directors in hull police have received more than 1,500 calls from people worried about their relatives ashes. and we take a look at the incredible images from this year's british wildlife photography awards. you're watching the world today, i'm lewis vaughanjones. the israeli military says it has investigated claims that its forces opened fire on crowds awaiting aid trucks in gaza city on thursday and found them to be false. the hamas—run health ministry said that at least 20 people were killed and more than 150 injured in the incident at the city's kuwait roundabout. the idf has blamed palestinian gunmen firing on civilians, some of whom it says were trying to loot the vehicles. bbc verify�*s merlyn thomas has been looking into the reports.

there have been reports of a deadly incident last night in northern gaza where palestinians were waiting to get aid for teachers emerged online, claiming to be from the aftermath of the incident at kuwaiti roundabout here on salahadin road. now, two very graphic videos appeared on social media showing a large number of casualties. this is one of those videos. we've blurred some of the footage as it's too graphic to show you. we've been unable to verify the location, but we know that they both show the same scene of chaos and dead bodies and that they were first shared online late last night. we also see what appear to be bags of aid being carried in one of the clips. doctors at al—shifa hospital nearby have told the bbc that a large number of people were brought in last night. the bbc have been in contact with one doctor called dr moataz herrera, who has been treating patients at that hospital. he said... now, in their statement, the israeli army, the idf,

said that armed palestinians opened fire while gazan civilians are awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy. the idf said they did not open fire at the aid convoy in kuwait square. they said... there have been several reports of killings at the kuwaiti roundabout in recent weeks. we'll continue to investigate this incident as more information emerges. here, police say they have now identified the 35 bodies found at a funeral directors in hull that is at the centre of a major police investigation. the national crime agency has been called in to assist. detectives have received more than 1,500 calls in the past week from people who have used legacy independent funeral directors, and are now worried about what happened to their relatives' bodies. danny savage has heard from some of them.

this is rita shaw. she died last october after a short illness. her husband has her ashes at home. i don't know if i've got rita's ashes at all. it could be anybody�*s, i think. but like so many people in the hull area who used legacy funeral directors, he's now wondering if they really are her ashes. you get over the initial part of rita passing away, it's hard, but it's on top of it, if they aren't rita's ashes, it's like torture for the rest of your life, i would have thought. police have taken 35 bodies from this funeral home in hull. they now say they have contacted the families of those people. but richard is one of 1,500 who have contacted police concerned about the investigation. and then they says, "is there any distinguishing marks on your wife?" and i said, "yes, my wife had a butterfly on her shoulder." and they asked if i've got any photographs,

as well, of my wife. this is what we're hearing from many families. they raise concerns, and police ask them if their relative has any scars or tattoos by which their body could be identified. i thought, "there's something up here, you know, something very wrong. very wrong indeed." this afternoon, people gathered outside one of the three funeral homes in east yorkshire belonging to the company being investigated. julie says her relative, who she didn't want to name, is one of the 35 bodies found here. you believed that he had already been cremated? yeah, yeah, cos his son's got his ashes. and his son talks to him all the time. what he's been talking to, or who he's been talking to, he doesn't know now. so we just, you know, don't know where it goes from here. how does that leave the family feeling? devastated, obviously, yeah. and that appears to be the crux of the issue here. 35 families have been told that their deceased relative's body

has now been found on these premises, yet in the past they have been given their ashes or told they can come and collect them. has there now been a huge mix—up of ashes across this city? for many people like richard, the distressing uncertainty continues. and you miss her. like mad. and nhs trust is allegedly using an unproven medical procedure that is said to have harmed patients. a former consultant at the portsmouth hospital's nhs trust has told the bbc the technique, which has been used on patients needing kidney dialysis, has led to increases in the rates of infection and blood clots. the consultant was dismissed by the trust for misconduct after repeatedly trying to stop the procedure. the trust said it disputes her findings and that the

safety of its patients is its priority. michael buchanan reports. amanda kelsey died in 2020. she had kidney problems for much of her life, spending years on dialysis. in 2015, she was offered a procedure that no other nhs trust uses and is considered in several countries to pose a risk to patients. they've got a technique that they're trialling, is what they said, and it's a technique called buttonholing, and they're going to try it on different patients, are you happy to go ahead and have a go? yeah, if that's going to help. amanda's medical records, however, detail a range of complications, particularly infections and blood clots. many of the problems came after she started using the new procedure, a needling technique called buttonholing. one of the claims the team at portsmouth have made is that this was requested by patients. no, not at all. over 30,000 people in the uk need kidney dialysis — a process that cleans their blood as their kidneys are failing. for some patients like mrs kelsey, a piece of plastic tubing called a graft can be inserted into their bodies to aid dialysis.

