hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. russia's ambassador to london says britain has produced no evidence of moscow's involvement in the salisbury poisoning. nobody has the right to insult the russian people who defeated nazism and lost more than 25 million people by comparing our country to nazi germany. theresa may is to urge eu leaders in brussels to stand together in the face of a threat from russia. i'm christian fraser live at the leaders summit in brochure, russia, turrets and brexit on the menu. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. as advertisers threaten to pull out of facebook — an apology from mark zuckerburg — who admitted the company had made mistakes over the cambridge analytica scandal. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport...

a recordbrea ker. a recordbreaker. history for gareth bale becoming welsh record goal—scorer in a massive 6—0 win over china, some massive goals to show you at half—past. thanksjess, and thomasz has all the weather — a weather breaker. i will give you an update on the cold weather heading our way for easter, a couple of changes on the way. we will discuss that. also coming up... seeing red — the british company which currently makes uk passports loses the contract. after brexit the new traditional, blue and gold — passport will be made in france. hello everyone, this is afternoon live.

iam simon i am simon mccoy. the war of words between britain and russia has heated up even more — plunging relations between the two countries into the deep freeze. russia's ambassador to london has condemned boris johnson's comparing russia's hosting of the world cup with adolf hitler's 1936 olympics. alexander ya kovenko called boris johnson's comments totally irresponsible. he added that britain has no proof that his country was behind the poisoning of a double agent and his daughter. theresa may is in brussels this afternoon — to urge european unity against russia, in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent naomi grimley reports. theresa may is off on a diplomatic mission to get eu countries to back her tough stance on russia. at a summit in brussels, this is what she will tell her european counterparts. ever since the nerve agent attack in salisbury

at the start of this month, relations with russia seem to have worsened by the day. yesterday they took another dip after the foreign secretary agreed there was a parallel between president putin hosting the world cup and hitler hosting the 1936 olympics. yes, i think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right. this morning the russian ambassador speaking to the british media said that had been irresponsible. the british government is free to make a decision about its participation in the world cup, but nobody has the right to insult the russian people, who defeated nazism and lost more than 25 million people, by comparing our country to nazi germany. that goes beyond common sense, and we do not think british war veterans, including those

of the arctic convoys, would share this opinion. and he questioned the uk's version of events in salisbury. britain has, without any evidence, blamed russia of poisoning three people and continues to refuse to cooperate. we cannot accept that. meanwhilejeremy corbyn was urging the government here to concentrate on serious dialogue. i'm not sure the language used by some of our ministers is particularly helpful or sensible. i don't have any problem with the people of russia, or the people of any country. do we have problems with people who abuse human rights? sure we do, and you have to draw that distinction. with three people still in hospital in salisbury, britain wants to seek unequivocal support from its european allies, and with britain heading out of the eu in a year's time,

today will be a particular test of theresa may's clout on the world stage. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins was at the ambassador‘s briefing and joins me now... he was diplomatic of course he was but there was anger there. there was, he was quoting directly from instructions he had given and had been given from moscow for what to say over the issue of world cup being compared to the berlin olympics of 1936, these words, if you like, the ambassador‘s own words but at other parts of the conference he took completely different stance, he took completely different stance, he denied russia as a state had anything to do with the attack in salisbury and he complained britain ought to be allowing the russian state to get involved with the investigation because one of the

victims of the attack yulia skripal is herself a russian citizen. it's clear from british officials they think it's absurd for the russians to be actively involved in the police investigation when theresa may has made clear she thinks russia is the prime suspect, possibly the only suspect. but for all words is bound to go on but you really can't see an end i think at the moment to this war of words and to the worsening of relations. it all hinges on one word and he used to, thatis hinges on one word and he used to, that is proof. yes, it does, the russians have come up with a lot of different responses come up once again today the ambassador in london echoed some of the language that was used by the russian ambassador to the european union at the weekend, suggesting there was something sinister about the fact this attack took place within a few miles of porton down, the british military

research establishment were of course research into chemical wa rfa re course research into chemical warfare has gone on. he left the indication hanging that perhaps of course the british state, not the russian state was responsible in some way for the attack, but something that has been absolutely rejected as absurd by the british side. this is, of course, a war of counter narratives but written makes clear it thinks it's got its narrative completely straight, evidence —based, intelligence —based, and british officials like to point out the russians have come up to point out the russians have come up with a huge number of counter narratives, even blaming other countries including but not limited to the czech republic, slovakia, sweden, as being in somehow some way indicated. allegations those countries have rejected. james, we keep being told we are not in a cold war but it is feeling very cold? keep being told we are not in a cold war but it is feeling very cold7m is, and after all, senior british officials are now talking openly

about russia as a strategic enemy rather than once as a strategic partner. and i think we know from what theresa may is going to say, the sort of support she is going to seek from european union colleagues in brussels, that she considers that relations are getting substantially worse and as she puts it, this is a long—term challenge, for britain regards as russia's serial our behaviour represents a threat not just to britain, but of course the com plete just to britain, but of course the complete alliance of western democracies. james robbins, good to hear you. the inquest into the death of the russian businessman nikolai glushkov has opened and adjourned in west london. mr glushkov, who was 68, was found apparently strangled at his home in new malden. police have begun a murder inquiry and are appealing for anyone with possible images of the area to come forward. the prime minister theresa may will urge european unity against russia at an eu summit in brussels later — in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent christian fraser is in brussels. it's a fairly packed agenda? yes it

is and they will be talking this afternoon about trade, some apprehension that steel and aluminium tariffs in the united states might be coming their way, hoping for an exemption, donald trump keeping them waiting until the last. the trade commission are just back from washington, she is going to be talking to the 28 leaders this afternoon about what she has heard from wilbur ross, the commerce secretary in washington, whether they can expect this exemption but this evening it will be about russia, theresa may arrived in the past hour, the british side had been doing quite a bit in the background, the british national security adviser you yesterday, talking to various countries about intelligence they have gathered and the 23 diplomats they have expelled, this is what theresa may had to say she came into the building just some moments ago. russia staged a brazen

and reckless attack against the united kingdom when it attempted the murder of two people on the streets of salisbury. i will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it's clear the russian threat is not respect orders, and indeed, the incident in salisbury was part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours from the western balkans to the middle east. now, today, obviously, we also commemorate the anniversary is of terrorist attacks in westminster and brussels and as we remember the victims of those attacks, i will once again be stressing the united kingdom's unconditional commitment to the future security of europe and i believe together, we can work to ensure we overcome the challenges that we all face. i'm also, just, i will also talk about brexit, i'm looking forward to talking about brexit, we have made a considerable chunk... progress on the agreement

of the intimidation period which will bring certainty to businesses and people and i look forward to the european council in dawson that agreement and moving on swiftly to talk about the future partnership that we all want to build together. inaudible. what i will be talking about today is not just what happened on the streets of salisbury but the fact we do see this as part ofa but the fact we do see this as part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours, as i said from the western balkans to the middle east. this is a subject we have discussed before and i look forward to further discussions with my european colleagues and i am grateful for the solidarity and support they have shown the united kingdom. the tap on the shoulder during that interview wasjean—claude the shoulder during that interview was jean—claude juncker, the european commission president, some eyebrows raised in brussels about the message he sent to president vladimir putin offering his warm congratulations, he was asked about it, he said take a look at that

statement you got from the german chancellor angela merkel who offered her a warm congratulations to the russian president. let's bring in nigel farage who has joined russian president. let's bring in nigel farage who hasjoined me, nice to see you, they've all gone in, she is looking for a statement of solidarity from the european leaders, she might be a little frustrated that the one person who is prevaricating is donald trump. you may say donald trump, you may sayjean—claude you may say donald trump, you may say jean—claude juncker, you may you may say donald trump, you may sayjean—claude juncker, you may say the germans, initially the french government were critical of a rush tojudgement, government were critical of a rush to judgement, don't forget government were critical of a rush tojudgement, don't forget ineptly, the two parties that succeeded in those elections are both actually remarkably pro—russian and you could argue the same for the great government as well. i've no doubt later there will be some big, strong statements about solidarity with britain and it is a terrible mistake to leave but it's worth remembering, since we voted on exit, the european union has made it clear they want a foreign policy but that member state beadle, full harmony and they are still intent on eastward expansion andl still intent on eastward expansion and i would want to hear mr macro

said we value our european friends supporting us during a difficult time but we're not going to be part of this european foreign holocene. —— mr macro. of this european foreign holocene. -- mr macro. when you bring countries together you get different interests, greece, germany have different interests, the baltic states more concerned about russian interference and they come together. they do because in the end there is one spokesman that speaks for everybody and nobody, nobody at a summer everybody and nobody, nobody at a summerlike everybody and nobody, nobody at a summer like this wants to break rank with everyone else. the truth is there a great divisions in the european union and attitudes towards russia are just one of them. let's talk about brexit, they will turn to that tomorrow, it's likely they will green light the transition agreement which has been inked in green, can you live in the transition agreement? we did not vote for transition, we voted to leave, we we re transition, we voted to leave, we were told by david cameron article 50 would trigger the next day, we've learned since the civil service did not preparatory work which maybe

explains why it took nine months to trigger article 50 but let's be clear, once that was triggered that two—year period was the transition phase, the fact that can has been kicked down the road for a further 21 months minimum, and not very happy about. those who support transition would say better to expend the energy on the final deal, the prize for brexiteers rather than ona the prize for brexiteers rather than on a bus book transition deal, let's get it out of the way and focus on the real game. follow that logic when we get to the end of 21 months will be told another couple of years. at some point if you made a decision to change direction at some point you have to grasp the nettle and get on with it. you were throwing haddock into the river yesterday, the fishing deal, there are only 0.05%... yesterday, the fishing deal, there are only 0.0596. .. that's why yesterday, the fishing deal, there are only 0.0596... that's why put out, shall we? let's forget... let's ride of the coastal communities and make sure goldman sachs bankers are all we can abide. i'm really tired of this argument. symbolically nothing represents 70 more than the

reclamation of territorial waters andl reclamation of territorial waters and i genuinely believe fishing is the acid test of exit, they promises we re the acid test of exit, they promises were made when we left the european union we would take back control of out union we would take back control of our waters, they haven't done, not even giving us assurances that the end ofa even giving us assurances that the end of a further 21 months... the concern is the treasury sea fishing is something to trade in exchange for financial services, it is the treasury pushing this. in many ways you are right, we sold fisheries out on the way into the european project, we are selling them out on the way out as well. that miazga about one other thing, the company in gateshead, bidding to print the new british passport, the new blue british passport and some reports today suggesting it might be going today suggesting it might be going toa today suggesting it might be going to a franco dutch firm. under european law we are supposed to do the countries the same as our own and the other only country that does thatis and the other only country that does that is the uk, the french insist they print their own passports and they print their own passports and the security reasons for doing so,

we are talking about symbolism, but brexit represents, she beat being done by a british company. nigel thrashed, thank you for coming to speak with us, lots of other people coming to the balcony over the next few days. —— should be being done. —— nigel farage. in terms of the statement, simon, ithink —— nigel farage. in terms of the statement, simon, i think we will get slightly stronger language, the foreign ministers last monday said they were very concerned and to it very seriously what happened in salisbury, we might the elevated to extremely serious tonight and of course you will get the statement from the leaders which will count for more in the eyes of russia but as nigel for icejust said, you will not see direct attribution towards russia not until the opc w have concluded their investigations. christian. thank you. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines the war of words sparked by the salisbury poisoning intensifies —

russia's ambassador to the uk accuses boris johnson of insulting the russian people on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year in a moment..the duchess of cambridge carries out her final official engagement today before going on maternity leave. gareth bale becomes wells record goal—scorer in a match against russia in which six goals were scored. zlatan ibrahimovic is set to leave manchester united and speculation he is going to la galaxy and england cricket head coach trevor bayliss describes his players as the deer in headlights as they colla pse as the deer in headlights as they collapse at 58—0 in the first test match against new zealand. iwobi back with more on those just after half past. —— i will be back.

a two minute's silence has been held to mark one year since the westminster terrorist attack. five people were killed, as khalid masood drove into pedestrians on westminster bridge, before stabbing pc keith palmer outside the houses of parliament. the prime minister has laid a wreath in parliament square — and a memorial has been created to remember all the victims of the three terrorist attacks in the capital last year. helena lee reports. a year ago today, terror came to the heart of british democracy. the everyday routine of westminster shattered. an islamic extremist drove onto the pavement on westminster bridge and mowed down pedestrians before stabbing to death pc keith palmer at the gates of parliament. he was then killed by armed police. colleagues, we shall now observe a one—minute's silence in respectful memory of those who died a year ago today. this morning, mps

paid their respects. and this lunchtime, a service of prayer and reflection was held in westminster hall. goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death. victory is ours through him who loves us. stories of remarkable selflessness emerged from the day, the mp who rushed to save the stabbed policeman said it was important never to give in to terrorism. we mustn't let the terrorist win. if we allow ourselves to be tortured in this way, they succeed. if we allow our communities to fragment, the terrorist succeeds. we need to be emboldened, empowered, to be stronger to say actually we are not going to be

affected by this. we are going to stand up to it and endure. a friend and colleague of the fallen policeman described the scene. we didn't know at the time whether it was described as a lone wolf attack or multi marauding attack with loads of people coming in through parliament. mass confusion really. eventually one of my friends came over and said, who was it? who is the officer on the floor? he said it is your friend keith. terrible. it is great that he's been honoured in the last few months for the bravery awards and the things he has done, i would sooner still have him here beside me. people deserve them awards and merits and things when they are alive.

