this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at 3pm: as us and russian foreign ministers meet in moscow, president putin says trust between the two countries has deteriorated since donald trump became president. german police identify two suspects, arresting one, in connection with yesterday's attack on the borussia dortmund team bus. the boss of united airlines apologises on tv for a passenger being dragged off an over—booked flight and blames "system failure" for the incident. you saw us at a bad moment and this can never and will never happen again on a united airlines flight. that's my premise and that's my promise. going up again — energy firm edf hikes fuel prices for the second time in four months. i'm simon mccoy.

melania trumps the daily mail! america's first lady gets an apology and damages from the newspaper's publishers over allegations about her work as a model. and breaking the speed limit — the first time a steam train has hit more than a hundred miles an hour in half a century. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the russian president, vladimir putin, has said trust between moscow and washington has deteriorated since donald trump took office. mr putin's comments came as his foreign minister, sergei lavrov, was holding talks on syria with his us counterpart, rex tillerson, in the russian capital. opening the talks, mr lavrov warned the us not to adopt an "us or them" approach regarding russia's support

for syria's president assad. mr tillerson wants russia to withdraw that support following last week's chemical attack on a rebel—held town which killed more than 80 people. our north america correspondent barbara plett—usher is travelling with mr tillerson and she sent this report from moscow. this is not the kind of meeting that once seemed on the cards. long gone is talk of a grand resetting of relations with russia, previously encouraged by donald trump. that has been replaced by over tensions over the chemical weapons attack in syria and russian anger over the american military response. translation: it is important for us to understand your intentions, the intentions of the us and and the real intentions of this administration. the secretary of state said both sides had some explaining to do. we can further clarify areas of common objectives, areas of common interest, even when our tactical approaches may be different.

and to further clarify areas of sharp difference so that we can better understand why these differences exist. the trump administration has raised the stakes by so publicly and strongly blaming russia for the actions of its syrian ally. it's a major shift in approach and it's not clear what the larger strategy is. relations have never been easy but moscow says they haven't been this low since the end of the cold war. the strike on a syrian air base seemed like a game changer, but the americans said they were taking a stand against the use of weapons of mass destruction, not taking sides in the civil war. yet president trump is now pressing the russians to back away from support for the syrian leader, bashar al—assad. frankly, putin is backing a person that is truly an evil person and i think it's very bad for russia, i think it's very bad for mankind, it's very bad for this world. that's reinvigorated western allies who met rex tillerson yesterday.

they're hoping this means the us will take a more forceful role in pushing for a political solution. in moscow though, that approach has backfired. president putin has only deepened his show of solidarity with assad and blames the rebels for the chemical attack. the relationship between the us and russia is as bad as it has been in a very long time. the relationship between the us and russia is as bad as it has been in the aftermath of this airstrikes, of course russia is a key backer of assad. and tillerson is going over with the hope that he can somehow persuade russia of the critical importance of the us and russia not coming to conflict in syria. rex tillerson has a lot of experience working with the kremlin, but in cutting business deals when he was head of the energy firm exxon mobil. his task as america's top diplomat is a whole other matter. this trip will be an important test of whether he is up to the challenge. joining me from new york is rebecca friedman lissner,

stanton nuclear security fellow at the council on foreign relations. one of the criticism risms of donald trump when he was appointed president was nobody knew about his foreign policy. do we think we know now what it is? no, i still think we don't know what trump's foreign policy is. ever since he was elected andindeed policy is. ever since he was elected and indeed during the campaign there we re and indeed during the campaign there were all kinds of debates about what would constitute the trump doctrine and what would america first actually mean? i think we are starting to see the emergence of a series of policies that could constitute a trump doctrine, but the absence of a strategic framework begs the question of what this administration is after when it comes to foreign policy. you can understand where russia, on his appointment when he was going about america first felt he would give them a break. it's not happening? no, it's not. what i think you see

playing out here is the tension between atmospherics and interest. there were positive atmospherics through the campaign between moscow and washington. there was a desire on the part of putin and trump to have a better relationship, but underlining that is conflicts. now the trump administration is having to address the conflicts of interest. in lavrov, you have one of the most experienced diplomats and there you have rex tillerson starting out a newjob, a new role and the risk is one runs rings around the other? absolutely. i think that's a serious concern. it is made all the more concerning by the divergent messages we have heard come og the of the administrationment they are not speaking with one voice when it comes to syria and that puts rex

tillerson in a difficult situation because there isn't a central guidance that he receives to be receiving in term of what his message is in meeting with lavrov. what happened to the optimism? everyone thought we would have a new relationship with the united states and russia and here we are, things have never been worse? yes, well, like i said, there was always this underlying tension because us and russian interests are fundamentally contradictory in many places and this was always the question about what the trump administration syria policy would be because on the one hand they sought co—operation with russia and their fight against the islamic state, but on the other hand, you know, there is this inevitable piece of the picture which is assad and moscow's support for assad and those intention were a lwa ys for assad and those intention were always intentions and now the trump administration had to confront them perhaps sooner than they were ready to do, but the interests, they are not compatible and that's the challenge that both moscow and washington find themselves facing. president trump has quite a

