hello. our top stories: the turkish president attacks the dutch as nazis, for blocking a campaign visit by the country's foreign minister. translation: they don't know anything about politics or international diplomacy. they are very nervous, and they are cowards. they are nazi remnants, they are fascists. the un warns of the largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years. 20 million people face starvation in parts of africa. a boost for india's prime minister, as his bjp party wins a landslide in key state elections. and a record—equalling 18th consecutive win for england's rugby team, as they thrash scotland to retain their six nations title. an extraordinary diplomatic row between turkey and the netherlands

is deepening still further. it all began when a minister in president erdogan‘s government was blocked from addressing a rally in rotterdam. that prompted mr erdogan to describe the dutch government, led by mark rutte, as nazi remnants. a second turkish minister has now been stopped from attending the rally, and is being held by the dutch authorities. well, these are live pictures from outside the dutch consulate in istanbul, where pro government demonstrations are taking place. it is a similar scene at the dutch embassy in ankara. both have been closed off for security reasons, according to turkish officials. rounding up the day's events, here is mark lowen. they love his nationalism, his bluntness, his standing up to the west, and today,

recep tayyip erdogan doled it out. after his foreign minister was blocked from landing in the netherlands, president erdogan hit back at the dutch, his diplomacy typically undiplomatic. translation: they don't know anything about politics or international diplomacy. they are very nervous, and cowards. they are nazi remnants, they are fascists. the foreign minister had wanted to rally turkish voters in the netherlands before a referendum on boosting mr erdogan‘s powers. but, with the dutch election next week, the government there feared it could provoke tension, and feed the anti—immigrant geert wilders. on the campaign trail, the dutch prime minister said he wouldn't give in to turkish blackmail. this morning, on television, he made clear that he threatened the netherlands with sanctions. and of course we cannot negotiate with the turks under such threats.

so then we decided, the foreign minister, the french prime minister and myself, in a conference call this morning, that it was better for him not to come to the netherlands. his country having been occupied by the nazis, mr rutte reacted bluntly to the fascist comparison. it's a crazy remark, of course. i understand they're angry, but this is, of course, way out. germany, too, was branded nazis by mr erdogan, after it blocked turkish rallies, unprecedented language among nato allies. president erdogan has an advantage with europe, turkey the most active route for migrants, and its role crucial to stemming the flow. he has used it as a bargaining chip, but the eu is getting increasingly frustrated with the turkish strongman. this is a classic erdogan political tactic, painting turkey as the victim of western oppression, and himself as the protector of national pride. he thrives when he and his country are seen as the underdogs, and this growing stand—off

with europe will rally his nationalist support base, which he needs for a referendum victory. so vintage erdogan, pleasing his supporters, horrifying his opponents, and reiterating the sense that polarised turkey is drifting ever further from europe. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. let's stay with that story. so why are turkish officials taking these referendum rallies in europe so seriously? well, the numbers say it all. over 6.5 million turks live in europe, around 3.5 million of them live in germany, and around 500,000 live in the netherlands. and the turkish election commission says that, in the most recent election, over 2.8 million turkish citizens were eligible to vote at a turkish embassy abroad. that may prove crucial in winning president erdogan the powers he seeks. well, i spoke to turkish analyst ilhan tanir.

he says president erdogan is concerned about getting votes. mr erdogan knows what he is saying, here is the best politician turkey has ever seen for at least half a century. but this time around, the polls are showing that his vote for the referendum, which is slated for april seven to 16th next month, is not doing well. it is about 60%, some polls showing no votes ahead of yes votes, and his crowds within turkey seemed to be not as exciting as it used to be. so it is now fighting with western countries, it is the best what he does, and i think he hopes to gather the excitement began with his own base,

as well as in europe. this is a fast paced dramatic row, isn't it? how serious could get for him? -- diplomatic row. there is also another part, in holland as we all know there is an election in just a couple of days. so the politicians, the officials in holland, also cannot take a step back at this moment. we have always known erdogan‘s rhetoric is very outlandish remarks, but we always seem, from the european side, toning down, a softer approach from erdogan, kind of handling erdogan. at this time around i think the netherlands, also, the politicians they can take a step back. so i don't think mr erdogan is going to make a u—turn from here. and it is really ha rd to make a u—turn from here. and it is really hard to see how far he is

