15/03/2016 BBC News at Six

Terror alert in Brussels - there's been a shoot-out

It's linked to last November's deadly Paris attacks -

the hunt is on for at least two terror suspects after a police raid.

People have been saying people have been shot in the street.

We'll be live at the scene with the latest developments.

All schools in England will become academies -

A heroes' welcome for Russia's fighter crews,

The parents at the centre of the record-breaking meningitis

The fight to save the African elephant.

We're on the trail of the poachers in deepest Congo.

There are another four of these carcasses spread all around

They arrived too late to catch the poachers,

Accusations that Donald Trump is inciting violence on another big

All power to Mullins and Walsh as Annie Power takes

the Champion Hurdle on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

As we go on air tonight there is stand-off between Belgian

security forces and at least two gunmen in the capital,

Earlier this afternoon eyewitnesses reported gunfire during a raid

The raid was linked to the Paris attacks which killed 130

Let's go straight to the scene and our correspondent

It was just after lunchtime that the first reports came. This is where

the police have sealed off this area in Forest. I have been here in the

daytime and it is busy, packed with people. In the street they launched

the raid, they were met with gunfire, but we know what brought

them here were investigations following the Paris attacks. Dozens

of armed police units moved into this district of Brussels in the

afternoon. They sealed off a series of streets, bringing the entire area

to a standstill. There had been a police raid here shortly after

lunchtime. As they moved in, the officers were met with sustained

gunfire. People were told to stay indoors, unable to move us police

hunted their suspects. The burst of gunfire came a little down to one

side where the operation has been focused. Also up there is a school,

where there were five classes of toddlers who were trapped in there,

being cared for by their teachers were there parents were unable to

get them out. Belgian prosecutors say this raid is linked to the Paris

attacks last November. Much of the planning and preparation for those

attacks happened here in Brussels. Belgian police have been searching

for two prime suspects linked to the attacks ever since. TRANSLATION: Two

individuals are apparently holed up in the building. A security cordon

has been set up by police and special forces teams are in position

along with Federal police so the operation is ongoing. Police have

not said who the targets of this raid were but it's known that armed

French officers were also involved in today's operation. A short time

ago there was words there may be more action, Belgian media saying

one of the suspects may have been, as they put it, neutralised. Thank

you. The Chancellor will deliver his

latest Budget tomorrow and will confirm a radical

shift in the way schools The role of local councils

in managing local schools will come to an end within a few years,

with every primary and secondary school expected

to become an academy. Our Education Editor Branwen

Jeffreys is with me. Just how significant is this going

to be? What makes this really different is that it's not about

intervening in schools that are failing or even in schools which are

underperforming. Tomorrow George Osborne will tell good schools

currently run by their local councils that they need to begin to

plan to move out of control of the Council and become an academy in the

next four to six years. Ministers say this leads to greater

innovation, more competition and greater choice for parents but

critics have pointed out those failures in the academy system too.

Some students have struggled for years, so it is not a silver bullet.

At the moment there is an clear evidence that it will produce a

better school system than the one we currently have. Thank you.

Russian fighter pilots have been given a heroes' welcome back home

His decision took world leaders, including David Cameron,

It raises questions about what the Russians have

achieved and how their partial withdrawal from Syria will affect

More on that in a moment but first here's Steve Rosenberg from Moscow.

At the Russian air base in Syria, it's the final checks.

In the cockpit of a Sukhoi 34 bomber, preparations for take-off.

And then, for Russia's air force, the long flight home.

Led by a command plane, the bombers head to Russia.

President Putin has ordered the majority of Russian forces

He says they have completed their task.

A few hours later, the planes armed pilots are back on Russian soil. It

is quite a homecoming. To Russia, with love. There is a traditional

Russian greeting and prayers. It is a hero 's' welcome. Vladimir Putin

wants Russians to see the military operation in Syria as having been a

total success and that's why the soldiers' return to Russia seems to

have been choreographed to present them as heroes. It is going down

well with the Russian people. We are really glad our troops are coming

home. Surprised but happy. Thanks to our soldiers, so-called Islamic

State is doing worse. The Syrian army is doing better, that victory.

