and the landlords offering accommodation — in exchange for sex. coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news... he's looking good for another premier league title. and chelsea's n'golo kante is also favourite for the pfa player of the year award. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. president trump has said relations between the us and russia may be at all—time low, after moscow refused to withdraw support for syria's president assad after last week's chemical weapons attack. the us blamed the syrian government for the attack, and fired 59 cruise missiles at a government airbase in response. russia has now vetoed a united nations resolution demanding that syria cooperate with investigators. keith doyle reports. what appear to be barrel bombs being dropped by syrian army helicopters. 0ther unverified pictures are said to show rebel missiles hitting damascus. the syrian civil war is no less vicious and indiscriminate this week than last. us and russia are on opposing sides in this civil war. their positions on this directly determine the state of relations between them. president trump says they might already be at an all—time low following the us missile attack on a syrian airbase which russia called an act of aggression but the us said was in response to a syrian chemical attack on innocent civilians. babies dying, fathers holding children in their arms that were dead, dead children. there can't be a worse sight and it shouldn't be allowed. that's a butcher. that's a butcher, so i felt we had to do something about it. i have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing. last night, russia vetoed a un security council ruling which would have compelled syria to cooperate with an investigation into the chemical attack. the foreign secretary borisjohnson said this shows russia is on the wrong side of the argument but he sought solace elsewhere. i think the most important thing is that it was once again only the russians who were the significant country to veto this. even the chinese, who are normally their ally, abstained. i think the pressure on them is now very considerable and i hope they realise that. at a news conference where president trump very publicly changed his position on nato, praising it, he gave his analysis on the state of us russian relations. vladimir putin had earlier said they had deteriorated and it seems the two presidents agree on something. it would be wonderful, as we were discussing just a little while ago, if nato and our country could get along with russia. right now, we're not getting along with russia at all. we may be at an all—time low in terms of our relationship with russia. this has built for a long period of time. at the centre of this global crisis, condemned by the us, supported by russia, is syria's president assad. he is expected to release a tv interview later, reacting to the chemical attack which he says was not the fault of his air strikes but was due to rebels stockpiling chemical weapons. whoever‘s to blame, the attack has been the catalyst which has brought the us and russia head to head. keith doyle, bbc news. gary 0'donoghue is in washington. us russia relations appear to have nosedived rapidly. where does the us go from here? it's an amazing transformation, isn't it, when you think of the warm words we had from both sides during the election campaign. both sides are now saying it has not been like this since the cold war, at an all—time low. i think what we are looking at here is a profound disagreement, obviously, over syria itself. we are looking at other factors which are playing into this as well. for example, donald trump's u—turn on nato. it was once obsolete, now he says it is not obsolete. that will upset the russians. for example, countries like montenegro, donald trump recently signed an order which allows montenegro to join nato, right on russia's doorstep. this is all playing into the distrust on both sides. but as rex tillerson said in moscow yesterday, the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot afford to have this level of distrust, so there will be pressure for some sort of summit later this year perhaps between president trump and vladimir putin to try to sort this out. meanwhile, they disagree over syria and we expect to hear very soon, very shortly from bashar al—assad, the syrian president, his first interview since those strikes, since his country was hit by the us for the first time in the six and a half year war. gary o'donoghue, thank you. the education secretary, justine greening, has defended plans to push ahead with new grammar schools in england saying she wants to create schools that are "truly open to all". in a speech this morning, she said she wanted grammar schools to serve more children from disadvantaged backgrounds. labour argues that poorer pupils won't be helped by new grammars. 