this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at six: the us defends its decision to drop a huge bomb on islamic state militants in afghanistan — 36 militants are thought to have been killed. this was the right weapon against the right target. we will not relent in our mission to fight alongside our afghan comrades to destroy isis in 2017. china warns that tension over north korea is so high — conflict could break out at any moment. a british tourist in her early 20s is stabbed to death on a crowded tram injerusalem. also in the next hour — funding fears for schools in england. teaching unions warn of cuts to budgets and a shortage of english and maths specialists. security's improved at the online booking site air bnb, after a bbc investigation finds scammers burgling homes. good evening, and

welcome to bbc news. the afghan government says 36 militants from the so called islamic state group were killed when the united states dropped one of its biggest non—nuclear bombs in the eastern province of naanggarhar 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. but there's also been criticism. former afghan president hamid karzai condemned the bombing as inhuman. 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. afzal ashraf, a former raf officer who advised the us command in iraq on counter—terrorism, says the strike was meant to send a strong message to america's enemies.

there is a significant here. in sending out a message to the russians that they are serious about attacking isis, which is one of the pledges that mr trump made during his election campaign. it sends out a message in advance of the 150th anniversary tomorrow in north korea that should you try and celebrate it with another nuclear associated demonstration then they could be consequences. and it sends out m essa 9 es consequences. and it sends out m essa g es of consequences. and it sends out messages of course to isis as well. it's a weapon that designed to primarily penetrate underground bunkers. it does what they need to know whether probably could do better but of course they come at a huge environmental, political and indeed military price. so this is

the next best option and it sends out a message to north korea and others who have stored many of their capabilities underground that those capabilities underground that those capabilities can be attacked and damaged in a non—nuclear manager. —— manner. china has warned that "conflict could break out at any moment" as tension over north korea increases. foreign minister wang yi said if war occurred there could be no winner. adding to chinese unease, president donald trump said on thursday that "the problem of north korea" would be "taken care of". speculation has been growing that north korea may be ready to carry out its sixth nuclear test as soon as this weekend. the bbc'sjohn sudworth is in the north korean capital pyongyang — he's among a group ofjournalists who have been invited into the secretive country to witness the anniversary celebrations. he's been speaking to passengers on the pyongyang metro system. a trip to the pyongyang subway station is a classic stop on any foreign media trip to this city, with the giant soviet—style halls

and the murals of the ruling family. but as this country prepares to celebrate its biggest national holiday and as those celebrations are taking place amid one of the periodic peaks in the crisis and tension that often defines north korea's relationship with the outside world, it is, if nothing else, a chance to ask some of the local people what they think. translation: we should have the nuclear weapons. if we do not have the nuclear weapons the nuclear weapon of another country will fall on our soil. you think it keeps the country safe? translation: yes. yes, that's right, exactly. translation: it doesn't matter

whether the americans they make the situation on the korean peninsula tense. it doesn't matter, we feel safe because we have the great leader. of course, all these answers are given under the watchful eye of our government minders. for them, there is a purpose to all of this. the foreign media are invited to north korea to allow it to give its version of ordinary life here, to humanise this country. but there's another purpose too, that is to give this message of unyielding defiant and resilience in the face of international pressure. a young british woman has been stabbed to death on a train injerusalem. the woman in her early 20s was taken to 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.

our correspondent tom bateman has the latest from jerusalem. police and security agency shin bet say this is a man of 57 who lived in a palestinian neighbourhood of east jerusalem. they said he had been recently released from a psychiatric hospital and suggested he had previous criminal convictions, so that may shed some light at the early stage of this investigation into what went on. in terms of the attack we know that this woman was attacked on the city's light rail, the tram network, just outside the old city of jerusalem when this woman was repeatedly stabbed this morning. she was taken to hospital, there was an attempt to resuscitate her that was not successful and she died. two others were not seriously hurt, to resuscitate her that was not successful and she died. a 30—year—old woman was pregnant and an older man, all in a panic everyone hurrying to get away when the tram stopped. more details now emerging but it

comes at a time when has been heightened security at this time of year in jerusalem, with authorities aware of the fact of course that many more thousands of people are here, it's thejewish passover week, which means many more people in the old city and christian pilgrims heading for easter festivities as well. the evacuation has begun of as many as 30,000 civilians from four besieged towns in syria. buses are taking people from rebel held areas west of damascus and from two government controlled towns. benjames reports from beirut in neighbouring lebanon. ready to move after a series of delays. ambulances and buses are taking civilians and fighters from besieged towns in syria.

