welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: as syrian government forces move on rebel—held douma, there's disturbing reports of a chemical weapons attack in the rebel—held district of eastern ghouta. it killed more than 150 people. german police say a man who drove into a busy street cafe in muenster, killing two people, had psychological problems. translation: the perpetrator who, at around 3pm, ploughed into a group of people was a german citizen and not, as it was reported, a refugee or something similar. brazil's former president lula ends a two—day stand—off and surrenders to police. he's due to start a 12—year prison sentence for corruption. president putinjoins worshippers at midnight mass in moscow to celebrate the orthodox easter. the us state department says it's

monitoring disturbing reports of a chemical weapons attack in the rebel—held district of eastern ghouta in syria. it has just issued this statement: the white helmets, a group of volunteer rescue workers, say at least 150 people have been killed and hundreds injured. women and children are among the dead. the syrian government has denied carrying out any such attack.

earlier i spoke with ahmad tarakkji, president of the syrian american medical society, a relief organisation that works on the frontlines of crisis relief in syria. staff have been dealing with victims of the attack. at this time i want to start with the casualties that we have received inside the hospitals. since the evening time in damascus we received many patients who have suffered from symptoms compatible with exposure to chlorine, high concentration chlorine gas. but as time went on, we found out six people died as they were in the hospital. their death actually is not only explained by the limited resources but also their symptoms were deteriorating in a fashion that's not compatible with pure chlorine gas exposure, and that's why our physicians are concerned about exposure to nerve gas in low concentrations.

that is being reviewed right now by our experts. in addition to that we had about four children whose condition deteriorated while they were in the hospital, and they are also under critical care condition and in intensive care units support at this time. unfortunately with the evacuation casualties and deliberate targeting of medicalfacilities in douma and ghouta, we have low numbers of medical staff and physicians able to handle those conditions. for example we have physicians, 20, for 100,000 people and we only only four oxygen generators for those people. 0ur colleagues from the white helmets in addition to our staff in ghouta are there, and they have shared with us the reports on the casualties when they tried to evacuate people who were exposed to chemical weapons in the neighbouring areas

to the hospital. and, as you said, we have seen tens of people who died inside those basements as they were trying to shield from the constant bombardment that's taking place in ghouta. people were dead over there. even our colleagues and first responders weren't able to get to the basement because they had to retire to protect them. the smell and the concentration of chlorine was so significant that they themselves had some symptoms of respiratory distress and they had to get out of the basement until it is safe to go back in and evacuate those patients, whoever is left or the people who died. that's why the numbers are going up. whenever we do reports like this we have to be careful because we don't know for sure what happened because it's difficult to verify, of course, from a distance, but what you're hearing, is it on the basis of the previous experience you guys have had of other attacks allegedly of this sort?

as a medical organisation, medicalfacilities, we have many ways of reviewing the symptoms, the charts, presentation, the response to the available medical treatments and that's what's available inside syria. we don't have labs to confirm, for example, the blood testing and urine samples. physicians are saying we are able to collect samples, we want the international community to investigate the samples and tell us if these attacks are compatible with nerve gas or chemical weapons. let's confirm that and see where this is coming from. because clearly the high concentration of chlorine is coming from helicopters and air forces that have been dropped from the sky. and certainly the casualties are so high to the point where it's an attack on civilians, it isn't an attack on the front line, it isn't an attack from clashes

between arming sides, this involves civilians and that's why our physicians and first responders are asking that the international community takes action to investigate and review this. we all want this, we all want to see what happened. having said that, ghouta is one of the places frequently exposed to chemical attacks using chlorine and other chemical weapons that time and again they proved to be very accurate and precise and our partner organisations have been reporting the attacks throughout syria, and many of the international investigations confirm the those attacks to be accurate. officials in germany say there's no indication a man who deliberately drove a vehicle through a cafe terrace in the city of muenster had an islamist background. three people died, including the driver, who took his own life, about 20 people were injured, six of them seriously. local media report the 48—year—old suspect had a history of psychological problems. 0ur berlin correspondent, jenny hill, sent this report. in the historic heart of an old university city,

a scene of horror. the square was busy. people enjoying the spring sunshine when a van ploughed through what is usually a pedestrian zone. for those in its path, little chance to escape. the pavement cafe was full of people — eating, drinking, relaxing. it was a small restaurant and the people are sitting outside and then the van crashed into the restaurant. after the m his identity is still unclear. but they have yet to formally establish a motive. earlier, they raided an apartment believed to be the man's home. he's said to be a german citizen who's known to the police. a man in his late 40s

