this is bbc news. the headlines at 103m: north korea stages a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of the country's founder amid warnings over rising tensions with the us. you can actually feel the ground shake as thousands upon thousands of goose—stepping soldiers, tanks and rockets and other weaponry have marched and rumbled their way through the capital. the sun columnist, kelvin mackenzie, has been suspended over comments he made about everton footballer ross barkley. a british student who was stabbed to death on a tram injerusalem has been named as 20—year—old hannah bladon. turn right and then at the end of the road turn left. rebooting the driving test from december learners will have to show they can follow a satnav. also in the next hour, proposals to scrap fees for park runs. councils in england will be banned from charging people to take part in fun runs under new rules put

forward by the government. and coming up at 10.30am, the travel show heads to thailand to see the world's first elephant hospital. good morning and welcome to bbc news. north korea has staged a massive military parade in the capital pyongyang — amid warnings that it will retaliate if it is provoked by the united states. the event was staged amid rising tension about north korea's nuclear we willons programme with pyongyang telling the united states to end what it called a provocative and

reckless moves. our correspondentjohn sudworth was invited to witness the event. his movements are being tightly controlled, but earlier he described the scene in pyongyang. it's an extraordinary sight. you can actually feel the ground shake as thousands upon thousands of goose—stepping soldiers, tanks, rockets and other weaponry have marched and rumbled their way through the capital city. this is a display of unity for the young north korean leader and it's meant, of course, to send a key message on the anniversary of his grandfather's birth that his grip on power is unassailable, but as donald trump threatens to thwart his nuclear ambitions, it also sends a message to the outside world that this country's military with its nuclear tests and missile launches is vital for its survival and military analysts will, of course, be pouring over these pictures for evidence of the latest state of technological advancement of these forces. there is that speculation that it

maybe preparing for another underground nuclear test. i think it's probably unlikely that we'll see a test today, but kimjong—un is making it absolutely clear that he is not prepared to negotiate away his nuclear weapons whilst being threatened and challenged by the united states. and experts believe that with missiles, with weaponry like this, they are just a few small steps away from having a real deliverable nuclear arsenal and, of course, once they reach that stage, it's a game changer in terms of the regional security situation and the global international diplomatic calculation about what can be done about north korea's military ambitions? it changes things for good and the young man sitting up there in those stands has learned those lessons from his grandfather and from his father before him. the us vice—president, mike pence,

will be in south korea on sunday as part of a ten—day asia trip. steve evans reports from the capital, seoul, on how the country is responding to events north of the border. you know seoul is only 100 miles from pyongyang, but it could be a million miles in terms of atmosphere. that big parade has been on two of the channels here, but it doesn't get really big audiences. you get the sense that life here is hasjust life here has just gone on here as normal. the streets have been full of people on what feels like the first day of summer. the military here in south korea has been studying the pictures of missiles and it reckons it does see developments in the long—range missiles.

north korea, the south korean military, thinks is making progress. experts have picked up on new kinds of tracked vehicles carrying missiles and those matter because if north korea can convey missiles around the country, much more easily, it's much more difficult to hit them before they launch anything. so, the sense of the common people is life goes on. this continual barrage of rhetoric and threat from the north has been there since 1953 when the fighting between the two halves of korea finished, but the military and the intelligence services look very intensely. on sunday, we are visited by the vice—president of the united states, mike pence, and he will come here and he is expected to say that the alliance between the us and south korea and between the us and japan is iron—clad

is the word that he uses. so the feeling here is north korea is there in the background. we hear the threats, but we've had threats before, we're not panic buying, we're not planning on leaving the city, but we are concerned, i think that would be the mood here. officials in afghanistan now say that 90 islamic state fighters were killed by a powerful bomb launched by the united states on thursday — more than double the original estimate. is denied it suffered any casualties in the attack, which targeted a network of caves and tunnels in eastern afghanistan. the sun columnist, kelvin mackenzie, has been suspended after he compared the intelligence of the everton footballer ross barkley to that of a gorilla. the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson, reported him to merseyside police for what he called "racial slurs". caroline rigby reports.

