this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at we. the headlines at two. the most powerful non—nuclear bomb ever used by the united states — targets so—called islamic state in afghanistan — 36 militants are thought to have been killed. this was the right weapon again the right target, we will not relent in oui’ right target, we will not relent in our mission to fight alongside our afg ha n our mission to fight alongside our afghan comres to our mission to fight alongside our afg ha n com res to restore our mission to fight alongside our afghan comres to restore matters in 2017. a british tourist, thought to be aged in her 20s, has been stabbed to death on a tram injerusalem. schools in england are facing their worst funding cuts in 20 years — a warning from teaching unions. the mission to re—take mosul from so—called i.s., we report from the frontline. also in the next hour, paying the price for unwanted visitors. security's to be improved at the online booking site air bnb — after a bbc investigation finds scammers burgling homes. and in half an hour life stories travels to kenya to meet

the a 117—year—old thought to be the oldest woman in africa. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. the afghan government says 36 so—called islamic state militants were killed when the united states dropped one of its biggest non—nuclear bombs in the eastern province of naang—gar—har on thursday. the commander of us forces in afghanistan generaljohn nicholson said the attack had been coordinated with the government in kabul — and that no civilians were harmed. our south asia editor jill mcgivering reports. this is american hard power in action. the moment the us dropped,

for the first time, the biggest non—nuclear weapon it has. it was a moab, nicknamed the "mother of all bombs", and it was targeting underground bases in eastern afghanistan, a stronghold of the so—called islamic state group. the us military insists afghan leaders gave full approval. this was the right weapon against the right target. we will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our afghan comrades to eliminate this threat to the afghan people, especially the people of nangarhar, to the people of the entire region, and indeed, the people around the world. local people confirm this remote, harsh terrain was used by the islamic state. translation: the bomb was dropped last night on is position and caves. it was really powerful and has been used to destroy all their tunnels and caves. translation: there were daesh bases over there. last night's bomb was really huge. when it dropped,

everywhere was shaking. afghan leaders say the attack was justified and there are no civilian casualties. but former afghan president hamid karzai took to social media to condemn it. back in the united states, president trump applauded the action and tried to score political points at his predecessor's expense. if you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that, really, to what's happened over the last eight years, you will see there's a tremendous difference. tremendous difference. we have incredible leaders in the military and we have incredible military. we are very proud of them and this was another very, very successful mission. newsreader: us drops the mother of all bombs. today, the news still dominates us headlines, as the world digests this latest insight into this new president. jill mcgivering, bbc news. a little earlier we were joined by our security

correspondent frank gardner. this was a very deep system of tunnels and caves were so—called islamic state were improvising devices, booby—traps, ammunition and it would have cost a lot of people's likes to go in and destroyed that on the ground, so in that sense they can justify it. but there is a certain amount of substance which will be controversial. general mcmaster, the national security adviser to the trump roh administration said symptoms military action is not aboutjust suppressing the enemy it is about communicating with them. and what they are doing in syria, north korea and afghanistan is sending a message that trump means business. whether you can follow that is debatable because in these problem areas that president obama chose to deal with incrementally and with the minimum

amount of force to get away with, president trump says, i will go in guns blazing but following it up will be difficult. all three areas, north korea, syria and afghanistan require a lot of focus and commitment. these lot was, all of them. frank gardner, security correspondent. buses have begun evacuating hundreds of villagers and fighters from four rebel held villages in syria, two of them close to the capital damascus. it follows a deal struck between president assad's government and rebel forces. but the opposition says it amounts to deliberate displacement of the president's opponents further from the capital. our correspondent ben james, who's in beirut in neighbouring lebanon, has been following the story for us. i asked him why both sides have come to this agreement. well, certainly the government of president assad has talked about these sorts of deals as in their field being has talked about these sorts of deals as in theirfield being key has talked about these sorts of deals as in their field being key to promoting some kind of peace, to

defusing some of these opposition enclaves that still exist in predominantly government—held areas, the last one we were talking about before this was in an area of homs, once the capital of the revolution but only one opposition held area was remaining there. this is the largest of the surge deals so far, it involves a swap, as you like, hello people are not going to each other‘s towns, the two turns on one side are being evacuated in return for two turns on the other and the sentiment you heard from the man whose clip we just played is partly because they fear that their hand has been forced. starvation and siege is being used to force a deal like this that means they have to be their homes, despite such dire circumstances that they are leaving behind, humanitarian situation described by the united nations as catastrophic in that particular town, you may remember the images the activists showed last when

