24/02/2018 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon.

The United Nations Security Council

is due to vote this evening

on a resolution calling

for a humanitarian

ceasefire in Syria.

It was due to be held

yesterday, but was delayed

by disagreements over the wording.

The Syrian government

is continuing its bombardment

of the rebel-held area

of Eastern Ghouta,

near the capital Damascus.

Activists say around 500 civilians

have been killed in the last week,

as Richard Galpin reports.

The relentless bombing which began a

week ago has shattered whole

neighbourhoods in Eastern Ghouta.

And shattered the lives of hundreds

of people, many of them children.

Besides those who have been injured,

at least 120 children have been

killed since last Sunday, according

to human rights activists. The

number of casualties overwhelming

the hospitals, some of which

themselves have been targeted in the

air raids. And despite all this, the

United Nations Security Council in

New York has still not been able to

pass a resolution, calling for a

ceasefire because of objections from

Russia.

I'm extremely frustrated

with the fact that the Security

Council, we have been able to adopt

a resolution to alleviate the

suffering of the Syrian people, very

frustrated with that.

The draft

resolution calls for a 30 day

ceasefire across the whole country,

starting without delay. Extremist

organisations al-Qaeda and the

Islamic State group are excluded

from this. The aim of the ceasefire

is to get urgently needed aid into

Eastern Ghouta, including medical

supplies and to evacuate the

injured.

Whether this bombing campaign

continues or can be temporarily

halted now depends on another

attempt at the UN Security Council

to hold a vote later today, with

Russia agreeing not to use its veto.

With 500 people now reported to have

been killed over the past week, the

pressure is mounting on Russia to

stop the bloodshed, at least for a

few weeks. Richard Galpin, BBC News.

Here, two people have

appeared in court charged

with causing the deaths

of two brothers in Coventry

by dangerous driving.

Corey and Casper Platt-May,

who were six and two,

were on a family trip to a park

when they were hit

by a car on Thursday.

Robert Brown, who's 53-years-old,

and Gwendoline Harrison, who's 41,

were remanded in custody.

The International Committee

of the Red Cross says more

than 20 of its staff have been

dismissed in the last three years

for sexual misconduct.

The disclosure is the result

of an internal review

of the Swiss-based organisation

which has more than

17,000 staff worldwide.

The revelations are the latest to

hit the aid sector in recent weeks.

Our diplomatic correspondent

Caroline Hawley joins me.

What more can you tell us?

The ICRC

is working on the front lines around

the world, it has done for decades.

It says since 2015, 21 staff members

were either dismissed all resigned

for paying for sexual services. This

is banned by the ICRC, even in

countries where prostitution is

legal. A further two members of

staff didn't have their contracts

renewed. The head of the ICRC said

he was deeply saddened to report

these incidents. He said he was

concerned cases should have been

reported before that were not all

were not probably handled. The ICRC

is the latest humanitarian

organisation to reveal cases of

misconduct in the wake of the Oxfam

scandal. The International

Development Secretary has given aid

agencies 192 aid agencies who

receive UK aid, given until Monday

to spell out exactly what steps they

have taken to safeguard people they

work with around the world, and also

to report individual cases to the

right authorities. So there is a

deadline that.

Thank you very much.

The US government is considering

appointing a special envoy

to Northern Ireland in a bid

to break the political

impasse, and restore

the power sharing government.

During a meeting with the Irish

Deputy Prime Minister in Washington,

the US Secretary of State,

Rex Tillerson,

said they were considering a list

of people for the role.

Northern Ireland has been

without devolved government

for 13 months, after a coalition

led by the Democratic Unionist Party

and Sinn Fein collapsed.

A former senior adviser

to Donald Trump has admitted charges

of conspiracy and lying

to investigators, who are examining

Russian political interference

in the 2016 presidential election.

In a plea deal, Rick Gates admitted

conspiracy to defraud the government

and making false statements.

He's become the third associate

of the president to agree

to co-operate with a special

investigation.

A number of US companies have cut

ties with the National

Rifle Association,

as consumers call for

a boycott of firms linked

to the powerful gun lobby.

They include the car

rental companies Hertz

and Enterprise Holdings,

both of which have stopped offering

discounts to members

of the Association, in the wake

of the Florida school shooting.

Our North America correspondent

Peter Bowes reports.

The aftermath to a school shooting

that could prompt change in America.

Amidst the grieving, the mood has

been different this time.

Within hours of a gunman

killing 17 people, anger

overflowed onto the streets.

CHANTITNG "NEVER AGAIN"

Now it's social media

where pressure is being exerted

on the hugely powerful gun lobby.

Under the hashtag BoycottNRA,

activists are targeting firms that

offer special benefits to members

of the National Rifle Association,

and they include some of the most

familiar corporate names.

