this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm: seniorfigures in gibraltar have demanded that the british government stands firm and resists moves by spain to regain sovereignty of the rock. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, tweeted his support: "the uk remains implacable and rock—like in our support for gibraltar." research says that nearly half the people who used government help—to—buy scheme to buy a house did not need it. bbc news learns that only 5% of existing prison staff in england and wales will get new pay allowances of £5,000. also in this hour — the row at the heart of the eurovision song contest the hosts ukraine face expulsion from future competitions unless russia's entrant is allowed into the country. and a look at the technology of sound, that's coming up at 3.30pm on click. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. the government has said that britain will defend the interests of gibraltar during the brexit negotiations, following warnings that spain is attempting to use the process to regain sovereignty of the rock. the eu has suggested that a brexit deal won't cover gibraltar without a separate agreement between london and madrid. here's our political correspondent, matt cole. the imposing rock at the mouth of the mediterranean has been in british hands since 1713. its fortified location north africa's coast‘s made it

a key strategic base for britain's military, as well as home to 30,000 british subjects. the outpost shares a border with spain which has long sought to reclaim it, but this week, theresa may made it clear that would not happen as part of brexit. gibraltar is not a separate member of the eu nor is it a part of the uk for the purposes of eu law. but we're very clear that it is covered by our exit negotiations. we're committed to fully involving them in the work that we're doing. yesterday the draft guidelines were issued, including this clause, which said, no future agreements between the eu and the united kingdom may apply to gibraltar without the kingdom of spain's approval. some say spain is trying to exploit brexit. every country looks to look after its own interests and this is what spain is now trying to do over gibraltar. it's absolutely wrong that any future free trade agreement, any future security, bilateral arrangements, or anything else, should depend on britain giving some concession to madrid over gibraltar.

in gibraltar, officials are furious. we are not going to be a pawn in brexit. we weren't the culprits of brexit. the european union looks at the united kingdom as if, you know, they're in an acrimonious divorce. we are the partner of the eu and we are the ones walking away, but we are not responsible for that. the letter handed to the eu on wednesday, triggering the article 50 leaving process for britain, didn't include reference to gibraltar, some critics say it should have. what this perhaps underlines is the challenge facing britain as it begins negotiating as a single nation against 27, each of which has their own vested interests. labour's clare moody is the mep for the south west and gibraltar. she explained why she was encouraged by the foreign secretary borisjohnson's response. i was very pleased to hear that he'd made that statement, because actually my first gibraltar shock this week was on wednesday, when i saw the article 50 letter, where it appeared that the uk government had glossed over,

indeed left out, the interests entirely of gibraltar. the reason why i am very clear on picking this up is because if the uk government is about to go into the most detailed negotiations that we have seen in decades, and it is vital that they are up to the job. so, it is really important to say, right, you weren't on the game on wednesday. you now have to step up to the plate for gibraltar. i'm pleased to see they have been doing. in future, as well, this isn'tjust about gibraltar it's about representing the interests of all british citizens. thousands of households on high incomes have received taxpayers money to buy a home, according to official figures. they reveal that the help to buy scheme, which offers

subsidies to buyers, has helped 4,000 households in england earning more than £100,000 a year to purchase a home. our business correspondent, joe lynam, reports. introduced four years ago, when the uk economy simply wasn't growing at all, the help to buy scheme aimed to stoke up house building and help mostly first—time buyers get on the ladder. since then, 250,000 people have bought property using the help to buy schemes. research by labour suggests that existing home owners from wealthy house hoeds have benefitted as well. —— households. using official data, research found around 4,000 households in england, earning more than £100,000, used the help to buy equity loan scheme and 20,000 households used it, even though they weren't even first time buyers. this scheme in place playing a valuable part in helping people get into the housing market for the first time should only be there for first—time buyers.

