this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at nine: the british company accused of influencing the us presidential election by using facebook data, suspends its ceo. meanwhile, mps have requested a face to face with facebook, calling on founder mark zuckerberg to answer questions about the use of its data. an raf engineer has died after a red arrows hawkjet crashed in anglesey. the pilot survived and is in hospital. heading home — 23 russian diplomats leave their embassy, ordered out of the uk in the wake of the salisbury poisoning. a bigger than an expected drop in

inflation,. also in the next hour: the northern white rhino on the brink of extinction. the last surviving male has died — the survival of the subspecies will now have to rely on ivf. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the london—based company cambridge analytica has suspended its chief executive, alexander nix, as the row over use of facebook data deepens. it follows allegations from a whistleblower that information about 50 million facebook subscribers was used by cambridge analytica for political purposes. facebook‘s boss, mark zuckerberg, has been ordered to appear before mps to answer allegations.

both facebook and cambridge analytica deny any wrongdoing. tonight, channel 4 news broadcast more from its secret filming, in which mr nix spoke about the influence the company had on the us presidential campaign. have you met mr trump? many times. we did all the search, data, analytics, targeting, though the campaign, and ourdata analytics, targeting, though the campaign, and our data informed the strategy. the company has released a statement saying: it goes on to say: also in the last hour, we have had a

statement from facebook. it said: our business editor simon jack looks at the background to the story. in the information age, personal data is the new currency and we spend it liberally on social media platforms; how old we are, whether we're in a relationship,

what are our political leanings, this could all be gathered and used. cambridge analytica is a company which does exactly that, and it's at the centre of a political storm that has rocked some of the biggest companies in the world. it started with an app designed by a british academic, which invited facebook users to do a personality test. 270,000 people downloaded it. it collected personal information on them, theirfriends, their friends' friends and so on, until it had info on 50 million facebook users. that data was passed to cambridge analytica, which allegedly used it to influence the presidential election in the us using highly targeted messages, a charge denied by the company. the uk's data watchdog said she'd concerns about the company for some time. these allegations are very serious, they came to the attention of our office some months ago. and on 7th march, i issued a demand for information to cambridge. they did not comply with that, so now i'm moving ahead to seek a warrant, so i can

search premises and data. separately, cambridge analytica executives were secretly filmed by channel 4, seeming to offer on advice on how to influence politicians. cambridge analytica says it has been grossly misrepresented. whether this tiny consultancy was really involved in influencing the us presidential election, there's an old adage in digital marketing which says that if the services you're getting are free, then you are the product, served up to advertisers who are convinced that highly targeted messages constructed around detailed personal information really work. since the scandal broke, facebook has seen £50 billion wiped off its value and the pressure on the company was cranked up today, when the federal trade commission announced it will investigate

its handling of customer data. it has the power to levy enormous fines. facebook denies any wrongdoing. so, could this be a moment of reckoning for the way our personal data is used 7 i think for the first time, things that people suspected have surfaced, thanks to the testimony of whistle—blowers. now we're finally seeing the that leaders of these companies are being called to testify in front of parliaments, they're being held to account in the media, analysts in the financial industry are dumping their stock as a vote of no confidence. this is a real moment where it's going to incentivise change. the facts of our lives have value. facebook founder mark zuckerberg has built a fortune out of them. he'll have the chance to tell mps just how safely that information is kept. simon jack, bbc news. we will find out how became rich analytical story and many other stories of the day of covered in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are former trade minister,

lord digbyjones and broadcaster and campaigner, henry bonsu. an raf engineer died when a red arrows hawkjet crashed following an incident at raf valley in north wales. the jet‘s pilot survived and is in hospital. north wales police say they are particapating in a full investigation, lead by the air accident investigation branch. the commander of raf valley confirmed the death a short while ago. the royal air force can confirm the death of an engineer from the royal air force aerobatics team the red arrows in a tragic accident today. the engineer's family have been informed and have asked for a 2k hour period of grace before further details are released. the pilot of the aircraft survived the incident and is currently receiving medical care. thank you. 0ur correspondent, roger pinney is near raf valley. he gave me this update earlier on.