foua and kefraya are held by the government. madaya is an opposition town. another, zabadani, is also part of the deal. it thought people there will begin to be moved as late as saturday. all four towns have been under siege for more than two years but many people didn't want to leave their homes. translation: they call us migrants from our land. we don't know what to say at this time. you feel like you're leaving your land, we are leaving our lives, our hopes, ourfuture, our memory, our past. un has described the humanitarian situation as catastrophic in these places. activists shared footage last year that appeared to show people eating grass and leaves from trees to survive. people from the government towns were taken to this opposition held area near aleppo ahead of their onward journey. critics say starvation is being used as a tactic to force deals like this

and redraw the sectarian map of syria in the government's favour. president al—assad insists he sees the movement as temporary. it's expected 30,000 people will be moved in this latest deal, the largest of its kind so far. 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. 0ur political correspondent eleanor garnier gave more details. effectively the government is paying out more for these contracts than it planned, effectively because the companies are doing more work than had previously estimated. in order to get these benefits and there are for people with disabilities are working age, you had to have an assessment and those are done by capita and atos, who have been

controversial in the past, some saying they are unfair, sometimes insensitive, too. when the government gave out these projects they think they would cost around £500 million but analysis by news agency the press association is worked out that actually the figure will be more like £700 million by the time these contracts come to an end at the end of this year. the government is now saying that it is because more people are being assessed and therefore the companies are doing more work. some of the other stories making bbc news at 6. a lorry carrying compressed gas has caught fire on the m4 in wiltshire. the blaze caused major tailbacks on the motorway. traffic is now moving again in both directions , but drivers have been advised to avoid the stretch between junctions i7 and 18. labour says if it comes into power it will bring interpol has joined the search for british teacher , suspected of killing a colleague in myanmar. harris binotti, who's 26 and from dumfries, is wanted in connection with the death of gary ferguson, whose body was found in rangoon last november. the iraqi government has urged

people living in mosul to stay indoors 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 is since 2014. the iraqi government fears locals in mosul being used as human shields. 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. in new zealand people are cleaning up after cyclone cook swept through the country, forcing families from their homes and leaving a trail of destruction. the worst—hit areas were eastern coastal regions of the north island where roads were blocked by landslides and uprooted trees, and more than 10,000 homes were left without power. chris chang of television new zealand's ‘0ne news' reports. uprooted, dumped across vehicles, finally dragged off the roads. fallen trees across the bay of plenty were visual scars this morning left by cyclone cook. multiple reports of landslides, trees down affecting power outages and those kind of things and also lots of road signs down as well and debris across the roads. it was

short, sharp, but could have been much worse. it is a relief, i guarantee everybody is feeling relieved, and i think the other thing that was quite pleasing is that it went through fast, it wasn't prolonged because it was done in such a short period that you can imagine if it was over a long period it would be more extensive, the damage. authorities, that they make the right decision evacuate coastal towns. we stand here today with no major injuries to people, no major inundation of homes. aerials are being taken today to assess the full extent of the damage to the region. large areas are isolated because of closed roads. there have been widespread power outages in many towns. water and waste water systems have also sustained damage in those areas and some may have limited or no water supply or waste water facilities. this slip was one of many affecting travel. although some got lucky determined not to have the holiday plans turned upside down. we were told it was hit in the afternoon so we left auckland

at 6:30am yesterday. it was a great run down. we only struck three or four cars. there was a lot of rain here but no wind. look at it this morning, it is absolutely beautiful down here. those who did not head off yesterday tried today. traffic south of auckland was crawling for many hours. those on the roads face holiday destinations battered and a little wetter. some of the other stories making bbc news at 6. the us defends its decision to drop a huge bomb on islamic state militants in afghanistan — 36 militants are thought to have been killed. china warns that tension over north korea is so high — conflict could break out at any moment. a british tourist in her early 20s is stabbed to death on a crowded tram injerusalem. coming up in the next few minutes we

