this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at nine... dissident republicans are being blamed for the killing of journalist lyra mckee during violence in londonderry last night. this is a horrendous act, it is unnecessary, it is uncalled for. it is totally unjustified. but not only is totally unjustified. but not only is it the murder of a young woman, it is an attack again on the people of this city. as 500 climate change protestors have now been arrested across london, police promise a "robust" response if they target heathrow airport. chelsea and arsenal are through to the europa league semifinals. we will be looking at how our

warming climate is affecting the world around us. from birds to plants and trees, we will investigate the challenges they face from our changing seasons. a journalist has been shot dead in londonderry in what police are treating as a "terrorist incident". dissident republicans are being blamed for the death of 29—year—old lyria mckee in rioting after police searches in the creggan area last night. a murder inquiry has been launched. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. disorder broke out following police raids in the city. footage on social media showed petrol bombs being thrown at armoured police vehicles.

officers said that, after shots being fired, a 29—year—old woman was killed. she has been named locally as lyra mckee, a journalist who had been on the scene of the rioting. unfortunately, at 11 o'clock last night, a gunman appeared and fired a number of shots towards the police, and a young woman, lyra mckee, 29 years old, was wounded. she was taken away from the scene in a police land rover to altnagelvin hospital, but unfortunately she has died. the police have described it as a terrorist incident and say a murder enquiry has been launched. political leaders in northern ireland have condemned the violence. the deputy leader of sinn fein, michelle o'neill, calling it an attack on all the community. and the leader of the democratic unionists, arlene foster, saying it was a senseless act. creggan is an area which is a housing estate so this

is outside peoples houses was where the rioting was happening. so they had come out, there were young people, there were children on the street, there were teenagers milling about and a gunman just fired indiscriminately up the street. tributes on the social media have described the killing ofjournalist lyra mckee as heartbreaking. dissident republicans are being blamed for last night's violence which led to her death. emma vardy, bbc news. the climate change protests in london are entering their fifth day, as more than a thousand police officers are deployed to cover the demonstrations over the easter weekend. these are live pictures from heathrow. about 20 protesters have been moved onto the pavement by police at one of the road entrances to heathrow airport. no word of disruption to travel plans there, it all seems to be normal apparently. of course a busy bank holiday. the processes are there with a sign saying, aren't we

there with a sign saying, aren't we the last generation. we will be keeping an eye on heathrow as the morning progresses. elsewhere, campaigners from the group extinction rebellion are continuing to block sites including oxford circus and waterloo bridge. since monday, more than 500 activists have been arrested, with some roads in the city still blocked. kathryn stanczyszyn reports. camped out at four central london locations, these climate change campaigners say they are in for the long haul. i've got to get back to work. i've taken a couple of weeks of holiday for this so, yeah, as long as it's counting, really. it does mean another day of major disruption for the capital, already thought to be costing millions to businesses. for some, enough is enough. i pay my taxes and i think it's outrageous that the police force and cressida dick... because you don't believe in law and order. you obviously think people should be able to disrupt and block a major bridge. this is not legitimate protest. but extinction rebellion says this is going exactly as it's meant to,

as nonviolent civil disobedience is the best way of getting the government to sit up and take notice. they have apologised to those affected but say this action is absolutely necessary if we are going to have the best chance of saving our planet. despite more than 500 arrests, illegal roadblocks at key locations remain in place. the metropolitan police say the extra effort being put into policing demonstrations is an unwelcome strain on an already stretched service. many officers are now not going away for easter with their families when perhaps they had anticipated doing that. we've brought people in on 12—hour shifts across the met, so much longer working hours. all of that will eventually have a cumulative effect on people's well—being and resilience. extinction rebellion says it plans to target heathrow airport next. police warn activists will be met with a robust response if that happens. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news.

