this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm: dozens of people have been killed in a car bomb attack on a convoy carrying evacuees in syria. thousands of people, from two besieged government—held towns, were waiting to be transported under the terms of an evacuation deal, as the bomb shattered coaches, leaving a trail of bodies including children. north korea parades what are thought to be the countries first intercontinental missiles, amid fears it is moving closer to a long—distance atomic arsenal. everton football club bans sun journalists from its stadium and training ground following a column by kelvin mackenzie regarding midfielder ross barkley. i think it's disgraceful the way he spoke about ross barkley and the way that he described the people of liverpool. what he said about ross barkley i think is shocking, so i think it's only right. what they've done for years, notjust in the last week, is disgusting.

concerns about funding cuts in schools increase the possibility of strike action in england. that is after delegates at the nu t's annual conference voted in support of a ballot on strike action. and tottenham ramp up the pressure on leaders chelsea, closing the gap to four points at the top of the premier league. that, and the rest of the day's sport headlines at 7:30pm on sportsday. good evening, and welcome to bbc news. a huge car bomb has hit a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from government—held towns in syria, killing at least 43 people. the powerful explosion caused widespread damage to the convoy on the outskirts of aleppo and dozens more people have been injured.

richard galpin reports. a suicide bomber is believed to have carried out this devastating attack. and this is what remains of buses carrying hundreds of people finally escaping their villages, which have been besieged for years. this eyewitness says it's hard to describe what he's seeing — the dead are everywhere, and there are dozens of burnt—out vehicles. and amongst the dead in the buses and on the road are women and children. they'd been an easy target. the convoy had been held up on the road near aleppo since friday night, this because of a hitch in the deal agreed between government forces and the rebels. but in the aftermath of this incident, the hope is that the convoys will start moving again as quickly as possible. richard galpin, bbc news.

ammar al—sammo is from the civil defence organisation white helmets, who are operating in the rebel—held areas of syria. thank you forjoining us. tell us what you know and what you saw. first of all, the area used to be the meeting point to exchange the convoys between both sides. we were waiting with buses from the early morning, waiting for the arrival of the convoy. it was stuck in a rebel held area. at exactly 333 and time,

—— 3:30pm syrian time, we found human bodies on the ground, still burning. including women and children. all the cars near the checkpoint were burnt and also the buses, the people in the buses were killed. absent or no there are 100 victims —— up until now there are 100 people killed. like macs you are seeing their work. —— 100 people killed. like macs you are seeing their work. -- so you're saying that there are 100 people

killed. the buses should arrive here in order to go further. we were waiting. the victims were waiting for theirfamilies. we waiting. the victims were waiting for their families. we have collected the human bodies, we do not know who they belong to, some of them from the buses, some from outside, some of those awaiting families. we're just looking at the footage that you took from the aftermath of the blast. any idea as to who was behind this blast and why

they would have targeted these buses? it is an easy target. someone came into this area and exploded a car. we do not know who is responsible. this is the hill of the war. the ground is covered in human parts, children and women from all sides. we need to finish this war. right now there must be urgent intervention by the united nations to protect civilians on both sides, because we expect retaliation and revenge from both sides. up until now, the convoy has been stuck, 3000 civilians. we condemn this fear, all

the people of syria condemned this affair, but we need this to be completed. civilians do not like this change, we need this to be completed, fearing retaliation. thank you very much, just telling us they are of the scene that he found. body parts of women and children and counting up to 100 victims at the scene of that bombing in syria. thank you very much. north korea has warned the united states that it's ready to react to any provocative action. it comes as the country staged a huge military parade, displaying what appeared to be new submarine—based ballistic missiles. us president donald trump has sent

a naval strike force to the region because of concerns that north korea is preparing to carry out another nuclear test. 0ur correspondentjohn sudworth is with a group of foreign journalists invited to the capital pyongyang. his movements are being monitored and tightly controlled. as the parade began, the ground shook, and a city at the centre of a mounting crisis echoed to the sound of marching feet. presiding over it all was kim jong—un, apparently untroubled by the international pressure over the now—realistic prospect of this most totalitarian of states becoming a fully fledged nuclear power. and while president donald trump may be promising to stop it, north korea has other ideas. it's an extraordinary sight. this is state power expressed as mass unity, and it's meant

to send two key messages — to the north korean people that their young leader's grip on power is unassailable, and to the outside world, that he commands massive military might. "we will respond to nuclear war with nuclear war," a senior official told the crowds — a statement given extra force by the rolling out of these weapons, which analysts say may be north korea's first intercontinental ballistic missiles. but while it may be isolated, it's resilient and often rational too — it wants nuclear weapons, not to use them, but as a security guarantee. what message does this send to the outside world? "it shows the great strength of korea," this woman tells me.

