this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at 2pm. new bail rules are leading to thousands of crime suspects, some involving murder and rape, are being released without any conditions. america says moscow has no justification for its tit—for—tat expulsion of 60 diplomats as britain's ambassador seeks answer in moscow. the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the united kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. we asked some questions of the russian state and we've still not received adequate answers. nearly a0 labour mps and peers call onjeremy corbyn to suspend a senior official at the centre of the latest row about anti—semitism. personal details of 150 million users of a popular online fitness programme are compromised by a data security breach. also in the next hour. senior staff at some academy trusts are accused of taking unjustifiably high salaries.

mps say the academies in england are using public money that could be better spent on children's education. and 70 years on from sex, lies and murder on the high seas. new evidence about the porthole mystery. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. thousands of suspects under investigation for violent and sexual offences have been released from police custody without any bail conditions attached, according to research by the bbc. new rules were introduced in england and wales a year ago, designed to prevent people being kept on bailfor months and, in some cases, years. the charity women's aid said

the figures were shocking, and would worry victims of domestic violence. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. it was the case of paul gambaccini that sparked concerns about the use of pre—charge, or police bail. the bbc radio presenter was questioned about alleged sex offences, then released on bail for 12 months before being told he wouldn't face any charges. as home secretary, theresa may said the use of police bail had to change. and last year a 28—day limit was imposed. if police want to bail suspects for longer, they need approval from a senior officer or magistrate. as a result, the number of suspects bailed has dropped dramatically, by about two thirds. it means thousands don't have to report back to police and face no restrictions on who they contact or where they go. bbc news obtained figures from 12 forces about people suspected of violent and sexual offences. more than 3,100 were released under

investigation without conditions, between april and june last year. the number included 31 murder suspects and 768 people suspected of rape, all still subject to police investigation. we are contacted by survivors all the time who are telling us about their worries about their safety. the failure to use bail conditions in many cases means the victim can be vulnerable to being contacted, to being stalked, harassed or even suffering further violence from a dangerous abuser. the home office said a large drop in the use of bail should not affect the way police respond to incidents of domestic abuse, but it said ministers had asked forces to ensure that those who should be on bail are not being released without conditions. danny shaw, bbc news. russia has taken further diplomatic measures against britain in the escalating dispute over the poisoning of the former russian spy, sergei skripal.

the kremlin has told britain it has one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in russia to the same size as russia's mission in the uk as it continues what it calls a symmetrical response to coordinated moves by western countries. ambassadors from the nations involved have been summoned to the foreign ministry in moscow, following the announcement yesterday that 60 american diplomatic staff have been told to leave. we'll be live in moscow shortly. but first let's cross to simonjones is in salisbury. the home secretary amber rudd has beenin the home secretary amber rudd has been in salisbury today, it was a private visit but she was attending a service at the cathedral. an easter service, also designed to show solidarity with the people of the city who have been so affected by the events here. no doubt, too, she will have been monitoring the

latest developments from russia, there were tit—for—tat expulsions, and keen to be updated on the position of the skripals in hospital. encouraging news about yulia skripal that came out yesterday, her condition improving. let's speak to the chemical weapons expert richard guthrie. let's talk about the condition of yulia, she's getting better? she is much younger than her father, and the much younger you are, if you have burns or you break bones, the more likely you are to make a quick recovery. it's also possible she had a smaller dose than her father and the dose is important. how vital will it be for the police investigation for the police to speak to her, she is going to be able to communicate? a lot will depend on whether she is fit enough to be interviewed but also how much she remembers and what she can actually tell them. if, for

example, it is the material that was painted on the front door that has been the suggestion in recent days, there could be little she can indicate other than the sequence of events. if the true object was something brought into the house and the contamination came from that, she might be able to provide some very useful information. we have been hearing recently about some more expulsions of british maps from russia, these —— diplomats from russia, these —— diplomats from russia, these —— diplomats from russia, the tit—for—tat expulsions, russia, the tit—for—tat expulsions, russia continuing to say it had nothing to do with it. how plausible is that? the most plausible for all the scenarios is that it was the russians. there is a lot of very good evidence. it's still falling short of what i think would be proved in an english court of law but the investigation is ongoing and the evidence is extremely strong. we're standing in the centre of salisbury, we still have police cordoned in place. the council trying to encourage people to return