people on westminster bridge were also killed, andreea cristea from romania was one of them. her sister has spoken of her loss. there are moments when we take the phone to call her or to write on the messenger. we spend our whole time together, and now all of this doesn't make any sense. it is not the same thing and it won't be the same. westminster bridge marks the first of a wave of terrorist attacks last year. britain will mark more anniversaries like today for all of those who lost their lives and were injured, and with the current threat level at severe, they may not be the last. emergency services are dealing with

a majorfire at emergency services are dealing with a major fire at glasgow city centre. it's believed the blaze started at around 8am this morning. there are no reports of fatalities. surrounding streets have been sealed off. from washington, chris barker reports. into the scandal surrounding cambridge analytica and facebook. facebook contains a world of personal information. more than two billion users have entrusted it with details including their age, whether they are in a relationship, and, perhaps crucially, their political leanings. cambridge analytica, and potentially other firms, are accused of exploiting that data in an attempt to influence, among other things, the us presidential election. and ultimately for that breach in trust, facebook and its founder

are having to take responsibility. if you'd told me in 2004 when i was getting started with facebook that a big part of my responsibility today would be to help protect the integrity of elections against interference by other governments, you know, i wouldn't have really believed that that was going to be something i would have to work on. for days, mark zuckerberg was silent while damaging allegations were broadcast around the world of how cambridge analytica took advantage of information from facebook users. now he is promising a full forensic audit, and he says that anyone whose data may have been compromised will be told. but mr zuckerberg knows his social network will continue to be tested by those looking to exploit it. there's a lot of hard work that we need to do to make it harder for nation states like russia to do election interference, to make it so that trolls and other

folks can't spread fake news, but we can get in front of this and we have a responsibility to do this. not only for the 2018 midterms in the us, which are going to be a huge deal this year and that's just a huge focus of us, but there's a big election in india this year, there's a big election in brazil, there are big elections around the world. politicians in both the uk and the us also have questions for mark zuckerberg. he said he would appear before congress in america if it was the right thing to do, and with talk of greater regulation and new rules, the face of facebook may find he has little choice. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. a man from south london has been found not all the blowing his daughter to undergo female genital mutilation. the man who can't be named for legal reasons was accused of carrying out the procedure to

2010 and 2013. our correspondent is outside the old bailey. and just remind us of this case. this was a case that dates back to 2009, 2030 team, the nine—year—old girl who gave evidence at the old bailey said she had been cut on two separate occasions and she said it happened at home as she lay on a mat, she said she was cut very deeply and that the abuse lasted for about ten minutes, she told the court she was unable to identify the person responsible for cutting her but she said it happened. herfather who was accused of organising this female genital mutilation gave a very highly charged account, a highly charged emotional defence, saying he could not harm his daughter and that he was not responsible and the jury here, the eight women and four meant to just over here, the eight women and four meant tojust over six here, the eight women and four meant

to just over six hours to reach a majority verdict and cleared him of all the charges. female genital mutilation has been illegal here the in ukfor mutilation has been illegal here the in uk for more than 30 years, but campaigners said thousands of women and girls are still at risk of ying abused in this way and it is a practice that happens in other parts of the world. thank you. let's have a look at the weather. it isa it is a snow devil. it is something called... i was looking at the bbc weather twitter page and they treated it if you minutes ago but it looks dramatic. i saw one thing i was a teenager in poland, not quite as amazing as this, the similar principle, you mentioned the devil,

there is such a thing as a dust devil, in hot summer months, when its dusty and dry, you get hot arising, similar principle. you were suggesting we may get a return, the beast from the east might overstay, but mike called again. yes, the latest computer results, from overnight. and the idea of the being called has been more less enforced, iam going called has been more less enforced, i am going to show you a couple of ideas of the current thinking is. it's probably going to arrive a little bit sooner than we thought, yesterday we thought it would be the easter period, friday, saturday, sunday, monday, wednesday and thursday, thirsty time, the cold air might arrive and it's kind of coming from all directions from the arctic, from all directions from the arctic, from western parts of russia and scandinavia, kind of zipping around all the way into southeastern parts of europe. but is late next week

from round about the thirsty time. and then we get into easter and before i go to the easter period, what does all of this mean, ford would that ring? it means we would see wintry showers across northern areas and it will be called, single figure temperatures, coats, hats, gloves, let's go into the easter period and this is truly an easterly, this would be beast from the east par three. the problem is there will be milder air out in the atla ntic there will be milder air out in the atlantic trying to tuck back in again. and science tells us when you have milder air clashing with cold airon the have milder air clashing with cold air on the boundary zone you get clouds forming, possibly snow, could be reined in the south, could be snow, but the idea of this remaining into april, possibly the first week of april is there as well, and you

could be talking about a prolonged period of cold weather, starting from thirsty and lasting more or less into the first week of april, could ease and come back more i think we were talking about southern stratospheric warming explained on the website, anybody that wants to know about that. that happened back in february and we are still kind of feeling the effect of that until now. it doesn't look great. as you say, the blue arrows for lack of a meteorological term, they are coming straight from the arctic. these ones are coming out of western parts of russia, parts of central europe could have some snow as well, i want to emphasise one thing, it can happen that computer models even overnight might change from one idea to the other but the fact we are seeing day after day this message, that means there could be some colder weather to come. bia where this may be coming. yes, precisely.

what about in the more immediate future? not bad at all, 16 degrees in western, eastern parts of scotland, the next 26 hours will see rain sweeping through, at the moment when you see the weather pattern is across the atlantic, this is what we normally see, the progression from west to the east, nothing coming out of the east at this stage, we have oui’ of the east at this stage, we have our usual weather front sweeping across the uk, ring through tonight, i think by the end of tonight, early on friday, this has made the heaviest of the rain falling across northern areas. heaviest across scotla nd northern areas. heaviest across scotland and northern ireland. rain and 5 degrees at this time in the morning is not nice, this is what it looks like through friday, most of the showers and rain across northern parts of the country and the south looking like it will be bright, through the afternoon and not bad,

13 degrees in london and norwich, in the fire south—west, this area of low pressure coming in, turning things a little on the website later. for the west country, you can see some wet weather clearing away from scotland. friday night, the top and tail of the country will get some rain. here is the weekend. looking a little mix of whether, not an awful lot of rain, here is the jet stream, what i'm trying to explain is that the jet stream weather front that brings rain looks like rain and wind superhighway, bypassing us, that means there is not a lot of rain ran through the weekend, might be some spots in the south on saturday, some showers in scotla nd south on saturday, some showers in scotland a little bit fresher on saturday, that's because the wind is coming from the north west, cooler source rather than what we have right now.

i think there will be some bright, sunny weather. the sun is powerful at this time of year. scotland, there may be a few wintry showers. early next week it looks fairly mild foot of the took out monday, tuesday and wednesday looks fine. wednesday into thursday can that is when we could see the onset of this cold weather heading our way. nothing for definite at this stage. this is bbc news.

our latest headlines. the war of words sparked by the salisbury poisoning intensifies. russia's ambassador to the uk accuses boris johnson of insulting the russian people. theresa may is to urge eu leaders in brussels to stand together in the face of a threat from russia. what i will be talking about today is not just what i will be talking about today is notjust what happened on the streets of salisbury but the fact that we do see this as part of the passion of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours. as advertisers threaten to pull out of facebook, an apology from mark zuckerburg, who admitted the company made mistakes over the cambridge analytica scandal. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. if you are an england cricket fan, look away now. we are talking about

oui’ look away now. we are talking about our baleful he has broken an amazing record. he has just our baleful he has broken an amazing record. he hasjust become the greatest ever goal—scorer for wales was he got a brilliant hat—trick against china in a 6—0 win. when you consider how much he has been hampered by injury, his first goal in particular is vintage. he is off—balance but still manages to put it into the top corner. he has broken ian rush‘s record now. 29 goals for his country and it is his first hat—trick for wales. let's hear from first hat—trick for wales. let's hearfrom him after the match. first hat—trick for wales. let's hear from him after the matchm first hat—trick for wales. let's hear from him after the match. it is amazing. on my daughter's day—to—day. happy birthday to her. disappointed i cannot be with her but it is great individually to get the record. always the most important thing is the team plays well. under the new manager it is important to get off to a good start. they will be looking forward

toa start. they will be looking forward to a few days rest before they are backin to a few days rest before they are back in action against either uruguay or the czech republic. this isa uruguay or the czech republic. this is a fantastic start for ryan giggs. ryan giggs, as a player with manchester united, he pretty much won everything there was to win. premier league titles and champions league crowns he said when he became manager of wales it was the proudest moment in his life. he said he was nervous. he did not have reason for that. i'm sure he will be very pleased with the attacking display of the team. here he is after the match. you have to enjoy the goals. some brilliant landmarks as well. chris gunter was the most capped outfield player. a fantastic achievement. gareth bale, what can you say! breaking someone like ian rush's record, one of the greatest goal—scorers that ever lived. breaking the record is fantastic.

ibrahimovic is set to leave manchester united imminently there has been no announcement from united butjose mourinho has been no announcement from united but jose mourinho has has been no announcement from united butjose mourinho has agreed to release the player from butjose mourinho has agreed to release the playerfrom his present deal which expires at the end of june put it is not clear where ibrahimovic is going but there has been intense speculation that he willjoin la galaxy. after years of pressure, manchester united may finally be getting an elite senior women's team. new england women's head coach and former united player phil neville said back injanuary he would talk to the club about your issue and now they have submitted an application to have a team in the women's super league next season. hopefully we will have a report bit later in the programme. let'sjust talk to now about cricket. it was a terrible first innings by england in the first test against new zealand.

trevor bayliss describes his players as deer in headlights. england collapsed 258 all out, their lowest test total ever. alastair cook was the first to go. trent boult took six wickets for 32 runs. five batsmen were out for a duck. in reply came williamson's 91. tick new zealand to a lead of 117 runs and a dismal england performance for the one former interim bowler thinks the blame lies only with the players. england batted terribly. they batted badly. thejuggernaut of england batted terribly. they batted badly. the juggernaut of destruction comes your way and you cannot stop it. conversely, when you are bowling team, we bowled out new zealand at lord's a few years back. stuart broad water through the new zealanders in the same way. someone must be to blame for this. no one is

to blame for it. collectively the england players did not bat well enough. that is all the sport for now. more in the next hour. the prime minister, theresa may, will urge european unity against russia at an eu summit in brussels later — in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent christian fraser is in brussels. thank you. theresa may came into the building just an hour ago and this evening, over dinner, she will be talking, aside from brexit about the russian threat and trying to urge the other leaders to see russia as the other leaders to see russia as the strategic enemy rather than a strategic partner. what we have heard from other leaders going into the building where she will get that statement of solidarity from them. the bigger question is what sort of concrete action will they take? i don't think we will see anything

from european countries until an investigation has been concluded. wa nt to investigation has been concluded. want to turn to trade for that is the big subject on the agenda this afternoon. specifically the trade tariffs on steel and aluminium that have come into play this evening at midnight. europe is apprehensive that they will apply full survey have been to washington this week to try to get an exemption for donald trump. trying to predict what donald trump is going to do is difficult at the best of times. the trade commission is in trying to tell him what she thinks will happen. what do you think will happen? the eu is convinced they will get an exception to these tariffs. that is what they are angling for. massively important for steel jobs all over angling for. massively important for steeljobs all over europe, including britain. they have a series of retaliation is good to go. they are ready with metallic tree

measures on kentucky's bourbon. no surprise that mitchell, lewis from kentucky's. on florida orange juice and harley— davidson motorbikes. kentucky's. on florida orange juice and harley—davidson motorbikes. to paul ryan, the speaker of the house. the eu does have its strategic, retaliatory measures lined up but they are hoping they will not need that there is a bigger issue at sta ke. that there is a bigger issue at stake. how do you look at free trade globally? be wants to be a leader. donald trump is stomping down on that there is a lot of tension. one thing they do share a concern on is about china and the way that china runs its economy. we're going to hear from donald trump in a few hours' time about new tariffs he is going to put on intellectual beauty, on technology that is somewhere where surely they can find common ground. the eu would hope this would be more of a discussion. one reason they have not been howling so badly in public about what donald trump is doing is they hope, in the end of what it does as it puts squeeze on

china was that if this all works out, then china is the one that altima lee feels the pressure. it is not exactly the way they want to go about it. -- ultimately feels. emmanuel macron, the french president, seems to be the roving european diplomat at the moment. he is due in washington next month and he is due in saint petersburg. is he someone they could perhaps send to talk some sense into donald trump? he and donald trump have developed a rapport over the last year or so for stuckey may be the point man to go and work this out. he will be visiting washington to speak to a joint session of congress. just a final one on russia. theresa may talking pretty tough on her way into the building a short time ago. what do you think will get from the leaders and where are the splits when it comes to russia? greece

wants to see more concrete evidence that the russian government was behind this. for many people, there is no other common—sense explanation for that. in the end, what i think is that the eu comes together on russian policy. they hold sanctions together for crimea and ukraine. once they hit from theresa may and hear her make a forceful case, we are likely to see more unity and a stronger statement and we have had so far. david is right, there are splits. baltic states have been talking much tougher than the likes of greece, italy and germany, who have ties with russia politically. they are all waiting to hear the evidence. a very exciting time for royal watchers. a couple of bits of breaking news for the first of all, invitations to the wedding. 600 people have been invited along

to st george ‘s chapel. the press release about it, giving all the details, hasjust been released but at 600 guests have also been invited to the lunchtime reception at st george ‘s hall which is being given by her majesty the queen for the later that evening 200 guests are being invited to a private reception at frogmore house, given by the prince of wales. to want some details? die stamped in gold and then burnished. the text on the into —— the invitation is also die stamped. exciting for the people to get them. they will get them in the post tomorrow morning. depending on the postal service. potentially tomorrow morning. very exciting times. it is also exciting for william and kate, the last official engagement today before she is due to give birth to a third child. she has done a couple of engagements with the duke involving the

commonwealth separations of the upcoming commonwealth. this is the last one. you're now going to ask me, when we think the baby is due? i was not actually. but all right. they do not give those exact details but if we use our pregnancy calculator from the last two pregnancies, it would be around the 26th of april. the queen was the birthday on the 21st and charlotte's third birthday in may. lots are betting on potential names. the current bookies favourite if it is a girl, alice, and a boy, alberta. where? we have no reason to think otherwise and it will be in a private wing of st mary ‘s hospital in paddington which i know is a place you know well for the service has stood outside it for a number of days waiting for previous royal babies. that would be the most likely place. there is or was a home birth option. you never know full stop thank you very much.

