this is bbc news. the headlines at 6pm: russia summons western ambassadors. london is told to cut its diplomatic contingent in moscow, in the escalating row following the salisbury nerve agent attack. it's important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen — following the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the united kingdom, which has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. at least a dozen palestinians have been killed by israeli gunfire, as thousands mass on the border ahead of a major protest. a british soldier working in syria with american troops has been killed fighting the so—called islamic state group. new bail rules are leading to thousands of crime suspects — some involving murder and rape — being released without any conditions. and anthonyjoshua weighs in to take on new zealand'sjoseph parker in britain's first heavyweight unification fight. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. russia has told the uk it must further reduce its diplomatic contingent in the country within a month — the latest turn in an escalating row over the poisoning of a former spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia. moscow says the british mission in russia must be the same size as russia's mission in the uk. it has also ordered tit—for—tat expulsions of diplomats from western countries that acted in support of britain. the uk foreign office described moscow's latest move as "regrettable". helena lee reports. today, at the foreign ministry in russia, ambassadors were summoned over the salisbury spy fallout. they were told to reduce their diplomatic presence in the country, a further escalation of the ongoing tension. the uk has been ordered to send some

more of its staff home from russia, and both countries have already expelled 23 staff. it's important to bear in mind why this crisis has arrived in the first place, the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the united kingdom which has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. other countries have also been told today to send diplomats home from russia. among them, ukraine, germany, finland and spain. but the kremlin insists that russia remains open towards repairing friendly relations. earlier this week the us expelled 60 russian diplomats. in retaliation, russia kicked out the same number of us officials. earlier today in salisbury, the home secretary amber rudd attended an easter service at salisbury cathedral. she was there as a sign of solidarity with the city. the condition of yulia skripal, the daughter of the former russian spy, is now improving.

she's no longer in a critical condition and the bbc understands she is conscious and talking. herfather, sergei skripal, is still in a critical but stable condition. yulia is much younger than her father and the younger you are, whether you're poisoned or you have burns or you break bones, the more likely you are to make a quicker recovery. it's also quite possible she had a smaller dose than her father and the dose is very important. forensics tests have shown the highest concentration of the nerve agent was found on the front door of the former spy‘s home. how it got there is what detectives are still trying to work out. our correspondent paul adams is in moscow, where the russian foreign ministry is continuing its tit—for—tat expulsions of western diplomats that acted in support of britain. it's been a steady procession of ambassadors at the foreign ministry and, as each one has come and gone, we've heard

in the subsequent hours that, indeed, one or two or three or, in some cases, four diplomats have been told to leave, very much in line with what we were expecting to see, and pretty much matching diplomat for diplomat expulsions we saw earlier in the week, the expulsions of russian diplomats. one additionalfeature has been the recalling of the british ambassador to the foreign ministry, and this additional instruction that britain has to reduce the size of its diplomatic presence in russia to the equivalent of the russian presence in the uk. we are not quite sure what that means in practice, but it was described as a response to britain's provocative actions which, according to russia, had led to other countries following suit and expelling russian diplomats. so i think there is a sense that britain needed to be singled out for additional punishment. at least a dozen palestinians have

been killed in clashes near the israeli border in gaza, where thousands are demonstrating at the start of a six—week protest. palestinian officials say more than 350 people have been injured in the confrontations near the borderfence — some by israeli gunfire. less than 500 metres between us here on the israeli side of the fence and the palestinian side over there. we can see a lot of people amassing on that side. people have been coming here since this morning, but the numbers have increased following friday prayers. the israelis have deployed their forces along this area, and they've declared the area, the whole area is a closed military zone, which means that anyone in this area will be a target. the organisers of this march have maintained that they wanted it to be peaceful and non—violent. however, a number of confrontations have taken place. palestinian sources spoke

about the israelis using stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd. the israelis have repeatedly warned that anyone who comes closer that was our reporter from the bbc arabic service. the mod has confirmed that a member of the uk armed forces has been killed in syria. it said the individual was embedded with us forces in an operation against the islamic state group. joining me now is our correspondent helena lee. what more do we know? sunday tour from mod, who say that, with regret, they confirm the death of a member of the uk armed forces. they say the british serviceman was killed in syria by a roadside bomb. they also say, as you mentioned, that the

