this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at four. police in england and wales are being given greater stop and search powers to tackle rising knife crime. it is a very important tool. it is a vital tool in fighting serious violence. i want police officers to feel more comfortable, to use it so they can protect all communities. what next to break the brexit deadlock. tomorrow mps vote again on alternative options — and if a plan for a softer brexit gets a majority — one cabinet minister says theresa may must consider it. i don't think it is sustainable to say, well, we will ignore parliament's position and therefore leave without a deal. i don't think that is a sustainable position for the government to take. there's been a sharp rise in the number of adults calling a national helpline for the children of alcoholic parents, according to figures seen by the bbc.

the founder of facebook, mark zuckerberg, calls for governments to play a more active role in regulating the internet. and at 4.30 — witness history hears from the stepdaughter of nicaragua's president, daniel ortega, about her allegations that she was sexually abused as a child. new stop and search powers are being given to police in england and wales to try and tackle rising knife crime. the home secretary sajid javid is making it easierfor officers to intervene where they think serious violence may occur. but critics say it's intrusive and could increase tensions between the police and local communities. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw reports. another knife off the streets.

this three—and—a—half inch blade was found when a young man was stopped and searched in north london. now police in the seven areas worst affected by knife crime will be able to carry out more searches because the government is relaxing rules brought in when theresa may was home secretary. the whole government agree that stop and search is a vital power. we still of course want it to be targeted and focused and intelligence—led, which it will be, but with these new powers and increased powers, we all agree, including the prime minister, this is exactly what is needed to help fight the rise in serious violence. under the changes, police will be able to search anyone in areas where they believe serious violence may occur. police inspectors can approve the powers rather than more senior officers. police say stop and search acts as a deterrent, helping to prevent violence and keep weapons off the streets but it is an intrusive tactic

and highly controversial. too many of my experiences and stories i've heard have been very unpleasant, which leads to building a lot of tension between the police and young people to the point where you have young, innocent civilians running away from police just to avoid being stopped and searched. but for the vast bulk of knife searches police conduct, they need reasonable suspicion that someone is carrying a weapon and those powers remain the same. danny shaw, bbc news. i'm joined now by nathaniel peat. he's the founder of the safety box youth programme, which runs a youth violence and knife prevention programme across london. indeed, you work in other parts of the country as well. yes, we work in prisons and youth offending institutions and work with gang work as well. would you think of the decision to effectively make it easier to use stop and search?

decision to effectively make it easier to use stop and search7m decision to effectively make it easier to use stop and search? it is a reactive measure. knife crime is going up and we are seeing more incidents of young people using weapons but it seems very reactive. stop and search is a very effective tool when evidence based. when you have got intelligence and officers who have a very good conversion rate, if you get regular officers who are now given this power to randomly search anyone from within a particular group or demographic, speaking in the london context, that might bea speaking in the london context, that might be a black group. we are talking about black young people which come from a poor environment. or someone who does not have —— someone or someone who does not have —— someone who is not equipped to understand cultural norms or could have personal bias towards a particular group that could become dangerous. i suppose the difference with where we were aware the stop and search powers were introduced

under theresa may, and it is now with particular offices and places. your worry is officers will be parachuted into an area where there has been a spate of knife attacks. they insist it is intelligence based but using it where they have not necessarily a suspicion but are concerned there might be a problem and that could cause a hostile reaction makes the problem worse. absolutely, if you have young people stopped and harassed, you have to think of the impact it causes to the young person. that young person may be intimidated by the police and it may have a knock on effect on the family, brothers, sisters, school they attend and that causes a community issue. when you have got officers trying to build trust it only destroys it. did we overreact perhaps the other way when theresa may said the powers were being used too much? i was looking at the

figures so by the time this was introduced the two continuous years from 2015 and 2016 compared to 17 and 2018, there being 2501 stops under the section six power, and the following year it had fallen. i wonder if it had gone to much the other way, this we cannot use it, it is too sensitive and are not used it in opportunities where they should have done. you have to look deeper beneath that and the link between stop and search between violent crime. has there been an evidential link to the reduction of violent crime linked to stop and search, the a nswer crime linked to stop and search, the answer is no. you cannot pin point it directly to stop and search. this isa it directly to stop and search. this is a backward movement, regressive. might it not be a confidence building measure, albeit a temporary one? it is a reaction to something,

