hello this is bbc news. the headlines... a passenger plane has crashed in ethiopia, this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3pm: a passenger plane crashes in ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board, including seven british citizens. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, warns mps that if they get crucial votes wrong this week they risk losing brexit. hen harriers, the rare bird of prey, are being deliberately ta rgetted and killed, according to the rspb. aston villa footballer jack grealish is attacked by a spectator — as his side play local rivals birmingham city. and in half an hour here on bbc news, bbc wales investigates undercover officers paid to spy on political activists

good afternoon. authorities in ethiopia say there are no survivors after a passenger plane crashed with more than 150 people on board. the ethiopian airlines plane was carrying 149 passengers and eight crew. seven of those onboard were british, along with more than 30 other nationalities. the plane had only come into service a few months ago. this morning it took off from the capital addis ababa, en route to nairobi in kenya. it came down six minutes after take—off. it's not clear what caused the boeing 737 to crash. from nairobi, alistair leithead reports. ethiopian airlines flight 302 was due to arrive in the kenyan capital nairobi this morning with 149 passengers and eight crew on board.

it took off from addis ababa at 8:35am local time. butjust six minutes later, it disappeared from the radar. it crashed near the town of bishoftu, 37 miles from the airport. a search and rescue operation was launched, but it soon became clear there would be no survivors. the ethiopian prime minister's office put out a statement expressing its deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones. we need to make sure that the relatives and friends who are meeting them at nairobi airport, who were supposed to meet them at nairobi airport this morning, are supported in the best way possible in this time of anxiety. among the dead were people from 33 countries. a major international united nations convention is due to start in nairobi on monday and delegates were arriving today. some un staff died in the crash. seven british nationals were also among the dead. the aircraft was brand new.

ethiopian airlines, africa's biggest operator, received its first boeing 737—800 max aircraft last june. the plane that crashed was only delivered in november, four months ago. it had flown up from south africa this morning. and it's the same type of aircraft bought by lion air that crashed off indonesia last october with the loss of 189 passengers and crew, also shortly after take—off. boeing said it was deeply saddened and that a technical team was ready to provide assistance. now all thoughts are with the families of those killed. alistair leithead, bbc news, nairobi. let's go live to nairobi. our africa business editor, larry madowo, is atjomo kenyatta airport. iimaginea i imagine a very sombre atmosphere since the news came through of the flight since the news came through of the flight going down. what is happening now? absolutely, there have been

devastated family members all afternoon since the news came through this morning, trying to find more information and authorities here have opened two emergency centres where they can get support including counselling and that is closed off to the public and the media. they have been receiving information about loved ones on that plane. we know that pilot of the aircraft was a canyon ethiopian who reported difficulties to air traffic control and asked to turn back, but six minutes into that flight it came down. here in nairobi a lot of scratching heads and tiers and shock for people who were expecting to see loved ones on this aircraft. this plane does a lot of routes in nairobi, one of the busiest routes in africa and it's almost like a shuttle, a quick to our hop. what about the impact on this on for

example the airline's reputation for safety a nd example the airline's reputation for safety and the aircraft itself because this is a boeing aircraft that has flown very widely. it is flown very widely, the boeing 737 is a popular aircraft around the world and this one that craft flew in from johannesburg only this morning and the safety record of ethiopian airlines is among the best on the continent, it prides itself on flank some of the newest and most current aeroplanes in the african skies and has been very successful out of addis ababa and ethiopia, it flies to 119 destinations around the world and that is reflected in that mix of nationalities who died so a lot of people getting on flights today a little uncertain, you can see that some are not as they get on the flights because they are not sure

how their flights will turn out. and is there any indication of how long we will have to wait for findings as to the possible cause? it's too early to tell. boeing has said that there are thoughts are with families who are affected and the american government is sending investigators tojoin the government is sending investigators to join the ethiopian team. they have to find a flight recorder to piece together what happened but the airline are saying they didn't get in touch with the captain of the flight, in touch with the captain of the flight, the captain got in touch saying he was facing difficulty but trying to build a clearer picture of what happened might take months until they find out what caused their eight new plane to come down from the sky six minutes into flight. -- from the sky six minutes into flight. —— what caused a new plane.

