this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm: the chancellor phillip hammond rejects calls for "huge spending sprees" in his first post—brexit budget on wednesday. as we embark on the journey that we'll be taking over the next couple of years, we are confident that we've enough gas in the tank to see us through that journey. president trump urges congress to investigate whether barack obama had his phones tapped during the election. also in the next hour — francois fillon faces a crucial test of his presidential bid. the supporters of the scandal—hit french presidential candidate gather for a rally in paris. these are the live scenes of the gathering in the centre of the french capital. boxer tony bellew, upsets the odds by beating david haye, in a thrilling heavyweight contest in london. coming up after this bulletin, click

is in europe's biggest tech conference in barcelona. that is in half an hour. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. the chancellor, phillip hammond, has said the government will not spend heavily in his budget on wednesday, because it needs "reserves in the tank" as it prepares to leave the eu. mr hammond said hisjob was to ensure the economy was resilient. he's also warned the eu that britain will not slink off like a "wounded animal" if it does not secure the brexit deal it wants. our political correspondent, susana mendonca, reports. don't expect bundles of cash to pop out of his red box on wednesday. the chancellor is not planning to go

on a spending spree. he is under pressure to put more money into the nhs, to plug the growing funding gap in social care for the elderly, and to help small firms deal with rising business rates. but he is batting off suggestions that there is a brexit war chest that he can dip into. if your bank increases your credit card limit, i don't think you feel obliged to go out and spend every last penny of it immediately. it depends on your temperament. i regard myjob as chancellor as making sure that our economy is resilient, that we have reserves in the tank so as we embark on the journey that we will be taking over the next couple of years, we are confident we have enough gas in the tank to see us through that journey. labour says the government does not understand the pressures facing those on low income. people need a pay rise. we believe that there is a squeeze on living standards and we believe there should be a real living wage, that is £10 an hour. we can tackle tax evasion, tax

avoidance, which is on an industrial scale in this country. end the tax cuts to the rich, as we have seen under the conservatives, and to the corporations and invest and grow our economy. this is not rocket science. one area that will receive some funding is technical training for 16 to 19—year—olds, because the government wants to gear up britain for the skills the country will need in a post—brexit world. but what if that world does not include the kind of eu trade deal the chancellor is expecting britain to get? if there is anybody in the european union who thinks that if we don't do a deal with the european union, if we don't continue to work closely together britain will simply slink off as a wounded animal, that is not going to happen. we have a great fighting spirit and will fight back. this is a budget that will be under scrutiny seen through the prism of brexit negotiations that lie ahead. susana mendonca, bbc news.

as we have heard, vocational and technical education in england will get more money in a bid to train more skilled workers and get more money. is joining me now via webcam is david hughes — chief executive is at the association of colleges. thank you for being with us. do these plans sound like what the country needs post brexit? it's half of what we need. it's great news for young people and parents. good news for employers. but it doesn't go far enough. we would like to see more investment in adults as well, because the £500 million doesn't kick in for three or four years. lots of young people who will benefit from this won't benefit until maybe four or five years'

time. meanwhile skills gaps get bigger as eu migration gets lower. you think that's a real threat? the fa ct you think that's a real threat? the fact that there will be less immigration post brexit, once we are out of the single market, that that will mean a skills shortage? we already have skills shortages. any slowdown in eu migration will make it worse. it is unclear whether that will happen, but we know we have to train young people and adults for really long careers, 50 years perhaps or more, and what they need is an education that allows them to adapt and learn new things throughout those careers. the education system we have particularly for young people does not do them justice. it is about 600 hours a year. in denmark and norway it is 1000. there isn't much work experience. the saturdayjob has disappeared. we know young people

are motivated by work, and what we wa nt to are motivated by work, and what we want to do with the £500 million is transform that experience for young people, but we also know that adults will need to retrain. people will need new skills to help them in the labour market. so we will push the chancellor to get more investment, perhaps in november, but certainly soon, to make a proper investment as we approach the eu exit. so you're saying it is notjust about training people in their teens or 20s, but in their 40s, even 50s? the retirement age will probably go up to 67, 68. by age will probably go up to 67, 68. by the time people in their 20s retire it could be 70 or more. what will thejumps retire it could be 70 or more. what will the jumps be in retire it could be 70 or more. what will thejumps be in 20 or 30 or a0 yea rs' will thejumps be in 20 or 30 or a0 years' time? we don't know. people will need basic digital skills, english, maths, to be ready to learn and adapt to the changing

