welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. these are our top stories: destroyed on re—entry. china says its abandoned space lab burnt up after it finally fell to earth over the south pacific. beijing imposes new import taxes on us goods, as donald trump increases tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. israel reject international calls for an investigation into the killing of 15 people during violent protests. in his easter message, the pope appeals for an end to conflict and what he calls the "carnage" in syria. welcome to the programme.

a defunct chinese space laboratory has re—entered the earth's atmosphere, breaking into pieces over the south pacific. china's space agency said the vast majority of the tiangong—i spacecraft burnt up as it made its descent shortly in the last couple of hours. lebo diseko reports. heavenly palace blasting off. china's first space station was supposed to be a launchpad for bigger and better projects. but since then, the eight—ton spacecraft, around the size of a school bus, has stopped working and come crashing down to earth. to the speculation to where the call. -- to the speculation to where the call. —— there was much speculation that as to where it might fall. in the end, the south pacific is where it came down. all this is a far cry from the space station's glory years,

when two different crews of astronauts visited. china says it has dealt with the situation according to international conventions. but it all seems pretty embarrassing for the country's space programme. doctorjonathan mcdowell is an astronomer at the harvard—smithsonian center for astrophysics. he's in boston. thank you very much forjoining us again. two hours ago, it you poured scorn on scepticism on the chinese. idid. scorn on scepticism on the chinese. i did. so what happened? right, so indeed, when we were talking, tiangong—i was already down at the bottom of the pacific. it came down at 1600 hours british time that, north—west of tahiti. it took a while for both china and the us

tracking to release that information out. so we were still going is it still up? but it was already down. so yeah, i was a bit sceptical of the chinese report because of something things about it and because we have had a lot of reports in the past that turned out to be iffy, but they were right. it is very interesting actually that they knew that at the same time as the us released it information, it suggests to me that the infrared missile warning satellite that china launched a couple of years ago is in fa ct launched a couple of years ago is in fact operational in space and can look down on the pacific and see that infrared explosion of the spacelab as it came down, so it is an interesting data point. so yeah, what happened is what we expected, it came down safely, no one was hurt. embarrassing, yes, for the chinese, but not a disaster. we know

of anyone saw anything rays i suppose it could have been viewed as a meteor shower suppose it could have been viewed as a meteor shower oi’ suppose it could have been viewed as a meteor shower or something, as the equivalent to that. right, but it was over the pacific during the daytime, so unless someone was voting underneath, which could have been exciting, i think probably will not get any videos are anything like that. there is a chance, just before it came down, a few minutes before it came down, a few minutes before it came down it was orbiting over beijing, pyongyang and kyoto, those places where it was sort of early morning, so probably too light to see it but maybe someone spotted at. what are the lessons to learn from whole adventure slashed saga?” think one of the lessons is always bet on the pacific ocean because it is big, i think the lesson is do not ta ke is big, i think the lesson is do not take risks with your space programme that could cause this sort of embarrassment. china had the capability to bring this down

safely, if they had done it while the spacecraft was still within its sell by date and they pushed too far, which is always, always a bad idea. so i think that lesson will be looked at by other space agencies to make sure that they bring down their large spacecraft before they break. 0k, large spacecraft before they break. ok, thank you very much. you might wa nt to ok, thank you very much. you might want to wipe up a bit of humble pie there on the side of your lip. mea culpa, yeah. thank you very much. costa rica's centre—left presidential hopeful carlos alvarado ouesada has established an unsurmountable lead in the presidential runoff. let's discuss this with our correspondent will grant, who is monitoring things from havana. was this expected? it was going to be a

close race or at least that is what we thought that yes, it does seem that carlos alvarado ouesada has taken a pretty sizeable victory. he has got a shade over —— garnered over 60% of the vote, more than 2 million votes. fabricio alvarado, they share a surname but are not related in any way, and certainly they do not share an election platform whatsoever and fabricio alvarado, an evangelical conservative, standing on a staunchly anti same—sex marriage platform, and i think really that was the step that was too far for many ordinary voters in costa rica, they just considered it unconscionable to hand the presidency to a man who was talking about attacking the secular state, the secular state in costa rica and things of this nature. so though it may not have been a huge outpouring of love for carlos alvarado quesada, the eventual winner, i think it was more a rejection of this very staunchly conservative position of

