you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh — the headlines britain's top civil servant demands co—operation with his inquiry into leaked discussions from a national security council meeting about the chinese telecoms giant huawei as cabinet ministers deny their involvement. two people are injured after a huge explosion at the tata steel plant in port talbot overnight. the british and irish governments are set to hold talks in an attempt to restore power—sharing in northern ireland — more than two years after the stormont assembly collapsed. the duke of cambridge meets survivors of last month's mosque attacks in christchurch, and speaks of his personal experience of grief.

i've had reasons myself to reflect on grief and sudden pain and loss in my own life. and in my role i've often seen up close the sorrows of others in moments of tragedy as i have today. a charity warns council tax debt in england and wales is escalating as more people fall behind with their payments. cyclone kenneth hits the coast of mozambique with massive storm surges expected — its the second devastating tropical storm to hit the country in recent weeks. and, ahead of sunday's london marathon — the row between sir mo farah and haile gebrselassie deepens — with more allegations emerging about an incident at a hotel owned by the ethopian.

good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9. the head of the civil service has begun a formal inquiry into a leak from a meeting of the national security council. sir mark sedwill has written to ministers and reportedly asked them to confess or deny leaking reports that the government had agreed to allow chinese firm huawei to help build britain's new 56 network. some have been quick to deny that they were involved in the leak. the home secretary sajid javid said it was ‘completely unacceptable‘. the foreign secretary jeremy hunt also denied any involvement, saying the leak was ‘utterly appalling‘. and defence secretary gavin williamson said ‘neither i nor any of my team have divulged information from the national security council‘. our political correspondent chris masonjoins us now from westminster.

morning to you chris. it‘s a political whodunnit, we‘ve mentioned some of those who had come forward so some of those who had come forward so far to deny involvement, who else has spoken out? good morning, it's exactly that, a whodunnit, in the world ‘s most gossipy postcode, where information is currency, trade, eligible and powerful and yet there are meant to be certain rooms in westminster where discussion isn‘t just a in westminster where discussion isn‘tjust a nice thing to have, it‘s a legal necessity and that‘s why there is such a row about this lea k why there is such a row about this leak from the national security council, it has never happened before and yet details and quite specific details emerged in the daily telegraph newspaper the other day shortly after that meeting. that report suggested there were five cabinet ministers who had effectively said the prime minister, look, we disagree with your vision for involving far away, in the sg network, this souped up version of the mobile internet that is coming. so we are told, the role of a—way

was going to be relatively limited but these five ministers made the argument they thought it could be an issue for national security. all five of them have either denied involvement or been very critical of the idea of a leak. there is clearly plenty of others around that table as well, both ministers and civil serva nts as well, both ministers and civil servants and those in the security services and now there is a guessing game going on and frankly, that‘s all that is at the moment, to try and find out who did it. and a real sense of anxiety and disappointment in the security community and amongst former civil servant that this could have happened. this is incredibly serious actually, it's a complete outrage. i set out the national security council on behalf of the coalition government in 2010 stop it's a very special body. it has the most senior beasts from the cabinet, you know, the prime minister, the deputy prime minister,

the chancellor, home secretary, foreign secretary, defence secretary, all of that. and the heads of the intelligence departments, when every meeting starts you start with the head of the joint intelligence committee assessing the intelligence evidence, this is very highly classified material, this is very serious. and chris, there have been further calls for this to be made a criminal inquiry, do you think there‘s any possibility the police could be or will this be dealt with internally? this morning, scotland yard is neither confirming nor denying any involvement as involvement as far as they are concerned. as you say, others have suggested the security service, mi5, may be involved as well and i think it gives you some sense of the measure of the seriousness of this plus as well, the tensions that exist within the conservative party at the moment and the rivalries and scepticism associated with the coming battle, i say the coming battle, it‘s underway already, the leadership race to take

on the mantle that the prime minister at some stage will walk away from, when she resigns and leaves downing street. the challenge, though, for this inquiry, whether it‘s led just by sir mark said well or by the police or by the security services, is it‘s going to be really ha rd security services, is it‘s going to be really hard to get to the bottom of it because frankly, unless a minister has tapped out in an e—mail saying dear journalist, minister has tapped out in an e—mail saying dearjournalist, here‘s the information you will need, lots of state, then the likelihood of getting to the bottom of it is vanishingly small. there might be an existence of phone records between the parties but that would be the existence of a phone, rather than presumably a recording of it and at the information has been passed from one to another either face—to—face oi’ one to another either face—to—face or by intermediaries, then the chances of getting to the bottom of this, i would chances of getting to the bottom of this, iwould have chances of getting to the bottom of this, i would have thought, are vanishingly small. chris, thank you very much for that. chris mason in westminster. emergency services are attending the tata steelworks

in port talbot after several loud explosions in the early hours. (tx south wales police say the blasts appear to have been caused by molten metalfalling off a train and setting fire to several buildings. two people suffered minor injuries and tata says an investigation is underway. bbc news reporterjordan davies is outside the plant now for us... jordan, clearly dramatic scenes overnight, what more do we know about what happened ? overnight, what more do we know about what happened? we know police we re about what happened? we know police were called here in the early hours of the morning after multiple reports to this huge explosion. local people reporting a massive blast, some people saying a series of blasts that sounded like thunder and there was extraordinary images on social media of a ball of light appearing over port talbot, flames, appearing over port talbot, flames, a helicopter above the plant, what appears to be a large mushroom cloud that appeared in the wake of this explosion. some local people saying the blast their houses. we‘ve heard