some victims of crime aren't being seen by police officers for hours, or even days, after phoning for help because of a failure to respond promptly to 999 calls. the inspectorate of constabulary says a quarter of forces in england and wales are struggling to respond to emergency calls, and are often overwhelmed by the demand. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw's report, joining me now from swanley is matthew scott, kent's police and crime commissioner. this is very worrying reading for anyone who may have to dial 999. this is incumbent upon us as police and crime commission is to hold police constable to account and for the police constable is to tell us how they will respond. overall, the report said around three quarters of police forces were good, or outstanding, in the way they were dealing with crime. we need to make sure we are making absolutely

everything possible available to victims of crime. i know you have managed to get an increase in the council tax precept in kent which will mean more police officers to respond to those calls. that is at the heart of this, is it? in kent i will recruit an extra 100 police officers, as well as extra call handlers as well as to be in our control and to answer the phones. across the country, police and crime commission as i using the flexibility we have been given by ministers with the council tax in order to increase our police numbers again, which is good news for the behind that is a lot more work that needs to be done to give victims of confidence to continue to come forward. you also need to do quite a recruitment drive, don't you? kent police is running a campaign called more than the badge which gives all the opportunities possible within policing. in order to increase our numbers by 200 we will need to find

440 offices additionally, because we need to replace those who are retiring as well. we're working hard to get people through the door. what is the worst response time or worst response you have heard of in kent toa response you have heard of in kent to a 999 call? it depends on the nature of 909 call. calls will be graded as an immediate response and others graded as a high priority. that is how it is done, by threat risk and harm. some examples i have heard today, i have seen before. what kent does in those circumstances, if there is a serious failing that has been identified, we would declare a critical incident and a senior police officer would ta ke and a senior police officer would take charge of dealing with that response. it does not happen very often in kent but it needs an effective response from senior officers to make sure we do not lose the confidence of those officers. officers to make sure we do not lose the confidence of those officerslj know the confidence of those officers.” know mental health is an issue you are looking at as wealth of the one reason why the response times have

been higher is that police forces are having to deal with more cases involving mental health and crisis from members of the public. we are also working really hard with the police federation, with ministers and others, great charities to make sure we look after those who are running towards these incidents that we can be saved. it is vital we look after our number one our people. thank you a much your time. —— thank you very much for your time. jeremy corbyn has told voters in england they should use the local elections to tell the government "enough is enough." the labour leader was speaking at the launch of his partys campaign for the may elections. he highlighted the recent increase in council tax bills and said the conservatives were asking people to pay more for less. on may the 3rd people have the chance to send an unmistakable message to this government — that enough is enough. enough of cuts to vital services that hurt local communities. enough of cuts to schools, hospitals and local policing. enough of library and youth centres closures.

enough of leaving elderly and disabled people without essential care. in a moment, the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the war of words sparked by the salisbury poisoning intensifies. russia's ambassador to the uk accuses boris johnson of insulting the russian people. theresa may is to urge eu leaders in brussels to stand together in the face of a threat from russia. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. the franco—dutch firm gemalto will reportedly make the new style blue cover british passports. it's said to have won the contract worth £490 million. the current manufacturer

is british company de la rue — which has been manufacturing the burgundy passports since 2009. it says it's not sure yet whether the losing of the contract will affect jobs at its factory in gateshead. interest rates will stay at 0.5%, the bank of england has announced. two of its nine decision makers voted in favour of raising the rate, after a unanimous call last month to keep it on hold. the base rate is used as a guide by banks to set the interest rates on mortgages and savings. retail sales in february grew by 0.8% compared with the previous month — that's according to the ons. the increases was driven by groceries, vehicle fuel and online shopping. however, non—food retailers, such as clothes shops and electronics suffered a fall in sales. compared with a year earlier, february retail sales rose 1.5%, beating analysts‘ expectations of 1.3%. two out of nine wanted to put rates

up. no surprise they were not. two out of nine wanted to put rates up. no surprise they were notm two out of nine wanted to put rates up. no surprise they were not. it is important to remember the npc is moving slowly. prior to november the last time they voted to raise rates was a decade ago. economic data out of the uk prior to this moment has been pretty poor. growth in the uk is the weakest in the g7. political issues surrounding brexit negotiations causing concern and consumers still under pressure. wages have been largely stagnant. on tuesday we learnt from the ons that inflation has fallen. one source of possible concern for the bank flagged yesterday. we learned that wages are beginning to tip up, wage

growth is running high to 2.6%. potentially that might start encouraging businesses to put prices up, which might start to generate inflation. which then starts the guessing game as to when interest rates will go up. it is an obsession, isn't it? may is now the guests. the minutes released by the bank in the wake of this decision, they very much kept the door open to a potential rate hike 2.75% in a couple of months‘ time. as you mentioned earlier, two members of the monetary policy committee voted foran the monetary policy committee voted for an interest rate hike. in stark contrast to the npc meeting we saw in february when there was a unanimous vote to keep on hold, this time around, those minutes, the ten, chris said they would need ongoing tightening of monetary policy in order to bring down inflation to the

296 order to bring down inflation to the 2% target of the bank. general feeling is we will see movement in may possibly towards .75%. beyond that a lot depends on how wrecks it negotiations fair. elsewhere, interesting to note that overnight whistle china raise its borrowing costs. also, on wednesday, we saw the us central bank, the federal reserve , the us central bank, the federal reserve, also raised its key rate. to get more insight into that that is crossover to the united states. our business correspondent is in washington. as well as raising the base rate, the fed also flagged two more increases were likely this year. i have to say i am kept up at night by interest rates. they do make me excited. i was at the press co nfe re nce make me excited. i was at the press conference yesterday. one of the most interesting games with the federal reserve raised its benchmark interest rate but the most interesting thing was the dots part

which indicates what the members of the third's per market committee is thinking in terms of increases in the future. we saw that eight members thought there would be three rate increases this year and seven thought there would be four rate increases. quite a bit of division here in america. the question for investors is, how fast is the us economy growing and what does the fed think it needs to do in order to keep inflation in check? the fed needs to make sure it acts quick enough so that inflation does not go out of control. i do want to mention one other risk. the new fed chair had his first meeting and he alighted in the press conference that the fed had not previously thought that trade policy was a risk to economic activity gusto he does not think it will change us economic growth in the short—term but did say that many members of the third committee were hearing from business

leaders in their that they were worried about prospects of a trade warand worried about prospects of a trade war and what it could do to business. now it says the fed is looking at that more closely. some other news out of the states and donald trump has moved to impose import tariffs on china. what do you think about that? we are expecting an announcement in about an hour and an announcement in about an hour and a half. we are expecting that harris will be imposed on a range of goods from china, something like a hundred goods have been highlighted. we are expecting it a total something like $50 billion although the number has shifted over the last week. it is still nearly doubled the amount of imported goods that the aluminium and steel tariffs which are expected to impact the us economy. it does show that president trump is increasing his trade policy against china. he has said the us has had an unfair trade relationship with china

and this move might be one step the administration is planning to take to try and rectify that unfair trade balance. thank you. a quick look at the markets. in the wake of that decision by the monetary policy committee of the bank of england where we saw the committee split with the two 27 votes, in the wake of that split we saw the pound leap against the euro and the dollar. it is getting excited about the prospect might see a rate hike come may. in the time after that, we have seen the pound fall back to the level was trading out before the decision. that has been the top riser on the ft—se all day. decision. that has been the top riser on the ft-se all day. there you are. we‘ll be doing it again soon. the british company which makes uk passports says it‘s

failed to win the contract to produce the traditional blue passport which will be reintroduced after brexit. leading brexiteers have condemned the decision as perverse. now for the decision as perverse. now for the weather. the weekend is fast approaching. in the next 24 hours or so most of us will see a little bit of rain sweeping through. you‘ll be reaching western and north—western parts of the country during the course of today. here are the weather systems trailing across the atlantic moving in our direction. that is where the air is coming from full you can see air is coming from full you can see a plume of milder air. the yellows across the uk over the next day or so from behind it cooler for northern areas through the course of the weekend. as for this evening, here is the remy —— reaching many western areas. still dry across the east. during the night that weather front sweeps across the uk. the

heaviest of the rain be in the north. in the south mostly light rain by the time it reaches london and norwich early on friday morning. frost free tonight with all the cloud, the wind and rain. temperatures five, 6 degrees. the north of the country will wake up to cloudy skies, particularly in the north. in the south and some eastern areas temperatures might get up to 13, depending how much sunshine will get. more rain on the way for friday afternoon as far as south—western parts of the country are concerned. the weekend itself will be mixed. some of us will have cloud and others a bit of rain and sunshine with rain again, a real mix. you can see the jet stream and the weather fronts riding the jet stream which

are mostly missing us. we are in a quieter area. there would be a bit of rain around for a time on saturday and some —— in some southern and eastern areas. that should clear away with a view showers in the north—west. temperatures are little lower. cooler air coming out of the north atlantic. typically eight to 10 degrees. on sunday, a quieter day for that you can see where the wind is coming from in the north. single figure temperatures, mainly down to seven. in the south, mainly recovering to 13. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live, i‘m simon mccoy. today at 3.

russia‘s ambassador to the uk says britain has produced no evidence of moscow‘s involvement in the salisbury poisoning. and response to borisjohnson who compared vladimir putin‘s behaviour to that of nazi germany. nobody has the right to insult the russian people who defeated nazism and lost more than 25 million people by comparing our country to nazi germany. we all stand together — theresa may will urge eu leaders in brussels to form a united front against russia what i will be talking about today is not just what i will be talking about today is notjust what happened on the streets of salisbury but the fact that we see this as part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. updating his status — as advertisers threaten to pull out of facebook — an apology from mark zuckerburg,

who admits his company made mistakes over the cambridge analytica scandal. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. jessica... 29 not out, gareth bale is well is greatest goal—scorer overtaking ian rush, he scored a hat—trick this afternoon, all the goals for you at half past. scored more than the england cricket team. thank you. thanks and we‘ll be joining you for a full update just after half—past. tomasz schafernaker has all the weather. many of you enjoying a fine afternoon but over the next 24 hours rain will be sleeping in, more details later. a royal invitation — thejust under two months until prince harry and meghan markle get married at windsor castle (oov) and prince charles sends out the invitations. hello everyone — this

is afternoon live — i‘m simon mccoy. the war of words between britain and russia has heated up even more — plunging relations between the two countries into the deep freeze. russia‘s ambassador to london has condemned boris johnson‘s comparing russia‘s hosting of the world cup with adolf hitler‘s 1936 olympics. alexander ya kovenko called boris johnson‘s comments totally irresponsible. he added that britain has no proof that his country was behind the poisoning of a double agent and his daughter. theresa may is in brussels this afternoon — to urge european unity against russia, in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent naomi grimley reports. theresa may is off on a diplomatic mission to get eu countries to back her tough stance on russia. her government now says president putin‘s state has become a strategic enemy for the whole region. russia

has staged a brazen and reckless attack against the united kingdom when it attempted murder of two people on the streets of salisbury, i will be raising this issue with my cou nterpa rts i will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it‘s clear the russian threat was not respect borders and indeed the incident in salisbury was part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours from the western balkans to the middle east. ever since the nerve agent attack in salisbury at the start of this month, relations with russia seem to have worsened by the day. yesterday they took another dip after the foreign secretary agreed there was a parallel between president putin hosting the world cup and hitler hosting the 1936 olympics. yes, i think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right. this morning the russian ambassador speaking to the british media said that had been irresponsible. the british government is free to make a decision

about its participation in the world cup, but nobody has the right to insult the russian people, who defeated nazism and lost more than 25 million people, by comparing our country to nazi germany. that goes beyond common sense, and we do not think british war veterans, including those of the arctic convoys, would share this opinion. and he questioned the uk‘s version of events in salisbury. britain has, without any evidence, blamed russia of poisoning three people and continues to refuse to cooperate. we cannot accept that. meanwhilejeremy corbyn was urging the government here to concentrate on serious dialogue. i‘m not sure the language used by some of our ministers is particularly helpful or sensible. i don‘t have any problem with the people of russia, or the people of any country.

do we have problems with people who abuse human rights? sure we do, and you have to draw that distinction. with three people still in hospital in salisbury, britain wants to see unequivocal support from its european allies, and with britain heading out of the eu in a year‘s time, today will be a particular test of theresa may‘s clout on the world stage. speaking in derby a short time ago, borisjohnson had speaking in derby a short time ago, boris johnson had this speaking in derby a short time ago, borisjohnson had this response. let‘s be clear, two people gravely ill after the attack in salisbury in wiltshire, a police officer still in hospital, large numbers of the public were in danger and we had no real response from the russian authorities except a kind of

sarcastic obfuscation, we don‘t want to escalate this any further and what we want is a way in which they will accept that the russian state must have had some role in this and that‘s what we are trying to do. the inquest into the death of the russian businessman nikolai glushkov has opened and adjourned in west london. mr glushkov, who was 68, was found apparently strangled at his home in new malden. police have begun a murder inquiry and are appealing for information. a two minute silence has been held to mark a year since the westminster terrorist attack. five people were killed when khalid masood drove into pedestrians on westminster bridge, before stabbing pc keith palmer outside the houses of parliament. the prime minister laid a wreath in parliament square and a memorial has been created to remember all the victims of the three terrorist attacks in the capital last year.

helena lee reports. a year ago today, terror came to the heart of british democracy. the everyday routine of westminster shattered. an islamic extremist drove onto the pavement on westminster bridge and mowed down pedestrians before stabbing to death pc keith palmer at the gates of parliament. he was then killed by armed police. colleagues, we shall now observe a one—minute‘s silence in respectful memory of those who died a year ago today. this morning, mps paid their respects. and this lunchtime, a service of prayer and reflection was held in westminster hall. goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness,

life is stronger than death. victory is ours through him who loves us. stories of remarkable selflessness emerged from the day, the mp who rushed to save the stabbed policeman said it was important never to give in to terrorism. we mustn‘t let the terrorist win. if we allow ourselves to be tortured in this way, they succeed. if we allow our communities to fragment, the terrorist succeeds. we need to be emboldened, empowered, to be stronger to say actually we are not going to be affected by this. we are going to stand up to it and endure. a friend and colleague of the fallen policeman described the scene. we didn‘t know at the time whether it was described as a lone wolf attack or multi marauding

attack with loads of people coming in through parliament. mass confusion really. eventually one of my friends came over and said, who was it? who is the officer on the floor? he said it is your friend keith. terrible. it is great that he‘s been honoured in the last few months for the bravery awards and the things he has done, i would sooner still have him here beside me. people deserve them awards and merits and things when they are alive. people on westminster bridge were also killed, andreea cristea from romania was one of them. her sister has spoken of her loss. there are moments when we take the phone to call her or to write on the messenger. we spend our whole time together,

and now all of this doesn‘t make any sense. it is not the same thing and it won‘t be the same. westminster bridge marks the first of a wave of terrorist attacks last year. britain will mark more anniversaries like today for all of those who lost their lives and were injured, and with the current threat level at severe, they may not be the last. more than 120 firefighters have been dealing with a fire on sauchiehall street in glasgow. fire crews were called to the blaze which is believed to have started in victoria‘s, in sauchiehall street, at about 8.20 this morning. it‘s thought that the fire has now been brought under control and stopped from spreading to nearby buildings. a stretch of the street is still sealed off and a plume of smoke is visible from some distance away. there were no fatalities.

