of the country's founder, kim il—sung. ahead of the traditional parade, there's been speculation that the current leader, kim jong—un, could order another nuclear test to mark his grandfather's birthday. us commanders have insisted that the huge bomb used against so—called islamic state in afghanistan was the right weapon for thejob. afghan officials say there were no civilian casualties, but 36 is fighters were killed. the group has denied any losses. several thousand people have been evacuated from four besieged towns in syria as part of a deal between the government and rebels. around 30,000 people are trapped in a humanitarian crisis described by the un as "catastrophic". much more online anytime at bbc.com/news. do check it out. the national union of teachers says it's prepared to take legal action against the government, over plans which it believes are being used to expand selective education in england. the union has said it's identified comprehensive schools which it believes are bending the rules

by introducing some selection based on the results of a test. the move comes as ministers seek to lift the ban on new grammar schools. 0ur education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports from the union's annual conference in cardiff. grammar schools have a long history. in altrincham, 100 years of tradition. then, almost 20 years ago, new grammar schools were banned. now, some comprehensives offera grammarstream — for many, a way of stretching the brightest. but could this also be used to get around the law? so today, a warning of legal action. they fear ministers could encourage more of this. the schools where we'd have an issue around this is a school that's advertising a grammar stream, that is putting children through tests for it, and where we get the sense from documents and other things that children stay in that stream, that it's actually a selective system that is being introduced. that's what we would want to challenge.

is this essentially a shot across the bow of the government, to say don't try to do this without changing the law? what we're saying to government is if you want grammar schools, you have to win it through the parliamentary process. do not try and go round the back way. who can tell me what soluble was? for schools like elton primary in cheshire, the big worry is budgets. bills going up mean less money per pupil, leaving school governors facing tough decisions. we're already having to consider over the next three years losing at least two teachers, merging year groups, potentially shortening the school week by one or maybe half a day. these are all things that we're having to consider. for teachers, that means fears aboutjobs, so a warm welcome for labour's shadow chancellor. this is the first real terms cuts in school budgets for two decades. this is the worst school funding settlement, since, to be frank, i was wearing flares.

it's no surprise he gets a warm welcome at a union conference. but the issue of school budgets matters to parents too. the government is facing cross—party opposition to its plans for new grammar schools. schools can stream pupils after they get a place. the government says that's perfectly legal. and only a change in the law could allow new selective schools. branwenjeffreys, bbc news, cardiff. that is it from me. the breakfast tea m that is it from me. the breakfast team is here at six o'clock but first, the travel show. coming up on this week's travel show: we continue our journey through thailand... 0oh! you've got a big nose. ..as i head to the world's first ever elephant hospital. good?

she's been eating her greens. haven't you! we're in the big apple to meet the man who's travelling the world without leaving new york. hands up, eyes wide open. you don't want to miss it. and rajan heads to spain to take a ride on europe's newest, fastest and tallest roller—coaster. this week, i'm in northern thailand. it's mountainous landscape and lush jungles are an ideal environment this week, i'm in northern thailand.

it's mountainous landscape and lush jungles are an ideal environment for the asian elephant. the animal is seen as the symbol of thailand, and around 3000 live in these wild forests. the country also has a captive elephant population of almost 4000. controversially, some of them work in the tourist industry. caring for all of these elephants is a hugejob, particularly if the animal needs specialist medical attention. i've come to lampang to meet some of the vets who are attempting this mammoth task. when it was opened in 1993, this was the world's first elephant hospital. and since then, they've treated over 4000 elephants. i'm here to meet some of them. the hospital aims to provide care for any sick or injured

elephant in thailand. what kind of patients do you have? we have all kinds of illnesses, sicknesses, knife wounds, gunshot wounds. some have diarrhoea, constipation, cataracts. some have serious cancer, and tumours. the most difficult case, the victims of landmines. good morning. morning. how are you? i'm fine. good to see you. dr kay takes me to meet some of her patients on her morning round. hello! lots of adults. wow! so in the morning, you have to go and check up on the elephants themselves? yes, every morning. wow.

