about the need to alleviate global suffering, and protect religious freedom. our religious affairs correspondent, martin bashir reports. st peter's square was resplendent as pope francis celebrated mass and delivered the fifth easter sermon of his papacy, but his message was sober, pleading for an end to what he called the horror and death in syria and asking that international leaders have the courage to prevent the spread of conflict. at canterbury cathedral, archbishopjustin welby drew attention to the plight of christians in egypt following twin bomb attacks on palm sunday that killed 46 and injured more than 100 people. and he said that suffering was not confined to war zones. christians in egypt live surrounded by bombs and terror. but the words jesus says on that first easter day, he says to you and me now. to each of us, to listen,

to take hold of within our hearts. do not be afraid. the prime minister, in her own easter message, also focused on the issue of religious persecution. we must be mindful of christians and religious minorities around the world who do not enjoy these same freedoms, but who practise their religion in secret and often in fear. labour leaderjeremy corbyn said that regardless of one's faith, he wanted to affirm every act of kindness that helps alleviate suffering across the country. i meet christians and others of all faiths and none on a daily basis who share and live these ideals, people who give their time for others, whether are those running food banks, protecting the vulnerable, looking after the sick, the elderly and other young people. both religious and political leaders

have drawn sober lessons on this easter sunday. the celebration of the resurrection has been placed in the context of persecution and suffering. martin bashir, bbc news, in central london. with all the sport, here's karthi gna nasegaram at the bbc sport centre. good evening, clive. premier league leaders, chelsea, were beaten by manchester united this afternoon, which means they remain just four points ahead of title rivals, tottenham. whilejose mourinho‘s united side are now in fifth place. david ornstein was watching. jose mourinho, responsible for summer jose mourinho, responsible for summer to chelsea's success, now charged with stopping it. perhaps the last major test for antonio conde‘s blues, manchester united we re conde‘s blues, manchester united were desperate to ensure that that test would not be passed. ander herrera to marcus rashford, the 19—year—old with a clinical finish. replays showed a handball in the

build—up, but the goal stood. cue the celebrations. the form of champions, this was not. diego costa with chelsea's best effort as antonio conde reached for his thinking cap. but after half—time, herrera went from provider to scorer, with the hope —— help of a deflection, he put united on course for a first win against chelsea in five years. the visitors pressed, but were repelled. as they know, mourinho teams are nothing if not resilient, a result that keeps the title race alive. liverpool have moved back up to third place after a 1—0 win over west bromwich albion. at the end of the first half. it's liverpool's fifth win in seven games and strengthens their push for a champions league place. celtic have already been crowned scottish premiership champions but they had to share the points today with ross county after a controversial 89th minute penalty which even the ross county manager, jim mcintyre, admitted should not have been awarded. the final score was 2—2.

sebastian vettel has won formula one's bahrain grand prix, beating britain's lewis hamilton in to second place. hamilton was given a five second penalty while his mercedes team—mate, valteri bottas, eventually finished in third, having started on pole, in what proved to be an eventful race. nick parrot reports. lewis hamilton found himself in an unfamiliar place on the grid in bahrain, behind his new mercedes team—mate valtteri bottas. the finn was on pole for the first time, and when the lights went out, he didn't blink, beating everyone to the first corner. but hamilton cisse sebastian vettel as his main rival this year, and the german took the fight to the britain in the desert, roaring past into second. before the dust had settled, carlos sa i nz into second. before the dust had settled, carlos sainz shook things up. his crash brought the safety car out, and hamilton in forfresh

tyres. but on his way to the pits, he deliberately held at daniel ricciardo. he regained third place after the restart, but would have five seconds added to his finish time. and it got worse for hamilton. ferrari's smartest shouted you delivered vettel the lead after the final round of pit stops. on fresh tyres, hamilton passed bottas, but he couldn't catch vettel‘s prancing horse, galloping to his second win of the season and a 7—point lead in the championship. elinor barker has added a gold medal to her collection at the world track cycling championships in hong kong. barker won the 25 kilometre points race today to add to the two silvers she had already claimed. it means great britain finish fourth in the medal table with five medals in total. and bristol have been relegated from rugby union's premiership after defeat to top of the table wasps this afternoon. that's it. there's more throughout the evening on the bbc news channel, and i'll be back with the late news at ten. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. bye for now.