let‘s get back to our lead story — russia. theresa may is in brussels to urge european unity against vladimir putin in the wake of the salisbury attack. my colleague christian fraser is in brussels. simon, thank you, theresa may will get a chance to talk to european leaders over dinner this evening, she will set out where they are at so far over the investigation in salisbury, sir mark siddle and national set the adviser was here in brussels yesterday talking to a number of countries, 23 at the maps they have expelled and no doubt mr macro will talk a little bit more about that in the conversation this evening. boccia is looking for is no sort of, i don‘t know, no prevarication from european leaders, she wants a strong statement of solidarity from all of them and i think she will get that but i am

joined now by a correspondent from the economist, what have you been hearing as the leaders went into the building? i think what the brits are after, and several other countries who are with britain on this, is language tonight that makes attribution of the attack to russia much stronger and clearer. earlier in the week we had a meeting of eu foreign minister is which said the british game of russian responsibility was being taken extremely seriously, the brits want something a little bit more serious and my understanding is it is up in the air whether they are going to get that or not, some countries resisting a clearer attribution of responsibility, we will see how that plays out. we talk about splits, ha rd plays out. we talk about splits, hard things being said by the baltic states, they see the threat and it‘s real, on the border, countries like greece, italy, germany at the moment pushing in the european parliament for a big gas pipeline coming across

the baltic, bringing russian gas into germany, strategically important for them, i wonder whether the bigger european countries are going to get serious about some concrete measure she might want to see. it depends who you are talking about and what. here we are not talking about imposing new sanctions and of course the eu already has sanctions in place stating back to russia's actions in crimea and the re st of russia's actions in crimea and the rest of the uk, it'sjust about language and specifically that language and specifically that language on attribution. as you say the baltics and other european countries are always on the front line of pushing for sanctions on russia, some of the countries you mentioned, greece and italy were always sceptical and we saw that with the foreign ministers meeting be mentioned on monday. questions about what germany might do is interesting, i spoke to a german official earlier who seemed relu cta nt official earlier who seemed reluctant to get pressed into a debate on whether we could get harder language tonight, talking about the independent investigation taking place into the activity in

salisbury, i think it may be a difficult conversation tonight but there are a number of diplomats here who say they expect is language to be tightened up, it is important to remember it's not a big new move on sanctions are anything but simply topper, harder language on attributing this action to the russians. it's likely the big 3-4 will be far more concerned in the next few hours about american ta riffs next few hours about american tariffs and specifically tariffs on steel and aluminium which puts a lot ofjobs at steel and aluminium which puts a lot of jobs at stake. exactly, funny coincidence of timing, they were always going to talk about trade at the summer, then we had the tariffs announced by donald trump a couple of weeks ago, due to take effect tomorrow, the important announcement from washington in the last 15 minutes is there will be a reprieve for the european union and some other countries from the steel and aluminium tariffs that are going into effect tomorrow, the eu trade commissioner has spent part of the week in washington is seeking that reprieve, looks like she's been

successful, that will be counted as a win but this is all really an appetiser for the main event that comes later today, going to be big move comes later today, going to be big move and the tramp administration against china and this is going to create a climate of, well, great concern here, for your moving into a world in which trade wars start to become a reality, even if the europeans have managed to secure an exemption on the specific issue of steel and aluminium there will be a lot of concern about what comes next. will burke cross the commerce secretary saying what might come out of the president‘s mouth and it comes to the exemption... that might bea comes to the exemption... that might be a different thing. delaying that conversation on trade today because they want to hear it from him. on china, you say there is concerned we are moving towards protectionism and nationalism when it comes to trade but yet, on china, they‘ve had problems in europe with steel dumping and the stealing of intellectual property in china, really this is something the two

sides should see eye to eye on. that is exactly the line that has been made ever since president trump announced that harrods a couple of weeks ago, they said we have these as well, we should be working together to come up with a joint strategy to counter these chinese activities we are concerned about and not have the battle monsters else. —— that tariffs. if we have managed to secure an exemption maybe they will be in a better position to advance the conversation on china. european concerns have been growing strong over the last couple of years. they may feel in a better place to have that but i think we will see what president trump unveils on china later but it will goa unveils on china later but it will go a long way beyond capturing measures on steel. cars countering measures on steel. cars countering measures on steel. thank you, interesting that emmanuel macron is seen as the senior roving diplomat when it comes to the eu, off to

washington next month talking about tariffs, u2 go to st petersburg interestingly next month, that trip as yet not being cancelled, maybe he will be carrying a message from the european union. we will see. simon, back to you. thank you. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. russia‘s ambassador to the uk says britain has produced no evidence of moscow‘s involvement in the salisbury poisoning we all stand together — theresa may will urge eu leaders in brussels to form a united front against russia on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. and in sport, gareth bale becomes welsh record goal—scorer, a hat—trick and a record 6—0 over russia sees him beat ian rush is record. zlatan ibrahimovic is looking likely to leave manchester united, rumoured to be on his way to

la galaxy. trevor bayliss describes his cricketers as deer in highlights as they collapsed to 58—0 against new zealand. i‘ll be back with more on all of those just after half past. the founder of facebook, mark zuckerberg, has apologised after data from 50 million users was exploited by the british company, cambridge analytica. speaking publicly for the first time since allegations surfaced that data was misused during the us presidential election, he acknowledged there has been a major breach of trust. from washington, chris buckler reports. facebook contains a world of personal information. more than two billion users have entrusted it with details including their age, whether they are in a relationship, and, perhaps crucially, their political leanings. cambridge analytica, and potentially other firms, are accused of exploiting that data in an attempt to influence, among other things, the us presidential election. and ultimately for that breach in trust, facebook and its founder are having to take responsibility.

if you‘d told me in 2004 when i was getting started with facebook that a big part of my responsibility today would be to help protect the integrity of elections against interference by other governments, you know, i wouldn‘t have really believed that that was going to be something i would have to work on. for days, mark zuckerberg was silent while damaging allegations were broadcast around the world of how cambridge analytica took advantage of information from facebook users. now he is promising a full forensic audit, and he says that anyone whose data may have been compromised will be told. but mr zuckerberg knows his social network will continue to be tested by those looking to exploit it. there‘s a lot of hard work that we need to do to make it harder for nation states like russia to do election interference, to make it so that trolls and other

folks can‘t spread fake news, but we can get in front of this and we have a responsibility to do this. not only for the 2018 midterms in the us, which are going to be a huge deal this year and that‘s just a huge focus of us, but there‘s a big election in india this year, there‘s a big election in brazil, there are big elections around the world. politicians in both the uk and the us also have questions for mark zuckerberg. he said he would appear before congress in america if it was the right thing to do, and with talk of greater regulation and new rules, the face of facebook may find he has little choice. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones said facebook had been very slow to respond to the claims of data misuse. long time, notjust since the scandal broke but they knew about

this in 2015, that this data had been taken from their customers and shared illegally from their point of view with a commercial company, cambridge analytica. they didn‘t really do much back then, they didn‘t tell 50 million customers, right up until last week they were actually sending lawyers letters to the journalist pursue in this story on the guardian and the observer warning them. they didn‘t seem too concerned until it blew up in their faces. and we have seen a continual pattern of things going wrong, then apologising things will get better, they say, and then the next it the next thing comes along. whether that will have any impact on users is another matter, some people say they are giving it up, an awful lot of them. see it as quite an important pa rt them. see it as quite an important part of their lives. we have royal news for you, to lots of news, we talk about them in a moment, some invitations havejust gone out for a certain wedding. 19th

of may, you might have heard of it, 600 invitations now in the post. tomorrow morning, who knows what might arrive? we be getting up slightly early. 600 invitations, people have been invited to the service at st george‘s chapel, also toa service at st george‘s chapel, also to a lunchtime reception at st george‘s hall given by her majesty the queen and an even more select 200 been invited to the private reception that even given by the prince of wales. it's quite interesting, the invitation is a work of art, on the twitter feed, kensington —— kensington palace they have put a little feed of the being made, let‘s see what it‘s such a thing. the invitation is i stamped in gold and burnished, i know you know what that means the process of die stamping is an embossed printing technique meaning the print has a

su btle technique meaning the print has a subtle raised texture, each invitation was fed by hand into the press and the black ink printed on the face, once completed it was washed and reset ready for the gold print run of the crest. as the final, finalfinishing print run of the crest. as the final, final finishing touch they we re final, final finishing touch they were bevelled and gilded in gold along the edges and that means it looks cold not just along the edges and that means it looks cold notjust when you view it from the top but from the site. gosh, just looking for spelling mistakes! will we know who those invitations have been sent to add any stage before the day? invitations have been sent to add any stage before the day7m depends, whether people decide to talk about it and i would suspect the answer to that will be probably not. you remember one of the spice girls seem to get into a bit of trouble saying they were invited and then they are not? we wait to find out. you and i have blown any chance. moving on. william and kate, she is eight months pregnant, the last official engagement for her

today. this was at a commonwealth celebration events, she is wearing skinnyjeans celebration events, she is wearing skinny jeans and high celebration events, she is wearing skinnyjeans and high heels, at eight months, not add, the last time we will see her until presumably an official public engagement until the babyis official public engagement until the baby is born. the baby, the queen‘s siksika great—grandchild, fifth in line to the throne, brother or sister to four—year—old george and to your old charlotte. do we know, will we have similar scenes to what we witnessed before? —— the queen‘s six great—grandchild. it is likely the baby will be born at the linda wing, we have no reason to think that won‘t be the place the new baby will be born as the other two children have been. in terms of dates, we don‘t know the exact date, we know previously it‘s been around five weeks from the last engagement to the birth of the baby, that would

ta ke to the birth of the baby, that would take us up to about the 26th of april. of course names, we‘ve already started betting, people have. alice, currently the beauty‘s favourite if it‘s a girl, as it was for charlotte, and albert if it‘s a boy. ok. i know everyone is excited about another hospital vigil but there is a chance they mightjust do this at home? keep out of the spotlight? it‘s up to them, there has been a difference, with prince george she went in and stayed overnight stop i remember. i know where you remember, princess charlotte in 2015, catherine was taken very charlotte in 2015, catherine was ta ken very early charlotte in 2015, catherine was taken very early in the morning and didn‘t spend a night in hospital, in and out fergie quickly with charlotte, i guess it‘s up to the royal couple, the royal family, there are security indications and all sorts of things we would not have to worry about when the go into labour. but you know, royals in the past have been born in palaces so

one would say it‘s not completely out of the question and in some ways that‘s been the tradition for centuries. if i went into labour i'd have more people outside the hospital than anyone, let me tell you! thank you. more royal news! now, once we leave the eu, the burgundy passport will be phased out — british passports will revert to blue and gold from october 2019. but — they‘re going to be made by a french firm. simonjones reports. the british passport is changing — a powerful symbol, brexiteers say, that britain is back, as it goes from burgundy to blue. but the boss of the british firm that has been making them in gateshead for the last eight years says he has been told by the home office that they have lost the contract, and instead they will be manufactured by a french—dutch firm, gemalto, which undercut it. i would actually quite like to invite theresa may to come to gateshead, to come to visit our production facility, come and talk to our staff and explain to them why she feels it is not right for them to be producing the british passport. the decision to favour

gemalto should be reversed, according to prominent brexiteers. i think it‘s both incongruous and symbolically extremely bad. what i‘m really saying is this, what was the tendering process? were de la rue actually undercut? outside this passport office, there‘s mixed views. absolute stupidity! i mean, we need the british people to have the work. as long as it does the same thing, it's fine with me. i can travel with it, so that's no problem, yeah. british passports are set to change from burgundy to blue from next year. the home office says it has been carrying out a fair and open competition to ensure value for money for customers. it says there‘s no actual requirement for british passports to be manufactured here, but it says the process of personalising them, by adding the holder‘s data, will still happen in the uk. the home office says the new contract represents a saving of £120 million, and 70 jobs will be created. though ministers suggest that

procurement process is ongoing. there is a set of rules that apply to government procurement, to make sure we get good value for money, and of course, we have got to abide by those rules. and when we leave the european union, we will have more control over the rules that we have for government procurement. the old colour passports were phased out in the 1980s, even though the eu didn‘t insist on it, much to the the horror of some. i think it is one of the most revolting, insignificant, tiny minded, small pieces of paper i have ever had the misfortune to witness. it's not really a british passport, is it? de la rue says it will appeal. simon jones, bbc news. tomasz schafernaker has the forecast. a relatively mild day today but rain

sweeping in, this weatherfront approaching us, you can see some of the cloud streaming in from the south—west, mild direction, the temperatures relatively high today can‘t hurt to what we had in the last couple of days. the rain going through the course of this evening sweeping through northern ireland, scotland, north—western part of england and wales, freshening wind, won‘t be an awful lot of rain in the far south or south eased, dribs and drabs pushing through by the time we get to friday morning, frost free tonight, temperatures between 5—7d, starting wet in the north tomorrow, the rain turning to showers, coming and going through the afternoon. a chance the rain might return to south western areas by the time we get to friday afternoon, 13 degrees tomorrow where the sun comes out. goodbye. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. britain has produced no evidence