the opposing candidate. how much of an outlier is costa rica in terms of its kind of stability, but also in terms of its politics in that region, in central america? terms of its politics in that region, in centralamerica? well, it is an important nation relative to its very small size, in the sense that while the neighbouring countries in central america are going to very violent and very bloody civil wars in the 1980s, costa rica was a very stable democracy, in fact played an important role as a peacemaker. it is important nation in those terms alone but it has been very proud of that stability, it does not have an army, for example, and i think that there is no sense of wanting to lose that stability. as this polarising position appeared over the question of gay marriage, of same—sex marriage. the reason it came up at all is because of a ruling by the inter—american court on human rights which says all member states must implement the ruling that same—sex marriage is legal, and of course, in

the heavily conservative part of the world like central america, that is very controversial for a lot of voters and a lot of individuals. thank you very much. will grant monitoring that costa rican election from havana. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. indian—administered kashmir has seen some of the worst violence for months, leaving at least 20 people dead, after clashes between government forces and militants. at least three civilians are reportedlydead.police and —— at least three civilians are reported dead. police andresidents said violence erupted on sunday, when hundreds of people tried to prevent the indian soldiers from carrying out operations against suspected militants. president trump has reasserted his opposition to legalising the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the united states as children. earlier, on twitter, he accused mexico of doing "very little, if not nothing", to stop migrants crossing its northern border. he threatened to walk away from the north american free trade agreement.

myanmar‘s de facto leader aung san suu kyi says her country must listen to the international community if it wants to be accepted as a responsible nation. in an address marking two years in government, ms suu kyi spoke of humanitarian problems in rakhine state. but once again omitted any mention of the military campaign that has forced out 700,000 rohingya muslims. china's foreign ministry says that from today, new tariffs will be imposed on a series of products imported from the united states. it has slapped retaliatory tariffs on 128 us imports, including pork and fruits. this is a direct response to president trump's announcement of new taxes on steel and aluminium brought into america. some industry analysts had warned that such actions could spark a global trade war. from washington, here's chris buckler. china was one of the countries foremost in president trump's mind when last month he detailed steep new tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. the american steel and aluminium industry has been ravaged by aggressive foreign

trade practices. it's really an assault on our country. the workers who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed, but that betrayal is now over. retaliation from beijing was inevitable, and effective immediately, there will be a 25% charge on pork exported from the us into china, as well as new taxes forfruit, nuts, wine, and a range of other products. the american authorities have already announced plans for further targeted tariffs for tens of billions of dollars' of chinese imports. they say that's in response to unfair trading practices in china, that affect us companies. but it raises the possibility of yet more action being taken, in what has become a tit—for—tat trade battle. for more on this, i asked our correspondent in hong kong, stephen mcdonell,

to explain why china needs to put tariffs on popular items, like pork. well, the thing with this, it's not that china feels it wants to put these tariffs on, but that it feels that it has to respond in some way. and this is what has analysts worried, that the whole thing could spiral out of control. you know, as we just heard, this is only the first response from china. so the us has its first round of tariffs. china threatens to respond. the us announces its second round of tariffs, and today, china's threat of those first round of tariffs is starting. so, in terms of the details though, we have got 128 us products, 120 of which will have 15% tariffs, and eight of which will have a 25% tariff. so apart from nuts, fruit, ginseng, wine, we have scrap aluminium and pork. china could ramp this

up though, of course. these are not things that are really going to hit the us as hard as it could. but they are looking for a way out. after all, if you, you know, burn it right down to the core, who would lose out more from this? i mean, both sides would be very hurt in a trade war. but because of the surplus, i guess you's have to think it would hit china more in the long run, than the us. and so they're going to be looking at some point for a negotiated settlement. on the us side, you have all these people who think, even if they don't agree with donald trump's tariff measures, because they're opposed to that, you know, they can see that it could be in breach of world trade organisation provisions, but nevertheless, here's criticism of china, of stealing the ip, intellectual property, of international companies. i think a lot of international observers would have some sympathy with that.

israel has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the killing of at least 15 palestinian protestors, by israeli troops in gaza on friday. both the united nations and the european union have called for an inquiry. the israeli defence minister says that his soldiers were protecting the country's borders, and that ten of those who died were militant islamist activists. our middle east correspondent tom bateman reports from the gaza strip. a third day of protests on gaza's border with israel. these tents sitjust hundreds of metres from the fence where israeli snipers watch. palestinians say they will stay put, as they talk about the events of friday. translation: we are innocent civilians, but the israeli occupation doesn't even give us the right to express ourselves. translation: our people, our sons, our youth — they were standing about 500 metres away from the border, but they shoot and kill. the numbers of protesters here have fallen since the events of friday. but for those who continue to come,

