this is bbc news, i'mjane hill. the headlines at 2:00: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying — labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. i do think it is a good idea, in principle, that top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries had been properly understood. the greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine

for the first and second dose is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers hall in 2019. climate talks between the world's two biggest polluters — us envoyjohn kerry hopes to persuade beijing to agree new targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. and the countdown is on — it's 100 days until the opening of the summer olympic games in tokyo.

hello, good afternoon. mps will vote this afternoon on whether there should be a parliamentary inquiry into the lobbying activities of the former prime minister david cameron. labour says a government investigation into mr cameron's work for the collapsed firm, greensill capital, is insufficient. a debate in the commons is under way and at prime minister's questions boris johnson admitted it wasn't clear the boundaries between whitehall and business had been properly understood. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, told the commons that tory sleaze had returned. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, reports. catch it, it appears, around a campfire in saudi arabia. david cameron and lex greensill, a close professional relationship now at the centre of a growing row about access to people in power. is there a problem of sleaze in your government, prime minister? borisjohnson has promised to give free rein to a lawyer reviewing relations between lex greensill�*s

now collapsed company and government, but the questions keep coming. questions to the prime minister. from labour, a call for a full inquiry led by mps, including a reset of the rules around lobbying. does the prime minister believe that the current lobbying rules are fit purpose? top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries were...have been properly understood. labour's charge — that links between business and government are just too close. does the prime minister accept there's a revolving door, indeed an open door, between his conservative government and paid lobbyists? mr speaker, this is a government and a party that has been consistently tough on lobbying and, indeed, we introduced legislation

saying that there should be no taxpayer—funded lobbying, that quangos should not be used to get involved with lobbying. we put in a register for lobbyists and there was one party, mr speaker, that actually voted to repeal the 2014 lobbying act and that was the labour party. that greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze. that's why we're putting in an independent review... borisjohnson again accused labour of opposing previous attempts to tighten the rules. prime minister, i thinki we ought to at least try and address the question. lex greensill�*s links to government began in 2011, when he became an unpaid adviser to david cameron. in 2018, his firm was giving work linked to nhs payments and hired the then former prime minister. the next year, mr cameron arranged a private drink with matt hancock, the health secretary,

and lex greensill, and last year, he texted rishi sunak, the chancellor, seeking access for greensill to a coronavirus support scheme. officials, as well as ministers, are defending their actions. the former head of government procurement, bill crothers, began working part—time for greensill in 2015 when still a civil servant, a move he says was approved and not uncommon. politicians on all sides at westminster accept there's a problem that needs fixing but there aren't many ready solutions to be found. jonathan blake, bbc news. shadow cabinet office minister rachel reeves opened the debate a little earlier. if mps vote for this motion, then a proper investigation can take place. led by a team with the confidence of this house. not someone hand—picked from the board of one of the government departments embroiled in this scandal. but, if they vote

against it, as the prime minister has told you all to do, then i am sorry to say that they too will be part of the government's attempt to cover up tory sleaze. all members here today should reflect on who they are here to serve — their constituents and their country or narrow party political interests? responding for the government was the minister for the cabinet 0ffice chloe smith. we are opposing the motion today because it seeks to duplicate the work that is already in the gift of parliament and its committees, and, as i will set it now, work that is already being undertaken by the government. starting with the effectiveness of existing lobbying legislation, we are currently conducting post—legislative scrutiny, part one of the transparency of lobbying, non—party campaigning and trade union administration act of 2014, which we know as the lobbying act. it is looking precisely

at the scope and effectiveness of that legislation, the honourable lady did not mention this one whit. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas. how would you assess the tone, the flavour of all of this?— flavour of all of this? what you have is this _ flavour of all of this? what you have is this very _ flavour of all of this? what you have is this very clear - flavour of all of this? what you have is this very clear line - flavour of all of this? what you have is this very clear line of i have is this very clear line of attack from the labour party. we have heard the word "sleaze" mentioned quite a few times. keir starmer and his prime minister's questions before the debate mentioned it three times, talking, you had injonathan�*s report, about the return of tory sleaze. that again has come up in the debate. labour very much wanting to widen the scope of the debate and of the enquiries because they believe that the current review that is being set “p the current review that is being set up by the current review that is being set up by the government isn't fit for purpose. 0n the other side, you hear

the argument coming back, as you did just there from the cabinet officer, that there is a review that has been set up that will look into the greensill affair and associated matters. that there are lobbying rules and there are attempts to look at tightening those up and that creating a new committee in parliament would just add a layer of complication and expense to the whole thing. so there is a sort of general acceptance on both sides that the rules could be tighter, they could be clearer. the question is, how do you go about that? labour wants a full inquiry that has the power to call witnesses, to hold sessions in the open. what we've got is this review, run by the senior lawyer appointed by the government, which will report to parliament but has far fewer powers. qm. which will report to parliament but has far fewer powers.— which will report to parliament but has far fewer powers. ok, but now, thank ou has far fewer powers. ok, but now, thank you very _ has far fewer powers. ok, but now,

thank you very much. _ has far fewer powers. ok, but now, thank you very much. if _ has far fewer powers. ok, but now, thank you very much. if you - has far fewer powers. ok, but now, thank you very much. if you want i has far fewer powers. ok, but now, j thank you very much. if you want to continue watching that debate in the commons, you can do so on our sister channel, bbc parliament. a major uk trial, which is assessing whether people can safely be given different types of a covid vaccine for their first and second dose, is being expanded. the trial will now include the moderna and novovax jabs. people over the age of 50, who've had a first dose of either the pfizer or astrazeneca vaccine, can apply to take part. 0ur health correspondent, dominic hughes, reports. currently, the nhs offers people an identical covid—19 vaccine for their first and second doses. but some experts believe switching to a different brand of vaccine for the second dose might give broader and longer lasting protection against the pandemic virus and new variants of it, as well as offering more flexibility to vaccine roll—out. because all of the vaccines that are currently licensed are all directed against the same part of the virus, they're all engineered to target the s

protein, the spike protein, then they all will elicit a very similar immune response. so, it makes a lot of sense to test this combination of vaccines, and we think that we may be able to get an enhanced immune response by combining different types of vaccines. more than 800 people have already signed up to help researchers. they've received two doses of either pfizer, astrazeneca, or a combination of both, to see what works best for immunity. dosing with one, then dosing with the other and that would give a lot more flexibility if there was any problems with supply for one vaccine, for example, or changes in recommendations for different age groups. then if someone's been primed with one vaccine, they're not locked in to getting the same vaccine for the second dose. and we will be testing those combinations against the new variants as they come through. so, the blood tests we obtain, we will test them against the new variants to see potentially if they offer any broader protection against multiple different strains.

volunteers need to have already had one covid jab on the nhs in the past few months, and be willing to travel to a regional nhs hospital trust site in england to take part. they'll have blood taken to check how well vaccines trigger an immune response. the vaccination programme has gone as well as anyone could have hoped so far, and the idea of mixing and matching vaccines is it gives a bit of added flexibility. the way it works is that if you give a second booster dose that uses a slightly different method to prompt an immune response, that can be more effective. and, in fact, it's something that's already done with hepatitis jabs, for example, or vaccines that are commonly given to children, like polio, measles, mumps and rubella. investigators now hope to recruit around 1000 people aged 50 or older to take part and test more vaccines in different combinations. that includes the new moderna vaccine and the novavax jab that is expected to be approved soon for use in the uk. and the findings could have implications for what might lie ahead.

we will be able to potentially use different vaccines for booster campaigns in the autumn and in fact mixed schedules may, and this is a big may, but they may give better longer term protection and that would be very interesting to see. so, very exciting stuff. the study will run for a year but the first results should be available byjune orjuly and they will shape how the uk and the world continues to protect populations against this deadly virus. dominic hughes, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to our medical editor fergus walsh — i asked him to explain the significance of the expansion of this trial. i think it is important because if you can mix the vaccines, it will give more flexibility. we had seen there have been problems with supplies over the last few months and if you get a lot of stock of one vaccine, much easier to safe you can

have this one. and i don't think there is going to be any safety concerns but you have to do a trial like this just a rule that out. quite good scientific theoretical evidence that actually it will boost your immunity. i would predict that may be a year for now, the idea of mixing and matching will actually be accepted. i was there in february in london the day these trials began and the huge enthusiasm from the volunteers, so this will be a hot ticket. a lot of people will want to sign up for this trial. that ticket. a lot of people will want to sign up for this trial.— sign up for this trial. that is interesting. _ sign up for this trial. that is interesting. there - sign up for this trial. that is interesting. there is - sign up for this trial. that is | interesting. there is another sign up for this trial. that is - interesting. there is another study out today comparing, looking at the pfizer vaccine on one hand and the astrazeneca? the pfizer vaccine on one hand and the astrazeneca?— astrazeneca? the university of birmingham — astrazeneca? the university of birmingham trial— astrazeneca? the university of birmingham trialjust _ astrazeneca? the university of birmingham trialjust out. - astrazeneca? the university of birmingham trialjust out. 165 i birmingham trialjust out. 165 people aged 80 plus. normally, as we get older, our immune systems decline and become less effective but good news here that a single dose of either the pfizer or the

astrazeneca vaccine prompted a very strong immune response afterfive weeks. then it looked at another part of the immune system, the cellular response, t cells. their levels were higher with their single dose of astrazeneca but we know from a previous study that after two doses of pfizer you also get a very strong cellular response. the message from that is definitely have your second dose and also, they found that people who had had a previous infection with covid had a dramatically higher, stronger immune response. interesting there but i think the take—home message is we now have three very good, effective covid vaccines so whichever one you are offered, take the jab. £311" are offered, take the “ab. our medical editor, h are offered, take the jab. 0ur medical editor, fergus walsh. the us climate envoy, john kerry, is travelling to china to try to persuade beijing to agree to new targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. he's the first senior official

from the biden administration to visit the country. the us wants china to stop building coal—fired power stations and to end the financing of overseas coal projects. here's our environment and energy analyst, roger harrabin. superpowers and super—polluters. the world can't address climate change unless both are willing to turn away from fossil fuels and both are ready to cooperate. that's the mission of the us climate envoyjohn kerry, visiting china in the hope that the rivals can pause their political discord for the sake of the planet. china has as much coal—fired power capacity as the rest of the world put together. it's offering informally to freeze emissions by 2030 and stop all carbon emissions by 2060. at the moment, we are seeing that countries like south korea and japan and also china are funding a lot

of the new coal—powered developments in the region and they are obviously it's a big driver of coal emissions, of carbon emissions, in the world. so the us would likely be raising this in the meeting. but what about the usa? historically, the top polluter. china wants america to adopt much tougher limits on emissions and it wants the us to give much more cash to poorer nations to tackle climate change. with goodwill on both sides, i think there's a lot to gain here and the precident was set in the early years before president trump came in. there was a very active suite of collaborative measures between the us and china and many of them continue at a state level and at a city level, so the framework is there. the world looks on as the superpowers discuss how far they're willing to change their economies and lifestyles to stabilise the climate. the poorest will suffer most

from climate heating. they have no voice at the talks today. roger harrabin, bbc news. 0ur correspondent robin brant is in shanghai. he told me more aboutjohn kerry's visit. he he told me more about john kerry's visit. , .., ., visit. he is coming here to shanghai. _ visit. he is coming here to shanghai, arriving - visit. he is coming here to shanghai, arriving this - visit. he is coming here to - shanghai, arriving this evening. the city of 2a million people, where the air pollution has not been good for the last week. he comes here to show the last week. he comes here to show the us is re—engaging afterfive years of stepping back under donald trump's leadership. it is going to be a significant visit, a substantial one as well. he is here for two days and will meet a handful of very important people, among them, his chinese counterpart. he has been brought out of retirement ijy has been brought out of retirement by beijing because he knowsjohn kerry said that gives a bit of an idea of how significant they begged the personal relationship can be here. in terms of climate change, the environment is important for both men. joe biden, a big election

issue for him. for the chinese president, dirty air, waterand issue for him. for the chinese president, dirty air, water and land has been a huge problem here in china and he is trying to ship this country's economy to a more sustainable one, where the growth is of a higher quality and where it won't be killing people unnecessarily. it is important for both men. but as roger touched on, the us and china are absolutely crucial to any kind of progress when it comes to cutting carbon emissions. half the coal burned in the world is burned here in this country and china is responsible for about 30% of carbon emissions as things stand at the moment. the other challenge butjohn kerry is to try and silo this issue, partition it from other areas where china and the us have far more contentious disagreement at the moment over xinjiang, genocide is going on there, says america and over things like hong kong as well. so that will be his biggest challenge, to try and keep them separate from other areas where things between china and the us are not so good.—

us are not so good. robin brant in shanahai. the headlines on bbc news: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying — labour says there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded, to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers hall in 2019. young black people have been hit hardest by unemployment during the covid pandemic, according to new research. the resolution foundation think tank said that over the past year, thejobless rate for young black people in the uk rose by more than a third to 35% — compared with 24% for young people

of asian descent and 13% for young white people. the foundation said that covid had widened existing gaps between ethnic groups. it added that young people in britain had borne the brunt ofjob losses in lockdown. between the second and third quarters of 2020, the unemployment rate among 18—24 year olds rose from 11.5% to 13.6%. kathleen henehan is a research and policy analyst at the resolution foundation. she told me more about the findings. before the crisis, young people on average were substantially more likely to work in hard—hit sectors and to a extent, black people were more likely to wear in those hard—hit sectors even compared to their counterparts. there are some big questions as to why they impacted the crisis has been so badly distributed. that impacted the crisis has been so badly distributed.— badly distributed. that was 'ust art about badly distributed. that was 'ust part about mi badly distributed. that was 'ust part about the resolution h badly distributed. that was just -

part about the resolution foundation has had to say about this. mary ibiyemi is 21 and lost herjob working in a take away last year. she was unemployed for eight months before finding a newjob and said she wasn't surprised by the figures. a lot of the people i know, they were also in my position and it was up to like all of us to help boost one another because we didn't know what we needed to do. we didn't know what feedback, we didn't know was going wrong. evenjust online, when i wasjust scrolling through, i found that within the black community, they feel that they need to, you know, not disclose their race orjust to change their name a bit so they can get more calls, more interviews. just something that we shouldn't need to be doing because it is the 21st century and everything should be... everyone should be feeling included.

a woman has described being stabbed in the neck by the man who killed two people in the fishmonger�*s hall attack in london in november 2019. jack merritt and saskia jones were stabbed by a convicted terrorist usman khan during a prisoner rehabilitation conference. giving evidence this morning at the inquests, isobel rowbotham said it felt as if khan had intended to kill her too. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, reports. the attack within the ornate rooms of fishmonger�*s hall on the banks of the river thames was over in a few bloody minutes. this inquest will spend weeks examining those seconds in close detail. isobel rowbotham worked for the prison rehabilitation charity, which held

the event where it happened. she told the inquest she saw jack merritt covered in blood, shouting that he'd been stabbed. and then usman khan appeared. he came at her across this reception room, kitchen knives in his hands, moving purposely. she said, "please, no, don't." but saskia jones was fatally stabbed. she'd volunteered at the charity, which was dedicated to turning around the lives of former prisoners — including khan. khan was forced out of the building by a group of men. they fought him on london bridge, using improvised weapons, before armed police arrived

and fired their first shots. the inquest will explain his death and those of his victims. it will also examine what was known about the threat that khan posed in the year before the events of that day. tom symonds, bbc news, at the fishmonger�*s hall inquests. our correspondent zoe conway has been following the inquest. there has been some desperately upsetting evidence already today. what more has been heard? we also heard this morning from the housekeeping managerforfish mongers hall and she came face—to—face with usman khan. he was just a few feet away from her when he approached her, came towards her with two large kitchen knives which we now know were strapped to his wrists. she said that he had his right hand raised to head height and

with his left hand, he put his finger up to his mouth, gesturing to her to be quiet, she says because she thinks he was trying to prevent her from screaming. she thinks he was trying to prevent herfrom screaming. she she thinks he was trying to prevent her from screaming. she says that he then got distracted and he then turned to another woman and started stabbing her. she says khan as he carried out the attack was speaking in arabic and she believed he was quoting from the koran. we also heard from a formerjudge this morning about the confusion, the chaos and the fear of that afternoon. he described one of the event organisers shouting into her mobile phone, ambulance, police, now. and how they had all made their way down a service exit and threw the kitchen and that somebody had

shouted, there is a bomb. but there was also more evidence about the organisation around this event and in particular the travel arrangements for khan would come down from stafford to london for the event. he had been invited. we were told that he had phoned a man working for the organisation to tell him that his first train from stafford had been cancelled and we were told it was jack merrick, jack merrick who would die that day who reorganised, rebooked the train for khan. he was also asked if he had been told about khan's offending history, whether he knew he was a convicted terrorist dan simon said, no, he said that he had googled him. zoe conway, for now, thank you very much with the nhs from the inquests

following the fishmongers' hall attack. the scottish green party has launched its manifesto for next month's holyrood elections. the party says it would introduce a windfall tax on large companies that have made extraordinary profits during the pandemic. the greens also want to introduce a levy forfrequent flyers; and roll out an infrastructure programme, worth 7.5 billion pounds, which they say would create 100,000 jobs across scotland. we will invest in scotland — createjobs, revive industry, and build the modern infrastructure the country urgently needs. it is a programme of change because, in the face of the climate emergency and the economic fallout from the pandemic, we need change. but it is a programme that will bring everyone along — no—one left behind. today is the deadline for 7,500 british gas engineers across the uk to accept new terms and conditions, or face being sacked by the parent company centrica. the dispute involving staff

who service and repair boilers has been going on for nine months. under the new terms, they'll be required to work extra hours, and won't be paid more for working weekends and public holidays. british gas says 95% of affected workers have signed the new contracts — something disputed by unions. tesco says it has seen "exceptionally strong sales" through the coronavirus pandemic. the supermarket firm says online sales in the uk soared by 77% for the year to february. but business costs incurred by the pandemic led to a fall in pre—tax profits. tesco hired almost 50,000 temporary workers last year, about 20,000 of whom have joined the retailer permanently. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett.

