the information commissioner applies for a warrant to search the offices of the consulting firm accused of misusing data from facebook. a former employee claims cambridge analytica harvested the personal information of 50 million facebook users. it denies any wrongdoing we need to get to the bottom of what happened with this personal data, affecting citizens across the world, and we are going to proceed with a warrant to be able to search the servers and the premises. we will have the latest. also this lunchtime... 23 russian diplomats pull out of london — ordered to leave by the prime minister in the wake of the salisbury poisoning. a two—year—old girl dies after being pulled from a car in a river in cardigan in wales. a bigger than expected drop in inflation — lower petrol prices contribute to a rate of 2.7%. and at risk of extinction — the last remaining male northern

white rhinoceros has died in kenya. and coming up in sport, should serena williams‘ world ranking be protected? one tennis tournament director describes the seeding rules as punishment for women who return after maternity leave. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the information commissioner, elizabeth denham, is to apply for a warrant to search the offices of the political consulting firm, cambridge analytica. a former employee has claimed the company was handed the personal data of 50 million facebook users and exploited it to influence the 2016 us presidential election.

mps have called on the facebook boss mark zuckerberg to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the matter. both companies deny any wrongdoing. keith doyle reports. cambridge analytica is a british company normally behind the headlines not in them. it says it can provide data and insights to drive your voters to the polls and win the campaign. but it is the role it had an donald trump's presidential campaign that has caused the information commissioner to launch an investigation. cambridge analytica is accused of using the personal data of 50 million facebook users to target voters, using that information in this way may be a breach of privacy laws. these allegations... it says it followed the correct

procedures in obtaining and using data. facebook insists it has done nothing wrong and has suspended cambridge analytica from its site. new data protection laws will come into force soon but for now, the relationship between technology, ethics and the law remains strained. keith doyle, bbc news. our technology reporter, zoe kleinman, is here. mark zuckerberg is going to be called before a parliamentary committee. how much has facebook been saying about this? interestingly, considering he wants to get the world talking, he has not said very much at all so far. we're waiting to hear whether there will bea waiting to hear whether there will be a big meeting later on in san francisco were in more news might emerge and you might say something publicly. he has not said a lot. facebook said it has hired its own tea m facebook said it has hired its own team to search the cambridge analytical officers, then the

commissioner said you were seeking a warrant, they are obviously doing something, but they are not been forthcoming about what the next step should be. whether or not they can force mark zuckerberg to come here remains to be seen. there are certainly calls growing in the us, calls for him to testify at congress, people really want to know more about what data facebook has been collecting about people and what it does with it and what happens after it has been shared. thank you. 23 russian diplomats and their families are leaving the uk today, after being expelled in the wake of the salisbury poison attack. removal vans and diplomatic cars have been seen leaving their embassy in london. the prime minister, theresa may, has said russia is culpable for the poisoning of the double agent sergei skripal and his daughter. paul adams has the latest. this report contains some flash photography. diplomats and their

families leaving the russian embassy this morning. the government says the 23 are all undeclared intelligence officers. but with partners and children, it is thought around 80 people are on the move. the largest such expulsion since the cold war, a measure of the depths to which anglo russian relations have descended. this morning the embassy released these pictures of a sendoff last friday for the departing staff. the ambassador thanking them for their service and wishing them well in the future diplomatic couriers. what is our next move against the russians? across town, ministers gathering to figure out what to do next. no strong clues yet, the government is pleased with the level of international solidarity so far, it seems it will reserve the right to ta ke it seems it will reserve the right to take future action in the future. which? further action. in salisbury, no sign of a letup in a complex

painstaking investigation. the police relying on the patient‘s and corporation of the local population, making progress, they say, but slowly —— relying on the patients and cooperation. we have 4000 hours of cctv footage so far, we have digital media, almost 800 exhibits. think about they have been found on the wrist officers taking them —— the wrist officers taking them —— the risks. this will be slower than perhaps people are expecting. as government scientists share their findings with international inspectors, russia continues to insist it is entirely blameless. borisjohnson has called the kremlin‘s responds a haystack of lives —— lies and obfuscation. will the tit—for—tat continue? the risks of action and inaction mean theresa may has plenty to think about. back here, remaining russian staff bid farewell to their departing

colleagues, this bitter dispute disrupting lives and severing ties. how long will the damage last? paul adams, bbc news. 0ur correspondent, richard galpin, is in moscow. again, what is being said about this from your side? not an awful lot. we have had a statement from the kremlin in which they are saying vladimir putin has not got plans to immediately meet the group of russian spies, diplomats, when they get back to moscow. what we think is that it get back to moscow. what we think is thatitis get back to moscow. what we think is that it is highly likely, if we look back at previous episodes like this, if you remember the russian sleeper agents, ten expelled from the us in 2010, part of the spies swap in which sergei skripal came to britain. those agents, when they arrived, they were fated, they had a meeting in the kremlin, with the then president, they were given medals, songs were sung with vladimir putin, one of them, and