are rounding up the day 's news. but his sports day. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes. the headlines tonight... button‘s back... the former world champion will race in monaco while fernando alonso takes part in the indy500... brighton move a step closer to the big time... they're one nil — up at wolves with premier league promotion in sight... and katie archibald wins her first individual world title in the omnium — and britain's first of this year's championships. so lots of sport to tell you about... let's start with formula one

because 2009 world championjenson button will be making a brief comeback next month. button has agreed to replace fernando alonso for mclaren at the monaco grand prix. the briton is still contracted as a reserve driver for mclaren and will step in while alonso takes part in the indianapolis 500. meanwhile, sebastian vettel looks like the man to beat at this weekend's bahrain grand prix. he was quickest in both practice sessions despite his ferrari suffering a breakdown in second practice — he was still three tenths quicker than lewis hamilton's merdedes. it's a busy day in the football league with several promotion and relegation permutations. in the championship, huddersfield's 3—2 victory over preston meant no promotion party for leaders brighton just yet. although two wins from their last five games would almost certainly be enough to go up. the first test is at wolves in a match that got under way at five o'clock. brighton are leading 1—0 with championship player of the year antony knockeart the scorer near the end of the first half.

61 minutes on the clock there. so here are today's earlier results. brentford thrashed derby 4—0 while bristol city beat qpr 2—1. confirmation of huddersfield's 3—2 win over preston which means brighton's will have to wait to seal promotion. there were away wins for fulham and blackburn rovers. relegated rotherham drew with birmingham while sheffield wednesday beat cardiff1—0. coventry city have been relegated from league one after they drew 1—1 with charlton. but better news for plymouth argyle, who are all but promoted from league two. they would have been guaranteed promotion with a win at portsmouth after six years in the bottom division — and jakejervis gave them the early lead. but pompey, who occupy the third automatic promotion spot, made the most of a goalkeeping mistake. gary roberts equalising in the second half. it finished 1—1, and luton‘s draw with leyton orient mean that the plymouth fans will have to put the celebrations on hold until monday at least.

manchester united will be without midfielder juan mata for the rest of the season through injury. the spain international had an operation on a groin problem last month but had hoped to be back playing. managerjoes mourinho has confirmed his absence adding to the long term injury concerns for defenders philjones and chris smalling. arsenal's manager arsene wenger insists discussions about his future will not distract him from his job. he's also been speaking about pfa player of the year nominee alexis sanchez, who's contract ends next summer. there have been some reports he's been offered as much as three hundred thousand pounds per week to stay... first of all i cannot confirm it has been offered. secondly, we will do as always, you know? we have two question financial potential to sustain the whole squad and what is

the sure is what is paid per week today was 20 weirs —— years ago her year and if that continues to go up, i don't know. i was tempted to say no, but i was always wrong on that front. great britain's cyclists has finally won a gold at this year's track cycling world championships it's in the women's omnium and it was won by katie archibald. the omnium is a multi event decided by points over four different races. archibald, who's the olympic champion, was second going into the final event, the points race, but she did enough to beat australia's amy cure. it's the second world title of her career but her first individual gold. i feel ifeel in i feel in pain, primarily, but really privileged. to pull it off in the end. and unbelievably grippy race, i really thought i had lost it in the middle point, and i was chasing and chasing them and being attacked, and chasing, and being attacked, and chasing, and being attacked, and chasing, and being attacked, and got back near the end and pulled at the back. that it out of the bag. castleford remain top

of super league after a convincing 112—24 victory over wakefield. the tigers scored six first half trys, before greg eden added their seventh to complete a comfortable win. they're still two points clear at the top. st helens began life without recently dismissed head coach keiron cunningham badly, as prop forward kyle amore was red carded for a high tackle in the 13th minute liam marshall and his wing partnerjoe burgess both scored twice as wigan took advantage in the closing stages to run out 29—18 winners in the traditional good friday derby. also today salford red devils beat leigh centurions12—6 and leeds rhinos were 52—24 winners at hull fc. and you can follow the snooker world championship across the bbc over the next couple of weeks. the five—time champion ronnie ensemble is in action. it will be the 40th year that the crucible has been host to the tournament and 0'sullivan with love to lift the famous trophy one more time.

