this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley, the headlines at two... north korea's latest missile test receives widespread international condemnation. the speaker of the commons, john bercow, insists he's impartial, after video emerges of him revealing how he voted in the eu referendum. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, dismisses speculation about jeremy corbyn‘s future, saying the leadership is "settled for this parliament". a group of retired bishops accuse church of england leaders of suppressing the views of gay christians. also in the next hour — pilot whales in new zealand make their way back on course. more 200, stranded on a beach, are re—floated and returned to sea. la la land leads the way, with 11 nominations ahead

of tonight's bafta awards ceremony and in half an hour, here on bbc news, with the start of brexit talks just weeks away, politics europe looks at who the uk will be negotiating with. a very good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the united states and japan have condemned north korea for test—firing a ballistic missile — the first such test since donald trump took office as us president. japan's prime minister shinzo abe said the launch was "intolerable" and president trump said the us stood behind japan 100%. the missile flew for about three hundred miles and landed in the sea ofjapan. our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has more. it's now thought the missile fired from north korea earlier this morning was one of these — a musudan intermediate range ballistic missile.

it flew about 500 kilometres before splashing down in the sea ofjapan. north korea's dictator, kimjong—un, had been promising to test fire a much longer range missiles capable of hitting the united states. that has not happened. instead, mr kim is almost certainly using the launch to crash this weekend party in florida. japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, has been spending it golfing with president trump. mr abe was very unamused by the intrusion. translation: north korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. north korea must fully comply with the relevant united nations security council guidelines. —— security council resolutions. then, in his response, president trump appeared to forget to condemn the north korean launch. thank you very much, mr prime minister. i just want everybody to understand and fully know

that the united states of america stands behind japan, its great ally, 100%. thank you. in south korea, the military made the normal noises. translation: our military is poised to respond immediately to any provocations from north korea that threaten the security of the republic of korea. missing from all of this, so far, is china — the country that many think holds the key to stopping north korea. china's leaders say they do not want a north korea armed with nuclear missiles, but nor do they want the kim regime to collapse. with each new test, north korea comes a step closer to that goal of becoming a nuclear—missile—armed state. the prospect makes south korea and japan extremely nervous. but nobody seems to have any idea how to get north korea's nuclear

genie back in the bottle. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. here, the commons speaker, john bercow, has insisted that his impartiality has not been compromised, after a video emerged of him declaring that he voted remain in last year's referendum. the parliament website states that "spea kers must be politically impartial." speaker bercow is already facing calls to stand down after saying last week that he would veto a parliamentary address by president donald trump. the latest comments, published in the sunday telegraph, were made at an address to students at reading university three days earlier. this may not be popular with some people in this audience, personally, i voted to remain. i thought it was better to stay in the european union than not, partly for economic reasons, being part of being within a trade bloc, and partly because we are in a world of power blocs

and because it is better to be part of that big power bloc in the world. earlier, we spoke to the conservative mp james duddridge, who has called for a motion of no confidence in speaker bercow. carole walker asked him what he thought of these latest comments. i'm incredibly surprised that the speaker now has expressed views on a number of the issues — on brexit, on immigration, on the state visit, on diplomacy. he is incapable of impartially chairing debates in the house of commons now and must go. but speaking to the bbc this morning, the commons leader, cabinest minister david liddington, defended mr bercow. i think, had this been before the referendum, that, yes, i would've had concerns. i mean, he said what he said, every member of parliament's responsible for what they say. what i can say is, i had more than six years as europe minister under david cameron, and, in that time, i never found the speaker was shy of calling lots of people who were critical

of the eu to ask me difficult questions. david ludington. with me is our political correspondent susana mendonca. this is added pressure for the speaker. how serious is the allegation of partiality? the allegation of partiality? the allegation is that he delved into politics, and the speaker, if you look at how it is written on the parliament website, it says that the speaker should remain separate from political issues, even in retirement. taking that to the letter he was talking about political issues. but it is whether you mean that to be any political issue or a party political issue. this was an issue the conservative party was not united on, he is a conservative mp, not taking a party

