welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe — my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: crowd: harry! harry! the final countdown to the royal wedding — prince harry talks to the crowds outside windsor castle. good evening miss markle — how are you feeling tonight? while meghan markle and her mum arrive at the country house hotel where they're spending the night. iamat i am at windsor castle where people are camping out, just ten hours to go now until the big events. in other news: more than 100 people are feared dead after a plane crashes shortly after ta ke—off from havana. and ten people have been killed at a school shooting in texas. a 17—year—old pupil has been charged with murder. we'll be looking at a few other

developing stories later in this programme. but first, hundreds of people hoping to grab a prime spot for prince harry's wedding to meghan markle are camping overnight outside windsor castle. ms markle will be walked down part of the aisle by prince charles. her own father is unable to attend the ceremony following heart surgery. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports from windsor. the night before his wedding and harry, accompanied by his brother and best man, william, emerged from windsor castle to meet the crowds. good wishes were offered and hands were shaken. children in particular were singled out for attention. and then, what's this? a familiar face in the crowd had been spotted. a familiarface indeed, although not quite what it seemed.

you would hardly find her in an ice cream parlour on windsor high street! harry and william said their farewells to the crowd — if there were any last—minute nerves, they certainly were not visible. and as the groom and his best man headed for their hotel, so the bride, meghan markle, and her mother, doria raglan, arrived at theirs. doria ragland, arrived at theirs. good evening, ms markle. how are you doing tonight? it has been an at times bumpy week for the markle family, with the uncertainties and ultimate withdrawal from the service of meghan‘s father. but mother and daughter who both met the queen for tea seemed relaxed. the absence of mr markle means meghan‘s mother is the only member of her family who will be at the wedding. as windsor basked in the spring sunshine that the final pieces of the wedding jigsaw fitted into place with the announcement that prince charles would escort meghan markle

to the altar. a statement from kensington palace said: this is how it will work. ms markle will enter the chapel through the great west door. she will walk the first part of the aisle through the nave, accompanied by the ten bridesmaids and pageboys. then at the choir screen on the left of the picture, prince charles willjoin her and escort her through the most historic part of the chapel to where harry will be waiting for his bride. they will stand just there by the chapel‘s high altar. they will exchange their marriage vows and then the archbishop of canterbury will declare them to be husband and wife. there had been speculation that maybe meghan would ask her mother to escort her to the altar, and among the wedding watchers in windsor,

there was some disappointment she had not done so. we would like to see her mum walk her down the aisle, or walk herself down the aisle. if it were me, i would be pleased with charles walking me. you know, it is the father figure, you know what i'm saying? and it means, hey meghan, i love you, you love my son, welcome to the royal family. i think whatever her mother was comfortable with, if she wanted to, that would have been lovely, but if she prefers not to, i think it is wonderful that prince charles is doing it. so now it is just the finishing touches to be put to plans which have been worked on for months. windsor is preparing for crowds on a possibly unprecedented scale. police have launched one of the biggest security operations mounted by the thames valley force. the military who will be on parade are back in barracks getting ready. these are the household cavalry soldiers who will be escorting the newly married couple on the carriage procession.

it is a royal wedding to be celebrated and enjoyed. and with just hours to go, a good many in windsor were settling down for the night, in readiness for harry and meghan‘s big day. and because we are the bbc, and even though it is 1am, andy moorejoins me now from the long walk. aren't they going to bed? they are trying to get some sleep, some of the people here, but it is a very cold and chilly night, you may be able to see my breath in the air, people are camped out in the open behind me, police are not allowing any tents, there may be one so viciously put up there in the background. those people arejust camped out in the open. ——

surreptitiously. the long walk has been renamed the long wait, writer and the castle, there are people. let's try and talk to some. one eater, where have you come from?” come from maryland, right outside washington, dc. why have you come all this way, to sleep out in the open? i have a hotel, i am not better night. i wanted to see the procession, and i just better night. i wanted to see the procession, and ijust plant to come from a while, i am really excited. what are you excited about? just the two of them being married, but also meghan markle and a whole being american, that whole thing, i am proud of her, so that is why. are the americans getting excited about this event? i think so. i think a lot of them wish they could be here, but it is pretty far so they would

not be able to. what do you think meghan markle will bring to the royalfamily? she is meghan markle will bring to the royal family? she is smart, meghan markle will bring to the royalfamily? she is smart, more of an average person, more understanding, i think that is what she would bring, especially of americans. she would bring that understanding. and what are you hoping to see from this funded point here? the procession -- vantage point. the procession, see her, c prince harry, i point. the procession, see her, c prince harry, lam point. the procession, see her, c prince harry, i am looking forward to that, seeing the dress and everything else. what do you think we might see in the dress, it has been a closely kept secret, what are you hoping for? i keep thinking, and i can't you hoping for? i keep thinking, and ican't imagine. you hoping for? i keep thinking, and i can't imagine. i am hoping a lot of lace and little pearls, but i think no matter what it will be beautiful. really beautiful. one

eater, thank you. —— juanita, just one of the people camping out here, trying to get some sleep but be some will be rising in a few hours, and the big event isjust ten hours away. thank you very much, i hope you get some sleep. i am so giddy with excitement i got the time wrong. among the guests arriving on the actual grounds of windsor castle in a few hours will be members of the public. more than 2000 were selected from around the uk — some of them as a reward for services to their community. adina campbell has been to meet a few of them. what better way to start the wedding preparations than with a tea party. here in windsor, they've been gearing up for the big day for months. some have even been invited.