well, we know when the accident happened. it was sometime late this morning. at the moment, we do know that the investigation is under way on the runwayjust behind me. emergency services remained on the site here and a vehicle is blocking the runway. presumably, allowing these investigators to get on with their work. it's no surprise that whilst based in lincolnshire, the red arrows should come here to valley. they, the red arrows, fly hawk trainers for their aerobatics and this is the home of the hawk trainerfor the raf. the hawk trainer is the principal fast jet trainer and this is where fast jet training carries on. and so, the red arrows pilots come here to use these simulators here at valley. we've seen a little bit of activity late this afternoon. vehicles moving up and down the runway close to the crash site. presumably that will be part of the investigation. raf valley has said this evening this is a very sad day for them and it will be a very sad

day for them. but, beyond the welfare of the surviving pilot, i think of paramount importance for the raf now will be to discover exactly what happened and why. and from eyewitnesses who have been giving their descriptions of what they saw, it does seem that the pilot did manage to eject and certainly one eyewitness saw a parachute landing from the plane. yes, eyewitnesses have been consistent about that. we have certainly had a number of them saying that they saw at least one parachute. we had heard reports of two being seen, but we have also heard conflicting reports that the engineer didn't manage to eject. 0ne eyewitness told me that he saw the aircraft appear to wobble in the air and come in at a strange angle. people round here are very familiar with jets landing and taking off at valley.

they know what to expect, and this witness told me that what happened was unexpected, the plane was coming in strangely, and it was just around that time that he saw a parachute and, shortly afterwards, the aircraft hitting the ground close to the runway and exploding into flames and then a pall of smoke that was seen for miles around here. tonight, the head of the raf, air chief marshall sir stephen hillier, has issued this statement: 23 russian diplomats and their families have left the uk after being expelled by the british government over the salisbury nerve agent attack on a former spy. they left on a plane bound for moscow this afternoon as the prime minister theresa may

chaired a meeting with the national security council to decide if further sanctions should be imposed on russia. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale reports. it was dubbed ‘expulsion day‘ — the moment russian diplomats and their families began the long journey home from their embassy in london, sent packing after their government was blamed by britain for the nerve agent attack in salisbury. those staying behind gathered outside to hug their colleagues, wave goodbye and, yes, shed the odd tear, as the long cavalcade of coaches and cars left for the airport. the embassy released pictures of a reception last friday, in honour of the 23 departing officials accused by britain of being undeclared intelligence officers, forced to swap the attractions of london diplomacy for a new and perhaps different life in moscow.

at stanstead, the russian ambassador shook the hands of the departing officials, spouses and children, as they boarded the aircraft home. his embassy said, in all, about 80 people were leaving, in what is the biggest expulsion of russian diplomats from britain since the cold war. in a tweet, he bade farewell to his colleagues, after what he called ‘the hostile move of the uk government'. morning! what's our next move against the russians? today, ministers gathered to decide what britain should do next. russia's already announced that 23 british diplomats must leave moscow by the weekend. and the decision was to impose no further sanctions on russia — at least, for now. the government clearly wants to keep up international pressure and not get sucked into a bilateral tit—for—tat row with moscow. today, the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, confirmed that the former russian intelligence officer sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, have been in a coma since they were poisoned

two weeks ago. this afternoon, the russian plane carrying its diplomatic cargo finally took off from moscow. this weekend, british diplomats will travel in the opposite direction. james landale, bbc news. a two—year—old girl has died after the car she was in plunged into a river in wales. kiara moore was pulled from the vehicle in the water in cardigan. police officers say they're investigating the incident and have appealed for witnesses. from cardigan, tomos morgan reports. 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. it's understood that two—year—old kiara was left in the silver mini while a family member went into offices nearby. by the time the family member returned, the car had disappeared.

the police were contacted and a search was under way. they believed the car had been stolen. it later transpired that the car was in the river teifi, just yards away. the toddler was airlifted to the university hospital of wales in cardiff, but doctors were unable to revive her. young families in the town today have been paying their own tributes by laying flowers by the river. she was a very lively little girl. very smiley. a cheeky little smile she had all the time. she... her and her mum were always together, always fun days out. and, she had a happy little life. a short life, but a happy little life. commenting on facebook, kiara's father, jet moore, thanked the work of the emergency services, whilst also paying tribute to his daughter saying she had "an amazing but short life." it's unclear as to how the mini came

to be in the river teifi. as family and friends mourn the loss of young kiara, the investigation into exactly what happened continues. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardigan. the headlines on bbc news: the british company accused of influencing the us presidential election by using facebook data, suspends its ceo. an raf engineer has died after a red arrows hawkjet crashed in anglesey. the pilot survived and is receiving medical care. 23 russian diplomats leave the uk, after they were expelled by the prime minister in the wake of the salisbury poisoning. those are the headlines. let's get the sport now. jose mourinho will be enjoying the fact this week's about international football with a difficult few days that preceded it. first, an astonishing reaction

to manchester united going out of the champions league, and then after their fa cup win at the weekend, he reserved his strongest criticism for united left back luke shaw. it's led to some questioning whether his management style is out of date. but one of shaw's teammates ashley young has backed his manager's handling of the club's turbulent week. i won't comment on the luke shaw situation. it's obviously between the manager and the player. but for me, likewise, the manager has been successful at every club he has been out. i don't think he'd be successful if he didn't know how to handle players. when he wants us to work, and as players, you know and you go out on the pitch to train hard and work hard in games. when you can laugh and joke, you laugh and joke. he has both sides to him. meanwhile, another left back ryan bertrand has withdrawn from the england squad for their two friendlies against the netherlands and italy.

