welcome to bbc news. our top stories— a humiliating defeat for president trump as he abandons one of this key campaign pledges to reform us healthcare. i have been saying for the last 1.5 years that the best thing we can do, politically speaking, is to let obamacare politically speaking, is to let obamaca re explode politically speaking, is to let obamacare explode and it is exploding right now. a lone wolf, or did he have support? british police investigate what motivated the westminster attacker. marine le pen goes to moscow. she meet vladimir putin in the kremlin. can you we meet the four—year—old twins who saved the life of their mother when they worked out how to open her phone to call emergency services. hello and welcome. president trump

has suffered a major defeat over one of this biggest campaign pledges. this vow to reform the system of america and repeal obamacare. he was facing a position notjust from democrats, but from this own party. he had issued an ultimatum saying he would drop it altogether if they did not back him. he was forced to abandon this plan after being told he simply did not have enough support. mr vice president, do you have the vote? a day of truly frantic meetings and phone calls, as the vice president, mike pence, went to the hilt to try to secure the votes needed to pass health care reform — trumpcare. and the usual tools deployed, a mixture of menace and flattery. but it wasn't going well. my vote is still a no. my vote has not changed.

if anybody tells you for certain they know what is going to happen, they are lying. the situation is still very fluid. and if concessions are made to the right of the republican party, you lose the moderates, and vice versa. at the white house, there were no attempts to distance themselves from the legislation. the president's spokesman saying donald trump had done everything he could. there is no question, in my mind, at least, that the president and the team have left everything in the field. we have called every member with a question and concern, taking into consideration the strength of the bill. but there was one definitive statement about how the day would unfold. obviously, later today, the house will vote on the american health care act, the current vote is scheduled for 3:30pm. except it didn't, with journalists prowling every corridor, doubts started to creep in and then the bombshell announcement after the speaker, paul ryan, went to see the president to tell him they didn't have the votes. we came close, today, but we came up short. i spoke to the president,

just a little while ago, and told him the best thing to do was to pull the bill and he agreed. i will not sugar—coat this. this is a disappointing day. doing big things is hard. and the president was defiant in defeat. i've been saying for the last year—and—a—half, that the best thing we can do, politically speaking, is let obamacare explode. it is exploding right now. but on the campaign trail, donald trump said it would be easy. and this was his pledge that every rally. obamacare has to be replaced. we got to get rid of obamacare, which is a disaster. repealing and replacing the disaster known as obamacare! and the author of the art of the deal said only he could deliver it. if you can't make a good deal with a politician, then there is something wrong with you. you're certainly not very good. chanting: hey hey, ho ho,

donald trump has got to go! protestors were vocal in their opposition to the reform plan, which could have seen 2a million americans lose their health insurance. west virginia was solidly behind donald trump last november. john ingram, a retired miner, articulated an uncertainty that echoes around the country. i hope to god that they realise what they are actually doing. in effect, they are dealing with life and death situations. for notjust me, but for millions of people. do you use the rapid insulin, too? at the cabin creek health center, they are watching these proposed changes with alarm. it's the disturbing to think that, you know, we have made some gains — and to take that away is especially difficult. i think that is disheartening. for patients. yesterday, donald trump clambered on board a giant truck. today, his politicaljuggernaut

came to a grinding halt. make no mistake, this is a huge embarrassment and setback. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. our correspondent is at capitol hill and she has more on what may happen next. republicans have to go our way and lick their wounds because serious questions will be asked about their ability to find a compromise, to come together and make major policy decisions. after today, after this week, they look like a party of defeat, disappointment and drama. and when it comes to their future, poor ryan has dismissed today as the growing pains of government. all they had to do over the last eight years was sit in opposition and a pose, talk about what they did not like. now they

need to find what they do like within their own party and come to a compromise when it comes to policy. when it came to this healthcare bill, neither the right nor the left liked it and there was no way in between. and when it came to the first week, the first push of major legislation, they just first week, the first push of major legislation, theyjust could not do it. here in the uk, to counterterrorism police have released all but two of the 11 people arrested since the attack on wednesday in central london. detectives are still trying to establish whether the attack was acting alone when he drove into pedestrians before stabbing a police officer to death outside parliament. the face of khalid masood. the face that confronted police officers at parliament. the face that looked out of the car at pedestrians, as he knocked them over. the 52—year—old was known by a number of names. born adrian elms in kent, by the time he was at huntleys secondary school for boys in tunbridge wells, he was called adrian ajao, after his mother got married.