technology, to the changing workplace. those opportunities for adults, we have lost about1 million opportunities for adults to learn the last seven or eight years. the government needs to take seriously not just young people's government needs to take seriously notjust young people's challenges but also adults. david, thank you. the white house has asked congress to examine whether the executive's investigative powers were abused during the presidential campaign last year. the news follows claims by president trump that his offices were wire—tapped before he took office. the president has so far supplied no details to back his claim and a spokesman for mr obama said he had never ordered surveillance on any us citizen. laura bickerjoins me now from washington with the latest on this developing story. we've had confirmation from the

white house they are going to ask congress to look into these claims. congress to look into these claims. congress is already investigating whether or not russia had an influence in the us presidential elections. as part of that ongoing investigation, president trump is now asking them to investigate his claims that president, the then president obama, wiretapped trump tower in new york. you are right to point out president trump has so far brought forward no evidence to support his claim. when it comes to wiretap, the normal procedure for any fbi agent to tap any phone, they have to go to a court. it's worth pointing out, what we understand from media reports is that a court order was asked for two wiretapped trump tower last summer, but it was then denied. we understand it was then denied. we understand it was then asked for again and accepted.

these are according to media reports, it has never been confirmed, and president trump has provided no evidence that trump tower was wiretapped war that president obama ordered this. at the moment we have is a congressional committee being asked to investigate as part of their going investigations. it's also worth pointing out that they are also looking into whether or not campaign assista nts looking into whether or not campaign assistants from the trump campaign had any contact with russian intelligence. 0ne had any contact with russian intelligence. one of the reasons donald trump is really a battle when it comes to hitting the headlines is because the russia story is simply not going away. it seems in someways this is an attempt by the white house to deflect attention away from the claims that russia influenced his campaign onto president 0bama's

executive orders, investigative powers, donald trump claims that president obama misused. it is claim and counterclaim here. so far there is very little evidence to go on. the language used by mr trump and his tweets, is often pretty strong and colourful, but particularly in these. he talks about watergate and nixon and mccarthyism. if these claims are not proved to be true, how damaging is that for mr trump?|j think when it comes to voters, i was out with some of his voters yesterday, and the one thing they tell me is they don't care. they quite like the fact that he uses this language. they feel this is the language they themselves use. when i questioned them about whether or not this was presidential and that these words matter because he is the president, the response i got back

was, well, still, ifeel this is a president that speaks in my words and speaks for me. when it comes to his voters, will it matter? perhaps not. when it comes to congress and republicans, his own party, i think it does start to matter, because they had an evening earlier in the week where donald trump addressed congress and he was presidential, he stuck to the script. there was almost a sigh of relief among republicans who felt that at the time, this will be ok. then a few days later, in this series of tweets where he uses language that politicians would not use. i think when it comes to his own party, it will start to play out differently. laura, thank you very much. senior french conservative politicians are said to be planning mr fillon has admitted he should not

have asked his wife to work for him. senior politicians in his party are due to discuss his continued candidacy tomorrow. let's get the latest from our paris correspondence. joining me now is our paris correspondent hugh schofield. it has been a dramatic last hour here in paris. lashing rain, hailstorms, and francois fillon giving the speech of his life, if you include the part where he said sorry for having recruited his wife. that was the moment where he gave out the signal that he had done wrong, ethically he should not have done it. he never said that he should not have legally done it. he apologised to the people. the rest

of the speech was a tour de force in which he made it clear he is not giving up. he says he has a link to the people, there was a sea of flags before him, he believes he has legitimacy behind him, he believes he is an innocent man, and the message of this speech, which was basically a presidential campaign speech, the message is he has no intention of stepping down and the ball is back in the court of his opponents, the shameless deserters, as he calls them, who now have to decide if they will force the issue orjust let him get on with it. it was a very tense moment. but a humdinger of a speech. if he does fight on, how damaged easy by all of this? very. but it's not as if

replacing him is ideal. if they replace him, you have a very disgruntled francois fillon and be you have a large part of this right wing electorates who chose fillon in the primary is because he represents a clear break, tradition, family, strong anti—islamic, that's is an electorate that could be tempted to vote for the far right if they thought the alternative was a man from a 90s who had failed and is being recycled. that is the electorate feel is appealing to now and it is substantial. hugh, thank you very much. china's economy is predicted to slow again this year, according to the country's

