of the us jobs, that has been toned down in his first month in office but we still have important issues to establish relationships on trade, currency, north korea, south china sea, taiwan, all the strategic issues. there will be some suggestions over the next few days in the speeches we are hearing, we will have a press conference from the foreign minister, there will be some indication about how china plans to play that relations ship. relationship. barack obama has issued a strong

denial of allegations by president trump that the outgoing administration tapped phones at trump tower in new york during the election campaign. in a series of tweets, mr trump described the alleged surveillance as "terrible" and called his predecessor a "bad or sick guy" — but he didn't offer any evidence to back up his claims. 0ur north america correspondent, nick bryant reports. it was warm handshakes and friendly bonhomie on inauguration day as donald trump peacefully took power from barack obama, two men fiercely hostile in the election campaign, coming together in a show of presidential and personal civility. but early this morning donald trump launched the kind of public attack on a predecessor which in modern times is completely without precedent. "terrible," he wrote in a twitter tirade. a pro—trump rally outside his tower in new york, a skyscraper

that donald trump claims was a crime scene. but he made his allegations without offering any proof or saying they came from intelligence briefings or reading reports from a right—wing website, breitbart news. it is extraordinary for a president to allege this against anyone let alone his predecessor, without citing any evidence. a key former aide of barack obama has shot back at donald trump, "no president could order a wiretap," he says. he said things were put in place "to protect citizens from people like you". during last year's election campaign the fbi opened an investigation which is still ongoing, looking into investigations between donald trump associates and the russians. the whole truth and nothing but the truth. this week the new attorney general

jeff sessions faced calls for his resignation for not disclosing meetings he held with the russian ambassador. donald trump's national security adviser michael flynn had to resign last month because of conversations about us sanctions against the kremlin with the same ambassador. we will have made america greater than ever before. donald trump began this week with a widely praised speech on capitol hill which was supposed to reset his presidency. but this is a speedy return to the kind of angry attacks that many think are farfrom presidential. let's round—up up some of the other main stories: somalia's prime minister says 110 people have died from hunger in a single region the past 48 hours. all those who died came from the bay region in south in south west somalia. the country announced a drought—related national emergency on tuesday and un authorities say up to five million people are in need ofaid.

the us—led coalition against the so—called islamic state group has increased its presence in and around the syrian city of manbij, which is facing attack by turkish—backed rebels. manbij has become the focus of competing forces in northern syria. manbij was captured from i—s by us—led rebels last year. manbij was captured from is by us—led rebels last year. the german chancellor has spoken on the telephone to turkey's prime minister to try to calm a row between the two countries about next month's referendum on greater powers for president erdogan. ankara reacted angrily after rallies for turkish voters living in germany were cancelled by local authorities. a private team says it will continue the search for debris of the malaysian airlines flight mh three—seventy. the initiative is an effort for the relatives of the 239 people who died after the aircraft disappeared nearly three years ago. a multinational search for the plan

ended earlier this year. the troubled centre—right candidate for the french presidency, francois fillon, has called on his supporters not to give up, in a campaign that he said was becoming an unusual battle. he's defied calls from some within his republican party to stand down, amid a scandal about payments he made to family members for parliamentary work they're alleged not to have done. they deny any wrongdoing. mr fillon will try to stabilise his campaign at a mass rally in paris on sunday. ben hennessy reports. under fire but defiant. francois fillon takes to the stage at a rally outside paris. mr fillon enjoyed the backing of faithful supporters. but within the republican party, that support appears to be fading. translation: my friends, this campaign is a straight fight. you are courageous and they want to intimidate you. i am being attacked. but what they are looking

for is to defeat the recovery of the nation. and the will for change that you represent. so i am asking you, do not abdicate, never renounce, your commitment must continue. facing allegations he used taxpayer money to pay his wife and family members for work they did not do, senior members of his campaign are heading to the exit. in the past few days his campaign manager and spokesperson quit. there are now calls for him to step aside. translation: we are in a countdown. it is the stopwatch or the detonator. this is likely to explode our political family and i do not want it. on monday, the republican party will meet to discuss his failing campaign. many believe the door could now be open for the ex— prime minister to step in. he was convincingly defeated by fillon in the republican party primary in november. but a recent poll suggests he is now the best chance of the party in the presidential election.

