this is bbc news, and these are the top stories developing at 11. russia foreign minister confirms it's expelling british diplomats after theresa may's expulsion of 23 staff from the russian embassy in london. translation: it seems that the prime minister is blaming russia. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn again questions russia's involvement in the poisoning of an former spy and his daughter and warns against "hastyjudgements". at least six people have died after a newly built footbridge collapses onto a highway in miami. nearly 20,000 syrian civilians have left the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta as government forces advance into the region. also, topman withdraws a top from sale amid criticism it was offensive. the company has apologised, as the top could be seen to be referring to the hillsborough disaster. 96 liverpool fans died in that.

african countries call on britain and the european union to ban the sale of antique ivory. and for the first time in the quarter of a century, a polar bear cub is born in britain. new pictures show him doing well. good morning. it's 16th march. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the russian foreign minister has said british diplomats were definitely be removed. misses's response has received the backing of the nato. the labour leaderjeremy

corbyn has questioned whether russia was response but for the nerve agent attack. translation: i do not recall anything like that, but we have stopped paying attention. we have stopped being excited in as much as we have ever been excited by news actions —— new sanctions. there is investigations hearings, but not a single bees of evidence has been presented to the public. the lack of facts is being compensated by more ways of sanctions. as for the achievement retreat officer of the uk, as you called him, the defence minister, he is a handsome young man and perhaps he may also want to make history with the statements. for theresa, highly possibly seems to be the key argument in blaming russia,

and he just says, russia should go away and shut up. maybe he is educated or something, i don't know. —— maybe he's uneducated. educated or something, i don't know. -- maybe he's uneducated. that was the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. 0ur political correspondent eleanor garnier is in westminster. first of all, talk us through the divisions that this whole episode is exposing in the labour party. jeremy corbyn has defended his reluctance to categorically blame russia for the attack in salisbury. he has written a piece in the guardian newspaper where he warns against hasty reactions to what happened, he says that there should not be a rush ahead of the evidence in what he calls a fevered parliamentary atmosphere. he makes clear that he supports the expulsion of russian diplomats, he calls the

attack in salisbury barbaric and reckless, but he says the public deserves calm heads and a measured response from politicians. he does draw a response from politicians. he does drawa link response from politicians. he does draw a link with the iraq war, which has raised eyebrows. he says the iraq war was has raised eyebrows. he says the iraq warwasa has raised eyebrows. he says the iraq war was a result of what he called flawed intelligence and dodgy dossiers. this tone and language from jeremy corbyn has angered some in his own party, including stephen kinnock who we heard from this morning who said the leader leadership needs a clear position on this and there must be no equivocation. i think the fact that jeremy yesterday did come out and say he actually agrees that the finger of blame points to russia and that he agrees with the expulsions, i think was a step in the right direction. i think the article that he wrote after that then muddied the waters somewhat. i think what we need is a very clear line from our leadership stating very clearly that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies and with the government in the action it has taken. 0ne

one of the things thatjeremy corbyn is warning about is the possibility ofa is warning about is the possibility of a new cold war. as far as the government is concerned, where does it think this whole conflict with russia, the conflict of words, where do they think it is heading? we heard from the defence secretary yesterday saying people part of a cold war —— cold war. he says things actually at the moment, but i think there is no doubt in government that when theresa may announced the new sanctions on russian diplomats and the other measures, they are expecting retaliation. as we have heard, there are likely to be uk diplomats expelled from russia in a move of retaliation, if you like. borisjohnson has said that he visited moscow towards the end of last year because the government's policy is to engage but be aware of

russia. i think that is where the government sees all this going. i think what is interesting on the opposition side, labour's side, jeremy pope and's side —— jeremy corbyn's tone has touched a nerve with critics concerned about his very long—term views on foreign policy. it is not some of the backbench mps but some on the... with different opinions tojeremy corbyn. we heard from the shadow brexit secretary saying there must be no it's, notebooks. the shadow defence secretary said it was quite clearly a n defence secretary said it was quite clearly an act of aggression by russia. jeremy corbyn's critics say they are worried he may be alienating traditional labour voters, but his team are absolutely adamant he is not on the side of

russia. they believe it is quite logical to call for a pause before making any judgments about logical to call for a pause before making anyjudgments about what has happened. eleanor, thank you. we can talk to tom burridge in salisbury for the latest on the police investigation. there has been some new information out today about numbers of people affected. it is about the public health picture. we know 46 people have gone to salisbury district hospital about concerns about they have had. none of those 46 people have had any symptoms, no suggestion that health has been compromised. we know some people are being monitored and some of the 46 people and members of the emergency service who were involved with attending to the affected and the early stages of the investigation. 0nly the early stages of the investigation. only three people have been medically treated, sergei

skripal, yulia skripal and detective nick bailey who we believe was one of the first responders to attend to those collapsed on the bench in a critical situation. we are also being told that 131 people have been identified by the authorities as having intentionally come into contact with the nerve agent. potentially is the crucial word. they are saying about 131 people would have been some form of proximity to the nerve agent in various locations around the city, potentially the restaurant or pol pot or the shopping centre. none of those people have shown any symptoms, there is no compromise to their health. the authorities are trying to be transparent about the public health picture, trying to reassure people. with the police investigation, not a huge amount of visible activity, the key sites, but