people were eating grass and leaves from trees to survive. there's also should be severe shortages of medicine in this place as well. up to 30,000 people we expect to take pa rt to 30,000 people we expect to take part in the movement of people from these four towns, both civilians and some of the factors involved from groups including some of the jihadists groups that are in control of these opposition areas. three of these four towns we have seen buses moving from so far, the fourth, we expect that to happen either tonight oi’ expect that to happen either tonight or early tomorrow. we had some opposition politicians expressing scepticism about whether government is doing this and suggesting that there is a motive in simply pushing potential opponents as far away from damascus as possible, any credibility to that claim? there is certainly an argument that this leads to some kind of demographic change. but it also leads to change the sectarian dimension, the two government—controlled towns are

predominantly shia in a mainly sunni area, the opposition house turns the other way around, predominantly sunni ina other way around, predominantly sunni in a shia area. what those critics say is that the map is being withdrawn in syria to the benefit of the government. the president referred to this in the interview he gave to afp news earlier in the week. he insisted that such movement would be temporarily although it is difficult to see how the people involved might go back any time soon under any scenario in syria. ben james, earlier. a young british woman has been stabbed to death on a train injerusalem. the woman, in her early 20s, was rushed to a hospital but died soon after. police say two other people were also injured during the attack. a 57—year—old palestinian man has been arrested. let's get more on this now with our middle east correspondent, tom bateman, who is injerusalem. tom, do we know the background to

this attack? we know a few details at the moment. it seems that this woman was on the city's tram network as it travelled through a square just outside the old city area. another police have said that she was stabbed repeatedly on this tram, she was then taken to hospital where there was an attempt to resuscitate it which was not successful. she died in hospital. local tv images have video of a man detained on the floor of the carriage of the tram by heavily armed officers who then come it seemed, to come out of the tram. say this man is in custody, is 57 and comes from a palestinian neighbourhood ofjerusalem. and comes from a palestinian neighbourhood of jerusalem. this must be a busy time for the city with passover for the jewish must be a busy time for the city with passover for thejewish people and of course easter for the

christians. that's right. it's a time of heightened security, not unusualfor time of heightened security, not unusual for these holidays but as you say we have thejewish passover week, a time when many visitors come tojerusalem, coinciding week, a time when many visitors come to jerusalem, coinciding with week, a time when many visitors come tojerusalem, coinciding with the easter weekend. so many christian pilgrims and others were heading to the old city, so it's a very busy time injerusalem. the old city, so it's a very busy time in jerusalem. the the old city, so it's a very busy time injerusalem. the authorities had said that they were ramping up security because of that at the time. in the last few moments we have had a statement from biggest lady president, who said he was just like the israeli president, who said that he was filled with sadness at the terrible news of the murder of a young girl, in what he calls a terror attack, he says that the thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. two other people were less seriously injured in what happened this morning. he has also paid his respects. tom, we've had a series of apparently random attacks that have been blamed

on palestinians in particular. the police say that in this case this man was from a palestinian neighbourhood ofjerusalem. are they treating this as part of the protest attacks? that's right, it's not unusual to hear about what has been since the end of 2015 a wave of knife, gun and car ramming attacks, they had in the early months of this year been subsiding somewhat, compared to the levels earlier on. certainly the israeli authorities say more than 45 people have been killed in these attacks, while it is thought that at least 260 palestinians and israelis have also died. we don't know the exact circumstances of this case at the moment but it seems very much from that statement that you heard from the president that at the moment they treating it as another of these

attacks. tom bateman, in jerusalem, thank you for the update. when we get more information on this story will bring it to you as soon as we can on bbc news. unions representing half a million teachers say schools in england are facing the worst funding cuts, in real terms, for twenty years. gathering for their annual conferences, they're also highlighting a growing shortage of teachers for subjects such as maths and science. the government says £40 billion is being spent on schools this year — in cash terms the highest 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. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. the headlines and 40 minutes past two. the united states says there is no evidence any civilians were harmed when it shopped its largest non—nuclear bomb on an isis militants based in afghanistan. the tourist in her 20s has been stabbed tourist in her 20s has been stabbed to death on a train injerusalem, we have heard news that a 57—year—old manjust have heard news that a 57—year—old man just released from a psychiatric hospital is thought to be the settlement. unions representing half a million teachers say england schools are facing the worst cuts in budget for 20 years. ilori carrying