meanwhile, the far right candidate marine le pen faces her own legal troubles, also accused of misusing funds. but while her numbers hold, mr fillon‘s continue to fall. he goes about trying to salvage a presidential election he was once favourite to win. malaysia has expelled the north korean ambassador. kang chol is expected to leave within 48 hours, after criticising the investigation into the murder of the north korean leader's half—brother. relations between the two countries have deteriorated steadily in the last few weeks. tom sa ntorelli reports. the north korean embassy in kuala lumpur. in a little less than 48 hours it will need a new resident after this man pulled no punches in his criticism of the malaysian investigation into the brazen killing of the estranged half brother of kim jong—un. it has been seven days

since the incident but there is no clear evidence on the cause of the deaths and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the malaysian police. the malaysian prime minister called the diplomat‘s words "undiplomatic". tensions between the two nations ramped up in the following days as malaysia recalled its ambassador from pyongyang and revoked a visa—free travel arrangement with north korea. but after the ambassador failed to apologise to authorities and did not turn up a meeting on saturday, that was the last straw. the foreign minister released a statement declaring him a persona non grata, barred from entering the country. with this deterioration in relations, north korea could find itself increasingly shut out from dialogue with even formerly friendly nations. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: cycling on ice — it's not

normally a good idea, but "ice biking" is becoming a booming sport all over the world. first the plates slipped gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards and it was a matter of seconds before the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb on a remote pacific atoll. the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier and so my heart went bang and bang. the constitutional rights of these marchers have their rights as citizens of the united states and they should be protected even in the right to test them out so they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy,

i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you it's going to boil up when you get to the stage? well, it worries me, yeah. i hope everything will be all right at the end of the day. this is bbc news. i'm gavin grey. the latest headlines: china's annual parliamentary session has begun in the great hall of the people in beijing, where the communist party leadership will set out their priorities for the coming year. barack obama has rejected claims from president trump that he ordered the tapping of his phones during the election campaign. sinn fein and the democratic unionist party will begin trying to form a power—sharing government on monday — after the republicans made major gains in elections to the northern ireland assembly. sinn fein‘s president, gerry adams, said it was "a watershed election" and the end to a permanent unionist majority in northern ireland. the two parties now have three weeks to try to agree a new power—sharing coalition. from belfast, chris buckler reports.

sinn fein believe they have changed the political picture in northern ireland. if this election was a battle in the long fight between unionism and nationalism, they are claiming victory. clearly, the unionist majority in the assembly has been ended and the notion of a permanent or perpetual unionist majority has been demolished. the dup are still stormont‘s biggest party, but they could only watch as republicans ate into their sizeable lead from the last election, just ten months ago. many voters were motivated by the harsh words of the campaign. at one stage, the dup compared republicans to crocodiles. now they've bitten back. in order to go back into government, sinn fein are calling for arlene foster to step

aside as first minister, while a public inquiry takes place into a financial scandal, linked to a botched green energy scheme. it's a demand that's angered mrs foster's party. now we've got to pick up the pieces after having a brutal election, and i think that the party which has got most to be concerned about, as to how it repairs the damage, is sinn fein. for so long the big beast of politics here, unionism is facing a fresh roarfrom 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 concern about what's emerging. our whole government system is not working for the people who need it, right, because they're up there squabbling over very little, to be honest. republicans are out again in force, so they are. we should get off our backsides, get out and vote now.

