today at five... the prime minister has described the killing ofjournalist lyra mckee in londonderry as "shocking and truly senseless". it's also been condemned by political leaders in northern ireland and the irish taoiseach. hundreds of police have begun removing climate change protesters who've been blocking london's main shopping street all week. officers have been moving activists from a pink yacht that forms the centrepiece of the demonstration at oxford circus. a couple charged with cruelty, torture and false—imprisonment, for abusing their 12 children are due to be sentenced today, after pleading guilty. councils, schools and community centres are increasing their support over easter for disadvantaged families as figures show a record number of children with working parents are living on the poverty line.

footballers across england and wales are staging a 24—hour social media strike in protest at how racism has been dealt with by football authorities and social media companies. a journalist has been shot dead in londonderry in what police say was a "terrorist incident". detectives blame dissident republicans for the killing of 29—year—old lyra mckee during rioting late last night. the trouble broke out after police raided a number of homes in derry‘s creggan area. the prime minister theresa may has described the death of ms mckee as "shocking and truly senseless". our correspondent andy moore's report contains some flash photography.

police say they went into the creggan area of the city to search for firearms. they were met with rioting. more than 50 fire bombs were thrown and two cars set on fire. during the disturbance, a man crouched in the street with a handgun and fired up to ten times towards police lines. ms mckee was hit as she stood beside a police land rover. the 29—year—old freelance journalist died in hospitalfrom her wounds. just before she was shot, ms mckee tweeted a photo of the scene with the caption, "absolute madness." a fellow journalist described what happened. no other distinguishable sound, the pop, pop, pop of a gun. when i heard that, i took cover behind a wall. but directly in my line of sight, i saw the police land rover right in front of me. and i saw a woman lying on the ground. police said they believe the murder was the work of dissident republicans in the new ira.

this is a horrendous act. it's unnecessary, it's uncalled for, it's totally unjustified. but not only is it the murder of a young woman, it's an attack again upon the people of this city. you know, when i left religious education at 16... ms mckee has been described as a rising star ofjournalism, who had onlyjust moved to derry. here she was two years ago arguing for lgbt rights. we need to have conversations, difficult conversations, and fight for the hearts and minds of those who oppose us. this was the message to the men of ireland to the men of violence from the priest who anointed lyra in her hospital bed. stop, i would say what you're doing is... today is good friday. the good friday agreement. this is the day when christians celebrate jesus's conquering of sin, death and evil.

and you are actually adding to that today. what you're doing is insulting to christians. from across the political divide, there's been condemnation of the murder. those people who carried out this attack do not have any support. attack have attacked all of us. they have attacked the community, they have attacked the people of derry, they have attacked the peace process, and they've attacked the good friday agreement. this was an attack on everybody in northern ireland. it doesn't matter if you are catholic or protestant, british or irish, this is an attack on democracy. police have called the murder calculated and callous. they are now appealing for calm. andy moore, bbc news. police officials and community leaders gave their reaction to last night's events. the mayor of derry, john boyle, reflected on lyra mckee‘s life and death. this dreadful murder was heinous in the extreme, and threatened the lives of many more. i just want to reflect on the fact that i personally knew lyra mckee.

i've known her since she was 16 years old. she was bright, she was warm, she was witty. but, most of all, she was an outstanding individual, a great friend to so, so many people in this city in the short time she was with us. and we are brokenhearted for her family at their loss. again, ijust want to extend our deepest sympathies to them. there is an awful lot of anger in the city today. it has to be said, again, this was not done in the name of the people of the city. those responsible need to understand that. i can't put it any stronger than that. not only that, but the people of creggan absolutely abhor what happened last night. lyra was one of us.