premier li kechang. speaking at the annual national people's congress in beijing, mr li attributed the slowdown to increasing global protectionism. he also promised to tackle the country's serious air pollution problems. john sudworth reports from beijing. chairman mao would still recognise china's parliament — rigid, authoritarian and unapologetically communist. but every year the delegates turn up to hear their leaders warn of the increasingly complex challenges faced by a modern capitalist economy. potential risks cannot be overlooked, li keqiang said, warning that reforming china's economy is a process filled with promise but also accompanied by great pain. he spoke of the need to combat industrial overcapacity and to reform what he called zombie enterprises, the bloated state—owned sector producing far more coal

and steel than the market needs. similar pledges in the past have proved hard to fulfil. and he pledged to make china's sky is blue again, outlining further targets for emissions cuts. once again these promises have been made before. china's parliament has very little control over the weighty issues of state, the big political and economic decisions that have been made weeks in advance by the communist party leaders behind closed doors. premier li also warned against growing protectionism, a thinly veiled reference to the policies of the new us president perhaps, and a reminder that as well as the economic risks at home, china is facing challenges on the international stage too. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. the headlines on bbc news:

the chancellor, phillip hammond, has set the tone for this week's budget by dismissing calls to increase government borrowing. president trump has been urged to back up his allegation that his predecessor, barack obama, ordered his phones to be tapped during the election campaign. a rally for the french conservative francois fillon is getting underway in paris, in a last—ditch attempt to show that an impending criminal investigation won't derail his presidential campaign. in sport... steven finn takes two early wickets in the 2nd 0di in antigua. england are looking to wrap up the series today. the latest score is west indies are 107—3 after 27 overs. "113-3 —— 113—3 after 28. harry kane scores a brace at the lane as spurs lead everton 2—1 in the lunchtime premier league kick off.

celtic come from behind to beat st mirren for a place in the scottish cup semi—finals. leigh griffiths scoring their final goal in the a—1win at parkhead. and tony bellew admits he broke his hand early in his surprise victory over david haye in their heavyweight fight in london last night. i'll be back with more on those stories in the next hour. government forces in iraq have renewed their assault on the city of mosul — where fighters from the islamic state group are surrounded. they are reported to be within a few hundred metres of the old city. tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting — many to temporary shelter at hamam al—alil. from there rami ruhayem sent this report. the people of mosul endure yet another round of fighting between iraqi government forces and so—called islamic state. many remain trapped within the city. 0thers decided to flee.

they arrive in droves from western mosul — one bus—load after another of battered civilians. in just over two hours we saw more than five buses arriving here. translation: isis were firing at us. most of the women died. we were alljust running and running, the mortars raining on our heads, till we got to the army. some were gratefulfor the army's help, but these men said their homes were hit by army shelling. almost everyone had to walk through the battlefield before reaching safety and getting on one of these buses. after a long and dangerous journey on foot and under fire from all sides, the refugees from western mosul arrive here at this camp in hamam al—alil. they have escaped with their lives but their misery is not yet over. with such an unrelenting flow, the authorities

can hardly keep up. as this camp reaches full capacity, the new arrivals get on the bus again, headed to the next stop along anotherjourney of displacement. rami ruhayem, bbc news, hamam al—alil, south of mosul. there's a march through central london today, ahead of international women's day. the event began at city hall earlier as london mayor sadiq khan led the calls for gender equality in the uk and beyond. the bbc‘s jane frances—kelly spoke to annie lennox who is involved in the march. i'm very, very committed to being an advocate and campaigner for the rights of women and girls globally. so this event, which has been running for seven years now, gives us an opportunity to come together and to utterly amplify the message about the bigger picture of feminism, really. i have spoken and i have given talks and i've tried to be,

how could you say... a link between the experiences i've had in the developing world, pertaining to girls and women, and women here today, so they could understand maybe just a little bit better from my perspective what i feel that really means, and what is really required to lift up the living standards of girls that can't get access to decent schooling, they can't even go to primary school. the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls, maternal mortality, which is sometimes off the charts. rape as a weapon of warfare, issues that are so dark and difficult and sort of generic and endemic — they exist in this world. today i was told that the theme is women and girl refugees. do you feel that it is harder than ever for those individuals to get a better life, because of the political environment