at the cemetery where sergei skripal‘s son and wife are buried, there was substantial activity late last night. 0fficials there was substantial activity late last night. officials in protection suits. there is no suggestion from the authorities but they are digging up the authorities but they are digging up the remains of those two relatives. it is probably more likely linked to the possible contamination of that site and the link potentially to the investigation. many thanks. my many thanks. my colleague is in moscow. there has been some comment about why russia is taking some time to retaliate. do you read much into that? it is interesting listening to the coverage, the uncertainty coming from westminster that it is russia responsible for the poisoning. —— the certainty. there is a sense of indignation and absolute denial here in russia. they keep saying over and

over and again is we want to see the proof. they are convinced that when the proof is given that britain was the proof is given that britain was the it was not the russian state that was responsible. you are right, we are still waiting for the response from the kremlin. the bbc has been speaking to the kremlin's spoke person, and he said the official response could come at any term. we know already from the foreign minister that they are planning to expel some brewers british —— british diplomats, but we're still waiting to hear. you are having moscow because there are residential elections at the weekend. is there any sense that this episode is playing into president putin's hands? it depends on who you talk to. watching state media, the first 14 minutes of a news bulletin today was all about what vladimir putin has been up to full stop at meeting

young people, encouraging people to vote and touring the country. it was not until halfway through that you saw any mention of this fallout with the uk and the diplomatic rift. there are some here that say this is causing people to feel more nationalistic, that in some ways this is going to be advantageous to vladimir putin, make him look like a strongman in the days leading up to the election. whether we get the official response before or after the election will be interesting also. the crucial thing is turn up. he is certain to wind, but he needs a good turn to make the result is legitimate. with the main opposition leader here not being allowed to stand, he is unable to stand comic he has called on his supporters to boycott the election. while it is certain that putin will wind a forth

term, what is not certain this family people will turn up to vote. at least six people have died when a newly built pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a highway in miami. emergency services are working to rescue those still trapped in vehicles under the bridge which crosses one of the busiest roads in south florida. it was only put up last week and hadn't yet opened to pedestrians. lebo diseko reports. this is all that's left of a bridge that was built for safety‘s sake. reduced to rubble. emergency services say they are still in search and rescue mode for now. it is thought that several people have died but it is not clear yet how many. we will continue to search this pile until we are sure that there are no other survivors. we were able to remove nine victims early on. they have all been transported to local area hospitals and once we have completed our search and rescue operations we will remain on scene and help with

the recovery efforts as well. it was just before two in the afternoon local time when the 950—ton bridge collapsed, crashing down on the road below and trapping people and cars beneath it. it was completed last saturday and was meant to get students from florida international university safely across a busy motorway. we were just hanging out and then we didn't hear much but we starting hearing sirens. we looked outside and saw multiple cars crushed under the bridge. i was in the dorm and my uncle called me and told me a bridge collapsed. i didn't believe him at first because i saw them put it up on saturday. the section that collapsed was called an "instant bridge" because of the fast construction method used. authorities will want to know how this structure, which was meant to be iconic, could have failed so catastrophically. investigators are being sent

to the scene to try and establish what happened. meanwhile, the company that put the bridge up says that it is devastated at the loss of life and is doing everything it can to help. lebo diseko, bbc news. after a night spent searching through the wreckage, a spokesman for the miami—dade police force confirmed in the last few hours, that the operation was now moving from rescue to recovery. they are saying "at least" because there is a possibility, a sad possibility, that under the concrete there may be additional vehicles, and they are trying to work at it, the engineers are working at it in a very tactical way because, again, as i mentioned before, the structure is very fragile and it could be very dangerous to rescue personnel that are still there, people that are working there. the headlines on bbc newsroom live...

russia warns british diplomats will be expelled from moscow in retaliation for theresa may expelling 23 russian diplomats. at least six people have been killed after a newly—built footbridge collapsed onto a highway in miami. nearly 20,000 syrian civilian have fled the besieged rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta as government forces advance. and in sport: find out who they play in the quarterfinals of the roper league. the champions league draw has just been made. manchester city will play liverpool in that. i will be back with more of those stories at 1130 am. —— 11:30am. syrian activists say nearly 20,000 civilians have fled rebel—held areas of eastern ghouta, as government forces continue their advance. it is the biggest exodus from the enclave since the military stepped up an offensive to retake it last month. the seven—year conflict is thought to have claimed more than 400,000

lives and lead to 11 million people being displaced. let's speak to our middle east correspondent martin patience, who's in beirut. this exodus has presumably happened during the five hour cease hat —— ceasefi res during the five hour cease hat —— ceasefires that work brokered. it did not. there was a lot of talk of humanitarian pause in the fighting. in fact it has not happened. what we saw yesterday was an extraordinary exodus over several hours from the town here. that had been surrounded by syria forces and it seems there was an agreement to allow civilians to leave. we estimate 20,000 people actually left yesterday, but it is estimated there

are 400,000 people still trapped or inside eastern ghouta, the bombardment that and the air strikes are continuing. the exodus of civilians stepped in when fighting broke out between syrian government troops and the rebels themselves. and given what you have said, is there any sign of other deals being brokered to allow more civilians to get out? that is the big question. we know talks are going on behind the scenes in order to allow civilians out. but i spoke to one senior official on this issue and he said it is so difficult in syria because there are so many moving parts. there are two main rebel factions, then more rebel groups, then you have the syrian government, the russians, then you are dealing with international organisations who are trying to quite elated all when the civilians

