crossrail, the new london line being built across the capital, could be over two years behind schedule, the bbc learns. europe's biggest infrastructure project was due to open in december last year, but has been dogged by delay and overspend. we'll be asking why it's proving so difficult to deliver crossrail within the time and budget set out. also this lunchtime... facebook bans 12 far right individuals and organisations, saying they have no place on its platform. as climate change protests continue in the capital, three people appear in court charged with obstructing public transport. in the us, the long—awaited mueller report into alleged russian interference in the 2016 election is to be published, but with redactions. and alex mcleish exits as scotland coach by mutual consent, after a string of poor

matches and results. and coming up on bbc news... a blockbuster tie with barcelona for liverpool. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. crossrail, the new underground railway line running east to west through central london, may not be finished until the spring of 2021, making it over two years behind schedule. the bbc has learned that none of the stations for the new line have been completed and there are concerns about the signalling system. the project, which is the largest of its kind in europe, is also nearly three billion pounds over budget.

our transport correspondent, tom burridge, reports. this is why a new rail line is needed. even during easter holidays, the east to west rush hour is a squeeze. but now another warning for commuters that crossrail might still be some way off. it doesn't surprise me to be honest because most things are delayed, aren't they? it's still good it's happening eventually, i guess, whenever that is. it sounds like a bit of a joke, doesn't it? if it's supposed to be done... december last year it was supposed to open? when it finally gets here, yes, it will be a massive help to everyone who lives on either side of london. it is one of the most impressive engineering projects in modern times. a new high—tech, high capacity rail line underneath central london. but a senior source associated with crossrail has told bbc news that this railway may not be complete until the spring of 2021. with none of the new station finished, a best case scenario, i'm told, is the spring

of next year. the budget was {14.8 billion. after initial delays were announced, that rose to 17.6 billion. with another delay likely, that figure could rise again. there's so much uncertainty because software on the new trains, most of which sit idle, is still not fully compatible with signalling in the tunnel. we are told marrying them up is proving much harder than was envisaged. the real key problems are physically building the stations, installing the miles and miles of cabling and cameras, things like platform doors which we don't often use on railways in this country, that's been a bigger problem than they thought. and adding to that mix, the delays in testing the trains. this is the first train that will run on the eastern overground branch of the new route... featured in a bbc documentary, the line will carry vast numbers of passengers from east to west. the initial delay was only made public last summer, just weeks before the line was supposed to open. crossrail says testing of the trains

and signalling is progressing well. it's finalising a new plan to deliver the opening at the earliest opportunity, and will make an announcement later this month. but, even to the untrained eye, paddington station is far from finished, and with other rail sources telling me a two—year delay is on the cards, much will depend on how much progress is made in the coming months. and tom is at paddington station for us now. not long ago we were told everything was on track, what are the implications of a significant delay? the implications are far—reaching. billions of pounds of taxpayer money has been pumped into this project. you only have to look at what will be the eastern entrance to paddington station to get a sense of how far off being finished this railway is. the relatively new chief executive of crossrail has given an

interview to the london evening standard newspaper essentially confirming our story, that this huge railway under central london will not be finished by early next year. the aspiration is to get it done sometime in 2020 but that is not certain, he says. he can't rule out the project drifting into 2021 and he's also saying the bond street station further west from here is farfrom being finished station further west from here is far from being finished and station further west from here is farfrom being finished and it might even open, the railway, without that station being completely finished, but importantly he is promising in this interview that the budget, £17.6 billion, will not increase. it is important, it's an amazing feat of engineering. sadly i think some of engineering. sadly i think some of the shine is coming off it because of the way to some extent it has been mismanaged in the past. the new management team are in, they are looking at all of the options and will have to come up with their aspirations if you like when they

can get passengers moving on the line. we are expecting the announcement by the end of the month. tom, thank you. tom burridge for us. facebook has announced this lunchtime that it's banning a dozen far—right individuals and organisations. the company says those who spread hate or who attack or call for the exclusion of others because of who they are, have no place on its platform. 0ur media editor amol rajan is here. who is on this list? let me give you the full list, it covers organisations and individuals. it is the british national party and nick griffin, britain first and its leader and former deputy leader, the english defence league and its founding member, a militant christian group called knights templar international and its promoter, the national front and its leader tony martin and another hard right figure called jack renshaw. what they are being banned for and not just what they are being banned for and notjust on facebook but the associated platforms like instagram which facebook phones, is for