gas has caused delays in wiltshire, the lorry was carrying compressed gas, it caught fire on the m4, causing long delays. the road was closed both ways for one hour between junction 17 and 18 near chippenham. 0ur correspondent is there. we are between junction 17 and 18, we have been here for two hours. hubby got a bottle of water and something decent on the radio. we are between destinations on holiday so we are packed with goodies. presumably had hoped that the worst of the traffic would have been out of the way? ideally, we are travelling in the middle of the day and thought it would be free of any

incident but you just can't plan these things. it's a good thing you have that attitude. what have you seen where you are? just rows of ca i’s seen where you are? just rows of cars and vehicles, really. i understand there was a fire on a vehiclejust up understand there was a fire on a vehicle just up ahead. the westbound and eastbound carriageways were shut. we saw six fire engines go past us. a number of police cars, and a specialist foam unit travelling along the hard shoulder of the eastbound carriageway. you've kept up with the travel news on the radio, then. you weren't able to have seen the tank itself on fire? too far back to sleep any of it. we did see the black smoke as we approached —— too far to see the tank itself. we were reporting that the west bank carriageway is open again, much movement outside or is it still had to tell? the westbound

carriageway is fully open and seems to be moving freely, and eastbound i can see some vehicles slowly starting to move so it is looking like they might be nearing the end of it. fingers crossed where do you have to get to? watford, we are taking my daughter to be harry potter world attraction tomorrow. lucky it's tomorrow. hope the rest the journey as much as eventful and you easter eggs haven't melted before you get to watford! james healey, thank you. labour has accused the government of "rewarding failure" in response to new figures which suggest the government will have to pay millions of pounds more than planned to atos and capita, two private companies which assess people claiming disability benefits. let's talk to our political correspondent emma va rdy. let's talk to our political correspondent emma vardy. this sounds like a big sum of money, has anything gone wrong? it looks as if the predictions made by the

department work of pensions as to how many people would need to be assessed for claiming his benefits have been way out. many more people have been way out. many more people have needed to be assessed than originally predicted. this is why the costs have been much higher than originally forecast. an part of this is down to some people appealing their decisions and having them overturned. if you look at the numbers, the potential recipients of pips, it could be up to 700 million according to analysis from press association. stephen crabb who used to run this department, has told the bbc his old department isn't good at getting its forecasts right. the question people will be asking is, they have overspent, how do they make up the money, with cuts elsewhere in the departmental budget? we've asked the dwp, they haven't been able to say that the costs are due to run out in december. labour says the government must get a grip on the sextortion

and payments made to private companies. the dwp has said that there needs to be an effective assessment of peoples needs and that it needs to pay these companies because there's been more work to do. so the situation that the dwp is in is to balance the need to protect vulnerable people with the need to get value for money for taxpayer. it's no secret that these assessments have been heavily criticised, some say they are insensitive and that they get decisions wrong so together these companies are being paid millions more than expected is not going down well at all. emma, thank you. back now to our main story. the commander of american forces in afghanistan has said dropping the most powerful non—nuclear bomb in his country's arsenal on an islamic state group cave complex was the right thing to do. afghan officials said 36 militants — including a senior commander — were killed — and that there were no civilian casualties.

the american commander in afghanistan, generaljohn nicholson, said the bomb was aimed at halting the brutality of the islamic state group. this was the right weapon against the right target. we had persistent surveillance over the area before, during and after the operation, and now we have afghan and us forces on the site and see no evidence of casualties nor have there been any reports of casualties. let me take a moment to emphasise the brutality of oui’ enemy, moment to emphasise the brutality of our enemy, daesh. since they arrived in southern nangarhar isis k has dragged holders from their homes and beheaded them before their families. they have rounded up other elders, forced them to kneel on explosives and blew them up in front of their people. daesh has sent suicide bombers to attack peaceful demonstrations and have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent civilians. they have sent suicide

bombers into mosques and murdered people during their prayer. and just last month they shot and stabbed hospital patients in their beds. they are animals. the afghan army and specifically their commanders are leading this fight against these barbaric terrorists. they are doing it on behalf of the people of afghanistan and indeed on behalf of all of us. the united states is committed to afghanistan in this fight. we are united with the afghan government to prevent terrorists from establishing safe havens in afghanistan. we coordinated to do the operation yesterdayjust as we have since we began his operations in march. let me be clear we will not relent in our mission to fight alongside our afghan comrades to destroy isis k in 2017. we will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our afghan comrades to