there is a terrible problem, the community generally wants reassurance, and the idea that police can stop people gifts that reassurance? it is not a level of reassurance? it is not a level of reassurance but having proactive evidence—based solutions what you are talking about a topic health model, we have examples of this in new york where they reduced stop and search violent crime went down. the push towards community development and providing provisions for young people, this is a social issue. it is not necessary to take a knife out ofa is not necessary to take a knife out of a young persons hand. it will not stop them using the knife. it is a mindset change they need. if you ta ke mindset change they need. if you take it knife from their hand they may pick up a pen, a sharp and blunt object. you have to look deeper into the social issues. when you are

looking at ways in trying to tackle this, what does work? what works is providing them with proper opportunities that leads to a route to employment. giving them jobs, business opportunities, providing positive role models in the community, helping them with, issues. many young people have had dramatic upbringings and a system to rebuild their mind, inspiring them, motivating them, giving them confidence and allowing them to learn self defence tactics against knives so they do not feel the need to pick one up for defence. securing that mindset and safeguarding that young person right from nursery school, talking about them how to deal with conflict and how to say no. giving them powerful affirmation words. we have a project raising the aspirations. it is about inspiring them higher and moving them, and giving them this idea they can

become excellent in life. thank you very much for being with us. a senior government minister says theresa may has to look closely at pursuing a customs union with the eu if parliament votes for it this week. thejustice secretary, david gauke, said that it wouldn't be sustainable for ministers to ignore the house of commons' views. tomorrow mps will once again discuss the options other than accepting mrs may's deal — which has now been rejected three times — and vote to see if they can find a consensus on the way forward. here's our political correspondent, jonathan blake. shame on you! a week of protest at parliament when people came to westminster demanding decisions. give us all a final say! the government suffered another defeat and now waits to make its next move. tomorrow mps will try again to agree on an alternative to the prime minister's deal. and one cabinet minister has made clear the government must listen. if parliament is voting overwhelmingly against leaving the european union without a deal but is voting in favour of a softer

brexit then i don't think it is sustainable to say, well, we will ignore parliament's position and therefore, leave without a deal. i don't think that is a sustainable position. time for reflection at church this morning. the prime minister knows a customs union with the eu would be a huge shift and a promise broken. it is still her ambition, we are told, to get her deal through. this weekend she will be weighing up when, if, to put it to a fourth and final vote. too late, say labour who want to break the deadlock with a general election. but what would be their promise on another public vote? obviously i don't write labour's manifesto. i am one vote around the table but it seems to me, inconceivable that if there was a general election tomorrow and we hope there will be, we have been calling for one for months that a people's vote will be in that manifesto. he knows what it is like to fight and lose an election, and today warned that's the last thing his party or the country needs.

but as another senior conservative said the tories were planning sensibly and pragmatically, this former prime minister said the parties coming together to govern may be the only way out. in the interests of the nation, in the interest of decisions being taken, and the interest of ending the chaos we have now, and that could continue, we must have a government that has a working majority and that is the only reason for a time limited unity government. parliament and the government have long been divided about the best way to deliver brexit and now with a new deadline looming, pressure is building on the prime minister and time and her options are running out. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. welljonathanjoined me in the studio earlier and assessed the challenges facing the prime minister in the week ahead. there is a divide in cabinet, as we know, and have reported for some time about the best way

forward for brexit and what it should mean. the conservatives in their manifesto at the last election promised to deliver brexit by taking the uk out of the single market and out of the customs union and the prime minister has repeatedly said to do anything different would be a betrayal of that promise. but there are those in government who believe that sort of brexit where you keep a relatively close economic relationship and you apply the same import and export tariffs to goods coming in and out of the eu, which is what being in a customs union would mean, is the best course of action. it is also what labour advocate as part of their vision for brexit. as we have seen, it is something which could perhaps has almost commanded a majority in the house of commons, it might this time at the second time of asking in these indicative of votes. this is in tomorrow's session of parliament? the votes are to going to happen tomorrow in the house of commons.