more now on north korea after the failed missile test by the regime in pyongyang. the us national security advisor general mcmaster has said there's now an international consensus — which includes china — on the threat posed by north korea. earlier, my colleague julian worricker spoke to john hemmings from the centre for strategic and international studies. he began by explaining how the us could respond to north korea's actions. donald trump has tried to make this really about china. the only thing he can do, looking back at the past 15 years of attempted and failed negotiations, is to really push north korea's main ally and source of resources to do something, so i think even the moving of the carrier fleet, the uss vinson group, that is about pressuring

the chinese, implying the threat of action. but i don't think he is serious about doing something. anybody on his security of staff have told him that unilateral military action on the peninsula is a nightmare scenario. because the risks are too great in terms of what comes back. absolutely, seoul is in artillery range, 13,000 artillery pieces within range. potential use of chemical weapons, and this is a regime not afraid of causing mass casualties. what of north korea's intentions? clearly, the intent is there, even if the execution wasn't on this occasion. it depends if you have a maximalist concern about them. i think, at the worst, they want to check us nuclear deterrents from the us in order to continue provocations with the south. you could argue that the military still carries dreams of unification at their hands.

that's a worst—case scenario. on the more benign side, they want to survive, the kim family wants to stay in power. they use the promise of a strong state with a military to keep the support of the military, so i think itjust depends on that range of things. but if you're a planner in washington, seoul or tokyo, you may have to think worst—case scenario. what do you think the chinese are weighing up right now? i think the chinese have gotten away easily and lightly. in the cold war, the us kept a number of its allies from developing their own nuclear weapons, including south korea. the chinese have never been in that position. and now trump has really put north korea on their doorstep. trump has, as we have seen with his tweet, hinted that he will go easy on the trade issues if they resolve this. what can they do, they can offer nuclear deterrence to the north koreans and say, if you get rid of your own nuclear system, we will extend the deterrent and put

you under our nuclear umbrella. they have the power to stop the north koreans, because of course the north korean economy is so dependent on china. the real question is beijing's strategic calculation. because they look at that border between themselves and north korea and they would fear an imploding government and all the implications that brings. absolutely. they have never really been willing... i mean, they've been willing to step up in new york at the un, but on the border they have watered down a lot of that. if we could see them doing a little bit more, you know, stopping the coal ships was demonstrative, but how about all the weapons? we are seeing these trucks going through the parade, many of those manufactured in china. i don't believe they're not doing all they can. we saw some doom—laden headlines on the front of some of the papers yesterday. are they going too

far at this point? the headlines? yes. given the stakes of the korean peninsula, it's unsurprising that people weigh these things up that way, so i wouldn't like tojudge either way. now, time for a look at the weather for your easter weekend. it has been cloudy today. something a bit brighter on the way tomorrow. the air is coming from north of the uk, with clearer skies compared with what we had this afternoon. underneath that cloud, we have still got some rain. it has been wet across northern england, with heavy bursts now working across north wales. that will shift southwards and eastwards as we finished the day. we still see precious little rain and even then, just a sip for the gardens. it will turn dry overnight. in parts of northern

england and scotland, there could be a touch of frost to take us into the first part of easter monday. it is getting colder due to the high pressure that will be with us for much of the week, with low pressure to the east. there will be cold air across the uk for much of easter monday ma and for europe, so we are not alone with the chill on easter monday. for northern england, the brightest part of the day will be in the morning. northern ireland will be dry throughout. scotland will have some showers, then dry weather, then more showers. sleet and snow over higher ground. sleet and hail to low levels, but sunnier in the afternoon whereas in northern england, the showers get going. in the southern half of the uk on easter monday, we start with cloud. rain will be light and patchy. most of us spend the day dry and even if you do see rain, it will not last long. there will be more sometime during the second half of the day. we will be under the influence of a northerly airflow, particularly

across eastern scotland and north—east england. elsewhere in the sunshine in the afternoon, it should feel pleasant. overnight, the north and is still with us, pushing across central and eastern parts of england. as skies clear, this is when temperatures will drop. by tuesday morning, there could be a widespread frost in the countryside. more of a breeze in east anglia and the south—east to take us into tuesday. through the day, cloud increases in the hebrides. but foremost, tuesday will be a lovely, crisp spring day. a chilly start, but there will be sunshine and light winds the afternoon. there will be some weather fronts clipping across parts of scotland and northern ireland. that is the story for the week. very little rain around. it will turn warmer by day, but nights are still chilly, with frost at times too. this is bbc news.

lam martine i am martine croxall. the headlines at 7: turkish president erdogan has claimed victory in a referendum which grants him sweeping new presidential powers in the country. with counting under way, his opponents have refused to concede. we'll be live in istanbul shortly. there is now an international consensus, which includes china, on the threat posed by north korea, according to the us national security advisor. 68 children are among the dead in syria after yesterday's bomb attack on buses carrying evacuees from besieged towns. also in the next hour: theresa may urges unity over brexit, as she delivers her first easter message as prime minister. our shared interests, our shared ambitions, and above all, our shared values can and must bring us together. builders renovating a medieval church in london have unearthed