trump's presidential campaign and moscow. the white house denies any improper behaviour during the election campaign. syrian government soldiers have entered the ancient city of palmyra three months after the so—called islamic state re—ca ptu red it from them. now on bbc news, it's time for click.

between donald trump‘s presidential campaign and moscow. the white house denies any improper behaviour during the election campaign. syrian government soldiers have entered the ancient city of palmyra three months after the so—called islamic state re—ca ptu red it from them. the city, which has both strategic and cultural importance, has changed hands several times during the conflict. let‘s have a look at the front pages of this morning‘s papers. the metro leads with defeat in parliament for the prime minister after the house of lords votes to amend the brexit bill.

, he wants to put the feelers out, as did the german ambassador, every ambassador in moscow, so it is unfortunate, his wording was unfortunate, his wording was unfortunate, it is coming back to bite him, and it has created such a stir because it is also mike flynn, the national security advisor, because he didn't disclose having met him, that is grave. and if president trump loses a senior member of his team, that wouldn't be good, would it? it wouldn't be good but what i am much more concerned about than losing a member of the senior team is he hasn't identified the assistant secretaries and appointees, so it you are germany or britain, who can you talk to? yes, you can talk to the foreign minister, they can go to mexico and make a speech, but then he needs the undersecretary, the assistant secretary, to follow up on this and do the work. some say the russians know who to talk to, i mean, the russian ambassador has done a good job of reaching out. may have the same thing, they need the senior working with, they need the under secretaries and assistant secretaries and assistant secret

moscow for an official visit in more than five years. the headlines on bbc news. sinn fein make big gains in northern ireland's assembly elections. the dup is still the biggest party but with just one more seat than the republicans. there are fears for the future of vauxhall plants in britain after a french car company which produces peugeot vehicles reportedly reaches a deal to buy general motors' european operations. mercedes is recalling 75,000 cars in the uk because of a risk of them catching fire. it follows the discovery of a fault in a fuse in some models. a parliamentary committee says britain wouldn't be legally obliged to make a final budget contribution to the eu after brexit. the house of lords study said the uk would be in a "strong" legal position to walk away without any payment if the article 50 negotiations ended without a deal. downing street has described the report as a "significant contribution". however, the committee's chairwoman, lady falkner, says a payment may be politically necessary to reach an agreement. if you are going to walk away with not a penny to

ukraine. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. reports from france suggest the owner of peugeot and citroen has reached an agreement to buy vauxhall and 0pel from the american car maker general motors. the deal will raise concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories which employ more than four thousand people. andy moore reports. vauxhall builds the vivaro van at luton. around 70,000 rolled off the production line last year. and at elsemere port about 120,000 vauxhall astras are built every year. as well as those employed directly by gm, thousands more work in the supply chain. and there are also 15,000 people in the pension scheme, one of the uk's largest. they have already been told that they will be no worse off under the new deal. the good news is that the psa group, which owns peugeot and citroen, has promised not to cut anyjobs in the uk before 2020, but the future after that is uncertain. psa's boss carlo tavares has already had talks on the phone with the pm theresa may. there w

foreign secretary, boris johnson, has announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks, in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british minister for five years. i'm joined by our political correspondent ellie price. how significant is this? it is a measure that this has not happened in five years. the kid be difficult issues, doris thomson has accused russia of war crimes in syria, —— borisjohnson. the russia of war crimes in syria, —— boris johnson. the russian russia of war crimes in syria, —— borisjohnson. the russian embassy have suggested that borisjohnson wa nts to have suggested that borisjohnson wants to reopen the cold war. lots to dock about, we're told that during this visit borisjohnson will continue to be robust and that this is not about cosying up to moscow. but actually improvement of relations could be within britain's national interest. there is a broader context, donald trump has suggested he would like to have a relationship with russia with regard to counterterrorism, the world is waiting to see how t

