assad has no part in the future said assad has no part in the future of syria. that's been said loads of times before. but when it said in conjunction with an attack on the regime, crossing a self—imposed red line on the us administration, then that i think means that it will be taken much more seriously. but how would they actually make that happen? when he says it has no future, i think they've still been talking about some sort of political deal that excludes him full stop not active saddam hussein style regime change, which is a much bigger event. but i think the big question now is will the americans do something else? they've been indicating this isjob done. but if they have any other plans, certainly at the very least is what they've seemed to have been riding high. although the regime in damascus absolutely denies it had anything to do with a chemical attack and blames the rebels. thanks very much, jeremy bowen. time for a look at the weather, with tomasz schafernaker. it's good news as far as the weather

goes this weekend. the temperatures are going to be rising. we could get temperatures as high as 23 lcs in some spots. not for everybody, but warm enough. the warmth, as predicted, will be coming in from the south, from spain, from france. the temperatures that will happen in london on sunday could be as high as paris and even madrid. some pleasant warm weather on the dot way. the pollen level has been high and will remain high in england and wales for a couple more days at least yet. stating the obvious, we are not used to that strong spring sunshine just yet, so if you are heading off to the beach where the temperature may be 13-14, the beach where the temperature may be 13—14, you will burn. all this talk about sunshine, there's certainly a lack of it across a number of parts of the country in the last couple of days. suddenly

northern ireland, the north—west of england, north wales and west of scotland. it's been cloudy, the clouds have been stuck on this very sluggish area of high pressure. here i think it will be fairly cool today. temperatures of 12 celsius, the best of the weather by far across some southern the best of the weather by far across some southern and eastern areas of the uk. very little change on the way tonight, like last night it will be chilly this coming night. in towns and cities, probably around 6-7. in in towns and cities, probably around 6—7. in rural spots, in towns and cities, probably around 6—7. in ruralspots, maybe in towns and cities, probably around 6—7. in rural spots, maybe 2—3 above freezing. saturday dawns on a beautiful note. we are exciting about it. a stunning sunny day. earlier today, i2—macro people said wherever i touch the map, the sun comes out! i'm going to touch the map pretty much everywhere across the country, hear, hear, hear, are really beautiful day! adventures into the 20s across parts of yorkshire, nudging into the north—east, maybe 18—19 across southern scotland. i'm not going to reach the far north—west of scotland for our friends

reach the far north—west of scotland for ourfriends in reach the far north—west of scotland for our friends in stornoway, kirkwall and lerwick, it looks like it will be cloudy with spots of drizzle. great for the grand national. ladies day was a little cloudy. the sun will come out. sunday, while it will be the warmest day for england and wales, things are going to go downhill across north—western areas. much fresher across scotland and northern ireland eventually. in england, temperatures could get up to 23 celsius. it's going to end on a sour note as we head into monday. not that sour, but temperatures are going to lower and we will see a little bit more cloud. but the weekend is looking good. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. the us has launched missile strikes on the syrian air base believed to have mounted the chemical attack earlier this week. that's all from the bbc news at one. it's goodbye from me. on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon.

hello, this is the latest sports news this lunch time. the second round of the masters is under way at augusta with charlie hoffman going out after 3pm our time. lee westwood struggled on the front nine of day one but made five birdies in a row to come home in 70, five shots off the lead. the defending champion had a roller coaster round, which included an eagle, but also a double bogey and three bogeys. he's one over. hoffman well out in front leading by four shots after a hugely impressive round of 65. the chinese grand prix will go ahead as planned after organisers opted against bringing sunday's race forward , against bringing sunday's race forward, following discussions in shanghai. low cloud and rain there made it unsafe for the medical helicopter to operate preventing drivers heading out on the circuit for second practice. sunday's poor

forecast had led to calls to stage the race tomorrow instead. lewis hamilton said there must be a rethink in procedure, so that racing can still go ahead in bad conditions, as he found others ways to keep the crowds entertained. this year's malaysian grand prix will be the country's last. its 19—year run on the fi calendar will end a year earlier than originally agreed. the french grand prix returns in 2018 after a ten—year absence and germany is back on after missing out this year. arsene wenger says he believes alexis sanchez wants to stay at club. he is under contract until the end of the season. despite reports suggesting he wants to leave, wenger is confident he'll renew his deal. suggesting he wants to leave, wenger is confident he'll renew his deallj believe that basically, he wants to stay at the club. it's down to find an agreement with his agent. you know, i think the players first have