to the city because there has been a big drop in football. how safe would you say this is, given what has happened? i feel very safe here. you say this is, given what has happened? ifeelvery safe here. i'm standing here, after this interview i shall go off and sit in a cafe and i will do some work. i feel thoroughly safe. i think it was a very tiny risk, but that risk is so small that it's not of any concern. we're hearing that even once the police have handed over this area, they have still got to bd contaminated and that could take months. the contamination is a very compensated. —— complicated process. some of the nerve agents can reside in the environment for a while. they do react with water in a reaction called hydrolysis, which can be relatively slow. but with the amount of water we have around here come anything out in the open will hide relies quickly. from your

assessment, where are we in the investigation? it's being looked at internationally, it's been a while since it was identified, what's going on? these complex investigations because you're trying to establish eve rybody's investigations because you're trying to establish everybody's movements, you're trying to establish how material moves around. i was going back through other poisoning investigations that have been carried out in high profile figures and many of them took months before they came to confusing —— conclusions. this is in line with comp rebel investigations around the world. the investigation will take a long period of time. the police cordons will still be in place for a long period of time, the city centre is trying to get back to normal but what happened here, the traces of it, will be seen for many months to come. thank you. we will go to

moscow in a moment. the mayor of greater manchester andy burnham has written an open letter to firefighters in the city saying they should not be ashamed of their response to the bombing at the arena last may. a report commissioned by mr burnham found that following established procedures and poor communication meant no fire crews arrived on the scene for around two hours. security sources in turkey say kurdish pkk militants have killed six members of a pro—government militia in the south—east of the country. the attack happened in the town of siirt. three other militia members were wounded along with four soldiers. 39 labour mps and peers have signed a letter, urging jeremy corbyn to suspend a senior official, over her handling of a complaint about anti—semitism. christine shawcroft stood down as head of the party's disputes panel, after calling for the reinstatement of a council candidate accused of sharing an anti—semitic article on facebook, she remains a member of the labour national executive committee. 0ur political reporter jessica parker told me the letter

increases the pressure onjeremy corbyn. christine shawcroft has previously apologised, saying she was not aware of the nature of this facebook posts that have led to this council candidate's suspension. but in the further development, a social media post has appeared today apparently from christine shawcroft‘s account, reiterating that she thinks she made a mistake but also saying, this whole row has been stirred up to attackjeremy. now, that is a view that some people have but it could exacerbate the situation after we've had these 39 labour mps and peers writing tojeremy corbyn, calling for her suspension, calling for her to be removed from the national executive body. in their letter tojeremy corbyn, they wrote, you pledged this week to be an ally in the fight against anti—semitism. this action would represent an initial step in honouring that commitment. jeremy corbyn has over the past week tried to show he is reaching out to the jewish community, he's done so again today, saying in a passover message, in the fight against anti—semitism, i am your ally and i always will be.

but i've spoken to a signatory of last night's letter, they say they have had a lot of warm words from jeremy on this issue, this letter that has been sent is a challenge, a test of his resolve. some academy schools in england are using taxpayers money to pay excessive salaries to senior staff. that's according to a report by mps, who say it's taking money away from pupils. the report comes as the national education union, formally the national union of teachers, meets for its annual conference in brighton. 0ur education correspondent marc ashdown spoke to me earlier. after that nhs pay deal recently, the buzz here in brighton is around whether teachers may be in line for something similar. teacher pay is one of the motion is set to be debated. school budgets are under intense pressure, headteachers have been for years have been saying they struggle to balance the books. any move to remove pay restraint would

