this is bbc news, i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 3pm. absolutely explosive news out of washington tonight. political shockwaves as president trump tells his fbi director: you're fired. he says it's over hillary clinton's emails, but critics see a cover up over russia. the dismissal of director comey establishes a very troubling pattern. but president trump claims james comey had lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington, republican and democrat alike. the 11 year old girl who died on a school trip to a theme park in staffordshire — her family say their world has been torn apart. no conservatives will face charges for breaches of expenses rules over the 2015 general election — says the crown prosecution service. labour and the lib—dems pledge billions of pounds of investment in schools over the next 4 years. the tories accuse their rivals of ‘made up promises‘. in the next hour, a special

investigation into human trafficking into britain. we know there are three girls currently missing, 5?‘ the gm uk g the uk l glasgow. and 50 years after pink floyd's debut album — the new exhibition at london's victoria and albert museum. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. president trump has defended his decision to sack the head of the fbi without warning, saying he'd lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington. james comey learnt of his fate last night when he was handed a note as he briefed fbi agents in los angeles. mr comey had been leading an investigation into alleged links between mr trump's election campaign last year and russia. but the white house insists

he was dismissed for mishandling an inquiry into hillary clinton's emails last year. from washington, here's aleem maqbool. absolutely explosive news out of washington tonight... e b! 53- r»§t*tf~t§e~‘sfi&u§—j~, (raga? em fired by the president of the united states. americans have learned to expect almost anything from their president, but this really was high drama. fbi directorjames comey wasn't even in washington. he was addressing fbi staff in los angeles when he learned he had been sacked. a short while later, a letter arrived at fbi headquarters. "you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i'm not under investigation, i nevertheless concur with the judgment of the department ofjustice that you're not able to effectively lead the bureau."

and it was signed, donald trump. except the trump campaign was being investigated by the fbi for its links to russia. james comey was leading the investigation, and now he's gone. are people going to suspect cover—up? absolutely. if an independent special prosecutor is appointed, there still can be some faith that we can get to the bottom of this. if not, everyone will suspect cover—up. speaking on us tv, the president's adviser dismissed that notion. this has nothing to do with russia, it has everything to do with whether the current fbi director has the president's confidence. and can faithfully and capably execute his duties. the shock waves from this decision are notjust being felt here at the fbi, but across the city and beyond. for his supporters this is evidence that donald trump is a strong leader. but for many others this just adds

to the perception that this country is now being run by a man who is intolerant of those who disagree with him and who do not entirely do his bidding. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. let's cross to washington and speak to our correspondent gary o'donoghue the tightening of this sacking is rather curious, raising lots of questions. yes, it is, because in many ways the white house reasoning for getting rid of james many ways the white house reasoning for getting rid ofjames comey over his handling of hillary clinton's e—mails and that investigation, all those facts were pretty much no when donald trump came into office. there's been a little bit of toing and froing since, he's to correct the record on some evidence he gave to the senate, but really the things in the criticism is set out in the documentation, donald trump new.

after he knew all that, invited him to the white house when he became president and put his arms around him, a big pro hug, as if he had his support. the thing that has changed is that the former director did confirm in congress last month that he was investigating possible coordination between the trump campaign and russia. so there aren't really many people that think this is purely about the e—mails. a lot of people think this is about the russia probe. for a lot of people thatis russia probe. for a lot of people that is an incredibly worrying development because there is meant to be some distance between the head of the fbi and thej edgar hoover building behind me, and the executive. that is why they normally get a ten year term, they are insulated for that political to and fro. less than four years then, james comey is out. the senator chuck schumer says nothing short of

law enforcement and the executive are at stake, he's called for a special prosecutor to continue to investigate these alleged links. given the political make—up of congress, is it going to happen? well, the republican leader of the senate has already rejected that idea pretty much out of hand. i don't see the white house really pressing for that in any sense, the attorney general would probably have to do it, jeff sessions, he's on board with this decision. he's the one who has had to recuse himself from any russia enquiries because of his meetings with the russian ambassador, that he fails to disclose during his confirmation hearing. there's not much chance of that. but i think the pressure for that. but i think the pressure for that will grow. what it means is an independent individual given a lot of investigative and subpoena powers

to call witnesses, ucas to your mind back to the clinton days, that is what happened with bill clinton over his various problems with kenneth starr. and richard nixon had one who he fired. i don't think that's going to happen any time soon. what people will be looking at is who is the next big for fbi director and, crucially, what is there for you, what did they say about this ongoing russian investigation. does it disappear, does it fade away, or do they promised to pursue it wherever it goes? thank you, gary o'donoghue, in washington. an 11—year—old girl who died after falling from a water ride at a theme park in staffordshire yesterday has been named as evha jannath from leicester. she was on a school trip to drayton manor park when she fell from a boat on one of the rides. our correspondent phil mackie reports.

