mifllultu mfllultu ”ultra i‘méu‘uultu ”ultra “a mfllultu ”ultra 'u [mn the humanitarian situation in douma and eastern ghouta, it'sjust the humanitarian situation in douma and eastern ghouta, it's just had calls to freeze the situation, leave these people, there were calls to leave the people in the hands of the terrorists. they made the right decision to free all of them and now all of them are safe, and this is absolutely different approach, which was offered by london. and i'm about to finish, and what i want to see that the current situation throughout syria, urgently requires co—ordinated international efforts, to promote peace, including humanitarian assistance. everybody knows at least not here, not in london, but in other parts of the world, how difficult the situation is in raqqa. it wasjust most of world, how difficult the situation is in raqqa. it was just most of the city was destroyed by the us and its

allies, and the poor state of raqqa remains a source of our grave concern. and i want to show you raqqa today, i mean the shooting was made by american television, just for another a0 second, just to give you the sense why we have to help these people. so this is raqqa. that is the russian ambassador the uk there, talking about the situation in syria, and the conflict, he also talked as i mentioned earlier about the skripal poisoning, the poisoning of the former russian spy and his daughter here in the uk, plenty he talked about. we will continue to cover his comments here on bbc world news. let us look at some of the other news. two athletes from india have been banned from the commonwealth games for breaching the strict "no

needles" policy designed to stop the use of performance enhancing drugs. 0nly athletes with a registered medical condition are allowed to bring syringes into their accommodation. russia has ordered the immediate blocking of the telegram messaging app after its operators refused to hand over the codes used to scramble communications. the ban follows a protracted row between telegram and russian officials who insist they need access to encryption keys to investigate serious crimes including terrorist attacks. the youngest daughter of the chairman of korean air has apologised following reports that she threw a bottle of water at the head of the airline's advertising agency. the family previously made the headlines when her sister threw a tantrum over the manner in which she was served nuts while onboard one of the compa ny‘s jets. protests are growing in india after the rape and murder of an eight—year old girl.

the body of the girl, who cannot be named, was found injanuary in a forest in indian—administered kashmir. justin rowlatt reports from delhi. an eight—year—old muslim girl smiles ina an eight—year—old muslim girl smiles in a photo taken days before she was abducted, and then gang raped and murdered. she was allegedly held in a hindu temple. the details of this crime are horrific enough, but what has made this into a huge national local have reacted. go back, go back. lawyers protested outside a police station in an attempt to stops being filed against the eight men arrested in connection with the crime and there have been other demonstrations too, one attended by two senior figures from india's ruling party. indeed the child murder has become a rallying cry, not just indeed the child murder has become a rallying cry, notjust forjustice for the dead girl but in defence of the men accused of raping and murdering her. and now, there are

counter demonstrations. demonstrations. and a hunger strike demanding that the prime minister speak out on behalf of the dead girl and her family. the way the authorities here in india deal with rape has been a very sensitive issue, ever since a young woman was raped and murdered on a bus here in delhi in 2012. the so call case caused huge national outrage. laws were tightened up and new rules were brought in for police investigations. but many campaigners including leading figure from the opposition congress party are saying this latest case shows that the authorities still aren't doing enough to protect women and girls from sexual violence in india. taiwan's president, tsai ying—wen, has overseen a military exercise that sought to test the island's response to an invasion. the drill comesjust

a day after china, which considers taiwan its own, announced it would hold live—fire exercises next week. these will happen in the taiwan strait, map the narrow waterway separating the chinese mainland from taiwan. with more now on china's assertion of its naval reach in the region, here's david campa nale. it's the most visible symbol of china's rising military power. this is china's sole operational aircraft carrier, and this week it led the navy's largest ever military display — some a8 warships and submarine, 76 fighterjets, and more than 10,000 navy personnel took part. 0bserving was commander—in—chief of the armed forces president xijinping. he told assembled troops that china's need for a world leading naval force has never been more pressing. as china flexes its muscles, taiwan responded with drills of its own. translation: today our brothers and sisters in the navy,

with our air force and army assisting in combat, performed very well. they responded rapidly, were flexible in exercise, fully exemplifying our capabilities and characteristics of asymmetrical warfare. watching all this closely is the united states. since the second world war, the us navy has operated its carrier battle fleets unchallenged in asia and the pacific. the us has 11 carrier groups of its own, including warships led by usss theodore roosevelt, which is in the region, also conducting exercises. beijing is asserting sovereignty over almost all of the resource—rich south china sea, despite rival claims from its neighbours. with an 11—1 balance of power, the united states believes its navy can maintain open seas for trade, and an assurance of security to its regional allies.