and really shouldn't be there for people who are earning over £100,000 a year. itjust doesn't make sense. the help to buy equity loan scheme offers buyers up to a fifth of the cost of a new—build home, so they only need to provide a 5% deposit. the government says almost 400,000 people have been helped and 8. £8.6 billion has been promised for it in england until 2021. lenders now, once again, are not scared about falling house prices and are prepared to advance money to people who want to buy homes. the question is — has it now gone on for too long and is it now artificially pushing up house prices, particularly those of new build homes? the fact that the help to buy scheme has helped existing and sometimes wealthy households will worry some eeconomists. they have long seen concerns about consumer indebtedness, rising house prices and savings the an all—time record low. if the cost of living continues to rise, as it has

in recent weeks and months, that will make the problem even worse. speaking earlier, ruben young, from priced0ut, a group campaigning for first—time buyers and cheaper housing, told us he wanted to see an end to the help to buy scheme. the whole thing should be scrapped. the money should be put into subsidising the supply of housing and not the demand. the more money you have chasing the same supply of homes, the more expensive those homes will become. build more, sure, lift housing revenue caps, let local authorities borrow money to build housing, that's a better way to spend the money. got really has a good grip on the scale of this crisis. they have the right rhetoric. unfortunately, as we saw from the housing white paper, they're not prepared to take the steps necessary to actually get that done. gavin barwell is always saying there's no silver bullet. allowing local authorities to build housing

themselves would be a silver bullet. reviewing green belt policy would be a silver bullet. reviewing property taxes would be a silver bullet. help to buy is a drop in the ocean. bbc news has learned thatjust 5% of prison officers in england and wales will benefit from new allowances of up to £5,000. the ministry ofjustice announced the new payments two months ago, after criticism that low pay and morale were leading to a crisis in the prison service. mark fairhurst from the prison officers association said giving some staff pay allowances, and not others, was demoralising their members and failing get to the heart of recruitment problems. those of us who are experienced are very demoralised. because we haven't had a pay rise in over seven years. those new recruits, for example, a new recruit at the newjail in wrexham will be receiving £21,000 a year, yet someone with the same level of experience as them, with only ten weeks in the job, working in brixton, will be

receiving £31,000 a year. now that's no incentive to stay in the job. they need to tackle the real issue, the real issue we can't retain staff is because of the violence, because of the working conditions and because of the severe lack of support from management, when we deal with that violence. the other issue is the starting salary throughout the country apart from the 31 sites identified, simply isn't sufficient enough. it doesn't compete with other industry. nottinghamshire police say they're becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of two young children, who are believed to have been abducted by their mother. 42—year—old samantha baldwin, from newark, has not been seen since monday and is believed to be with nine—year—old louis madge and dylan madge, who's six. police say they are treating the case as an abduction. from door to door, the police are looking for clues

in their search for the missing boys and their mother. samantha baldwin, nine—year—old louis and six—year—old dylan vanish on tuesday. the previous day nottingham family court had ordered her sons should be removed from her care. the police are now treating it as an abduction inquiry. i would like to say to samantha directly, please do the right thing and return the boys safely to the court. secondly, to anybody out there, across the nation, who has any information, however small that may be, to contact us. that includes anyone who runs or owns bed—and—brea kfasts, hotels, caravan parks, camp sites or holiday lets to check your registers, check who you've got occupying your premises and please bear in mind the group could be staying under a different name. the two boys have now been made wards of court. their mother regarded as posing a risk of harm.

the police haven't ruled the possibility of someone else two women, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender have been bailed. demonstrators in paraguay have set fire to the country's congress in protest against a bill that would let the president seek re—election. the head of the main opposition party says an activist had been shot dead. the country's constitution limits the president to a single five—year term. but the sitting president, horacio cartes, is trying to remove the restriction and run for re—election. greg dawson reports. this was a night of violence in paraguay after months of speculation about the country's future. the protesters were directing up their anger at the riot police and politicians who they believe are steering this country

towards dictatorship. hours earlier, a secret vote had taken place here to approve a new bill which could allow president cartes to run for another term of government. the offices of lawmakers were set alight, with computers and tvs becoming missiles. reports say dozens of people, including police and politicians, were injured. this is the man at the centre of the dispute. horacio cartes came to power in 2013, but paraguayan presidents have been banned from re—election since 1992 to try and stop a return to authoritarian regimes in the country. president ca rtes wants the restriction removed. trouble began earlier in the day, with tears and tear gas on the streets of the capital. rubber bullets were also fired at demonstrators. translation: the people of paraguay can fight