0ur education correspondent, gillian hargreaves, reports. it's big business coaching children to pass the test for grammar school. there are only 163 such schools in england at the moment, but the government plans to open more. some parents, like these at a tuition centre in kent, find such an education immensely appealing. my daughter has been in a grammar school for the past five years and i have found that she is really progressing. the girls of the grammar school, they are really behaving themselves, and it's notjust the academics. they do extracurricular activities, which can kind of polish their personality, and they are much more focused. it's about having more options for what schools my son can go to at the age of 11. there's a variety of schools open to him, but there's no guarantee, so it wasjust about us giving him more choices, more options. critics say grammars only benefit wealthier families, which is why the government says they must do more to appeal to what they describe as ordinary working families. this morning, they defined such families as those with a household income of around £33,000 per year. 36% of grammar school places are taken up by these families. but grammars are dominated by the most well—off families. more than half, 53% of places, are taken up by them. i want these new schools to work for everyone. this will be a new model of grammars, truly open to all. we will insist on that. and it will reflect the choices of local parents and communities. labour changed the law in 1998 to prevent any new grammar schools being built, saying they only helped the privileged few. unfortunately, grammar schools are not open to everyone and they are selective in their nature, and all the evidence suggests that people from working—class backgrounds don't get into grammar schools. you have to pay for private tuition to get into them. and they are a closed shop for most children, and actually a comprehensive system is the best way forward. a new generation of grammar schools would be controversial, but the education secretary says she wants them open to all children, whatever their backgrounds. she is, in effect, rebranding grammar schools in the hope that she can see off the critics. plans for new grammar schools are still being drawn up, but are expected to be published before the summer. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. the families of two more babies who died under the care of shrewsbury and telford hospital trust want their deaths to be part of the investigation announced yesterday by the health secretary. it follows the avoidable deaths of seven babies injust over 18 months, five of whom died after failures to monitor their heart rate properly during labour. the trust says its mortality levels are in line with the national average. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. this is the nhs trust whose mistakes keep causing the deaths of healthy infants. yesterday, bbc news revealed that seven babies died unnecessarily at the shrewsbury and telford trust in little over 18 months. the scale of the problems has prompted the health secretary to order a review of maternity services. jeremy hunt wants to ensure no more families suffer like this one. tamsin morris lost her daughter, ivy, last may, aged just four months, following mistakes at her birth. we all think that something like this won't ever happen, it won't happen to me. and it has. and i can only take it day—by—day, sometimes. if i'm lucky, week—by—week. how old would he be there, roughly? probably five hours old. other families are still pushing forjustice. hayley matthews' son, jack, died within hours of his birth in 2015. she says the trust never properly investigated the death. following her investigations, however, the local coroner is now considering holding an inquest. i was expecting a healthy baby. two years, i've been fighting. it's not going to bring my boy back, but hopefully it'll save other babies and parents going through what we've gone through, and other people. the trust say they have investigated all maternity deaths, and say they will contact hayley about her case. they also say they are learning lessons from incidents, and are improving services. michael buchanan, bbc news. german prosecutors investigating three explosions which hit the borussia dortmund football team bus on tuesday night say the suspect being questioned was a member of the islamic state group in iraq. meanwhile, the manager of the club has criticised uefa for disregarding the feelings of his shaken players by staging their champions league game against monaco less than 2a hours after the attack. richard conway reports. three explosions, devices packed with metal pins. 18 left in shock. but less than 2a hours after a targeted attack, borussia dortmund walked out to play their postponed u efa walked out to play their postponed uefa champions league quarterfinal against monaco. despite their usual passionate support, they lost the game, with players expressing afterwards how the emotion of the incident made it difficult to focus on what was ultimatelyjust incident made it difficult to focus on what was ultimately just a incident made it difficult to focus on what was ultimatelyjust a game of football. until i was on the pitch, in the second half, i didn't think about football, to be honest. because last night i didn't realise what happened and when i was at home, my wife and son were waiting in front of the door, and there i felt how lucky we were. i know we earn a lot of money, we have a privileged life, but we are human beings and there is so much more than football in this world. dortmund's fans made their feelings known about the hasty rearrangement while the team's head coach accused labour of ignoring