welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: final preparations for the funeral of the duke of edinburgh — a ceremony partly planned by the duke himself. just keep your head down a little bit. we have a special report from ukraine, where tensions build — russian troops gather on the border. the diplomatic row between russia and the us intensifies — moscow orders ten american diplomats to pack up and leave. and president biden holds his first in—person meeting with a foreign leader — japan's prime minister yoshihide suga

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the funeral of the duke of edinburgh will take place at windsor castle on saturday. only thirty mourners will attend the service inside st george's chapel, as a result of coronavirus restrictions. many aspects of the funeral, including the music, were planned in advance by prince philip himself. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. a husband and wife, plainly happy in each other�*s company — a previously private image taken at balmoral in 2003, selected by the queen to be published on the eve of her husband's funeral. outside st george's chapel, within windsor castle, some of the flowers left by members of the public have

been laid out on the lawns. close by, a wreath from the prime minister, with a card paying tribute to a man to whom the nation owes more than words can say. there were wreaths, too, from commonwealth nations, from canada and new zealand — countries which the duke had often visited. the earl and countess of wessex and their daughter came to inspect the flowers and some of the cards and other tributes which have been left, and this as the final touches for tomorrow's funeral were being put into place. present arms! all the military contingents who are involved in the short ceremonial procession have completed their main preparations. at the centre of the procession will be the land rover hearse, which the duke helped to design. it will be in the castle�*s central quadrangle that the proceedings will begin. the service detachments will be drawn up. a few moments after 2:40 tomorrow, the duke's coffin will be borne from the state

entrance to be placed on the land rover. at 2:45, the small procession will step off for the eight—minute journey through the castle. some members of the royal family will walk behind the coffin. the queen will follow in a limousine. the route will be lined by the military. at 2:53, the coffin will arrive at the west steps of st george's chapel. it will be borne to the top of the steps, where it will pause. at three o'clock, a one—minute silence will be observed, before the coffin enters the chapel for the funeral service. inside the chapel, the queen will sit by herself. like all the 30 members of the congregation, she will wear a mask. at one point, the chapel will echo to the bugle call for action stations — a reminder of the duke's service as an officer in the royal navy in the second world war. in the town of windsor, many of the residents have their own stories of the duke. you would see him out on his

carriage and he would always — he would always acknowledge you, he would always say hello to the group of us as we were walking. it will be very strange because we've only ever known prince philip in my life — he's always been here. so, a castle which has witnessed many moments in britain's long royal history is ready for another. the weather forecast for tomorrow is good, but both the palace and the police are hoping that won't tempt people to come to windsor. they've reiterated the point that no part of the funeral will be visible to spectators. the only way to follow it is to watch it on television. audiences around the world will watch and listen as the queen bids farewell to the man she described as her "beloved husband". nicholas witchell, bbc news, windsor. escalating tensions between ukraine and russia have been the focus of international talks between ukraine's president and the leaders of france and germany.

volodymyr zelensky has been anxious to increase international support, following the recent build—up of russian troops along ukraine's eastern border and in crimea. there have been tensions between russia and ukraine ever since russia annexed the crimea in april 2014, and russian—backed forces seized a large swathe of eastern ukraine's donetsk and luhansk regions — 0ur correspondent jonah fisher reports now from the frontline near marinka, in eastern ukraine. rpg shell. yours, or theirs? theirs. in eastern ukraine, a war that had been dormant is coming back to life. just keep your head down a little bit. this is marinka. just 100 metres separate these ukrainian army trenches from the positions of the russian—backed forces. for the last six years, very little has changed here along the front line in eastern ukraine, but the last few weeks has seen a very dramatic shift in mood,

and that's because on the russian side of the border, there's been a massive build—up of both personnel and equipment. they have their trenches over there. news of the troop movements have coincided with a deterioration of the situation on the ground. how seriously are soldiers here taking the possibility of russia launching a full—scale invasion? at war, you always have to be serious. it doesn't matter if you are expecting for escalation or you do not. but no matter what will happen, we will do ourjob. we will stand here till the end. during our time in the trenches, we get a glimpse of how tense things have become. what's going on? 0ver there, 600 metres from us, is a drone. a drone.

yeah, an enemy drone. they are usually carrying charges or grenades. 0r whatever they can. it's better to stay over here. gunfire. the ukrainian soldiers open fire, but fail to hit the drone. yet another breach of a tattered ceasefire. along the front line, those who can leave have long gone. nalya, a 72—year—old widow, has had no choice but to stay, deciding each day whether to spend her small pension on firewood or on food. her memories are still fresh of the intense fighting of seven years ago. translation: so many people in our village were killed. - there were young women and children shot in their homes. wars are so pointless.

