this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 8pm. as oxfam investigates 26 more cases of alleged sexual misconduct, it's revealed around 7,000 people have stopped donating money following the revelations that some staff used prostitutes in haiti. the suburbs of syria's capital — reports of up to 200 dead, as government forces attack the last rebel stronghold near damascus. jeremy corbyn condemns the owners of four national newspapers after the titles ran a series of stories about his past. a high courtjudge rules doctors can stop providing life—support treatment to 21—month—old alfie evans — against his parents‘ wishes. this is not over. this isjust the start. i am going to take the nhs down. no one in this country is going to take my boy away from me.

after months of wrangling, mps release a report accusing rbs of mistreating thousands of small firms. also in the next hour, hopes of a medical breakthrough... the new treatment bringing hope to children with a rare blood vessel disorder that causes facial disfigurement. and by royal approval — the queen makes a surprise appearance at the front row of london fashion week — the first time she's attended it. hello, good evening. welcome to bbc news. oxfam has revealed that it's investigating 26 more cases of alleged sexual misconduct after it emerged that some of its former staff had paid women for sex in haiti when they were dealing

with the aftermath of the earthquake in 2010. bosses from the charity were questioned by mps in the commons today. they said the scandal had prompted 7,000 people to stop making regular donations to oxfam. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. in 2010, haiti was flooded with aid workers, most there to help the country recover from the earthquake. but seven men from 0xfam were also hiring prostitutes and bullying colleagues, men who were eventually dismissed or allowed to resign. today, the charity's most senior executives were summoned to parliament to explain what had gone on and why 0xfam hadn't been more open and done more to stop it happening again. sorry wasn't the half of it. i am sorry, we are sorry, for the damage that 0xfam has done. on behalf of the council of oxfam, that we are ashamed of what happened in haiti, we don't think it was well handled. please allow me to begin by saying how sorry i am about what has happened.

lam ashamed. in particular, 0xfam's chief executive apologised for suggesting the criticism the charity was getting was disproportionate, saying it wasn't as if babies had been murdered in their cots. i do apologise. i was thinking under stress. i had given many interviews, i had made many decisions to try and lead 0xfam's response to this. 0xfam, he admitted, had not been explicit about what went on and was now paying a price. 7,000 people had cancelled their regular donations in the past ten days. corporate sponsors were reserving judgement. and... how many more revelations have come to your notice? across 0xfam great britain, we have had about 26 stories, reports, come to us that were either new reports come out as a result of the stories, or earlier stories, where people said, i didn't necessarily

report this at the time. mps just couldn't hide their frustration. you as an organisation are dealing with these women and girls as if they are just trinkets, and you can pay for them and give them a bit of aid and that's ok. and you don't, when you know about it, the organisation does not report it to the haitian authorities. that's pretty shocking. it's really heartbreaking that... it is. that we are in this situation. but i want to assure you that we are not doing nothing. from our point of view, does it not look like 0xfam was more interested in protecting its own brand than protecting vulnerable women and girls? it may look like that, mr law. i can't do anything other than say i think it was wrong. i am conscious of the fact you didn't hold responsibility at the time. the committee chairman said he would now hold a full enquiry, the fourth that 0xfam is now facing,

to ensure it gets its house in order. so, 0xfam is apologising to mps, it's being more transparent. but what is clear from today's evidence is that to recover public trust it will have to change a culture that tolerated the exploitation of vulnerable women. thank you, mr speaker. in the commons, 0xfam was warned that if new safeguarding procedures were not in place by the end of next week, then current government funding could be cut. the uk government reserves the right to take whatever decisions about present or future funding to oxfam or any other organisation we deem necessary. the real test will come, of course, not in haiti but the next time there is another natural disaster and the world's aid industry is deployed once again. james landale reporting. we will be looking later on with

experts about why people give money to charity and why they might stop doing money to charity. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:1i0pm this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are ruth lea, almost 200 people — including children — have been killed on the outskirts of syria's capital damascus since sunday — according to activists. syrian government forces have stepped up their bombardment of eastern ghouta — the last rebel held enclave near the capital. the united nations has called for an immediate ceasefire. jeremy bowen's report contains distressing images. this could be the beginning of the end of a rebellion in eastern ghouta that began in 2012. all the other smaller rebel—held enclaves around damascus have been starved and bombed into submission. explosion. now, it looks to be eastern ghouta's turn as the regime pushes for decisive victory

around the capital. activists say this is as bad as it's been. we can hear the shout and crying of women and children through the windows of their homes under the missiles and mortars dropping on us like rain. there is nowhere to hide from this nightmare in eastern ghouta. a generation has been born into the war. dozens have been killed by it in the last few hours in eastern ghouta. over the years of siege, they've set up a network of underground hospitals. this girl, named in arabic, angel, escaped the worst, but will have to go back to the streets to get home. and this is her area.