thank you, larry. our correspondent, emmanuel igunza, is at the crash site near bishoftu in ethiopia, and sent us this update. it's about 60 kilometres south—east of addis ababa. the rescue recovery efforts are ongoing and a big area, the actual crash site of this flight, has been cordoned off, and from what i can see the area of impact is about the size of a football pitch, and in the middle there is a huge hole which is the point of impact. and everywhere people have been walking around the cordoned area can you can see plane parts all over and police forces are concentrating the recovery effort. we have seen lots of emergency

services here. we understand that earlier the department were sent the remains of various people who lost their lives and several onlookers have come here, a lot of them just looking and some of them have been telling me when the crash happened they heard a loud bang and the plane burst into flames, and looking at the crash site i can see that because not much remains of flight 302. so now it's a question of a recovery operation rather than the hope of helping anyone who may have been in the crash. any indication of how long emergency services and investigators are likely be working? this might take several days because we have seen

the rescue services, they have been using their hands, going through every pa rt using their hands, going through every part of the area that has been cordoned off. we have seen several officials who came by helicopter but they have left and we expect recovery efforts here will continue for a few days. this crash was sometime after 5:1i5am local time. did any of the eyewitnesses you talked to give any indication of how quickly they were able to reach the scene after they heard the explosion? many of the villagers came here quite quickly and the rescue services came probably one hour after, it might be a farming area

but the terrain is quite difficult to get to but rescue services have been here, when i was coming to the crash site we saw severalfire engines, and the response was quite quick. we are getting first early indications of victim identities. the slovak mp has confirmed that his wife and two children were among the four slovaks who died in that crash. we will get more confirmation of identity and a 33 nationalities on board during the rest of the day. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has warned conservative mps that they risk losing brexit altogether if they fail to back theresa may's deal in the commons on tuesday. he said there was "wind in the sails" of those trying to stop britain from leaving the eu and warned there would be devastating consequences for the conservative party

if brexit does not happen. his comments come after leading brexiteers said delaying the uk's departure would do "incalcuable harm" to public trust in politics. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker has this report. part of the congregation today, theresa may leaving her local sunday service. but, this coming week, she must herself try to herd a rather different crowd. the ayes to the right, 202. the noes to the left, 432. one that so comprehensively rejected her brexit deal injanuary. the foreign secretary says those who want to stop brexit now have the wind in their sails and that voting down the agreement will only aid that cause. we are in very perilous waters and people who want to make sure that we deliver this result need to remember that, if it fails, people aren't going to afterward say it was this person's fault, or this group of people's fault. they will say there was a party that promised to deliver brexit, "we put them into number 10,

and they failed" and the consequences for us as a party would be devastating. all eyes are on what concessions the government can win from brussels on the backstop — those arrangements for keeping the irish border open. but there is no sign yet of a breakthrough and among those waiting for the outcome, this former brexit secretary. he is farfrom convinced by the deal, but is certain brexit must happen or else. britain will get its trump moment. what happens is that the british people, who voted for this, and a large number of remainers, who didn't vote for it, but still think it should be carried through because they believe in democracy, will see a government walking away, a parliament walking away from a question that they themselves put to the people. it is a high—stakes week ahead. on tuesday, the commons is expected to vote on theresa may's brexit deal. if she loses, on wednesday, mps will be asked if they want to leave without a deal. if they don't, it is anticipated, on thursday, they will be asked if they want to extend