eliminate this threat to the afghan people, especially the people of nangarhar, to the entire region and indeed people around the world. that's a news briefing given by generaljohn nicholson, the american military commander in afghanistan, he was talking about the bombing with a device colloquially known as the mother of all bombs, the biggest non—nuclear device in the us arsenal used for the third time in afghanistan against the group calling itself the islamic state. the iraqi government has told people living in mosul to stay inside as security forces prepare for an assault aimed at dislodging so—called islamic state militants. thousands of civilians are still trapped in the city, which has been held by i.s since 2014. 0ur defence correspondentjonathan beale is embedded with troops. the prize is in their sight. the old city of mosul and its most famous landmark, the leaning minaret of the al—nuri mosque. this is where abu bakr al—baghdadi first appeared

as caliph of the so—called islamic state. they still control it and most of what you can see. but for how much longer? translation: the mosque is now very near and soon we will advance. we know the enemy is weak and on its last legs. a visit to the front line, though, tells a different story. for the past few weeks, the iraqi advance has slowed to a crawl. resistance is still fierce. these federal police are surrounded on two sides by is and they are firing on their positions from here. snipers, is snipers, just about 100 metres from this position. and you can see the rounds, the is rounds, coming in here, fairly regularly. tens of thousands of

civilians are still trapped, caught in the crossfire. much of mosul has already been turned to rubble. even in these deserted streets, recently secured, there is nowjust the debris of war. here, discarded is military uniforms and nearby, one of their many improvised bombs. but the enemy is not just hiding in the city. wejoined an iraqi intelligence unit hunting down is infiltrators and collaborators who have already escaped. now seeking shelter and avoiding capture in camps, living alongside the innocents of this war, who fled the fighting. how often do you do this? do you do this often? always, every day, every night. you are finding isis

fighters in these camps? in the camp or some in his house, in mosul. everywhere. the extremists may be losing their grip on mosul but even if they are defeated, is won't have gone away. jonathan beale, bbc news, mosul. a future labour government says it would bring in a law preventing banks from closing their high street branches. more than a thousand local branches closed in the uk between 2016 and 2017. labour says lending to small businesses decreases in areas where banks close. the government says its support for small businesses, including start—up loans, has helped forty—thousand firms. the online accommodation booking company air bnb says it will improve its security, after a bbc investigation found that people's homes have been burgled

by scammers using stolen accounts. they hijacked profiles with verified badges and changed some personal details to pull off the thefts. the company says it will now warn members if their profile information is changed. chris foxx reports. 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 showed airbnb a government identification, and had positive reviews from previous bookings. but the account had been stolen. the attacker had 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 this. 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. a clean—up 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. a state of emergency was declared in some parts of north island with hundreds evacuated

from their homes and many roads closed. heavy rain is still affecting south island. for 200 years, a team at the armagh 0bservatory have taken manual weather readings on the temperature, wind, and rainfall every day, by hand. but that may all be about to change. the 0bservatory, which is thought to have the longest record of manual weather readings, now say they're looking at moving to an automated system. 0ur weather presenter nick miller has been to armagh to see how it works. it's a weather ritual. from checking the thermometer for the temperature, to seeing how many minutes or hours of sunshine there have been, and more. someone has been taking all these measurements here every day for over 200 years. it's my responsibility now, i'm the one doing it now, i have been doing it for 18 years. these are just as accurate as digital thermometers and there is no significant difference in them, really. so the old way is as good as the new way, really, you know. an automatic weather station will provide more data, more often, and ensure the record goes

on if someone can't be found to follow in shane's footsteps. and what a record it is. with those first readings still stored at the observatory. well, you've got some history there, haven't you, michael? i certainly have, yes. these are the first readings of weather here at armagh observatory. this is the first sheet of measurements, it goes back, let's see, 27th december 1794. and it's very simple measurements, just three things. it's the inside temperature, the outside temperature, and the barometer. this is the start of measurements which have been going on ever since, every day, here at armagh observatory. shane, you've been doing this every day for 18 years. how will you feel when you say goodbye to this? well, yes, it'll be a nice saturday morning when you don't have to get up and come up and stand on top of the hill and get rained on and the wind blows you round the place! and that is seeing the bright side from a possible end of an era.

but for now, the last page has yet to be written on this exceptional piece of weather history. nick miller, bbc news, armagh. let's get all the weather now. a cloudy day there and cloudy outside today across many parts of the country. but not everywhere. look at these beautiful spring flowers in kent. some sunshine around. southern and south—eastern parts of the country will continue to see some spells of sunshine through the afternoon, whereas further north, a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain across wales. north west of england, the heavier burst. in the south 16 considers, but in the north, a cold feerge to the —— feel to the weather. snow on top of the mountains. a cold night to come under clear skies for