evha jannath had come to the park on a school trip. the emergency services arrived quickly. staff and paramedics tried to save her, but she was pronounced dead after being airlifted to hospital. today, investigators are examining the splash canyon ride and are trying to work out how she fell into the water. there is a height restriction that means that young children between three and three and a half feet tall have to be accompanied by an adult. although people aren't strapped in, they are told to remain seated. four years ago, another young boy, patrick tracey, fell into the water on the same ride. one hand was still holding onto the bar, and he was half stood, to wave, and at that point the boat sort of bumped against the edges of the rapids, and he just was tossed headfirst into the water. i panicked and i didn't know what to do, but luckily there was a member of the public, a lovely lady next to me, thatjust said, hold on, i've got him, and jumped over this fence we were leaning on. she jumped over a second fence and dragged patrick out of the water. drayton manor says it's checking through its record and liaising with the health and safety executive.

evha's school is shut today. staff and pupils have been offered counselling. she was a lovely, sweet natured girl. she was loved by everyone at the school. as a school and as a community, we are trying to make sense of this terrible tragedy. our thoughts and our prayers are with evha's family at this most difficult time. everybody's in shock, everybody's in utter shock, there's no words. i mean myself, i couldn't sleep last night thinking of this, you know, i've got kids that probably will be in the future going to a trip like this, i probably won't send my children. the park is shut today as a mark of respect. no decision has been made on when it will reopen. a bbc investigation has discovered girls are being repeatedly trafficked to scotland by eastern european organised crime gangs.

one slovakian girl was discovered to have been trafficked to glasgow three times, others have been sold to asian crime gangs and forced into sham marriages. and the pursuit of profit has opened up diverse forms of trafficking as sam poling report. what you're watching is an illegal organ deal. how much do you want? 45. thousand euros or sterling? this romanian is selling the kidney of the woman beside him, he says she's his wife. i know the doctor is ok, very good romanian doctor. is he? he does these transplants all the time? people are now the second most lucrative criminal commodity next to drugs, sold for labour or sexual exploitation and for their organs. we discovered criminal gangs are now targeting specific areas of scotland for the selling of women trafficked from abroad. there is a clear link between eastern european crime gangs who human trafficking is one of the things they do.

and links with organised asian crime gangs and glasgow. so eastern european crime gangs provide the victims and asian crime gangs here will provide accommodation. i went to slovakia to try and track down some of the victims, including one girl who was trafficked twice previously to glasgow. but when we get to the house we are in for a shock. maybe she is back to glasgow. you think your daughter may have been trafficked back to glasgow. other victims also appear to have been trafficked again. we know there are three girls currently missing, who are back in the uk in glasgow. yeah. inside this house, this girl was sold for sham marriage by a family member. the marriage allows the groom, commonly pakistani or indian, to apply for uk residency, as he is now married to an eu citizen.

if i ask the questions i really want to ask, the men are going to get very angry? doing his business. this is a transit house where victims are kept before being transported to glasgow for sham marriages. how many girls would have come... ? five, ten, 100? more than 100! really? really. i searched scotland's marriage records and found numerous suspicious averages between young eastern european brides and old asian men, the same addresses being used on multiple occasions, yet little trace of any of the couples living there. europol, the eu law enforcement agency, confirmed scotland was being targeted by the trafficking trade. samantha poling, bbc news. and viewers in scotland can see more on this story tonight on bbc one at 9pm. the crown prosecution service has

said no conservative politicians or officials will be charged with breaking rules on election campaign spending in 2015. the investigation considered evidence from 14 police forces. with me is our home affairs correspondent tom symonds. this was a widespread investigation. it was, all the police force is looking into the way in which the national party sent resources, battle buses of activists, two constituencies in the 2015th election campaign. the claim was that spending, the cost of those buses and hotels, was incorrectly put down as national spending when it was local, because it was benefiting various candidates. theoretically it could be an offence under the representation of the people act. the cps had to decide whether to prosecute, they said it was an offence to knowingly make a

false declaration, therefore police would have to prove there was knowledge a false declaration was being made. they said there was no evidence for that. in all these cases, the 1a cases it has considered, it has decided there will be no further criminal action. the party has been fined by the electoral commission for missing and incorrect statements about national spending. the timing of this announcement is right in the middle of the election campaign. this was nothing to do with the election campaign, this was just when they came up with the announcement. that's right, there was to be a legal deadline, by which they were to have started proceedings. i think thatis to have started proceedings. i think that is the end of this month, depending on which case you were talking about. there is one outstanding bit of this. one of the files, about kent, about the campaign in south thanet, that one hasn't been decided. the cps says it