explosion. with a regime dropping what appears to be a barrel bomb, unguided — an indiscriminate killer. the syrian regime denies attacking civilians. it says it's trying to liberate eastern ghouta from terrorists. eastern ghouta is a sprawling mix of concrete suburbs and farmland, starting about nine miles east of damascus‘ city centre. the syrian rebels that have controlled it since 2012 include several islamist militias, including one with its roots in al-qaeda. eastern ghouta is surrounded by syrian government forces. before the war, it was just a short drive from the syrian presidential palace. officially, it's been designated a de—escalation zone, that is an empty phrase. force decides what happens in syria.

after seven years, syria's war isn't ending, but it's changing. president assad, with the help of russia and iran, is now secure, but syria is linked into a web of war and power politics, which guarantees more bloodshed. how many times in the last seven years have syrians dug through the rubble for survivors? there's talk of safe corridors out for civilians, but based on past form, the regime wants victory in eastern ghouta and the surrender of the rebels. jeremy bowen, bbc news. here, a high courtjudge has ruled that doctors in liverpool can stop providing life support to the seriously ill toddler, alfie evans, against his parents‘ wishes. the judge said he accepted medical evidence which showed further treatment for 21—month—old alfie — who doctors say is in a semi

vegetative state — was futile. thejudge said he'd reached his conclusion with great sadness. adina campbell has been following the story at the high court. this was not the news alfie evans' parents were hoping for. they were bitterly disappointed with today's ruling here at the high court. when the judgment was read out it took approximately two hours. alfie evans's father, tom evans, sobbed uncontrollably. he was bitterly disappointed to find out that his son's life—support would now be withdrawn this friday. they had hoped to take their son alfie to italy where doctors there potentially were going to see if they could prolong his life by providing treatment but that of course will not happen. the life—support will be withdrawn on friday. this is what alfie's father tom evans had to say outside court earlier. this is not over. this isjust the start. i'm going to take this nhs down. i am not giving up.

my son ain't giving up. no one, i repeat no one, in this country is going to take my boy away from me. no one. they are not violating his rights and they're not violating my rights. my son is two years of age and he is being sentenced to the death penalty. how wrong is that? alfie's parents are now coming to the end of this legal process. we do believe they are going to appeal this decision. but of course the life—support machine is expected to be turned off this friday and with time running out theyjust have three days to go. the labour leader has tonight condemned the owners of four national newspapers and accused the titles of printing what he has described as ‘lies and smears' about his contacts with czecholsolvakia in the 1980s. jeremy corbyn said coverage by the sun, the mail, the telegraph and the express of his meetings with diplomat and agent jan sarkocy showed that the papers were worried by the prospect of a labour government. 0ur political correspondent ben wright is in westminster.

bring us up—to—date with what's jeremy corbyn has been saying. these claims aboutjeremy jeremy corbyn has been saying. these claims about jeremy corbyn jeremy corbyn has been saying. these claims aboutjeremy corbyn and his contact with a czech spy during the war have been rumbled on for some days. that story has been picked up and is pursued in various forms by newspapers during recent days. labour has acknowledged thatjeremy corbyn did meet a czech diplomats two or three times in the 80s but they have emphatically denied claims made by the former spy that he was some sort of asset or informer. and i should say officials in the czech secret service have also told the bbc that he has never been more than a person of interest. jeremy corbyn

has hit back in a post in social media at press barons, as he calls them, the right—wing press. he says... he goes on... so what does he mean by that? change is coming. is that a threat to these and press barons? labour sources say that there will be an enquiry looking at press regulations. there will be a look at the whole question of press plurality and the diversity of the press and also higher taxes for billionaires and tax exiles. these are labour party policies for a while butjeremy corbyn is assembling them to throw out his

enemies in the press. it is clear that he is using this as a way to galvanise his own supporters, using social media to stand up to the mainstream media, as he would call it, and attack the likes of people that will never support him. it, and attack the likes of people that will never support himm it, and attack the likes of people that will never support him. it is quite a tough message from mr corbyn but it is light—hearted in a sense. he says the papers have gone a bit james bond. it is true. i think he has taken this personally and i think he is on the defensive. he is angrily rebutted all of these claims over the last few days. he has said that they are potentially libellous, threatening action in some cases. he is clearly very angry but by launching this against the press, it plays into a narrative thatjeremy corbyn‘s labour party against a vested interest of the right—wing media establishment. 0ne vested interest of the right—wing media establishment. one of those papers has responded this evening. the sun has said that they have