but it is controversial and there are those that will not like it because it would restrict for the uk doing independent trade deals with other countries around the world even though it is outside of the european union. there is an issue about what we meant in the referendum about being out of the european union. do you mean out of the european union or out of every aspect in our engagement with europe in terms of formal mechanisms, and that would be another formal mechanism. it would and that is the problem politicians have faced, it was a binary choice, it was in or out. people did not vote for a certain type of brexit and did not vote necessarily to leave the customs union and single market, and it is down to government and parliament to decide what leaving the european union means and that is why we have faced difficult decisions. the government has felt it has been trying to stop the process from grinding to a halt. parliament has felt paralysed because everyone wants to do it in a different way. david gauke acknowledged in the interview earlier on, you heard a clip in the report,

we cannot get our first choice in parliament so we have to look at another way which may look at doing things we promised we wouldn't. whether theresa may is willing to do that herself is a different matter. is it still your impression that the government wants to try once more for theresa may's deal or at least the prime minister wants to try once more? i think she would but who could know what is theresa may's mind and what she is being advised. we know there are different opinions in downing street about the best course of action from here on. it remains, we are told, the ambition of the prime minister to get a deal through parliament still after those three defeats and number ten were spinning on friday votes were going in the right direction but it is still a huge task and tall order. that is what you have got government ministers and others saying if we tweak things and take the idea

of a customs union that parliament can get behind and tack that onto the political declaration of the deal that looks at our future relationship at the eu, maybe that would fly. but there would be a lot of conservatives who would not want to swallow that. a manhunt is under way after four people were stabbed in a spate of "random" attacks in north london. a woman and three men were all approached from behind and knifed in the back as they walked alone in edmonton over the weekend. police said each victim appeared to "selected at random" for being "alone and vulnerable" in the potentially linked attacks. two are in a critical condition. thousands of post offices would become branches of a new publicly owned bank under labour proposals to reform the uk banking system. shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell says a "post bank" could be run through the post office network in a bid to protect easy access to face—to—face banking. other ideas outlined by mr mcdonnell include keeping rbs in public ownership when it returns to profitability and a national investment bank to support small businesses.

let's hear what he had to say about why the focus is on post offices, rather than existing high—street banks. well, because the post offices are there. they are good locations. they have developed a banking facility already but this would be a real boost rocket to that, and i think in some ways, on the figures we have seen, a lot of towns are being held back in terms of the local economy and it is because of the lack of borrowing and lending out of local small to medium enterprises, but also a lot of high streets are in decline. this would make sure the high streets, first of all, had a banking facility back. many of them have lost that banking facility but i think would include a real contribution to making high streets vibrant again. the headlines on bbc news... police in england and wales are being given greater stop and search powers to tackle rising knife crime. thejustice secretary, david gauke, has suggested the government should support a softer brexit,

if mps rally behind it this week. there's been a sharp rise in the number of adults calling a national helpline for the children of alcoholic parents, according to figures seen by the bbc. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's chris mitchell. good afternoon. chelsea scored two late goals as they cam from behind to beat cardiff 2—1. camarasa had put the welsh side ahead early in the second half, but with less than 10—minutes to go azpilicueta headed in to make it 1—1. he was though clearly offside. and then with very little time left, ruben loftus—cheek got the winner. the win means there's only a point between chelsea in fifth and spurs in third.

mauricio pochettino's side are at liverpool this afternoon and they kick off in about10—minutes... liverpool — out at anfield warming up — will go top if they win — they're favourites to do so. spurs were struggling in the league before the international break and their spot in the top four — especially after chelsea's win today — looks vulnerable. there's live commentary of that game on bbc radio 5 live sport. celtic beat rangers 2—1 in a fiesty old firm derby, to go 13 points clear at the top of the table. celtic started the better of the two sides and their pressure paid off as they took the lead through odsonne edourd. rangers had striker alfredo morelos sent off shortly after for elbowing scott brown, his fifth red card of the season, but they equalised through ryan kent. but celtic though won it late, as james forrest scored a dramatic winner to give them the victory, and probably now, the title.