the graft should then be connected to the machine using a technique called rope—laddhering according to uk guidelines, where the needles go into different holes each time. but at the portsmouth hospitals trust, they encourage some patients to buttonhole, to insert needles into the same hall each time — a technique not supported by the uk kidney association. it's not really known whether buttonhole needling can safely be used for grafts, because it's not generally practised. why is that? because of theoretical worry that it might lead to more bleeding or infection. patients in portsmouth weren't initially fully informed of the dangers of the new procedure, and no proper monitoring was set up, according to a later review. when drjasna macanovic became aware of the technique in 2016, she immediately objected. i completely appreciate that my colleagues did not set out to harm patients

by introducing buttonholing. but the second when i raised concerns, that very second, the trust was obliged to start investigations immediately. documents dr macanovic shared with the bbc show the efforts the consultant went to stop the procedure. she wrote to hospital bosses and to external regulators, including the care quality commission and the general medical council. but though reviews had found that had been problems, they didn't stop the procedure, saying safety concerns were taken into account. they haven't looked for harm. they have done no audit of the practice. audit of the complications. they have not reviewed patients�* notes. shortly before her sacking, dr macanovic did her own audit, reviewing the medical records of those had been used in the controversial procedure. she said the rate of blood clots and blocked arteries was, on average, three—and—a—half times higherfor those patients than it had been when they'd used the recommended needling technique. for amanda kelsey, the level of complications was even higher, at least six times

greater than before. it's quite upsetting, to be fair. mark kelsey questions if the technique contributed to his wife's death. the trust said an independent examiner said she'd died of a stroke and covid—19. in a statement, the portsmouth hospitals university trust went on... two of the 20 patients who used the procedure are still on it. jasna bacanovic was awarded £219,000 in damages for being unfairly dismissed by the trust. mark kelsey wants an independent investigation into his wife's death. michael buchanan, bbc news.

violent online content is now "unavoidable" for children in the uk, with many being exposed to it while still in primary school, according to a new 0fcom report. the regulator is urging social media companies to strengthen child protection on their platforms. our technology reporter shiona mccallum reports. how much time do you think you spend on your phone a day? even prince william is asking these questions when meeting with a group of schoolchildren at a west london youth centre yesterday. hours. that's quite a lot. but i bet you feel better coming here. but when children are on their smartphones, their innocence can soon be compromised. 0fcom say out of the 2117 children it spoke to, all of them had encountered a range of violence, including gaming content, variable discrimination and fighting. and all of them, some as young as eight years old, had seen these posts pop up on social media, video sharing and messaging sites, many before the minimum age requirements. children should not feel that seriously harmful content, whether that's violence or content

about eating disorders or suicide and self—injury, should be an inevitable or unavoidable part of their lives online. i think today's research really sets out clearly that the platforms just need to do more. so what can be done to prevent this type of harm? well, from this research, a lot of the children didn't know and felt they had no control over it. they also said they had no trust in the reporting systems on social media platforms. the children in this research said that they wanted the internet to be a safe place to be, but many had to rely on themselves to keep it that way, rather than the adults in charge. now, of course, when a child has been exposed to violence is really too late — it cannot be unseen. esther ghey knows that all too well. her daughter, brianna, was murdered after her killers were able to access violent content. i would like to see phones that are made suitable for young people.