revealed substantial evidence that is in the public ‘s interest to know about. i want to know what was discussed in these meetings. they say that mr corbyn should answer questions. we'll see what those papers make of it in their morning editions. thank you very much. a controversial report in to how royal bank of scotland allegedly mistreated small businesses has just been published by mps. it comes after they had ordered the head of the financial conduct authority to publish the report earlier this month. the treasury select committee used its parliamentary privilege to publish the report. nicky morgan, the committee's chair, said the findings in the report were "disgraceful" and said there was "overwhelming public interest" to publish the otherwise confidential report. she said the "overwhelming priority" for grg was not customers, but "generating revenue" for rbs. i can speak now to derek carlyle, a property developer whose accounts were transferred to rbs's global restructuring group. that is the unit of rbs and the

centre of this controversy. thank you for being with us. tell us how you for being with us. tell us how you were affected by rbs. you are effectively one of these small businesses that was allegedly mistreated by rbs. that is correct. i was mistreated by rbs. that is correct. iwasa mistreated by rbs. that is correct. i was a tax by rbs in 2008, i would say. they had remained on a promise to lend me money. in august 2008 when i wasn't in financial difficulty but the bank were, they asked me for money and really said to me that if they did not get their money by the close of business, i should give them money by close of

business on a particular day or else. that was through my lawyer. i asked him to find out or else what. and they came back with the response that or else chaos will ensue. that was in 2008. i did not give them the money. and it would be fair to say that chaos did institute. in what sense did chaos ensued? they took anything that was in any bank account. they took my business. they took my home. they took any assets and properties that i had. i had assets of around £8 million. everything was taken. and they took action against me. i had to fight for seven years from 2008 until 2015 to defend myself from that. finally it has been resolved in the uk supreme court. the allegation is that the royal bank of scotland and

this global restructuring group of royal bank of scotland intentionally pushed small businesses towards failure in the hope of picking up their assets on the cheap. was your business part of that? at the time that wasn't clear to me. i was quite surprised because it was 2008 and it was before the financial crisis really hit. it was before rbs admitted that publicly they were in trouble. that was not until october, 2008. all this information that has come out since from the report that vince cable instructed showed that this was an organised plan by the geology department of rbs to get assets and funds —— global restructuring group of royal bank of

scotland. that wasn't clear at the time but it has become clear since. they wanted my money. they took my assets. whether it was part of a bigger scheme, i certainly fall into that category. looking back now with everything you now know, how do you feel about how you were treated by rbs? at the time it was grossly unfair, completely unwarranted. there was no reason, no logical reason for it. there was no commercial reason for it. all it did was struck to the business. it was destructive for myself as well. and for the tens of thousands of other businesses, not even people, tens of thousands of businesses that have been effective. the bizarre thing is that it was completely illogical then and it is completely illogical

110w then and it is completely illogical now ten years later. there is no sensible reason other than it is to the benefit of rbs. good of you to talk to us. a property developer whose accounts were transferred to rbs's global restructuring group. thank you for your time. in response to today's report an rbs spokesperson said... the headlines on bbc news... 0xfam has revealed around 7,000 people have stopped donating money following the revelations that some staff used prostitutes in haiti. the un says six hospitals in a rebel—held enclave near damascus have been targeted by syrian government forces. jeremy corbyn has condemned the owners of four national newspapers after the titles ran a series of stories about his past. sport now...and for a full round up, from the bbc round up,

from the bbc sport centre. football and winter olympics to talk about. we will start with football. chelsea are in action in the champions league this evening as they take on barcelona. ed in hazzard went closest with the best chance early on. 0ver ed in hazzard went closest with the best chance early on. over 30 minutes gone in the first half at sta mford minutes gone in the first half at stamford bridge. it remains goalless. there is one other tie tonight to tell you about. it has not been a great start for besiktas against the german giants bayern munich. a red card for that challenge. and james rodriguez took

the resulting free kick. the closest that bayern munich have come to opening the scoring. manchester city striker sergio aguero will not face any action by the fa following a confrontation with a fan after his side's fa cup defeat to wigan. footage appeared to show aguero who cliamed he was spat at, pushing a fan as supporters invaded the pitch after the final whistle. both clubs have been charged for failing to control their players after fabien delph was sent offjust before half time. there was to be more disappointment for speed skater elise christie on day 11 of the winter olympics. her hopes of finishing the games with a medal are over, as she was disqualified in the heats of her third and final event the 1,000 metres. david 0rnstein reports. just three days after leaving the ice on a stretcher elise christie was back, her 0lympic hopes on the line. away they go. christie goes down before they reach the very