our correspondent sarah walton is at waterloo bridge in central london. what is happening there? the processes here are getting up and go into a fifth day of protesting and chatting to people this morning, they say that spirits are high and they say that spirits are high and they intend to stay here as long as they intend to stay here as long as they can also we have heard this morning that a group of protesters from extinction rebellion have arrived at heathrow airport, about 20 people who have been removed by police onto a pavement in one of the access police onto a pavement in one of the a ccess roa ds police onto a pavement in one of the access roads to the airport but they are not disrupting traffic at the moment. here on waterloo bridge, it is calm and peaceful, there is a police presence but in the last hour or $0 police presence but in the last hour or so there is no sign that the police have been arresting people here. but police say there have been over 400 arrests made since the protests started on monday. ten people have been charged in connection with the protests.

speaking to one person here who said they were arrested yesterday at 0xford they were arrested yesterday at oxford circus and released within three hours, they are back here now and have been released pending further investigation. the protests have been criticised by the home secretary, sajid javid, who said that the protesters are causing a huge amount of disruption for commuters and putting extra pressure on an already stretched police force. the police themselves say they have cancelled leave days, rest days, it is a bank holiday for a lot of people but not the police force. they have a thousand officers deployed on the streets. meanwhile, these protests continue to block key points in the centre of london, not just here at waterloo but at oxford circus and also parliament square and marble arch. protesters are now being asked if they will move to that site at marble arch to abandon their points here in oxford circus and parliament square but talking to people they said that would be a de—escalation they are not prepared for yet and they have not achieved what they came in to do which is to

get the government to take more urgent action over climate change and they say that until that happens they are going to stay here. thank you. chris phillips, a former public order commander for the metropolitan police, joins me now. good morning. what more can police do to respond with the full force of the law is the home secretary has demanded? you have to laugh really because the home secretary and the legislators make legislation, the police have to stick to that legislation and that is what they are doing. the laws they are using under the public order act allow them to tell the people that they should meet and if they don't move, then to arrest them. the law also states they should be released when they get to the police station and what is happening is that exact thing, those people are going to the police station and returning back to the lines. you need to blame the legislators for this. they have not got this right. they did not really

anticipate this kind of event. roadblocks, as we have been seeing from disruption to rail travel as well, do you think more legislation is required to prevent that kind of disruption? that is up to the legislators. as normal members of the public, we vote for the we tell them roughly what we want to happen and they should do it but of course they don't always do that. the police in the in the uk, the public order police in the uk, have always in the past at a much more robust and stronger way of dealing with this kind of demonstration. the lawmakers basically changed that. the police are acting towards that. you need to throw this back to the legislators to make the right laws. talk us through that a little bit, the way that public order policing has changed as a response to legislation that has perhaps constrained the police. in previous

yea rs constrained the police. in previous years the police have used things such as kent link, where you hold demonstrators in one area to prevent them causing damage —— such as kettling. but there is nothing violent about these people, they are just sitting there. they are breaching a very low level law, something which is really the courts don't even want to deal with, to be quite frank. where the protesters have gone on to trains, that is different. that is where we have seen them break other laws and those people are still in custody and waiting to go to court. if they break waiting to go to court. if they brea k low level laws, waiting to go to court. if they break low level laws, they will get a low level response from the police. and on the question of the pressure on the police, because the mayor and home secretary have been talking about this, saying it is an unacceptable talking about this, saying it is an u na cce pta ble toll talking about this, saying it is an unacceptable toll on police force. we have heard that, given a thousand officers are deployed daily, leave

has been cancelled and the rest of it so will it have an effect, as some have suggested, and other areas of policing? absolutely. these police officers don't come out of nowhere. they are taken either from local beats where they are trying to prevent knife crime, crime in your area, trying to give normal members of the public a response to telephone calls and requests for assistance but they will not be there. they will be up at this demonstration. let's be quite honest here, the legislators again, the present government have reduced dramatically the number of police officers that are available to police london and the rest of the country. they have also reduced the number of police stations and so the police do not have the police cells to put these people in if and when they do arrest them. i have to throw this back to parliament and say, listen, if you want to police to do what you want them to do, give them

