this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 3pm: three cabinet ministers face a call to resign after going public with a warning they're prepared to delay brexit rather than leave the eu without a deal. if ministers or cabinet ministers cannot support the government's position, then they have to resign. police fire tear gas on opposition activists in venezuela as they attempt to bring humanitarian aid into the country from neighbouring colombia. polling stations close in nigeria, where millions of people have been voting in presidential and parliamentary elections. the singer r kelly is due to appear in court in chicago on a series of sexual abuse charges. in rugby, wales go for a record 12th win in a row as they face england later, in the six nations in cardiff. and coming up at 3:30pm,

click takes a look at an exo—suit, helping disabled people to walk. good afternoon. three cabinet ministers have said brexit should be delayed if mps don't approve the prime minster‘s deal in the coming days. in a newspaper article, the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, thejustice secretary, david gauke, and the business secretary, greg clark, say time is running out and that leaving the european union, without a deal, would be ‘disastrous‘. downing street said theresa may is working hard to get a deal, adding, "that is where the cabinet's "energy should be focused." susana mendonca has more.

no comment from the business secretary as he left his home earlier but greg clark's views on a no deal brexit are now loud and clear. along with amber rudd and david gauke, he is one of three cabinet members to come out against the government line. in an interview with the daily mail, they warned it would be better to seek to extend article 50 and delay the date of departure rather than crash out of the european union on march 29th. their comments have angered some conservative brexiteers. if ministers, cabinet ministers, can't support the government's position, then they have to resign. the government's position is very clear, we are leaving on the 29th of march, something the prime minister has said i think 108 times in the chamber of the house of commons. he also raised suspicions that teresa's could be behind the move.

downing street hasn't responded to the accusation and said the prime minister is working hard to get a deal. the liberal democrat leader said the comments from members at the heart of cabinet made leaving with no deal less likely. we knew that the attempt to take a no—deal off the table would be the big issue in parliament in the coming week and i think this tips the balance towards stopping the folly that the prime minister is trying to inflict on us. with time running out, the government has a tough week ahead. it hasn't confirmed yet whether there will be a new deal to vote on and backbench mps are putting forward their own plans to take control of the process, including one amendment to delay brexit if a deal isn't done by mid—march. but we've had a democratic vote. i understand the chaos it caused. that can't make you feel good. it doesn't. at the end of a week of defections, one mp who resigned from the conservative party has faced voters in nottingham. the question will be how far cabinet

members unhappy at the prospect of a no—deal brexit may be willing to go to stop it in the in the commons. meanwhile, anna soubry, who left the conservative mp to join the new independent group earlier this week said the decision of her three former cabinet colleagues to publically warn that brexit should be delayed is a sign of the issues within the government. i like to think that what we have done will actually be a message and give them courage and strength, actually. because obviously as you can imagine amber rudd will always be and is a huge friend, big respect for david gill and of course greg clark. i think the amazing thing is it just says the clark. i think the amazing thing is itjust says the complete chaos that is existing at the top of government that you have three cabinet ministers who go out into the press because they cannot winds the argument ina because they cannot winds the argument in a deeply divided cabinet and i'm afraid to say a prime minister who isjust and i'm afraid to say a prime minister who is just not listening.

what a mess at their says. that is what people are really cheesed off about. that it is such a bloody mess. i've been speaking to our political correspondent susana mendonca about the significance of this challenge to the prime minister's authority. we've heard about divisions within cabinet, about the direction of the brexit process, and this seems to suggest that those cabinet members who want there to be no chance of there being no—deal brexit, you know, making it very clear that they are willing to take action. the key question is what action are they willing to take? we've got various amendments coming up this week. would they be willing to vote with some of those amendments to block a no—deal brexit, to delay the article 50 process? that remains to be seen. if they did do that, realistically speaking you'd expect cabinet members to resign from their positions if they were to vote against the government but we don't know at this stage whether that's what they'll be doing. it's a very busy few days, things haven't stopped this weekend for theresa may. she is off to a summit in eu, a security summit, so there'll be chats there with donald tusk.

