this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley, the headlines at three... north korea's latest missile test receives widespread international condemnation. the commons speaker, john bercow, dismisses claims his impartiality has been compromised, after revealing he voted remain in last summer's eu referendum. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, denies the party has been considering possible successors tojeremy corbyn. a group of retired bishops has accused church of england leaders of suppressing the views of gay christians. also in the next hour — new zealand's stranded pilot whales find their way again. more 200 caught on a beach are refloated and returned to sea. singing. la la land is in the running for a record—breaking haul at tonight's baftas, with 11 nominations. and in half an hour, here on bbc news, click visits 500 years of robots at the science museum in london.

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 300 miles and landed in the sea ofjapan. 0ur tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has more. it's now thought the missile fired from north korea early 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. a much longer range missile 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 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. 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." mr 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 a big 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. despite its inefficiencies and

weaknesses. earlier, we spoke to the conservative mp james duddridge, who has called for a motion of no confidence in speaker bercow. he explained why. 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, 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.

earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent, susannah mendonca, and i asked her why impartiality is such an important issue for the speaker. issue for the speaker. if you actually look at the way it's written on the parliament website, it does say that the speaker is supposed to remain separate from political issues, even in retirement. if you take that to the letter, the speaker was talking about political issues. but it is whether you consider it to be any political issues or party political issues. and so, if you look at the issue of the european union, which the speaker declared how he voted, well that was an issue that the conservative party were not united on. he is a conservative mp and so he wasn't taking a party political line on it. and certainly, his supporters have made that point. they've also said that he actually only expressed how he voted several months after the vote itself. a spokesman compared it to how he voted in the strictly come dancing final, but isn't that a slightly flippant response to what some seem to see

as quite a serious allegation? that he's kind of broken with a precedent that has been established for centuries and established for a very good reason? and also, of course, it comes off the back of comments that 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 appearing in parliament, and questions about whether or not the speaker should be doing that, whether the speaker has the power to do that, so there are serious questions to be answered, but the thing is about the speaker is, although he has his critics, he also has a lot of supporters within parliament, and today a lot of those... at least presumably labourmps, snp mps? yeah. the opposition who he is perceived to have helped hold government to account? exactly, somebody who is very much seen as the voice of parliament and so he's not seen as voice of government, not a speaker who gives them an easy ride, he chooses people to speak who often

have quite challenging points of view, and that is actually something that david lidington, you had a clip yhere of him, you had a clip there of him, actually used as an example of a good thing thatjohn bercow does and certainly the labour party have been saying that they still have full confidence in him, so there is this early motion calling for a motion of the confidence in the speaker. —— calling for a motion of no confidence in the speaker. so far it only has one signatory, the person who's actually come up with that, james duddridge, who you just mentioned there. of course, we are in the recess, so that could pick up thing. people could come back and sign it? exactly, sign up to it. but the feeling that we get, certainly the government is saying this is a matterfor parliament, not something they want to get involved in, and certainly in terms of opposition parties, he's got a lot of support there, so the feeling that we are getting is it's unlikely to end up in him being removed. in theory, he is expected to stand down from the post within the next year anyway. yes, i believe he sort of give that commitment when he was first elected. yeah.

he wouldn't do the full two parliaments. he suggested he would do the nine years. leave just before the election? exactly. and there are those who have been coming to his defence, john whittingdale for example, saying how it's not helpful to express a vote of no—confidence in the speaker and saying that he hopes that the speaker will honour his pledge to stand down by next year. susannah mendonca. 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've had a tough 18 months, er, we had a damaging second leadership election, so we've got an uphill

struggle ahead, the polls aren't great for us, but i'm determined now that we've got the leadership settled for this parliament, that we can focus on developing a very positive clear message to the british people in the general election. tom watson talking to andrew marr this morning. 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, 14 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. the decision will be debated at

the general synod later this week. last month, the church announced it did not support gay marriage. 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 14 retired bishops have today expressed their concern that the views of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members were ignored. in an unusual move, they have written an open letter to bishops in 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, when the church's governing general synod meets 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.

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 11.40 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. a man has been rescued from the tower of worcester cathedral. hereford and worcester fire and rescue service used specialist equipment to winch him down 80ft down to safety after he fell during evensong. he was taken to hospital for treatment. 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 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 took office. 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". and in sport, the six nations game between france and scotland started is between france and scotland started 15 minutes ago, that is a 3—0 lead following a lopez penalty for france. brady scored a stunning free kick to score burnley level will chelsea, chelsea could go 12 points clear at the top of the premier league if they went, with just a couple of minutes left and it is still i—i. hearts and hibernian will need a fourth—round replay to discourage or makes the fourth round after a

goalless draw, and it is 1—1 between rangers and greenock morton. details on those and a lot more coming up and around one hour. 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 i% 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 pressures 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. homophobic abuse in sport should result in immediate action, including lengthy stadium bans, that's according to a group of mps in a new report. the culture media and sport select committee says football clubs in particular are not doing enough, and should be taking a zero—tolerance approach. patrick gearey reports. this is the kind of homophobic chanting a group of mps say is allowed to pass unchallenged too often. a report published by the culture, media and sport select committee finds that attitudes towards gay people in sport are out of step with the rest of society. particular attention is drawn to football. there are no openly gay players