could be another week or so before it decides. the issue there is the last date for pulling out of the election and decanter that there is running again, is tomorrow. if the conservatives were worried there could be a prosecution, they might have to decide to pull out craig mckinley. i spoke to somebody at conservative headquarters who says no discussions are being head, they wouldn't have long anyway, looks like they will wait and see. the time is exactly quarter past three. the headlines on bbc news: political shock waves as president trump tells his fbi director, you're fired. he says it's over hillary clinton's e—mails, but critics see a cover—up over russia. the 11—year—old girl who died on a school trip to a theme park in staffordshire, herfamily say their world has been torn apart. no conservatives will face charges

for breaches of expenses rules of the 2015 general election, says the crown prosecution service. eddie jones is expecting a highly competitive rugby world cup group after being drawn alongside france and argentina to the tournament in 2019. he insists it isn't a group of death. ireland and scotland drawn together. we are also faced —— they'll also face hosts japan. somebody else to buy fifa says the decision is a setback in the fight against corruption. the pair helped remove former president sepp blatter. let's ta ke let's take you back to the news from washington overnight, president trump has been defending his

decision to sack the head of the fbi without warning. mr trump said he had lost confidence of almost eve ryo ne had lost confidence of almost everyone in washington. joining us via webcam is a national security report at a us political website. joining me now via webcam is katie bo williams, what do you make of the firing of the fbi director? there are a lot of u na nswered the fbi director? there are a lot of unanswered questions, you see a lot of speculation from democrats, that president trump's decision to sack his fbi director has more to do with the ongoing fbi investigation into jump the ongoing fbi investigation into jump links to russia than it does to the handling of the hillary clinton investigation. the white house under a lot of scrutiny right now and washington is in uproar about this. previously, donald trump has been quite flattering about james comey, which makes it even more confusing

unsurprising. yeah, november, late october or early november, as we we re october or early november, as we were getting down to the final days of the investigation, and comey had sent this 11th hour letter to congress saying we have found more e—mails and we are looking into them, he said that took a lot of guts, he was praising them for being brave. one of the other questions you see democrats ask is, why now? if president trump was so concerned about the director's handling of the clinton investigation, why didn't he fire him when he came in injanuary. one of the things we've seen happened since president trump took office is the relationship with comey cooling as more and more leaks about the russian investigation started to trickle into the press. in march when, announced the

investigation was underway. the democrats, chuck schumer, calling for a special prosecutor. they are effectively alleging there is some sort of cover—up going on. over an alleged link between the current campaign and the russians. exactly what they are alleging. you started to see some republicans say inaudible we need an independent commission, some sort of independent body to carry out this probe, because the american people have lost faith in the process. now, leadership in both the house and senate have either backed the decision to fire comey or they have been silent. without their support, i think these calls for legislation establishing a commission, even a special committee in congress, are

going nowhere. it remains to be seen whether not leadership is going to be pushed... thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. let's show you a typical scene from washington, you may recognise the white house. president trump is preparing to meet the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov in the next short while. a little earlier sergey lavrov met with his us counterpart, rex tillerson. it was slightly curious, they came out to talk to reporters, at least we thought that is what they were going to do, but they only stood in front of the cameras for a very short while. one reporter asked them was there any discussion about the sacking of fbi ex—director comey. sergey lavrov responded, are you kidding? the two men walked off. one

would have expected them to anticipate being asked that particular question. we weren't sure what was going on with that apparent news conference, which was brief. here in washington president trump is going to be meeting sergey lavrov very soon. fascinating to see these men meeting on the day all of washington is talking about those allegations from the democrats that there is a cover—up over alleged links between the trump campaign and the russians. just as donald trump meets the russian foreign minister. we'll bring you more from washington as it comes into us. now, i think we canjust now, i think we can just take you back to washington because i think maybe we're seeing sergey lavrov the russian foreign minister. that is a shot of just russian foreign minister. that is a shot ofjust outside the white house. slightly obscure shot. bear

with us while we see if we can get that image of sergey lavrov arriving at the white house. as we say, extraordinary timing, really, right as all these allegations are swirling around washington once again about the trump campaign links with russia, with moscow, with the kremlin, here we have sergey lavrov the russian foreign minister meeting donald trump. the highest—ranking russian to meet mr trump since he entered the white house. it'll be fascinating to see if either donald trump sergey lavrov have anything to say about the dismissal, the summary dismissal, of james comey, say about the dismissal, the summary dismissal, ofjames comey, the fbi director. which has caused so many shock waves in washington. only one fbi director in history, in american political history, has been fired in this way. it was back in the early 90s by president bill clinton. it