but then there's this article, these three mps talking about this upcoming week. yes, exactly. theresa may, she's trying to get this deal and what we get from downing street when we ask them is always, you know, she's working towards getting tweaks to the deal so that she can put something back to parliament, unclear as to whether we'll actually get that in this coming week. there's a lot of talk about whether or not they will be another meaningful vote. it is looking as though that will probably be kicked further down the road some time in march. but what we are expecting this week is for mps to again take the opportunity to try and seize control of the process. for example, there is an amendment which is about basically delaying the article 50 process if there is no deal done by mid—march, and that is something that last time around they didn't get enough support for that time of amendment. this time around, they might get that support. we understand that a lot of conservatives are very concerned and are thinking about voting with that amendment. there is another amendment which is talking about potentially mps backing theresa may's deal on the proviso that then there is a confirmatory vote.

so effectively another referendum, they are not calling it that, but where people would be able to vote on whether to accept theresa may's deal or to stick with the status quo, so presumably stay in the eu. all of these various manoeuvrings going on with mps trying to find alternative ways out. of course, if any of those amendments get through, that creates more problems for theresa may at a time which is already extremely difficult for her as she is trying to get mps to back her deal and she constantly says, it's my deal or its no deal or it's no brexit. says, it's my deal or its no i think she is hoping that will sway the brexiteers on one side, remain as on the other. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said that anti—semitism within his party and in society is unacceptable. nine labourmps quit the party this week, with some complaining of a culture of anti—semitism within the party. mr corbyn was speaking at a rally in broxtowe in nottinghamshire, the contituency of the former conservative mp anna soubry who this week resigned to join

the independent group. let's speak to bbc nottingham's political reporter hugh casswell who was at the rally. what has jeremy what hasjeremy corbyn been saying? well, it might be very quiet here at the moment but it certainly wasn't earlier on. in fact, the moment but it certainly wasn't earlier on. infact, it the moment but it certainly wasn't earlier on. in fact, it was a particularly noisy rally, which at one point seemed it could be disrupting the wedding that was taking place across the road. i am sure it is no coincidence that mr corbyn was campaigning in this very marginal seat, no coincidence it is the seat of the recent tory defector, no coincidence that he had three members of the labour front bench with him. of course, there was a pretty huge elephant in the room, in the shape of nine defections in the course of this week. mr corbyn said he was very sad at what he seems keen to emphasise as a very

small number of mps leaving the party. so, a definite attempt at a show of strength, a show of solidarity, assuring of his leadership. he seemed particularly keen to emphasise addressing the comments of the dudley north mp, ian austen, the most recent of those defectors who yesterday was citing what he calls the leadership‘s com plete what he calls the leadership‘s complete failure to tackle anti—semitism within the party. when people, as i said, are racist towards each other, then we oppose it, in any way whatsoever. if anyone is racist towards anyone else in our party, wrong, out of court, out of order, totally and absolutely unacceptable. anti—semitism is not acceptable in any form in any way whatsoever anywhere within our society. i'm proud to lead a party, proud to lead a party that was the first ever to introduce race relations legislation and also to pass the equality act

and the human rights act into the statute book. and we are going to take all these issues further forward. well, believe it or not, there was a second elephant in the room here today. there were several eu flags, several labour against a brexit ban is here to create mr corbyn during the speeches. there were a few shouts of what about people have my vote ? shouts of what about people have my vote? at one point, it even seems like people in the cloud —— cloud we re like people in the cloud —— cloud were arguing between each other about it. a bit of a sign about some people's frustration with jeremy corbyn not having voted —— back the people's campaign for a second referendum. where was anna soubry during all this? she was across town campaigning for the people's vote.

