this is bbc news at 2pm. the headlines. moscow tells britain to withdraw more diplomats, in the continuing row over the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter in salisbury. two british men, accused of carrying out beheadings for the so—called islamic state, have complained that they won't get a fair trial after losing their citizenship. hundreds of people have gathered in cambridge for the funeral of professor stephen hawking. the actor eddie redmayne will give a reading. the un calls for an independent investigation as 16 palestinians are killed in clashes on the gaza—israeli border. the head of the metropolitan police blames social media for normalising violence and leading more children to commit stabbings and murders join us in half an hourfor a special addition of the bbc pod cast

brexitcast recorded in front of a live studio audience at the bbc‘s studio theatre. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. russia is expelling more than twice as many british diplomats as it had previously announced as a consequence of the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the british mission in moscow must be reduced by more than 50 staff. the foreign office here says it is considering the implications of the russian decision. the government's also weighing up a russian demand to be given access to yulia skripal in hospital. our correspondent simonjones is in salisbury for us. let's deal with the issue of access to yulia skripal, what do we know

about that? well, yulia skripal, unlike her father, remains about that? well, yulia skripal, unlike herfather, remains a russian citizen and if someone gets into trouble abroad they have the right to seek consular staff from their own country. when it emerged earlier this week the condition of yulia skripal was improving rapidly in salisbury, the russian embassy said it insisted on its right to see her. it also published a list of 27 questions that needed to be answered by the british authorities, such as water treatment she was getting in hospital and why was her condition improving when that of her father remains critical. we haven't had a nswe i’s remains critical. we haven't had a nswers to remains critical. we haven't had answers to those 27 questions from the foreign office but what they've told us is they are considering russia's request for access, they will consider that in line with international law. paramount to that will be what the consideration is the right and the demands of yulia

skripal herself. what about the question of diplomats? give us more on the foreign office reaction to this great number being expelled. the foreign office is telling us it is noting what has happened and it is noting what has happened and it is monitoring the situation. 23 diplomats have already been kicked out of moscow, they've already left russia, in retaliation for 23 russian diplomats being thrown out by britain. what we heard yesterday was russia saying more are going to be cut but we didn't have the figures. we understand now the figures. we understand now the figure is likely to be a total of around 50 having to be cut. now, that potentially is another 27 diplomats were going to have to leave russia and return to britain but it isn't clear whether they are all going to be diplomats or whether some of those could be local staff who work in the administration. either way, it has got the response from britain that this is

unnecessary. this they were expecting, though, and they say there is no other conclusion other than the russian authorities were responsible for the poisoning in salisbury but the message from russia is prove it. thank you. sir tony brenton is a former british ambassador to moscow and joins me now from carcassonne in france. thank you so much for talking to us. your response to this news of more expulsions. it will be a real shock to the embassy. i have friends and collea g u es to the embassy. i have friends and colleagues there, losing another 25 oi’ colleagues there, losing another 25 or $0 colleagues there, losing another 25 or so members of the embassy will sap morale and further damage the ability of the embassy to do what embassies do which is help businessmen, visiting brit ‘s, help to sustain a relationship which is on rocky ground at the moment. turning to what i was asking simon about, the issue of consular access to yulia skripal, what would be the consideration the foreign office

will have to take into account when it makes these decisions? well... the geneva convention is pretty clear that we have to grant access. so the foreign office will be very cautious about not finally going along with that because they know very well and we all do the russians operate on a basis of strict reciprocity. if we interpret it strictly, they will do the same in a future case and some unfortunate written in trouble in russia will have trouble getting consular access himself. and this issue about a russian plane, which is a side bar story, but a aeroflot flight that was searched, russians are raising questions about that. as an experienced diplomat, what is your view on these searches, and given what we've said about reciprocity? that is the point. i don't know the

story about the surge. we are saying it was a perfectly routine operation and i'm sure that is the case. however the russians in the present state would interpret what happened as affected by the state of our relations. they will certainly want to act on the basis of reciprocity, and there is a danger they will start inconvenient sink british flights into moscow in a similar way. in terms of the alliances so crucial here, how do you think that picture is shaping up? there have been so many countries that have come to back the uk. would that give the british government confidence about going forward? can ijust say, and this isn't just about going forward? can ijust say, and this isn'tjust patriotism, i think our government and diplomats have performed brilliantly, getting the level of international support they've done, which nobody expected them to achieve at the beginning. this has come as a real shock to the russians, which is one reason they are picking us out in particular. it

