this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at midday: an unjustifiable use of "instruments of extermination" — the pope speaks out after reports of at least 70 people being killed in syria in an alleged chemical attack. we have received many patients who have suffered from symptoms compatible with exposure to chlorine gas. america describes the reports as "horrifying," and says russia "ultimately bears responsibility" for the alleged attacks. the foreign office wants an urgent investigation. the home secretary, amber rudd, denies that falling police numbers are to blame for the recent surge in violent crime in london. the foreign secretary boris johnson describesjeremy corbyn as "the kremlin's useful idiot" — the labour leader hits back saying mrjohnson has "made a fool of himself" over russia. the authorities in germany say there's no indication of an islamist link to an attack that left two dead and 20 injured. also in the next hour:

northern ireland win their first medal of the commonwealth games. 18—year—old rhys mcclenaghan gets gold in the pommel horse. meanwhile olivia breen produced a commonwealth record to claims wales' third gold medal of the games. and click looks at 56 and the world of computer robotics. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the syrian government and its russian allies have denied allegations that they used chemical

weapons to attack the rebel—held town of douma in eastern ghouta. reports suggest that up to 70 people have been killed in what appears to be a chemical attack. unverified footage from rescue workers shows a number of bodies, many of them women and children. here, the foreign office said there must be an urgent investigation. and the pope has condemned the attack as an unjustifiable use of "instruments of extermination" of "instruments of extermination." lebo diseko‘s report does contain disturbing images from the start. the victims of an alleged chemical attack, according to volunteer rescue workers in douma. this footage, supplied to the reuters news agency, and not independently verified by the bbc, apparently shows medics desperately trying to help children and families. syria's government says the allegations are a fabrication, and staff from a medical relief organisation on the frontline say they are worried

about what could have been used. we have received many patients who suffered from symptoms compatible with the exposure to high concentration chlorine gas. also, their symptoms were deteriorating in a fashion that is not compatible with pure chlorine gas exposure. and that is why our physicians are concerned about exposure to nerve gas in low concentration. what is not disputed is the ongoing bombardment of douma, the last remaining rebel stronghold on the outskirts of damascus. weeks of assaults from the air and the ground as the president's troops, backed by russia, try and reclaim control of the town, and that is perhaps why the us has been quick to blame both, saying the regime of president assad and its backers must be held accountable, and any further attacks prevented immediately. and they must work with the international community to prevent further attacks. it says russia ultimately

bears responsibility for the targeting of civilians. but it is civilians who suffer most is this conflict continues, more than seven years in and no end in sight. the united states has called on russia to end this unmitigated support immediate and work with the international community to prevent for the barbaric chemical weapons attacks. but amid the blame and denial, it is the most vulnerable who suffer most, with the end to this conflict seemingly in sight. caroline anning from save the children's syria response office joins us now via webcam from neighbouring jordan. thank you for being with us. what is your information about this attack in syria. we are also trying to confirm what is happening on the ground, what the situation is in douma and east german ghouta, but large numbers of casualties, with a lot of children, that medics are struggling to respond to, and symptoms consistent with chemical weapons. we cannot confirm that are

currently what they are reporting, people are forming at the mouth, they are seeing restricted pupils, convulsions, so that is consistent with some sort of chemical weapons attack and we are trying to get more information from our partners about the situation in the ground —— eastern ghouta. the reports are there were only two qualified doctors left in the area, so it is a really chaotic situation, coming off mike the back of —— off the back of months of intense bombardment. and looking at children in particular being treated for what appears to be a chemical attack, being hosed down with water and so on, pretty rudimentary medical treatment. this is one of the things our partners have been telling us over the past weeks. they have been putting out pleas for the international community to get more medical supplies into douma, and there has not really been a convoy to get

proper medical supplies into the area for months now, so they are really short of medical equipment and they don't have the supplies to respond to it and we are seeing these horrific pictures, children being treated in hospitals, forming at the mouth, having convulsions, children being hosed down from suspected chemical weapons, but also pictures of whole families are u nfortu nately have pictures of whole families are unfortunately have been killed in their basement shelters, families lying together on the four of those shelters where they have been staying for weeks because of this bombardment, so it is horrifying, but what we need is to get into those areas. those sort of attacks, and we have seen them before in syria, let's face it, we have seen chemical attacks before. we're not 100% sure whether we can verify this was a chemical attack but certainly there have been those in the past, and they are indiscriminate, and women and children often the victims. exactly. we can't confirm this but we absolutely know that this but we absolutely know that this has happened. there is u nfortu nately a really this has happened. there is unfortunately a really depressing