soldier was embedded with us forces at the time of an operation against so—called islamic state. they also say that he was likely, we understand he was likely to be killed with special forces. but the family has been informed, but they haven't yet released his name. thank you. 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. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, has said his party must do better in the fight against anti—semitism. in his passover message, he tried to reassure thejewish community that labour would "never be complacent" about the issue. 44 labour mps and peers have now urged mr 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 backing the reinstatement of a council candidate accused of holocaust denial. a teachers' union is claiming ofsted chief inspector

amanda spielman risks splitting communities after backing headteachers who want to ban the hijab. speaking at the national education union's annual conference in brighton, general secretary kevin courtney said she over—stepped her remit when she backed an east london head who tried to stop pupils wearing the muslim headscarf. our education correspondent marc ashdown is in brighton. this row started very small. it was a single primary school in east london, st stephens, where the headteacher at the start of the year, for her own reasons, decided she wanted to ban young girls from wearing the hijab, the headscarf that muslim girls usually wear when they reach puberty, for cultural and religious reasons. that prompted a backlash from some parents, some factions of the community, and eventually in the face of a fierce campaign she backed down and overturned the ban. then the chief

inspector of schools, amanda spielman, and, in a majorspeech, warned of the dangers of those who use religion to actively pervert religion. she said it should be up to every school if they want to impose such a ban. she criticised this campaign of abuse and called on all leaders to use muscular liberalism to defend themselves. the national education union has been asked to debate a notion which says that ofsted has gone beyond its remit, criticising these comments, saying there is no evidence particular clothing have an impact on learning or retention but they say the comments have ramifications beyond the school gates and must be seenin beyond the school gates and must be seen in the context of increased attacks on muslims in the community and particular stereotypes about muslim women and girls. they will be asked to debate this over the weekend and it could lead to them being in serious odds with ofsted we have spoken to the general secretary of the union and here is what he had to say. i think there are two

concerns, ofsted is really getting outside the area it should be looking at, standards, and the second is that amanda spielman is suggesting she knows why muslim girls wear the headscarf, and she suggests it is because they are being sexualised, and i think for the vast majority of muslim girls, they wear it because their sister or their mother wears it, it is an article of their religious faith, and we want to live together in this world, which means respecting one another‘s religious faiths. kevin courtney from the national education union finishing that. and in a separate development a report by mps has accused some academy school trusts in england of using taxpayers' money to pay "excessive" salaries to senior staff. the public accounts committee says the schools need to be more transparent with their finances. more than two million pupils are educated in nearly 6,000 academies. the government says they operate under a strict system of financial accountability. an imam has been charged with assaulting two boys at a mosque in rochdale. our correspondent fiona trott is following the story for us. greater manchester police have told

us that 51—year—old abdul rauf from rochdale has been charged with two assaults against boys aged ten and i2. they are section a7, relating to actual bodily harm. he has also been charged with 19 other assaults against other children. it's understood that these incidents happened at the mosque on crawford street in rochdale over the past year. abdul rauf is due to appear at manchester crown court next month. in the meantime, police are asking anybody with information to come forward. parts of stansted airport have been evacuated after a fire broke out on a car park shuttle bus. fire crews in attendance say the bus is positioned outside the main terminal entrance. passengers have been told to evacuate the airport forecourt, including parts of the terminal building. the airport says it's investigating the cause of the fire. 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 girls' 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 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, television. 200 million people and i know 99%, more than that, stand with me in support. they believe in education, their daughters, and i know so many parents who have sent their daughters to school because they have heard my story. so many parents have named their daughters after me. believing 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 headlines on bbc news: russia summons western ambassadors. london is told to cut its diplomatic contingent in moscow, in the escalating row following the salisbury nerve agent attack. at least 12 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and hundreds wounded during clashes along the border with israel. a british soldier working in syria with american troops has been killed fighting the so—called islamic state group. and in sport, anthonyjoshua cuts a lean figure as he weighs in for britain's first heavyweight unification fight. the ibf and wba world champion will be nearly a stone lighter than his last title defence when he takes onjoseph parker in cardiff tomorrow night. jonny bairstow helps england recover from another very poor start in the second and final test against new zealand. he is on the verge of a half—century. england will begin the second day in christchurch 290—8. and hull fc win rugby league's hull derby, despite having a player sent off for most of the match.