deputy chief constable stephen martin asked for people to come forward with information to help police investigate the murder. so as well as making an appeal today for people to come forward with what they know to assist the investigation, i have another appeal today. there are people in this city who will know that the people they love are involved in organisations like the new ira. i would urge those people to have conversations in their home, in their family space, in lyra's memory, and to urge the people they love to step away from such violence, to step away from such organisations, and to recognise how out of step they are with

the wishes, not only of the people of this city, but of the people of this island. we all want to live in peace, we all want a better future for our children. and last night's actions are just so out of step with what all of us want. so i would urge people in lyra's memory to have those conversations. let's return something good from last night's appalling events. the deputy chief constable stephen martin. the deputy chief constable stephen martin. let's go live to derry now and speak to our reporterjulian fowler. what's been the response to her death? there has been widespread shock, horror, revulsion and global condemnation about what happened. the leaders of the six main political parties at stormont issued a joint statement in which they described it as a futile and pointless act to destroy the progress that has been made in northern ireland over the last 20

yea rs. we northern ireland over the last 20 years. we saw the leaders of the democratic unionist party, arlene foster and michelle 0'neill, the sinn fein northern leader, come together at a vigil near the scene of the murder. that was quite a show of the murder. that was quite a show of unity. that is not an area of the city where unionist politicians would be seen out on the streets and they were given a warm welcome by they were given a warm welcome by the people of that area. at that vigil sara canning, the partner of lyra mckee also spoke. the senseless murder of lyra mckee has left a family without a beloved daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a great aunt, has left so many friends without their confidant. victims of the lgbtqa community are left without a tireless advocate and activist. it has left me without the love of my life, the woman that i was planning to grow old with. we are all poorer for the loss of lyra. 0ur hopes and dreams, and all of her amazing potential, was snuffed out by a single barbaric act.

this cannot stand. lyra's death must not be in vain, because her life was a shining light in everyone else's life. and her legacy will live on in the light that she has left behind. thank you. it is 21 years since the signing of the good friday agreement which brought an end to the trouble is, the period of violence in northern ireland. but the new ira, a small but very violent group, they were responsible for a car bomb attack on the courthouse here in derry at the start of this year. the police have been appealing to people now to examine their consciences, people who may support the new ira. they are asking them to have conversations around the dinner table and decide whether it is a cause that is worth supporting in the light of the death of lyra

mckee. julian, thank you very much. mckee. julian, thank you very much. julian fowler in derry. hundreds of police officers have arrived in central london stopping anyone they think is a protestor from getting down to oxford circus. the area has been the focus of a climate change protest for the past five days. activists have also gathered at heathrow airport. so far, nearly 600 people have been arrested. sarah walton has the story. it was a peaceful start to day five of the protest. with the easter holiday keeping many commuters off the roads, there was less disruption to traffic. but demonstrators said they were as determined as ever to remain. i have come out to do my bit and we are going to come back on monday and we will be getting arrested again and probably maybe locking on here again or doing whatever is necessary until the government is prepared to speak with us. police have been making arrests, moving in in groups to carry protesters lying on the ground. but many of those detained have

returned to the demonstrations as soon as they were released. the home secretary sajid javid says... "they have no right to cause misery for the millions of people who are trying to lead their daily lives. i expect the police to take a firm stance and use the full force of the law. they have my full backing in doing so." scotland yard says all rest days for officers have been cancelled but the operation is now keeping them from core duties. this is very frustrating for us because this is going to cost millions. the sufferers from this will be the local communities in local boroughs where officers are being taken from the community areas and the funding money needs to be found to deal with what we are doing, but the knock—on effect will be that my colleagues at some stage need to have their time off, need to have their breaks, they are human beings, and it needs to be paid for. this morning, a small group staged a protest at heathrow airport but were quickly moved on by police, who had promised a robust response to any attempts to disrupt travel there. this lunchtime police have begun making arrests again

but as extinction rebellion say more people arejoining their organisation every day it is still not clear when the protests will end. in the past few minutes assistant commissioner nick ephgrave of the metropolitan police gave an update on the police operation. we are working as hard as we can with the protesting groups. believe it or not we have good relationships with them even though they are breaking the law. those people who are protesting at the location is familiar to us are protesting at the location is familiarto us are are protesting at the location is familiar to us are breaking the law. the tally is now 682 arrests. but the point about being back to normal on tuesday, this protest is intending to continue beyond tuesday, but we will make our best effo rts tuesday, but we will make our best efforts to make sure london can operate on tuesday as it can any other day. operate on tuesday as it can any other day. 0ur correspondent sarah walton is at waterloo bridge in central london. what has the police operation been