really is a very unusual step by donald trump to sack his fbi director. that letter to him saying, you are terminated, that is what donald trump said to james comey the fbi director. so far his comments largely consisting of tweets on the matter. comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington, when things calm down they will be thanking me. let's see if he says anything following the meeting with sergey lavrov. we will back their pretty soon, i think. in the meantime it has killed nearly 100 dogsin meantime it has killed nearly 100 dogs in the uk since it first appeared here five years ago, yet little is known about the disease called alabama rot. first discovered in america in the late 1980s — it causes lesions on dogs‘ legs and paws. but there's still no known cure — which is why vets and animal welfare groups are meeting in reading today for the first time

in a bid to tackle it. duncan kennedy reports. it's that time of day. the walk, the one, the fun. repeated by 8 million dogs across the united kingdom. but for gabrielle williams from monmouthshire, thosejoys for gabrielle williams from monmouthshire, those joys came to an end earlier this year. her dog, flow, a family pet for five years, court alabama rot and died. flow, a family pet for five years, court alabama rot and diedm flow, a family pet for five years, court alabama rot and died. it still to get your head round the fact she's not here. it happened quickly, she's not here. it happened quickly, she was quite young, only five and a half. it was hard to see. it's been very difficult, very sad. alabama rot was first recorded in the united states in the 1980s and gives dogs lesions, ulcers and in many cases kidney failure. it's a very unpleasant disease and luckily lola here has avoided it. but 15 dogs in britain have died from alabama rot so britain have died from alabama rot so far this year, bringing the total to nearly 100 since it was first

noticed in 2012. those first cases we re noticed in 2012. those first cases were seen noticed in 2012. those first cases were seen in hampshire, but they have now been examples in 29 counties. there was no obvious pattern to the location or breed. today's first ever conference on alabama rot in britain has been organised by david walker, a vet who has studied it for five years. what is your gut feeling of what basis? my is your gut feeling of what basis? my gut feeling is intrinsically within the dogs they have a predisposition to this disease process. then perhaps there is an environmental trigger on top that means they develop the disease later in their lifetime. it is certainly a disease these owners in the new forest are now aware of. until i see any signs or anything, i'll keep going like normal, i think. they don't know what's causing it or anything, you've just got to continue as normal, really. vector site owners need not be

alarmed, alabama rot remained extremely rare, but symptoms should not be ignored. duncan kennedy, bbc news, the new forest. an update from the metropolitan police about arrests they made after an operation in the harleston area of north—west london last tuesday the 9th of may. they say three women arrested have been released and three other women who were arrested remain in custody. aged between 18 and a3. three of those women arrested at an address in east london have been released from custody. three other women who were arrested remain in custody. arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts and detained under section a1 of the terrorism act. officers, they say, have completed searches all the addresses connected

with the arrest. more on that as it comes into us. 36—year—old tipper truck driver who almost drove into work colleagues and police officers has been sentenced to six months in prison. herrmann from ashington northumberland took the vehicle after a row with his boss. police helicopter footage shows him after a row with his boss. police helicopterfootage shows him driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway, swivelling and narrowly missing two police patrol cars. he turns left through a red light into a housing estate, as you can see from the images, and continues further along before he heads onto this grassy area. he's been given a five—year restraining order. correspondent fiona trott has been following this case for us in newcastle. tell us more about the background to this. patrick denman was crying in court

just now, he told the judge he was having a mental breakdown when he took the truck that day. the police told us he was driving dangerously for about 15 minutes, that is why the police helicopter was following him. those pictures you've seen. the police told us itjust quit his job, had a row with his boss, his boss put his hands on the front of the lorry to try and stop him leaving the depot, patrick denholm ignored him, brett goode engine, and went straight out under the dual carriageway at speed. he did a u—turn, going into the path of oncoming traffic and narrowly missing two police cars. thejudge believes he made the manoeuvre deliberately. we're told the police negotiator was on the phone to him trying to make him stop. eventually he did stop, he went on to a grassy area. he had to stop because his wheels got stuck in the mud. let me tell you something we learned today for the first time. patrick denman was on his way to his ex—wife's

house, thejudge believes, in order to intimidate her. that is why, on top of the six—month jail sentence he has received today, he's also been given a five—year restraining order preventing him from going near her house or contacting her. fiona trott in newcastle, thank you. we ta ke trott in newcastle, thank you. we take you to mansfield where theresa may is out and about on the election trail in the east midlands. she is talking at a marketing service company in mansfield, let's everybody has a chance to get on in life where there is opportunity for all and life where there is opportunity for allandi life where there is opportunity for all and i think government has a role to play in that and looking at

what government can do, it's about things like ensuring we're building sufficient good quality affordable homes, so people have that opportunity to have a home, to rent 01’ opportunity to have a home, to rent or buy. it's about ensuring there is a good school place for every child so a good school place for every child so that every youngster has a good start in life. it's also about ensuring we have a strong economy, we lock in economic security and we continue to build the strength of oui’ continue to build the strength of our economy so we can afford a first class national health service, and a social care system. all of these are important and also it's about ensuring that we have care and consideration for people considering the cost of living, considering the challenges that people have in their day—to—day lives and take action in relation to those as well. that's why i'm determined and committed to for example capping ensuring that we're dealing with rip off energy bills by capping the rises in energy