i'll be back with more on those stories later. a 90—year—old woman has died after being struck by a bin lorry in edinburgh. the pensioner was hit at approximately 11.30 this morning and was pronounced dead at the scene. an investigation has been launched into the cause of the collision. 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. the comedy actor bill maynard has died at the age of 89 his family has confirmed. he first made his name in the itv comedy oh no,

it's selwyn froggatt in the 1970s before starring in the popular drama heartbeat in the 1990s. there are more than 115,000 deaf children living in the uk, but how important is it for them to be able to use sign language? the recent oscar—winning film the silent child tells the story of a girl whose life is transformed after being taught to sign. the film is being shown tonight on bbc one. but over the years there's been debate over whether learning to sign at an early age can hold a deaf child back from developing speech. sima kotecha reports. this school is different from most. all of its children are profoundly deaf, and all of its children use british sign language to communicate. why is sign language so important? because i signed language before i used to hear, so i heard some words and it linked my sign language, so i matched, and i can communicate with my friends and teachers.

there are just a few schools in the country that have only deaf pupils. some of the children wear cochlear implants. there's been debate over whether early use of sign language can hold deaf children back from learning to speak. here, they believe that's not the case. we were told that sign language wasn't important and, if we did start to try and sign, it would delay speech. we went against that because it was only implanted at 16 months, so we'd already missed out on 16 months of spoken language, so we were signing with him from a very early age, and he's now coming up to five and he's bilingual because of that, and he's very confident to sign and to speak. many deaf children don't solely depend on sign language. at this deaf unit in a primary school, they are bilingual and can write and speak english too. sign language is very

important to communicate. the oscar—winning film the silent child has raised awareness about the issues facing deaf children and the important role that sign language can play in their lives. its creators recently visited some schools here in the midlands. this is heavy and i love it. it shone a huge, much—needed light on this subject. it's raised the profile of deafness in general, which largely isn't talked about, and we just feel incredibly proud and, hopefully, we can continue doing that. some deaf people argue society must learn that sign language is not their only option when young and that they, too, can learn to speakjust like those who can hear. sima kotecha, bbc news. you can see that film on bbc one at

7:40pm. this sunday, april 1st, is the deadline for the government to put new plans in place for supporting children with complex needs in england, and the minister responsible has told this programme it is on target. but we've learnt that a third of councils have told the government they can't afford to pay and there are serious concerns about funding. jayne mccubbin reports. every parent in this room has a child with additional needs. every parent here believes those needs are not being met. you've just had to fight and fight? i've had to fight and fight and fight and fight, and keep on fighting. many parents say without the right support, their child has been excluded from school. on numerous occasions, to the point where i couldn't maintain myjob. you've lost your job. yes. you've lost your home. yes. because you believe your son wasn't getting the right support. completely, completely. and there are parents here who say they have paid a heavier price still. just ultimately exhausted from years of caring for a child without adequate support, really.

i was completely... you had a breakdown. i had a complete breakdown, yeah. absolutely, there's no other word for it. i was completely... yeah, i was suicidal. but the system which will be in place come 1st april was designed to be so much better — easierfor parents, more support for children. yet every parent is here in hackney today for legal advice because of problems with the new education, health and care plans. how is it shaping up for 1st april? there's real concern that local authorities are simply not going to meet the deadline of 1st april to transfer children from the old system to the new system. and even where children have been transferred across to the new plans, there's a massive concern about quality. and some of the plans have been very rushed, and are really no improvement at all. the special needs statement, these proposed cuts directly affect me... there have been protests in hackney because of 5% cuts to send budgets, with a real risk of more to come.

