this is bbc news. the headlines at two o'clock: as her family ask the government to help bring shameema baygum home, the justice secretary says the main priority has to be the safety of the public. a 27—year—old man appears in court charged with the murders of three elderly men in exeter. thousands of criminals are to be monitored 2a hours a day using gps tracking technology. the funeral of footballer, emiliano sala, who was killed when his plane crashed into the channel, is taking place in argentina. and in half an hour here on bbc news, african diaspora diaries takes a look at what it's like being born to immigrant parents, in a country where there is growing support for anti—immigration parties. good afternoon.

thejustice secretary, david gauke, says the government's main priority has to be the safety of the public when considering the case of shamima begum. the family of the pregnant teenager, who left britain to join the islamic state group, say they'd welcome a police investigation into her actions, but want the government to help bring her home. sophie long reports. this is the al—hawl camp in northern syria where the 19—year—old from east london is living as she awaits the birth of her third child. shamima begum says both her son and daughter died, and she wants to come back to britain so her unborn baby does not the same fate. herfamily, who had feared they would never see her again, have asked the government to help them get her home. but the justice secretary says there are risks to allowing people like shamima begum to return to britain, and they would look at her case very closely.

what has to be the priority of the british government is ensuring the protection of the british people as a whole. we do have a number of powers in this area. we have to act within those powers. but we need to make sure that the british people are not unnecessarily at risk. in a statement, shamima begum's family says as a british citizen she has every expectation to be returned to the uk, shamima begum's case is not unique. some 850 people left the uk to join so—called islamic state. around half have already come back. some working against extremism say there needs to be more focus on what caused her to go, to prevent others from doing the same. i realise that she is a bit of a poster girl of that phenomenon of those young girls going off

tojoin daesh. but if we take stock of what is happening, we need to see how she got there and we can stop other people from going down that route. the home secretary has said he would prevent people in terrorist organisations returning to britain. it is unclear what that will mean for shamima begum, who was just 15 when she left the uk for syria. sophie long, bbc news. nicola benyahia is a psychotherapist who runs a counselling service for families affected by radicalisation. she set up in 2015, after her teenage son, rasheed, left the country and travelled to syria to join is. he was killed six months later. earlier, she told the bbc what factors the government should consider about shamima's case. i think the whole thing is a

case—by—case situation with any individual that has made the choice to go over and join daesh. i think a thorough assessment of the individual is required. and to process a ny individual is required. and to process any investigation and possibly prosecution. a lot of people will have read the interview she gave to the times and heard the remarks that she gave —— made and think, she is not showing any signs of remorse, it is too big a risk to have her back. what do you say? dunne it is incredibly difficult to make that snapped the words she says. that is why i say a thorough assessment would be required. we are not sure whether she does have remorse from the words she is saying. she could actually be suffering from the effects of ptsd oi’ suffering from the effects of ptsd or trauma. you have to remember, when somebody is out there, they

suffer from paranoia. they when somebody is out there, they sufferfrom paranoia. they fear people around them. and i think that is what we need to bear in mind. actually, even with my son, when he was out there, this is the kind of thing he was showing with these paranoid thoughts. people are watching them and listening to everything they are saying. she also may be filtering what he is saying because of that fact. what about the practicalities of this? if she is brought back to this country, she is interviewed, she is debriefed, what about dealing with the psychological effects of what he has experienced, if seems to have hope of resuming what most people would refer to as normal everyday life? what most people would refer to as normal everyday life ?|i what most people would refer to as normal everyday life? i would hope, imean, the normal everyday life? i would hope, i mean, the uk is equipped to deal with these interventions. i would hope there would be a real wraparound sort of intervention for not just wraparound sort of intervention for notjust shamima wraparound sort of intervention for not just shamima begum wraparound sort of intervention for notjust shamima begum but her family. my heart goes out to her

family, who have actually been experiencing this for many years. they are holding a life sentence themselves. i would hope that they we re themselves. i would hope that they were being supported as well. are you surprised this seems to have come so you surprised this seems to have come so unexpected to people? we have known a large number of fighters and supporters have to syria, and we knew that islamic state was on the point of being defeated, should there have been more preparations?” defeated, should there have been more preparations? i think certainly. we have been talking about this for a couple of years about this for a couple of years about the complexity. it shouldn't come to a shock to any of us. again, we have been talking about this. for the public it is security and safety thatis the public it is security and safety that is paramount. but we also have to think about how we are going to cover if we do decide to bring these people back. a 27—year—old man has apeared in court charged with the murder of three elderly men in exeter. alexander lewis—ra nwell was before magistrates in the city. our reporter alex dymond

gave us this update. alexander lewis—ra nwell appeared here at exeter magistrates' court this morning during a very short two—minute hearing. during that time the charges were read to him. he faces five, three of which are charges of murder. those are of 18—year—old anthony payne, found dead at his home in the city earlier this week and richard and roger carter, 84—year—old twins, who were also from the city. the charges relate to incidents between the tenth and the 12th of february. he was facing a further two charges of grievous bodily harm with intent, relating to a further two incidents in north devon on the 9th of february, and exeter on the 11th. during the very short hearing today he was remanded in custody and will appear at exeter crown court on monday morning.