line, and his supporters have made that point, also saying that he also expressed how he voted several months after the vote itself. spokesman said it was similar to how he voted in the strict come dancing final. isn't that a slightly flippant response to what some seem to see is a serious allegation, that he has broken with a president that has been established for search at ease and for very good reason? and it comes off the back of comments he made on monday about donald trump, which a lot of people took issue with, where he was talking about sexism, and racism, and basically vetoed donald trump appealing in parliament, and questions about whether or not the speaker should do that, whether he has the power to do that, whether he has the power to do that, serious questions to be answered. but the thing about the speaker is, although he has his critics, he has a lot of supporters. such as snp, labour, who feel he has

helped hold government to account. yes, he is seen as the voice of parliament, not government, he does not give politicians and easy ride, chooses speakers to speak to have quite a challenging points of view. that is something that david lidington, you had that clip from, he used as an example of a good thing. and certainly, the labour party have said they have full confidence in him. that is this motion calling for a motion of no—confidence in the speaker. so far it only has one signatory, the person who up with it, james diedrich, who was mentioned there, so we are diedrich, who was mentioned there, so we are in diedrich, who was mentioned there, so we are in recess diedrich, who was mentioned there, so we are in recess and that could pick—up strength. and people could sign up to it. but the feeling that the government says this is a matter for parliament and not something they want to get involved in. and he has a lot of support in opposition parties. it is unlikely that he could be removed but in theory he is

expected to stand down from the post within the next year anyway. they give that sort of commitment when first elected that he would not do the full two parliaments. yes, the full nine years. and those who have come to his defence, such asjohn whittingdale, who have said that it is not helpful to express a vote of no—confidence in the speaker and sing betty holmes the speaker will honour his pledge to stand down by next year. thank you very much. -- and he said that he hopes the speaker will honour his pledge. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, says the party's leadership is "settled for this parliament". speaking to the bbc this morning, mr watson downplayed reports that labour is using focus groups to test out the popularity of alternative candidates tojeremy corbyn. mr watson said that this was "not the time" for another leadership election. we have had a tough 18 months. we have an uphill struggle ahead, the polls are not great, but i'm

determined now that we have the leadership settled for this parliament. and we can focus on developing a very positive clear message to the british people in the general election. tom watson. medical teams have been called to hamburg airport, after reports that a corrosive substance was released inside one of the buildings. firefighters are still trying to identify the substance, which left 50 people requiring hospital treatment for eye irritation, breathing difficulties and nausea. the source was traced to a security check area, where passenger luggage is scanned by staff. the airport was closed for a short time but flights have now resumed. here, 1a retired bishops have written an open letter to church of england leaders accusing them of failing to fully reflect the views of gay christians in an official report on the church's position on homosexuality. last month, the church announced it did not support gay marriage. the decision will be debated at the general synod later this week. helena lee reports. last month, the church of england decided its position on the divisive issue of sexuality. it followed three years

of so—called shared conversations, and stated that "marriage should only be between a man and a woman." the church said all potential clergy — gay and straight — should be asked about their sexual conduct and their lifestyle. but 1a retired bishops have today expressed their concern that the views of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members have been ignored. in an unusual move, they have written an open letter to the church of england, a group led by the former bishop of worcester. they entered those negotiations knowing that they would have to reveal themselves, in a circumstance that might carry a price in terms of their life and their career, their ministry, what was offered to them, how they were regarded. and they nonetheless did that. and they feel that what has come out here is a betrayal in the specific sense that their voice is not heard. the church of england said