parents say they are fighting for their children's rights. and it's a fight with you guys? well, i'd like to say it's a fight that we want to work with parents, work with the children on, to take on the government. hackney council has seen a 34% increase in the number of children requiring statements, and yet funding is still frozen at levels going back to 2011. thatjust can't be right. now the department of education has told us that almost a third of local authorities in england have written to them to say they will not be able to pay for their send children under a new funding system which comes into force in april. i have pledged to you that i will continue to look at the statistics, to understand why a handful of local authorities are having problems — the minority. a third of local authorities telling you they cannot meet their obligations is a significant sum. it might not be a majority, but it is a significant sum. the majority of councils are coping.

we're out there investing. we're not cutting. we're investing £6 billion by 2018—19 in special education needs and disabilities. there is more money, but there is far, far more demand. hackney is just one of many organisations which have written to the government to say this is a crisis. jayne mccubbin reporting. 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 our 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, as our science correspondent jonathan amos reports. 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, its 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. now i look at the weather. we saw some contrasts for good friday. southern areas were a wash—out in places, with very soggy conditions. this was bromley in greater london. further north, you

had a chance of staying dry, with decent spells of sunshine for the midlands northwards. for the weekend, very mixed, with rain at times and even some snow, which could cause some problems. there will still be some brightness and dry interludes. that rain band across the south will continue to migrate northwards this evening and overnight, bringing wet weather to a good portion of wales, the midlands, northern england and eastern scotland, with further snow on the high ground. for north—western scotland, northern ireland and the south coast of england, we should see some drier weather by the end of the night. that day stays wet and cloudy much of england, wales and eastern scotland, with outbreaks of rain and hill snow, tending to ease down by the end of the afternoon. there could be some mist and burke and foggy conditions. mainly dry and bright for the north and west of scotla nd bright for the north and west of scotland and northern ireland. the satellite picture for easter sunday

shows that we are in a window of fine weather between weather systems, so that looks like being the best day of the easter holiday. it will start chilly, with some frost, a bit of sunshine and some cloud building up through the day. most cloud building up through the day. m ost pla ces cloud building up through the day. most places staying dry, apart from snow showers in northern scotland, and then the next area of wet and windy weather coming into the south—west. feeling cool. this next weather system will give us some issues, not just with weather system will give us some issues, notjust with heavy rain but the risk of snow. as this pushes into the cold air mass lying across the country, we start getting increasing amounts of smoke across england, wales and parts of northern ireland and southern scotland. even in low levels at times, so this could cause travel disruption. further south, milder could cause travel disruption. furthersouth, milderair could cause travel disruption. further south, milder air coming could cause travel disruption. furthersouth, milderair coming in, so furthersouth, milderair coming in, so it will be mainly rain. for the northern half of scotland, this is where we should seek the best conditions for easter monday. with

snow in prospect, easter monday could be problematic. if you are heading out on the roads and have travel plans, stay tuned to the forecast. russia tells britain and other western countries it is expelling more diplomats after the salisbury poisoning row. summoned to the foreign ministry in moscow a string of staff from across europe were ordered to leave russia. gunfire at least 13 palestinians killed after a mass protest on the border between gaza and israel. making the numbers add up, should teachers ask pa rents to numbers add up, should teachers ask parents to pay to help school budgets? and i is on the prize, anthonyjoshua budgets? and i is on the prize, anthony joshua and budgets? and i is on the prize, anthonyjoshua and joseph parker weighing in for the big fight tomorrow. good evening. in a day of

tit—for—tat diplomatic expulsions after the salisbury nerve agent attack russia has toured britain and has to cut the number of staff there to the number russia has in the uk. ina to the number russia has in the uk. in a series of core donated moves, moscow expelled stuff from countries including croatia and norway. the foreign office described the demand is regrettable that said it did not detract from what it called russia's fragrant breach of international law. from moscow, this report. it was quite a sight. a stream of ambassadors summoned to russia's foreign ministry. they came from more than 20 countries to cure their punishment. each one had backed britain and accused them of the nerve agent attack in salisbury. moscow still has questions to answer over the poisoning, said one