article 50 — delay brexit. labour does not want the prime minister's withdrawal agreement, or a no deal, but say any extension must serve a purpose. how long do you want? as long as necessary and i think myself we could agree labour's deal within a matter of weeks. the european union has looked positively on that. in all the discussions we have had, they see it as the foundation of a proper negotiation, and, to be frank, that is what the prime minister should have done two years ago. two days to go before the big vote here in westminster, 19 days until the uk is due to leave the european union. it has long been said things could go right down to the wire, and they have. jessica parker, bbc news. earlier i spoke tojill rutter from the think tank the institute for government. she explained what could happen this week in parliament if the prime minister's brexit deal

is rejected on tuesday. if the commons rejects the option of leaving with no deal, there is another motion which it said will be on the 14th of march which will allow mps to instruct the government to seek what the prime minister called a short and time—limited extension but those measures will be amendable, so it will be interesting to see what backbenchers propose. we also don't know if the government were to whip on wednesday on a no—deal brexit, the number of ministers who might not vote with the government if they want to kill off no deal as an option and whether the government wants to do that. jeremy hunt indicated today that the government wanted to keep no deal as an option but if it's faced with the prospect of a lot of ministerial resignations, they could whip it or try to whip it but say as a matter of conscience mps could stay on but suspend

collective responsibility, like over heathrow. that would be a possibility or another possibility would be to say it's a free vote and everyone could make their own judgment. in those circumstances the house of commons makes thatjudgment. it is ultimately sovereign under our system. have we been in a situation before where the commons decides its will and that is different from official government policy and the government is still in office, it could carry on with this? governments face defeat quite often. they sometimes decide they cannot proceed with whole bills. and what is different now is that this is the only policy, slight exaggeration but it is the big thing

the government is doing and we had that bizarre situation injanuary where on one day the government went down to its biggest ever defeat on a significant issue, a total defeat normally that would be curtains for a government, they must lose a no—confidence motion, but the next day parliament voted that although they hated the policy they had confidence in the prime minister and the government, and you might see that again. it's always possible that labour decides that maybe it lays another confidence motion and says the government cannot do this, that would be difficult with a short timetable. the other thing is that the commons isn't in control of this because they can only instruct the prime minister to ask for an extension — it's up to the eu to decide whether to agree and what to offer, so just because the uk asks for one set of extensions, it's not clear that it will be the offer back from the eu.

jill rutter of the institute of government. more than 50 businesses in northern ireland have written an open letter to mps, urging them to unite behind a deal to leave the eu. they warn that a no—deal brexit would have a damaging impact on the local economy and political stability — and urge them to compromise. among the companies that signed were bombardier, coca—cola and queen's university belfast. the uk will remain in "pole position" after brexit when it comes to technological innovation, according to the chancellor phillip hammond. he's expected to unveil plans for a £200 million in investment in cutting—edge scientific research during his spring statement on wednesday. our business correspondent rob young has the details. new technologies are shaping how we live and how we work. scientific discoveries today could determine the economy of the future and can improve our health. on wednesday, the government is expected to say it will allocate £200 million for investment in cutting—edge research. £79 million is earmarked

for a new national supercomputer. based at the university of edinburgh, the machine is promised to be up to ten times faster than the current supercomputer. another £81 million will be spent on state—of—the—art laser technology in 0xfordshire. one recent laser invention at harwell was used to detect explosives hidden in airport luggage. there will also be £16 million for health research taking place in cambridge. the money will be spent on potential new therapies to tackle genetic diseases. the government says innovation will be at the core of the spring statement on wednesday. the chancellor says he wants britain to maintain its competitive advantage in science and technology after brexit. but the chancellor is not splashing the cash. the money being dished out for the research comes from existing budgets. many people will be watching what the chancellor has to say about the forecasts for the economy. growth has been lower recently,

as brexit uncertainty and a global economic slowdown affect the uk. rob young, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: a passenger plane has crashed in ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board — including seven british citizens. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has warned mps that if they get crucial votes wrong this week they risk losing brexit. hen harriers, the rare bird of prey, are being deliberately ta rgetted and killed, according to the rspb. a man's been arrested after attacking aston villa's jack grealish on the pitch during their derby at brimingham city — his actions have been condemned condemned by both clubs. grealish stayed on to score the winning goal. liverpool are back to within a point of manchester city as they beat struggling burnley li—2 at anfield.