There will be more planes coming home, more parties, but Moscow isn't

pulling all of its troops out of Syria and Russia has warned it will

continue to launch air strikes against what it calls terrorist

targets. The partial withdrawal of Russian

forces coincides with the latest round of Syrian peace

talks in Geneva. So, what are President Putin's

motives and what impact Here's our diplomatic

correspondent, Bridget Kendall. President Putin's move is carefully

calculate, a multifaceted chess move taking several options into account.

Russia's military airbase in Syria last night.

Pictures to suggest this campaign, as promised, is time-limited

Recent scenes like these reinforce the sense of victory. Grateful

Syrians in government-controlled Latakia, thanking Moscow for coming

to their aid. There is almost no Russian bloodshed, they haven't been

drawn into a messy quagmire, which Russians back home might not

support. The main goal is to start to pull out before Russia will get

dragged into this mess because I don't think anybody in Moscow

believes seriously that Syria and the Middle East can be stabilised

and settled any time soon. Plus Russia is hedging its bets. On the

one hand this is a partial pull-out, there will still be hundreds of

troops protecting Russia's airbase in Syria, poised to attack what they

call terrorist gangs. On the other hand Syria have been remarkably

reluctant to protect the Islamic State, perhaps to avoid making

Russia itself a target. Then there is what this pull-back says about Mr

Putin's relationship with the Syrian president. It looks like a warning

not to block process at Syrian peace talks in Geneva and not to get in

the way of Russia trying to repair relations with the west, but will it

work? If the Russians are indeed pulling their forces out of Syria it

is good news, but we don't yet know that is the case. Keeping the west

guessing may make Putin looked like a master tactician but let's not

forget this is a withdrawal and probably as much an admission of

Russian weakness is strength. Thank you.

Expert advice should be rejected and all children

up to the age of 11 should be vaccinated

That's the message a group of parents told MPs today.

Their petition has been signed by more than 800,000 people.

Currently the vaccine is only given to infants -

the government claims it would not be cost effective

The faces of some of the children struck by meningitis who have helped

Their stories encouraged record number of people to sign

what is Parliament's largest ever online

Today their parents went to see MPs to call for the vaccine

for meningitis B to be extended to more children.

Among them the former England rugby captain Matt Dawson,

I know and my wife knows we are lucky

and we are in a position where we can and we can

These parents want the meningitis B vaccine to be made available

The father who started the petition was told one of his daughters

We are a modern country, not a Third World country.

This two-month-old is having the meningitis B vaccine.

The UK is the first place in Europe to offer it routinely but only

The government said it is not cost-effective to extend it

This is one of the laboratories where the meningitis B vaccine

It is an alarming disease, because of the speed and severity

It is also a rare disease, and over the past ten

years in the UK, the number of cases has been declining.

That is part of the reason the government's

scientific advisers have not recommended older children should

They made their decision on the best evidence available.

On that basis, under one, it is appropriate to give

it to them but for older children it would cost such a lot if it

would mean they could not spend money on other things in the NHS,

then I think it was right.

There is a question about whether young adults

At 21, he got meningitis B and lost both

Young people are most likely to transmit the disease and some

scientists want to see whether vaccinating them

Prince William has unveiled plans for a crack down

He called the agreement signed at Buckingham Palace today

a "game changer in the race against extinction".

Every year between 30,000 and 40,000 African elephants

With under half a million left, their numbers are being decimated

by Asia's seemingly insatiable appetite for ivory.

Poachers and rangers are now in armed conflict in a number

of African countries with the Democractic Republic

Our Africa correspondent Alastair Leithead has sent this

It's tough terrain in Garamba National Park,

where less than 100 rangers are trying to protect

the last of the elephants across thousands

of African countries with the Democractic Republic

Our Africa correspondent Alastair Leithead has sent this

It's tough terrain in Garamba National Park,

where less than 100 rangers are trying to protect

the last of the elephants across thousands

We joined one of their foot patrols to a place where

The grass is so high, the only way to see a carcasses

Well, this elephant was clearly killed by a poacher.