ambassador, although his country is 110w ambassador, although his country is now losing four diplomats, over 100 willjoin a mass exodus from moscow. there have been extraordinary scenes that order is one by one ambassador ‘s have been poured into the foreign ministry. the timing and choreography of this sin to send a message that russia will hit back at any message that russia will hit back at a ny m oves message that russia will hit back at any moves made against it by western governments. the british ambassador was summoned once more, ordered to cut his stuff further. it's important to remember why this was donein important to remember why this was done in the first place, the use of a chemical weapon in the uk which has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. 23 british diplomats have already left the embassy. now the uk needs to match its total diplomatic presence here to the russian headcount in the uk. the move is a sign that putin is determined not to give in and

pressure. expulsions look so easy. you don't have to pay a high price, but it is not the case. i'm afraid that the whole fabric of the relationship, if that gets thinner and thinner, we have a real problem. that problem is already here. western countries seem determined to show rush it has crossed the line but the kremlin still calls the accusations against it outrageous. and it warns that further sanctions could follow. today russia insists that it did not start this crisis and said it is being forced to retaliate against what it calls and friendly moves by the uk and its allies. the kremlin spokesman said that mr putin wants good relations and is open to dialogue butjudging by today's expulsion, particularly extra moves against uk it seems that mr putin is pushing collapsed

dialogue on his terms. thank you, sarah. killed by israeli security forces along the israel—gaza border. thousands of palestinians joined a mass protest called by hamas, which controls gaza, and other palestinian groups. israel's military doubled its usual deployment of troops in the area just ahead of the jewish passover holiday, and said it would act to stop any breach of its borderfence. yolande knell is injerusalem. this has been one of the largest palestinian demonstrations on the israel gaza border in recent years, and an israeli military official told me around 30,000 people took part. there were some family entertainment in encampments that we re entertainment in encampments that were set but as the day went on many palestinians approached gaza's perimeter fence where there were

israeli forces. a chaotic rush to the hospital, with hundreds of palestinians injured in gaza. a call for peaceful marches turned to violence, as protesters headed towards the israeli border. israel's military says it used tear gas and opened fire to stop anyone illegally crossing into its territory or attacking soldiers. and this was just the start. palestinians are planning a series of protests until mid—may. that will be 70 years on from the creation of the state of israel. palestinians see it as their catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes, and many here have never given up their claim to the land. translation: we are here to stress our right to return. sooner or later, we must go back. translation: we want to tell the world that returning to our land is non—negotiable. but israel says gaza's leaders are cynically exploiting ordinary people to stir up unrest.

translation: hamas and other palestinian groups are calling their protest "the march of return", however, as events unfold, it's the march of chaos. these are aggressive riots. gazan families are now being urged to stay at protest camps along the israeli border, and that will ensure that tensions here remain high in the weeks ahead. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. parents are increasingly being asked to contribute towards classroom basics such as textbooks, says the leader of the largest teachers' union. ahead of their annual conference in brighton, kevin courtney of the national education union said that despite more than £1 billion of extra funding being allocated to schools in england, rising costs meant they still faced tough choices. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. they're not the only ones counting carefully...

the budget is tight at this primary school. it's in west sussex, an area of low funding. we need to make sure it's the same amount in each quarter... parents paid for the rug in this classroom, part of a wish list set up online by one mum. that was a big shock to myself, when i came to the school and asked them to provide items that they really needed, and they were asking me to put on hand towels, tissues, toilet roll, glue sticks, pencils, exercise books. they have to raise the funds somehow to provide all the children in the next school year with exercise books, and the money's not necessarily there. the online portal has raised £5,000 in a month, notjust from parents but from the local community too. schools can only ask parents for voluntary contributions. it's meant to be for little extras, but with budgets increasingly under pressure from rising costs,

parents are finding themselves forking out for the basics. what's another question, max? some extra money is going to schools. more than £1 billion across england, a bigger share for west sussex, but the big cost is staff. teachers are asking for a 5% pay increase. the head here says it all feels too uncertain. my concern is that we're going to end up with a real yo—yo system, where there'll be the teacher cuts, they'll be the redundancies, they'll be the school closures, and then all of a sudden, then more money will be put back into education, butjust too late. so then what do we do? so we've share them into quarters, what we now need to do? not enough teachers are training, too many are leaving. teachers' unions say a pay rise would help. they want the government, not schools, to find more money. and we can talk to branwen in brighton now.

