this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at ten: the french police officer who swapped places with a hostage in an armed siege at a supermarket has died. three other people died and 16 more were injured in three separate attacks — all carried out by a man who said he supported the group that calls itself islamic state. owen smith says he'll continue to argue against brexit, despite being sacked from the labour front bench over the issue. the views that i am reflecting the views of the vast majority of labour party members including those who supported jeremy corbyn in the leadership contest over the last few yea rs. sergei skripal wrote to president putin asking to be allowed to return home, a friend of the former spy told the bbc. also in the next hour, sport relief raises more than £38 million for charities. it's below the record 55 million pledged two years ago — but organisers are still hailing the event a huge success. and the travel show team visit one of australa's must see destinations, uluru.

that's in half an hour's time here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. a french police officer who helped bring a terror attack to an end by swapping himself for a hostage in a supermarket siege has died in hospital. three other people were killed and several injured in separate attacks by a gunman who claimed to be acting on behalf of the islamic state group. he was later shot dead by police. lucy williamson reports. france's interior minister called it an act of heroism, but arnaud beltrame‘s acts also seem to have been key in ending the deadly siege at a supermarket near ca rcassonne. on entering the building, in exchange for a hostage being held at gunpoint by 26—year—old

redouane la kdim, lieutena nt—colonel beltrame secretly kept his mobile phone connected to colleagues outside, allowing them to hear what was going on. the attacker had already killed two of his captives and mr beltrame was shot several times before security forces stormed the building, killing the gunman and ending the siege. three people were killed in a series of attacks by redouane lakdim and more than a dozen injured. he claimed to be acting on behalf of the jihadist group islamic state and said he wanted to secure the release of salah abdeslam, a french detainee linked to the november 2015 paris attacks. lucy williamson, bbc news, carcassonne. our correspondent gavin lee is outside the supermarket in trebes, where yesterday's attack took place. a short while ago, police lifted the

cordon close to the supermarket in trebes. this is where the siege took place for several hours yesterday, the super u. you can see a number of trolleys still not over. the scene is as it was. police outside as the investigation continues. the news this morning of the death of the police officer who the french president emmanuel macron said saved others‘ by swapping himself one of the hostages, this is 45—year—old lieutenant colonel arnaud beltrame. it was said that he passed away in the early hours because of the severity of his injuries. it was said that he showed true courage, true spirit and true bravery. we know that he was amongst the first at the scene at 11 o‘clock yesterday morning. there were 50 people in the supermarket behind me. a number of those were still being held hostage. some had escaped through the

refrigerated meat area and through a door at the back. this officer, who had had some brief contact with the attacker, offered to swap himself for a 45—year—old female shopper. he went inside. he left his phone on a desk. it was left open so that police intelligence services, police special forces could listen. police intelligence services, police specialforces could listen. 45 minutes later, they heard gunfire. they went in and killed the attacker. but because of the severity of the injuries of the police officer, he was killed. two others were killed inside by the attacker we now know as 25—year—old moroccan national redouane lakdim. he was living in carcassonne with his mother and sisters. he had been ona his mother and sisters. he had been on a french terror watch list, but was deemed not to be somebody who had gone down the path of radicalisation, so he was taken off. he was seen as a petty thief. he had been imprisoned in 2016, so there are more questions over why he was taken off that list. but right now

and over the weekend, the forensic work here continues. the former shadow northern ireland secretary, 0wen smith, has said he will continue to oppose labour‘s stance on brexit after he was sacked for calling for a second referendum on the terms of the final leave deal. mr smith said he believed jeremy corbyn wanted to adopt a more eurosceptic approach — which he believed would damage the country‘s economy. he told bbc breakfast that mr corbyn as not speaking up for the majority of labour party members on the issue of brexit. clearly not on this issue, because the majority of labour party members, as reflected in that motion at conference and in the motion in my own constituency led party a week ago is in favour of us taking a stronger view on brexit. i was the shadow northern ireland secretary. i have been very proud and i was privileged and thanks jeremy have been very proud and i was privileged and thanksjeremy corbyn yesterday for allowing me to serve on the front bench on northern ireland. it is one of the greatest legacies of the last labour government that we helped to deliver peace to northern ireland. but there

