25/02/2017 BBC Weekend News

The former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband says the party

is the furthest it's been from power in 50 years.

He was responding to Labour's by-election

defeat in Copeland - in Cumbria - where

the Conservatives overturned a majority of more than 2,000

to oust Labour from a seat it had held for 80 years.

Jeremy Corbyn has said he won't step down as leader.

Here's our political correspondent Matt Cole.

If these scenes had been repeated in Copland that receiving stalker would

be less problems for Jeremy Corbyn. Not for the first time, the former

Foreign Secretary has spoken his mind in a newspaper interview, where

he said he feared Labour is losing support at the core base. He

added... I am obviously deeply concerned that Labour is further

from power than at any stage in my lifetime. Mr Miliband is not the

only one being critical of Labour in print. Dave Prentice, the leader of

the union UNISON said Copland was a disaster and whilst not penning the

blame on Jeremy Corbyn, he does say since his re-election five months

ago they have not moved an inch closer to setting up shop in Downing

Street. That said, for the most part, the unions are still with

Jeremy Corbyn. It is about as reconnecting with our roots and

getting the working class back. We were told we were not doing that and

we did. Labour's deputy leader says he does not agree with Mr Miliband.

I understand the point he is making that we are in difficult times and

we need to change tack to build a winning coalition for the next

general election. Holding stalker has tempered the potential for other

attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and his strongest critics have held off

calling him to quit following the catastrophe in Copland which is just

as well because he is insisting he is going nowhere.

Several news organisations, including the BBC, have been barred

from entering a press briefing at the White House.

The New York Times and CNN have expressed concern over

the exclusion of their reporters - calling the decision unacceptable -

while the BBC has said it is seeking clarification.

President Trump's spokesman, Sean Spicer, was challenged

REPORTER: Are CNN and the New York Times not in here because you're

Because we had a pool and then we expanded it and we added some

It was my decision to expand the pool.

REPORTER: The president said "we're going to do something about it"

in reference to these stories that he is saying are false

by the New York Times, CNN and others.

We're going to aggressively push back.

We're just not going to sit back and let false narratives,

false stories, inaccurate facts get out there.

Five teenagers from London have appeared at Westminster Magistrates'

court today charged with terror-related offences.

The boys, aged between 15 and 19, were arrested on Tuesday,

following a series of raids across the capital by

the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit.

Three men have appeared in court on slavery charges

after the discovery of a cannabis factory at a disused nuclear

A police raid there on Wednesday found plants with a street value

All three men were remanded in custody.

Iraqi forces have entered parts of western Mosul in what is expected

to be an arduous and dangerous battle to remove so called

Islamic State from Iraq's second largest city.

Wyre Davies reports from an advanced Iraqi military base

where American troops and advisers are proving to be a key part

The battle for Mosul is in a critical phase.

Fierce clashes on the western edge of the city.

Fighters from so-called Islamic State recede into narrow

streets where government forces will have to follow.

From a field just to the south, these big American guns are why

local commanders are confident they can finally drive

IS from its last major stronghold in Iraq.

This is an overwhelmingly Iraqi military operation,

but the role of American advisors and troops, so-called boots

US artillery pieces pounding targets in Mosul.

US commanders are reluctant to divulge the most sensitive

details particularly about Special Forces at frontline,

but say American support can tip the balance.

The fight in western Mosul will be a tough fight for really

So the Iraqi army and Iraqi federal police will face a tough fight.

It will be a lot of house-to-house fighting.

They don't have any choice, but to fight.

The Iraqis will certainly defeat Daesh and Mosul.

But in this brutal conflict, IS fighters will use

This IS video eulogises the use of commercially available drones

This woman's leg was shattered in a drone attack.

There were people pointing to the sky from where the bomb

This is pretty new for this conflict.

This method can be very effective and impacts on the population.

With 750,000 civilians currently trapped inside western Mosul,

aid agenies are are preparing for the worst.

They're already calling it a humanitarian crisis.

The Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has celebrated his

with thousands of supporters attending a party outside

Activists and opposition leaders have

criticised the lavish festivities, which have been taking place

all week, despite severe economic hardship in the country.

Mr Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and says he will stand

With all the sport, here's Mike Bushell

Claudio Ranieri has been at the Leicester City

training ground this morning to say his goodbyes

He was joined by the club's Thai owners, who flew in by helicopter

to help with the goodbyes, after they sacked the

Speaking to the media afterwards, Ranieri said he hoped that

Leicester could one day repeat their title success.

I don't speak to anybody, just to say to the fans they are fantastic.

How do you feel? I feel good. Of course, what we achieved in

Leicester, I hope can happen again. Was it emotional with the players?

It was normal. Do you feel badly treated? And off he went.

It's a crucial day in the Six Nations with Scotland

hosting Wales in the first match at Murrayfield.

Our reporter Patrick Gearey is already at Murrayfield,

on a day when we'll get a better idea about which team will be

the main challengers to England in the race

Still more than an hour until kick-off but people are taking their

seats. There is a renewed sense of optimism in rugby. -- in Scotland.

We'll make only one change, a reflection of how well they played

in the defeat to England. But a further defeat would count them out

of the running for the title, as it would Ireland or France. It is

always interesting to see how Johnny Sexton goes and we will see how

Ireland deal with the fearsome French pack. Everyone is playing

catch up to England, who we will expect to still be in charge of the

tournament. But who today can emerge as challenger in the final two Mac

weeks of the tournament? Tonight in Hull, we could have

some boxing history - Britain's first world champion

twins. Gavin McDonnell is aiming to become

the WBC world super bantam weight champion and join his twin brother

Jamie who already McDonnells have never been far

apart. Gavin is 12 hours away from collecting his own world title. I

got a little bit of a bug forehead. I was thinking, I can do this, just

lived in the pub with his mates and then said, I can do it. Gavin proved

the doubters wrong as he won the title is but Jamie has always been

one step ahead. He has always been a champion from day one. All my life

I've been trying to outdo him. This title really puts me up there with

him. It should earn him a place in Doncaster on his parents wall. They

know what they are doing. If you show them a photograph they will

point to the other one. They are looking at the brother. It is a bond

that will never be broken, especially in a boxing ring. Would

you do it, against him? I don't think so, too much of a risk.

Tonight, the laughing stops. Gavin has his eyes on that number one

ranking. You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel. The next news on BBC

One is at 5.10pm. Good afternoon. After the turbulent

weather, things have calmed down a bit. There has been rain around.

This was the scene in Cumbria. Some brightness to be found. As you can

see the thickest of the cloud has cleared. Further south this wedge of