a and this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at apm: 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 ordered his phones tapped during the election. also in the next hour — francois fillon aims to rescue his presidential bid. the centre—right french presidential candidate tells supporters at a rally in paris that he should have not asked his wife to work for him. in wins the gold. and in half an hour, the inside out team uncovers the stories behind some of the thousands of women from the indian subcontinent abandoned by their british husbands.

outcast wives is on liz30pm. 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. vocational and technical education in england is to get an extra £500m a year in a bid to train more

skilled workers and boost the economy. these plans include replacing 13,000 existing qualifications with 15 "routes" linked to the needs of employers. a little while earlier david hughes — chief executive at the association of colleges — told me his take on the government's technical training plans. we'd 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 orfive years‘ time. meanwhile skills gaps get bigger as eu migration gets lower. 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 gaps and 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 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 not just about training people in their teens or 20s, but in their 30s, 40s, even 50s? the retirement age will probably go up to 67, 68. by the time people in their 20s retire it could be 70 or more. what will the jobs be in 20 or 30 or a0 years‘ time? we don't know. people will need the 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 over the last seven or eight years. the government needs

to take seriously not just young people's challenges but also adults. 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. the white house are asking congress to investigate. it's very significant because it follows on from donald trump's tweets

yesterday. we have a sober from the white house ordering congress to further investigate these claims. let's start with what congress is already investigating. they are already investigating. they are already looking at whether or not russia had an influence on the us presidential elections. they are ready looking at whether or not donald trump's assistants during the election had contact with russian officials. and now they are being asked to look at whether or not president obama ordered a wire tap on trump tower. 0n president obama ordered a wire tap on trump tower. on that point, within the last few minutes, the former director of national intelligence, has been speaking to nbc's intelligence, has been speaking to nbc‘s meet the press. and what he has to say is pretty important. he said, for his part, there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the cap president elect as a

candidate or as against his campaign. when asked whether there was a court order, to get a wiretap anywhere they has to be a court orderfor surveillance, anywhere they has to be a court order for surveillance, asked if there was such he said, i can't deny it. when he was asked again, he said, not to my knowledge. this will increase the pressure on donald trump to produce evidence that he was tapped. the language in his tweets was strong and colourful as always. compared it to watergate, to nixon to mccarthyism. that is right. but when you speak to his supporters thatis but when you speak to his supporters that is the kind of language they expect from him. one who i spoke to yesterday gave a wry smile and says, well, sometimes he goes over the top. but they have elected him

because they believe he is the outsider, not the politician, perhaps a little un—orthodox but what they want in the white house. when it comes to his tweets and his language on this occasion, his supporters are behind him. they told me yesterday they want a full investigation into everything that has gone on. but when it comes to the language, it becomes a problem for the existing republicans, this is something they hoped not to continually have to defend. this is a sunday morning here in washington, and they are all having to go on the talk shows and defend the language used. more importantly, they are having to look at these claims which are astonishing, which the normal procedure would be if you had a claim would be to take the evidence to congress and then provide it to

the public. instead, donald trump took to twitter and within 30 minutes had accused his predecessor of bugging trump tower in new york. there has certainly been some kickback from the republicans, who are very concerned about the language and concerned about what is going on. what the democrats are calling for is a senior prosecutor, someone calling for is a senior prosecutor, someone independent, outside of congress, outside of politics, to come in and investigate all the claims and counterclaims. thank you, laura. at a rally in paris, the centre right presidential candidate, francois fillon, has admitted to his supporters that he should not have asked his wife to work for him. mr fillon has repeatedly denied paying taxpayers' money to family members for little or no work. senior politicians in his party are due to discuss his continued candidacy tomorrow. joining me now is our paris correspondent hugh schofield. hugh, this rally this afternoon

where he was effectively fighting for his political life, do you think he did enough? who knows? it was very dramatic, though. delivered in the teeth of a howling gale, and before a sea of supporters with flags. it was quite exciting. it was fighting the stuff as well. and the impression you got from what he was saying was that he has no intention of standing aside. he was appealing to the faithful, saying he made a mistake, he said before it was ethically wrong but not in law, but iam the ethically wrong but not in law, but i am the person you voted for because my programme is the right one to get france back on its feet. the impression you got from the atmosphere or was the man is going the full course and there is no compromise possible with the rest of his party. i've just

compromise possible with the rest of his party. i'vejust been rereading the text of it. he never at any point says i will be the candidate no matter what, come what may. instead you get a sense at the end of the speech that he is throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of the parties. what this rally was about was saying to the rest of the party, i have examined might conscience, now examine yours. will you be swayed by the feelings of a moment, by the campaign against me, or will you stand by a programme, by the campaign against me, or will you stand bya programme, mike programme, which has the legitimacy ofli programme, which has the legitimacy of 4 million votes at primary and all the people here to support me? he recognises we are in a period now which is a real battle of strength between him and his opponent in the party. he says this is my gambit, my supporters, this is what i stand for, do you have the strength of

