this is bbc news. the headlines at two: british airways cancels all flights at heathrow and gatwick until at least 6 o'clock this evening. it apologises for global computer system failure. it's thought that thousands of passengers are affected at heathrow. a queue is now stretching outside terminal 5 due to the computer problems. the terror threat level in the uk — that was increased to the highest status of critical following the manchester bombing — has been reduced to severe. there will be more arrests and more searches but there a greater clarity and has left the independent body to assess an attack is no longer imminent. 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. new revelations about president trump's son in law, jared kushner, and his alleged involvement in secret dealings with russia.

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. nick robinson sits down for dinner with a group of voters in his election takeaway in half an hour year on bbc news. #in year on bbc news. # in half an year on bbc news. # in halfan hour on year on bbc news. # in half an hour on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. british airways says it has cancelled all flights from heathrow and gatwick before 6pm today because of a "major it system

failure that is causing very severe disruption" to their flight operations worldwide". 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. andy moore is at heathrow. tell us when this started. the problem started early this morning, we were hearing on social media by about 9am. there is no sign it has yet been resolved. in the past hour british airways said it has cancelled all flights from heathrow and gatwick until 6pm. it told passengers who were due to fly out not too common to the airport. they say that is because of problems with congestion. certainly at

terminal five there has with congestion. certainly at terminalfive there has been huge problems which has a knock—on effect. if you cannot load the planes you cannot get them away then you cannot get arriving planes the gate which in turn means planes departing from european destinations are stuck on the tarmac. it has a terrible knock—on effect for the airline. the cause of the problem, some british airways staff told passengers they believed it was a cyber attack, one pilot told us passengers that, but the align themselves say that is no evidence of that. —— but the airline themselves. in the official state m e nts themselves. in the official statements they are not giving a cause for the outage but it is a global problem. there is a plain stuck on the tarmac behind me that has been there for some time, so quite a few plain stuck here at heathrow. no indication yet as to when the problem will be solved.

let's go to terminal five at heathrow. ban is waiting for a flight heathrow. ban is waiting for a flight to milan. how long have you been waiting? we arrived about a 30 am 40 been waiting? we arrived about a 30 am a012pm been waiting? we arrived about a 30 am a0 12pm flight. —— 8:30am. it took us three hours to get through check—in and we are currently, and you can see, there is a huge queue waiting for any information because we have not been given any yet. all we have not been given any yet. all we have not been given any yet. all we have been told is courtesy of the bbc, we have had nothing else. i am waiting to see if i am cancelling or rebooking. we have no idea. i suppose you would like to hear from we have no idea. i suppose you would like to hearfrom british we have no idea. i suppose you would like to hear from british airways. we're on the staff? i have not seen a single person sends check—in. not a single person sends check—in. not a manager, no announcement on the timeline, my flight is currently

scheduled on the board to leave at ten past one, which will not happen, but we have not heard anything. i have tweeted an e—mail ba and have nothing. what have you been offered in terms of refreshment? absolutely nothing. iam in terms of refreshment? absolutely nothing. i am travelling with my 80—year—old grandmother for her birthday, there are 13 of us, and we have not been offered anything, no chairs, water, vouchers, nothing. tell us, where, when would you expect, from what you have been hearing from passengers, to take off? my off? my current thinking based on the rumours is i do not think our holiday will happen, at this rate. my holiday will happen, at this rate. my main concern now is i do not want my 80—year—old grandmother spending the night on the floor in heathrow

but all the hotels are fully booked, we do not have any transport back up north so we are actually stuck in heathrow with nowhere to go. i think we lost you, dan. i'm so sorry. we have lost contact with him but we got a sense that is no information he is getting and trying to get away to milan for him and his party of 13, which is looking very unlikely. we will keep trying to provide information. we will come back to that story, of course. the prime minister has announced that the threat level facing the uk is being reduced from critical to severe, following significant progress by police in their investigation into the manchester bombing. it means that an attack is no longer regarded as "imminent", but remains "highly likely". soldiers who have been assisting police, will be withdrawn from the streets from midnight on monday. overnight police in manchester made two more arrests. they are now questioning 11 men over the attack by salman abedi at manchester arena on monday.