challenge on several fronts. alongside north korea, this is a bapt tism of fire for the new president, isn't? that's true. if anything, i would say that the north korea threat is all the more alarming even if it hasn't dominated headlines for the past few days given everything that's been happening in syria. the syria situation is a humanitarian crisis. it does have bearing on american national interests and the interests of our allies especially in europe and the middle east, but atted end of the day from the us national interests prospective the greater threat to the homeland and to our vital national security interests comes from north korea and the administration needs to keep its eye on that ball and if it doesn't, it could evolve into a very dangerous situation. thank you very much. thank you. police in germany, hunting the perpetrators of yesterday's attack on the bus of the borussia dortmund football team, have identified two suspects from what they call an "islamist background". one has been arrested. the bus was hit by three explosions

while it was taking the players to last night's champions league match against monaco. our europe correspondent gavin lee is in dortmund for us. i have come to the dortmund stadium because in the next few hours 80,000 fa ns because in the next few hours 80,000 fans will be here in the mid—of this on going investigation by the federal prosecutors office confirmed there is two suspects. both said to have islamist links in dortmundment we know more about the two letters that were discovered. one letter found in the roadside, that's six miles a way from here by the police which claims to be basically the second attack after berlin, carried out by sympathisers of so—called islamic state. that they were calling on german aircraft taking pa rt calling on german aircraft taking part in coalition strikes against so—called is to stop otherwise they will keep targeting other high—profile stars and people in germany. that's what the letter according to german state media said. the prosecutor said that

appears to be feasible this letter at this stage. there was a second one posted online by an anti—far—right group. that appears to bea anti—far—right group. that appears to be a hoax according to the police. the match will start soon. this is the size of the immediate security. you can see the armed personnel carriers. this goes around the main cordon as the fans start to arrive. i will speak to a few as they start to come in. we have anton and anton juniorment you they start to come in. we have anton and antonjuniorment you arrived a short while ago and you have come for the match. how are you feeling right now? yes, we were at the match yesterday and i feel today i feel safe because of the police over here, but also, we feel sick because of the terrorist attack on the bus from borussia dortmund. what happened last night. you were there at the game and it didn't start.

were you told what was happening? we we re were you told what was happening? we were inside a bit later, but first were inside a bit later, but first we got a message from the smartphone and from the family at home and then they told us inside that we have to wait some minutes. they gave us information and a few minutes after that they told us that we have to go out, to go home, but we have to wait. it was very, very odd. did you think twice about taking your son today, given what happened? did you think should i do this or did you think, no, iwill? yesterday, think should i do this or did you think, no, i will? yesterday, we talked about it, but i think if you go home, i this the terrorists will have won and we don't want

terrorists in our sport. to let them win. you showed me this picture a minute ago in front of you with the police just behind us here. i guess making the most of the occasion, trying to make it fun for him? it's fun, but also it's, i want to show him that he is safe over here. the police is ok. and he doesn't have to think about other people or something like that. he's safe. anton thank you very much for talking to me. i appreciate that. i should say simon this is moving fast in terms of the investigation, it is a big crowd control operation. there isa a big crowd control operation. there is a big public event at the same time this investigation continues. that was gavin lee speaking to simon earlier. president trump's spokesman, sean spicer, has apologised — after saying that hitler didn't use chemical weapons. sean spicer made the remark during a white house press briefing, as he answered questions about the war in syria. earlier he was speaking at an event in washington and had this

to say about his comments. i made a mistake. there is no other way to say it. i got into a topic that i shouldn't have. i screwed up. imean, you that i shouldn't have. i screwed up. i mean, you know, i hope people understand that we all make mistakes. i hope i show that i understand that i did that and that i sought people's forgiveness because i screwed up and i hope each person can understand that part of existing is understanding that when you do something wrong, if you own up you do something wrong, if you own up to it, you do it, you let people know and i did. so, for me, i mean obviously there is two take aways. one, it is a very holy week for both the jewish people one, it is a very holy week for both thejewish people and the christian people and this is not to make a mistake and a gaffe like this is inexcusable and reprehensible. so of all weeks this was not, this

compounds that kind of mistake. but second of all, and so, first of all, it is obviously, it's, it's, it really is painful to myself to know that i did something like that because that obviously was not my intention and to know that when you screw up intention and to know that when you screw up that possibly offended a lot of people. ijust, you know, so i would ask obviously for folks forgiveness to understand that i should not have tried to make a comparison. there is no comparing atrocities and it is a very solemn time for so many folks that is part of that and that's obviously a very difficult thing personally to deal with because you know that a lot of people who don't know you wonder why you would do that. that's first and fore most and secondly, just from a professional standing point, it is disappointing the president's had an unbelievable couple of weeks. he took very decisive action in syria. he made tremendous progress with

