this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 9am. 36 is militants are killed by a massive us bomb in afghanistan. the strike is described as a strong warning to washington's enemies. they will now face an american and a coalition force that's prepared to do what's necessary to do the job. former afghan president karzai condemns the dropping of the mother of all bombs as an unhuman and brutal misuse of our country. schools in england face their worst funding cuts for 20 years, the warning from teaching unions as they meet for their annual conferences. a threat to small businesses, labour proposes new powers for the financial regulator to stop banks closing high street branches. also in the next hour, do you know who you're inviting into your home? a bbc investigation finds people's

properties have been burgled by scammers using stolen accounts on airbnb. paws for thought, would you bring your dog into work if it was good for business? in halfan good for business? in half an hour, join us for weather world. we are airside at belfast international airport. we will be finding out what it takes to keep these planes flying, whatever the weather. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the united states has used the largest non—nuclear bomb ever used in combat, killing at least 36 militants in afghanistan. the weapon, which is known as "the mother of all bombs," was dropped on a deep tunnel complex in eastern nangarhar province

near the pakistani border. the us says the tunnels were being used by fighters aligned to the so—called islamic state group. afg hanistan‘s chief executive abdullah abdullah said the attack had been coordinated with the kabul government. but the former afghan president hamid karzai has condemned it as "inhuman" and "brutal". this report from jon sopel in washington. this is the gbu—iis, also known as a moab, a massive 0rdnance air blast, or as it is more commonly known, the ‘mother of all bombs‘. the largest non—nuclear weapon ever deployed. the target — so—called islamic state in afghanistan. we targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target us military advisers and afghan forces in the area. it is turning out to be a busy time for the commander—in—chief. we are so proud of our military,

and it was another successful event. the tunnels and caves that were used by the taliban over 15 years ago are now being used by is. this bomb was dropped on a complex tunnel network in nangarhar province, close to the pakistan border, where a member of us special forces was killed last week. but the actions brought a furious tweet from afghanistan's former president hamid karzai. it is notjust the dropping of a massive bomb on afghanistan. injust over a week, president trump has ordered the missile strike on syria, a naval battle group to head to the korean peninsula, and he has restated his commitment to nato. some of donald trump's supporters are asking, whatever happened to the isolationist, america—first president of the inauguration? there's hope for 30,000 civilians caught up in syria's civil war

after a deal was struck to evacuate four besieged towns. residents of two government held towns in a rebel controlled area of aleppo province have already been pictured leaving on buses. the swap, brokered by iran and qatar, also sees people from opposition towns in a regime controlled area near damascus allowed to leave. unions representing half a million teachers say schools in england are facing the worst real term cuts for 20 years. the nut and nasuwt will discuss what they say is a crisis in funding when they meet today at their easter conferences. but the government says £40 billion is being spent on schools this year — the highest cash figure ever. 0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. st martin's school in essex is a good school. but even here, it has become

increasingly difficult to recruit staff, particularly in specialist subjects. at one stage, they had a science teacher vacancy for more than a year. but there are also shortages in maths and modern languages. i look at the pool of people that are teaching in those areas, and the number of people that are due to retire over the next ten years, and also the number of people that are coming in that aren't actually a specialist in the subject area that they're teaching, and i think that this is really the thin end of the wedge. teachers are gathering for their conferences at a time of unprecedented anger over cuts. there have been widespread protests from parents and schools who say, without more money, class sizes will go up and teaching posts will be cut. the government points out £40 billion is being spent on schools this year, the highest cash figure ever. but teachers say that hasn't taken into account rising costs, like pay, pensions, and the running costs of schools. the funding pressure is also beginning to hit parents, something of a concern to the unions. half of parents are saying they're

making at least one financial contribution to the school's funds, in order to "enhance resources", whatever that means, at school level. and many parents are finding that even the cost of school uniform is something which they can no longer afford. there is also much disquiet about government plans to introduce a new wave of grammar schools. teachers argue money set aside for them would be better spent on existing schools. however, the government says this new wave of grammars would benefit less—well—off families. a future labour government says it would bring in a law preventing banks closing high street branches. more than 1000 local branches closed in the uk between 2016 and 2017. labour says lending to small businesses decreases in areas where banks close, but the conservatives said their support for small businesses, including start—up loans, had helped 40,000 firms. with me is our political correspondent chris mason.

