this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm. the un security council is expected to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss reports of a chemical attack in syria. medical sources say dozens of people died in the rebel—held town of douma. donald trump describes president assad as an "animal", and condemns syria's allies. the syrian government denies responsibility. ministers deny any link between falling police numbers and the rise in violence in london. labour accuse them of having their heads in the sand. voting in the hungarian election continues, as queues still remain at some polling stations. also in the next hour. setting sail in protest. brexit campaigners hold a demonstration against fishing quotas during the brexit transition period. 60 fishing boats put to sea in plymouth, one of several protests organised by fishing for leave. and. they were almost extinct across england and wales, but ospreys are making a comeback. we'll bring you the details. good evening, and

welcome to bbc news. president trump has warned bashar al assad of syria that there will be a "big price to pay" for a suspected chemical attack on a rebel—held town outside damascus. the un security council is expected to meet on monday to discuss the reports. medical aid groups claim dozens of people have been killed by poison gas in the town of douma in eastern ghouta. there's been widespread condemnation, and one of mr trump's top advisers says a missile strike against syria hasn't been ruled out. the syrian government and its biggest ally russia deny chemical weapons have been used. this report from our middle east correspondent martin patience contains distressing images from the start. this was the scene at an emergency clinic in douma. medics hosing down children

after an alleged chemical attack. these pictures were filmed by activists on the ground. some children were barely conscious. this baby is alive, but struggling to breathe. the medics are doing what they can, but they are overwhelmed, working in a war zone without enough medical supplies. we received many patients who suffered from symptoms compatible with exposure to high concentration chlorine gas, also their symptoms were deteriorating in a fashion which is not compatible with pure chlorine gas exposure, and that is why our physicians are concerned about exposure to nerve gas in low concentration. president trump has denounced the alleged chemical attack.

this is what he wrote on social media. the white house is ruling nothing out. is it possible there will be another missile attack? i wouldn't take anything off the table, these are horrible photos. we are looking into the attack. the state department put out a statement last night, the security cabinet has been talking throughout the evening and this morning. back in syria, government troops have surrounded douma. it is the last rebel—held town in eastern gouta. both damascus and its ally russia described claims of a chemical attack as fabrication. and they are prepared to take douma at any cost. this footage was shot by the civil defence in syria,

known as the white helmets. here, they run into the aftermath of an air strike. they find an injured man. while the politicians talk, this is the reality in douma. martin patience, bbc news, beirut. our diplomatic correspondent james landale is here. a special meeting tomorrow being called by the un security council. it has happened before, what will they achieve? a large number of members of the council have called this meeting, it will happen tomorrow afternoon us time, where they will discuss this attack. you are right, there have been discussions before. but the mood is different now. there will clearly be some voices saying it is too late in this conflict for the west now to start retaliating

against the use of chemical weapons, we are at a stage by the conflict is coming to an end, people say we need to let it end so we can think about reconstructing, the second phase. there are other two arguments were serious thinking is going on about an absolute response. the talking is going on between the us, french and uk. one is, after salisbury, we have seen more than 20 countries take diplomatic action against russia, against the use of chemical weapons within this country. the mood is out there. secondly, i think, there. secondly, ithink, as there. secondly, i think, as well as the issue itself, there is a broader view, is it now the moment to draw a line in the sand and say, we can no longer tolerate the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons. a year

ago, chemical weapons were used, donald trump used meschik action to deter it, but it didn't last long, and the increased use of weapons in syria carried on. there is a mood amongst some to say now is the moment to say this is to stop. we have to say we cannot allow this. the uk and un has tweeted about this, confirmation of this meeting. the uk office in the united nations has confirmed the meeting will take place tomorrow. i am told there was not much discussion about there being a resolution measures being taken. america is saying a missile strike has not been ruled out. the president's adviser said this on tv today. boris johnson president's adviser said this on tv today. borisjohnson in february was asked about this in the commons, what would happen if there is another chemical weapons attack.

borisjohnson said he hopes the west would not stand idly by. a statement from the french foreign minister tonight said, noted that president macron france has taught about france, and people who breach the international chemical rules, must be held to account, hinting at french unilateral action. the language has been punchy. the question is what does donald trump think. we will find out, no doubt, he will ta ke to we will find out, no doubt, he will take to twitter, he normally does. the home secretary amber rudd has rejected claims that the rise in violent crime in london is linked to police cuts. , § to tackle the problem, but labour says ministers have their heads in the sand. susana mendonca reports. a high visibility police presence on london's streets after a week