hello there. it's another chilly day today. it doesn't feel too bad in the sunshine and light winds, mind you, but we have seen the cloud building up and that's been producing a few showers, mainly across south wales and the south—west of england. temperatures 11, 12, maybe 13 degrees, a bit cooler around some of those north sea coasts. any showers that do develop do tend to fade away this evening, and overnight we'll have clearing skies, a few mist and fog patches. more cloud coming in off the southern north sea, maybe bringing the odd shower to coastal areas of east anglia and kent later on. but another cold night, a touch of frost in many areas. lowest temperatures — northern england, southern scotland. a sunny start, though, for many places. again, we'll see some cloud developing but this time we're more likely to find some showers, lincolnshire, east anglia, the south—east, perhaps heading towards the east midlands and down towards hampshire. but elsewhere, i think it will be fine and dry. the winds light for many. a gentle breeze from the east in glasgow means that we'll find the highest temperatures probably across western parts of scotland but a much cooler breeze coming in for east anglia

and the south—east. temperatures lower than today.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the deaths ofjack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers hall in 2019. climate talks between the world's two biggest polluters. us envoyjohn kerry hopes to persuade beijing to agree new targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. and the countdown is on. it's 100 days until the opening of

the summer olympic games in tokyo. sport now and let's go to the bbc sports centre for a full round up. good afternoon. manchester city's preparations for this evening's champions league quarterfinal in germany were hampered last night after a series of fireworks were let off outside their team hotel. the clubs says on two occassions players and staff were woken up before a third attempt was stopped by their own security. city are 2—1 up against borussia dortmund from the first leg and are chasing what would be a historic quadruple. the champions league is the only major trophy pep guardiola is yet to win at the club, something he's well aware of. this is a business, and a business is business and business is to win. if we don't win i will be

a failure, and if we win, it will be how good is pep? the six time winners liverpool have much more to do than city if they're to reach the semi finals, where chelsea await. they go into tonight's second leg against real madrid at anfield 3—1 down from the first game. after six straight defeats at home, liverpool did manage to return to winning ways against aston villa at the weekend. there've been miracle comebacks at anfield before — most recently in 2019 when they came from 3—0 down to knock barcelona out of the tournament, though there won't be any fans to roar them on this evening. you don't get a comeback because you had a comeback in the past, you only can have a chance if you play really good football in the present and that is what we have to do. the best situation would be if we don't bring ourselves in a situation that we need to come back, but obviously that is not worth talking about now, but the situation is clear, that is why this competition is so interesting.

you can follow how liverpool and city get on tonight on bbc radio 5 live. and it's a 100 days to go until the start of the olympic games in tokyo and the build up has been unusual, to say the least. a year's delay, and doubts over whether it would go ahead at all. for the athletes, it's been incredibly unsettling and with no overseas spectators allowed, two—time 0lympic taekwondo champion jadejones says it'll be a very different experience this summer. my family have travelled to every 0lympics, even the youth 0lympics when it first started, and every time i come out to fight i see their faces screaming for me and cheering me on, that really does make a difference to me. it kind of shows just how big this pandemic is, but i'm just seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running through the door and bring that gold medal home to all the family. i know they will be cheering me on and willing me on,

and itjust brings a big buzz to the country, to my family as well, to come back with that third gold medal. mark cavendish has won his third stage in a row at the tour of turkey. he was in the leading pack and avoided a pile—up in the final metres, sprinting to victory on stage four to kemer. after waiting for three years for his win on monday, he's making it look routine again. cavendish has an overall lead of 12 seconds but that may well be lost in tomorrow's stage, which takes the riders into the mountains. that's all from me for now but there's more on the bbc sport website, including the latest from today's europa league news c0 nfe re nces . i'll be back with more later. in the united states, there's been a third night

of protests after an unarmed black man was shot dead by a white police officer in minneapolis. the officer who shot daunte wright has now resigned, along with the city's police chief. tensions are already high in the city, as the trial of the officer accused of murdering george floyd continues. 0ur north america correspondent barbara plett—usher reports. gunshot. for a third night, police drove back protesters venting their anger over the shooting of another black man. hit in the chest by a policewoman who confused her gun with her taser, in the middle of the trial of the officer accused of killing george floyd. do you know the difference between a gun and a taser? under pressure, the policewoman resigned. she was a 26—year veteran of the force. followed by the police chief. we are here and we will fight forjustice for this family, just like we are fighting

for our brother. george floyd's family has come together in solidarity with the relatives of the dead man, daunte wright. sharing their quest forjustice and their loss. i thought somebody was playing a joke on me. it hurt me to my heart. daunte was a beautiful child. he might not have been an angel, but he was our angel. 0ur angel. he belonged to us. inside the courtroom, the defence took over after the prosecution rested its case. more footage of george floyd from police body cameras was shown tojurors. the defence is arguing that it was a drug overdose which caused his death rather than excessive force by the officer who restrained him by kneeling on his neck.

testimony is expected to wrap by the end of the week, and the jury will begin deliberations shortly after that. there is a lot at stake in what it decides. the authorities are bracing for the possibility of further unrest once there's a verdict. they were hoping that the resignation of the police officials would help to defuse the anger, but so far that has failed to stop the protests. barbara plett usher, bbc news, minneapolis. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has insisted that it's the right time to withdraw american troops from afghanistan. it's twenty years after they first went in following the 9—11 attacks. president biden is set to make the formal announcement later. but the speaker of the afghan parliament has warned the withdrawal could lead to civil war. the united states has spent around two trillion dollars and lost more than 2,000 service members since 2001 in what has

been its longest war. at its height, there were more than 100,000 us troops stationed in afghanistan. today, there are around 2,500 us troops in the country as part of a 9,600—strong nato mission. let's hear a little of what antony blinken had to say about the withdrawal, speaking at nato headquarters in brussels. almost 20 years ago after the united states _ almost 20 years ago after the united states was_ almost 20 years ago after the united states was attacked, together we went into — states was attacked, together we went into afghanistan to deal with those _ went into afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us and to make sure that _ those who attacked us and to make sure that afghanistan would not again— sure that afghanistan would not again become a haven for terrorists who might — again become a haven for terrorists who might attack any of us. and together— who might attack any of us. and together we have achieved the goals that we _ together we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time _ that we set out to achieve and now it is time to — that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home. we will_ it is time to bring our forces home. we will work— it is time to bring our forces home. we will work very closely together

in the _ we will work very closely together in the weeks and months ahead on a safe, _ in the weeks and months ahead on a safe, deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of our forces from afghanistan. but even as we do that, our commitment to afghanistan, to its future _ our commitment to afghanistan, to its future will remain. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani is in kabul. afg ha n afghan government officials say they're waiting for meaty details about withdrawal plans before commenting. the two presidents are due to speak on the phone and from the private conversations i've had there is a concern that categorically fixing this date in september for the withdrawal of all american forces irrespective of what the conditions are on the ground here at that stage will end up favouring the taliban either by encouraging them to wait things out and push for the military victory or at the very least threatening their position at the negotiating table. the very slow pace we have seen in

the discussion so far between the afghan taliban sides suggests it would it will be difficult to reach a power—sharing arrangement by september. there was hope they could have been progress at a major summit planned for turkey later this month but following this announcement that holloman have said they will no longer be attending that. they have reacted sharply to the fact that american troops will be staying on within afghanistan after this made the first deadline which was agreed last year. they had previously talked about resuming a tax on international forces if that deadline was not adhered to. i think given this as short as quite a short extension we are unlikely to see that but we will have to wait and see. the bigger concern is what happens after september. usa power has been key in holding back the taliban advance. how will the afghan government cope without it? there has already been talk about raising militias and using them to help in the fight against the taliban. certainly there is a fear that whilst americans involvement in the war might be drawing down, for

afghans the conflict is only going to get bloodier and even more fragmented. the family of a nurse who died a year ago from covid—19 haven't received any money from an online campaign which raised nearly two hundred thousand pounds for them. mary agyapong, who was 28, died just days after giving birth at luton and dunstable hospital, where she worked. jon ironmonger reports. the death of nurse mary agyapong is among the cruelest of the pandemic. she contracted covid—19 while pregnant and didn't live to know her daughter, who was born safely. heartbroken, her husband ernest focused his attention on the burial and was unaware as nearly 10,000 donations began pouring in online. i really actually remain very grateful, you know, for the love, support and the generosity of the public. in just a few days, £186,000 was raised through a gofundme page

set up by rhoda asiedu, a family friend living in birmingham, expressly to support mary's husband and the couple's children, aj and baby mary, during this heavy and trying time. but one year on, the beneficiaries still haven't received a penny, and lawyers suspect the fundraisers of playing loose with a custom at ghanaian funerals. normally, when such donations are collected, it is given to the spouse, to almost reimburse him of such costs, and then to look after the children, things like pampers, baby food. mary never had the opportunity to bless her daughter, so there's been a lot of expenses that he's had to carry on all by himself. the money raised was paid to ms asiedu's legal team, blue trinity, who said it had been placed on trust for the education of mary's children and that 80% of it would be released when they turn 21. that's a 20—year wait for baby mary,

and ernest, who's studying law, says the family is struggling now. i just try to keep my head above the water. i find it very, very surprising that i've not been asked or involved, you know, with this gofundme money, it's beyond my understanding. gofundme said it was always clear the money would be placed in a trust. but we found an archived snapshot of the web page on april 16th with £117,000 of donations and no reference to a trust at all. ms asiedu? i'd like to talk to you about the gofundme page that you set up for ernest boateng and his children. is that 0k? can ijust ask you, you know, why has he not been made a trustee of the fund? when shall i call you?

0k, all right. i think it's clear you don't want to talk. we didn't hear back from ms asiedu or her legal team. on monday, ernest and the children marked the first anniversary of mary's death. life without her is getting no easier. jon ironmonger, bbc news. news from the us of the death of bernie madoff, convicted of running a huge scheme. he has died in prison. he was serving a 150 year sentence for carrying out an enormous fraud in the united states. he was 82 years old. the statement has come from the bureau of prisons

in the us. convicted of running the largest known ponzi scheme in history. he was serving a very long sentence and his schemes cost investors huge sums. that is all we have heard so far but they will be more reaction to come on that. he was 82 years old. the headlines on bbc news: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded an inquest into the death ofjack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers hall in 2019.

in parts of the uk this week pubs and cafes have opened for customers seated outdoors but how safe is it for people to gather indoors in cafes and restaurants when infections are still high. practical tests are being carried out in the dutch city of utrecht, where five cafes are expected to serve a thousand people a day, from today until saturday, as part of a pilot programme, supported by the dutch ministry of economic affairs, local health board and various catering organisations. 0ur correspondent anna holligan sent this report. these people are doing something that still feels like a long way off for a lot of us. access is limited, you need a negative test and reservation to get inside. we've all been looking at england, reallyjealous. yeah, it feels great.

these organised drinking sessions are experiments together data and insights which could help to establish how soon bars can start allowing people to pop in for a point again. so, the researchers will be looking at ways in which people interact, things like the time they spend with each other and the distance they keep, and to what extent they stick to the covid rules. but this isn't about policing their behaviour, it's about looking at how people actually interact when they are back inside what used to be familiar environments and especially after a couple of beers. everyone will have to wear a motion sensor and there will also measure the amount of fresh air circulating. with the infection rate and hospital admissions still high here, critics say the cash would be better spent on boosting the vaccination rate. with this money, we can establish how to open pubs in a safe way and that's important

because you never know how the virus will develop itself. at hospitals, staff are struggling. 2500 covid patients, 800 of them in intensive care. from our point of view, want to keep on the health workers, help them, but also for all society, we'd like to bring some light and perspective, to open up in a safe way and to be there together. they believe allowing people to socialise in these controlled spaces could reduce the number of mass gatherings elsewhere. the findings are expected in hard weeks' time. anna holligan, bbc news, utrecht. a third actor from the hit australian soap opera, neighbours, has gone public with allegations of racism. in a statement, sharonjohal said she had faced racist taunts from white castmates, and felt further targeted when she asked for help. sharonjohal, who has indian heritage, left the show

in march after four years. in response, production company fremantle media said it would hold a review into the allegations. 0ur australia correspondent shaima khalil has more. she said she had experienced direct, indirect and casual racism but did not name names or name anyone in particular but she did say there were incidents were a former colleague had compared her to a bobble head toy that as the mimicked the problematic character of apu from the simpsons which got complains about tones of racism in that. despite sharon asking the person to stop many times. she also said when she went to management with her complaints that they were sympathetic but not helpful, and they didn't do anything to stop this from occurring and i voted other —

neither did other cast members which left her feeling isolated and marginalised. sharonjohal is the third to come through, saying she felt a moral obligation after two former aboriginal stars came through with their own experiences, and that onset raises the allegation was first raised by two aboriginal former cast members and one actually said in a statement that they found it traumatising to work in what they described as a culturally unsafe environment and she herself has praised sharonjohal for coming out and saying this. it is a fixture and a stable for millions, notjust in australia but in the uk, so quite an unsettling moment really for them but the production is that they are looking into it as a spokesperson for channel five, the channel which carries the programme into the uk, said they condemn racism and take issues of discrimination

really seriously. whether it's unwanted clothes, books or toys, many people have used lockdown as a chance to have a big clearout. lots of the items will be taken to charity shops which reopened this week in england and wales. many have reported record sales in the past few days. but some stores have stopped accepting donations or set limits because of the sheer volume of items arriving. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent coletta smith reports. the long lockdown winter months have been a chance for a clearout. but what to do with all this stuff? there's clothes... ..jumpers — all sorts! this shop's open to customers, but not for donations yet, as they've got so much already. so there's no chance of getting rid of this lot today. i'm going to have to hold onto it, i think, yeah.

our phone is constantly ringing, asking when we're taking donations, are we taking donations? it's just, i don't think our shop's big enough to take everything at the once. so that's why we've done our two days a week. with limited numbers allowed inside the store, sarah needs all the space possible for shoppers. the head of the charity retail association says shops up and down the country have been making different plans to safely receive a deluge of donations over the coming weeks. some of our members have actually been donated extra storage facilities. people have been doing things like hiring vans and portakabins in their car parks. so actually, the systems are all in place, and donors shouldn't be worried about that. the advice is to ring ahead, to check when and where you can drop donations. suzanne in hull has a pile of stuff she's desperate to get rid of. i've got a suitcase of clothes, shoes, badminton rackets- and shuttlecocks. i've got one bottom -

and i've got three bikes, so i don't need three. i've heard that charity shops are quite full. i and a lot of my stuff's quite nice. she's decided to try doing a car boot sale first, and then take anything left to a charity shop when they've more room. i'm excited that things might get another life, really. it's notjust those doing a clearout who've been desperate for charity shops to reopen. this last year has been really tough for so many households, with more redundancies, with squeezed incomes on furlough. buying online is simply too expensive for lots of people — having to buy the big brands, and having to pay delivery charges. so, seeing charity shops open up again is a lifeline for lots and lots of households. we need them. we can't get to places likejohn lewis and pay them prices any more. they're out of reach. we have shopped in them before, and the kids get lots of games out of there, don't you? yeah. lots of board games and stuff. it's good for them to be back open.