roberto firminho and sadio mane scoring two goals each. and rory best scores for ireland against france to give them an early lead in their penultimate six nations match in dublin — jonny sexton added the conversion. we will have more on all those stories in the next r. two more british women who travelled to syria to join the islamic state group are reported to have been stripped of their uk citizenship. reema and zara iqbal, who are sisters, left their home in east london in 2013 after marrying is fighters and are now living in detention camps in syria with their children. our home affairs correspondent, dominic casciani, has this report. the latest scenes in syria as families flee the chaos. as the self—styled islamic state's last stronghold collapses, the humanitarian crisis deepens, and some of those seeking sanctuary are foreign—born women who supported is. an increasingly difficult legal question for western nations — should they be allowed home, or kept out for good?

the bbc has learned more of the british women who went to syria have been stripped of their citizenship. what do we know about the women whose names havejust emerged? they are called reema and zara iqbal, from east london. they left for syria in 2013 and, between them, they have five children. amber rudd, the former home secretary, deprived them of their citizenship in her last year in power. like shamima begum, their children were born british. lawyers and charities have argued that whatever the wrongs of the parents, the children have rights the uk must protect. today, a minister defended the decision not to rescue ms begum's baby, who died days ago. this is a war zone. the mother chose to join a terrorist organisation — to leave a free country to join a terrorist organisation — and we have to think about the safety of the british officials that i would send into that war zone.

104 people lost their citizenship in 2017, but none of these decisions resolve what to do with their children — a legal minefield that could end up in the courts. dominic casciani, bbc news. the family of a 23—year—old british woman missing in guatemala say they're "desperately worried" for her safety. catherine shaw, from witney in 0xfordshire, was last seen on march lith in the lake atitlan area of the country. her parents said her disappearance was of "great concern". a foreign office spokeswoman confirmed it was supporting the family of a british woman and were "in contact with the local authorities". a 17—year—old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man was stabbed in the chest in north london. police were called to reports of a stabbing on a bus in north finchley yesterday afternoon. the 19—year—old is in a critical condition in hospital. a man has been arrested after attacking an aston villa footballer on the pitch during their match against local rivals birmingham city. it happened shortly after kick—off,

when the man ran up behind the midfielder, jack grealish, and knocked him to the floor. the man was led off by stewards and the aston villa captain was able to continue playing. villa went on to win the game, with jack grealish scoring the winning goal. a climber is seriously ill in hospital in aberdeen after being stranded overnight on a mountain in the highlands. the 57—year—old man, from nottinghamshire was airlifted to safety from a peak in the glencoe area yesterday, reportedly suffering from hypothermia. a second climber was also rescued but is in a stable condition in hospital. hen harriers, which are rare birds of prey, are being deliberately ta rgetted and killed, according to the rspb. in the most recent case in wiltshire one of the birds, which was being tracked by a satellite tag, has vanished and is presumed dead. police are investigating, and there are concerns over a government plan to introduce more hen harriers into the wild, as andrew plant reports. out on the hunt for a bird of prey.

teams have been searching this wiltshire countryside. it's where vulcan, a rare hen harrier‘s satellite tag suddenly stopped responding. but both the bird and its tag have disappeared. sadly, suspicious occasion. so that tag just one day stopped working? stopped working — so the tag was in very good health, so that could only have happened through human interference, and it's being investigated by wiltshire police as a very suspicious case. hen harriers almost died out in england. now, just a handful are born every year. conservationists tag the strongest ones. 0f31t chicks in 2018, they tagged 11. six have now vanished, tags included — deliberately shot, say the rspb. so the question is, why would anyone want to kill one? well, that's a difficult question to answer, because this is a blatant criminal act. they are a highly protected bird. but that is what you think is happening, that people are deliberately... that is what we know to be the case. there have been convictions.