spreading hate on the basis of excluding people because of their ethnicity or inciting people to violence which is illegal. why is it happening now? the steady accumulation of pressure on facebook to stop the spread of poison on its platform has taken its toll. we are coming up to european elections and facebook want to be seen to be proactive. it is worth saying this is taking facebook into very uncomfortable territory. these are all things on the hard right and a few years ago facebook said it is not in the business of preventing free speech and it wasn't a media company. it seems to be exercising subjectivejudgment company. it seems to be exercising subjective judgment on what people can and cannot say, and we used to have a name for that, and it was called journalism. 0k, thank you. earlier in the month we reported that the bbc had learned the government would miss its target to reduce the number of people with learning disabilities living in hospitals, and figures out this morning have confirmed that.

there are at least 2,260 people in long—stay hospitals in england, nearly half of them are in secure units. nhs england had pledged to cut that number by at least 35%, but it's gone down byjust19% from march 2016. it follows an investigation in 2011, after the bbc‘s panorama exposed abuse of patients at winterboune view, a private hospital near bristol. the first people to be charged in connection with this week's climate change protests have appeared in court. three people have pleaded not guilty for obstructing trains at canary wharf station. the protests, which have disrupted parts of central london and other cities during the week, have continued with major intersections in the capital blocked. activists want the government to drastically speed up their targets for reducing carbon emissions. lisa hampele is on waterloo bridge for us. lisa, what is the scene where you are? day four and the protests are

smaller and quieter. there is a festival atmosphere here on waterloo bridge. instead of the heavy traffic going through here, we have gardens, guitar playing and even meditation sessions. earlier today there were demonstrations on the busy rocks all bridge as well. —— vauxhall bridge. they have been blocking it and part of what they call swarming protest. the reminder of what the protests are about, they are asking for three main things. they say the government must tell the truth about the true scale of the crisis, and they want legally binding policies for britain to reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2025. they say they need to set up citizens‘ assemblies to help organise this, to help make this become a reality. so far we have had

428 become a reality. so far we have had a28 arrests, but in the last hour there have been more arrests, more people being moved from oxford circus. also today there have been charges, the three people arrested for obstructing trains at canary wharf in london yesterday have appeared at highbury magistrates. they said they were not guilty and have been remanded in custody so that they cannot come back onto the streets. thank you, lisa. well, sir david attenborough has described the threat of climate change as a man—made disaster on a global scale. in a documentary to be broadcast on bbc one tonight, the broadcaster has called for drastic and urgent action in his starkest warning yet. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. a rapidly changing landscape. in ourwarming world, trillions of tonnes of ice have vanished from the poles. these images are from sir david attenborough‘s new documentary, who warns that climate change

is the biggest threat we face. it may sound frightening but the scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies. oh, my god. heading into an inferno in montana. the dry conditions that made last year‘s forest fire so deadly are increasing as the planet heats up. the people in this car narrowly escaped with their lives. scientists say the impacts of climate change are becoming clear. the last four years have been the warmest on record and the un says major changes are needed to stop dangerous temperature rise. this is gaining more attention, in a week of bringing cities to a standstill extinction rebellion are calling for carbon emissions to be cut to zero in the next six years. this target would be incredibly difficult. instead the government

is considering doing this by 2050. here in the uk, we have been doing the right things. we just need to do them a bit faster and with a bit more emphasis and we are within sniffing distance actually of achieving the thing we need to do, which is to cut emissions to the point where we are not warming the planet any more, or at least, the uk is not contributing to that. in his documentary david attenborough calls for urgent action. along the louisiana coastline in the us, land is vanishing at one of the fastest rates in the world. an area the size of a football pitch is disappearing on average every a5 minutes. with entire communities having to relocate, scientists say the time to act is running out fast. rebecca morelle, bbc news. and you can see more of sir david attenborough‘s assessment in climate change: the facts at 9pm tonight here on on bbc one. three days of mourning have been declared on the portuguese island of madeira, after 29 german tourists were killed in a bus crash.