on the roads, we see signs that ukraine is getting battle ready. the hope here is that russia is flexing its military muscle, rather than preparing for all—out war. jonah fisher, bbc news, in eastern ukraine. a diplomatic row between russia and the us is intensifying, with moscow expelling ten american diplomats from the country, and recommending the us ambassador return home. the moves are in response to sanctions imposed by washington on thursday, over what the white house called "russia's harmful foreign activities". our moscow correspondent steven rosenberg says the latest tit—for—tat may be president putin manouvering to catch president biden�*s attention. well, we're back to the question that we have heard so often, really — what is vladimir putin thinking? what is he planning? what we know, i think, is that president putin doesn't normally advertise

military action ahead of time. so in 2014, he surprised everyone when he sent specialforces into the ukraine to annex crimea. this time around, moscow is not hiding the fact that it is moving troops around, building up troop numbers, possibly to send a message to washington tojoe biden, "look at me, talk to me". despite the diplomatic tit—for—tat that we have been seeing here, us sanctions against russia and today russian sanctions against the us, talks and the possibility of a summit, there is a possibility, but for that to happen, there must be but for that to happen, there must not be an escalation in tension and the concern is that in europe, nato, in america, that russia's actions are destabilising the situation. joe biden has held his first face—to—face meeting with a foreign leader at the white house. the us president and japan's prime minister, yoshihide suga,

agreed they would work closely to develop new technologies, including artificial intelligence and sg, within norms "set by democracies not autocracies". those technologies are government by shared democratic norms that we both share. norm said by democracy is not autocracies. —— norms set by. we will work together to provide security five jet networks, to increasing our cooperation and supply chain for critical sectors like semiconductors, to driving research in areas like aia, genomics, quantum computing and much more. —— aia. i'm nowjoined by professor amy catalinac, who's an expert in contemporary japanese politics, in the department of politics at new york university. thank you for coming on the

programme. i was a significant moment, the first foreign leader the us decides to visit and meet face—to—face. why do you thinkjapan was chosen? that is a great question. i think often us president select japan among the first world leaders that they meet. one of the reasons is because of the us likes to signal how valuable the us —japan us likes to signal how valuable the us — japan alliance us likes to signal how valuable the us —japan alliance is us likes to signal how valuable the us — japan alliance is and the us — japan alliance is and the grand strategy worldwide. japan is a very important to the united states and the united states signals that and thatis united states signals that and that is obviously of great benefit to japan. these are meetings with new leaders, japan or was once to be among the first leaders to have a summit with the us and japan has traditionally been successful in securing one of

those first meetings. the former prime minister also managed to meet with president trump. managed to meet with president trum -. , managed to meet with president trum. , .,, managed to meet with president trum. , ., , trump. sorry, iwas readily interrunting _ trump. sorry, iwas readily interrupting it _ trump. sorry, iwas readily interrupting it but i - trump. sorry, iwas readily interrupting it but i wanted| trump. sorry, i was readily i interrupting it but i wanted to ask about china. what is the significance here of this public display of the close relationship between the us and japan and it comes to china? that is sort of the main point. the main point forjapan is to get the united states to publicly affirm that it will defend japan and its commitment to japanese security is ironclad as it has always been. that is of importance today because of the threat china poses, the threat that has been escalating in recent months and years. the summit today was

pretty much all about china and how the two countries are committed to countering china's effort to intimidate and coerce other countries in the region and challenge the status quo. it was about countering the chinese a friend and signalling the commitment to work together to do that. , ., ., ., i. to do that. great to have you on. to do that. great to have you on- thank— to do that. great to have you on. thank you. _ to do that. great to have you on. thank you. thank- to do that. great to have you on. thank you. thank you. i stay with us on bbc news. still to come: tributes to the british actor helen mccrory, best known for her roles in the television show peaky blinders and the harry potter films, who has died at the age of 52. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, has reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians.

there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock. and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. shouting. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed tojust slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: final preparations are underway for the duke of edinburgh's funeral at windsor castle on saturday. the ceremony has been planned

by the duke and will reflect his life and interests. russia has expelled ten us diplomats and has banned visits by some american officials in response to president biden�*s new sanctions on moscow. president biden has condemned the latest us mass shooting in indiana, describing gun violence as a national embarrassment. he again urged congress to take measures to prevent weapons falling into the wrong hands. police in indianapolis have confirmed that eight people were killed in the shooting at a fedex facility. they identified the gunman as brandon hole, a former employee at the facility who had a history of mental illness. he took his own life after the shooting. the incident is the latest in a spate of at least seven deadly mass shootings in the united states over the past month. you know, this suspect came to the facility

and when he came there he got out of his car and pretty quickly started some random shooting outside the facility. there was no confrontation with anyone that was there, there was no disturbance, there was no argument. he just appeared to randomly start shooting, and that began in the parking lot and then he did go into the building — into the facility for a brief period of time, before he took his own life. presidentjoe biden has reversed course on immigration just hours after signing an order to keep the number of refugees admitted annually to the us at trump—era levels. mr biden met fierce backlash on friday as he held the cap at the historically low figure of 15,000, two months after he pledged to increase it to over 65,000. the white house later said mr biden would raise the refugee cap next month.