the laws and the resources and, as an example, give them some police stations to put these prisoners in. thank you. two people have died after they got into difficulties in the water off aberdeen beach. the emergency services were sent to the scene at around quarter to one this morning after reports of two women in the water. two people have died after they got into difficulties they were picked up by the rnli and taken by ambulance to hospital but both women later died. campaigners have accused local authorities of practicing "social cleansing" by misusing powers that allow them to issue fines for rough sleeping, begging and loitering. the charity liberty claims councils are using public space protection orders to unfairly target vulnerable people as sangita myska reports. public space protection orders or pspos were first introduced to the home office in 2014 to tackle anti—social behaviour in specific areas. the orders can be issued to ban activities as wide—ranging as sleeping rough, leaving belongings outside in public, begging and even urban games

such as free running. prosecution can also include a fine of up to £100. civil rights groups now claim the orders are being used far too widely by cash—strapped councils, keen to remove the poorest people from the neighbourhoods. new figures suggest that in 2016, the number of fines issued by councils stood at 1906. by 2018, that number had jumped. the body representing local authorities says pspos are used selectively and subject to scrutiny. they are one of a number of ways councils can tackle antisocial behaviour raised by local communities which can ruin people's quality of life, harm businesses or leave people scared to visit. the home office in the statement said pspos should be used proportionately to tackle anti—social behaviour. and not used to target specific

or vulnerable groups. it added it had given councils clear guidance on how orders should be issued. sangita myska, bbc news. leading democrats in the us have described robert mueller‘s report into president trump's links to russia as "disturbing". the document reveals mr trump's 2016 campaign did not collude with russia but there's no conclusion on whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation. some congressmen now want robert mueller to testify. 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. leaving washington for his florida retreat, the president must have been hoping this marks a moment of closure, an end to the investigation that has overshadowed his time in office and which, at one time, he thought might even spell the end of his presidency. despite numerous links between the trump campaign and russia, robert mueller‘s enquiry

found no evidence of a conspiracy to subvert the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. but when it came to the question of obstruction ofjustice, the report was less equivocal. attempts to impede the investigation and have robert mueller fired failed only because members of the administration, the former white house counsel don mcgahn among them, refused to carry out orders. "based on the facts, we are unable to reach that judgment," the report reads, referring to obstruction ofjustice. "accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." to the president, though, the report represents total vindication and, at a white house event for wounded veterans, he could hardly contain his glee. having a good day too. it was good. no collusion, no obstruction.

his view on the whole thing summed up in a triumphant game of thrones inspired tweet. needless to say, his opponents see it differently. well, it is certainly not game over in the sense that there is a lot more that we need to know that is redacted in this report. and again, this report only goes to what is criminal or not criminal. other actions that may have compromised the president or others around him may or may not be even included in the report. the special counsel having left the crucial question unresolved, it may now be up to congress to decide whether or not the president's actions amounted to obstruction ofjustice. democrats are already calling for robert mueller to give evidence in person. this presidential holiday may not last long. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

the headlines on bbc news... dissident republicans are being blamed for the killing of a journalist in londonderry. lyra mckee, who was 29, had written extensively about the troubles in northern ireland. a murder investigation is underway. as 500 climate change protestors have now been arrested across london police promise a "robust" response if they target heathrow airport. network rail warns of disruption on the west coast main line from london to glasgow because rail improvement works. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. good morning. footballers across england and wales have started a 24—hour social media strike from 9 o'clock this morning, in protest at how racism has been dealth with by football authorities and social media companies.

among those taking part is tottenham defender danny rose, who was abused during england's euro 2020 qualifier in montenegro in march. the boycott kicks off the professional footballers‘ association's anti—racism campaign, entitled hashtag—enough. we wa nt we want them to obviously deal with the situation a lot quicker, impose stricter fines and punishment and obviously the perpetrators need to be dealt with also. we would like to think that government and everybody would get involved with this, stronger legislation. footballers can only do what they can do, we understand they have to be professional and focus on the game but nobody should be put to the amount of abuse they have to put up with, whether you are a celebrity, regardless of how much money you earn. it is before, during, and after that whether you have played

