this is bbc news, i'm carrie gracie. 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. the daughter of one of their victims — david haines — says they should be given orange jumpsuits and stripped of all the things they hold dear. hundreds of people are attending the funeral of professor stephen hawking in cambridge. the actor eddie redmayne is giving a reading. the un calls for an independent investigation as 16 palestinians are killed in clashes on the gaza—israeli border. and coming up in half an hour: click investigates facebook‘s data sharing practices and explores who has your personal data and what is being done with it. 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. fill us in on the considerations for the british government in giving the russians consular access to yulia

skripal out. well, i think the number one consideration is going to be what she herself wants. what we do know is that her condition has been improving here in hospital in salisbury, she is no longer in a critical condition, and as soon as that news emerged, the russian embassy in the uk was demanding its right to see her and international law. it also published a list of 27 questions that it says the british government needed to answer, such as what treatment was she getting, why has a condition been improving when her father remains has a condition been improving when herfather remains in has a condition been improving when her father remains in a has a condition been improving when herfather remains in a critical condition. the rational parodies even ask to see photos of her and her father to prove they were indeed in hospital in salisbury and that they were still alive. —— the russian authorities. in response to that, no direct response to the questions, but the foreign office

says it has considered the request but it is stressing the key fact that it depends on her wishes and her rights. and then what, simon, about the expulsion of diplomats? what is the british government is saying about that? well, another sign of the escalating tensions, we have already had 23 british diplomats kicked out of moscow in retaliation for britain sending away 23 russian diplomats from london. now, yesterday we heard that russia was going to expel even more british diplomats and staff. today we have got a figure on that, in total it is going to be around 50, so in addition to the 23 british diplomats who have already had to go, it is possible that up to another 27 or so will have to go, but it is not clear whether they will all be diplomats oi’ whether they will all be diplomats or whether some may be administered of staff. either way, just another

sign of how this is ramping up. —— administrative staff. the foreign office has noted this, says it is reg retta ble office has noted this, says it is regrettable but it is not surprised that russia is taking this action. as for russia, it denied involvement in the poisoning here, and its messages, if you have the proof, show it to us. simon, thank you. earlier, i spoke to sir tony brenton, the former uk ambassador to russia, he told me that that demand by moscow for consular access is a right that russian citizens, such as yulia skripal, are entitled to. 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 that 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 britain in trouble in russia will have trouble getting consular access himself. and this issue about a russian

plane, which is a sidebar 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 search. 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 inconveniencing british flights into moscow ina similarway. 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 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 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. 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, but 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. the family of the aid worker david haines,

who was killed in 2014 by the cell, questioned why alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh have been given access to the media. in a statement they said: 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 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." flights have resumed from sta nsted airport after a fire yesterday

led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights. footage showed black smoke covering the terminal building after a shuttle bus burst into flames. no—one was injured, but thousands of travellers were left 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?" 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. earlier, i spoke to our reporter at stansted airport, anisa kadri, and asked her if passengers were still suffering delays. 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 felt 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 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. 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. so we are on oui’ 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 hospital just 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. 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. and hundreds of people have gathered in cambridge for the funeral

of professor stephen hawking. the actor eddie redmayne will give a reading. and liverpool have moved into second place in the premier league table after a 2—1win over crystal palace, mo salah is gave them three points. rangers were 2—0 down at motherwell before staging a second—half comeback, levelling at 2—2. and stuart broad took four wickets as england fought back in the second and final test against new zealand, who now trailed by 115 runs with or wickets remaining. all of those scores on the bbc sport website, more at around 5:30pm. the trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social—media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the us.

the proposal would require most visa applicants to give details of their facebook and twitter accounts and disclose all social media identities used in the past five years. it follows a promise by president trump to introduce "extreme vetting" of those entering the united states to help improve security. malala yousafzai has returned to her hometown in the swat valley for the first time since she was shot there by islamist militants. a helicopter carrying ms yousafzai landed not far from her family home in mingora on saturday, amid a tight security operation. the nobel peace prize winner was attacked by the taliban in 2012 for campaigning on behalf of girls‘ education. thousands of palestinians have been attending funerals in gaza for some of the 16 people shot dead by israeli troops on friday. tens of thousands of protestors had gathered along the border fence between gaza and israel at the start of a planned six—week demonstration. the united nations is calling for an independent inquiry.