mean extra funding. this report is timely into academy budgets, it questions excessive salaries. more than 100 heads of academies are on more than £150,000 per year, the government has written to many asking if it is value for money. we are also expecting debates on workload stress and recruitment and retention. this matters because at the last general election, education became a hot topic on the doorsteps. the local elections just around the corner, teachers know their voices will never be louder. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news this afternoon. councils with high numbers of rough sleepers are to receive a share of a £30 million fund to tackle the problem. a rough sleeping task force, made up of experts from government departments and agencies will provide services to try to reduce the numbers of homeless people in england and wales. labour called the initiative "a pitiful response to a national crisis" to a national crisis." two men in theirfifties have been arrested in connection with the death of a restaurant owner in ayr more than 2a years ago.

ansar shah was stabbed to death in a seafront car park in the town in october 1993. the government has called for an inquiry into the costs of fuel at the country's motorway service stations. the transport secretary chris grayling says fuel at motorway service stations costs up to 19 pence per litre more than elsewhere. he's asked the competition and markets authority to find out why. the personal details of around 150 million users of the myfitnesspal app were accessed in a data breach. parent company, under armour, which owns the software, said usernames, email addresses and passwords may have been stolen. here's more from our correspondent theo leggett. it's a pretty big data breach, 150 million people. that's quite high up on the list of biggest breaches. but yahoo have lost more than a billion customers' user data in the past, to put that into perspective. under armour is a sportswear brand. it also operates this website called myfitnesspal, which offers dieting and exercise

advice to people, helping them lose weight. it became aware that they had been hacked last week and that the breach took place in february. since then, it's been working with security firms to find out what's happened, how much information has been stolen and so on. it seems that the information includes e—mails, usernames and passwords. but the passwords are encrypted. it doesn't include credit card data, because that is kept on a separate system. how well encrypted are those passwords? they use a fairly good encryption system called becrypt. it means the passwords are hashed up. but it's not a total guarantee that they're safe. so if you have a weak password like abc1234, there are ways hackers can model that and work around the encryption. so weak passwords are vulnerable, but that is still better than having unencrypted or weakly encrypted passwords. but in terms of the precautions that under armour has taken

with its encryption, it's pretty good? it is reasonably good and they have brought in security companies to help them from this stage. they are now advising customers to change their passwords as quickly as possible and to put in a secure password, something that is relatively difficult to get around, so not anything like abc1234, and also to keep an eye out for any suspicious movement on their accounts. there's no evidence yet that any users have been disadvantaged or had money stolen? not so far, but the advice is to keep an eye on accounts just in case and not to respond to suspicious e—mails, not to click on links in unsolicited e—mails that ask for information and that kind of thing. the headlines on bbc news: thousands of crime suspects, some involving murder and rape, are being released without any conditions because new bail rules. russia summons ambassadors from western nations, and tells

london to cut its diplomatic contingent in moscow, following the salisbury nerve agent attack. nearly a0 labour mps and peers call onjeremy corbyn to suspend a senior official at the centre of the latest row about anti—semitism. back now to our top story, and russia has taken further diplomatic measures against britain in the escalating dispute over the poisoning of the former russian spy, sergei skripal. in the past few minutes, a foreign office spokesman has reiterated the government's view that "russia is in flagrant breach of international law". (pres) 0ur correspondent paul adams is in moscow. 0ur correspondent paul adams is in moscow. lots happening at both ends, let's catch up with your end, a busy day of the russian foreign ministry?

catch up with your end, a busy day of the russian foreign ministry7m certainly has been, there'sjust been a procession of ambassadors at the foreign ministry. as each one has come and gone, we have heard in the subsequent hours that indeed, one or two or three or in some cases for their diplomats have been told to leave. very much indeed in line with what we're expecting to see, matching diplomat for diplomat the expulsions that we saw earlier in the week, of russian diplomats. the one additionalfeature the week, of russian diplomats. the one additional feature has the week, of russian diplomats. the one additionalfeature has been recalling of the british ambassador to the foreign ministry, and this additional instruction that britain has to reduce the size of its automatic presence in russia to the equivalent of the russian presence in the uk. we're not quite sure what that means in practice. but that was described as a response to britain's provocative actions, which, according to the russians, had led to other countries following suit and expelling russian diplomats.