president for this in syria, sojust over a year ago, almost exactly, there was a chemical weapons attack that the un confirmed was the sarin nerve agent, which killed dozens of people, and many of them were children. 2013, and major attack in the same area in eastern ghouta, and u nfortu nately the same area in eastern ghouta, and unfortunately children are often the most vulnerable, sheltering with theirfamilies in most vulnerable, sheltering with their families in basements, most vulnerable, sheltering with theirfamilies in basements, nowhere for them to escape a possible gas attack and their bodies are more vulnerable to this, and to any kind of violence, so unfortunately they are of violence, so unfortunately they a re often of violence, so unfortunately they are often the victims and we are seeing a situation where it appears negotiations for evacuations are falling apart between various groups and children and the innocent are paying the price, —— paying the price, and they shouldn't be. we should be able to safely evacuate civilians that we want to evacuate without being beholden to this political process. thank you very much for being with us, caroline anning from save the children's syria response office.

the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has described jeremy corbyn as the "kremlin's useful idiot" over his response to the nerve agent attack on sergei skripal, the former russian spy living in the uk, and his daughter yulia. writing in the sunday times, he said the labour leader was giving moscow "propaganda" false credibility by refusing to "unequivocally" back the government's view that russia was responsible for the attack. labour said mrjohnson had "made a fool of himself" by misrepresenting what he had been told by chemical weapons experts. the home secretary amber rudd says rising violence on britain's streets is not caused by falling police numbers. writing in the daily telegraph, she said evidence did not back up claims that cuts to resources were the cause of increased crime. the government has outlined a new strategy to tackle serious violence, including a new task force, and tougher controls on the purchase of knives and corrosive substances in england and wales. andy moore reports. amber rudd said the spate of recent attacks in london reflected a wider

pattern of violence in major cities across the uk. she said she'd be launching what she called a serious violence strategy tomorrow, and chair a task force that would bring together key representatives to tackle the problem. she also rejected claims there were not enough police officers on the streets. she said in the early 2000s, when serious violent crimes were at their highest, police numbers were also rising. the government has announced that a new offensive weapons bill will be introduced next week. further restrictions will be placed on the sale of knives online, preventing them from being posted to residential addresses. while certain other weapons, like zombie knives and knuckledusters, will become illegal to possess in private. the planned legislation also includes a ban on the sale of corrosive substances to under 18s. carrying acid in a public place will be a criminal offence. this is a really essential piece of legislation for the policing and for the public and communities.

it will allow us to control the purchase by people under the age of 18 and it will allow us to have much more control as to who carries it in a public place and whether they have good reason to or not. labour said tough talking by the government was not enough. it needed to give the police the resources they needed to keep people safe. andy moore, bbc news. a little earlier i spoke to simon harding, an associate professor of criminology at the university of west london, who gave his thoughts on amber rudd's remarks. ican i can understand why the home secretary has made that statement. there is no direct equation between ridgers police numbers and a rise in violent crime. —— reduced police numbers. particularly the type of crime we are seeing, interpersonal violence. in many ways, for young gang affected or gang affiliated

young men who are out for revenge or retaliation, they are probably going to commit that offence or do that regardless of whether or not there are police on the streets. so visible presence of policing is perhaps incidental to them, maybe even irrelevant to them. public reassurance is what is given by visible policing on the streets. it helps to reduce the fear of crime. one issue, however, is perhaps a round community engagement. and i think there is a need to for neighbourhood policing that engages with the local community, engages with the local community, engages with young people, and perhaps allows for tension monitoring to ta ke allows for tension monitoring to take place. so i think we need to make sure we keep that. what do you think then is behind this, i mean, do you see it as an upsurge in violence in london in particular? is it down to gangs? and if it is, what is driving that? a lot of people speak about social media as a real driving force. we know it is wider

