welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's gavin grey. our top stories: china's annual parliamentary session opens in the great hall of the people, with the communist party leadership setting out 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. plus — argentina's football stadiums fall silent — as players go on strike over unpaid wages. china's premier says his country's growth target

will be reduced to six point five pecent and that policy makers will focus on reducing pollution with major reforms involving its steel and coal companies. -- 6.5%. premier li keqiang was speaking to more than 3,000 chinese lawmakers at the annual national people's congress in beijing. the congress is the body which debates and approves government policy. high on the agenda is the state of the chinese economy, and concerns about economic growth. the chinese premier li keqiang started the session by outlining the country's economic report card to the npc. translation: economy has recorded good growth. domestic growth

represented 6.7% growth and sees china outpaced many other economies stop china can should have more than 30% of global growth. domestically, china faced multiple difficulties. risks and dangers and mounting downward pressure on the economy. china found it self in a complex environment and reformed entered a critical stage. profound changes took place affecting interest and factors impacting social stability grew. the bbc‘s china editor, carrie gracie, is in beijing. earlier, she told me how the party had outlined its achievements so far and what challenges it was anticipating. there's a lot about hitting on top of smog. getting on top of some of the zombie companies, zombie

businesses, particularly steel and coal. those two issues that relate to smog. if you can get on top of the steel and coal, you are likely to improve the quality, notjust for the high and holy days of the congress actually more generally come at the other 364 days of the year, the chinese public. interesting he mentions as well the difficulties internationally for china. grave challenges in the international environment. no mention by name of donald trump, the new us president, but talking about the danger of the globalisation, the danger of new protectionism around the world and china's role as what they call a major responsible country in improving the international environment. we are getting the numbers of people in there in pictures, the sheer number

of the hall. they will have to watch it very closely. it is a very dangerous thing in china to be sitting in that hall and to be asleep. you must not be a sleep while this is being read. so they are very conscious that they have to kind of look busy, taking their notes and paying close attention otherwise it could be very career ending for them. but a wider afield, certainly the 2000 people involved in the advisory consultative committee, they pay attention. they are also in beijing from all over china. the technocrats, the innovators, film stars, sports stars, they all pile in here as well. it is a huge networking event for the great wood of china as well as for the politicians from all over china. it is harder to say who is watching it line by line because it

does have a richer wool quality. a lot of it is the same year in, year out. i think if you actuallyjust climb on the subway here or you go toa climb on the subway here or you go to a local parks, whether they are really paying close attention to this well one or two will be but actually many people would be getting on with their lives. a lot of world leaders will be looking very closely, though. that's right. the growth rate is important for the world because of course china is one third of global growth now. it is the engine of the world economy, not just its own engine. that is 6.5% announced for the ambition for the economic growth for next year. it will be important to people around the world but it won't be any surprise because the slightly slower speed growth is the shape of china's new normal, as they call it, economically. we haven't talked about defence spending yet. that is another thing the npc will be saying will be about 7%. inter— resting

seeing as donald trump has been talking about it as 10% in the us. some will think that will put pressure on beijing to raise if defence spending. we are seeing a steady growth. it was about seven last year and seven again this year. and that is enough for them to keep modernising their military to defend what they see as their sovereignty. carrie gracie they are. there have been allegations from donald trump that the obama administration has tapped phones during the election campaign. he said it was terrible and called his predecessor are bad or sick guy. 0ur north america correspondent 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. "just found out that obama has my wires tapped in trump tower is. 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. 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. in other news:

somalia's prime minister says 110 people have died from hunger in a single region in the past 48 hours. all those who died came from the south—western bay region. the country announced a drought—related national emergency on tuesday — un authorities say up to 5 million people are in need ofaid. the us—led coalition against the islamic state group has sent reinforcements to the syrian town of manbij — where allied militia have clashed with turkish—backed rebels. manbij has become the focus of competing forces in northern syria — it was captured from i—s by us—led rebels last year. the german chancellor and the turkish prime minister have spoken by phone, a day after a public row between the two countries over 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. of the malaysian airlines

flightm—h 370. the initiative is an effort to give answers to the relatives of the 239 people onboard the aircraft — which disappeared nearly three years ago. a multinational search for evidence from the plane ended earlier this year. the wife of the embattled french presidential candidate, francois fillon says that the work she had carried out for him was real and that she wants him to continue his campaign. in a newspaper interview, penelope fillon says she carried out "very varied tasks" as parliamentary assistant for her husband. francois fillon has called on his supporters not to give up, in a campaign that he said was becoming an unusual battle. he 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 either the stopwatch or the detonator.