president xi and yourjob as the spokesman is to help amplify the president's actions and accomplishments and i think he had an unbelievable successful couple of weeks and when you're distracting interest that message of accomplishment and your job interest that message of accomplishment and yourjob is to be exact opposite, on a professional level it is it is pointing because i've let the president down. and so, ona i've let the president down. and so, on a personal level and a professional level that would go down as not a very good day in my history. a man has plead guilty to sending m essa 9 es a man has plead guilty to sending m essa g es to a man has plead guilty to sending messages to an mp. mark sands was sentenced to a custodial terms for

the message he posted on facebook in november last yearment the court heard how he had been angry at proposed disability cuts and as a consequence he put on his facebook page, "if you vote to take £30 off me, i will personally come round to your house and stab you to death." police were alerted to that post and then made caroline ansell, who is then made caroline ansell, who is the eastbourne mp, mark sands‘ local mp aware of what had been posted. they said it was a credible threat and they charged mark sands, but earlier i spoke to caroline ansell about the impact that that threat had had on her and herfamily. about the impact that that threat had had on her and her familylj rememberwherel had had on her and her familylj rememberwhere i was had had on her and her familylj remember where i was when i picked up remember where i was when i picked up the call from my local police to say that they had had a credible threat against my life and that a local man had been arrested and was in custody. i was at home, it was a sunday morning and i wasn't expecting that what's been the impact on your family? seeing it on the front page of your local

newspaper and then seeing it in every cafe in the town and the supermarkets and the newsagents, it was very powerful and i sat with my 12—year—old son and his eyes widened as you'd imagine as he sort of read that message and saw my photograph alongside the man who had been charged and so it did have an effect on them. were you genuinely fearful for yourself and your family? on them. were you genuinely fearful for yourself and your family7m on them. were you genuinely fearful for yourself and your family? it did change things in that moment. there isa change things in that moment. there is a deal of sort of low level abuse andl is a deal of sort of low level abuse and i have become unfortunately quite accustomed to that, but this did feel tangibly different. the threat that you received came after what happened tojo cox, how do you think that changed things?|j what happened tojo cox, how do you think that changed things? i did know her. i knew the sound of her voice. i knew her smile and i really related to women as in very similar age and stage in life and that

connection with children too. so, i think, that did change my response to this experience because of what had happened to her, but i think also perhaps it made the police rather more concerned to take the action that they did. do you think this is a particular problem for women this kind of threat?|j this is a particular problem for women this kind of threat? i know from my male colleagues that they get equal treatment in social media terms. nobody should, nobody should have to put up with this kind of engagement. this idea that life online isn't real, doesn't have repercussions is something we need to stop and stare i think at that. there is no separation between our digital selves and our real life, you know, there isn't. that's a very false distinction and i think it is a dangerous one. do you worry it

will put people off politics?|j think there is a risk in that because why would you go there? why would you want to embrace that kind of life experience ? would you want to embrace that kind of life experience? i think particularly for women with children, especially younger children, especially younger children, would you want to expose them to that? and so for that reason, alone, i hope that there is something of a sea change in the way in which people view their politicians because in my experience i haven't met one who hasn't got firmly the best interests of the people they represent at heart. well, there was mention made in court about the current climate where mps are receiving online abuse, but madeleine priestley who was mitigating on behalf of mark sands said he was of previous good character. this was an empty threat borne out of frustration because he

was concerned about cuts to his disability, thejudge was concerned about cuts to his disability, the judge said was concerned about cuts to his disability, thejudge said he didn‘t accept that, he said when you looked at his facebook page there was an ethos of threat. he cited the death ofjo cox who was murdered last year and the district judge ofjo cox who was murdered last year and the districtjudge said the comments made by mark sands were unpleasant and they gave a sinister context to the threat that he had made against caroline ansell mp and asa made against caroline ansell mp and as a consequence, he sentenced him to four months in prison. alex, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: president putin says trust between russia and the us has deteriorated since donald trump became president. a man has been sixed for threatening to kill the mp, caroline ansell. officials detain a suspect in connection with the explosions targeting the borussia dortmund

football teamment the lead prosecutor says the man may have had islamist links. and in sport: leicester city manager craig shakespeare says the team will be out to get a result in their champions league quarter—final against atletico madrid tonight, despite being the underdogs. formula one mclaren driver fernando alonso will miss the monaco grand prix next month, so he can race in the indianapolis 500. elinor barker wins silver in the scratch race, on the opening day of the world track cycling championships in hong kong. i‘ll be back with more on those stories after 3.30pm. the chief executive of united airlines has appeared on american television, to apologise for what he‘s described as the truly horrific removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight and he promised it will never happen again. oscar munoz had been under growing pressure after initially defending what had happened.