she is huge! yes. what's her name? her name motala. motala? yes. she about 57 years old. and what happened to her foot? she stepped on landmine in burma. and after that, the owner bring motala here, and donate here. so she's one of the permanent residents? yes. the hospital has five permanent residents who need round—the—clock care. the rest of the patients have been brought here by their owners for shorter term medical treatment and operations. for motala, each day starts with her prosthetic leg being fitted, so she can walk out for breakfast. well, so this is the prosthetic leg, can i see it? whoa, so big! it weighs a good, at least, 15 kilograms. very heavy indeed. so herfoot will go in here.

and these are all formed specifically for the elephants themselves, so they're all different. they're just putting some talcum powder to help with the dryness, and of course, the comfort. a layer of talcum powder on the inside as well. in the early morning and late afternoon, when the sun isn't too hot, motala will walk out for a fewer hours. there you go. it's on. motala walk along. adult females weigh just under three tonnes on average. she's coming to get her breakfast. so the prosthetic is needed to give vital relief to her other three legs, which are under enormous pressure. how long did it take her to get used to the prosthetic leg? five to seven days. then she gets used to it?

yes. so quick learners. she put quite a lot of weight on that. checking over the elephants each day is part of the hospital routine. wow. this one's a little bit smaller. hey! mosha was also injured bya landmine, and came here when she was just seven months old. she's now 11. hi. 0oh! you've got a big nose! and what are you looking for? she had the wound inside. dr kay has cared for her since the day she arrived. are you smiling at me? mosha is good. healthy? yes.

she's been eating her greens. haven't you! very friendly. this one belongs to motala, the older one. and that's mosha. because she's growing up. she's still young. that's true, so every so often you have to get a new one. getting taller. that's right. softer inside. soraida started the hospital after seeing elephants die because there was no way to treat them. so i told myself, ok, that's it. if no one is going to do it, i'm going to do it myself. there should be a place where elephants can be treated, because there's no elephant hospital. the hospital is funded by donations and treatment is provided for free. the procedures are similar to what you'd see in a human hospital... finished. that was quick. ..except on a giant scale. this elephant bunce

has a stomach problem. so needs an iv drip to make sure she gets all the vitamins she needs. dealing with the elephant being so high, they've had to get this platform up here. and the iv drip goes all the way up to the top there. it uses that gravity to push the medicine through the pipes. so one of the only soft spots of the elephant is actually on the ear, orjust behind the ear. so the iv drip will go right there. after medicine, get treaties! tourists can come here to see the elephants in their recuperation areas, but there are none of the shows and rides you might find at elephant camps elsewhere in thailand. some have called for a ban on using these revered animals

in the tourist industry, but soraida tells me that could also create problems. to ban them, then we have to have the solution, then where would these elephants be? you can't take 4500 elephants back into the wild. how are we going to keep them in natural surroundings and in a way to earn some money in order to treat them well? she's calling for a new law to protect thailand's huge elephant population. they use the elephants for riding, under hot sun, on hot country roads, all day long. some camps don't even have shades for the elephants. so i'm asking the government to please set the rules. if they really prefer to have the riding, would it be like five minutes right? do you feed them along the way when they get hungry? if they stop, they shouldn't be

eating them to walk. things like that. the focus here is on working with elephant owners in the community to help any animal that needs medical attention. a baby expert they also have a nursery section, and i'm fortunate enough to be able to see a newborn. this is definitely something special. hello! hello, mamma! so how old is the baby? nine days. nine days, it is nine days. what's the baby's name. her name mina. these, i recognise, our banana

flowers, and dr kay tells me that they feed them on banana flowers, because it helps to produce not, giving her vitamins and minerals. and she was just suckling. there she is. look. hello, curious one. oh, my god. her trunk is so small. it's humbling to see the connection dr kay has with these animals as she gives baby mina a checkup. it's amazing to see elephants like these that would otherwise have died in the wild, actually thrive here in the hospital. spending time with dr kay, and soraida, and learning the ins and outs of what goes on here has been an absolutely amazing experience that i won't forget any time soon.