portsmouth sunderland in the checkatrade trophy final... over 85 thousand in attendance at wembley. aiden mcgeady‘s deflected free—kick put sunderland ahead but nathan thomas has just equalised for portsmouth with 8 minutes to go of normal time. arsenal remain top of the women's super league after beating birmingham 1—0 this afternoon. katie mccabe's second—half strike proved enough and the win means that arsenal are guaranteed champions league football next season, which has delighted their manager. i feel fantastic for the players and staff. they have had a great season and worked so hard. there has been a lot of adversary with a lot of players not being involved through injury and it was great to get a lot of them back on today and back on for the celebrations. it was a nice day for the office.

manchester city have reduced the gap on arsenal to one point after a 2—1win over liverpool. 3rd—placed chelsea were held to a 1—1 draw by west ham. a great result for bottom side yeovil. they won 1—0 at everton, who are one place above them. the late game between bristol city and reading is currently 1—0 to reading it's half—time in the european champions cup quarterfinal between racing and toulouse. toulose have scored 3 tries to one from racing. two of their scores came from antoine dupont and they lead 19—10 at the break. the winners will play leinster in the semis.... jonny bairstow hit the highest score by an englishman in the indian premier league he smashed 114 offjust 56 balls for the sunrisers hyderabad against royal challengers bangalore. making 12 fours and seven sixes. australian opener david warner also made a century in their total of 231 for 2.

i believe the two of them had a hug, that won't be happening in the summer. matt kuchar and kevin kinsner have narrow leads in their semi—finals of the wgc matchplay. .. kuchar leads the man who knocked out tiger woods, lucas bjerregaard. that is all square now in actual fa ct. kisner leads the open champion francesco molinari a puncture on the final stage of the tour of corsica cost elfyn evans the second world rally championship victory of his career. the 30—year—old briton was leading comfortably in france when the tyre on his ford fiesta failed. it saw him drop to third place, handing victory to belgian thierry neuville. evans' only rally win came in wales two years ago. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website,

including live text commentary from the bahrain grand prix, which has just got under way. thank you chris, we will see you then. the husband of a british—iranian woman who is currently in prison in iran has delivered a mother's day card to her on the steps of the iranian embassy, as part of his campaign for her release. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was jailed for five years in 2016 on spying charges which she denies. with more here's our correspondent sangita myska. almost three years ago nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was stopped by iranian police at tehran airport. she was about to fly home with her child but was instead arrested and accused of spying. seen here with her daughter gabriella, just before being jailed for five years, the british government and herfamily have repeatedly called for nazanin‘s release. today on mother's day her husband who has tirelessly campaigned

on behalf of his wife, delivered a card and dozens of flowers to the iranian embassy. this is a message that this is the third mother's day that nazanin is away. this year we are back in front of the iranian embassy saying this iranian government needs to solve this message. it is a message of flowers, it is a soft one. the reason for flowers is because that's what prisoners are given when they are released so it is a mother's day link, it is also linking to the fact that hopefully she will be home soon. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, was in iran late last year to push for her release. he recently took the unusual step of granting nazanin diplomatic protection in the hope the iranians would be compelled to release her. yet, ao—year—old nazanin remains injail, separated from her daughter for yet another year. ukraine goes to the polls today in the first round of a presidential election. the frontrunner to win

is a television comedian — volodymyr zelenskiy who is expected to beat the incumbent president, petro poroshenko. it's ukraine's first presidential election since russia seized part of its territory in 2014. the main candidates are all largely pro—european. elsewhere... slovakia has elected its first female head of state. the anti—corruption campaigner zuzana chaputova won around 58% of the vote in a run—off against the governing party's of the vote in a run—off against the governing party's ms chaputova is a prominent environmental lawyer but has almost no previous political experience. she ran as an outsider for the liberal progressive slovakia party, framing the election as a struggle between good and evil. here, the bbc has seen figures which show a sharp rise in the number of adults calling a national helpline for the children of alcoholic parents. in 2013 the majority of calls to the national association of children of alcoholics were from children but now more than 80 % of calls

