this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 4.00pm: syria's president says claims that his regime carried out a suspected chemical attack are "one hundred per cent fabrication," but theresa may says the evidence against assad's regime was clear. the west, mainly the united states, is hand in glove with the terrorists. they fabricated the whole story. like the united states, we believe it is highly likely that attack was carried out by the assad regime. the education secretary wants new grammar schools in england to do more to help ordinary working families. the european court of human rights rules that russia should have done more to prevent the beslan school siege in 200a. a bbc investigation finds that landlords are offering rent—free accommodation to young, vulnerable people in exchange for sex. i'm reeta chakrabarti, and in the next hour: showcasing tall ships from around europe — some of the most spectacular vessels from the 19th century set sail on the thames this weekend.

we'll show you the riverside view. and the missing link — scientists find a lost fossil which could shed new light on the evolution of dinosaurs. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. syrian president bashar al—assad has given his first interview since last week's suspected chemical weapons attack that killed 89 people. he said reports of the attack by his forces are "100% fabricated." president assad also claimed that syria's military has given up all chemical weapons. so there was no order to make any attack. we don't have any chemical weapons. we gave up our arsenal

two years ago. even if we had them, we wouldn't use them, and we have never used our chemical arsenal in our history. so what happened? as i said, the only source is al-qaeda. we cannot take it seriously, but our impression is that the west, mainly the united states, is hand in glove with the terrorists. the fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack. it wasn't an attack because of what happened in khan sheikhoun. it is one event. it is stage one — the play, that we saw on social media and on tv, the propaganda. and the second stage, the military attack. that is what we believe is happening, because it is only a few days — two days, 48 hours — between the play and the attacks, and there have been no investigations, no concrete evidence about anything. the only thing were allegations and propaganda, and then the strike. so who, according to you, is responsible for this alleged chemical attack? the allegation itself... by al-qaeda, and the al—nusra front,

so we don't have to investigate. they announced it — it is under their control, no one else‘s. sorry, we will return to that shortly. the attorney for dr david dao, who was forcibly removed from a united airlines flight, is holding a news conference. we will just we willjustjoined a news conference now. "1 we willjustjoined a news conference now. in no circumstances can it be done with unreasonable force or violence. that is the law. if unreasonable force and violence is used under a set of circumstances, the common carrier, united airlines in this case, is responsible. for each of us in this

room as we bumped along in a day—to—day fashion, we owe each other and ordinary care standard. i'm not to be careless and her cute. i'm not to be careless and her cute. i'm not to be careless and her cute. i'm not to be negligent and hurt you, —— to be careless and hurt you. but in the world of common carriers, they have the highest duty of care to provide protection and safety to its fare paying passengers. as we all saw the video, this was not done in this case, and i would defy anyone to suggest that there was not unreasonable force and violence used to help dr dao

disembarked that plane. so the laws are there for the protection of each of us. what has been extraordinary injust of us. what has been extraordinary in just these few days since the event has been that the calls i have received from passengers, from employees of united, former employees of united, former employees of united, with respect to what we all saw. and the fact of the matter is i have concluded the following. that for a long time airlines, united in particular, have

bullied us. they have treated us less tha n bullied us. they have treated us less than maybe we deserve. i conclude that based upon hundreds, literally hundreds, of tales of woe and mistreatment, by united, is that here is what we want as a society. we wa nt here is what we want as a society. we want fairness in how people treat us. we want respect, and we want dignity. that's it. not a big deal. this seems so simple. forget the law for a minute that requires common decency in the treatment of passengers. but just decency in the treatment of passengers. butjust treat us with respect. make us feel like we really care. and i must say, i don't

believe it's limited to the airline industry. i think corporate america needs to understand that we all want to be treated in the same manner, with the same respect and same dignity that they would treat their own family members. if they do that, wouldn't it be great? so will there bea wouldn't it be great? so will there be a lawsuit? yeah, probably. as you may know we have taken a step and on monday there is a hearing at ten o'clock in our local court has huge cargo to protect and preserve certain evidence that we will need down the line. it is notjust a matter of throwing up the video and asking thejury, matter of throwing up the video and asking the jury, 0k, matter of throwing up the video and asking thejury, 0k, who wins? so it isa asking thejury, 0k, who wins? so it is a process. but dr dao, too i

believe his great credit, has come to understand that he is the guy, the guide to stand up for passengers, going forward. yesterday mr gave an interview on national television and he was asked point—blank —— mr munoz gave an interview on national television. he was asked, did dr dao do anything wrong? and he hesitated. he hesitated. maybe he thought, wow, weirder that question come from? but he regrouped, and he said no, he did nothing wrong —— where did that question come from? know one should