from manchester our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. another morning in manchester, another area of the city evacuated. this is a terrorism investigation that is not yet over. this time it was moss side. police had been searching here for some time, and this morning roads were closed off again and the bomb—disposal team arrived. they're trying to work out where the bomb was made, where its components stored, and that means there is a constant risk. the investigation is now focusing on who abedi knew, resulting in more arrests. about three o'clock, we heard a blast... a blast this morning as police in cheetham hill blew open this door in yet another raid. local people have helped us established the identities of the 20 and 22—year—old men arrested here last night, and we've already been able to establish a link between one of them and a member

of salman abedi's family. that's the pattern of the police investigation — start with the bomber, find out who his friends and acquaintances are, and arrest them. police are increasingly confident. they've got a good understanding of salman abedi's network movements, they're more certain about the ongoing risk, so the prime minister was able to make this statement. jtac, the independent joint terrorism analysis centre, has this morning taken the decision to reduce the threat level from critical to severe. the public should be clear about what this means — a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. the country should remain vigiliant. and so, for this bank holiday weekend at least, the high levels of police activity around the country will continue. tom symonds, bbc news, manchester. 0ur correspondent catriona renton is at st anne's square in manchester city centre. our news correspondent clare fallon

is at greater manchester police headquarters. katrina, that scene behind you is a very breathtaking, with people still coming to the city centre to pay their respects. this has become a focal point for people to come into the city centre today to pay their tributes. the striking thing, you will see the numbers from the pictures, how many people are here, the growing number of tributes, balloons, flowers, but also a silence, the number of people you would imagine it to be quite noisy but it is a very quiet. i can also update you on the hospital figures because we know it 22 people died in that tragic attack but we now have comprehensive figures for the number of people still in hospital. 116 people have been

treated since monday, 63 are still in hospital across a site in greater manchester and 20 are in critical care. people have been coming here to reflect with a mixture of emotions, sadler, anger, defiance, people wanting the city to go on and come back to some sort of normality. two people herejoin the poor who are from manchester needs your love. tell us all about this. since the events that happened there has been adopted of people in manchester that feel they want do something but —— a lot of people in manchester. the simplest thing i could come up with was give a hug and spread more love instead of eight. love in the face of heat. ——

instead of hate. what is it about the hog that brings people together? it brings people closer, you invite people into your personal space, it's makes them feel connected and if you hold a hug for 20 seconds it has an effect on how an individualfeels. tell 20 seconds it has an effect on how an individual feels. tell us the numbers involved and how many people you think you have hog so far? there are around 20 of us today and i have hugged about 200 people. it is something that is working. earlier you said to me there are some people they will not have people there to support them. tell us people there to support them. tell us the motivation behind that. there isa us the motivation behind that. there is a lot of people who suffer from depression or anxiety or are quite lonely and i have seen a lot of people who love kim bound to pay their respects on their own and that

isa their respects on their own and that is a very brave thing to do —— they have came to pay their respects on their own. 0ur their own. our people telling you about their experiences? people are speaking about their feelings about what happened and the effect it has had on them. we met people today who we re on them. we met people today who were at the event and have lost people, people who have never been huggedin people, people who have never been hugged in the past two or three years. keep up the good work, you will see there is hundreds of people here and i suspect there has been thousands throughout the morning and insular lunchtime. it is an end to lunchtime. it is an end to lunchtime. they are bringing people together and we have so many people, pastors walking around being there if people want them to listen, people from charities, the emergency services, all working together and keeping each other safe. we heard

the promising level will see at the same level while these big events ta ke same level while these big events take place over the weekend, the great manchester run tomorrow with 30,000 runners registered and the great number of spectators to be involved as well. people looking after each other is probably the message we can give you today. thank you very much. let's speak to clare fallon in greater manchester police headquarters. the threat level has been reduced but the investigation continues. correct. it seems clear from what the prime minister had to say the decision to reduce the threat level is as a direct result of the development here in manchester over the past 2a hours. as a result of the intense police activity and the progress officers say they have made with their investigation. what they are