them when deciding the new kick—off date. nobody asked us for our opinion. we we re nobody asked us for our opinion. we were informed of the uefa decision by text message. the fact it was decided in switzerland after what happened to us affected us greatly. but speaking to the bbc before the game kicked off, a senior uefa official insisted all parties had been consulted. all decisions were made in full agreement with the two clu bs. made in full agreement with the two clubs. i guess this was done in full conscience and knowledge of the situation and also knowing that a different option would be quite difficult. uefa has since reiterated it was in contact with the clubs and it was in contact with the clubs and it received no indication of relu cta nce it received no indication of reluctance to play. meanwhile, one of dortmund's former coaches spoke of dortmund's former coaches spoke of his admiration for his former club. everyone would have understood if they had said, we wait to play it, we will find a salute your next week, whatever. i saw the game and i was really proud of borussia dortmund, how they handled it. borussia dortmund are keen to look to the future and to the return game against monaco but with shock subsiding, there is now a mix of regret and some simmering anger. young, vulnerable people are being targeted by adverts online which offer accommodation in exchange for sex, according to a bbc investigation. the deals, which are legal, are on classified ad sites. charities have called them exploitative. lauren moss reports. i had no idea what i was getting into. he took me into his living room and got me drinks, and then after that it was straight upstairs and go for it. vulnerable and desperate for a roof over her head. gemma answered a sex—for—rent online advert. he would do what he wanted to do, forcefully. and ijust sort of, yeah, went along with it. and, after the third time, i started feeling physically unwell. these are some of the offers we found openly placed on a classified ad site. free accommodation, but with strings attached. i was thinking once a week, something like that. i'm happy as long as there's sex involved. i spoke with several men posting adverts. all wanted photos of me beforehand. all were clear how the arrangement would work. these are real conversations, voiced by actors. well, you know, you agree sort of a couple of times a week, pop into my room sort of thing? there's a girl staying here now who's done the same. two or three times a week, basically. it's a very easy—going house. some say those agreeing to those deals could be getting into a very dangerous situation. but, disturbingly, this is all perfectly legal. i think these adverts go as close to the edge of the law as they possibly can without breaking the law. they would argue that they have chosen voluntarily to enter that situation. the trouble is, when you have a vulnerable person that then becomes exploited, the concept of choice soon disappears. i contacted craigslist for comment, but they didn't get back to me. i'm really grateful to the bbc for uncovering some of this, because i've been unaware of it. there is an onus on the owners of these platforms to root this out and to deal with it, and i'm being very explicit because, if they don't stand up to this, and accept their responsibility, i will be pushing for legislation to do it for them. more adverts are appearing every day. i was under quite a bit of pressure to keep him happy. because they could basicallyjust come over to you and say, i want sex now, and you really don't have much of a choice because you know it's their home and you want to just keep that place. with an increasing number of young homeless people, it's feared these adverts will only continue to exploit those most in need. lauren moss, bbc news. viewers in kent and sussex can see more on that story on bbc south east today after this programme here on bbc one. our top story this lunchtime. president trump says relations between the us and russia may be at an all—time low. still to come, the continuing appeal of the roller—coaster. 200 years after it first took to the tracks for the first time. coming up in sport at 1:30pm on bbc news: we'll have the latest from the world track cycling championships. there are more british medal chances on the second day of competition in hong kong. 13 years ago, more than 1,000 people were taken hostage by chechen rebels at a school in beslan in russia. 331 people were killed after russian forces eventually stormed the building. half of those who died were children. today, the european court of human rights has ruled that the russian government should have done more to prevent the bloodshed, and it awarded compensation of around £2.5 million to relatives. sophie long reports. you may find some of these images upsetting. when rebels stormed school number one in beslan and forced more than 1100 children, parents and teachers into the gym, more than 330 people died. 186 of them were children. the attackers wanted russian troops to leave the nearby republic of chechnya. the terror inside and around the school lasted for 52 hours. there were bombs taped to the walls and hanging from the ceiling. children were forced to stand by the windows as human shields. some, like this little girl, managed to escape. for