branwen, pay not the only issue being discussed today? and mata'afa thrown out, and reeta. already pretty lively here with teachers gathering and something of a row has broken out between the teaching union and the chief inspector of schools. —— yes, far from it, reeta. in east london teacher wanted to ban the hijab but today kevin courtney the general secretary of the teaching union said it was politicising a debate, that she had overstepped the mark. tomorrow the teachers will be debating a motion in which they call for her to reconsider, bearing in mind the abuse that some muslim women and girls get for what they we re women and girls get for what they were and how they dress, and they say schools should be allowed to make their own uniform policies once they have consulted with the community. but ofsted says the

union's remarks are deeply disappointing and that it is right to back head teachers if they are making difficult decisions in the interests of pupils, particularly when their welfare is concerned and when their welfare is concerned and when community cohesion is at stake. branwen, many thanks. the ministry of defence has confirmed that a member of the uk armed forces has been killed in syria. it said the individual was embedded with us forces in an operation against the islamic state group. there's been a big fall in the use of bail following the introduction of a 28—day time limit last year. it's thought the number of people released from custody with bail conditions attached has fallen by about two thirds. a bbc freedom of information request responded to by 12 forces found over 3000 suspects released without bail conditions between april and june last year — the figure included 31 murder suspects and 768 people suspected of rape. in a message to mark thejewish festival of passover,

jeremy corbyn has said labour must "do better" at dealing with anti—semitism, and he said he's committed to ensuring the party is "a welcoming and secure place forjewish people." it comes as 44 labour mps and peers called on mr corbyn to suspend a senior official from the party's ruling body — over her handling of a complaint about anti—semitism. malala yousafzai, the youngest ever winner of the nobel peace prize, has told the bbc she hopes one day to move back to pakistan. she's currently on her first trip back there, after she was nearly killed by the pakistani taliban in 2012 for campaigning for girls' education. at she was brought to britain for treatment and has been living here ever since. she spoke to our pakistan correspondent secunder kermani in the capital, islamabad. this was the last time malala was in pakistan — fighting for her life after being shot by militants.

after nearly six years, she's now back and says she still can't believe it. it is emotional. each and every thing i see, it is valuable to me. even just this warm air, i value it, and i'm enjoying it and i am just so happy to be home and to put my feet on this land again. malala, though, has her critics in pakistan. many on social media accuse her of being a western agent. how does it feel when you read those kind of comments? firstly, i just want to understand, who, why do they oppose me and what is the reason behind it? i want a better future for this country, that's why i started speaking out for girls education. a that's why i did not fear anything and i said, even if the terrorists attack me, it does not matter, i will continue speaking out.

and it did happen and i continued my campaign for girls' education. so my focus is only working for the good. it's 200 million people and i know that 99%, more than 99% stand with me, support me, they believe in education, they believe in their daughters. yesterday, malala spoke at an event attended by the pakistani prime minister. but she says she doesn't have political ambitions herself. so when i was 11 or 12 and when there was extremism happening in swat valley, at that time i thought by becoming prime minister i can solve every problem and i will eradicate all these extremists and everything would be fixed. but i think now i have met many leaders and politicians and prime ministers, and it seems it's not that simple. i think my focus right now is continuing my world malala fund and making sure we reach out to as many girls as we can and there are 130 million girls who cannot go to school right now — to ensure that they can get quality education. i have no intention right now of politics. that was malala yousafzai speaking to secunder kermani.