against these rubber bullets. they have installed a dictator in this country. the bullets against paraguayans will soon be metal. the controversial bill still needs further approval, with another vote in the congress. that was due to happen on saturday, but has now been postponed as lawmakers and the president appealfor calm. venezuela's supreme court is abandoning measures to seize power from the opposition—controlled congress after two days of protests on the streets. venezuela's president nicolas maduro had earlier gone on television to say he had resolved the crisis. on friday the court's decision was condemned by the attorney—general, luisa 0rtega. officials in australia warn that swollen rivers are still threatening tens of thousands of people in queensland and new south wales. the police commissioner in the city of rockhampton in queensland said the flooding would be the worst

in nearly a century. the floods come in the aftermath of tuesdays category four tropical cyclone debbie. tammi walker has this story. authorities in australia have warned local residents, stranded by floodwaters, to remain vigilant in the aftermath of a powerful tropical cyclone. swollen rivers continue to rise, threatening tens of thousands of people living near major rivers in queensland and new south wales. cyclone debbie hit the eastern coast on tuesday, with inds up to 260 kilometres an hour, causing major damage to buildings, roads and crops. it's unbelievable, mate. it's picked it up like a big eskie and whipped it across the road. malcom turnbull confirmed fatalities. two women in new south wales have died as a result of these floods. 0ur thoughts and prayers are with their families. this is going to be a tough time for them. military and rescue teams have been mobilised to

help with the emergency. rescuing stranded people and distributing supplies, such as food, water and fuel. 0fficials stress the danger will continue for some time. we hope by the end of the day we will see easing of those conditions and improvement into tomorrow. but it's not over yet. after three days of chaos and destruction, the people of queensland and new south wales are left with the damage and trying to rebuild their lives. the headlines on bbc news: the uk says it will stand up for gibraltar‘s interests after the territory accused spain of using brexit to forward territorial aims. research says that nearly half the people who use the government's help to buy scheme, to purchase a house, did not need it. bbc news learns that only 5% of prison staff in england and wales will get new pay allowances of up to £5,000. in sport, liverpool have won the

merseyside derby, 3—1. coutino with one of their goals. they're up to third for now. there are seven other premier league matches this afternoon, leaders chelsea currently losing 2—1 at home to crystal palace. bath are into the semifinalles of the european challenge cup in rugby union. they won 34—20. they're going to face 0spreys or stade fraun say next. the ana inspiration in california, charlie hull bogeyed two of her last four holes. she's three shots off the lead at the halfway stage. a full update for you in the next hour 01’. full update for you in the next hour or. so —— or or. so —— 01’ $0. documents released by the white house show donald trump's senior staff hold millions of dollars in assets. ethics regulations require white house staff disclose their finances. according to us media, the figures appear to show

the individuals are much more wealthy than officials in previous administrations, including barack 0bama's. joining us from our washington studio with more on this story is tulip mazumdar. administrations are wealthy, what's so administrations are wealthy, what's so particular, why does this particular story mat ormuch? -- matter so much? i'm not sure that anyone's going to be hugely surprised that donald trump's administration has a lot of money between them. he of course is a multibillionaire. he has brought members of his own family into the white house with him. but it is very interesting to see the particular amounts we're talking about. just to talk you through some of them, jarrod kushner, the president's son—in—law and a chief advisor now in the white house, him and his wife iva ka in the white house, him and his wife ivaka had in the white house, him and his wife

iva ka had around in the white house, him and his wife ivaka had around 240 million to $740 million in assets. that's up to around £590 million. that includes a sta ke around £590 million. that includes a stake in trump international hotel, which earned ivanka between £1 million and $5 million last year. she hasn't done a financial disclosure yet. because she's only just officially joined disclosure yet. because she's only just officiallyjoined the white house staff. we may get more numbers from theirfamilies house staff. we may get more numbers from their families in the house staff. we may get more numbers from theirfamilies in the coming weeks or months. 0thers from theirfamilies in the coming weeks or months. others who are interesting, steve bannon, the president's, one of his senior advisors, chief strategist, he has somewhere between 3 and £12 million in assets. gary cone, a former goldman sachs head, now heads up the national economic council, he has assets of around $230 million. clearly big numbers here. i mean the administration itself is thought to be, theirare administration itself is thought to be, their are estimates around $12 billion. this is considered one of the, if not the richest

