20/03/2018 BBC News at One

The Information Commissioner applies

for a warrant to search the offices

of the consulting firm accused

of misusing data from facebook.

A former employee claims

Cambridge Analytica harvested

the personal information

of 50 million Facebook users.

It denies any wrongdoing

We need to get to the bottom

of what happened with this personal

data, affecting citizens

across the world, and we are going

to proceed with a warrant to be able

to search the servers

and the premises.

We will have the latest.

Also this lunchtime...

23 Russian diplomats

pull out of London -

ordered to leave by the Prime

Minister in the wake

of the Salisbury poisoning.

A two-year-old girl dies

after being pulled from a car

in a river in Cardigan in Wales.

A bigger than expected

drop in inflation -

lower petrol prices contribute

to a rate of 2.7%.

And at risk of extinction -

the last remaining male northern

white rhinoceros has died in Kenya.

And coming up in sport,

should Serena Williams' world

ranking be protected?

One tennis tournament director

describes the seeding rules

as punishment for women who return

after maternity leave.

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

The Information Commissioner,

Elizabeth Denham, is to apply

for a warrant to search the offices

of the political consulting firm,

Cambridge Analytica.

A former employee has claimed

the company was handed the personal

data of 50 million Facebook users

and exploited it to influence

the 2016 US presidential election.

MPs have called on the Facebook boss

Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence to

a Parliamentary inquiry into the

matter.

Both companies deny any wrongdoing.

Keith Doyle reports.

Cambridge Analytica is a British

company normally behind the

headlines not in them. It says it

can provide data and insights to

drive your voters to the polls and

win the campaign. But it is the role

it had an Donald Trump's

presidential campaign that has

caused the Information Commissioner

to launch an investigation.

Cambridge Analytica is accused of

using the personal data of 50

million Facebook users to target

voters, using that information in

this way may be a breach of privacy

laws.

These allegations...

It says it followed the correct

procedures in obtaining and using

data.

Facebook insists it has done

nothing wrong and has suspended

Cambridge Analytica from its site.

New data protection laws will come

into force soon but for now, the

relationship between technology,

ethics and the law remains strained.

Keith Doyle, BBC News.

Our technology reporter,

Zoe Kleinman, is here.

Mark Zuckerberg is going to be

called before a parliamentary

committee. How much has Facebook

been saying about this?

Interestingly, considering he wants

to get the world talking, he has not

said very much at all so far. We're

waiting to hear whether there will

be a big meeting later on in San

Francisco were in more news might

emerge and you might say something

publicly. He has not said a lot.

Facebook said it has hired its own

team to search the Cambridge

analytical officers, then the

commissioner said you were seeking a

warrant, they are obviously doing

something, but they are not been

forthcoming about what the next step

should be. Whether or not they can

force Mark Zuckerberg to come here

remains to be seen. There are

certainly calls growing in the US,

calls for him to testify at

Congress, people really want to know

more about what data Facebook has

been collecting about people and

what it does with it and what

happens after it has been shared.

Thank you.

23 Russian diplomats

and their families are leaving

the UK today, after being expelled

in the wake of the

Salisbury poison attack.

Removal vans and diplomatic cars

have been seen leaving

their embassy in London.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May,

has said Russia is culpable

for the poisoning of the double

agent Sergei Skripal

and his daughter.

Paul Adams has the latest.

This report contains some flash

photography. Diplomats and their

families leaving the Russian Embassy

this morning. The Government says

the 23 are all undeclared

intelligence officers. But with

partners and children, it is thought

around 80 people are on the move.

The largest such expulsion since the

Cold War, a measure of the depths to

which Anglo Russian relations have

descended. This morning the Embassy

released these pictures of a sendoff

last Friday for the departing staff.

The ambassador thanking them for

their service and wishing them well

in the future diplomatic couriers.

What is our next move against the

Russians?

Across town, ministers

gathering to figure out what to do

next. No strong clues yet, the

Government is pleased with the level

of international solidarity so far,

it seems it will reserve the right

to take future action in the future.

Which? further action. In Salisbury,

no sign of a letup in a complex

painstaking investigation. The

police relying on the patient's and

Corporation of the local population,

making progress, they say, but

slowly -- relying on the patients

and cooperation.

We have 4000 hours

of CCTV footage so far, we have

digital media, almost 800 exhibits.

Think about they have been found on

the wrist officers taking them --

the risks. This will be slower than

perhaps people are expecting.

As

government scientists share their

findings with international

inspectors, Russia continues to

insist it is entirely blameless.

