this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. final preparations for the funeral of the duke of edinburgh — a ceremony partly planned by the duke himself. 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. a weekend curfew comes into force in the indian capital, delhi, as coronavirus cases rise sharply in the city and across the country. the british actor helen mccrory, best known for her roles in the tv series peaky blinders and three

harry potter films, has died of cancer at the age of 52. and hundreds of celebrity influencers have learned that they will finally be compensated for turning up four years ago to a music festival that never happened. we start here in the uk. the funeral of the duke of edinburgh will take place at windsor castle on saturday. only 30 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. 0utside 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 2:40pm tomorrow, the duke's coffin will be borne from the state entrance to be placed on the land rover. at 2:45pm, 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 2:53pm, 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 3:00pm, 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. now a special report from the front line in ukraine. russian troops are gathering along the border. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, has been holding talks with the leaders of france and germany to try and increase international support. 0ur correspondentjonah fisher reports now from 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. 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're usually carrying charges or grenades, or 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. 0n 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. sticking with escalating tensions with russia, but this time it is the us. moscow is expelling ten american diplomats from the country and recommending the us ambassador return home. the move is in response to sanctions imposed by washington on thursday. the white house cited, quote, "russia's harmful foreign activities". 0ur moscow correspondent steve 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've 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 special forces into ukraine to annex crimea. this time around, moscow isn't 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". and 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 us—russia summit — that is a possibility. but for that to happen, there mustn't be an escalation in tension. and the concern is, in europe, in nato, in america, that russia's actions are destabilising the situation.

in the us city of chicago, hundreds of people have marched through the streets for a second night to protest against the police shooting of adam toledo. the 13—year—old latino boy was killed in an alley two weeks ago even though police body—cam footage appeared to show he was unarmed. as the demonstrations were taking place, president biden returned to the issue of gun control following the recent mass shooting in indianapolis. it isa it is a national embarrassment, what is going on. it is not only these mass shootings that are occurring. every single day — every single day there is a mass shooting in the united states. you can count all of those killed on the streets of our cities in our rural areas. it is a national embarrassment and must come to an end. let's get some of the day's other news: cuba's former president raul castro has confirmed that he will resign from the leadership of the communist party.

he made the announcement at the beginning of a four—day party congress. the move means that, for the first time in six decades, cuba's communist party is no longer led by either raul castro or his late brother fidel. a member of the far—right us militia group the 0ath keepers has become the first person to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the attack on capitol hill in washington in january. jon ryan schaffer�*s plea emerged after sealed documents refering to his case accidentally appeared on a federal court database. mr schaffer, who is an ardent supporter of donald trump, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. in the us, the white house has says it will increase the number of refugees allowed into the country this year, but a spokesperson said the total is unlikely to be as high as mr biden�*s february pledge of over 62,000. earlier there was a sharp reaction from democrats and human rights activists when mr biden indicated that the us could keep the number of admissions as low as 15,000.

brazil's vice president says the government has set a goal to reduce illegal deforestation by up to 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 tojoe biden ahead of next week's virtual climate summit. nasa has chosen elon musk�*s spacex company to build the craft that aims to land humans on the moon for the first time in nearly 50 years. spacex says it will develop reusable starship spacecraft in combination with super—heavy rockets to blast astronauts into space. nasa officials says the mission could take place as soon as 202a. a weekend curfew has come into force in delhi, with india second in the world for reported coronavirus infections. it has recorded over 170,000 deaths, yet mass election rallies are still taking place

and many are celebrating a large hindu festival on the banks of the river ganges. there are currently no plans for another strict national lockdown, as mark lobel reports. agony those burying relatives here feel should have been avoidable. translation: we acceptl coronavirus is widespread. but the equipment and facilities that should be there in hospitals — they're not there. after a week of record cases and over 1,000 reported deaths a day, they are turning some bodies away here. 13—14 bodies already. the situation is so bad that we don't have time to do anything. we don't even have time to have a meal.

india's leader, narendra modi, is loath to lockdown festivals like kumbh mela, large weddings and election rallies, with an important vote on the horizon. there are night curfews in some states, but things have markedly changed since the national lockdown ended last summer. i don't think it's entirely the politicians�* fault. scientific arguments of various kinds were also advanced by people who should have possible known better. and the media too welcomed it, the industry welcomed it, and the virus had an opportunity to really spread fast. of most concern now and spreading fast is a newly classified coronavirus variant discovered in india. two of these mutations which have been seen in other variants around the world are concerning because there's a similarity in these mutations that confer increased transmissibility, for example, and some of these mutations also result in reduced neutralisation, which may have an impact on our countermeasures, including

the vaccines. it is no longerjust an indian problem. the us, uk, singapore, australia and south africa have also reported this double mutant. as india plans to dramatically ramp up its locally made vaccine supplies, it is appealing to america to ease exports of raw materials. but pressure is building for more immediate action to stop this deadly wave of the virus, as those losing loved ones paint a picture of a health system buckling under the strain. mark lobel, bbc news. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: final preparations are under way 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. a group of guests at the notorious fyre festival will receive compensation after a lawsuit against the organisers. 277 people will receive more than $7,000 each. the 2017 event in the bahamas drew global attention after the supposedly luxury music experience, promoted by supermodels and celebrities turned out to resemble a disaster relief camp with windswept tents and decidedly non—gourmet food. it was cancelled on its opening day. the festival organiser, billy mcfarland, is serving a six—yearjail term for fraud. seth crossno was at the festival and went viral online by documenting the experience. he wasn't involved in the recent legal action. he shared his own footage from the event with us,