from tata steel, that a train carrying molten metal, molten metal into one of the workshops here caused a series of fires, there was a spillage of liquid iron and tata steel say the fire here has been extinguished, we hear all emergency services have left the plant and the plant has reopened and there is no ongoing risk to the local area. tata steel say all employees have been accounted for, no serious injuries, south wales police say they were two casualties with minor injuries. and there has been reaction including from the local mp for aberavon, stephen kinnick, who is called in the plant in the company to carry out a full review of what happened, a full review of safety at the plant and he says it raises concerns about safety at the plant. tata steel say a full investigation is underway and the plant is now reopened. this is

clearly a small —— sprawling complex here and it‘s difficult to underestimate the importance of this plant to the local economy and to jobs in the area. certainly, it seems like this was a serious incident but without any serious injury. thank goodness for that, jordan, thank you. let‘s speak now to lance davies, who was woken in the night by a loud bang from the plant. thank you forjoining us. i understand you live on one of the highest points in port talbot so you had a great vantage point to see what was going on. that's right. it was about three 30 5am, i believed what i thought was thunder. i looked out the window and there were big explosions, able of fire. and a big mushroom cloud, i couldn‘t believe what i was seeing, it was like something you see in a film. at one

point you thought there was rain but actually it was ash falling, i understand? that's right. about two and a half minutes, i couldn‘t —— couldn‘t put a clear on it, it was minutes after the after the explosion, the big mushroom of smoke, the wind was blowing in my direction, the direction of my house. i had the window open, i had to shut it, i thought there was rain, it was parts of the explosion and the stuff that was travelling in that smoke. i'm sure being woken up in the middle of the night like that it was hard to absorb that this was all unfolding in front of you. and in some ways, i guess it‘s lucky that it happened in the early hours of the morning because if it had happened later, the plant would have been much busier, i guess? definitely, if it had happened about two hours later, it would have been a totally different story. it would have been headline news. because i believe the shift pattern changes over at that time. i honestly

thought there was going to be a lot of the fatal is involved and it‘s a miracle only two people have, with minor injuries, because the scale of the explosion, it was something like from independence day, i cannot explain it, it was absolutely crazy. lance, thank you for talking to us about what you saw. it‘s understood the british and irish governments are planning fresh talks in early may, to try to restore a fully—functioning devolved government in northern ireland. the reports come two days after the funeral of lyra mckee, the journalist who was murdered by dissident republicans in londonderry last week. the service was attended by the leaders of the dup and sinn fein along with the prime minister and taoiseach leo varadkar. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, those politicians witnessed first hand, didn‘t they, how the people responded to the words of the

priest at the funeral of leary mckee. what do you think are the chances that they can turn that sentiment into some tangible political progress? that certainly is the question and i don‘t think it‘s going to be an easy task that restores power—sharing more than two yea rs restores power—sharing more than two years after the stormont executive collapsed. it‘s been 14 months since there were any substantial negotiations between the parties so thatis negotiations between the parties so that is a measure of how far they have to travel. nonetheless, the british and irish governments it is understood will this afternoon announced a new talks process, as you say, designed to startjust after the council elections which ta ke after the council elections which take place here on thursday, just as they are in other parts of the uk. the issues that continue to divide the parties, there are plenty. they include for example same—sex marriage, sinn fein want gay marriage, sinn fein want gay marriage to be legalised in northern ireland, the dup do not. there are

also differences along out killings from the trouble should be investigated and perhaps the biggest sticking point, legal recognition for the irish language, sinn fein wa nt for the irish language, sinn fein want a new law to protect it, the dup do not want that. a change in the dynamic caused as you say by the murder of thejournalist the dynamic caused as you say by the murder of the journalist lee rudnicki in londonderry just murder of the journalist lee rudnicki in londonderryjust over a week ago. there has been unprecedented public outrage about the murder of a young woman killed. —— lyra mckee. there‘s been increase pressure on politicians to try and get power—sharing back, no one thinks if stormont returns that would mean dissident republicans give up violence but it means, many would say, send and in powerful —— powerful and important message that northern ireland wants a stable future. chris, some suggestions there might be an attempt to try and compartmentalise to one side, some of the big issues that divide the two main parties and then try on

another track to get them back into stormont, involved in running the day—to—day life of northern ireland, education, health care, etc. does that have any mileage, do you think? i don‘t think so. the dup have said ona i don‘t think so. the dup have said on a few occasions in the past they wa nt on a few occasions in the past they want the assembly to come back immediately and have a talks process running in parallel. —— they don‘t wa nt running in parallel. —— they don‘t want that. but sinn fein have rejected that, they say they want the assembly and executive back and they would go in once they think it is on they would go in once they think it isona they would go in once they think it is on a secure and stable footing which to their mind means resolving these issues. chris, thank you. sri lanka‘s president says the hunt is on for dozens of suspects linked to the islamic state, who are still at large inside the country. the president also said the islamist preacher who is believed to have planned the easter sunday‘s suicide bombings was killed in one of the attacks. leaders of the muslim community have called for friday prayers to be held in private forfear of retaliatory attacks.