and she is being backed up by cabinet colleagues. go back a decade. serious violent crime was a lot higher than it is today, but so were police numbers, so for anyone to suggest that this is caused by police numbers, it is not backed up by facts. tomorrow the government will launch a serious violence strategy to focus on early intervention. it will also unveil a new offensive weapons bill which will further restrict the sale of knives online, make so—called zombie knives and knuckle—dusters illegal to possess and introduce a new offence of possessing corrosive substances like acid in a public place. the move has been welcomed by police chiefs. this is a really essential piece of legislation for 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. ministers acknowledge the system is stretched. this latest move is an attempt to get the government back on the front foot following criticism. with debate over how many officers are needed, it isn't going away. labour says police officer numbers have been cut by 21,000 since 2010 and it would be naive of the government to argue that this has not had an impact, and with many young people involved in recent stabbings and shootings, labour says wider cuts to public funding may also be playing a part. it is notjust about police numbers, it is about community services as well, youth service, children's centres, social workers and local councils seeing significant cuts to their budgets as well. with more than 50 lives lost in london alone this year to violent crime, the mayor of london is calling a summit this week. it is not yet clear whether the home secretary will attend. susana mendonca, bbc news. well, joining us now from our birmingham studio is david jamieson.

he's the police and crime commissioner in the west midlands. how clear is it to you there is a link between a fall in police numbers and rising crime? i have listened all day to government ministers saying crime is coming down. it is not, it is going up, and government figures show crime has gone up by 14% over the last year. they have been saying funding has been maintained, it hasn't, we have lost £145 billion per year out of our budget in the west midlands, 2000 uniformed officers, 1000 people who work in support. you don't need to be sherlock holmes to work out if you lose a quarter of your police officers, you will have more difficulties maintaining the policing on the streets and reducing crime. talking about statistics,

referring to the crime survey of england and wales which measures experience of crime, this dates from november last year, estimated overall crime had fallen by 9% over the same period during which the most senior police officers had claimed it had gone up. the reported crime, these are government figures, show crime has gone up by 14%. one thing i agree with, she said we need to do more on prevention. two years ago i set up a gangs and violence commission in the west midlands to look at problems in birmingham and big urban areas in the west midlands. we have reported on that and looked at how we stop young people, physically young boys and men getting into crime, by getting good prevention work done, looking at opportunities, employment, training, bringing mediators in to

deal with the problems between gangs. three weeks ago i asked amber rudd if she would help by matching the £2 million i am putting into that, from the home office, and i got no answer. we have words from the government, but actually no resource to help us to do the vital work we need to do. you talk about looking at the root causes of crime, in scotland the number of stabbings of young children and young adults is down in that city, how much is this to do with policing, a home office issue, rather than public health? it is to do with public health. we have been looking at accident and emergency departments, have people come in with injuries that are not reported. we have done some pioneering work on that, as in scotla nd pioneering work on that, as in scotland and wales. the other thing we need to look at is how we deal

with drugs policy, much of the violence now relates to drugs gangs, drugs being exchanged. we need to have a long look at our drugs policy. i produced a document this year which the home office have been full of praise for. we now need the resorts to see those things happen, to see some of the work to get this violence from the streets and stop the scourge of drugs and violence around in some many communities. when you talk about drugs policy, inevitably that is controversial, some argue decriminalising or legalising drugs is the way forward, others say we mustn't send that message harmful substances are ok. in the west midlands alone, the cost of heroin and crack cocaine to public services, prisons, health service, education, police, is £1.4 billion per year. that cannot be

money well spent. it is not working at the moment, there is violence, most of the gun discharges in the west midlands are related to drugs. many of the stabbings are related to drug warfare. we have to look again, just saying you are soft on drugs, i am hard on drugs, that isn't the answer. i have raised that with ministers. they have listened but what they are not doing is putting the resources and energy into making sure those things happen in our communities. fascinating and extremely complicated. thank you very much for your time this evening. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has stepped up his criticism ofjeremy corbyn, over the poisoning of a former russian spy in salisbury. he said the labour leader was "the kremlin's useful idiot" for refusing to declare unequivocally that russia was responsible for the attack. labour says mrjohnson has "made a fool of himself" by misrepresenting what he was told by chemical weapons experts.

