this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 11:00: 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. heading home — 23 russian diplomats leave their embassy, ordered out of the uk in the wake of the salisbury poisoning. a new report on parental leave says the men are not taking much of it and leave looking after the children with mum. we will ask whether we will ever reach a point where mums and dads treat parenting the same. good evening and welcome to bbc news.

the social media giant facebook is under growing pressure to explain the measures it's taking to secure the personal data of its two billion users worldwide. it's facing investigations by the us federal trade commission, the uk's information commissioner, the european parliament and a house of commons committee. it all follows allegations that information on millions of facebook members was used for political purposes by the british firm, cambridge analytica. that firm's chief executive, alexander nix, was suspended earlier this evening. our business editor simonjack reports. 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 are in a relationship, what are our political leanings, this can all be gathered and used. cambridge analytica is a company which does exactly that and it is at the centre of a political storm that has

rocked one of the biggest companies in the world. it started with an app designed by a british academic that invited facebook users to do a personality test. 270,000 people downloaded the app, it collected personal information on them, theirfriends, theirfriends‘ friends and so on until it had information on 50 million facebook users. that data was passed to cambridge analytica, who 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 had 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 the 7th of march, i issued a demand for information from cambridge. they did not comply with that, so now i am moving ahead to seek a warrant so that i can search premises and data. the company worked on donald trump's election campaign and secret filming

by channel 4 news shows cambridge analytica's boss boasting about the role they played in his victory. the company denies any wrongdoing. the company says mr nix's comments did not represent the values of the firm and it has now suspended him pending their own investigation. whether this tiny consultancy was really involved in influencing the us presidential election, there is an old adage, in digital marketing which says if the service you are getting is free, then you are the product. served up to advertisers who are convinced that highly targeted messages constructed around detailed personal information really works. facebook is also right under the microscope. it too denies any wrongdoing. the us federal trade commission

has launched a probe into the company and has the power to levy colossal fines. the company has seen $50 billion wiped off its value in just the last two days. so, could this scandal mark a moment of reckoning for the way we share and companies use our personal data? i think for the first time, things that people suspected have surfaced thanks to the testimony of whistle—blowers. now we are finally seeing that the leaders of these companies are being called to testify in front of parliaments. they are 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 is going to incentivise change. the facts of our lives are valuable. facebook founder mark zuckerberg has built a fortune out of them. politicians on both sides of the atlantic want him personally to explain how they are used. the royal air force has announced that a member of its red arrows

aerobatic team has died in a crash in north wales. the engineer was killed when a hawkjet came down near the raf valley base on anglesey, earlier this afternoon. the pilot, who is injured and receiving medical care, managed to eject. there are no details about the cause of the crash, as our wales correspondent sian lloyd reports. the remains of the hawk fastjet, which crashed within minutes of taking off from raf valley. two members of the red arrows display team were on board. plumes of smoke were captured by people walking on the nearby sand dunes. later, confirmation came that a crew member had died. 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.

an air ambulance arrived within 20 minutes of the tragedy taking place, and fire crews were quickly at the scene. as night fell, the investigation continued. peter glover saw what happened from his nearby caravan. the canopy come off, i saw a chute open, and the plane just hit the ground — severely hit the ground — and a massive bang, then a bowl of smoke. the red arrows aerobatics team are famous for their displays. the two crew members had been training on anglesey, and the jet was returning to its base at raf scampton in lincolnshire, when it came down. we're not expecting any further details to emerge of what happened until well into tomorrow, but tonight, the thoughts of those here and across the service with the families of the two people involved in this crash. sian lloyd, bbc news, raf valley. twenty—three russian diplomats and their families have left the uk

after they were expelled in the wake of the salisbury poisoning attack. they left on a plane bound for moscow this afternoon, as theresa may chaired a meeting of the national security council. ministers have again accused russia of involvement in the attempted murder of former spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia. this report from our diplomatic correspondent james landale contains some flashing images. 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. in a tweet, the russian ambassador bade farewell to his colleagues, after what he called ‘the hostile move of the uk government'.

at stansted, the ambassador stood at the aircraft steps to shake the hands of the 23 departing diplomats accused by britain of being undeclared intelligence officers. his embassy said that with spouses and children, about 80 people were leaving in total in what's the biggest expulsion of russian diplomats from britain since the cold war. this afternoon, the russian plane carrying its diplomatic cargo finally took off for moscow. this weekend, british diplomats will travel in the opposite direction. today, the foreign secretary boris johnson confirmed that the former russian intelligence officers sergei skripal and his daughter yulia have been in a coma since they were poisoned two weeks ago. morning! what's our next move against the russians? ministers gathered to decide what britain should do next. russia's already announced that 23 british diplomats must leave moscow by the weekend. in the end, the government decided

not to impose further sanctions on russia. it wants to avoid a bilateral tit—for—tat row and instead keep up the european and international pressure on moscow. a task made harder today by the european commission president jean—claude juncker controversially writing to president putin congratulating him on his re—election. james langdale, bbc news in downing street. a 2—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 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 is understood the

year—old kiara moore was left in the minibarafamily member year—old kiara moore was left in the minibar a family member went into offices nearby. by the time the family member returned to the car had disappeared. the police were contacted and a search warrants under way. they believe the car was tolera nt under way. they believe the car was tolerant in later transpired 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. families have been paying tributes by laying flowers by the river. she was a very lively little girl. very smiley. a cheeky little girl. very smiley. a cheeky little smile she had all the time. her and her mother were always today together. and she had a happy little light. a short life but a happy little life. commenting on facebook, yarra's father thanked the services and pay tribute to his daughter say

she had an amazing but short—lived. it is still unclear how they came to be in the river teifi. as family and friends mourn the loss of young kiara moore, the investigation about what happened continues. there's been a bigger than expected fall in the rate of inflation — the latest figures show that prices rose by 2.7% last month, compared with 3% injanuary. a small drop in petrol prices and a slower rise in the cost of food were some of the factors cited, as our economics editor, kamal ahmed, explains. mixing in a new ingredient, after over a year of rising inflation, today better news — the rate is falling, 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,

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. 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, the rate of 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 minds focused at the bank of england. it's signalled that it will raise interest rates in the next few months to control any future price rises. kamal ahmed, bbc news. now it's time for newsnight with evan davis. facebook faces the wrath of regulators and customers in multiple countries. its reputation has sunk, along with its share price, and a business plan based on liberal sharing of data may be under threat. is the cambridge analytica scandal a watershed moment in our relation with facebook,

and other silicon valley giants? i don't know whether cambridge analytica had a significant effect on the trump election. i don't know whether they had a significant effect on brexit. i do know that the systems that have been developed by facebook give this capability and make this something that is possible to happen in the future. we'll hear from senatorjohn kennedy, no relation, who thinks data is the new oil. also tonight, john sweeney dusts down an old kgb handbook to find out why the russians might have used a london based professor as an alleged conduit between trump and the kremlin. international conferences and seminars are great for recruiting. stuffed with clever academic scientists and business people, they're the perfect place to, quote, "get information" and influence foreigners. and shared parental leave... men are apparently, generously still leaving

the bigger share to women. but are fathers secretly just dying to give up the office for the nappy? for me, it's really a family time, quality time, you know. so, it's very good. i love it, actually. yeah. we'll ask if men really think it's so great, why aren't more doing it? hello. the controversial political data intelligence firm cambridge analytica has suspended its chief executive.