the shared conversations were not changing people's views, but recognising jesus in people with whom the participants disagreed. the divisive debate over sexuality will continue, and the church's governing general synod will meet next week in london. helena lee, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news this afternoon. the head of britain's cyber security centre says there has been a significant increase in russian online attacks on western security targets. ciaran martin said there had been nearly 200 cyber attacks against the uk in the past three months, many of them threatening national security, and that russia had been behind some of them. 1a sailors have been rescued by a royal navy warship after their racing yacht was damaged in a storm in the atlantic ocean. hms dragon, a type 45 destroyer, diverted 500 miles to save 13 britons and one american on saturday afternoon. the sailors only suffered minor injuries but their 60ft yacht

lost its mast and rudder in the bad weather. a murder investigation is underway after a 70—year—old woman died in a house fire in ayrshire. emergency services were called to the blaze in kilmarnock at around 11.110 last night. a 41—year—old man who was seriously injured is in a stable condition in hospital. police say the fire was a "targeted and deliberate act" and that they are following a positive line of enquiry. we have been talking over the past few days about stranded whales in new zealand. more than 200 pilot whales stranded on a remote beach in new zealand have now been helped back out to sea with the help of a high tide. they were part of a second pod of whales which had beached themselves at farewell spit on the country's south island. conservation officials say there's a chance the surviving whales may still turn back to the beach. just to warn you, you might find some of the scenes in this report by virginia langerberg distressing. weary volunteers form a human chain to help guide the remaining few

whales out to sea with the help of a high tide. justjoy, just complete happiness that they're in the water floating. and they look like they are going out, so we're obviously making sure that they don't come back. that they don't come back in. this time, rescuers are buoyed by the success of saving most of this pod. it's been a pretty full—on couple of days, to be honest. 0n the remote coastline of golden bay, it had been a exhausting case of deja—vu, after a second pod of about 200 pilot whales had become stranded just days after a group of more than 400 whales had accidentally beached themselves. the incident was new zealand's la rgest—known whale stranding since 1985 and the third largest on record. of the pod which became stranded on thursday, around 300 died before rescuers could reach them. while, in the latest pod to get stuck on farewell spit, 20 whales in a bad condition needed to be put down to stop those

refloated from coming back to shore. i'm pretty unhappy myself, but that is the job and it needs to be done, just to stop those other ones coming in. conservationists aren't certain why beaching happens. one theory is that the shallow waters confuse the whales. golden bay's shoreline, now a mass whale graveyard, as officials try to determine the best way to dispose of the carcasses. the surviving whales have been tagged, and we can only hope won't get stuck again in the murky waters of farewell spit, which is proving to be one of new zealand's greatest hazards for the pilot whale. virginia langerberg, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... north korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea ofjapan. the launch is the first since president trump was elected. the speaker of the house of commons, john bercow, is facing renewed criticism after a video has emerged of him declaring that he voted

remain in the eu referendum. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, has said the party's leadership is "settled for this parliament". thousands of operations are being cancelled, with highly—skilled surgeons left "kicking their heels" because of a shortage of hospital beds. that's the warning from the royal college of surgeons today, the organisation that represents nhs trusts. in a joint letter to the sunday times, they argue that a lack of funding for health and social care in england is leading to what they call a "shocking waste" and damaging efforts to improve efficiency. nhs england says only 1% of operations are cancelled. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes has more. over the past few weeks, the bbc two documentary series, hospital, has demonstrated how a shortage of beds contributes to the pressure on the health service. this can lead to long waits for those needing to be admitted

from accident and emergency departments, but also for those needing planned surgery. i sometimes feel that i spend as much energy on trying to organise and manage beds and the movement, the flow, of patients within the hospital in order to allow us to do what we want to get on with, which is to operate. the programme showed how, if beds are not available for patients to recover in safely, operations simply cannot go ahead. now, the royal college of surgeons and nhs providers, the body that represents nhs trusts, says this is damaging efforts to improve productivity, with surgeons left kicking their heels while they wait for beds to become made free. somebody will be telling us whether we're allowed to do any work. it's not good for the staff, it's certainly not good for the patients, and it's not good for the efficiency of the nhs. the latest figures from nhs england reveal more than 95% of beds were occupied last week, well above the 85%