it was this column published yesterday which has seen kelvin mackenzie suspended from the sun. the article was about everton mid—fielder ross barkley who was punched earlier this week in a liverpool bar. in it, the paper's former editor compared the footballer, whose grandfather was born in nigeria, to a gorilla. mr mackenzie also wrote that men with similar pay packets in liverpool were drug dealers. my stomach turned when i saw the picture of ross barkley alongside a gorilla. i think that was totally racist. it offended me. i'm sure it offended ross barkley and his family and it offended lots of other people and that's why i reported this to the police. i'm not reporting it to the police as a gimmick. i've reported it to the police because i felt and i do feel that it was a racial attack on an individual. merseyside police are now investigating whether the comments constitute a racial hate crime. in a statement the sun's publisher, news uk, apologised for the offence caused and said the paper

was unaware of ross barkley‘s heritage. kelvin mackenzie has also responded saying it was beyond parody to describe the column as racist. with me is our media editor, amol rajan. this has been a slow burning story. i've got the article here. it appeared in yesterday's sun. why has the momentum built to this stage? today, is the anniversary of hillsborough and i think, we have got to be careful about saying that a backlash from social media represents widespread opinion, but what happened yesterday is the that the sun and news uk, the publisher of the sun came out and said this is something that we've got wrong. it is not just something that we've got wrong. it is notjust what kelvin mackenzie said, but it is when he said it. kelvin mackenzie is known to many people in liverpool and merseyside as the editor of the sun and he printed a controversial front page which led to the sun being banned in

many parts of liverpool. liverpool football clu b many parts of liverpool. liverpool football club banned reporters from the sun and that's a legacy of what kelvin mackenzie said. it is not just the comparison of ross barkley whose grandfather was nigerian to a gorilla which kelvin mackenzie said he had no idea about. and the paper said that too. the only people paid as much as ross barkley in merseyside were drug dealers so he is tarring a community with the same brush. i have spoken to someone from news uk and they realise this is something they got wrong. when kelvin mackenzie gets back from his holiday, will he get sacked? will he lose his rather well paid column or a severe disciplinary? this is interesting, he will presumably have not been responsible for the pictures that went with it, but that amplifies and the headline, "here is why they go ape at ross?" they made plenty of the gorilla reference?

quite. is it possible that he shouldn't even have been writing about liverpool this weekend and that somebody bof him should have had a red light flashing going, "kelvin, liverpool, this weekend, not a good idea." exactly, from my days as a newspaper editor, it sometimes takes guts to stand up to a columnist and say, "you know what, kelvin." he has been associated with the sun for 36 years and for a sub editor or editor to say, "maybe not this weekend, kelvin, stay clear of liverpool." i tried to find out if the editor was in on thursday night, but it is true to say there has to be editorial responsibility beyond the columnist and as we got two investigations now, we have got merseyside police who are dealing with joe anderson's merseyside police who are dealing withjoe anderson's complaint and the mayor of liverpool has complained to the press regulator and they're going to be keen to show that they are in touch with public opinion. so, ithink, there does

need to be some sort of editorial responsibility and the call will be is it worth having kelvin mackenzie, big figure, to be outspoken or is he destroying the sun's relationship with merseyside and liverpool at a time when the sun is keen to repair relations? that's going to be the call they make this week. thank you very much. joining me now from county donegal in ireland is roy greenslade, a professor ofjournalism at city university. thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news. can we pick up on on what amol was saying about accountability and responsibility. are you surprised this column went through apparently unchallenged ? astonished actually because i would have thought that at the sun they knew enough to make sure that mackenzie didn't refer to liverpool. especially as amol points out on the anniversary of the hillsborough disaster. so it was a gross