also keen to point out is this investigation is not over and it continues. let's hearfrom the assista nt continues. let's hearfrom the assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police. the high pace and rapid progress of this investigation is continuing and there were three more arrests overnight, now 11 men in custody, 17 searches either concluded or continuing on the various addresses, largely in the northwest. we are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the bomb. there is still much more to do, more arrests and more searches will be made but this clarity and progress has made jtac, the independent body that assesses threats, to judge an attack is no longer imminent. the most recent arrests we have confirmed to us by greater manchester police came during a raid during the early hours. the area is

a very close to the manchester arena where the attack happened on monday, killing 22 people. we also had in the last hour a response from the chief constable of greater manchester police to the news the threat level has been reduced and he said that change from critical to severe does not alter their response to monday's attack and he says they have made significant progress in the fast—moving and complex investigation and are devoting the same level of resources to it at the moment. clearly, as faras same level of resources to it at the moment. clearly, as far as they are concerned, this is still an ongoing situation. player, thank you very much. jeremy corbyn has insisted his speech was not in relation to the manchester pack. he said the attack

was horrendous but we have to be serious about the situation existing in libya and other countries. the attack was awful but what i said was we must be serious about the situation existing in libya and other countries and a sensible government would also look at the international situation and ungoverned spaces are a danger to us all. we have to deal with radicalisation by building strong communities and the community spirit in manchester was a very interesting. the whole city is grieving for the dead but they came together in albert square to show amazing solidarity and that is very important and building that cohesion in communities but it is also about what happens in other parts of the world and so the question of libya isa world and so the question of libya is a serious one. there are huge spaces with effectively no government and the un has tried and i want us to put all our effort to

try to build a process in libya where people can lead secure lives and the refugees can also gain some safety. what will ultimately return to their homes. if we leave it is it is it will be a place where all kinds of terrible ideas what gain traction, out of desperation. it is not in anyway saying there is other than a terrible attack in manchester and we must chase down all those who we re and we must chase down all those who were pa rt of and we must chase down all those who were part of it. the headlines on bbc news: british airways cancer is —— british airways cancelled all flights until 6pm. the terror threat level in the uk — that was increased to the highest status of critical following the manchester bombing — has been reduced to severe.

the prime minister said 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 an elderly couple stabbed to death in the home have been named. a relative found their bodies, who are both 83 yesterday. 8a0—year—old man was arrested and is being questioned. president trump said he will make a final decision over whether to maintain us support for the paris accord to tackle climate change next week. they are meeting at the g—7 summit in italy today for the final day of talks. let's go live to sicily where james reynolds is following the summit. the italian prime minister saying it has been more frank than many summits. what does that mean exactly? it means

they did not get what they wanted, certain that the titans did not and five of the others did not. —— the italians did not. you have six on one side and one on the other side, representing the usa, and that division is represented by climate change. all of these countries signed up to the paris climate change accord in 2015 but president trump said he will review whether or not the usa should remain a member of that. he sent a tweet saying people announces final decision next week and the community recognises this division. six countries recognise it is important and one country recognise it is important and one cou ntry wa nts to recognise it is important and one country wants to review it. and for those six countries that will be a severe disappointment. how damaging to the paris accord would it be if the usa decided not to support the? potentially huge because the power

of the agreement was everybody was on board. the danger is if one is hugely important country decide not to take pa rt important country decide not to take part it is not limiting its emissions other countries will think, if they are not being the rules why should we? i protested the un secretary general, the person responsible for agreement —— i put this to the un secretary—general and he said the agreement will carry on regardless of what mr com says. they would be a huge amount of devastation at the usa does not take pa rt devastation at the usa does not take part ina devastation at the usa does not take part in a more. president trump us economic adviser said he has come to learn and his views are evolving, having previously said climate change was a hoax. how encouraging is that? we will have to put that against comments quoted by angela merkel

quartered and several news agencies who said she is very disappointed by what she has heard. we will have to wait for president trump announces final decision but hearing angela merkel say that shows the frustration of what they heard at the summit from president trump. james, thank you very much. 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 later sports, jared kushner, one of mr trump's closest advisers and son discussed opening a secret communication channel between the trump team and moscow to discuss syria and other