clashes have erupted on venezuela's border with colombia as supporters of the opposition leader, juan guaido prepare to move aid across the frontier. troops have fired tear gas at protestors after venezuela's president nicolas maduro ordered the border to be closed. mr guaido has warned without the help of foreign aid, thousands of venezuelans could die as the country battles food shortages and hyper inflation. katy watson is in the venezuelan capital caracas. on the border, tensions are rising. tear gas has been fired. there have also been a number of soldiers who have defected and decided to side with juan guaido. three or four people have already said they are going to back the interim presidentjuan guaido.

at the moment, the lorries are still waiting on the brazilian side and colombian side of the border. waiting for this aid to be allowed through. nicolas maduro has remained firm, he says this aid will not pass, that it is a us orchestrated show and he told the armed forces to remain loyal to him. this will be a test today, to see exactly how many people are still remaining loyal to the nicolas maduro and how many feel they actually want to change a venezuela. let's ta ke let's take you live to one of those hot spots. you can see there are bus which is on fire. a short while ago, that street was full of people very clearly running away from what was tear gas that had been fired. use oui’ tear gas that had been fired. use our protest with masks across their face, you can see one gesturing just there. now, the soldiers that katie was mentioning, had defected, and had tried to enter columbia saying they wanted help. what is actually

happening is that tensions have been escalating, as a number of these border posts have been closed by president maduro. on friday, the post with brazil, the border post with brazil was closed, and three people, or rather two people were dead. and 15 were injured. and that was as the country, it says, braces itself for violence after clashes. what is happening as the colombian president says he will be helping the self—proclaimed opposition leaderjuan guaido to help try and push the aid through into venezuela. president maduro said it is not coming in, it is all part of a plot of infiltration by the united states. more and that as and when we get it. polls in nigeria have

closed in the biggest election in african history. more than 70 million voters registered to vote, to choose a new president and parliament. the main presidential candidates are, the current president, muhammadu buhari, and the former vice president, atiku abubakar. our nigeria correspondent, mayenijones reports. keen to get on with it, many voters started voting from first light. the main presidential candidates also got in early. the incumbent president voted in his hometown in the north—west and shortly after, his main opponent, former vice president cast his vote in the north—east. both candidates are seasoned politicians in their 70s but 50% of the electorate here is under the age of 35. i believe that i want to see more young people coming out to stand for election. many were concerned that a postponement has affected the turnout. the 16th of february.

whoever wins this election will have to face a number of challenges. chief of which is insecurity. just this morning there were reports of attacks on the north—east of the country. the authorities say they were just trails but the timing on voting day has been questioned. nigerians will be hoping for someone who can handle these issues. i spoke to our africa correspondent, tomi oladipo, a little earlier. millions of nigerians have come out. we're not sure of the numbers, we have not been given official figures as to how many people did show up. but as you mentioned there, people who before two o'clock theoretically, those who arrived before two o'clock will be allowed to vote. but in many places, there have been delays and voting started much later. in some cases, hours after it was meant to begin. so i suppose in some places we will be hearing the voting going

on well into the night. and today the country has been more or less under a state of curfew because you are not really allowed to move around whilst voting is going on, what is the atmosphere like? well, i think for a lot of nigerians that they have braved the conditions here in abuja for example the heat has been pretty harsh. but people are still spending hours coming out to vote, but in some other parts of the country, there have been disruptions, political tensions and bugs employed in certain parts and thugs employed in certain parts to disrupt the vote going on there. so depends on which part of the country you are looking at. in the north—east of the country, in the states where she had it groups are linked, boko haram and jihadist militants and their offshoots have been disrupting the flow of the voting there. we have had people flee from certain town same are not

able to vote there. nigerian politics is notoriously fluid. there are very blurred lines when it comes to allegiances and ideological differences but the challenge is that the next leader faces are very clear. just what can they expect, whoever comes to power? you are right, this is more about the individuals so everybody goes after the personality that can rally then together and whoever also has the money to spend to rally people around them. but the issue is still remaining the same, it is the economic problems at the country has had over the last few years, the economy has been struggling, providing jobs for the masses here, we are talking, as the report earlier said, a huge population of young people who have come through a poor educational system and have got into the job market and there are no jobs or very fewjobs available for the whole lot.