well or not, they have family and friends, foundations and charities, footballers do a lot of good work. 0n footballers do a lot of good work. on their timeline, footballers do a lot of good work. 0n theirtimeline, a footballers do a lot of good work. on their timeline, a lot of the people they work with, young people and children, they are having to view all this vitriol and it is not acceptable. for the first time in 35 years, four english sides will play in european semi finals this season. after liverpool and tottenham's champions league exploits both chelsea and arsenal have made it to the semi—finals of the europa league. chelsea shared an eventful match with slavia prague at stamford bridge with pedro the star man netting twice and forcing this bizarre own goal. they conceded two almost identical goals early in the second half, but held on to win 4—3 to go through 5—3 on aggregate. and arsenal beat napoli to progress — alexandre lacazette's stunning freekick was the only goal of the game. they now play valencia in the semi finals. it wasn't all good news though. could this the last time we see aaron ramsey in an arsenal shirt? he limped off with a hamstring injury before the goal. he leaves forjuventus

in the summer. natalie also with that supporter, they show us they wanted to do something important here —— napoli. if we win today it is because we work very well and we took a big performance. scotland are looking for a new manager, after alex mcleish‘s second spell in charge was ended afterjust 14 months. he was in charge for only 12 games, of which he won five and lost seven. he came under increasing pressure after a poor start to the euro 2020 qualifiers, most notably a 3—0 defeat to kazakhstan. kilmarnock‘s steve clarke and david moyes are among to the bookies favourites to taker over. norwich city could be promoted to the premier league later today. the championship leaders need third—placed sheffield united to slip up at nottingham forest this lunchtime and then win themselves later in the day against sheffield wednesday to return to the top flight

after a three—year absence. more than 720,000 tickets have been sold for the women's world cup in france, according to fifa. the opening match between the hosts and south korea in paris on 7thjune is sold out, along with the semi—finals and final, and some group matches. the sales are about 60,000 higher than at this stage four years ago, for the women's world cup in canada. castleford held off a comeback before winning their super league game against wakefield. they led by 22 points to 4 at half time but they let wakefield get to within two points and gave themselves a nail—biting final ten minutes or so. they won 28—26 to stay third in the table. elsewhere, catalan dragons trashed london broncos. jarrell miller, says he's "done nothing wrong" and will appeal the decision, to deny him a licence to face, anthonyjoshua at madison square garden, on the 1st ofjune. he returned an "adverse

finding," in a drug test and he's asked for his b sample, to be examined. former world champion polly my analogy says that whatever the outcome, boxing has a problem getting a grip polymer —— paulie malignaggi. there are a lot of fighters that are dirty and the drug testing does not need to be more strict and stringent and often and more capable, you will see more guys and often and more capable, you will see more guys getting away with it. the fact that you catch them once in a while doesn't mean you catching all of them, it shows you it is there. the testing needs to be more strict and more regular. that is all the sport for you now, more in an hour at the sport for you now, more in an hourat10:15am. some of france's richest companies have vowed to give hundreds of millions of euros to help rebuild paris's notre dame cathedral after it was partially destroyed by fire earlier this week. but the generosity is raising questions about what the real motives are behind such donations, notably because of the sizeable tax deductions attached to corporate

gifts invested in philanthropy. caroline rigby reports. it's an image that shocked a nation and has stirred generosity in many beyond france's borders. whether encouraged to donate on websites or during the daily shop, french citizens are reaching deep into their pockets to give what they can for the restoration of one of paris's most iconic landmarks. translation: we saw there are a lot of donations flowing in, large donations. i think people should give what they are able to. even a small donation will allow for the rebuilding of notre dame. translation: it's a paris monument and it has so much history so the faster we gather the money, the faster it can be rebuilt. among the highest offers, 100 million euros pledged by the family behind the group that owns gucci and yves saint laurent fashion brands.