be treated the way he was treated, stating the obvious, but he didn't state it initially. initially, he backed up his people. and that may be the big part of the problem— the culture. it's us against them. well, we're them, and this lawsuit among other things hopefully will create not just national but other things hopefully will create notjust national but international discussion on how we are going to be treated going forward. whether it's a matter of overbooking, and i think thatis a matter of overbooking, and i think that is perhaps what is going on, but if i understand what occurred last sunday here in chicago, it wasn't even an matter of overbooking. it was a matter of at

the last moment, four employees had to get the louisville so they could go to work the next day, on various flights. so we have to figure out, and united has to figure out, and the airline industry has to figure out, what do we do? we take money from people, we let them sit on the aeroplane, seat belted, are we really going tojust aeroplane, seat belted, are we really going to just start taking them off? is that what we want as a society? maybe we keep some seats open for that emergency when a pilot, co—pilot, a flight attendant, has to get to a destination unexpectedly. maybe airlines need to start expecting the unexpected, but not at the expense, and certainly

not at the expense, and certainly not at the physical expense, of its paying passengers. so our role, steve, myself, going forward, will be to just steve, myself, going forward, will be tojust get steve, myself, going forward, will be to just get the facts, and to get them out. and we are going to be vocal about the whole subject of what we as a society say passengers are entitled to. are we going to just continue to be treated like cattle ? just continue to be treated like cattle? bullied ? just continue to be treated like cattle? bullied? rude treatment? we all have enough... 0h, cattle? bullied? rude treatment? we all have enough... oh, i don't know, angst for flying as it is, but don't

treat people like dr dao was treated. i am going to ask crystal... she wanted to address you, to make any statement, and then ifi you, to make any statement, and then if i haven't been clear or you have further questions, i am if i haven't been clear or you have further questions, iam happy if i haven't been clear or you have further questions, i am happy to answer. crystal? and a half of my dad —— on the half of my dad and my entire family, we would like to express our gratitude for the huge outpouring of prayers, love and

concern that we have received from all over the world in these last few days. we would also like to thank the physicians, the nurses and all the physicians, the nurses and all the hospital staff that have taken ca re of the hospital staff that have taken care of my dad. it has been a very difficult time for our entire family, especially my dad, and we are truly grateful for your support. what happened to my dad should not have happened to any human being regardless of the circumstances. we we re regardless of the circumstances. we were horrified and shocked and sickened to learn what had happened to him and see what had happened to him. we hope that in the future nothing like this happens again. thank you so much again for your support. 0k, yes, sir? there was

discussion early on, suggestions that there was a racial factor. do you believe that, in regard to his race? i personally do not. i do not think this is a matter of race at all. i will share with you an e—mail i got actually late last night, from what actually sounds like an irishman to me, on paper. who suggested that dr dao was the modern—day asian rosa parks. i don't think that is the case at all. i think that is the case at all. i think what happened to dr dao could have happened to anyone of us. yes, in the green tie? can you state your name... from cbs news. can you tell

us the emotion of what you were feeling? and also give us an update on how your father is doing? can you do that? feel free, crystal, if you don't want to do, don't... do that? feel free, crystal, if you don't want to do, don't. .. like i said earlier, we were completely horrified and shocked. shocked at what had happened to my father when we learned of the incident. seeing it on video made those emotions exacerbated. my dad is healing right

now and that is all i have to say about it. is he still in the hospital? i can tell you he was discharged late last night. that he did infact discharged late last night. that he did in fact suffer a significant concussion as a result of disembarking that plane, and i can also tell you that he had a serious broken nose, injury to the sinuses, and he will be undergoing shortly reconstructive surgery in that regard. there were a lot of inquiries, did he really lose any teeth? yes, he lost two front teeth. but the concussions are sort of an iffy condition. you know, i don't know ultimately long—term. hopefully

there will not be any significant repercussions because of that, but he is shaken. yes? studio: that was the lawyer for david dao, the passenger who was forcibly pulled out of a united airlines plane. speaking about the injuries sustained by dr dao, and you heard also from his daughter, crystal pepper, who said the family was saddened. and the lawyer asked the question, will there be a lawsuit? and he said, yes, probably. you're watching bbc news. we will have more on that later. let's go back to our main story, the syrian conflict and us and russian relations. this is president donald trump's latest tweet from about an hour and trump's latest tweet from about an hourand a trump's latest tweet from about an hour and a half ago... he says: "things will work out fine between the usa and russia.