school friends remembered him as a sporty pupil, who liked to party. adrian was a nice lad, a fun guy, always laughing, always joking. worked reasonably hard. good at sport. played rugby very well. just an unassuming guy. but masood was soon developing a reputation for violence. in the sleepy sussex village of northiam, where he lived in his 20s, at the local pub he slashed a man in the face with a knife and was sent to jail. he didn't have a very good reputation, definitely. i remember he was a bit of a troubled character, i think is probably the way to describe it. a family friend said this wasn't the only time masood spent time in three prisons, hmp lewes, wayland and ford. he worked as a teacher in saudi arabia in 2005 and again, in 2008. he'd already converted to islam by then. his mother now lives in a remote farmhouse in carmarthenshire, which detectives searched yesterday.

they haven't been, from what i understand, in any sort of contact with their son for well over 20 years, and at the end of the day, when it comes to terrorism, unfortunately nobody can be responsible for the action of their children. masood, we now know, launched his terror attack after staying overnight at a hotel in brighton. he stayed in room 228. detectives have searched the hotel and there have been more raids, more arrests. in manchester, a car was taken away by police in didsbury and two arrests, described by senior officers as significant, were made there and in the west midlands. the police are still trying to build a picture of a man who came here to attack westminster. they say their main aim now is to try and work out if he was acting alone, inspired by terrorist propaganda, or if there are others, still out there who encouraged him, supported, or even directed this attack.

but it's clear there are still gaps in the police's knowledge. what we're appealing to today is to the public, to say, if, even in hindsight now, you realise something about khalid masood, something about his associates, something about his movements, somethign about planning, now is the time to come forward and speak to our officers. a bright student, turned violent man, turned terrorist. no one is still sure how, or why. lucy manning, bbc news, westminster. 0ur our home affairs correspondent has been at police headquarters in central london and he says that there are still many questions that officers are working to answer. the investigation is moving into a new phase tonight. the immediate arrests are over, seven people caught up in the first sweep have now been released. that leaves just four

people in custody who detectives are concentrating on as potential accomplices although i am told more arrests are possible. now the hard miles of the investigation begin. detectives need to sift through the evidence and tried worked out whether this man was acting alone. they simply do not know the answer to this question at this stage. as ever, with modern terrorism investigations, they need to sift through a mountain of computer and mobile phone evidence including the fa ct mobile phone evidence including the fact that this mobile phone and send a message to the encrypted messaging application what's out. if that is correct, who did he send that message to? detectives hope that buried ina message to? detectives hope that buried in a mountain of evidence that they have seized of computer and mobile phone evidence is the a nswer to and mobile phone evidence is the answer to that critical question, who, if anybody, answer to that critical question, who, ifanybody, helped answer to that critical question, who, if anybody, helped him kill four people and wreak havoc and terror here in the heart of westminster. poor manna fought, the former

campaign cherub donald trump is to give evidence to the house intelligence committee as part of an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. he volunteered to speak to the panel. reports this week suggested that he secretly worked for a russian billionaire before joining the trump campaign. police in belgium have used anti— terror legislation to charge a 39—year—old man with attempted murder after a car was driven at high speed towards crowds in the shopping district of antwerp. no—one was injured. the suspect is a tunisian man and a gun and a knife were in the car. the former egyptian president has been released after six years in detention. the 88—year—old has been held in a military hospital. earlier this month, judges cleared him of any involvement in the death of protesters during the arab spring in 2011. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come— the ancient site abandoned by islamic state. we return to palmyra to see the extent of the damage they left behind. let there be no more war or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. so proud of both of you. with great regret the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. streaking across the sky, the white

hot wreckage from the space station drew garth ‘s from onlookers in fiji. -- drew garth ‘s from onlookers in fiji. —— gasps. this is bbc news. the latest headlines— donald trump has withdrawn his healthcare deal after it became clear he did not have enough support from his own party to wina enough support from his own party to win a vote in congress. british police have appealed to the public to help uncover the motivation of the man who killed four people in the man who killed four people in the attack on wednesday. let's stay with our top story now. i am joined 110w with our top story now. i am joined now from just outside boston. this man isa now from just outside boston. this man is a professor at the school of public health. doctor, thank you for your time. before we get into the politics, can i just your time. before we get into the politics, can ijust ask, could you

explain what is wrong with american healthcare and why the republicans and democrats are trying to fix it? american health care is the most expensive among all developed countries, and has deep access problems — tens of millions of americans have no health insurance coverage and are literally beggars on the system. we have serious quality and efficiency problems. the only thing we're really good at in the united states is spending more money than any other country on health care services. given what's happened today, what do you think needs to be done by republicans and democrats to amend 0bamacare? because we know there are flaws in this legislation. so there are parts of the law that subsidise the purchase of private health insurance by middle— and