them, and for those forced to wait three days, terrified, listening to gunshots, this ruling is the result they had hoped for. translation: the court said that russia failed to take reasonable steps to protect the lives of the hostages, that critical intelligence wasn't acted on adequately to prevent the attack and that, once the siege had begun, russian officials failed to minimise the loss of life. russian security forces had surrounded the school when they stormed the building. they used tanks and flame—throwers, when hundreds of children were still inside. some survivors say they will continue theirfight inside. some survivors say they will continue their fight orjustice. zarina dzampaeva was eight at the time and she lost her mother in the attack. still guilty people are not punished, and we can't say that guilty people are punished already, so, as for me, there should be taken extra measures to investigate it because still nobody is responsible. the kremlin have said the ruling is absolutely unacceptable. but the court awarded $3 million in compensation and underlined that there should now be a new, objective investigation. a survivors group, mothers of beslan, say they will push for that. they say they owe it to their children to make sure the people responsible for their deaths are held to account. let's talk to sarah rainsford in moscow. sarah, tell us more about the reaction there to this ruling. well, there has been a strong reaction here in moscow to the ruling in strasbourg. i asked the president's spokesman what he made of the ruling and he told me it was utterly unacceptable, particularly against a country which had suffered a large number of terrorist attacks. we also heard from the justice ministry, who say they will appeal the ruling. they say that the conclusions of the court don't match the evidence presented by the russian government. but, in all of this, i think the people who brought the case were the victims of the siege, and they have a strong argument. they feel that their years of fighting to get somebody held responsible for what happened have been vindicated, and i was down in beslan this week talking to some of them as they were waiting for the verdict, and this is what they were hoping for, a strong statement from the court that russia not only failed to take enough steps to prevent the attack happening but particularly, the court found, it used disproportionate force when that siege came to an end on the third day. russia argues it was the terrorists inside the school who set off the whole chain of explosives and the events leading to the loss of so many lives, but there hasn't been an independent enquiry into that, and that is exactly what the mothers of beslan want and they say thatis mothers of beslan want and they say that is what they will push for for the sake of the children who died there. the number of people trespassing on railways across the uk has hit a ten—year high. more than 8,000 incidents were recorded last year — a rise of 11 % on the year before. 0ur correspondentjohn maguire has been speaking to paralympian simon munn, who lost his leg crossing a train track when he was 22, and is anxious to warn others of the risk. the passing train serves as a timely reminder of the dangers of simon munn‘s fateful decision that night 27 years ago. a decision he regrets to this day. my foot went underneath the rail. i couldn't get my foot out. and i literally waited for the train to come along and take my leg off, as it were, really. it seemed like it was a fortnight, but it was only a few minutes. having lost his leg, simon, always a keen sportsman, took up wheelchair basketball. and it's been a major part of his life ever since. he has represented great britain in seven paralympics, travelled the world, and won a whole host of medals. but still he wishes he'd gone nowhere near the rail line. my life since then has been, you know, really good. but it came from a tragedy, really. but right now, yeah, absolutely, i'd have my leg back, 100%. so, he's anxious to warn others. simon realises that night he was both lucky and unlucky. unfortunate to get hit by the train in the first place, but incredibly fortunate to escape with his life. last year, there were 8000 trespass incidents. that's an increase over the year before, and the highest numberfor a decade. so, at bellevue bees in east manchester, in common with sports clubs and 100 schools across britain, there are schemes to remind youngsters of the dangers. hi, guys, 0k? the train takes how many football pitches to stop, can you remember? 20. 20 football pitches, 0k, that's a mile and a quarter. 