what is the thinking behind this labour proposal? the labour pitch is that the current arrangements allows a bank to decide on the closure of a local branch purely on a commercial basis. yes, there is a process where they try to establish the extent to which that branch is still used and the effect it would have on the local community. but it's a commercial decision and the bank can decide to get rid of the branch if they conclude it's not making them money. labour say they want to toughen up the law, new legislation, hand the power to the financial conduct authority to basically go through a series of checks to try and establish whether it is justified in a more broad sense as to whether or not that bank should close. the labour pitch is that banks, broadly, prove to be very profitable on a national or international scale and therefore, evenif international scale and therefore, even if a particular local branch might not be making them money, part of their community remit, if you

like, should be — are still available. what is the reaction given we are looking at what would normally be considered to be a purely commercial decision by a bank as to whether a particular branch was viable or not? it's a big intervention in the market and you speak to the british bankers' association and they say that branch visits have fallen by 32%, since 2011. ina visits have fallen by 32%, since 2011. in a relatively short period of timea 2011. in a relatively short period of time a third of those who were going to bank branches are now not because of the number of people who are doing it online. labour make the point that 11% of the population, around seven million people, still do all theirfinancial around seven million people, still do all their financial transactions with their bank or building society, whatever it might be, face—to—face. they don't go in for apps and online banking and doing it from the sofa.

the arguments they are making is there are people being excluded, particularly in rural areas, they also point to labour to the statistics that suggest there can be a big fall in local business transactions in areas that lose access to a local bank. the conservatives in their reaction, they don't offer a reaction directly to labour's idea. they make a broader point, which is a familiar one for them that they think labour's economic policies would crash the economy and hugely increase the amount of debt. the bigger picture here from labour is what we have got in the last couple of weeks is quite a few, what you might describe as retail political ideas from labour, ideas they hope will be talked about and people will -it will be talked about and people will — it will catch the eye of people and people might quite like. the general election is a long way off and labourare miles general election is a long way off and labour are miles behind general election is a long way off and labourare miles behind in general election is a long way off and labour are miles behind in the opinion polls but local elections are coming up, mayoral elections as well and i suspect part of the pitch, thejustification behind this pitch, thejustification behind this pitch now is with an eye on the

polling stations opening in a couple of weeks. thank you very much. tesco has apologised for causing offence after it used good friday in an advertisement for a beer. the ad ran in some newspapers to promote "offers on beer and cider" in the run—up to easter. the supermarket said it would not run the advert again after it attracted criticism from some religious figures. a clean—up operation is under way in new zealand after a powerful storm swept across the country. cyclone cook brought down power lines, and caused landslides and flooding. many roads were closed and hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes. a state of emergency was declared in some parts of the country's north island, while heavy rain is still affecting south island. a doctor in the united states has been charged with carrying out female genital mutilation on young girls. it's believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in the country. prosecutors in the state of michigan say the doctor, jumana nagarwala, performed the practice for 12 years on girls aged between six and eight. if found guilty, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

despite being outlawed in most countries, laws are poorly enforced. more than 200 million women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation. three million girls are circumsized every year and globally, one in three girls are married before the age of 18. airbnb says it will improve security after a bbc investigation found that people's homes had been burgled

using stolen accounts. like millions of people, christian had let out his home on airbnb while he was out of town, as a convenient way to make some extra money. he had done so for years without a problem. but on his birthday, his home was burgled. i got that horrible text message saying someone is in the account, and it is not me, because my account had been compromised. christian thought he had let out his home to a verified profile, somebody who had verified government identification, and had positive reviews from previous bookings. but the account had been stolen. the attacker changed the name, photograph and contact details on the profile, but kept airbnb's "verified" badge. and christian is not alone. the bbc has spoken to two other people who were robbed this way, and three others who had their accounts stolen, and airbnb's facebook page has dozens of comments from people who had their accounts compromised. there are many ways attackers could have been hijacking airbnb accounts. they might be able to trick people into handing over their passwords. but there are ways airbnb could have defended against this. we put our security concerns to airbnb. the company said.