come out. i think most people think we will see more civilians leaving eastern ghouta in the coming days and they will be joining more than 10 million people that have been displaced by the fighting in syria over the past seven years. they have got a very uncertain future. many of them won't want to leave but they choose to because they think where they are going to, the government—controlled areas, will be a bit safer than what they have left behind. martin, many thanks. the fashion retailer topman has withdrawn a shirt from sale and apologised unreservedly for any offence caused by it. the red shirt with a large number 96 was seen by some liverpool fans as a reference to the club's kit and number of victims killed in the 1989 hillsborough disaster. topman said that the shirt was in fact inspired by a bob marley track with the number referring to the year of re—release. i am joined by our correspondent, sarah corker. sarah, why has this is sure to cause

offence? it has the word karma down one arm, it has got a big 96, and then it has got the words what goes around comes back around. it was on sale yesterday for £20 but it has caused a big reaction among liverpool fans. some described it as sick and offensive. it is because they feel it isa offensive. it is because they feel it is a reference to the hillsborough disaster where 96 fans we re hillsborough disaster where 96 fans were killed. also the rose motif, that appears on the hillsborough memorial, and the colour red, they are the colour of liverpool football club. topman have said the design was referring to a bob marley tracks from 1996 and they have withdrawn it from 1996 and they have withdrawn it from sale online and in the store. and i think topman have released a statement. what you they say? we received this

statement. topman apologises... but there has been a lot of reaction on twitter. we have heard from the mpfor on twitter. we have heard from the mp for world south. she wrote, no idea what was behind this but it is very u nfortu nate idea what was behind this but it is very unfortunate and if she was among those calling for it being withdrawn. we also heard from a woman who her brother died in the tragedy. her concern was that whatever the original message of the t—shirt was, she was worried it could be used by some people to antagonise liverpool fans. the big question is for the shop's design team. how did this mistake link to the disaster, how did it get through and how did the t—shirt get

approved? thank you. one in four council—run secondary schools in england is running at a loss, leading to fears of staff cuts and larger class sizes. new research by the education policy institute found that number of schools in deficit has nearly trebled in the last four years. helena lee reports. it is no secret that some schools are struggling financially. this study will no doubt add to concerns. researchers looked at budgets and balances of local authorities and secondaries in england over the last seven years. the report does not include academies which make up about 2% , 60% of secondary schools and 20% of primaries. in 2013—2014, 8% were in the red. that rose to just over 26% in 2016-2017. those in the south—west were most likely to be in deficit. parents will naturally be concerned about the pressures on school budgets.

it will mean cuts to teachers and assistants which could mean increased class sizes and a reduction in classes on offer. earlier this month, the education secretary acknowledged that school funding was tight. the local government association says this research shows the government should provide additional funding, and if they do not, councils may not be able to meet their duties. i am joined by malcolm trobe who is deputy general secretary of the association of school and college leaders. thank you for coming in. do these of surprise you, these findings? we know schools have been under significant financial pressure for some time. it would be fairer and of call it a crisis because over the last few years, schools have been on what we call flat cash, no increase

in their income, but they have been under significant cost pressures. pay rises, general inflation, there has been a significant rise in employer contributions in national insurance and teachers pensions, so schools have seen five or 6% cost pressure with no increase in the budget. so what i don't understand is the department for education is saying the latest figures show that schools hold surpluses of over £4 billion. would you dispute that? i think what is very difficult to determine is exactly how much schools are effectively having in their balances. all you ever get is a spot check of how much a school or academy is holding. academies are not included in the figures. yes, we are looking at local authority schools. it is variable

across the country because it is dependent upon the school's ability to build up a reserve is dependent on the funding level. i think people are aware we have a national funding formula coming in and which is intended to remove the inequities we had previously in the distribution of the funding. the funding level to schools is insufficient and therefore schools are finding themselves in a real problem. is it the case that some schools are harder hit than others, so the distribution is unequal and the new formula may help to redress that? we must give credit to the government for addressing the issue which has been around for a long time, over 20 years, which has been around for a long time, over20 years, but which has been around for a long time, over 20 years, but it will ta ke time, over 20 years, but it will take time for that to come through. no matter how good a distribution method you get, if there is not enough money coming into the system in the first place, which is what we

believe is the case, then quite simply, how you distribute it, it will not get enough money into our schools. and in the meantime, for the schools badly affected, how are they managing? difficult way. you see the crilly gillam choice that by the curriculum choice is lower. we know there is a crisis in terms of mental health, they are unable to provide counselling and support, class sizes will increase. the impact on young people will be very significant. thank you for coming in. mps haven't been able to find appropriate technology operating anywhere in the world that would allow an invisible border to continue between northern ireland and the irish republic after brexit. the northern ireland affairs

committee is asking the government to give more details on how it will manage the movement of people and goods across the irish border. it's also warned that, without a transition period, there won't be time to put new arrangements in place by the end of march next year. yellow snow warnings have been issued as a "mini beast from the east" is expected to hit the uk. the met office said parts of england and scotland could see snow today with a further 20 centimetres falling in parts of the country over the weekend. meteorologists said although it was the same siberian weather as the "beast from the east", which caused widespread disruption, it would not last as long. now i think we are going straight to the old bailey for some news that has just the old bailey for some news that hasjust come in. i think we the old bailey for some news that has just come in. i think we are trying to contact our correspondence who is standing outside the old bailey with an important verdict. we

will just be bailey with an important verdict. we willjust be with you in one second. the news that is coming in is that the man accused of placing a bomb on the man accused of placing a bomb on the parsons green chew has been convicted of attempted murder. he has been convicted of attempted murder at the old bailey. we can look at the case now with our correspondencejude kelly. here he is buying screwdrivers in a supermarket. they were part of his bomb—making kids. he may have looked young, that he is described as mature, highly intelligent and calculating. cctv cameras captured his journey as the following morning he left home with a bomb in his bag and a plan in his head. he was on his way to kill and injure people on

