hello, this is bbc news. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment — first the headlines. the us confirms it's assessing its military response to north korea's nuclear programme — china warns conflict could break out at any moment. the us defends its decision to drop a huge bomb on islamic state militants in afghanistan — 36 militants are thought to have been killed. we have afghan and us forces on the site and see no evidence of civilians casualties, nor have there been any reports of civilians casualties. the national union of teachers says it's prepared to take legal action against the government, over part of its plans to expand selective education in england. and pope francis marks good friday with the traditional via crucis or "way of the cross" procession around the colosseum. now it's time for sportsday.

hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes, the headlines this evening. brighton move a step closer to the big time, now four points clear at the top of the championship with premier league promotion in sight. button‘s back — the former world champion will race in monaco while fernando alonso takes part in the indy500. and katie archibald wins herfirst individual world title in the omnium, and britain's first of this year's championships. so, lots cming in, and it's been 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. they took another big step to the premier league, though, with a 2—0 win at wolves. the hosts began the better, before brighton took control and championship player of the year antony knockeart scored near the end of the first half. wolves dominated possession after the break and forced saves from david stockdale before knockaert sealed the 2—0 victory. brighton will be as good as promoted if they beat wigan at the amex on easter monday. meanwhile, newcastle are now four points behind them, in second — denied a victory at home to leeds. they went ahead when jamaal lascelles‘ header was deemed to have crossed the line. and they held on to that lead until the fifth minute of injury time when chris wood snatched an equaliser. 1—1 it finished in front of more than 52,000 at stjames‘s park. 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. brighton 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 cardiff 1—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 jake jervis 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 means that the plymouth fans will have to put the celebrations on hold until monday at least. there was one game in the scottish premiership tonight, between kilmarnock and hearts. it finished goalless. fifth placed hearts marginally had more of the game at rugby park, although kris boyd failed to make

the most of this chance to win the match for killie. they are now six points from the danger zone. 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, whose contract ends next summer. there have been some reports he's been offered as much as £300,000 per week to stay. first of all, i cannot confirm we have offered that, secondly, we will do as always, you know, we have to considerfinancial do as always, you know, we have to consider financial potential, to sustain the wages for the whole squad, and what is for sure, is what

he is paid performance week today was 20 years ago per year, we will that continue to go up? i don't know. i am tempted to say no but i was always wrong on that front. i am tempted to say no but i was always wrong on that front. sebastian vettel looks like the man to beat at this weekend's formula one bahrain grand prix. he was fastest in both practice sessions — three tenths quicker than lewis hamilton, despite his ferrari breaking down in second practice. tom clarkson was watching for us. it has been a very busy week for formula one, first, the freight had to be transported the 3,000 miles from shanghai, scene of last weekend's grand prix to man mar, the alcity of this kingdom then mclaren honda decided to break the internet. first with the announcement that fernando alonso is going to miss monaco grand prix to test the indie 500. just has the news died down they announced that jenson 500. just has the news died down they announced thatjenson button, they announced thatjenson button, the british world champion for 2009 is going to replace alonso for one

race only in monaco. it will be stunning, but first, let us focus too on events this weekend in bahrain. we had the first two practise sessions today. well, vettel was fastest in both and lewis hamilton was only tenth and fifth quickest. what conclusions can we reach from that? none, expect lewis to go very well this weekend but he will have a firm charge from ferrari and red bull. it will be a great weekend of action. great britain's cyclists have finally won a gold at this year's track 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 pain primarily, but i feel privileged, to kind of pull it all in the en. that was a grippy race, i thought i had lost it in that middle point, ofjust chasing and being attacks, and got back on in the end, and pulled it out of the bag. exeter are joint top of rugby union's premiership after a bonus point victory over play—off hopefuls harlequins tonight. quins were hoping to sneak into the last available play off place, but exeter‘s winning streak continued at the stoop, with michele campagnaro running through to help them to a 15—11 half time lead. quins hit back early in the second half with a nick evans try, but two late tries from exeter, including this wonderful effort from henry slade, wrapped up a 39—26 victory. and glasgow are still hoping to make the top four of the pro 12 after a comfortable 45—10 win over zebre, despite effectively fielding a second team. they scored four first half tries