there was a thought that britain had to be singled out for additional punishment. at this end, the foreign 0ffice have been issuing their own views on this, a flagrant breach of international law, they talked about? very much a restatement of the british position, to take it back to its origins, it regards russia as having been responsible for the poisoning of —— sergei skripal and yulia skripal a few weeks ago. it is necessary to remind people where this whole episode began, rather than allowing moscow to such rate itself as the injured party who did not start any of this. —— to portray itself as the injured party. let's take a look at some of the afternoon's sport. and in cricket, jonny bairstow struck an unbeaten 97 as england's batsmen struggled on the first day of the second test against new zealand in christchurch. england were 94 for five after losing three wickets in nine balls before ba i rstow, aided by number nine batsman mark wood,

steadied the innings. the tourists finished the day on 290 for eight. adam wild reports. after cricket's week of sordid scandal, hagley park, a picture perfect place to rediscover the game's more beautiful side. a dismal performance in the first test, england, like the sport, need to recover. this though, not the way to go about it. alistair cook gone before things really got started. and whilst others did offer a little more, there remains a fragility that was all too readily exposed. england's top batsmen, once again falling in quick succession — root, malan and then stoneman. england 911—5. a painfully familiar collapse only provided a temporary halt when jonny bairstow sprung to the wicket, offering england a way to begin repairing the damage. 0thers though, seemingly intent on simply causing more. stuart broad, the seventh to go.

bairstow again, left to pick up the pieces. he passed 50 in fine fashion, supported by mark wood, who also reached his half—century. bairstow finished the day three short of three figures. a recovery of sorts, but after a difficult week, there remains a long way to go. adam wild, bbc news. tomorrow night, boxing heavyweight world champion anthonyjoshua is back in action, in one of the sport's biggest fights in recent memory. he faces the current wbo champion new zealand's joseph parker, in wales. 0ur sports correspondent david 0rnstein reports. cardiff, a city steeped in history, but more recently renowned for hosting major sporting events, and they don't come a lot bigger than this. anthonyjoshua versusjoseph parker, the first reigning heavyweight world champions to box on british soil. never before hasjoshua fought with so much at stake. if i make a mistake,

they're going to capitalise, so that's why i work hard and i want to improve, because i don't want to give them that chance. i'm not going to sit here and say, you know, it's not a possibility, but i'll make the possibility slim to none by training, focusing and being in the best shape physically and mentally. well, it's here, in front of a full house that both men will put their unbeaten records on the line — the winner walking away with three of the four recognised world titles. although a hero in his homeland of new zealand, parker is yet to compete on a stage of such magnitude, and victory would cause a huge upset. i can't wait to walk in front of 8,000 people and put on the best performance of my life. i'm prepared for 12 rounds but i know that if i clip him good in the right place, he's going down and, if he doesn't go down, i want to chase him — chase him until i get him out of there. joshua's rise has been spectacular.

now, though, the pressure is on. he carries the hopes of the nation, and will be desperate to deliver. david 0rnstein, bbc news, cardiff. the nobel peace prize winner malala yousafzai has been speaking to the bbc about her return to pakistan, for the first time since she was shot by taliban militants in 2012. malala, who is now 20, and a student at oxford university, was shot in the head because she was campaigning for girl's education. details of her trip to pakistan were kept secret, because of fears that she might be targeted again. however malala told the bbc that the vast majority of the country is behind her. this is not the whole of pakistan. this does not reflect... that image of pakistan, it is completely wrong. we should not make a conclusion by looking at what is on social media, what do we see on media or on television. 200 million people and i know 99%, more than that, stand with me in support.