to see are they happy at the club. and after, most of the time it's down to find an agreement. but where the finances are involved in it. sadio mane has been ruled out for the rest of the season. he has a knee injury. juergen klopp said he was pretty sure he needed surgery. he started all but five of their league games this campaign. all five liverpool have failed to win. the olympic marathon champion has failed an out of competition drugs test. the 32—year—old kenyan won't be able to defend her london marathon title later this month, after testing positive for the blood booster epo. she is provisionally suspended. she'll‘ face sanction it's her b sample also failsment —— fails. (great britain will have men's and women's curling teams next year at the winter olympics. the women had already assured their

spot. the men needed to win. they completed a late night extra end victory to clinch the birth in pyongyang. great britain's davis cup quarter final against france is under way. we can head live there. kyle edmund is playing. he was broken in the third game. he broke straight back. at the moment, 4—1; in the first set. edmund looking to get great britain off toa edmund looking to get great britain off to a winning start ahead of the second singles match to come. then the doubles tomorrow. before the reverse singles on sunday. 4—1; in the first set. follow it all live on bbc two at the moment. of course, ladies' day at aintree as well. there's extensive coverage from the grand national meeting on the bbc sport website as well as the rest of the day's sports news over there. bbc.co.uk/sport. iwill rest of the day's sports news over there. bbc.co.uk/sport. i will be back with your next update around 2. 30pm. see you then. this is bbc news. let's get more on

oui’ this is bbc news. let's get more on our main story, those us missile attacks on a syrian government airbase, in response to tuesday's suspected chemical weapons attack. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships in the mediterranean at the air base which the americans say was used in the attack. russia has strongly condemned the attack which happened at 1.40am. president trump said it was in america's national security interest to prevent the spread of chemical weapons. this was what he had to say shortly after the attack was launched. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria, from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital, national security interest of the united states to prevent and

deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the un security council. the labour leader gave his reaction to the strike. he believes the us should not have acted unilaterally. it should have been organised by the un. if there should be an asack. there should be an investigation rapidly into an horrific and totally illegal action by somebody using chemical weapons against innocent people. do you condemn the attack last night? i think it is the wrong time to do it. i think they should have been consultation with the un before anything happened. but it has

happened. let's now have rapid ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table in geneva. millions of people have been forced into exile. tens much thousands have died in this conflict. weapons are pouring into the region. it's getting worse. there has to be a political solution. it's up to russia, america, the european union and all the neighbouring countries to rapidly get together before there's even further loss of life. short time ago our political correspondent spoke to labour's shadow foreign secretary to get her reaction to the news. the uk government actually finned the us air strike —— fully behind the us air strike —— fully behind the us air strike. last night they we re the us air strike. last night they were consulted beforehand, michael fallon spoke to his counterpart in the us, the evening before. they knew what was going on. they weren't asked tojoin in. to be honest, there is some relief perhaps around westminster that is the case. considering how much difficulty and agonising the issue of air strikes

against syria has caused politicians in westminster right back to 2013, when parliament voted not to endorse air strikes then. the government's position is clear, the lib dems support the us action. what about labour? i'm joined by support the us action. what about labour? i'mjoined by emily thornbury, who is the shadow foreign secretary. what did you think about the us action that we saw yesterday evening? my starting point is that nobody, nobody wants to see chemical weapons being used and nobody wants to see any more children being killed in this appalling way. the question is — how do we stop the war? everything that we do has to be on the basis that whatever we do tries to shorten the war. we need to make sure that people are around the table and talking. it seems to me that what we should be doing is getting the united nations to find the evidence that assad is responsible for these terrible attacks, take that to the un and then get international action on this. i don't think it was right for

donald trump to take unilateral action without speaking to anyone. i don't think that is necessarily going to stop the war. i'm concerned it may escalate it. you don't back the air strikes that we saw last night. you think that they should have been delayed until there was evidence put before the un?” have been delayed until there was evidence put before the un? i think that it was quite possible for the un to have an expedited investigation into this. the un have been involved in looking into assad's chemical weapons stacks before. i think we should have brought them in. the only way in which we should be taking action is internationally and working together. i think that it is wrong for donald trump to have done this unilaterally. the uk government clearly have one view about this. the liberal democrats are as well. labour are completely split. your deputy, tom watson, said today that he thought that these air strikes we re he thought that these air strikes were a direct and proportionate response. echoed by many senior figures within the labour party. on this issue, a crucial issue of