going to go. as we all know today, the foreign minister of turkey could not get permission to land in holland. i don't think we have ever seen such an incident happened in diplomatic history between the countries. it is quite unprecedented. turkey and the netherlands are of course nato allies as well. could this row harm relations on that front? look, tu rkey‘s relations on that front? look, turkey's foreign policy is in a really difficult edition. within syria, turkey's relations with the us are not doing well. they are hoping for better relations with the trump administration, but nobody knows how it is going to turn out. turkey has been trying to recover relations with russia but turkey's relations with russia but turkey's relations with russia but turkey's relations with the west, with eu countries, with syria, iran, i can go on and on. so all these have been damaging the turkish economy very

badly, economy is not doing well. so it is about the next five weeks, erdogan needs five weeks to bring his voters back to the ballot box, andi his voters back to the ballot box, and i don't think there is anything that he wouldn't do to bring his voters to the ballot box. so that is a one point, one angle that really worries the observers, that i think nobody knows how erdogan can stop at this point. and, for more on this diplomatic spat, and what is behind it, you can go to our website at bbc.com/news. at least a0 people are reported to have been killed in twin bomb attacks in the heart of the syrian capital, damascus. the bombs targeted buses carrying iraqi pilgrims to the city's ancient cemetery, which houses

shia muslim mausoleums. 0ur correspondent richard conway is at the scene. this is the largest attack to hit damascus in some time. a suicide bomber detonated his device in this commercial district in the centre of damascus, killing at least a0 people, injuring dozens more. the target was shia pilgrims visiting a nearby cemetery. president assad wants to present his country as returning to normal, but as we can see around, from the destruction, that's a long way off. richard conway in damascus. it is the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the second world war. now, the united nations is pleading for help to avoid catastrophe. 20 million people are facing starvation in four countries, including nigeria, somalia, south sudan and yemen. our world affairs correspondent richard galpin has more. for months now, it has been known that millions of people, including this young baby, in yemen, have been starving. she was just four months old when a bbc team met

her in december. and, across yemen, hundreds of thousands more children have so little to eat they are struggling to stay alive. and the threat of mass starvation is affecting three other countries. this is a refugee camp in south sudan, which, like yemen, has been torn apart by conflict, families forced to flee their homes, and left with little to eat. already a famine has been officially declared here, with almost half the population in urgent need of help. we stand at a critical point in our history. already, at the beginning of the year, we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the united nations. now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. without collective and co—ordinated

global efforts, people will simply starve to death. of the huge number of people the un says are now in danger, almost 2 million are in nigeria, nearly 5 million in south sudan, nearly 3 million in somalia, and more than 14 million in yemen. the un is predicting that, without serious help, 1.4 million people could die before the end of the year unless more aid money is found. they are calling for 5.6 billion to tackle this crisis. aid agencies on the ground say at the moment they do not have enough money to deal with the rising demand for help. apart from conflict, another major cause of the crisis is drought. this is somalia, which has been particularly hit hard. in this hospital in the capital, mogadishu, almost 50 children have died in two months, most from dehydration.

a major cause of death is dehydration. we are doing rehydration for the child. it is possible famine could be declared in all four countries, unprecedented in modern times. richard galpin, bbc news. a look at some more top stories this hour: an intruder carrying a backpack has been arrested by us secret service agents as he entered the grounds of the white house. the suspect gained entrance on the south side, near a portico from which presidents often address the public. the backpack carried by the intruder was screened and searched, and no hazardous material was found. italian police and protesters have clashed in the southern city of naples. it is where thousands were demonstrating against the leader of the anti—immigrant northern league party. italian media says violence broke out when a group of masked

anarchists hurled molotov cocktails. the impeached former president of south korea, park geun—hye, says she will leave her official residence in two days' time. huge rallies have been taking place in seoul, both for and against the ousted leader. she could now face criminal charges for corruption. the indian prime minister narendra modi and his bjp party are celebrating after a landslide victory in elections in uttar pradesh. the state is the country's most populated and influential. it is a decisive victory for mr modi, especially after his blunder over withdrawing high—value banknotes. from delhi sanjoy majumder reports. the man who is on everyone's lips. modi, modi, modi! and his control

over india is now absolute. prime minister narendra modi has delivered a stunning victory for his party in the country's heartland, and at the b] p the country's heartland, and at the bjp headquarters at this time to celebrate. party now controls more than half of india's state governments, leaving the opposition trailing in the dust. translation: this is a historic win. the people of this state put their faith in the prime minister. these mightjust be local elections, but there's a reason why the bjp