first corner. christy's bid for 1000 metres gold got off to the worst possible start, but having been tripped she earned a reprieve. the heat would be rerun. clearly still troubled by an ankle injury, christie trailed her rivals. though she fought back impressively to finish second to qualify for the quarterfinals. as she was carried away in discomfort her night would take another turn for the worse, the judges spotting two infringements and disqualifying biscotti. and disqualifying ——the scott. heartbreak for elise christie yet again. after failing to win a medal at the last 0lympics four years ago, history has repeated itself in the pyeongchang. herdreams ending in bitter disappointment. i am a bit shell—shocked. i worked so hard to come back from this injury. i think 1,000 people would not have skated with my ankle the way it was. i can barely move my knee.

the only thing i can say is i can promise britain i will fight back from this and i will come back for beijing. and hopefully i can do britain proud then. for the skater and her team it was a huge blow. clearly she is massively disappointed. to come here as double world champion and go away with a fourth place, ultimately, that is hugely disappointing. if that happens in sport, there is high jeopardy. short track, as everyone knows at home now. it comes in nicely and he picks up three. better news for the curlers, as the british men produce their best performance of the competition so far, outdazzling the colourfully dressed in 2014 world champions norway. like the victorious women, they close in on a semifinals place. it was not to be for ice dancers penny coomes and nick buckland, finishing 11th in the free dance final.

but given coomes was returning from a career threatening injury it was a respectable results. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 10:30pm. the brexit secretary has insisted the uk will continue to meet high trading standards when it leaves the eu. david davis, speaking to business leaders in vienna, said the uk wanted to lead a global race to the top in rights and standards, not a "competitive race to the bottom". labour claims the uk will face massive deregulation after brexit, threatening the quality of food and the environment, as well as long—standing workers' rights. here's our political correspondent vicki young. the uk has decided to carve out a different path to the european union. but ministers don't seem to be preparing for a sharp change in direction. the message here in vienna was more about reassurance.

thanks for being here. david davis denying accusations from labour that the government plans to sweep away rules that protect workers or the environment. they fear that brexit could lead to an anglo—saxon race to the bottom. with britain plunged into a mad max—style world borrowed from dystopian fiction. these fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing. he argued that high standards could help ensure trade with the eu remained as frictionless as possible with both sides recognising each other‘s rules and institutions. is that these goals will not change the kind of country britain is — a dynamic and open country, that supports businesses like yours to grow, to invest, and to innovate in a competitive, open and fair market. some of the business leaders in the audience, who want to keep close ties to britain, were encouraged by mr davis' words. i think his tone is now different to what it was maybe one year ago.

in reality, hopefully it will bring us together. in the end there will be close relationships between the eu and uk, otherwise nobody will win. david davis' words today are a far cry from what many in his own party have been saying about the need to break away from the burden of eu red tape that has been stifling british business for decades. he prefers to talk now about ongoing cooperation and mutual trust with the european union after brexit. cabinet ministers have been touring european capitals in recent days, urging eu leaders to be pragmatic about brexit negotiations. but labour say it's the british government that needs to make some decisions. the problem is that you have david davis saying one thing, borisjohnson saying something else, and the prime minister saying almost nothing. it has got to be resolved. there is a basic question here, which is, do you want to stay close in trading terms to the eu, or do you want to be

distant and different? david davis says he is certain that a good deal with brussels is on the cards. but discord among his colleagues needs to be dealt with first. vicki young, bbc news, vienna. kfc says disruption is expected to continue across many of its restaurants for the rest of the week , after a change of delivery supplier meant they ran out of chicken. the company said thatjust under half of its 900 uk outlets remained closed. the kfc crisis has even prompted calls to the police in london's tower hamlets , they say it's not a police matter. time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. in the short term, the weather is going to be mostly behaving itself. wednesday is not looking too bad at all for most of us. a bright sort of day.