international security, of international security, of international moral imperative, you are divided as a party. we are united in that none of us want to see this happening any more. we are united in that we want to stop the war in syria. in terms of action, in terms of what actually has to be done. something has happened. your party is split. jeremy corbyn thinks one thing, agrees with you, shouldn't have happened. tom watson, your party's deputy, thinks it should have done, a view echoed by many others in the labour party. we all agrow that the action that has taken, that should be taken will be action that will stop the war, that will bring it to an end faster. and the us vow is that this is leverage that will bring about talks and hasten the end of the war and that this was a line in the sand that couldn't be crossed. of course, this isa couldn't be crossed. of course, this is a line in the sand. of course, there has to be action. those responsible for this must be brought to justice. we need responsible for this must be brought tojustice. we need to make sure that when we act, we act on the basis of international agreement and on evidence. that is the way to

proceed. it seems to me that whilst we all, we all want to do something. the question is — how best to do it with an eye always on how we stop the war and how we don't escalate it. look at the russian reaction today — it. look at the russian reaction today - politicians have been saying that for a very long time now. we've had un resolutions vetoed by russia at the un. we have talks in geneva getting nowhere. all you're saying todayis getting nowhere. all you're saying today is more of the same. i'm saying that if we were to put evidence before the un security council, that was clear, that showed that assad was responsible for this, then the russians would have to change their position and we would be able to work internationally. at the moment, what we have is donald trump acting on his own and the russians reacting in the way that they do. for example, the russians have said that they're not going to cooperate with the americans when it comes to allowing jets across syrian skies. how is that going to help with our fight against isis? i

skies. how is that going to help with ourfight against isis? i am really concerned we will end up escalating the war as a result of this as opposed to what everybody wa nts, this as opposed to what everybody wants, we need to stop it. we need to have proper talks. the geneva talks need a back bone. they have been meandering along for too long. we need to come to aen agreement. we can only do that internationally. the major players need to act together: the uk government has been clear that there will be no uk military involvement in this, unless there is an explicit vote authorising it by parliament. it doesn't seem, at the moment, that is on the agenda. if that situation changed and there was a vote, what would labour's position be, considering today that the top of the party, the leadership, is com pletely the party, the leadership, is completely split on this? ben, listen to the way you've asked that question. the question really should be, what military action can take place that will stop the war? that will bring the war to an end faster? that is the question. if someone comes to us with a plan, with a well

thought out plan to say, if we do x, yandzwe thought out plan to say, if we do x, y and z we will bring peace to syria, that's what we should do. whether that is military action first, i doubt. whether that is military action first, idoubt. i whether that is military action first, i doubt. isuspect whether that is military action first, i doubt. i suspect what we need to do is we need to, you know, difficult though it is, hard though it is, time consuming though it is, we have to in the end have a political solution in syria and not escalate the war. emily thornberry, thank you very much. reaction to those us air strikes continuing to come in during the day. just a couple of bits of breaking news on that story. first of all, reaction from turkey. we've just heard from the turkish president, who has hailed the attack by the united states on the air base as a positive development. he said, "we find it a positive and concrete step taken against the war crimes of assad regime. is it enough, he says, i don't find it enough. it's time to ta ke i don't find it enough. it's time to take serious steps for the

protection of innocent syrian people. the international communities has the capability to stop the regime and terrorist organisations and i hope the active sta nce organisations and i hope the active stance that the united states displayed in idlib is a beginning with a stons to such developments. that's one view, the president putin, in the meantime, we heard from his spokeman earlier. he has tweeted that heed held a meeting with his security council,ish yewing a statement. saying there was a —— detailed discussion. this was qualified as aggression and violation of international law. the participants expressed deep concern about the inevitable negative consequences of this act on the effo rts consequences of this act on the efforts to combat terrorism. the parties, says this press release, say it is highly regrettable that the by lateral russian—us relations we re the by lateral russian—us relations were damaged because of this strike on the air base. that was the main issue on the agenda of that meeting of the security council in moscow. we will be live in moscow in the