they believe in education, they believe in their daughters, and i know so many parents who send their daughters to school because they have heard my story. so many parents have named their daughter in me. because they believe in their daughters. i think there is a change coming. anyone who is against me or wants to say something should just come and talk to me. the prince of wales has recorded an easter message in support of persecuted christians and other faiths around the world. in the video, prince charles describes how moved he's been while meeting christians who have had to flee from persecution. he also expresses sympathy for anyone being persecuted because of their faith. here's 0ur royal correspondent nick witchell. there's some flash photography in his report. he has a long—standing interest in interfaith dialogue and a particular concern about the persecution of christian communities in the middle east. in the past, prince charles has spoken out about the destruction

of christian churches in syria, iraq and elsewhere. and so, from the prince on this good friday, an easter message calling for greater understanding between the three abrahamic faiths — christianity, judaism and islam — and a sharp condemnation of those who use violence in the name of religion. all three abrahamic faiths have known and continue to know the bitterness of persecution, when religion has fallen into the barbaric grip of those who distort and misrepresent faith. so, this easter, i want to salute the fortitude of all those who, whatever their faith, are persecuted for remaining faithful to the true essence of their beliefs. one day, when he is britain's king, he knows his freedom to speak out will be curtailed.

until then, the prince feels an obligation to raise awareness about predominantly christian communities who are suffering because of their beliefs. nicholas witchell, bbc news. an unmanned chinese space station weighing more than eight tonnes is expected to crash back to earth this weekend. experts aren't sure exactly where or when tiangong—1 will come down but the good news is they say the chances of being hit are slim. a memorable day in space. this was astronaut wang yaping giving a lecture on life in space to millions of schoolchildren across china but now her a laboratory and classroom in the sky is heading down to earth. tiangong has been abandoned and engineers on the ground have lost contact with it. quite where it will come in is uncertain but its flight path means it can only be in this pink band around the equator.

the experts say no—one should be alarmed, however. my estimate is that the probability to be injured by one of these fragments is similar to the probability of being hit by lightning twice in the same year. there is a huge burst. as with previous returning spacecraft, the chances are that with earth mostly covered by ocean, any tiangong debris will hit water. and as for china, it's pressing on with its space ambitions. it's putting up more modules and hopes to have a bigger and more permanent manned space station built in a decade. jonathan amos, bbc news. it won't land in the uk, so don't worry! we had been watching the skies for something less traffic and we have mainly seen cloud. richie gray whether for —— pretty great weather

for most of us, but there is some sunshine to be found if you look ha rd sunshine to be found if you look hard enough. —— pretty dole weather. some snow on monday, generally cool but in between all of that, sunny spells. this afternoon, sunshine quite hard to find in the south—east where heavy rain will continue, heavy wintry showers in the north—east of scotland. the rain in the south will move further north, the south will move further north, the high ground of the north and north wales could see something wintry. skies clearing across northern scotland, chilly with a touch of frost here. most places above freezing, quite breezy. into tomorrow, it will feel more out there, keeping the breeze. a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain, the best chance of brightness in northern scotla nd chance of brightness in northern scotland and the far south later. after a mostly dry day on easter sunday, easter monday brings with it the risk of some snow. not for

everyone, still some uncertainty, my advice if you have travel plans particularly if distilled stay tuned to the forecast. —— is stay tuned to the forecast. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: tighter rules on police bail have led to thousands of suspects in violent and sexual offences being released without conditions — new regulations on pre—charge bail came into effect in england and wales last year. russia summons ambassadors from western nations and tells london to cut its diplomatic contingent in moscow, in the escalating row following the salisbury nerve agent attack. senior staff at some academy trusts have been accused of taking "unjustifiably" high salaries — mps say the academies in england are using public money that could be better spent on children's education. a group of labour mps has urged jeremy corbyn to suspend former disputes panel chair, christine shawcroft, from the party's national executive committee, as the row over anti—semitism continues. now on bbc news, 70 years

on from a murder at sea, new evidence shines light on the porthole mystery. this is bbc home service...