those changes include two—step verification when somebody logs in from a new device, and text message alerts if somebody changes your profile information. but, for christian, the changes come too late. he says the whole experience has left him with a bad feeling, and he may not use airbnb again. nigeria says it's actively negotiating with the militant islamist group, boko haram, to free the remaining schoolgirls who were kidnapped in chibok three years ago today. demonstrators will hold events in the capital, abuja, and in lagos, to mark the anniversary. almost 200 of the girls are still being held in captivity. let's cross to nigeria now and speak to 0by ezekwesili,

she's a former education minister and one of the founders of the bring back our girls campaign. thank you very much forjoining us on this third anniversary of the kidnappings. everyone had hoped we wouldn't be marking this anniversary with many of the girls still missing. indeed. it's a tragic day. historically tragic. we never imagined that this would take three yea rs. we imagined that this would take three years. we never did. i think it was backin years. we never did. i think it was back in october that 21 of the school girls were released, were freed. what do you know about the effo rts freed. what do you know about the efforts that are continuing to try to free the others? we know very little about the efforts and that's pa rt little about the efforts and that's part of the problem. what usually happens is that our governmentjust simply does not say much, it doesn't

even say anything until there is a collaboration or something to remember in the public domain and it begins to say something, that's a poor management of a tragedy of historical proportions as this one and that's why our movement has not been at all satisfied with the effort of this current government, even though it has done slightly better than the previous one by ensuring that at least 24 of the girls did come back and that by them coming back people could see real proof these girls were not some myth. you criticise goodluckjonathan, the former president of nigeria. what do you make of the efforts of the new government? you said they had not been very transparent, but what else do you think they ought to be doing? they need to be faster and be able to communicate in a very sincere

way. when last october they secured the release of 21 of the girls, the statement from the presidency stated that 83 girls were going to be released very soon on the back of further negotiations. if you say that to the public, it believes you to be able to keep the public at breast —— it behoves you to be able to keep the public at breast without compromising any sensitive information that you need. but the government does not even need any —— even make any effort of keeping the pa rents of even make any effort of keeping the parents of chibok girls informed. so we asa parents of chibok girls informed. so we as a movement get asked by the pa rents we as a movement get asked by the parents what we as a movement get asked by the pa rents what exactly we as a movement get asked by the parents what exactly the government is saying about our girls. tragedies of this kind must not be managed in this way by governments. dignity of human life, that means that

governments must be absolutely sensitive to the need for information and for the need to show empathy in the way it engages with people who have been affected by tragedies of this kind. you say you understand the need for governments to keep aspects of negotiations private because of the sensitivity of those negotiations, but nonetheless there should be better communication with the families of the missing girls? what is your movement, bring back 0ur the missing girls? what is your movement, bring back our girls, championed by figures like michelle 0bama and malala yousafzai and so on, what is the movement doing on this anniversary and as we head into the next year of the girls‘ captivity to try to bring pressure to bear to get them free? we're never going to stop. we are known as one movement that has not stopped even for a day. the rest of the

world may have moved on, but we have not. every day here in the capital city of nigeria, every weekend in the business city of lagos, in places like new york and washington, dc there are still some people who are holding the candle out for the rescue of the girls. we won‘t stop. what we are going to be doing today in nigeria, in abuja particularly, is we have the inaugural lecture which will focus on the girl child and to use it as a basis to have those kinds of conversations that matter for the protection of the dignity of the life of the girl child and the removal of anything that stands in the way of the girl child, so they can realise their potential. 0ur chibok girls went to

be educated. education is a lifeline to great opportunities. we cannot deprive them of that by leaving them with boko haram. they must be back. the rest of the world that seems to have moved on and cannot move on. we are all in captivity for as long as the girls who went in quest of knowledge, in order to further our civilisation. they were taken away by those who are haters of our civilisation. are there -- a very powerful message. we wish you well as you continue with your efforts, 0by ezekwesili from the bring back 0urgirls campaign. 36 is militants are killed up to the us drops what it called the mother of all bombs on an afghan base. teaching unions warned that schools in england face the worst funding cuts for 20 years as they meet for their annual conferences. labour says it would bring in a law preventing banks from closing high street branches if was in