like there? we have seen the police coming in periodically right through the day to move people from here. it has just calm down, the day to move people from here. it hasjust calm down, we the day to move people from here. it has just calm down, we are the day to move people from here. it hasjust calm down, we are having some songs and there have been some speeches on the microphone is set up here. in the last half an hour or so there have been another four here. in the last half an hour or so there have been anotherfour orfive protesters ta ken away by there have been anotherfour orfive protesters taken away by the police. people are sat down and lying on the road and the police came in in groups of four or five and they asked protesters to move and then they physically lifted them up and carried them down the road to waiting police vans. things have calmed down a little bit. the police are hanging back and monitoring the situation. there is a constant police presence here, but they are just monitoring the situation, just seeing what is happening. the police have built up a good relationship with the protesters and the

protesters were saying they want people to be friendly to the police officers, not to give them any personal information, but to remain on good terms. but as fast as people are being taken away, more people are being taken away, more people are arriving to replace them. several hundred are on the bridge and many who were arrested have returned. 0ne and many who were arrested have returned. one woman was arrested yesterday afternoon and oxford circus and the police gave her a cup of tea and she was released and she came straight back. they are getting today from celebrity people. emma thompson has flown here from america and has been taking part in the demonstration at oxford circus and she spoke to people earlier. at oxford circus and she spoke to people earlier. i'm sure everyone feels the same. that to inconvenience people and disrupt their lives is not desirable. but sometimes, as the suffragettes would have said when they were fighting for the vote, and let us not forget that they disrupted an awful lot of peoples' lives in order to get something that we now take for granted. what about the drain

on police resources... 7 well, that's up to the police, that's not our decision, we didn't ask for police resources. it's not like we're burning things down. the police have turned up because they have been asked to turn up, that's not our responsibility. you ask the government about that, or you ask westminister about that. they decided to spend their money in this way. which i think, personally, is a waste of our taxpayers money. is a waste of our taxpayers' money. we're not doing anything violent. police have been criticised for not taking stronger action to remove the protesters. scotland yard says more than 500 arrests have been made since these protests started in central london on monday. although todayis central london on monday. although today is a public holiday for many people, the police have cancelled their rest days and now have 1000 officers on the streets in central london. the police are hoping that the protesters here in oxford circus and in parliament square will move

and in parliament square will move and then they will all go to marble arch. protesters here today say they have no intention yet of leaving this site and they will stay as long as they can. sarah walton at waterloo bridge. sarah walton at waterloo bridge. peter kirkham, former metropolitan police detective, spoke to me earlier and said that the police have no power to deal with the protests. it's a type of protest we don't see very often. usually people want to smash things up, they want to attack the police, they want to go to places they are not allowed to go, and that is relatively simple for the police to deal with because the laws and the powers are there to prevent violence and to prevent criminal damage. but where you have got obstruction of the highway, being a nuisance basically, the powers really aren't there. the only powers the police have really got is the section 1a of the public order act where they can put conditions on an assembly and basically say move away, and in this case go to marble arch, you can't be here. but of course if they say, "well,

make us," but not actively resist, theyjust go in floppy like we have seen them do and it takes three or four officers to carry each one away. they then have to be transported somewhere. the met has only got 600 or 700 cells these days and obviously routine policing is carrying on anyway and they are usually full. the courts are full, the cps are full, the prisons are full. they couldn't send them to prison anyway because a breach of section 1a as a protester is a fine only offence. so there is no power to deal with this. you mentioned the obstruction of the highway. we can show our viewers these are live pictures. these are not far away from our building just between here and oxford circus and there is that pink yacht that says "tell the truth". a lot of police around that and we are wondering if they are going to try in some way to move that on this afternoon. these people seem very determined. nearly 600 people arrested but very few of them charged. why have they been arrested? they have been arrested to try