0ur electrics are 25,000 vaults. it's never, ever turned off, 0k, we all remember that. and that by going on it, it's also illegal, up to a £1000 fine. the numbers almost double in the easter and summer holidays. so, nick, despite your best endeavours, these figures are still going up. why? i think there's more we can do, not only as network rail but as a community. projects like this, if we all get involved and educate each other on railway safety, and make sure we have that conversation with our friends and family, people can stop being hurt our railways. warnings are consistent, frequent, and, for some, deeply personal. don't mess around with trains, yeah. just stay away from the tracks, because there's only one winner. there's only one winner. joe maguire, bbc news, milton keynes. the latest nhs figures, for february, show a small improvement in performance in a&e units and waiting times in england, compared with january. but, over the three months of winter, the figures show a big increase in the number of a&e patients waiting at least four hours, against the same period a year ago. 0ur health correspondent, jane dreaper, reports. unprecedented pressure in the nhs means nurses have never worked harder, and for so little, according to their union. the royal college of nursing says due to pay freezes, and then a pay cap, nurses have seen the money they take home cut in real terms by 14% since 2010. it says that's why it has decided to ask staff whether they would be prepared to strike. 270,000 nhs nurses will be able to vote in the online survey over the next few weeks. everybody‘s unhappy. so, most nurses are unhappy with their income. so they're working harder than ever, but there's been years now of absolutely no pay increase. some of our nurses are telling us they absolutely love being a nurse, it's a fantasticjob, but they just don't think they can afford to do it anymore. last year, junior doctors in england staged six one—day strikes in a bitter dispute over their new contract. those were the first all—out stoppages in the history of the nhs. if nurses are balloted, they might consider stopping overtime or other industrial action. a health think tank says it's another sign of pressure building amongst nhs staff. we are seeing this in growing vacancies, in people switching to part—time work and working for agencies, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to recruit from overseas because of brexit. the result of all of this i think is that we should be as concerned about the workforce problems the nhs faces as we are about the money, if not more so. there's never been an all—out nurses strike, but new figures have today confirmed how difficult the winter was. almost 200,000 a&e patients in england who needed a hospital bed had to wait at least four hours — a record number. the department of health says front line services are being protected, with more nurses on the ward since 2010. jane dreaper, bbc news. the queen has given money to pensioners in leicester to mark maundy thursday, a tradition dating back to the 13th century. she was with the duke of edinburgh as she distributed money to 91 men and 91 women — representing each of her 91 years. hundreds of well—wishers lined the streets outside leicester cathedral to welcome them for the service. 200 years ago in paris, a wooden cart with wheels was fixed to a track and sent down a steep slope. the roller—coaster was born. since then, they have made countless stomachs churn and millions of heads spin. tim muffet reports. the roller—coaster story began in paris in 1817. the french put like a wooden cart onto a track that they built specifically to ride on. roller—coasters generally, and this is a great feature of roller—coasters, haven't changed all that much, really. in the 1920s and 30s, roller—coasters boomed in popularity. but in america, it became clear their appeal could go down as well as up. many theme parks closed during the great depression. after the war, roller—coasters recaptured people's imaginations, becoming quicker and bigger. if we're thinking about subjecting the body to different physical sensations, the extremes, if you like, the 3gs or ags that you get on roller—coasters, there is nowhere else in life that you can do that other than riding giant machines like this. an accident at alton towers in 2015 which left four seriously injured was a reminder that riding a roller—coaster is not risk—free, although generally the safety record is very good. doors closing. in many theme parks, virtual reality is the latest big thing. this is derren brown's ghost train at thorpe park. thanks to a special headset, what you see is not what you get. screaming. laughter. brendan walker advises attractions on what gets punters' blood pumping. it's one of the drawbacks that they are so experimental you don't know what people are going to respond to. when this attraction opened last year, there were complaints it wasn't thrilling or scary enough. it had to be redesigned and relaunched. generation upon generation are constantly seeking novelty. and what was novel for, you know, my parents or their grandparents, now is like a walk in the park from me, so we need new things. and this is new. at blackpool pleasure beach, the european coaster club are doing what they love best, convinced thrill—seeking is most effective when it's a physicalfeeling. 200 years of twisting, turning, spinning and spiralling. the appeal of the roller—coaster shows no sign of falling away. tim muffett, bbc news, blackpool. time for a look at the weather. things have been telling a bit cooler in the last few days, but we've still got some glorious spring sunshine. we've had some great pictures sent in. this is garforth in leeds, with some patchy bellwether cloud around. a similar picture across much of the country. down towards the cornish coast, a bit more cloud pushing in. the best of the sunshine towards the east. things are still looking dry, if fairly overcast for holiday—makers in cornwall.