Boris Johnson has called the

Kremlin's responds a haystack of

lives -- lies and obfuscation. Will

the tit-for-tat continue? The risks

of action and inaction mean Theresa

May has plenty to think about. Back

here, remaining Russian staff bid

farewell to their departing

colleagues, this bitter dispute

disrupting lives and severing ties.

How long will the damage last? Paul

Adams, BBC News.

Our correspondent,

Richard Galpin, is in Moscow.

Again, what is being said about this

from your side?

Not an awful lot. We

have had a statement from the

Kremlin in which they are saying

Vladimir Putin has not got plans to

immediately meet the group of

Russian spies, diplomats, when they

get back to Moscow. What we think is

that it is highly likely, if we look

back at previous episodes like this,

if you remember the Russian sleeper

agents, ten expelled from the US in

2010, part of the spies swap in

which Sergei Skripal came to

Britain. Those agents, when they

arrived, they were fated, they had a

meeting in the Kremlin, with the

then president, they were given

medals, songs were sung with

Vladimir Putin, one of them, and

Chapman, she became a celebrity, her

own TV show, modelling, working with

United Russia, the main party.

Others worked for oil companies, got

contracts, and Andre Luke Varney,

the manic used of poisoning

Alexander Litvinenko -- the man

accused of poisoning Alexander

Litvinenko, he is a politician --

Andre Lugo buy.

The Environment

Secretary Michael Gove has

acknowledged fishing communities

will be disappointed by the deal

struck in the Brexit transition

deal. MPs are meeting the Prime

Minister today. Let us find out more

from Norman Smith.

There has been an urgent question

about this.

He sensed the Government

are firmly on the back foot about

the deal they struck on fisheries

policy in this transition period,

from MPs representing those

communities who bluntly feel they

have been sold out, let down by the

Government, in particular following

assurances they feel they were given

by Michael Gove that by day one of

the transition period, they would

take back control of fisheries

policy. A sense of anger fuelled too

by the fact that many of these

communities are precisely those

constituencies that voted most

heavily for Brexit and on top of

that, because fisheries has a sort

of iconic symbolic role in the whole

Brexit debate. In part because of

our maritime and nautical history

and in part because of a widespread

view that fishing communities have

suffered more than many others from

our membership of the EU which is

why this lunchtime Michael Gove was

at his most accommodating, saying he

understood the disappointment of

fishing communities and you note the

McRae UK negotiators had pressed for

a better deal but they had been

rebuffed by the EU -- and UK

negotiators. The difficulty is not

that those MPs will now revolt

against the transition deal, but

they will be watching very closely

indeed the final deal that is

negotiated and the real fear, some

of them have mentioned it in the

Commons this lunchtime, is that if

they can be let down over the

transition period, how great is the

danger they might also be let down

in the final deal as the Government

trades away control of fishing

policy for other areas where it

wants access to European markets?

Norman Smith, thanks very much.

A two-year-old girl has died

after being rescued from a car found

in a river in Cardigan.

Kiara Moore died in hospital

after being pulled out

the car in the River Teifi.

Tomos Morgan is in

Cardigan for us now.

Cardigan is a town in mourning

today. Young families and their

children have been laying flowers

and balloons at the side of the

river here where the car went in to

the River Teifi. In the back,

toddler Kiara Moore who later died

of her injuries in hospital.

Kiara Moore, just two years old, had

it not been for the tragic events of

yesterday afternoon, she would have

been celebrating her third birthday

a week today. Mid-afternoon on

Monday, Dyfed-Powys Police were

contacted about a missing silver

Mini in cardigan, West Wales. It had

been last seen in the centre of town

near the river around 330. Police

issued an appeal for witnesses.

Later they found the car in the

River Teifi outside the offices of

the family business. It later

transpired Kiara was in the back of

the car as it went into the river, a

30 emergency service personnel were

involved in the rescue operation,

she was flown directly by air

ambulance to Cardiff University

Hospital of Wales, but doctors were

unable to revive the toddler.

She

was a very lively little girl,

smiley, cheeky little smile all the

time, her and her mum were always

together, fun days out, she had a

happy little life. Short life but a

happy little life.

Commenting on

Facebook, her father, Jet Moore,

thanked the endeavours of the

emergency service that, while also

paying tribute to his daughter.

Describing her as, an incredible

happy young girl who lived, I hope,

a great adventure fun life. She may

have done more than most people. A

search of the River Teifi continued

into the evening, even after Kiara

was found. Today it is still unclear

how the Mini came to be at the

bottom of the river. Some of the

mothers we have spoken to today have

spoken on the impact it has had on

them and their young families.

Dozens of people have been

commenting on Facebook, messages of

condolence for the parents.