policies. he is alleged to have met last december with the russian ambassador to the usa at trump tower and mrtrump's ambassador to the usa at trump tower and mr trump's former national security adviser general flynn to discuss the matter. general flynn was forced to resign this year after he was found to have misled other officials about the extent of his contract with the ambassador. it was reported yesterday that —— reported yesterday jared kushner have a separate meeting with the head of the russian bank that had sanction imposed on it. writers are also saying he had several telephone conversations with the russian ambassador. he is apparently being investigated by the fbi but this does not necessarily mean he is expected of a crime. proposals to try and reduce the

number of children diagnosed with autism are being considered. the local clinical commissioning group said nothing has been decided at the national autistic society has written to them to say they are deeply concerned by the plans. 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. health commissioners want to focus on the most severe cases. they say it will relieve pressure on their teams. in the wake of the terror attack in manchester, extra police officers have been called in to help with security at radio 0ne's big weekend music festival. other security measures have also been put in place at the event which is taking place in hull. 50 thousand music fans are expected . 0ur correspondent is life there. 25,000 people are here today for radio 0ne's big weekend. this is

radio one's flagship music festival which kicks off the summer season and although there was a huge security presence outside with armed police and people being searched, that has not dampened the spirits and people have still come out and listening at the moment to james arthur, the former x factor winner. this festival is taking place in the wa ke this festival is taking place in the wake of what happened in manchester with 26 people losing their lives, including children and teenagers. today has been about defiance and people standing up and saying i will not have my life interrupted by terrorists and we will stick together. i know i'm interrupting because you are a massive james after fa ns because you are a massive james after fans but tell me how important

is it to be here today? -- massive james after. it has been really nice and there is a minutes silence at 3pm which, considering what happened this week, it is amazing so many people have turned up and come together, none of the acts of cancelled and it feels very united. we sat here saying how happy we are to be here and how excited. that is quite important because none of the headline acts of cancelled, that must be very important and must mean so much to you. it does and the fa ct mean so much to you. it does and the fact everybody has come and is still here and it is such a good atmosphere, the weather is gorgeous. it is really great. you were subjected to quite a thorough search entering the park, did that bothered you were you happy about security? you had to wait a while but i don't

think anyone was bothered because you would rather do it and feel you know you will come here and feel safe, especially after what happened, the fact they have put extra things in place is fine, brilliant what they have done. i was talking to imagine dragons and they told me there was no way they would have cancelled and music can unite people. do you feel today will be one of your highlights of the summer? completely. every now and again they doa completely. every now and again they do a shout out, they ask if everyone is having a good time and literally the entire field the screen is very loudly, whatever conversation you're having everyone just shouts, loudly, whatever conversation you're having everyonejust shouts, yes, this is brilliant, and i love it. try and enjoy the rest of james arthur. the attack in manchester should have tried —— we try to

divide people but instead it has brought them together. noel phillips escaping from the newsroom and what a day to have done it! will it last? let's get the weather. no, it will not last for many northern areas of england with severe thunderstorms and reports of flash flooding and west yorkshire. this will continue to move northwards into central and southern scotland. they will fade out overnight with a legacy of cloud over northern areas and some rain. the rise further south. not quite as warm as the last few nights but still fairly muggy. northern parts remaining fairly muggy on sunday. the south will see sunshine and it puts some showers and thunderstorms and southern areas, some quite

heavy. a warm and humid feel in the south—east but the colour and fresher feel north and west. 0n monday rain pushing northwards, some thunderstorms in the south—east perhaps and else where you can see temperatures in the mid teens so cooler than it has been of late. this is bbc news with the time approaching 2:30pm. it's british airways cancels all flights this evening after global it failures. they are working to resolve the problem. the terror threat level in the uk which was increased critical following the manchester bombing has been to severe. there will be more arrests and searches, but this greater

clarity in this progress has lessened the threats and we are coming to the conclusion that an attack is no longer imminent. bomb disposal experts have evacuated an area rug more sides after the manchester arena bombing. there are new revelations about trump's son—in—law and his involvement with secret dealings with russia. the us media are investigating claims that he wanted to open a secret information channel with the kremlin. it's now time for nick's election takeaway. nick robinson shared fish and chips with voters from elton in south london.