the family of the passenger say he‘s being treated in hospital and they‘re grateful for the outpouring of support they‘ve received. simonjones reports. oh, my god! no! it‘s the footage that has gone viral, caused widespread revulsion, and led to shares in united airlines falling. david dao is dragged from a plane in chicago after he refuses to obey officials who tell him he must give up his seat. united insisted it needed four seats for crew members. there has been condemnation on social media. the video clips have now been viewed more than 100 million times. oh, my god! look at what you did to him! and people have protested outside chicago airport calling for a boycott of united. the boss had at first defended what happened, saying the passenger had been disruptive and belligerent. but now a shift in tone. the first thing i think is important to say is to apologise to dr dao, his family, the passengers on that flight, our customers, our employees.

that is not who are family at united is. and you saw us at a bad moment and this can never, will never happen again on a united airlines flight. that is my premise, and that is my promise. the family of david dao have issued a statement expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support. he‘s undergoing treatment at a chicago hospital. but some passengers want convincing that the airline really will learn lessons. i hope this never happens again to anyone. and i will continue to fly united, i will continue to also check on other airlines as well. ijust got asked to volunteer to give up, but travelling with two kids, i said no. so i'm hoping it is a better situation today. pr experts believe the belated apology should have come much sooner. they have done all the wrong things really, really well. and i think, you know, people in pr will be looking back

at this for many years as the perfect way to explain what not to do in the social media. performing together with a single, united purpose... the slick adverts seemed a world away from what was caught on camera phones. the company now needs to unite to limit damage. america‘s first lady melania trump is to receive damages and a public apology from the daily mail after it published a story questioning the nature of her work when she was a professional model. the newspaper ran an article which included allegations that she provided services beyond simply modelling . it later retracted the story and apologised. earlier our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba explained what happened. in august 2016 the daily mail made the allegations, in a two page article. the article made claims about her time working as a model in

the 1990s saying that she basically provide services beyond simply modelling, that she was working as an escort. well, today at the high court, associated newspapers which publishes the daily mail said they 110w publishes the daily mail said they now accepted all the allegations we re now accepted all the allegations were absolutely untrue, that they wished to apologise to mrs trump for any distress and embarrassment that the articles may have caused her. now, the same allegations were made by mail online now, the same allegations were made by mailonline in now, the same allegations were made by mail online in the united states. now, of course, the high court has no just now, of course, the high court has nojust diction in now, of course, the high court has no just diction in the united now, of course, the high court has nojust diction in the united states of america, but similartain lusly, a statement from mrs trump and the mail op line said mail online accepted as far as the publication in america was concerned that the allegations that they made there we re allegations that they made there were untrue and they wished to retract. it means mrs trump had an apology in the high court from the daily mail and their lawyers pt the daily mail and their lawyers pt the daily mail and their lawyers pt the daily mail print edition will print

an apology and associated newspapers and the publisher of the mail online and the publisher of the mail online and daily mail say they will pay her legal costs and an undisclosed amount in damages. it is unusualfor amount in damages. it is unusualfor a lady of this profile to go abroad though, isn‘t it, i know it went on mailonline, though, isn‘t it, i know it went on mail online, but to go for a british newspaper like this, it can be risky? well, the legal situation is somebody has a reputation to defend in the uk they can bring proceedings here at the high court in london. and it seems that she felt that these allegations, which have been said to be untrue by the associated newspapers, they have now accepted that, that they couldn‘t, you know, be unanswered and she was going to ta ke be unanswered and she was going to take legal action in the uk and the united states to set the record straight and that‘s what she has done. 27 men have appeared at court in huddersfield charged with dozens of sexual offences against 18 girls aged between 11 and 17. the crimes are alleged to have been

committed between 2004 and 2011. the charges include rape and trafficking. our correspondent spencer stokes is at kirklees magistrates‘ court and has more on the background to this case. this was a major three—and—a—half year long police investigation that ended last month and resulted in 27 men and two women being charged with historical sexual offences. those offences relating to rape, trafficking with intent to engage in sexual exploitation, sexual activity and the supply of class a and class b drugs to 18 women in total, those women aged between 11 and 17 years and those offences taking place over and those offences taking place over a seven year period between 2004 and 2011 in the huddersfield area. all of the defendants coming from west yorkshire apart from one man who is from dudley. as those defendants

arrived at court this morning, either on their own or in small groups, many of them faced abuse from groups of protesters shouting at them as they made their way towards the magistrates‘ court here in huddersfield. once inside the magistrates started working his way through the 29 cases and all of them have been referred to leeds crown court. the person facing the largest number of charges is from the thornton lodge area of huddersfield. 54 charges in total. 21 of rape and 14 of trafficking girls along with a number of other charges. unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. in the three months to february, the number of people out of work fell by 45,000 to 1.56 million. but the rise in average earnings has started to slow down. our economics correspondent, jonty bloom told us that will begin to cut into people‘s disposable incomes as inflation rises. there are some people who are worse