while talking me through what it was like. it was just pretty chaotic. nobody knew where to go or what to do. and we eventually, within about an hour, realised that this thing wasn't happening and at that point tried to figure out how to get back home. and you couldn't do that quickly or easily? no, it took about 15 hours, once we realised we needed to get out of there it took a while. and we talked about the non—gourmet food, what did you have for food? yeah, that was another sort of logistical nightmare. some people had cheese on bread, some people had pasta salad and chicken. you just didn't know where to go or where anything was. so totally not ready at all to host thousands of people at an event. seth, thank you very much for reminding us what happened, of course it was the subject of a famous documentary as well, so people all around

the world a shambles it was. what was your reaction to this settlement after this lawsuit then? yeah, i think it's good to kind of move forward. i hope the ticket holders get paid back some. i know that a lot people are still out, they didn't get paid for the work they did, a lot of the contractors and vendors and there's obviously a long line of people who need to be paid back. so hopefully this can just start that process. and what about you, how much are you out of pocket? you are not involved in this action. yeah, ourtickets, my friend and i spent about $5,000 on our ticket and we decided not to do this litigation. my attorney, stacey miller, actually said we should do another route, and that's what we did. so glad that some other friends of mine are involved in this and hopefully they get paid back, but we chose a different route. are you hopeful of getting any money back? we will see. it's going to be a while.

we will see what happens. it's not the biggest problem in the world. that's what i wanted to ask. you very rightly highlighted some of the more serious problems on the island itself, with contractors not being paid, someone is in prison for it, on your personal side, are you able to see the funny side now and reflect on your experience or not? yeah, i mean, it's a funny experience. at the time it was not safe, it was dangerous. but looking back on it, you know, we did get to kind of raise some money through some gofundmes for a few of the people in the bahamas, so that was good. but the experience as a whole you can look back on it and say it's something i'm never going to forget. seth crossno there. people in oman have reacted angrily to friday's introduction of value added tax. it's the first time the tax has been applied in the oil—rich country.

the arabic hastag "value added tax" was trending on social media as users expressed frustration at the decision, which they said would exacerbate the crisis of high unemployment, bankruptcy and closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 0man is the fourth gulf state to introduce vat, following the uae, saudi arabia and bahrain. 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 damien lewis, said he'd lost a "beautiful woman". 0ur 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 an extraordinary actress and a wonderful woman. good evening and welcome

to have i got news for you. i'm helen mccrory. 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. helen mccrory, 52. there were many great roles she had yet to play. the actor helen mccrory, who's death was announced on friday. back to our top story: the funeral of the duke of edinburgh. and like all other funerals

here in the uk this year, the service will be subject to coronavirus restrictions meaning limited numbers and the queen sitting alone. the bbc�*s reeta chakrabarti has been speaking to the archbishop of canterbury as he prepared for his part in the service. she's the queen. she will behave with the extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage that she always does. and at the same time, she is saying farewell to someone to whom she was married for 73 years. i think that must be a very, very profound thing in anybody�*s life, and i hope that the whole nation, if they believe in that, then they pray for her, if they don't, they sympathise and in their hearts offer their condolences to her,

and the hope for her to find strength in what must be an anguished moment. because she is both the monarch and a grieving wife? she is, a grieving widow, and over the last year, there's literally millions of people around the world who've been in her position, and they will identify especially. in one sense, part of the burden that her majesty carries is that burden of representing everyone in her person. and that's a heavy burden. so, this funeral will be a national event, but also one that resonates very personally for a lot of people. i think it will resonate very deeply for a lot of people. i think there will be tears in many homes, because other names will be on their minds, faces they've lost that they don't see again, funerals that they couldn't go to, as many haven't been able to go to this one. that will break many a heart. this is clearly a big moment in the nation's life,

how do you hope that we will emerge from it? i suspect that what the duke would say is, now get on with it. and i hope that we will see this moment as something we share in, in the grief of this very, very hard year that we've all gone through, and then we'll say, the best thing we can do is to do what he did in all his life, just get on with it. archbishop, thank you. thank you. a reminder that there will be full coverage of prince philip's funeral. a small group of family members will walk in procession behind his cough and carried short distance between the castle and the chapel.

that's it from me. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ l vaughanjones this is bbc news. goodbye. 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, yes, but it's not going to 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, mind you. the next weather system is going to be hanging out in the atlantic and we'll 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've got more of a breeze and some cloud for awhile. 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. and for much of the country temperatures will be a degree or two higher than they were doing yesterday, so making 1a to 15 degrees maybe a little bit more widely. into the evening and overnight, those temperatures will fall away quickly as skies start 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. 0therwise some patchy frost, but not as cold as it has been during recent mornings. that weather front, then, hanging around out in the north—west, bringing a bit of a change in the weather for some spots of scotland and northern ireland. but 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's going to be dry and bright with sunshine, and sunshine for england

and wales and patchy cloud and sunshine a bit hazy in eastern parts of england. through the midlands and eastern england, temperatures looking to reach 1a or 15 degrees, so it is warming up for these areas in particular. into monday, this rainjust doesn't want to move it's going to be sitting away from scotland so it looks dry there'll be more sunshine across england and wales as well and those temperatures continuing to rise — up to around 16 or even 17 degrees, so it's warming up at long last. however, whilst we might see a little bit of rain coming in on tuesday into early wednesday, the winds then 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. a weekend curfew has come into force in the indian capital, delhi, as coronavirus cases rise sharply in the city and across the country. 0nly essential services remain open. shopping malls, gyms, bars and restaurants in the capital are all closed. delhi is now india's worst affected city.