chapman, she became a celebrity, her own tv show, modelling, working with united russia, the main party. 0thers worked for oil companies, got contracts, and andre luke varney, the manic used of poisoning alexander litvinenko —— the man accused of poisoning alexander litvinenko, he is a politician —— andre lugo buy. the environment secretary michael gove has acknowledged fishing communities will be disappointed by the deal struck in the brexit transition deal. mps are meeting the prime minister today. let us find out more from norman smith. there has been an urgent question about this. he sensed the government are firmly on the back foot about the deal they struck on fisheries

policy in this transition period, from mps representing those communities who bluntly feel they have been sold out, let down by the government, in particularfollowing assurances they feel they were given by michael gove that by day one of the transition period, they would ta ke the transition period, they would take back control of fisheries policy. a sense of anger fuelled too by the fact that many of these communities are precisely those constituencies that voted most heavily for brexit and on top of that, because fisheries has a sort of iconic symbolic role in the whole brexit debate. in part because of oui’ brexit debate. in part because of our maritime and nautical history and in part because of a widespread view that fishing communities have suffered more than many others from oui’ suffered more than many others from our membership of the eu which is why this lunchtime michael gove was at his most accommodating, saying he

understood the disappointment of fishing communities and you note the mcrae uk negotiators had pressed for a better deal but they had been rebuffed by the eu —— and uk negotiators. the difficulty is not that those mps will now revolt against the transition deal, but they will be watching very closely indeed the final deal that is negotiated and the real fear, some of them have mentioned it in the commons this lunchtime, is that if they can be let down over the transition period, how great is the danger they might also be let down in the final deal as the government trades away control of fishing policy for other areas where it wants access to european markets? norman smith, thanks very much. a two—year—old girl has died after being rescued from a car found in a river in cardigan. kiara moore died in hospital after being pulled out the car in the river teifi. tomos morgan is in cardigan for us now.

cardigan isa cardigan is a town in mourning today. young families and their children have been laying flowers and balloons at the side of the river here where the car went in to the river teifi. in the back, toddler kiara moore who later died of her injuries in hospital. kiara moore, just two years old, had it not been for the tragic events of yesterday afternoon, she would have been celebrating her third birthday a week today. mid—afternoon on monday, dyfed—powys police were contacted about a missing silver mini in cardigan, west wales. it had been last seen in the centre of town near the river around 330. police issued an appeal for witnesses. later they found the car in the river teifi outside the offices of

the family business. it later transpired kiara was in the back of the car as it went into the river, a 30 emergency service personnel were involved in the rescue operation, she was flown directly by air ambulance to cardiff university hospital of wales, but doctors were unable to revive the toddler. she was a very lively little girl, smiley, cheeky little smile all the time, herand smiley, cheeky little smile all the time, her and her mum were always together, fun days out, she had a happy little life. short life but a happy little life. short life but a happy little life. short life but a happy little life. commenting on facebook, herfather, jet happy little life. commenting on facebook, her father, jet moore, thanked the endeavours of the emergency service that, while also paying tribute to his daughter. describing her as, an incredible happy young girl who lived, i hope, a great adventure fun life. she may have done more than most people. a search of the river teifi continued

into the evening, even after kiara was found. today it is still unclear how the mini came to be at the bottom of the river. some of the mothers we have spoken to today have spoken on the impact it has had on them and their young families. dozens of people have been commenting on facebook, messages of condolence for the parents. dyfed — powys condolence for the parents. dyfed—powys police have commended the incredible selflessness of the officers that went into the river to try to rescue young kiara. as the town and the family mourn the loss, the investigation will continue into how exactly this tragedy unfolded. thank you. there's been a bigger than expected fall in inflation. figures from the office for national statistics show consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 2.7% in february, down from 3% in january. a small drop in petrol prices is one of the factors behind the fall, as our economics correspondent, andy verity, reports. at this kent —based maker of healthy

juices, slicing a little off your cost ca n juices, slicing a little off your cost can make a big difference. it's selling point is a product that is fresh with nothing added, not preservatives nor water, so it is essential to get it to the shelves quickly. the young entrepreneur in charge has said that the service has been getting cheaper. things that are easing off in terms of cost include distribution, we're finding distribution costs have gone down, it is more cost—effective to move stuff from a to b. other aspects of cost easing, digital technology is becoming more cost—effective for us, we have seen the cost of that come—down. the cost of living is still rising, not as quickly as most economists expected, by 2.7%. little sign of further inflationary pressure coming down the pipeline, with prices leaving the factory up 2.6% and