they do so for a key reason, that they see as at the core of this conflict — the palestinian right of return. but for israel, it is the position of these camps, so close to the fence, that they see as a provocation. as we filmed, more gunfire broke out. palestinian leaders say the force used on friday was disproportionate and indiscriminate. gaza's health ministry said, in addition to those killed, more than 750 people were injured from live ammunition on friday. the eu's diplomatic chief has echoed a call from the head of the united nations for an independent inquiry. but israel says it was protecting its fence from what it called violent rioters, arguing any breach would threaten israeli lives. it says at least ten of those killed belonged to militant islamist groups, including hamas, which controls the gaza strip. israel's defence minister rejected

calls for an inquiry into the deaths. the rhetoric stepped up today as turkey's president, tayyip erdogan, labelled israel's prime minister a terrorist. mr netanyahu responded, saying... palestinians say they will protest here for six weeks, culminating when the us plans to move its embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. many on both sides of this conflict fear further violence is on the horizon. tom bateman, bbc news, gaza. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: coming together to reduce child obesity. we see the work of a programme trying to do just that in amsterdam. 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 news.

the latest headlines: out of control and all burnt up. china says its abandoned space station re—entered the earth's atmosphere over the south pacific. beijing imposes new import taxes on us goods as donald trump increases tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. the wider middle east was part of the pope's easter address at the vatican on easter sunday. he called for reconciliation and an end to civil war in syria and in yemen. meanwhile, the archbishop of canterbury, in his easter address, said everyone should have hope, whatever their circumstances. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports. the stark surroundings of st peter's square on good friday were transformed this morning by 50,000 plants and flowers. but on a joyous day in the christian calendar, pope francis described a world torn apart by conflict, beginning with syria, extending across the middle east to parts of africa.

and he prayed for christians living in these places. "may our brothers and sisters in christ, who put up with injustices and persecution, be radiant witnesses of the risen lord," he said. services took place across the uk, including salisbury, where bishop nicholas holtam said the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter yulia had violated the city, but encouraged christians to rebuild relationships and confidence in one another. in canterbury, the archbishop, justin welby, spoke of choosing hope instead of despair. and perhaps mindful of his recent appearance at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, he urged the church to be honest about its own wrongdoing. we must be a holy church

made up of holy people, rejecting the seeking of power, transparent about our failings, humble when we sing. the royal family attended easter worship at st george's chapel in windsor, though the queen was not accompanied by the duke of edinburgh because of problems with his hip. also absent, prince harry and his fiancee, meghan markle, who will be married there next month. martin bashir, bbc news. north korea's leader kim jong—un has watched a performace by south korean k—pop stars at a rare event in pyongyang. the concert is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures appearing to mark a thaw in relations between the two sides. the leaders of the two koreas are due to hold a summit on the border later this month. this report by james waterhouse contains some flashing images. the sight of kim jong—un waving to enthusiastic applause might not be anything new, but south korean

reports say he is now the first north korean leader ever to go to a performance by an artistic group from the south. nearly 200 singers, dancers and technicians are in the capital for two concerts. south korean ministers say he showed much interest in the show, and asked about the songs and lyrics. the spectators were treated to performances of korean pop, also known as k—pop. including the group red velvet, who made their intentions clear before leaving south korea. translation: it is our great honour to perform with veteran singers. as we're the youngest singers, we'll do our best to deliver bright energy to the north korean people. it is hoped this will serve as a peace gesture ahead

of a meeting between the leaders of north and south korea. the south's taekwondo athletes also performed for an audience ahead of a joint display of their martial art on monday. beyond the concerts, south korea and the us have begun their annual joint military exercises. the pentagon says they will be on a similar scale to previous years — 300,000 troops will take part. but the drill will be a month shorter than usual, and won't involve nuclear submarines. but the drills have angered north korea. kim jong—un met the chinese president, xijinping, last week, and he has offered to have a face—to—face meeting with donald trump. no date yet, but it is expected before the end of may. a sugar tax comes into effect in britain this week

aimed at tackling childhood obesity, which is now a growing health problem around the world. in amsterdam, health officials have come up with an anti—obesity programme that brings together schools, doctors and neighbourhood groups, and so far, it's seen some positive results, asjeremy cooke explains. meet tyrell — a typical nine—year—old but struggling with weight, caught up in the global childhood obesity crisis. with one in five of its children overweight, amsterdam is determined to help kids like tyrell. you want to feel fit, and your condition has to be ok, so i try to make him aware already, like just think about your health. the amsterdam initiative means every child is put through their paces —