. borisjohnson will be the be the first british minister to travel to moscow for an official visit in more than five years. with me is our political correspondent, ellie price. this is going to be interesting, borisjohnson has this is going to be interesting, boris johnson has been this is going to be interesting, borisjohnson has been quite rude about the russians in the recent past. yeah, makes for a quite awkward visit, i suspect. we've had borisjohnson suggesting that moscow has been guilty of war crimes in syria. he suggested that there's no case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. 0f case for relaxing sanctions over ukraine. of course, the suggestion that russians have been up to dirty tricks with regards to cyber attacks. the russian embassy have countered that by suggesting that borisjohnson countered that by suggesting that boris johnson wants to countered that by suggesting that borisjohnson wants to re—open the cold war. it would seem much to talk about during this visit. weir told that this visit will be, during this visit, borisjohnson will be robust. there's no sugges

these tweets are about. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british minister for five years. talks will focus on british—russian relations and disagreements over russia's actions in ukraine and syria. the foreign office said the trip did not signal a change in policy towards russia. the prime minister of somalia says over 100,000 people have died of hunger injust over 100,000 people have died of hunger in just the past two days. a drought was declared a national disaster on tuesday, the un estimates 5 million people are in need of aid and thousands have made their way to the capital in search of food. tens of thousands of people have marched in london today to protest at what they say are cuts to nhs services. hospital staff, campaigners and union representatives joined the demonstration, with labour leaderjeremy corbyn addressing the crowd. 0rganisers claim theresa may's demands on austerity in the nhs represent a real risk to patients and s

. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks, in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british minister for five years. talks will focus on british — russian relations, and disagreements over russia's actions in ukraine and syria. the foreign office said the trip did not signal a change in policy towards russia. the prime minister of somalia says over a hundred people from a drought—hit region in the country have died of hunger in the past two days. the drought was declared a national disaster on tuesday, and the united nations estimates that five million people are in need of aid. thousands have made their way to the capital in search of food. the french carmaker which owns peugeot and citroen is reported to have reached an agreement to buy vauxhall from general motors. talk of a deal has raised concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories, at luton and ellesmere port, which employ more than 4,000 people. an official announcement is expected on monday. our business corres

announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks, in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british minister for five years. talks will focus on british — russian relations, and disagreements over russia's actions in ukraine and syria. the foreign office said the trip did not signal a change in policy towards russia. with me is our political correspondent, elleanor garnier. russian relations on the schedule, what else will be discussed? there is quite a lot to talk about. it is a sign ofjust how bad the relationship is between the two countries this will be the first visit by a foreign secretary in five yea rs. visit by a foreign secretary in five years. the russian ambassador in london has said that dialogue between the two countries is important, and certainly last few months it discourtesy there has been aof months it discourtesy there has been a of dialogue. we have had boris johnson accusing moscow of war crimes he has criticised cyber attacks as dirty tricks, cold protests outside the embassy in london and said they should be no l

invested. the foreign secretary boris johnson has announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks, in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british ministerforfive years. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, is here. what do we know about what the foreign secretary hopes to achieve? he wants to improve the relationship with russia because at the moment it is poor. he is the first minister to go there from britain in five years and that illustrates that fact. he has accused the russians of war crimes in syria, calling for a demo outside the russian embassy in london, he has insisted there should be no relaxation of sanctions against the ukraine and in response, russian mc has mocked borisjohnson and said he's trying to a new cold war. —— russian embassy. the foreign 0ffice war. —— russian embassy. the foreign office are making it clear that this is not a besetting of the relationship, cosying up to moscow —— resetting. they said he will be very robust in the areas where they disagree, but president trump has started tal

developing between russia and turkey over military operations in syria. it follows talks in moscow with turkish president erdogan. the two leaders said ties were returning to normal, after their relations soured last november when turkey shot down a russian bomber on the syrian border. speaking to a news conference, president erdogan said the special relationship between the two countries will go even further. translation: we have discussed issues keeping our agenda at busy as well as what we can do in order to ove i’co m e well as what we can do in order to overcome them. we want to take the historic and special relationship between turkey and russia even further. sadly we have lost precious time because of the incident in 2013 that hurt us badly. translation: as a translation: as a result of co—ordinated actions, the ceasefire in syria is in place. the level of violence has dropped immensely. we agree with turkish colleagues on a further cooperation in fighting terrorist groups. as bbc russia's olga ivshina now reports, there are common interests, despite the two countries differi