editorial oversight and it's one that will come back to haunt them because i think that you're likely to see what is already a pretty firm boycott on merseyside of the sun extended, maybe even beyond that city because there is a big football family up there and it's highly likely that it will go further. yet in the best part of 30 years, the sun has carried on employing kelvin mackenzie, so in a sense that aspect of it arguably is something that they've dealt with before. are they going to be that bothered? well, there have been gaps actually in kelvin mackenzie's sun job because he went off to the mail for a time. he was away from newspapers for a while. sure, but he has come back as a columnist and a very prominent one? i think that's a really important factor. amol wonders whether tony gallagher the current editor of the sun will feel that he needs to let kelvin go after

this, but the real important point is the reason it's difficult for anyone at the sun to stand up to kelvin mackenzie is that the person who appointed him is the big boss, rupert murdoch. 0nly he would allow him to come back to the sun as they did a couple of years ago. against the desire of the then sun editor david dinsmore and i don't think tony gallagher was too pleased and i think this could be the end because rupert murdoch would have to bow to pressure from within the sun at the sports department and so on, who feel aggrieved that kelvin can get away with insulting, notjust the people of liverpool, the people of scotland, the people of wales and there are all sorts of people that kelvin dismisses in no time at all andi kelvin dismisses in no time at all and i think his days are numbered.

kelvin mackenzie would argue that he is paid to be a combative, controversial voice and that's part of the package of tabloid newspapers, it's part of the kind of identity of what readers expect and some of the stuff that's written as perhaps people read it and they shrug about it and they're irritated, but it is forgotten five minutes later? yes, of course, he is paid for that rfnlt he is a controversialist and you do want that from a columnist. however, i think that there is a special matter here. if you think back 30 years to what kelvin did as editor in insulting the fans of liverpool, accusing them of all sorts of things during that disaster that turned out to be completely untrue, the history means that if he touches on liverpool, then it's a different matter. i think, liverpool, then it's a different matter. ithink, also, look at

liverpool, then it's a different matter. i think, also, look at whae said about ross barkley, the footballer. i mean it was a grotesque insult to the man. so i think with freedom comes responsibility and this was irresponsible and columnists can't say, "i can do what i like." they have to temper their views, no matter how controversial, with some sense of responsibility. do you think then that kelvin mackenzie's friday column might be the last for the sun? i do. it would not surprise me if he got the sack over this. i certainly think, if he doesn't i think there will be a lot of complaints. i don't believe by the way, i ought to say there, i do not believe that he knew about ross ba rkley‘s believe that he knew about ross barkley‘s ancestry. believe that he knew about ross barkley's ancestry. he put out a statement saying that and the paper said it wasn't aware of it.|j genuinely believe he didn't know that, but i think that's beside the point here is return to insult the community of liverpool. he has

extended the insult from liverpool fc now to everton and i think that he should pay with his job on this occasion. thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us this morning. the headlines on bbc news: north korea stages a huge military parade. the sun columnist, kelvin mackenzie has been suspended over comments he made about the everton footballer, ross barkley. learner drivers will have to show they can follow direction from a satnav as part of a reboot of the practical driving test. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. good morning. coventry fans, upset by their clubs relegation to league two, can take heart from brighton's story.

20 years ago they had sold their ground to pay off debt, and were 15 minutes away from dropping into non league obscurity. now they're on the verge of the top division again after their victory over wolves. both of brighton's goals came from championship player of the year antony kernock—art, one in each half. albion stay top, and will be be as good, as promoted, if they beat struggling wigan, in front of their own fans, on easter monday. it could be some party. meanwhile, second—placed newcastle were 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. i—i it finished in front of more than 52,000 at stjames park, and leeds are up to fourth. with premier league leaders chelsea, not playing until tomorrow, tottenham have the opportunity, to narrow the gap at the top to four points.

they host mid—table bournemouth. with manager mauricio pochettino not letting his players think about the title race. i think it's important to save energy and to be ready on saturday to give our best and try to win. what happens in different games, it can provide the opportunity to reduce the gap, but we must do ourjob first. there are six other games in the premier league today. crystal palace host leicester with burnley off to everton. stoke face hull, and sunderland, ten points from safety at the bottom of the table, take on west ham. watford play swansea and the tea—time match is between southampton and manchester city. there was one game in the scottish premiership last night. it finished goalless between kilmarnock and hearts. 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 killy. they're now six points from the danger zone.