it's been too long, hasn't it? with storerooms bursting at the seams, shoppers can cash in on the windfall. colletta smith, bbc news. it may be one of the uk's most remote communities but tiny fair isle — with a population ofjust 48 people — can now claim to be one of the safest. the scottish island — located between 0rkney and shetland — is known for its knitwear. this week, vials of astrazeneca vaccine were flown in on a small plane, meaning every adult on the island was able to have their second dose. jen stout reports. touchdown. the lifeline plane reaches fairisle with a very special cargo. enough vials of vaccine to give the whole adult population a second dose. shop scratch. from 18 to 85, everyone is covered. it's probably one of the safest places in the country, really. you know, we can decide

whether people come in or not. there is no visitors come on the boat. and as i say, they have been very good about controlling it, keeping people from coming on the plane. with fairisle being 25 miles from mainland shetland, the decision was taken to fly in the vaccine doses. fairisle was one of those areas of the uk where there were no confirmed covid cases, so we felt it was really important to maintain that. we were very keen that we went in and we took the vaccination programme for all those that were entitled in one go. it is a big relief for the 48 strong population. i wasn't aware of anything, just stuck it in and that was that. delighted. were getting everyone that wants it, and it has been great for us, - great for the island as a whole. it will give us more confidence i as we stuck to hopefully get back towards a bit more of a normal life.

it's been great because we've had ten days without a boat, so the vote managed to come in yesterday, so we then had the boat and a full shop, and we have had a second vaccination today, so the sun is out and the lambs are coming, so they have been over the moon. it is a glimmer of hope for this most welcoming of islands, looking to better more sociable times ahead. jen stout, bbc news, fairisle. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. to bring you an update around the south african variant of covid—19 we have just had a statement from barnet council in north london which says that variant has been found in the buddha and that from tomorrow they are going to start testing people in one specific postcode in the london n three postcode because of finding that particular variant.

we will have much more on that after 3pm. we have been reflecting on the fact there are two other london boroughs where sewage testing has been going on and you have seen the pictures yesterday. 0ne been going on and you have seen the pictures yesterday. one of the borough is involved is wandsworth and you have seen people queueing to get a test if they live or work in that better. so wandsworth and lambeth where the london boroughs affected yesterday and now we've had this statement from barnet council so it's the third london council area to be affected. much more from 3pm on that i'm sure. if you have concerns, it is london n three postcode. more to come on that after the top of the hour. as promised now, we will take a look at the weather.

temperatures between 11 and 12. a bit cool around some of the north sea coast. any showers that do develop will fade away and overnight we will have clearing skies and a few fog patches. mcleod coming in bringing in the odd shower to coastal areas of east anglia and kent later on. another cold night and a touch of frost and many of the dash areas. as any start the many places and again we will see some club developing but this time we will see some showers in lincolnshire and east anglia perhaps heading towards the east midlands and down towards hampshire. elsewhere it will be fine and dry. the wins will be late for many of the gentle breeze from the east and glasgow means we will find the highest temperatures across western parts of scotland. a much cooler breeze coming into east anglia and the south—east. temperatures lower than today.

this is bbc news — i'mjane hill. the headlines: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying — labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. i do think it is a good idea, in principle, that top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries had been properly understood. the greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first

and second dose is being expanded, to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers' hall in 2019. the jailed financier, bernie madoff — convicted of running the largest known ponzi scheme in history — has died aged 82 in a us prison. military rehearsals are taking place ahead of the duke of edinburgh's funeral in windsor on saturday. and two large sections of cliff on dorset�*s jurassic coast have collapsed — including 300 metres of cliff east of seatown.

hello, good afternoon. mps will vote this afternoon on whether there should be a parliamentary inquiry into the lobbying activities of the former prime minister david cameron. labour says a government investigation into mr cameron's work for the collapsed firm, greensill capital, is insufficient. a debate is taking place in the commons and at prime minister's questions, borisjohnson admitted it wasn't clear the boundaries between whitehall and business had been properly understood. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, told the commons that tory sleaze had returned. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. captured, it appears, around a campfire in saudi arabia — david cameron and lex greensill, a close professional relationship

now at the centre of a growing row about access to people in power. is there a problem of sleaze in your government, prime minister? borisjohnson has promised to give free rein to a lawyer reviewing relations between lex greensill�*s now collapsed company and government, but the questions keep coming. questions to the prime minister. from labour, a call for a full inquiry led by mps, including a reset of the rules around lobbying. does the prime minister believe that the current lobbying rules are fit purpose? top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries were...have been properly understood. labour's charge — that links between business and government are just too close. does the prime minister accept there's a revolving door, indeed an open door, between his conservative government and paid lobbyists?

mr speaker, this is a government and a party that has been consistently tough on lobbying and, indeed, we introduced legislation saying that there should be no taxpayer—funded lobbying, that quangos should not be used to get involved with lobbying. we put in a register for lobbyists and there was one party, mr speaker, that actually voted to repeal the 2014 lobbying act and that was the labour party. that greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze. that's why we're putting in an independent review... borisjohnson again accused labour of opposing previous attempts to tighten the rules. prime minister, i thinki we ought to at least try and address the question. lex greensill�*s links to government began in 2011, when he became an unpaid adviser to david cameron. in 2018, his firm was giving work

linked to nhs payments and hired the then former prime minister. the next year, mr cameron arranged a private drink with matt hancock, the health secretary, and lex greensill, and last year, he texted rishi sunak, the chancellor, seeking access for greensill to a coronavirus support scheme. officials, as well as ministers, are defending their actions. the former head of government procurement, bill crothers, began working part—time for greensill in 2015 when still a civil servant — a move he says was approved and not uncommon. politicians on all sides at westminster accept there's a problem that needs fixing but there aren't many ready solutions to be found. jonathan blake, bbc news. shadow cabinet office minister rachel reeves opened the debate a little earlier. if mps vote for this motion, then a proper investigation can take place. led by a team with the

confidence of this house. not someone hand—picked from the board of one of the government departments embroiled in this scandal. but, if they vote against it, as the prime minister has told you all to do, then i am sorry to say that they too will be part of the government's attempt to cover up tory sleaze. all members here today should reflect on who they are here to serve — their constituents and their country or narrow party political interests? rachel reeves for labour. responding for the government was the ministerfor the cabinet office chloe smith. we are opposing the motion today because it seeks to duplicate the work that is already in the gift of parliament and its committees, and, as i will set it now, work that is already being undertaken by the government. starting with the effectiveness of existing lobbying legislation, we are currently conducting post—legislative scrutiny, part one of the transparency of lobbying,

non—party campaigning and trade union administration act of 2014, which for short we know as the lobbying act. it is looking precisely at the scope and effectiveness of that legislation, the honourable lady did not mention this one whit. chloe smith for the conservatives. 0ur political correspondent helen catt is in westminster. give us a flavour of the tone and some of the sentiments being expressed there this afternoon. the messa . e expressed there this afternoon. tue: message from expressed there this afternoon. tte: message from labour expressed there this afternoon. t'te: message from labour is expressed there this afternoon. tte: message from labour is pretty clear. if you listen to the debate, you hear the same words over and over again, talking of sleaze and cronyism. 0ne labour mp talked about there being a bad smell around this idea ever revolving door between government and business. what labour wants is a parliamentary inquiry into this. that will be mps taking evidence in public from witnesses.

dame angela eagle said that was a sort of disinfectant that was needed to be really transparent about the issues around lobbying. from the conservative benches, though, as a suggestion that labour is pre—empting the outcome of any such inquiry. they talk about it being opportunistic, this being party politics. that they believe the government has announced it sufficient and that is not one that will hear evidence in public, although borisjohnson has said the findings in the report will eventually be put into the parliamentary library, so it will be put to parliament eventually. and you heard from chloe smith pointing out things like what they see as the cost and complication of setting up this parliamentary inquiry. so pretty clear lines of attack and defence on either side this afternoon. 0ne defence on either side this afternoon. one interesting comment from a senior conservative mp who set out to criticise david cameron in his role in this comical debt tasteless and slapdash but suggested it was a red herring when looking at

the wider issue in general. sol think it is a case that there is a bit of an acknowledgement there is an issue with how lobbying is governed and how it works in westminster but how to fix it, the two sides don't quite agree. for now, two sides don't quite agree. for now. thank _ two sides don't quite agree. for now, thank very much. more on the vote in parliament later in the day. a major uk trial, which is assessing whether people can safely be given different types of a covid vaccine for their first and second dose, is being expanded. the trial will now include the moderna and novovax jabs. people over the age of 50, who've had a first dose of either the pfizer or astrazeneca vaccine, can apply to take part. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. currently, the nhs offers people an identical covid—19 vaccine for their first and second doses. but some experts believe switching to a different brand of vaccine for the second dose might give broader and longer lasting protection against the pandemic virus and new variants of it, as well as offering more flexibility

to vaccine roll—out. because all of the vaccines that are currently licensed are all directed against the same part of the virus, they're all engineered to target the s protein, the spike protein, then they all will elicit a very similar immune response. so, it makes a lot of sense to test this combination of vaccines, and we think that we may be able to get an enhanced immune response by combining different types of vaccines. more than 800 people have already signed up to help researchers. they've received two doses of either pfizer, astrazeneca, or a combination of both, to see what works best for immunity. dosing with one, then dosing with the other and that would give a lot more flexibility if there was any problems with supply for one vaccine, for example, or changes in recommendations for different age groups. then if someone's been primed with one vaccine, they're not locked in to getting the same vaccine for the second dose.

and we will be testing those combinations against the new variants as they come through. so, the blood tests we obtain, we will test them against the new variants to see potentially if they offer any broader protection against multiple different strains. volunteers need to have already had one covid jab on the nhs in the past few months, and be willing to travel to a regional nhs hospital trust site in england to take part. they'll have blood taken to check how well vaccines trigger an immune response. the vaccination programme has gone as well as anyone could have hoped so far, and the idea of mixing and matching vaccines is it gives a bit of added flexibility. the way it works is that if you give a second booster dose that uses a slightly different method to prompt an immune response, that can be more effective. and, in fact, it's something that's already done with hepatitis jabs, for example, or vaccines that are commonly given to children, like polio, measles, mumps and rubella. investigators now hope to recruit around 1000 people aged 50 or older to take part and test more vaccines in different combinations. that includes the new moderna

vaccine and the novavax jab that is expected to be approved soon for use in the uk. and the findings could have implications for what might lie ahead. we will be able to potentially use different vaccines for booster campaigns in the autumn and in fact mixed schedules may, and this is a big may, but they may give better longer term protection and that would be very interesting to see. so, very exciting stuff. the study will run for a year but the first results should be available byjune orjuly and they will shape how the uk and the world continues to protect populations against this deadly virus. dominic hughes, bbc news. earlier i spoke to our medical editor fergus walsh. i asked him to explain the significance of the expansion of this trial. i think it's important because if you can mix the vaccines, it will give more flexibility. we've seen there's been problems with supplies over the last few months and if you get a lot of stock

of one vaccine, much easier to say, well, you can have this one. and i don't think there's going to be any safety concerns but you've got to do a trial like this just to rule that out. quite good scientific theoretical evidence that, actually, it will boost your immunity. i would predict that maybe a year for now, the idea of mixing and matching will actually be accepted. i was there in february in london the day these trials began and the huge enthusiasm from the volunteers, so this will be a hot ticket. a lot of people will want to sign up for this trial. that's interesting. there's another study out today comparing, looking at the pfizer vaccine on one hand and the astrazeneca? yes, the university of birmingham trialjust out. 165 people aged 80 plus. now, normally, as we get older,

our immune systems decline and become less effective but good news here that a single dose of either the pfizer or the astrazeneca vaccine prompted a very strong immune response after five weeks. then it looked at another part of the immune system, the cellular response, t cells. there the levels were actually higher with this single dose of astrazeneca but we know from a previous study that after two doses of pfizer, you also get a very strong cellular response. so the message from that is definitely have your second dose and also, they found that people who had had a previous infection with covid had a dramatically higher, stronger immune response. interesting there, but really i think the take—home message is that we now have three very good, effective covid vaccines so whichever one you're offered — take the jab. 0ur medical editor, fergus walsh. let mejust remind 0ur medical editor, fergus walsh. let me just remind you of the news that came through in the last 15 minutes about the south african

variant of covid—19 because just before three o'clock, we had the news from barnet council, which is in north london, saying that the south african variant has been found in the borough and from tomorrow, it says we will start testing people for this variant in specific postcode areas affected. this is london n3 or for anyone who shops on the local high street. i should say, if you think you might be affected, there is a map on the barnet council website and details of what you need to do. but there will be extra testing starting tomorrow in that particular london borough and you may know, even if you don't live or work in the capital, there were two other london boroughs yesterday affected in a similar way, wandsworth and lambeth. we saw pictures on the news yesterday a very long queues of people queueing up very long queues of people queueing up in those boroughs to get a test and that statement through from barnet council in the last 15

minutes or so. more information on the council website and we will talk more about that, i hope, with our correspondent a little later on but thatjust correspondent a little later on but that just came correspondent a little later on but thatjust came through from barnet council. just another piece of news in terms of coronavirus, we heard from denmark that it has announced it is no longer going to be using the astrazeneca vaccine in its vaccination programme. it's the first country to do so. the move follows concerns about possible links to very rare cases of blood clots. denmark first suspended the astrazeneca vaccine a month ago while investigations were carried out. the country now saying it won't be using that particularjab. an inquest into the fishmongers' hall terror attack has been hearing evidence from eye witnesses this morning. convicted terrorist usman khan stabbed jack merritt and saskia jones at a prisoner

rehabilitation conference in november 2019. earlier i spoke to our correspondent zoe conway who has been following the inquest and told me what witnesses have been saying. we also heard this morning from ama 0tchere, she's the housekeeping manager for fishmongers' hall and she came face—to—face with usman khan. he was just a few feet away from her when he approached her, came towards her with two large kitchen knives, which we now know were strapped to his wrists. she said that he had his right hand raised to head height and with his left hand, he put his finger up to his mouth, gesturing to her to be quiet, she says because she thinks that he was trying to prevent her from screaming. she says that he then got distracted

and he then turned to another woman and started stabbing her. ama 0tchere says that usman khan, as he carried out the attack, was speaking in arabic and ama 0tchere believed he was quoting from the quran. we also heard from a formerjudge this morning about the confusion, the chaos and the fear of that afternoon. he described one of the event organisers shouting into her mobile phone, "ambulance, police, now." and how they had all made their way down a service exit and through the kitchen and that somebody had shouted, "there's a bomb." but there was also more evidence about the organisation around this event and in particular the travel arrangements for usman khan, who had come down from stafford to london for the event. he'd been invited.

we were told that he had phoned simon larmour, also working for the organisation, to tell him that his first train from stafford had been cancelled and we were told it was jack merrick, jack merrick who would die that day who reorganised, rebooked the train for usman khan. simon larmour was also asked if he had been told about usman khan's offending history, whether he knew he was a convicted terrorist and simon larmour said, no, he said that he had googled him. zoe conway with the latest from the inquest into the murders at fishmonger�*s hall. it is 3:19. the headlines on bbc news: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists.

