members of the administration are working to frustrate parts of his agenda to protect the country from his "worst inclinations". the unnamed official said trump's "amorality" and "impulsiveness" had led to ill—informed and reckless decisions. president trump slammed the critic as "gutless". britain has named two russian intelligence officers as suspects in the novichok nerve agent attack. the british prime minister, theresa may, says the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter was almost certainly approved by the russian state. thousands of members of the yazidi community are still missing in syria, four years after so called islamic state attacked them in their ancestral home in northern iraq. the un has called the crimes against the minority group genocide. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello there and welcome

to wednesday in parliament. coming up... the prime minister tells mps the two russians behind the salisbury novichok poisonings are members of russia's intelligence service. should either of these individuals ever again travel outside of russia, we would take every possible step to detain them and extradite them and bring them here to face justice in the united kingdom. theresa may and jeremy corbyn clash at pmqs over brexit and anti—semitism. also on this programme, and peace against harassment also on this programme, mps speak out against harassment as they debate a bill to ban up—skirting. 40% say they experience verbal harassment, 15% say they have been touched, groped or grabbed

at least once a month. but first, theresa may has told him peace two men accused of carrying out the novichok nerve agent attack and salisbury were russian military intelligence officers. former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia were poisoned back in march, sparking a major police investigation. there was a widespread clean—up and decontamination effort in the city of salisbury. the pair were later revealed to have been poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. weeks later, dawn sturgess died and her partner charlie rowley was treated after they came into contact with the substance, which they come across and a discarded glass bottle. the government has blamed russia for the attack and two men have now been named as being behind the poisonings. moscow has again denied any involvement in the attack. this morning the police have set out how the two russian nationals travelled under the names,

alexander petrov and ruslan boshirov names the police believed to be aliases. they arrived at gatwick airport at 3pm on friday the 2nd of march, having flown from moscow. she went on to give a detailed account of the two men's movements — from the time they were in the uk, setting out when and where they travelled. were these two suspects within ourjurisdiction, there would be a clear basis in law for their arrest for murder. mr speaker, we were pleaded be asked russia to recount what happened in salisbury in march and they have replied with a office station —— obfiscation and lies, including train to pass the blame on the attack into terrorists and even onto the future mother—in—law. they even claimed i myself invented novichok. based on a body of intelligence, concluded that the two people named are two people from the russian intelligence service also known

as the gru. the gru is a highly disciplined organisation with a well—established chain of command. it is not a rogue operation and it is almost certainly approved outside the giu. we will back any reasonable and effective actions whether against russia as a state or the gr you as an organisation. whether against russia as a state or the gru as an organisation. i would encourage the prime minister to seek the widest possible international consensus for this to maximise its impact. we have obtained a european arrest warrant and shortly will issue an interpol warrant. as we found following another murder, any additional requests in this case will be futile but should either of these individuals ever again

travel outside of russia, we will take every possible step to detain them, extradite them and bring them to face justice here in the united kingdom. we utterly condemn the appalling attacks, we condemn the police and security services... we commend the police and security services. we commend the police and security services for their diligence in investigating this appalling crime. and we will support any reasonable action to bring those responsible to justice and to take further action against russia for its failure to co—operate with this investigation. the news of the arrest warrants today will send a clear message that all of us here will not tolerate the behaviour from the russians that took place in salisbury, and whilst i agree with the remarks of the prime minister,

and the actions are open to us and if the two individuals ever leave russia they will face the threat of arrest. working with international partners, we need to put international pressure on russia to turn over the two individuals to face trail here in the united kingdom. two named russian intelligence officers, nothing could be more conclusive — it is the nature of the russian propaganda machine that they will always try to throw smoke up to confuse us but does she share my hope that the clear evidence here will make it clear to all people who doubted what we said before and i think particularly of the opposition front bench that when the security services lead us in this direction they know what they are doing. since our seriousness will be judged by actions rather than words, can she explain how many of the russian oligarchs who we know to be cronies of the russian regime and have wealth in the uk have had their assets seized following the powerful example of the united states.

theresa may said the national crime agency was stepping up its work on what she called illicit finance. alexander litvinenko was murdered i2 years ago and she will know that were delays setting up with an inquiry and taking action against suspects who are identified and those link to them, has she considered the lessons from that case am what further measures is she ensuring take place around the suspects and those who may be linked to them so we learn those lessons as well? theresa may said one of the key differences this time having the skill of international response and the expulsion of russian diplomats in europe and the us. now that statement from theresa may came directly after pmqs. the first since the summer recess. since they last faced each other injuly, both the main party leaders have had their hands full.