off anyway. civil servants had their wages frozen so they‘re worse off this year than they were last year, but we are expecting inflation to increase in coming months and we‘re not expecting average earnings to go up. so inflation in the system is going to come through because of the wea kness going to come through because of the weakness of the pound, higher energy prices, higher travel prices which we know are in the pipeline and that‘s going to push up inflation and people are beginning to feel that squeeze. they won‘t have much money to spend as they did last year as those prices wipe out their salaries and to put that in context it has been going on a long time. people are still paid less than they we re people are still paid less than they were ten years ago. that‘s really unprecedented. that‘s because of the credit crunch and the recession and the squeeze on salaries and spending that we have seen ever since. customers of the energy company edf are facing a second price rise in four months. its standard variable price for electricity will increase by 9%,

and gas by 5.5%. the hike has been described as difficult to justify by the energy regulator. it follows price rises by other leading energy companies. now the weather. we seen this week when pushing south, patchy rain across northern england, north wales, a fuse box into north anglia. fairly decent weather. a few showers coming in across scotland where we have had rainbows spotted by our weather watchers. not bad for the next few hours. overnight, clearing skies, showers becoming more restricted to the night. most of us will be dry. temperatures around five or seven celsius. it‘s going to be colder than that in the countryside. it bright start with an sunshine.

we‘ll see cloud bubbling up. it could be thick enough to bring isolated showers. most of those across the west, particularly western scotland. temperatures milder across the north of the uk, cooler in the south, highs of 14 degrees in london. here watching bbc news with reeta chakrabarti simon here watching bbc news with reeta chakra barti simon mccoy. are president putin‘s said trust between russia and the us has deteriorated since donald trump took office. he made the remarks as the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, met his russian counterpart for talks on syria. officials in germany have detained a suspect in connection with the explosions targeting the borussia dortmund football team. the head of united airlines says the airline will no longer use law enforcement officers to remove passengers from overbooked flights, after global outrage erupted when a passenger was dragged from one of its planes. you saw us at a bad moment and this can never,

will never happen again on a united airlines flight, that‘s my premise and that‘s my promise. donald trump‘s wife, melania, has accepted undisclosed damages and an apology from the publisher of the daily mail and the mail online. let‘s get a sports update. jess. after last night‘s attack on the dortmund team bus the players we re the dortmund team bus the players were back in training. their rescheduled quarterfinal against monaco will go ahead this evening. thousands of fans were already in the stadium when news began to filter in about the attack. and the opposing monaco fans can be seen chanting their support that players. the football world has joined together in wishing mark bartra speedy recovery after he was

admitted for surgery on his wrist. the dortmund president has praised the fans. i was very, very lucky when i heard the monaco fans reacted and called "dortmund, dortmund, dortmund!" the solidarity like this we have only in sport. and that‘s the only positive things we learned yesterday, a sport it is possible to make solidarity, to make respect, to help each other. i‘m sure people are discussing the whole day what happened yesterday but when they come to the stadium we will have a fantastic atmosphere. uefa has said security measures will be tight across all matches. leicester

players will have to focus on matters on the pitch. last year‘s premier league leaders are the only english club left in the competition and craig shakespeare says the players will relish the competition. walking through the stadium in terms by the changing rooms, seeing the cups, it's a lovely, traditional ground. it gives you a little tingle. i'm on this site now. you have to make sure you enjoy these moments. i think to enjoy it you have to make sure you try and get the result. fernando alonso will miss the monaco grand prix next month to raise in the indianapolis 500. the double world champion has the full support of mclaren and engine partner honda, who are having difficulties in formula 1 this season. alonso will race for the andretti team and the car will be branded a mclaren. great britain have won a single medal on the opening day of the track world

championships in hong kong. elinor barker finished second. the 22—year—old won gold at the rio olympics as part of the team pursuit. she was picked in the closing stages by italian rival.m all worked out well to be honest, just not fast enough, too much too early on in the spring. when i came around here, ithought, she is early on in the spring. when i came around here, i thought, she is the fastest sprinter there is. it doesn‘t always work the same. i‘m really disappointed. to football and one of the fastest goals ever scored. it came in scotland over the weekend amateur game. the midfielder gareth stokes scored this straight from the kick—off against clydebank. timed just 3.2 seconds. that all the

sport. hugh ferris will have more in the next hour. more now on the meeting between russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov and his us counterpart, rex tillerson. opening the talks earlier today, mr lavrov warned the us not to adopt an "us or them" approach over russia ‘s support for syria‘s president assad. mr tillerson wants russia to withdraw that support following last week‘s chemical attack on a rebel—held town which killed more than 80 people. joining me now from washington is demetri sevastopulo, financial times washington bureau chief. let‘s start with relations with russia. we thought the trombone ministration was going to get on with the putin government, —— the trump administration. it's been a