the vehicle veered off the road and came down an embankment, landing on the roof of a house just outside the capital funchal. portugal‘s president has confirmed that all the tourists on the bus were german but some local people could also be among the casualties. retail sales have risen more than expected last month despite turmoil on the high street. the office for national statistics says the year—on—year growth in march was 6.7%, the highest since october 2016. our business correspondentjonty bloom is here. is this a surprise? it is a bit of a surprise because sales are continuing to increase but if you look at the graph comparing this year with last year, that 6.7 increase sounds impressive but this time last year in march we had the beast from the east and people just weren‘t going out shopping so that is slightly deceptive. what‘s more reliable is over the last three months retail sales have increased

by1.6%, months retail sales have increased by 1.6%, that is really quite encouraging for shops and it is probably because we are seeing wages increasing considerably faster than inflation and therefore people have more money to spend and it seems they are spending it. and are all retailers doing equally well? most are but the one area that is seeing its sales for our department stores, and if we think about the problems of the house of fraser and debenhams having at the moment, bhs a couple of years ago, we have seenjohn lewis having very low bonuses for its partners, it is obvious there is a problem for department stores at the moment and these figures reflect that. thank you. the time is quarter past one. our top story this lunchtime: crossrail, the new underground railway line running through central london, may not be finished until the spring of 2021, making it two years behind schedule. and still to come, warnings that some unexplained moves of pupils

between secondary schools in england could include removing difficult children. coming up on bbc news... rory best will retire from rugby after the world cup later this year. the ireland captain has won 116 caps in his international career so far, after making his debut in 2005. it‘s been two years in the making and now, in the us, robert mueller‘s report on alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election will finally be released. but it will have sections deemed too sensitive for public comsumption covered up. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool takes a look at the background to the report. one man couldn‘t appear more confident about what the report will show. i won. no collusion, no obstruction. i won. i have not read the mueller report, i haven‘t seen the mueller report, as far as i‘m concerned, i don‘t care about the mueller report.

he is so blase, because of what we have already heard about the headlines of what investigator robert muellerfound. that russia did try to help donald trump win the election through social media and by hacking e—mails. but he didn‘t find that members of the trump campaign conspired with russia to do that. 0n obstruction of justice, he didn‘t conclude the president committed a crime, but didn‘t exonerate him either. but we‘ve only heard this so far from a summary of the report by us attorney general, william barr, a trump political appointee, and not everybody trusts his interpretation. rather than letting the facts of the report speak for themselves, the attorney general has taken unprecedented steps to spin mueller‘s nearly two—year investigation. the central concern here is that attorney general barr is not allowing the facts of the mueller report to speak for themselves, but is trying to bake in the narrative about the report

to the benefit of the white house. donald trump may feel the spectre of robert mueller‘s investigation has been banished, but our first look at the report itself might well contain damaging details of the president‘s behaviour, even if they are not enough to build a criminal case against him, as many of his opponents would have hoped. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. we can speak to our washington correspondent gary 0‘donoghue. journalists get to question the attorney general about this report this afternoon, but without having actually seen it? yes, we all have this bizarre exhibition, i think of the attorney general turning up at 9:30am local time to do a press conference, an hour and a half or two hours before the report actually appears. so we are told he will talk more about process than content. not

sure exactly what that means, but there has been a certain amount of bewilderment in the room from the journalist who won‘t be able to ask about that content. donald trump has come out swinging already this morning, talking about the greatest political hoax of all time, crimes committed by dirty, crooked cops and the democrats, and another tweet, that says presidential harassment. this will be the end of a two—year process today, don‘t forget, but it will be the beginning of a whole new process where house democrats will go after all sorts of aspects of this report, and that could all end up this report, and that could all end up in the courts in a very, very long legal battle. the bbc children‘s television star mya—lecia naylor has died suddenly at the age of 16. mya—lecia appeared in the shows "millie inbetween" and "almost never". the cbbc website announced the news of her death, which happened 11 days ago, saying she was a "much—loved" part of the family.