the prime minister has had to deal with growing concerns over the possibility of a no—deal brexit and internal tory divisions. jeremy corbyn, meanwhile, has been embroiled in the row raging over anti—semitism within labour ranks. so it was no surprise the two issues collided at the first prime ministers questions sincejuly. it fell to a conservative backbencher to try to put theresa may on the front foot. thank you, mr speaker. anti—semitism has no place in british public life. will my right honourable friend assure the house that she will always work to make sure that this remains the case? can i say to my honourable friend, jewish people living in this country should feel safe and secure. and not have to worry about their futures in their own country. i believe that we should all be united in our determination to tackle anti—semitism. so when the leader of the labour party stands up he should apologise for saying that jewish

people who have lived in this country their whole lives do not understand english irony. jeremy corbyn! mr speaker, there is no place for racism within any form on our society and on that we are all agreed and we will tackle it within our society and on that we are all agreed and we will tackle whenever it rises in our own parties as well. the labour leader then turned to brexit and comments made by liam fox. mr speaker, the international trade secretary said the likelihood of a no deal is now 60—a0 which means it is a pretty good chance there will not be a deal, is he right? can i say to the right honourable gentleman, we are continuing to do what we have always been doing which is working to get a good deal with the european union for our future relationship once we have left the european union. but it is entirely right and proper that we should prepare

for all eventualities because we have not come to the end of the negotiations, while at the same time we are working for a good deal to ensure that we deliver on the vote of the british people, that we come out of the european union on the 29th of march 2019 and that we do so in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods, injures no hard border between ireland and northern ireland, and maintains the precious union of the united kingdom and one thing i am clear, we are working for that outcome that we will not have a second referendum. he should stand up and rule out a second referendum. a majority of people might have voted to leave but they expected negotiations to be handled competently and they certainly are not. i say to the prime minister simply this, she cannot keep dancing around all the issues. a jibe at the prime minister's dancing during her recent

africa trip. mr corbyn wasn't finished. the prime minister has repeatedly said that no deal is better than a bad deal but no deal is a bad deal. and everyone from the cbi to the tuc to her own chancellor are telling her the same thing, the checkers proposal is dead, already ripped apart by her own mps. when will the prime minister publish a real plan that survives contact with her cabinet and with reality? those are of course two very separate concepts. when will we get proposals that would jobs and the economy ahead of the survival of herself and her own government? we have published a plan that we are discussing with the european union that injures that we deliver on the bow —— vote of the british people and injures we bring an end to be free movement

and come out of the cap and commons fisheries policies and no sending vast amounts of money to the eu every year, no longer having the european court ofjustice here. what i am doing is negotiating a brexit deal for britain, i am making sure that the economy works for everyone, i am building a stronger, fairer country. what is the right honourable gentleman doing? he is trying to change his party. so anti—semites can called the creation of israel racist and he should be ashamed of himself. it was then the turn of the snp leader at westminster. when the tories introduced thatcher's poor tax 1980s, scotland was used as a guinea pig, the scottish tories paid a price for the folly and were wiped off the political map of scotland. the prime minister's checkers plan is more unpopular than the poor tax,

why has the prime minister gambling with scotland's future by taking us out of the eu against her will with a disastrous checkers plan? out of the eu against her will with a disastrous checquers plan? the only people who are gambling with scotland's future is the scottish national party wanting to take scotland out of the united kingdom. theresa may. mps spent the evening debating a bill to outlaw what is known as "up—skirting" — taking pictures up a dress or skirt without consent. it's proposed the offence could carry a prison sentence of two years. the labour mp stella creasy put forward an amendment to be voyerism bill which would include misogyny as an aggravating factor for courts to consider when sentencing offenders. and will force police to record it as a crime. she had examples of the harassment women faced. 66% said they had unwanted physical contact and 40% said they had verbal harassment and 15% said that they had been touched,

groped or grabbed at least once a month. what does that mean in practise? the experiences of my own constituents who i asked about this issue, the woman followed down a road bya man in a car demanding that she get in and then complaining that he was pranking and that she was racist for refusing to go along with it. they can receive a tougher sentence on their behaviour on the basis of the criminaljustice act of 2003. someone who repeatedly targets women in the same way faces no such comparable sanction. but some mps argued that a broader review was needed. it would be very odd, if misogyny could be applied to up skirting but not rape, sexual assault and revenge pawn. does she agree that they would need to look at it in a more holistic way.