Dyfed-Powys Police have commended

the incredible selflessness of the

officers that went into the river to

try to rescue young Kiara. As the

town and the family mourn the loss,

the investigation will continue into

how exactly this tragedy unfolded.

Thank you.

There's been a bigger

than expected fall in inflation.

Figures from the Office

for National Statistics show

consumer prices rose at an annual

rate of 2.7% in February,

down from 3% in January.

A small drop in petrol prices is one

of the factors behind the fall,

as our economics correspondent,

Andy Verity, reports.

At this Kent -based maker of healthy

juices, slicing a little off your

cost can make a big difference. It's

selling point is a product that is

fresh with nothing added, not

preservatives nor water, so it is

essential to get it to the shelves

quickly. The young entrepreneur in

charge has said that the service has

been getting cheaper.

Things that are easing off in terms

of cost include distribution, we're

finding distribution costs have gone

down, it is more cost-effective to

move stuff from A to B. Other

aspects of cost easing, digital

technology is becoming more

cost-effective for us, we have seen

the cost of that come-down.

The cost of living is still rising,

not as quickly as most economists

expected, by 2.7%. Little sign of

further inflationary pressure coming

down the pipeline, with prices

leaving the factory up 2.6% and

prices of raw materials are by just

3.4%.

That is a much softer rise than in

the wake of the Brexit vote when the

price of raw materials jumped by a

fifth. The devalued pound meant

companies needed more pounds to

companies needed more pounds to buy

the imported goods, an effect which

took months to feed to supermarket

shelves. Now the pound is stronger

and inflation driven by import

prices is much less of a threat.

The impact of the fall in the pound

meant that import inflation was

quite high. That effect is fading

and increasingly inflation is coming

from domestic sources, higher wage

growth in particular driving up

costs.

While the cost of some services like

Communications has fallen, the Bank

of England still expects to raise

interest rates in May to head off

the risk of inflationary pressure at

home -- the Bank of England is still

expected to. The latest figures on

pay rise show that wages are not

keeping up with prices, a phenomena

leading to the worst squeeze in

living standards in 200 years. But

if inflation continues to flow, the

squeeze should soon begin to feel

less uncomfortably tight.

Andy Verity, BBC News.

Our top story this lunchtime...

The Information Commissioner

is seeking a warrant to search

the offices of a political

consultancy accused of using

the data of millions

of Facebook users to influence

the US presidential election.

And still to come...

More than 24,000 miles of roads

in England and Wales are said to be

in urgent need of repair

because of potholes.

Coming up in sport...

"We let the fans down" -

England's Danny Care admits the team

need to change their approach,

following their worst-ever finish

to a Six Nations campaign.

Police are urging the public

to become "counter-terrorism

citizens" - and report any

suspicious behaviour or activity

to help prevent a terror attack.

One in five reports made

to counter-terrorism police last

year contained useful

intelligence, officers claim.

They say people should

trust their instincts and let

them know when something

doesn't seem right.

Our home affairs correspondent

Danny Shaw reports.

The police need the public's

help to tackle terrorism.

They want people to become

their ears and eyes, to be

on the lookout for unusual activity

or behaviour and report it.

The message is trust your instincts,

just as officers trust theirs

to spot something that

doesn't feel right.

I may see someone paying attention

to security operations.

A car going past the same

location numerous times.

A person with no

direction or purpose.

The list is not exhaustive.

-- it is very much what is

suspicious to that person.

The purpose of this exercise

is to deter crime, engage

with people and remind them

about the importance of looking out

for suspicious behaviour.

The public's help has already become

crucial in tackling terrorism.

Last year the public contacted

counterterrorism police

almost 31,000 times.

Around 6700 calls and messages

contained useful information.

Tip offs were used to help

investigations and build up

intelligence on possible suspects.

One of those arrested

after a tip-off was a self-confessed

neo-Nazi, Ethan Stables.

Stables had posted a Facebook

message saying he was going to war

and planned to slaughter people

at a gay pride event.

A member of a far right

group contacted police.

At his flat they found

weapons and evidence

he'd researched how to make a bomb.

Stables was found guilty

of preparing an act of terrorism,

threat to kill and possessing

explosives.

Every good police officer should be

a counterterrorism officer.

I want every citizen to be

a counterterrorism citizen and this

is how they can do just that.

As part of the campaign

there is a short film showing

people the kind of things

they should report.

Police say don't be worried

about contacting them

if it seems trivial.

It might be the missing piece

of the jigsaw they need.

Danny Shaw, BBC News.

Another parcel has exploded

at a distribution centre in Texas,

in what police believe is the latest

in a series of bombings

targeting the city of Austin.