a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded, to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers' hall in 2019. the disgraced financier bernard madoff, who was convicted of running the largest known ponzi scheme in history, has died in prison where he was serving a 150—year sentence. madoff, who was 82, had a number of medical conditions. madoff defrauded thousands of people using a type of rotating fraud, in which investors are paid with funds from other investors. let's get more with our business reporter in new york samira hussain. just explain first of all those who

know the name but don't know very much more, explain the extent of his crimes. �* ., .g ., much more, explain the extent of his crimes. �* ., ., , crimes. bernard madoff for decades was enjoying _ crimes. bernard madoff for decades was enjoying this — crimes. bernard madoff for decades was enjoying this reputation - crimes. bernard madoff for decades was enjoying this reputation in - was enjoying this reputation in america of being a self—made billionaire, someone who worked summerjobs and was able to start accumulating funds and then started an investment firm. an investment firm that was so successful, it was able to, as they say, beat the street. that is, it was above market fluctuations, always continuously making money. he had thousands and thousands of people investing in his firm. the fact that his firm was so successful, it really drew the attention of us regulators, who had investigated him eight different times because it was so successful. but he still managed to evade regulators, who didn't pick up on the fact that he in fact was running

an elaborate pyramid scheme, which are rightly pointed out is when you have new investors that come in and are paid for the funds of old investors and it continues until you are someone like bernie madoff and amassed some 37,000 people who are investing in your company. ultimately, it was the financial crisis in 2008 that really brought everything down. it was when he was not able to pay the investors the money that they had already put into the company, it became clear that this was all one big giant fraud and he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. he was sentenced to 150 years in rison. �* , ., , ., prison. and 'ust a brief thought because prison. and just a brief thought because some _ prison. and just a brief thought because some of _ prison. and just a brief thought because some of those - prison. and just a brief thought i because some of those investors, prison. and just a brief thought - because some of those investors, i mean people lost life savings, didn't they?— mean people lost life savings, didn't the ? , ., ., ~ didn't they? yes, we are talking about 37.000 — didn't they? yes, we are talking about 37,000 people _ didn't they? yes, we are talking about 37,000 people that - didn't they? yes, we are talking about 37,000 people that were | about 37,000 people that were defrauded some $65 billion. sure, there were some famous people like stephen spielberg and kevin bacon

but there were also regular everyday pension funds, teachers, nurses and it wasn't just investors pension funds, teachers, nurses and it wasn'tjust investors in the united states. there were investors and pension funds in canada and in europe as well. so, yes, you are right, people lost their entire retirement savings because of this. some era, thank you very much for now. that following the death of bernie madoff who died in prison at the age of 82. it is 3:23. let's talk a little more about the queen, returning to royal duties just days after the death of her husband, the duke of edinburgh. her majesty hosted a ceremony at windsor castle last night to mark the retirement of her household's most senior official, the lord chamberlain. 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley is in windsor. where the queen still is. in fact,

we have also been talking a little today about princess anne because princess anne has been on the isle of wight? princess anne has been on the isle of wiuht? , . , , princess anne has been on the isle ofwiuht? , . ,,~ princess anne has been on the isle ofwiuht? , . .m of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the _ of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the isle _ of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the isle of _ of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the isle of wight - of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the isle of wight for - of wight? yes, princess anne has been on the isle of wight for herl been on the isle of wight for her first in person royal engagement since the death of her father prince philip last friday. she went to a sailing club and met members of the royal yacht squadron. a very prestigious club, a very fitting club for this time because this is a club for this time because this is a club her father was once admiral of. the princess royal looked relaxed. she was seen smiling, she was seen chatting to senior members of the club. she also spoke to young aspiring sailors, reminiscing about sailing in her younger years, talking about her early memories sailing on yachts at the club. princess anne left soon after on a

yacht, heading towards the royal victoria yacht club, where she met other members of the club on a boat called the warrior. you can see she is stood there, chatting, looking... inaudible chatting to some of the members there. herfirst royal chatting to some of the members there. her first royal engagement since the death of her father, prince philip. we do expect to see members of the royal family working, following the announcement from buckingham palace to say the royal family will continue to undertake engagements appropriate to the current circumstances. as you mentioned earlier, the queen carried out her second in person on duty since the death of her husband, the duke of edinburgh. a small ceremony to welcome the new lord chamberlain after you mentioned the previous outgoing lord chamberlain formally retired yesterday. she met with the new one today. this will have been a

very small, a very quiet ceremony to mark the new lord chamberlain. just very small meetings going on at the moment as the royal family try to carry on with some sort of normality in these very abnormal times. frankie meg emily at windsor castle. sorry, a slight difficulty with the line and i think quite noisy in windsor as well, as preparations of course are continuing for the funeral of prince philip, the duke of edinburgh. that funeral will be held on saturday afternoon in windsor. worthjust mentioning held on saturday afternoon in windsor. worth just mentioning that we had the first comments a little earlier today from one of the duke of�*s grandchildren and she put a message on instagram. she posted a little earlier, talking about her dearest grandpa and how much he is

missed. princess eugenie paying tribute to her grandfather on instagram earlier today. now let's turn to a different story we have not had a chance to touch on this afternoon. britain's native woodlands are approaching crisis point, with just 7% of them in good condition according to the woodland trust. the charity says although more trees are being planted, the wildlife around them is decreasing. we can discuss all of that now. abi bunker joins us. good afternoon. lovely to see you. even what — good afternoon. lovely to see you. even what we _ good afternoon. lovely to see you. even what we said _ good afternoon. lovely to see you. even what we said there _ good afternoon. lovely to see you. even what we said there was - good afternoon. lovely to see you. i even what we said there was seeming counterintuitive, if more trees are being planted but wildlife isn't flourishing as we might have expected, what is going on? there has been some _ expected, what is going on? there has been some increases - expected, what is going on? there has been some increases in - expected, what is going on? ttss has been some increases in native woodlands over the last 100 years.

it is quite a slow rate but what is happening at the same time as the existing woodlands we have is under increasing amounts of pressure. those pressures are compounded with each other, pressures like climate change. we are already seeing the impact of climate change on woodlands and the wildlife within them. pollution from things like ammonia being deposited. 0ver browsing by things like deer and also direct loss and fragmentation, through things like building and roads. so there is a need to actually attack both of those issues head on and together to expand the woodland across our landscapes, even more than we have. we need to really up more than we have. we need to really up the rate of expansion but we cannot do that alone because it won't succeed on its own. we need to do it alongside protecting what we have and restore it and bring it into good condition. t have and restore it and bring it into good condition.— have and restore it and bring it into good condition. i was wondering about that. only _ into good condition. i was wondering about that. only 7% _ into good condition. i was wondering about that. only 7% is _ into good condition. i was wondering about that. only 7% is deemed - into good condition. i was wondering about that. only 7% is deemed to i into good condition. i was wondering about that. only 7% is deemed to be in good condition. presumably

hopefully it is possible to bring some of that back to life or back into better condition. i'm probably not using the right terminology but what can be done?— not using the right terminology but what can be done? definitely, things can be done- — what can be done? definitely, things can be done. we _ what can be done? definitely, things can be done. we know— what can be done? definitely, things can be done. we know how - what can be done? definitely, things can be done. we know how to - what can be done? definitely, things can be done. we know how to do - what can be done? definitely, things. can be done. we know how to do their stuff on the ground. this is, the statistic of 7% of our native birds and trees across the uk being in good condition, that comes from things like a types of tree, different species and ages. having dead and decaying wood in a woodland is a good thing, is what wildlife lover. having open spaces and allowing the sunlight in. that stat is because on a number of those criteria, a lot of our woodlands don't have all of those but we know how to bring them back in but what we needed to put some realfunding, public funding, otherfunding, and legislative drives. we need our laws, policies to make it possible to manage this word and bring it back into good condition but it is

perfectly possible to do that. so some of it is about policy, it is about policy. in some of it as well about policy. in some of it as well about landowners or all of us who use the land and enjoy the countryside? is there more people can do even on an individual basis? of course, it is about all of us. it of course, it is about all of us. it is a societal shift we need to make. this report which is the first report of its kind we pulled together at the woodland trust, the state of woods and trees, has a number of wonderful case studies of action that is happening across the uk, all four countries of the uk, of communities, individuals and companies and organisations and landowners and farmers, working alone or together to expand and protect and start to restore our woodlands. but a lot of it... it is difficult some of it, some of it is complex and needs funding. that really has to be provided by government. 0ne really has to be provided by government. one of the most important thing is that we are

seeking, with many other environmental organisations this summer, is to get some amendments made to the environment bill, which is currently going through the houses of parliament in westminster, to get some statutory targets for restoring nature. 0nce to get some statutory targets for restoring nature. once we have that ledge and stave basis for action, we believe it can be the ground on which we can build with funding and further policy changes over the coming months and years. tqm. further policy changes over the coming months and years. ok, thank ou ve coming months and years. ok, thank you very much _ coming months and years. ok, thank you very much for — coming months and years. ok, thank you very much for now. _ coming months and years. ok, thank you very much for now. from - coming months and years. ok, thank you very much for now. from the - you very much for now. from the woodlands trust, thank you. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. it's another chilly day today. it doesn't feel too bad in the sunshine and light winds, mind you, but we have seen the cloud building up and that's been producing a few showers, mainly across south wales and the south—west of england. temperatures 11, 12, maybe 13 degrees, a bit cooler around some of those north sea coasts. any showers that do develop do tend to fade away this evening, and overnight we'll have clearing skies, a few mist and fog patches. more cloud coming in off the southern north sea,

maybe bringing the odd shower to coastal areas of east anglia and kent later on. but another cold night, a touch of frost in many areas. lowest temperatures — northern england, southern scotland. a sunny start, though, for many places. again, we'll see some cloud developing but this time we're more likely to find some showers, lincolnshire, east anglia, the south—east, perhaps heading towards the east midlands and down towards hampshire. but elsewhere, i think it will be fine and dry. the winds light for many. a gentle breeze from the east in glasgow means that we'll find the highest temperatures probably across western parts of scotland but a much cooler breeze coming in for east anglia and the south—east. temperatures lower than today. hello this is bbc news with jane hill. the headlines: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded

to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed at fishmongers hall in 2019. the jailed financier, bernie madoff — convicted of running the largest known ponzi scheme in history — has died aged 82 in a us prison. military rehearsals are taking place ahead of the duke of edinburgh's funeral in windsor on saturday. and two large sections of cliff on dorset�*s jurassic coast have collapsed, including 300 metres of cliff east of seatown. sport and let's get a full round up, from the bbc sport centre.

u efa uefa have banned slab via prague player for ten uefa have banned slab via prague playerfor ten games for uefa have banned slab via prague player for ten games for racially abusing rangers midfielder glenn kamara. the incident happened during the europa league tie last month and the europa league tie last month and the european football governing body has also had to end a three match ban to kamada for assaulting him in the tunnel after the match at ibrox. his team—mate has also been suspended for four games for dangerously assaulting another player. it's a big night in the champions league but manchester city plasma preparations for the quarterfinal in germany have been disrupted by a series of fireworks which were let off outside the hotel last night stop the club said on two occasions players and staff were woken up before the third attempt was stopped by their own security. city are to— one upagainst but dortmund from the first leg and chasing what would be a historic

quadruple. the champions league is the only major trophy pep guardiola is yet to win at the club, something he is well aware of. this is yet to win at the club, something he is well aware of.— he is well aware of. this is a business _ he is well aware of. this is a business and _ he is well aware of. this is a business and business - he is well aware of. this is a business and business and l he is well aware of. this is a - business and business and business and business is doing and if you don't win i will be a failure and if we win it will be, how good is pep? the six time winners liverpool have a much more to do than city if they are to reach the semifinals where chelsea await. they are into the second leg against real madrid 3—1 down from the first game. after six straight defeats at home liverpool managed to win against aston villa at the weekend. they have been medical comebacks at anfield before, most recently in 2019 when they knocked barcelona out of the tournament. but they won't be any fans there this evening. you tournament. but they won't be any fans there this evening.— fans there this evening. you don't aet a fans there this evening. you don't get a comeback— fans there this evening. you don't get a comeback because - fans there this evening. you don't get a comeback because you - fans there this evening. you don't get a comeback because you had l fans there this evening. you don't| get a comeback because you had a comeback— get a comeback because you had a comeback in the past. you can only have _ comeback in the past. you can only have a _ comeback in the past. you can only have a comeback if you play really good _ have a comeback if you play really good football in the present. that

is what _ good football in the present. that is what we — good football in the present. that is what we have to do. the best situation — is what we have to do. the best situation is _ is what we have to do. the best situation is if you don't get yourself— situation is if you don't get yourself in a situation where you need _ yourself in a situation where you need to— yourself in a situation where you need to come back but obviously it is not _ need to come back but obviously it is not worth— need to come back but obviously it is not worth talking about that now. the situation is clear. that is why this competition is so interesting. you can— this competition is so interesting. you can follow how liverpool and the city get on tonight on bbc radio 5 live and five live sports extra. it's under dazed to go until the start of the olympic games in tokyo in the build—up has been unusual to say the least. you's to layer doubts over whether it would go ahead at all. forthe over whether it would go ahead at all. for the athletes it's been unsettling with no overseas spectators allowed, jade jones says it's going to be very different experience this summer. mr; it's going to be very different experience this summer. my family have travelled _ experience this summer. my family have travelled to _ experience this summer. my family have travelled to every _ experience this summer. my family have travelled to every olympics i experience this summer. my family. have travelled to every olympics and even the _ have travelled to every olympics and even the youth — have travelled to every olympics and even the youth olympics _ have travelled to every olympics and even the youth olympics when - have travelled to every olympics and even the youth olympics when it - even the youth olympics when it first started _ even the youth olympics when it first started and _ even the youth olympics when it first started and every _ even the youth olympics when it first started and every time - even the youth olympics when it first started and every time i - even the youth olympics when it i first started and every time i come i first started and every time i come i see _ first started and every time i come i see their—

first started and every time i come i see their faces— first started and every time i come i see their faces and _ first started and every time i come i see their faces and it _ first started and every time i come i see their faces and it really- first started and every time i come i see their faces and it really doesl i see their faces and it really does make _ i see their faces and it really does make a _ i see their faces and it really does make a difference _ i see their faces and it really does make a difference to _ i see their faces and it really does make a difference to me. - i see their faces and it really does make a difference to me. it - i see their faces and it really does make a difference to me. it kind i i see their faces and it really doesl make a difference to me. it kind of shows— make a difference to me. it kind of shows how — make a difference to me. it kind of shows how big _ make a difference to me. it kind of shows how big this _ make a difference to me. it kind of shows how big this pandemic- make a difference to me. it kind of shows how big this pandemic is. i. make a difference to me. it kind of. shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing _ shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it— shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as _ shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as how— shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as how amazing _ shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as how amazing would - shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as how amazing would it - shows how big this pandemic is. i am seeing it as how amazing would it be| seeing it as how amazing would it be to come _ seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running _ seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running through _ seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running through the - seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running through the door. seeing it as how amazing would it be. to come running through the door and brin- to come running through the door and bring that— to come running through the door and bring that gold — to come running through the door and bring that gold medal— to come running through the door and bring that gold medal home _ to come running through the door and bring that gold medal home to - to come running through the door and bring that gold medal home to the - bring that gold medal home to the family _ bring that gold medal home to the family i_ bring that gold medal home to the family i know— bring that gold medal home to the family. i know they _ bring that gold medal home to the family. i know they will _ bring that gold medal home to the family. i know they will be - bring that gold medal home to the | family. i know they will be cheering me on— family. i know they will be cheering me on and — family. i know they will be cheering me on and it — family. i know they will be cheering me on and it would _ family. i know they will be cheering me on and it would bring _ family. i know they will be cheering me on and it would bring a - family. i know they will be cheering me on and it would bring a bring. me on and it would bring a bring buzz— me on and it would bring a bring buzz to— me on and it would bring a bring buzz to the — me on and it would bring a bring buzz to the country— me on and it would bring a bring buzz to the country and - me on and it would bring a bring buzz to the country and the - me on and it would bring a bring i buzz to the country and the family to come _ buzz to the country and the family to come back— buzz to the country and the family to come back with _ buzz to the country and the family to come back with that _ buzz to the country and the family to come back with that third - buzz to the country and the family to come back with that third gold i to come back with that third gold medai~ _ to come back with that third gold medal. in — to come back with that third gold medal. . , . �* , to come back with that third gold medal. ., . �* , ., to come back with that third gold medal. .y. �*, ., ., .~' medal. in cycling it's a hat-trick for mark cavendish _ medal. in cycling it's a hat-trick for mark cavendish who - medal. in cycling it's a hat-trick for mark cavendish who has - medal. in cycling it's a hat-trick| for mark cavendish who has won medal. in cycling it's a hat-trick - for mark cavendish who has won his third stage in a row at the toll of turkey. he was in the leading pack and avoid a pile up in the final metre, sprinting to victory in stage four. after waiting for three years for his win on monday he is making it look routine again. he has an overall lead of 12 seconds but that may be lost in tomorrow's stage which takes the writers into the mountains. that is all your support for now. i will have more in the next hour.