at the right time everyone will come to their senses and there will be lasting peace!" prime minister theresa may gave her reaction to president assad's claim that his regime was not responsible. no, on the issue of the chemical attack, british scientists have analysed material from the site of the attack and they are very clear that sarin or a sarin—like substance was used, and as our ambassador to the united nations made clear yesterday, like the united states we believe it is highly likely that attack was carried out by the assad resume. apart from anything else, we believe it is only the regime that has the capability to undertake such an attack and make such an attack, and as regards the work the foreign secretary has done, boris johnson did an excellent job in bringing together the g7, bringing together international opinion and enabling rex tillerson, the secretary of state from the united states, to go to moscow with a very clear message, a consensus from the international community. russia is on the wrong side of this argument but we are willing to work

with russia to bring an end to the conflict in syria, to bring about a political situation and political solution in syria, but that political solution has to be without assad. that was the clear message the foreign secretary took to the g7 and the g7 gave to secretary tillerson. with me is middle east specialist, professor rosemary hollis from city university. looking at the assad interview, much of it you probably could have guessed was coming but a complete denial this chemical attack had taken place? in a way it was almost worse than that, because the accusation coming from the united states and across europe is that the assad regime was responsible for the chemical attack, and assad's response has been to say, norma, you were. this was collusion between the united states and al-qaeda. —— to say, no, you were. which is about the most implausible explanation he could have come up with. he also said, we haven't had any chemical

weapons since 2013, which is when the russians offered the americans to avert a strike by the americans, when they offered to dismantle all of syria's chemical weapons capability. he said, we haven't had any since 2013, but even if we did we wouldn't use them, then said, we haven't used them, so this is u nfortu nately a haven't used them, so this is unfortunately a person kind of flinging out all kinds of accusations and excuses and explanations which together do not make a convincing case. welcome he did see if he had those weapons, why would you use them on the civilians —— well, he did say that if he had those weapons, why would he use them on the civilians? you are compounding the picture! 0h, on the civilians? you are compounding the picture! oh, you mean he said i wouldn't use them against civilians, but i haven't had any since 2013? this is not a man

who is very believable, u nfortu nately, who is very believable, unfortunately, so he has not done his case any good by saying this. i ama his case any good by saying this. i am a little puzzled by theresa may's need to assert, yes, it is highly likely that it was the assad regime. this is a little bit late in the game actually, because the americans had, as faras game actually, because the americans had, as far as they were concerned, sufficient evidence to go after the assad regime. 0n the basis of this one chemical attack. the picture has subsequently got muddled about whether this is also about forcing the russians firstly to take responsibility for enabling assad to make the chemical attack, and secondly to agree with the americans and the british and other europeans, that it would be better to get rid of assad sooner rather than later. i personally, having observed the progression of events, thought that that debate had been sorted out,

that debate had been sorted out, that if you don't have a substitute for assad, that if the circumstances are not auspicious for an election, then you are stuck with him until you arrange a political solution, so why the enthusiasm to get the russians right now to say something, to pa rt russians right now to say something, to part company with assad, when the consequences and the russian case for sticking with him through this immediate period is pretty solid? i don't understand what is going on, i really don't. everybody is having a little piece of the picture, everybody is insisting they are correct and they know what should happen. and then you throw in this tweet from the president of the united states saying things will work out fine between the united states and russia, everyone will come to their senses at the right time and there will be lasting peace. we are in a strange world. very strange world. what do you

think he is suggesting is about to happen? if you have any idea. think he is suggesting is about to happen? if you have any ideal would like to hope that rex tillerson, the secretary of state, building on the kind of rap or he had managed to establish as an oil company man —— the kind of rapport he had managed to establish as an oil company man, that he has been able to establish the trump position on syria, which is that since russia had decided to take it on, and since russia was present on the ground, and since assad is their prodigy, the principal responsibility for how to handle the situation lies with the russians. and, to play on the possibility that the russians were actually embarrassed by what assad went and actually embarrassed by what assad wentand did, actually embarrassed by what assad went and did, or embarrassed by this chemical attack. let us remember the russian explanation was that this

was a regime raid which happened to hit a weapons stock that belonged to rebel forces. not the same explanation as we are hearing from assad himself today. always good to see you. thank you very much for coming in. the education secretary justine greening has defended plans to push ahead with new grammar schools in england saying she wants to create schools that are "truly open to all." in a speech this morning, she said she wanted grammar schools to serve more children from disadvantaged backgrounds. labour argues that poorer pupils won't be helped by new grammars. 0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. it's big business coaching children to pass the test for grammar school. there are only 163 such schools in england at the moment, but the government plans to open more. some parents, like these at a tuition centre in kent, find such an education immensely appealing. my daughter has been in a grammar school for the past five years, and i have found that she is really progressing. the girls of the grammar school, they are really behaving themselves, and it's notjust the academics. they do extracurricular

activities, which can kind of polish their personality, and they are much more focused. it's about having more options for what schools my son can go to at the age of 11. there's a variety of schools open to him, but there's no guarantee, so it wasjust about us giving him more choices, more options. critics say grammars only benefit wealthier families, which is why the government says they must do more to appeal to what they describe as ordinary working families. this morning, they defined such families as those with a household income of around £33,000 per year. 36% of grammar school places are taken up by these families. but grammars are dominated by the most well—off families. more than half, 53% of places, are taken up by them. i want these new schools to work for everyone.