we have been focussing on that news conference that is ongoing, moscow's ambassador to london is giving another news conference, at the embassy in london, let'sjust another news conference, at the embassy in london, let's just return and heara bit embassy in london, let's just return and hear a bit more because he has just started taking questioning from the many journalists in just started taking questioning from the manyjournalists in the room. let us hear some of that. as far as the let's say the results of the inquiry, we believe that the way how it was handled is not transparent for everybody. i will

explain why. because there are different options to handle this issue. there is option for example paragraph nine, chapter nine paragraph nine, chapter nine paragraph 2, when two parties are involved. for example britain and russia. but there is another option which is chapter eight, where this is the relations only between uk and the technical sec tyre yacht of the opcw. we the technical sec tyre yacht of the 0pcw. we don't know what were the arrangements, how they made all this, let us say, how they did the tests the and all these things, so thatis tests the and all these things, so that is why we are studying now, today, very carefully, the report which was produced by the 0pcw. and the then we will commend that report. as far as the procedures

they were not transparent. that is why we were surprised that the british government decided to use that chapter, instead of using, you know, more transparent way of cooperation. but of course we trust opcw, but cooperation. but of course we trust 0pcw, but what we want to see, more transparency, first, and of course, more international involvement in all this exercise, that is why as soon as we will study the report, we will give the full answer, you know and our conclusions on that. what did you say the 0 pc w report, louder please? it is not

transparent, you still haven't got any report. i didn't say the report is not transparent because we have the report, the procedure, the arrangements between the 0pcw and the british side wasn't transparent. you see the difference? reporter: my question is do you get any report... we got it yesterday. it is quite thick, and we are in the process of studying it. asi as i say, of course in the media there are so many let's say descriptions of the novicheck a23a, let's study the report and then we will see, so we just got it yesterday and as soon as we got the full report about our study we will

tell you. by tell you. by the way china is a member of that organisation, so we you can get this from your government because it is are able for the government. my are able for the government. my second question is... you raise the question about the medical treatment... can i assume that you, are you raising this question so that you are doubting about the poisoning and now relating to this (inaudible) r can

we assume that the western countries... well, if you look at the just put just put countries... well, if you look at the just putjust put yourself in our, let's say in our shoe, we don't have any information about the investigation, we don't have any consular access, we don't have official replies from the british government, everything what we have is the media stories, with the lea ks, is the media stories, with the leaks, the is the media stories, with the lea ks, the reference is the media stories, with the leaks, the reference to something authority, either the foreign office oi’ authority, either the foreign office or the scotland yard, you know, did you meet anybody like, i hope there should be some kind of spokesman in the photograph and some other places who just the photograph and some other places whojust made the photograph and some other places who just made the —— the photograph and some other places whojust made the —— meet the photograph and some other places who just made the —— meet the journalist or meet us and explain what's happening. they are, they don't exist. everything what we have today, is the leaks. so it's a full

absence of the information, and what kind of conclusions we have to draw out of that? so we don't have anything, the british side is not transparent and by way why this case is political, they are violating international law and that happens more than a month, so this is the question of the credibility of the british government, thousand hay are fulfilling the international obligations and that is being followed by the really wild anti—russian complaint —— campaign in the press and —— press and the state m e nts in the press and —— press and the statements by the british authorities so what kind of conclusion we have to make? so that is the major problem for us, and what we trying to do, we are just trying to get the answer, and by the way, i would strongly recommend to read that kind of, that report we produce, you will see the numbers of the notes, when we sent them, what