"we are the most proud people in the world." the periodic crises have so far always blown over, but each time north korea emerges one step closer to its nuclear goal. after decades of trying, no—one has yet worked out how to stop its advance. john sudworth, bbc news, pyongyang. well, joining me now is david slinn, britain's first ambassador to north korea, from 2002 to 2006. how concerned should we be about the m essa 9 es how concerned should we be about the messages coming out surrounding this crisis from both sides, north korea and the us? we thus we have to be concerned because there is a crisis, but as your correspondent said, we have had

crises before and they have found resolution in some form or another. 0bviously resolution in some form or another. obviously there may be work is considered —— there may be more cause for concern this time because their nuclear weapons are perhaps coming towards completion, so that is more concern for the rest of the world. it seems that kim jong-un is pushing towards that line. what does he want from the us, is itjust attention or is there something behind this? it is attention as a means to an end. north korea wants a few things, to assure its own survival, to be taken seriously, to be regarded as a nuclear powered by the rest of the world, and it wants to be seen to be treated with what it sees as respect by the international community. one of the things that i heard in my dealings with north korean officials was, why

are they not treated like pakistan? who the north korean see as having been accepted by the us as a nuclear power. they have long wanted to follow that path in terms of the way that the americans treat them. do you think that there will be some concessions, or do you think that kim jong—un will have to relinquish his nuclear ambitions before that ta kes his nuclear ambitions before that takes place? the us side has long been prepared to sit down and negotiate with the north koreans, but as long as the north koreans we re but as long as the north koreans were prepared to negotiate on the basis of a languishing its nuclear capability on nuclear capacity, and thus far there has been no sign of the last koreans being ready to do that. how can the us and china then work together, can they work together on fixing this? what form would it have to take? absolutely. the united states and china can work

together to fix this. china has its own strategic concerns about developments on the korean peninsula, and the us has strategic concerns. what i have long been interested in is to see how the us and china can sit down and discuss developments on the korean peninsula more constructively, in a more long—term way. if you want to look at the possibility or prospects of the korean peninsula after the disappearance of a nuclear north korea. what would you like to hear from mike pence? he's visiting tomorrow, that is sunday. from mike pence? he's visiting tomorrow, that is sundaylj from mike pence? he's visiting tomorrow, that is sunday. i think the vice presidents will clearly be travelling with a message every assurance to the us's south korean, and by extension, japanese allies. they will take it seriously and equally it will prove a good ally to them and bear no interest in mind.

thank you very much for your time. and we'll find out how that and many other stories are covered on sunday's front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this evening. joining me to review the papers are nigel nelson, political editor of the sunday mirror and sunday people, and the political commentatorjo phillips. everton football club has banned sun newspaper journalists from its ground following an article written by the paper's columnist and former editor kelvin mackenzie. in it, he compared the intelligence of everton footballer ross barkley to that of a gorilla. the mayor of liverpool has called for the newspaper to sack mr mckenzie for making what he called "racial slurs". 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley is at goodison park. it's ross barkley! the footballer at the centre

of it all — everton footballer ross barkley, whose grandfather was nigerian, compared here to a gorilla. and the man who wrote it, kelvin mackenzie, now suspended. he also claims the only other people in liverpool earning as much money were drug dealers. i've reported it to merseyside police, and they're investigating the complaint. i've also written to the press complaints commission. the comments, i believe, were overtly racist. but the club reacted quickly, banning the sun, stating the newspaper has to know any attack on this city is not acceptable. it follows a long—running hatred towards the newspaper, who blamed fans for the hillsborough disaster that left 96 dead, with applause at today's match to mark the 28th anniversary. the sun's publisher, news uk, has apologised for the offence caused, saying it was unaware