is now a risk to the still fragile political process in northern ireland, and that is the prospect of brexit bringing back a hard border between the irish republic and northern ireland. and that would be incredibly damaging and destabilising, potentially risking the security of people living along the security of people living along the border and asked the chief co nsta ble of the border and asked the chief constable of northern ireland said, risking the security of his police officers. we can‘t countenance that, which is why we need a strong brexit position. at the moment, our position, in my view, is not strong enough on the single market or the risks that brexit poses to our country. let‘s talk to our political correspondent chris mason. can you help us to use this apart? what is it that 0wen smith has done in publishing this article in the guardian calling for a second referendum, that has justified jeremy corbyn sacking him from the shadow cabinet? there are three

things. firstly, he decided to pen an article. in other words, he can‘t blame this on encountering a pesky reporter like you or me, being asked some devilish questions and blurting something out that he later regrets, 01’ something out that he later regrets, or something he has written for a private audience that managed to slip into the bloodstream of national debate. instead, he has pulled out of his laptop and typed out a relatively short piece, albeit with a stinging conclusion in terms of his view versus labour‘s view in which he said firstly that in his view, the uk should stay in the single market after brexit. that isn‘t labour policy. secondly, that at the end of the negotiating process , at the end of the negotiating process, as opposed to their being a vote in parliament, which the government has promised... which labour endorses. and labour are pushing for improvements to that, but 0wen smith says, why not have another referendum ? that but 0wen smith says, why not have another referendum? that is also not labour party policy. so in that sense,in labour party policy. so in that sense, ina labour party policy. so in that sense, in a public forum, in a

thought through peace, he has meandered several miles away from the party line. and presumably he is not arguing for something the labour party is not currently committed to, but he thinks it is a legitimate pa rt but he thinks it is a legitimate part of the debate and can‘t understand why he has been sacked for it. the curiosity is that what 0wen smith said in the guardian article isn‘t surprising to students of 0wen smith‘s politics. article isn‘t surprising to students of owen smith's politics. of which there are many(!). of which i am one, asa there are many(!). of which i am one, as a nerd! i covered the leadership race two years ago, where 0wen smith challenged jeremy corbyn for the post and owen smith is a committed europhile. but last summer, he took a dig around jeremy corbyn‘s top table. the convention of so—called collective responsibility is that you sing from the hymn sheet of party policy, whether you agree with it or not. how does labour square that with this letter that was also in the public domain since diane abbott sent it to her constituents, which appears on the guido fawkes website and she says in it that although the

government voted on moving the brexit bill to the next parliament restage, labour will continue to push for the many and not the few. i will argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed. that is tricky from team corbyn‘s perspective. that isa from team corbyn‘s perspective. that is a letter to which one or two of mr smith‘s supporters have also gazed rather intently in the last few hours. it is only four months old. indeed. very quickly after that, she popped up on question time ended as discrete a reversing the move as you can do when in front of david dimbleby and a large audience on bbc one. there is clearly a discrepancy there, and people are pointing to that. the argument that might be made is that this was a not quite as public forum as the guardian, although it did become that. some will point out that diane abbott is a fellow political traveller with jeremy corbyn. for 40 yea rs. traveller with jeremy corbyn. for 40

years. and owen smith is not. equally, 0wen smith will have known that when he wrote this column, there was a high potential that it would cost him hisjob. there was a high potential that it would cost him his job. chris mason, thank you. a former classmate of the russian spy poisoned in salisbury has claimed that his friend wanted a full pardon from president putin. vladimir timoshkov told bbc news that sergei skripal regretted becoming a double agent. mr skripal and his daughter yulia remain critically ill in hospital. 18 investigators from the uk‘s information commissioner have been searching the london headquarters of cambridge analytica overnight, after a high court judge granted them a warrant. the firm is at the centre of a data privacy row and is accused of using information from millions of facebook users to help political campaigns, without their consent. ben ando reports. after a week of waiting for a warrant, last night the inspectors called. theirjob — to search the offices of cambridge analytica for evidence