is reasonable to hope it will be enough of a shock that the next time someone enough of a shock that the next time someone suggest a brutal and nasty operation like the attack on mr skripal, someone else in the kremlin also look at the price we paid last time, we can't do this again. thank you so much forjoining us. two british men held captive in syria, accused of being members of an islamic state gang that murdered dozens of hostages, have said they "regret" the killings. they've complained that they won't get a fair trial. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh, who were captured by kurdish fighters injanuary, say they've been stripped of their uk citizenship. jessica parker reports. they became the most infamous gang of foreign fighters in the self—styled islamic state. jihadijohn, his real name mohammed emwazi, now dead, aine davis, in prison in turkey, and alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh, captured in january by syrian kurdish fighters who are now holding them in northern

syria while their fate is decided. among many others, the gang is accused of beheading alan henning, a driver and aid workerfrom eccles, and david haines, an aid workerfrom perth. now, speaking for the first time since their capture, alexanda kotey described the murder of is hostages as "regrettable". the pair complain that they will not get a fair trial. they say the uk has illegally withdrawn their citizenship, putting them at risk of rendition and torture. us officials believe the gang beheaded at least 27 hostages, among them the american journalist james foley, who went missing in syria in 2012. his mother says the men must be held to account. i really am not that interested in their opinion on anything. i am interested in them being held accountable for their horrific crimes. and right now they look like they're on vacation. that is the part that is very

concerning to me and upsetting. diane foley has said she fears that while the two men remain in northern syria, they could still evade justice. the government have not commented on whether the pair have been stripped on their citizenship at britain and the united states have been holding talks on the fate of the two men, and where and how they might face trial. jessica parker, bbc news. we've just had a statement in from the family of david haines, who was murdered by that isis group, and the family saying they are shocked that two individuals who have committed, as they say, such keenness crimes, had been treated with kindness with access to media and smartphones. as for saying their actions are reg retta ble, for saying their actions are regrettable, that is an understatement. they go on to say

these people have shown no remorse for their crimes, have put blame on the west for not paying ransom, and as for being stripped of their rights, well, they held ourfather captive for 18 months. his family didn't know whether he was dead or alive and that was stripping him of his rights. that was from the family of david haines. i'm joined now by haras rafiq. he's the ceo of the counter—extremism organisation, quilliam. thank you so much for coming in. your view of this story today. well, i agree wholeheartedly from the statement of the family. this stinks of hypocrisy. and also this is very clearly a pr stunt by members of isis who haven't shown any regrets, iany isis who haven't shown any regrets, i any remorse, they've tortured people, and the home secretary is within her rights to strip them of citizenship because they have dual

nationality. and the hypocrisy is where they are trying to claim human rights and british values when they we re rights and british values when they were not prepared to give them to british and american citizens and citizens of iraq and syria. i'm co mforta ble citizens of iraq and syria. i'm comfortable these people, the evidence is all incontrovertible about the role they played? officer, they have not seen the inside of a courtroom yet. absolutely. we've been on a train groups like al-qaeda and isis for a long time. we are 100% concerned these guys were directly involved in guarding hostages and killing people, water boarding people because they have claimed it on their social media. so the evidence is there. the issue now is where they should be tried. because they should be tried. certainly iraq has the right to try them. it doesn't seem we have the appetite to bring them back to this country. the american government

might take them but certainly i believe they should be tried, and the full weight of the law as far as we're concerned, should be thrown at them. one way of ensuring the weight of the law is thrown at them is to say they are at the same time were british citizens, if brought back here, they could be tried. absolutely. this could happen in the us or elsewhere. they do have other citizenship who as well let's not forget that. the other problem with them coming back to the uk is they can claim a pr win. we committed all of these crimes and we're back in the country, and we are still getting lots of publicity. the other fear is when found guilty, because i believe they would be found guilty in the uk, they could go to prisons and spread their views and recruit other people because there is a huge problem in addition prisons and round the world of convicted jihadist terrorists recruiting for their cause. your organisation has

been involved in counterterrorism for some years now. do you feel that battle is being won? there are two parts. if we look at the terrorism side, jihadist terrorism in terms of isis, that immediate battle of taking the land back from them has been done. it has been won. at the long—term battle against the global jihadist insurgency, that isn't over, there is a lot more to be done and sometimes people forget it is a battle of ideas and recruitment, and that means a lot more soft power around the world, and i hope people will not forget about the insurgency just because isis has lost the land. thank you. britain's most senior police officer, the metropolitan commissioner cressida dick, has suggested that social media is partly to blame for some violent crime, including a rising number of knife attacks. in an interview with the times, ms dick said the websites were being used by gangs to glamorise violence

commissioner cressida dick, has suggested that social and allowed trivial disputes to escalate quickly. the commissioner says she sees a connection between incredibly abusive language used in social media meaning that it makes it "more likely, faster, and harder for people to cool down." she goes on to say that social media allows people to show off and she is "sure it does rev people up. " in the article, the commissioner also announced a new task force of about 100 officers to tackle violent crime in london. the funeral of professor stephen hawking is taking place in cambridge this afternoon. hundreds of people have gathered to pay their respects. actor eddie redmayne will give a reading, along with hawking's eldest son robert and the astrophysicist martin rees. professor hawking, who had motor neurone disease, died on two weeks ago at the age of 76. our correspondentjo black is in cambridge. tell us more.