this morning, the transport committee took evidence from travel industry bosses over the government's plans for reopening travel. last week, the report announced foreign holidays would resume on 17 may at the earliest. the head of britain's biggest pilots' union summed up the plans as �*a bitter disapppointment for everynoe working in the travel industry'. the travel trade organisation abta, said testing requirements will be a "major barrier" to travelling abroad this summer. simon mcnamara is the uk & ireland country manager for the international air transport association. i think you gave evidence to the committee this morning. what were you saying? we

committee this morning. what were you saying?— committee this morning. what were ousa in? , , you saying? we supported this report is a milestone — you saying? we supported this report is a milestone in _ you saying? we supported this report is a milestone in restarting _ is a milestone in restarting international travel but i think the comments — international travel but i think the comments you've had, we were disappointed in as much as it didn't represent _ disappointed in as much as it didn't represent or give the detail and clarity— represent or give the detail and clarity we — represent or give the detail and clarity we need to get restart going on the _ clarity we need to get restart going on the 17th— clarity we need to get restart going on the 17th of may. there are many areas _ on the 17th of may. there are many areas where — on the 17th of may. there are many areas where it left unanswered question— areas where it left unanswered question is, it was vegan areas, but most _ question is, it was vegan areas, but most importantly we think given what we know— most importantly we think given what we know after a year's with of dealing — we know after a year's with of dealing with this pandemic the toolkit— dealing with this pandemic the toolkit we have of rapid testing and very fast _ toolkit we have of rapid testing and very fast vaccination roll—out in the uk, — very fast vaccination roll—out in the uk, we _ very fast vaccination roll—out in the uk, we think it is too cautious and too _ the uk, we think it is too cautious and too complex.— the uk, we think it is too cautious and too complex. when you say it is not clear enough, _ and too complex. when you say it is not clear enough, what _ and too complex. when you say it is not clear enough, what are - and too complex. when you say it is not clear enough, what are some i and too complex. when you say it is not clear enough, what are some of| not clear enough, what are some of the key things you feel the government could already be quite specific about that you feel they haven't? , ., ., ., �* specific about that you feel they haven't? , ., ., ~ ., haven't? first of all we don't know what countries _ haven't? first of all we don't know what countries will _ haven't? first of all we don't know what countries will fall _ haven't? first of all we don't know what countries will fall into - haven't? first of all we don't know what countries will fall into which . what countries will fall into which category — what countries will fall into which category on the traffic light scheme

and they— category on the traffic light scheme and they have said they will publish that in_ and they have said they will publish that in early may, which is very vague — that in early may, which is very vague given that the restart is on the 17th— vague given that the restart is on the 17th of— vague given that the restart is on the 17th of may. not just business and airlines need time to plan but customers— and airlines need time to plan but customers and consumers need plan their trips _ customers and consumers need plan their trips as well. this is not all about— their trips as well. this is not all about holidays, it's about visiting friends _ about holidays, it's about visiting friends and relatives people haven't seen in _ friends and relatives people haven't seen in over a year, it's about business _ seen in over a year, it's about business restarting again. the second — business restarting again. the second key thing is it makes no recognition of vaccinated passengers. even if you have the vaccine _ passengers. even if you have the vaccine you — passengers. even if you have the vaccine you are still subject to quarantine and testing. in vaccine you are still sub'ect to quarantine and testing. in terms of clarity there _ quarantine and testing. in terms of clarity there is _ quarantine and testing. in terms of clarity there is this _ quarantine and testing. in terms of clarity there is this possible - quarantine and testing. in terms of clarity there is this possible date i clarity there is this possible date of the 17th of may and the government says it will give you a list of countries in early may. is your point that that just isn't enough time for airlines to do their planning? enough time for airlines to do their ”lannin ? , ~ enough time for airlines to do their ”lannin? , ~ planning? yes. we were hoping when we have the — planning? yes. we were hoping when we have the original _ planning? yes. we were hoping when we have the original deadline -

planning? yes. we were hoping when we have the original deadline for - we have the original deadline for the report— we have the original deadline for the report which was the 12th of april. _ the report which was the 12th of april. that — the report which was the 12th of april, that we would have that precise — april, that we would have that precise detail so airlines can put in place — precise detail so airlines can put in place the capacity to meet the demand — in place the capacity to meet the demand. and also so consumers have time to— demand. and also so consumers have time to plan— demand. and also so consumers have time to plan their trips. you can't 'ust time to plan their trips. you can't just switch— time to plan their trips. you can't just switch it back on at the drop of a hat — just switch it back on at the drop of a hat. this is a complicated industry— of a hat. this is a complicated industry and a safety critical industry— industry and a safety critical industry and a safety critical industry and it needs a sufficiently time to— industry and it needs a sufficiently time to get going again. but industry and it needs a sufficiently time to get going again.— time to get going again. but isn't one of the things _ time to get going again. but isn't one of the things we _ time to get going again. but isn't one of the things we are - time to get going again. but isn't one of the things we are all- one of the things we are all concerned about new variants and isn't that one of the reasons the government is being cautious? it's why we don't know yet where we might be able to travel. we cannot risk bringing new variants into the country. bringing new variants into the count . ., ., , bringing new variants into the count. ., ., , country. part of this traffic light s stem country. part of this traffic light system includes _ country. part of this traffic light system includes robust - country. part of this traffic light system includes robust testing | system includes robust testing mechanisms to capture that data so testing _ mechanisms to capture that data so testing can — mechanisms to capture that data so testing can pick up variants. if you have _ testing can pick up variants. if you have a _ testing can pick up variants. if you have a robust testing scheme and the vaccination _ have a robust testing scheme and the vaccination programme you will prevent— vaccination programme you will prevent that flow variants coming into the _

prevent that flow variants coming into the country and i think that is a critical— into the country and i think that is a critical thing. we have the toolkit— a critical thing. we have the toolkit to _ a critical thing. we have the toolkit to prevent variants coming in. toolkit to prevent variants coming in we _ toolkit to prevent variants coming in. we have a toolkit to allow safe restart _ in. we have a toolkit to allow safe restart and — in. we have a toolkit to allow safe restart and we need to move to start planning _ restart and we need to move to start planning that now. the 17th of may is the _ planning that now. the 17th of may is the restart but it's not going to be a _ is the restart but it's not going to be a wave — is the restart but it's not going to be a wave or a mass of people starting — be a wave or a mass of people starting travelling then. our summer demand _ starting travelling then. our summer demand at _ starting travelling then. our summer demand at the moment is about 18% of 2019 so— demand at the moment is about 18% of 2019 so there is a lot more demand to come _ 2019 so there is a lot more demand to come but— 2019 so there is a lot more demand to come but what we need is clarity as to _ to come but what we need is clarity as to what — to come but what we need is clarity as to what the framework will be. where _ as to what the framework will be. where do — as to what the framework will be. where do you stand on vaccines? in terms of whether you feel someone should absolutely have to provide proof of having had a vaccination in order to fly. ftill" proof of having had a vaccination in order to fly-— order to fly. our view is that it should not _ order to fly. our view is that it should not be _ order to fly. our view is that it should not be a _ order to fly. our view is that it should not be a condition - order to fly. our view is that it should not be a condition of i order to fly. our view is that it - should not be a condition of travel. you shouldn't have to prove you've been _ you shouldn't have to prove you've been vaccinated to travel. but we do recognise _ been vaccinated to travel. but we do recognise that some countries will provide _ recognise that some countries will provide alleviation to people who

are vaccinated. we have seen the us centre _ are vaccinated. we have seen the us centre for— are vaccinated. we have seen the us centre for disease control coming out last— centre for disease control coming out last week and saying if you've had a _ out last week and saying if you've had a recognised vaccine you don't have _ had a recognised vaccine you don't have the _ had a recognised vaccine you don't have the quarantine for example. this takes— have the quarantine for example. this takes away the requirement to test and _ this takes away the requirement to test and quarantine and we know people _ test and quarantine and we know people do— test and quarantine and we know people do not want to quarantine. 0ver— people do not want to quarantine. over 80% — people do not want to quarantine. over 80% of people polled would not travel _ over 80% of people polled would not travel if _ over 80% of people polled would not travel if they faced quarantine. so being _ travel if they faced quarantine. so being vaccinated and given that freedom — being vaccinated and given that freedom is one tool in unlocking international travel and testing rapidly— international travel and testing rapidly and low cost testing is another— rapidly and low cost testing is another key tool.— rapidly and low cost testing is another key tool. thank you very much. staff in care homes in england with elderly residents may be required to get a coronavirus vaccine, the government has said. a five—week consultation has been launched on making covid vaccination a condition of employment for care home staff by the department of health and social care. vaccine minister nadhim zahawi spoke

about this a little earlier. a number of providers have made it a condition of deployment of staff, as part of their duty of care, of course, to the most vulnerable. what we want to do is consult now with all stakeholders, five week consultation, to see whether it does become a condition of deployment and we want to hear from everyone as to how they feel, how we can make this work properly, rather than it being adopted ad hoc by different care providers. our social affairs correspondent alison holt is here. i guess we should stress this is a consultation but it's interesting and it's about the whole issue of whether someone essentially can't do

their job whether someone essentially can't do theirjob unless they can prove they've had the vaccine. tt’s theirjob unless they can prove they've had the vaccine.- they've had the vaccine. it's a really tricky — they've had the vaccine. it's a really tricky issue _ they've had the vaccine. it's a really tricky issue and - they've had the vaccine. it's a really tricky issue and it's - they've had the vaccine. it's a i really tricky issue and it's going to prove controversial. it will be a five week consultation and the details of that will be published today on government website. what they are saying is that they are consulting on whether or not it should be a condition of deployment for care staff working with older people to have had vaccinations. the reasons they give are that experts on the scientific advisory group say that 80% of staff and 90% of residents need to be vaccinated to provide a minimum level of protection against covert outbreaks for these really vulnerable residents in care homes. at the moment they say only 53% of care homes for older people in england are meeting that 80% level for staff and they say the staff vaccination

rate is below 80% and 89 local authorities and 32 london boroughs have vaccination levels amongst staff which is below that 80% mark. so it shows that there are pockets of real concern about what is going on. �* ., of real concern about what is going on, �* ., ., " of real concern about what is going on. �* . ., ~ ., on. and when we are talking about staff working _ on. and when we are talking about staff working in _ on. and when we are talking about staff working in care _ on. and when we are talking about staff working in care homes - on. and when we are talking about staff working in care homes with i staff working in care homes with elderly residents, is there a specific age bracket? 65 elderly residents, is there a specific age bracket? 65 plus. below that ou specific age bracket? 65 plus. below that you would _ specific age bracket? 65 plus. below that you would have _ specific age bracket? 65 plus. below that you would have younger- specific age bracket? 65 plus. below that you would have younger adults | that you would have younger adults with disabilities, either physical or learning disabilities, so it's quite a cross—section. this is something that is really dividing the care sector. we have a big provider which is saying we will expect our staff to be vaccinated so it's very clear on that. on the other hand you have a lot of other providers saying we would rather persuade our staff. it's been slow but we getting there and we are encouraging people to do they are

also saying should you single case staff out. if you are making it mandatory for them isn't there a question about whether you make it mandatory for all health staff or people working with young adults or in hospices? so there is going to be a lot to discuss in the next five weeks but the bottom line is they have got to find that route to better protecting older people against the virus.— better protecting older people against the virus. very interesting. thank ou against the virus. very interesting. thank you very _ against the virus. very interesting. thank you very much. _ against the virus. very interesting. thank you very much. that - against the virus. very interesting. thank you very much. that five - against the virus. very interesting. l thank you very much. that five week consultation announced by the government today. the headlines on bbc news: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps prepare to vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for the first and second dose is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. an inquest into the death of jack merrick and saskia jones has heard from another victim who was also stabbed

at fishmongers hall in 2019. in the united states, there's been a third night of protests after an unarmed black man was shot dead by a white police officer in minneapolis. the officer who shot daunte wright has now resigned, along with the city's police chief. tensions are already high in the city, as the trial of the officer accused of murdering george floyd continues. our north america correspondent barbara plett—usher reports. gunshot. for a third night, police drove back protesters venting their anger over the shooting of another black man. hit in the chest by a policewoman who confused her gun with her taser, in the middle of the trial of the officer accused of killing george floyd. do you know the difference between a gun and a taser?

under pressure, the policewoman resigned. she was a 26—year veteran of the force. followed by the police chief. we are here and we will fight forjustice for this family, just like we are fighting for our brother. george floyd's family has come together in solidarity with the relatives of the dead man, daunte wright. sharing their quest forjustice and their loss. i thought somebody was playing a joke on me. it hurt me to my heart. daunte was a beautiful child. he might not have been an angel, but he was our angel. our angel. he belonged to us. inside the courtroom, the defence took over after the prosecution rested its case. more footage of george floyd

from police body cameras was shown tojurors. the defence is arguing that it was a drug overdose which caused his death rather than excessive force by the officer who restrained him by kneeling on his neck. testimony is expected to wrap by the end of the week, and the jury will begin deliberations shortly after that. there is a lot at stake in what it decides. the authorities are bracing for the possibility of further unrest once there's a verdict. they were hoping that the resignation of the police officials would help to defuse the anger, but so far that has failed to stop the protests. barbara plett usher, bbc news, minneapolis. two large sections of cliff on dorset�*s jurassic coast have collapsed. it's the biggest rockfall to happen in 60 years, and the incident has dramatically changed the coast�*s landscape. another large rockfall happened along the same stretch

of coastline back in november. dorset council warned that with ground drying out, more landslips and rockfalls could happen very quickly. john kay has been looking at the landslip today. britain is a little bit smaller today. or, in fact, quite a lot smaller because, look, this giant chunk of the coastjust outside seatown in dorset, near bridport, has collapsed into the sea. now this stretch of the jurassic coast often has cliff falls. every year, this kind of things happen but people around here say they've never seen, certainly not for decades, anything on this scale. down on the beach, this is about as close as we want to get safely but you can see that it's blocked the entire beach. you'd normally be able to walk right through there but look, just tonnes and tonnes of different rock forms and land types have blocked the beach. you can't get through any more and people just coming down to take

it in and have a look at it. there are warnings, though, not to get too close. the top of the cliff, apparently, still collapse, so a cordon has gone up across 300 metres to prevent people getting too close to the edge because there is a suspicion that there could be more land falls in the hours and days ahead. down here on the beach as well there is still a risk of more rocks falling onto the beach. so people being told not to climb onto that, to try and hold back. one thing that strikes me is see the plants and bushes and trees there on that new little peninsula that is sticking out into the sea? well, just yesterday, those were on top of the cliff, on top of the land and they have collapsed on top of this great new chunk of rock that now heads out into the channel. when you look at it, you think, thank goodness this happened that night,

when there weren't lots of visitors enjoying the easing of lockdown, no properties on top, so apparently nothing damaged, nobody missing. but it could have been much, much more serious. it may be one of the uk's most remote communities but tiny fair isle — with a population ofjust 48 people — can now claim to be one of the safest. this week, vials of astrazeneca vaccine were flown in on a small plane, meaning every adult on the scottish island was able to have their second dose. jen stout reports. touchdown. the lifeline plane reaches fairisle with a very special cargo. enough vials of vaccine to give the whole adult population a second dose.