0ur arts correspondent david sillito reports. are you threatening to kick me out of the band? in almost never, the story of the fictional group, girls here first, she played mya. here‘s the deal. we get to be in girls here first and still have lives, with boyfriends... mya—lecia naylor was only 16, but already a tv veteran. there we go, lie down... her first appearance on prime time was as a baby in absolutely fabulous. what are you doing to its legs, darling? i'm just going to sort of stretch them, it's going to be a model... that was a mistake. but it was as fran in millie inbetween that turned her into a star of cbbc. it‘s not yet known how she died, but it‘s understood to be natural causes. the head of the bbc‘s children services alice webb said she was distraught at the sad news. mya—lecia was, she says, hugely popular with our audiences, a very talented actress, dancer and singer, and a real role model for her young fans.

the actress emily atack, who appeared with her on almost never, said she was shocked and saddened by the news, and matt lees, the writer for millie inbetween, said the cast was hurting but also remembering all the brilliant things mya—lecia did. i‘m tati, welcome to tati‘s hotel. from her days as the young star of tati‘s hotel to almost never, a generation have watched her grow up on screen. thousands of her fans were today talking of their shock and sadness, and only a few days before her death, mya—lecia had been interviewed, enthusiastically talking about her forthcoming gcses and her plans for the future. david sillito, bbc news. police in edinburgh say the shooting of an actor — who starred in the film trainspotting two — is being treated as murder. bradley welsh, who was a2, appeared alongside ewan mcgregor and robert carlyle as the gangland figure mr doyle in the film. the author of the trainspotting novels irvine welsh paid tribute on twitter, saying

that his heart was broken. around 55,000 children in england have been moved between schools without explanation, suggesting difficult pupils are being deliberately removed, according to an education think—tank. the education policy institute looked at cases where pupils changed school without moving home. almost a quarter of the moves took place in 330 secondary schools. the government says it‘s illegal to exclude or remove children for academic reasons. here‘s our education correspondent sean coughlan. the education policy institute has been examining the numbers of children moving between secondary schools. it says, over five years, there have been 55,000 moves, which are unexplained. almost a quarter of these cases were concentrated in 230 schools. these are cases where pupils have moved to a different school without an explanation, such as their families moving to another part of the country. emma parker‘s sonjames has autism,

and she believes his school tried to remove him, because they could not accommodate his condition. due to james‘ complex needs, he had several exclusions between the october and the december, based around his ability to communicate. injanuary, the school called a meeting and decided they would prefer me to manage, move him to a different school. the researchers at the education policy institute say part of the shuffling of pupils around is caused by schools wanting to take pupils off their rolls, and the report says it often affects the children needing the most help. it really matters, because it's affecting the most vulnerable pupils in our schools today, and it is happening in a relatively small number of schools where this kind of behaviour is taking place, and we need to really understand what's driving that behaviour. is it accountability from government?

is it funding pressures, or are schools genuinely struggling to meet the needs of our most vulnerable pupils? head teachers leaders say there is an uncomfortable reality, that some schools could be trying to off—roll pupils but they say there are also many legitimate reasons why parents might move children to a different school. the department for education said that schools are not allowed to remove pupils on the basis of academic results and that any school which did was breaking the law. sean coughlan, bbc news. scientists in america say they‘ve used the hiv virus to make a gene therapy that cured eight infants of so—called "bubble boy" disease, which is a deficiency of the immune system. babies with this disorder who are untreated have to live in completely sterile conditions, and tend to die as infants. our health and science correspondent james gallagher is with me now. this will give great hope to parents of children with this disease, what is the science behind it? they are trying to correct a genetic defect, and what that defect does in these boys as it leaves them without

an immune system. our immune system is what protects us from hostile infections, and without it we are left without protection, so a common infection that either of us would shrug off would be a serious, life—threatening event. in these patients, what happens, they took a sample of their bone marrow and use them in the lab. why bone marrow? that is the bit of the body that produces our immune system, the cells that fight infection, then they went about changing it and correcting the net genetic defect that this is where hiv comes in. it is not hiv causing the aids epidemic around the world, it is actually a tamed version of hiv that is being used to insert the correct genetic mutations inside those bone marrow tissues, then that is being grown in a laboratory and can be then put back into the boys, so now the boys have the correct genetic code inside their bone marrow, it starts to produce the correct parts of the immune system, and several months later we are seeing these boys fully active immune systems, responding well to things like having