prices of raw materials are byjust 3.4%. that is a much softer rise than in the wake of the brexit vote when the price of raw materials jumped by a fifth. the devalued pound meant companies needed more pounds to buy the imported goods, an effect which took months to feed to supermarket shelves. now the pound is stronger and inflation driven by import prices is much less of a threat. the impact of the fall in the pound meant that import inflation was quite high. that effect is fading and increasingly inflation is coming from domestic sources, higher wage growth in particular driving up costs. while the cost of some services like communications has fallen, the bank of england still expects to raise interest rates in may to head off the risk of inflationary pressure at home —— the bank of england is still expected to. the latest figures on pay rise show that wages are not keeping up with prices, a phenomena leading to the worst squeeze in

living standards in 200 years. but if inflation continues to flow, the squeeze should soon begin to feel less u nco mforta bly squeeze should soon begin to feel less uncomfortably tight. andy verity, bbc news. our top story this lunchtime... the information commissioner is seeking a warrant to search the offices of a political consultancy accused of using the data of millions of facebook users to influence the us presidential election. and still to come... more than 24,000 miles of roads in england and wales are said to be in urgent need of repair because of potholes. coming up in sport... "we let the fans down" — england's danny care admits the team need to change their approach, following their worst—ever finish to a six nations campaign. police are urging the public to become "counter—terrorism citizens" — and report any suspicious behaviour or activity to help prevent a terror attack. one in five reports made

to counter—terrorism police last year contained useful intelligence, officers claim. they say people should trust their instincts and let them know when something doesn't seem right. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. the police need the public‘s help to tackle terrorism. they want people to become their ears and eyes, to be on the lookout for unusual activity or behaviour and report it. the message is trust your instincts, just as officers trust theirs to spot something that doesn't feel right. i may see someone paying attention to security operations. a car going past the same location numerous times. a person with no direction or purpose. the list is not exhaustive.

-- it is —— it is very much what is suspicious to that person. the purpose of this exercise is to deter crime, engage with people and remind them about the importance of looking out for suspicious behaviour. the public‘s help has already become crucial in tackling terrorism. last year the public contacted counterterrorism police almost 31,000 times. around 6700 calls and messages contained useful information. tip offs were used to help investigations and build up intelligence on possible suspects. one of those arrested after a tip—off was a self—confessed neo—nazi, ethan stables. stables had posted a facebook message saying he was going to war and planned to slaughter people at a gay pride event. a member of a far right group contacted police. at his flat they found weapons and evidence he'd researched how to make a bomb. stables was found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism, threat to kill and possessing explosives. every good police officer should be a counterterrorism officer. i want every citizen to be a counterterrorism citizen and this

is how they can do just that. as part of the campaign there is a short film showing people the kind of things they should report. police say don't be worried about contacting them if it seems trivial. it might be the missing piece of the jigsaw they need. danny shaw, bbc news. another parcel has exploded at a distribution centre in texas, in what police believe is the latest in a series of bombings targeting the city of austin. two people have been killed and six injured in a total of four explosions. the latest package to go off contained nails and shrapnel. 0ur correspondent gary 0'donoghue is in austin. gary? this is the first explosion since the beginning of the month in texas. for authority is extremely worried about what is coming next,

the bomber seems to have changed their modus operandi since the beginning of this operation. three of those were parcel bombs left for specific victims on their doorsteps, the fourth just on sunday was a tripwire in the street set off by two passers—by. they are still in hospital, with serious injuries but ina hospital, with serious injuries but in a stable condition. this latest one at a fedex blunt about an hour south of where i am in austen has not injured anyone but it will worry investigators that there are other potential parcels in the mail, perhaps, heading back towards austin they have no suspects and no idea of motive at this stage. thank you, gary 0'donoghue in austin, texas. the government has increased the amount disabled people can claim to help them into work. from next month, people with disabilities will be eligible forfunding of up to £57,000 to cover support workers, transport costs and other assistance.

0ur disability news correspondent nikki fox has more details. ben has worked at this large accountancy firm for more than 17 years. work is hugely important to me. i always had the goal of having a career, to have a job, to be able to support myself. he has cerebral palsy and needs this specialist wheelchair and his support worker, mohammed, to help him do the things he can't. thank you very much. ben relies on funding through access to work, a government scheme set up to help with extra costs like this. but in 2015, those costs were capped and because of this, ben was denied the funding he needed to replace his ageing wheelchair. you feel that you battle so hard to be able to come to work and work full—time and hold down a job for the length of time that i have done, and in order to be able to do that you do need support. and there seems to be a complete lack of support to the imposition of the funding cap and the way that it is managed. —— through the imposition of the