this is likely to explode our politicalfamily 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. still to come. cycling on ice. it is not normally a good idea but ice by

king is becoming a sport that is booming across the world. —— biking. 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 — premier li keqiang said economic growth would be at "around" 6.5% in the coming year. barack obama has rejected claims from president trump that he ordered the tapping of his phones during the election campaign. leisure has expelled the north korean ambassador after he criticised the investigation into the murder of the half brother of the murder of the half brother of the north korean leader. relations between the two countries have deteriorated in the last two weeks. 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 "undiplomatically rude". 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. sinn fein are celebrating their best ever showing in elections to the northern ireland assembly. with all votes are counted, they won 27 seats, just one behind the pro— british democratic unionists. gerry adam described it as a watershed election. both parties now have three weeks to try and agree to a new power—sharing parliament. the polish government has confirmed it will not back the current eu president for a second term. the countries foreign secretary said that somebody us would be put forward instead. the governing law and justice party has long opposed this man, mr task, and justice party has long opposed this man, mrtask, a member of and justice party has long opposed this man, mr task, a member of the rival party. uber has admitted using

secretive software to help you identify local regulators from checking if the company was breaking local taxi regulations. it said the softwa re local taxi regulations. it said the software was designed to deny fraudulent users from entrapping drivers in a sting operation. in the south african township of khayelitsha, close to cape town, one local psychology graduate has started taking the fight against mental illness to the streets in a brightly coloured van. andreas mphunga believes that too many young people have undiagnosed mental issues and lack access to counselling. he's trying to put that right and help to raise awareness of the problem. young kids, as young as eight, nine. they grow up seeing terrible stuff, whether it's someone being mugged, someone being shot or someone being stabbed, even violence taking place in our own households. this is my mobile consultation room.

this van brings services to that kid in the township that comes from a family that do not afford services of a psycologist or a registered counsellor like myself. the kids, when the vehicle passes by, they see this funky—looking van, then they realise it's actually a psychology clinic. it's an innovative way of providing a service so it's more attractive to them than having to go and sit in my office and talk to me from that clinical environment. i've got this young guy who just jumped in. he would like to talk but, because of confidentiality, you can't come in. my fear is for those young people

growing up in khayelitsha, or in any township, is exposure to substance abuse, peer pressur and other traumas that they experience and see and observe each and every day that might set them back from achieving some of the dreams that they would love to achieve for the betterment of the community. what keeps me going and providing this service for free is that i would love to see a young person from the township succeed and go against all odds and become a role model for the next coming generation. no matter what happens, we are going to keep this mobile unit going through the dusty streets

of cape town in south africa. it's one of the world's most celebrated footballing countries — but all matches in argentina's top three divisions have been postponed this weekend as players went on strike over unpaid wages. the players' union say some clubs haven't paid them for four months. argentina's troubled football association says negotiations have progressed and the season will resume next friday . but the players say they won't go on the field until they get the money their owed. argentina as a football crazy nation. a two—time world cup winner that has produced some of the greatest players of all time. but its stadiums are silent, deprived of football. the players are now on strike. unions say that some footballers have not been paid for

four months and clubs faced heavy debts. the crisis began last year after senior football officials were implicated in a corruption scandal involving television broadcasting rights. there has been no action since mid—december and the champions went to summer recess. this season should have begun again on february three. then, last week, to try and avoid the strike, the government made a $22 million payment to the argentinian fa, aiming to compensate the clubs for the termination of the tv co ntra ct the clubs for the termination of the tv contract which was held by the government. but unions say the amount is not enough and dismissed reports of a proposal to return to the field. translation: we do not have any proposals. there has been no meeting. the only thing that has happened is pressure to play without payment. we will refrain from our task. soccer players will not be providing their services. and so

loyal fa ns providing their services. and so loyal fans may have to wait patiently for any football celebrations this year. clubs who refuse to play are being threatened with sanctions. but with players from over 200 clubs on strike, that may be hard to enforce. there was a huge upset at london's 02 may be hard to enforce. there was a huge upset at london's o2 arena as tony bellew won a clash. tony he dominated at first and then suffered an ankle injury. bellew then got the upper hand. 0rfight was an ankle injury. bellew then got the upper hand. 0r fight was stopped an ankle injury. bellew then got the upper hand. 0rfight was stopped in round 11 when haye's team through in the towel. 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 a go 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 be 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. and finally, islamic state militants

have severely damaged an ancient roman monument in palmyra. the syrian army and allied militias drove the group out of the unesco world heritage site on thursday, two months after it had seized it in a surprise advance. the officials said that he had seen serious damage to the tetra part low,. 0nly that he had seen serious damage to the tetra part low,. only four of the tetra part low,. only four of the 16 columns are still standing there and it is the second time that there and it is the second time that the city had been recaptured from the city had been recaptured from the militants in the course of the six years syrian war. plenty more on all our main stories on our website with analysis correspondence around the world. —— from our correspondents around the world. 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 these 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'll keep that sunshine and it'll be quite pleasant. a day of changed fortunes, really. 7—10 is the overall high. it means for the premiership matches, if you are lucky enough to have tickets and you're 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'll need to keep an eye on that.

it drifts off into the near continent, so shouldn't cause too much of an issue for too long. and then 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 says its economy will grow by around 6.5% this year. the figure, announced at the opening of the country's annual parliamentary session, represents a softening of last year's target — an indication of the major challenges facing the country. 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. this week: smoking streets, burning fruit and keeping our cool