and we'll find out how this story, and many others, are covered in tomorrow's front pages, at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this evening, in the papers. our guestsjoining us tonight are deputy editor of the daily express, michael booker. and broadcaster lynn faulds wood. let's return to the suspected chemical weapons attack in syria. the incident has provoked an angry response from donald trump. our correspondent chris buckler is in washington. remind us what that response has been. very clearly, president trump is saying he believes weapons, chemical weapons, have been used, and he is holding the assad regime responsible. strong language, calling president assad and animal, and as faras calling president assad and animal, and as far as he's concerned, it is clear they believe there will have to be some kind of response. the us state department has made clear that will be an international response

but there is increasingly feeling in washington there will be some form of military action. it is a year since missile strikes were ordered on syria by donald trump. as a result of a sarah ewing gas attack. again, talk of chemicals, and again talk of military action. it is impossible to separate russia from this mix. something donald trump has been talking about. he says syria's allies, russia and iran, have to ta ke allies, russia and iran, have to take this was with deep if this has been an attack using chemicals, and they bear the blame for that. he has specifically mentioned putin. often president trump seems to care and treat his relationship with putin separately to how sometimes his administration talks about russia. there is no separation today. he says putin must take responsibility. bearing in mind in recent weeks we

have had expulsions, sanctions against moscow, about sending a message. a lot was about how they are using their international influence. part of that is about what is happening inside syria. it is clear they are trying to put pressure on president putin and russia to do something about the assad regime. amid that deteriorating relationship between the white house and kremlin, again we have another issue that will divide them. the headlines on bbc news: the un security council is expected to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss reports of a chemical attack in syria. medical sources say dozens of people died in the rebel—held town of douma. ministers deny any link between falling police numbers and the rise in violence in london, labour accuse them of having their heads in the sand. voting in the hungarian election continues, as queues still remain at some polling stations. polling closures in the hungarian

general election have been delayed, due to the record number of people turning up to vote. the right—wing nationalist viktor orban is seeking his third consecutive term as prime minister. his fidesz party had a big lead in opinion polls, but the high turn out could benefit opposition parties. jenny hill reports from budapest. divisive, defiant. for viktor orban, it's hungary first. good morning, mr orban, bbc news. are you feeling confident? no wonder europe is watching closely. mr orban knows how to upset the neighbours. his dream for the eu, closed doors, illiberal values, and most of all, no migrants. it's won him elections before and he is hoping it will work again. a simple message — hungary comes first for us. but will mr orban come first for hungary? the opposition here is weak, fragmented, but turnouts much higher than usual. translation: the stakes are huge.

we will either become an immigrant country or we will stay free. we need change, because what's happening here is chaos. the problem? everything — corruption, healthcare in ruins, low wages. viktor orban is perhaps europe's most divisive leader. it is a reputation he has carefully crafted and he is counting on it to win this election. mr orban, very few migrants are coming into this country, why the focus on immigration when so few people come? there is a question of the future. mr orban, the eu says that you flout its values and laws, is this the direction hungary should be going in? we are just standing for democracy now. and he has powerful friends — russia, poland. what hungary chooses today will influence europe's course tomorrow. jenny hill, bbc news, budapest. nick thorpe is in budapest.

why are so many people keen to vote this time? they have been really mobilised, as we heard in the report, the stakes in this election, the opposition are hoping that big turnout, normally 5 million people vote in a hunt down election, we are talking perhaps of an extra 700,000 taking part. a huge mobilisation campaigns, especially by the opposition, and an attempt to do the same by the governing party. more people voting. this will delay the result. one particular polling station in budapest, there were still 3000 people waiting outside it

when the polls closed, those people must be given a chance to vote. in the meantime, the vote has begun at those polling stations which have now closed. when all the stations have finally closed, we will get a sudden results based on about 50 or 60% of the votes actually cast. how clear and how different are the choices presented to voters by the parties? this is a polarised country. as we heard in the report, some people are extremely devoted to viktor orban, here's a saintly figure for them. others are disgusted by his politics and accused him of xenophobia, using the migration issue as a shield to distract people from problems at home, like immigration, the young hungarians who have left, the corruption of which his own authorities are blamed at a national and local level. problems like the health care system, problems at

different hospitals. very polarised. there is almost no middle ground. whoever wins this election, one of their tasks will be to reunite this divided country. when are we likely to get the result? i think we will be getting a result in three hours, based on about half the real votes counted. only public after midnight tonight will we get a really clear idea. thank you. the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau has said his country is in shock, following the deaths of 15 people in a road accident involving a canadian junior ice hockey team. two other people are said to be in a critical condition. the humboldt broncos had been on their way to a play—off match in the province of saskachewan. police are still trying to determine the reason for the crash. teams around the country have paid tribute to the dead during weekend fixtures. we'll take that time to recognise our... all of our young men

and our coaching staff and everybody who has been involved in this tragedy. police in germany have arrested six people over an alleged plot to carry out a "violent crime" at the german capital's half marathon. the german newspaper die welt says the group has links to anis amri who was behind the lorry attack on a christmas market in the city in 2016, in which 12 people died. german authorities say a man who drove a van into people outside a restaurant in the city of munster, 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 reports from munster. the town of munster is in shock. a 48—year—old man on saturday drove