we are in at the moment? absolutely, i think it's a very complex time. there's a lot of fear and anxiety, and women, you know, are very often the ones that are trying to keep the family together, where the men are off somewhere else, either fighting or lost or where ever the men are, there's the mother with the family unit, either in the refugee camp or trying to make some terrible journey to a safer haven. it is really, i think the figure is that we have more refugees now than ever before, during the second world war and all of those times, so it's a massive issue. and not an easy one to solve. but do you feel that maybe these events, do they change things, though? yes. after trump's election there were major marches by women. god bless them, god bless them for that, we love them for that.

we needed to be expressed. in a way, i think what he said, that was on tape, really catalysed a lot of people, who said, "whoa, this man's going to represent us women, and this is what he thinks about us". there was a huge response to that. i think in a weird kind of way there's something positive to be drawn from that, because actually those kind of locker room attitudes are prevalent all over the world. so we need to understand that, but the danger is alienating men. in my view, this is my view, i think we need to be incorporative of boys and men, i think we need to educate them. i don't think we need to make them enemies, i think we need to make them friends. well, that's interesting, actually, because my son yesterday who's only 12 said, well, does that mean if you're a white, straight male that you're the enemy? and i said no, no, no. no, not at all, but it's all about attitude, it's all about understanding this.

i think that's why education has to play a huge part, and that's why an event like today, although it's a smallish event, it's not going to be on a massive scale, but still, last year we got a huge amount of exposure, which was so, so helpful. we have about five organisations that have collaborated to be here together today, working all across the globe in the developing world, doing fantastic work, so it really highlights the work that they do. the energy company sse has apologised after some customers were quoted tens of thousands of pounds for a day's gas and electricity. the error was caused by malfunctioning smart meters hugely overestimating the amount of energy usage. the company has said an investigation is underway, but that no customers will be overcharged. a memorial is to be built in northern france to honour british soldiers and sailors who died during the d—day landings

in the second world war. the government is to contribute £21 million towards the monument — near the beaches on which the normandy landings took place. robert hall reports. announcer: this is it - they're on the beach. it was the largest operation of its kind ever mounted. in june 19aa, an estimated 21,000 members of the british armed forces and merchant navy lost their lives as they fought alongside their allies to gain a foothold in occupied europe. in the 70 years since the landings, veterans have returned to the normandy beaches to remember the fallen. but there is no permanent memorial to the friends they lost. now veterans have been told the government will contribute £20 million towards a new memorial. it will be erected in one of the french seaside towns that saw fierce fighting. on each beach there was roughly 1,200 on each beach were killed, plus god knows how many

wounded, and seriously. so you can imagine the sights that it was, on those beaches. it was horrific, it was frightening. but, at the same time, all we young lads of 18 — we virtually grew up overnight. but, you know, thank goodness at last there will be an incredible memorial for them. surviving veterans are delighted their campaign has been rewarded. they and the government want the memorial to be completed in time for the 75th anniversary of the landings, injune 2019. robert hall, bbc news. in the south african township of khayelitsha, close to cape town, a 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 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 their own households. this is my mobile consultation room. this van brings services to that kid in the township that comes from a family that cannot afford the services of a psychologist or a registered counsellor like myself. the kids, when the vehicle passes by, they see this funky—looking van, then they realise it is actually a psychology clinic.

it is an innovative way of providing the service so it is 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 that just jumped in. he would like to talk but because of confidentiality you can't come in. my fears for those young people going up in khayelitsha or in any township is exposure to substance abuse, peer pressure and other traumas that they experience and see and observe, each and every day. and observe, each and every day,

that might set them back from achieving some of their 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 the 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 and south africa. let's look at the weather now. there is an area of low pressure and it may bring rain and snow into the evening. 0n the southern flank the

wind will be strong, we could see gusts of 60 or 70 miles an hour, fading with time. we leave behind clearing skies, possible frost for some, a new area of cloud and rain to start the day, a little winter in is across the moors. that its own right begins to fade, afternoon. after noon brings some sunshine and a scattering of showers. tuesday sta rts a scattering of showers. tuesday starts cold, not too much rain or breeze. that all changes as the day progresses, we lose the brightness in the east as the rain pushes towards eastern shores.