are from people over the age of 18. the department of health said it was investing six million pounds to tackle the issue. adrian goldberg from, bbc radio 5live investigates, has more. these figures come from the national association of children of alcoholics. back in 2013, they tell us that the majority of the calls that they received seeking help and support from their helpline, the majority of those calls were from children. they did at that time have around 6,500 calls a year from adults, anybody over the age of 18. that figure has rocketed between 2013 and 2018 to the point where last year they had 23,000 calls from people over the age of 18. that now makes up around 81% of their caseload. a really significant increase in the number of adults contacting that helpline for support and assistance. do we know why there has been such a big rise? it's very interesting.

around 2015, when you had high—profile figures like labour mp liam byrne talking as an adult about his experiences, having been a child of an alcoholic, and finally overcoming what he perceived to be the shame and stigma, coming forward to talk about that, that has prompted other adults to come forward and say that they too had problems like this as a child with a parent who had turned to drink. adrian goldberg there. amelia, who grew up with an alcoholic father, joined us earlier to share her experience — she sought help after his death two years ago. i am the youngest of four. i had older siblings who were able to help us deal with that. it was a lot of really difficult times, and unfortunately, my dad passed away from alcoholism about three years ago now. when you have an alcoholic parent from a really young age,

you are grieving for that person from when they become an alcoholic, you lose your parent anyway. when that person actually dies, you know, ifelt this horrible relief, and then a lot of shame associated with feeling that relief as well. i had a good family, a good support system. we had our mam and my siblings and a big extended family and we used to talk about it a lot within the family but it wasn't something i sought help for externally until i became an adult. if you, or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised you can find details of where you can find support at www. bbc. co. uk/actionline or this number. lines are open 2a hours a day with recorded information and calls are free of charge.

following the livestreaming of a terror attack in new zealand two weeks ago, the debate over who should regulate social networking sites, is back in the spotlight. facebook boss mark zuckerberg has called for more government regulation on the internet. earlier i spoke to catherine miller— she's the director of policy at doteveryone — an independent think tank that champions responsible technology, and asked her what she made of mr zuckerberg's remarks. it is not the first time mark zuckerberg has called for regulation, when he faced questioning in congress last year he said we need regulation but the right regulation, and i suppose this article is an indication of what facebook thinks the right regulation is. it is focusing on content moderation, on the integrity of elections, on privacy and on data portability. on the integrity of elections that has been raised by what happened in the united states, concerns there may have been attempts to try and influence the online coverage and advertisements people

received during our election. presumably that is not hugely contentious but there is a bit about moderating content. for a lot of internet users that is contentious and has proved for facebook especially to be highly controversial, not least what happened with the live streaming of the terrible massacre in christchurch. this article deals in response to that moment and the sense of unbelievable outrage you could have someone streaming a mass murderfor over a quarter of an hour without any intervention at all. the interesting thing with this is that it may seem incredible there is no regulation of this in the first place and that this is news worthy to be asking governments to regulate, but you have to remember that companies like facebook come from the west coast of the united states where freedom of speech is a constitutional right. so nobody even raises concern about it because it is essential to the character

of the american system? absolutely, but you see in the united kingdom it is not an absolute right and you see the problems of taking this absolutist approach to freedom of speech. what occurs if you have people streaming a mass murder? landmarks around the world — have turned off their lights — for 60 minutes to mark this year's earth hour. world famous attractions in greece, france, russia, germany and spain and here in the uk were all plunged into darkness. the event has been organised by the environmental group wwf and aims to raise awareness of climate change and other man made threats to the planet. it's been described as uber, but for haircuts — a new barber service is offering male grooming on the go. dougal shaw has more. this may look like an ordinary van on an ordinary street but there's something a bit different

going on here.