dramatic turnaround. during the campaign trail donald trump rarely said anything negative about vladimir putin and a lot of republicans on capitol hill were worried he would undo the sanctions put on russia, because of it taking crimea from ukraine. everyone was expecting a much softer approach from trump but he‘s come into office andi from trump but he‘s come into office and i think the syria gas attack which sparked his decision to launch missile strikes at a syrian air base has opened up a deep fissure between the us and russia. while trump himself may have spoken softly, if you look at secretary of state rex tillerson, jim matias secretary of defence, nikki haley, un ambassador, they are making strong statements about russia very different from the things donald trump has said in recent months. what you‘re seeing is donald trump speaks in a certain way but the team he‘s put in place around him are not going to be soft on russia at all. when it comes to

syria is it clear to you there is a strategy? no, i think syria is it clear to you there is a strategy? no, ithink the syria is it clear to you there is a strategy? no, i think the strategy on syria is emerging. what the trump administration tried to do yesterday was get everyone on the same page, you have the president, rex tillerson, jim matters, everyone saying what happened in syria last week when the us launched the missiles was a message to bashar al—assad not to use chemical weapons again. and that it didn‘t signify the us was about to enter the syrian civil war. but the us has in a sense gone close to entering civil war by doing what it has done. relations with russia, which are key to trying to achieve any outcome in syria that is good for the people there, relations are on the rocks. it‘s very difficult to see what the us will do at the moment. particularly when putin and trump and the different sides are at loggerheads. you interview president trump last

week, spoke to him about north korea. would you say his strategy is clear on north korea?” korea. would you say his strategy is clear on north korea? i would say yes and no. he told us he wanted china to put more pressure on north korea to rein in its missile and nuclear programmes. china has the greatest sway of anyone over north korea. he set it china didn‘t step up korea. he set it china didn‘t step up to the plate he would go it alone. he didn‘t make clear what it would be. he delivered the same message when he met xi jinping would be. he delivered the same message when he met xijinping on thursday and friday. over the weekend the pentagon has deployed one of its aircraft carrier strike groups, to waters near the korean peninsula. it‘s a two pronged strategy. trying to get china to do more depressing north korea. it sends a certain message to north korea. the us says all options are

on the table. a pre—emptive strike cannot be ruled out. everyone in in washington and the trump administration would have a diplomatic solution, sanctions or other measures, rather than an aggressive route which could backfire because north korea would retaliate against seoul and tokyo, the two american allies. it‘s a very tense situation right now. and there you are, working the head of the washington bureau for the financial times. what is it like being a white house politicaljournalist in the era of donald trump and sean spicer? it's era of donald trump and sean spicer? it‘s interesting, after the campaign it hard to be surprised by anything any more. on the one hand there is a slight alice in wonderland quality. sean spicer had a bad day yesterday when he tried to say assad was worse

than hitler, which completely backfired. a lot of things are said at the podium and donald trump tweets things that are clearly not true ina tweets things that are clearly not true in a way you wouldn‘t have seen in the past. on the other hand there is such internal discord and infighting in the white house there are more leaks coming from the administration than many of us can remember compared to recent administrations. it‘s hard to piece them together but there is an awful lot of information coming out and i would say sometimes it‘s an easy story to cover, and sometimes very difficult. tesco has reported its first annual sales growth in seven years. but the supermarket giant‘s pre—tax profits fell by nearly a third, to £145 million — because of fines, and compensation related to its accounting scandal. our business correspondent emma simpson explains. tesco is still paying the costs of its past mistakes, but things are moving in the right direction for britain‘s biggest retailer.

sales up, so too are profits, once you exclude its penalties and costs. fresh food has done especially well. the boss also told me he had detected a shift in spending by shoppers. what we see customers doing is being, as they have always been, very savvy about what they buy and when they buy it. so there‘s some subtle shifts back to more fresh food, back to more sort of everyday essentials and some subtle savings on what might have been luxuries in the past, being things they have chosen in the first part of this year not to buy. after years of falling prices, the cost of food is now on the rise. all retailers are having to cope with the fall in the pound, putting pressure on costs. tesco says it is passing on less inflation than its competitors. the question is, where? the current trends we‘re seeing from the supermarkets

are that they are putting up prices of nonessential items, so for example items like candles and light bulbs. we have seen a 13% increase since last october. the reason they are putting up the price of the nonessentials is that customers are less likely to notice these price increases. but if the retailer was to put up the price of the essential everyday items like milk or bread, customers will notice straightaway and they might take their shop elsewhere. are you using stealth tactics to pass on price rises? absolutely not. i‘m familiar with the claim, that is not at all how we look at it. we measure the whole of our price basket and what we have been trying to do over the past two and a half years that i have been here is to lower prices, make them more stable, make them more predictable, not to be playing with promotions in a way which actually skews the way that people buy. so our intention is to keep inflation away as best we possibly can across the whole basket. but can he do that and also keep improving tesco‘s profits? this is a business that still has an awful lot of hard work ahead. retired college lecturer noel