sharp scratch. from 18 to 85, everyone is covered. it's probably one of the safest places in the country, really. you know, we can decide whether people come in or not. there is no visitors come on the boat. and as i say, they have been very good about controlling it, keeping people from coming on the plane. with fairisle being 25 miles from mainland shetland, the decision was taken to fly in the vaccine doses. fairisle was one of those areas of the uk where there were no confirmed covid cases, so we felt it was really important to maintain that. we were very keen that we went in and we took the vaccination programme for all those that were entitled in one go. it is a big relief for the 48 strong population. i wasn't aware of anything, just stuck it in and that was that. delighted. were getting everyone that wants it, and it has been great for us, -

great for the island as a whole. it will give us more confidence i as we stuck to hopefully get back towards a bit more of a normal life. it's been great because we've had ten days without a boat, so the vote managed to come in yesterday, so we then had the boat and a full shop, and we have had a second vaccination today, so the sun is out and the lambs are coming, so they have been over the moon. it is a glimmer of hope for this most welcoming of islands, looking to better more sociable times ahead. jen stout, bbc news, fairisle. residents in south florida and the bahamas got an unexpected visitor in the night sky — a meteor burning its way into the atmosphere. a streaking trail of light could be seen by eyewitnesses and various security cameras across the sunshine state — as the lump of rock burned up and disintegrated. local meteorologists say it must have exploded

near florida's atlantic coast. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren. hello there. it was chilly this morning. it's going to be cold again overnight tonight. what we have at the moment is very quiet weather, dominated by this area of high pressure. it's not moving very far in the next few days. for many places, it is going to be dry but we've seen a few showers developing over the past few hours or so. in the sunshine, even though it's still quite cold air, it feels quite pleasant out there, with light winds but the cloud has been bubbling up and that's been producing a few showers, more towards the western side of england and into parts of wales too. for many places, though, it's going to be dry with sunny spells. a bit chilly around some of these north sea coasts, with a gentle breeze off the sea but typical temperatures will be 12 degrees. most of the showers will be across south wales, the south—west of england. these will tend to fade away during the evening and overnight we're going to have clearing skies, one or two mist and fog patches. perhaps more cloud beginning to arrive around coastal areas of east anglia and into kent,

threatening one or two showers off the southern north sea by the end of the night. generally speaking, though, we've got a slight frost overnight tonight in many parts of the country and we could be down to —6 or so, i think, in southern scotland and northern england. a cold start, a frosty start, a sunny start for many. changes, though, for east anglia, the south—east, lincolnshire, with some showers coming in on a north—easterly breeze. some of those showers could work their way into the east midlands, perhaps all the way down towards hampshire as well. elsewhere, it's going to be dry. the winds for many will be light but with the breeze off the north sea, it's going to be quite a bit chillier, actually, across east anglia and the south—east of england. a gentle breeze in glasgow and temperatures here will be 14 degrees, so some of the warmest weather probably across western scotland. those showers that'll see coming into the south—east, they will tend to fade away overnight. high pressure still in charge as we head towards the end of the week. so, it looks like friday should be a dry day. a cold start, a sunny start, cloud will bubble up and it'll probably spread out a little bit more inland, so the sunnier skies are likely to be around coastal areas.

the winds light for many, breezy through the english channel, perhaps, and those temperatures in double figures for most places around 12, 13 at best. now, as we head into the weekend, we've got these weather fronts trying to come in from the atlantic. they've been hanging around there for a while. more likely to bring some cloud into scotland and northern ireland, perhaps some rain into the north—west during sunday. elsewhere, though, a lot of dry weather right the way through this weekend once again. near—normal temperatures by day and probably not quite so cold and frosty at night.

this is bbc news — i'm clive myrie. the headlines: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying, labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. i do think it is a good idea, in principle, that top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries had been properly understood. the greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze.

a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for first and second doses is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. the government says staff in care homes in england with elderly residents may be required to get a coronavirus vaccine. the inquest into the deaths ofjack merrick and saskia jones at fishmongers' hall in 2019 hears from another victim who describes how she was stabbed repeatedly by the terrorist, usman khan. and two large sections of cliff on dorset�*s jurassic coast have collapsed — including 300 metres of cliff east of seatown. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. mps are voting on whether there

should be a parliamentary inquiry into the lobbying activities of the former prime minister, david cameron. labour says a government investigation into mr cameron's work for the collapsed firm, greensill capital, is insufficient. at prime minister's questions, borisjohnson admitted it wasn't clear that the boundaries between whitehall and business had been properly understood. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said tory sleaze had returned. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. captured, it appears, around a campfire in saudi arabia — david cameron and lex greensill, a close professional relationship now at the centre of a growing row about access to people in power. is there a problem of sleaze in your government, prime minister? borisjohnson has promised to give free rein to a lawyer reviewing relations between lex greensill�*s now collapsed company and government, but the questions keep coming. questions to the prime minister. from labour, a call for a full inquiry led by mps, including a reset of the rules around lobbying.

does the prime minister believe that the current lobbying rules are fit purpose? top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector. when i look at the accounts i'm reading today, it's not clear that those boundaries were...have been properly understood. labour's charge — that links between business and government are just too close. does the prime minister accept there's a revolving door, indeed, an open door, between his conservative government and paid lobbyists? mr speaker, this is a government and a party that has been consistently tough on lobbying and, indeed, we introduced legislation saying that there should be no taxpayer—funded lobbying, that quangos should not be used to get involved with lobbying. we put in a register for lobbyists and there was one party, mr speaker, that actually voted to repeal the 2014 lobbying act

and that was the labour party. that greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. dodgy contracts, privileged access, jobs for their mates — this is the return of tory sleaze. that's why we're putting in an independent review... borisjohnson again accused labour of opposing previous attempts to tighten the rules. prime minister, i thinki we ought to at least try and address the question. lex greensill�*s links to government began in 2011, when he became an unpaid adviser to david cameron. in 2018, his firm was giving work linked to nhs payments and hired the then former prime minister. the next year, mr cameron arranged a private drink with matt hancock, the health secretary, and lex greensill, and last year, he texted rishi sunak, the chancellor, seeking access for greensill to a coronavirus support scheme. officials, as well as ministers, are defending their actions. the former head of government procurement, bill crothers, began working part—time

for greensill in 2015 when still a civil servant — a move he says was approved and not uncommon. politicians on all sides at westminster accept there's a problem that needs fixing but there aren't many ready solutions to be found. jonathan blake, bbc news. our political correspondent helen catt is in westminster. as jonathan was just saying, everyone seems to agree something needs to be done about this but is the suggestion now mps are voting on whether or not to have a parliamentary inquiry into david cameron's activities, that perhaps thatis cameron's activities, that perhaps that is the route that parliament should go down?— that is the route that parliament should go down? there is certainly a disagreement _ should go down? there is certainly a disagreement about _ should go down? there is certainly a disagreement about what _ should go down? there is certainly a disagreement about what the - should go down? there is certainly a disagreement about what the route . disagreement about what the route should be. there has been another knowledge meant that the rules around lobbying do need perhaps looking at and the whole situation, talking about some of the revelations in recent days. several mps talked about it being a bad smell around it, a bad taste in the

mouth but it is how you fix it that seems to be causing the division. labour, they see this as sleaze, cronyism and needs what dame angela angle dill eagle said needed the disinfectant of a parliamentary inquiry. where mps take evidence and it is all done in public. on the conservative side, their argument is actually there are existing processes in parliament i can do this and they are accusing labour of prejudging any outcome. they are saying that those processes are there and the cabinet office minister chloe smith said they were not complacent about the scale of tackling these issues and pointed to that to review that the government has now promised, where the prime minister has said he will give carte blanche to the lawyer leading it, to talk to whoever he needs so there is an acknowledgement that there is something that needs to be done about this. it is what and john penrose said he would not support

labour's motion today but believed there were some reforms that needed to be made. to there were some reforms that needed to be made. ., , there were some reforms that needed to be made-— to be made. to be clear, as far as david cameron _ to be made. to be clear, as far as david cameron is _ to be made. to be clear, as far as david cameron is concerned, - to be made. to be clear, as far as david cameron is concerned, he l david cameron is concerned, he hasn't done anything against the ministerial code? bud hasn't done anything against the ministerial code?— ministerial code? and he hasn't broken any _ ministerial code? and he hasn't broken any of — ministerial code? and he hasn't broken any of the _ ministerial code? and he hasn't broken any of the rules - ministerial code? and he hasn't broken any of the rules around | broken any of the rules around lobbying. he sat out that two years that you have to do after being a minister before you take on employment. from what we have heard, none of them broke the rules around lobbying but that is sort of not the point really. in a way, it's more that the question being asked is are those rules themselves tough enough? should the rules be looked at? this does not really pass the sniff test, if you like, that you have a former prime minister able to lobby in this bay on behalf of a private firm. it might be in the rules but does it mean the rules themselves need changing? mean the rules themselves need chanauin ? �* , mean the rules themselves need chanauin?�* , ., , changing? and is part of the problem for labour that _ changing? and is part of the problem for labour that past _ changing? and is part of the problem for labour that past prime _ changing? and is part of the problem for labour that past prime ministersl for labour that past prime ministers have done lobbying like this themselves?— have done lobbying like this themselves? , ., , themselves? yes, no political party is immune to _

themselves? yes, no political party is immune to this _ themselves? yes, no political party is immune to this kind _ themselves? yes, no political party is immune to this kind of— themselves? yes, no political party is immune to this kind of thing. - is immune to this kind of thing. lobbying is a standard part of westminster life, of political life, actually. lobbying is the process of putting your case to government, if you like. charities do it, trade unions do it, it is notjust big private companies. it is totally within the law and a way of making sure lawmakers get an outside perspective, if you like. but the questions over it are around the transparency of how it's done. who is speaking to whom and what access are they getting and are they getting better access because they know the right person than perhaps someone else? it's all about the transparency of how it works. this parliamentary _ transparency of how it works. this parliamentary vote taking place now, is that likely to go the way of labour? tt is that likely to go the way of labour? , ~ , is that likely to go the way of labour? , ,, , ., ., labour? it is unlikely to go their wa . labour? it is unlikely to go their way. conservative _ labour? it is unlikely to go their way. conservative mps - labour? it is unlikely to go their way. conservative mps have - labour? it is unlikely to go their. way. conservative mps have been labour? it is unlikely to go their- way. conservative mps have been told to vote against this. labour's shadow cabinet office minister rachel reeves says it would be a cover—up of sleaze, if you like. they have been told to vote against it so it is expected this motion will fail. that won't affect the government review which is going

ahead and expected to report back in june but that is happening behind closed doors, not in public. although the final review and report will be made public, it will go into the parliamentary library at the end of it. . ~ the parliamentary library at the end of it. ., ,, , ., the parliamentary library at the end of it. ., ,, y., ., ., of it. ok, thank you for that. helen catt at westminster. _ alex thomas is from the non—partisan think tank, the institute for government. thank you forjoining us. good to see you. what do you make of the suggestion from labour that this is all tory sleaze, the bad days of the late 80s and early 90s coming back? i think as we just heard, it is not something that you can say is unique to conservative governments are labour governments or anything else. where i do think a number of the commentators in the labour party have a point is that checks and balances on individuals, whether they are ministers, former ministers, serving civil servants of former civil servants like me are too loose and are generally reliant

on conventions and on people sort of generally behaving themselves and when they are tested, as this government has tested them, the ministerial code and others in the recent months, in the last 18 months or so, they tend not to get much purchase on those people who might be sailing close to the winter. but lobb in: be sailing close to the winter. but lobbying is an essential part of how government works, how society works and as helen catt made the point, it is notjust politicians lobbying potentially on behalf of big companies, it is charities, trade unions. it is surprising, i suppose, given how fundamental lobbying is to how our society runs that the rules are not clear, that they are a little too opaque? t are not clear, that they are a little too opaque?— are not clear, that they are a little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason _ little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason the _ little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason the rules _ little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason the rules are - little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason the rules are not - little too opaque? i think perhaps the reason the rules are not clearj the reason the rules are not clear is precisely because it so embedded in the policy—making process and how government works. i completely agree with that. in the midst of a crisis and a scandal like this, it is quite easy to forget that there is nothing

inherently illegitimate about lobbying, it's our policy gets made. it's important ministers and civil servants hear from lots of different interests but the critically important thing then is ministers, the advice civil servants given the decisions minister make are on a objective basis and they are not overly influenced by one interest or another. certainly not influenced by any kind of personal financial interests that they might have. in the end, you do come back to the need to make this more transparent. i don't think... you cannot and shouldn't stop lobbying. also, i don't really think you can stop former prime ministers or civil servants or others from having gainful employment after they leave office. you certainly wouldn't get as many people wanting to join the public service if you did. but i do think that it is important that there is more transparency around who is talking to who and when. sure. and what are the rules, as far

as someone who has left government, being able to lobby the government of the same stripe they have just left? of the same stripe they have 'ust left? . ., , ., left? there are a number of different — left? there are a number of different rules _ left? there are a number of different rules on _ left? there are a number of different rules on this - left? there are a number of different rules on this but i left? there are a number of - different rules on this but there are two in particular. one is if you are two in particular. one is if you are a consultant lobbyist, you need to register. that is a very narrow definition of people. if you happen to be working for a professional lobbying firm, it's not clear on whose behalf you are lobbying, you need to join a register. that is a very narrow consideration for stop then there is a body called the advisory committee on business interests. that will set out conditions for former ministers or ministers as they leave public service and senior former civil servants and say it is ok for you to take up this position but you cannot actively lobby or you cannot contact your former department or your former colleagues for x number of years. that is the point, saying david cameron couldn't take up or

perhaps shouldn't take up certain appointments for two years. so he waited for the end of that period. your influence as a minister or civil servant as a half life because people change and move on and if you are a former prime minister, then you will still have a pretty fat contact book, so you can then lobby away to your heart's content. this in controversies _ away to your heart's content. this in controversies around this is one of the things that really makes people angry, isn't it? it undermines public confidence. it suggests that there is potentially revolving doors, it is about who you know, scratch my back, i will scratch yours. this is the kind of thing that undermines public confidence in the system so it has to be tackled, hasn't it? t confidence in the system so it has to be tackled, hasn't it?— to be tackled, hasn't it? i think it is that there _ to be tackled, hasn't it? i think it is that there is _ to be tackled, hasn't it? i think it is that there is a _ to be tackled, hasn't it? i think it is that there is a paradox - to be tackled, hasn't it? i think it. is that there is a paradox sometimes about transparency as well. almost the more you are transparent, the more things are exposed and the more the public potentially lose confidence. but the only answer is to be more transparent about that. i also think there is something about explaining that it is not in and of

itself, as you are saying, a bad thing to lobby or a bad thing to have commercial or private sector people joining have commercial or private sector peoplejoining government for that kind of revolving door gets a bad name when you describe it like that but it's really important that the civil service has commercial and procurement experience, otherwise it won't be able to do its job. and where do they tend to exist? in the private sector. another of the answers for me as having really strong, clear rules about conflict and preventing conflict—of—interest when you are in public service, whether as a minister or civil servant. so you might... what happened before or what might happen after but the civil service in the ministerial code needs to be really strict on preventing conflict when you are in the act of making these big public policy decisions, deciding where taxpayers money should go. that needs to be objective and the public rightly should expect them not to be conflicts or personal relationships getting in the way of the right

decision being made.- getting in the way of the right decision being made. indeed. alex thomas, decision being made. indeed. alex thomas. from _ decision being made. indeed. alex thomas, from the _ decision being made. indeed. alex thomas, from the institute - decision being made. indeed. alex thomas, from the institute of - thomas, from the institute of government. thank you. a result from the comments on that labour motion for a parliamentary inquiry into the activities of david cameron. helen catt has the details for us. you called it right.— catt has the details for us. you called it right. yes, as expected, it's been defeated. _ called it right. yes, as expected, it's been defeated. 262 - called it right. yes, as expected, it's been defeated. 262 votes - called it right. yes, as expected, it's been defeated. 262 votes in l it's been defeated. 262 votes in favour of setting up this inquiry in parliament. 357 against. that is what was expected that to conservative mps had been told to vote against this, so that was the result we expected. this doesn't have any impact on the existing government review that is happening into greensill capital and its involvement with government. i think the other thing it's interesting to look at is a lot of the points the conservative mps made this afternoon as there are existing processes and mechanisms within government. this is not likely to be the last we will hear of this and certainly i think we will hear a lot more pressure to

get something done about lobbying. sure, ok. helen catt with the latest from westminster. a major uk trial to assess whether people can safely be given different types of covid vaccine for their first and second doses, will be expanded. the trial will now include the moderna and novovax jabs. people over the age of 50, who've had a first dose of either the pfizer or astrazeneca vaccine, can apply to take part. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. currently, the nhs offers people an identical covid—19 vaccine for their first and second doses. but some experts believe switching to a different brand of vaccine for the second dose might give broader and longer lasting protection against the pandemic virus and new variants of it, as well as offering more flexibility to vaccine roll—out. because all of the vaccines that are currently licensed are all directed against the same part of the virus, they're all engineered to target the s protein, the spike protein, then they all will elicit a very similar immune response. so, it makes a lot of sense to test this combination of vaccines,

and we think that we may be able to get an enhanced immune response by combining different types of vaccines. more than 800 people have already signed up to help researchers. they've received two doses of either pfizer, astrazeneca, or a combination of both, to see what works best for immunity. dosing with one, then dosing with the other and that would give a lot more flexibility if there was any problems with supply for one vaccine, for example, or changes in recommendations for different age groups. then if someone's been primed with one vaccine, they're not locked in to getting the same vaccine for the second dose. and we will be testing those combinations against the new variants as they come through. so, the blood tests we obtain, we will test them against the new variants to see potentially if they offer any broader protection against multiple different strains. volunteers need to have already had one covid jab on the nhs in the past few months, and be willing to travel to a regional nhs hospital trust