england's luke donald is thejoint leader of golf‘s rbc heritage tournament in south carolina. the former world number one hit a second round 67 to leave him on io—under par, along with canada's graham delaet. sebastian vettel looks like the man to beat, at this weekend's bahrain grand prix. the ferrari driver, who leads the standings along, with lewis hamilton, was quickest in both practice sessions yesterday. qualifying gets under way at 4pm under the lights, with commentary on 5 live sports extra. snooker‘s world championship is under way in sheffield. five—time champion ronnie 0'sullivan is in action against fellow englishman gary wilson, in the afternoon session. the crucible has played host to the tournament for a0 years and 0'sullivan is in the mood to lift the famous trophy again. sheffield is a great event. it's a good tournament

and everyone looks forward to going there every year. so yeah, it should be a great tournament again, whether it's the 40th or the 21st or the 140th. it's still the crucible. it's still seven days there. a great, great tournament. if you get to pick the trophy up at the end, it's an amazing feeling. the first two matches are under way including mark selby. he has started the defence of his title. he is playing against fergal 0'brien. fergal 0'brien was involved in the longest ever frame on wednesday, two hours and three minutes. yesterday he said he might need to bring a tent! it looks like he has got early control of this frame the jester from he has got early control of this frame thejester from leicester. he's up and running and going for the black. 0n the other table, it is an all

scottish tie. the two tables are close together and separated by a screen. it is a sell out at the crucible. that's all sport for now. you can keep up—to—date with all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's at bbc.co.uk/sport. i'll have more in the next hour. mike, it is good to see you with your clothes on! thank you, yes. see your clothes on! thank you, yes. see you later. a lot warmer. police in barnsley are investigating deaths which may have been related to heroin use. driving tests are getting an mot in order to better reflect the demands of modern motoring.

from december, learner drivers will no longer have to tackle some traditional manoeuvres, but will instead be expected every motorist has been through it, the rite of passage of taking a driving test, but in future learners will be examined on new things. the first driving test was taken in 1935. clearly today's drivers are used to a very different road experience. more than half of them use satnav and so the test has been updated to reflect that. so it's turning right out of gate and then continuing to follow the signs. i went for a drive with graham 0'brien who helped develop the new test. satnav: turn right and then at the end of the road, turn left. drivers will have to follow satnav directions. so if we can incorporate it into the test that will drive the training and get people more familiar with dealing with that level of distraction as well which we know is one of the biggest causes of accidents in the first six months with new drivers. learners will also be asked to show they can cope with real life scenarios such as parking within a bay. we were often taking people down into housing estates where they would be reversing around a corner and perhaps using up half

a test doing some of these set piece manoeuvres. the point is to change all of that, to get people far greater experience of roads. the new tests have been trialled in some areas and will be introduced for everyone by the end of this year. candidates will be asked to drive independently for longer, but the cost and length of the exam will stay the same as no doubt will the nerves of those going through the process. with me is peter rodger, head of driving policy at iam roadsmart. peter, welcome to bbc news. let me ask you about the kind of thinking behind making these changes. what are they trying to achieve, do you think? it does a number of things, but the big overall picture is what you're doing is making the driving test more credible and more 21st century, reflecting more what we do, driving around, going about their

daily business. the satnav which judith talked about, it is fairly easy for people to understand why this might make sense particularly these days. but what about things like getting rid of the reversing around a corner, those kinds of manoeuvres that lots of drives your age and my age are familiar. there are still corners and kerbs there? all these things are linked up together peculiarly, but getting away from doing those two particular manoeuvres, reversing around a corner and the three—point turn allows you to come out of the side streets and it drags the driving test off housing estates and industrial estates and drags it out to give examiners the opportunity to get you out on more normal roads. more typical of the driving experience once people have qualified? if you combine that with the use of the satnav you can introduce a longer period where you're not reliant on the examiner