government. let‘s ta ke let‘s take a look at sport. we can go to the bbc sports centre. good morning. manchester united manager jose mourinho says his side can only blame themselves for a lack of goals this season. they drew 1—1 in the first leg of their europa league quarterfinal against anderlecht in belgium. henrikh mkhitaryan scored the opener. but mourinho felt it was his attacking players who not only let his side down on the night but also the reason they haven‘t won more games throughout the entire campaign. if you arrive into a situation where mathematically it is not possible, top four, then easy decision. rest them, and go with them in the europa league, if you are still in competition. but at this moment, we are in a position where we have two matches in hand. if we win both matches we are direct into the top four. we have to fight for every game. the iaaf president lord coe is

disappointed by the lack of progress being made by russia in their anti—doping reforms. the country is currently banned from competing in international athletics after a report claimed over 1000 athletes had benefited from a state—sponsored doping programme. lord coe believes the russian methods are not as transparent or stringent as they could be. i‘m frustrated on behalf of the athletes. more progress should have been made. it has always been our ambition to get athletes back into international competition, separated from its tainted system. i‘m frustrated for them that no progress —— more progress has not been made. luke donald is in second place at the pga tour‘s rbc heritage in south carolina on six under par. donald, who‘s down to 96th in the world rankings, had this fantastic approach from the needles as he carded five birdies, an eagle and dropped just one shot in his first round. american bud cauley leads on eight under. last night, warrington wolves made

it back to back wins in super league with a 19—10 derby win over widnes. jack hughes scored one of their three tries to continue their recovery after a terrible start of the season. they‘re now unbeaten in three matches, while widnes stay bottom. there‘s another massive game as wigan and st helens meet in their good friday game at 12:15pm cycling‘s track world championships continues today with the women‘s sprint, women‘s omnium and men‘s individual pursuit, with team gb riders hoping to go one better than the silver won by elinor barker earlier this week and chris latham‘s bronze in the men‘s scratch race in hong kong. it‘s his first international medal as a senior rider and he could win another. he rides in the omnium tomorrow. you can watch all the action from

hong kong on bbc two today at 11:50am. that is all from me for now, we will be back in the next hour. it has been almost a year since so—called legal highs were banned but recent news coverage of people openly using the synthetic drug spice in public mean it is more under the spotlight than ever. now paramedics say the unpredictable effects of the substances on users is making theirjob harder and putting them at risk of assault. dan whitworth‘s report contains images of the effects of drug taking. spice was banned by the government nearly a year ago, along with other so—called legal highs, but that doesn‘t worry adam and derek. since the ban came in, it‘s easier to get ahold of, and it is cheaper as well. police in manchester say they dealt with around 60 incidents involving the drug last weekend alone. while the college of paramedics,

which represents 11,000 emergency workers across the uk, says the use of synthetic drugs is making treating people even harder. spitting, biting, punching, kicking, those things are what paramedics have to put up with. so it‘s important for people to realise that this substance, whatever it is you are taking, it could kill you. unfortunately that is what we are seeing, kids are dying. it is a familiar problem for people at charities like lighthouse. some of the people at this session have struggled to stop using space. i was have struggled to stop using space. iwasa have struggled to stop using space. i was a heroin user, i have been clea n i was a heroin user, i have been clean of that for 17 years. i have been smoking spice for nine years, and it is stronger. stronger than heroin. three years ago, that is when my life started with spice. it hasjust ruined my life, basically. the government says it will publish a drug strategy shortly aimed at stopping the use of synthetic drugs like spice, and it says anyone caught using these kinds of drugs already face up to five years in prison. if you‘re a dog owner, we all know that look you get

when you leave for the day is enough to make you head back inside for one last stroke. it is very hard to leave them alone all day. so with 8.5 million dogs in the uk, is it time for them to start coming to work with us? around one in ten businesses already have a dog friendly policy, so should more do the same? susannah streeter has been finding out. brooke, reggie, max and peggy are office buddies at nestle in gatwick. the pets at work scheme proved so popular that by the end of the year around 100 dogs passed an assessment to gain their own staff pass. i think some people did wonder how many dogs would actually come into the office and whether we would have large numbers or packs of dogs roaming the office. the reality is on any given day we probably have between 20—25 dogs in an office of 1,000 people. and in fact it is very rare to even hear a dog bark in the office. they are here if you want to find one to pet. dog don‘tjust relieve stress, they also help build office camaraderie.