with health problems. a man in his late 40s with mental health problems. translation: the perpetrator who, at around 3pm, ploughed into people was a german citizen. and not, as it was reported, a refugee or something similar. the details are being thoroughly examined. because of that, we can't go into further details. but we must wait and see. tonight, those investigations continue. in a city now mourning its dead and praying for those left fighting for life. jenny hill, bbc news. you'll find more details on how that attacked unfolded on our website. there's a full account of events in muenster plus more on other recent attacks in germany. just go bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. the former brazilian president, luiz inacio lula da silva, has surrendered himself to police to begin a 12—year sentence for corruption. lula is being taken from his hometown near sao paulo to a prison

in the southern city of curitiba. the former president insists he is innocent. lebo diseko has more, and just to warn you, her report contains flash photography from the start. his supporters were far from happy but lula had promised he'd do it. more than 2a hours after the deadline had passed, brazil's former president pushed through this crowd to hand himself in and start a 12—year prison sentence for corruption. earlier he'd addressed adoring crowds. by his side, his impeached successor as president, dilma rousseff. translation: i'm doing a very conscious, very conscious thing. i will go. i'm not going to run, and so they know i'm going to prove my innocence, they need to know that. for his supporters, he was still a warrior

of the people, imprisoned in order to stop him running for president in october, a poll he was favourite to win. but his opponents‘ voices have been just as loud. outside federal police headquarters, some called him a thief who belongs in prison. translation: i came herejust so i could see up close when this crooked man, lula, goes to prison. with police having to keep the pro and anti—lula protesters apart, the high feelings outside this building perhaps mirror wider brazilian society, divided between those who still believe lula is the best thing to happen to their country and those who think he was one of the worst. lebo diseko, bbc news. protesters stopped the car from

leaving, he walked out and sped off mike ina leaving, he walked out and sped off mike in a car. he went straight to have a medical exam, a helicopter to the local airport and from there he is going to the southern city of origi but where he begins his 12 year prison sentence. -- southern city of courage is the. i'm assuming this isn't the end of the story —— coritiba. it's the end of a dramatic saga in the brazilian political history. he will serve his sentence, he still says he wants to appeal and he still says he wants to appeal and he has two higher appeal courts. he says he's not going to give up, even

though he's handed himself in. no doubt lula will still be quite an influential figure. doubt lula will still be quite an influentialfigure. we've doubt lula will still be quite an influential figure. we've got presidential elections coming up in october and we'll be interested to see what happens then because he has said he still wants to stand, but of course he'll probably be prevented from doing so. it's been striking to see the support for lula but also the opposition. absolutely. there we re the opposition. absolutely. there were two brazils this evening, there we re were two brazils this evening, there were the protesters, who didn't want him to be handed in and to surrender, and on the other side of sao paulo there were people cheering, fireworks going. there's a real divide here in brazil, certainly a lot of people may be sad but there are plenty of others very happy about him now starting his sentence. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. defence officials in afghanistan say they've killed a senior commander of the islamic state group. they say a drone was used to target qari hekmat in the northern province of jawzjan.

he had defected from the taliban to is a year ago. a number of senior members of the extremist group have been killed in afghanistan recently. israel's army says it will investigate the death of a palestinian journalist shot during the latest round of clashes between palestinian protesters and israeli forces on gaza's border with israel. the 30—year—old was one of nine palestinians killed on friday. today palestinian mourners in the gaza strip buried their dead. the vatican's police force has arrested a priest suspected of breaking child pornography laws. monsignor carlo alberto capella is being held in one of the vatican's cells, he was working at the holy see's embassy in washington until recently. american and canadian officials started investigating the priest last year. opposition parties in hungary are calling for a mass turnout and tactical voting in sunday's parliamentary elections, that's to prevent a fourth term in office for the prime minister viktor orban. mr orban told his supporters the poll is all about keeping migrants out of hungary.

opinion polls put the governing fidesz party comfortably ahead. tributes have been paid to the 15 people killed after a bus carrying a junior ice hockey team crashed in canada. more than a dozen other passengers were injured, when the vehicle collided with a truck in the province of saskatchewan. our north america correspondent, chris buckler, reports. in hospital, team—mates are turning to each other for support. all too aware that many of those they played alongside have been killed. commentator: 18 seconds to go on this humboldt power play... in canada, ice hockey is a sport that unites. and in humboldt, a community ofjust 6000 people, their team, the broncos, aren'tjust seen as stars, but as sons and neighbours. the worst nightmare has happened. as a league, we will support the humboldt broncos every way possible.