that data gathered via a facebook personality test from around 50 million americans in 2014 was not destroyed and whether, if cambridge analytica used the data, it had an impact on the election two years later that put donald trump in the white house. that seemed to be the claim of its since suspended boss when recorded by undercover reporters. some believe it‘s time to ask what we want from the web. we can act collectively and think carefully and deliberate meaningfully about what matters to us in terms of a digital environment and a digital world and impose appropriate constraints upon what is done with our personal data and where we think the boundaries ought to be. others are already voting with their keyboards. elon musk, the founder of spacex, has revealed that he‘s the most high profile user yet tojoin the so—called delete facebook movement by culling his company‘s profile pages. the inspectors left in the early hours of the morning. what we know about the

information commissioner‘s investigation is that it is looking into how data can be used for political purposes. both facebook and cambridge analytica deny any wrongdoing. ben ando, bbc news. hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in marches across america later today, calling for tighter gun controls. the main rally — in washington — will include survivors of last month‘s school shooting in florida. people are also expected to demonstrate outside the us embassy in the london. 0ur correspondent chris buckler reports. parkland students have travelled hundreds of miles from florida from the school where their classmates and teachers were killed, a shooting that many of them survived. in washington, they‘ve already been lobbying politicians, and today they‘ll be joined by tens of thousands of others in a march calling for new tighter gun laws in the us. i‘m doing this because i don‘t want any other student to have to go and attend a friend‘s funeral instead of their friend‘s birthday party.

those who fled the marjory stoneman douglas high school started the campaign that has led to the march for our lives and they have inspired a huge number of others. alongside services and protests, hundreds of sister marches are due to take place today across america and around the world. i can honestly say that prayers do not feel like enough. we must act. we must act to change current laws that allow profound devastation and heartbreak. despite the strength of america‘s gun lobby, there are some signs that the white house is having to listen. the usjustice department has confirmed that it is pushing ahead with proposals to ban so—called bump stocks. they are devices capable of enabling a semiautomatic weapon to fire like a fully automatic machine gun. but the students leading this campaign believe that‘s only a start,

and they hope the size of today‘s march in washington will add to the pressure on president trump. the headlines on bbc news: the french police officer who swapped places with a hostage in an armed siege at a supermarket has died. 0wen smith says he‘ll continue to argue against brexit, despite being sacked from the labour front bench over the issue. sergei skripal wrote to president putin asking to be allowed to return home, a friend of the former spy told the bbc. time for a check on the sport now. it is boat race day. plenty to get through before we talk about the boat race, but we start with formula 1. boat race, but we start with formula 1, which is back. and it appears lewis hamilton is just 1, which is back. and it appears lewis hamilton isjust getting better and better. the briton will start tomorrow‘s australian grand

prix from pole after producing a lap that he said was as close to perfect as you can get. formula 1 is back before qualifying, excitement was understandable. we were supposed to be about to witness a challenge to lewis hamilton and his mercedes team‘s dominance. ferrari looked like they might have closed the gap in pre—season testing. and when sebastian vettel took the time sheet in the second session, it felt like things were about to get tasty. mercedes suffered another blow at the start of the final session. valtteri bottas giving his mechanics the prospect of a sleepless night, trying to rebuild his car in time for the race. there were no such troubles for hamilton, as the reigning champion clocked the quickest time ever seen in qualifying at albert park. the gap to the ferraris of kimi raikkonen and vettel was a massive one, of more than half a second. awesome, mate. nice work. it was hamilton‘s fifth consecutive pole down under and a record seventh in australia, surpassing ayrton senna. it is going to take something

remarkable to stop him from retaining his title. in auckland, the bad weather wiped out virtually the entire third day‘s play in the first test between new zealand and england. 0nly play in the first test between new zealand and england. only 17 balls we re zealand and england. only 17 balls were bold and four runs scored this morning as the host increased their lead to 175 runs. but there was time for a batsman to reach his half—ce ntu ry for a batsman to reach his half—century of 149 balls, but the umpire decided to abandon play and the kiwis will resume day four on 233 - the kiwis will resume day four on 233 — four. england‘s preparations for the world cup in russia stepped up for the world cup in russia stepped upa for the world cup in russia stepped up a notch with the first of four warm—up matches. jesse lingard‘s first england goal was enough to see of the netherlands in amsterdam, from where our correspondent was watching. stepping out into the limelight, this is where england‘s world cup countdown begins. the first of four pretournament friendlies, an experimental squad vying for seats