Its ivory tusks were hacked off, it has been dead about three weeks.

There are another four of these carcusses spread all around

They arrived too late to catch the poachers,

30,000-40,000 elephants are being killed in Africa every year.

And with only around 400,000 left, it is not going to be long

And with so few boots on the ground, those responsible often get away

We followed their footprints, one of the rangers told me.

There are perhaps 1300 elephants left here.

Garamba was one of Africa's first national parks

But that has already been wiped out by poachers.

Now, they're fighting to save the elephants that are left,

in a place surrounded by civil war, and heavily armed militia.

And that is why African Parks, the group managing Garamba,

But the weapons are old, few hit even a close target.

Training rangers takes a lot of time and money.

And the men they are up against are hardened fighters.

This really does feel you're fighting a war against poachers.

I think Garamba is probably today at the forefront of conservation

I don't think many other places have so much contact and so many threats

This local man was arrested after a tip-off, and ivory recovered.

Over time it reaches the market in Asia, it goes for at least 750.

Then reports came in of another attack.

And there are the carcasses just down there by the river.

And the six we have just spotted, a bit further up the river

from there, it is hard to make out from up here,

but you could see that their faces had been cut off.

They need hundreds more Rangers to protect Garamba.

On the front line of the poaching war, the elephants

Alistair Leithead, BBC News, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There has been a shoot out in Brussels, anti-terrorist police are

hunting for at least two men. And still to come, one British woman's

journey from make-up artist to athletics sensation. It is a big

night for Manchester city, they have a two goal cushion as they attempt

to lead -- reach the Champions League quarterfinals.

Voters in Florida and four other key states are voting now

to choose their preferred candidates to run for President.

Support for the Republican candidate, Donald Trump,

stronger - that's despite accusations that he has incited

violence with some of his campaign speeches.

Today, President Obama has intervened, describing some

Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, has more.

If there is one place in America where Donald Trump shouldn't

He has upset a lot of Hispanics with his rhetoric, and he is up

against the local Cuban-American senator, Marco Rubio.

But for all the controversy, if you join up the dots,

Donald is the more important man in the world now.

It is scary, but he is the only one...

I think anything is better than Hillary Clinton.

The latest firestorm is the violence that has erupted at Trump rallies,

as his supporters skirmish with protesters.

Actions that should have no place in democratic politics.

And the charge against Mr Trump is that, far from condemning,

his language has condoned, even incited, such behaviour

I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you...

Do you know what they used to do to guys like that when they ere

They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.

I don't know if I would have done well, but I would have

So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato,

knock the clap out of them, would you, seriously!

I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees, I promise.

Yes, Donald Trump's comments have caused a furore,

If anything, his poll lead is increasing, and at this

polling station in Miami, he seems to be

The others seem to have given up the fight.

And for all the discussion of punch-ups, if he wins

here tonight and in Ohio, the talk will instead be

about having delivered a knockout blow to his opponents.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, is set to give the government's

the upgrading of the line between Manchester and Leeds

He's expected to outline plans to spend ?300 million

on transport in the North of England, where a commission is

Our transport correspondent Richard Westcott reports.

8.00am and the daily grind for commuters

Welcome to the M62 at rush-hour, we're stopped, which isn't unusual

This is a critical section of road because it links up the two biggest

northern economies, Leeds and Manchester,

and yet this section of road hasn't been widened since 1971.

I'm sat in it sometimes for an hour at a time and today's probably one

of worst for those poor people going eastwards.

The transport links down south are a lot better than they up

I think because we're out of the way, we're forgotten about.

Does it put you off travelling between Leeds and Manchester?

The trains are no better with not enough fast services or seats.

Today's report calls for a detail plan to speed things up,

especially across the Pennines and it wants immediate action

on the M62, easing jams between Leeds and Manchester.

If you can cut those journey times and make the journeys much more

reliable, hence improvements to the M62, that would lead to a lot

more trade and business between the two cities and that

The Government's now promising ?160 million for more lanes

on the M62, plus money to develop ideas for much faster trains

and a huge Trans-Pennine road tunnel, but in England transport

spending per person in the north is still dwarfed by spending

On the day before his Budget, Chancellor George Osborne

was doing his bit on London's Crossrail project.