telling you what to do, but the independent driving bit can become much longer because you can't do that in many towns, you know, you can't follow road signs for long because they don't go very far.l lot of signs, a lot of places. that's true. what about the other changes, there will be a question asked about some of the kind of theory side actually while you are in the middle of the test. that's distracting, isn't it? that's why it is being done. you hit the nail right on the head. it started with us right on the head. it started with us talking about how do we introduce into modern driving test all the distraction issues which are part of modern life? and one simple way of doing that is to ask the driver to doing that is to ask the driver to do something that actually they need to be able to do anyway like turn the rear screen demister on or turn the rear screen demister on or turn the headlights on whilst they're driving. not only do they need to know where the switch is and press the button or turn the knob, but they need to manage when to do that,

when to give the attention to do that, as opposed to looking out the window. it is whether you are in respond in the right time in the right moment? whether you manage the task safely and properly. what about more radical things? is there any way we could introduce drivers in test conditions on to motorways, so that big leap that people make from having qualified to going on to the bigger roads can be managed better? well, the government is talking about doing that, however, this set of changes will happen within the existing rules and regulations. they require no legislative changes. right. that would be something that parliament would have to do? that's right. it takes much longer because you have got to find parliamentary time and so on and so on. this can be done within the existing rules so it can be done relatively quickly and simply. if anyone wants to avoid this, they have got until december to pass their test? exactly. peter, thank you very much. the national union of teachers

annual spring conference continues in cardiff today. delegates will be debating workloads, as well as asbestos in school buildings and the future of grammar schools. a survey ofjust over 3,000 staff carried out by the union has found that almost half of young teachers expect to quit the profession within five years amid a backdrop of increasing paperwork, longer hours and concerns over their mental health. sweet manufacturers are facing demands from local councils in england and wales to help pay for the cost of cleaning—up chewing gum. the local government association says around £60 million a year is spent removing gum from roads and pavements. frankie mccamley reports. inattractive packaging, it is a staple on the shelves inside most shops and supermarkets, but once the chewing gum leaves the store and makes it way onto the high street, that's when it becomes an unattractive problem. councils in england and wales are now calling on the manufacturers to contribute to the huge bills

they face to clean it up. we have over a number of years asked the industry to try and find a solution using the chemistry and science that they have at their disposal. they have been really slow to act and this is another call to say, actually, this £60 million a year that councils are spending to clear up their product could be better spent on other services to the public. the call comes after one charity found almost every main shopping street in the country is stained by gum. along with around two—thirds of all roads and pavements. and here on one of britain's busiest high streets, oxford street in london, it's not difficult to spot chewing gum stuck to the floor and it's not surprising considering it only costs us are around 3p per piece. however councils say it cost 50 times that to remove it at £1.50 per square metre of pavement. it's estimated assistance from chewing gum companies would allow local authorities

to fill more than a million potholes but the message from the brands is drop it in the bin, not the floor. competitors in england who take part in weekend fun runs will no longer be charged, under new rules proposed by the government. the changes would make it illegal for councils to charge parkrun, whose events aim to encourage people to exercise. the bluebell is one of britain's favourite wildflowers, but this spring it seems the blue—violet carpets have arrived in our woods later than in previous years. catriona renton is in hertfordshire this morning to find out why. well, look at this. for as far as the eye can see, this there is this beautiful carpet of bluebells. now, they only come once a year. they will be around for three or four weeks. we are at langley woods in hertfordshire. they are a sign that spring has sprung, but they have

come a little bit later this year. to explain that to us, is steve marsh from the woodland trust. why have they come later? they are later this year because we have got a colder spring. last year was a bit warmer so colder spring. last year was a bit warmer so the bluebells came out earlier. it is nothing to worry about, they are coming, but later this year. now, you want the public‘s help to map these beautiful flowers. tell us what you want them to do? so through the woodland trust's bluebell watch campaign, we wa nt trust's bluebell watch campaign, we want people to map and tell us where the bluebells are and whether they are native or non native. can you explain that? this is a native bluebell. it droops over. a non native is upright and stiff. it has flowers that are one side of the stem, the non native all the way round. the native has a white pollen, the non native has blue. and the petals on the native curl back and they don't on the