lower—med—middle—income americans. that system needs correction and improvement. it needs to be made more affordable, either costing the deductibles from co—payments need to be lessened and made more reasonable for people. there are things that need to be done to stabilise what we refer to as the "individual health insurance market" in the united states — that 20 million americans rely on. those are technical issues that are entirely solvable. at this point, there has not been a willingness on the part of republicans to try to fix those, because they were really committed to bringing down the whole law, rather than fixing it and making it work better. but republicans were committed to keeping a couple of the more popular elements of 0bamacare. in your opinion, what's your assessment of the legislation they tried to pass today? the assessment of the legislation they attempted to pass — and failed and withdrew today -is pass — and failed and withdrew today — is that it was principally a

mechanism to try and engineer a major, enormous tax cut for the wealthiest families in the united states and for major health—sector interests — insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device—makers and others — and it tried to engineer those tax cuts at the expense of really decimating one of the basic programmes called medicaid that provides health insurance coverage for about 75 million low—income americans. so there were real problems in terms of there were real problems in terms of the threats to the security of coverage for some of our most vulnerable citizens — and happily, most of those threats are now removed with the withdrawal and failure of this legislative effort by the republicans. dr john mcdonna, i wish we had more time to discuss it. thank you so much for your analysis. thank you.

france's far—right presidential hopeful, marine le pen, has met russia's president in moscow. vladimir putin said he did not want to influence the french election next month, but reserved the right to communicate with all political forces. for her part, the national front leader said that, if she were to win, she would consider lifting the european union's economic sanctions imposed on russia over its role in the ukraine conflict. earlier, we spoke to the co—founder of the news website rue89.com. he thinks her visit is highly strategic. the trip to moscow is not unusual. what is unusual is that in this election, the context, she is received by vladimir putin. she has a problem in that her rivals, like a emmanuel macron, can be seen with angela merkel and theresa may, without any difficulty. she cannot. she has only met as heads of state the head of state of lebanon and off chad. meeting vladimir putin shows she can be presidential and talk directly

to some of the most powerful people on this land. but is it a wise meeting, given some of the accusations that have been levelled at rush hour over its alleged interference have been levelled at russia over its alleged interference in your selections. there is a lot of fear about that in europe, as well as conspiracy theories on rumours that russia is supporting the far right. my feeling is that with her supporters it will go well, because she can show that she is anti—system, that she is a rebel, and that she can go and meet the outcasts of this world and talk with the incarnation of the evil empire, vladimir putin, and that certainly goes well with her supporters. it does not go well, obviously, with many mainstream voters who are sensitive to the accusations about russia meddling with the us or european elections, or the case of ukraine.

so it is a mixed issue, but at the moment, i think the bonus for her is with her supporters and that is what matters at this stage in the campaign. it may play well with her supporters, but doesn't marine le pen need to expand her base in order to try and do well in this election, even potentially win? she is proving that she is a world—class leader. that's what she was to show, that she can go meet vladimir putin at the kremlin, and she takes international affairs seriously, that she can discuss islamic terrorism, she can discuss the fate of africa, that is what she claimed afterwards, and has positions that go against some of the rivals, particularly emmanuel macron, who will be

described during this campaign as a global is who is favourable described during this campaign as a globalist who is favourable to international finance. so she is really preparing the fight with emmanuel macron by siding with the anti—system moscow leader, rather than the mainstream world. just on that, briefly, in terms of what she has had to say, the assault on so—called islamic state is gaining ground. on two fronts in iraq, where the attack on mosul continues, and also in syria. in northern syria, government forces backed by russian and iranian allies have recaptured the ancient city of palmyra from the extremists for the second time in a year. our chief international correspondent has travelled to palmyra and its historic ruins, and sent this report... palmyra.

roman ruins, precious world heritage. is occupied this site twice in the past two years. their last target, the roman theatre — a stage for grisly executions, slitting throats, shooting soldiers and civilians here. is has lost this prize and ground beyond here to the syrian military, backed by its allies. the helicopter overhead is russian. palmyra matters, but the battles which lie ahead, including raqqa — the is's self—declared capital — matter more, and are far more difficult. and that's because confronting is in syria means confronting a fundamental question. are the west and countries in this region now willing to work with president assad and his russian and iranian allies to fight their common enemy? the world knows of is crimes now. in the basement of a deserted building we are shown what's called a makeshift courtroom. and the paper trail of its brutal rule.