site in england to take part. they'll have blood taken to check how well vaccines trigger an immune response. the vaccination programme has gone as well as anyone could have hoped so far, and the idea of mixing and matching vaccines is it gives a bit of added flexibility. the way it works is that if you give a second booster dose that uses a slightly different method to prompt an immune response, that can be more effective. and, in fact, it's something that's already done with hepatitis jabs, for example, or vaccines that are commonly given to children, like polio, measles, mumps and rubella. investigators now hope to recruit around 1000 people aged 50 or older to take part and test more vaccines in different combinations. that includes the new moderna vaccine and the novavax jab that is expected to be approved soon for use in the uk. and the findings could have implications for what might lie ahead. we will be able to potentially use different vaccines for booster campaigns in the autumn and in fact mixed schedules may, and this is a big may,

but they may give better longer term protection and that would be very interesting to see. so, very exciting stuff. the study will run for a year but the first results should be available byjune orjuly and they will shape how the uk and the world continues to protect populations against this deadly virus. dominic hughes, bbc news. door to door testing will be carried out in part of north london, after the south african variant of covid—19 was found there. from tomorrow, people in parts of the london borough of barnet will be tested for coronavirus. people in the n3 postcode areas — close to finchley central station — and those who shop on the local high street are affected. local teams will be going door to door offering home pcr tests. a mobile testing centre will also be set up at the station car park. staff in care homes in england with elderly residents may be required to get a coronavirus jab. a five—week consultation has been launched by the department of health and social care, to consider whether to make covid

vaccination a condition of employment for care home workers. vaccine minister nadhim zahawi spoke about this a little earlier. a number of providers have made it a condition of deployment of staff, as part of their duty of care, of course, to the most vulnerable. what we want to do is consult now with all stakeholders, five week consultation, to see whether it does become a condition of deployment and we want to hear from everyone as to how they feel, how we can make this work properly, rather than it being adopted ad hoc by different care providers. our social affairs correspondent alison holt has been giving further details about the consultation. it will be a five week consultation, the details will be published at some point today on the government website. what they are saying is they are consulting on whether or not it should be a condition of deployment, is the way they phrased

it, for care staff working with older people to have had vaccinations. the reasons they give are that experts on stage, the scientific advisory group, say 80% of staff and 90% of residents need to be vaccinated to provide a minimum level of protection against covid outbreaks that these really vulnerable residents in care homes. at the moment, they say only 53% of care homes for older people in england are meeting that 80% level. and they say the staff vaccination rate is below 80% in 89 local authorities, so that is more than half of local authorities. and all 32 london boroughs have vaccination levels among staff which is below that 80% mark. so it shows that there are pockets of real concern about what is going on. alison holt there. a woman has described being stabbed

in the neck by the man who killed two people in the fishmonger�*s hall attack in london in november 2019. jack merritt and saskia jones were stabbed by a convicted terrorist usman khan during a prisoner rehabilitation conference. giving evidence this morning at the inquests, isobel rowbotham said it felt as if khan had intended to kill her. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. the attack within the ornate rooms of fishmongers' hall on the banks of the river thames was over in a few bloody minutes. this inquest will spend weeks examining those seconds in close detail. isobel rowbotham worked for the prison rehabilitation charity which held the event where it happened. she told the inquest she saw jack merritt covered in blood, shouting that he had been stabbed. and then usman khan appeared. he came at her across this reception room, kitchen knife in his hand, moving purposely. she said, "please, no, don't."

but saskia jones was fatally stabbed. she volunteered at the charity which was dedicated to turning around the lives of former prisoners, including khan. khan was forced out of the building by a group of men. they fought him on london bridge, using improvised weapons, before armed police arrived and fired their first shots. the inquest will explain his death and those of his victims. it will also examine what was known about the threat that khan posed in the year before the events of that day. tom symonds, bbc news, at the fishmongers' hall inquests.

our correspondent zoe conway has been following the inquest. hello, zoe. what more have we been hearing from the witnesses today? brute hearing from the witnesses today? - have heard a great deal of powerful and distressing evidence from witnesses today. we heard from ama 0tchere, the housekeeping supervisor at fishmonger�*s hall who came face to face with usman khan shortly after he stabbed jack merrett. she said he had a face full of anger. he had knives strapped to his wrists and she described how his right hand was raised to head height and his left hand, with his left hand, he used his left finger to put his finger to his mouth, to indicate to her to be quiet. she says that she watched him stabbing another woman and that he was speaking arabic. she

believes he was quoting from the quran. we had also whether the chaos and confusion that day and the fear. one of the event organisers were shouting into her mobile phone, ambulance, now. we heard that another person shouted, a bomber" is that there was distressing evidence about the condition jack merritt was in after he was stabbed. this afternoon we had from graham watkins, a security officer. he saw jack merritt drenched in blood. he was so shocked by what he saw that he asked jack merritt, is this an exercise? jack merritt said no. jack merritt was stabbed at 13:56 that afternoon. by 14:08, there were three police officers performing cpr on him but they could not revive him. 17 minutes later, he was pronounced dead. we also heard more about the organisation of the event and in particular the arrangements

for usman khan?. we heard from simon larmour who works for learning together and said he got a call from usman khan that morning sounding panicked because his train from stafford to london had been cancelled. simon larmour said it was jack merritt who rebooked usman khan onto a different train. simon larmour was one of the people who met usman khan at euston station, met usman khan at euston station, met him off the train. the police believe that it was on the train that usman khan attached a convincing but fake suicide belt to himself. simon larmour was asked whether he knew of usman khan's previous convictions, whether he had been told that usman khan was a convicted terrorist and he said he had not been told that that he had found out himself on google. ok. found out himself on google. ok, zoe, thank _ found out himself on google. ok, zoe, thank you. _ found out himself on google. 0k, zoe, thank you. zoe conway at the guildhall in london.

the disgraced financier bernard madoff, who was convicted of running the largest known ponzi scheme in history, has died in prison where he was serving a 150—year sentence. madoff, who was 82, defrauded thousands of people using a type of rotating fraud — in which investors are paid with funds from other investors. our business presenter is alice baxter. it was a notorious ponzi scheme, the biggest in history?— biggest in history? absolutely ri . ht, biggest in history? absolutely right. clive. — biggest in history? absolutely right, clive, and _ biggest in history? absolutely right, clive, and so _ biggest in history? absolutely right, clive, and so ends - biggest in history? absolutely right, clive, and so ends the . right, clive, and so ends the infamous tale of bernie madoff. you said it there, he will go down in history as the man who ran the biggest ponzi scheme in history. it is thought at the time of its and covering in 2009, he had over $60 billion under asset. this is a company that had been going since the 1960s. bernie madoff when he was in court said that freud himself only started in the 1990s due to the recession and the gulf war. but it

remained uncovered until the financial crisis of 2008. brought on by the financial crisis of that year, when investors tried to withdraw around $7 billion and were unable to do so. as you rightly say, a ponzi scheme is when money paid out to newer investors is the money that has been paid in by others. no actual money is being invested in the firm itself, although interest is being made. it was all a mirage, a fraud. how did he manage to evade capture so long because of this man in his heyday was considered to be a titan of wall street. he was elected president of the nasdaq stock exchange. he was investigated by the securities and exchange mission eight times and they found nothing. a formal complaint of suspicion of fraud made as early as 1992 and the ssc did nothing because so successful was this image that bernie madoff managed to cultivate, shrouded in mystery and exclusivity,

such that his victims ranged from celebrities such as stephen spielberg, the actor kevin bacon, huge numbers of large financial institutions were also victims. hsbc, but also regular people, teachers, farmers. it's thought as many as 37,000 people across the globe from 136 different countries were all victims of the scam. much closer to home, his fraud also resulted in huge amounts of personal tragedy. his son mark committed suicide two years after his imprisonment. so, yes, as you say, so ends the tale of bernie madoff, the man who ran the biggest ponzi scheme in history. btt the man who ran the biggest ponzi scheme in history.— scheme in history. all right, alice, thank ou scheme in history. all right, alice, thank you for— scheme in history. all right, alice, thank you for that. _ scheme in history. all right, alice, thank you for that. alice _ scheme in history. all right, alice, thank you for that. alice baxter. i young black people have been hit hardest by unemployment during the covid pandemic, according to new research. the resolution foundation think tank said that over the past year, thejobless rate for young black

people in the uk rose by more than a third to 35% — compared with 24% for young people of asian descent and 13% for young white people. the foundation said that covid had widened existing gaps between ethnic groups. it added that young people had borne the brunt ofjob losses in lockdown: during the second and third quarters of 2020 the unemployment rate among 18—24 year olds rose from 11.5% to 13.6%. mary ibiyemi is 21 and lost herjob working in a take away last year. she was unemployed for eight months before finding a newjob. she wasn't surprised by the research. a lot of the people i know, they were also in my position and it was up to like all of us

to help boost one another because we didn't know what we needed to do. we didn't know what feedback, we didn't know was going wrong. evenjust online, when i wasjust scrolling through, i found that within the black community, they feel that they need to, you know, not disclose their race orjust to change their name a bit so they can get more calls, more interviews. just something that we shouldn't need to be doing because it is the 21st century and everything should be... everyone should be feeling included. sarah arnold is a senior economist from the new economics foundation — which is a left of centre think tank. do these results apprise you? i think it's very clear that the economic— think it's very clear that the economic effects of the pandemic have fallen on young black people in particular~ _ have fallen on young black people in particular. the unemployment rate in the general— particular. the unemployment rate in the general population is about 5% which _ the general population is about 5% which means young black people are about _ which means young black people are about seven times more likely to be unemployed. but i don't think the

figures _ unemployed. but i don't think the figures are — unemployed. but i don't think the figures are surprising because these impacts— figures are surprising because these impacts have only exacerbated pre—existing inequalities in the 'obs pre—existing inequalities in the jobs market. but it is particularly worrying — jobs market. but it is particularly worrying that these problems can perpetuate themselves further down the line _ perpetuate themselves further down the line. periods of unemployment can lead _ the line. periods of unemployment can lead to — the line. periods of unemployment can lead to scarring in the long term _ can lead to scarring in the long term and — can lead to scarring in the long term and it has negative impacts on long-term _ term and it has negative impacts on long—term job prospects. as term and it has negative impacts on long-term job prospects.— long-term 'ob prospects. as the econom long-term job prospects. as the economy climbs _ long-term job prospects. as the economy climbs out _ long-term job prospects. as the economy climbs out of - long-term job prospects. as the economy climbs out of the - long-term job prospects. as the - economy climbs out of the doldrums, as people get back to work and it gets back on its feet, then it will be those people who have suffered from a suit who will take longer to recover. .. , ., from a suit who will take longer to recover. .. , . �* , from a suit who will take longer to recover. .. , ., �* , ., from a suit who will take longer to recover. , . �* , ., ., recover. exactly and it's a real roblem recover. exactly and it's a real problem because _ recover. exactly and it's a real problem because the - recover. exactly and it's a real problem because the odds - recover. exactly and it's a real. problem because the odds were already— problem because the odds were already stacked against young black people _ already stacked against young black people compared to their white counterparts. even after achieving degree _ counterparts. even after achieving degree level qualifications which black— degree level qualifications which black and asian young people do at a higher— black and asian young people do at a higher rate _ black and asian young people do at a higher rate than young people, they

find it— higher rate than young people, they find it more difficult in the jobs market~ — find it more difficult in the jobs market. there needs to be an ambitious _ market. there needs to be an ambitious action on behalf of the government. starting with acknowledging the particular challenges faced by ethnic minority groups— challenges faced by ethnic minority groups in_ challenges faced by ethnic minority groups in the jobs market, particularly young black people. they— particularly young black people. they need to ensure no one is left out of _ they need to ensure no one is left out of the — they need to ensure no one is left out of the recovery. targeting support — out of the recovery. targeting support schemes and providing comprehensive income support to people _ comprehensive income support to people whilst they are looking for 'obs people whilst they are looking for jobs in _ people whilst they are looking for jobs in education or developing skills — jobs in education or developing skills. �* jobs in education or developing skills. ~ , ., jobs in education or developing skills. ~ , , skills. are you suggesting then the government _ skills. are you suggesting then the government hasn't _ skills. are you suggesting then the government hasn't acknowledged . skills. are you suggesting then the i government hasn't acknowledged the difficulties potentially that black people have in accessing better paying jobs? tt’s people have in accessing better paying jobs?— paying jobs? it's striking these fi . ures paying jobs? it's striking these figures have — paying jobs? it's striking these figures have come _ paying jobs? it's striking these figures have come out - paying jobs? it's striking these l figures have come out following paying jobs? it's striking these - figures have come out following the recent _ figures have come out following the recent report that suggested the wasn't _ recent report that suggested the wasn't existential racism in this country — wasn't existential racism in this country. but it's clear that young black— country. but it's clear that young black people in particular face challenges in the jobs market. but

challenges in the 'obs market. but if the challenges in the jobs market. blt if the government is in the position of saying there is no institutional racism or at least the commission that looked into it found that there isn't any institutional racism, does that suggest the government doesn't have to do anything? t that suggest the government doesn't have to do anything?— have to do anything? i don't think so because _ have to do anything? i don't think so because there _ have to do anything? i don't think so because there is _ have to do anything? i don't think so because there is a _ have to do anything? i don't think so because there is a clear- so because there is a clear difference for young black people and therefore the government should be taking _ and therefore the government should be taking steps to do things. one thing _ be taking steps to do things. one thing they— be taking steps to do things. one thing they could do would be to target — thing they could do would be to targetjob support thing they could do would be to target job support schemes thing they could do would be to targetjob support schemes in particular at those who are having a harder— particular at those who are having a harder time — particular at those who are having a hardertime in the labour particular at those who are having a harder time in the labour market. they— harder time in the labour market. they can — harder time in the labour market. they can also take steps by reading for example to work with employers and educators to identify way there are systematic biases and discrimination taking place and then they can _ discrimination taking place and then they can take steps. this discrimination taking place and then they can take steps.— they can take steps. this is a much

wider problem. _ they can take steps. this is a much wider problem, isn't _ they can take steps. this is a much wider problem, isn't it, _ they can take steps. this is a much wider problem, isn't it, than - they can take steps. this is a muchj wider problem, isn't it, than covid. all covid has done is accentuate and highlight the deep disparities that exist in society anyway. it's going to take a much bigger look at this whole issue isn't it?— whole issue isn't it? there is no one single _ whole issue isn't it? there is no one single silver _ whole issue isn't it? there is no one single silver bullet. - whole issue isn't it? there is no one single silver bullet. a - whole issue isn't it? there is no| one single silver bullet. a whole range _ one single silver bullet. a whole range of— one single silver bullet. a whole range of things need to change and happen, _ range of things need to change and happen, the entire structure of our employment system. that includes things— employment system. that includes things like investing significantly in more — things like investing significantly in more jobs so there are enough 'obs in more jobs so there are enough jobs to— in more jobs so there are enough jobs to go— in more jobs so there are enough jobs to go around as taking a long look at _ jobs to go around as taking a long look at why— jobs to go around as taking a long look at why these are systematic discriminations are occurring. thank ou for discriminations are occurring. thank you forjoining _ discriminations are occurring. thank you forjoining us. _ sport and let's get a full round up from the bbc sport centre.