the prince of wales has recorded an easter message in support of persecuted christians and members of other faiths around the world. he called for greater understanding between judaism, islam and christianity, and criticised anyone of any faith who resorts to violence and persecution of others because of their beliefs. scientists say it's the technology that could revolutionise computing. it's called quantum computing, and for years companies have been vying to build a fully operational quantum computer, which could process information much faster than today's most powerful supercomputers. now scientists at microsoft say they're on the verge of a major breakthrough. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones reports. copenhagen, and it's pretty cold outside, but inside a university lab, there's a place that's even colder. if you look right up

here on this gauge, you'll see that the inside of that refrigerator is sitting at three hundredths of a degree above absolute zero. that's100 times colder than deep space. this may be the coldest place in the universe. and this is why. embedded in this chip is a qubit, the building block for the computer of the future, which will only work under these extreme conditions. microsoft is working with scientists here and around the world to build a quantum computer. they're confident they're about to make a major breakthrough. if they succeed, there's a huge prize. quantum really represents a giant leap forward from today's technology. we can begin to solve problems that would take us today more than a lifetime of the universe to solve, in seconds, hours or days. so how does a quantum computer work? drill down into a conventional computer and you'll find the bit, the basic unit of information, which is either a zero or a one. think of it as a switch which is either on or off. but at the heart of a quantum computer is the qubit and the magic

here is it can be both one and zero at the same time. the switch can be both on and off. this supercharges any computer programme, making impossible problems easy to solve. we could find answers to climate change, make rapid progress in artificial intelligence and break encryption — secure codes would be simple to crack. first, though, there are huge challenges in creating qubits stable enough to be useful in a commercial quantum computer. microsoft thinks it's got a unique way of doing that. by making a better qubit to begin with, you'll need fewer of them to build the full quantum processor. but there's stiff competition. google, ibm and scientists in labs like this one in london are all making breakthroughs, and so far they've made faster progress. so microsoft is starting further behind, they're still trying to demonstrate a single qubit, but their approach is unique. its qubits may be much better

protected against errors, so if they get their one qubit to work, they could leapfrog these other approaches quite quickly. back in copenhagen, they're confident they're on the verge of a breakthrough which will lead to a commercial quantum computer within five years. if that's true, and it's a big if, the world will change in all sorts of ways. rory cellan—jones, bbc news, copenhagen. cricket, and jonny bairstow struck an unbeaten 97, retrieving a patchy performance by england on the first day of the second test against new zealand in christchurch. england were 94—5 after losing three wickets in nine balls before bairstow — aided by no.9 batsman mark wood — steadied the innings. the tourists finished the day on 290—8. 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, joseph parker from new zealand, in wales. our sports correspondent david ornstein 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... because anthonyjoshua is the biggest show in town. he's the man they've all come to see, the hopes of a nation on his shoulders. face—to—face withjoseph parker for the final time before they become the first reigning heavyweight world champions to box on british soil. two unbeaten records on the line, three world title belts up for grabs. 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, do you know what i mean? so i'm not going to sit here and say it's not a possibility, but i make the possibility,

you know, slim to none by training, focusing and being in the best shape physically and mentally. 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 80,000 people and put on the best performance of my life. i'll prepare for 12 rounds, but i know that if i clip him well, clip him good in the right place, he's going down. and if he doesn't go down, i'm going to chase him. chase him until i get him out of there. joshua's rise has been spectacular. now, though, the pressure is on and he'll be desperate to deliver. and this is where he will hope to do so, in what is expected to be a full house in almost 24—hour time. if joshuais house in almost 24—hour time. if joshua is to continue his journey towards sporting greatness, he knows

he simply has to win. david, thank you. there's more throughout the evening on the bbc news channel, we are back with the late news at ten — now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. sir antony sher‘s portrayal of king lear for the royal shakespeare company was acclaimed as a crowning achievement in a major career. the role is so demanding it is often described as the everest of acting, and in his new book he captures every step of the journey. in year of the mad king: the lear diaries, he charts the months involved in researching, rehearsing and performing one of shakespeare's most challenging parts and the obstacles he encountered along the way. sir antony sher, you have played many of the greatest roles in

shakespeare, from richard iii to shylock and now king lear, and you have also written fiction and non—fiction and plays, so what do you see yourself as, an actor or a writer? well, i quite like the fact that i do both, and in fact i'm an artist as well, i paint and draw. a lot of the illustrations are in the books. it's sort of because i have quite a restless personality and i'm a workaholic. so just one of those things wouldn't be quite enough to feed my habit. it's good to be able to keep going between the three. does the writing and painting and acting, do they complement each other? yes, well, the drawing and

