this is bbc news. the headlines at six: the australia cricket captain steve smith has been banned for one match by cricket's ruling body — the icc — over the ball tampering scandal. the australian prime minister says he's shocked and disappointed. it seemed beyond belief that the australian cricket team was involved in cheating. after all, our cricketers are role models. thousands take to the streets of barcelona after catalonia's former president carles puigdemont is arrested in germany. an extra three thousand midwives are to be trained in england — to ease staff shortages and improve care. hello and welcome to bbc news.

in a few minutes time viewers on bbc one willjoin us for a full round up of the day's news with mishal husain...first: the australia cricket captain steve smith has been given a one match ban and fined all of his match fee after admitting he knew about a plan to tamper with a ball during a test match. batsman cameron bancroft has also been fined 75% of his match fee, after he admitted interfering with the ball during the third test against south africa. our correspondent, phil mercer reports from sydney. just how cameron bancroft thought he could get away with tampering with the ball using sticky tape and dirt in front of dozens of tv cameras is unclear. saw the opportunity to potentially use some type, get some

granules from the rough patches on the wicket and try to, i guess, change the ball condition. is captain steve smith, part of the conspiracy, has agreed to stand down for the remainder of the match. along with his deputy, david warner. i'm not proud of what happened. you know, it's not within the spirit of the game. my integrity, the “sf skipper. a...” “sf skipper. there a. play under an interim skipper. there is, though, mounting pressure for smith to quit. cricket australia, the governing body, is sending two senior officials to south africa to investigate the scandal. the prime minister, malcolm turnbull, said he shared his country's disappointment. it seemed completely beyond belief that the australian cricket team had been involved in cheating. after all, our cricketers are role models,

and cricket is synonymous with fairplay. on social media, there was more disbelief and anger. the former australian skipper, michael clarke, hoped it was alljust australian skipper, michael clarke, hoped it was all just a australian skipper, michael clarke, hoped it was alljust a bad dream, while other retired players said the game had taken a devastating blow. tampering with the ball using so—called foreign object is strictly prohibited in cricket. there are legal ways to alter the condition of one side of the ball to help it swing or move unpredictably through the air. in this case, australia has crossed the line. cricket is australia's national sport, and many fa ns australia's national sport, and many fans could well be asking themselves one simple yet searching question of steve smith and some of his team—mates: just what were they thinking? phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. laughter

as the government says it is acting on nhs staff shortages. another 3,000 will be trained up over the next four years, but the royal college of midwives says the shortage is being felt right now. we do need those numbers, and that's why we welcome this extra 3000 but it is going to take a while for those numbers to come through. australia's ball—tampering scandal — now captain steve smith is banned from playing in the next test in south africa. thousands of protestors take to the streets of barcelona after the separatist former catalan president is arrested in germany and in formula one, sebastian vettel pushes lewis hamilton into second place to win the opening grand prix of the season. good evening.

another 3,000 training places for midwives in england will be made available over the next four years — in what the government says is the "largest ever" boost to nhs midwives and maternity staff. it's part of plans to address staff shortages. the royal college of midwives has welcomed the new training places but says they will only address part of the problem because the nhs in england is short of the required number of midwives right now. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, reports. providing most women with care from the same midwives throughout their pregnancy, labour and birth is the aim of the plan for england announced today. it is hoped this will reduce the chances of miscarriages and premature births. to try to achieve it ministers say

there will be a boost to the number of training places for new midwives and support staff. health unions have welcomed it but warned it will take time. the benefits of those extra midwives is not going to be seen until four years hence and then the years after, so there's pressures in the service at the moment, which need to be addressed. here's how the numbers look right now. there were just over 22,500 midwives in post in england in 2017. the royal college of midwives estimates there's a shortfall of around 3500. the new plan will create an extra 650 midwifery training places next year. that will be followed by 1,000 new places in each of the three subsequent years. but like nurses in england, the students will now have to pay tuition fees. the government knows that recruitment and retention in the nhs is a

problem, one reason why it recently announced a 6.5% pay deal over three years for many staff in england. there's pressure on ministers to find more money to put into front—line services. the idea of a dedicated nhs tax has been floated, and it wasn't ruled out today. if you ask the public about the nhs, they're very clear they would like to see more money going to the nhs, they would be prepared to see some of their own taxes going into the nhs. but they are very clear they want to know that money is actually going into the nhs and social care system, and they want to know that the nhs is going to reform. labour argues there is a need for an immediate a need for an immediate cash injection with the nhs under severe pressure. the political debate on health and social care funding is certainly gathering pace. and hugh is here with me now. might there be a move on nhs funding sooner rather than later? possibly. the government at some