naomi diamond with the latest. a teenager has died two days after being stabbed outside a sixth form college in birmingham. the 16—year—old boy had been on life support since the incident in the highgate area on wednesday. another 16—year—old appeared in court, charged with attempted murder, before the boy died. thousands of criminals in england and wales will be tagged with gps trackers to allow authorities to constantly track them. the current tags, which are worn by around 60,000 offenders, are linked to a fixed address, such as an offender's home, with alerts generated if they are not there at certain hours. danny shaw reports. we have gps technology in our cars and on our smartphones. now it's being used to track the movements of offenders and suspects on bail. this is a demonstration of how the satellite tags are fitted, using an expert who has helped set up the scheme. the ankle tag sends an alert

if someone goes to an area they're banned from, or isn't attending a rehabilitation course when they should be. it gives us very detailed information as to where that person potentially has been, where they have been tracked. it gives us evidence to be able to present to the relevant criminal justice agency to take that appropriate action. the offender satellite tracking has been operating in three areas since last november. it will be rolled out across england and wales by the summer. tags will monitor 4,000 people every year. it will be used in cases of domestic abuse and stalking to keep offenders away from victims. david blunkett was the first politician to trial satellite tracking, launching a scheme when he was home secretary 15 years ago. but progress stalled due to contractual disputes and technical problems. the government will be hoping it has more success this time.

danny shaw, bbc news. a planned visit by the chancellor to china will now not go ahead. the news comes following reports that beijng pulled out of trade talks, after defence secretary gavin williamson indicated that the uk may be willing to deploy a warship in the pacific. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, is here. what is the treasury saying? the treasury have confirmed that the philip hammond is not travelling to china as it stands. they have also said no trip was ever announced or confirmed. that is true. there have been plans in the works for some time for a philip hammond to make a brief visit to china for a trade talks with senior members of the chinese government, as a key time in the run—up to brexit, where the uk would be looking to boosted trade links with the country. while a source has told me no final decision has been taken on this visit, it

does seem clear from the chinese side it will not happen for now. this comes at a few days after the defence secretary made that speech, which some interpreted as being on the hostile sides towards china, talking about sending hms queen elizabeth to the pacific and the uk having a prominent presence in the region. also saying that china was developing its modern military capability and commercial power. any suggestion that speech has caused china to pull the plug on that visit has been played down. it is fair to say the comments did raise eyebrows and it has not helped things. talking about helping things, what does that say about uk and chinese relations at the moment? on the one hand you have the are concern that gavin williamson has expressed about china's growing military power breach and influence in the world. we need to counter that or keep a check on it. also, the importance philip hammond is keen to pursue

with other —— the close economic relationship with china. it is britain's fifth largest trading partner. it is worth about £60 billion a year. after brexit, when the uk is able to do more bilateral trade deals, philip hammond will undoubtedly be looking to build on that. but this episode demonstrate it would be a particularly sensitive relationship and at times a difficult one. thank you. lady falkender, who was political secretary to the former prime minister harold wilson, has died at the age of 86. formerly known as marcia williams, she was a controversial and powerfulfigure. she was the former labour prime minister's right—hand woman during his two periods in office during the 1960's and 70's, and was blamed for his controversial resignation honours list in 1976, a document which became known as the lavender list. former labour mp austin mitchell said she was key to harold wilson

becoming prime minister. she was dedicated to harold wilson, and people like bernard donoghue, his speech writer, who came into contact with her in the course of work, find her to talk. —— found her too tough. it was almost as if she had the relationship with harold wilson. they had worked together for so long, it was a fairly intense relationship. she kept his feet on the ground, but in a sense, but i think power went to her head when she was his political secretary because she made contact with lots of people, some of them show business people, who she would not normally have come across. friends and colleagues of the cardiff city striker, emiliano sala, are gathering in the town of progreso in northern argentina, where the footballer‘s funeral is due to take place. he died, along with pilot david ibbotson, when their plane went down in the english channel, last month. cardiff manager neil warnock and chief executive ken choo

are expected to attend. from progreso, natalio cosoy, reports. for many of the residents of this small, argentinian town, it is too much to bear — a hometown hero returned to soon. translation: without a doubt we would not have imagined everything we are seeing now. there are 3000 of us but everybody is overwhelmed but still trying to give emiliano sala the sendoff he deserves. emiliano sala grew up playing football here in progreso, until he left, aged 1a, to pursue bigger opportunities. after making his name playing in france, the 28—year—old was bought by cardiff city from nantes for a club record £15 million on the 19th ofjanuary. just two days later, the plane carrying him in the pilot, david ibbotson, from france to the welsh capital, disappeared over the english channel.

