this is bbc news. the headlines at 12: the british government toughens its rhetoric over russia's involvement in the syrian civil war this is the world's largest humanitarian crisis we are seeing, and people are working together, in europe and america. the foreign secretary faces criticism for his decision to pull out of a trip to moscow — the snp calls him a puppet of the us, while labour says diplomacy must continue. swedish police... egyptian state television reports at least 21 people have been killed and 50 injured in an explosion near a church in the city of tanta. the body of the police officer, keith palmer — who was stabbed to death last month — is to be taken to the palace of westminster ahead of his funeral tomorrow. also in the next hour: commemorating

the fallen of the first world war. a ceremony to mark the centenary of the battle of vimy ridge — more than 20,000 people are expected to take part. mercedes‘ lewis hamilton has won the chinese grand prix in shanghai, beating ferrari's sebastian vettel, who finished second. and coming in half an hour: click looks at whether voice—controlled personal assistants live up to the hype. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. breaking news cullen in the past few minutes, swedish police have said that one of the victims of friday's

terror attack in stockholm was british. two swedes and a belgian also died. 0fficers british. two swedes and a belgian also died. officers say their main suspect, is believed to be the truck driver, had expressed sympathy with extremist islamic organisations including islamic state. a service will take place this afternoon to remember the victims and those injured. is all national operational resources a re injured. is all national operational resources are being tasked to support the counter terrorist unit and the national bomb squad, and also the helicopters that we use. we are working very closely together with all the police regions that are supporting stockholm in this incident, and we are also working, of course, very closely together with the security service in exchanging information and intelligence. approximately 100

police officers are being deployed from all over the country into stockholm, supporting in this tragic incident. all four deceased are now identified, and the family of the deceased had been notified. there are two swedish citizens among the deceased, and there are two foreign citizens. the countries‘ embassies are being contacted as we speak. we will be talking to our corresponded in stockholm in a few minutes for more details on what the police were saying. the defence secretary, sir michael fallon, has said moscow is responsible for the civilian

deaths in what he called the barbaric gas attack in syria on tuesday. 88 people, including 33 children, are believed to have been killed in the rebel—held town of khan sheikhoun. jonathan blake reports. president trump‘s decision to launch air strikes in syria was designed to send a clear message. the syrian government should not expect to use chemical weapons without consequences. syrian military commanders inspect the damage the us air strikes caused on the ground. meanwhile, the diplomatic fallout of american military action continued. syria denies using chemical weapons in an attack on civilians. the us and its allies blame russia for backing syrian president basha al—assad. the uk defence secretary michael fallon has strongly criticise russia, writing in the sunday times newspaper: assad‘s principal backer is russia. by proxy, russia is responsible for every civilian death last week.

he added, if russia wanted to be absolved of responsibility for future attacks, vladimir putin needed to commit to destroying the chemical arsenal for good and engage with peacekeeping progress. it is quite clear that events in syria have moved on, and quite rightly, the foreign secretary‘s focuses working with the international community to look at a political resolution, so he is focusing on the g7 meeting that is taking place this week, and of course working with the us and other allies in the international community when it comes to finding the right kind of peaceful and political settlement to this conflict. russia said the foreign secretary‘s decision to cancel a visit showed its lack of influence over world affairs. he has also faced criticism at home. borisjohnson just looks daft.

i mean, what is the argument for not going ahead with a visit? rex tillerson is going on wednesday, so it can‘t be that we‘ve moved to a cold war position of no talking whatsoever. the idea that the foreign secretary can‘t be trusted because he might pursue his his own line makes him look like some sort of mini me to the us, not a situation any foreign secretary would want to be in. rex tillerson will travel to moscow this week for the trump administration‘s first face—to—face meetings with the russian government. jonathan blake, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to our political correspodent, susana mendonca. what are they trying to achieve? they are trying to get the conversation on to russia‘s responsibility and trying to get russia to change its stance regarding syria, because russia has been assad‘s bigger supporter. you heard in that report,

russia have put out a statement saying they think there is little to gain with talks with britain, and they think that decision to cancel the trip actually shows a lack of understanding of what is going on in syria. it is difficult to see how, if that is the attitude of the russian foreign ministry, whether or not britain could really influence their direction. certainly, you heard there from the snp‘s alex salmond, talking about this as being borisjohnson ending up like a mini me to the us. he is not the first one to say that, and he won‘t be the last. john mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, has also talked about this today, saying borisjohnson should be in moscow, regardless of whether or not the americans are going. here is the tragedy today: assad is bombing again today with barrel bombs. actually, it hasn't stopped the bombing. in fact, it might have put off the opportunity of a negotiated settlement. my view is, there should have been a time for a proper enquiry, the results properly