it‘s early morning in colombo and my colleague nick beake is there. clearly, the hunt is on for a significant number of suspects behind these bombings and that‘s pa rt behind these bombings and that‘s part of the rationale why the uk and indeed other countries have issued warnings about their citizens potentially travelling to sri lanka. that‘s right. the british government has made this assessment, made the decision to change the travel advice for britons coming here to sri lanka, saying don‘t come unless it‘s absolutely necessary and that obviously bill had been based on very clear intelligence and i think the picture that is emerging here and has been developing through the week is still worrying because we know that the authorities here have released the images of 67 suspects, key suspects, they want to track down but this morning we get this revelation from the president, saying he believes in the weeks before the attacks, there were

130-140 before the attacks, there were 130—140 individuals who he described as being linked to the so—called islamic state group. clearly that is of great and he said now there is a manhunt for 70 of those individuals. so dozens of people being sought by the authorities. that explains why there is still a state of emergency here, why some 7000 members of the military are involved in the security operation and of course, by the likes of the british government says we think there may be more ataxia. how afraid are ordinary people there at the moment? today is a crucial day because for the muslim community, there are friday prayers. and there are concerns about reprisals and we‘ve seen some services taking place this morning, people have been going into play but there‘s been very tight security and some mosques, just one entrance rather than three or four. separately, we know christian services have been cancelled by the

catholic church here in sri lanka and there is a realfear catholic church here in sri lanka and there is a real fear that with inflamed emotions here, with tensions running extremely high, there could be the risk of violence in the future. now people hope that doesn‘t happen but if i tell you specifically about one place just to the north of here in the capital colombo, some 5—600 muslims have gathered in a mosque and they are worried about possible reprisals, that the people they were living amongst, their neighbours, may turn on them in some way. the hope is that communities can come together after these dreadful attacks but that there is people may be torn apart by this and so it‘s one reason why the president and the authorities here have put a ban on social media, it‘s been very difficult to use apps here to share thoughts and information, that‘s their tactic, one of many. there‘s been curfews for five or six nights now, people not allowed out on the streets, the authorities trying to keep a lid on things. thank you.

it's 17 keep a lid on things. thank you. it‘s 17 minutes past nine. the headlines on bbc news... britain‘s top civil servant demands co—operation with his inquiry into leaked discussions from a national security council meeting about the chinese telecoms giant huawei as cabinet ministers deny their involvement. two people are injured after a huge explosion at the tata steel plant in port talbot overnight. the british and irish governments are set to hold talks in an attempt to restore power—sharing in northern ireland. and in sport this morning the row between mo farah and haile gebrselassie deepens with more details of what went on at the hotel owned by the ethiopian. mo farah ‘s can claim he was a victim of an attack in a gym involving a married couple. juergen klopp says he won‘t have regrets of liverpool are pipped to the premier league title by manchester city. they meet huddersfield at anfield tonight looking to retain the top spot in the table. this one proved expensive

for shaun murphy who missed out on a 147 break at the world championships and a £15,000 bonus which would have followed. he‘s 5—3 down to australian neil robertson in their last 16 match. more to come on all of those a little later. john, thank you. see you soon. president xi jingping of china has tried to ease growing concerns about his "belt and road" initiative — a massive programme of infrastructure projects around the world. critics say the initiative mainly benefits chinese companies and saddles often poor countries with debt owed to beijing. but speaking at a summit of more than 30 foreign delegations in beijing — mr xi said it would be financially sustainable for the countries involved. the chancellor philip hammond is attending the summit and will make a keynote speech. let‘s talk now to our correspondent,

stephen mcdonell who‘s in beijing. tell us more about what this belt and road forum is, what does it do? dozens of world leaders from vladimir putin to imran khan have come to the chinese capital to essentially pay homage to the chinese president and sing the praises of the chinese president and his signature policy the belt and road initiative. and in one way white wouldn‘t they? china is providing loans and technical know—how to developing countries in order to integrate their economies with transport infrastructure, with the economies and their neighbours and bolster, in fact, the entire global economy. the problem is the debt. many analysts have questioned the capacity of these countries to repay that debt and wondered whether or not china is actually using the belt and road initiative to draw

these countries into its sphere of influence. a chinese president said today they would be more transparency when it comes to the belt and road initiative, and that comes to pass, it would be a sharp shift because at the moment, i can‘t go to some belt and road headquarters and ask for a list of last year ‘s projects compared to this year and next year and what about the debt repayment schedule, or what types of project can be considered belt and road projects? really, it‘s whatever the chinese government wanted to be, it‘s a kind of movable feast, if you like. and so, people have called for more transparency and it‘s not to say there aren‘t good things for example, the cambodian leader came to the meeting today and spoke to and about a train link and how it‘s helped his country so sure, there will be plenty of people who say there are real, actual projects. the problem is it‘s very opaque and as i

