this is bbc news. the headlines at 12... in the last few minutes, the terror threat level in the uk has been reduced from ‘critical‘ to ‘severe'. a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. the country should remain vigilant. police and army bomb disposal experts have begun an evacuation in moss side as part of an ongoing search linked to the manchester arena bombing. british airways says it is experiencing a global computer system outage. one ba captain described it as "catastrophic". this is the scene live at heathrow. it's thought that thousands of passengers are affected at heathrow. a queue is now stretching outside terminal 5 due to the computer problems. new revelations about president trump's son in law, jared kushner, and his alleged involvement in secret dealings with russia. deep concern as one nhs trust considers reducing the number

of children diagnosed with autism. also in the next hour... all to play for in the all—london fa cup final. a repeat of the 2015 win for the gunners would make arsene wenger the most successful manager in the tournament's history. but premier league winners chelsea are desperate for the double. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. in the past few minutes the prime minister has announced that the uk terror threat level has been reduced from critical to severe, which means an attack is highly likely. the move comes after theresa may chaired another meeting of the government's emergency committee, cobra, to discuss the impact of monday's bombing at the manchester arena. the prime minister has been speaking

in the past few minutes. i have just chaired a meeting i havejust chaired a meeting of cobra this morning where i have been up cobra this morning where i have been up dated by the police and security services on the investigation into monday's terrible attack in manchester. a significant amount of police activity took place over the last 2a hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody. in light of these developments, jtac has taken these developments, jtac has taken the decision to reduce the threat level from critical to severe. the public should be clear that this threat level means an attack is highly likely. the country should remain vigilant. in recent days, members of the armed forces have assisted police in providing reassurance to the public under

operation temperer. many large events a re operation temperer. many large events are taking place this weekend. to provide maximum reassurance to the public, operation temperer will continue to operate until the bank holiday concludes. then from monday at midnight onwards there will be a well—planned and gradual withdrawal of members of the armed forces who will return to normal duties. the police will make a statement shortly to give further details of as i say how this will ta ke details of as i say how this will take place. since the attack on monday, our police and security services and nhs staff have worked round the clock in difficult and traumatic circumstances and on the half of the country i would like to ta ke half of the country i would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their tremendous service. our political correspondent ellie price is outside the cabinet office in whitehall.

—— at downing street. as you have heard, the threat level has been reduced from critical to severe and that means an attack is still highly likely but crucially it is not expected to be imminent. there is a sense in government, that isa there is a sense in government, that is a decision made byjtac by the way, the government acts on advice from them, but there was a sense from them, but there was a sense from them, but there was a sense from the government and the security services to reassure the public. the threat level had been high based on the suggestion at some stage when the suggestion at some stage when the attacks happened on monday that older accomplices —— all the accomplices had not necessarily been apprehended. it is clear that the government must feel there is a sense of being under control with these investigations. plenty of

questions still to be answered in police and security investigations which are still ongoing. the threat level had been the highest it had been. it is important to know that the threat level has never been about top level for more than a few daysin about top level for more than a few days in the other terror attacks we had in the last years. the prime minister stressing that things would continue but people would see changes from next week. yes, operation—mac act two, the use of up to 1000 armed forces. that will slowly be rolled back by midnight on bank holiday monday. —— operation temperer. police have been

supported by the armed forces. the advice from the prime minister was one of reassurance but remained in —— remaining vigilant. the suggestion today is that more control is being taken and there is no need for panic. meanwhile, police investigating the manchester bombing have made two further arrests, and raided more properties in the city. it means 11 people are now in custody in relation to monday's attack. homes in the moss side area have been evacuated. 0n the line from moss side in manchester is our news correspondent dan johnson. this is the latest seem to be searched by police in manchester this morning and there are a huge number of officers here in moss side, south of the city centre. they

we re side, south of the city centre. they were here a couple of hours ago and told local residents they needed to evacuate people from their homes because there was some sort of threat they had to deal with urgency. there is also an army bomb disposal team at work. we understand they are busy in one of the properties further down the road. quite a few streets have been cleared by police. people told they had to leave their homes and stay back for their own safety. the only information we have is a short statement from manchester police which says is part of an ongoing search of the property in moss side and evacuation is being carried out and evacuation is being carried out and we would like to thank those involved further cooperation and understanding while we carry out this precautionary measure to ensure safety. no indication of how long this situation will exist here but this situation will exist here but this is just the latest search in a