a little on the chilly side but nothing too cold. the really cold weather that is heading our way is still many days away. right now we have got clearing skies across many western and northern parts of the country. in east and central areas, however, over this evening and overnight still a lot of cloud. it has been a very cloudy day across the east and the south east. through the course of the night, even one or two spots of rain. where we have some clouds in the sky at night, that will prevent the frost from forming. so in scotland and northern ireland, certainly frost on the way. maybe even as low as minus five degrees in some parts of scotland first thing on wednesday morning. again, on wednesday throughout the day, a bit of cloud, maybe one or two showers in central areas but over all the weather is looking bright across the uk with temperatures hovering around about 7 degrees or so. then colder on thursday. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: 0xfam has revealed around 7,000 people have stopped donating money

following the revelations that some staff used prostitutes in haiti. the un says six hospitals in a rebel—held enclave near damascus have been targeted by syrian government forces. jeremy corbyn has condemned the owners of four national newspapers after the titles ran a series of stories about his past. after months of wrangling, mps have released a report by the financial regulator, which said a unit of rbs mistreated thousands of small firms. the brexit secretary, david davis has told business leaders in vienna that the uk doesn't want to undermine its neighbours, after it leaves the eu. more now on 0xfam and its investigation into 26 more cases of alleged sexual misconduct after it emerged that some of its former staff had paid women for sex in haiti when they were dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake in 2010.

bosses from the charity were questioned by mps today. they said the scandal had prompted 7,000 people to stop making regular donations to oxfam. the conservative mp pauline latham was one of those questioning the head of oxfam and other senior officials and earlier this evening told the bbc that those who no longer want to donate to charities affected by the scandal should still donate, but to organisations they believe i would suggest that if they do not feel confident in one organisation they should send the help that they wa nt to they should send the help that they want to send out to another organisation that they have more confidence in. i was interested to hear what the head of oxfam said when he said it has been terrible in 2011 with haiti and in the last two weeks, he doesn't mention anything that has happened in between. he is

on the upset about it because they have been found out. with me to talk more about this is michael sanders chief scientist and head of research at the behavioural insights team, a government institution dedicated to the application of behavioural sciences. also from out studio in glasgow i'm joined by daniel fluskey, head of policy and research at the institute of fundraising, the professional membership body for uk fundraising. we have heard from 0xfam today that 7000 people have stopped giving. there is that the inevitable consequence of all the bad publicity we have seen? absolutely. people will have seen stories on the newspaper and tv over the last ten days and that will have had an effect. 7000 people sounds like a high number. i was reading 0xfam's

annual report today. it would indicate they had around 400,000 regular supporters. 7008 400,000 is about 2%. it does sound lot but there also seems to be a number of people who are still going to give to oxfam, are committed to oxfam as well. it will be a mixed picture. you wonder whether some people might think, a lot of people are stopping their direct debits or whatever to 0xfam, maybe other people will start to donate because they think 0xfam isn't a bad way? absolutely. i have seen on social media and other forums people say, i am going to give to oxfam now, because i believe in them, or i used to believe in them and know they need my to get this right. and some people who have got existing gifts are saying they will give more per month. it is a mixed picture. what we are seeing is

whatever decisions people are taking, it is because they really ca re taking, it is because they really care about charities. they want to support organisations and i think we will see that continuing. from a scientific perspective, why do we give to charity? does that make us feel better? do we think we are doing good in the world? what are doing good in the world? what are the behavioural reasons and motivations behind giving? there are many reasons, almost as many reasons as there are people. a large part of it is around making ourselves feel better, a sense of a warm glow. the main reason not possible give us to dry to make the world a better place through the actions of those charities that they are giving two. but despite this kind of issue can be particularly problematic because the relationship between the donor and the charity can be badly harmed. there is a sort of angerfrom can be badly harmed. there is a sort of anger from some people about what they thought was a charity doing

goodin they thought was a charity doing good ina they thought was a charity doing good in a place like haiti, and of abusing its position they are, or certainly some of its staff abusing their position there. is that sort of anger damaging their position there. is that sort ofanger damaging in their position there. is that sort of anger damaging in the as well as well as the short term? there is evidence that that can be. the relationship between a donor and the charity is fundamentally one of trust. the more trust us in society in general, the more money people give to charity. the more trust people have for specific charities, the more money they give. this type of event leads people to trust not just a specific charity a bit less, but maybe to damaged confidence in the sector, that could be in the long quite damaging. let us talk about another example of charity giving, this was to do with the president's club, of the row over that, in the wake of that, and allegations of sexual misconduct beer, great 0rmond give back a

charitable donation, or said they we re charitable donation, or said they were going to, they are now saying they have got second thoughts about that, and some people are saying, maybe they are not going to give money to great 0rmond street hospital because they think, if they have got enough to give back to something like the president's club, they do not need the money of individuals. it gets into quite a spiral. it can do. great 0rmond street hospital they are going to look again at that decision. since they made their initial statement. the president's club has said it is going to close. there is no organisation to go back to. great 0rmond street have also had feedback from the supporters and the public to actually see, we do not think that returning that money is the right thing to do. we would not think less of great 0rmond street hospital said that money. we want to see that hospital give the best service at cannes for the children that the dues for. so great 0rmond