0nce hailed as the champion of unionism, a statue of edward carson stands outside stormont. today his political successors feel on their guard, and no—one is sure if a deal to restore power sharing is within their grasp. chris buckler, bbc news, belfast. the ancient syrian city of palmyra appears to have escaped its second occupation by so—called islamic state — with less damage than first feared. recent drone imagery released by the russian defence ministry last month seemed to show further destruction to the ruins. julia macfarlane reports. it was built as a temple generating mesopotamian gods and survived occupations by the romans, conversions from temple to church to mosque and recently to a gruesome stage for executions by militants of the so—called islamic state. but the unesco site of palmyra is now back in syrian government hands and there's less damage to its sites than was feared. under heavy russian cover government forces drove out is militants from the ancient ruins. the jihadists first took control of palmyra in late 2015 and,

after being pushed out, they came back again late last year while syrian forces were focused on fighting rebels in the northern city of aleppo. this is the second time the government has cleared palmyra of the militants. speaking today, a russian military officer said that the effort was being supported by the russian air force. translation: over 1.5 months the syrian government troops and self—defence units overcame substantial resistance from the terrorists and pushed ahead. on march 2nd they took full control over palmyra. it was feared that the ancient ruins had suffered further destruction after drones and satellite imagery seemed to show further damage whilst it was under the milita nts' control. but today, syria's antiquities chief told reporters that it seemed there was less damage

than archaeologists feared. palmyra had already lost its famed triumphant arch, its central temple of bel and dozens of antiquities in the museum. should the militants retake the ruins once more, it's not certain it could survive. now to a savvy school in california which has struck gold after snapchat‘s debut on the new york stock exchange. five years ago the school invested $15,000 in the app — now those shares are worth more than $40 million. our technology reporter dave lee has been to the school — which has a unique fund that invests in silicon valley start—ups. if you're a hot, new tech startup, one of the things you need is money. so, where can you get it? you could try to impress a billionaire investor, or you could speak to friends and family, they could have a bit of a whip round for you. but in snapchat‘s case,

part of their first investment came from a much more unusual source. saint francis high school is in mountain view, a small city in northern california, best known as being the home of google. five years ago the school made a very shrewd investment, thanks to the advice of a student's father. his daughter, who was on it with herfriends in their phones in the kitchen and he was trying to figure out what they were doing and they said there was an app called snapchat. so four years ago we were able to make this $15,000 investment. when snap began trading this week at $17 a share, saint francis sold two thirds of its stake, cashing in $24 million. and there's more good news. snap‘s value has soared since that first day of trading, so if the school was to sell its remaining allocation that would be an extra $19 million. saint francis is a private school where the tuition costs $17,000 a year, so a lot of the money raised will go towards offering scholarships to less well off

families in the area. barry is the parent who first took the idea of investing in snapchat to the school. he is a partner at one of silicon valley's top investment firms. here is this app that no adults know about, but lot of the kids are using it and itjust so happened that our high school ended up being early adopters of that. other schools might be watching this and thinking, we want a bit of that action. we should start investing in technology companies as well. can this be emulated around the world, do you think? it can, but it's not easy. i think in silicon valley especially and maybe other areas with a lot of entrepreneurhip. i think it's great for investors to reach out to local institutions and schools to see if they can include them in some of their deals. some think snapchat‘s popularity will be shortlived and its value will come crashing down. but saint francis, they don't plan to wait and see. 0nce they're allowed to sell their remaining shares, they say they probably will. this is an amazing investment and it's paying off in a transformational way for us

and i think that really emboldens us to really work hard and make sure we take care of it and do right by it and make sure we use it. we're here to educate kids and we're just really happy that we have this opportunity and we've been blessed. cycling on ice doesn't exactly sound like a good idea, but "ice biking" is becoming a booming sport all over the world. it's now arrived in the uk and our correspondent mike bushell has been to try it out. for some of us, iceskating can be a bit of a challenge. unless you do it regularly, well, it can be quite a bit of pain and humiliation without much gain. but at tamworth there's now a new way for us all to get up to speed on the ice. under starter‘s orders, i'm ready to go. one of scandinavia's popular new sports has arrived on the ice in the uk as well now. on these ice bikes, back wheels have