let's speak to jenny yang who is senior vice president of advocacy and policy at world relief, a christian humanitarian organisation. thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you so much for having me. first on the programme. thank you so much for having me.— much for having me. first off, the numbers _ much for having me. first off, the numbers on _ much for having me. first off, the numbers on the _ much for having me. first off, the numbers on the caps - much for having me. first off, the numbers on the caps on . much for having me. first off, i the numbers on the caps on the changes in the reverses— this feels like a bit of a mess already. it feels like a bit of a mess already-— feels like a bit of a mess alread. , , , already. it is, because the president, _ already. it is, because the president, i— already. it is, because the president, i think, - already. it is, because the| president, ithink, actually realised that the public commitment he made to raising the refugees intake to 62,500 is not something he actually followed through on by signing an order earlier today that kept the refugee ceiling at 15,000, which is the number that president trump had kept in place. and so because of the backlash today, he did reverse position. next month he will try to raise the refugee ceiling. at this point we are unsure whether or not that is actually going to happen given the broken promise already of the broken promise already of the two month delay in signing a revised increased refugee ceiling. in the meantime there

are hundreds of refugee families that are still waiting to come to the notice it's of america. to come to the notice it's of america-— to come to the notice it's of america. on the cap and the numbers. — america. on the cap and the numbers. as _ america. on the cap and the numbers, as you _ america. on the cap and the| numbers, as you mentioned, america. on the cap and the - numbers, as you mentioned, joe biden�*s pledged to increase the numbers, is there are not an argument from the other side that actually there were 70 plus million people who voted for donald trump at the past election, presumably liking the lower on refugee numbers. isn't there a part of the american population that would rather the remained low, as it is at the remained low, as it is at the moment?— the remained low, as it is at the moment? well, when you actually look _ the moment? well, when you actually look at _ the moment? well, when you actually look at the _ the moment? well, when you actually look at the polling, i actually look at the polling, even the networks we have as an organisation, president trump even, when he was in office, said that he wanted to continue to help those who were fleeing religious persecution. he had a certain amount of commitment to help those in that category. now, with president biden, what he understands is that not only did he make a campaign promise, but there is a broad pat patterson tradition in this

country of accepting refugees. president george w bush did the same thing, president reagan is the one under whom the refugee programme actually started. and so this idea that this is only a progressive issue is certainly not the case. we have seen both conservatives and progressives really pushing the president to make sure that we fulfil our humanitarian obligations to actually help those who are fleeing persecution and really have nowhere else to go. womack and what about the costs and the money needed to do this? well, the costs of admitting refugees has already been accounted for. congress has a role in appropriating funding to the state department, which then manages the programme and partners with agencies like the world relief to settle refugees to the united states. i think it is important to know that as an we actually bring in private resources, so we allow individual volunteers to partner with us to resettle refugees. and so the refugee processing budget is funded by

the humanitarian assistance account and that still makes up 1% of the us budget. and so this is not really an issue of funding and not having enough resources. this is actually a matter of political will and courage for president biden to do the right thing to help refugees around the globe. great to have you on, thank you. great to have you on, thank ou. . ~' great to have you on, thank ou. . ~ , ., great to have you on, thank ou. . ~ i. great to have you on, thank ou. . ~ . a weekend curfew has come into force in delhi. only essential services remain open. shopping malls, gyms, bars and restaurants in the capital are all closed. delhi is now india's worst affected city. brazil's vice president says the government has set a goal to reduce illegal deforestation by 20% per year so it can eliminate the practice entirely by 2030. he said the new target was contained in a letter

president bolsonaro has sent to joe biden. the white house says president biden will increase the number of refugees but the total is unlikely to be as high has his earlier budget of 62,500. there was a sharp reaction to the decision. nasa has chosen spacex to build the craft to lead humans on the mood for the first time in 50 years. spacex says it will develop reusable spacecraft in combination with heavy rockets to blast astronauts into space. nasa officials say the mission could take place as soon as 2024. the actress helen mccrory, best known for starring in the hit bbc series peaky blinders and in the harry potter films, has died from cancer at the age of 52.