yolande knell has this report 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 perimeter fence 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 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. the hamas activists to tear down the border fence 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. another tearful apology from another australian cricketer. david warner has finally held a news conference over his part in the ball—tampering scandal. the former vice—captain said he took "full responsibility"

for his part in what happened, without answering questions on what his part had been and who else in the australian team might have been involved. here he is speaking earlier. right now, it is hard to know what comes next, but first and foremost... is the... 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 am resigned to the fact that that may never happen. 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?" by the mock turtles # can you understand me now? # i'll get it through somehow

# you won't ever get me down # 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. danjohnson,

dan johnson, bbc news, danjohnson, bbc news, in cornwall. as we've been hearing, thousands of palestinians have been attending funerals in gaza for 16 people shot by israeli troops on the territory's border with israel yesterday. our middle east analyst alan johnston is here and has been following the story. this is an extraordinary scale of a clash between these two micro sites. you're absolutely right, this is probably the bloodiest day in gaza for about four years, a really extraordinary day of tension yesterday and the violence, confrontation on the border line that marks the edge of gaza and the start of israel. as you say, something like 15 or 16 people

killed... their funerals taking place today. scenes of rage and anger in the streets of gaza as these people were buried, the health ministry saying that there are something like 11100 in hospital as well, and of course very different interpretations of what happened from the two micro sites, as you would expect. -- the two sides. one of the questions that razors, given the scale of the woundings and deaths, is there a less, you know, risky, dangerous way of the israelis stopping the border incursions that they are so worried about? well, the israelis would say that what they are facing was not a demonstration 01’ are facing was not a demonstration or protest as you would normally think of it. they describe the palestinian militant movement and —— saying this was basically a

terrorist effort, hoping that they would allow them to infiltrate israel, send what the israelis regard as terrorists to kill israelis, an entirely different narrative from the palestinians who say this was simply an armed people being shot at. but my question still stands, you know, if there is a question of huge numbers of civilians, you know, coming across the border like that, is there a less costly in human life way of stopping that? well, we know that the israelis reinforce their defences along the border there, there are reports in the israeli media that they brought in something like 100 extra snipers, and there are many people around the world who will be saying that when it comes to crowd control, snipers are a disaster, that you will have the sort of casualty figures that you have just talked about in the hospitals of gaza at the moment. the

israelis would say that you weren't dealing with any normal crowd, that in the middle of that crowd was elements of the hamas movement which is dedicated to killing israeli troops and civilians and so on, that you couldn't police this crowd in a normal way, that it simply wouldn't have been safe. we did see them using tear gas, rubber bullets, but the figures speak for themselves, and some would say the israelis have played into hamas's trap, they have created a very large number of casualties, and there is all the difficulty of explaining that to the world, which is what we are talking about here. the funeral of professor stephen hawking is taking place in cambridge this afternoon. hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects. actor eddie redmayne gave a reading, along with hawkings‘ eldest son robert and the astrophysicist martin rees. professor hawking, who had

motor neurone disease, died two weeks ago at the age of 76. our correspondentjo black is in cambridge. jo, jo, tell us more about the service, which has just jo, tell us more about the service, which hasjust finished. yes, it has just finished, you can probably hear the bells, we are standing outside the bells, we are standing outside the great st mary's church, the cambridge university church, which is where the service took place. it started just after two o'clock, and it has just finished, so it lasted for around it has just finished, so it lasted foraround an houror it has just finished, so it lasted for around an hour or so. around 500 guests today, a private service, obviously his family were here, his friends and former colleagues, as you are outlining, some celebrities. eddie redmayne, who played the professor in the theory of everything, we saw brian may and his wife, anita dobson, dara o briain, the comedian, so lots of people, but 110w

the comedian, so lots of people, but now people have gone on to a reception. sometimes soon, the body of professor hawking will be cremated, and then his ashes will be interred next to the grave of sir isaac newton at westminster abbey. that will take place, that service at westminster abbey, some time in june. jo, thanks for that update. let's ta ke let's take a look at the weather with phil. ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you up to date without we see the next 2a hours developing across the british isles, low pressure to the south—eastern quarter, still a front wrapped around the northern and western flanks, so generally speaking the further north and west you are, the better your prospects towards the end of the day. further east, the raft of cloud just easing its way further to the east, still a little bit of showers. quite a frosty night across northern and western parts of

scotland, minus six or seven here, but at least that ends into a really decent start to the new day, a lot of cloud across the east of england. that will eventually filling, rain getting in west of the tame our by tea—time. top temperature of the day, 10 degrees also, watch out on monday when the weather moves further north, a distinct risk of snow across northern part of the british isles. 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. gave 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 now on bbc news it's time for click. a lot has happened on facebook since you last logged in — and that's an understatement.