series of raids carried out around this city and further afield. two more people arrested this morning on the north side of manchester. at least one man was taken away from the house here as police moved in to conduct their research. even though you have broken the news that the threat level has been reduced from critical to severe, i told that the residents here and they said it doesn't feel like things are getting better. this has unnerved people and they're surprised that this level of police resource is needed on their streets as this investigation continues unfolding. 0ur correspondent catriona renton is at st anne's square in manchester city centre. people are continuing to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in this attack. what has been happening? 0ver happening? over the last few hours we have seen

a steady stream of people coming along here to where the tributes that you can see are being laid. the number is growing, balloons, flowers, you can barely see the ground. there are mixed emotions here. people are sad, angry, defiant, getting on with things to get the city back to normal. there are so many big events in manchester this weekend, the great city games started last night, the great manchester run happening tomorrow. pop concerts tonight at old trafford. a lot of people are coming into the city for those from all over the uk. we are bumping into people who have come down to pay their respect or reflect for a moment. somebody helping people in the city just now moment. somebody helping people in the cityjust now is iain macleod, a rapid response team chaplain with the billy graham evangelist

association. what sort of things are you doing to help people? the primary thing is listening to people. we call it a ministry of presence. engaging in normal conversation and listening to their stories. we are there to listen to people and if they want prayer then we will pray with them but primarily it is to listen and support them. for a lot of people approaching new? we are mingling in the crowd and there is a team of eight or nine chaplains here today and we are partnering with kings church, a campus—based church in manchester, and some of their team are brothers. we are working alongside each other. i met you outside saint anne ‘s church on the other side of where we

are standing and there is a book of condolence. it is dropping in place for people to reflect. you are finding the same kind of atmosphere. we need each other. this is a time when manchester is coming together. i have been overwhelmed with the sense of that. various views are being expressed, mostly positive, speaking to some muslim ladies last night who were outside the church giving drinks, some people giving food. thank you for your time. as you can hear, a tremendous sense of pulling together here. equal standing united. even though the

terror threat level has dropped, there is still a visible police presence to give people support and reassure them as they go to these events in manchester this weekend. the message the police have been giving is to go out and enjoy yourself but be vigilant. people are keeping in their minds the events of monday but trying to get back to some normality. british airways has suffered a global it failure, grounding planes and delaying flights. ba says it's working to resolve the problem. passengers have reported "chaotic scenes" at heathrow airport, but the issue has affected ba flights around the world. former bbc correspondent tim reid is stuck at heathrow and sent this. very little information made

available by british airways. people have been standing in queues for up to 70, 90, 120 minutes. the queue goes from the check—in desks to the back of the tournament will and out in front of the terminal where the taxis are delivering people. still chaos, despite this going on for some hours now. on the line is the bbc‘s philip norton, currently in rome. as we talk, some of his pictures will appear on screen. tell us the situation where you are. pictures will appear on screen. tell us the situation where you arem is quite calm here. people are waiting around for news. the flight was due to have left 1.5 hours ago and there was a small announcement which couldn't really be heard some people are getting information by going to the desk and it was only then that we found that there was an it problem. flight was delayed 45

minutes and i asked if it was realistic and the lady on the desk and they said no and trucked shoulders and i asked if there was any idea as to when the flight may ta ke any idea as to when the flight may take off and she said to be honest she did not know but they are working on it as quickly as they can. there is a 767 on the tarmac but there is no activity going on around it. i guess it is loaded and fuelled and ready to go but all flights like this are grounded around the world. she told me if i had an onward connection that they would all still be possible to be caught because all flights in heathrow are delayed. this is clearly a major problem. there are about six or seven people at the

desk now and you can see them shaking their heads and walking away. i guess working out what their onward travel arrangements are going to be. this is having far—reaching effects. many people will be connecting at heathrow to onward flights around the world and they will face many hours of disruption. british airways said they are working to resolve the problem and people there cannot tell you when it might be resolved. i suppose it is an indication of how dependent everybody is on a computer system that has to work and when it does not it is potentially so disruptive. everyone here, when you check—in you can do it with your phone or ipad and you have a ticket on a mobile device and that is so heavily