this will be a new model of grammars, truly open to all. we will insist on that. and it will reflect the choices of local parents and communities. labour changed the law in 1998 to prevent any new grammar schools being built, saying they only helped the privileged few. unfortunately, grammar schools are not open to everyone and they are selective in their nature, and all the evidence suggests that people from working—class backgrounds don't get into grammar schools. you have to pay for private tuition to get into them. and they are a closed shop for most children, and actually a comprehensive system is the best way forward. a new generation of grammar schools would be controversial, but the education secretary says she wants them open to all children, whatever their backgrounds. she is, in effect, rebranding grammar schools in the hope that she can see off the critics. plans for new grammar schools are still being drawn up, but are expected to be published before the summer. gillian hargreaves, bbc news.

with me is dr alice sullivan, professor of sociology at the institute of education at university college london. doctor sullivan, what do you think of the point there that what the education secretary is trying to do is rebrand grammar schools to make them more palatable to their critics? i think that is a good point. this idea of saying grammar schools are open to all is a bit of a nonsense because they are selective. traditionally they are for the top 20% and the bottom 80% of kids, going back to the 1950s, we are not supposed to be too worried about them, they were going to leave school without qualifications and get a job school without qualifications and getajob in school without qualifications and get a job in a factory or something, so it seems very strange to be harking back to that now. the idea they can be rebranded as an engine of social mobility is very

strange given we have huge amounts of evidence suggesting they do absolutely nothing to promote social mobility. the government is well aware of that evidence and is just disregarding it. it is so far from being evidence —based policy. it is policy that is just flying in the face of all the research evidence we have got. i suppose supporters would say, yes, they are selective, but it should be a level playing field for everybody regardless of income to try to get in? and there is the rub because how do you achieve that with a selective exam, when parents with resources quite naturally will do everything they possibly can to get their kids into that school? so what do you do? for example, do you lower the pass mark of kids from less advantaged backgrounds? which some universities are doing as part of their admissions policy. yes, but it is those kind of details which will be really interesting, and it does not seem as though they have been thought through are worked out yet. if you did that really substantially and said, ok, poorer kids have to

achieve a much lower level to get m, achieve a much lower level to get in, then you can imagine all sorts of unforeseen circumstances, a strea m of unforeseen circumstances, a stream within the grammar school where the aspirations would be far lower, but really in a way that is an aside because the real problem is all those kids, the majority that will not be in the grammar schools, and given that in england we have a long—standing problem of poor basic skills, 20% of adults with poor literacy skills, 40% with poor numeracy skills, that is our problem and where we fared badly in international comparisons, so why isn'tjustine greening focusing on that? clearly grammar schools are never going to be the solution for the average kids or below average kids because they are not going to those schools. it might do you think that this is... that this might have had more success as a policy, and it is quite controversial at the moment, but do you think it would have been less controversial if it had not been a time of relative

austerity? possibly, yes, because it does seem particularly bizarre right now when schools are under so much pressure, we have a shortage of school places, a shortage of people wanting to go into teaching, and again we know from all the research evidence the biggest factor and children's learning is having good teachers, regardless of the type of school they are in. what you would expect the government to be thinking about right now, how do we get good graduate into teaching? how do we make that a successful profession and how do we make sure that all of our schools are successful when resources a re our schools are successful when resources are so pinched? to be spending money on this experiment right now is particularly odd. doctor sullivan, thank you. time for the weather now with tomasz schafernaker. there time for the weather now with tomasz schaferna ker. there he time for the weather now with tomasz schafernaker. there he is. here i am! there is quite a bit of cloud out there. it is pretty chilly

out there, especially if you have not had an awful lot of sunshine today. for most of as it is a dry evening, cloudy overnight. a few clear spells. whether you are in the north of the country or the south, temperatures more or less the same. in the northern isles that will be colder. tomorrow, or overcast day for some of us. there could be some rain around across parts of wales and the north—west. most of it will not be heavy. the driest will be across the far south and into the southeast does well. and then good friday evening, cloudy with some rain from time to time. easter weekend looks pretty cool. some sunny spells around and not an awful lot of rain. hello. this is bbc news.