prices. it's why we're looking at other policies like protecting workers pensions against irresponsible bosses, bringing in new laws on mental health to end injustices and deal with injustices that we see around the system. so all of these are important if we're going to build that better future for us, but they don'tjust happen. i think they need strong and stable leadership, and strong and stable government and over the next 29 days, as i have been doing for the last couple of weeks, two or three weeks, i'm going to be out and around about the country as i am here today in mansfield, talking to people and hearing from people and giving what i believe is this message about how important this election is because there is a very clear choice for the future and that isa clear choice for the future and that is a choice, i believe, between strong and stable leadership under me and my team or potential for coalition of chaos underjeremy

corbyn. the next five years are crucial. we stand at an important moment in our country if we're going to get the brexit negotiations right and get the best deal for britain and get the best deal for britain and be able to take this country forward to a new future. as i say i'm going to be out there around and about talking to people about that. i think this is an important election and the only final thing i would say to you all is it's such an important election i hope everybody will go out and vote in this election. cast your vote because this matters. it's about your future. so that's enough from me and now, i'm very happy it take some questions. i'll try and look all—round when i'm asking for questions. who would like to kick off with the questions?” questions. who would like to kick off with the questions? i was wondering what your reason was why you wouldn't be doing any live debates through the election campaign? i'm approaching people in other ways. so i'm doing traditional

campaigning which is out and about. i will be later on today i will be knocking on doors, not in means feel, but somewhere else so i am around the country talking to people in workplaces, in other environments as well. so it's that sort of the more traditional cal pain that i'm running. hello prime minister. during the brexit referendum i experienced a lot of heated debate and anger almost a little bit of nastiness at times. it is very difficult, unlike anything i experienced at any political issues before elections. what i'd like to know from you or you can maybe allay my fears a little bit that there is no plans for a second referendum after the negotiations are complete? you would be against that? i'd be against that, but we're the only party that's very clear that we're respecting the majority will of the

british people which was to come out of the european union and actually i think what i now see is a unity of purpose. i think a lot of people, regardless of what they voted last year, actually saying let's just get on with it and let's make sure we make a success of it and that's what we're committed to doing. thank you. anybody else? one right at the back there. since 2010, homelessness and foodbank use in mansfield has risen dramatically. what are you going to do to fix that? first of all to take the homelessness issue, we are over a period of five years from 2015, we are committed to putting over £500 million into dealing with homelessness, but we're still looking at further changes particularly on issues like rough sleeping which we need to address. pa rt sleeping which we need to address. part of it is obviously about availability of homes for people, but actually, what i want to look at is how we can help people at the

stage before they become homeless so that we try and prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place and that's about a variety of issues that deal with people. i have been looking at some really interesting work that's been done particularly in london where with organisations, working with people, before they actually get to the point of homelessness, in some cases, it's about helping them with perhaps job opportunities, it's about developing skills so that they have an opportunity to get a job so they are able to provide for themselves and theirfamily. there able to provide for themselves and their family. there is able to provide for themselves and theirfamily. there is a able to provide for themselves and their family. there is a whole variety of issues that lead to this. we're putting significant ats of money in. part of is trying to deal with the other issues that lead to people finding themselves homeless in the first place. on foodbanks. i mean foodbanks have been with us for many years. the key again in relation to foodbanks is trying to ensure that we can deal with the

causes of people having to use foodbanks and there will be complex reasons, there are many reasons why people find themselves in those particular circumstances, but underpinning it is actually ensuring that we're able to see jobs being created with, you know, with the good wages. i want to see higher paid jobs in the uk so that people don't find themselves in that position. so that's theresa may there in mansfield. mansfield answering some questions. one in particular about why she wasn't taking part in head—to—head debates with other leaders on television and she said she was biding at meetings like this, meeting people and meeting voters. yes, what she called traditional campaigning. so that's the prime minister in mansfield. let's bring you a shot from york as well because here people are waiting to meet the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, he has been out and about campaigning today as has theresa

may. so they're trying to get around a few locations today and we'll be back there when jeremy corbyn arrives. is let's return to the news that president trump sacked the head of the fbi. he said thatjames comey had lost the confidence of almost eve ryo ne had lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington. the senate democratic leader chuck shumar has been giving his reaction to the news and he said in the senate there must be an investigation and a special prosecutor into why james comey was sacked by donald trump. there are a great many outstanding questions about the circumstances of director comey‘s dismissal, the status of the executive branch investigation into the trump campaign ties to russia and what the