a labourmp had examples from overseas. last week i was in korea where up skirting has not addressed by society or the law and the situation there for women and girls is truly horrific. girls are scared to go into any sort of public toilet, whether in their school or shopping mall. women when they go into public toilets, they scan the toilet to see if they are going to be violated in this way. there should never be an instance where it is acceptable to take a photo up the skirt of anybody without their consent. the issue should not be... the issue should be the lack of consent, not the motivation of the perpetrator. while i recognise the intent behind the amendments, this narrow bill is not the one to debate misogyny becoming a hate crime. however we as a government are concerned to ensure that our hate crime legislation is up to date and consistent. i am pleased to announce today that i will be asking to undertake a review of the coverage

and approach of hate crime legislation following the earlier recommendation to do so. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. the government's faced demands to change the rules of welfare payments for bereaved parents following a supreme court ruling. it follows the case of siobhan mclaughlin who was refused widowed parent's allowance, following the death of her partner from cancer. the couple had been together for more than 20 years and had four children, but weren't married or in a civil partnership. a labour mp paid tribute to her for pursuing the case. unmarried bereaved parents should not be subject to discrimination because of their marital status, adding it simply their children's needs are the same. the supreme court said the financial loss caused to families with children by the death of the parents is to say

——the same whether or not the parents were in a marriage or civil partnership. the support provided by the state can be provided to a family grieving for the loss and may also face financial hardship because of diminished income. a plaid cymru mp has an example from her constituency. a woman in my constituency died on the 15th of may. she leaves two sons and her partner of 2a years. they were engaged. but they had prioritised buying a house over the cost of getting married. they put their children's home first. when will the government bring forward a review of which to console this man and admit that a legal contract is not a precondition for consoling and grieving family? the government is considering the high court judgement. but the minister said only parliament could change the law. i understand the points being made. these are the things that

are being considered, but in the short term i would urge them to look at the other potential benefits that could be offered to support through tax credits, but these other things. and as soon as we can i will return to update the house following the ruling in the course. ——courts. it is an important principle, it should be a safety net for us all because we cannot predict the circumstances such as the death of a partner and a parent but could happen at anytime. children should not lose out regardless of the status of their parents. i'm no fan of the european courts and i am extremely pro marriage. but we have to live in the modern world that we live in now. it means looking at whether or not how the government responds to this, can we look at something called fairness and natural justice? many, many people were not able to go to work because their partner stayed at home with the children and then they have lost their loved one and a partner but are not married. we need to show compassion, at the same time understanding the benefits system. minister.

i thank my honourable friend. i think that is a very fair point to race. ——raise. with any of the benefits that we provide for those in need it is always with the principle of fairness. frank field. i welcome the minister back to the treasury bench after a very short period with the select committee. might i say with some disappointment that more progress has not been made, that he could've reported to the house today. in other areas of social security, the cohabitation rule applies an evidence of cohabitation could be the evidence of male slippers in the house or home. here we have evidence of children. there is no doubt about this was a stable union. surely in these cases following the right honourable gentleman who hasjust made that intervention from the government side, fairness is not operating. fairness is the key. in defence thejudgement was only last week. it would have been wrong of me to make a rush decision. this has very serious

implications and we need to consider this carefully. and i will return to update the house as quickly but as visibly as possible. how old should you have to be to get married? currently you can tie the knot at 16 with parental consent. a conservative mp has put forward a bill raising the age to 18 in england and wales. pauline latham told mps changing the law would influence other countries to end child marriage. it should be our priority to protect children. and that may mean from themselves as well as from potential dangers from others. in the united kingdom, children 16 and 17 need the consent of their parents to be married. surely this shows that they're not mature enough to make the decision themselves. but this is not the safe landing may once have been because it opens the door for forced marriages or at least pressured to be put on young people to marry

to fulfil family demands. but her bill was opposed by a fellow conservative. at 16 you could legally, the life—changing decision to have children, yet you cannot actually get married until you're 18. i think that would be a bit of an oddity in law. well, pauline latham won the right to take her bill forward but unless the government backs it, it won't become law. now more and more older homeowners are taking out what is known as equity release mortgages. borrowing against the value of their property with a loan repayable when it is sold after their death. the rapid growth in the market — it has trebled in just five years — has prompted concerns and new rules from the prudential regulation authority. but the watchdog has also been criticised for the way it polices the industry. well, those concerns were raised and the house of lords by a liberal democrat. the adam smith report says that insurance companies selling these mortgages have so misjudged the risk that we have another and bigger equitable life scandal in prospect. it's obvious that homeowners