it has made me make friends. people come and talk to me. i don‘t think they know my name but they know my dog. and it opens doors. what about the time when she needs to go to the loo? she starts to get up and paces around and looks at me. we have had the odd accident. dog daycare is £30—£40 per day. i have three of them. for me it is a big saving. have there been fallouts with other dogs? not that i have seen. they love chasing each other around the park. you hear the odd bark, that is it. so, just how easy it is it taking your pet into the workplace? i have borrowed mama to find out. this is the bbc. come on. this is the business unit. i am going for an editorial meeting. dow jones on last night from the slide. here we go. here we are. claire, if you hear some noises it is because we have a dog

in this morning‘s meeting. 0k. different. i am going to the studio now, down to make up. i am going to give you a little bit too. i might need to brush off a few hairs. marna remained calmly inquisitive until she saw the cleaning trolley. we have a little guest in today. marna‘s following me around. she is scared. next, the bbc studio, we meet debra conolly, a dog specialist. you are gorgeous indeed. every office is different. some are quiet, some have the public in and out. you need to be sure your dog has the right temperament and recognise the signs your dog might be struggling. and make sure the other people in the office have checked out to be sure they are not afraid or allergic and take a bag of goodies for your dog to be entertained. interview over, it is lunchtime, and marna can spend it with me. and after her performance in the editorial meeting, i think she deserves a treat, don‘t you, marna?

come on. i think it is a fantastic idea! let‘s look at the weather for the weekend, lots of people getting up to activities. matt taylor has the weather. mixed weather: to be honest. no one day the same as the one preceding it. a bit of sunshine this morning, a lovely shot in ardrossan looking across the waters, this is more familiarfor across the waters, this is more familiar for many today, grey skies, patchy rain. southern scotland, northern ireland, northern england, northern ireland, northern england, north wales and the north midlands, the greatest conditions, threatening some rain. sunshine in the top and tail of the country. some sunny spells across northern scotland, but

some showers are coming and going here. it will spoil the sunshine every now and again. some parts of north—east of scotland will stay dry. astra dampers spell in northern ireland, things brighten up and you might even see evening sunshine. —— ata might even see evening sunshine. —— at a dampers spell in northern ireland. turning wetter through the afternoon across the pennines and in northern and western wales. much of south wales, southern england, south midlands and east anglia staying dry. some sunshine as a breakthrough, it might feel a touch warmer than yesterday. the rain is on the move this evening, the parched gardens in the south might get some drops of rain. more of a sip thana get some drops of rain. more of a sip than a good soak. some will avoid it altogether. most of it eases away by the end of the night, clear skies, a chilly night install from the midlands northwoods, maybe some ice in scotland. saturday will be not only much drier but much sunnier. sunny spells across—the—board, some showers here

and there, particularly in the west end in northern parts of scotland. for many it will be a dry day particularly in the west, and in northern parts of scotland. nice enough temperatures when the sun is out but when you lose this and it is chilly. the scottish mountains tomorrow, it might feel nice in the valleys but they will be gale force winds and subzero temperatures leading to severe wind—chill, and some snow in the showers. cloudy weather again by sunday as the weather front pushes off the atlantic. 0utbrea ks of the weather front pushes off the atlantic. outbreaks of rain for northern ireland, northern england and north wales. part of east anglia and north wales. part of east anglia and the south—east might see rain later. the south—west will stay dry and bright, a good deal of sunshine across parts of scotland. back to the sunshine for most of you on monday. sunny spells in the west, some showers in the east but most of you will have a predominantly dry day. chilly in