good afternoon. i'm outside the university of cambridge church, the great saint mary ‘s, this is where we are, this is where the funeral service is taking place, it should last around an hour. 500 people are attending. of course, professor hawking's family are here, friends, invited guests and former colleagues. we have seen celebrities, like eddie redmayne, he has arrived here and went into the church. he arrived quite early. he played professor hawking in the film the theory of everything. we have seen brian may, dara brion, and model lily cole. so they are all inside the church and the service will last for around an hour and then the people will come out and then the people will come out and then a special service will take place elsewhere. what was interesting when the coffin arrived

is it was really quiet here. there must be hundreds if not thousands of people who have come to pay their respects, months of the public who say they feel inspired by professor stephen hawking. it's very quiet here in the city of cambridge. when the coffin was taken out and into the coffin was taken out and into the church, there was a spontaneous round of applause. that service will go on for about an hour and we will see if we can speak to anybody when that service is finished. thank you. the headlines on bbc news. moscow more than doubles the number of british diplomats it plans to expel in the continuing row over the salisbury poisoning. two british men, believed to have been members of the islamic state cell known as the beatles, complain they can't get a fair trial after losing their citizenship. hundreds of people have gathered in cambridge for the funeral of professor stephen hawking. the actor eddie redmayne, will give a reading. the united nations is calling for an independent inquiry

following the shooting dead of 16 palestinians by israeli security forces. hundreds of people were wounded in the shootings yesterday, as palestinians demonstrated on the border between gaza and israel. yolande knell reports from jerusalem. israeli drones dropped tear gas as huge palestinian crowds massed on the israel—gaza border after friday's prayers. organisers had called for a peaceful march, but israel's military says demonstrators threw stones and tried to breach the perimeterfence entering israeli territory. that's when its soldiers opened fire. and the result was deadly. last night, emergency talks took place at the un security council. israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. lethal force should only be

used as a last resort. palestinians here are demanding the right to return to land they lost 70 years ago, when the state of israel was created. israel says gaza's hamas leaders just want to stir up unrest on the border. over the last few weeks, you have had numerous attempts by her master cross into israel through the border with squads by hamas to cross into israel through the border with squads of terrorists to kill our people. we can't allow our border to be porous. we can't allow the hamas activists to tear down the borderfence and into israel. we would be putting our people in danger. but now palestinians plan to stay in these camps near the israel border for the next six weeks, and the fear is that with further protests, there will be further unrest. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. flights have resumed from stansted airport, after a fire at the airport yesterday. a passenger shuttle bus caught fire, causing all departures to be cancelled. no—one was hurt, but many said it lead to confusion at the airport,

leaving thousands of travellers stranded and frustrated. we were two hours on the plane and then they told us there was a fire and so we finally got off the plane and we were waiting in the lounge with everyone and they still hadn't said it was cancelled. we had to go back through security. nobody would tell us anything, nobody knew what was happening, we were literally standing in queues, asking each other is this the right thing? what's happening? we were just waiting where the bags are for like three hours. trying to find our bags. because literally everyone just dumps them off so there was just piles and piles of bags and you had to rummage through to find your bags as there was no order. our news correspondent anisa kadri is at stansted for us now. what is the situation this afternoon? this afternoon it is a lot better than it was yesterday. in the terminal next to me people there are saying, well, we are very happy

because it looks like our flight is going to go today. when they woke up this morning they weren't sure it was going to be the case because of this fire on a shuttle bus yesterday. that fire took 20 minutes to deal with it but the airport made the decision to cancel all flights running until midnight. so the airport said it was a tough decision to come to but they've got they had to come to but they've got they had to do it. one of the difficulties they said was that people who had been through security and those who hadn't got mixed up when people were evacuated so it was a safety issue one of the reasons they decided to cancel the flights. the girls we heard from in the clip you played before you came to me, their experience of confusion, chaos, panic is typical to the ones we've been hearing all day today at sta nsted been hearing all day today at stansted airport been hearing all day today at sta nsted airport but been hearing all day today at stansted airport but things are getting back to normal now. if you check on stansted's twitter feed, they say they are expecting their easter schedule to run according to

plan. the advice is to check online for any updates. thank you. from tomorrow, some specially trained paramedics will be able to prescribe medicines to patients who don't need to go to hospital. the change in the law aims to improve care and allow treatment to start more quickly. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. gemma walsh is already an advanced paramedic but she wants this extra responsibility. first though, duty calls. there you go. so we are on our way to a 62—year—old who has query food poisoning. gemma mainly does urgent care cases like this. in other words, not emergencies, but still genuine illnesses. two thirds of her patients do not need taking to hospital. but she says she has to call gps every day to organise prescriptions. after training, she will be able to do that herself. the patient did not want us filming so we're waiting outside to see if this is one of those situations where in the future,