syria's president assad says reports of a chemical attack by his forces last week were "100% fabrication" and there was no order to make any attack. so there was no order to make any attack. we do not have any chemical weapons. even if we have them, we would not use them. the lawyer for the passenger forcibly dragged would not use them. the lawyer for the passengerforcibly dragged off would not use them. the lawyer for the passenger forcibly dragged off a united airlines plane earlier this week says he is likely to sue the carrier. i think corporate america needs to understand that we all want to be treated in the same manner, with the same respect and the same dignity, that they would treat their own family members. the education secretary defends her plans for new selective grammar schools in england, saying they'll be truly open to all. labour says grammars do not support social mobility. let's catch up with the sport now.

hello, good afternoon at, everyone. chris latham is great britain's latest medallist at the world track cycling championships in hong kong, after elinor barker picked up a silver in the scratch race yesterday. latham has won a bronze in the men's event. but that's been the only success today, with gb's cyclists missing out on a bronze in the men's pursuit earlier. iam happy i am happy with that. i think the lads were a little unlucky. i am happy to come away with a medal finally. liverpool managerjurgen klopp has been giving his reaction to the bomb attack on the borussia dortmund team bus on tuesday night. their champions league quarterfinal first leg tie was postponed for 2h hours. they lost against monaco last night. uefa have received some criticism for making the germans play without full consultation with the team. klopp was head coach at dortmund for seven years before leaving in 2015. it was... a really difficult moment

for me, because i was, i do know how often in the team hotel with my team in dortmund. i know exactly the road, i know exactly the place where it is. a lot of my friends were in the bus. when they then play the game, they tried to be at their best and have interviews after the game. i saw the faces of my former players andi i saw the faces of my former players and i saw the shock in their eyes and i saw the shock in their eyes and it was really, really hard. the six—man short list for the pfa player of the year awards has been revealed, and the favourite is a man who just missed out on the trophy last year. but after winning the premier league with leicester in 2016, n'golo kante is likely to do it again with chelsea, proving to be a vital part of their rise to the top of the table. he's only scored twice this season, but the last was the winner against manchester united in the fa

cup quarterfinals to keep them on for a possible double. also on the list is kante's chelsea team—mate eden hazard, who won in 2015 and has 1a goals to his name. zlatan ibrahimovic has scored 28 with manchester united. he's scored over 20 goals a season in five different european leagues now. tottenham's harry kane is also on the young player of the year list. he looks like being the leading english goal scorer in the premier league for a third straight season. everton's romelu lukaku is also on both lists, he's up to 23 goals for the season. and arsenal's alexis sanchez makes up the six. he's scored 18 this season. one player you thought we might have just mentioned is dele alli. he's up for the young player award after winning it last year, but his manager at tottenham thinks he should have been nominated for the main award too. he is clever, intelligent, the potential to improve and learn, and

today he showed that he is one of the best players in the premier league. and you can see all the short lists on the bbc sport website. west ham's michail antonio is out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury that he picked up in their win over swansea last weekend. antonio's scored nine goals this season and he's also been called up by england. he's also now likely to miss out on the next squad for the world cup qualifier against scotland in june. the draw has been made for the first round of the world snooker championship that starts this saturday in sheffield. the defending champion mark selby will face fergal 0'brien, who won a deciding frame of more than two hours to make it through qualifying, and the five time champion ronnie 0'sullivan will play gary wilson. coverage from the crucible is across the bbc. jenson button looks set to replace fernando alonso for next month's monaco grand prix. alonso is skipping the race to take part in the indy 500. button retired from formula one at the end of last season, but is contracted to mclaren

as a reserve driver. that's all sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. 13 years ago, more than 1,000 people were taken hostage by chechen rebels at a school in beslan in russia. more than 330 people were killed after russian forces eventually stormed the building — half of those who died were children. today, the european court of human rights ruled that the russian government should have done more to prevent the bloodshed, and it awarded compensation of around £2.5 million to relatives. 0ne survivor has spoken to our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford. zhanna tsirikhova was held hostage with her two daughters. her youngest, liza was a week from year eighth birthday when she died in the siege. zhanna says she had no choice but to leave her fatally injured daughter inside the school. translation: at the beginning, i was

telling my daughter and the other kids, don't worry, the authorities will save us. the children started asking, haven't they decided yet? i said, no, it is difficult because they need to rescue us so no one dies. i believed at least the kids would be freed in the morning. then the morning came. by by around noon we lost hope. when i came around after the blast, one daughter was sitting by my side. i started to shout, liza, lies. she was lying behind me. she was not moving. when i touched her, ifound there was a hole in her head. i called that she did not get up. i