on the plane to russia. jordan henderson was named captain, and came closest to scoring in a first—half that offered reason to be encouraged. at the other end, jordan pickford was given the gloves. the question is whether he will keep them. after the break, england showed more intent and felt they should have had a penalty. they were getting closer, more dominant and, soon, it told, jesse lingard with a moment of inspiration, a first goal for his country — cause for a celebration. he works incredibly hard for the team, and this season is a real breakthrough to him, in terms of what we see in turning his finishing in training into matches. the nearest the netherlands came was a free kick, easily saved. the disappointing dutch showing why world cup qualification was beyond them. england next face italy on tuesday. for gareth southgate and his team, a job well done. not too muchjoy

not too much joy for scotland fans. alex mcleish‘s second reign as manager didn‘t get off to the best of starts, costa rica six places above them in the world rankings, we re above them in the world rankings, were a comfortable 1—0 win at hampden park. scotland play hungary on tuesday evening. i was a bit disappointed. we were never really up on them in the way we wanted to be and high on the back three. they still played out a wee bit, but i think it was because we were a bit we were half—hearted. i don‘t know. maybe apprehension, some new caps in the team. northern ireland face south korea in a friendly at two o‘clock. it was a big night in the rugby. brian

mcdermottmy 200th game in charge at leeds ended in a defeat axford, who beat them 25—24. that moves castleford level on points with leaves, and there were also wins for warrington and hull fc. rugby union‘s premiership, champions exeter secured a late victory against west country rivals bath. the chiefs are nine points clear at the top of the table. in the pro 14, there were wins for glasgow and edinburgh, but the glasgow dragons lost to the cheaters. johanna konta eased into the third round of the miami open with a straight sets win over kirsten flipkens. the british number one is the defending champion in florida, and hoping to kick—start her year after a mixed start to 2018. and 0xford 2018. and oxford and cambridge universities go oar to oar in the annual boat race. 0xford have won four of the past five men‘s races

and are catching up with cambridge in the overall standings. it is 82-80 to the in the overall standings. it is 82—80 to the light blues. there is a bigger gap in the women‘s head to head with cambridge leading 42—30, but 0xford hope to narrow the gap with an experienced crew leader. and this year marks a year since the event was first televised by the bbc. that race starts at 4.31 this afternoon. you can follow all the action across the bbc on the website. that is all your sport for now. would that we were as accurate as that, 4.31! the environment secretary michael gove has accused sheffield city council of "environmentalvandalism" and has promised to do "anything required" to end the city‘s controversial tree—felling programme. thousands of trees are being felled as part of a contract the council has signed with a private company to improve the city‘s roads. campaigners say they are outraged that healthy trees are being cut down and large numbers of police have been deployed to protests. dino sofos reports from sheffield.

the city council says every tree which is being removed is being replaced. shouting. people in sheffield are really angry. aren‘t you proud of your city? they‘ve taken to the streets and they‘re getting arrested. they‘re outraged that a private company employed by their council is cutting down thousands of what they say are perfectly healthy trees. the council has signed a contract with the private company amey to improve the roads in the city and to get rid of trees deemed to be dead, diseased and dangerous, which will then be replaced with saplings. part of that contract says that almost half of the city‘s street trees will be felled, although the council disputes this. although many residents support the felling, there have been ongoing protests. shame on you! the police have stepped

in in large numbers. south yorkshire police are like the gestapo. campaigners say they feel intimidated. what are you doing? this woman was arrested on suspicion of causing intentional harm or distress and will have to go to court. another woman who didn‘t want us to show her face said her son went to a protest with friends when his school was because of the snow, and the police stepped in. as he arrived, one of the police officers says "there‘s a minor here, call social services". and lo and behold, social services turned up. how does that make you feel? well, it‘s exactly how they want to make me feel. nothing strikes fear into the heart of a parent like a phone call about social services. whose street?