election campaign and russia, but us officials say moscow did try to influence the result. brazil insists its meat is safe, but revelations about sales of rotten produce could hit its massive export market. and a class act. we meet the canadian who's scooped the $1 million global teacher prize. hello. good to have you with us. one month on from the renewed offensive to finally re—take iraq's report on the plight of the civilians of mosul. many thousands have fled the fighting, but the 500,000 people still there are facing a new battle to survive. 0ur middle east correspondent 0rla guerin has seen the desperation first hand from the edge of al mansur district of western mosul. in the clamour for help, many go empty—handed. gunfire the gunfire from iraqi soldiers trying to control the crowd at an aid distribution. gunfire survivors of the caliphate, now at risk from hunger. troops not keen for the chaos to be caught on camera. in the distance, smoke from an is car bomb. the front line is just a mile away. but those who flee'the fighting= there are no good options for the people

trump supporters - the election supporters during the election campaign and the moscow government. that is extraordinary in itself but we have - had the kind that is extraordinary in itself but we have. had the kind of leader we have also had the kind of leader of the fbi saying you know those allegations that donald trump made days ago about trump i’ve“ being 16 days ago about trump tower being phone tapped by barack obama? that is7 phone tapped by barack obama? that is all nonsense too, publicly putting himself at - with the putting himself at odds with the president, then you have the nsa reacting to the suggestion director reacting to the suggestion that somehow british agents might have been involved, saying that is all stuff and nonsense, there is no truth to that whatsoever. you haven't had a climb—down from the white house, they continue to believe their claims need to be investigated. suppose the one 1-7e115e1e9 emff11e1ee 171-e 11u11e comfort e7e11£e1eq emff11e1ee 1ee 11u11e comfort for donald trump e7e11£e1e1i eeff11e1ee 1ee eeeeee comfort for donald trump in al

. from that, one question — was there collusion between the trump campaign and moscow? the president said that is fake news. then there's the allegation that barack obama tapped the phones in trump tower before the election, perhaps using british big questions for a big man. at six foot eight, james comey stands head and shoulders above all around him. would he stick his neck out today at this hearing? the fbi, as part of our counter intelligence mission, is investigating the russian in the 2016 presidential election. and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the trump campaign and whether there was any co—ordination between thecampaign! 36 iii? fiéiéil if iii? ififiéiiigéiififi. into russian collusion, ames comeyrwould not be dram but what about the president's claims, that his predecessor barack obama had wiretapped trump tower? directed at him by the prior administration, i have no evidence 50 president obama could not unilaterally order a wiretap of anyone? no president could. the president accused mr obama and presumab

russian intelligence hacked comguters! between the trump campaign and moscow? the president says that is fake news. then there's the allegation that barack obama tapped the phones in trump tower before the election, perhaps using british big questions for a big man. at six foot eight, james comey stands head and shoulders above all around him. answer, yes. the fbi, as part of our counter intelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. and thgt inclfid2sinve§tiggting between individuals associated with the trump campaign and the russian government, and whether there was any co—ordination between the campaign and russia's efforts. on the detail of the investigation into russian collusion, james comey would not be drawn. but what about the president's claims, that his predecessor barack obama had wiretapped trump tower? here, he was more forthcoming. with respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping information to support those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the fbi. 50 president o

. one'questifin—we was there cellusien - between the trump campaign and moscow? in trump tower before the election, perhaps using british agents from gchq. big questions, for a big man. at six foot eightyjames esmeyl= stands head—and—shoulders answer — yes. in the 2016 presidential election. between individuals associated with the trump campaign on the detail ef the ieeeetieatieet .. — — — james comey would not be drawn. but what about the president's claims that his predecessor, barack obama, had wiretapped trump tower? with respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, i have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the fbi. 50 president obama could not unilaterally order a wiretap of anyone? no president could. the president accused mr obama, and presumably the fbi, of engaging in mccarthyism. were youeggaggd qi i try very hard not to engage in'any-= isms of any kind, including mccarthyism. then congressman schiff turned to the director of the national security agency to ans

national front leader said if she won the vote, she would consider lifting sanctions on moscow. they're just four years old but twins samuel and roman sharma managed to help save their mother's life when she collapsed at their home. roman found her iphone and used his mother's thumbprint to open it — so that he could ring the emergency services. duncan kennedy has been speaking to the twins and their mother. these four—year—old twins saw their mother claudia feint on the floor. what did they do, panic, cry? 0h, no. first, samuel picked up his mother's hand to place her thumb on her phone to unlock it. and then they did this... called daddy... they used the phone voice back —— they use the foreign's voice recognition system to call 909. —— the foreign's voice recognition system. where is your mummy? in a macro she is at home. —— to call 99. isaid macro she is at home. —— to call 99. i said syria, 909. and the police and the doctor came. —— siri, 909. the boys, who go to nursery school, say using smartphones is well, smart. clearly a life changing piece of four�

said that if she won the vote, she would consider lifting sanctions on moscow. they're just four years old but twins samuel and roman sharma managed to help save their mother's life when she collapsed at their home. roman found her iphone and used his mother's thumbprint to open it so that he could ring the emergency services. duncan kennedy has been speaking to the twins and their mother. when it comes to ingenuity, this boisterous pair don't do things by halves. four—year—old twins roman and samuel sharma saw their mum claudia faint onto the floor. but what did they do? panic, cry? oh, no. first, samuel picked up his mum's hand, to place her thumb on her iphone to unlock it, and then they did this. siri, call daddy... they used siri, the phone's voice recognition system to call not dad, but 999. the boys knew about siri by watching their mum and dad. isaid, "siri, 999." and what happened? the police and the doctor came. eventually, mum was taken to hospital. as a parent you tell them things and you hope things sink in but you don't expect it ever to happen orfor them to remember

one herself. the trip to moscow is not unusual. what is unusual is that in this election, the context, she is received by vladimir putin. she has a problem in that her rivals, like a manual micron, can be seen with angela merkel and theresa may, without any difficulty. she cannot. —— emmanuel macron. she has only met as heads of state the head of state of leven on and off chad. meeting vladimir putin shows she can be presidential and talk directly to some of the most powerful people on this land. but is it a wise meeting, given some of the accusations that have been levelled at rush hour over its alleged interference in your selections. there is a lot of fear about that in europe, as well as conspiracy theories on rumours that russia is supporting the far right. my russia is supporting the far right. my feeling is that with her supporters it will go well, because she can show that she is anti— system, that she is a rabble, and that she can go and meet the outcasts of this world and talk with the incarnation of the evil empire, vladimir putin, and that certainly goes well

attacker. marine le pen goes to moscow. she meet vladimir putin in the kremlin. can you we meet the four—year—old twins who saved the life of their mother when they worked out how to open her phone to call emergency services. hello and welcome. president trump has suffered a major defeat over one of this biggest campaign pledges. this vow to reform the system of america and repeal obamacare. he was facing a position notjust from democrats, but from this own party. he had issued an ultimatum saying he would drop it altogether if they did not back him. he was forced to abandon this plan after being told he simply did not have enough support. mr vice president, do you have the vote? a day of truly frantic meetings and phone calls, as the vice president, mike pence, went to the hilt to try to secure the votes needed to pass health care reform — trumpcare. and the usual tools deployed, a mixture of menace and flattery. but it wasn't going well. my vote is still a no. my vote has not changed. if anybody tells you for certain they know what is going to happen, they are lying. the situatio

presidential hopeful marine le pen in moscow. president putin denied trying to influence the french election next month and said he reserves the right to commit kate with all political figures. marine le pen said, if elected, she would do what she could to get eu sanctions against russia lifted. a rare but symbolic show of hospitality from vladimir putin. translation: are we in no way want to influence events, but retained for ourselves the right to meet with all representatives of all political powers, just as our partners in europe and the us do. the kremlin likes what it is hearing from france's national front leader. marine le pen has called for eu sanctions imposed on russia to be scrapped. she claims that crimea, the ukrainian peninsula co ntroversially the ukrainian peninsula controversially annexed by moscow, has always been russian. translation: you know my positions are known. i rarely change them, which probably makes me an exception. you know that i am for the development of relations with russia, and the long history that links are two countries. the national front leader may ha

goes to moscow — france's far—right presidential hopeful marine le pen meets vladimir putin in the kremlin. and we meet the li—year—old twins who saved their mother's life when they worked out how to open her phone to call the emergency services. can you go to your mum and shake her for me? president trump's withdrawn his healthcare bill before congress got a chance to vote on it — after it became clear he didn't have enough support for it to pass. our north america editor jon sopel has more. mr vice president, do you have the vote? a day of truly frantic meetings and phone calls, as the vice president, mike pence, went to the hill to try to secure the votes needed to pass health care reform — trumpcare. and the usual tools deployed, a mixture of menace and flattery. but it wasn't going well. my vote is still a no. my vote has not changed. if anybody tells you for certain they know what is going to happen, they are lying. the situation is still very fluid. and if concessions are made to the right of the republican party, you lose the moderates, and vice versa. at the white