next hour for we will be live in moscow in the next hourfor more we will be live in moscow in the next hour for more reaction from there. ina there. in a moment, all the business news. first let's bring youed —— you the headlines. the us launches missile strikes on syria over suspected use of chemical weapons on civilians. russia, which backs syria, condemns the attack, calling it an act of aggression against a sovereign nation. a romanian tourist, knocked in the river thames urgs during the westminster bridge terror attack, has died of her injuries. good afternoon. in the business news: lloyds is setting aside a further £100 million to compensate customers who lost money in a fraud scandal, and the financial watchdog is re—opening an enquiry into it. two hbos employees were among six people jailed for stealing hundreds of millions of pounds from small businesses, some of which collapsed. lloyds has already set aside at least £250 million to cover other

costs arising from the case. the fca has re—opened its inquiry into the matter. the governor of the bank of england has warned the global financial system is at a "fork in the road" going into the brexit talks. mark carney was giving a major speech on the impact of brexit on the city of london. he said the negotiations would influence how banks are regulated — adding that the uk and european union were "ideally positioned" to strike a trade deal on financial regulation. he warned that continuing to cooperate was vital and turning inwards could mean fewerjobs, lower growth and higher domestic risks. average house prices were 3.8% higher in march than they were 12 months earlier, according to halifax. the country's biggest lender says that rate of growth is a significant slowdown — the slowest rate of increase for almost four years.

house prices are rising at less than half the rate seen a year ago. last week, the nationwide said that house prices had actually fallen in the last month. britain lags behind france, germany and the us when it comes to productivity or output per worker. one of the reasons behind that could be digital skills. the british chambers of commerce has done a survey on this, which highlights just how important the internet is for all aspects of how companies are run. managing digital information and connecting through digital channels were the most important things for companies, according to the survey. mike spicer is the director of research at the british chambers of commerce and joins us now from our millbank studios. good afternoon. could you tell us first what you mean by digital skills in a bit more detail? it's really a catch—all term that perhaps in another age would have been called it skills. it captures the kind of

technical skills that a person might needin technical skills that a person might need in a modern business environment. that could be something from the traditional using a softwa re from the traditional using a software package, like a spread sheet package, to being an intelligent customer of it products, so you know, if you're a company and you're looking to procure a new website, for example, knowing what the functionality is that you need, it could be the kind of it skills you need to work flexibly or remotely. it really covers a wide range of skills. so it's not necessarily about coding and writing machine code, but it's all how a company machine code, but it's all how a com pa ny interacts machine code, but it's all how a company interacts both with its suppliers and its customers digitally, so a lot of the stuff is automated, i presume you mean something like that? the consequences of not being able to do those things is you end up with higher operating costs, because perhaps you don't have the latest technology installed, you don't have the skills to exploit it. you end up with less efficient processes, so

increased work loads on staff. also, you end unin a position where you mightfind you end unin a position where you might find yourself lagging behind in meeting customer requirements, which are also increasing in their digital scope. so it's a really key set of skills. they can be found in all areas of a business. and the consequences of not having them are that you fall behind as a business. what does the chambers of commerce wa nt to what does the chambers of commerce want to see done about this? i presume you want the government to do more, like everybody else. businesses themselves have to raise their game. the responsibility sta rts their game. the responsibility starts there. we shouldn't avoid that. but there are positive things that. but there are positive things that the government can do, just this week, we've had the rollout of the apprenticeship levy. that's companies with a pay bill of £3 million or more having to pay half a per cent on their payroll. they can recoup that cash for investment in apprenticeships. you can invest in apprenticeships. you can invest in apprenticeship and related policies only. you wouldn't be able to use

that cash for generic it skills or continuous professional development outside the scope of an apprenticeship. having that flexibility would be a practical step that the government could take. mike spicer there. we better stop before your head hits the ceiling there. another story here, sources have told reuters that eu regulators have told reuters that eu regulators have cleared the fox takeover of sky. rupert murdoch already owns 39% of the company and last attempted to ta ke full of the company and last attempted to take full control when it was embroiled in the phone hacking scandal. the deal has been referred to ofcom. the co—op says it has received a number of takeover approaches from potential bidders. the bank, in which the co—operative group still has a small stake, was rescued from the brink of collapse by a group of hedge funds in 2013. last month, it reported its fifth annual loss in a row.