than just gangs. there are issues of fights outside pubs, clubs, betting shops, domestic violence. it is broader thanjust shops, domestic violence. it is broader than just gang crime. shops, domestic violence. it is broader thanjust gang crime. but shops, domestic violence. it is broader than just gang crime. but we have seen this upsurge before londoners might perhaps recall 2007, 2008, where we had a particular spike of violent crime in the capital, again largely driven by an upsurge in gang crime. since then we have seen a number of changes. the first of which is the evolution of street gangs. in many ways, the people involved are getting younger, at one end, and older at the other end of this gang spectrum. so not evolving or maturing out, but getting stuck in the gang. this makes the gang is very competitive, and in many ways more violent. we have also seen changes to drug dealing and drug supply, whereas in yea rs dealing and drug supply, whereas in years gone by, if you had stocked

drugs, you would have gone perhaps toa drugs, you would have gone perhaps to a housing estate, hung around until somebody met you. nowadays, you can dial dealer, 2a hour deals, someone you can dial dealer, 2a hour deals, someone will drive to your house on a bike are more tired and deliver. these boys will be carrying drugs and money, and knives, so this has i think increased the number of people carrying knives out on the street. thirdly, we have social media. it is very easy for gangs to posture and present themselves online, with videos, perhaps provocation to other rival gangs, and this has the capacity to widen the net and bring other people who are not gang involved into the orbit. they make commentary on what they have seen, this perhaps brings further commentary, and are ratcheting up effect. lastly, what about stop and search? we spoke about police numbers, but a lot of people say, bring back real stop and search and

that could make a difference. bring back real stop and search and that could make a differencelj think that could make a difference.” think it does have to be used. as long as it is done in a targeted way, ina long as it is done in a targeted way, in a careful and respectful way, in a careful and respectful way, i think it can help. we have police officers now wearing body worn cameras, and they will record any interaction with somebody, but what underpins this is the need for the government and the police to connect with the communities and get their support for whatever action it is they are looking to take. that was simon harding, associate professor of criminology speaking to mea professor of criminology speaking to me a little earlier on. let's just bring you an update on the news of that alleged chemical weapons attack on syria in which 70 people are feared to have died in douma, in eastern ghouta near damascus. we have had condemnation, worldwide condemnation already, including from the pope, but now russia, the ally of the syrian government, has hit backin of the syrian government, has hit back in the russian foreign ministry has been quoted as calling these

reports of assyrian gas attack "bogus." and "an attempt to shield terrorists and to justify the use of external force. " terrorists and to justify the use of external force." so russia describing the reports of a poison gas attack, or a chemical weapons attack, in eastern ghouta as bogus and an attempt to shield terrorists. that is the russian response being courted by the russian foreign ministry. the headlines on bbc news: as we were just saying, the pope condemns as unjustifiable use of "instruments of extermination" reports of at least 70 people being killed in syria in what appears to be a chemical attack.

the home secretary, amber rudd, denies that falling police numbers are to blame for the recent surge in violent crime in london. the foreign secretary borisjohnson describes jeremy corbyn as "the kremlin's useful idiot" — the labour leader hits back saying mrjohnson has "made a fool of himself" over russia. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's adam. good afternoon. a good day in the commonwealth games on the gold coast and you can get a full update on the website but i can tell you the scotland's duncan scott has won the gold, chasing down the likes of south africa and chandler close and australia's kyle chalmers, securing scotland's fourth gold medal at these games while le clos and charmer is tied for silver. me and steve, we fought for the race. their

we re steve, we fought for the race. their were certain things we wanted to work, building through the race and bringing it home. anyone from line one could have taken that. just trying different things out in training and, you know, nor better stage to try new things than in the commonwealth games. yes, i am just absolutely buzzing, trying my best in every single event i am doing, and so far, so good. earlier this morning northern ireland won their first medal of the games and it was gold for 18—year—old rhys mcclenaghan. he beat england's olympic champion max whitlock to victory in the pommel horse. the two finished with identical scores but took gold thanks to his better execution. i honestly have no words andi execution. i honestly have no words and i know that that is very cliched to say. their sensational feeling and i know that that is very cliched to say. their sensationalfeeling i have at the minute is unbelievable. have you ever performed like that in your life? in training, yes, not in

competition. it goes to show that all of ours and dedication i put into training, it paid off, 100%. there was more weight lifting silver for team england today, and after the success of her boyfriend jack oliver yesterday, sara davies matched his feet in the 69 kilograms category. scotland defeated australia 19—14 in a thrilling lawn bowls men's final to take the medal. australia went to the end in the live and then but scotland responded well. their trio taking another three in the final end with australia missing there are very final shot. wales' olivia breen lea pt to final shot. wales' olivia breen leapt to gold in the long jump, with the commonwealth games record of 4.86 metres, 50 centimetres head of the australian silver medal winner