that is regarded as the safe limit. the problem is closely linked to delays in providing adequate care outside of hospital, especially for frail, elderly patients once they're ready to be discharged. today, doctors and hospital managers are saying fixing the nhs means fixing social care, and learning the lessons of an extraordinarily tough winter that isn't over yet. dominic hughes, bbc news. people in switzerland are voting on a proposal to relax the country's traditionally strict rules on citizenship. it would make it easier for third generation immigrants, people who were born in switzerland, and whose parents and grandparents already lived permanently in the country, to become swiss nationals themselves. imogen foulkes reports. becoming swiss is long and often costly. candidates must typically live 12 years in switzerland before they can apply. speak a swiss language, and to show they are integrated. in interviews and tests. the fee can run to £7,000.

supporters of the plan to simplify the process say it is ridiculous to ask people who were born and have lived all their lives in switzerland to prove they are integrated. —— the fee can run to several thousand pounds. translation: we are talking about a lot of young people living in switzerland who were born in switzerland and even their parents were born here. their grandparents once emigrated in switzerland. these are people who live here but do not have a red swiss passport. but opponents claim the measures are just the first step in allowing all immigrants to switzerland. 25% of the population is not swiss. to get easy citizenship. an opposition poster of a woman in a burqa, a rarity here, suggesting an increase in the influence of islam. this may, however, have backfired.

to pass, the measure will need is a port of —— will need agility. and it could still be defeated. —— will need the majority. the culture media and sport select it is football clubs still are not doing enough to tackle homophobia and should take a zero tolerance approach. this is the kind of homophobic chanting a group of mps say is allowed to pass unchallenged to often. ever fought from the culture media and sport select the fines that attitudes towards gay people in sport are out of step with the rest

of society. particular attention drawn to football with currently now openly gay players in professional leagues, which is called noticeable. there should be trained stewards and groa ns to there should be trained stewards and groans to look out for a four—week behaviour and taking action to ban people from stadium. we also have to suggest that clubs need to look into themselves as well, that sometimes dressing room banter can include homophobic language. the football association welcome the report and save tackling homophobia, and trans phobia in the game is one of their top priorities. the criticisms are not linked to football either, mps particularly disturbed by the presence of boxer tyson fury on bbc fours macro sports personality of the year short list in 2015 despite controversial comments about gay people. the bbc said it was based on his sporting achievements and made it clear it was not an endorsement of his personal views. it is not bad

news, please been given to the finds anne barnes given to the home of orbit abusers of this rugby referee. an egyptian, believed to be the world's heaviest women has arrived for weight reduction surgery. the family of the 36 should auld said it was the first time she had left and 25 years. she was though nosed with elephantiasis birth. 25 years. she was though nosed with elepha ntiasis birth. it 25 years. she was though nosed with elephantiasis birth. it is a condition that can cause limbs and other parts of the body to swell because of parasitic infection. a pilot has been removed from a plane after her erratic behaviour alarmed passengers. the united airlines pilot, who wasn't in uniform at the time, was escorted off the flight as it prepared to depart from austin bound for san francisco. a spokesman for the airline said he wasn't sure why the pilot was allowed on the aircraft in plain clothes. the flight took off after about a two hours delay with a new pilot. this is what one of the passengers had to say. the captain was late,

then she shows up like a civilian and asked us to take a vote, to see whether we should have her change into her uniform. she started off by saying that she had not voted for either trump or clinton, because they're a bunch of liars. hollywood's finest will be out in force in london this evening for the annual british academy film awards. the modern day musical la la land leads the field with 11 nominations. 0ur arts editor will gompertz has been taking a look at the contenders. singing. welcome to la la land. the musical homage to hollywood, which leads the way with 11 bafta nominations. including one for its director, damien chazelle, and its two leads, emma stone as a wannabe actress and ryan gosling as an aspiring jazz pianist. andrew garfield finds himself among the best actor contenders for his role as a heroic pacifist in hacksaw ridge. but he'll have to see off the hotly—tipped casey affleck,