dependent on it systems. with the automated system, it leads to huge problems, far reaching around the world. a couple of weeks ago we had the cyber hacking affecting the nhs but it shows how much a company, organisation or authority can grind toa organisation or authority can grind to a halt with one computer problem. british airways are tweeting they are working on the problem and replying to everyone getting in touch that they are working on the problem. engineers are working to resolve it as soon as possible. many people here, staff included, are in the dark as to how long this will go on. the headlines on bbc news... the terror threat in the uk has been

reduced from critical to severe and the prime minister says the country should remain vigilant. police and army bomb disposal experts have begun an evacuation in moss side as part of an ongoing search linked to the manchester arena bombing. british airways says it is experiencing a global it system outage and one captain described it as catastrophic. leaders of the world's leading industrial nations, the g7, have failed to reach agreement on climate change at a summit in italy. members had hoped donald trump would join the rest of the world in combating climate change but differences remain between the us president and other countries. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale has more. classical music. at this summit in an ancient town on the coast of sicily, there has been some harmony

between the g7 leaders, above all on the need to do more to tackle global terrorism. but there have also been some dramatic discordant notes on trade and climate change. donald trump has voiced his anger at the impact he believes free trade is having on us car markets. he has also expressed doubts about global warming and threatened to pull the us out of a deal agreed in paris in 2015 to limit carbon emissions. so g7 leaders are using this summit to try to stay the president's hand. and they're not alone. in an interview with the bbc, the secretary general of the united nations said the us had to stay engaged in the paris climate accord. if one country has doubts, it is one more reason for all the other countries to come together to stay the course and make sure that the paris agreement moves forward. mr trump's advisers say his views

on the paris deals are evolving but so far no agreement has been reached. the italian prime minister paolo gentiloni said the issue was still hanging. this summit has been literally overshadowed by the ancient volcano of mount etna but for many of the world leaders here this is their first time on the world stage and inevitably the focus was on one in particular, donald trump. and the overriding aim of the summit is to keep the president onside, convincing him that it is worth his while to be a member of this small club of large nations, so they may push him on climate change but not that hard. president trump's son—in—law and senior advisorjared kushner discussed opening a secret communications channel with the kremlin, according to media reports. the fbi is investigating mr kushner

as part of a wider probe of alleged russian interference in the us election campaign, as our correspondent david willis reports. according to these latest reports, jared kushner, who as well as being president trump's son—in—law is also one of his closest advisers, discussed establishing a secret communications channel between the trump transition team and moscow in order to discuss syria and other policy issues. he is alleged to have met last december at trump tower in new york with the russian ambassador to the us, sergey kislyak, and mr trump's former national security adviser michael flynn to discuss the matter. general flynn was forced to resign in february after it emerged he had misled other administration officials about the extent of his contacts with ambassador kislyak. in the end, the communication channel wasn't set up. it was reported yesterday that mr kushner had a separate meeting with the head of a russian bank which has been subject to sanctions imposed by the 0bama administration.

reuters news agency is saying he also had several telephone conversations with sergey kislyak. mr kushner is apparently being investigated by the fbi as part of their inquiry but this does not necessarily mean he is suspected of a crime. with me is journalist and broadcaster michael goldfarb. people might be forgiven for losing track of the various allegations here. you are right. there are are a lot out there and the narrative line, we do not know it yet. there are investigations going on, fbi is investigating, the senate intelligence committee has requested that all donald trump campaign documents going back to the day he announced in 2015 be turned over to

that investigating committee. what has happened here is that the russian post —— the washington post reported this morning that jared kushner requested from the russian ambassador in the us, sergey kislyak, that he have an open line of communication with the kremlin on the kremlin communications equipment backin the kremlin communications equipment back in the first week of december. is that a crime? nobody knows. it is ata time is that a crime? nobody knows. it is at a time when the us and russia are disagreeing on policy in syria, in the transition period if by custom if not by law the incoming president defers to the foreign policy of the sitting president. after he had won