a donation of $200 million by the head of a business empire which includes louis vuitton. and that was matched by the family that controls french cosmetics giant l'oreal. some big donors have said they would forgo the fiscal favours, including tax rebates, attached to giving, but questions remain over whether such vast sums of money could be better spent elsewhere. because, for months now, the french capital has been the focus of the yellow vest movement. their protests against economic injustice have, at times, turned violent, and these mega—donations for a church rather than society could further fan the flames of discontent. translation: when you see this money in this country, there are billionaires with lots of money. look, in a click — 200 million, 100 million. it also shows the inequality

in this country. the french president, emmanuel macron, says he hopes the catastrophe of notre dame will enable the country to come together but any sense of national unity in the wake of the fire remains agile. caroline rigby, bbc news. for more than two million people in england, the blue badge is essential, allowing people with disabilities to park close to their destinations, including on yellow lines. now it could be extended to those with hidden conditions, such as autism or mental health issues, in the biggest change to the system in 40 years. graham satchell reports. hold on to me, please. just going out to the park can be a challenge for hayley. her five—year—old son, noah, has autism. he often has his own agenda and ideas about what he'd like me to be doing. he knows he needs to walk on the pavements but he doesn't always follow those rules. hayley wants to find a space

as close as possible to the park so she doesn't have to cross too many roads. ok, so we're just driving around and i can see a couple of blue badge spaces that are empty. otherwise there aren't any spaces so... i need to get out of the car. we're going to go and park now, ok? as the tension starts to rise, hayley ends up in a supermarket car park. having a blue badge would make a huge difference to us. it would give noah much more freedom, much more independence. if the risk is too high then without the blue badge we wouldn't be able to go out. so i think it would make a huge difference. the blue badge scheme has already changed in scotland and wales to include people with so—called hidden disabilities. when england follows suit later this year, the criteria for getting one will also change. as well as physical disability, badges will be issued to someone who can show they can't make a journey without it causing very considerable psychological distress.

some, like alan norton, are worried. he has been a wheelchair user since he contracted polio as a three—year—old and says finding a blue badge space now can be a challenge. i really have some concerns about expanding the scheme even further. we are already having to... i might have to wait for an hour to get parked. i think we have to go back to the basics of the blue badge. it is there about lack of mobility and i think we should stick to that and keep to that criteria is the main kind of criteria that needs to be applied. alan eventually finds a space. it will be up to local authorities to administer and issue the extended blue badge scheme. it is also up to them how many parking spaces there will be. i would hope that if there are pressures in certain areas and in certain parts of the country, that local authorities would look at that. but you cannot discriminate

against certain types of disability and you certainly shouldn't discriminate against those with a hidden disability. noah has finally made it to the park and, after some more negotiation, he finds his way to the swings tojoin his sister and grandparents. the government in westminster says extending the blue badge scheme will ensure even more people can go about their daily lives without worrying about how they will get from one place to another. that is certainly hayley‘s hope. whether it works in practice is less clear. graham satchell, bbc news. the uk's first ever guide horse has taken a ride on a train, to see how well he would fare with public transport. this is digby, a 20—month—old miniature horse. he's training to assist people with visual impairments. he travelled on newcastle's metro train to prepare for life in london. digby is described by his owner as affectionate and loves to be petted.

i hope we can follow the fortunes of digby as he gets on with his duties in helping someone with visual impairment. now it's time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. yesterday, england, wales, scotland and northern ireland all sort that warmest day of the year with west sussex having the highest temperature. somewhere in south—east england will no doubt be there today and it will be even higher tomorrow, 25 or 26 to the west of london and quite widely this weekend temperatures are in the low 20s, well above the april average. the reason is high—pressure in scandinavia, east or south easterly winds pulling warmer air from central and eastern europe. the high keeps these fronts at bay but more cloud will creep into northern ireland and western later tonight.

for good friday it is a financial ryan day, plenty of sunshine. a bit hazy at times with some large areas of high cloud. still a noticeably east or north—easterly breeze. more generally temperatures 19—21 or 22 celsius and we could reach 23 or 24 in south—east england. a fine and dry and frost free night for most but this system is starting to approach western scotland, northern ireland, into the northern isles and that will bring more cloud and patchy drizzle. this band of cloud is still with us tomorrow. a more gloomy day in the northern isles, northern and western scotland and northern ireland with the odd spot of rain and patchy drizzle but elsewhere plenty of strong april sunshine and that will help temperatures widely up to around 22 or 23 celsius, a few degrees higher across south—east england. heading

into easter sunday, still this