the southampton defender has a back problem. professor richard mclaren — the author of the key report into russian state—sponsored doping — believes theraputic use exemptions shouldn't be scrapped in sport. but in an exclusive interview with the bbc correspondent david 0rnstein professor mclaren did say that tues‘s are being abused. i wouldn't necessarily go and say it is a crisis, but it is an area that needs address. the tue system works differently in different parts of the world as well. that depends on who the medical practitioners are that provide and approve of these. wada has a regulatory control, because they can reject the issuing of a tue, but they don't do that very often. in fact, the system is too big and there are too many tues. heather watson is out of the miami 0pen tennis after losing in the first round. the british number two was beaten by brazil's beatriz haddad maia,

who's ranked eight places higher than watson in the world rankings in straight sets. defending championjohanna konta has a bye into round two. england scrum half danny care admits the team "let the fans down" down" in their dismal six nations campaign. england finished fifth in the table after losing their final three matches, compounded at twickenham on saturday as ireland won the grand slam. pundits have called for widespread changes within the england setup, but speaking on 5 live's rugby union weekly, care said the situation is a positive wake up call for the team. if we had won another six nations and won another game, we would be on a cloud and think everything is great. as players, it has been a tough last eight weeks. we have trained incredibly hard, and not to see the results we have been seeing, we have been spoilt with the wins and the manner of wins we have had. in the last couple of years, decisions have gone

our way, bounces of the ball had gone our way, and this year for whatever reason, it didn't. now we have to look at ourselves and work out how to get better, but the one thing we have do is stick together. billyjoe saunders' wbo middleweight title defence against fellow englishman martin murray has been postponed until june. champion saunders injured his hand while training. the fight, which was scheduled for 14 april at london's o2 arena, is now set to take place on 23june at the same venue. after a false start last year, is looks likely that baseball will be coming to london next summer. the new york yankees and boston red sox are "very close" to agreeing a deal to play two regular season major league games at the london stadium, west ham's home ground. plans to host 2019 cricket world cup matches there won't be affected. that's all your sport now. much more coming up at10:30. the parents of a six—year—old boy with a rare form of epilepsy, who have been campaigning for him to be allowed to use medicinal

cannabis, have been told they will be granted a licence on compassionate grounds. alfie dingley wasjoined by his family and the actor sir patrick stewart as they handed in a petition at downing street earlier today. his parents say cannabis oil, which is illegal even for medical use in the uk, will help control his seizures. we presented our petition number 10 downing street this afternoon. we were asked in, which we did not know was going to happen, so that was wonderful. we met with minister hurd and our own mp, jeremy wright, and the prime minister also came in to say hello, which was very nice of her to make the time off the diary. this is very positive. there is still a lot of work to be done. the home office is saying they are happy to accept an application from our medical team and, once that's done, they will expedite it. they are not saying the outcome of that licence application, because they can't, because there is a process to be done. but we are very positive that they are willing to accept this application.

they are encouraging us to do that because they want this to be resolved as quickly as possible. the rate of inflation dropped sharply last month, from 3 to 2.7%. the price of petrol and food played a key part in the fall. economists believe it will ease the pressure on the bank of england to raise interest rates. here's our economics editor kamal ahmed. mixing in a new ingredient, after over a year of rising inflation, today better news, a fall, as food costs ease and fuel costs drop. inflation can often start here, firms that make the stuff we buy. if their costs are cut, then prices for us often go the same way. there's not many costs that are coming down down, but the two things we have identified are distribution costs for us. we've definitely seen those ease off, but also in digital and technology. a bit more upbeat maybe. were people in east london though feeling the effects quite yet? all the necessities you need to live, nothing's

cheap — gas, electric. you spend more day—to—day on things that are going up than what you go to buy that's going down. for millions of people, today's fall in inflation brings into sharp focus one of the most important issues facing the uk economy. that income squeeze, prices rising faster than wages, leaving people worse off month by month. today, a glimmer of hope. with inflation easing and wage rises strengthening, could that income squeeze be coming to an end this year? before 2017 wages were rising faster than prices, meaning that people were slightly better off each month. then last year that reversed, inflation rose quickly following the brexit referendum, which saw a fall in the value of the pound and an increase in the price of imports. now the pound is stronger, inflation is falling