mind to overturn that knowing that my opponent may not be as popular? thank you, hugh. sport now, and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. lots of football action in the premier league. laura muir has become only the second briton to win two individual events at a european indoor championships, after adding gold in the 3,000 metres to her 1500 metres title. she stormed to victory in belgrade in a championship record time, ahead of turkey's yasemin can and compatriot eilish mccolgan. muir's achievements matched those of colinjackson set in paris before she was even born 23 years ago. ijust i just try to hang ijust try to hang in i just try to hang in there. ijust try to hang in there. i was feeling a bit tired but i was so glad to do it. what was the plan, did it go according to plan? she's a

bit more of an endurance athlete so it went well. england are playing the west indies in the second one day international in antigua. a win would seal the three match series for eoin morgan's side. west indies won the toss and opted to bat. stephen finn took two early wickets, to give him a 100th wicket in his 65th 0di. jason mohammed has brought up his half century. moheen ali stopped kraigg brathwaite from claiming his — out for a2. west indies currently 176—6. tottenham have closed the gap at the top of the premier league with a 3—2 win over everton. that's now a club record nine consecutive home wins for spurs. two goals from in—form striker harry kane set them on their way. romalu lukaku pulled one back for ronald koeman's side. before delle alli got on the end of this free kick to make it 3—1. enner valencia scored a late goal for everton but it wasn't enough. spurs now seven points behind chelsea at the top.

the four o'clock kick off in the premier league sees bottom of the table sunderland up against man city. it is currently goalless after 16 minutes at the stadium of light. celtic survived a scare in their scottish cup tie against st mirren before booking a semifinal place with a 4—1win at parkhead. harry davis left the home fans stunned as he put the championship's bottom club ahead injust the 13th minute. it took almost an hour for the runaway premiership leaders to hit back through mikael lustig. scott sinclair put them in front just 73 seconds later. moussa dembele and leigh griffiths completed the rout to extend celtic‘s unbeaten domestic run to 3a games. the final quarter final is aberdeen against partick thistle. they kicked off at 3pm

and it's1—0 to aberdeen. tony bellew has revealed he broke his hand in the second or third round of his heavyweight victory over david haye last night. bellew beat favourite haye after knocking him down in the 11th round. haye — who was nursing an ankle injury he suffered in the sixth round — fell through the ropes before his fell through the ropes, before his corner threw in the towel. the fighters paid tribute to each other after the fight despite the aggressive war of words in the run up. that's all sport for now. 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. 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. police in yorkshire are investigating after a woman was abducted in redcar and raped by two men. detectives say the woman was with her toddler when she and the child were forced into the back of a car by the men. she was raped in yearby off the a174. later they were dumped on kirkleatham lane. the police are appealing for information. a service will be held today in belgium as part of events to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the zeebrugge disaster, in which almost 200 people lost their lives. the herald of free enterprise ferry was bound for dover when it capsized just 100 yards off shore, after water flooded in through an open door. 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. 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 skies 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. 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. it is important because i feel that in the 21st—century it is about time women have gender equality. in the uk, last year, we have 37,000 rapes.

that is more than we've had since records began in 2002, and we have an enormous amount of records began in 2002, and we have an enormous amount of sexual assaults. it is time we call today foran end to assaults. it is time we call today for an end to violence against women and girls. the other thing i think is very important, that women and the rest of the world should care about, is the fact that there is an incredible pay gap and in the workforce in this country women are paid 18% less than men. in the us, thatis paid 18% less than men. in the us, that is 20%. what they said in the report, is that it would probably ta ke report, is that it would probably take 170 years to close that gap. is it really acceptable, isn't it preposterous that we women cannot have equal pay? i'm calling today

for equal pay, gender equality, an end to violence against women and girls, and i'm calling for us to think about what we are facing with the president of the us who wants to belittle women, who once to reduce all rights, who wants to diminish us, and that we should stand up, and that i was really inspired by the march of women, millions of women marching against trump. i hope one day we will have millions of women on international women's day marching for an end to violence against women and girls and for gender equality and equal pay. bianca jagger talking to our correspondence. 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 19114, 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. let's look at the weather now. as was the case on saturday, i could have put any number of spheres said right—wing calculate what has gone on throughout the day. i want to highlight a couple of things as we get on into the evening. this low pressure close to the heart of the british isles, right in the heart of it in rainfall could be quite

intense and could call turned to snow quite readily across parts of the midlands. further south the wind is quite noticeable. some gusts could be 60 or 70 miles an hour. as we get into the small hours of monday, that system fades. the sky is clear, there could be some frost. as showers is clear, there could be some frost. as showers across is clear, there could be some frost. as showers across scotland. a new area of cloud and rain comes into the south—west, with a system which will cause real problems across parts of france. that system eventually will pull away from the far south—west leaving behind for many areas a mixture of sun and showers. more persistent showers likely to be found across northern and western scotland. quite a bit of cloud here but slightly brighter

through north—west scotland, northern ireland. it will take time before the cloud, wind and rain with the wintry nurse of the moors to pull away by lunchtime. it breaks up into something more showery. in the afternoon, there is the chance of showers on the easterly and south—easterly breeze to the eastern side of scotland and england. elsewhere some brightness, perhaps clouding over with more persistent range finish the afternoon getting into northern ireland. many of the showers will die away underneath this ridge of high pressure, into tuesday clearing skies may lead to frost first thing. a dry start the many but don't be fold, we have an area of cloud, wind and rain working its way towards the west of the british isles and creeping eastwards

throughout the course of the day.