and i really think that if this was in place before, then this could have prevented what happened to brianna. kids are so much more tech savvy and i wasn't aware of what brianna was looking at online. two other studies for 0fcom also had similar messaging. one said suicide, self—harm and eating disorder content was prolific on socials. the other said cyberbullying had a negative impact on children's health. all make for grim reading, but the recurring theme here was the children's lack of trust and confidence in reporting these problems online. shiona mccallum, bbc news. ajury in michigan has found the father of a teenager who carried out a deadly school shooting guilty of involuntary manslaughter. james crumbley was found to have partial responsibility for giving his son, ethan, access to the gun he used to kill four people at the oxford high school. ethan has already been sentenced to life without parole. here's cbs news

reporterjarred hill. this is a case where we saw james crumbley convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the four teenagers his son killed back in november of 2021. and this is a case in which, as you mentioned, prosecutors were making the argument here that not only did james crumbley not properly store the gun that his son, ethan, used in that shooting, they said he and his wife also didn't address some of the mental health concerns around his son — in fact, the day of the shooting, the school asked james and jennifer crumbley to take their son home over concerns about some drawings that he had made, and there were some other comments that he was making regarding potentially his own or other people's health and safety — and they said they didn't properly address of those. —— either of those. the pope has an autobiography. he talks about faith, retirement rumours, and maradona. more on the football in a moment. it's an account of his life and the papacy. a memoir like this is

somewhat of a first — pope benedict xvi only wrote a memoir when he was still a cardinal, and john paul ii wrote two personal histories that focused on his spirituality. a reporter told me more. a reportertold me more. i a reporter told me more. i think that what is— a reporter told me more. i think that what is really _ a reporter told me more. i think that what is really important - a reporter told me more. i think that what is really important is l that what is really important is that what is really important is that it's really going back to what we saw at the beginning of the papacy. because when he was first elected, one of the first things that really impressed people was that really impressed people was that he was famous for taking the bus and went to sarah's — and trust me, as a journalist working next to the vatican, it's not common to see bishops taking the bus. so he has a very informal style, but at the same time, he's sort of fighting back. because you know, ultraconservative bishops have been fighting against him, so he's really saying, "that's my style, i'll go ahead."

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. life on the road — sleeping under the stars, waking up to birdsong. for luke, though, being a van dweller is simply down to bristol's housing crisis. circumstances, cost of living — like, rent in bristol is insane. like, i pay £70 a month to live in this. now, according to the city council, the numbers of people living in vans and caravans in the city has gone from 150 pre—pandemic to around 600 today. but unless the council considers an encampment to have a high impact on residents, they won't take enforcement action. last year, people living on the roadside in east bristol were moved on after the council obtained an injunction following a glut of complaints. with the cost—of—living crisis showing little sign of easing, it's unlikely bristol's van dwellers will be hitting the road any time soon.

for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. a rally is taking place following a legend a rally is taking place following a leiien ., . , a rally is taking place following a leiien , , ., a rally is taking place following a leieni , , ., ,, legend racist comments made by a ma'or to legend racist comments made by a major tory donor _ legend racist comments made by a major tory donor about _ legend racist comments made by a major tory donor about diane - legend racist comments made by a i major tory donor about diane abbott. mr hester allegedly said the mp made him want to hate all black women and should be shot, sparking days of fierce backlash. the tech boss apologised for making rude comments about the former labour mp, but said his remarks had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin. cheering with a protest has just started, there's been chanting "we stand with

diane," there's a huge turn out and it isn'tjust black women who have come here to show solidarity with the hackney mp. now this all began early in the week when the guardian reported that in 2019, in a business meeting, a top tory donor, frank hester, sat on diane abbott, "it's like trying not to be racist, but you see diane abbott on tv and you just want to hate all black women because she's there, and i don't hate all black women at all, but i think she should be shot." now while mr hester admitted making rude comments about her and apologised, he insisted is a marx had nothing to do with her gender nor the colour of of her skin. but the people gathered here today disagreed, they made that clear. the primus are called the comments racist and wrong, but he said mr hester apologised and his or more should be accepted —— the prime minister called. meanwhile, diane abbott lost her with last year after

she made some comments about irish, jewish and traveller people, saying they were not subject to racism all their lives. she apologised but lost her labour party whip. she wants that reinstated, and lots of people here would like to see that happen as well. the investigation is still ongoing into that, it'll go into a year since the investigation started last year. as i say, lots of people here want to show their support for diane abbott. let's take a look at some award—winning pictures from the world of nature, and the british wildlife photography awards. this is the winning entry — a floating football, which has been covered by goose barnacles. it was pictured after it washed up on a beach in dorset. a coot running across a lake at sunrise was the winner of the young photographer section. this image of a common starling took the prize for best animal portrait. it was caught using a mix of flash and natural light, mid—flight. and this picture shows a close—up