say, the more broad criticism has been that china is using this, not necessarily to help other countries, but to expand its influence globally. philip hammond, asi mentioned, hoping to talk about investment and potential contracts. what impact is the controversy that is going on here in the uk at the moment over huawei, what impact might have on the business he hopes to do there? yes, certainly, facing brexit, naturally the british government sees china and knows there has to be some sort of a post brexit deal with this giant asian economy. assuming that brexit actually goes ahead. well, you know, turning up to this summit cannot hurt that because it gives the chinese president a lot of face, chose the chinese government that britain is serious about relations between the two countries. and i‘m

sure there would be backroom discussions at the moment going on on the sidelines of the summit, in terms of how this could all be worked out in the future. but we are yet to hear him speak at the summit and maybe he will be touching on some of those issues. very briefly, do you think the 4—way controversy will have an impact? i think huawei isa will have an impact? i think huawei is a very touchy subject with the chinese government. and those countries like australia, for example, ruled out huawei with its sg, example, ruled out huawei with its 5g, have felt the brunt of it with the chinese government, the same can be said for, look at the canadian a nalysts be said for, look at the canadian analysts who‘d been put injail, essentially, as retribution for a huawei executive being picked up in canada, facing extradition to the united states. anything to do with huawei can actually, well, it can hurt relations with china because of

the closeness between this tech giantand the closeness between this tech giant and the chinese communist party but critics would say that‘s not a reason to necessarily trust huawei when there are questions in terms of its capacity to build in back listing devices and have you. when it‘s running out 5g networks all around the world. stephen, thank you. assaults are still increasing in half of the ten prisons which are being given extra support to address high levels of violence. there were over 34—thousand assaults last year — that‘s up sixteen percent on the year before. the prisons minister, rory stewart, has pledged to resign if attacks on inmates and staff aren‘t on the decline by this summer the authorities in cyprus say a greek cypriot army officer has confessed to murdering seven women and girls. the case is believed to be the island‘s first serial killings. the suspect has reportedly indicated that he has

killed some 30 women. cyclone kenneth has made landfall in northern mozambique, a country still recovering from another huge storm. kenneth struck around the port town of pemba late on thursday. mozambique‘s national institute of disaster management said 30,000 people had been evacuated from areas likely to be hit. last month, cyclone idai caused hundreds of deaths in the region. joining us now is our correspondent nomsa maseko. you‘re in johannesburg, looking you‘re injohannesburg, looking at events in mozambique. what music do you have of the impact so far of cyclone kenneth? you are quite right to say cyclone kenneth made landfall last night but it has now been downgraded into a tropical depression and also wins are slowly dying down. but the fear now is the fa ct dying down. but the fear now is the fact that rents are still going to continue over the next four days,

especially heavy rains and aid agencies have raised concerns about areas which are prone to flooding and mudslides. the government in mozambique has said that tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated and left their homes because of possible flooding in that region. of course, you are saying this has been downgraded and winds are dropping. there are concerns about the reins but also its following so close on the heels of cyclone idai. let likely to be greater. when you look at cyclone idai, it sounded and looked like disaster management was not prepared for the disaster that had happened but this time around, they seem much more prepared because they evacuated people out of their homes much earlier and there were earlier warnings in the area. but what could

help to lessen the impact is the fa ct help to lessen the impact is the fact that the province where the cyclone hit is not as much populated as the area where cyclone idai hit. but what is also a concern, that province is a very difficult one to be working on because of islamist insurgency which could hamper help arriving and sorting out or helping people or evacuating even the least that are still in that area. thank you for that update. welljoining us now to tell us a bit more about that huge cylone making landfall in northern mozambique is bbc weather presenter matt taylor it isa it is a typical pattern we are seeing in this part of the world with one cyclone following another? it's with one cyclone following another? it‘s fairly unusual, we haven‘t seen this before, it stretches back 20—30 yea rs, two cyclones this before, it stretches back 20—30 years, two cyclones had mozambique in one season. also unusual is how far north, we don‘t usually see

cyclone is so far not in mozambique and the fact that it‘s such a strong cycle as well. it‘s all pretty unusual patterns, you could say, for this type of year. what‘s causing it? were not quite sure. at the moment we have a weather pattern, a particular type of oscillation, going around which enhances certain areas of convection and increases the chance of storms but offshore, the chance of storms but offshore, the north of mozambique, see temperatures higher by about one or 2 degrees and it‘s the sea temperatures which fire these storms, give them energy and all the moisture they need to survive and that, combined with favourable winds in the region, led to this big storm forming. how significant could those reins that we heard about, how significant could they be? that's where the attention turns. this whole area of moisture, the wind easing substantially, normal low pressure system here in the uk, but rainfall amounts could be anything

between 500 millimetres and a major ‘s worth of rain in the region particularly in north—eastern mozambique through the rest of the next 4—5 days. that will exacerbate flooding, it will worsen. there is one crumb of comfort, it‘s a different area to work idai hit, the ground will not be as saturated as it was further south but you can still have massive impact on flooding. and then hopefully some respite from this weather. we are getting towards the end of the season, it‘s quite late but hopefully things will quieten down. thank you. in a moment the weather but first let‘s join victoria derbyshire to find out what she‘s got coming up in her programme at ten: good morning. aaron kerr is 35 years old and has taken part in a number of marathons but he won‘t be adding the london marathon to his tally. he is severely disabled, his mum and dad pushing along the route in his assisted wheelchair, something the london marathon does not allow. his

