around the further north you are. she did welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: more tears as australian cricket hits rock bottom. former vice—captain david warner apologises for his role in the ball—tampering scandal and admits he might never play for the team again. ta ke full take full responsibility for my part in what happened, and i am deeply sorry for the consequences of what i was involved in. 16 palestinians are reported killed and hundreds injured after israeli forces clash with protesters on the gaza border. russia expels diplomats from 23 countries — as the spy row continues to stoke east—west tensions. a bus fire brings one of britain's busiest airports to a standstill. officials say the blaze at stansted was accidental. hello and welcome to the programme.

the former vice—captain of the australian cricket team has appeared in front of the media and apologised, saying he takes full responsibility for his role in the ball—tampering scandal. david warner said he let his country down and made a "bad decision" in the last test match against south africa. and he admitted he might never play for the team again. i do realise that i am responsible for my own actions and the consequences that that brings. it is heartbreaking to know that i'll not be taking the field with my teammates i love and respect and that i have let down. right now, it is hard to know what comes next but first and foremost... ..is the well—being of my family.

in the back of my mind, i suppose there is a tiny ray of hope... ..that i may one day be given the privilege of playing for my country again but i'm resigned to the fact that that may never happen. but in the coming weeks and months, i am going to look at how this has happened and who i am as a man. the bbc‘s phil mercer has more. i think the enormity of what took place during the third test against south africa in cape town has well and truly dawned on all three of the australian players involved. we saw tears from steve smith,

the former captain. we saw a heartfelt apology from cameron bancroft and now david warner, clinging to that tiny ray of hope that one day he may play for his country again. all in tears, all expressing remorse and this just gives you an indication as to how seriously australia as a nation is viewing this ball—tampering scandal. this is a cheating scandal, the biggest crisis in australian sport for very many years. it may well be the end of the road for david warner and for quite a long time he has embodied a very aggressive, a very confrontational approach to cricket. the big question now is what does australian cricket do to try to move on from this scandal. speaking up for the sceptics slightly here, he didn't answer any questions about whether they was anyone else in the team involved. as david warner, the sole architect of the ball—tampering scandal has been suggested, he wouldn't say. what we do know is that cricket australia, the governing

body, has banned david warner, the former vice captain, steve smith, the former captain, for 12 months. cameron bancroft has been banished for nine months. there are former players here in australia and elsewhere who believe this trio has been treated very unfairly because there is a suggestion that ball tampering is pretty common in cricket and it does seem in some quarters here that this threesome has been punished unfairly. i get the sense here in australia that the vast majority of fans feel very let down by what has happened and there will be many fans who believe that the punishments handed out to bancroft, warner and smith are appropriate. just briefly, we have viewers around the world who don't quite understand what the big deal is with ball tampering in cricket. just explain why this is so serious. what we understand is that cameron bancroft had a strip

of sandpaper, apparently to rough up one side of the ball. the purpose of that, we understand, is to change the trajectory of the ball. when it leaves the hand of the bowler, it can be travelling in excess of 140 kilometres per hour. if you tamper with one side of the ball, it makes the flight very unpredictable, making the batsman‘sjob even harder. the secretary—general of the united nations, antonio guterres, has called for an independent investigation into the death of at least 16 palestinians demonstrators during friday's clashes with israeli soldiers along the border with gaza. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas says israel was responsible for the deaths of the protestors. the israeli army said the protesters had been throwing stones and fire

bombs at its soldiers. yolande knell reports from jerusalem. 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. 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. russia has told britain it must further reduce the number of diplomatic staff it has in the country. the move is the latest development in the escalating row over the poisoning of a former russian spy in the uk. the kremlin has also expelled diplomats from 22 other countries including the us, germany and spain. sarah rainsford reports from moscow. it was quite a sight. a stream of ambassadors summoned to russia's foreign ministry. they came from more than 20 countries to hear their punishment. each one had backed britain and accused russia of the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the german ambassador emerged to say

moscow still has questions to answer over the poisoning. but his country is now losing four diplomats here. in total, well over 100 willjoin a mass exodus from moscow. there have been extraordinary scenes here all day, as, one by one, ambassadors have been called in to the foreign ministry. the timing of this, the choreography, seemed meant to send a message — that russia will hit back at any moves made against it by western governments. and today moscow decided to escalate. the british ambassador was summoned again, ordered to cut his staff even further. it's important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place. it is the use of chemical weapons on the streets of the united kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country. 23 british diplomats have already left this embassy. now the uk has the match its total