weighed but also tested for strength, endurance and balance — to see who needs help. for tyrell, that means regular home visits from dieticians advising on healthy eating. and then there's the gym — free sessions twice a week with other children on the programme. they're having fun, getting fit and, crucially, losing pounds. the amsterdam mission is to educate kids and their parents to the benefits of exercise, the dangers of unhealthy food. and its targeted help. is it a healthy option? it's a little bit healthy. a little bit. a little bit healthy, yeah. it looks delicious. yeah. there's a special push to reach families in the low—income parts of town with large immigrant populations. in some middle eastern communities, almost 30% of kids are overweight — much higher than the national average. so they're coming together to share ways to improve their children's diets. in my shopping list, i have only healthy things. when i come home they say, "mum, it's only green,

everything is green!" the children of amsterdam are on the move — on the ice, burning calories. it's free entry here and in other cities sports facilities. exercise helping to force obesity rates down. there's nothing more important than the future of our children, not only all political parties but also sports organisations, schools, shop owners, everyone is helping, and that creates an environment in which you can change. all schools in this programme banned junk food, and break time means eating only fruit, drinking only water. most parents are enthusiastic supporters, but of course there have been challenges. there has been some protest, yeah, some people think that we should not be sitting in their parenting chair and telling them how to raise their children. elements of what they're

doing here in amsterdam have been tried elsewhere — including, of course, in the uk — but with limited success. what seems to be different here is that there is consistent consensus, a joined—up approach, meaning that these kids are getting the same message from city hall, through their classrooms, and into the family kitchen. in amsterdam, it's all about the children. lessons here perhaps for other cities hoping to build a better, leaner future. jeremy cooke, bbc news, amsterdam. you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @nkem|fejika. i tweet some interesting stuff every once ina i tweet some interesting stuff every once in a while, but the bbc news feed is probably more appropriate.

from me and the rest of the team, goodbye. hello there. easter sunday was a little bit disappointing across many areas. it was rather cloudy, cool. the best of the sunshine was reserved across the north and the west of scotland. now we look to the south, to the next area of low pressure, which is going to bring disruptive weather for easter monday. it is an area of rain, sleet, and snow, fairly strong winds as well, continuing to push northwards during the early hours of easter monday with some snowfall likely across the higher ground of wales into central and northern england and even into northern ireland by early parts of easter monday. cold feel to things as well. particularly across scotland, where we'll have clear skies and widespread frost. for easter monday morning there could be travel disruption across northern ireland into central, southern scotland and northern england. widespread heavy wet, snow, could see up to 10—15 centimetres over the north pennines and into the southern uplands. some drifting of that snow because of the strong east to south—easterly wind. down to lower levels as well. a mixture of severe weather for the easter monday morning. further south, mainly rain. for england and wales

milder air moving in. there will be a few sunny spells, one or two showers, temperatures in double figures, 10—13 degrees. cold and dry across the northern half of scotland with one or two wintry showers. if you are on the move easter monday bear in mind that there is snow across central northern areas that could cause problems. keep tuned to the bbc radio and subsequent weather forecasts. a big area of low pressure will be close to the uk as we head into the latter part of monday and into tuesday. one thing it will be doing is dragging up some very mild air from spain and from france. initially across england and wales and pushing on into southern scotland and northern ireland through tuesday. there is the remnants of the sleet and snow across the northern half of scotland, heavy snow, drifting. strong easterly wind. further south, outbreaks of rain. for england and wales we will see sunny spells. a few heavy, maybe thundery april showers. look at those temperatures. that mild air, 13 maybe 15 celsius. much milder than what we have been used to. low pressure still with us tuesday into wednesday. eastern areas will see the milder air. cold air pouring in behind this area of low pressure. outbreaks of rain for scotland, northern ireland, turning wintry

over the higher ground of scotland, maybe down to the lower levels. elsewhere for england and wales it is another day of heavy april, maybe thundery showers and sunny spells. again, feeling quite mild, temperatures in double figures. this is bbc news. the headlines: china says its abandoned tiangong—1 space station re—entered the earth's atmosphere over the south pacific in the last few hours. experts say most of the eight tonne craft would have burnt up in its rapid descent. beijing is imposing import taxes on a range of us goods, in retaliation to donald trump's tariff increases on steel and aluminium imports. last month, china said it was planning tariffs on up to $3 billion worth of us imports.

north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has attended a ground—breaking pop concert, featuring south korean stars. the event is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures, that appear to mark a thaw in relations between the two sides. the leaders of the two koreas are due to hold a summit this month. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.