19/03/2017 BBC Weekend News

The plight of the civilians of western Mosul -

a special report on the hardship after so called Islamic State.

There are chaotic scenes in Iraq's second city as the authorities

try to provide for up to half a million people.

They say they have no running water, no electricity, no access to medical

supplies and people in the queue are really afraid that the food

is going to run out before they are able to get some.

After a month of fierce fighting, we'll be live in northern Iraq

A man is arrested on suspicion of murdering a one-year-old.

North Korea's leader celebrates a successful rocket test,

but it's stoking tensions across the region.

George Osborne's latest job sparks a rethink of the rules for MPs -

the Committee on Standards meets this week.

And tributes flood in for Chuck Berry -

remembered tonight as a founding father of rock and roll.

One month on from the renewed offensive to finally re-take Iraq's

second city from so-called Islamic State.

We have a special report on the plight of the civilians of Mosul.

Many thousands have fled the fighting in the western half

of the city in recent weeks - but the half a million people

still there are facing a new battle to survive.

Amid shortages of food and other essentials,

our Middle East correspondent Orla 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.

The gunfire from Iraqi soldiers trying to control the crowd

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.

But those who flee the fighting here, end up in overcrowded camps.

There are no good options for the people of Western Mosul.

You can see here the utter desperation in this area.

Local people here tell us, this is the first aid supplies

They say they have no running water, no electricity, no access

People in the queue are really afraid that the food is going

to run out before they are able to get some.

Barely able to walk, but with many mouths to feed,

Hamda Mohamed, whose family is living on bread and water.

I'm crying, she says, because my children don't understand

Another woman has suffered a double loss.

As the troops keep watch, there's tension in the crowd.

With the frustration building, Hatem Ahmed compares the security

What's the difference between the IS police,

The IS police beat us, and they beat us,

Is this the liberation they have brought us?

Nearby, some are returning to this battle-scarred neighbourhood.

His home was occupied by IS for three months.

He says they threatened to hang his wife because she

Isis knocked through the wall, he tells us, so they could move

Their reign of terror has destroyed the fabric of his neighbourhood.

We can never live again with those who collaborated with IS, he says.

If I catch the man who informed on my wife,

The battle for Mosul may now be in its final phase.

This ancient city emerging from modern-day barbarity.

When the caliphate crumbles, there will be much to rebuild,

And Orla joins us tonight live from Erbil in northern Iraq.

You taught there about the battle for Mosul, what sense have of how

far this offences has got to achieving it same? This has now been

dragging on for more than five months, but there is no doubt we are

seeing the dying days of IS in Mosul. The final phase of the battle

is proving to be the most difficult. But was always expected to be the

case. Iraqi troops are fighting in the old city area of western Mosul.

That is a narrow series of alleyways, and maze of streets. They

cannot move forward there with heavy armoured vehicles. They are actually

advancing on foot. One commander we spoke to a few hours ago said this

is the hardest fighting, harder by the day. There are fierce clashes

taking place. They are trying to proceed with caution, because this

area is still densely populated. They are closing in on a key

strategic objective. That is a centuries-old mosque. This was the

place where the leader of IS made his first public appearance back in

2014 after IS declared its caliphate. Today the black IS flag

is still flying at the mosque but the security forces tell us they

expect to reach it within days. If and when it is taken, it will be a

key symbolic loss for IS. The UN is warning that they expect or fear

that many more civilians will flee in the weeks ahead. They are saying

perhaps as many as 300,000. As they leave they risk being shot by IS. If

they stay they risk coming under fire from mortars, shrapnel and air

strikes. And they have to endure an increasingly dire humanitarian

situation as we ourselves have witnessed.

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of murdering a one-year

Bidhya Sagar Das - who's thought to be the toddler's

father will also be questioned over the attempted murder

of a second child - the boy's twin sister.

The top floor flat of this building in Finsbury Park

is now a crime scene, where a one-year-old boy was killed

and his twin sister was left critically injured,

in what local people describe as a brutal attack.