diplomatic presence here to the russian headcount in the uk. this move is a clear sign that vladimir putin is determined not to give in under pressure. expulsions look so easy, you don't have to pay a high price on either side for expulsions, but it is not the case. i'm afraid if the whole fabric of the relationship gets thinner and thinner, we have a real problem. but that problem is already here. western countries seem determined to show russia it has crossed the line, but the kremlin still calls the accusations against it outrageous and warns that further sanctions could follow. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. a british serviceman and an american soldier, who were part of a coalition fighting islamic state, have been killed in an explosion in northern syria. officials said the family of the british soldier had been told. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, has more details. well, a short statement

from the mod saying, with regret, we must confirm a member of the uk armed forces was killed by a roadside bomb in syria yesterday while at soldier was embedded with us forces. in a separate statement, the pentagon has confirmed that two coalition personnel were killed by a roadside bomb near the northern town of manbij, one of them we now know american, one of them british. this is significant because it is the first british soldier to be killed in combat in the fight against is. we know that british troops are on the ground training iraqi forces, that they have visited syria from time to time, but the government never confirmed that british soldiers are involved in the fight. of course, the modi has a long—standing policy of never commenting on the activities of uk special forces, but we understand this was a member of uk special forces. the incident is under investigation, a reminder that the fight against is is not over. an independent autopsy on the body of a young black

american, stephon clark — who was shot dead by police — has found that seven of his eight gunshot wounds were in the back or the side. a lawyer for his family said this contradicted the police's version of events, as lebo diseko reports. remembering stephon clark, a community demanding justice for the 22—year—old father of two, killed by police gunfire. as they gathered for his funeral, mourners demanding a nswe i’s. it is just happening over and over and over again. and it has to stop. he wasjust in his grandmother's backyard. and i feel that people should not be scared of being in their backyard. there is definitely something wrong with the concept of a black man in the eyes of the police. it appears that we are a threat. these are the moments just before

stephon clark was shot dead. it was filmed by police, who say that they were responding to reports of break—ins in the area. moments later, he was shot dead in his grandmother's backyard. police said at the time that 20 shots were fired. police officers also said he appeared to be carrying a gun. but no weapon was found in him, just a cellphone. and they said that he was coming towards them. but an independent autopsy has given a different finding. he was shot in the back six times. the seventh gunshot wound was slightly to the side of his body. it takes the brain about 3—5 minutes, or 3— ten minutes to suffer irreversible damage.

so it was not instantaneous. this is unlikely to ease the anger in the community. police say they cannot comment while an investigation is being carried out. but stephon clark's families as the autopsy shows he did not pose a threat. instead, their lawyer says it is another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances. lebo diseko, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: scientists in denmark make a quantum leap in the race to build the world's fastest super—computer. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worse, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become

the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs or restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. a hundred years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the former vice—captain of the australian cricket team, david warner, has said he takes "full responsibility" for his role in the ball—tampering scandal — and admitted he might never play for the team again.

16 palestinians have been reported killed and hundreds injured after israeli forces clashed with protesters on the gaza border. all flights from stansted airport have been cancelled after a shuttle bus caught fire just outside the terminal building. passengers were asked to leave the airport and re—book with their airline. the fire caused smoke damage to the front of the terminal, but no one was hurt. thomas magill reports. a shuttle bus outside stansted airport carrying passengers and in flames. nobody was hurt but part of the terminal was evacuated after being damaged by the fire. all flights this evening have been cancelled, a devastating start to the holidays for many. i was due to fly to shannon this evening. i, like many others, hundreds, well into the thousands here, at least 1000 people, i would say, in departures area here in stansted,

who on this good friday are completely stranded indeed. the misery was felt by thousands. some abandoning cars and leaving the airport with nowhere to go. the bus was completely destroyed by the blaze, officials saying it was caused by an electrical fault. tonight, passengers are being told to go home and rebook their flights with their airlines. final preparations are underway for sierra leone's presidential runoff election on saturday. it was delayed by high court action over claims of fraud in the first round. voters will be choosing between the opposition candidate, julius maada bio, who narrowly won the first round and governing party candidate samura kamara. from freetown, umaru fofana reports. amid the tension that has followed the announcement of the first round

result, the police have been working overtime. these men and women are preparing to deploy ahead of tomorrow's vote, and soldiers have been called in to back them up. for sierra leone, to give support to the police, to add value to the security, to further prevent and to reassure oui’ security, to further prevent and to reassure our people in the electorate and everybody in sierra leone, of maximum security. but the military, they are working with the police under the command and control of the police. the electoral commission is also racing against time. this run—off vote has had to be postponed by four days following a court injunction has halted preparations. but the commission says all is now set. it is very, very difficult, but it is fine, it is part of myjob. ijust want the commission to be committed to