are going to be eager to borrow in circumstances where in fact incomes can scarcely keep up for a lot of people with inflation. but my lord, we do have to guard against things going badly wrong. what if house prices do shudder to a halt or even fall? my lords, there are reasons to think that issues like that could arise in the economy. if it happens, back to equitable life which had caused tremendous damage to people 20 years ago. but the government lord bates said the normal loan was around 30—a0% of the value of a home. there are benefits to the individuals who for most people, their home is their largest asset. and to be able to release some capital to enhance their quality of life is good. there are other people on the other side of the balance sheet, if you like, from the equity release who are the annuity holders who had

been suffering really badly as a result of being around 0.5% and the ability of life insurance companies to match these two needs, if you like, to offer a better deal to both. it is seen as something that is welcome. the fact that the noble lord is spot on about is to say that we need to watch it. even if house prices were to decline by 30% or more, the problems in the conventional mortgage market would be far greater than those in the equity release market and i was rather surprised to see such scary headlines on this particular segment of the market. lady altmann. now the issue of anti—semitism has been much in news in the recent months. labour has faced accusations of failing to tackle the problem in the party. a row which culminated in angry scenes outside a meeting on tuesday, where labour's ruling body voted to accept an international definition of anti—semitism in full. a senior police officer told mps

discussion of anti—semitism in the national media is generating more hate. the women unequalities committee is investigating anti—semitic hate crime. they heard that there has been a tide change in the jewish community. there is an uneasiness in the community that is palpable and very different from even three orfour years ago. so i think we see at around us all the time. nobody is talking about anything much else. last year we'd recorded around 1400 anti—semitic incidents across the calendar year and that was the highest we ever recorded. the previous year, we had recorded around 1360, which was at that point the highest ever recorded. annual total. prior to that, if you go back to 2012, 2011, we recorded only five or 600 a year. since april 2016, we've recorded over 100 anti—semitic incidents uk wide every single month.

bar two. jewish people in fact face all prejudices, they have faced for number of years. now because of social media because of the political climate, there is new form forums for spreading this on the internet. i think what is worrying as you are seeing a trend in younger people picking up with some of this. we've also seen it in football and different settings. and i think that there is a lot of distortion as well about some of the conflicts that we have heard about earlier. we have had the coverage of the labour party which dominated headlines more recently. how important is it in reducing anti—semitism that the labour party is better at tackling anti—semitism in its ranks and that the police takes clear action on the instance that are reported in the press today? we have certainly seen in parliament as a result of what has been playing

out in the national media, this is generated an awful lot of local concern. it has generated extra allegations. it has possibly generated extra hate crime. so the fact that it is being discussed nationally and there is so much, in the media, that is generating more hate. and that it from me for now. but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another round up of the best of the day here at westminster. and don't forget you can find all the week's programmes on the bbc iplayer. and you can follow me on twitter @bbcalicia. but for now, from me alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there. we're ending this week on something a lot more unsettled than how we started it, that's because we're

replacing high pressure with an area of low pressure. at the moment, we're still in between systems. there is a developing area of low pressure out across the north sea. but we've got high pressure dominating, i think, for much of thursday morning, a couple of weather fronts around too. and it will be dry it will be dry first thing. single figure values and clear skies. high pressure to the south—west of the country and a developing area of low pressure to the north—east allowing a run of north, north—west wind across the country and it will feel cooler. plenty of sunshine, a couple of showers which will get going across the northern half of the country and this feature sliding out of ireland will push across the irish sea into wales, south—west england and the midlands as the afternoon wears on and stretches into eastern england. could see some sunshine across the

far south—east. otherwise further north it will be cloudy with outbreaks of rain. the far north of england and northern ireland, certainly for scotland it is brighter with sunshine and scattered showers. it will feel cool as well across many northern areas as we head on into friday and see some developing areas of low pressure. heaviest of the rain should remain offshore however at times on friday we will see these weather fronts push into eastern scotland and north—east england and a ripple of rain pushing into northern scotland so it could be quite heavy, possibly thundery. the further south and west, the better the chance of staying dry it. north, north—west wind for all areas will be recorded. on friday an area of low pressure continues to spiral away into the north sea. raising the north and north—east were showers and in the

south—west, another feature that moves out into wales and south—west england will bring wet weather to friday night and for much of saturday for england and wales. on the weekend it looks like saturday will be the wettest day for most. call and breezy. sunday looks like being the driest day. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a senior aide to donald trump accuses him of "amorality" and " reckless decision—making". the president calls the attack "gutless" and "phony". a new summit with the north announced. britain names two russian military intelligence officers as suspects in the novichok nerve agent attack, but how could moscow

be held to account? warnings of a global health threat, as a deadly new superbug sweeps hospitals across the world.