saw her wound but i did not realise that no one could have survived that. it was more frightening when we got to the canteen than the gym. they made women stand in the windows. tanks were firing. they gave women curtains and they were waving and shouting saying, don't shoot, there are people in here. the walls shook every time a shot was fired. i thought the walls and ceiling would collapse. they did not prevent the terror attack, they did not rescue us, they could not even agree to get water to us. for the sake of the children, they could have done more. they could have negotiated so more children were freed. the doctor took demands out to officials, but they did not agree to officials, but they did not agree to them, and then they started firing. i saw it and they did nothing to save the children. we

mothers had to do what we could for our children. we brought this case so that we can look into the eyes of those who survived, and say we did everything possible. nowi those who survived, and say we did everything possible. now i really wa nt everything possible. now i really want them to carry out an objective investigation here, and tell the truth about what happened in beslan. a survivor of the beslan school siege, talking about her memories of that time. young, vulnerable people are being targeted by adverts online which offer accommodation in exchange for sex, according to a bbc investigation. the deals, which are legal, are on classified ad sites. charities have called them exploitative. lauren moss reports. i had no idea what i was getting into. he took me into his living room, got me drinks, and then after that, it was straight upstairs and go for it. vulnerable and desperate

for a roof over her head. gemma a nswered for a roof over her head. gemma answered a sex for rent online advert. and he would do, forcefully, andi advert. and he would do, forcefully, and ijust advert. and he would do, forcefully, and i just sort of, advert. and he would do, forcefully, and ijust sort of, went advert. and he would do, forcefully, and i just sort of, went along advert. and he would do, forcefully, and ijust sort of, went along with it and after the third time, i started feeling physically unwell. these are some of the office we found openly placed on a classified adverts site. free accommodation but with strings attached. adverts site. free accommodation but with strings attachedl adverts site. free accommodation but with strings attached. i was thinking once a week, something like that. i am thinking once a week, something like that. lam happy thinking once a week, something like that. i am happy as long as sex is involved. i spoke to several men placing adverts. all wanted photographs beforehand. all were clear about how it would work. these are real conversations moist by actors. you agree to a couple of times a week, pop into my room, kind of thing. there is a girl staying here who has done the same. two or three times a week basically. it is

a very easy—going house. three times a week basically. it is a very easy-going house. those agreeing to the deals could be getting into a very dangerous situation. but disturbingly, this is all perfectly legal. i think these adverts get as close to the law as they possibly can without breaking the law. they would argue that they have voluntarily chosen to enter into that situation. the trouble is when you have a vulnerable person who could be exploited the choice disappears. vulnerable person who could be exploited the choice disappearsl contacted craigslist for comment but they did not get back to me. sky we are very grateful to the bbc for uncovering this. there is an onus to investigate this. if they do not stand up and accept responsibility, i will be pressing for legislation to do this. i was under pressure to keep him happy because they could basically come over to you and say i

wa nt basically come over to you and say i want sex now, and you really do not have much of a choice, because you know it is their home and you want to keep that place. with an increasing number of young homeless people, it is feared these adverts will only continue to exploit those most in need. the number of people trespassing on railways across the uk has hit a 10—year high. more than 8,000 incidents were recorded last year — a rise of 11% on the year before. 0ur correspondentjohn maguire has been speaking to paralympian simon munn, who lost his leg crossing a train track when he was 22, and is anxious to warn others of the risk. the passing train serves as a timely reminder of the dangers of simon munn's fateful decision that night 27 years ago. a decision he regrets to this day. my foot went underneath the rail. i couldn't get my foot out. and i literally waited for the train to come along and take my leg off, as it were, really. it seemed like it was a fortnight, but it was only a few minutes.

having lost his leg, simon, always a keen sportsman, took up wheelchair basketball. and it's been a major part of his life ever since. he has represented great britain in seven paralympics, travelled the world, and won a whole host of medals. but still he wishes he'd gone nowhere near the rail line. my life since then has been, you know, really good. but it came from a tragedy, really. but right now, yeah, absolutely, i'd have my leg back, 100%. so, he's anxious to warn others. simon realises that night he was both lucky and unlucky. unfortunate to get hit by the train in the first place, but incredibly fortunate to escape with his life. last year, there were 8000 trespass incidents. that's an increase over the year before, and the highest numberfor a decade. so, at bellevue bees

in east manchester, in common with sports clubs and 100 schools across britain, there are schemes to remind youngsters of the dangers. hi, guys, 0k? the train takes how many football pitches to stop, can you remember? 20. 20 football pitches, 0k, that's a mile and a quarter. 0ur electrics are 25,000 vaults. it's never, ever turned off, 0k, we all remember that. and that by going on it, it's also illegal, up to a £1000 fine. the numbers almost double in the easter and summer holidays. so, nick, despite your best endeavours, these figures are still going up. why? i think there's more we can do, not only as network rail but as a community. projects like this, if we all get involved and educate each other on railway safety, and make sure we have that conversation with our friends and family, people can stop being hurt our railways. warnings are consistent, frequent, and, for some, deeply personal. don't mess around with trains, yeah. just stay away from the tracks, because there's only one winner. there's only one winner. the thames will resemble its 19th