good afternoon. uefa have banned slavia prague player ondrej kudela for ten games for racially abusing rangers midfielder glen kamara. the incident happened during their europa league tie last month. european football's governing body has also handed a three match ban to kamara for assaulting kudela in the tunnel after the match at ibrox. his team—mate kemar roofe has also been suspended for four games for 'dangerously assaulting another player'. it's a big night in the champions league but manchester city's preparations for this evening's quarter final in germany have been disrupted by a series of fireworks which were let off outside their team hotel last night. the club says on two occassions players and staff were woken up before a third attempt was stopped by their own security. city are 2—1 up against borussia dortmund from the first leg and are chasing what would be a historic quadruple. the champions league is the only major trophy pep guardiola is yet to win at the club, something he's well aware of. this is a business, and a business

is business and business is to win. if we don't win i will be a failure, and if we win, it will be how good is pep? the six time winners liverpool have much more to do than city if they're to reach the semi finals, where chelsea await. they go into tonight's second leg against real madrid at anfield 3—1 down from the first game. after six straight defeats at home, liverpool did manage to return to winning ways against aston villa at the weekend. there've been miracle comebacks at anfield before — most recently in 2019 when they came from 3—0 down to knock barcelona out of the tournament, though there won't be any fans to roar them on this evening. you don't get a comeback because you had a comeback in the past, you only can have a chance if you play really good football in the present and that is what we have to do. the best situation would be if we don't bring ourselves in a situation that we need to come back, but obviously that is not worth talking about now, but the situation is clear, that is why this competition

is so interesting. dav evans will face novak djokovic after the british number one beat polish play in straight sets a day after evans got his first tour level win on clay in four years he saw off the miami open champion in straight sets. he did seem to be struggling with illness. an important win for evans all the same. and it's a 100 days to go until the start of the olympic games in tokyo and the build up has been unusual, to say the least. a year's delay and doubts over whether it would go ahead at all. for the athletes, it's been incredibly unsettling and with no

only home fans will be allowed in to watch the action. jadejones says it's going to be a different experience this summer. my family have travelled to every olympics, even the youth olympics when it first started, and every time i come out to fight i see their faces screaming for me and cheering me on, that really does make a difference to me. it kind of shows just how big this pandemic is, but i'm just seeing it as how amazing would it be to come running through the door and bring that gold medal home to all the family. i know they will be cheering me on and willing me on, and itjust brings a big buzz to the country, to my family as well, to come back with that third gold medal. more build up for the champions league over on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you in the next hour.

the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has insisted it's the right time to withdraw american troops from afghanistan. it's twenty years since they were deployed following the 9/11 attacks. the uk is expected to withdraw 750 british soldiers stationed in afghanistan by september. but the speaker of the afghan parliament has warned the withdrawal could lead to civil war. the united states has spent around two trillion dollars and lost more than 2,000 service members since 2001, in what has been its longest war. at its height, there were more than 100,000 us troops stationed in afghanistan. today, there are around 2,500 us troops in the country as part of a 9,600—strong nato mission. let's hear a little of what antony blinken had to say about the withdrawal, speaking at nato headquarters in brussels. almost 20 years ago after the united states was attacked, together we went into afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us and to make sure that afghanistan would not again become a haven for terrorists who might attack any of us. and together we have achieved

the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home. we will work very closely together in the weeks and months ahead on a safe, deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of our forces from afghanistan. but even as we do that, our commitment to afghanistan, to its future, will remain. professor michael semple lived in afghanistan for years and was deputy to the eu's special representative there. he is now a professor at the institute for global peace, security and justice at queens university, belfast. thank you for being with us. i don't know if you heard antony blinken say the goals have been achieved and now it's time to bring us troops home, do you agree with that? he

it's time to bring us troops home, do you agree with that?— do you agree with that? he has to sa this do you agree with that? he has to say this to — do you agree with that? he has to say this to provide _ do you agree with that? he has to say this to provide cover - do you agree with that? he has to say this to provide cover for - do you agree with that? he has to say this to provide cover for the i say this to provide cover for the latest us move and to reassure the nation that their investment delivered something. the reality for afghans is that a war could continue and will continue even as the international troops withdraw because the taliban are trying to retake the country by force. stand retake the country by force. and with american _ retake the country by force. and with american troops going, british troops have to go to don't they? yes. the reason for the timing of the withdrawal announcement was actually to allow the us to coordinate the withdrawal with their nato partners. this is like a difference in the approach between the biden administration in the previous us administration. the biden administration does care about its relations with nato and they don't want an uncoordinated us move.

so you don't think it's a good idea and many would agree with you, but i wonder why after 20 years afghanistan is not the kind of country that the us and the uk and its coalition partners would have hoped for?— its coalition partners would have hoedfor? ~ , ., ., hoped for? absolutely and i was a art of hoped for? absolutely and i was a part of the — hoped for? absolutely and i was a part of the un _ hoped for? absolutely and i was a part of the un political _ hoped for? absolutely and i was a part of the un political team - hoped for? absolutely and i was a | part of the un political team which put in place the post—taliban administration two decades ago. at that time it really was a period of hope and i guess i hoped they would be able to return to afghanistan to enjoy the splendid landscape as a tourist but that hasn't happened. the drivers of the international exit from afghanistan now are partly there is a sense that there is no point in staying any longer because our presence is not putting an end to the conflict. there is also then

a sense that there are other things they want to do on the international stage so the engagement in afghanistan is a distraction. but the last word we heard from the secretary of state were very important, he said that the us retains an interest and engagement in afghanistan even as it pulls its troops out. i think that will be reflected in the position from the other nato countries because the afghan conflict is the worst conflict in the world at the moment if you go by the global peace index. we simply cannot ignore it. you don'tjust need western troops on the ground to try and bring an end to this conflict, you need diplomacy, we need economic assistance and those efforts will continue even as the troops come home. �* , ., ., ., , continue even as the troops come home. �* , ., ., .,, ., home. but the short-term aim was to net those home. but the short-term aim was to get those they — home. but the short-term aim was to get those they believed _ home. but the short-term aim was to get those they believed were - get those they believed were responsible for 9/11 and get rid of the taliban and osama bin laden was

being sheltered there. that happened so why wasn't there enough of an effort made to establish and when the piece, which means that 20 years later troops are pulling out in the country is still a potential quagmire. country is still a potential quagmire-— country is still a potential auuamire. ., ., country is still a potential auuamire. . ., ., country is still a potential auuamire. . ., quagmire. people are going to be workin: quagmire. people are going to be working on _ quagmire. people are going to be working on this _ quagmire. people are going to be working on this for _ quagmire. people are going to be working on this for the _ quagmire. people are going to be working on this for the next - quagmire. people are going to be working on this for the next few l working on this for the next few years and studying it for the future decades. we shouldn't be completely pessimistic about what has happened inside afghanistan. i spent a lot of time they had when i look around i see a place which is bustling and thriving. i meet lots of energetic afghans who are carving out a future for themselves. there are freedoms and opportunities are so don't get the idea that somehow the place is a shambles. there are two problems. the state itself is not as effective and transparent as one would want or

as the afghan people demand, but also a conflict is being imposed on the afghan people. the taliban which still has headquarters in pakistan and which has unfortunately responded negatively to don't have years of efforts by us and its allies to push through a peace deal and even now the us has announced the military withdrawal and they are readying their spring offensive to try and basically find their way to power. the people who have chosen to fight are still sticking by that decision. that is a challenge which the afghans will have to take up now the afghans will have to take up now the international presence is coming to an end. t the international presence is coming toanend. , , , , ., to an end. i suppose they must be a belief amongst _ to an end. i suppose they must be a belief amongst those _ to an end. i suppose they must be a belief amongst those powers - to an end. i suppose they must be a belief amongst those powers in - to an end. i suppose they must be a belief amongst those powers in the | belief amongst those powers in the west that afghanistan, while it's not the country that perhaps they would have hoped for 20 years on, is

unable or incapable of allowing the kind of personnel to take refuge there that would potentially plan another 9/11. they must be confident in that or are they not? the another 9/11. they must be confident in that or are they not?— in that or are they not? the reason the secretary _ in that or are they not? the reason the secretary of _ in that or are they not? the reason the secretary of state _ in that or are they not? the reason the secretary of state said - in that or are they not? the reason the secretary of state said the - in that or are they not? the reason the secretary of state said the us . the secretary of state said the us would continue to stand by afghanistan had positive and negative dimensions. there is something they which is worth investing in. but negative because the main location of the remaining al-qaeda leadership in the world is along the borderlands between pakistan and afghanistan. the worry is that if assistance to afghanistan was abruptly withdrawn and either the taliban were to take over all

the taliban were to take over all the country were to be carved up into different zones of influence, suddenly al-qaeda would find itself with a more conducive environment to operate in and the gift of a propaganda victory. so there are continuing risks for afghanistan and beyond al-qaeda itself the prospect of militant groups taking over the country that the west has invested 20 is to try and stabilise would be profoundly destabilising for the whole region. so much after—care is required, but if that after—care is done properly and if the afghan forces hold their own against the taliban assault and if the peace process eventually bears fruit and the taliban conclude they cannot just drive the existing government

into the sea, then our children were —— will get a chance to trek in afghanistan. -- will get a chance to trek in afghanistan.— -- will get a chance to trek in afuhanistan. ., ,, y., ., ., afghanistan. thank you for 'oining us. the headlines on bbc news: pressure builds on david cameron, as mps vote on a parliamentary inquiry into his lobbying. labour claims there's a revolving door between government and paid lobbyists. a uk covid trial, testing different types of vaccine for first and second doses is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. the government says staff in care homes in england with elderly residents may be required to get a coronavirus vaccine. it's100 days till the opening ceremony of the tokyo olympics. the games were put back a year because of the covid—19 pandemic, but injapan, fears about coronavirus mean enthusiam is hard to find. from tokyo rupert wingfield—hayes reports.

if the latest opinion polls are to be believed, these people in tokyo demanding the olympics be cancelled are just the tip of a very large iceberg. with coronavirus infections surging across western japan, 72% now say the olympics must be postponed or cancelled. one of them is nobuko shimizu, who is worried about the threat to her elderly mother. we can't have the olympics. my mother is 91. so she is very vulnerable to the covid things. i think maybe i would take her to the countryside for maybe two or three weeks, away from tokyo. it's more safe. japan doesn'tjust have a large number of elderly, they have only started getting covid vaccines this week. while the uk and us surge ahead, japan lies far behind, with fewer vaccinations per capita

than any other developed country. experts say this makes it extremely vulnerable. i think it is a very stupid idea to hold the olympic games this summer in tokyo. it is. but that doesn't necessarily mean it is impossible. if you ignore all the surrounding risks of gathering people together at the same time in one city, in the middle of the pandemic, it is not a good idea, scientifically or ethically. with just 100 days to go, japan is still struggling to hold olympic test events. today, this stadium behind me should have been bustling with activity, holding a big olympic preparatory event. instead, it is empty. why this event has been called off is not clear. but what we do know is that, two weeks ago, seven members of the japan men's water polo team, who should have been competing here today,

tested positive for covid—19. this week, as the olympic torch relay reached osaka, surging covid infections there forced the cancellation of all public events. instead, runners carried the torch around an empty park, waving to no—one. it could be a foretaste of what is to come. rupert wingfield—hayes, tokyo. in 1992, the british athlete derek redmond was set for the race of his life in the 400m semifinal at the barcelona olympics. but early in the race, his dreams were shattered when he felt his hamstring go. instead of stopping, he began to hobble around the rest of the track, determined to finish. in a moment we'll speak to derek redmond — but first let's look back at what happened. and redmond has broken down! he's on the track, kneeling down and derek redmond, well, his injury problem, the jinx has struck again. well, we wondered if he'd go four

rounds and he's hopping his way to complete. may not be the wisest thing to do because he could be in the relay later on. and his dad's trying to run onto the track to stop him. he's going to tell him, "derek, don't". there's going to be an argument between father and son. i've just got to finish in my first and opening appearance. with his track record in injuries, it may be his only olympic appearance. he just can't hold it. his father's been so close to him, they've been battling through it. surely the worst moment of a career already dogged by injury. and now the doubt must be as to whether he can make it for the relay team or whether they'll even risk him making it. it was a brave attempt to get round. but the father was quite right... cheering. ..to stop him because it may have done more damage. cheering and applause. he's getting the cheer of the games.

and we can speak to derek redmond now. thank you for being with us. sorry to show that again and i'm sure you have seen it a few times. but as we approach the eve of the olympics in japan, looking back at that, how does it make you feel? the main thin that does it make you feel? the main thing that comes _ does it make you feel? the main thing that comes to _ does it make you feel? the main thing that comes to my - does it make you feel? the main thing that comes to my mind - does it make you feel? the main thing that comes to my mind is l thing that comes to my mind is frustration. i got myself into great shape, i'd had problems before and i'd worked —— run in the world championships three years before, and ifinally got championships three years before, and i finally got myself into some decent form. i ran very well in the first two rounds. to be honest with you, the semifinal was a foregone conclusion and i was going to finish

in the top four. the problems i'd had leading up was my achilles tendon and then the hamstring goes. pure frustration would be the cleanest and safest way of explaining it.— cleanest and safest way of ex-alainin it. �* , . , explaining it. athletes are finely tuned instruments, _ explaining it. athletes are finely tuned instruments, you - explaining it. athletes are finely tuned instruments, you know. explaining it. athletes are finely i tuned instruments, you know that. most athletes would have been building up their diets and training programme, everything to last summer. how difficult has it been for them to scrap all of that and build up again 12 months on? tt for them to scrap all of that and build up again 12 months on? it was a bombshell — build up again 12 months on? it was a bombshell once _ build up again 12 months on? it was a bombshell once the _ build up again 12 months on? it was a bombshell once the decision - build up again 12 months on? tt was a bombshell once the decision had been made and actually it was good that a decision had been made because at some point athletes didn't know whether it was on or off. they didn't know where they were. they finally got an answer,

not the most ideal answer, but an answer. it was a case of this is what's happening and we have to accept it. once you get over the initial bombshell that the olympic games has been postponed for 12 months there is nothing that can be done and it's a case of almost rebooting like a computer and recalibrating and resetting yourself and getting on with the process. i spoke to a number of athletes who were in that predicament and i said the only thing you've got going for you is you know what's happening and everyone is in the same boat. so it's going to be those athletes that now won't just physically it's going to be those athletes that now won'tjust physically prepare but also mentally prepare for this bombshell happening that will come out on top. there has been no choice, let'sjust hope out on top. there has been no choice, let's just hope and pray the games go ahead. but

choice, let'sjust hope and pray the games go ahead-— games go ahead. but that mental strenath is games go ahead. but that mental strength is going _ games go ahead. but that mental strength is going to _ games go ahead. but that mental strength is going to be _ games go ahead. but that mental strength is going to be even - games go ahead. but that mentalj strength is going to be even more critical now because there is going to be no crowd potentially and no atmosphere and i wonder how difficult it is for finely tuned athlete to perform in that kind of atmosphere? tt’s athlete to perform in that kind of atmosphere?— atmosphere? it's going to be difficult. no _ atmosphere? it's going to be difficult. no one _ atmosphere? it's going to be difficult. no one is _ atmosphere? it's going to be difficult. no one is saying - atmosphere? it's going to be | difficult. no one is saying this atmosphere? it's going to be i difficult. no one is saying this is going to be a walk in the park. it is notjust the crowd, there is going to be, and if there is a crowd it might only be locals so it's almost like an away game for everybody, at least when you go to an olympic games there are pockets of your own nation so there is a little bit of home crowd noise you can draw towards, but the other thing is the limitations on your team that you can take out. your own

support network. that's going to be the difficulty. i was fortunate to have my coach, my dad, my sports psychologist out there with me at my last linda games —— olympic games. that might be something the athletes in general are going to have to try and deal with because they may not have that support structure the that they would normally have around them and have the pleasure of having them around and being able to turn to during a major competition. tt’s during a ma'or competition. it's auoin to during a major competition. it's going to be very weird, i have to say. it's good to see you and thank you very much indeed forjoining us. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. it's another chilly day today. it doesn't feel too bad in the sunshine and light winds, mind you, but we have seen the cloud building up and that's been producing a few showers, mainly across south wales

and the south—west of england. temperatures 11, 12, maybe 13 degrees, a bit cooler around some of those north sea coasts. any showers that do develop do tend to fade away this evening, and overnight we'll have clearing skies, a few mist and fog patches. more cloud coming in off the southern north sea, maybe bringing the odd shower to coastal areas of east anglia and kent later on. but another cold night, a touch of frost in many areas. lowest temperatures — northern england, southern scotland. a sunny start, though, for many places. again, we'll see some cloud developing but this time we're more likely to find some showers, lincolnshire, east anglia, the south—east, perhaps heading towards the east midlands and down towards hampshire. but elsewhere, i think it will be fine and dry. the winds light for many. a gentle breeze from the east in glasgow means that we'll find the highest temperatures probably across western parts of scotland but a much cooler breeze coming in for east anglia and the south—east. temperatures lower than today.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the noes have it. mps have rejected labour calls for a parliamentary inquiry into david cameron's attempts to gain government contracts for a business which has collapsed. a uk covid trial testing different types of vaccine for first and second doses is being expanded to include new vaccines and more volunteers. the government says staff in care homes in england with elderly residents may be required to get a coronavirus vaccine. the inquest into the deaths of jack merritt and saskia jones at fishmongers hall in 2019, hears from another victim who describes how she was stabbed repeatedly by the terrorist, usman khan. and two large sections of cliff

on dorset�*sjurassic coast have collapsed, including 300 metres of cliff east of seatown.