stage does have to set out its spending plans until the end of this parliament in 2022, and it has already made clear that will involve more money for the nhs. but the question is when will it be announced ? question is when will it be announced? jeremy hunt wants to see announced? jeremy hunt wants to see a big statement in the summer sometime with a ten year plan ideally, just showing a real commitment to long—term funding. he is also in charge of social care in england now and he will be making an important statement on that so he will want to give evidence of further joined will want to give evidence of furtherjoined up thinking. he is supported we are told by boris johnson, the foreign secretary, who wa nts to johnson, the foreign secretary, who wants to see the demonstration of a brexit dividend that the nhs. but on the other hand the chancellor philip hammond has already said he will not meet making any decisions about spending until he sees the state of the publics finances later in the year. so there is a vigorous debate going on in cabinet, with increasing demands for more resources for the front line. hugh pym, thank you very much. australia's cricket captain steve smith has been banned from playing in the final test match in south africa amid

a ball—tampering scandal described by prime minister malcolm turnbull as a "shocking disappointment". smith had already been forced to hand over his duties as captain for the third test. there are still questions for the wider leadership of the national team after a player was caught on camera manipulating the ball with a piece of tape. 0ur sports correspondent andy swiss reports. commentator: this on to the crowd... in the eye of a cricketing storm, steve smith, booed onto the field in cape town, the world's best batsman given one of its worst receptions after a scandal which has shocked a sport and shamed a nation. smith had orchestrated a plan to cheat by getting his team—mate cameron ba ncroft to getting his team—mate cameron bancroft to tamper with the ball using sticky tape and make it harder to play against. but they were caught on camera and they confessed all, the resulting controversy leaving a country which defines itself by cricket struggling for a nswe i’s itself by cricket struggling for answers right to the very top. our

cricketers is in role models, and cricketers is in role models, and cricket is synonymous with fair play. how can our team be engaged in cheating like this? and the fallout has been swift. after agreeing to stand down as captain for the rest of this match, smith has now been suspended for the next one, the cricket authorities saying his actions were clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, and that game is united in outrage. smith's predecessor michael clarke tweeted it was like a bad dream, and many believe the captain's position is untenable. i think he probably has no way out of this. his reputation has died completely, he was the guy who won the ashes for australia, he was absolutely immovable, people calling him the best test batsman since don bradman. well, his reputation has collapsed almost overnight. there are further questions, for coach darren lehman

over whether he knew anything, and the bancroft, who has been fined for his involvement. at perhaps most of all for the culture of australian cricket. their aggressive approach has won them few friends, as ba ncroft has won them few friends, as bancroft also discovered today, booed back to the pavilion, sympathy is in short supply. australia has been taken this high and mighty line recently, saying you can't cross this line and we're the purveyors of justice on a cricket field. and i know that within cricket that has wound a lot of people up, because they know that's australia get into they know that's australia get into the sledging and they will be quite glad that this has happened to them. and to make it worse smith was out for seven as australia were thrashed. after losing this match both he and his team now face a far bigger challenge, to save their reputation. a former brexit campaigner says he will present evidence to mps tomorrow which he claims shows the vote leave group broke election laws in the run up to the referendum in 2016. shahmir sanni says vote leave got around spending limits by channelling funds through another pro—brexit group.

both organisations strongly deny any wrongdoing, but labour has called for the allegations to be investigated. here's our political correspondent iain watson. there could be a very simple explanation for vote leave's victory. they may well have run a better campaign and, well, more voters wanted to leave the eu than remain. but one of vote leave's volu nteers remain. but one of vote leave's volunteers claims that the main brexit campaign didn't play by the rules, and spend more money than was allowed. vote leave was permitted to spend £7 million but as they approached that limit they gave an additional £625,000 to smaller operations, called beleave, which is fine just so long as beleave was a genuinely independent campaign. but it is alleged it may have been

nothing more than a front for vote leave itself. there was coordination, they say there wasn't but there was. beleave was set up by vote leave and until after the referendum we were constantly communicating with senior members of vote leave, being instructed by them, before and after the referendum. shahmir sanni claims that vote leave and beleave were so interlinked that they even shared the same computer drives. that level of coordination he says would break electoral law. but in a tweet, leading brexit campaign boris johnson described the allegations as utterly ludicrous and said that vote leave won fair and square and legally. vote leave's former campaign director dominic cummings has dismissed the allegations. the former vote leave volunteer shahmir sanni says his lawyers will produce more evidence tomorrow to back up

his allegations. we will see, but it is certainly the case that the referendum watchdog, the electoral commission, is already investigating. and some opposition politicians here at westminster say that their powers are stuck in the analogue age and are inadequate to deal with the challenges of the digital world. what i think it's to happen is, theresa may needs to make sure the electoral commission has the resources to fully investigate the resources to fully investigate the allegations made that there was collusion, criminal collusion, because let's remember, the people that led these campaigns are now senior cabinet members. that led these campaigns are now senior cabinet memberslj that led these campaigns are now senior cabinet members. i think what this whole saga demonstrates is that the electoral commission simply doesn't have the resources or the power, it has been looking at this for more than a year and nothing has happened. whatever the result of the investigation into vote leave's activities, government ministers have been clear, the referendum won't be rerun. a british man has been sentenced to ten years in prison in dubai for killing his wife with a hammer. 62—year—old jane matthew