but before he took office. russia and the united states are not at war but they are in a bitter rivalry and in great dispute on policy in syria, in ukraine and in a variety of areas around the globe and here comes this young man, no previous experience of government, he bypasses the state department and the security services to go directly to the russian ambassador and say i need private communication, and he was taking general flynn with them who was at that point the incoming national security adviser, and we want to have tried it communications. it does not look good. it comes on top ofa does not look good. it comes on top of a series of other stories in the last two weeks in this mushrooming situation. the fbi directorjames comey was fired. jared kushner told

him to get rid of them. why? perhaps the fbi investigation was getting close to revealing this fact which, by the way, came to the washington post in an anonymous letter. while it is so much leaking? the white house is being run almost like an episode of the apprentice. jared kushner is a senior special advisor and he clearly has the president's year. and he clearly has the president's yea r. steve and he clearly has the president's year. steve bannon is also a special adviser and apparently they and jared kushner do not get on and both sides leak against the other. i'm assuming the washington post will not reveal who sent the initial anonymous letter saying that this was going on. it could even have been the russians. but they took

this anonymous tip and reported it to themselves and felt confident enoughin to themselves and felt confident enough in the information they had gathered that they could report it as fact. that jared gathered that they could report it as fact. thatjared kushner gathered that they could report it as fact. that jared kushner made this approach to the russian ambassador. maybe we will learn a little more about james mcavoy three's sacking. he will testify -- james comey. he will testify in public. everything leads to one extraordinary question. why would any incoming administration be so keen to have private conversations with the kremlin at a point in time when america and russia are back in their superpower rivalry? it doesn't make sense and that is what we want to find out. proposals to try to reduce

the number of children diagnosed with autism are being considered by the nhs in south—west london. the local clinical commissioning groups say nothing has been decided yet, but the national autistic society has written to them to say it's "deeply concerned" about the plans. 0ur health correspondent jane dreaper reports. children with autism struggle to interact with the world around them. they are often diagnosed between the ages of six and nine. services in south—west london are very stretched, and the nhs there is considering a controversial idea. a team that is supposed to carry out 750 annual assessments is actually getting 1300 referrals a year. so nhs commissioners in five local council areas want to reduce the number of children diagnosed with autism, by focusing specifically on the most severe cases, where children have another illness such as depression. a leading autism charity is deeply concerned. we think it is short—sighted and can cause lots more problems and be more

costly in the long run, and will have a massive impact on those families who just wants to find out what they can do to help their children and what support needs to be put in place. the charity has written to the nhs in south—west london, urging them to withdraw the proposal. the commissioning groups say nothing has been decided yet. and they will talk to local people before deciding the way forward. joining me now is tim nicholls, policy manager at the national autistic society. what do you think the impact of this change would be? it could be incredibly profound for a lot of families who suspected there child might have autism. the sooner you get a diagnosis, the easier it is to unlock the crucial support you need to give your child the best start in life. if this diagnostic pathway,

access to a diagnosis, is restricted to then a lot of families will not be able to do that and they will not get the support they need or will find it harder to unlock. the child themselves, autism diagnoses can help understand yourself. is there any merit in their argument that says if you concentrate on the more severe cases then that will give those the level of support that perhaps they're not getting at the moment? autism is a spectrum conditions which affects people in different ways but at the core of that there are a set of features of autism that means people will or might need support and the truth is that each of those people will need their needs assessed and think about what support they might need and just because someone's needs might appear more visible, more severe,

doesn't mean that someone who doesn't mean that someone who doesn't present is obviously with those needs will not have them. we hear that nothing has been decided yet. you are clearly hoping to influence their thinking at this stage. as the (cg has pointed out nothing has been decided although thatis nothing has been decided although that is little reassurance for some families. even this being considered is worrying. more people are seeking a diagnosis. that is a good thing because it is more people trying to get the support they need. to consider restricting it is a misguided move and a false economy because we know if you get support earlier then you will. more severe needs to developing. thank you very much. time for a look at the weather. sunshine follows the storms we had

this morning. through the afternoon, we could see more storms and heavy rain in north wales coming into northern england. more wet weather across northern ireland, some late storms across the south and west of scotland. high temperatures around the moray firth. some weren't for north and east of england in the sunshine. the rain in northern ireland will is off, storms and northern england will peter out. a lot of cloud around, warm and many others will find it quite humid. tomorrow starts of clouded, not much rain left for scotland. some sunshine developing in england and wales and then some late storms and