funding cap. but could problems like ben's be a thing of the past? today the government has announced an increase to the cap, from just over £42,000 to £57,200, twice the average salary. i don't want there to be a cap on aspiration for any disabled person, and that's why we've extended the scheme. disabled people or people with health conditions should have a tailor—made package of support through access to work. campaigners say limiting the amount of money available has already had a negative impact on the employment opportunities of disabled, and particularly deaf people. many need multiple interpreters, and that comes at a higher cost. the best way is to remove the cap altogether. what's most important is that people have access to the employment market, regardless of how much the costs. i think a slight raise in the cap, we'll still be facing and dealing with the same situation. there are some people that will call this a u—turn. right at the beginning,

when the cap was introduced, the minister at the time said we would need to keep it under review. we work very closely with disabled people and people with health conditions. we are absolutely determined to make sure that everybody has the opportunity of making progress and getting a good job. ben has already spent thousands of pounds of his own money keeping his own wheelchair going. but the government says it's confident he and many others will now benefit from the increase. nikki fox, bbc news. there's a warning that a fifth of roads in england and wales are in a poor condition because councils don't have enough money to tackle potholes. the study, by the asphalt industry alliance, is based on information from local authorities. it says maintenance funding has fallen short for many years and some roads are now becoming unsafe. this is the problem that we are talking about. it's a problem which irritates motorists. every day, i feel like my tyres are going to be completely ruined.

they are atrocious, the roads. it's everywhere now. it really, really need some investment. simon and tom are part of a club which cycle around 10,000 miles a year. both have been recently injured. there wasn't really anywhere to go, with the cars being on the right. i hit this pothole... it kind of took one of my hands off the bars... and i went down quite hard. probably doing in excess of 25, 26 miles an hour. i've had injections, fluid put in my shoulders and in my hands, cortisone injections. it's been quite an ongoing thing. and the trauma's kind of stayed with you, because you're not out there cycling competitively right now? so it really knocks your confidence, you know? you're just really aware of the road surface. and certainly being pushed out into the traffic because of the state of the broken roads. and we know this, the big thaw, is likely to make a big problem even bigger. but today a report from the people

who will help look after the big fix says this. councils in england and wales filled in 24% fewer potholes last year than five years ago. and it will take 14 years to clear the current road repair backlog. one in five roads have got less than five years' worth of life left in them. now, compare that to last year when we were saying one in six. so the scale of the problem is escalating. 0ur roads are getting worse. while novel ways are dreamed up to highlight the problem, the local government association says councils are making progress in filling the holes properly but need much more funding from central government. central government say they have given close to £300 million to help do the job. simon was offered £18,000 from a council in compensation. all of this costs, but today's report says nowhere near enough is being spent to tackle decades of underinvestment. jane mccubbin, bbc news. the last remaining male northern white rhinoceros has died,

bringing the sub—species one step closer to extinction. the 45—year—old rhino, called sudan, was put down by a vet in kenya, after suffering an illness related to old age. only two other northern white rhinos are left, both females. from kenya, alastair leithead reports. there was no other animal quite like him. for the last few years scientists and conservationists have been trying to get sudan, the world's last northern white rhino, to mate. they even put the 45—year—old on tinder as an eligible bachelor. as part of a publicity campaign to save the sub species from extinction. but the gene pool is small. the two remaining northern white rhinos are his daughter and granddaughter. the last hope for the subspecies is an ivf technique which has never been tried. it will depend on a surrogate southern white rhino.

in the last three or four years there have been attempts to develop what i refer to as artificial reproductive techniques, in particular in vitro fertilisation, to recover this species. it is massively complex and expensive. it has never been done in rhinos before. the chances of it working are probably remote. the last northern white rhinos seen in the wild were here in the national park in the northern democratic republic of congo. that was many years ago. they were acknowledged as being extinct in the wild in 2008. an epidemic of poaching for rhino horn in the 1970s and 1980s wiped out many of these ancient animals in central africa. gradually those in captivity have died of old age. sudan had been sick for some time. vets put him down when it was clear an illness brought on by old age was causing him pain.

this is where the last two surviving northern white rhinos live under armed guard 24 hours a day. such is the continuing threat to this endangered species. they now have just 30,000 rhinos left on the planet. sudan is unusualfor his kind because he died of old age. alastair leithead, bbc news, in northern kenya. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz schafernaker. you are not with me in the studio, is it something i said?! not at all, just for a change. today is the first day of astronomical spring, it is the spring equinox, day and night of equal length. the weather is behaving itself for most of us. we have lost the cold easterly winds we have had for quite some time. just a hint for a time across the extreme east, but what we will see increasingly is these

atla ntic will see increasingly is these atlantic weather systems pushing in our direction. there is slightly milder air,