welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: 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. 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. 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 who'd gathered ahead of the big day. 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 familiar face 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 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, 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. there will be more on the royal wedding shortly. our correspondent andy moore

is spending the night in windsor and has been talking to people who've already bagged their space to watch the day's events. there certainly are a lot of people here. you can see the castle floodlit behind me in the distance. as you say, we are here on long walk, which has been renamed by some people here as long wait. there are a lot of people camping out tonight, fairly chilly this evening but people are bedding down and getting ready for the big day later on. let's talk to one family, three generations of royal watchers here. first of all, let's talk to grandma jill. this is nothing new to you — you have been to lots of royal weddings before? my mother took me to princess margaret's, and we camped out overnight when our daughter was very little for andrew and fergie. then we had will and kate, seven years ago. and here we are with the children, for theirfirst time. you yourself have seen

three generations of royals getting married ? three generations, absolutely, yes. ok, let's just talk to karen. karen, what do you think of the atmosphere on an occasion like this? it can't be beaten. fabulously british, you make friends with people whom you will never meet again. this lady behind me, apparently we were on the mall together at william and kate's wedding a few yards from each other, but we didn't know. it's lovely and wonderful, making friends. some people might say, why would you go to all this effort when you will see the royal couple for maybe a few seconds? to experience the atmosphere and the fun and the buzz of it. it's good to get excited about stuff, to find stuff that makes you happy.

champagne cork pops off-screen. there's the bubbly going! i think that's important in life. you have to find fun stuff and celebrate things. i'm a great believer in celebrating marriage and i'm happy for harry and meghan. gracie, why are you here? are you looking forward to the wedding? yeah, i'm really looking forward to the wedding. what are you looking forward to? i'm looking forward to mostly everything, well, everything, really. but i'm really looking forward to seeing meghan's dress. do you think you will be able to get any sleep tonight? um, probably... maybe a tiny bit, not much. just going to show you some pictures. this is the scene live at

windsor castle, the junction pictures. this is the scene live at windsor castle, thejunction in front of windsor castle. there are still activity there. i guess they will be waking up soon, the tv cameras and crew will be there shortly for the day's events. and all that stuff, the wedding stuff will be live on the bbc. now a look at other news: the cuban authorities have declared two days of national mourning following a plane crash that killed at least 106 people. the boeing 737 plunged into a field near havana's main airport, and burst into flames, narrowly avoiding a secondary school and a major road. several mexican crew are among those killed. 0ur 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: almost dawn — large crowds are spending the night on the streets in the english town of windsor waiting for the wedding of the queen's grandson,

prince harry to the american actress, meghan markle. we'll have more in the next few minutes. 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". among the guests arriving on the actual grounds of windsor castle in a few hours will be members of the public. more than 2,000 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 this weekend's wedding celebrations

than with a tea party? making the most of the sunny weather, the royal school here in windsor has 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... 0n the school, erm... summer uniforms. and we're going to be wearing straw hats. and 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. yeah. 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, "0k, 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 sonjude

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! adina campbell, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to entertainment journalist kj matthews and i asked her if people were excited about the royal wedding in la. america is more obsessed with the royals than we are with hollywood celebrities. it is pure pandemonium here. we love the royal family. we particularly love meghan markle

because she is a home town girl. she was born and raised here in los angeles. so naturally la is elated, thrilled, and beside themselves right now. it will be 3am when the wedding is happening, will people be watching it? absolutely! in fact, her high school, a catholic all—girls high school, the immaculate heart, they will have a summer party. they have invited students to come in around 1 o'clock, two o'clock in the morning and it is about 3:30am or 4am is when the wedding happens here in la and they said they will stay up all night because they want to see their most famous alumni get married. they never thought someone from their high school would make it and be a member of the royal family. all the girls say she is an inspiration, she motivates them and lets them know they can do anything and they can have a real impact on the world.

so immaculate heart is just thrilled. and beside that, they're all these pubs in los angeles that are saying "we are not closing. we will stay open all night." when 1:00 comes, we can watch it on various screens — all of the american networks will be broadcasting hours before the actual wedding. they are saying "have some beer, have some fish and chips, hang out and watch the royal wedding with us." fish and fries, more like. yeah! this is what i find interesting — because you have your own form of the royal family in the united states — kim kardashian, for example. the kardashians are like a royal family. right! it would not be the first time you have someone go from hollywood to a royal household in europe, but there is something special about this. it absolutely is! people from her mother's community here in los angeles, which happens to be a predominantly african—american neighbourhood and community, they are elated. they said they never thought that someone from their community

would actually make it to become a member of the royal family. of course, she is bi—racial, she is divorced, she isjust reflecting the modern part of society that they always hoped the royal family would follow. to have someone from their community to now be a member of the royal family, they arejust exhilarated. a political bloc led by muqtada al—sadr has won iraq's parliamentary election. the populist cleric, who led two uprisings after the american—led invasion of iraq, is in position to appoint the country's next prime minister. muqtada al—sadr came to prominence in 2003, urging his militant followers to carry out attacks on us and british soldiers and fuelling violence occurring in against iraq's sunni muslims but he reinvented himself as head of an anticorruption

coalition, a vehement critic of iran, he pushed an alliance backed by tehran into second place in the election of the outgoing prime minister haider al—abadi came third, failing to capitalise on iraq's victory over the islamic state group. muqtada al—sadr must now be in negotiations to a governing coalition with —— which seeks to avoid the influence of washington and tehran. warren bull reporting there. the human rights commissioner says israel used completely disproportionate force against palestinians protesting against the opening of the new us embassy in jerusalem. he was addressing a special session of the united nations human rights council which had been requested by arab states in response to the shootings. another story which you have to watch, i love this story. 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 400km above planet earth. definitely one for the scrapbook. and after some routine maintenance on the international space station, time for this astronaut to reach for his camera. but plans to record the spacewalk for posterity hit a snag. hey, houston, i have a question about the gopo real quick. we are all ears. go ahead. seeing, no. they are pushing the button and i see "no sd". that means, do i need that to record? the gopro, i am told if it has the card in that, it should have a red light if it is recording. and if it says no sd, 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, nasa hasn't said which was involved. andy beatt, bbc news. so, the stage is set for the royal wedding. crowds of well—wishers are camped outside windsor castle, hoping for at least a glimpse of prince harry and meghan markle. let's take a look back at their royal relationship. just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. he got on one knee. i fell in love with meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned, everything was perfect, it was this beautiful woman thought of literally tripped and fell into my life. he is definitely

set up, it was a blind date.|j fell into my life. he is definitely set up, it was a blind date. i was beautifully surprised when i looked into that room and saw her. i had to up my into that room and saw her. i had to up my game. he hadn't even finished proposing and i said can i say guess now. i saw her ring, the diamond is massive! she is capable of anything. both of us she is capable of anything. both of us have passions poured into making change, change for good. one step at a time and will start a family in the future. how sweet! this is the scene live at windsor castle now. yes, the sun is coming up. have fun and enjoy the royal wedding! 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 plenty of strong sunshine around.

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 2a 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 — the headlines: prince harry has been meeting well—wishers outside windsor castle where he will be marrying meghan markle in just a few hours. the american actress and her mother have arrived at the hotel where they have spent the night. the couple will wed at noon local time at st george's chapel in the castle. more than 100 people have died in a plane crash

near hava na's international airport. three people have survived and are seriously injured. witnesses say the boeing 737 ran into problems shortly after takeoff and placed 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 ten others wounded. the suspect, a 17—year—old student at the school in santa fe, has been arrested and charged with murder. he allegedly used a shotgun and a revolver from his father, who legally owned the weapons.