and its supporters are so pleased with this victory. it means that narendra modi's grip over india has consolidated after this victory. it means that he has very few challengers looking ahead to the next general elections in 2019. and most of all, it means that he can take risky political decisions and win. late last year, indians faced massive cash shortages after mr modi's shock decision to ban high—denomination banknotes. it effectively sucked out more than 80% of the total currency in circulation, creating hardship for many, especially in rural areas. but as these election results have shown, it has had little impact on the fortunes of india's prime minister. sanjoy majumder, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: some flipping good news from florida. the sea turtle returning to the ocean after an unhappy accident. the number of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours

the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years hisjunior. we heard these gunshots. then they started firing at our huts and we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he is 90. he travelled from memphisjail to nashville prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. will it change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really, i've never been married before. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines:

the turkish president attacks the dutch as nazis — for blocking a campaign visit by the country's foreign minister. and the un warns it's the largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years, with urgent action needed to counter famine in parts of africa. a femalejudge here in the uk is causing controversy, after warning women who get drunk, that they are putting themselves at risk of being targeted by rapists. her comments have been described by campaigners as ‘outrageous‘ and ‘misguided'. frankie mccamley reports. jailed for six years, for what police described as a horrifically prolonged attack, ricardo rodriguez was found guilty of raping a woman who had been on a night out in manchester. but, sentencing, judge lindsey kushner used her final words before retiring to issue a rape warning to women. she said... while many might see her comments

as useful advice for women out drinking, others believe this is a backwards step. i'm very anxious that, whatever message she meant to send, it's very clear that what it has sent is the message that there's not much point in reporting. that's wrong. whatever amount of drink you've had, do report. you will be treated better than this suggests. a rape survivor herself, pavan amara now helps others through the ordeal. i think it makes all of us really quite angry. it's one thing to go around making these comments when you sit in a courtroom all day, and you are engaging in one aspect

of society without engaging with the women who are experiencing this. judge kushner says she doesn't think it is wrong to teach women to protect themselves. campaigners, though, hope this will not stop other rape survivors from coming forward in the future. frankie mccamley, bbc news. a giant green sea turtle has been returned to the sea off the florida keys, a month after becoming tangled in a crab trap. it's a triumph for workers at a turtle hospital who have worked hard to get the creature — who is at least 50 years old — back in the wild. janey mitchell has more. joy, as jolly the female turtle is released back to the wild off the city of marathon, florida. jolly was named after the wildlife officers who helped rescue her from multiple crab trap lines last month. weighing in at 150 kilos, she made a quick recovery

from the partial amputation of her right rear flipper. the release is timely. the nesting season in florida keys starts in april. so she being a mature female, she can get out there in time to date and hopefully lay some eggs. breeding is all the more crucial in view of the green sea turtles' listing as a threatened species in the atlantic ocean. it's really important to get a turtle this mature back out into the wild — they are sexually mature, which means they are reproductive, and sea turtles aren't reproductive until they are 20 or 25 years old. jolly is probably 50 plus years old, so that's when we want to make sure she gets out so she keeps making baby turtles. jolly could live to 100 or more, so well worth shelling out for her treatment and care. janey mitchell, bbc news. let's turn to some sport. and we begin with rugby union

because england have retained their six nations title. it's after beating scotland by 61 points to 21 at twickenham. it means eddiejones‘ side are unbeaten in their last 18 matches — equalling the top tier record of new zealand. joe wilson reports. at the start of this game we were expecting a tight match, even be possibility of scotland winning. they have risen to number five in the world rankings through some determined and skilful players. by half—time in this match, we knew the game was up. half—time in this match, we knew the game was up. scotland suffered from a lack of discipline, a man in the sin bin in the second minute of the game. they also struggled with injury. above all that, there was jonathanjoseph injury. above all that, there was jonathan joseph for england, exploiting gaps with his skilful and

powerful running. it is a site to match any that has been seen here at twickenham. from that point on, scotla nd twickenham. from that point on, scotland never gave up. they came back with tries in the second half but the margin of victory made it a record in this fixture and it is a fixture that stretches back to the 1870s. england has another game to 90, 1870s. england has another game to go, another win against ireland and if they do, they will set a record. however, their sights are now towards the world cup in 2019. eddie jones says they are onlyjust beginning. arsenal are through to the semi—finals of the fa cup after beating non—league lincoln city 5—0. lincoln, 88 places below their premier league opponents, will be proud of their performance after holding their own for much of the first half. the win eases the pressure on arsene wenger after one of the most difficult weeks in his 20 years as manager. he now has the chance to lead arsenal to a record 13th win in the competition and his seventh as gunners boss.