the london underground system. he made for a train and a few stops down the district line, he got off leaving his bag containing his on a timer behind. just after the train pulled into parsons green, the bomb detonated, creating a massive fireball which rolled down the carriage leaving passages are burning and screaming in pain. ahmed hassan had strapped shrapnel to the device, including bolts, screws and knives to cause maximum carnage. he had also used the explosive t atp, known as mother of satan. the bomb had partially exploded. at parsons green, a major emergency operation got under way. terrified passengers we re got under way. terrified passengers were taken off the train, somewhere carried out of the station on stretchers. meanwhile the teenager bomb left london and went on the run. the year before he told the

teacher, he said it was his duty to hold the lead hate britain because his father had been killed by coalition forces. he was also on the anti—radicalisation programme prevent. he was cunning and devious, but coming back to his divas and years —— devious nature after the programme. no one around him knew what his plot was. 24 hours on from the attacks, firearms officers were surrounding his house in surrey. inside where his elderly foster pa rents inside where his elderly foster pa re nts m et inside where his elderly foster parents met penny and ronjones. this was a couple who had received mbes from the queen for fostering hundreds of children. ahmed hassan repaid them by secretly building a bomb in their kitchen. and it is also emerged that the teenagers staying in their spare bedroom had said to immigration officials that in iraq he had been kidnapped and

trained to kill by the islamic state group. it seems thejones family we re group. it seems thejones family were told little. someone like penny jones is so experience and a champion for education, for children's mental health, he she would have put in as much as she could for this young man and this would have absolutely destroyed them in part. i do not think they had any idea. after the bombing, ahmed hassan headed for dover. he was arrested and he's tried to flee which had given him refuge but he felt only hatred. we can go to our correspondent. what happened in court when this verdict was delivered? ahmed hassan showed no reaction as the verdict was read out. he was

told he had been convicted by a overwhelming evidence and they are talking now about when sentencing is likely to happen, it probably will not happen today. i have just been told it is going to happen next week, no date has been fixed as yet. we will not hear about the sentence that he will be given for attempted murder until next week. he is now being red backed onto the cells. this was an extreme case in many ways in that the device that he put together as we have heard has an impact in that injured around 30 people on that day back in september last year, on that underground train impasse on screen. but we heard it could've been much worse. he packed his device with more than two kilograms of shrapnel and 19 mixed 400 grams of high explosive which is highly unstable and very volatile but for some reason did not go off that day. all the damage and the

injuries were caused by from that bomb worthy igniter going. the jury was left in no doubt that the impact of that device could have been much greater, had it fully exploded and has shrapnel been settled to be carried. we can expect sentencing to consider a life sentence, that was really where it will start but the judge may make some grounds for his age and the fact that he admitted making this device. he can expect many years in prison. information that is much since this verdict is that ahmed hassan was actually under the supervision of the channel and prevent programmes, the channel and prevent programmes, the government programmes which focus on providing support to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. yes, serious questions are going to be asked about that now because certainly he was the one who told home office immigration officials that he had been abducted by isis,

he said, and trade buy than to kill. he told home office immigration officials this back injanuary 2016 and there is no dispute about that, he admits telling them that, he has since denied that is really what happened. certainly home office immigration officials were alerted down. he also told his mental at brooklands college, a friend of mental katie cable, that he had been abducted by isis, he told that story too, he felt it was his duty or his right to hate britain. she is something on his mobile phone that said, is thanks you for your donation. she said she got in contact with prevent them and they we re contact with prevent them and they were alerted. the bbc understands that while he was at the care home during this time injanuary, he was not approached by anybody working for the channel prevent team. they

did go to bananas a week after he told the home office immigration officials about the idyllic springs, they speak to officials at barnardos, they did not speak to him themselves. that was the situation throughout the time that he was at barnardos until the end of march 20 i6. barnardos until the end of march 20 16. we understand he was but for me on to the prevent programmes in every 2016, we do not know when he actually had discussions with a prevent liaison. it happened at some point, we understand, we do not know how frequent that contact was and we understand that are now investigation is under way as to just what happened with the prevent team's liaison with him because clearly something went wrong. if they were in touch with him and he was still able to make a device and leave it on a crowded underground train. we should tell viewers that the bbc has found out that there's going to bea has found out that there's going to be a review of the government

anti—radicalisation and extremism programmes, the deputy assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police's counter terrorism command has said that the review will now be undertaken given what has happened will stop we have a verdict, sentencing will take place at a slightly later date. the fact that there will be this review going on below will be of little comfort to the people who one that crowded tube that morning and to have had to suffer both physical and mental scars. that is absolutely right. it wasn't just the people on the tube train who were at risk that day because thejury who were at risk that day because the jury saw extensive security camera footage of ahmed hassan carrying the bomb from his foster home, long street where he was passing school children on their way to school and other commuters heading towards the train station and at that point getting onto a train, there were people on that

courage, taking it to wimbledon station. we are talking about rush—hour, this is just station. we are talking about rush—hour, this isjust after eight o'clock in the morning. a very busy time. he's walking through that station, he takes the bomb into the toilets at wimbledon station to set the timer on it. it is hard to stress just how dangerous and volatile this explosive substance is. we heard from explosives expert in the court that in fact it is very dangerous and volatile but it is not made commercially because it is subject to being either knocked or bashed, anything converted. at all times, he was carrying the bomb with 400 grams of the explosive through crowds of people. it was notjust the people on the underground train that were at risk made was really everybody he passed that day and i think there will be questions asked by anybody about why it was that a scheme that was set up specifically