on the gold coast. in just a couple of ours' gameplay gets back under way in augusta for the final round of the first men's golf major of the year. patrick reed remains the man to catch with a three shot lead but rory mcilroy is certainly giving him a runfor rory mcilroy is certainly giving him a run for his money. this eagle at the eighth, one of the highlights of his third round. he will begin today on 11 under, but the american reed responded in some style. two eagles on his back nine, keeping him at the very top of the leaderboard going into today's final round. patrick has a three—shot lead so i feel all the pressure's on him. he has to go out and protect that and he has a few guys chasing him who are pretty big—time players. you know, he has that to deal with and sleep on tonight, so, you know, ifeel i can quote

there and play like i have got nothing to lose. so there it is, reed and mcilroy leading the way, but look at the big names behind them. full live coverage of course on bbc five live and on bbc two from 6:30pm. britain's james degale has retained his super weight title with a unanimous decision in las vegas. he lost the belt in short poised defeat by the american back in december and had said he would consider retiring if he lost again, but despite a cut above his right eye, he did enough, winning the fight on all three scorecards. sebastian vettel will start today's bahrain grand prix on paul, top qualifying by three tenths of a second from his team—mate kimi raikkonen. lewis hamilton will start from ninth after a penalty for changing the gearbox on his mercedes. the race gets under way at four o'clock. coverage over on five

live sports extra. that is all your sports for now. much more throughout the afternoon here on bbc news. studio: adam, many thanks. see you later on. german authorities say a man who drove a van into people outside a restaurant in the city of muenster was a german citizen with no apparent links to terrorism. two people were killed and the driver shot himself dead at the scene. our europe correspondent bethany bell gave us update from the scene in muenster. this is the square where the incident happened. this is a popular pa rt incident happened. this is a popular part of the old town of minster, and normally this square would be full of ta bles normally this square would be full of tables and chairs —— the old town of tables and chairs —— the old town of muenster. when incident happened yesterday, when the van drove into the square, there were people enjoying the spring sunshine. now, of course, has been cordoned off and people have been coming to light candles for the victims and really

there is a sense of bafflement and disbelief something to have happened like this in this normally peaceful quiet place. bethany, of course at first there were fears this was another terror attack on germany. yes, the authorities have so far said there is nothing to indicate there were islamist links to this attack, but the police are continuing their investigations at the moment. we hope to hear a bit more about the state of the investigations in about an hour or so when germany's interior minister is expected here. german media reports have suggested this man, a 48—year—old german from muenster, may have had mental health problems. we hope to hear more details about that shortly. in the meantime, though, the police are continuing their investigations. they say they are looking into many different aspects of this. this whole area was cordoned off last night, people were

sent out of this area, they couldn't sleep here overnight. they have been returning this morning back to their homes and we understand more shops and homes and we understand more shops a nd restau ra nts homes and we understand more shops and restaurants will start opening over the coming hours. bethany bell reporting there, from muenster. the cambridge analytica whistleblower christopher wylie has told the bbc that the question of britain leaving the european union should be revisited. he claims that the uk may not have voted for brexit had it not been for "cheating" by the leave campaign. mr wylie says that a canadian data company — which has been linked to cambridge analytica — received funding from vote leave and played a very significant role in the referendum result. what i'm saying, and i say this as someone who supported leave, i'm saying this as a eurosceptic myself, but this is a fundamental change to the constitutional settlement of britain, the foundational law of britain, and what i'm saying is that if we can't go back to brexit — if this is a one—time decision —

we need absolute clarity that the decision made by the british people was made fairly and complied with the law, and so if that means we have to go back to the british people and ask for a clarification, i think the british people should have a say and make sure that what we are doing is with the consent of people, that's what i'm saying. 0k... i want a democratic mandate for brexit, that's what i'm saying. so that was christopher wylie speaking a little on the andrew marr programme. with me now is our business correspondent, vishala sri—pathma. what is he saying, what is the evidence for this? pretty bold claim, that we should have the referendum rerun? yes, it is all about this canadian company and it is about their links with cambridge analytic and their links to facebook. they were paid and they also worked with other leave campaigns during the referendum. they don't deny that and are very open about it but what they deny it