also, problems with security, as i mentioned. infrastructure as well, for example electricity is still a major problem. these problems have been in nigeria for decades even so people are rallying around who they think will be able to deliver. a very different view now. this is what it looks like on the street. it is actually very calm because there is actually very calm because there isa is actually very calm because there is a state, almost a state of cu rfew, is a state, almost a state of curfew, you are not allowed to go to work or dry anywhere apart from the polls to vote. so it almost looks like a market scene. there has been a presence of foreign and local electoral observers present so very calm at the moment there in abuja. and as tommy said, it will take a number of days before we start to see those results coming through. the headlines now.

three senior cabinet ministers threaten to defy the prime minister and vote for a delay to brexit, if a deal is not voted through the commons in the coming days. clashes in venezuela — as opposition activists attempt to bring humanitarian aid into the country from neighbouring colombia. counting begins in the biggest election in african history — as millions of people in nigera vote in presidential and parliamentary elections. in sport, scotland are losing 10—3 in france and half—time in round three of the six nations championship. later wales take on england in what could be that is to —— tournament decider. they only beat tottenham 2—i —— tournament decider. they only beat tottenham 2—1 and put a big dent in spurs title ambitions. manchester city win their first silverware of the women's season, beating holders arsenal on penalties. more sport in an hour's time.

the musician r kelly, has surrendered himself to police and been charged with a series of abuse and assault allegations. the singer, whose real name is robert sylvester kelly, denies all of the charges and is due to appear in court in chicago today. in 2008, r kelly went on trial as of child pornography after a tape allegedly showed him having sex with allegedly showed him having sex with a 13—year—old but he was acquitted

when thejury decided a 13—year—old but he was acquitted when the jury decided the tape was not clear enough. some women decided to talk. i did realise that he had a problem and i couldn't fix it. now prosecutors feel they have enough evidence to press charges relating to four victims. earlier today, robert kelly was indicted before a grandjury on robert kelly was indicted before a grand jury on ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. grand jury on ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abusem appears a recent tv series speaking to alleged victims gave others the confidence to come forward to. to try and get justice confidence to come forward to. to try and getjustice against one of the biggest selling us stars for abuse allegations going back more than two decades. the documentary maker ben zand made a film for the bbc called "r kelly: sex, girls, and videotapes". he explained the background to the allegations against the singer. it's been decades of claims, to be honest. it started, really, with aliyah. he was thought to have

married the singer aliyah when he was 27 and she was 15. they have been numerous allegations around him. he's only ever been charged once before and this is really the significance of what has happened. he has been charged with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, thought to be based around for alleged victims, three of which are thought to be between 13 to 16. the significance is really that there have been a lot of rumours, a lot of allegations for a long time, and this is the second time it has been taken to court and he could actually face jail time so it is quite a big moment. for years and years, he has been one of the most famous singers of all time but he has never been able to shake these allegations and over the last three years, more and more women have been coming out saying very similar things, saying he has been mistreating them, he has been locking them in rooms,

there was allegations around sex cults, like a haram of women that he lived with. beyond that, allegations of sexual interactions with underage women. the allegation is based on a sex video that allegedly showed r kelly having sex with a woman who was claimed to have been 14 years old. he was acquitted of that because they couldn't identify who was in the video. it is thought now there may be another sex video that is even clearer that people in the video are saying specifically the ages of the people involved. that could change everything, really. but he denies all of this as he always has, but it will be a long court case. a man and woman in their 70s have died after a car they were in was hit by a van being pursued by police in south—east london. officers say a van was being driven erratically at speed in eltham and failed to stop before colliding