to look at individuals like this, vulnerable people who perhaps had either admitted or were at risk of radicalisation, why it was that that scheme that he was actually part of was not able to see what he was doing. richard, thank you. i am sure we will back to you shortly. we have had reaction from the crown prosecution service. sue hemming from the cps has said the prosecution argued that ahmed hassan made this home—made bomb with the aim of killing as many people as possible. the jury has agreed. it was only a matter of luck that the device did not work of the intended or it could easily have led to the loss of innocent lives. that reaction from the crown prosecution service. we will bring you much more gnat kilted —— guilty verdict on

ahmed hassan a little later in the programme. an egyptian student has died after being attacked in nottingham last month. 18—year—old mariam moustafa was attacked outside a shopping centre by a group of women and was left in a coma. egypt is sending a delegation of mps to the uk, to monitor investigations. jeremy ball reports. a teenager whose future looks so bright, whose family is now in mourning. they brought mariam to britain for an education, and now she is gone. she was amazing. i feel like i have lost my other half. she was so kind and always wanted to help people out. i do not know why they would do that to her. why her? she was attacked outside the victoria shopping centre in nottingham on february 20th. people saw a group of women punching her and then following her onto a bus. on wednesday, she died in hospital. the egyptian embassy said this. it is supporting mariam's grieving family.

at nottingham college where mariam was studying engineering, they described her death as "shocking", saying she was keen and able and well liked. she was a hard worker, she always put all her effort in to be an engineer. nottingham police say mariam's death is being treated seriously. a 17—year—old girl is being questioned on suspicion of assaulting her. they are keeping an open mind on whether it was a hate crime. jeremy ball, bbc news, nottingham. four african countries with the world's largest elephant populations are expected to call on britain and the european union to ban the legal sale of antique ivory today. ministers will sign a petition at a wildlife summit in botswana urging european countries to follow china's lead in outlawing the sale of all ivory products. alistair leithead reports. africa's elephants are still severely under threat, with less animals being born than the number killed every year by poachers.

here in botswana, the last true sanctuary for elephants on the continent, african ministers, scientists and conservationists are again meeting to try to stop the ivory trade. techniques used for counterterrorism are now being used to stop poaching and catch the culprits. and they're being showcased at the giants club summit, which aims to protect half of africa's elephants and their habitat by 2020. but there's another target. the legal trade of antique ivory in britain and the rest of europe. the uk and the eu are the biggest exporters of legal antique ivory. these are sales that are permitted and are allowed around the world. now, we have seen china has banned their trade in ivory. hong kong is saying it's doing a similarthing. the african leaders meeting here with their governments are hoping the eu and the uk could do likewise and could stop this trade in antique ivory. it won't stop the poachers targeting these animals for their tusks

across africa, but it will send a strong message to try and reduce the demand for ivory. alastair leithead, bbc news, in botswana. will travers is president of the international wildlife charity, born free, he joins me via webcam from horsham in sussex. thank you. can you explain the difficulty in identifying when ivory is antique or not? that is the nub of the problem, isn't it? it is. this is a piece of ivory, this is ivory capsicum carved in the shape ofa ivory capsicum carved in the shape of a pepper and this was taken to seven dealers in the united kingdom, all of him who said they would be willing to sell it because in their opinion it was pre—carved pre—1947,

it was antique, according to the current definition. we took it to a lab and had a radiocarbon tested and it is almost certainly 2001, 2004, so therefore if those experts cannot tell the difference between modern ivory, which is this, and antique ivory which is currently permitted for sale, then the default setting quite simply has to be that we have to do and the sale, the commercials sell of ivory and antiques because they are without doubt linked to the modern slaughter of elephants. people are passing off new ivory as being antique and trying to get round the band that way. how is it that china has led the way on this? it is remarkable, a remarkable turn of events and from being, five years ago, probably the bad guy, the bad actor in this particular story, china has come out of this looking like they are a world leader. they have close the ivory carving

factories, the commercial outlets and now it is the united kingdom and the ukraine union that looking like they are behind the curve on this. —— european union. we have had a public consultation, we are waiting the governor to announce what measures will be taken and we are hopeful that it will be an almost total ban on all trade in ivory. the only exception is that we would be willing to look out would be the movement of musical intimates that contain ivory and then movements between museums for non—commercial purposes, the commerce that is killing elephants. cani killing elephants. can i ask you about another story, the first polar bear cub born in britain for a quarter of a century, a moment of interest in celebration for most people, but you have issues about it. what are they? ido, it about it. what are they? i do, it is nota about it. what are they? i do, it is not a cause for celebration as far as i'm concerned.