a silver grey camper van into a crowd of people sitting in a square in the old town. the driver then shot himself dead. the authorities say there is nothing to suggest this was an islamist attack. reports in german media say the driver who came from munster may have had a history of mental health problems. police have been combing the area for clues. overnight they cordoned off the town centre and evacuated the residents. they have now been allowed to return home. this square in the heart of munster‘s old town is normally full of tables and chairs, and at the time when the van drove in here, people had been out enjoying the early spring sunshine. now police have cordoned it off and people have been coming here to lay flowers and light candles for those who died. among those coming to pay their respects was germany's interior minister. he said his thoughts are with the victims and their families. the incident comes at a time of heightened concern. there have been a series of cases in which vehicles have been used to attack crowds in public places.

bethany bell, bbc news, munster. campaigners have been demonstrating on land and sea across the uk today, protesting against the european union and their quotas on how much fish can be caught off britain during a transition period after brexit. around 60 fishing boats have been demonstrating in plymouth sound, over fears that skippers will lose out in the deal taking the uk out of the european union. they claim that british waters will be left wide open to foreign boats. the government says they will benefit when we take back control of our waters after the transition period. a beautiful sunny afternoon. flat calm on the water but the flares and the sound of air horns give an indication of the mood. frustrated south—west fishermen converged on plymouth from ports in cornwall, brixham and elsewhere,

as part of the national day of action in support of their industry. every year it is harder and harder. every year, there's more rules and regulations. what do you think about what state we are in, in terms of the transition deal? if we are pulling out, that means out. they have built big business out of our fisheries in the last 40 years. the discards are already in disgrace as it is. it still needs to be regulated, but fairly. that's the main way it needs to be done. as long as we come out with a good deal, we'll see how it goes. the fishermen we have spoken to today are angry about the transition agreement reached between the uk government and the eu. they are hoping today's demonstration will make a difference. in march next year, we haven't got a place the table. the eu will try and decimate the industry. despite the anger and frustration, for some, this was a family day out. our last stand and we are trying

to make something of it. it is a lot of fun going out in a boat. what do you think of this? not good. no. people had gathered to show support. the eu decimated ourfishing grounds and we want them back. simple as that. history has shown in the fishing industry has been a very low priority for government, and we have no confidence this will be any different. a defra spokesman said, we recognise fishing communities are disappointed, but during the implementation period, we have negotiated the uk share of catch cannot be reduced, safeguarding the livelihoods of our fishing communities. now it is important to focus on the significant prize at the end of the implementation period. adrian campbell, bbc spotlight, plymouth. the 2018 olivier awards are under way at the royal albert hall.

this year, hamilton, the american hip—hop musical based on the life of alexander hamilton, leads the way with 13 nominations which is a record in the olivier history. the ferry man has eight nominations making it the most nominated new play. our arts editor will gompertz is on the red carpet, of course the olivier awards are about separating british theatre which has had a good year, ticket sales are up, but in reality, eve ryo ne sales are up, but in reality, everyone is talking about an american production, hamilton has been nominated for a record number of 13 awards, the question is whether it will win anything like that? i know a man who has an inkling, michael billington. how is hamilton going to do, will it take the party by storm? it will do very well, it did well at the tony awards. the kind of show that sweeps all before it with massive

audiences, people applauding loudly. i think it will an enormous number of awards. this is about british theatre. is there a situation where british theatre is being overtaken by american theatre on our own patch? we talk about the brits on broadway, was about broadway coming here? i looked at 50 of the 80 nominations, they are of american origin. but it is good, there is a danger british work gets marginalised. i want british theatre to fight back. the ferry man was directed by sam mendes is, it has several nominations, it is superb. you gave it five stars. will it win? it is the outstanding player of the year, so rich, packed with information about northern ireland, rural life. like a good novel but donein rural life. like a good novel but done in three hours. we know ticket

sales are up, box office takings are up, are sales are up, box office takings are up, are we sales are up, box office takings are up, are we talking about a golden age of british theatre? a good age for london theatre, these awards celebrate london theatre. nationwide, it is in difficulty because of local authority grant cuts. i am because of local authority grant cuts. iam not because of local authority grant cuts. i am not as optimistic about british theatre. thank you very much indeed. we will find out who wins in a couple of hours. ospreys were almost extinct in england and wales, but are now making a comeback in some parts of the country. last week, a pair of the nesting birds arrived back in cumbria, after spending the winter in a warmer climate. judy hobson has the details. this is foulshaw moss, one of the few places in england and wales where you might catch a glimpse of a very rare pair of breeding birds. the ospreys are nesting safely in the distance