family say running makes him feel pa rt family say running makes him feel part of society and preventing him taking part is discrimination. we speak to the family life in northern ireland, join us at 10am on the bbc news channel and online. clearly, thank you. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with simon king. more heavy showers in the forecast today, moving from west to east across the uk. across eastern areas of england, the north—east of scotland, it will stay dry as to the longest with sunshine. the cloud increases elsewhere, this showery band of rain moves further east. it will be quite heavy in places, try and brighter weather coming through wales and the south—west later. maximum temperatures between 13 and 16 degrees. this area of low pressure called storm hannah will move into night, bringing strong winds across parts of wales and the

south—west of england. the strongest winds will probably be overnight, 60 to 70 mph gusts to south—west england, but those strong winds will likely continue for a time into saturday more. a rather disappointing day on saturday, lots of rain and feeling pretty cool. hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines...

britain‘s top civil servant demands co—operation with his inquiry into leaked discussions from a national security council meeting about the chinese telecoms giant huawei, as cabinet ministers deny their involvement. two people are injured after a huge explosion at the tata steel plant in port talbot overnight. the british and irish governments are set to hold talks in an attempt to restore power—sharing in northern ireland. the duke of cambridge meets survivors of last month‘s mosque attacks in christchurch, and speaks of his personal experience of grief. tropical storm kenneth hits the coast of mozambique with massive storm surges expected — it‘s the second devastating tropical storm to hit the country in recent weeks. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing.

the duke of cambridge has been meeting survivors of the christchurch terror attack on the second day of his visit to new zealand. 50 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on worshippers in march. at the al—noor mosque, the duke of cambridge called the attacks an "unspeakable act of hate". now, when i woke up in london on the morning of the 15th of march, i could not believe the news. an act of unspeakable hate had unfolded in new zealand, a country of peace. and it had unfolded in christchurch, a city that has endured so much more than its fair share of hardship. and when it was confirmed that 50 new zealand muslims had been killed, murdered while peacefully worshipping, again, ijust could not believe the news. i have been visiting new zealand since before i could walk. i have stood alongside

new zealanders in moments of joy and celebration. and i have stood alongside new zealanders in the city in moments of real pain, after loved ones, homes and livelihoods have been lost after the 2011 earthquake. and what i have known of new zealanders from the earliest moments of my life is that you are a people who look out to the world with optimism. i have had reasons myself to reflect on grief and sudden pain and loss in my own life. and in my role i‘ve often seen up close the sorrow of others in moments of tragedy, as i have today. what i have realised is that, of course, grief can change your outlook. you don‘t ever forget the shock, the sadness and pain. but i do not believe that grief changes who you are.

grief, if you let it, will reveal who are. it can reveal depths that you did not know you had. to the people of new zealand and the people of christchurch, to our muslim community and all those who have rallied to its side, i stand with you in gratitude for what you have taught the world these past weeks. i stand with you in optimism about the future of this great city. i stand with you in grief for those who have lost, and with support for those who survived. i stand with you in firm belief that the forces of love will always prevail over forces of hate. cover to the duke of cambridge speaking in christchurch.

the head of the civil service has begun a formal inquiry into a leak from a meeting of the national security council. sir mark sedwill has written to ministers and reportedly asked them to confess or deny leaking reports that the government had agreed to allow chinese firm huawei to help build britain‘s new 5g network. speaking to the today programme, former head of the civil service lord gus 0‘donnell said the leak was a serious breach of trust. this is incredibly serious, actually, a complete outrage. i set up actually, a complete outrage. i set upa actually, a complete outrage. i set up a national security council on behalf of the coalition government in 2010, it is a very special body, it has the most senior beasts from the cabinet, the prime minister, deputy prime minister, chancellors, home secretaries, foreign secretaries, defence secretaries, the heads of the intelligence departments. when every meeting sta rts departments. when every meeting starts you start with the head of thejoint starts you start with the head of the joint intelligence committee assessing the intelligence evidence. it is very highly classified material, there is serious. i used to say to people, when you come into

the nsc you leave the politics at the nsc you leave the politics at the door. is it so serious? one person on the programme yesterday said it was a leaked policy decision, rather than sensitive information? but the point is the nsc was setup to handle the sensitive subjects. 0nce nsc was setup to handle the sensitive subjects. once you let a precedent go where someone has had a conversation in the nsc and somebody else thinks it‘s perfectly legitimate to go out and briefed journalists about that, then you breakdown the trust and the whole process of managing the most difficult issues, wars, counterterrorism, ongoing anti—terrorist operations, all of these things become areas where if your cabinet secretary —— if you you will say i am not entirely