paramedics like gemma might be able to give extra help, not life or death situations, but less serious cases where the patient may need drugs but could avoid a trip to hospital or the gp. gemma decided this patient did not require extra treatment. eventually she will be able to prescribe everything from antibiotics for infections to steroids for asthma and a whole lot more. that will obviously then mean the patient does not have to leave their home. it is a nicer experience for the patient. it is quicker. i feel it would complete the care i'm able to give that patient and provide realjob satisfaction. the aim is to train up 700 prescribing paramedics across the uk. it is thought the first ones will be doing the job by the autumn. nhs england is calling it a win—win. this is one of the many steps to helping improve the nhs cope with the pressures it is under.

this will reduce some of the demand on general practice because paramedics being able to write prescriptions will help them. it will also reduce the number of patients we hope that we need to convey to hospitaljust to get a prescription. patients groups say this could save lives and the new law has been widely welcomed. just one proviso, some medics point out that although this will help, it will not deal with all the funding and staffing problems the nhs is dealing with. catherine burns, bbc news. mining students from around the world are being put through their paces in cornwall this weekend, in a challenge designed to test their strength and technique in some of the oldest skills in mining. competition is fierce at the international mining games, which are an opportunity for students to learn traditional methods whilst also sharing new skills. dan johnson has been for a look around. go, go, go. it is the toughest test

in a difficult, dirty business. the mining games is all about teamwork, skill, and strength. come on! getting stuck in, definitely. hard graft, you have to be willing to get dirty, get involved, make sure you do all the hard work before you can climb the ladder. there are seven different events — everything from laying tracks, panning for gold, digging and hammering. it is about keeping traditional mining skills alive. drill a hole fill of explosives to blast the rock out. before you had mechanical air drills. you had to do it by hand. there are a0 teams here from mining schools around the globe. competition certainly is fierce. these montana mining students have been training for months. the important skills are communication, a an abiliity not to get in each other‘s way.

stay in good spirits. so inevitably, the time has come for me to have a go. 25 metres then back. tip it, fill it as fast as you can, then run it again full. they call this mucking and they are not mucking about. the support from the crowd is helpful, i think. that is hard work. music: can you dig it? # can you understand me now? # i'll get it through somehow he's not doing badly, to be honest. # i'll get it through somehow # can you dig it? # oh, yeah #.

keep that weight on! it is competitive. it is. absolutely. i think with the girls, we're just trying to support each other. more encouraging. this is tough. and it is technical. if there was ever any doubt, mining is a toughjob. it has to be time for a cornish pasty. why is he making all the fuss? the

women didn't have a problem. the weather now with phil avery. moving swiftly on... no great problems here either. there is a lot of cloud around because of the low pressure close by to the south—eastern quarter of the british isles so the further north or west you are, the better the weather prospects for you for the rest of the afternoon. and into the evening as well. it won't make a difference for the eastern borders. there is a lot of cloud, li—5d, at best 9—10. the very best of the conditions in the west, and they improve down towards wales and the south—west. you lose the showers and generally speaking things dry up, save for the far east of england. underneath the clearing skies in the night, it will be chilly across the lens of scotland, minus six, minus seven, and in towns and cities, minus two.

easter sunday, and decent day. monday, different kettle of fish. many of us in the northern parts could have a problem with snow, it could have a problem with snow, it could be disruptive. radio will keep you up to date. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: moscow more than doubles the number of british diplomats it plans to expel in the continuing row over the salisbury poisoning two british men — believed to have been members of the notorious islamic state cell known as the beatles — complain they can't have a fair trial, because the government has stripped them of their citizenship. a private funeral service is being held in cambridge for stephen hawking. the astronomer royal, lord rees and actor eddie redmayne will give readings at the service. clashes in gaza — the head of the un calls for an investigation after 16 palestinians are killed by israeli forces on the gaza border. britain's most senior police officer blames social media for normalising violence and leading more children to commit stabbings and murders.

now on bbc news, it's time for a special audience edition of brexitcast. hello. it is adam fleming. i'm in london. only with chris mason. we thought we would do our usual little nerdy podcast. in this cupboard. except it's not a cupboard. we are here in the bbc radio theatre with 300 friends. applause. hello everyone! and of course laura and katya are here too! hello! hi! and the reason we are doing it is because it is about a year to go to a brexit, so welcome to brexitcast: the arena spectacular. brexitcast. .. brexitcast, from bbc 5 live and bbc news. brexit means brexit. breaking up is hard.