of slime mould magnified many times. slime moulds are neither plants nor fungi, and each of the ball—like heads on the stems is approximately one millimetre wide in real life. and this snap took the award for animal behaviour, with three frogs squeezing together in a pond in springtime. earlier i spoke to the photographer who took the winning picture. 50 in who took the winning picture. so in the winter storms _ who took the winning picture. so in the winter storms down _ who took the winning picture. sr “i the winter storms down here who took the winning picture. 5r “i the winter storms down here on who took the winning picture. 5i “i the winter storms down here on the dorset coast, we have a number of items that come wash up —— washing up items that come wash up —— washing up on the beach and covered in goose barnacles. so this particular item was a football, which i took a split shot of, which you can see now. so talk us through, did you get into the water? how does it work, the actual operation of getting that shot? fix. actual operation of getting that shot? , , .,

shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed u- shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed up in — shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed up in the _ shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed up in the storm, _ shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed up in the storm, so _ shot? a beachcomber found it when it washed up in the storm, so we'd - washed up in the storm, so we'd put on the sea to take the pictures to demonstrate what it would've looked like as it travelled across the oceans. �* , . . like as it travelled across the oceans. �* , ., ., ., ., �* oceans. it's a great idea - i don't know, is it _ oceans. it's a great idea - i don't know. is it a _ oceans. it's a great idea - i don't know, is it a little _ oceans. it's a great idea - i don't know, is it a little bit _ oceans. it's a great idea - i don't know, is it a little bit gross? - know, is it a little bit gross? there's just something eerie about it, isn't it? how surprised were you when the award showed up? here. when the award showed up? very, very surrised. i when the award showed up? very, very surprised. i knew— when the award showed up? very, very surprised. i knew a _ when the award showed up? very, very surprised. i knew a few _ when the award showed up? very, very surprised. i knew a few weeks ago - surprised. i knew a few weeks ago but i had to keep it secret. i had to get my wife to read the e—mail a few times, but yeah, it's an amazing achievement, i'm so pleased and proud, really. achievement, i'm so pleased and proud. reallv-_ achievement, i'm so pleased and roud, reall . ., ., proud, really. thanks to ryan there, congratulations _ proud, really. thanks to ryan there, congratulations to _ proud, really. thanks to ryan there, congratulations to him, _ proud, really. thanks to ryan there, congratulations to him, plenty - proud, really. thanks to ryan there, congratulations to him, plenty more| congratulations to him, plenty more of those images on the website. do you have a look at those. you are watching bbc news. the band was first pledged by the

government more than two and a half years ago, it has the support of major animal charities but organisations which rescue dogs from abroad have concerns. helen katz reports. just a few weeks ago, five—month—old puppies zonic, leo and togo were in romania and life was looking very different. puppies of that age are very vulnerable in romania. the shelters aren't heated, they're not lighted. they don't have regular veterinary care. no dog over there receives prompt veterinary care, so it is significantly riskier. rachel's not—for—profit dog rescue has brought them to merseyside with their mum magda. she says all the dogs which she imports are jabbed and tested for diseases. she thinks the law does need tightening, but under proposed changes, these puppies wouldn't yet be able to be in the uk, and that worries her. i believe that there is a need for change. what i would hate is for hard—working, not—for—profit rescues who are desperately needed within the countries that they operate to fall foul

of that, and those dogs to suffer. several major animal welfare charities do support raising the minimum age to six months and have been campaigning for it for years. this bill is really going to help to crack down on the age at which puppies can be brought into this country, meaning they're not being taken away from their mothers too early. they're not being exposed at such a young age to so many illnesses and so many potential things that could cause behavioural problems later in life. and it also means that it's making them less marketable to the people who are exploiting their cute puppy charms. the proposed new law will also close a loophole on mutilations like ear cropping. it's currently perfectly legal to import an animal which has been mutilated like this in a way that would be against the law here. the government first promised to make these changes in 2021, but dropped its own legislation last year. it is expected to back this bill, which is being brought by a conservative mp. we really are a nation of animal