we ask the foreign office, what way the answer, what are the questions which are left unresponded so no transparency, and what conclusions we have to make. for us it is quite strange to put it mildly. reporter: why are not not satisfied with the police statement? actually of course we want to meet,

and to have a proof that she is all right. she is in good condition. in her letter, which was allegedly presented on her behalf by the metropolitan police, was said that nobody is talking on my behalf but exactly this is the metropolitan police who is presenting this letter on behalf of skripal. so that's a great contradiction, so, did anybody saw her pictures after the poisoning? no? did anybody see the skripal, mine herfather pictures, did anybody hear the voice of these people? more than a month? what is happening in this country? are they

isolated? if they are all right why not to arrange something, you know, a meeting with you, by the way? why is nobody calling for this meeting, there are more than 100 people, knots an single british journalist put a question, i want to meet mrs skripal. not a single person. did you ask all these question, what is happening in this country where media is supposed to be free. i think this is the answer. we will wait. i will give you the floor. with the microphone, everybody should hear you. 0k, with the microphone, everybody should hearyou. 0k, who with the microphone, everybody should hear you. 0k, who is next? just put the microphone.... reporter: your presentation

regarding tony blair was very clever, but isn't it the truth that you're actually protecting a war criminal, president assad whose used chemical weapons on his own people and has been confirmed by the un repeatedly, and isn't it the case that you this week vetoed a resolution in the un, you were the only country along with bolivia that vetoed a resolution that would have allowed the un to inspect douma and what happened there? well, i didn't compare president assad with tony blair, you did, sorry about that. but what i want to say that, i am just leaving aside your statement, for us, it is very important, first of allst was elected by his people. —— assad. he is the only legitimate president which exists in syria,

thatis president which exists in syria, that is for the record. this is first. second. as soon as the conflict will be settled there will be elections in syria, today syria is busy with the writing a new constitution, this is exactly what the united nations security council resolution specified, and that the next stage will be the elections of the president. so this will be the voice of the syrian people that will ta ke voice of the syrian people that will take the decision, so that is exactly what we want and this is exactly what we want and this is exactly what we want and this is exactly what the international community wants. so, as far as syria is concerned, this is the case, what was the other... reporter: why did rush veto... you say you want to co—operate but you vetoed the resolution. say you want to co—operate but you vetoed the resolutionlj say you want to co—operate but you vetoed the resolution. i tell you

why, there was two russian draft and one american. the american draft proposed to settle the new mechanism. the major problem with this draft was that everything what was proposed, that was the old way of investigation, what was the old way of investigation? you remember this, where the inspectors from the 0pcw this, where the inspectors from the opcw didn't this, where the inspectors from the 0pcw didn't come to that place, they didn't make investigation right at the place where so—called chemical incident happened. they preferred to stay where? in turkey. get some kind of remote access to the facts so basically we didn't have the chain of custody, which is supposed to help. and the russian

proposal was very simple, we want the inspectors to come to the place, fa ke the inspectors to come to the place, fake the samples by themselves, and in this case, we believe that mechanism will be efficient, but thatis mechanism will be efficient, but that is exactly what the americans didn't want, and that is why we said that it's that proposal is not sufficient for us, it's absolutely doesn't help, you know the transparency, and that's why we vetoed that resolution, i tell you why they, the uk vetoed, together with the us veto two russian drafts. both were very simple. we were just offering, we were calling for the independent mission from the 0pcw to go to douma and to investigate that so—called the chemical case. that is why the us, uk and france

vetoed that resolutions and the request was very simple. come toll douma, in —— investigate and bring to the attention of the security council the result. my question, why this country vetoed that resolution. they didn't want that integration, because it is so easy to state something here in london, or washington, or paris without any evidence, without any proofs, to say trust me, we know the facts. but nobody wantses to trust. i mean the whole world is watching. —— wants to. that is why at the end of the day the 0pcw sends two experts and they will be be knew ma, that is what we wanted at the council, not only russia but the rest of of world of these country wanted. that is the