her husband, the actor damian lewis, said he had lost a beautiful and mighty woman. our arts correspondent david sillito looks back at her life. peaky blinders — tv�*s �*20s criminal gang whose business affairs were run by aunt polly. i'm having trouble these days, and i'm twice the man you are. played by helen mccrory. i booked you both tickets for the next boat from liverpool to new york. it was her best—known tv role for this award—winning star of stage and screen. why? you met her often enough before. she played cherie blair twice, the first in the film the queen. just remember, you're a man that's just been elected by the whole nation. her on—screen husband michael sheen today paid tribute.

she was, he said, funny, passionate, smart, one of the greatest actors of our time. demonstrates a reckless disregard... sam mendes, who directed her in the james bond film skyfall, said she was an astonishing talent, a fabulous person. of course. is he alive? draco, is he alive? and to harry potter fans she was narcissa malfoy. jk rowling said she was a wonderful actress and an extraordinary woman. in 2019 she presented have i got news for you. she was also in recent months an organiser with her husband, the actor damian lewis, of a scheme providing hot meals for nhs staff during the pandemic. and today it was damian lewis who wrote:

helen mccrory, 52. there were many great roles she had yet to play. the actress helen mccrory, whose death was announced on friday. hundreds of celebrity influencers are to be compensated for turning up to a music festival it never happened. the fyre festival was touted as a luxurious party but visitors found themselves stranded in the bahamas. the catering consisted of cheese sandwiches and guests were left to sleep on wet mattresses. a $2 billion courts settlement was reached this week, giving each celebrity upwards of $7,000. the festival organiser is serving a six yearjail term

forfraud. in britain, around 100 mp5 forfraud. in britain, around 100 mps and peers have written to prime minister borisjohnson asking him to intervene to help families access medicinal cannabis for their seriously ill children. the law was changed in november 2018 to allow health service. this to prescribe the drug following a campaign. only three restrictions have been issued. many families are having to pay thousands of pounds for private treatment and the government says it is considering what further action it could take to broaden access to unlicensed cannabis based products. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has been vaccinated with the first dose of the astrazeneca vaccine. a spokesperson tweeted a shot of her certificate, saying that she was happy to be vaccinated.

it comes as germany is limiting the use of the astrazeneca vaccine to those over the age of 60. hello there. friday was another fine spring day, and we're going to continue with this dry theme throughout the weekend and perhaps into monday as well. some chilly mornings but it will not be quite as cold overnight, nor during the day as it has been of late. we had some patchy cloud bubble up on friday, but the thicker cloud was towards the north—west of the uk and that brought rain in the north—west of scotland. that is fading away. the next weather system will be hanging out in the atlantic and we will be dominated by high pressure that stretches down from scandinavia. it will be another cold start. a frost across parts of england and wales and eastern

parts of scotland. a bit milder for north—west scotland and northern ireland where we have more of a breeze and sun—cloud for a while. sunny start for many, any mist and fog soon lifting, some patchy cloud will bubble up here and there, but i think it will be a sunnier day on saturday through the midlands and eastern parts of england. for much of the country temperatures will be a degree or two higher than they were doing yesterday, making 14 to 15 degrees a little bit more widely. into the evening and overnight, those temperatures will fall away quickly as the sky starts to clear, except in northern ireland and western scotland, where the weather fronts in the atlantic are moving in here to bring patchy rain and they keep the temperatures up. otherwise patchy frost, but not as cold as it has been during recent mornings. that weather front hanging around out in the north—west and bringing a bit of a change in the weather for some spots of scotland and northern ireland. for england and wales, it remains fine and dry. it looks like it'll be cloudy with patchy and light rain for northern ireland and now it is more likely to be damp

across western scotland, further east it will be dry and bright with sunshine and sunshine for england and wales and patchy cloud for wales in the south—west and sunshine a bit hazy in eastern parts of england. through the midlands and eastern england, temperatures looking to reach 14 or 15 degrees. so it is warming up for these areas in particular. into monday, this rainjust does not want to move in across the uk. it will be sitting away from scotland so it looks dry here on monday. there'll be more sunshine across england and wales as well and those temperatures continuing to rise — around 16 or even 17 degrees. warming up at long last. however, while we might see a little bit of rain coming in on tuesday into early wednesday, the winds turn northerly by midweek and it gets colder again.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: final preparations are underway ahead of saturday's funeral of the duke of edinburgh. the ceremony at st george's chapel will be attended by a small group of close family and friends. many aspects of the funeral, including the music, were planned in advance by prince philip himself. russia is expelling ten us diplomats and blacklisting eight top american officials, in response to sanctions imposed by washington on thursday. russia's foreign minister said moscow was also tightening restrictions on us diplomats travelling within russia. president biden has held his first face to face meeting with a foreign leader at the white house, the japanese prime minister yoshihide suga. in a press conference, he said the us will work closely with japan to develop new technologies, including artificial intelligence and 5g, within norms "set by democracies, not autocracies".

now on bbc news, the week in parliament.