street, it is not a bad thing for them to consider. —— give the best service they can for the children that they look after. is it your impression that we are a more philanthropic than other countries perhaps? certainly. we give more money than a great number of other countries in absolute terms and asa of other countries in absolute terms and as a share of consumption spending. we are very generous. we give to a huge variety of causes as well. it is worth noting that as a share of consumption spending, the amount of money that we spend on things, we have been roughly exactly co nsta nt things, we have been roughly exactly constant over the last 30 years, o.2% constant over the last 30 years, 0.2% of consumption, about what we spend on cheese. interesting to talk to both of you. thank you. the united nations

says six hospitals in eastern ghouta have been targeted in the past 48 hours, as syrian government forces intensify their bombardment. activists say more than 200 civilians have been killed in the rebel—held area near damascus, since sunday. well we can speak now tojoelle bassoul from the charity, care international, for the latest on the situation in syria. she joins us live on webcam from neighbouring jordan from the capital, amman. what are you hearing about what is going on now in eastern ghouta? the area has been besieged for several years but what we are seeing now has not been seen before. i am talking on a daily basis to

organisations that give support in eastern ghouta, they are reporting ona eastern ghouta, they are reporting on a lack of everything. food, medical aid, what. there is no power. it is winter. people are called. air strikes are leading to a big death toll. today i was talking toa big death toll. today i was talking to a partner who is working in one of the hospitals. it was hit by air strikes yesterday. they lost one of their staff. it is very sad obviously for everyone there. the medical worker was walking into the hospital with a wounded woman when the air strike hit the building. they both passed away. along with other people in the area. we are counting civilian death on a daily basis now. it is a horrific situation, there has been an international outcry, but nothing will change, will it? the syrian government forces will not stop what

they are doing just because there is international condemnation? other humanitarian organisations alongside the un have been calling repeatedly for a ceasefire, at least to allow the evacuation of wounded and sick people and humanitarian aid in. so far those calls are left ringing in silence. no one is listening. what we saw 14 months ago in aleppo was a similar siege, daily bombardment and air strikes, finally people were evacuated. the people i speak to in ghouta are afraid of a similar fate. they say if they are sent they will face death again because that'll be a target for face death again because that'll be a targetforair face death again because that'll be a target for air strikes. they feel they have nowhere to go and they are trapped. and for your volunteers

this is a desperate situation. trapped. and for your volunteers this is a desperate situationm trapped. and for your volunteers this is a desperate situation. it is com pletely this is a desperate situation. it is completely desperate. people are hiding in underground shelters. today i tried to reach someone and so far she has not answered. i do not aware she is still alive. she was telling me a couple of days ago she has a daughter, for her to sleep at night, she has two cover her ears with her hands because the sound of the air strikes is too frightening. 0na daily the air strikes is too frightening. on a daily basis we wait to hear from them, we wait to see if someone is missing or has been killed. we are talking about 400,000 people in the besieged area, it is not a small number, and in the past 48 hours up to 200 people has been reportedly killed. it has to stop. thank you. speaking to us they are from jordan.

—— speaking to us there from jordan. more detail has emerged today about how farming subsidies in the uk are set to be reviewed after brexit. the environment secretary michael gove, in a speech to the national farmers union conference, outlined his plans to replace the present system of subsidies with funding for issues such as conservation and animal welfare. at present, payments amounting to £3 billion a year to uk farmers are based on the amount of land that they own. 0ur environment and rural affairs correspondent claire marshall reports. they have travelled here from all over the uk and they have many questions for michael gove. is he going to do a betterjob in the agriculture sector than in education? brexit, what will go one in brexit? at the moment farmers are paid around £3 billion a year in eu subsidies.

take that away and around half of them would go out of business. please give the secretary of state, mr michael gove, a very warm welcome. the environment secretary's message, let's make the most of it. he believes the problem of rural broadband could be solved. universal broadband and 4g coverage for all, paid for by the money we no longer have to give the eu. that is what i mean by taking back control. that is not the limit of my ambition for rural britain and the farming sector. i have argued we should not compete on a race to the bottom but argue the high ground of strong environmental welfare and quality standards. mr gove said post brexit more money should be used to help farmers invest in more technology. this farm in leicestershire is using it to better house animals and grow crops. we always investing in technology, animal handling systems, animal welfare systems, crop production, innovative ways of growing crops. we are doing it all the time as farmers but any helping hand could only increase productivity. we must not forget that productivity does not mean more yield, it means doing it with less input.

another issue was on the agenda, who will lead the nfu through one of its most turbulent periods since the second world war? by the end of tomorrow she could be the first woman president in the whole 110 year history of the national farmers' union. the winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon. let's talk to david barling — professor of food policy and security at the university of hertfordshire. how do you see all these changes, this replacement of the present system of subsidies? does that make sense to you? i think so. michael gove has laid out an ambitious vision, one to be congratulated. comprehensive as well. it augurs towards a direction

towards a good food but rather than a cheap food britain fridge is to be welcomed. what does that mean, a good food bulletin. his pitch that we are going for a higher standards, we are going for a higher standards, we are going to keep higher animal welfare standards, payments to farmers will be based on public goods which includes the environment, animal welfare, later farming techniques, as well as new technologies being employed. we have got quite a wide range of support their which gives some continuity to what we have received from the european union in the past with the common agricultural policy but also offers quite a clear direction at the moment. quite a good vision and a lot of people will be pleased with this. it also is very noble and admirable but there are those sceptics who might see when it comes to the cut and thrust of doing deals after brexit with other countries some of those standards might slip

in little. that is the rub. politics will come into it. there are several features. firstly, subsidy levels are going to be continuing until 2022. in 2019 they will change probably in who gets what. that will be read out very shortly with the consultation period alone that. the way that is being framed at the moment is quite encouraging. it is around public goods that whether and how that will play out over time we will wait to see. also the treasury will wait to see. also the treasury will be the ones bestowing the funds so whether the chancellor of the exchequer currently or future chancellors of the exchequer over the next few years will support these calls to the extent needed, we wait to see. one of the issues post—brexit for farmers and the agricultural industry is labour and getting enough migrant workers,

which a lot of farmers have relied on. how do you see that playing out? it is quite clear there are problems with the labour supply for harvesting, processing, even in technical areas like this in the league inspection, many of these people come from overseas at the moment. we have relied heavily on the european workforce particularly in eastern regions of europe to meet these needs. going forward this is less likely to be the case. the secretary of state has said we are going to be clearly looking across the globe for this supply and that may well be some new scheme that may well be some new scheme that allows temporary workers to come in as crucial periods of the harvest a nd come in as crucial periods of the harvest and so forth. however, whether this fits well with the immigration targets and the cavernous's views on this, and the entire tenor of the brexit debate

remains to be seen. thank you. the headlines on bbc news: 0xfam has revealed around 7,000 people have stopped donating money following the revelations that some staff used prostitutes in haiti. the un says six hospitals in a rebel—held enclave near damascus have been targeted by syrian government forces. jeremy corbyn has contended the owners of four national newspapers after they ran a series of stories about his past. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london and frankfurt ended the day. and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. she was born with a rare blood vessel disorder. now research

involving great 0rmond street so has found the genes responsible for the condition and it also identifies existing cancer drugs as a possible treatment. 13—year—old nikki christou never knows when her face will start to bleed. she has a rare disorder, which means high pressure blood in her arteries feeds directly into her veins. it causes swelling, facial disfigurement and life threatening bleeds from her nose, and even her tear ducts. it's very scary, because you don't really know if it's going to stop, how much blood you're losing, and if it is really bad, then i can, you know, become very light—headed and things like that. so i think when these bleeds happen, you just know that it's time for an ambulance. nikki has not let her condition,

known as avm, hold her back. the winner of junior bake 0ff is...nikki. as well as winning junior bake 0ff in 2016, she's also interviewed the prime minister for cbbc. so what were you like as a teenager? oh, gosh. nikki has had hundreds of appointments at great 0rmond street hospital, and 30 operations. how are you doing? it's lovely to see you. you too. i'm just going to have a little feel of your face. and is now part of ground—breaking research, which is led by her consultant. the team at ucl‘s institute of child health sequenced the dna of more than 150 children with her condition, and found it could be triggered by fourfaulty genes. this is really an enormous step for us, having discovered the genetic causes of these in individual patients, we're now able to suggest treatments, which could potentially slow the growth, stop the growth,

or perhaps even reverse the growth of this condition in the longer term. and those drug treatments come from an unlikely source. the gene mutations discovered in this lab, which are responsible for these faulty blood vessels also play a key role in the growth of some cancers. now, the good news is, there are several cancer drugs, which inhibit these faulty genes, which can now be repurposed to treat nikki's condition. this is your right eye. and this is the avm. nikki's one of two patients who are taking the targeted cancer drugs. today, she is finding out the results of some new scans. this looks good. it looks exciting that, after six months, it seems to be holding the growth. that's really good, isn't it? yeah, that's so good. thank you. it will be at least a year before doctors know for sure whether the cancer drugs nikki is taking are working.