and wages are catching up. could those lines cross in 2018? the impact of the fall in the pound of course meant that imported inflation was quite high. that effect is fading. increasingly now, we're seeing inflation coming from domestic sources. so, higher wage growth in particular is driving up costs. inflation risk has not drained away and wage growth will keep mind focused at the bank. its signalled that it will raise interest rates in the next few months to control any future price rises. kamal ahmed, bbc news. a 45—year—old male northern white wine and has died in kenya. he was the last of his kind in the world. sudan, was in poor health and was put down on monday after his condition worsened significantly. his daughter and grand—daughter

are the only female northern white rhinos left, which means that species is now on the brink of extinction. from kenya, alistair leithead reports. and then there were two — the last remaining northern white rhinos on earth, now that the last male, sudan, has died of old age. a subspecies of rhino ever closer to extinction. one is najin, 27 years old, sudan's daughter, the other is fatu, his teenage granddaughter. the last of what was once a great species that roamed central africa. this was sudan and for the last few years scientists and conservationists have been trying to get him to mate. they even put the 45—year—old on tinder as part of a publicity campaign. there was no other animal quite like him. it highlights first and foremost the fact that human greed and sometimes human activities that are not controlled can drive species to extinction.

the last wild northern white rhinos were seen here in garamba national park, in the northern democratic republic of congo, but that was many years ago. they became extinct in the wild in 2008. well, fatu and najin are now the last two remaining northern white rhinos, and obviously they're both females. they are here under armed guard 24—hours a day, such is the continuing threat to these animals from poachers. they're now incredibly rare. there are only 30,000 rhinos left on the planet and sudan was unusual for his kind, in that he died of old age. now it's up to the scientists and a never before tried fertility treatment in a last gasp effort to save these animals from extinction. alastair leithead, bbc news, in northern kenya. in a moment, it will be time for world news america. but first, a look at

the weather with matt taylor. good evening. first day of the astronomical spring today, and to go with it, many areas saw a fair amount of sunshine. certainly, a splendid afternoon across parts of scotland, blue skies overhead. whereas across parts of england and wales, after a bright enough start, a lot of cloud around sat in central areas throughout. it stayed dry in northampton, but one or two sore spots of rain or sleet. tomorrow, things switch around. weather is set to come across the atlantic. you can see the cloud creeping towards us. it means the clear breaks across scotland and northern ireland today will drift southwards across england and wales. clearing skies here, temperatures dropping further, after initial frost in scotland and northern ireland, rain spreads to the hebrides, western areas will be frost free into the morning. a touch of frost to eastern parts of scotland, but widely frosty across england and wales. as for the coldest conditions, through the west midlands, wales, maybe north—west england, “11 or —6 in the morning. a chilly morning commute,

but a lovely crisp and bright one for much of england and wales. any early mist and fog will clear, good sunny spells, clouding through the day, but it stays dry. further north, morning brightness across northern england, eastern scotland, but already cloudy western scotland, northern ireland, with occasional rain. that will come and go through the day, a heavier burst on the hills, spreading towards parts of cumbria, northern england and north wales later on. the odd spot of rain in the east of scotland. cloud breaks in the afternoon, the cricket 12 degrees in aberdeenshire. england and wales after that, a chilly start. 7—10, but it will still feel cold in northern england with cloud in place. but even here, mild air in place for thursday. you can see it pushed in off the atlantic. it cools down a touch by the end of the week, but wind off the atlantic, so not as cold as we started with. after patchy rain through the night into thursday, it brightens up in eastern areas, clouding over in the west with outbreaks of rain later in the day, strong gale force

winds through the day. double figure temperatures, 12, 13, maybe 1a in parts of scotland and eastern england. rain across the country through thursday night into friday. good, long sunny spells, but showers get going in the west. in the south, heavy with hail and fund, fairly blustery day by and large, longer spells of rain pushing into western scotland and the north of northern ireland later. temperatures still, though, into double figures. this is bbc world news america... reporting from washington, i'm laura trevelyan. a fifth package explodes in texas. is it linked to the bombs in austin? the president vows to track down those responsible. these are sick people and we will get to the bottom of it. meanwhile the saudi crown prince is welcomed to the white house by the president. the two speak on rising tensions with iran. and... the last male northern white rhino in the world is gone,

leaving his daughter and granddaughter as the only ones of their kind. welcome to our viewers on public television in america