sketching, i do when i'm developing a character to try and work out how they might look or even how they might feel. and the writing, well, in the theatre journals, it is a diary adapted from my diary, and ifind doing a diary every day very cathartic. you offload all the stuff that might be troubling you or indeed exciting you about the work, so they do weave into one another. so here you are, keeping this diary as you embark on what you yourself say is one of the most challenging roles you have ever played. for people who don't know king lear that well, why is it such a difficult part? because it has a kind of epic quality. it's no accident that

at the centre of shakespeare's's play there is this almighty storm. and you find lear shouting at the storm. he's arguing with a storm. and that's the kind of size of the part, you sometimes feel that as an ordinary human being you are not enough for the part, that the part requires a force of nature. it requires you to be a storm yourself. particularly in the first half of the play because he has these huge scenes with huge rages, one after the other. enormous power and force coming off him. later in the play it becomes gentler and quieter, which is

much easier to do. you do write in the book about your fear of failure, your inability to scale this mountain that is this role, and some people might be surprised by that, given your vast experience but that was how you feel? every time you come to one of the great shakespeare roles you risk failure, but you also have this incredibly challenging, exciting and frightening task of, can you match the genius of shakespeare's writing? because he creates these astonishing characters. and will you be able to interpret them in a meaningful way? the production is directed by the artistic director of the rsc, greg doran, who is also your partner and the man

you marry in the course of the book. i was struck by how much input you had into things like the casting, the design, the cuts that were going to be made to the text, andi wondered, is that normal or do you have special privileges because you are in a relationship with the director? well, i think any leading actor would be invited by the director to comment on some of the things that are going into making up the particularly in the way the design... because, you know, if you were a director you wouldn't want your leading actor to discover on the first day of rehearsals that they are playing it in modern dress when they thought they might be in period costume. you mentioned casting, i wouldn't

have much to do with that at all, although he might say to me, what do you think of so and so for a certain part. and i would probably say, great, let's try and get that person. you reflect on parallels with your life and the lives of lear, and the first issue with your health at times, with your bad shoulder, how useful were those real—life experiences in preparation for the role? at the time they didn't feel useful, they ialso had... two members of my family passed away and some other people that i knew well passed away. it felt quite strange because running through the play king lear

is to paraphrase lear, the smell of mortality, a sense of the fragility of life and human life, that's a terribly strong theme in the play. and here i was rehearsing the part and acting those things but also experiencing them in real life. so it was a curious, strange time. it was often a bit painful and difficult but thank goodness it worked out in the end. you do mention a couple of times in the book the possibility of stopping acting. are you just toying with that idea or is this a serious possibility? apart from anything else, i've spent my career as a classical actor mainly, mainly as a shakespeare actor, and i've run out of parts. because he wrote three

great parts for older actors, prospero, falstaff and lear, and i've done the three of them now. i'm not quite sure where i go next. female roles perhaps? because in the book you talk about approaching adrian noble who ran the rsc in the 90s about playing cleopatra. maybe this idea was ahead of its time! with gender casting being something that is now up for discussion, yes, but unfortunately i'm a little too old for cleopatra now! i might stand a better chance of getting it now than i did at the time when adrian noble simply said, if i gave you cleopatra every

leading actress in this country would lynch me. so things are a bit different now. exactly, how times have changed. so if you are toying with giving up acting, would you ever give up writing? no, i mean, that's what... the writing and painting is what i would do if acting did come to an end. let's hope it doesn't. sir antony sher, it has been lovely to talk to you, many thanks. thank you. this is bbc news, the headlines at

seven, i'm martine croxall. russia tells britain and other western countries it is expelling more diplomats after the salisbury poisoning row. at least 12 palestinians are killed after a mass protest on the border between gaza and israel. a british soldier working in syria with american troops has been killed fighting so—called islamic state. new bail rules are leading to thousands of crime suspects, some involving murder and rape, being released without any conditions. also in the next hour and a new form of supercomputer. scientists say quantum computing could open up amazing new possibilities. quantum computing could open up amazing new possibilitiesm quantum computing could open up amazing new possibilities. it can begin to solve problems that would ta ke begin to solve problems that would take is today more than a lifetime of the universe to solve, in