a nswer to of these country wanted. that is the answer to your question. just the second row. we will go like that. reporter: you say that you haven't read the entire report yet, and it is very thick. no, it is not the embassy who is taking care of out, it is moscow taking care of it, thank god. you said earlier of course i trust the 0pcw and they have confirmed the (inaudible) so therefore you trust them? you are twisting something. i tell you why, you said that, you said that, so the report is supporting the british version. it is not. because what the

british government said that this is the novicheck under their fashion, this is first, it was produced in russia, brought by russia, and all the consequence, let us put it this way, but, the report confirms that it was confirmed that it was the somme kind of the never agent or something, toxic, but the report never set the origins of let's say points. i means the report never confirmed it was in britain, made in britain, or in russia, or in the united states, because as you know, that the statement of the head of the porton lab, you remember that, i am quite sure that you read very carefully the statements that are made here. he said it is impossible

to let's say to check or at least make a conclusion, where it was produced and what, which country was the source of that. the report is saying nothing about that, so basically, just part of this statement, the uk statement is support tiff. it was, as i understand some kind of never gas, i am not very —— nerve gas, i am not very specific because i didn't see the report. but the second part wasn't supported and it couldn't be supported because this isjust wasn't supported and it couldn't be supported because this is just the opinion of the specialist. that is why in this case, all the statements that were made by borisjohnson, you know, and some other people, they are not correct. studio: we will leave that news conference for now, it may well be it has some time to run, we will

keep an eye and ear across all of that an if there is more keelments that an if there is more keelments that we all need to know about we will bring them to you of course. that is alexander ya kovenko1. will bring them to you of course. that is alexander yakovenko1. giving a lengthy news briefing for journalists at the embassy in central london. talking about two key stories that have dominated the news here over the last couple of week,s, of course the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter yulia, he said the russian embassy will publish its own report on that tack, he says the british government has produced no evidence to support what it says there in salisbury, also of course lots of questions about what is happening in syria and the apparent chemical attack in douma. we will bring you more details after two, but reports ——

pause for a moment and we will catch up pause for a moment and we will catch up with the weather prospects. if you are lacking that friday feeling, stick with me because there is better new news the forecast as we go into the weekend. it has been a grey dismal start to the day, and that weather has continued through the afternoon. this is in north yorkshire, not much to see on that telescope, and this is the scene as well in warwickshire, lots of cloud round, not a great deal of change as we go through into this evening, some outbreaks of rain affecting western areas of scotland. but luke at this. clearer skies as we go through tonight, we have got some temperatures getting down to about five to seven degree, but certainly as we start off the weekend, there is going to be some sunshine. the temperatures the responding to the

sunshine, getting into the high teens but by sunday it will turn breezier and showers will be in the forecast. let us look at saturday and a dry and bright start. not wall—to—wall sunshine, a bit of cloud expected at times, and later in the day, some showers developing across south wales, but look at the temperature, up to about 13, 17, 18 celsius. higher on the north sea coast. if you are heading to aintree for the grand national, well, 1a grows celsius, there will be some cloud but some bright spells breaking through, certainly drier thanit breaking through, certainly drier than it has been. into sunday, low pressure moving into the west. that will throw up breezier condition, with it also some outbreaks of rain or showery rain really into the south—west england. that could spread further east ward but generally speaking the furs east, it

will stay largely dry. we get that sunshine again. temperatures elsewhere typically about 13, to 15 degrees so still milder or warmer than it has been today. but then temperatures will rise even further as we go through next week, we have a wind affecting northern and western areas but you see by the of ranges there is going to be some sunshine and most up into the mid 20s by the middle part of the mid 20s by the middle part of the week. bye. crun hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm ben brown. today at 2:00pm... the attack on former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter — the uk's national security advisor says russian special forces have been trained to put nerve agent on door handles. meanwhile, russia says it has evidence to show an alleged chemical weapons attack in syria was staged, with the help of foreign agents. translation: we have evidence

that this was a false flag operation, spearheaded by those who promote russophobic ideas. the duke of edinburgh leaves hospital in london, after his hip replacement operation. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport.