votes are being counted in congressional elections in colombia. it's being seen as a test of a peace deal between the government and the former guerrillas of the farc — now a left—wing political party. conservative parties — bitterly opposed to the peace agreement — hope to win an absolute majority. satellite photographs released by the human rights group amnesty international suggest the myanmar military has been building bases in villages where rohingya muslims have been forced off their land. amnesty called it a ‘massive land grab‘. myanmar‘s government has not yet responded to the report. the veteran british entertainer sir ken dodd has died at the age of 90. his stage debut was in 1954 and he continued to perform until last year. he was famous for his ability to reel offjokes for shows regularly lasting as long as four hours. he had been ill and married his long—term partner on friday. now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello there and welcome

to the week in parliament, where the government promises "robust" action following the poisoning of a former russian spy in the uk. the investigation is moving at pace and this government will act without hesitation as the facts become clearer. as the crown prince of saudi arabia arrives for a three—day visit, the prime minister hails the historic links between the two nations. butjeremy corbyn condemns the country's record on human rights and argues the uk shouldn't be selling arms there. it cannot be right that her government is colluding in what the united nations says is evidence of war crimes. we have a very tight arms export regime in this country

and when there are allegations of arms not being used within the law, then we expect that to be investigated. also on this programme: parliament marks international women's day but is it time for a statue to the 18th century author and activist mary wollstonecraft? and ever signed an online petition to parliament? we find out if they really make a difference. we have seen that some petitions do change the government's mind. maybe not on day one, but as we go through. but first, the home secretary told mps that the poisoning of a russian double agent and his daughter in salisbury was a "brazen and reckless act". sergei skripal was living in the uk following a spy swap. he was found slumped on a bench in salisbury in wiltshire, along with his daughter yulia. the couple had been poisoned with a rare nerve agent. detective sergeant nick bailey from wiltshire police, who went to help them, was also taken to hospital. at prime minister's questions on wednesday, theresa may told the commons she'd held a meeting of the national security council

and the next day, the home secretary came to the commons to update mps. the use of a nerve agent on uk soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. the investigation is moving at pace and this government will act without hesitation as the facts become clearer. as my right honourable friend the foreign secretary made clear on tuesday, we will respond in a robust and appropriate manner once we ascertain who was responsible. we, on this side of the house, are appalled that the idea that anyone might be poisoned on the streets of our towns and our cities and we share with the government a determination that this case be brought to a speedy and just conclusion, and that similar incidents are prevented in the future. i have written to her to ask if there can be a review of 14 other

cases, and she will know there are many ways in which that could happen and precedents for doing so. can i also ask her in terms of this immediate investigation, has she considered going to the un security council to ask for a statement calling on all nations to provide assistance, including willingness to extradite suspects should that be needed? she makes a suggestion regarding international activity and i can just say to the right honourable lady that at some stage, we will be coming back to the house with our proposals but for now, we are merely preparing and concentrating on the incident. isn't it time we got more realistic about russia and can the home secretary confirm whether or not the memorandum of understanding between the uk and rosatom, the russian nuclear power company, that was so strongly championed by the former prime minister, mrcameron, has formally ended?

if it has not been ended, can she make sure it's ended so the previous love—in with russia that we saw a few years ago is completely finished? does the home secretary share my and my constituents' anger about the cruel nature of this crime, which could so easily have resulted in considerably more collateral damage? will she therefore assure me and my constituents that eventually, the full force of the law will be brought down upon the perpetrators? my honourable friend is exactly right. just because we want to approach this with a cool head in order to collect the evidence does not mean that we do not share the outrage that his constituents and he himself clearly feels about this. the home secretary, amber rudd. now let's take a look at some other news from westminster in brief. there was a call for misogyny to be treated as a hate crime. mps argued the definition should be extended to include the abuse of women if they are targeted simply because of their gender. misogyny is everywhere

in our society, absolutely everywhere, to the point where we often miss it because it's been so normalised by being continually unchallenged. she went on to detail, in very explicit language, some of the insults she'd received. now, all of these insults have been tailored to me because i am a woman, as a woman. we can kid ourselves that these are a few bad anonymous people on twitter, but it's not. this is everyday common language. i do think we need to be careful about creating laws which would inadvertently conflict with the principles of equality. mps held theirfirst big debate on a bill to cap gas and electricity prices. the aim is to provide some protection to customers who don't shop around for the cheapest possible energy deals. those paying the default tariff are much more likely to be in reduced circumstances.

80% of households with an income of less than £18,000 did not switch supplier in the last three years. i welcome the government's foray into a policy which it previously denounced as marxist. but it remains the case that, as a result of this government's inaction, millions of households have been left to scrape through this winter facing a choice between cold homes or astronomical bills. if the average saving between the cheapest tariff for the big six and a standard variable tariff is £300 per annum, then somebody else apart from me can do the math to assess that the sums that are going to be sought to be recovered from this company from other customers. the big thaw following the big freeze led to thousands of homes being left without water as engineers battled to deal with leaks and burst pipes. some areas were without supplies for several days, relying on emergency stocks of bottled water. there is absolutely no excuse for water companies making huge

profits not being able to provide the resilience that would have protected businesses and, indeed, residents around the country. thames water made pre—tax profits of £638 million last year. there is simply no excuse for not having robust emergency plans in place. thames water are very much under the spotlight. i'm angry with them, too. this is a recurring pattern. they recognise there has been a change of ownership, there has been a change of leadership, and i'm absolutely determined that thames water customers receive a far better service than they have today. ministers have been urged to introduce a licensing regime for air weapons. in the lords, peers heard that there had been thousands of attacks on pets involving air guns in the last five years. the cats protection charity recorded 164 attacks on cats and kittens with an air gun last year, while the rspca received nearly 900 calls to their cruelty hotline reporting air weapon attacks on animals, making 11,500 attacks in the last five years. is it not time to licence these weapons to ensure that they are possessed only for legitimate purposes

by responsible owners and not by those who would cruelly inflict pain and suffering and often death on defenceless domestic animals? the government does take animal welfare very seriously. my lords, anyone who shoots a domestic cat is liable to be charged and prosecuted under the animal welfare act 2006 with causing unnecessary suffering. we are increasing the maximum penalty for this offence from six months' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine to five years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. does the fake fur bobble on your winter hat contain real fur? the environment committee has been gathering evidence after a spate of cases where garments trimmed with fake fur contained the real thing. samples sent to a laboratory were found to contain a variety of different animal furs, which were often cheaper than synthetic fibres. to the naked eye and to the feel, you wouldn't necessarily tell