who is nominated for his portrayal of a broken man in manchester by the sea. she sings off key. meryl streep is in the frame once again, this time for her performance as the delusional florence fosterjenkins, for which she has a best actress nomination. it is a hotly contested category, with natalie portman the one to beat for playing the title role injackie, a biopic which tracks jackie kennedy's reaction to her husband's assassination. it's not easy for me to admit that i've been standing in the same place for 18 years! well i've been standing with you! i've been right here with you, troy! fences, the august wilson play about america in the 1950s, adapted and directed by denzel washington, sees his co—star viola davis get a best supporting actress nod. a best supporting actress nod. nicole kidman will compete with her for that bafta, having been nominated for her role as a compassionate mother in lion, with dev patel playing her adopted son, for which he gets a supporting actor shortlisting.

and who is you? nobody. i found him yesterday. as does mahershala ali, for his sensitive performance as a drug dealer with a heart in moonlight. it is likely, though, to be la la land's year, on a night which could have an added dimension of the possibility of politically poignant acceptance speeches. —— of politically pointed acceptance speeches. we'll have to see. what we do know is stephen fry will host proceedings once again, the duke and duchess of cambridge will be in attendance and mel brooks will be honoured with a bafta fellowship. and we'll bejoining jane hill and the film criticjason solomons on the baftas red carpet from 5.15 this afternoon, and for a special results programme on the awards themselves from 9.30pm this evening on bbc news. from movies in london to the music industry across the atlantic. los angeles is gearing up for the grammy awards, and both adele and beyonce will go head to head for the top honours.

# hello from the other side...# adele is up for five awards, including best song for the single hello, and album of the year for 25. beyonce's also nominated for best song and album and is leading the way, with nine nominations. she'll make her first public appearance since announcing she was pregnant with twins. i don't know what the prospects are, because jane is probably even as we speak deciding weather to read our ball down or big fake fur coat. nick mallett, any advice about how chilly it will be adored and the red carpet tonight? i would go for many layers. all was the best advice predators cold, and thatis

the best advice predators cold, and that is the case, especially in the wind, feeling colder than yesterday. rain, sleet and snow to be had. stunning quite enthusiastically in higher parts of yorkshire and the pennines as it will be for a few more hours, they are that the remainder in some high routes. reading through south—west england and northern ireland this evening but by the end of tonight, just across the stunned scotland and north east england. some sleet and snow over higher ground. temperatures close to freezing, patchy frost, sunspots in north—west scotla nd patchy frost, sunspots in north—west scotland will be well below freezing as monday begins. monday starts with as monday begins. monday starts with aof as monday begins. monday starts with a of dry weather and becomes sunnier into southern england. also western britain. cloudy down the eastern side and cold in the wind, patchy rain and hill snow into eastern scotland. it will be when weather you are, gusty winds towards western wales and england. . maybe 60 mph, especially the likes of bainbridge into anglesey. another cold feeling

the wind, milder weather on the way as the week goes on. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines at 3.00pm. north korea fires a ballistic missile into the sea ofjapan — the first such test since donald trump became us president. mr trump has assured japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, that "america stands behind, its great ally, 100%". the commons speaker, john bercow, insists his impartiality hasn't been affected after revealing he voted remain in the eu referendum. his spokeswoman said the way he cast his ballot had no impact on his ability to deal fairly with all mps. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, says the party's leadership is "settled for this parliament". he played down reports that mr corybn has been encouraged to improve his popularity ratings and that the party is vetting potential leadership successors. german police have evacuated

hundreds of passengers at hamburg airport after an unknown substance caused breathing problems amongst passengers. now on bbc news — it's time for politics europe.