this is a situation that we first uncovered way back in the 1980s when there were nine zoos in this country with polar bears. almost all of them showing stereotypical abnormal hater patterns, they were being driven mad. since that time, the number of seeds containing polymers has gone down and down and we thought this was coming to an end. it is a species that does not adapt well to capita, the facilities in scotland are better than the old—fashioned concrete pits that people are familiar with. nevertheless, this animal is never going back to the wild. this is not contributing in any meaningful sense to the conservation of the species and if we wa nt conservation of the species and if we want to conserve polar bears, we have to get to grips with some really big issues, such as climate change because that is the biggest negative impact on the survival of the species. thank you forjoining us. my pleasure. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour, but first the headlines on bbc

newsroom live: ahmed hassan, the man responsible for the tube bombing has been convicted of attempted murder by a jury convicted of attempted murder by a jury at the old bailey. russia wants british diplomats will be expelled from moscow in retaliation for 20 great russian diplomats being told to leave britain. —— 23 russian diplomats. six people are killed after a bridge colla pses six people are killed after a bridge collapses on a highway in miami. pub chainjd wetherspoon has revealed a jump in profits of more than a third for the first half of its financial year. its boss tim martin said despite doing better than many restaurant chains, future trading would be tougher with higher costs and he pointed out the so—called sugar tax on fizzy drinks which he said had cost him £3 million. cu rrys currys and pc world has apologised after customers complained they had been pressured into paying up to £40

in setup fees for their new laptops. consumer group which the editor ben hearing complaints about this for almost three years now. currie said it is urgently we briefing its stores. —— currys. profits are going up and pay and bonuses are coming down at the uk's biggest banks. accountants kpmg have done a survey of them and say collectively saw post—tax profits rose 135% in 2017, yet salary and bonus payments fell 3%. now more on that story about the banks. they seem to be in good shape. their capital ratios, that's the amount of money they hold in reserve compared to the amount they lend out, are looking strong, and the bank of england is about to conduct one of its stress tests on them, crunching the numbers to see whether they could withstand another financial crisis. so is this the year they finally draw a line under the financial crisis after ten years? joining me now is tim howarth, head of financial services consulting at kpmg uk. is this really the end with mark we

can drawa is this really the end with mark we can draw a line and things are going to get better? we certainly hope we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel study backs. we sing them more profitable than they have been in the past, it is a broad picture across the different banks that we have looked at. the most important thing is that the restructure but has been focused on, the balance sheet of the banks are seeing its way to read, you mention the bank of england stress testing which is about to be re—conducted and the the same about to be re—conducted and the the sa m e stress about to be re—conducted and the the same stress test that they have done in the past, it will be good to see a like test resilience the banks giving all the work that has been done. you have done this survey, the way in which it looks is that the pay and bonuses are actually going down. in many ways people think bonuses, they always pay far too much, pay, a lot of people in the banking sector, they do not paid a huge amount on

their pay is going down, that is not that welcome, it? no, number of reasons. one of the criticisms of the banks was the cause of the financial crisis, a disproportionate return on profitability to imply to sue bonuses and pay rather than shareholders and customers in terms of the product what we are seeing is a change in that ratio. we visited the overall bills for remuneration which is pay and bonus of the banned from another reason may bring down is the banks are smaller than they we re is the banks are smaller than they were before, they employ less people. it is that proportion that is more important to look at. now we are coming as it were to the end of the financial crisis, one of the banks, rbs, still 70% reviewed by the taxpayer, we are not com pletely by the taxpayer, we are not completely out of the woods. there might be some find that there's some of the big american lawyers who are looking to still screw a bit more cash out of them. is everything

really passed? no, ithink really passed? no, i think there are some places to go. we're not through all the reform agenda so there are still changes to come through. whether that is around capital requirements, we're just implemented too. we have further changes to look out from our conduct risk perspective, the way culture and transformation is working in the banks. there is still more work to do one restructuring. we haven't ring fence the banks completely yet. the separation of their so—called investment businesses from their retail and commercial businesses. thank you so much. the boss of a company that modified highly—secure blackberry smartphones so they could allegedly be used by some of the world's most notorious criminals has been indicted. the us department ofjustice arrested vincent ramos in seattle last week accusing him and four associates of making tens of millions selling the devices to the likes of the sinaloa drugs cartel.

royal dutch shell is pulling out of new zealand. it's been there over 100 years. it's part of a plan to shrink the whole compa ny‘s assets by $30 billion by the end of this year. it'll only raise about half a billion dollars. it's selling it to an austrian company 0mv. sportscar maker porsche is doubling its spending on future projects, and that includes six billion euros towards electric cars in the next four years. it's going to spend it on spin off from its existing electric sportscar mission e, electrifying some of its conventional cars and developing a charging network. that is going to be expensive. 30, not a huge amount. wetherspoon is down. the figures are very good today. the trading is going to be pretty

tough this coming year. gk and, continuing pessimism about the ta keover continuing pessimism about the takeover which is in the air. that bid is not going to go through, the thinking. that is the business news. thank you. let us bring you up to date, the teenager he was accused of planting a bomb on the london tube at parsons green has been found guilty of attempted murder at the old bailey this morning. ahmed hassan, he was 18 years old, injured 30 commuters on the london tube train in september 2017. leeds jury at the 0ld september 2017. leeds jury at the old bailey tookjust september 2017. leeds jury at the old bailey took just a september 2017. leeds jury at the old bailey tookjust a day september 2017. leeds jury at the old bailey took just a day to find him guilty of attempted murder. it is amazed that the iraqi teenager had shown warning sides to

authorities that he could carry out authorities that he could carry out a terrorist attack and he had been on the government's channel and prevent programmes which have been designed to try and identify young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. without the statement in the last few moments from the security minister at the home office, ben wallace, he says he welcomes the conviction of ahmed hassan who sought to spread terror in this country and to murder innocent people. he went on to say, it is close are some lessons to be learned in this particular case. the police and local council have conducted an internal review into how it was handled and that the government is working with its partners to review the findings and to identify where further improvements can be made. ahmed hassan arrived in the uk as a child asylu m hassan arrived in the uk as a child asylum seeker and was placed with foster carers and clearly there will be investigations into how it came about that this young man ended up