of ross barkley‘s heritage and there was never any slur intended. mr mackenzie says it was beyond parody to describe the article as racist. outside the stadium, fans welcomed the news. what he said about ross barkley, it's shocking, so i think it's only right. i think it's disgraceful, the way that he spoke about ross barkley, and the way that he described the people of liverpool, and he should be ashamed. his article should be proofread anyway, it should be read by the editors, so for them to let that go to press, i think it's quite poor. but many will question why the paper, which he edited for many years, allowed the column to be published. the sun, they knew enough to make sure that mackenzie didn't refer to liverpool, it's... especially on the anniversary of the hillsborough disaster. so it was a gross editorial oversight. it's understood rupert murdoch will be consulted before a decision

is made about mr mackenzie's future, which may depend on a police investigation. frankie mccamley, bbc news, at goodison park. the headlines on bbc news: dozens of people have been killed in syria after an explosion hits a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees on the outskirts of aleppo. north korea stages a huge military parade to mark the anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, amid warnings over rising tensions with the us. everton bans sun journalists from its stadium and training ground following a column by kelvin mackenzie regarding midfielder ross barkley. the turkish president has been speaking to supporters ahead of tomorrow's referendum on major constitutional changes that could see him gain significant new powers. he's hoping to secure a yes vote, which would see the country shift from a parliamentary to a presidential republic. my colleague nuala mcgovern is in istanbul where president erdogan

is holding his final rally. the campaigning has come to an end, what are the turkish people voting for and what will happen if it does call president cardigan's way? —— coal. it is the eve of this significant referendum. what is it state —— at sta ke referendum. what is it state —— at stake is the power of president erdogan. many people feel that the power that he has right now under that state of emergency is what he wa nts to that state of emergency is what he wants to hold on to for many years to come. basically edwards mean that he dispenses the prime minister, that instead there is a number of vice presidents elected in his

place, that he would have more power to electjudges. but the no campaigners feel that it is too much power for campaigners feel that it is too much powerfor one campaigners feel that it is too much power for one man, that campaigners feel that it is too much powerfor one man, that there is not enough checks and balances within the system to control that power. the yes voters see that there are will be —— say that there will be perilous to impeach the president if the two. there has been such a surfer is campaigning that the citizens of this country are expected to know what it is that they are voting for —— thurmond campaigning. since the founding of this nation and the fall of the 0ttoman this nation and the fall of the ottoman empire, he has been such a powerfulfigure ottoman empire, he has been such a powerful figure not only in turkey, involves not only when it comes to

syria but in europe, when it comes to the refugee crisis which arose from that, if you have russia and talk about the geopolitical situation and allies within syria, thatis situation and allies within syria, that is another part. and then of course there is the eu and europe. will this country decide to turn more towards europe or more towards the middle east? the divisions are clear in this city. istanbul, just a reminder for the viewers, clear in this city. istanbul, just a reminderfor the viewers, it clear in this city. istanbul, just a reminder for the viewers, it has clear in this city. istanbul, just a reminderfor the viewers, it has not only had the attempted coup, but the purge which rounded up tens of thousands of citizens across this country for suspected involvement in that too, they could've been arrested, detained, jailed, and terror attacks, the last one on the nightclub on new year's eve. there area nightclub on new year's eve. there are a lot of many young people. we will just have are a lot of many young people. we willjust have to wait and see what happens, but it is an incredibly important moment in these final hours. this time tomorrow we will

probably know what the result is. very briefly, erd, have the help that all tissue which direction people will be voting in? -- polls, have they helped? the only thing that i have seen our two lanes from the newspaper which can be translated. let's return to the news that a car bomb has hit a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from government—held towns in syria, killing at least 43 people. with me is our arab affairs editor, sebastian usher. quite a significant attack, isn't it? yes, this was a complicated exchange between these two villages, which are essentially the last of government strongholds in idlib,