the players, many of them teenagers, were on their way to a play—off match in a nearby town when the bus they were on collided with a lorry. instead of going to watch thatjunior league game, their families spent the night together in a church hall, hoping for information, and fearing what it might be. take that time to recognise all of our young men, and our coaching staff, and everybody who's been involved in this tragedy. on twitter, the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, said: the humboldt broncos were due to play another game this weekend. instead, the stadium will play host to a vigil, for a team torn apart as they travelled together. chris buckler, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: bollywood superstar salman khan released from jail while appealing his 5—year poaching sentence. 25 years of hatred and rage as theyjump up on the statue. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's works were beautiful,

they were intelligent, and it's a sad loss to everybody who loves art. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: as syrian government forces move on rebel—held douma, volunteer rescue workers say more than 150 people have been killed in a chemical weapon attack on a rebel—held district of eastern ghouta. german officials say there's no indication a man who killed two people in a vehicle attack in muenster, had any islamist connections. let's get the latest on that story — the bbc‘s bethany bell is in munster and just sent this report. this is about as close as we can get

to the site of the incident which took place further down the street. the police have cordoned off this entire area. earlier, they were investigating a suspect bag in the vehicle of the perpetrator. he has 110w vehicle of the perpetrator. he has now been identified as a german man by the regional interior ministry to you. people who live in this area have been evacuated. the number of them will be spending the night in a theatre just along the road from here on the police are continuing their investigations. meanwhile, the city is very much in shock. this is an area where people would go out, ona an area where people would go out, on a saturday night people would normally be out on the streets and in bars, enjoying themselves. people are wondering how it was that this came to happen. russia's ambassador to the uk has requested a meeting with the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, to discuss last month's nerve agent attack in salisbury.

the russian embassy in london said its relationship with the foreign office was "utterly unsatisfactory". moscow denies trying to poison its former spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, who are both recovering in hospital. here's our political correspondent, alex forsyth. well, the details of this invitation appeared on the russian embassy's website today and they said it was high time there was a meeting. they said the russian ambassador had written a personal note to the foreign secretary with this invitation and they hoped that uk would engage constructively. this seems to be part of efforts by russia to portray the british government as the ones who are being obstructive and uncooperative. russian officials have already questioned the decision to deny a visa to the cousin of yulia skripal, victoria. and to prevent consular access to the skripals in hospital. for its part, the foreign office has said it will consider this request and respond in due course but it's dismissed all of this as diversionary tactics, an attempt to deflect from questions about the russians' role in this attack. it has said that it is russia whose response has been unsatisfactory, it is russia that has failed

to engage constructively. while sergei and yulia skripal, their condition is said to be improving, but diplomatic relations between russia and the uk most certainly are not. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, says police officers should feel "confident" to stop and search anyone they suspect of carrying an offensive weapon. mr khan emphasised his support for the targeted use of the tactic, after more than 50 suspected murders in the city so far this year. an extra 300 officers are being deployed in areas of london worst affected by violence. simonjones reports. lives lost, families grieving, some living in fear. and the growing question, what can be done to tackle violent crime? with calls for the police to make more use of controversial powers to stop—and—search suspects for weapons. the number of searches has fallen dramatically in recent years amid fears that poorer areas and ethnic minority groups were being disproportionately targeted. when stop—and—search is used properly, it's an invaluable tool to the police.

we want more targeted, intelligence—led stop—and—search. the game changer as far as london should be concerned is we have had the biggest roll—out in the world of body—worn cameras. the advantage for members of the public is they should have the confidence that the police officer is recording the interaction between the police officer and the member of the public. hundreds of extra officers are on the streets of london this weekend. but some academics question whether using stop—and—search significantly reduces violent crime. the metropolitan police commissioner, cressida dick, said she backed searches done in a way that is targeted and intelligence—led. in east london, there's some support. this is the right time to do it. we've seen too many killed. people could feel targeted as well, why am i being stopped rather than me or this guy or this woman, or so on and so forth. let them stop me and search me. let them stop even the girls, because the girls are also

in the gangs. here in hackney, flowers mark the spot where 18—year—old israel ogunsola lost his life this week. he was stabbed to death. many here say they've had enough. they want an end to the violence. but there is recognition there may be no simple quick fix. one former chief superintendent with the met says much more needs to be done to prevent young people carrying weapons in the first place. i think we need to be doing much more in schools. and certainly when i've spoken to parents of children who have been murdered, one thing they say, all of them, without exception, is they want to see much more intervention at an earlier stage in schools. as the grieving continues, the mayor of london has invited the home secretary and all london's mps to a knife crime summit next week to discuss what else can be done in the fight against violence that is ruining so many lives. simon jones, bbc news. firefighters have been tackling a blaze on the 50th floor of trump tower in new york.