manchester city had a comfortable 2—0 win over middlesbrough to join arsenal in the last four. david silva scored just three minutes into the match before sergio aguero made the result safe for the visitors in the second half. city have reached the semi—finals for the first time in four years as guardiola aims to win some silverware in his first season in english football. iamso i am so happy to be at wembley, to be here at the semifinals. the games we win away, one against hull, the top in the championship. we deserve top in the championship. we deserve to defeat the opponents we are about to defeat the opponents we are about to face. the novels of jane austen are read all over the world.

the author died young in herforties, but until now, little has been known about what ended her life. now tests carried out on austen's eyeglasses show the medicine she'd been taking could have contained arsenic, which may have contributed to her death. ben moore reports. for one of history's greatest writers, just reading her row novels would have been very difficult without these. her spectacles have been at the british library for 20 yea rs been at the british library for 20 years but only now can they bring focus to her life. back in the early 19th century there were prescription similarto 19th century there were prescription similar to what we had today. so what we did was have somebody bring in aid portable metre so we could carefully have them examined. austin was longsighted. the first spare low prescription but her eyes deteriorated. the final pair reveals she would have had great trouble reading and writing. all of this can

help solve the mystery of why she died so young. the possibility of her being poisoned accidentally with a heavy metals such as arsenic. we know now that arsenic poisoning can cause cataract. arsenic was often put into medication for other types of illness so potentially for room and rheumatism, which she suffered from. using modern optometry we are able to see what jane austen's ice that would have been. i can not see your eyes at all. your face. that is what she needed to correct her vision. the british library wants optometrists to get in touch and offer professional opinions. a rare chance to see things through the eyes of one of our best loved authors. but as it from me in the team. goodbye for now. saturday brought the knoll estate of

the year so farfor saturday brought the knoll estate of the year so far for northern ireland. we will see some sunshine oi’ ireland. we will see some sunshine or the law will not be repeated today. this was the saturday evening sunset and 16 was that are richer that we reached, about 61 fahrenheit. there was 18 in the sunshine in the south and the east and on the whole was a fairly decent day for most. however we did have the weather front around. the rain has been peppering up with heavy bursts of rain in the south and the odd rumble of thunder. we didn't have not just one odd rumble of thunder. we didn't have notjust one but two weather fronts to content with four sunday and an awful lot of cloud, misty low cloud, hill and coastal fog and an awful lot of cloud, misty low cloud, hill and coastalfog so and an awful lot of cloud, misty low cloud, hill and coastal fog so for most sunday will get off to a mild start. this rain in the east obviously bringing a different date for the east in england and doubt whether in northern ireland in the morning, moving into wales and the south—west of scotland. all the time it will be a grain misty start so a

lot of low cloud around the hills and coastal fog as well. behind this first weather front and ahead of the next one we may well have some bright weather through the east of wales, midlands, into parts of northern england and central scotland. still quite murky near the east coast of scotland compared with saturday and that rain band is getting into the west. all the time the rain in the east will be fizzling out. it looks as if the rain in the west as it heads in, will become more showery as well. there will therefore be a lot of cloud around and more limited brightness. it looks lovely for northern ireland in the afternoon and that means we will see some sunshine but it will not feel as warm as it did during the day on saturday. originally reaching 1a degrees. through the night clear further we are in free chilly night. we could have a frost, a light frost as we head into monday morning. perhaps the far south and east is still quite cloudy. with high

pressure building in for the start of the week it means that the weather is settling down so monday looks like a decently dry day with some springlike sunshine does not the springlike temperatures we saw through the first half of the weekend. still, 1a or 15 were sunshine is pleasant enough. such a fate from the north—west and the breeze increases the tuesday brings more cloud and not much rain. it hangs around into wednesday before the pressure tries to build back in again and the weather front pesters the north and west that of the country. you can see risk of cloud on tuesday. as ever there is more detail on the website. the headlines on bbc news: turkey's president erdogan has accused the dutch government of acting like nazis, after it refused to let his foreign minister land in rotterdam to address a rally. the dutch prime minister said

mr erdogan‘s comments were way out of line. the un is calling for urgent action to counter famine in parts of africa and the middle east. it says more than 20 million people in yemen, south sudan, somalia and nigeria are facing starvation. two bomb explosions in the syrian capital are reported to have killed at least a0 people. the blasts happened near a damascus cemetery which houses shia mausoleums. the party led by the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has won elections in the country's biggest state, uttar pradesh, by a landslide. the results are being seen as a personal triumph for mr modi. now it is time for reporters.