lovers, a parliament of pet lovers, and this legislation will ensure that the uk is leading the world when it comes to animal welfare. it's still not completely guaranteed that the bans will make it into law before an election, but animal welfare charities hope this may finally move the long promised crackdown on those who import puppies without care for their welfare a step closer. helen catt, bbc news. now, with spring almost here, millions of tourists will travel to japan to admire cherry blossoms in full bloom. but global warming has brought the date earlier and earlier with no sign of stopping. sofia bettiza reports. cherry blossoms are a symbol of spring — and the most famous cherry blossom spectacle in the world is undoubtedly in japan. now normally, peak season is at the end of march, beginning of april — but this year, they've started blooming sooner than ever before. and as you can see here,

people are in the streets of tokyo admiring the flowers and taking lots of pictures. and this is a really big event in the country — the cherry blossoms only appear for 11 days. and, because of that, an estimated 63 million people travel to and withinjapan every year. and it's big business — it adds about $2.7 billion to the japanese economy every year. now unfortunately, the reason why the flowers are blooming so early is worrying, according to experts. japan has seen record—breaking high temperatures in february and march. the world is getting warmer because of climate change, and the climate crisis is having an impact on cherry blossoms not only injapan, but in other parts of the world too.

this is washington, dc, for example — and as you can see, the cherry blossoms there have bloomed early this year too. so experts are warning that these sorts of things are a consequence of the fact that we are overheating our planet, and that early cherry blossoms are a sign of more change to come. that's it from me, ben is coming up next with the context. i'm lewis vaughanjones, this is bbc news. hello. we've seen some cloud and some rain across most parts of the uk today, but that cloud has slowly but surely been breaking. and, as the skies continue to clear overnight tonight, it's going to get quite cold — in fact, it'll be a frosty start to the weekend for some. by the end of the weekend, though, we will flip our fortunes,

it will feel much milder. along the way, we'll see some spells of rain, but also some spells of sunshine. so, we've had quite a lot of cloud today, showers or longer spells of rain, but all tending to drift away eastwards — and notice this clear gap. so, through tonight, largely clear, starry skies, bit of cloud just plaguing these eastern coasts for a time. 1—2 showers in northern scotland, cloud, and some rain into the southwest of england by the end of the night. but under those clear skies, there'll be a few mist patches. temperatures will drop away around or below freezing in places. so, yes, a cold and frosty start to saturday morning underneath this slice of clear weather, this ridge of high pressure. however, it won't last long because our next frontal system will already be approaching from the west. that will bring cloud, it'll bring outbreaks of rain but, as it moves its way northwards and eastwards, it will introduce ever—milder air. that process of mild air wafting northwards continues through saturday and on into saturday night, actually. but for saturday daytime, cloud and some splashes of rain spitting across western parts —

northern ireland likely to see the heaviest of the rain, then getting into southwest scotland. further north and east, holding on to some increasingly hazy sunshine. these are the temperatures by the middle of tomorrow afternoon. but for some spots in the north of the uk, those temperatures will rise even further through saturday night — this frontal system bringing some quite heavy rain eastwards, with that feed of south—westerly winds continuing. so let me show you the temperatures for sunday morning — compared with saturday morning, starting on a frosty note, sunday morning, starting in double figures for quite a few places. there will be a band of rain to clear away from eastern parts, then we'll see the cloud breaking to some extent to give some spells of sunshine, scattered showers out towards the west. but temperatures on sunday afternoon — northeast scotland, up to 15—16 celsius, it may be that eastern england gets to 16—17. very mild indeed, even feeling warm in any sunshine. into next week, still some changeable conditions, rain at times, some spells of sunshine. but broadly speaking,

we're expecting it to stay mild.

hello. i'm ben thompson. you're watching the context on bbc news. translation: it's our future, a security which is at stake - in ukraine. we are doing this out of solidarity for the people of ukraine

whose territorial integrity is being threatened. translation: it's clear we support ukraine and it is also clear that we | are not ourselves at war with russia. 0ur common aim is and remains to ensure that ukraine can effectively defend itself against russia's aggression. they are really trying to send this. message of unity where there have been some really mixed messages, particularly coming out of paris and | berlin, and even some - barbed exchanges as well. so i think they were looking - to repair some of that damage. three european leaders meet to determine what happens next in ukraine but will they ever see eye to eye over the type of military support they'll provide to president zelensky? also on the programme tonight: when is an election not an election? well, when there's only one real candidate. russians go to the polls

but president putin is certain to win six more years in office.