and resolve the problem. but we have seen them just replaced or being released and they come straight back. so why do the police need to be there then if there is not very much to police? from the point of view of what the protesters are doing there is no need for policing, but it was naive of the lady who was shouting from the top of the boat... emma thompson. "why are the police here?" she should maybe stick to acting rather than telling the police how to do theirjob. the bottom line is whilst that is there, there are people who do not think this amount of disruption should take place and the police have got to be concerned about it all kicking off with people getting involved to try and move them on themselves. there are people that are not associated with the protest that are coming down who may have ulterior motives, so the police have got to be ready for that. so it is inevitable if you do something on this scale as well as managing the public and the traffic around it, they have got to be there in case of various what ifs. how much of a strain on resources is it? massive, absolutely massive. after nine years of cuts to the police service,

22,000 officers, more members of civil staff and pcsos taken away, the police struggle to do routine policing every day. the headlines on bbc news... the prime minister has described the killing of journalist lyra mckee in londonderry as "shocking and truly senseless". it's also been condemned by political leaders in northern ireland and the irish taoiseach. hundreds of police have begun removing climate change protesters who've been blocking london's main shopping street all week. officers have been moving activists from a pink yacht that forms the centrepiece of the demonstration at oxford circus. councils, schools and community centres are increasing their support over easter for disadvantaged families as figures show a record number of children with working parents are living on the poverty line.

councils, schools and community centres in parts of the country are increasing their support over the easter holidays for disadvantaged families. figures show almost three million children with working parents were living on the poverty line last year in the uk, a record number. the government says tackling disadvantage is a priority and is investing £9 million to give more access to holiday clubs. frankie mccamley has been to a youth centre in manchester that has opened its doors for the first time this easter. school's out. and it's time for some good old fashioned fun. after a morning of pretty impressive activities, everyone at this youth centre in east manchester is working up an appetite. i'm eating mash, beans and sausage. and how is it, is it good? yeah. in the holidays, i'm so bored. but now it feels amazing to be here. how does being here

compare to being at home? it's better here, because you get some fresh air. the scheme is in an area where almost half of families live below the poverty line. food is free today and throughout the school holidays, but in term time, even though meals only cost a pound, some parents can't always afford to pay. what's it like when you see those young children and you can see that they clearly can't afford to buy that food? it's heartbreaking. they sort of walk up and down, and they're watching other children, what they've got. they think we're just behind there, serving, but we're not. we're eyes all over, watching for that hungry child or, something's not right. and nobody will go hungry here. no. no one will go hungry. with the support of a government grant and money from the private sector, it's the first time they've opened for easter, and it's a lifeline for some working parents. in school holidays, i know they can come in,

they can have breakfast and i know they'll get dinner. it's helped me out, or i'd have been really, really stuck this last 12 months, 18 months. really. manchester has one of the highest levels of child poverty in the uk. every week, around 1000 children and teenagers come to this youth centre. and it's notjust here. smaller schemes are being set up across the country over easter in schools, churches and community centres. around half the food served here is delivered by volunteers from a localfood bank. a few miles away, at the busy depot, despite quadrupling the numbers of meals they provide in the last three years, staff say there still aren't enough schemes open at this time of year to feed those who need it. our partners and charity members, theyjust don't have the resources to provide school holiday food in the summer, six weeks, as well as easter, so they are making hard choices. we would like to see more funding at easter time so we can work with more charities who want to do the easter holidays.

lining up, ready, in position. and it's during the holidays when money can be tight. although children's clubs do relieve a bit of tension, council budgets are stretched, so it will be a struggle to provide resources like this everywhere. frankie mccamley, bbc news, in manchester. a californian couple who pleaded guilty to severe child abuse charges are due to be sentenced today. david and louise turpin beat, starved and shackled their 13 david and louise turpin beat, starved and shackled 12 of their 13 children in the family home. the children were rescued after one of the siblings managed to escape and contact police. the couple originally pleaded not guilty but later accepted a plea deal for charges of torture, child abuse and false imprisonment which will see them face a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. christians in paris are marking good friday, four days since the notre—dame cathedral fire. catholics are taking part in a traditional way of the cross procession near notre dame.