but the discovery of the faulty genes has given hope to patients with this debilitating condition. fergus walsh, bbc news. one of scotland's largest councils is going to start providing free lunches every day of the year for thousands of children from low income households. north lanarkshire council says it will use sports centres to provide meals when schools are closed. 0ur scotland editor sarah smith has been talking to some primary school children. yeah, there's all different food you can get. my favourite's chicken curry. it's tomato pasta. so this is your favourite meal you've got today? yeah. you get lettuce, and you have tomato and you have all the pasta. when i was at school, school lunches were not something you looked forward to, but are they actually good here? yeah. really good. all the kids here do seem to really enjoy their school meals, and the teachers know that, for some of them, it's the best meal they're going to eat all day.

when the schools close, quite a few of these kids do, sadly, go hungry. that's why north lanarkshire council are to pilot a scheme providing free lunches to kids who need them, not just on school days, but every day. every so often, you can spot that someone's hungrier than we would like them to be after a weekend, or after a holiday period in particular. it can be individual children, we know that food is an issue. if you're hungry, you won't learn and you won't achieve. 0ther councils in the uk provide meals during school holidays. north lanarkshire will be the first to make free lunches available 365 days a year, from primary one up to the third year of secondary school. i know there are children out there that don't get a meal. some adults go without to give their kids during the holidays. the children get full meals at school, so in the holidays and that, you give them a piece for lunch, and they're, like, "where is my hot dinner?", ken? about 40% of these children qualify for free school meals. but the school works hard to make sure it's not obvious

who, to avoid any stigma. for the same reasons, kids won't be coming into school at weekends and holidays — meals will be served in leisure centres or community halls. it will cost around £500,000 a year to feed kids who might not otherwise eat a proper meal over the weekend. we know that when children leave school on a friday, sometimes they're not eating again until they return to school on a monday. and that has a significant impact on cognitive development, it has an impact on behaviour and concentration levels. and we're hoping that this will help close the poverty related attainment gap. hungry children can't learn properly or achieve their full potential. north lanarkshire might be one of the most deprived areas in the uk, but they hope that doesn't mean that kids here have to go hungry. sarah smith, bbc news, wishaw. grey and red squirrels have gone head—to—head in a hazelnut based problem solving test which could shed light on why in certain areas grey squirrels have driven out the red ones. the university of exeter has tried

to crack this particular mystery as our reporter has been finding out. 0ur native red squirrel is being ambushed by a beggar and no, 0ur native red squirrel is being ambushed bya beggarand no, it seems smarter, squirrel. the —— by a larger and now it seems smarter squirrel. there are red squirrels in these trees but they are hiding from us. there are lots of reasons that scientists think that grace pedals have done better than red squirrels. -- think have done better than red squirrels. —— think that grey squirrels have done better. one reason might be duly squirrels ability to solve problems better. remember this advert from the 1980s? these clever

creatures can overcome an impossible mission. this is good for putting a puzzle box in. no researchers -- now, researchers. . . puzzle box in. no researchers -- now, researchers... we were perhaps saddened but not surprised to find that grey squirrels were better than red squirrels because they are an invasive species. here they see that red squirrels are clever also. they will test the boundaries of the enclosure by trying to sneak out of the door. they do have the ability to work out problems. red squirrels are clinging on in the wild but this research is showing the tough fight

the face trying to overcome the grey squirrels. london fashion week had a surprise visitor today. the queen swapped her throne for the front row where she sat next to style royalty — vogue's editor in chief, anna wintour. they watched a runway show by designer richard quinn who was later presented with an award. and what was the queen wearing? well she wore an angela kelly tweed dress and jacket in duck egg blue. here is the weather. in the short—term the weather will be mostly behaving itself. wednesday be a bright sort of day. the cold weather as many days a week.

clearing skies across western and northern parts of the country. in east and central areas still a lot of cloud. it has been a cloudy day across the east and the south—east. in scotland and northern ireland there will be frost on the way. on wednesday throughout the day a bit of cloud, maybe one or two showers, but over all that weather is looking bright across the uk with temperatures hovering around 7 degrees. hello, i'm ros atkins,

this is 0utside source. we start in syria. more than 100 civilians reported to have died today as they did yesterday. as government forces attack the last rebel stronghold near damascus. in the north of the country forces have entered the kurdish stronghold of afrin — bringing the battle to the turkish border. 0xfam reveals it's investigating 26 more cases of alleged

sexual misconduct. the charity's boss admits thousands have stopped making donations because of the scandal. he had this to say. i am sorry. we are sorry for the damage that 0xfam has done both to the people of haiti but also to wider efforts of aid and development.