including this one, leading 28—0 at the break. didn't change much in the second half. sam johnson furthered the home side's margin. zebre did score a couple of consolation tries but it wasn't enough. castleford remain top of super league after a convincing a2—24 victory over wakefield. the tigers scored six first half tries, before greg eden added their seventh to complete a comfortable win. they're still two points clear at the top. in the traditional good friday derby, a 12 man st helens side, without a coach after kieron cunningham was sacked, lost to wigan. prop forward kyle amore was red carded for a high tackle in the 13th minute. liam marshall and his wing partner joe burgess both scored twice, as wigan took advantage in the closing stages to finish 29—18 winners. also today salford red devils beat leigh centurions 12—6 and leeds rhinos were 52—24 winners at hull fc. snooker‘s world championship gets under way in sheffield tomorrow.

five time champion ronnie 0'sullivan is in action against fel;ow englishman gary wilson in the afternoon session. it will be the 40th year that the crucible has played host to the tournament, and 0'sullivan would love to lift the famous trophy again. they scored four first half tries including this one, leading 28—0 at the break. didn't change much in the second half. sam johnson furthered the home side's margin. zebre did score a couple of consolation tries but it wasn't enough. sheffield's a great event, it a good tournament. everybody looks forward tournament. everybody looks forward to going there. it should be a great tournament again, whether it is the 40th or the 21st or the 140th. it is still the crucible, still seven days there, a great tournament. you get to pick the trophy up, it is an amazing feeling. and you can follow the snooker world championship across the bbc over the next couple of weeks. coverage begins over on bbc two at ten o'clock in the morning. there is also coverage on the bbc sport website. it's been a record breaking day in the indian premier league, where, for the first time we saw not one, but two hat tricks in a 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. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow.

with me are journalist and broadcaster helen croydon, and business editor for the independent, josie cox. i will come to you in a moment. let us i will come to you in a moment. let us start with a quick overview of the papers. we will start with the mirror. we will start with the mirror. the mirror says north korea and the us are edging towards a nuclear war as kim jong—un threatens a merciless response to any provocation. the same story on the times, with china warning that a conflict could break out "at any minute". the telegraph reports on the warning from the cia director that rogue states should "take note" of donald trump's forthright military decisions in syria and afghanistan. the premier league is set to announce a record loss due to new accounting rules, and the fall in sterling following the brexit vote, that's according to documents seen by the financial times. the daily mail says learner drivers will soon be tested

on whether they can follow directions from satnavs in a shake up of the driving test. the daily express leads with the tension surrounding north korea, with the country vowing to target american bases in south korea if conflict breaks out. the guardian reports on north korea too but headlines the news that some doctors are being offered £95 an hour, that is not a shift, that is an hour by hospitals that are short of staff. and the i says teachers are stopping streaming. we will touch on some of those stories. but which will start, josie and helen the with the times and we have to go with what is going on in the korean peninsula. it is scary

stuff, this, it all comes off the back of president trump's armada, approaching the korean peninsula, but now, korea has reacted and says, they have said we can bomb, if the us makes a emtive strike we can bomb south korea within minute, us troop bases are at risk injapan, really it is flexing its military might. and, the question is, you know, what is trump doing the right thing here, by flexing his military muscles? what do you think? do you think he is? on the one hand this is the question, isn't it because trump is trump and he is highly whims sipical and provocative. we have to be tough, it is by taking the softly softly diplomatic approach to kind of military conflicts in the past, thatis of military conflicts in the past, that is how russia has gained too much pour, we have to be tough. at

the same time, it is good to be tough if you have a strategy, so, president trump is whimsical and egotistical. we had the attack last week on syria and also yesterday, the big, the moab bomb. he has had a positive reaction to that, republicans andcrat, —— democrat, they have said you did the right thing. that will make trump happy. what we have to hope is trump is not going into north korea, fuelled by this hey, everyone thinks i'm brilliant because i'm going to a war president. he has got good adviser, general mattis, we have to hope teleis a good responsible team behind him and is notjust his trump being trump. josie, north koreans

have said there pre—emptive strike, do you think that mr trump would do that or would they wait and see what north korea does? north korea, we are used to the tests, i think, i suppose worry is it could be their sixth nuclear test. who do you think will show their hand first? well i think what we have seen over the la st think what we have seen over the last couple of weeks is trump is willing