after a two—week search, the footballer‘s body was found in the wreckage. mr ibbotson remains missing. translation: i would like to find a person in authority who says to me, this happened. but it seems like his death has led us to this. it was a shock for progreso, where his family, friends and childhood neighbours are now gathering to pay their respects. mourners are coming into this building of the ground of emiliano sala's childhood club to say their final farewells to the football player. later there will be a religious ceremony. and then the body of emiliano sala will be taken to be cremated, as per the wish of his family. ahead of today's service, sala's boyhood club, san martin de progreso, posted a message on social media saying... "we are waiting for you, like the first day you left, but this time to stay with us for ever,

eternally in our hearts." natalio cosoy, bbc news, progreso. the headlines on bbc news: thejustice secretary has said the government's main priority has to be the safety of the public when considering the case of shamima begum. a 27—year—old man has appeared in court charged with the murders of three elderly men in exeter. thousands of criminals in england and wales will be tagged with gps trackers to allow authorities to trace them 2a hours a day. us vice president mike pence has pressed european countries to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. speaking at the munich security conference, the vice president urged the european union to stop undermining the us sanctions on iran. 0ur chief international

correspondent, lyse doucet, is at that conference and joins us live. mike pence took advantage of this stage at the premier annual security co nfe re nce stage at the premier annual security conference to underline the importance of the transatlantic relationship. the biggest ever us delegation is here. 10% of the us congress has turned out led by the us vice president, mike pence. he had a very strong message to the european allies who had gathered here. strongest of all on the iran nuclear deal. viewers will remember this was a landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 by world powers. the united states pulled out of it. europe has been trying to save this deal but there was a very different message from the us vice president. the time has come for all of us to act. for our european

partners to stop undermining us sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime. the time has come for our european partners to stand with us and with the iranian people, our allies and friends in the region. the time has come for our european partners to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal and join us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the iranian people, the region and the world the peace, security and freedom they deserve. that is a message that did not go down well here. there were comments on social media to say, is this how the united states shows leadership, by telling other countries what they should do? for notjust european countries, but for russia and china, the other big signatories of this

deal, the importance now is to save it. they are worried that should iran, ona it. they are worried that should iran, on a huge growing pressure, pulled out of the deal, that would make the region and beyond much more unstable. we have been hearing from angela merkel, who has been referring to the us withdrawal of search —— syrian territory, and also pointing to the fact that that will also allow iranians influence to extend into the region? yes, there isa extend into the region? yes, there is a lot of concern here about the world order, the essay that the founder of this munich security forum puts out every year was warning this year that the world order was in crisis and actions of president trump's administration we re president trump's administration were making it worse. you mention one of them. today we are expecting president trump to announce that the caliphate, in iraq and syria, is now

over and that american troops will come home. yesterday another leading memberof the come home. yesterday another leading member of the american delegation, lindsey graham, said america expects european armies to start sending forces to northern syria to help the kurds and yes, to provide a bulwark against iranian influence. again, as with iran, this has not gone down well with european leaders. yes indeed. thank you. the disgraced former catholic cardinal, theodore mccarrick, has been dismissed from the priesthood over charges of sexual abuse. mccarrick, who's a former archbishop of washington dc, resigned last year, and has been living in seclusion. he'd said he could not remember an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16—year—old boy, which took place more than 50 years ago. archbishop charles scicluna, who has been appointed with addressing the abuse crisis, says the decision to defrock mccarrick shows that bishops are not above the law. the decision to dismiss a bishop

from the clerical state is always a very grave and serious decision, which is never taken lightly. but it is also a very important signal that if we are talking about accountability for bishops, we are actually doing it. it is not talk. we are walking the talk. it is also very important signal for archbishops that we are not above the law. we are a servants and stewards of our people. military charities say they are not able to cope with the rising demand for mental health support for veterans. at least 58 former servicemen and women took their own lives last year, according to estimates by campaigners. the ministry of defence spends £22 million a year on mental health support, but charities say the whole system needs a rethink, asjonathan beale reports. gary still has nightmares about his time in afghanistan.