future holds for these investigations. so i will be requesting that the majority leader call a closed and if necessary classified session, all senators briefing, sorry. iwill classified session, all senators briefing, sorry. i will be requesting that the majority leader call a closed and if necessary, classified all senators briefing, with the attorney—general and the deputy attorney—general separately at which they can be asked questions. some of the questions — why was attorney—general sessions, who had recused himself from the russia investigations able to influence the firing of the man conducting the russia investigation? did deputy attorney—general rosenstein act on his own or at the direction of his superiors or the white house? are reports that the president has been searching for a

rational to fire the fbi director for weeks true? was director comey‘s investigation making significant progress in a direction that would cause political damage for the white house? why didn't the president wait for the inspector general‘s investigation into director comey‘s handling of the clinton e—mail investigation to conclude before making his decision to fire him? was this really about something else? no doubt we'll have an opportunity to question mr comey. , now a private citizen about what happened. but we need to hear from this administration about what happened and why and what is going to happen next. and that is why again, i am requesting that the majority leader call a closed and if necessary, classified all sessions briefing

with the attorney—general and the deputy attorney—general separately at which they can be asked these questions. i hope the majority leader agrees with me that we need to get to the bottom of this and get a handle on all the facts so that we can grapple with them. i remind him and my republican friends that nothing less is at stake than the american people's faith in our criminaljustice system american people's faith in our criminal justice system and american people's faith in our criminaljustice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our government. chuck shumar there speaking earlier this afternoon. moonjae—in has been sworn in as south korea's president after winning more than a0% of the vote — almost double his nearest competitor. his victory ends almost a decade of conservative rule as stephen evans reports. certainly a new tone. where the last

president was reclusive, this new one appeared in full view of the people. security certainly, but not total. applause and where previous presidents basked in elaborate inaugurations president moon's took a bare ten minutes. his predecessor is injail moon's took a bare ten minutes. his predecessor is in jail awaiting trial accused of corruption. he has set a different tone. translation: i take office with empty pockets and i will leave with empty pockets and i will leave with empty pockets and return to my hometown. but tone is easy. the hard bit is policy and action. the us and south korean military is in alliance against north korea, but president trump in washington and president moon in seoul have different policies. hard—line trump and softer moon, how will that work out? president moon said he would go to pyongyang if the conditions were right. he said he wanted to meet

president trump. he signalled that he's not anti—american. the difficulty would be though is if president trump decides on a military attack on north korea when president moon is saying you simply can't do that. the man from the north has kept silent about a new man in the south. kim jong—un wanted someone man in the south. kim jong—un wanted someone who would talk to him, his media said so. will president moon keep his more conciliatory approach? nato has asked britain to consider sending more troops to afghanistan. speaking outside downing street after a meeting with the prime minster, secretary—generaljens stoltenberg said nato would need "a few thousand" additional troops. there are currently about 500 british troops in the country, providing security in kabul and training at the afghan officer academy. nato has played a key role in the

fight against terrorism for many, many years. our biggest military operation ever is our operation in afghanistan and afghanistan is about fighting terrorism. it's about preventing that afghanistan again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists and we have received a request from our military authorities to increase our military presence in afghanistan with a few thousand troops. we are now assessing that request. we will make assessing that request. we will make a decision on the scale and the scope on the mission within weeks. but this is not about returning back toa but this is not about returning back to a combat operation in afghanistan. it will continue to be a train, assist and advice operation because i strongly believe that the best a nswer we because i strongly believe that the best answer we have to terrorism,

the best weapon we have against terrorism, is to train hoeical forces to fight terrorism to stabilise their own country. the secretary general of nato. roads in england and wales are in danger of becoming increasingly "lawless" because of cuts to traffic policing. that's the finding of a major report by roadpeace, a charity for road crash victims. the campaign group is also concerned about, what it says is, a "significant shift" away from prosecuting motorists for driving offences to sending them on courses. here's our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in england and wales has been falling for decades, but roadpeace says the decline slowed after 2010 at a time when there were cuts to traffic policing. home office figures show the number of officers fell by 28% in five years. the campaign group says it has put the government's proud record on road safety in danger. when we look at the figures what we see is car drivers tend to

be safer because of car design improvements, but vulnerable road users, cyclist, the pedestrian, the children who use our roads, their numbers of killed and injured are increasing. this isn't true for inside london, but outside london in the rest of britain, the roads are becoming more dangerous because we have fewer and fewer traffic police. it also claims that allowing motorists who break the law to go on driver awareness courses may not be as effective a deterrent as docking points. 1.a million drivers pay to attend courses in 2015, treble the number five years earlier. the national police chiefs council says it's strengthened the way roads are policed and is working with the department for transport to assess the effectiveness of driver training courses. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: political shockwaves as president trump tells his fbi director ? you're fired . he says it's over hillary clinton's