been replaced with blades. some people are afraid of iceskating and afraid of falling over and giving it a try. this is a lot more inclusive. everyone can give it ago and you don't have worry about falling over or anything like that. anyone can do it. i've been overtaken again! this takes some getting used to at first, especially the way you glide around those corners. when there can we contact in his frantic wheel to wheel tussles, and the slightest of nudges we'll send you into a spin. even more so in the 400 metre races held across scandinavia and the netherlands, in which riders reach speeds of 25 mph. and this sport, which is changing perceptions about cycling on ice, has now spread as far as mexico, as well as the uk. this really works the legs! you're peddling furiously to pick up speed and then you glide around the corners like that.

but what a workout! it's very fast. you can lose it quite hard on the corners, but it's so much fun to do it. it's a bit like a spin class, but on ice. in scandinavia they can hold their longer races on frozen lakes and while tamworth doesn't have such icy exposures, they do hold a tour de france style endurance race around their longer track. it's a way of exposing you to something new, something you haven't tried before, pushing you out of your comfort zone a little bit maybe. and, yeah, introducing you to things you've never seen or tried before. and no skating skills required. think wacky races, but on ice. a reminder of our top story. china's annual parliamentary session is under way in beijing as you can see from these live pictures. this is bbc news. good morning.

saturday was a day of mixed fortunes. sunny for some, wet for others. let's have a look at some of the weather watcher pictures that we have to illustrate the point. a pretty miserable day across parts of aberdeenshire. the rain relentless all day. further south, some lovely spring sunshine and warmth to go with it. highs of 13 degrees close to london. yes, it was beautiful here, but the rain continued with over an inch across parts of northern scotland and plenty of showers piling in around the low. as we go through sunday, the rain will clear into the northern isles and that will allow this weather front to push into the south—west. so, a change. looking at 9am in the morning, some sunny spells. a few showers across much of scotland, but on the whole an improving weather story. not bad into northern ireland and northern england as well. sunshine from the word go. we might see rain pushing into the southern fringes of the isle of man and across the north—west of england and wales, down through the midlands and into the south—east corner.

a wet and windy start to sunday morning. even once the rain clears away there will be plenty of frequent showers towards the south—west and this will start to drift further inland, driven in by strong to gale force gusts of wind that are likely to develop through the day. gusts in excess of 60 mph for a time, so a pretty miserable afternoon for some of us if you get caught in the showers. for northern england, scotland and northern ireland, we keep the sunshine and it'll be quite pleasant. a day of changed fortunes. 7—10 is the overall high. for the premiership matches, if you are lucky enough to have tickets and you are keeping a close eye on the forecast, a few showers for the tottenham match into the afternoon, but the rain will have cleared. sunderland v man city should be dry, albeit clouding over a touch. into monday there's another low that is likely to threaten into the south—west for a brief spell, but it could be quite tricky, with some very strong to gale force gusts of wind and some heavy rain across parts of south—west england early on monday morning.

we we'll need to keep an eye on that. it drifts into the near continent, so shouldn't cause too much of an issue for too long. behind, sunny spells and scattered showers for monday. as we move into tuesday, another weather front looks likely to push in from the west. so things stay pretty unsettled. tuesday will see more wet and windy weather moving in from the west. by wednesday, a quieter spell and a little bit milder. until then, take care. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm gavin grey. china's rubber—stamp parliament — the national people's congress — is beginning its annual session, with the premier, li keqiang announcing economic targets and other policy priorities. mr li will address around 3,000 delegates in beijing's great hall of the people. president trump has accused his predecessor, barack obama, of having the phones at trump tower tapped during the election campaign. in a series of messages on twitter, mr trump said it was "a new low" and suggested it might have been illegal. a spokesman for barack obama has issued a strong denial. the beleaguered candidate for the french presidency, francois fillon, has

urged his supporters not to give in. he has defied calls from some within his centre—right republican party to stand down, amid a scandal about payments he made to members of his family. mr fillon denies any wrongdoing. now on bbc news it's time to click