administration's cabinets there's ever been and certainly more wealthy than the 0bama administration. the press secretary to the white house said ina press secretary to the white house said in a statement that look, we appreciate these are blessed and successful individuals, but these are people that care about the country. they have given up a lot to come into office and work at the white house, including some of these assets, because these are numbers that were the case when theyjoined the white house and they've had to divest some of the interests in the meantime. what about mr trump himself? have we learned more about his particular numbers? these are from white house officials. there we re from white house officials. there were a number of them. donald trump didn't feature specifically, but of course his finances have been looked into at some length during the campaign, since he's been into office, they've been scrutinised again and again. in fact, ethics experts have said in the past that there are conflicts of interest there. they have encouraged the president to divest further. we know

that he has given his trump 0rganization, he has passed that onto his sons. some people say look, that's still too close for comfort. you into ed to divest further. —— you need to divest further. in washington, you have the trump hotel and concerns have been raised that people will go and stay there, that to please the administration before meetings. that will go down well with donald trump himself. there are concerns about that. we see the president going back to miralago, he's called it the southern white house, or the winter white house. that is a private members club that makes a lot of money for the trump 0rganization. he's taken dignitaries there. there are concerns that this encourages people to get membership so encourages people to get membership so that they can get closer to the president. we still haven't had the president's tax returns, even though he's been asked again and again to do that. he's the first president not to release his tax returns, though some of them have been leaked in the last couple of months. so there is a lot of uncertainty,

confusion perhaps tied up in some of the money in the white house at the moment. but the white house itself said look, we're being completely transparent, we're releasing these figures. we're doing what we've been asked to did and that actually, a lot of people who had a lot of money have had to give up a great deal to come into the white house and be public servants. are americans, who are struggling, yes, they do hold success in high regard, are they convinced by mr spicer‘s words? look, donald trump has been a very wealthy man for a very long time. he was actually elected partly because of that. he was a businessman. he had made a huge success of his own personal wealth and many people thought look, do that for us, do that for the country. the rhetoric from donald trump has been big business, america first, we're going to bring jobs back. people trust him on that because he has made a success , on that because he has made a success, according to these numbers, of his businesses. though of course there have been criticism of how

he's conducted some of them in the past. with major losses as well. this is what many people voted for for donald trump on. i think yes, of course, there are so many people here struggling in the us, but many people believe that donald trump is the man that could turn around their fortunes. thank you very much. the organisers of the eurovision song contest have threatened to ban this year's hosts, ukraine, from future competitions unless russia's entrant is allowed into the country. last week, ukraine barred yuliya samoilova because of a visit she made to crimea after it was annexed by russia three years ago. earlier i spoke to alisdair rendall. he's the president of the 0gae, the uk's biggest eurovision fan club. he told me this row goes back to last year when ukraine won. the lyrics were deemed to be a bit

political, perhaps anti—russian. skip forward 12 months and kiev is getting ready to host the contest. russia at the very last minute, there was a bit will they, won't they take part. they submitted their song at the last minute. then the ukraine said, hang on, she's visited crimea, that's illegal. she cannot come to kiev to perform. so the ebu looked at a compromise which may have involved her performing live by satellite. the russian broadcasters said no, that's not acceptable. we're sending julia to ukraine. we now have reports that the director—general of the ebu has contacted the broadcaster in ukraine to say hang on, this has got to be sorted out or you will face sanctions. this has never happened before in eurovision history, yet there's no love loss between russia and ukraine. there's not. it's fairly unprecedented. the nearest was in

2009 with georgia. there was a song and the lyrics were anti—putin. they had to withdraw. this stand—off, there's a bit of brinkmanship going on here. it difficult to see how it's going to be resolved. should politics be involved in something that's meant to be fun, it's entertainment, bringing the nations together? absolutely not. the clue's in the title, the eurovision song contest. there's enough politics in europe at the moment. we need a bit of escapism from that. it's inevitable with the olympics and the world cup, when you have big, international events that politics will play a part. no, for the fans, for the viewers, for the musicians, it's a song contest. and let's hopethis doesn't distract from that too much. we'll come back to what the fans think in a moment. may 13 is the date, could this be resolved by then? it's going to have to be. we don't know what the resolution will be. i know the ebu were working really hard to find a solution that pleases everyone. but with the clock ticking just