Police began door to door enquiries early this morning,

searching the area immediately around the property

Following closely behind were forensic teams,

bagging and sealing what could be evidence in this

It was just after 11 o'clock last night that the police were called

by neighbours, who said they had heard the children's

mother screaming that her babies had been hurt.

Do you want me to call the police or the ambulance for you?

I asked her, what's wrong, what's happening?

Police have now arrested this man, Bidhya Sagar Das.

He is believed to be the children's father.

A neighbour told the BBC that until two days ago he had been

Officers had spent the day searching for the 33-year-old,

who they say was not at the flat by the time the emergency

We expect forensic teams to work here at the flat overnight

as investigators try to piece together the moments before

the attack, in which a little boy was senselessly killed.

His sister has been operated on in an East London hospital.

We understand her condition is critical but stable.

Sangita Myska, BBC News, Finsbury Park, north London.

The final day of the US Secretary of State's East Asia tour has been

overshadowed by North Korea's announcement of a breakthrough

The North Korean leader has been pictured celebrating what he said

was a successful test, as Rex Tillerson warned from Beijing

that tensions on the Korean pensinsula are at a dangerous level.

Our China editor Carrie Gracie sent this report from Beijing.

The smiles were somewhat strained when when the Chinese president

They had intended to steady anxieties about where US-China

But as these players posed for the cameras,

With these pictures of Kim Jong Un, North Korea announced the successful

test of a new rocket engine for its space and satellite programme.

He's already warned that his nuclear missiles will soon be able

Mr Tillerson was in Asia to warn that US patience is at an end,

asking China to do more to persuade its North Korean ally

It's frustrated by North Korea's recklessness and anxious

to find common ground with the new Trump administration.

But it's also sceptical about whether more economic pressure

would force North Korea to renounce nuclear weapons.

And it's suspicious of American intentions in the region.

China wants fewer Americans in Asia, not more.

But to meet the threat from Pyongyang, US troops

And the US is deploying a new anti-missile system there.

So Kim Jong Un stole the headlines as the big powers failed again

His rocket test, a calculated message of defiance to both the US

And Carrie is live in Beijing for us.

What are the Chinese government's options in how to deal with this

latest situation from North Korea? I think it feels the options are

limited at this point. The problem is it doesn't seem North Korea as

simply a nuclear weapons problem, it sees North Korea as a strategic

problem. North Korea is the buffer for China against US strategic

rivalry, with the US system based in South Korea. However much they

loathe Kim Jong Un, and they do, they can't really let his regime

collapsed because that might possibly put a reunified career as a

US ally with US troops on China's north-east border. That is the risk

for them. That means they will support his economy and they will

resist ratcheting up economic sanctions against him in the way

that the US is now putting pressure on them to do. And cunning Kim Jong

Un knows all of this perfectly well. He knows what he has to do to

survive is to prevent a grand strategic bargain between the US and

China and go on fuelling mistrust between them. And given all that, I

think what we will see in the next couple of weeks in the run-up to the

expected summit in Florida will possibly see more show stealing

moments from North Korea like the rocket test of the weekend. Thank

you. The committee which draws up

the rules on MPs having second jobs is to meet this week,

following the appointment of the former Chancellor George Osborne

as Editor Our political correspondent

Chris Mason is here. How much concern is there over

Mr Osborne's new job? I think it's fair to say it rather

flabbergasted Westminster when this announcement was made on Friday.

Jaws were on the floor. It is practice in editable that this

latest addition to the portfolio of extra curricular activities for the

former Chancellor will provoke. I have been looking at some sums

tonight. Around 100 MPs out of 650 have some sort of other job. There

are doctors, lawyers, farmers and a dentist. The chairman of the

Committee on Standards in Public life said there is a balancing act

to be struck between time devoted to parliamentary duties and the option

of pursuing other professional interests. He said at this meeting

which will happen on Thursday they will discuss exactly that balance. I

think he is hinting at the idea that the heavy nature of the order

Osborne's diary might be stretching it it a little bit. This is just the

start of the process. George Osborne has six jobs in total. Some of them

are pretty small and don't require a huge amount of time. He says he can

manage the juggling act. This is the beginning of what could be a long

process to change the rules so it is not guaranteed rules will definitely

change. Thank you. Nicola Sturgeon has said that

an independent Scotland would apply to re-join the European Union

and would keep the pound. Scotland's First Minister also said

she was determined to hold a referendum by spring 2019 -

but the exact date might depend The Conservative leader in Scotland,

Ruth Davidson, insisted there was no need for a

referendum and said the majority The Liberal Democrat leader,

Tim Farron, has urged Conservative MPs who oppose Theresa May's vision

of Brexit to join his party. Speaking at the Lib Dems'