REPORTER: What do you think about a Crossrail 2 then?

It's the capital's brand new rail line, and he wants to build another

We're currently planning to spend around ?2,600 per person

on transport infrastructure in London compared to around

about ?500 per person on transport in the north.

So the announcements today will be a small step in the right direction

In reality, new road tunnels and rail lines cost billions

So this morning ritual won't be changing any time soon.

Richard Westcott, BBC News on the M62.

A brief look at some of the day's other news stories.

A prison officer - Adrian Ismay - injured in a bomb attack

in Northern Ireland earlier this month has died.

The 52-year-old was seriously hurt after a booby-trap device

exploded under his van in east Belfast.

A dissident republican group, widely referred to as the New IRA,

A report into a helicopter crash off Shetland in which four people died

says flight instruments were not adequately monitored by the pilots

in the moments leading up to the crash.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report says the lack

of monitoring meant a reduction in air speed was not noticed

The Church of England is to introduce changes to the way

it deals with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy,

following a critical independent report.

The confidential report, which has been seen by the BBC,

reveals that senior clergymen kept no record of claims disclosed

A ?1.2 billion deal has been signed to improve public

transport and bring economic growth to Cardiff.

It includes ?734 million for the South Wales Metro,

The scheme aims to create 25,000 new jobs and attract an extra

four billion pounds in private sector investment.

She's a part-time hair and make up artist

but last month beat all of Britain's best 800 metre runners to get

a place at her first senior championships -

the world indoor athletics in Portland

Adelle Tracey is a rising star in british athletics and we went

COMMENTATOR: Adelle Tracey's not beaten yet, and she's

I think it wasn't really until about maybe 150,

100 to go that I kind of felt, actually, you know, I can do this.

COMMENTATOR: But it's Tracey who wins it.

I suppose my aim was always to kind of get that

I really wanted to go to the World Indoors in Portland.

So it's just very much a case of me, you know, being at my first

championship and getting that experience and trying to do the best

So, you know, if I can give everything that I have on that day,

Young runner, Adelle Tracey, is nominated

it's not sunk until, you know, I watch it back and I look

at the scale of everything, I do realise how important

The only thing that could really top that is, you know,

being at a Championship or, you know, the Olympics myself.

I've done a lot of weddings, which I love because,

you know, you get to share that moment in the morning,

the excitement of the bride and everything, which is perfect.

You know, working in prosthetics is very different, it's long hours

I guess, slightly more less glamorous.

I helped work on projects for Doctor Who.

I think it's very much a case of me just, you know,

carrying on doing what I'm doing, running as fast as I can because,

and I really hope that that's enough to make the team.

Adelle Tracey there, talking ahead

The dry weather set to continue even into the weekend, the sunshine makes

such a difference. In western Scotland today, a cracking day,

positively feeling like summer. Whereas on the east coast it was dry

and murky, and cold at just 6 degrees across parts of East Anglia.

The satellite image shows how the cloud has been dribbling in from the

North Sea. Eventually sunshine tending to disappear across parts of

Wales. We will keep the cloud overnight, it will provide spots of

rain across eastern England, staying murky and misty across the North Sea

coast. Temperatures generally in towns and cities staying above

freezing, but in parts of Scotland we could get close to zero. There

may be rain and drizzle over the Midlands, not amounting to match,

soon disappearing. For most, it is a dry day. It should be another sunny

day across north-west Scotland but there will be a bit more cloud than

today. A bit more cloud tomorrow for Northern Ireland, and right the way

down the east coast it will feel cold, temperatures for much of the

day just four or 5 degrees. It will be a cloudy day tomorrow generally

across the south-west of England, but it will brighten up here on

Thursday. Southern areas seeing more sunshine, whereas further north that

will be more cloudy. Again, most places dry and the sunshine makes

all the difference. As we go into the weekend, the dry theme continues

but there will be more cloud around. Thank you. That is all from us, now

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