Two people have been

killed and six injured

in a total of four explosions.

The latest package to go off

contained nails and shrapnel.

Our correspondent Gary

O'Donoghue is in Austin.

Gary?

This is the first explosion

since the beginning of the month in

Texas. For authority is extremely

worried about what is coming next,

the bomber seems to have changed

their modus operandi since the

beginning of this operation. Three

of those were parcel bombs left for

specific victims on their doorsteps,

the fourth just on Sunday was a

tripwire in the street set off by

two passers-by. They are still in

hospital, with serious injuries but

in a stable condition. This latest

one at a FedEx blunt about an hour

south of where I am in Austen has

not injured anyone but it will worry

investigators that there are other

potential parcels in the mail,

perhaps, heading back towards Austin

they have no suspects and no idea of

motive at this stage.

Thank you,

Gary O'Donoghue in Austin, Texas.

The Government has increased

the amount disabled people can claim

to help them into work.

From next month, people

with disabilities will be eligible

for funding of up to £57,000

to cover support workers, transport

costs and other assistance.

Our disability News correspondent

Nikki Fox has more details.

Ben has worked at this

large accountancy firm

for more than 17 years.

Work is hugely important to me.

I always had the goal of having

a career, to have a job,

to be able to support myself.

He has cerebral palsy and needs this

specialist wheelchair

and his support worker,

Mohammed, to help him do

the things he can't.

Thank you very much.

Ben relies on funding through Access

to Work, a Government

scheme set up to help with extra

costs like this.

But in 2015, those costs were capped

and because of this,

Ben was denied the funding he needed

to replace his ageing wheelchair.

You feel that you battle so hard

to be able to come to work and work

full-time and hold down a job

for the length of time that I have

done, and in order to be able to do

that you do need support.

And there seems to be a complete

lack of support to the imposition

of the funding cap and the way

that it is managed.

-- through the imposition of the

funding cap.

But could problems like Ben's be

a thing of the past?

Today the Government has announced

an increase to the cap,

from just over £42,000 to £57,200,

twice the average salary.

I don't want there to be a cap

on aspiration for any disabled

person, and that's why we've

extended the scheme.

Disabled people or people

with health conditions should

have a tailor-made package

of support through Access to Work.

Campaigners say limiting the amount

of money available has already had

a negative impact on the employment

opportunities of disabled,

and particularly deaf people.

Many need multiple interpreters,

and that comes at a higher cost.

The best way is to remove

the cap altogether.

What's most important

is that people have access

to the employment market,

regardless of how much the costs.

I think a slight raise in the cap,

we'll still be facing and dealing

with the same situation.

There are some people that

will call this a U-turn.

Right at the beginning,

when the cap was introduced,

the minister at the time said

we would need to keep

it under review.

We work very closely

with disabled people and people

with health conditions.

We are absolutely determined to make

sure that everybody has

the opportunity of making progress

and getting a good job.

Ben has already spent thousands

of pounds of his own money

keeping his own wheelchair going.

But the Government says it's

confident he and many others

will now benefit from the increase.

Nikki Fox, BBC News.

There's a warning that a fifth

of roads in England and Wales

are in a poor condition

because councils don't have enough

money to tackle potholes.

The study, by the Asphalt Industry

Alliance, is based on information

from local authorities.

It says maintenance funding has

fallen short for many years and some

roads are now becoming unsafe.

This is the problem

that we are talking about.

It's a problem which

irritates motorists.

Every day, I feel like my tyres

are going to be completely ruined.

They are atrocious, the roads.

It's everywhere now.

It really, really

need some investment.

Simon and Tom are part

of a club which cycle around

10,000 miles a year.

Both have been recently injured.

There wasn't really anywhere to go,

with the cars being on the right.

I hit this pothole...

It kind of took one of my

hands off the bars...

And I went down quite hard.

Probably doing in excess

of 25, 26 miles an hour.

I've had injections, fluid put

in my shoulders and in my hands,

cortisone injections.

It's been quite an ongoing thing.

And the trauma's kind of stayed

with you, because you're

not out there cycling

competitively right now?

So it really knocks your

confidence, you know?

You're just really aware

of the road surface.

And certainly being pushed

out into the traffic

because of the state

of the broken roads.

And we know this, the big thaw,

is likely to make a big

problem even bigger.

But today a report from the people

who will help look after

the big fix says this.

Councils in England and Wales filled

in 24% fewer potholes last year

than five years ago.

And it will take 14 years to clear

the current road repair backlog.

One in five roads have got less

than five years' worth

of life left in them.

Now, compare that to last year

when we were saying one in six.