vaccinations. they have a functioning immune system. so now the scientists are saying that what this means is these boys can now expect to have a normal life. they can go about their day—to—day business without any of the complications that would normally come with this bubble boy syndrome. and it has great implications too across the whole of medicine. because we are starting to really see gene therapies like this start to make a real difference for the lives of children and older people as well with these genetic inherited disorders, so we are seeing progress in things like bubble boy disease, areas like haemophilia and the hope is it can just help areas like haemophilia and the hope is it canjust help more areas like haemophilia and the hope is it can just help more and areas like haemophilia and the hope is it canjust help more and more people too as we go into the future. james, many thanks. the scotland manager, alex mcleish, has been sacked, afterjust 12 matches in charge. it was his second spell as the national manager, having taken charge of the team last year, but had been under pressure after a poor run of results. alasdair lamont reports. a humiliation for the scotland national side, beaten three nothing by the side ranked 117th

in the world. kazakhstan, alex mcleish‘s mortally. kazakhstan, alex mcleish‘s waterloo. that crushing, demoralising defeat ended scotland‘s chances of a successful qualification campaign before it had begun. some people would say that this kind of result is a sacking offence. i willjust continue to do myjob and suffice to say, i'm not going to get drawn into that question. the question a little over a year ago was whether the scottish fa had the right man. i can understand that opinion can be divided but it is up to me to try and get those guys on site. i am hoping it will turn and we can come, i don't want to say forgive me, but i hope they can come around and say mcleish is right, he is the man for the job. but he got off to an inauspicious start, losing a friendly to scotland‘s old adversary, costa rica.

five defeats followed in the next seven, the low point being a defeat in israel. and then of course, came the calamity in kazakhstan. i think the knives were out after that kazakhstan result which was a disgraceful performance. in terms of friendlies that he had initially. he wasn‘t my first choice, second choice manager but eventually he was given the job. but now the same people that have offered it have taken it away from him. there has to be accountability from the sfa. maybe it is time they were on two—year contracts and we will see how their performance is. the sfa president was pivotal to mcleish‘s appointment. now he and the board must decide on how to replace him. tottenham are through to the semi—finals of the champions league for the first time in the club‘s history. they lost last night to manchester city in a thrilling match at the etihad stadium — but went through on away goals over the two legs. david 0rnstein reports.

it‘s been described as one of the greatest games ever seen and this was the moment that appeared to have won it. raheem sterling for manchester city, right to the death! right at the death! or so we thought. a check by the video assistant referee decided otherwise. a marginal offside in the build—up to raheem sterling‘s effort was enough to swing the result. manchester city‘s dreams turned into a nightmare. for tottenham and their manager, well, quite the opposite. this type of victory, for the most important competition in the world, champions league, you know, only i can feel proud and really grateful about the effort of everyone. i think they are our heroes. with spurs 1—0 up from the first leg, there were five goals inside 21 mind—boggling minutes. two more followed, the var allowing this, the decisive one, to stand. before the goal that never was,

a night of astonishing drama. it is cruel but it is what it is. we have to accept it. unfortunately at the end, it was a bad end for us so congratulations to tottenham, and his team and his side, and all the best for the semifinals. it ranks among the most remarkable champions league ties, following the likes of manchester united‘s stunning fight back to lift the trophy in 1999, barcelona overturning a a—0 deficit in the last 16 two years ago, and liverpool coming from 3—0 down to secure the title in 2005. though perhaps last night tops them all. it was one of the greatest games you will ever see. that is ultimately why we all watch it, for that high and low, and that something out of the ordinary. 95th minute, sterling, it was amazing. on saturday, the sides meet again in the premier league but will the sequel live up to the electrifying original? david 0rnstein, bbc news.

time for a look at the weather. if you are searching for the sunshine, we have it in abundance over the next few days, but for some of us, a bit of a slow start. some low cloud and mist and fog around, which is slowly starting to lift. as you can see from the satellite image, it has been nibbled away at through the morning, so as we head into this afternoon, for most of us, a glorious afternoon, lengthy spells of sunshine, still quite a brisk easterly wind which will be noticeable down north sea and channel coast, and temperatures will be pegged back a little but you don‘t need to come very far inland to feel that once and some spots down to southern england could see highs today of around 22 celsius. it is going to be a fine end to the day with some evening sunshine around and some clear skies initially overnight. we may start to see the return of the low cloud, mist and fog across eastern coast of england and into scotland too, but most places should remain frost—free, particularly down to the south and west, where we see double digit

temperatures first thing tomorrow morning.