and if you want to see more of the elephant sanctuary, keep watching until the end of the show, and we'll tell you when you can see our special 360 degree film of the amazing work going on there. well, stay with us, because coming up... shall we have a quick go, then? yeah, let's go for it. let's do it. rajan heads to spain to test drive your‘s fastest ever roller—coaster. and we meet the native new yorker who's eating his way around the world without leaving the big apple. so right now, i'm at country number 156. it's time now for trending travel, your monthly mash up of the best travel—related stories, snaps and videos online. first up, across the world

in 170 dishes. charles bibilos is attempting to eat one meal from every country with over1 million inhabitants. but there's a catch... he can't leave new york city. so you can get to about 90 countries by eating in restaurants in new york city. so that means about 80 have to come from a community event, or a fundraiser, a trip to a mosque or a church, or a home—cooked meal. so right now, i'm at country number 156, so i'm looking for 14 more meals. and his most unexpected culinary discovery? charles has developed a taste for namibian caterpillars. i absolutely love them. they kind of taste like a fried mushroom. next time you're struggling to find a wi—fi connection, considered climbing 5000 metres to everest base camp. that's where the nepalese government plan to install free wi—fi. it's largely to help rescue teams communicate in emergencies, but will be open to intrepid bloggers, tweeters

and instagrammers, too. in south africa, a team has come up with a new way to combat rhino poaching. the sigfox foundation has inserted gps trackers into the horns of ten wild rhinos. it's estimated there are fewer than 27,000 rhinos left worldwide. by learning more about their movements and behaviour, the foundation hopes to find new ways of deterring hunters. and nervous flyers might be comforted by lilou, san francisco's first therapy pig. other breeds of therapy animal can be found in airports all across the usa, but lilou is a member of san fran‘s wag brigade. their mission: to patrol the terminals and take some of the stress out of travel. thanks to everyone who sent us their pictures using the hashtag, #traveltuesday.

here are some of my favourites. agata was drawn to venice out of season when she took this picture. and hjadal was in iceland when he took these shots of the sn fellsjokull glacier. now let's look at the travel videos clocking up the views on line. meet telma and thomas, thomas is profoundly deaf, and together as blank canvas voyage, they meet deaf communities from around the world. every country we visit has different sign languages. for instance, hong kong and macau each have their own. we didn't understand each other at first, but we ended up communicating well through international sign. these people are generous, kind, funny, beautiful. plan yourjourney, save money,

buy a ticket and go. experience what the world has to offer. and if you see anything you think we should know about, don't forget to get in touch, it's @bbctravelshow. well, to end this week, 2017 marks 200 years since the first ever roller—coaster was opened in paris. since then, technology has made them faster, higher, longer, and of course, scarier. rajan has volunteered to try out the latest ride in spain's fuerteventura. it's been a regularfixture on the costa dorado since 1995

as part of the biggest family resort in southern europe. fuerteventura is a well—established theme park, spain's biggest in fact. and they get about 4 million visitors here a year. but now they're building something that they say will take it to a different level, and that will give us one of the most amazing experiences in the world. i've come to ferrari land, licensed by the famous car brand, just as the finishing touches are being put to the site days before the launch. there are 11 rides here in total, but one in particular is hogging the limelight as the main attraction. a velocity accelerator ride called red force. two years in the making, it's now europe's tallest and fastest ever roller—coaster. 112 metres tall and a speed of 180 kph. that's zero to 180 in five seconds flat. it is an attraction