conduct the elections. it is not a typical friday afternoon here in the capital freetown. yesterday —— yes, it isa capital freetown. yesterday —— yes, it is a bank holiday, at many have been leaving and going to the provinces to cast their vote tomorrow. most importantly, there is an atmosphere of uncertainty which has kept a lot of people at home. religious leaders have been calling for peace. during friday prayers today in this muslim majority country, the imams called for peace and calm. iam i am expect in march of people to go to polling stations to vote. in their elections, and making sure after the vote, going to your house

peacefully, watch tv and radio, whatever the election commission saysis whatever the election commission says is the final, and live peacefully for sierra leone country. lam peacefully for sierra leone country. i am expecting that the election is going to be peaceful, that it will be free and fair and i am expecting we are going to have a very peaceful atmosphere tomorrow, because it is something we have been praying for the quite a long time now. and i'm expect thing sierra leone people to go and vote peacefully. whoever wins this election will have a developed nation to heal. that in addition to fixing the many other problems. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. pope francis has led good friday services — including the traditional via crucis procession around the colosseum in rome. more than 20,000 people attended the torchlight ceremony. on saturday night the pope will lead an easter vigil service. arnold schwarzenegger has undergone emergency heart surgery in los angeles — and doctors say he's

in good spirits. the 70—year—old ‘terminator‘ star was admitted for a routine procedure and then developed complications. 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 super—computers. scientists at microsoft say they're now on the verge of a major breakthrough. our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones explains. 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. on saturday night britain's 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 parkerfrom new zealand. our sports correspondent, david ornstein has more. 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 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've prepared for 12 rounds, but i know that if i clip him well, clip him 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 will be desperate to deliver. i would get in the ring for the right amount of money with those two guys. the former vice captain of the australian cricket team has said that he takes full responsibility for his role in the ball tampering scandal, david warner said he let his country down and made a bad decision in the recent test match against south africa, and he admitted he might never play for the tea m admitted he might never play for the team again. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @nkem|fejika. hello.

some parts of england had a washout of a good friday, some areas in western scotland were bathed in sunshine. those weather differences will continue as we go through the rest of this weekend. there will be some rain around at times, snow, particularly easter monday as we will see in a moment. it is disappointingly cool but there are drier, sunny areas too. they will come in the day ahead, the further you are away from this area of low pressure. this brought some very wet weather for some of us during good friday but you are further away still in northern and western scotland and northern ireland. so you will fare quite well, but for eastern scotland into england and wales, you will get plenty of cloud but there will still be some outbreaks of rain, some sleet and snow into the higher hills. but it is not as heavy, not as wet as it was during good friday, more of this will peter out later in the day. there will be some brightness developing in the south—west of england, western fringes of wales, to the west of the pennines, but especially into northern ireland, north and west scotland. nowhere is particularly warm and actually it is quite cold into north—east england,

with a brisk breeze. a lot of that patchy wet weather will fade away during the night, into sunday morning. clearing skies into northern and western parts of britain will allow temperatures to dip away into a touch of frost, there will be fog patches into sunday. but it is a better day on sunday, that is if you've been wet, in between weather systems, it is the most widely dry day of this easter weekend. there will be a good deal of cloud around, one or two showers to be had here and there, and some drizzle. but many places will be dry, a few breaks in the cloud here and there, maybe some developing through eastern parts of england. but expect a good deal of cloud. and rain coming back to south—west england and southwest wales later in the day, we have seen a lot of rain here, so watch out for potential problems from that. and from the rain and snow pushing

northwards into easter monday, because the moisture is feeding into cold air, sofa parts of wales and the midlands northwards, some sleet and snow mainly on hills, but also possible and lower levels. the far north of scotland staying dry during daylight hours and in the south we brighten up a bit after some heavy showers. but it is that possibility of snow, and it's a busy travel day on easter monday which we are watching closely. if you have travel plans keep across the forecast because there is a risk of some disruption and we will keep you updated. this is bbc news. the headlines: the former vice—captain of the australian cricket team has apologised and said he takes full responsibility for his role in the ball—tampering scandal. david warner said he let his country down and made a bad decision in the recent test match against south africa. and he admitted he might never play for the team again. the palestinian president has blamed israel for the deaths

of 16 demonstrators, after violence flared along gaza's border. mahmoud abbas called on the un to take immediate action to protect palestinians against what he called ‘escalating daily aggression‘ by israel. russia has announced that it's expelling diplomats from 23 more countries — sharply escalating a row over the poisoning of a former spy living in britain. an unofficial tally put the number of expelled diplomats at 59.