of moscow‘s involvement in the salisbury poisoning — says russia‘s ambassador to the uk eu council leaders arrive in brussels where theresa may will urge them to form a united front against russia. work will be talking about today is not just what happened work will be talking about today is notjust what happened on the streets of salisbury but the fact that we do see this as part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours. —— what i will be talking about today. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. as advertisers threaten to pull out of facebook — an apology from mark zuckerburg who admits the company made mistakes over the cambridge analytica scandal. a landmark court case has failed to produce the first british conviction forfemale genital mutilation. a father was found not guilty of organising the procedure as a punishment for his nine—year—old daughter sport now on afternoon

live with jessica. .. gareth bale is a record—breaker? he just became wales‘s greatest goal—scorer scoring a hat—trick against china, remarkable when you think his season with real madrid, his domestic club, has been so hampered by injury. look at this first goal and its vintage bail. —— vented gareth bale. he dribbled round from his off balance, but still finishes his shot in the top corner and because about how tricky is broken iain rush‘s record having now scored 29 goals for his country. a special day for gareth bale, let‘s listen to him. it's amazing, i think. on my daughter but for their birthday today, so i'm happy, disappointed i can't be with her about its great individually to get the record and as i say, the most important thing is the team plays

well and with a new manager it's important to get off to get start. more like a great start. that‘s his first international hat—trick. more like a great start. that‘s his first international hat-trick. and for the man he describes his new manager, ryan giggs? ryan giggs is someone everyone knows about in football, a prolific playerfor manchester united, 113 premier league titles, two champions league crowns, he described becoming manager of wales has country, as the proudest moment in his life. he did admit that before his first match in charge, he was really nervous but isn‘t seem like he had anything to worry about. great attacking display from the welsh team. ryan giggs will certainly both be happy. let‘s hear from him. you have to enjoy the goals, fantastic goals and some brilliant landmarks as well. chris gunter being the most capped outfield player, what an achievement. and gareth bale, what can you say? breaking someone that

iain rush's record, one of the greatest goal—scorer at 711. breaking his record, fantastic achievement. the last time either zlata n zlatan ibrahimovic will leave manchester united imminently, he will be released from his deal in june, it is not known where he will go but there has been in intent speculation that he willjoin major league soccer team la galaxy. after 80 years of pressure for manchester united may be on the verge of setting up a professional senior women‘s team. the club has submitted an application to women‘s super league and if successful, they will play in the second tier from next season. the chair of women in the book says it is an important step in the growth of the female game.” think it‘s usually significance for the women‘s game. many other teams

may have been able to opt out of this idea that you don‘t have to support their women‘s team. finally we have one of the biggest brands in the world saying women‘s football matters, we will put our money on it and whatever the fans say, we will support it. after a shocking first innings, displayed in the first test against new zealand, head coach trevor bayliss described in bumper for the players like deer in the headlights. they collapsed to 58 all out on the sixth lowest text ever. i the cook was the first to go, fixing the cook was the first to go, fixing the alastair cook was the first to go. trent boult took one and ben stokes is up for a duck. kane williamson‘s unbeaten 91 to use even toa williamson‘s unbeaten 91 to use even to a lead of 91 killing —— hundred and but one in the bowler thinks that these things just happen. but one in the bowler thinks that these thingsjust happen. england

just batted terribly. it was one of those days, i have been in teams that happen sometime. a juggernaut of disruption comes and you can‘t stop it. when you are the bowling tea m stop it. when you are the bowling team and it goes your way, you feel your wicket every poll, stuart broad rolled to new zealand in the same way. don‘t forget that, then see heads are going to roll, no one is to blame for it. collectively the england players did not bat well enough. england staring at a tenth away defeat in the test match in 12 matches. not looking good. that‘s all the sport for me, they‘ll be more in the next hour. did you say i‘m not looking good? more in the next hour. did you say i'm not looking good? you're looking great! i misheard you. you're welcome! breaking news coming in. this is on the new york times website being quoted by sources around the united states that the president‘s lead lawyer for the

special counsel investigation has been working for donald trump has resigned. the new york times is quoting two people who have been briefed on the matter, they say this comes days after this has called for an end after the enquiry. he took over the legal team last summer, according to the power he had considered leaving several times in the last few months and ultimately concluded that in your tank whether mrtrump is concluded that in your tank whether mr trump is increasingly ignoring his advice. —— concludes the new york times. he has the enquiry to be dropped but as this is going on, president trump has beefed up his legal team with a law are accusing the fbi and usjustice department found a frame trump with charges of collusion in 2016 election campaign. that is the new york times story and we will keep an eye on that. john dowd, president lead lawyer, is

reported to have resigned. russia‘s ambassador to london has condemned remarks made by the foreign secretary, comparing russia‘s hosting of the world cup to adolf hitler‘s 1936 olympics. alexander ya kovenko called boris johnson‘s comments totally irresponsible, and added that the british government hasn‘t provided any evidence that his country was behind the poisoning of the double agent and his daughter. the uk had a record of violating international law and misleading the international law and misleading the international community which includes invading yugoslavia, 78 days of bombing, iraq, and libya, and the false pretence and supporting the coup d‘etat in ukraine. at the end i would like to quote president ronald reagan who frequently refers to the russian proverb, trust but verify. history

shows that britain‘s statements must be verified. our diplomatic correspondent jonathan marcusjoins me now. the general sense things are going into the deep freeze. the wisdom with that remark yesterday, what‘s the take on that? clearly a very sensitive subject for the russians. for the soviet union there was a great patriotic war, obviously a key pa rt great patriotic war, obviously a key part of russian history now, the ambassador pointed out the extraordinary sacrifices made by the russian people in the defeat of nazis, and said that clearly comparing his country to nazi germany went beyond common sense. it was just unacceptable and totally irresponsible, it kind of distract away from the main issues in contention. it was interesting if

ambassadors‘ role is to present his country boss j ambassadors‘ role is to present his country bossj sure—footed lee, before they go on formerly. —— represent his country sure—footed lee. he presented russia as the wronged party, that brit wasn‘t fulfilling its obligations, wasn‘t giving access to describe skripals. a p pa re ntly giving access to describe skripals. apparently he claimed both this sergei skripal and yulia skripal are russian citizens. he said britain had not revealed its obligations under the chemical weapon convention, but the problem in this is that if as the british government believes: russia is the most likely suspects, then you obviously look at russian government in a very different light. it is complex but no ground is given on the part of the russians. really a very clear assertion actually that britain are

set by brexit, i‘m of its place in the world, has decided on his anti—russian policy the centrepiece of its its foreign affairs. it's relatively easy and killing say that, it —— it is a relatively easyjob to say that, it —— it is a relatively easy job to say where‘s say that, it —— it is a relatively easyjob to say where‘s the proof with mcgrath at one point he said he spoke to european ambassadors who agreed with him that britain hadn‘t put forward much evident.” agreed with him that britain hadn‘t put forward much evident. i was at nato last week whether national security adviser, a senior official, briefed ambassadors on the case, i never have been extensive briefings to allied and other government on the day since to the attack. it is a britain has not presented its case around board is not true. obviously we haven‘t seen in public facts if you like, but we have facts, there

was an attack, these people are very ill, the allegation is that this is a material produced in the soviet union and more recently in russia it perhaps. and beyond that there was a police investigation going on so i think it will be quite difficult to present some of these things in public at the moment. you and i remember the cold war. i was seeing another one? now. -- no. this points toa another one? now. -- no. this points to a fundamental failing of the western approach in this affair, russia being presented as a big bogeyman, a threat to open society that liberal democracy have created, now russia does after threats undoubtedly but some analysts say russia is not a major power seeking to have a hegemonic role in the world as was the soviet union. with an ideology that it wants to spread far. it‘s a much weaker power without the focus of the mirror

abroad, the closer to its home areas, ukraine and georgia and so on, we have seen impressive russian military performances in syria by their standards, but russia‘s ability to do that thing worldwide is limited. what you see here is a wea k is limited. what you see here is a weak country with a weak economy playing apps to its strength as far as it can drive that is mr putin‘s greatest achievement —— playing up to islam. overplay up and fixing up to their strengths. if it was a that carried out this extraordinary attack on british soil, there has to be some consequences that into you. —— that enes unal. uh—huh let‘s head back to brussels where the prime minister theresa may will urge european leaders at a summit to stand united against russia, in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent christian

fraser is in brussels i‘m watching the coming and going is, we have heard a statement from the trade representative in washington and in the last few minutes he says he expects the eea and six other countries to get exemptions for the steel that donald trump mentioned —— steel and aluminium tariffs. they will wait from here to hear from and aluminium tariffs. they will wait from here to hearfrom donald trump himself. that is encouraging news but maybe the eu countries have gotan news but maybe the eu countries have got an exemption from the tariffs. the other interesting thing is we‘ve had a statement from six countries who have lent support to vince cable who have lent support to vince cable who was here in europe today meeting the so—called oldie group of liberal parties in europe. they have signed a joint letter, the six countries, they are the czech republic luxembourg russell beattie, belgium, netherlands and children. ——

slovenia, belgium. he says we would call for the people have the final say on the deal, the referendum at the end of this progress for a deal that was the sad thing country. let‘s bring in are you a correspondent. we are seeing a political statement, these are the political statement, these are the political family for the liberal democrats in the uk belong to, here in europe. we have per ministers around europe, they are one of the bigger group not monopoly biggest group by far, the sun to write, angola —— angela merkel's groups and the socialist carry more weight. in essence this is a political declaration with little power in the uk buta declaration with little power in the uk but a support for the liberal democrats. vince cable is build his profile in europe for the

first in his bid to this meeting? before each of the summit, the leader of each political family get—together, before they walk in the building here, they have a earlier meeting in brussels to sort out their position among themselves. let‘s indulge ourselves, we think it ama let‘s indulge ourselves, we think it am a hypothetical road and discuss what happen if we had a referendum on the final deal? that is a hypothetical upon a hypothetical because we are way off on that ever happening. the uk government has said no to that idea. the big question would be apart from get there, is what you would ask people, would you be asking people in the uk to vote about the deal that has been agreed with the eu? do they want to quit the eu and go back in august in? brexit but not? do you want to negotiate longer, extend article 50?

it seems the other issue is if the british public said they don‘t like the document does that mean no deal, do we get out of the european union could drag it is hypothetical but michael powell for the eu ? could drag it is hypothetical but michael powell for the eu? follow powell for everyone. —— michael powell for the eu? follow powell for everyone. — — full of peril at the minute there are still unknowns where if there is not a deal concluded at the end of this process, this negotiation, to seal the exit of the uk, then the uk could tip out with no deal which could tip out with no deal which could have all sorts of messy consequences or could the uk change his mind? could the government said they want to revoke article 50? could they do that unilaterally again, different opinions on that. some say yes they could, and stop the whole process and stay in the others say no. would that be a legal question the eu in the uk? that all

sorts of ways this kept confidential and will be tested and is being tested at the people trying to bring cases about this. we will die that. thank you. we will seek —— real digests this. this is a case of six countries lending a hand to liberal democrats. it may help remainer is in the uk, who knows? thank you, christian. some victims of crime aren‘t being seen by police officers for hours, or even days, after phoning for help because of a failure to respond promptly to 999 calls. the inspectorate of constabulary says a quarter of forces in england and wales are struggling to respond to emergency calls, and are often overwhelmed by the demand. police call: hello, police, what‘s your emergency? has the thin blue line become too thin? the body that monitors the police says the service is under significant stress, with vulnerable victims often not getting a prompt response to emergency calls. it found that thousands of 999 calls, which needed officers to attend within 60 minutes, weren‘t dealt with for hours, or in some cases several days.

we have raised this as a serious concern. it‘s a sign of stress within the system, but it‘s a fundamental thing that the police are there to do, is turn up when the public most need them. one woman who needed the police was louisa mendez from leamington spa in warwickshire. she dialled 999 to report an assault. that was at 8:30pm but officers didn‘t arrive until the next morning. she was later found dead. every victim of domestic abuse needs to get the right response to the police the first time that she reaches out. it‘s very concerning to hear about 999 calls not being responded to promptly and in appropriate way. it can leave victims of domestic abuse alone and in dangerous situations. examples where police have been slow to respond are highlighted on twitter. this man said he reported a drunken hit and run driver to leicestershire police but says

they asked me to bring my documents in before they would do anything. another tweeted that her son was threatened with a knife, but it took police three hours to turn up. she says the perpetrator was still walking round with the knife for the entire time. the inspectorate says delays are caused when police don‘t have the resources available to respond, though police and crime commissioners have now been allowed to increase funding through the council tax. we need more of that money to going to local policing. we‘ve got a number of police forces who will be increasing the number of police officers next year in order to rip improve those response times but what we also need to address is the demand on policing which is coming from other areas which aren‘t necessarily crimes, such as mental health, which is accounting for well over a third of police time in some areas. inspectors say most police forces are managing to keep the public safe despite the pressures they face, but the cracks in the service are clearly beginning to show. danny shaw, bbc news. bringing you some breaking news

concerning the poison attack in salisbury. we are hearing detective sergeant nick bailey a police officer who treated sergei skripal and yulia skripal in the aftermath, and yulia skripal in the aftermath, an update on his condition, he is no longer in a serious condition. he remained conscious and stable after becoming ill after being involved in an initial response to the incident. skripal and yulia skripal remain critical but stable in intensive ca re critical but stable in intensive care after being exposed to a nerve agent, or are in soulsby district hospital and a fourth basin is being treated as an outpatient, they have not confirmed he is a police officer. this is from our home affairs correspondence with the latest on the condition of those three, nick bailey, no longer in a serious condition. remained

conscious and stable after becoming ill. we will keep you updated on development combat. in the meantime, a development on the facebook story. —— updated on the government on that. there has been a tweet of the commons select committee and he has written this letter and has said he wa nts written this letter and has said he wants to... recall alexander nix to give evidence in front of the committee. he says there is a number of inconsistencies in your evidence from last month. notably your denial that your company receives data from the global south research company, we also interested in asking you about your claim that you do not work with facebook data and do not have facebook data. it‘s worth reading because it‘s strong stuff. you agreed at the session to send it fellow u p you agreed at the session to send it fellow up answers. we have not received them, we recall and you ought to answer the mouth. giving

full evidence to the committee is a serious matter, we urge you to explain your comment add a comment hearing. they have given them until the 27th of march to respond. that happened injust the 27th of march to respond. that happened in just the last few minutes. on the ongoing facebook enquiry. civil servant protest joins railway workers protest at place de la bastille in paris, joining forces against president macron‘s reforms plans. we are getting these pictures now. it has affected flights, eurostar journeys and many public offices in france. they are taking a day of action against emmanuel macron‘s reforms. that is the scene in paris and more about a little later on. in a moment the business news.