sheffield is a great event. it's a good tournament and everyone looks forward to going there every year so yeahit forward to going there every year so yeah it should be a good tournament, whether it's the 40th of the 20th or the hundred and 20th, is still the crucible, the old days there, and it's a great tournament, yeah. you get to pick the trophy up at the end, it's amazing. coverage is across the bbc for the next few weeks, coverage begins over on bbc two at ten o'clock in the morning. there is also coverage on the bbc sport website. the iaaf president lord coe, is "disappointed" by the lack of progress made by russia in its anti—doping reforms. the country is currently banned from competing in international athletics after a report claimed over 1,000 athletes benefited from a state—sponsored doping programme. i'm frustrated on behalf of the athletes, more progress should have been made. it's always been our ambition to give athletes back into

international competition, and that is separated from eight tainted syste m is separated from eight tainted system and i am frustrated for them that more progress has not been made. it's been a record breaking day in the indian premier league where for the first time we saw not one but two hattricks ina day! first up — samuel badree took one playing for the royal challengers bangalore against the mumbai indians. the west indian spinner took four wickets in total but couldn't prevent his side losing by four wickets. england bowler tymal mills conceded the winning runs with this six remarkably, badree's feat was matched by australian andrew tye. he took three in a row for the gujarat lions against rising pune supergiant. he also bowled ben stokes earlier in the innings. there'll be more sport here on bbc news throughout the evening. for now, good night from us.

quite a cool day for most of us today and quite chilly in some parts of the country. this isn't going to change through the easter weekend or indeed well into next week. it will stay rather cool, but at least we have some sunshine and the rain for most of us should not be too heavy. that cool air is shown by these arrows hit, all the way from the arctic and some air tries to get in but never winds, so always on that cold side through the weekend, and into the next week as well. it has been wet in some areas today, certainly the north of wales here, having its fair share of rain anglesea through snowdonia. through this evening the weather front bringing the rain will start to fizzle away through parts meaning that the rain when it reaches southern heirs will be much lighter through the course of the night. for many northern areas the size will clear a ll many northern areas the size will clear all together, but western scotla nd clear all together, but western scotland and northern areas here i

think some showers, even wintry across the hills. a cheery three degrees in scotland, 10 celsius in the south. each today, not a bad one. some fine weather around still. sunny spells across the south, time is overcast, at times sunshine. temperatures are spectacular, around 12 degrees and then a much better day here i think tomorrow with rain right now, and northern parts of wales getting some sunshine. showers moving to northern ireland to the north—west of england and western parts of scotland and again the air is cold enough for whingeing is across the hills, so any easter walk is up there in the hills, certainly pretty wintry into saturday evening. let's have a look at easter date itself. high pressure do this out of us itself. high pressure do this out of us and then we have this very awkward sort of weather front sliding through central parts of the uk, so uncertainty how much rainfall

this weather front will give but the basic message is a triggered the broad brush message is that the south—west should just about stay dry and the far north of scotland will have some sunshine whereas many central areas are likely going to see some rain during the day with some sunshine limited stop on monday, eastern areas have showers but overall not about stay. —— not a bad day. the us defends its decision to drop a huge bomb on islamic state

militants in afghanistan. a huge bomb on islamic state 36 are thought to have been killed by the weapon — the most powerful non—nuclear bomb ever used by the us in combat. we have afghan and us forces on the site and see no evidence of civilian casualties, nor have there been any reports of civilian casualties. nor have there been any reports the us also confirms it's assessing its military response to north korea's nuclear programme — assessing its military response china warns that conflict could break out at any moment. the national union of teachers says could break out at any moment. it's prepared to take legal action against the government over part of its plans to expand selective education in england. and the online booking site airbnb selective education in england. improves its security after a bbc investigation finds scammers have been burgling homes. investigation finds scammers have