conway, who has motor neurone disease, took his case to the court of appeal. he‘d been refused permission to bring a judicial review over the blanket ban on providing a person with assistance to die. he told judges he feared becoming entombed inside his body. there will be a full hearing of the case in the next few weeks. in a moment, a summary of the business news. first, the headlines. as us and russian foreign ministers meet in moscow president putin says trust between the countries has deteriorated since donald trump became president. a man has beenjailed forfour months for posting messages on social media, threatening to kill the conservative mp caroline ansell. officials in germany detain a suspect in connection

with the explosions targeting the borussia dortmund football team. the lead prosecutor says the man may have had islamist links. energy firm edf is to raise the price of electricity for the second time this year for its customers on standard tariffs. from 21 june, edf customers will see electricity prices rise by 9% and gas prices will go up by 5.5%. tesco has reported a fall in full—year pre—tax profit after it was fined for overstating its profits in 2014. the supermarket giant says a charge of £235m and other costs associated with closing stores and paying redundancy pushed profits down. however uk like—for—like sales were up almost 1%, their first reported growth since 2009/10. unemployment in the uk remained unchanged at 4.7 per cent in the last three months. but rising inflation is wiping out any growth in wages. inflation statistics released yesterday showed inflation

was running at 2.3 per cent, just above the bank of england‘s 2 per cent target. having dementia or having a relative with dementia can cause a lot of worries when it comes to money. the most recent survey from the alzheimers society which was back in 2011 found that three quarters of people with the condition had been victims of financial abuse. but it doesn‘tjust need to be about financial abuse — just dealing with numbers is difficult. today hsbc uk is announcing a number of initiatives, working with the alzheimers society and alzheimers scotland, to help support people living with dementia. stuart haire, the head of hsbc uk retail banking joins me. thanks for coming in this afternoon. if i know i‘m suffering from dementia or have a family member suffering, how will your initiative help? sure, today we're announcing an expansion of our programme with alzheimer‘s across the whole of our hsbc uk business.

we‘re rolling out all of our staff and colleagues and the front of our business and be support department is training to have empathy with customers with dementia. but also a practical guide. we‘re improving some of our products and processes to help people cope better as they deal with their dementia symptoms. what sort of real tangible things could help people? if people are having difficulty remembering numbers how can they remember their pin? there are ideas we've put into practice to have a chip runs signature card, so they can ask that if memorising a pin. they also have roy sidey. so people don‘t have to remember their telephone credentials. you talk about training staff to have empathy, to understand the customers who may suffer with alzheimer‘s. at the same time you are closing hundreds of your branches. how is that going to help

people? week announced the end to our branch close a programme which would leave us with 175 branches. we have been closing branches. it‘s a big societal change we‘ve been representing. what we‘re doing is making sure people within those badges are trained —— branches. 93% of the interactions with the bank are through direct channels we‘re making sure voice id is in place, improving our website and guides to help them out. what advice to anybody who may be concerned a friend or relative is suffering financial abuse? phone the bank immediately and we‘ll look into that matter, close off any issues and help to recover their money. thank you for your time. speaking earlier, the chancellor

said the uk means business. we know here in the uk, we will never forget, the world does not owe us a living. we will have to strive handcraft and fight to seize the opportunities and make the most of them. that means growing and strengthening the areas, like fintech, in which we maintain an advantage. it means maintaining and enhancing the uk‘s reputation as one of the best and most attractive places in the world to do business. vodafone is scrapping roaming charges for uk customers in 40 countries. meaning they can use their phones without additional costs. the new terms are being applied only to new or upgraded contract and that you is expected to abolish roaming charges for its 20 member states in june. shares abolish roaming charges for its 20 member states injune. shares in manufacturers bombardier and

siemens... talks are reported to have started earlier this year. bombardier shares rose 7% on tuesday, siemens shares hit a record high of four easing back. a crisp crisis in japan as high of four easing back. a crisp crisis injapan as two rival companies face a major crunch in their supply chain. both firms are suspending sales or discontinuing several brands after japan suspending sales or discontinuing several brands afterjapan suffered its worst potato harvest in at least 34 years. typhoons and floods in hokkaido caused a shortage of the vegetable. before we go let‘s see how the markets are getting on. the ftse how the markets are getting on. the fts e we nt how the markets are getting on. the ftse went up, then down, now it‘s back where it was this morning. tesco down about 5%. we have those figures this morning. the tesco share price had increased 6% over the last five trading sessions. down again today. smith gave good profit figures, but shares are down, a

feeling they may need to refocus their business or growth. on the high street their sales are falling. more on all of these on jobs, inflation and wage growth, in an hourin inflation and wage growth, in an hour in the special market slot. more than 50,000 disabled people have had specially adapted cars and other vehicles taken away after the introduction of a new disability benefit. according to the charity notability. campaigners are demanding changes to the programmes are claimants will have a chance to appeal before their vehicles are removed. ministers say there are more people on the skin now than in 2010. nikki fox reports. their introduction in 2013 personal independence payments have been controversial. they replaced disability living allowance and were designed to reduce a growing welfare budget. the benefit helps cover the