a few weeks to go until the contest, we're all interested to see what's going to happen. it's hard to see what the way out is. you run the biggest uk eurovision fan club, what are the fans saying? the fans are saying this is not a politics contest. it's a song contest. it gives fuel to the fire to all those people who like to criticise eurovision and say it's all about politics, that's why the uk will never do well. at the heart of it is the best song will win. let's hope this doesn't distract too much from that. what was she doing in crimea? i think she performed in a concert within the last couple of years. obviously since the occupation of crimea by russia, that's seen as something that the authorities in ukraine asjust a no—no, if she wants to perform in kiev. she's quite an interesting performer as well. she's performing from a wheelchair, is that right? exactly. yes. she is disabled. she wouldn't be the first disabled artist or even the first performer in a wheelchair. a polish singer sang from a wheelchair, but it adds to the whole kind of media hubbub

around the story. the artist, gilbert baker — who created the rainbow flag that became an international symbol for gay rights — has died. he was 65. baker was asked to come up with a flag design for the lgbt community in 1978 by harvey milk — who was california's first openly gay elected official. you might remember the crystal maze — the quiz show in the 1990s. but if you ever wished you could have a go, now could be your chance. the format has been revived as part of an immersive heatrical production, which sees people take part, influence the show, and even become characters themselves. tim muffett has been to have a go. all right, team! v0|ceover: the audience as participants, notjust watching the show but being in it. the crystal maze experience opens today in manchester, based on the early 90s television programme. it was a really british tv show, a sense of irreverence,

it was funny, tongue in cheek, silly... that's just the way the wookie grumbles(!) like the london show that has been selling out for a year, this new manchester production will see audience members compete for crystals, to buy time in the crystal dome. will you start the fans please! we have broken the disconnect now between people wanting to be active and passive, wanting to play and follow a journey rather than just be sat in a dark auditorium. this immersive production might be inspired by a television game show, but many theatre producers have sought out new audiences by making them part of the story. montagues and capulets, a very different version of romeo + juliet, the latest production by these immersive specialists, colab theatre. there is even dodgeball

and a 90s rave. why has it taken off as an idea? it's a response to social media, where we're all our own protagonists of facebook and twitter. when we see a show, ifeel like of facebook and twitter. when we see a show, i feel like audiences are getting less empathetic to characters that they watch on screen 01’ on characters that they watch on screen or on stage and are actually wanting something to happen to them. joo very immersive, not quite what i was expecting. joo the fact it involves everybody, that is the thing, you are not sitting severally. the arts council has seen a big rise in the number of funding applications from experimental theatre group, up 42% since 2014. -- 2013. many immersive shows like this one based on alice in wonderland have proved popular, but some feel that the novelty is wearing thin. what has changed in immersive theatre, it has gone from an art form that was new and exciting

to being something that people are ending up going for the experience of it. if you haven't got something you want to say and achieve, by bringing the audience into the show, you may as well not do it immersively, you may as well not do it at all. confusing at times, audience participation is a must, the growth of immersive theatre suggest that watching a show is for some no longer enough. looks like fun. let's find out how the weather's looking. hello there. it was a fairly typical april day today with spells of sunshine, but also some sharp showers. 0vernight the showers tend to fade away. as the showers tend to fade away. as the skies clear and the winds fall, it will turn quite chilly. there was a lot of cloud developing. it was wet for some parts of northern england in particular. elsewhere the showers are more scattered. they

tend to fade away slowly. eventually they dry up in the midlands and i think we'll keep extra cloud on the north sea coasts. most places are fine and dry overnight. clear skies and light winds. major towns and sittings dropping away at single figures. maybe a touch of frost in rural northern ireland and parts of scotland. a bright start to the day for the uk. plenty of sunshine. light winds as well. cloud increases as we get into the afternoon. maybe the odd rogue shower for eastern areas. most places are dry and bright with good spells of sunshine. 12 or 13 for glasgow and belfast. 16,17 12 or 13 for glasgow and belfast. 16, 17 in the london area. a decent day on money in the south—east. wind freshening in the north and west with a little rain.