e—mails, but critics see a cover up over russia. the 11—year—old girl who died on a school trip to a theme park in staffordshire — her family say their world has been torn apart. no conservatives will face charges for breaches of expenses rules over the 2015 general election says the crown prosecution service. i'm ben thompson. barclays held its annual general meeting today amid trouble and controversy over its chief executivejes staley. he's been criticised for trying uncover the identity of a whistle—blower, despite rules that say there should be no identification or pressure on those who highlight wrongdoing within a firm. speaking today, mr staley apologised to shareholders and also revealed the bank has no plans to shift any operations or staff to within the eu after brexit. shares in telecoms firm talktalk are down sharply after the firm cut

dividends and warned about profits. at one point, shares were down 17%. it's warned that earnings may fall again this year because of the cost of attracting new customers with offers and discounts. japanese car giant toyota has seen profits fall for the first time in half a decade. the firm said it sold more cars in the year to march than in the last year, but higher costs and currency movements affected profits. they fell 21% to £12.a billion. talktalk shares have fallen almost 10% after the broadband provider cut its dividend and warned profits will fall. talktalk reported a £133 million pre—tax profit for this year, up from £107 million for 2016, but said it expected earnings to fall again this financial year as it invests

to attract new customers. the firm suffered a major hacking attack in 2015 which saw its profits halve that year. michael hewson is from cmc markets. it is nice to see you. your take on this. what do you make of the figures because there is clearly a lot at stake for talktalk. they are trying to get over the hacking attack and win new customers and they say that could cost them a lot of money? yeah, absolutely, ben. if you look at the overriding narratives around talktalk it hasn't been a good two years, but there are silver linings in the numbers. no one likes to see the dividend cut, but that was necessary simply because a dividend yield of 8.5% is too high for a company that's not making any profits anywhere near to that. i think if you actually look at the underlying business, net debt is down. certainly there is some evidence that client turn around is starting to gain traction so i think

what charles duns tession n is doing is cuts and pain now to promote strong growth later. a bit of pain now and it's a really tough market, isn't it, michael? it most definitely is. if you look at some of the cuts, or solicitor of the problems that bt and sky are having to cope with, you can see that margins are very, to cope with, you can see that margins are very, very thin and talktalk being one of the smaller players in the market is exposed to that and one thing i would say about this particular cut in the dividend and given the price pressures is the likelihood that we could see consolidation because solicitor of the areas that talktalk are weak in could be a good fit for a company like vodafone for example which also had significant pressures on its broadband business, but doesn't have a particularly strong television offering. yes, it is that consolidation which will be on the minds of the investors, but customers, because they're looking at what they get from the providers and talktalk are saying they're

going to have to spend some cash to get more customers on board and it really highlights the challenge for the firms to sign people up and get them on the contracts and keep the money coming in, because we're fickle and shopping around and moving a bit more? we are, ben, but i think what is important is customer service is a key part of that, if you look at the which? rankings surrounding customer service and vodafone and talktalk, customer service is a real bone of contention and i think this is where talktalk could start to make in—roads. it does have a fairly competitive offering, but while it continues to come top of the complaint rankings it will always struggle. yes, it is within we'll watch closely. michael, good it talk to you. do you still use a pager? vodafone — the only uk telecoms firm to still run a dedicated paging network — wants to sell it's pagers business to professional services company, capita. but the competition regulator says

it may investigate amid concerns the sale could push up prices for customers. pagers, are still used by many people because of their reliability, coverage and battery life. about 800 jobs are to go in a planned merger between two of scotland's biggest financial companies. the posts will be cut over three years during restructuring after the £11 billion merger of standard life and aberdeen asset management. the two companies currently have a combined workforce of 9,000 people around the world. snap, the company that owns snapchat, is posting its first earnings as a public company today. the company floated on the us stock market at the beginning of march shares were priced at $2a a share.

shares peaked at $27, but have fallen as low as $19. today they're around $23.32. this will be the first glimpse at how the company may perform long term. and revenues at broadcaster itv fell 3% in the first three months of the year as advertising income dropped 9%. the broadcaster said it expected similar falls for the whole of the first—half of the year. remember, they are looking for a new boss. this is how markets are looking at this point in the day. over in the us, markets are red. in europe, there is optimism, but there is not a huge amount moving those numbers. i'll have full round—up for you in an hour's time. i will see you then. earlier we were showing you theresa may who was on the campaign trail in mansfield and this afternoonjeremy corbyn is campaigning in york. he'll be speaking there soon, but labour's theme of the day is their promises on education, promising that if they win this general election they will