spring conference in York, Mr Farron accused the Prime Minister

of pursuing the same "aggressive nationalistic"

agenda as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and the French

National Front leader, A man's been arrested

after a Thomas Gainsborough painting at the National Gallery

was vandalised. The 1785 work, best known

as The Morning Walk, has been removed from display,

after it was attacked The NHS is facing a "mission

impossible" to meet the standards and targets required

by the Government. The organisation which represents

health trusts in England - NHS Providers - has said money

allocated for the next financial year isn't enough to meet

waiting time targets It's been a winter of

unprecedented strain on the NHS, with hospitals full -

or close to it - The budget earlier this month

included new funding for social care and investment in A

units in England. NHS providers representing hospitals

and other trusts said that may ease some of the pressure,

but there'll still be a yawning gap in the resources needed just to keep

services ticking over. This is the first time in recent NHS

history that trusts are saying they cannot deliver the key accident

and emergency and elective surgery That's before the year

has even started. That's the first time ever

that's actually happened. The warning comes after

the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said hospitals in England should get

back to the target of seeing or assessing 95% of patients

in A within four hours. It's not going to be overnight,

but it is essential. I am expecting the NHS to return

to that target during the course NHS providers say there'll be big

increases in the number of patients in England who lose out next year

because key targets are missed. With 1.8 million waiting more

than four hours in A, and on another key bench mark,

waiting times for routine operations and procedures,

100,000 patients will wait more than 18 weeks before

their surgery takes place. The Department of Health said

the comments fail to acknowledge that the NHS has a strong plan

to improve performance - others argue efficiency should

be the top priority. And that the service can curb costs

by treating more people The NHS and social care have

had five emergency cash injections in the last two

and a half years alone. What it needs is a whole programme

of modernisation, change. I fear that another dollop

of extra money would stop It's a big debate in Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland Is it simply a question of money

or can the NHS transform the way it provides services as a growing

and ageing population increases the demand

for health and social care. The music world has been paying

tribute to Chuck Berry - the guitarist and songwriter who -

for many - invented rock and roll. Sir Mick Jagger said Chuck Berry had

"lit up" his teenage years and "blown life"

into the Rolling Stones' dreams. Our arts editor Will Gompertz looks

back at the life of a man All Chuck Berry classics today,

but revolutionary back in the mid-1950s, when the one-time

hairdresser from St Louis rocked America with his electrified fusion

of gospel, blues and country. He gave the kids what they wanted,

songs about the teenage dream of fast cars, hot dates

and unrestrained freedom. That's why I wrote about school,

half the young people go to school, Half of the people have cars,

I wrote about cars and mostly all of the people, if not now,

they will soon be in love. His brashness gave rock an attitude,

his guitar licks a foundation The Beach Boys, the Beatles

and The Rolling Stones are indebted to Chuck Berry,

as Mick Jagger tweeted today. "Your music is ingrained

inside us for ever". Chuck Berry makes the guitar

the rock and roll instrument. You can't lug a piano

to your friend's house but you can take a guitar and Chuck Berry uses

these riffs, these wonderful introductions in a way that

Keith Richards learned, Chuck Berry was never slow to remind

Richards who was the boss. I've been living

for 60 years with it. Is it going to be around

after we are all dead and gone? In 1962 Chuck Berry was sent

to prison for having sexual When he was released two years later

he found that his wife had left him and so to a large extent

had his songwriting mojo. He continued to perform,

duck walk and all. You can argue all day long

as to who was the father of rock music, but one thing is for certain,

Chuck Berry was there at the birth. Chuck Berry - who's

died at the age of 90. You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.