first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. russia‘s ambassador to the uk says britain has produced no evidence of moscow‘s involvement in the salisbury poisoning. we all stand together — theresa may will urge eu leaders in brussels to form a united front against russia. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. the franco—dutch firm gemalto will reportedly make the new style blue cover british passports. it‘s said to have won the contract worth £490 million. the current manufacturer is british company de la rue — which has been manufacturing the burgundy passports since 2009. it says it‘s not sure yet whether the losing the contract will affect jobs at its factory in gateshead. interest rates will stay at 0.5%, the bank of england has announced. two of its nine decision makers

voted in favour of raising the rate, after a unanimous call last month to keep it on hold. the base rate is used as a guide by banks to set the interest rates on mortgages and savings. retail sales in february grew by 0.8% compared with the previous month — that‘s according to the ons. the increases was driven by groceries, vehicle fuel and online shopping. however, non—food retailers, such as clothes shops and electronics suffered a fall in sales. compared with a year earlier, february retail sales rose 1.5%, beating analysts‘ expectations of 1.3%. so i‘m still looking at these pictures embarrassed because big strikes a —— across france delay causing problems? this is a big strike by the civil service but led by railway workers and air traffic

controllers. it‘s another bitter showdown against taoiseach and‘s attem pts showdown against taoiseach and‘s atte m pts to showdown against taoiseach and‘s attempts to reform the labour market in the country and revive the economy “— in the country and revive the economy —— president emmanuel macron. the last labour reforms in automatic little but today the powerful public —— little resistance but today the powerful public sector in france put its foot down, the proposals include cutting jobs, hiring contract workers, slashing budgets, as you say can you do travel disruption, high—speed trains including the tgv have been cancelled, the eurostar between paris and london, lots of planes have been grounded at airports around the paris area as well. a huge amount of disruption. and here in london there‘s a large international fintech conference happening? ona on a entirely different matter, the

uk treasury is hosting this big international conference aiming to increase and boost investment into the financial technology sector in london, trying to make it the epicentre for that business in the world. someone taking part was charlotte crosswell, ceo of innovate finance, a leading trade body. what did you make of the conference and philip hammond‘s spieth chris abbott it was good to hear him speak vocally about the sector. we have had support from the sector in tambe macro and we are delighted with his support and his comments to show what treasury and government will do to continue to evolve. was the issue of data handling touch on in light of data handling touch on in light of the recent news from cambridge analytic and banking? it was more focused on fintech companies and

investment support for that. there is sideline chatter around the has been around the week about how we control the data and restore transparency and trust and transparency and trust and transparency breeds trust. we must evolve and look at that resilience and make sure consumers can trust what is happening to their data. brexit was a key topic is back sadly we have to leave it there. thanks for joining we have to leave it there. thanks forjoining us. more on the fallout from the soulsby attacks, we are hearing that a judge has given the doctors at the go—ahead to give blood samples from sergei skripal and yulia skripal. we knew that was happening but because the two are still in a critical but stable condition, they cannot give permission themselves and had a a court. that permission has been given following a hearing in the

court in london. three people store in the hospital, sergeant nick bailey is no longer in a serious condition. he was the weather. it‘s a relatively mild day today but we have some rain on the way, it will sweep across the uk doing the course of the night. is the weather front thatis of the night. is the weather front that is approaching us right now. some of the cloud screaming from the south—west, that is a mild direction hence the temperatures are relatively high today, compared to what we had in the last couple of days. here is the wane as we go through this evening from a sweeping through this evening from a sweeping through northern ireland, scotland and western parts of england and wales, there would be raining at the far south or the east of the country, fixing that there will not be rain. frost free tonight, tabitha starting off what in the fixing the starting off—white in the north and the rain turns to showers,

coming and going. the rain returned c south—western areas possibly on friday afternoon but 13 degrees tomorrow when the sun does come out. goodbye. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. today at four: the war of words sparked by the salisbury poisoning intensifies — russia‘s ambassador to britain says the uk government‘s assertion that moscow was involved is completely baseless. britain has, without any evidence, blamed russia of poisoning three people and continues to refuse to cooperate. in salisbury, doctors are given the green light to take blood

samples from the father and daughter. the pair remain in a critical condition. "we all stand together" — theresa may will urge eu leaders in brussels to form a united front against russia. i‘m like that the leaders summit in brussels where they are talking russia as well as tariffs and brexit. on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. and they‘re die—stamped in gold, burnished with text and the edges are bevelled and gilded — 600 invitations to harry and meghan‘s wedding are in the post. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport. it's it‘s all hail gareth bale. he has broken the goal—scoring record. they

had a six nil win in china area. we‘ll show you how they did it later on. let‘s have a look at the weather. later we‘ll talk about how we interpret ten weather forecasts and ten, colder weather on the way next week. celebrating 50 years of broadcasting, the team is celebrating in style. pictures of harry you wish you had never seen before! hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. the war of words between britain and russia has heated up even more, plunging relations between the two countries into the deep freeze. russia‘s ambassador to london has

condemned boris johnson‘s comparing russia‘s hosting of the world cup with adolf hitler‘s 1936 olympics. alexander ya kovenko called boris johnson‘s comments totally irresponsible. he added that britain has no proof that his country was behind the poisoning of a double agent and his daughter. theresa may is in brussels this afternoon — to urge european unity against russia, in the wake of the salisbury attack. our correspondent naomi grimley reports. theresa may arriving in brussels on a diplomatic mission to get eu countries to back her tough stance on russia. her government now says president putin‘s state has become a strategic enemy for the whole region. russia has staged a brazen and reckless attack against the united kingdom when it attempted murder of two people on the streets of salisbury. i will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it‘s clear the russian threat was not respect borders and

indeed the incident in salisbury was part ofa pattern of russian aggression against europe and its near neighbours from the western balkans to the middle east. ever since the nerve agent attack in salisbury at the start of this month, relations with russia seem to have worsened by the day. yesterday they took another dip after the foreign secretary agreed there was a parallel between president putin hosting the world cup and hitler hosting the 1936 olympics. yes, i think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right. this morning the russian ambassador speaking to the british media said that had been irresponsible. the british government is free to make a decision about its participation in the world cup, but nobody has the right to insult the russian people, who defeated nazism and lost more than 25 million people, by comparing our country to nazi germany. that goes beyond common sense,

and we do not think british war veterans, including those of the arctic convoys, would share this opinion. and he questioned the uk‘s version of events in salisbury. britain has, without any evidence, blamed russia of poisoning three people and continues to refuse to cooperate. we cannot accept that. borisjohnson was not happy with the ambassador‘s attitude. borisjohnson was not happy with the ambassador's attitude. we've had no response from russian authorities except a sarcastic one. we don‘t wa nt to except a sarcastic one. we don‘t want to escalate this any further. what we want is some kind of way in

which they will accept that the russian state must have had some role in this and that‘s what we‘re trying to do. meanwhile, jeremy corbyn suggested escalation was a real danger and said serious dialogue was needed. i‘m not sure the language used by some of our ministers is particularly helpful or sensible. i don‘t have any problem with the people of russia, or the people of any country. do we have problems with people who abuse human rights? sure we do, and that, you have to draw that distinction and that difference. with three people still in hospital in salisbury, britain wants to see unequivocal support from its european allies, and with britain heading out of the eu in a year‘s time, today will be a particular test of theresa may‘s clout on the world stage. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins was at the ambassador‘s briefing and has been giving me more details. he was quoting from instructions

from moscow over what to say on the issue of the world cup being compared to the berlin olympics in 1936. in other parts of the news conference, he took a completely different position. he once again denied that russia as a state had anything to do with the salisbury attack and he complained that britain ought to be allowing the russian state to get involved in the investigation because, of course, one of the victims of the attack, the daughter of sergei skripal, is herself a russian citizen. it is clear british officials think it would be absurd for the russians to be actively involved in this investigation when theresa may has made clear she thinks that russia is the prime suspect, possibly the only suspect, so that one of words is bound to go on, but you really can‘t see an end at the moment. it is the

worsening of relations. it all hinges on one word, and that word is proof. ds, it does. the russians have come up with a lot of different responses once again today. the ambassador in london echoed some of the language used in the european union at the weekend, suggesting that is something sinister about the fact that attack took place within a few miles from the british military research establishment, where a lot of research into chemical warfare has gone on. you left the implication hanging that perhaps the british state, not the russian state, was responsible in some way for the attack. that is something that has been rejected as absurd by the british side so this is, of course, a warof british side so this is, of course, a war of counter narratives but britain makes clear that it thinks it has its narrative completely straight and as evidence —based,

intelligence —based, and british officials like to point out that the russians have come out with a huge number of counter narratives, even blaming other countries including but not limited to the czech republic, slovakia as being implicated. allegations those countries have all rejected. we keep getting told we‘re not in a new cold war but it is feeling very cold. getting told we‘re not in a new cold war but it is feeling very coldm is feeling very cold. after all, senior british officials are now talking openly about russia as a strategic enemy rather than a strategic enemy rather than a strategic partner and i think we know from what theresa may is going to say, the support she is going to seek from european union colleagues in brussels, that she considers that relations are getting substantially worse and, as she puts it, this is a long—term challenge that what britain regrets as russia‘s serial

bad behaviour represents a threat not just to bad behaviour represents a threat notjust to britain but, of course, to the complete alliance of western democracies. what would happen late on in this investigation? we‘re not quite sure the chronology of that, whether that has come from the police or the chemical weapons experts in the area. it seems like this division of the high court has been examining this issue about taking blood from sergei skripal had his daughterfor a few days. the judge has sergei skripal had his daughterfor a few days. thejudge has made his decision now and it has been made public so we‘re not sure of the chronology of the application going in to get those blood samples and what has gone on in that private hearing in london, which is part of the high court. mrjustice williams has made a ruling on protection,

pa rt has made a ruling on protection, part of the family division at the high court, and he‘s dealing with issues where people don‘t have the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves and because sergei skripal and his daughter are unconscious, in a critical condition and unconscious in hospital, they don‘t have the mental facility to make that decision themselves so it has to go through the courts and legal process to take blood from somebody without their permission. whether it has come from the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons whose experts are believed to be in wiltshire over the past few days or some other source, we are not being told. it is understood it is those chemical weapons experts that want to test the blood so it seems unlikely that the blood so it seems unlikely that the application to the courts have come through them. we don‘t know whether blood will be tested. none of those details have been published yet. whether it will be at the base we re yet. whether it will be at the base were the chemical weapons experts have been reusing or were, like

other samples, they will take them away for independent testing in other laboratories, but that breaking news is that permission has been granted to take those blood samples from sergei skripal and his daughter because they remain in a critical condition and unable to ta ke critical condition and unable to take the decision for themselves. that‘s something we‘ve had an update on, the conditions of the three who have been affected in hospital and more encouraging news about the police officer. yes, that's right. sergeant nick bailey who for the last 15, 16, 17 days has been any serious condition, public health in england has updated its bulletin on that the last few minutes —— public—health england, and we are told he is not in a serious condition, that he is stable in hospital and talking. he has met people like the home secretary amber rudd and the prime minister theresa may a few days ago and he has been

speaking to his family as well, but his official condition is or was that he was in a serious condition. now public—health england has advised that and say he‘s not in a serious condition and immoral, he is sta ble serious condition and immoral, he is stable and in hospital. at the same time, sergei skripal and stable and in hospital. at the same time, sergei skripaland his daughter remain in critical condition. we know the metropolitan police a few days ago and they spoke of four undergoing treatments, sergei skripal, his daughter and cited bailey. we are unsure of the identity of the fourth person. the fourth person is undergoing treatment as an outpatient, not in hospital, and it is some speculation in the press that the fourth person may be a police officer. they have not confirmed that that is the case. the inquest into the death of the russian businessman nikolai glushkov has opened and adjourned in west london. mr glushkov, who was 68,

was found apparently strangled at his home in new malden. police have begun a murder inquiry and are appealing for information. a two—minute silence has been held to mark a year since the westminster terrorist attack. five people were killed when khalid masood drove into pedestrians on westminster bridge, before stabbing pc keith palmer outside the houses of parliament. the prime minister laid a wreath in parliament square and a memorial has been created to remember all the victims of the three terrorist attacks in the capital last year. helena lee reports. a year ago today, terror came to the heart of british democracy. an islamic extremist drove onto the pavement on westminster bridge and mowed down pedestrians before stabbing to death pc keith palmer at the gates of parliament. he was then killed by armed police. colleagues, we shall now observe

a one—minute‘s silence in respectful memory of those who died a year ago today. this morning, mps paid their respects. and this lunchtime, a service of prayer and reflection was held in westminster hall. goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death. victory is ours through him who loves us. stories of remarkable selflessness emerged from the day, the mp who rushed to save the stabbed policeman said it was important never to give in to terrorism. we mustn‘t let the terrorist win. if we allow ourselves to be tortured

in this way, they succeed. if we allow our communities to fragment, the terrorist succeeds. we need to be emboldened, empowered, to be stronger to say actually we are not going to be affected by this. we are going to stand up to it and endure. a friend and colleague of the fallen policeman described the scene. we didn‘t know at the time whether it was described as a lone wolf attack or a multi—marauding attack with loads of people coming in through parliament. mass confusion, really. eventually one of my came over and said, "who was it? who is the officer on the floor?" he said, "it‘s your friend keith." terrible. it is great that he‘s been honoured in the last few months for bravery, awards

and the things he has done, i would sooner still have him here beside me. people deserve them awards and merits and things when they are alive. people on westminster bridge were also killed, andreea cristea from romania was one of them. her sister has spoken of her loss. there are moments when we take the phone to call her or to write on the messenger. we spend our whole time together, and now all of this doesn‘t make any sense. it‘s not the same thing and it won‘t be the same. westminster bridge marks the first of a wave of terrorist attacks last year. britain will mark more anniversaries like today for all of those who lost their lives and were injured, and with the current threat level at severe, they may not be the last. more than 120 firefighters have