religious services which would normally be held in the 850—year—old cathedral are now being held in the nearby church of saint sulpice on paris's left bank. a small bone in the knee that had been disappearing from the human body is making an unexpected return. the purpose of the fabella — in a tendon behind the knee — is not clear and its return is a bit of a pain because it's linked to arthritis. researchers say the resurgence may be down to better nutrition. professional footballers in england and wales are boycotting social media for 2h hours today in protest against the way social networks and football authorities respond to racism. it follows a number of high—profile incidents in domestic and international matches this season. i've been speaking to keir radnedge, a writer with world soccer magazine, and he told me why he wasn't surprised with the stand footballers are taking, following several high—profile racist incidents. the professional footballers

association, the players union, decided they wanted to upgrade and make a much higher profile issue about campaigning against racism and racist attitudes. both, within the sport itself, but within the fan community. why then a social media boycott? because social media, i don't need to explain about how it has exploded over the last few years. in particular, the pfa felt this was a particular way to get a message to fans, who really don't care if there club who really don't care if their club is fined for racist outbursts. but if they suddenly see a gap, 01’ no progress, on one of their player's website and account. maybe, they will suddenly start to think that this is an issue that needs chasing down. how much is the attitude towards racism in the game changing? it's notjust in the game,

it's wider than that, even if you don't follow football, these stories make the headlines now. yes, they do. i think the progress and pervasiveness of social media has enhanced a lot of the good things in our community, but also, it has provided a megaphone for a tiny community who want to get hate messages out. this is partly why you have this sudden explosion, if you like, of awareness about the nature of the problem and the need to combat it. what more, in your view, could the football association and the clubs be doing? i think punishments for racist abuse are not strong enough. as i say, fans don't worry if their club or national association is fined a sum of money. i think if it comes round to a question of taking players off the pitch much more

readily when there are outburst, readily when there are outbursts, that will also create a headline effect which will raise the process of combating the problem. also, deducting points from a teams in competition from teams in competition is another possible route, which really has not been followed yet. 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. he will certainly turn some heads. time for a look at the weather with mel coles.

we have seen plenty of sunshine today and that has helped our temperatures with an extra boost. all four nations have recorded their highest temperatures of the year so far. there is more warmth to come for most of us as we head into the weekend. we have this area of cloud which will work its way into northern ireland and western fringes of scotla nd northern ireland and western fringes of scotland overnight and it will linger. elsewhere under clear skies tonight we could see a return of that low cloud, mist and fog. there will be a few cool spots in northern and eastern england. underneath the cloud with outbreaks of rain it will feel cooler on saturday, a brisk breeze for the northern isles. away from that lighter winds and lengthy spells of sunshine and the heat building down towards the southern half of the uk where we could see highs tomorrow of 25 celsius.

this is bbc news. the headlines.

the prime minister has described the killing ofjournalist lyra mckee in londonderry as "shocking and truly senseless". it's also been condemned by political leaders in northern ireland and the irish taoiseach. hundreds of police have begun removing climate change protesters who've been blocking london's main shopping street all week. officers have been moving activists from a pink yacht that forms the centrepiece of the demonstration at oxford circus. a couple charged with cruelty, torture and false—imprisonment, for abusing their 12 children are due to be sentenced today, after pleading guilty. councils, schools and community centres are increasing their support over easter for disadvantaged families — as figures show a record number of children with working parents are living on the poverty line. footballers across england and wales are staging a 24—hour social media strike, in protest at how racism has been dealt with by football authorities and social media companies.

let's go to sport now with hugh woozencroft. i wasn't entirely sure who it was. i'm pretty recognisable, i think. not in public, but by you at least. let's start with football, sheffield united have done their bit, beating 10—man nottingham forest 2—0 to put the pressure on leaders norwich city who play this evening. mark duffy took advantage with that curling strike. blades fans had to wait until the last ten or so minutes for stephen to seal that win. it moves to sheffield united