motivated the westminster attacker. marine goes to moscow — france's far—right presidential hopeful marine le pen meets vladimir putin in the kremlin. and find out who was the sharemarket landed on the taxiway. a clue? here's a hollywood legend. —— was the schmuck. —— he's. hello. good to have you with us. president trump says he's surprised and disappointed after failing to secure republican support in congress for plans to replace obamacare, one of his main election campaign pledges. our north america editor jon sopel has more. mr vice president, do you have the vote? a day of truly frantic meetings and phone calls, as the vice president, mike pence, went to the hill to try to secure the votes needed to pass health care reform — trumpcare. and the usual tools deployed, a mixture of menace and flattery. but it wasn't going well. do you have the votes? my vote is still a no. my vote has not changed. if anybody tells you for certain they know what is going to happen, they are lying. the situation is still very fluid. and if concessions are made to the right of the republica

negotiated with moscow's help. in the weeks to come thousands more will board these buses and head to an opposition area in the north. despite the deal, a government cleric suddenly shows up, pleading with a muslim leader from the other side. "stay", sheikh isam begs him, "if you go you will end up like a refugee in a tent." sheikh atullah listens and then heads straight for the bus. the governor insists this is a good dealfor homs. translation: the rebels had such a terrible impact on the life of this city. once the armed men have gone, the city will be stable. restoring safety here will make all of homs safe again. time and again over the course of syria's war, this is how battles have been ending, in these local deals, the government calls them reconciliation, which they say will move syria closer to peace. but for the rebels, this amounts to surrender and a forced displacement. many of them leaving their homes. thousands of people will remain in al—waer. these pictures were filmed inside a rebel enclave. it's still encircled by troops so we can't go in. what was once a vibran

produced and peddle disinformation to american audiences in pursuit of moscow's preferred outcome. this russian propaganda on steroids was designed to poison the national conversation in america. the committee heard about a sophisticated operation that was alleged to have taken place. cyber security experts said that in key swing states there were operations under way, fake news operations, to disseminate disinformation to those who may be persuaded to vote. and when it comes to some of the information that russian agents are alleged to have put out there, many believe — and certainly it was the belief of cyber security experts — that they were trying to target donald trump himself. clint watts, who is a former fbi agent, testified that when it came to online habits they were monitoring the then campaign and wondering when he was online in the hope that he would see the fake news and then repeat it at one of his rallies. and he also said to the senate that they should follow the dead bodies because he said several russian officials that may have been involved in this have been

operation to counter moscow's current aggressive foreign policy. this is a time when nato needs to be particularly strong. richard galpin, bbc news at lancaster house. the headlines on bbc news: the president of the european council, donald tusk, rules out initial discussions on a future trade deal with the uk, until progress has been made on the terms of separation. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon sends a letter to theresa may formally asking for powers to hold a second independence referendum. president trump's ex—national security adviser, michael flynn, says he wants immunity before he'll testify on alleged russian election meddling. the market numbers for you, close of play in london saw a drop in 0.5%. the dax still up. the dowjones down and the nasdaq up narrowly. in a moment, it's full steam ahead for the flying scotsman at the re—opening of the settle—to—carlisle rail line. teaching assistants are facing fresh challenges as a result of growing financial pressures across the education system. teaching unions say staff shortages and budget cuts mean too many a

russia — which he denied. he was paid $45,000 to attend a dinner in moscow, hosted by the tv station russia today, and was seated at the same table as vladimir putin. he also lobbied on behalf of another foreign government, turkey, although that wasn't disclosed at the time. today, donald trump rallied to his side with this tweet: "mike flynn should ask for immunity, in that this is a witchhunt, excuse for big election loss by media and dems of historic proportion." but this is what donald trump and michael flynn said during the campaign, when it emerged that clinton aides had sought immunity over disclosing information about her use of a private e—mail server. if you're not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for? when you're given immunity it means you've probably committed a crime. so is there worry at the white house that his information could implicate the president? no — he believes that mike flynn should go and testify. he should go up there and do what he has to do to get the story out. in the meantime, the russians are again dismissing as fake news suggestions t