was attacked by francis matthew, a former editor of the english language newspaper gulf news, during an argument lastjuly. herfamily sayjustice has not been done and hope the sentence can be increased on appeal. a 14—year—old girl has been seriously hurt after a group of children were run down by a car in glasgow. police say the car with two men in it was driven deliberately at the youngsters. detectives are treating the attack in castlemilk yesterday afternoon as attempted murder. the girl is in a stable condition in hospital. the former catalan president carles puidgemont has been arrested in germany after a warrant was issued by the spanish authorities. thousands of people have been on the streets of barcelona this afternoon to protest at the arrest. mr puidgemont originally fled to belgium following catalonia's banned independence referendum last october. 0ur correspondent damien mcguinness is in berlin. so what happens now? well, the next step is whether the

german officials agree with the extradition request from spanish officials, and that is a long drawn—out process which could take months. mr puigdemont is now due to appear in front of a judge tomorrow morning here in germany. that will bea morning here in germany. that will be a process of first of all identifying him and then starting on this long legal process of whether germany does want to carry out this european arrest warrant. now, that really depends on things like whether germany also has similar laws, such as rebellion and sedition, infringements which are the charges laid down by the spanish officials against mr puigdemont. that could make it easier, if so. but interestingly mr puigdemont is not the only person to be under this international arrest warrant process. there are six former cata la n process. there are six former catalan independence leaders who are also going under a similar process, one of them is a professor in st

andrews university, she is now liaising with the police to turn herself in, and she could also be extradited back to spain if britain agrees with the international arrest warrant. thank you. the first scheduled non—stop flight between australia and europe has landed in london. the boeing dreamliner took just over 17 hours to complete its fourteen—and—a—half—thousand kilometrejourney from perth. the head of qantas described the service as a "game—changing route". with all the sport, here's lizzie greenwood hughes at the bbc sport centre. lewis hamilton had to settle for second in the australian grand prix. he was beaten by sebastian vettel after a timing miscalculation allowed the german driver to overta ke allowed the german driver to overtake him. for the fifth year in a row, lewis hamilton started from pole position in melbourne. but he has only won twice at albert park.

that statistic looked set to improve as he opened up a three second lead over the two ferraris. the only drama was unfolding behind him, the highly rated max verstappen nicking an uncharacteristic mistake and romain grosjean forced to retire, missing out on a top five finish. his misfortune had unexpected consequences of. while the frenchman's car was being removed, all the other drivers had to slow down and sebastian vettel seized the opportunity to stop for fresh tyres. his ferrari team returned him to the track ahead of hamilton. radio: why didn't you tell me that when he was in the pits? we thought we we re when he was in the pits? we thought we were safe... vettel was able to claim a victory few were expecting. congratulations to sebastian and ferrari, today they did a better, who is we have got to go back to the drawing board and work on it but we still had great place, i was able to applies pressure at the end... the german won the opening race here

last year but hamilton still went on to win the title. the briton will be hoping history repeats itself this season. hoping history repeats itself this season. the ball tampering scandal dominates the cricket headlines and england meanwhile are trying to avoid feat in the opening test against new zealand. they're trailing by 237 runs, captainjoe root was dismissed with the last ball of the penultimate day in auckland and they will need to bat all day tomorrow to rescue a draw. in contrast, england's women are flying with another big win in their 20/20 tri series. they beat india with a record—breaking run chase to win by seven wickets in mumbai. leicester fought—back to beat wasps and keep alive their play—off hopes in rugby union's premiership. in a tense match, leicester were eight points behind at one stage but three second—half penalities from england's george ford made the difference. 16—15 the final score. that's it, but there's much more on the bbc sport website, including how a mix—up for golfer ian poulter could mean he misses out on the masters.

back to you, mishal. that is it from us for now. good evening. this is bbc news. a memorial mass has been held in the french town of trebes to remember the four people killed by age had this gunman on friday. a police officer who swap places with a hostage during the siege will also be honoured in a separate national memorial in the coming days. from paris, here is hugh schofield. palm sunday, the start of holy week for catholics.

in the medieval church of st etienne in trebes, mass today is laden with significance. they have come to remember the four people who were killed in the terrorist attack on friday, and in particular the sacrifice of one man, lieutenant colonel arnaud beltrame, who lay down his life so that others might be saved. translation: in the midst of the terrible events of friday, one man traded himself for a victim and paid with his life. arnaud beltrame was himself a practising catholic. according to the bishop, he combined the devotion of a soldier with the faith of a christian preparing for holy week. contemplating the hugeness of his act of self—sacrifice, the french simply feel awe. at the gendarmerie where he was based in carcassonne and at others around the country, they have been leaving their tributes. translation: i think sacrificing one's life to save a hostage is higher than anything. it is heroic. that poor boy, it's so sad. it's terrible, what happened. translation: yes, it's the very definition of a hero.