where the sensation is similar to formula 1. we thought about the roller—coaster to have the g—forces in acceleration, and also to make something, let's say, strong. i've got to admit, it was slightly unnerving to see the ride still being tested behind luiz as we talked. and then i found out, i was to be the first member of the public ever to try out red force. a human crash test dummy, without the crash bit, of course. how much testing goes on before it is open to the public? around 6000. times? cycles. 6000 cycles? 0k. thankfully, i have this veteran of nearly 1300 different roller—coasters in 21 different countries as company. what i love now, it's the thrill of the chase. it's finding those coasters that are in obscure places,

i go off to places like china, to find something different that you haven't done before and other people haven't gone to. i went to dubai recently, and i did 25 theme parks in six days. this is more than your average hobby. marcus spends up to two months a year in theme parks in chase of thrills. and now advises on how to maximise roller—coaster excitement. there's a whole absolute escapism. forget every stress of normal, daily life, and you're letting a machine like this take control of your destiny. it's a particular kind of pleasure, though, isn't it? because it's a short, sharp burst of real. now, is there an addictive element to this? i would say it's totally addictive. so it's back to the launch area to get a dose of this legal high. and some last minute advice from the expert. put your head to there. back, yeah? yeah, that's it.

and keep my eyes open? if you can open this, yes. 0k... i can't guarantee that. shall we go for it, then? yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go for it. let's do it. i was going to get the best views from the front. you feel the force on your face as well. right. there's a loose bolt there, should that be... hands up, eyes wide open. you don't want to miss it. ok, i'll try my best. i'll try my best. see if you can tell the difference... here we go. ..between the seasoned coaster and the rookie tv presenter. now, i knew you wouldn't be able to. what the hell! whoa! tears going down my face, that was intense. mind blowing! there are moments when you think,

this thing has lost control, and you are going to be swung out of it at any time. the g—force before you arrive just at the bit where it goes vertical is incredible. and yes, i actually must admit i feared for my life. i guess that's the point of this right, that you are genuinely scared out of your wits. and i was. it was definitely thumbs up from the expert. this is definitely a top ten coaster. high—intensity, the height, itjust has everything going for it to make it an extraordinary coaster. i want to go again! that's all the time we have for this week, but coming up on next week's travel show: krista heads to the mountains of palencia in northern spain for a spot of wolf watching. i suppose, if it's the most elusive

animal of prey in the work, it's probably not surprisingly don't get it on the very first try. —— world. and head to our facebook page and you can see a special 360 look around the elephant hospital i visited earlier on in the programme. and don't forget, you canjoin us on the road in real—time by signing onto social media feeds. all of the details are on your screens now. but from me, henry golding, little mina, and the rest of the travel show team here in thailand, it's goodbye. rain for some of us on good friday. for very few of us, though, during saturday. it is an easter weekend of up—and—down weather. it is cool throughout, but there are sunnier days. saturday will be one of those. there are wetter days. looks like for some of us the rain will come back on sunday, easter day. we'll get to easter monday, as well, in this forecast, but we'll start with saturday. rather a cloudy start across parts of southern england. it will brighten up. sunny spells from the word go, elsewhere. it is quite a blustery day across the northern half of the uk. some gales across parts of scotland, and the showers are going to be most

frequent coming into northern scotland. there will be some snow on the higher hills. one or two showers elsewhere, in scotland, for northern ireland, and a few pushing into northern england on the wind as well. it will be breezy, so that means the showers will move through quite quickly. and, for the rest of england and for wales, we will see very few showers here. just one or two around, but the vast majority hello, this is breakfast, with christian fraser and sally nugent. north korea has said it's prepared to respond in kind to any nuclear attack from the united states. tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have taken part in a huge military parade amid growing speculation that the country is preparing another nuclear test. good morning, it's saturday the 15th of april.

also ahead: learner drivers will have to prove they can use a sat nav in new changes to the practical test. the sun has suspended its columnist, kelvin mackenzie, for expressing what the newspaper described as "wrong" and "unfunny" views