which is controlled by rebels. a swa b which is controlled by rebels. a swab was being done, essentially, —— swap. 0riginally 30,000 people were going to be moved from two areas to safer areas being run by rebel area for the rebels and the government area for those people affiliated with the government. they were essentially around 100 coaches waiting on the outskirts of aleppo, waiting on the outskirts of aleppo, waiting to move into the government area, and they presented a sitting target. we were hearing that it was a very easy target, still no indication as to who is behind this attack. we have not had any claim, a bit of detailfrom attack. we have not had any claim, a bit of detail from one eyewitness who was describing how it happened, seeing that the van that was driven by the suicide bomber was actually

distributing crisps to children just moments before it exploded, and it shows just how much this attack, amongst all the attacks that we have had, resonates, because these were families, some of them had been waiting to leave the villages for around two years, and the images are just too graphic to show, images, one for example, a child of around three years old, he was caught half out of a window of the play and utterly killed in that moment by the attack. many bodies lying beside the side of the road. what is extraordinary, though, is that this exchange has actually resumed since the attack. that may be an indication ofjust how desperate people on that side wants to avoid the potential for this attack to be repeated. those waiting on the other side waiting to go from a government area into a rebel area had been

frightened that they might suddenly be attacked themselves in a revenge attack, so i think is every effort to be made to get this going again as quickly as possible. has that been the main reaction and response from the syrian government? the syrian government has said that this isa syrian government has said that this is a terror attack, as they do, it is a terror attack, as they do, it isa is a terror attack, as they do, it is a terror attack, as they do, it is a terror attack, as they do, it is a terror attack but we do not know who carried it out. i would have seen that the syrian government will hit back hard at idlib, where the rebels are, essentially saying whichever group which carried this out were targeting them. strike action over funding cuts in england's schools has been backed by the national union of teachers. the nut voted on the measure at its annual spring conference in cardiff today.

it comes as a survey ofjust over 3,000 staff, carried out by the union, found that almost half of young teachers expect to quit the profession within five years. increasing paperwork, longer hours and concerns over mental health were just some of the reasons cited. there is a strong undercurrent to this four—day conference, and that is anger at what teachers perceive to be significant cuts to funding in england's schools. as you have just said, they have now balloted to increase the pressure on the government with further industrial action, and they have not ruled out the possibility of a one—day strike, a national protest against what they regard as significant funding cuts. they have had delegate after delegate after delegate talking this morning. one was a parent, a mother who described how, in her area, some schools have had to even limit the amount they are spending on central heating.

over the winter, children were being taught with their hats and gloves onjust to keep warm in the classroom. the government, on the other hand, says that record numbers... a record amount of cash is going into england schools this year, £40 billion, the biggest sum ever, money follows the pupil and there should be enough money to go around. there do have to be savings, something in the order of £3 billion over the next three years, but the government has said that money should be able to be saved in the way in which schools buy goods, things like computers and books and so on. if headteachers are savvy in the way that they buy those things they should be able to make savings. without it affecting the quality of teaching for children. but the unions say that is nonsense — class sizes are going up and teachers are not being replaced when they leave a school. the driving test is catching up with technology after the driving and vehicle standards agency

announced that learners with have to demonstrate they can safely use a sat nav. the agency says it's vital that the practical test keeps up to date, as our correspondent judith moritz reports. 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 the gates and then continuing to follow the signs from the satnav. 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 a 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. let's find out how the weather is doing. it is feeling rather chilly.

i was just getting excited about my flower baskets. 0ut flower baskets. out in the sunshine today it felt pleasa nt out in the sunshine today it felt pleasant enough with the sunshine out here ahead strengthening day by day. but if you are concerned about your baskets, there will not be much rain over the next few days. clear skies in the east overnight and you may see a touch of frost. but in northern ireland, south—west scotland, eventually west of england and wales, they will be some rain, pushing southwards and eastwards, and much cloudier day. parts of south west england and south wales should stay dry all day long. parts of scotla nd should stay dry all day long. parts of scotland rial all day long with sunny spells. not as cold tomorrow as today. chilly across eastern parts of the country and a chilly nights to take is into monday. a

cold breeze on monday once again. a few showers here and there. next week, predominantly dry, some very frosty nights as well. good evening, this is bbc news the headlines at half past seven.