exposed, negotiations, and back to geneva. i thought there was potential there. we have got to get back to that. that is why i think boris johnson should be in moscow fiow. so he was wrong? he should be in moscow now, saying to the russians how appalling the situation is and the role they should play. we should be frank with them, not just allow the americans to go off and do that. we understand that borisjohnson is having discussions with the g7 group of industrialised countries that he wants to get involved in that coordinated effort and coordinated response that can then be put to russia. he is focusing on that. the us military has ordered a navy strike group to move towards the korean peninsula, amid growing concerns about north korea‘s missile and nuclear weapons programme. us pacific command described the deployment as a "prudent measure to maintain readiness in the region". president trump has said the united states is prepared to act alone if necessary to deal

with the nuclear threat from north korea. at least 25 people have been killed after an explosion close to a church in egypt. state media say the blast happened near the st george coptic church in the city of tanta, north of cairo, as worshippers marked palm sunday. authorities say 50 people have been injured. there has been no immediate claim of responsibility. in december, 25 people were killed after a bomb targeted cairo‘s largest coptic cathedral. in the last few minutes, we have heard egyptian state media saying there were reports of an explosions reported in a church in alexandria. it is palm sunday and there have been huge congregations at these churches. ranyah sabry from the bbc‘s arabic service joins us from cairo. what is the latest you are hearing?

like you said, there is another explosion in alexandria, the second largest city in the country, overlooking the mediterranean, further north from tanta. so far, we don‘t have news of any casualties, but there are reports about injuries. the number is not clear in alexandria. the legal explosion in ta nta alexandria. the legal explosion in tanta took alexandria. the legal explosion in ta nta took place alexandria. the legal explosion in tanta took place while coptic christians were attending palm sunday mass. there were 59 injured, and the number of casualties is expected to increase. so far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and it is not clear whether it was carried out by an improvised explosive device or an explosive belt. according to the interior

ministry, they are doing their best to reveal what happened exactly, including checking cctv camera raise around the church in tanta, but so far, there have only been official state m e nts far, there have only been official statements from the presidency and from the highest islamic institute, condemning the attack. no statement from the church so far, or from the pope. we‘re waiting for more developments. no claim of responsibility. given that these coptic churches have been targeted, is there are enhanced security when people worshipping? yes, actually, coptic churches and the coptic community have been targeted for the past three and a half years, ever since mohammed morsi, the muslim brotherhood president, was removed from power, in july brotherhood president, was removed from power, injuly 2013, right after his removal, a0 churches were torched and attacks on the christian community continue. the chris kane community continue. the chris kane community is a marinara take —— the

christian community is a minority, but they number millions. 8 million egyptian christians are present in the country. the overall population is 90 million. security is increased before festivities in churches, but this has not been very successful today, as we can see with what happened in tanta and in alexandria. christmas festivities, in december, there was a big blast here in saint peter‘s church in cairo, where 29 people were killed and more than 30 injured. in that attack, islamic state claimed responsibility two days after the attack, showing a video of the man walking into the church with the explosives. so far, there has been no claim of responsibility for today‘s explosions, but we will keep you updated. thank you very much. back to the news that swedish police

have said that one of the victims of the stock attack was british. " says: we know that a british man was killed during the attack in stockholm. we are supporting his family in sweden and in the uk. our thoughts are with them and all those affected that this terrible time. we will stand shoulder to shoulder with sweden as they deal with this tragedy. 0ur correspondent maddy savage has the latest from stockholm as people begin to gather for the rally. give us a sense of what the police are saying. i was not at the conference but here in this square in stockholm, where people are gathering for a love rally to show their respect to the victims of the attack. we were listening live to that news conference, with a number of key lines emerging, one of which is that one of the victims was a

british man. also two swedish people and one belgian. it is not clear at this stage whether the british man was someone this stage whether the british man was someone who this stage whether the british man was someone who was this stage whether the british man was someone who was visiting. there are 20,000 british people currently living in sweden. another piece of information we got from that press conference was about the suspect, the man they believe was driving the truck, a 39—year—old from uzbekistan. police confirmed that he applied for permanent residency, which was turned down and he was due to be deported. that had not taken place. there will be a lot of questions asked in the coming hours and days about that. police are saying that there are a huge number of cases like his — 3000 in stockholm and 10,000 around the country — so clearly dealing with a backlog. they also confirmed that they understand that he has been sympathising with the group known as