trying to murder people on a crowded commuter train last september. that is the news this morning from the old bailey, ahmed hassan found guilty. more news to bring you from the continuing crisis with russia. as russia threatens to expel british diplomats from moscow in retaliation to britain expelling 23 russian diplomats. downing street said we have seen russia talk about plans for response to an expulsion, until that happens we will consider our position. the spokesman went on, we continue to speak to allies about coordination of response going forward. you have seen a consensus amongst our allies and we are pleased by that. asked about comments that moscow made about the defence secretary, the prime minister's spokesman said theresa

may has sent a clear message to russia during the course of the week. the city of rome is eternal and so, apparently, is its rubbish. the italian capital produces more garbage than it can cope with, about 4,500 tonnes a day. 0ur italy correspondent james reynolds has met a group of volunteers who are taking matters into their own hands. they meet every weekend early in the morning to scrub, paint, and clean up their city. imagine having to live with all this every day without end. the city of rome overflows with history and with rubbish. italy's capital produces more waste than it can cope with. 4500 tonnes of garbage a day. that is much higher than the italian average. communal bins spilling over are a common sight. many romans are angry. some romans don't want to wait

until the rubbish drowns them. we went to meet some of them. retake roma is a group of volunteers dedicated to cleaning up the city. retakers meet every weekend, early in the morning. they clean up rubbish, paint over graffiti and try to give the city a face—lift. it appears to be a never ending job.

for every street or park the volunteers finish, there is another that needs doing. the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. first, we leave you with for a look at the weather. we go over to lucy. turning bitterly cold as we move into the weekend, whether warnings have been issued as we move into the weekend. to add but be prepared wanderings on saturday into sunday. festival today, mixed fortunes, plenty of cloud around for some of us. further south moor in the way of blue skies, this photo sent in by weather watch in kent. dispel the thundering across central, southern england and wales, perhaps one or two thundery showers, cloudy with a

bit of rain for northern ireland and some are bits of rain for north—east scotla nd some are bits of rain for north—east scotland and north—east england. some of that rainfall falling snow over high ground and it will be windy in the north with gales for the northern isles. temperatures in the northern isles. temperatures in the stock, 14 celsius. as we go through this evening and overnight, we see the rain turning into snow at lower levels as well. it will think it's well south west as we move through the night. the wind picking up through the night. the wind picking up as well. temperatures largely fallen to below freezing but i think the far south—west holding onto milderairand one to the far south—west holding onto milder air and one to showers. tomorrow, feeling cold, thanks to this cold air we are pulling in, an area of high pressure sitting over scandinavia, pulling in bitterly cold airfrom scandinavia, pulling in bitterly cold air from the east. it will be feeling colder, especially when we had in the wind chill. 0ur breaks of snow, sleet and rain clearing the south—west through the morning, snow showers feeding in from the east. temperatures are going to struggle, highs of around five celsius, but

once we add in the wind—chill, feeling significantly colder. —8 sylvia in norwich, —7 in newcastle. the far north—west of scotland staying dry for those snow showers, the brisk easterly wind. late on saturday into sunday, the amber warnings come into play for part of the midlands and northern england and in the south—east. potential for some heavy snow, accumulations of five to ten centimetres and also some ice, stay tuned to the forecast. we will continue to see the snow showers being carried in on that brisk easterly wind. 0n the snow showers being carried in on that brisk easterly wind. on sunday, snow clearing towards the east, the potential to see some ice first thing as well. becoming dry though with some bright intervals, one of two snow showers being carried in, again feeling very cold. temperatures struggling into the low single figures and a significant wind—chill. as we move into the weekend, the potential disease and disruption, much colder, the bitter

wind and stay tuned to the forecast. —— the potential to the destruction. this is bbc news, and these are the top stories developing at 12. ahmed hassan — the teenager responsible for the parsons green tube bombing — has been convicted of attempted murder by a jury at the old bailey. a review of the government's anti—radicalisation programmes has been ordered after it emerged hassan had been participating in two schemes when he made his attack. the foreign secretary welcomes the international response to britain's decision to expel 23 russian diplomats— russia's foreign minister warns british diplomats will be expelled from moscow in retaliation. translation: for theresa may "highly possibly" seems to be the key argument in blaming russia. is these strength of the support that we have bought from poland and

all our friends that we have bought from poland and all ourfriends from that we have bought from poland and all our friends from around the world. at least six people have died after a newly built footbridge collapses onto a highway in miami. also, topman withdraws a top from sale amid criticism it was offensive. the company has apologised, as the top could be seen to be referring to the hillsborough disaster in which 96 liverpool fans died. and for the first time in the quarter of a century, a polar bear cub is born in britain. new pictures show him doing well. and an all english tie in the quarterfinals of the champions league as premier league leaders manchester city are drawn against five—time winners liverpool. it's fritday 16th march. i'm reeta chakrabarti. welcome to bbc newsroom live. a teenager from west london,

whose homemade bomb exploded in a packed rush—hour tube carriage, has been convicted of attempted murder. ahmed hassan, who is 18, left the improvised device on the train, with 93 passengers on board, in september last year. it partially exploded at parsons green tube station, leaving 30 people seriously injured. the met police said at the time of the bombing, he was enrolled in the government's anti—radicalisation programme prevent. 0ur correspondent reports. ahmed hassan buying batteries and screwdrivers in asda. everyday items, but for him, part of his bomb—making kit. he is asked for id. he may have looked young, but has been described as mature, highly intelligent and calculating. cctv cameras captured his journey as the following morning he left home with a bomb in his bag and a plan in his head. he was on his way to kill and injure people