is those links to cambridge analytica, because that potentially incriminates them with access to the data that cambridge analytica allegedly had as well. christopher wylie, who was a former employee at cambridge analytica, he says he has evidence to support this claim that these two companies were linked. what has been the facebook reaction to all of this? they have suspended the canadian company from their platform which some somehow gives christopher wylie's claims a bit of substance there as well. it said it will look into how cambridge analytica acquired this information from 87 million people that we already know about but also crucially the 1 million figure from the uk which potentially would be implying what kind of meddling has been involved with the uk referendum as well. the electoral commission has reopened their investigation into vote leave's campaign spending as well. vishala sri-pathma, business correspondent, thank you for that. hungary will elect

a new parliament today, with the prime minister, viktor orban, hoping to win another term in office. he's been in power since 2003. in his campaign, he presented himself as the defender of europe and hungary from muslim migrants, but critics say he is a racist and an authoritarian. earlier our correspondent nick thorpe gave us detail from a polling station in the hungarian capital budapest. certainly, all we can say at this point is that turnout is very high. as you can see behind me, people queueing outside this particular voting station here in the 13th district of budapest. and similar pictures, similar information, coming in from across the country. we know that at nine o'clock this morning already 13% of the hungarian population had voted. that's well up on the 9% four years ago. why this is important is that while mr orban and the fidesz party have been appealing very much to their core supporters,

the opposition are hoping that a big turnout would help them in this election to score what would after all be quite a big upset. mr orban's gone into this election as the firm favourite. and i mentioned migration. how big an issue has that been, do you think, in this election? it's been a very big issue for mr orban, the prime minister, and the governing side. they've been stressing that a vote for them is a vote to keep migrants out of hungry, out of europe. opposition parties stressing emigration rather, the hundreds of thousands of hungarians who have left this country in search of a better life in britain, in other countries of western europe, and also domestic problems. the corruption, widespread allegations of corruption, against the current government, and also the poor state many would say of the health care and of the education system here in hungary. nick thought reporting there from budapest. time for the weather with simon king. hello. mixed fortunes across the uk.

in northern and western parts it is largely dry and bright with some sunshine and certainly a dry start to the day across scotland. look at this weather watcher photographed this weather watcher photographed this morning from five. a different story in the south—east. early morning rain, still quite cloudy conditions in kent, but the rain should largely cleared away. there will still be some rain across central and southern areas into this afternoon, all courtesy of this weather front. further north and west, a slack weather system, fairly quiet conditions really with some sunny spells. we will keep those sunny spells. we will keep those sunny spells. we will keep those sunny spells and a few sharers cropping up later on across scotland, northern ireland, north—western parts of england —— a few showers. rain in the south—east edging further north and westward into the east midlands, up in the worst east yorkshire as well. temperatures lower than yesterday across the south—east, 1213 degrees, with light winds and sunny spells in northern and western areas, feeling a bit more pleasant computer yesterday. overnight we will continue with lots of cloud in the

south—east and elsewhere with light went and close spells, some patchy mist and fog developing into the early hours of monday morning —— light winds and spells. 2—5dc, a little less cold in the south—east, around nine celsius, really because we have more cloud and outbreaks of rain across the east anglia, the east midlands and central and southern parts of england, that rain gradually petering out into the afternoon. elsewhere on monday, some sunny spells again in the north and west, still some heavy showers in scotla nd west, still some heavy showers in scotland and northern ireland and temperatures again in double figures, about 10—12d. in the tuesday, we have low pressure in charge and that will keep things pretty unsettled. these weather fronts drawn up from the southeast so it will bring is a outbreaks of rainfor many so it will bring is a outbreaks of rain for many on tuesday, particularly england and wales. a very wet start to the day. rain gradually clearing of away towards the west and brighter showers in the south—east. the best of the sunshine in the far north—west of scotland,

northern ireland, without sunshine. quite chilly along the eastern coast, but down towards the south—east, with temperatures up to around 15 degrees. for the rest of the week, with areas of low pressure close by, it will stay quite u nsettled, close by, it will stay quite unsettled, quite a bit of cloud with rain at times. there were happy will be some brighter spells. that's all from me.