co mforta ble will say i am not entirely comfortable having it that discussed in that group. gchq are the well‘s leading experts, the cyber centre is renowned internationally as the best. they have worked out that 5g, if you build it right there are certain aspects that huawei can be involved in. certain lobby groups are trying to put something else. there is a perfectly legitimate public debate being had. the issue is when you talk about having a conversation at the national security council and it being leaked outside, it is fundamentally wrong. gus 0‘donnell, the former head of the civil service. number one on the bbc news app is the story of little charlie from northamptonshire who was born with a genetic condition so rare that doctors have not been able to classify or identify it. he is one of 6000 children born each with a similarly rare condition, jr

classified as syndromes without a name, swan. this story is talking about charlie, he spent his first two years about charlie, he spent his first two yea rs in about charlie, he spent his first two years in hospital having lots of tests. he is five, his family talk about their struggles. number three, if you are working ha rd towards number three, if you are working hard towards perhaps your final degree exams, this new official data on income suggests that young graduates in england now need a postgraduate degree as well to get significantly ahead in earnings. turn to the most watched at number one, lots of expectation about when the new royal baby will arrive, royal baby, what do we know, that is with the bbc royal correspondent sarah campbell, taking us through all things royal baby. we will have

that in the four una few minutes. let me finish the morning briefing with this rather lovely story about an anonymous donation of around £60,000 worth of designer clothes, bags and shoes given to a charity shopin bags and shoes given to a charity shop in tunbridge wells run by the mental health charity mind, and word rapidly spread that these goodies, including from the brand mulberry and erdem, a favourite designer of the duchess of sussex, they have arrived and the shop has taken a week‘s worth of takings in one day, thatis week‘s worth of takings in one day, that is a rather lovely story. that‘s it for today‘s morning briefing. let‘s move on to cancel tax. —— council tax. 0ne missed council tax payment in england and wales can escalate to more than £2000 worth

of debt within weeks, according to citizen‘s advice. the charity says when someone falls behind on their council tax payments they can become liable for the whole year‘s bill. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith has more. unpaid council tax is a growing problem. it‘s the biggest issue for people contacting citizens advice with worries about debt, and last year there was more than £3 billion of outstanding bills. mps and the national audit office have criticised local councils for the way they try and get that money back, through aggressive 0ur consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith has more. now citizens advice say the rules for how the debts are calculated needs to change to stop debt spiralling. in england and wales, if someone misses a payment they become liable for the cost of the rest of the year‘s bill within a fortnight. at this point in the financial year, an average missed payment of £167 results in a bill for the full year‘s charge, plus court costs and bailiff fees. within a few months, people could be facing debts of more than £2000.

citizens advice say that debt can be crippling. last year, around £500 million of additional fees and charges were added on people‘s council tax debt. and for an average person who does fall behind, that looks like about £300 in fees and charges, which doesn‘t help the person repay their debt and actually doesn‘t help the council, because that money will have to be recovered as well as the arrears that they owe. government say they expect councils to be sympathetic to those in genuine hardship. the local government association in england and wales say councils have faced huge budget cuts and anyone having trouble paying their bills should get in touch with their local authority. but citizens advice say that 2 million households facing council debts are being pushed further into the red, rather than helped out of it.

sport now, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here‘sjohn watson. will anyone get to the bottom of what happened between mo farah and haile gebrselassie? the counterclaims keep going on and overshadowing the london marathon. this sunday, sir mo farah will try to win his first london marathon. but instead of quietly going about his preparations, he‘s become embroiled in a row with the former distance runner haile gebrselassie. sir mo alleged he‘d been robbed at a hotel owned by the ethiopian — an allegation which led to an exchange of insults. gebrselassie accused mo farah of attacking a couple in the hotel‘s gym. he denied that and his team said he was the victim in an altercation a few months ago. that he is preparing for the big race. the bbc‘s athletics commentator steve cram says farah‘s focus will not suffer ahead of the marathon. i think it is an unseemly spat

between the two of them. mo obviously was not happy with how the situation was resolved out there. haile has responded publicly because mo used a public platform to let us know about it. i think it will die down, the two teams will get together and sort it out and in the meantime, mo will be heading for this great clash on sunday. steve will be on the commentary team on sunday. the story has been picked up on sunday. the story has been picked up on the back pages. brendan foster says this is not the mo i know, expressing his surprise that mo has brought this situation into the public. an interesting story on the possible future of paul pogba, who says he wa nts to future of paul pogba, who says he wants to move to real madrid this summer. that continues in the sun, who have gone with the same back page, start

not sure that 0le is the man for the job, it appears pogba is agitating for a move away from old trafford. and romelu lukaku is suggesting he could leave for italy this summer as well. a sizeablejob well. a sizeable job on 0le gunnar solskjaer‘s hands in terms of recruitment and keeping the best players. just three games to go in one of the most exciting premier league title races in years. can liverpool reclaim top spot tonight? jurgen klopp‘s side face huddersfield at anfield knowing their fate is out of their hands if city win all their remaining games, not that klopp will have any regrets if they‘re pipped to the title. isaid i said it, isaid it, if i said it, if we will do it, we will do it. if we do not, no regrets as long as we give always alabaster. i saw that the whole season from the boys, but however the season ends, it is only the first step in that area. we are not the finished article. we started this year with