on the london underground system. he made for a train and a few stops down the district line, he got off, leaving his bag containing a bomb on a timer behind. just after the train pulled into parsons green, the bomb detonated, creating a massive fireball which rolled down the carriage, leaving passengers burning and screaming in pain. hassan had strapped shrapnel to the device, including bolts, screws and knives to cause maximum carnage. he had also used the explosive tatp, known as "mother of satan". the bomb had only partially exploded. at parsons green, a major emergency operation got under way. terrified passengers were taken off the train, some were carried out of the station on stretchers. meanwhile the teenage bomber left london and went on the run. the year before, he told a teacher it was his duty to hate britain

because his father had been killed by coalition forces. and at the time of the attack, he was on the government's anti—radicalisation programme prevent. he was very cunning and devious. and on the face of it, hassan was engaged. but coming back to his devious nature, he kept it very secretive in relation to what he was planning and doing. no—one around him knew what his plot was. 24 hours on from the attack, firearms officers were surrounding his house in surrey. inside were his elderly foster parents penny and ronjones. this was a couple who had received mbes from the queen for fostering hundreds of children. ahmed hassan repaid them by secretly building a bomb in their kitchen. and it has also emerged that the teenagers staying in their spare bedroom had said to immigration officials that in iraq he had been kidnapped and trained to kill

by the islamic state group. it seems the jones family were told little. someone like pennyjones is so experienced and a champion for education, for children's mental health, she would have put in as much as she could for this young man and this would have absolutely destroyed them in part. i do not think they had any idea. after the bombing, ahmed hassan headed for dover. he was arrested as he tried to flee which had given him refuge but he felt only hatred. we can speak to our correspondent richard lister who is outside the old bailey for us. some sobering detail there in the report. what sort of picture has

been built up of ahmed hassan during his days in court? it has been a puzzling picture. here is someone who is extremely bright, insisted he came to the country to study and showed signs that he wa nted study and showed signs that he wanted to do that. he signed up to a course at college, he got distinctions in all his work, in 2016-i7, distinctions in all his work, in 2016-17, he distinctions in all his work, in 2016—17, he was named by the college as their student of the year. he was given a £20 amazon voucher for getting about student of the year award. but he spent that money on buying some of the chemicals he needed to buy this bomb. he was clearly quite a troubled young man, those close to him at the colleges said he could sometimes be very angry, but they all said he seemed to be dedicated to try and build a life here and be someone who was going to settle down, have a job. the internet records said he was

looking at university courses and you cast and so on. he told the court that he wanted to be a wildlife photographer. there was one side of him. on the other side they said he blamed coalition forces for the death of his father. another friend of his, a mentor at the college, told the court she had seen a text message he received saying, is thanks you for his donation. she was concerned. she said she's about to prevent about concerns. it was that he also said it was his duty to hate britain. she also said that he showed signs of great trauma. here isa showed signs of great trauma. here is a young man who was clearly at risk and we heard the prevent authorities had ta ken risk and we heard the prevent authorities had taken him into their programme. but on the face of it to many people he seemed like a straight a student. and it has emerged that he was

actually on two programmes, two government programmes, designed to try and identify young people at risk of becoming radicalised. technically the programme that he had a liaison officer is part of the overall kabul prevent programme, but the ultimate aim of that programme, the ultimate aim of that programme, the prevent programme and the stream he was in was to prevent vulnerable people from becoming radicalised. but will sound alarm bells is the fa ct but will sound alarm bells is the fact he himself told immigration officers in january 2016 that fact he himself told immigration officers injanuary 2016 that he had been abducted by isis in iraq and he had been trained to kill by isis whilst he was in iraq. he told them that quite openly and a week later, the bbc understands that somebody with the channel scheme went to the

ca re with the channel scheme went to the care home he was living in, the barnardo ‘s children home, and told officials that they should keep an eye on him but made no contact with ahmed hassan himself. the bbc understands no contact was made with hassan until the end of march also that year. so several months after immigration officers were told by him that he had an isis connection. i think the fact that we have heard from dean haydn saying he concealed from dean haydn saying he concealed from those officers what he was doing. but i think people will ask if you have a programme designed to ensure that young men like i ahmed hassan are not radicalised and do not commit terrorist acts and then they go on to do so. there is a problem. 0ur correspondence there. thank you. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says british diplomats will be expelled, in response to the decision to order 23 russians to leave britain.

in the last few minutes, the foreign secretary has said he believes it is overwhelmingly likely that vladimir putin was personally responsible for directing the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the uk. here is the russian foreign minister. translation: i do not recall anything like that, but we have stopped paying attention. we have stopped being excited in as much as we have ever been excited by new sanctions. a story was made up about some election meddling, that was going on for over a year. there is investigations, hearings, but not a single bit of evidence has been presented to the public. the lack of facts is being compensated by more waves of sanctions. as for the achievement chief officer of the uk, as you called him,

the defence minister, he is a handsome young man and perhaps he may also want to make history with loud statements. for theresa may, highly possibly seems to be the key argument in blaming russia, and he just says, russia should go away and shut up. maybe he is uneducated or something, i don't know. 0ur colleague is in moscow. 0ne wonders what the reaction will be to the foreign secretary's comments and is the last few minutes where he points the finger directly at vladimir putin saying it is overwhelmingly likely it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the uk. we can only wonder. they are already angry in moscow. they are already angry in moscow. they are already indignant about the allegations, absolutely deny them. they say they are not only insane, but irresponsible. some of the

comments from boris johnson, but irresponsible. some of the comments from borisjohnson, we will will be