unfortunately, there's a pattern of birds of prey going missing on the grouse moors, and there is intensive shooting. there has long been a plan to introduce more hen harriers back into england. the experts say that the environment can support a lot more breeding pairs. but, because of what has been happening to those tagged birds over the past few years, the rspb now say that plan should be put on hold. absolutely. all the research tells us that the environment in england can support hundreds of hen harriers, and yet we only have 34 chicks. and the one limiting factor, let's make no mistake about this, is illegal persecution. there's an estimated 575 pairs left in the wild, most in scotland. the rspb say, until the birds can be properly protected, they will continue to vanish into thin air. andrew plant, bbc news. if you're a keen gardener, you may have noticed new pests amongst your plants. this year the warmer weather has

seen insects more commonly found abroad turning up in our gardens. for the first time the southern green shield bug, which attacks fruit and vegetables, has made the royal horticultural society's list of top ten pests and diseases. melanie abbott from bbc radio 4's you and yours programme reports. this little thing might look pretty harmless, but the box tree caterpillar is top of the garden pest list for the third year running. this time—lapse film shows the damage they can do to the box hedge injust one day. they're at home with the unseasonably warm weather we've had lately, and in hotter climates they have really taken hold. there have been great problems in london and the surrounds and it's beginning to spread. i've seen pictures from parts of france where boxes are native on the hillside, and entire hillsides have been

stripped, there are huge numbers of moths that come down to the villages and towns into the summer months and it becomes impossible to eat out of doors. so we're coming into the box alternatives garden. this area shows there are viable alternatives that the caterpillars won't eat, and they can be shaped and pruned in the same way as a box hedge. this chap has made its way into the top ten for the first time ever — it's the southern green shield bug. this one is preserved, but come august, you might find them in your garden. they do prefer more southerly climes, but it is becoming established here in the uk. slightly bigger than the native green shield bug, the advice is to hand—pick them off. laborious, but it avoids pesticides. it's not just heat that's causing problems. it's got honey fungus in its roots. honey fungus has topped the list of diseases. it thrives in damp weather, if dry conditions follow like we saw last year,

roots will struggle to get water. it's rotting it right away. this is, you know, it will have killed the tree by preventing it from taking the water up from the soil. and now even after death, it's carrying on rotting into that wood and using it as a food source. once it's taken hold, unfortunately there's not much you can do about it. gardeners do need to think about protecting and preparing the soil for dry weather. the royal horticultural society has just employed the uk's first garden water scientist. if you are planting in your garden, then mulch, organic mulch over the top of your soil will actually help the roots to stay cool and it avoids the soil losing quite so much moisture from evaporation. the drier weather has kept some problems at bay, like the disease leaf spot. and who knows, if it continues, plants like these might one day thrive notjust in the greenhouse in wisley gardens but

in our back gardens. melanie abbot, bbc news, wisley in surrey. doesn't it look wonderfully springlike with all those beautiful flowers a nd springlike with all those beautiful flowers and plants? i suspect they may have a bit of a struggle this week. alena jenkins has the details. strong winds and snow have been causing travel problems and we still have strong winds for the rest of the day. still some tricky travelling conditions, still some snow this evening and overnight, chiefly over high ground in scotland and northern england, else were wintry showers could bring hail and thunder, quite a cold night with temperatures just above freezing, winds slowly start to ease down but we will still see cuts quite widely of 30 miles an hour come the

morning, perhaps higher for exposed coasts and hills, a ridge of high pressure builds so wintry showers will start to ease, cloud gathers towards northern ireland and the western isles, temperatures from eight to 11 celsius but gales throughout the rest of the way, further spells of heavy rain and also some drier and brighter spells.