0ur street! south yorkshire police say they have a duty of care when children are present and will always contact their parents and council staff to ensure their welfare. they say the policing of protests comes down to an exercise of balancing competing rights and upholding the law. the campaigners are outraged that the council isn‘t willing to negotiate. the leader of the council, julie dore, hasn‘t responded to my interview requests, so i decided to track her down. julie? bbc news. can we have a word, please? can we have one minute to talk to you about trees? butjulie, the people of sheffield are concerned about why there are police on the streets. they‘re saying it‘s your contract. there‘s real pressure on the council. some local mps and the shadow environment secretary have urged them to pause the felling. amey say they‘re willing to talk, but altering the contract would result in practical or financial changes. the environment secretary has been to sheffield and has also called on the council to stop what he calls environmental vandalism. he says the government is willing to intervene. we‘ll make sure we can do anything required to stop this. stop the tree felling now,

and stop trying to justify a mistaken course of action. the labour—run council says it‘s disappointed by mr gove‘s unsubstantiated comments. meanwhile, the campaign to stop the trees coming down continues to grow. you can find more on this story and a longer version of this report on the bbc news website. let‘s take a look at some of the other stories making the news this morning. the white house has announced orders to formally ban transgender people from serving in the us military. it follows donald trump‘s controversial policy pledge that sparked widespread backlash last year from civil rights groups and us defence chiefs. a memo released yesterday from the secretary of defense said trans people would be "disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances" scientists have warned that europe‘s most active volcano,

mount etna, on the italian island of sicily, must be monitored more closely after it was found to be moving. the uk—led team of researchers says a weak underlying platform is forcing etna closer towards the sea at a rate of 14 millimetres each year. geologists say there is no immediate risk to residents, or to the island itself. conservation officials in australia have confirmed that more than 140 pilot whales which became stranded off the western coast have died. fishermen made the discovery at hamelin bayjust south of perth yesterday, prompting a large scale rescue effort to return the animals to deeper waters. only six whales are thought to have survived. now, how should hospitals treat homeless people? they are admitted for emergency treatment many more times than the average patient — and stay on average twice as long. but often, they are simply discharged back on to the streets. 0ne charity wants to change that. it started in london and is expanding across the uk. dougal shaw reports. meet gary spall.

he slept rough in london for more than a decade. in that time, he had multiple acute health problems. he was in and out of this central london hospital. typically, he was discharged back onto the streets. this is where i used to bed down. it‘s horrible. in winter, even worse. how did you feel when you made the five—minute walk out of hospital back to this? it‘s not a good place to recuperate. really depressed. but thanks to the pathway charity, the nhs became a way to save gary. they made contact with him during a stay in hospital and used it as a chance to turn his life around. now he has a home and a beloved pet dog, lola. the charity helps 3,000 homeless people each year, operating in 11 hospitals across the uk, like this one in east london. it assembles a dedicated team to help the homeless. this includes a gp, a nurse, an occupational therapist and crucially, a care navigator. he is trusted by homeless patients because of his background. sometimes we‘ll get a patient who says to me

"you don‘t know what it‘s like to be on the street and be homeless," and i can turn round and say i do understand what that feels like. i‘ve been through the system. gavin has to first locate homeless people who have been in hospital. admitted to hospital. this is the charity‘s chance to stage an intervention to turn lives around. the pathway team addresses underlying health issues, but they also sort out immediate problems like getting fresh clothes, and help to find housing after leaving hospital. the team hosts a weekly meeting where representatives from housing associations, local hostels and the police can share knowledge to sort out individual cases. this might seem like a lot of work in a stretched health system, but the medical director of the pathway charity says this approach makes sense for hospitals. we can reduce the amount of time people spend in hospital and the need for them to come back to hospital again. so the net result is reducing the stress on the nhs.

if not for pathway, i don't think iwould be here now, alive, and everything is going good now. fifth in £38 million was raised during last night‘s sport relief. the amount is below the record £55 million pledged in 2016 — but organisers are still hailing the event a huge success. 0ur entertainment correspondent, colin paterson reports. commentator: and away they go, pushing hard! this was a very competitive sport relief. there was the clash of the channels — bbc versus itv. but with dan walker in one boat and charlotte hawkins in the other, it was really bbc breakfast versus good morning britain, and look who won. and the bbc will take victory in this sport relief celebrity boat race! there was the return of celebrity boxing.