and what are you going to be wearing? er, we're going to be wearing our school uniforms. and somebody‘s ironed a nice badge on... on the school, erm... summer uniforms. and we're going to be wearing straw hats. and they have this advice for meghan. it's a very new world to her because she used to live in america, now she's in the uk, in england, and it's going to be very different. she'll probably have to change her accent, i think, from american. yeah. and she needs to, like, fit in, but i think she's already doing that well. yeah. we need to talk about why, or how, prince harry and meghan, er, this force for good that i mentioned earlier on. up in bolton is 21—year—old saeed atcha. he's been running this young people's magazine for the last seven years and got the idea because he felt there was a lack of positive stories about teenagers. his work has also earned him an invite to windsor tomorrow. you never do what you do for recognition, you do it to change lives of young people.

and when you get that kind of recognition, it was like, wow, ok, someone's actually believing in what i'm doing! i think that meghan and prince harry are a power couple, absolutely. and i've seen them both speak at events before they were a couple, and meghan was talking about racial inequality and female empowerment, and i thought... i didn't know who she was and i thought, that's fantastic! are these for the wedding? yes, this is especially for the wedding. and i'm hoping maybe to give a few away on that day to people who i think deserve to be given a handkerchief from studio 306... in north london, pamela anomneze is also getting ready for this weekend's nuptials. she runs this creative therapy workshop to improve people's mental health. she'll be taking her son, jude, as part of the day out, but says she was shocked when she received the invite last month. i believed this might be just an april fool prank. it's a joke.

why would i be invited to a royal wedding?! oh, my gosh! i bless them a million times. i love both of them, actually. iwas, like, "well, prince harry's lucky! he's a lucky man!" now, the most important question — what are you going to be wearing? african and english design. so, you wait for that day, you will be so jealous of my beautiful outfit! iam i am slightly jealous, i am slightlyjealous, if you look behind me there, that is a shot of wins a behind me there, that is a shot of winsa high behind me there, that is a shot of wins a high street, and if you look to the right you can see some of the people camped out, on the pavement. just to let you know that this is going to be everywhere, wall—to—wall coverage of this wedding will be everywhere, but the best place to watch it will be here on the bbc from five o'clock uk time, so just under three hours time we will have

full coverage without team of presenters who are there, reporters all around and it will be happening throughout the day. it will be exciting for those who want to watch it, and for those who don't, well, it, and for those who don't, well, it is still a day to remember. you can have some kind of street party if you don't want to watch the wedding yourself. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: imagine getting all the way up here and realising you've forgotten your camera's memory stick. the nasa astronaut‘s ‘houston! we have a problem' moment. the pope was shot, the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon, that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked a woman just sentenced to six years in jail. the judge told mrs mandela

there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc news. the latest headlines: prince harry is greeted with shouts of "good luck" from well—wishers as he goes on a surprise walkabout in windsor on the eve of his wedding. meanwhile, meghan markle and her mum arrive at a nearby country hotel where they are spending the night.

ms markle said she was feeling "wonderful". now a look at other developing news: a plane with almost 120 people on board has crashed shortly after take—off from the cuban capital havana. it's being reported thatjust three people survived and are critically injured. the boeing 737 was on a domestic flight to the eastern city of holguin. our correspondent will grant has the latest. 104 passengers, several crew members, just three survivors. it was immediately clear this was cuba's worst plane crash since the 1980s. the 737 had barely been in the air for a minute before it came down, crashing into a field outside havana's airport. children in a nearby school had a narrow escape. their screams and nervous laughter obvious on their mobile phone footage. local people came to offer what help they could and the emergency services arrived in their droves.