is. sympathising with the group known as i s. they are sympathising with the group known as is. they are doing everything sympathising with the group known as i s. they are doing everything they can to keep people in sweden say. 0fficers can to keep people in sweden say. officers from all over the country have been mobilised to come to stockholm to help police. in the next hour or so, the focus will be on remembering the victims, and on swedish people coming together in solidarity to think about what has been happening here in the last few days. thank you very much. the headlines: swedish police are saying is that one british man was among those killed in sweden. the british government toughens its rhetoric over russia‘s involvement in the syrian civil war, saying that russia is to blame for every civilian death. 25 people have been killed and many

more injured in an explosion at a church in the egyptian city of ta nta. now, the sport. after being beaten in the opening race in australia, lewis hamilton has returned to the top step of the podium at this morning‘s chinese grand prix. the race in shanghai started in damp conditions, and caught out several drivers, including sauber‘s antonio giovanazzi, whose crash meant the safety car had to be sent out. ferrari‘s sebastian vettel was as low as sixth after mistiming a pit stop, but recovered to finish second. but there was no stopping hamilton out in front. he claimed his 5ath career victory. red bull‘s max verstappen recovered from a poor qualifying session to complete the podium. today‘s result leaves hamilton and vettel locked on a3 points at the top of the drivers‘ standings. there‘s two games in the premier league today. at a, last years champions leicester go to everton who are 7th. leicester have won their last

five in the league under craig shakespeare. and the lunchtime kick off sees david moyes‘ bottom of the table sunderland take on his former side manchester united. we are not relegated yet. we have still got a chance and we will still push as hard as we can. sometimes one result can change how things look and if we could win this game, with the games we have got coming next, we could go in with a bit of hope to try and go on a run. there are three teams who are going to be relegated, but everyone is a good professional, everyone gives everything, everyone fights all season. some of us, we are sacked in the middle of the season, it is difficult for everyone, so of course i have sympathy. aberdeen play rangers today. rangers are 12 points behind them. it is on

bbc radio scotland, if you want to listen. kick—off is at 1230 pm. the final round of the masters is perfectly poised, with england‘sjustin rose and spain‘s sergio garcia joint leaders on 6 under par. there are plenty of big names just behind them as well at the augusta national. tim hague reports. the third round of the masters is known as moving day and justin rose moved right to the front of the queue at augusta. after a slow and steady start for the olympic champion, five birdies on the back nine helped him to a super 67 and he now sits joint top on six under par. the key was staying patient early in my round. i think this is a golf course where you pick your moments and that is what worked well for me today and i am sure that will be somewhat the game plan tomorrow. perhaps the englishman did not discuss his game plan with his game partner, sergio garcia. he is looking for a first major and with a little luck

will fancy his chances. into the creek. not so. the water somehow avoided and how the spaniard profited. a beautiful shot and like justin rose, he too is on six under. but they have quite a crowd chasing them, including rickie fowler and former champion jordan spieth. he hit nine shots on the 15th in the first round, but not this time. he really is a remarkable young man and an amazing golfer. it was an equally successful day for lee westwood. he is one—under in total and still has an outside chance. as does world number two, rory mcilroy, six shots back, but it could have been much better. a double bogey at the seven, damaging what had been an otherwise good round. no moving day for rory, but perhaps he will come good on proving day. tim hague, bbc news. you can watch the final round live on bbc two from 7pm. boxing now and wbo world lightweight

champion terry flanagan is eyeing "the biggest fights" after a fifth successful defence against russian petr petrov. flanagan won on a unanimous points decision at the manchester arena. also on the card was british olympic hero nicola adams, who won her first professional boxing fight. the two—time olympic champion beat the argentine fighter virginia carcamo, winning all four rounds on the judges‘ score cards. it was really good, i really enjoyed myself, loved the crowd, liked entertaining. it was amazing, an amazing experience for the first time. i think i tried a little bit too hard to get the stoppage but virgil says it will come from experience, the more times i box and the more rounds i get in, i will get a bit more used to settling down. wheelchair racer david weir has won the paris marathon this morning, weir pulled clear with around five miles to race to cross the line injust under an hour and a half.