on thursday, the co—op group declared the bank worthless, cutting the value of its stake in the lender to zero. the new owners of turkey producer bernard matthews are to cut 114 production and managerial jobs. boparan private office had said it would secure the jobs of 2,000 workers in norfolk and suffolk when it acquired the company in 2016. the unite union says that employees there feel betrayed. the company said in a statement that it would focus on what we're best at by closing chicken production at its norfolk headquarters in great witchingham. twitter is suing the us government after it demanded that twitter reveal the identity of an anti—trump account. it's over an anonymous account. it's over an anonymous account criticising president trump's immigration policy. the claim was that it was run by federal employees at the united states citizenship service. twitter has blocked the request calling it a matter of free speech. let's look at

the markets: there's a few minutes delay in the dow opening. the non—foreign payrolls, jobs report was put out in the last few minutes saying 98,000 jobs was created in the month of marp. that is lower than people had expected. expect to see a negative reaction there. the ftse is down ever so slightly as is the dax in germany. back to you. this weekend, some extraordinary a cts this weekend, some extraordinary acts by young people are being celebrated at the rotary young citizen awards in manchester. one of thoseis citizen awards in manchester. one of those is aidanjackson citizen awards in manchester. one of those is aidan jackson from citizen awards in manchester. one of those is aidanjackson from widnes. he was diagnosed with asperger‘s syndrome in 2011, so sometimes struggles with everyday situations, making his fundraising efforts all the more incredible. i don't like that picture. aidan and

his mum caroline flick through a scrapbook of his fundraising exploits at their home in widnes. he started on a small scale. but the death in 2014 of his close friend olivia alice walker, at the age of just 15, really lit his fundraising fuse. i wanted to help out her family as much as possible. when they wanted to set up a charity, it was like the main, like it ignited the spark. he filled a sports stadium with 10,500 teddies to raise money. why is it so important to you that you do this, that you help people? even if it's just that you do this, that you help people? even if it'sjust one person, that one person is going to make a big change to their life. it's going to help them out a lot. all this despite the problems caused by his asperger‘s. all this despite the problems caused by his asperger's. day to day things we re by his asperger's. day to day things were a struggle. they still are. but when it comes to fundraising, he's just a different person. as well as asperger's, aidan has a condition

which causes him to walk on his toes. he may need surgery, which would keep him in plasterfor six weeks and in splits for a year. would keep him in plasterfor six weeks and in splits for a yearlj have to just try and deal with it, at my own pace, just slow down a little bit. aidan's raised more than £16,000 injust two little bit. aidan's raised more than £16,000 in just two years. he'll find out next week if he does need an operation or not. all this week, we've been featuring the stories of past and present winners of that award. tomorrow we will broadcast the ten—year anniversary ceremony live from manchester at 10. 30am. it's going to be a rather lovely weekend. and the weather too. it is indeed. it is going to be lovely, absolutely lovely. temperatures will be reaching 23

degrees in fact by the time we get to sunday. look, all this talk about sunshine, it's not been sunny everywhere. we have had a lot of cloud through northern ireland, parts of scotland, the north west here and it's chilly. it's like that this afternoon. temperatures, 11 or 12 degrees. the real warmth is further south and east. if you haven't had a lot of sunshine in the last couple of days, the sun will be reaching you, certainly by the time we get to saturday. the clouds will be breaking up. it's a beautiful start to saturday. a little on the nippy side for sure. maybe a touch of grass frost in some areas. the day is promising for us on saturday. the cloud breaks up across the north—western areas. the temperatures will be rising as well. maybe mid—teens, possibly high teens across some parts of southern scotland. but the real warmth will be across england, i think, on the sunday, where temperatures reach 23 degrees. but the north west back down that hill again and monday is looking cooler for everybody. this is bbc news. the headlines at 2.

america launches missile strikes on syria over its suspected use of chemical weapons on civilians. tonight, i ordered a targeted military strike on the air field in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. thick moscow says fewer than half the missiles hit their target — it calls for an emergency meeting of the un. other world leaders back the us — here, the defence secretary called it "an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack". we don't see this as the beginning of a new campaign, rather as a carefully tailored operation to try to deter the regime from carrying out these type of attacks in the future.