extra costs of having a disability. driving a car is one of them. the changes to the way people are assessed means many have lost their specially adapted cars. according to notability, the charity which runs the scheme, 51,000 people have been told they are no longer eligible. that is nearly half of those who have been reassessed. nearly two thirds of appeals are found in favour of the claimant. it has led mps and charities to call for changes. when people lose their motability car it can have a negative impact on their quality of life, and their independence as well. so we want to make sure the dwp change their policy in this area, we don‘t think vehicles should be taken away from people until they‘ve had a chance to appeal against a particular decision. the department for work and pensions says there are 70,000 more people on

the motability scheme now were in 2010. and those who their cars are eligible for £2000 of support. a stea m eligible for £2000 of support. a steam locomotive has been driven at 100 miles an hourfor the steam locomotive has been driven at 100 miles an hour for the first time since dean powell was abandoned a british rail nearly 50 years ago. —— since steam power. it was part of an experiment to assess whether they can run faster than the current limit of 75 miles an hour. safely. it may look like something from a bygone era but the tornado steam locomotive is a very modern train. to run competitively on the railways today it must hit top speeds. which is why in the middle of the night, its volunteer crew did something that has not been done since 1966. on the line between newcastle and doncaster, they took the train to the maximum, past the normal running speed, past 90 miles an hour and beyond. right up to the top of the dial. we did what we set out to do.

we need to see, we have not got it home yet so it really only counts when you get it home. but the guys had an inspection and we seem to be all right. it is all about gathering data, that is the difference with this, then we will take the engine to the shed and put to bed and put ourselves to bed. this class of steam train was common throughout the 1950s until the end of the 1960s when it was scrapped in favour of diesel. the tornado was built in 2008 at a cost of £3 million and it runs a charter service. but to fit into the modern railway network timetable the crew had to show that it could cope at more than 90 miles an hour. a lucky few were on board last night as the train hit the 100 mile an hour mark. i have every confidence and faith in them to be honest, they're wonderful people and they have done us proud.

absolutely incredible. she's the only locomotive that could have done it. brilliant. if there was any problem they would have backed off immediately and they were just cruising in the high 90s. as smooth as silk, amazing. it is an achievement built on soot, steam and sweat and for the crew, huge cause for celebration. rather than champagne though they were gasping for a cup of tea. the tornado was the first steam locomotive to reintroduce a timetabled service to england. now it has shown what it can really do and the hope is that by the end of this year it will operate regularly at express speeds. tomasz schafernaker has a weather forecast. that must take you back. what? take me back, the train? yeah,

the steam! what about it? i don‘t know what the joke is. anyway, whatever, never mind. maybe he was talking about thomas the tank engine or something. the weather is looking more or less the same but the rest of the week. it‘s been quite cool and shari today, a few scattered showers, it‘s what‘s going to happen over the next couple of days. at the moment we got a weak weather front crossing the country, little bit of cloud. what does it mean? there is cloud, spots of rain for some. we‘ve had showers in the north, north—westerly breeze continues through the evening and into tomorrow. quite chilly in places. desperately cold, but cold enough for frost first thing in the morning. you have to be up way before dawn. here is the picture and 8am. basically clear. when we have a

north—west wind and you can tell it by the direction of the arrows, you usually get more cloud across western parts of the uk, to the east of the pennines and eastern areas, they will wake up to sunshine. a nippy morning, around x degrees. some showers getting into western parts of scotland. —— around 6 degrees. showers across some of these north—west areas, cloud at times breaking up towards the east. not exclusively. there will be sunnier, brighter moments in other parts of the country. temperatures around 11 or 12 degrees. that is thursday. good friday looks as though it will be cloudier, particularly towards the southern half, the central area is getting some thick, overcast conditions, even spots of rain. it depends how much sunshine we get. northern areas it will be sunnier spells, clouds,

then sunny spells. good friday, i think northern half of the uk will be brighter. the easter weekend the weather map looks pretty complicated, a couple of close to the east and north. another low. high here. all it means is with high—pressure closer to the south, the weather will be dry the further south you are. to be honest, a selection of these places, wherever you are across the country, the weather is going to be more or less the same, always a greater chance of catching somewhat weather across northern parts of the uk. enjoy your rest of the afternoon. this is bbc news. i‘m reeta chakrabati. the headlines at 4pm. as us and russian foreign ministers meet in moscow, president putin says trust between the two countries is at its lowest level since the end of the cold war. a man has jailed forfour months for threatening on facebook to kill the mp caroline ansell. german police arrest a suspect with islamist links in connection with yesterday‘s attack

on the borussia dortmund team bus. the boss of united airlines apologises on tv for a passenger being dragged off an over—booked flight and blames "system failure" for the incident. you saw us at a bad moment and this can never and will never happen again on a united airlines flight. that‘s my premise and that‘s my promise. going up — again. energy firm edf hikes fuel prices for the second time in four months. i‘m simon mccoy. coming up this hour, two of the fastest things you‘ll see