with a carjust after midnight. the driver of the van has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. the incident itself has been referred to the independent office for police conduct. a 16—year—old boy stabbed to death in a park in birmingham has been named. abdullah muhammad was found in sara park in the small heath area on wednesday evening. he's the second teenager to be stabbed to death in the city, in a week. a murder investigation is under way but no arrests have been made. at least 84 people have died and 200 others have been taken to hospital after drinking bootleg alcohol in north east india. 12 people have been arrested in connection with making the drink in assam state. the deaths come less than a fortnight after more than 100 people died elsewhere in the country from drinking lethal spirits. alasdair pal, a correspondent at reuters news agency in delhi, said incidents like this are not uncommon in india. india is still, you know,

a developing country. there are very high taxes on international alcohol, it is beyond the reaches of lots of people and domestically brewed alcohol is very expensive so that is really whether bootleggers come in. we are told by officials in this case that some of these small boxes about alcohol being sold, for as little as ten rupees, which is just less than 20 us cents, and so that puts it in the range of low paid workers, in this case tea plantation workers who we are told had just received their weekly paychecks and were effectively celebrating the end of the week, and this is unfortunately all too often what happens. first—time buyers now make up the majority of home purchases bought with a mortgage in the uk, according to new figures. the last time that happened was 1995.

according to the halifax, pendle in lancashire and copeland in cumbria are the most affordable areas for first time buyers. here's colin campbell. the number of first—time buyers has nearly doubled over the past decade, but with surging property prices it remains an uphill struggle for those trying to get on the property ladder. according to the halifax, the average price paid for a typical first home hasjumped by 39%, from £153,000 in 2008 to more than £212,000 in 2018. first—time buyers are putting down an average deposit of more than £32,000, rising to more than £110,000 in london. the figures show a london first—time buyer's deposit could almost buy a home outright in the north—east of england or northern ireland. but it is in wales where first—time buyers are paying the lowest average deposit ofjust over £16,000. while there has been an increase in first—time buyers year on year

across the uk, in scotland and wales numbers have fallen. terraced houses closely followed by semidetached properties continue to be the first time buyers' home of choice. despite a shortage of homes and challenges of raising a deposit, the halifax say the figures show healthy movement in the first buyer property market. colin campbell, bbc news. india's first and only professional symphony orchestra is making its uk debut this week. its concert at the symphony hall in birmingham, is the first of six, as satnam rana reports. orchestral music plays the symphony orchestra of india in rehearsal at the symphony hall in birmingham. it is one of six concerts they will be performing in their first uk tour. this, the berlioz roman carnival overture, part of the regular western repertoire. personally and the orchestra

after the sound check, because they haven't been here before, haven't... they have not played in a russelljohnson artek building like this before. and it is going to knock their socks off so to do the concert here and start of the tour in this house is a great moment of excitement for us. accompanying the 90 piece orchestra grammy award—winning musician zakir hussain. he has performed in the city since the 70s. this time though, the specially commissioned song, pushkar. i take the rhythm, i put a melodic element onto it so instead of da da da, you're hearing melodic notes. but they are doing exactly what the tabla is doing but now in four different layers. so the violin is doing one layer, the viola is doing another and so on. so a harmonic element

is established but the basic repertoire is a tabla repertoire. the orchestra was founded in 2006 in mumbai. since its inception 13 years ago, it's performed 25 seasons and for international tourists. but its remit reaches beyond performance. based at the national centre for the performing arts it is training up the next generation of classical musicians. when many people think of india and music, bollywood comes to mind, the indian film industry, equally famous for its soundtracks but this orchestra is a response to the growing appetite for western classical music in india and, of course, with the long and strong connection between the uk and india this tour is a musical milestone. it's always exciting to hear any orchestra and finally the uk gets its chance with the symphony

orchestra of india. beavers will become a protected species for the first time in new measures announced by the scottish government. farmers have condemned the decision, after complaints that dams have flooded their land. beavers have been extinct in scotland for over 400 years, but were illegally released into the wild in tayside several years ago. now it's time for a look at the weather. england and wales have seen the lion's share of the sunshine today, but a weather front has been through northern ireland and western scotland, bringing rain in places, it has now moved further east. any rain at night will die away, but you can see an area of low cloud, mist and fog in the irish sea, northern england, southern scotland