in british professional leagues. something the report's authors say is noticeable. we need to train stewards in grounds to listen out for homophobic behaviour and to ban people who are engaging in homophobic abuse. but we also have evidence to suggest that clubs need to look into themselves as well. that sometimes dressing room banter can have this language. the football association say they welcome this report. they have said tackling homophobia, transphobia and biphobia in the game is one of its top priorities. criticism is not limited to football. the mps said they were upset by the presence of tyson fury on sports personality of the year in 2015, despite his controversial comments about gay people. the bbc state that fury‘s inclusion was based on his sporting achievements and made it clear it was not an endorsement of his personal views.

it's not all bad news. the report praises the two—year bans and fines given to those who abused gay rugby referee, nigel 0wnens, at a match at twickenham, but they say that should be the norm across all sports. patrick geary, bbc news. early results from the poll in switzerland suggest that voters have approved a proposal to relax the laws on citizenship, it would make it easier for third generation immigrants to become swiss. that is the grandchildren of people who immigrated into the country. they'll no longer face interviews and tests and the fees levied will be reduced. our correspondent in bern imogen foulkes has the latest. we have had first protections in from a number of cantons and the big metropolitan ca ntons have from a number of cantons and the big metropolitan cantons have big majorities in favour of simplifying this process, and even some of the more conservative rural ones. 0ne

did not give women the vote until the early 1990s and has voted narrowly yes to using citizenship, i think it is a reflection of the fact that many voters, we have a generation in this country who grew up generation in this country who grew up and went to school with people who were born in the same hospital, went to the same school, maybe even entering the same profession, and yet do not have the same rights because they are not swiss, they cannot vote, they are barred from certain professions like the police, and gradually this was seen as an anomaly, and needed to be corrected. most people, newcomers to switzerland though, it will still be a long process. the latest from switzerland there. an egyptian, believed to be the world's heaviest woman at 500 kilograms, has arrived in india for weight reduction surgery. the family of 36—year—old eman ahmed abd—el—aty said it was the first time she had left home for 25 years. she was diagnosed with elephantiasis

at birth, a condition which causes limbs and other parts of the body to swell due to a 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 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. there you are, it this he wasn't

dress down friday! forfirst time in decades, york minster‘s own police force is being given the same powers of arrest as regular constables within the cathedral and its boundaries. york minster is one of only five cathedrals in the world which maintain its own constabulary or police force, in a tradition which can be traced back to the early 13th century. carla fowler has the story. the minster police have been on duty a long time. for more than 700 years, they've been guardians of the peace here at york minster protecting the building and everyone in it on a daily basis. but specialist training from north yorkshire police means they will soon hold the same powers of arrest as regular constables. from time to time, perhaps people have too much to drink or maybe just a bit of disorder has to be dealt with and we have to be realistic that there could be a crime. so the police officers are now trained to recognise that and how to deal with it appropriately at the right level. cathedral constables were on the beat well before the police force was established in 1829.

since the 13th century, they've held a vital role in security at york and at a handful of other historic cathedrals, like chester and canterbury. last year, north yorkshire police provided professional training for the eight—strong team here. after the training, we know the laws, so i know what to do. and that training built my confidence. i think it is the only thing i am proud of that i can say. also, my family, they are proud of me. from disruptive visitors to serious criminals, the team are now equipped for every situation. but their central role remains to inform, advise and help the public. it has given us the tools to do the job more professionally. should we encounter a situation, we will know what to do, and we will have the confidence to carry out those actions. this week, north yorkshire police and the dean of york signed a memorandum to formally recognise

the role of the minster police. their new powers will come into force in may. carla fowler, bbc look north, york. 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. 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. my kids have got to start school tomorrow. 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. 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 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. a little earlier, i asked nick millerfor a little earlier, i asked nick miller for some a little earlier, i asked nick millerfor some advice a little earlier, i asked nick miller for some advice about jane hill going to the red carpet. i can reveal exclusively at head of the event that she is very well wrapped up event that she is very well wrapped upfor event that she is very well wrapped up for this evening. now to get an update on the weather prospects for her on the red carpet and the rest of us when we stick our noses outdoor, john hammond is there. we can change the weather man but get the same old weather i'm afraid. jane will be distinctly chilly this evening shall we say. will need loads and loads of layers, it will

be milder but not tonight, we will have to wait a few days for the warmer air. easterly wind will continue, many places becoming dry overnight, a fair bit of cloud, clear skies pushing into some southern counties. not just clear skies pushing into some southern counties. notjust as cold as has been recently as we start monday but i'm afraid that wind will have a real edge to it so it will not feel much warmer. the big difference is increasing sunshine developing across southern and western areas, although it will be windy with gales putting western coast sandhills, still cloudy and travel across north eastern areas. double figures and some sunni parts of the south. at long last that is the message, but it will turn milder slowly but surely. more detail in half an hour.