this team, and we will carry on, and we will see. it sounds like he already has his eyes on the start of next season, but plenty couldn‘t fault. —— plenty to unfold. both teams have three matches left to play and it‘s city who will win the premier league if they win all their remaining games due to their one point advantage. for liverpool, if they win later, they‘ll hope city slip up against burnley on sunday. raheem sterling was honoured at last night‘s sport industry awards for the work he‘s doing in tackling the ongoing issue of racism in football. gareth southgte, on hand to present the award, said sterling‘s had a massive impact on british society — he‘s faced racial abuse on the pitch this season and has been pushing the authorities to take a tougher stand off it. you have to set examples for, i keep

seeing younger kids and me, i am only 24, but the next generation coming through, you have to set examples. at liverpool i had people like steven gerrard but i looked up to, looking at him and thinking what cani to, looking at him and thinking what can i do within myself to become half the person on the player he was. either take little things and each year and day you try to develop and come better, notjust on the field but off it. shaun murphy narrowly missed out on a maximum 147 break at the world snooker championship in sheffield. the 2005 champion missed the last red in his last 16 match against neil robertson. it‘s a costly miss too as there‘s a £50,000 bonus for a 147. he trails the australian by five frames to three in the best of 25 match. that will continue later. well, the action is about to get underway for the day at the crucible — it all starts at 10 o‘clock over on bbc two — these are the live

pictures as the theatre starts to fill up. you can also follow things on the bbc sport website and app. and don‘t forget to join us for sportsday at 18:30, when we‘ll have all the reaction to events at the crucible today. we‘ll also be building up to the big game in the premier league — we‘ll be live at anfield ahead of liverpool‘s clash with huddersfield. let‘s show you what has been making the news and social media. look at this penalty, have you ever seen anything as audacious as this. what about this from eric bautheac? brisbane roar have had a miserable season but the frenchman gave the home crowd something to cheer. that would be very embarrassing if that went wrong, a real head in hands moment. studio: that caught my eye earlier. thank you, john. the headlines on bbc news...

britain‘s top civil servant demands co—operation with his inquiry into leaked discussions from a national security council meeting about the chinese telecoms giant huawei, as cabinet ministers deny their involvement. two people are injured after a huge explosion at the tata steel plant in port talbot overnight. the british and irish governments are set to hold talks in an attempt to restore power—sharing in northern ireland. mps were back in parliament this week following the easter recess with no end in sight around the brexit deadlock. some say it has created unprecedented pressure in the workplace, leading the mental health charity mind to offer parliamentarians support. it has written to all in peace. here‘s nina warhurst. order, order! i have woken up at four in the morning thinking about brexit. this horrid and torrid affair in british politics. it's been a massive strain. i can no longer sit for this party. it is probably having an impact on mp5 more than they would care to admit, some of them.

i could shout as loudly as anybody but let‘s try... in your 2.5 decades in parliament, have you known mental pressure like this? no. when you take a battering time and again and again and again, then at some stage you start to think, whoa. but some people will watching and thinking, you signed up to this, you cannot complain about the pressure, it‘s yourjob. a lot of people suffer from stress, i know that. a lot of people listening to this interview will say, "hey, i‘ve got a stressfuljob," but this has been stressful and over a long period of time. it has taken people, i think, to breaking point almost. we wrote to 296 mps asking them if they felt their mental health had been affected and, of the 57 who responded, 17 said it had and most of them asked for their comments to remain anonymous. "i‘ve not suffered with depression for several years but it feels like a matter of time, being pitted against my friends and away from my family — it‘s isolating."

"lack of sleep, cancelling plans, divisions between friends, mental and physical health is affected." "i‘ve never suffered with anxiety before but now i can feel my heart in my chest — it‘s stopping me sleeping." the leader of the house andrea leadsom told us she is aware that mps are feeling the weight of brexit and that their health is a priority, pointing to the house of common‘s free helpline and counselling services. and, after conversations with several mps who are struggling, the mental health charity, mind, wrote to all of them offering support. there are certain types of workplaces, of which westminster is probably one of the best or worst examples, where the added pressure puts additional emphasis on your mental health. the visibility, the high—profile nature of the work, and then when you add in a particular crisis situation then that can all take its toll on workplaces. people are exhausted. people are exhausted, i think, mistakes will be made.

this chestshire mp knows what it is like to feel out of control. he suffered a breakdown several years ago and he is worried that mps are now being pushed too far. has this prolonged pressure taken its toll on your mental wellbeing? yes, for definite. i‘m aware of some of the trigger points and how to manage that, but of course, if those that are controlling the environment and the business of the house of commons are not aware of it, it makes things a bit more challenging. the pressures is on — mps know thatjune will mark three years since the referendum, when the brexit process began. what they can‘t tell is when or how it will end. nina warhurst, bbc news now, unless you‘ve been living under a stone somewhere, you‘ll know that prince harry and his wife meghan markle are about to have a baby. there are plenty of rumours about dates, names and plans for the royal birth. 0ur royal correspondent sarah campbell takes a look at what we know,