been dealing with a fire on sauchiehall street in glasgow. fire crews were called to the fire this morning, it‘s believed to have started in a nightclub on the busy shopping street. the fire has now been brought under control and no injuries have been reported. alexander nix, the suspended boss of cambridge analytica, the firm involved in a row over its use of facebook data, has been recalled to give evidence to the culture media and sport committee. the chair of the committee, damian collins, said there were inconsistencies in the evidence he had given previously to the committee. mr nix was suspended after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims. meanwhile the founder of facebook, mark zuckerberg, has apologised. speaking publicly for the first time since allegations surfaced that data was misused during the us presidential election, he acknowledged there had been

a major breach of trust. from washington, chris buckler reports. facebook contains a world of personal information. more than two billion users have entrusted it with details including their age, whether they‘re in a relationship, and, perhaps crucially, their political leanings. cambridge analytica, and potentially other firms, are accused of exploiting that data in an attempt to influence, among other things, the us presidential election. and ultimately for that breach in trust, facebook and its founder are having to take responsibility. if you‘d told me in 2004 when i was getting started with facebook that a big part of my responsibility today would be to help protect the integrity of elections against interference by other governments, you know, i wouldn‘t have really believed that that was going to be something i would have to work on. for days, mark zuckerberg was silent while damaging allegations were broadcast around the world of how cambridge analytica took

advantage of information from facebook users. now he is promising a full forensic audit, and he says that anyone whose data may have been compromised will be told. but mr zuckerberg knows his social network will continue to be tested by those looking to exploit it. there‘s a lot of hard work that we need to do to make it harder for nation states like russia to do election interference, to make it so that trolls and other folks can‘t spread fake news, but we can get in front of this and we have a responsibility to do this. not only for the 2018 midterms in the us, which are going to be a huge deal this year and that‘s just a huge focus of us, but there‘s a big election in india this year, there‘s a big election in brazil, there are big elections around the world. politicians in both the uk and the us also have questions for mark zuckerberg. he said he would appear before congress in america if it was the right thing to do, and with talk of greater

regulation and new rules, the face of facebook may find he has little choice. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. the lead lawyer representing president trump, in the investigation into alleged russian interference in the 2016 us election, has resigned. in a statement, confirming he was stepping down, john dowd told the reuters news agency, "i love the president and wish him well". it comes days after mr dowd urged the usjustice department to close down the inquiry, led by special council robert mueller. our senior north america reporter, anthony zurcher, reporter, anthony zurcher, is in washington. who is he, is this a big deal? john dallat has been ahead of donald trump us personal legal defence team since summer of last year and throughout the course of his events of this special council investigation into possible ties between russia and the trump

campaign, he has counselled cooperation with robert miller, he said they have nothing to hide and the quicker they cooperate the quicker this will be done. this could represent a change of attitude on the part of donald trump going forward with his legal defence. he started tweeting at robert muller by name, criticising the investigation, calling it a witchhunt. he seems to be growing frustrated with the length of time it is taking for this investigation to take place. reports we re investigation to take place. reports were thatjohn dowd, one of the reasons he resigned was because he didn‘t think donald trump was taking his legal advice. another data point suggested donald trump would take a confrontational attitude towards the investigation. undermined by the fa ct investigation. undermined by the fact he has been beefing up his legal team in the meantime —— underlined by the fact. another lawyer, joe said —— joseph has

supported cds the fbi was out to get donald trump, that it is that conspiracy to undermine his presidency. donald trump has brought this man on board which would indicate he is reshaping his legal tea m indicate he is reshaping his legal team to be more confrontational. hanging over all of this is the prospect of donald trump could, at some point, sit down for an interview with robert muller‘s team. john dowd was one of the lead negotiators to set up this interview, he was against free—form interviews, so it will be interesting with this new legal team what will come from the talks of an interview at some point because that would be the cornerstone of this investigation. further allegations have been made about a labour councillor, who apologised to the scottish transport minister after making an islamophobic comment. humza yousaf claims that jim dempster conducted a campaign of what he describes as "sustained racial hatred" towards two people. the dumfries and galloway councillor

strenuously denies the allegations. he‘s been suspended from the labour party while an investigation continues. earlier today humza yousaf called for the councillor to step down. some of these allegations are serious and are aimed towards children, these people were children, these people were children, calling them all sorts of names and making their life, frankly as one complainant said, a living hell. that is just not acceptable. coastal dempster should take a hard look in the mirror and he should do the honourable thing and resign. —— counsellor. let‘s get back to our lead story — russia. theresa may is in brussels to urge european unity against vladimir putin in the wake of the salisbury attack. my colleague christian fraser is in brussels. she‘s hoping for a stiffer statement

that she got from the foreign ministers last week. a pattern of russian behaviour, crimea, ukraine, the downing of the malaysian airliner, the interference in american elections, she looks by the end of play this evening they will commit to stronger language in this statement. what you probably won‘t get is direct attribution to russia. most of the leaders that have come into the building today have said we will wait and see what the investigation comes up with from salisbury. jennifer rankin is a brussels correspondent for the guardian. when the leaders were coming in early, what sort of splits and divisions did you see because there are robbers divisions? the eu has always been divided. they have found it difficult to come up with a common line on russia. it is noticeable that one eastern european

president said she would be ready to expel russian diplomats from her country but we have heard similar language from others. there are concerns from greece, italy, hungary, whether it is a strong relationship with but you put not to push this to faster won't see a direct —— push this to faster we would see russia being directly blamed. there is a meeting in st petersburg next month. that will come under huge scrutiny. it has been the case with similar eu meetings before around the time of the crimea annexation. the concern ahead of this summer this afternoon was the tariffs that donald trump was the tariffs that donald trump was going to impose on steel and aluminium. they have been lobbying ha rd aluminium. they have been lobbying hard in washington this week and there might be good news. early signs are that lobbying has paid off. the eu trade commissioner has beenin off. the eu trade commissioner has been in washington for two days of intense stocks and looks like the eu

is going to secure an exemption. we won't know until we get the word on the tweet from donald trump letter on. they do have these retaliation is good to go. that is a long list of american goods, orange juice, cranberries, blue jeans, burden, many others so they say they are ready to take that step if it comes to it but i think everyone is hopeful that the eu won't have to ta ke hopeful that the eu won't have to take retaliatory measures and they can avoid this trouble with the us. theresa may is becoming, dare i say it, like the after—dinner speaker. she only gets this slot now at the eu summit in the evening. they give her time to address the other readers before she disappeared tonight and they carry on tomorrow. you've hit the nail on the head, she tends to get the coffee slot where she will provide an update on brexit and about the uk's concerns. that's important for her because she would

be around the table —— she will not be around the table —— she will not be around the table —— she will not be around a table on the others are discussing brexit with britain out of the room. so great news on the tariffs. we will see what comes of the russian conversation later this evening and of course, theresa may probably over coffee will be talking about brexit as well. thank you, christian in brussels. the duchess of cambridge is carrying out her final official engagement today before going on maternity leave. a brother or sister to four—year—old george and his two—year—old sister, charlotte, the new baby will be fifth in line to the throne. meanwhile, wedding invitations to the wedding of prince harry and meghan markle have been sent out. our royal correspondent, sarah campbell, has been giving me more details. 600 invitations are now in the post so tomorrow morning, who knows what might arrive? will be getting up early to check! 600 invitations, the people have been invited to the service at saint georges chapel and a lunchtime reception at st george

‘s hall given by her majesty the queen and an even more select 200 people have been invited to the private reception that evening by the prince of wales. it's quite interesting because the invitation itself is a work of art and on the kensington palace twitter feed, itself is a work of art and on the kensington palace twitterfeed, they show it being made. they put a film together. explain why the invitation itself is such a thing. they have been produced by a company called ballard and westward, it is stamped in gold and burnished, which to explain, the process of stamping is an embossed printing technique means the finished product has a subtle raised texture. it was pressed by hand and a black ink was put onto the face. once washed, it was ready for the gold print run of the crest. as the finalfinishing for the gold print run of the crest. as the final finishing touch, they we re as the final finishing touch, they were bevelled and gilded in gold on the edges and that means that it looks gold not just the edges and that means that it looks gold notjust when you viewed

from the top, but from the side as well. —— when you view it. from the top, but from the side as well. -- when you view it. will be know who the invitations have been sent to at any stage before the day? it depends whether people decide to talk about it and i would suspect the answer to that will be probably not. you remember one of the spice girls seems to get any bit of trouble saying she was invited and then not? it‘s one of those things people don‘t want to talk about. we will have to wait to find out. we've blown our chances! william and kate, she is eight months pregnant and todayis she is eight months pregnant and today is the last official engagement. this was a commonwealth celebration event. she is reading skinnyjeans celebration event. she is reading skinny jeans and high celebration event. she is reading skinnyjeans and high heels which isn‘t bad at eight months. this is the last time we will see her until presumably an official public engagement until the baby is born. it will be the queen‘s six great

grandchild, fifth in line to the throne. a brother or sister to four—year—old george and two—year—old charlotte. four—year—old george and two-year-old charlotte. are we going to have similar scenes as some of us have witnessed before? similar scenes outside, this is princess charlotte outside the private wing of st mary ‘s hospital in london. at the moment we have no reason to think that is not going to be replaced the new baby will be born as the other two children have been born and in terms of dates, we don‘t know the exact date. previously it has been five weeks from the last engagement to the birth of the baby so that would take us up to about the 26th of april. of course, names, we‘ve already started betting on names. well, people have. alice is currently that the keys favourite and albert if it is a boy. third

chance rather than hospital vigil don‘t do it at home? chance rather than hospital vigil don't do it at home? has been a difference, with prince george the state in overnight and the next day, princess charlotte in 2015, qatar must take an early in in and! in and i —— kassem was taken early if there are security implications and things to worry about. royals in the past have been born in palaces. onwards it is not completely out of the question and in some ways, that has been the tradition for centuries. time for a look at the weather. a lot of changing the way you lot were because you can predict much further ahead? yes, and a lot of people asked me in the street,

how many days in advance you know it? i want to outline how our ten day forecast work. within 48 hours, we get a good grasp of whether it is going to be raining in cornwall, devon, west wales, that sort of detail, maybe not necessarily every town and city, that may not come until alice in advance. that is the 48—hour period and it contained. this period is a uk wide pictures and we know rain will be sweeping across the uk on thursday or friday. beyond that, the 6—10 day period, we look at patterns across the whole continent. we know whether wins will come in from east south west, hotter or colder than normal. we have talked the last couple of hours, easter weekend? that falls in the six today and a period. in the past you‘ve had the beast in the east spot on? the original base in the east was february, we got 14 days in

advance of the onset of two or three days. this next cold spell which i'll days. this next cold spell which i‘ll talk about now, that‘s the seven—day, day number seven from now, thursday. the kind of patterns, this is what we look at, this is not the computer but a systematic as drawn, a gathering of different results with them making out. generally speaking in the next 6—10 days, we expect winds to come in from that direction in the run—up to easter, in the east itself. with this whether we could get snow showers, a return of colder weather. then even a bit beyond that period, ten days plus, we think wins will come out of the continent for the north or the east. here is some detail we are sticking and neck out a bit, we‘re thinking it might be warmer and mixing a bit, we‘re thinking it might be warmerand mixing in a bit, we‘re thinking it might be warmer and mixing in there would be cold an mild air, that‘s when you get weather fronts, low pressures. when we show you these patterns,

this is what it is based on. without lots of computer results and come to some sort of average consensus. we better have an idea what‘s happening in the next 48 hours? lets go for it. over the next 48 hours, in fact the next 24 hours, we know that rain will be sweeping across the uk, all of us will get rain, difficult to predict to the nearest hour which town and city will get it but we are confident that over the next 24 hours, in fact the myth about, it‘s happening now, rain will push across northern ireland, western scotland, the north—west of england, into wales, well. increasing winds, south—westerly winds, relatively mild as well. when you see these splodges of blue and you see the clock going four — six. sometimes happens, it‘s only mother nature that rain in reality will arrive an hour later or earlier. this is our best guest when this show you those

forecast. you can see it is right across england and wales here but for scotland and northern ireland, the expedition is to get some sunshine and showers. that was the 24—hour slot, let‘s look at the 48 hour slot. beyond friday evening, we are looking at rain reaching cornwall, devon, southern parts of wales for potentially could get a drift towards the north and south. the answer that, as we head to the weekend, that‘s when details are not as precise. the thinking is weather systems will bypass the uk, we will have a dryer part of weather but not whether from bordeaux, have a dryer part of weather but not whetherfrom bordeaux, there will have a dryer part of weather but not whether from bordeaux, there will be some in scotland the weekend. showers. and here with some strong winds of the atlantic. maybe some light rain and thicker cloud across the south but generally speaking, uk wide so this is the 48—hour period,

uk wide the weather isn‘t looking bad. sunday is similar as well. a lot of bright weather, confident that wins will come out the bolton west bringing some showers to scotla nd west bringing some showers to scotland again, which towns and cities precisely, which hour, will get a shower, is impossible to say. but that‘s the broad message that other than that, not looking bad at all. in the south, and this thinking is we will catch some rainbows this weekend as well. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. in salisbury, doctors are given the green light to take blood samples from sergei and yulia skripal — to be tested by the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons russia‘s ambassador to britain says the uk government‘s belief moscow was involved in the poisoning is completely baseless — while theresa may prepares to discuss the situation with eu leaders donald trump‘s lead lawyer for the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election has resigned — according to us media on the first anniversary of the westminster bridge attack, a memorial in lights to all those killed through terrorism in the capital last year. sport now on afternoon live with hugh.