the city's fire department says one person has been seriously injured and three fire fighters were also hurt. the building serves as the headquarters for the trump organisation — the business group owned by donald trump — and he has an office and a home there — although he's currently in washington. bollywood star salman khan has been released from jail after being granted bail by an indian court. the 52—year—old actor has now arrived home in mumbai and waved at huge crowds from his balcony. the indian actor was sentenced to five years in prison on thursday, after being found guilty of killing two rare blackbuck antelopes, 20 years ago. under the terms of his bail, salman khan has been ordered to pay around £500 and will not be able to leave india without the court's permission. our correspondent nitin srivastava was outside the court in jodhpur. there has been a sense of huge jubilation, firecrackers have been

burst outside the courtroom by hundreds of bands of the bollywood superstar salman khan. ever since the news he was granted bail came out. this is the sessions court where the hearing has been on since the morning. the local authorities did not allow the superstar to come and attend the hearing in person. they fear it could become a law and order problem. as you can see, there are fans, a huge media presence. and family, who had come to the court hearing. one of india's top superstars, but this surely is not a full respite. the case is still on in the hearing is set to resume $0011. worshippers are holding candlelit vigils around the world for holy saturday for the orthodox easter—eve tradition. in russia, patriarch kirill led this beautiful easter mass in moscow's christ

the saviour cathedral. president vladimir putin was among the huge crowd at the midnight service. in jerusalem's old city, tens of thousands of christian pilgrims gathered for the holy fire ceremony, which dates back at least 1,200 years. and this was the scene on the greek island of corfu, where the tradition is to drop pots from a great height thousands of people gather to watch the pots smash, and cheer on those throwing them from balconies. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @nkem|fejika. mixed weather fortunes

to start the weekend, some of us broken cloud and sunny spells and pleasently warmth, 19 degrees celsius at gravesend in kent, the uk's highest temperature of the year so far. looked pretty nice at whitstable as well. but not everybody enjoyed this kind of weather. there was a spell of rain moving north on saturday and for a while in the afternoon, cumbria looked like this. it will be cheerier in the day ahead. and this is what it looks like first thing. a mild start in south—eastern areas. but some patchy rain around. elsewhere, mainly dry. mist and fog, temperatures in mid to low single figures. the weather picture for part two of the weekend is fairly quiet for most of us but this weather front is a troublemaker, particularly who's going to get the rain from it. sunday a hard one to summarise. many northern and western parts of the uk might well stay dry, and get to see some

sunshine at times. may catch a shower. there is the chance of rain covering much of england from that weather front i showed you. this rain mayjust drift a little bit further west into parts of the midlands, maybe to dorset too, heading towards the east midlands and lincolnshire. some to the east of it, easternmost parts of england might avoid the rain and stay dry. with the exception of a few showers. elsewhere, scotland and northern ireland, sunny spells developing, one of two showers, not everybody will catch one. one or two showers breaking out too towards westernmost england and wales, but also seeing some sunshine. temperatures around 10 or 1a degrees, cooler, where you have the sunshine yesterday, it might feel a bit warmer than yesterday. brightens up in the afternoon. still to south—eastern parts on sunday evening, some outbreaks of rain. looking ahead to monday, we still have this weather front just edging a little bit further westward,

or trying to. plenty of cloud. we still have scattered showers in scotland and northern ireland. some heavy. the best of the sunny spells here. similar temperatures across the united kingdom. not a huge deal of difference from our weather on monday. but there are developments as we go through the week ahead. on tuesday, still come weather fronts close by. i can show you this picture which has high pressure in scandinavia and a developing easterly flow. we have seen that before in recent months. don't worry. nothing too beastly in the week ahead. there will be that developing easterly flow. look at the wind arrows here. what that meanss is plenty of cloud coming in. some outbreaks of rain coming in from the east. quite chilly along the north sea coast. probably the best of any limited brightness in the west of the uk. this is bbc news. the headlines — as syrian government forces move on rebel—held douma — reports emerge of a chemical weapons attack killing more than 150 people. germany's chancellor angela merkel says she is deeply shocked by a vehicle attack in the north—western city of muenster, which left two people dead and around 20 injured. the perpetrator drove the car

into a busy pedestrianised street then took his own life. officials say there's no indication that he had any islamist connections. brazil's former president lula has ended a two—day stand—off and surrenders to police, to begin a 12—year sentence for corruption. he'd been evading arrest while holed up in a union headquarters near sao paulo. he walked out to be taken away in a convoy of police cars. now it's time for dateline london. hello, i'm shaun ley and this is dateline london —

the programme where journalists from abroad who report on events here for the folks back home debate the big stories of the moment with their peers from the uk. this week, things get murkier, not clearer, on the poisoning