i think it's simple. it is expressed here by his act. it's sad, but he's a hero. what arnaud beltrame did at the supermarket, giving himself up to the gunman in return for hostages, was a decision taken in a split—second. for the general who commands france's gendarmerie, it's an act of the man. translation: it was an act of heroism, an exceptional act taken in the heat of action. he performed his duty to the limit. we are all proud of that. we are proud of having had him in our ranks. his example must inspire us in the future in the daily work we do protecting our fellow citizens. at the worst and most frightening moments on friday, a man carried out a deed of selfless honour. for many in france and not just churchgoers, that is a source of hope. it is 6:25pm. a new series of

paintings by damien hirst is going on show at halton hall in norfolk. it is the first time they will be shown to the public. the exhibition also includes sculptures installed throughout the 18th—century house and gardens, as alex dunlop reports. home of our first prime minister, 300—year—old houghton hall seems, at first glance, an unlikely backdrop for the shock of the new. but one of the country's most controversial artists reckons this hall and his work are a natural fit. i think they work really well. i mean, i love seeing things out of context, or in a different context. famous for making a massive fortune, pickled sharks and a diamond—encrusted skull, damien hirst dominated the art scene in the 1990s. now he's taken over the spectacular state rooms of this norfolk country estate.

gone are the old master paintings, replaced by 46 canvases of spots. we have a new series of paintings by damien hirst. the first spot paintings he made were very similar to this. they were painted freehand. how do you think they work in this room? well, it was a bit of a gamble, i admit it, but certainly both damien and i are very happy with the results. next door, a hairdryer keeps a ping—pong ball afloat. two more, like eyeballs, float above a skull, and these hirst sculptures could assault all the senses. it's all about chance. and of course, the lottery is entirely about chance. very noisy! yes, noisy. outside, some of damien hirst‘s best—known and most striking sculptures sit in the parkland, from the classical to the frankly surreal. it looks so great, doesn't it?

when i got here, i wasjust going to do the paintings, but when we had a walk around the grounds, you just think it would be a shame not to have a little journey around the gardens with some sculptures as well. so the whole thing makes sense. it's not really a gamble, because the architecture's so amazing. put anything here, and it looks really good. i don't know how they got this massive sculpture here in one piece, but i'm told they did. it's called the virgin mother, an exposing, an unwrapping, if you like, of the human form. and love it or loathe it, well, you certainly can't ignore it. it's a beautiful site for paintings and sculpture. happy man? who, me or him? no, you! yeah, i am very happy, yeah. after just an hour, damien hirst, not your average struggling artist, was gone. his paintings and sculptures will make their home in this corner of norfolk for the next four months. alex dunlop, bbc news. time now for a look at the weather

forecast with phil. the weekend eventually got there for many of us. certainly i think many more seeing a drier, brighter prospect through the bulk of sunday. there has to be an exception, and that was to be found close to the south—eastern quarter of the british isles. underneath these pretty clear skies, save for the north of scotland, there will be a widespread frost, though not a particularly ha rd frost, though not a particularly hard one, just a reminder that we are fairly early in the season. don't be surprised, even if towns and cities, if you get close to or just a tad below freezing. the first pa rt just a tad below freezing. the first part of the week is marked by some mild air close by to the british isles, but once that is away, i will

show you mild air in the south, which is relative to somewhat colder conditions getting into the northern half of scotland. monday starts bright enough, fairly crisp in one oi’ bright enough, fairly crisp in one or two max potts, as i say. you keep sunshine across northern and eastern pa rt sunshine across northern and eastern part of the greater part of the day. at west, things change, and come tea—time, we will see rain pushing into the west of northern ireland, to pembrokeshire, and to the west of the time, too. temperatures of 9-13dc. the time, too. temperatures of 9—13dc. great around that area of low pressure, quite a number that back quite a number of isobars, so a breezy affair for back quite a number of isobars, so a breezy affairfor some on back quite a number of isobars, so a breezy affair for some on tuesday, rain becoming confined to northern and eastern parts. it is still relatively mild across the south, but further north, a shot of cold aircoming infrom but further north, a shot of cold air coming in from the north sea. 4-5d air coming in from the north sea. 4—5d only. as a consequence, cooler conditions found towards the north.

in the south, on wednesday, the front clears away and brighter skies followed behind, but it is a bright and blustery sort of day on wednesday with a number of showers, maybe a little bit of pale in there. it will be turning colder this week, some rain at times, and a risk of