the arabic word for execution. the crimes include leaving islam, spreading corruption. two men, called ahmed, were thrown from the top of a building — no reason given. the city of palmyra next to the ancient site is a ghost town. people fled is and the ferocious fighting here, including syrian and russian air strikes. this is where some of the displaced have taken refuge. an abandoned school, 100 miles away. 30 families here, including this woman and her five children. she remembers the exact moment when is fighters came to her door. translation: it was a quarter to five in the morning.

i opened the door and saw men shouting at me. they came in and took my husband and niece. i was told they chopped off his head. they took my nephew, who was only 15. my brother—in—law was beheaded too. she doesn't know how herfamily will cope. it's the story of syria. is no longer occupies their home, but it's dark shadow is no longer occupies their home, but its dark shadow hasn't left their lives. they may only be four years old, but twins roman and samuel have been praised for helping to save their mother's life. when she collapsed at their home, roman found his mother's iphone and used her thumb to unlock it, then used the

victoria—activation app to contact emergency services. duncan kennedy has been speaking to the twins and their mother. when it comes to ingenuity, this boisterous pair don't do things by halves... four—year—old twins roman and samuel sharma saw their mum, claudia, faint onto the floor. but what did they do? panic? cry? 0h, no... first, samuel picked up his mum's hand to place her thumb on her iphone to unlock it. and then, they did this... siri, call daddy. they used siri, the phone's voice—recognition system, to call not dad, but 999... the boys knew about siri by watching

their mum and dad. i said, ‘siri, 999." and what happened? the police and the doctor came. eventually, mum was taken to hospital. as a parent, you tell them things and hope they sink in, but you never, a — expect it to happen. 0r b — for them to remember anything you said. the boys say using smartphones is, well, smart. clearly a life—changing piece of four—year—old philosophy. that's a lovely story. much more on the website — bbc.com/news. see you soon. hello.

there will be some chilly nights this weekend. there will be frost for some of us as the weekend begins, but by day, it's sun, sun, sun. what a glorious weekend if you're a fan of blue skies. high pressure right across the uk. the weather ingredients this weekend, because of high pressure, as you might imagine, it's going to be settled. there will be some warm spring sunshine around, but for some others there will be a noticeable breeze. we will need to shelter from that to enjoy the warm sunshine. some chilly nights with frost around. looking at the temperatures as the weekend begins, these are the urban readings, but away from the towns and cities in the countryside we will see those lower readings on the thermometer. in parts of northern england, northern ireland and scotland we'll see frost. many of us will have widespread frost on ground and grass. a few patches of fog in parts of yorkshire, lincolnshire, the midlands and parts of wales. that shouldn't last too long into the morning. an exception to the settled weather will be in the northern isles. more cloud around on saturday, especially in the shetlands. outbreaks of rain at times, mostly on the light side. as day breaks you can see the extent of the sunshine to begin with,

but hints of either mist fog patches, or low cloud, to begin with, through parts of yorkshire, lincolnshire, the midlands and into wales. it should not last too long. by mid—morning that should be gone. look at the strength of the wind in east anglia, south—east england and along the south coast. if anything that may be a notch up compared to what we had on friday. quite a windy picture for some of us. you will need to shelter from the easterly wind to get the best of the warmth from the sunshine. the blue sky continues for the majority of the afternoon. that warmth will be felt, especially where the wind is right down the western side of the uk, 15 or 16 celsius. saturday, a fine evening, but a chilly night. a touch of frost, especially in the north. remember, on saturday night the clocks go forward an hour, the beginning of british summer time. nothing to do with the weather, though it sounds good. great for night workers, and great if you want your light longer into the evening.

here are the sunset times on sunday. there will be some sunshine around again on sunday for the vast majority. maybe just a bit of cloud to some eastern parts of the uk later in the day. still that breeze to the south and still sheltering from that to make the most of the sunshine. for the vast majority, the weekend will have a blue sky note. whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy that, and enjoy your weekend. the latest headlines from bbc news. donald trump has withdrawn his healthcare bill. he was forced to abandon his plans after being told he did not have enough republican support to win a vote in congress. some opposed his alternative to 0bamacare which will now remain in force across the us. the british police have appealed to the public to help uncover the motivation of the man who killed four people in the man who killed four people in the attack in westminster on wednesday. detectives are still

trying to establish whether or not he acted alone when he drove into pedestrians before stabbing a police officer. marine le pen says she would can set a lifting sanctions on russia if she were elected. the national front leader met vladimir putin in moscow and said he was not trying to influence events. and now one bbc news, click.