he did two tours of helmand and saw friends killed in combat. like many soldiers, gary has been left with visible scars, too. but his wound wasn't caused by bombs or bullets. he lost his leg after he fell on it, blacked out after self—medicating with drugs and alcohol. well, there was loads of help there for me. but like you say, it doesn't come knocking on your door. i'm worse now than ever i have been, to tell you the truth. i'm really, really bad, i am suicidal at the minute. gary is being helped by two other veterans who have set up a helpline for comrades in crisis. this is a message i got yesterday. lady calling, i won't tell you the name. she is worried her grandson is about to take his own life. so david calls him. eventually, i finally got him on the phone. we had a long chat. i got him to come down from his crisis point. he needs to know that there are people out there who can help him. for too many, help

has come too late. i never thought he was suicidal. you know, ijust thought he couldn't sleep. they can see that somebody, unfortunately, has lost their limbs or whatever. but with mental illness it'sjust invisible. the ministry of defence is stepping up research, support and funding for vetera ns' mental health. but it's notjust about money. it is the system that needs fixing. jonathan beale, bbc news. some other stories in the news this hour. the government is considering forcing mobile phone companies to open their networks to competitors, to improve reception in rural areas. ministers want 95% of the uk to have a mobile signal by 2022. a fifth of the uk lacks an adequate signal for basic mobile services. one of britain's busiest railway lines will be closed for nine days from today, causing major disruption to passengers.

network rail is carrying out major engineering work between three bridges and brighton, a stretch which it says is the cause of many delays. child car seats which are illegal to use in the uk are still available to buy online, according to a consumer watchdog. which? says it found the seats, which are made of fabric, offer almost no protection in a crash and sell for as little as £8. now, deep beneath the valleys of south wales, the rhondda railway tunnel took coal to swansea's ports for more than 70 years. it closed in 1968, but now campaigners are hoping to turn it into one of the world's longest underground cycle routes. tomos morgan has been to take a look inside. hidden away under the mist and green hills is a highway. an old rail track that once connected the coal towns

of the valleys and the ports of south wales. and after 60 years of laying dormant, the rhondda tunnel could get a new lease of life as a cycle path. but at the moment, this is the only way down. it is a 60—foot abseil down into the heart of the tunnel. hello? hello. nice to meet you. i'm hugh. steve mackey has grown up with this lying on his doorstep. i started coming in here when i was ten and i would sit there marvelling at the work and the workmanship and the craftsmanship of the tunnel. opened in 1890, for almost 80 years, trains ferried coal and also passengers through the hills to the port of swansea. after a temporary closure in the late ‘60s on safety grounds, it never reopened. its rebirth as a cycling footpath has become the rhondda tunnel

society's full—time goal. i don't care how long it takes to open the tunnel, it needs to be opened because it is a magnificent structure. atjust over two miles long, this would be the longest cycling tunnel in europe and the second longest in the world. if it were to reopen. but the project is still in its infancy. although a recent survey concluded that most of the structure was in a good condition, the cost to rejuvenate the site could be as much as £10 million. yet one of the engineering consultants has already tested out the proposed new cycle track. the unique experience was not being able to see your goal, because both ends are blocked up. there's no light, as you could say, at the end of the tunnel. gas monitor reading... the next stage is transferring ownership from highways england, who originally ran the railway, to local authorities here in wales. after that it will be full steam ahead to get the funds in place

so that this old rail track can be what the heart of this community wants. tomos morgan, bbc news. the singer dua lipa made a surprise appearance at madame tussauds ahead of the brit awards as she unveiled a waxwork in her image last night. the pop singer, who won two grammy awards last sunday, opened the london display. it features the outfit lipa wore during her 2017 performance at glastonbury. fans will be able to pose with the waxwork and cameras will create a short 3d animated image to share on social media. we have got the real thing now. there you are! is she in the studio without me

knowing?! we have got more cloud across the uk today. it is staying quite breezy. the winds picking up. the best of the sunshine across northern england, where temperatures are up to 1a to 15 degrees. 0ther parts of southern inland, north wales and east anglia it is grey and cloudy. bride across scotland. dry across northern ireland with winds picking up. they will continue to strengthen overnight. patchy rain for northern ireland and western scotland. elsewhere, dry. strengthening winds pushed cloud northwards into the north sea. skies will tend to clear. tomorrow we have got rain coming in eastwards, head of it, sunshine. eastern scotland, east midlands will cloud over in the afternoon. most of the rain is in the west. we get sunnier skies arriving, showers and northern

ireland and western scotland. windier than today. still very mild. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: thejustice secretary has said the government's main priority has to be the safety of the public — when considering the case of shamima begum. a 27—year—old man has appeared in court charged with the murders of three elderly men in exeter. thousands of criminals in england and wales will be tagged with gps trackers to allow authorities to trace them 2a hours a day. the funeral of footballer emiliano sala, who died in a plane crash in the english channel last month, as he headed for his new club cardiff city, is taking place in his native argentina.