in the end, though, there was little anyone could do. translation: this is catastrophic. this should never happen. i never imagined something like this. translation: this is a terrible tragedy. imagine. we are very emotional. cubans, so used to turning to the castros in times of crisis, now have a new president. it fell to him to bear the bad news. translation: we have to wait. the news is not very promising because a lot of people seem to have died. that's why, in the name of the government and the party, i express our condolences. this was a domestic flight run by cuba's state aviation company with a plane leased from a mexican firm on its way to the eastern city of holguin when it came down. the communist—run government's fleet in cuba largely dates from the soviet era, much of it ageing and in poor condition. at this stage, though, there is no indication why so many families are now grieving,

why a routine flight, a short hop across the island, ended in this tragedy. will grant, bbc news. president trump has expressed his "sadness and heartbrea k" at the killing of ten people at a school in texas. ten others, including a police officer, were also injured. the 17—year—old attacker has been taken into custody. he's alleged to have used a shotgun and revolver. explosives have also been found in the area around the santa fe high school. james cooke reports. the calls came in just before 8am, again. gunshot. a gunman on the campus, this time at santa fe high school. police searching school bags for deadly weapons. for the united states, this is now routine, but no less terrifying for its familiarity.

i shouldn't be going through this at my school! like, this is my daily life! i shouldn't have to feel like that! and i'm so scared to even go back. was there a part of you that's like, "this isn't real. this isn't — this wouldn't happen at my school"? no, there wasn't, um... why so? it's been happening everywhere. i felt — i've always kind of felt like eventually, it was going to happen here, too. the teachers just screamed at us to run and take us to took off, so we all took off towards the back. i ran through someone's yard and jumped their fence. the emergency services poured onto campus, again. among the injured, a school police officer. authorities said a suspect had been arrested but the threat was not over. there have been explosive devices found in the high school and surrounding areas adjacent to the high school. because of the threat of these explosive items, community members should be on the lookout. the president of the united states appeared on cameras, again.

we grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack. this is the suspected gunman and his story, too, is familiar. dimitrios pagourtzis, 17 years old, a talented american football player who studied at santa fe high. his social media posts were disturbing. his journals apparently included a plan for a suicidal shooting at his school. texas has some of the most lax gun laws in the western world and right outside the school, an emotional battle over the right to bear arms raged on. what was going through your head when you found out that this was going on? get to the school. make america great again. by doing what? what was your plan of action? offering support. you just "god bless you all" will go a long ways right now for a lot of people.

thank you. i'm going to head this way. god bless y'all. this guy right here saying "making america great" does not make america great. walking down the street carrying a flag with a pistol when we have just had a shooting — that is disgusting! more americans have been killed in school shootings this year than have died serving in the us military. this country is struggling to explain the inexplicable, again. james cook, bbc news. well, let's cross to our correspondent, gary o'donoghue who is in texas for us. what is the latest week you are? —— what is the latest where you are? in the last couple of hours, the gunmen has been taken into custody, not being offered any bail, being charged with some capital crime, a little murder, as you would expect, the federal authorities are also

potentially looking at other charges as well that he could face. in the meantime, the police are continuing to search here at the santa fe high school and indeed at two other locations to see if there are any more of these explosive devices that came to light in the wake of the shooting. of course what we are getting is the traditional, the terrible tragic traditional pattern continues after each and every one of these shootings with the community that his shocked, has lost nine of its young people and their teacher as well, and is asking the inevitable question why. and it is in getting much by way of ads at this moment in time. in the past, gary, after these shootings have been indications person was on the radar was been indications person was on the radarwas humming been indications person was on the radar was humming along those lines. are there any indications in this instance? the governor of texas said there were no sort of red flags as he put it, the phraseology they use here, that there does appear to be

some kind ofjournal which we haven't seen yet where he talks about a shooting, talks about committing suicide afterwards, according to the government, which, of course, he didn't do, the suspect, that is, and there were some social media post switch people have focused on although if there is an ideological motivation to those, they do seem rather confused because there is not the iconography in there is not the iconography in there as well as the hammer and sickle, so it is difficult to know, to deduce what kind of thinking is going on there so this will continue for the next few days and of course unlike in some other shootings where the suspect dies at the scene or dyes are there in hand, in this case, the man accused of these shootings is alive and the police will be here to question him and potentially put on trial we all have the answer and face some of these questions. and we have had commenters well from the, those who survived the motorist and douglas shootings in florida, talking about this particular one. -- marjory is the". the parkland shooting is only

three months ago and those students began a nationwide movement really with marching and walkouts, really keeping the issue of school skaifey at the top of the agenda and have had at the top of the agenda and have ha d su ccess at the top of the agenda and have had success not just at the top of the agenda and have had success notjust in changing laws in florida but also keeping the opinion polls much more robust in favour of further gun controls —— school safety. they tend to fall back after these events, they have fallen back but not as much as they would have previously. they said lots of messages of support as you can imagine the students here at sa nta can imagine the students here at santa fe high school, and i think we will see this as a, yet another example, yet another reason to put pressure on the federal government, put pressure on the white house, which lowered its flag to half—mast today but didn't seem to have much else to say beyond that gesture. thank you, gary o'donoghue. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.