The car rental companies

Hertz and Enterprise,

which also owns Alamo and National.

They're ending discounts offered

to members of the gun lobby

group from next month.

MetLife Insurance and the software

company Symantec are

taking similar action.

There's been no word

in response from the NRA.

It's unclear whether these actions

will hurt an organisation that

boasts 5 million members.

During the week, its chief executive

hit out at the protesters.

Their goal is to eliminate

the Second Amendment

and our firearms freedoms,

so they can eradicate

all individual freedoms.

Donald Trump says he's open

to new ideas, but the one he seems

to like best is giving

guns to teachers.

It's concealed.

So this crazy man who walked

in wouldn't even know

who it is that has it.

That's good.

That's not bad, that's good.

And a teacher would have shot

the hell out of him before

he knew what happened.

The debate over what to do next

will be highly charged

and intensely political.

Peter Bowes, BBC News.

A UK ticket holder has won nearly

£78 million in the EuroMillions draw

after sharing the jackpot

with a winner from Spain.

The jackpot has been growing

since the turn of the year

and was the third biggest

in the draw's history.

With Winter Olympics news on the

rest of the sport, here is Mike

Bushell at the BBC Sports Centre.

Thank you.

It's been a day of roller-coaster

emotions for Great Britain,

on the penultimate day

of the Winter Olympics.

In the early hours, Billy Morgan's

bronze medal made it Britain's

best winter games ever,

but a sixth medal proved out

of reach of the women's curlers.

Andy Swiss reports.

And he needs to go absolutely

stratospheric.

He's a former acrobat

with a dodgy knee but Billy Morgan

was about to leap into history.

Billy Morgan, yes!

At 28, Morgan is

a snowboarding veteran, this is his

last jump at surely his last

Olympics, what a way to finish.

That

is absolutely huge!

It propelled

Morgan into bronze medal position

and one by one, his rivals' hopes

came tumbling down.

He's gone!

When

the last one crashed, Morgan to his

utter disbelief, had his medal.

It's

pretty mad. If everybody landed

their runs I wouldn't be in this

position. It's a bit of luck, luck

of the draw, it came down to me on

the day, happy days.

Morgenpost

Majoli was also Team GB's. A

record-breaking fifth medal of these

Games.

The British team have had their ups

and downs here but Billy Morgan has

ensured they hit their target of

making this their most successful

Winter Olympics in history.

They have had £30 million of

funding, double bid last Games but

those in charge insist it's worth

it.

We knew it was going to be a

theatre of jeopardy, high-risk, high

reward, consistency required, lots

of delivery under pressure, so the

athletes phenomenally well.

But

could Team GB add one more to their

tally? The women's curlers in a

bronze medal play-off against Japan,

which proved predictably edgy.

That's unlucky.

The British team

with a slender 2-1 lead at the

halfway point but by the final end

it was Japan that had a 1-point

advantage. But Britain were closest,

extra time beckoned but Eve Muirhead

went for broke with calamitous

results. In going for glory, she

knocked out her own stone, handing

Japan the bronze and Britain only

bitter disappointment.

It's hard to

say we're going home with nothing.

We battled so hard, and as I say,

I'm devastated that it didn't turn

out well for us.

No doubting the

day's mixed extraordinary feat.

After winning gold on skis last

weekend, it was gold on a snowboard

for the Czech Republic rider. Two

titles, two sports, one quite

extraordinary athlete.

So with the curling over,

rugby union's Six Nations

takes centre stage.

Ireland take on Wales

in Dublin this afternoon,

and then live here on BBC one

from 4:45, it's Scotland

against England.

Our man in place at

Murrayfield is Olly Foster.

Keeping warm. Hello.

Hello. This is the oldest fixture in

international rugby. Scotland

against England. Always plenty of

needle, so much history down the

years but in recent years, England

have just hoovered up the Calcutta

Cup. They have won the last eight,

haven't lost the Scot since 2008 the

Scots always come into these matches

with hope, hope they can scupper

another title push from the English.

It is so tight at the top of the

table, Ireland are top of that Six

Nations table as we head to the

halfway stage of this championship.

In the next couple of minutes, what

a match that is going to be in

Dublin, as Ireland take on the

Welsh. Both teams have described

that as their cup final.

Ollie

Foster at Murrayfield.

One early kick off in

the Premier League this lunchtime

with strugglers Stoke City

the visitors to Leicester.

Stoke took the lead just before

half-time. Shaqiri continuing his

great recent form and a brilliant

goal. Leicester were gifted a way

back into it. How about this for a

horrendous goalkeeping error from

Jack Butland? Fumbling the ball into

his own net. 1-1 it remained with

just six minutes to go.

That is all be sporting out, back to

you.

Thank you.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC One

is at 7 - bye for now.