fund a major increase in education spending by putting up corporation tax from 19% to 26%. so we'll be back with the labour leader, when he speaks at that rally in york in just a few minutes. it's 50 years since pink floyd released their debut album. and to mark the occasion a new exhibition is opening at london's victoria and albert museum this weekend to celebrate the rock band. it features memorabilia including instruments, musical scores and album covers. our arts correspondent david sillito has had a sneak preview. london, may 1967. the queen elizabeth hall, a classical music venue, hosted what was to become a landmark in rock history. the lights, the surround sound, the psychedelia. the summer of love had arrived. and was being featured on the bbc. the pink floyd, they have an audience, and people

who have an audience ought to be heard. perhaps it's my fault that i don't appreciate them. 50 years on, this exhibition tells the story of how pink floyd helped turn rock music into a visual spectacle by retreating from the spotlight. it was a gradual slide into obscurity. we just found that it worked better to utilise sort of effects and video and strange lighting devices and so on to augment the music. it was an era of massive experimentation and there was a whole generation of designers and architects creating things that they thought no one would ever built. one would ever build. and then along came pink floyd. the stage designs,

the giant inflatable pig. the album covers. all vital visuals for a band that liked to say no. i do remember that when we went on the road there was a big resistance to publicity. i think we were a bit po—faced and snotty. it is in many ways a record of an era which is now past. when albums ruled and no one was counting the cost of rock excess. 0h oh pigs might fly. let's take you to our very own oh pigs might fly. let's take you to our very own flying pig outside the building. ben, is the pink floyd man

i'll let him take it away. that's from the animals album. inflatable pigs very much the theme at the concerts at the time actually. and the scene outside battersea power station, but outside new broadcasting house outside and beautiful sunshine as well for that flying pig so let's see what the weather is doing around the country which is pretty much bathed in sunshine, i think, which is pretty much bathed in sunshine, ithink, tomasz schafernaker can sunshine, ithink, tomasz schaferna ker can tell us more. sunshine, ithink, tomasz schafernaker can tell us more. that pig was in that shot for a very long time. a slow news day! i didn't see it earlier on. i'll have to go out and check it out! the weather is beautiful. we promised you lots of sunshine yesterday and indeed, it's glorious across england and wales and most of northern ireland, southern half of scotland too, but northern parts of scotland more cloud. there is a change on the way. over the next 2a hours you will notice, 2a to a8 hours how humid it

will become particularly across southern and eastern areas of the uk and there is also a risk of thunder. the weather is coming in from the south and it will stick around until saturday. and then it will turn fresher. but in the short—term quiet, clear skies again tonight, but notice by the early hours of thursday morning we are starting to see the little blobs of blue. so blobs of rain. these are showers. i don't think this will be thunder, thunder but you might catch the odd heavy shower around the rush hour. so anywhere across the south—west. these little blobs of blue, the smaller they are, the harder they are to forecast. they could be almost anywhere across the southern portion of the uk. the thinking is that certainly northern wales, the north midlands and everywhere northwards of that should be sunny. a beautiful start to the day apart from orkney where we might have some spots of rain. so, the trend will continue through tomorrow morning and into the afternoon. the clouds will start to thicken and the skies get hazy and hazier and we could see

some thunderstorms brewing anywhere across the southern third of the uk. look at the temperatures, 20, 21 celsius, even under the cloudy skies, it will feel muggy and close and the humidity will key on rising and the humidity will key on rising and thursday night will be a warm night across the uk. through friday you can see the winds are coming in from the south from spain and portugal and france, cloud here and thunderstorms around as well. some of those will be making their way in our direction. low pressure sitting on top of the uk. not a windy one, but it means a lot of cloud and the possibility of thunder, but many places will escape the storms. we're not talking about widespread storms at this stage. quite a humid day and at this stage. quite a humid day and a warm day on friday. the best of the weather in the far north of the uk. on saturday, it looks as though if the cloudier and wetter weather will push further north. dries out temporarily in the south on saturday and this fresher weather with breezier conditions will be pushing in our direction come sunday. so sunday, i think,

in our direction come sunday. so sunday, ithink, overallacross in our direction come sunday. so sunday, i think, overall across the uk, sunny spells and showers. feeling warm in the sunshine, but it is going to feel quite a bit fresher compared to saturday. that's it from me. have a good rest of the day. this is bbc news, i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at apm. absolutely explosive news out of washington tonight. political shockwaves as president trump tells his fbi director: you're fired. he says it's over hillary clinton's emails, but critics see a cover up over russia. the dismissal of director comey establishes a very troubling pattern. but president trump claims james comey had lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington, republican and democrat alike. the 11 year old girl who died on a school trip to a theme park in staffordshire — her family say their world has been torn apart. no conservatives will face charges for breaches of expenses rules over the 2015 general election — says the crown prosecution service. labour and the lib—dems pledge billions of pounds of investment

in schools over the next a years.