a political bloc led by muqtada al—sadr has won iraq's parliamentary election, according to the country's electoral commission. the populist cleric is a long—time adversary of the united states and the election puts him in position to pick iraq's prime minister. the united nations human rights commissioner has said israel used completely disproportionate force against palestinians protesting the opening of the new us embassy in jerusalem. zeid ra'ad al hussein was addressing a special session of the united nation's human rights council which had been requested by arab states in response to the shootings. the former spy sergei skripal has been discharged from hospital, although police are refusing to comment on his whereabouts. mr skripal was poisoned more than two months ago with a nerve agent in salisbury. it's understood that he is able to walk but is not completely well. nasa's admitted a failed mission of sorts on the international space station. one of the crew ran into difficulties on a spacewalk, telling houston "we have a problem." andy beatt reports.

a view to remember. 400 kilometres above planet earth. definitely one to the scrap. and after some routine maintenance on the international space station, time to this astronaut to reach his camera. but plans to record the spacewalk for posterity hit a snag. houston, i have a question about the go pro real quick. we are all ears. go ahead. they are pushing the button andi ahead. they are pushing the button and i see no s d. that means, do we need that the record? the go pro, i am told if it has the card in that it should have a red light if it is recording. and if it is low st, what does that mean? i think that means no card. a very human mistake from an elite astronaut at the top of this field. facing a long trip home

to collect another memory card, he was forced to admit defeat. well, we can put this one back in the bag, i guess. that sounds like a good plan. two us flight engineers are on the current iss mission to spare his blushes, nasser hasn't said which was involved. taking you back to windsor castle, that is the live scene of windsor castle now and you canjust scene of windsor castle now and you can just see what of police cars on the streets there, people on the streets, there are close to the castle, is that a moderate, a bit of water before the castle walls? or just grass? are people camped out there, and if you are not watching there, and if you are not watching the royal wedding you can watch the football but if you do not like royal wedding is awful old and i don't know what you will do with your saturday. the bbc will have full coverage of the royal wedding from five o'clock uk time. join us

then. stay with us for now. hello there. we ended the week on a lovely note, thanks to this big area of high pressure which will still be with us during the weekend and for many of us into next week as well. weather watcher photos pouring through of the glorious sunset up and down the uk. you can see how beautiful the skies were to end friday. as we head on into the weekend we are going to see more of the same for many of us, strong sunshine and a bit warmer as well. as we head into the early hours of saturday there will be a bit more cloud across northern and western parts of scotland. more of a breeze here as well. not too bad with temperatures around double figures, i think, for most. further south, particularly in eastern areas, it is going to be another chilly start to saturday, maybe even a touch of grass frost in places and also a bit of mist and fog too. there is a big area of high pressure with us to start the weekend. keeping these weather fronts at bay for now, until we reach sunday.

a glorious—looking day for the royal wedding in windsor. a bit of cloud around, temperatures should rise with your strong sunshine. it's looking pretty good for the scottish cup final and the fa cup final, with temperatures reaching 19 or 20 celsius. this is the picture for saturday. you can see there is plenty of cloud in the sky to start the day across england, wales and southern scotland. high cloud developing here and there which could make the sunshine hazy at times. across the north—west corner of scotland is where we will see the thickest of the cloud, so temperatures will be 15 or 16 at best. eastern scotland, 20 degrees, england and wales looking at 21 or 22. that area of high pressure shifts further east. it will influence the weather across much of england and wales, but these weather fronts will be allowed to push in across northern ireland and much of scotland. we will see more of a breeze and outbreaks of rain, particularly across north—western scotland. the north—east of scotland shouldn't be too bad, with some sunshine. elsewhere across the country, another fine—looking day, with top temperatures of 22

or maybe 23 degrees, and lots of low cloud across the far south—east, but that should burn up as you go north up the coast. on monday, this weather front across parts of northern ireland and northern and western scotland will stay put. persistent rain there. elsewhere, a fine day once again. good sunny spells, but a few sharp showers or thunderstorms developing across southern areas later on in the day as temperatures reach highs of 23 or maybe 24 celsius. that weather front will continue to plague much of scotland and northern ireland for the week ahead. high pressure will dominate the scene elsewhere. plenty of warm sunshine but always the threat of heavy showers. this is bbc news and these are the headlines. prince harry has been meeting well—wishers outside windsor castle where he will be marrying meghan markle tomorrow. the american actress and her mother have arrived at the hotel where they will spend

the night. the couple will wed at noon local time. or the 100 people have died in a plane crash near havana's international airport. three people survived and are seriously injured. witnesses said the plan ran into problems shortly after taking off and plunged into agricultural land next to the airport. catching fire on impact. a shooting at a high school in texas has left ten people dead and another injures. the suspect, who is a 17—year—old student at the school in sa nta 17—year—old student at the school in santa fe, has been arrested and charged with murder. his father legally owned these weapons that are used.