century heyday this weekend as it'll be home to some of the most spectacular sailing ships from around europe. they'll be parading along the river as part of the 2017 tall ships festival. the event is back in london, where three years ago it attracted more than 1.1 million visitors. 0ur correspondent nesta mcgregor is on woolwich pier, in south east london. well, for anyone who's a fan of the water and anything that comes with it, this is the hottest ticket in town. if you are fanatical about all things nautical, this is the place to be. 0ver a0 ships from across europe will be here, from places like germany, the netherlands and spain. we're on the ship which is the main attraction at the moment. this spanish. it has a little bit of a

place in navigation history. basically, this is an exact replica of the first—ever vessel to navigate around the world successfully. in 1519 it set off from the port of seville. it took three years and when it returned in 1522, only 18 of the a2 crew who left made it back. this is part of the tall ships festival 2017. a0 ships from across europe gather here. the plan is that after they have paraded down the thames, they will head off to places like portugal, boston, bermuda and canada. local residents have been encouraged to take part as well. more than 100 young people will be working on some of these ships as crew members. a lot of them, the first time out at sea. it will be interesting, because a few of them

did not even know that ships do not have wi—fi. with me is danny thorpe from greenwich council. as well as taking amazing pictures and seeing amazing vessels, it is a chance to teach people about navigational history? absolutely. we have the longest river front of any london borough. we are proud of our maritime history. this provides opportunities for families and residents to come down, this is the biggest event happening in london on the easter weekend. see these ships setting sail down the thames and enjoy the whole festival. you can come down here in the day for free. we have people on board our ships. we have people on board our ships. we have people on board our ships. we have squeeze doing a gig tonight. there is loads going on in greenwich and will edge over the next few days. ships might seem old-fashioned but a few hundred years ago this would be a typical day on the thames? absolutely. this showcases how we are developing our riverfront. we had a lot of industry

for a long time. everybody's day calm, i for a long time. everybody's day calm, lam for a long time. everybody's day calm, i am taking over this interview! it is time to hand back to the studio. i will make you walk the plank for that. that was a great tackle. many thanks. in a moment, a look at how the financial markets closed the day but now the headlines on bbc news. syria's president assad says reports of a chemical attack in the country are "100 % fabrication" and that the syrian army has given up all chemical weapons. the education secretary says she will create a new wave of grammar schools in england — which are open to ordinary working families — and not the privileged few. the european court of human rights rules that russia should have done more to prevent the beslan school siege in 200a. the russian government says it will appeal against the ruling. hello.

now a look at how the markets in europe have ended the trading session. the banks are leading the decline. they are all down about one or 2%. they are all down about one or 2%. the gold price hit a five—month high will stop the reason for the fall in banking stocks is worldwide. even though we have seen some pretty good numbers coming out of the big us banks, it is more to do with president trump saying he would like to see interest rates staying low. higher interest rates would make lending more profitable for the banks. we will talk about that in a moment. starbucks has blamed a collapse in uk profits on the impact of the brexit vote and a fall in the number of customers. pre—tax profits at the us coffee chain slumped to £13.a million in the year to october 2016, down 60% on the year before. and argos is to make another 60 of its stores into digital ones,

where you can browse and order on a tablet. it's also opening its 50th in—store concession in sainsbury‘s supermarkets — with plans for another 200. joining us now is maike currie, investment director, for fidelity international. let's start with argos. the way it's developing, it is bricks and mortar and clicks, bricks and clicks, can it compete with the online competitors? well it has to compete with the online competitors. this is not about creating an online store, it is about creating a malted product, multichannel store. what customers want is they want to buy online and also off—line. companies like amazon only services one of those needs and our boss wants to get into the space and look at both

needs of customers. what about starbucks? they are blaming it on brexit, do you think that is fair?l do not think it is entirely fair. starbucks has suffered from combination of problems. the coffee market is intensely competitive, and if you are an office worker and you p0p if you are an office worker and you pop out for your lunch break, you will know that competition for that lunchtime trade is intense from the likes of costa coffee, greggs, prep and others. consumers are becoming more cautious, cost conscious and there are other issues. starbucks has had immense negative publicity. it has had a lot of brand damage. it was the poster child for the corporate tax avoidance scandal and the inputs that it uses, things like coffee beans and malts, all of that has got more expensive. a combination of factors, they cannot blame the dramatic slump in products