So the scale of the

problem is escalating.

Our roads are getting worse.

While novel ways are dreamed up

to highlight the problem,

the Local Government Association

says councils are making progress

in filling the holes properly

but need much more funding

from central government.

Central government say

they have given close

to £300 million to help do the job.

Simon was offered £18,000

from a council in compensation.

All of this costs, but today's

report says nowhere near enough

is being spent to tackle

decades of underinvestment.

Jane McCubbin, BBC News.

The last remaining male northern

white rhinoceros has died,

bringing the sub-species one step

closer to extinction.

The 45-year-old rhino, called Sudan,

was put down by a vet in Kenya,

after suffering an illness related

to old age.

Only two other northern white rhinos

are left, both females.

From Kenya, Alastair

Leithead reports.

There was no other

animal quite like him.

For the last few years scientists

and conservationists have been

trying to get Sudan,

the world's last northern

white rhino, to mate.

They even put the 45-year-old

on Tinder as an eligible bachelor.

As part of a publicity

campaign to save the sub

species from extinction.

But the gene pool is small.

The two remaining northern

white rhinos are his

daughter and granddaughter.

The last hope for the subspecies

is an IVF technique

which has never been tried.

It will depend on a surrogate

southern white rhino.

In the last three or four years

there have been attempts to develop

what I refer to as artificial

reproductive techniques,

in particular in vitro

fertilisation, to

recover this species.

It is massively

complex and expensive.

It has never been done

in rhinos before.

The chances of it working

are probably remote.

The last northern white

rhinos seen in the wild

were here in the national park

in the northern Democratic

Republic of Congo.

That was many years ago.

They were acknowledged as being

extinct in the wild in 2008.

An epidemic of poaching for rhino

horn in the 1970s and 1980s wiped

out many of these ancient animals

in central Africa.

Gradually those in captivity

have died of old age.

Sudan had been sick for some time.

Vets put him down when it was clear

an illness brought on by old age

was causing him pain.

This is where the last two surviving

northern white rhinos live under

armed guard 24 hours a day.

Such is the continuing threat

to this endangered species.

They now have just 30,000

rhinos left on the planet.

Sudan is unusual for his kind

because he died of old age.

Alastair Leithead, BBC News, in

northern Kenya.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Tomasz Schafernaker.

Here's Tomasz Schafernaker.

You are not with me in the studio,

is it something I said?!

Not at all, just for a change. Today

is the first day of astronomical

spring, it is the spring Equinox,

day and night of equal length. The

weather is behaving itself for most

of us. We have lost the cold

easterly winds we have had for quite

some time. Just a hint for a time

across the extreme east, but what we

will see increasingly is these

Atlantic weather systems pushing in

our direction. There is slightly

milder air, it is not all that warm.

Over the next few days you can see

an area of milder weather coming our

way, towards the end of the week it

looks like there might be something

colder returning. Nothing like what

we have had.

In the short term, the weather is

relatively quiet, just a couple of

sprinkled showers across Yorkshire

and the Midlands. The main story for

tonight is that the skies will be

clear across most of the UK. There

will be a frost, particularly across

England and Wales and perhaps

eastern Scotland. You can see the

clouds increasing behind me, the

westerlies setting in. This is a

hint of things to come for the next

few days. There is a big change on

the way, winds of change, if you

like.

Here is Wednesday's weather, a

bright if not sunny start across

many southern areas, notice the

westerly winds across Scotland in a

much milder direction, even the

south-westerly winds across Ireland.

Temperatures into double figures in

a number of areas, we have not had

that for a little while so things

will feel quite a bit warmer,

relatively, on Wednesday. On

Thursday here is the first usual

weather fronts coming off the

Atlantic, south-westerly winds. To

the east of art, the weather will be

quite bright with temperatures

getting up to maybe about 12. Even

in the rain in Belfast, 10 degrees,

it shows you how much milder the air

is. Towards the end of the week the

jet stream rushes in our direction,

whenever we see these wobbles going

up and down and up again, whenever

we see these patterns in the jet

stream, low-pressure systems start

spinning up and we can see one low

moving across the country, perhaps

even bringing sleet across the

hills. More noticeably a stronger

breeze across southern areas, with

temperatures up to 11 degrees. Back

breeze across southern areas, with

temperatures up to 11 degrees. Back

to you.

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime....

The Information Commissioner

is seeking a warrant to search

the offices of a political

consultancy accused of using

the data of millions

of Facebook users to influence

the US presidential election.

That's all from the BBC News at One,

so it's goodbye from me.

And on BBC One, we now join

the BBC's news teams where you are.

Have a good afternoon.