all hail gareth bale? good afternoon. his pimply talisman for a while playing internationalfootball for wales. —— he has been the talisman. now gareth —— gareth bale has the stats to back it up when he scored a hat—trick for wales, he is the top scorer. it took just two minutes to get the first one, won‘t look too much about the defending but that wasn‘t the only time wales players benefited from some generous defending from the china team, he got the first and six ina six china team, he got the first and six in a six nil win, he‘s broken iain ross‘s record having scored 29 goals for the country that was special dave m for more than one reason. —— special day for him. it's amazing,

on my daughter‘s burst its less happy birthday to her and it‘s disappointing a company with her. —— disappointing a company with her. —— disappointing i can‘t be with her. it's disappointing i can‘t be with her. it‘s great to get the record and it‘s good to get after a new start under the new manager. he's had a difficult season at real madrid with lots of injury. it‘s prevented him from making much of an impact but still, jeered at every turn by the chinese fans despite the fact team we re chinese fans despite the fact team were losing 6—0. chinese fans despite the fact team were losing 6-0. he mentioned his new manager, after ryan giggs, a gate start. a glittering career for the former manchester united and wales player. he said he was more nervous today than he ever was as a player. it‘s his first permanent job, he said ago at assistant managing and temporarily in charge of manchester united but this is his first permanentjob of manchester united but this is his first permanent job and of manchester united but this is his first permanentjob and the 6000 nil win in yourfirst game is good. he‘s also got the first match praise down

already. you have to enjoy the goals, fantastic goals and the brilliant landmarks as well, chris gunter being the most capped outfield player, fantastic achievement. and gareth bale, what can you say? breaking someone like iain rush's record, one of the greatest goal—scorers who's ever lived, breaking his record of a fantastic achievement. zlatan ibrahimovic is set to leave manchester united imminently before the contract expires at the end of the contract expires at the end of the season, although there has been no announcement from united, it‘s understood jose mourinho has agreed to release him from his deal. it‘s not sure where he‘s going but there‘s been intense speculation he willjoin la galaxy, besties and has just started. —— their season has just started. —— their season has just out of. manchester united may set upa just out of. manchester united may set up a professional senior women‘s tea m set up a professional senior women‘s team for the first time since 2005

for they have submitted an application to the women‘s super league, if successful they will play in the second tier font next season. it is hugely significant for the women‘s game, many teams have opted out of the idea you don‘t have to support a woman‘s team, and finally we have one of the biggest brands in the world saying women‘s football matters, we will put our money on it. whatever the fans say, we will support it. if you stayed up the opening day of the test against new zealand and were baffled by england, you were the only one. their colla pse to you were the only one. their collapse to their sixth lowest total of 58 all out that in the coach trevor bayliss describing his batsmen as like deer in the headlights. alastair cook was the first ago, caught by tom latham and out for just five. trent boult took six wickets as five batsmen including to route and the returning ben stokes were all out for a duck, equalling england‘s records in an inning. kane williamson ‘srecord

took them to over 100 runs and they are looking at defeat. england batted terribly. i‘ve been in teams where that happens sometimes made juggernaut of destruction comes away and you can‘t stop it. when you‘re the bowling team and it‘s going well, you feel are going to wicket every bowl, at new zealand at lord‘s, stuart broad had the same thing. don‘t take the bull heads are going to roll, no one is to blame for it, collectively the england players did not bat well enough. judd trump has booked his place in the players championship snooker semifinals by beating neil robertson 6-1. he semifinals by beating neil robertson 6—1. he tookjust two hours to end the australian‘s tournament and will face ronnie o‘sullivan. next, mark williams takes on the inform ryan dave. that‘s your sports hour. now on afternoon live —

let‘s go nationwide — and see what‘s happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. charlie rose is in tunbridge wells to tell us about the demolition of the kingsnorth power station tower. we had to talk to harry as well, but we are having problems with the link. what‘s important about the power station? it's one of the most prominent landmarks on the kent landscape has also been the scene of some serious environmental protest over the years. in 2007, greenpeace activists scaled the chimneys, scrawling the name of the them by minister gordon brown along beside. they did that because they were against plans for a new coal—fired power station. then in 2007, something good climate camp appeared

in that saw the scene of this some serious environmental clashes, major clashes between campaigners and the police. in the end, the energy company eon pulled the plug on plans for a new power station siting the recession. that the eu environmental emissions laws also meant the site eventually had to close and demolition began in 2014. each building on the site was won by one exploded including the new turbine whole but today it was the turn of the 200 metre high chimney. whole but today it was the turn of the 200 metre high chimneym whole but today it was the turn of the 200 metre high chimney. it was supposed to happen earlier this month, what happened? what happened was we had that bout of extreme winter weather a few weeks ago the plans were shelved. but today it was all systems go. on the site, former

workers gathered for the demolition, an event they described as emotional. some facts and figures for you. the plant produce energy for you. the plant produce energy for 42 years. the tower, 200 metres high, contained 24,000 tonnes of concrete and 1.5 million bricks. it was all gone, all of that material, the entire tower gone, reduced to rubble, injust the entire tower gone, reduced to rubble, in just a the entire tower gone, reduced to rubble, injust a matter of the entire tower gone, reduced to rubble, in just a matter of seconds. the medway skyline reduced forever. there is something about those pictures, they are compelling aren‘t they? you can never have too many towers coming down like that. thank you. harry gration. i‘ve been to editorial meetings were they so the week take a soap around they so the week take a soap around the region and it looks like a good idea? vixen mother is so far around the region.

-- is —— is so far around the region. -- is so far around the region. we we re -- is so far around the region. we were originally going to transport you on the sofa but we thought we do that for comic relief next year. i‘m alongside my co—presenter amy and my weatherman paul hudson. the idea is to go to 50 locations to tie it in, with the 50th year of look north celebration. i have to say last night was very emotional because we finished about 9:15pm, we were in north derbyshire and we ended up in a place called harthill. this was the reception we receive, we can believe it. we were expecting a few people to read out that there were hundreds and they made us feel welcome. vixen mother we could not believe it. it‘s absolutely unbelievable. i got a bit emotional. i wasn‘t expecting anything like that in any shape or form. that was

one celebration we had an emmy, you can tell us about the other challengers. we've had a wonderful reception everywhere. one thing that sticks and am i put the peak district, we took the town's 1500 feet up, we had an entourage of 150 viewers he met as they are and followed viewers he met as they are and followe d u s viewers he met as they are and followed us up, then we had to try and get it all over the rocky telling, then down snow towards the hill, the other end, that for me was a special point. i didn't think we'd manage it to be honest. we battled the most incredible weather all the way from torrential rain to scarborough. as we had to scarborough, the wind knocked the town's over and we had people try to hold it up. the weather has been dead against us and in the last couple of days has been fine. the money we have raised has been extraordinary. we physically had to

hold the sofa down. the whole thing really was a bit of a challenge to say the least. we managed to get ourselves down there in the end. the response that we had from every body has been incredible because we have had a good response i far. we have raised around about £80,000 and we hope you get to clean tonight, we might not 100, it might be wishful thinking but we are hoping.” might not 100, it might be wishful thinking but we are hoping. i got a sneaky e—mail from one of your producers last night saying they weren‘t sure you would be able to make the rest of this so he said grab him tomorrow because that might be it for harry. you are also celebrating 50 years, aren‘t you? yes, this is a bit embarrassing in one sense because it is our look north birthday this weekend, and there have been over 13,000 additions of look north they give. you‘ve done them all! additions of look north they give.

you've done them all! not quite all but thank you very much, i‘ve done about 9000 of them. i need to get a life i think! we've got a few pictures of you in earlier days and i don‘t think you can see them as allow us to have a good old laugh. as though now if we‘d had the bravery to show them but i think there are pictures of you in a shower some years ago! i will warn viewers now those are coming up in case they want to turn away briefly. harry, the important thing is for your region, they love you don‘t they? well, it's kind of you to say so. they have been a bit concerned because i‘ve had an injury on this trip, my leg has gone, and i think basically, there was concern at one point that i wouldn‘t even finish it. you will! i will do the best i can. it has been a privilege to be pa rt can. it has been a privilege to be part of this over many years. this weekend as emotionalfor

part of this over many years. this weekend as emotional for me because weekend as emotional for me because we have a special programme going out on sunday at 4pm in our patch, which looks back on 50 years of bbc look north and it‘s been great. and the shower think by the way, was some fun with my co—presenter at the time, judith, some fun with my co—presenter at the time,judith, andi some fun with my co—presenter at the time, judith, and i presented this or she presented a duck to me or a piece of soap, i don‘t think we need to go into any more detail! received the pictures harry, that has some problems around the country as people rush out the rooms, but you‘ve got some special programmes coming up in the next few days but on behalf of everybody who see new as they pass to the region, to all three of you, thank you all very much. thank you, simon, we appreciate it. you always want the lusty words so thank you all very much and charlie, thank you in the. —— the last few words. if you would like to see more on any

of those stories, you can see them on bbc iplayer and we don‘t nationwide every weekday afternoon at 430.! we don‘t live. —— we go live. some victims of crime aren‘t being seen by police officers for hours, or even days, after phoning for help because of a failure to respond promptly to 999 calls. the inspectorate of constabulary says a quarter of forces in england and wales are struggling to respond to emergency calls, and are often overwhelmed by the demand. police call: hello, police, what‘s your emergency? has the thin blue line become too thin? the body that monitors the police says the service is under significant stress, with vulnerable victims often not getting a prompt response to emergency calls. it found that thousands of 999 calls, which needed officers to attend within 60 minutes, weren‘t dealt with for hours, or in some cases several days. we have raised this as a serious concern.

it‘s a sign of stress within the system, but it‘s a fundamental thing that the police are there to do, is turn up when the public most need them. one woman who needed the police was louisa mendez from leamington spa in warwickshire. she dialled 999 to report an assault. that was at 8:30pm but officers didn‘t arrive until the next morning. she was later found dead. every victim of domestic abuse needs to get the right response to the police the first time that she reaches out. it‘s very concerning to hear about 999 calls not being responded to promptly and in appropriate way. it can leave victims of domestic abuse alone and in dangerous situations. examples where police have been slow to respond are highlighted on twitter. this man said he reported a drunken hit and run driver to leicestershire police but says they asked me to bring my documents in before they would do anything. another tweeted that her son was threatened with a knife, but it took police three hours

to turn up. she says the perpetrator was still walking round with the knife for the entire time. the inspectorate says delays are caused when police don‘t have the resources available to respond, though police and crime commissioners have now been allowed to increase funding through the council tax. we need more of that money to going to local policing. we‘ve got a number of police forces who will be increasing the number of police officers next year in order to rip improve those response times but what we also need to address is the demand on policing which is coming from other areas which aren‘t necessarily crimes, such as mental health, which is accounting for well over a third of police time in some areas. inspectors say most police forces are managing to keep the public safe despite the pressures they face, but the cracks in the service are clearly beginning to show. danny shaw, bbc news. in a moment, the business news but first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live.

doctors are given the green light to take blood samples from sergei and yulia skripal — which will then be tested by the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons. the pair remain in a critical condition in hospital after being poisoned in salisbury russia‘s ambassador to britain says the uk government‘s assertion that moscow was involved in the poisoning is completely baseless — while theresa may prepares to discuss the situation with eu leaders. donald trump‘s lead lawyer for the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election has resigned. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. the franco—dutch firm gemalto will reportedly make the new style blue cover british passports. it‘s said to have won the contract worth £490 million. the current manufacturer is british company de la rue — which has been manufacturing the burgundy passports since 2009. it says it‘s not sure yet whether the losing interest rates will stay at 0.5%, the bank of england has announced. two of its nine decision makers voted in favour of raising the rate,

after a unanimous call last month to keep it on hold. the base rate is used as a guide by banks to set the interest rates on mortgages and savings. retail sales in february grew by 0.8% compared with the previous month — that‘s according to the ons. the increases was driven by groceries, vehicle fuel and online shopping. however, non—food retailers, such as clothes shops and electronics suffered a fall in sales. compared with a year earlier, february retail sales rose 1.5%, beating analysts‘ expectations of 1.3%. no surprise there with interest weights? —— rates. no surprise there with interest weights? -- rates. yes but there was a split in the vote, it was unanimous in their breed this time it was split, two members voted to increase them 7.5%. in a memo today,

the committee talked about the ongoing bringing down the base rate to the target of 2%. expectations are they move may. vixen mother a move there was a surprise for someone to get a blue passport because they‘re going to be made in france? that's according to the current manufacturer. they said the contract has been won by the franco dutch firm. the home office is saying that the new deal will save the money and that jobs will the new deal will save the money and thatjobs will be created in the air and hayward. let joining me now is george godber, fund manager at polar capital. it should be applauded. they get

taken out of the market, they can‘t go out and compete, so i was gobsmacked when i saw this decision. there‘s a lot of intellectual property that goes into the british passport, it one of the most copied passports in the world. to lose that and the impact it will have in gateshead at the factory they make it, it was a big blow and a massive shock. that's talk about the bank of england‘s decision today, less of a massive shock? are we now on course for a raise by may? the slight change in time is the markets are moving a poster and 80% probability by may and 100% byjune. we have a racing certainty to get to the summer months, that we are going to have the next 25 points hike in the base rate by the bank. we have to leave it the many thanks, george

polar capital. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at 5. time for a look at the weather. it's it‘s a relatively mild day today but we have some rain on the way. it sweeps we have some rain on the way. it swee ps a cross we have some rain on the way. it sweeps across the uk during the course of tonight. it is the weather front approaching us right now. you can see clouds streaming in from the south—west, from a mild direction hence the temperatures are relatively high today. that‘s compared to what we had in the last couple of days. is the here is the rain this evening. it‘s looking to ireland, scotland, with a freshening wind. not my trinity farce are for south—east of the country, drugs and drugs pushing through by the time you get a it starts off wet in the north tomorrow and then eventually the rain turns to shower, it will come and go through this afternoon. the

rain may return to south—western areas by friday afternoon. 13 degrees tomorrow where the sun does come out. goodbye. today at 5... ajudge rules blood samples can be taken from sergei and yulia skripal, nearly three weeks after they were poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury. the samples will be tested by the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons. the father and daughter remain in a critical condition. we‘ll have an update from the hospital shortly. russia‘s ambassador to the uk accuses boris johnson of insulting his country, after the foreign secretary compared russia to nazi germany. nobody has the right to insult the russian people. we defeated nazism and lost more than 45 million people. by comparing our country to nazi germany. and here in brussels, the prime minister is asking for european unity against russia.