on brexit. what about the banking stocks? we had some healthy stocks fromjp stocks? we had some healthy stocks from jp morgan and the us stocks? we had some healthy stocks fromjp morgan and the us but stocks? we had some healthy stocks from jp morgan and the us but then we had comments from mr trump, how does this fit together? it is very interesting. since trump's collection, banking stocks of saud. the belief is that a trumpet administration would be good for financial firms because of high interest rates but also lighter regulation and lower taxes. now with the us president backpedalling on things like high interest rates, and that it things like high interest rates, and thatitis things like high interest rates, and that it is taking longer for him to push through some of these reforms that he touted, the market is getting slightly more nervous and some of the massive gains are being tempered. thank you very much, maike currie. the markets are down is a bit coming up to the easter holidays. slightly shaken by mr trump's comments about the dollar

being weaker. a fairly downbeat end to the week. that's all from me, there is a round—up of all the other top business stories on our website — bbc.co.uk/business. and that is the business. thank you, jamie. a missing link in the evolution of dinosaurs has been discovered at the natural history museum in london. it came about after scientists there found a lost fossil which had been forgotten for decades. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh has more. this is how we imagine dinosaurs. tyrannosaurus rex was one of the very last of them. the first evolved 230 million years ago from crocodile—like creatures which walked on four legs. this is a skull of the mighty tyrannosaurus rex, one of the most fearsome creatures to walk the planet. the very first dinosaurs were much smaller — about the size of a chicken. one of the biggest questions is how these creatures first emerged. what we are looking at now is the skeleton

of one individual animal. the answer lies in the fossil of this animal, called "teleocrater". analysis of its bones suggests it had many dinosaur traits, such as a small head and a long, slender neck and long legs. but also some crocodile—like features, such as the structure of its ankles. this is what it looked like. although it is not a direct ancestor, it gives the best indication yet of how the first dinosaurs evolved. in many ways, this animal is a missing link between dinosaurs and crocodiles, and shows how some of the features that were previously just appeared in dinosaurs actually first evolved. so, for example, dinosaurs start off as two—legged animals, whereas most of their ancestors seem to be four—legged. this animal helps show how some of that transition between a four—legged, crocodile—like animal and a two—legged dinosaur actually happened. the discovery, published in thejournal nature, fills a critical gap in the fossil record and shows that some dinosaur

features evolved much earlier than previously thought. theresa may stepped in to represent the queen today at the sovereign's parade at the royal military academy. as she inspected the troops at sandhurst, the military band played the sounds of star wars. needless to say, it's gone viral across social media. time for a look at the easter weekend weather now. let's join tomasz schafernaker. reeta, thank you. there is more cloud on the way for

tomorrow but not a huge amount of change over the next week or so. it will be neither particularly cold or particularly warm. somewhere in the middle. there has been some sunshine, but for many of us it has been pretty overcast. here is the summary for the easter weekend. cool with some rain on and off. you can see the extent of cloud across the uk. thick cloud across the west. for example, wales and northern ireland. then this evening, whatever you have got right now is more or less what you will have through the rest of the night. some rain getting into north—western parts of the country. tomorrow, the south of the country probably not noticing much of a difference or the south or east

anglia. eastern scotland, not a huge amount. we will see some sunshine across southern areas. this is lunchtime. not too bad on the southern coast. then you head towards the midlands and further north, the cloud is thicker here. if you run into northern ireland you see some spots of rain for belfast and also pendle and across scotland. the north eastern areas will stay dry —— kendall. the reason why the north will be more cloudy is because two weather fronts will be crossing the country. into saturday, cold air from the north will be reaching our clients. —— it will be reaching our climate. 0n clients. —— it will be reaching our climate. on saturday, cool breeze out of the north—west. probably the better day of the weekend. if you are out of the wind it will be ok.

0n easter day, sunday, high—pressure hanging on to south—western parts of the country. cornwall, devon, wiltshire and somerset and along the south coast, the weather is not looking too bad at all. but going further north it will be more cloud and rain. 0n further north it will be more cloud and rain. on monday, sunny spells, cloudier moments again. for now, have a good rest of the afternoon. today at five, syrian president bashar al—assad denies that his regime carried out last

week's chemical weapons attack. he dismisses reports that his armed forces were responsible as "100% fabrication". the west, mainly the united states, is hand in glove with the terrorists. they fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack. more than 80 people were killed in the rebel—held town of khan sheikhoun. hundreds suffered symptoms consistent with a nerve agent. like the united states, we believe it is highly likely that attack was carried out by the assad regime. we'll have the latest, and we'll be talking to a former uk ambassador to russia. ambassador to syria. the other main stories on bbc news at five. new grammar schools in england should to do more to help ordinary working families, says the education secretary. russia should have done more to prevent the beslan