this is bbc news. the headlines: aid agencies in syria say over 50,000 people have fled the rebel—held areas of eastern ghouta, in the last few days alone. dozens of buses are heading towards shelters for the displaced. earlier a turkish air strike hit a major hospital in afrin, killing nine people. a war of words has broken out between london and moscow, after the british foreign secretary said it was "overwhelmingly likely" that vladimir putin personally took the decision to use a nerve agent on the former russian spy, sergei skripal and his daughter. the kremlin says the accusations are unforgivable. the former deputy director of the fbi has been sacked, by the us attorney general less than two days before he was due to retire. andrew mccabe was deeply involved in investigating hillary clinton's use of e—mail and russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election campaign. the father of a female engineering student allegedly attacked by a group of women in nottingham has called for "justice" for his daughter. 18—year—old mariam moustafa died on wednesday, nearly a month after she was assaulted on a bus in the city centre.

the case has caused outrage in egypt where mariam's family are from. nottinghamshire police says there is nothing to suggest it was a hate crime, though they are "keeping an open mind" sima kotecha reports from nottingham. 18—year—old mariam moustafa, an engineering student in nottingham. her family are from egypt and came here for a better life. her sister and father described her as loving, cheerful and intelligent. mariam was always looking at, looking forward —— mariam was always looking at, looking forward to being in engineering. she was a hard worker. she always put all her effort into being in engineering. in february, as the teenager was making her way to see her mother and sister, she was attacked. she caught a bus on this street to try and get away from the girls. however, they followed her.

police say she was punched several times. she died on wednesday. this footage on social media shows what happened on the bus. you, move out my way. you, move out of my way. yesterday, police said there was no information to suggest it was a hate crime, but that they were keeping an open mind. however, today, they acknowledged there had been a previous incident involving mariam and that the family had expressed concern about it. 0fficers said they were reviewing that case. mariam was discharged from hospital after the attack, but then she fell ill and was readmitted. that's when she went into a coma. the family gave us these pictures. for me, i still can't believe that she's gone. i still feel like she's around me, i feel like she's going to come knocking on the door saying, "mallak, i'm here." but that's not happening. the egyptian government, as well as her family,

have called on the uk authorities to bring those who did this to justice quickly. a 17—year—old girl was arrested on suspicion of assault, but has been released on conditional bail. in a tweet this afternoon, the foreign secretary, boris johnson, assured the egyptian authorities that nottinghamshire police was investigating the case. sima kotecha, bbc news, nottingham. now on bbc news — to mark international women's day, a special edition of witness. hello and welcome to a special edition of witness to celebrate international women's day here at the british library.

we are looking back at five remarkable women who have featured in the programme over the past year. we'll meet the civil servant who challenged one of india's top policeman after he sexually harassed her, a pioneering racing driver and member of the women's land army, who helped to feed britain during the second world war. but first, in 2004, the kenyan environmental campaigner wangari maathai became the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize. she spent much of her life trying to protect kenya's forests. we went to the forest on the edge of nairobi to talk to her daughter. my mother was often asked, were you afraid? you were fearless, how can you do all of these things? she said i was afraid,

but what needed to be done was so compelling that i had to do it. she grew up surrounded by nature, surrounded by the beauty of nature. i also remember her describing her mother being a farmer, her mother grew all the food that they ate. and then she goes away to school, to university, out in the united states, and she comes back and she was a very young member of the academic staff at at the university. she was struck by the issues that were being presented by women who were very much like her mother. there was a lack of fuel, lack of water and lack of nutritious food. and everything with a described she felt was connected to a degradation of the landscape, and so why not plant trees, she asked them? after the land themselves.

it is 50 million trees now and counting. very quickly, the green belt movement became more than just about planting trees, because we had an extremely the administration of the day. and so, protecting it necessarily becomes political. this was by far one of the scariest battles. people are showing a lot of anger because nobody knew the extent to which the forest is destroyed. it was vicious. she got very physically hurt and she was in hospital, but she survived.

and so, whenever she survived she knew it was time to go back to challenge the president and the party of the day, that was gutsy. an ecologist from kenya has become the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize. eél—jel— £57— 2. a;;l—.'!.:. .:!;..:. £;.:.l::.l:!zr i think the whole day she sort of spent saying,

i didn't know anyone was listening. my mother died on the 25th of september 2011. she has left quite a legacy i think. suddenly, for us as kenyans, as women, as africans, to believe in the power of one, i think the fact that one woman wangari maathai, talking to the programme in the beautiful karura forest in nairobi. in 1988, india's first ever sexual harassment case was brought to court and the accused was a senior policeman celebrated for fighting militants. she may be educated, an educated,

working class, an officer,