he is expected to retire after london marathon in two weeks — where he is bidding for a seventh victory. that‘s all sport for now. i‘ll have more in the next hour. pc keith palmer, who was killed in the westminster attack last month, will today receive a rare honour. the queen has given her consent for his coffin to lie in rest at the chapel of st mary undercroft in the palace of westminster. his funeral takes place tomorrow afternoon at southwark cathedral. 0ur correspondent is in westminster. daniel, just explained what will happen. pc palmer's coffin will be brought into the palace of westminster in just under an hour‘s time. it will be brought under escort and will be received by a guard of honour made up of members

from his team at the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. his coffin will then be taken to the chapel of saint mary undercroft inside the palace of westminster. there will be a private service for close members of his family, and pc palmer‘s body will then lie in rest in the chapel for the next 2a hours. there will be a guard of honour watching over his coffin throughout that time, overnight, then tomorrow, his coffin will be taken from here to southwark cathedral, where there will be a full police service funeral. we expect police officers from many forces across the country to travel to london to attend that funeral, and also to line the route of the cortege. a ceremony has been taking place in the north of france

to commemmorate the vimy ridge battle, one of the defining moments of world war i. thousands of canadians were killed and wounded in three days of fighting against german forces which helped a major french attack further south. francois hollande and justin trudeau were in attendance to pay their respects this morning. it was a wonderful opportunity with that one, because it covered a wide range of the arts and every month or thereabouts we did a live show from a theatre and it amazed me that a vast audience always turned up and filled that theatre, wherever we were. i mean, it was an opportunity to see a number of eminent stars, i suppose that was the attraction.

but it was a great programme to be associated with. those paying tribute to the radio 2 broadcaster included sir tim rice who said he was sad to learn that brian matthew‘s voice had been silenced and went on to call him a truly magnificent broadcaster. his former colleague at radio 2, jeremy vine, said he had done everything in broadcasting and had met everyone in music. people caught fly—tipping will have to help councils clean up litter, under new proposals by the government. it says fly tippers cost 50 million pounds a year in england — and the number of instances of rubbish being illegally dumped by roads or in parks is on the increase. next week is holy week, leading up to easter sunday — the day christians mark their belief jesus rose from the dead. but research commissioned by the bbc suggests belief in a life after death is by no means limited

to people of faith. the study found that a fifth of people who say they don‘t believe in a god also believe in an afterlife. 0ur religious affairs correspondent martin bashir reports. you‘re here to worship today! come on! worship at hillsong church in surrey isn‘t just an expression of gratitude for what the christians say god is doing in their lives now, but also what they say he has in store for them when they die. the bible says that we will have eternal life, we will enter heaven. it doesn't go into major details, it just says that there will be no more weeping, no more tears. it will be a place of great joy. the confidence of christians in the existence of heaven is based on what they believe happened at easter, whenjesus died, was buried and then rose again. after our life here we go to heaven and it's paradise, it's perfect, there's no pain.

it's good. the resurrection is a really powerful event for me, because it‘s jesus conquering death, essentially. that gives us life. but what of those who don‘t claim to have any religious faith? a bbc poll of 2000 people conducted by comres shows thatjust over 30% -- a bbc poll of 2000 people conducted by comres shows that just over 20% of those who say they are not religious still believe they will live again after death. mediums and tarot card readers here in covent garden charge £a5 for 30 minutes and say they can put you in touch with friends and relatives who have passed away. it's hoped that what has left is literally the flesh, the physical body, but they believe that they can still sense and be in contact with the loved ones. it's the hope that they have.

a desperate hope? a desperate hope, exactly. the sense that we might be able to live beyond the grave has now made the journey from the spiritual to the scientific community. companies like this one are now offering to freeze the deceased body, just in case it proves possible to raise the dead in the future. until that happens, the world‘s great religions continue to fill the void. so, whether you‘re planning to attend church during holy week or visit a medium, our shared beliefs may be closer than we realised. that humanity has a sense that this isn‘t all there is, even though it‘s tough to prove. let‘s see what the weather is doing

this afternoon. then rich has the forecast. —— ben rich. the increasing cloud in the north and west, sunnier in the south—east. rain is sliding in across north—western scotland and northern ireland. it is clouding over in other western coastal areas. temperatures here will drop away. in the sunshine, further east, the temperature could get up to 26 celsius. this evening and tonight, the weather front sinks to the south and east. not much rain left on it as it gets to the south of england and south wales. behind that, all of us and south wales. behind that, all of us will get into cooler air, temperatures in a new week starting around nine celsius. there will be a fairamount of around nine celsius. there will be a fair amount of sunshine around tomorrow, but some showers too. one or two shell was elsewhere. say goodbye to 25 and 26. 15 is the best

we can hope for. hello, this is british news. the headlines at half past 12. —— bit is the bbc news. a british man was among four people killed in the lorry