and what we don‘t. we don‘t know how long the birth is going to take, because nobody knows how long a birth is going to take when it starts. here‘s what we do know about the impending royal birth — and what we don‘t. we know very little actual detail. so the due date, they haven‘t given us, but that‘s not unusual. she‘s told somebody it‘s due end of april, beginning of may. do we know where meghan‘s going to have the baby? the simple answer is no, we don‘t. the options are a home birth, they‘ve just moved into frogmore cottage. and although we think it‘s different from recent royal births, actually, traditionally, the queen had all of her children either in buckingham palace or clarence house. but if she didn‘t, a hospital might be seen as a better bet. in which case, frimley park hospital, which is very close by, which is sophie wessex had her two children. when you switch on the telly hoping

to see the first pictures of harry and meghan‘s new baby you might expect to see me and various other royal correspondents outside this hospital door, but you‘d be wrong. we‘re not expecting this big photocall in front of banks of photographers, it‘s going to be very private. that‘s totally at the decision of harry and meghan. but there‘s something about harry and meghan, they have a stardust that appeals to people who maybe haven‘t even been that interested in the royal family before. so on the day, my klaxon will go off on my mobile phone, i‘ll rush to wherever we have to go. we would expect that to be in windsor, because clearly that‘s where the family‘s new home is. and you‘ll be seeing people like me standing in front of a load of trees and we will be waiting for the news as well of hundreds of millions, potentially, people around the world. do we know about nationality? we don‘t know about nationality. could have dual nationality. we don‘t know a name. meghan and harry probably have slightly more leeway. in reality, because he‘s seventh

in line — he or she is the seventh in line to the throne. i don‘t want to say he. because that sounds like i‘ve got knowledge, doesn‘t it? and i haven‘t. i did get what the bookies said. they said the latest favourite name is grace. but diana is also in there for obvious reasons, as is elizabeth, and there‘s alice and victoria for the traditionalists. if it‘s a girl. it‘s not automatically going to be a prince or princess. the queen, however, could decide that harry‘s children could have that title. it‘s not definite. we will have to wait and see on that one. they have kept things very private. i think not least because of megan‘s difficult relationship with thomas markle, her father, who is going to be this baby‘s grandfather. we do know that for harry, he‘s had a very, very complicated relationship, i think, with the press over the years. he wants to protect meghan as much as possible. and he certainly wants to protect his child.

sarah campbell, our royal correspondent. watch this space. blue peter has revealed the identity of its 38th presenter. richie driss will replace radzi chinyanganya, who announced his departure from the long—running cbbc show last month after five—and—a—half years on the programme. driss will make his blue peter debut on may 16th. good look to him. and take a look at this — a cat has adopted four baby squirrels. the orphaned baby squirrels were brought to a park in southern crimea by a visitor when they were just four weeks old. pusha the cat, who already had four kittens, was cautious about adopting them at first. but they got used to one another and now the cats and squirrels live together as one big, happy family. i told you it was cute. simon king has the weather. hello. we have had some pretty heavy showers and thunderstorms over the

last few days, similarly impressive cloud scapes being sent by weather watchers over the last 24 ellis. this morning, just a bit of sunshine, that is the scene in greater london. eastern areas continue with sunny spells, in the west cloud brings sherry outbreaks of rain and into the atlantic this swell of cloud is storm hannah, moving into tonight and tomorrow morning. we will continue with showreel rain tonight spreading eastward across wales and into england. north—east scotland and eastern england staying driest or longest. some sunny spells, brighter skies across wales and the south—west later, maximum temperatures of about 13 to 16, perhaps 17. this evening and tonight, storm hannah moves through. the isobars are quite close together, particularly around south wales in south—west england where we will have the strongest winds. the

seven to 60 or 70 mph around exposed coastal areas of wales and the south—west of england overnight. —— gusts of up to 60 or 70 mph. elsewhere, gusts up to 40 or 50 mph. those are the temperatures first thing on saturday, it will be a windy start to saturday with storm hannah but the winds will gradually ease as the day goes on. 0utbreaks of rain from north wales, north—west england, rain spreading to north—eastern parts of england, so try a further south. it will feel pretty cold during saturday, maximum temperatures between nine and 30 degrees. stowe had a drift eastward through saturday into sunday, then high pressure develops into sunday. —— storm hannah drift eastwards. great news if you‘re running the london marathon, temperatures up to around

13 or 14 celsius by lunchtime. lots of cloud, there could be brighter skies. there will be some brighter skies. there will be some brighter skies elsewhere, perhaps the shower towards east anglia and western areas of the uk later in the day. goodbye. —— perhaps the odd shower towards east anglia.

hello, it‘s friday, it‘s 10 o‘clock, i‘m chloe tilley. they‘ve competed in 35 marathons but they won‘t be taking part in london this weekend — we‘ll talk a family who‘ve been told it‘s against the rules to be pushed along the route in a wheelchair. the kerr family are accusing the organisers of the london marathon of discrimination. the mother of a teenage boy, filmed being repeatedly hit with a baton by a police officer, has exclusively told this programme she is "appalled" at the violent arrest of her son. indistinct shouting and swearing. look what you're bleep doing to me! what the bleep are you doing?! i am a bleep child! i am a child and you're hitting me!