live from london, this is bbc news. the husband of former scottish first minister nicola sturgeon is arrested over an investigation into the party's finances. donald trump has given a defiant speech to supporters following a historic court hearing. the only crime that i have committed is to furiously defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. french president emmanuel macron begins a visit to china — amid tensions over the war in ukraine. the latest after israeli police clash with palestinian worshippers insidejerusalem's al—aqsa mosque. and buckingham palace says after the coronation, the queen consort will be known as queen camilla.

hello and welcome. we start with that breaking news coming out of scotland. peter murrell, the husband of scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon, has been arrested as part of a police investigtion into the finances of the scottish national party. 58—year—old peter murrell was the snp�*s chief executive until he quit last month. in a statement, police scotland said they had taken a 58—year—old man into custory for questioning over the party's funding and financing. alexandra mackenzie is our scotland correspondent. alexandra, not much detail coming in on this yet, but tell us what we do know and more about who peter murrell is? $5 know and more about who peter murrell is?— know and more about who peter murrell is? ~ , i. , , murrell is? as you say, this news has 'ust

murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, _ murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, so _ murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, so we _ murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, so we do - murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, so we do have i murrell is? as you say, this news hasjust broken, so we do have a | murrell is? as you say, this news - hasjust broken, so we do have a few has just broken, so we do have a few details. peter murrell is the wife of the former first minister nicola sturgeon. he stepped down as the chief executive of the snp quite recently. this was on a separate issue. this was due to party numbers. police scotland have been investigating the spending of money within the snp which had been earmarked for scottish independence campaigns. today we understand that 58—year—old peter murrell has been arrested. police scotland have said that their investigation into snp funding and finances has been ongoing. they say that they have

arrested a suspect in connection with that ongoing investigation. they say the man in custody is being questioned by police scotland and police officers are carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of that investigation. peter murrell is well _ part of that investigation. peter murrell is well known _ part of that investigation. peter murrell is well known by - part of that investigation. peter murrell is well known by some l part of that investigation. peterl murrell is well known by some in scotland for being nicola sturgeon�*s husband, but also a towering figure in scottish politics, notjust in the snp. in scottish politics, not 'ust in the snp. , , , in scottish politics, not 'ust in thesnp. , , ., in scottish politics, not 'ust in the snp. , , , ~ ., ., the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the general — the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the general public _ the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the general public as _ the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the general public as being - the snp. yes. he is mostly known to the general public as being the - the general public as being the husband of nicola sturgeon, the former first minister. they were married in 2010. but he was also chief executive of the snp. he was there for many years before he recently stood down with immediate

effect, as i said, nothing to do with this, it was to do with the numbers of members within the party. so he is a well—known figure to an extent, but possibly not a name that everyone in scotland would no. i was out filming a different story when this news broke and we said to be put nicola sturgeon�*s husband had been arrested. that was quite shocking for people, that had that had happened. but we have very few details at the moment. hopefully, we can bring you more information on this. i imagine there will be a lot of reaction. what we can say is limited, but police say a 58—year—old man was arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the scottish

national party. just funding and finances of the scottish national party-— funding and finances of the scottish national party. just explain how the scottish justice _ national party. just explain how the scottish justice system _ national party. just explain how the scottish justice system works. - national party. just explain how the scottish justice system works. he . national party. just explain how the scottish justice system works. he is in custody being questioned and a report is being sent to the crown 0ffice report is being sent to the crown office and procurator fiscal�*s office. what does that mean? yes. office. what does that mean? yes, i'm not sure _ office. what does that mean? yes, i'm not sure in _ office. what does that mean? yes, i'm not sure in terms _ office. what does that mean? yes, i'm not sure in terms of _ office. what does that mean? yes i'm not sure in terms of timings about when he will be taken in for questioning. i'm not sure where he has been taken. police have said they are carrying out searches of a number of addresses as part of this investigation. i'm not sure if that is offices or homes at this stage. a report will be sent to the crown 0ffice report will be sent to the crown office in scotland and the

procurator fiscal, the matter is active. forthe procurator fiscal, the matter is active. for the purposes of the contempt of court act in scotland, we have to advise caution on this. i am not sure how long the police will keep him questioning. at the moment, he has been arrested and there are no charges. he has been arrested and there are no charges-— he has been arrested and there are no charaes. �* . . . ~' ,, ., no charges. alexandra, thank you for takin: us no charges. alexandra, thank you for taking us through _ no charges. alexandra, thank you for taking us through that. _ live now to our scotland correspondent catriona renton. do you have any more information? as do you have any more information? sis you do you have any more information? s you say, do you have any more information? sis you say, this is a developing story. peter murrell, the 58—year—old husband of the former first minister nicola sturgeon, has been arrested. police have said it is in connection with an ongoing police investigation into the funding and finances of the snp. an investigation was launched sometime ago the snp's handling of

£600,000 in donations that were raised by the party, ostensibly to campaign for and hold a second independence referendum. there were allegations that the money was instead used to help with the party's day—to—day running. peter murrell has been taken into police custody this morning. he has been questioned by detectives. 0fficers questioned by detectives. officers are also carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of the investigation. a report will be sent to the crown 0ffice investigation. a report will be sent to the crown office and the procurator fiscal. police have said they are unable to comment further as the investigation is ongoing. but after her resignation, nicola sturgeon said her decision to stand down was not connected with snp finances. peter murrell is probably somebody that people don't know much about. he was a backroom operator in the snp. he has been chief executive

of the snp for more than two decades until he stood down during the snp leadership campaign. the reason he stood down during the campaign was for misleading the media over the number of members of the party. it has seen a sharp drop of around 30,000 people from 2021 to now. and the media had not been told that and there was constant pushing a way of answering that question at that time so peter murrell stood down. it was quite a dramatic weekend when he stood down, because he has been the chief executive and it was in the middle of the leadership campaign. two candidates in the leadership campaign, kate forbes and ash regan, had both questioned how the leadership campaign was being run and all three candidates including the new first minister humza yousaf,

had questions to ask about the membership. but that is not related to what has happened today. police have told us that peter murrell has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the snp. me funding and finances of the snp. we have just had a statement from the snp. they have said it would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation, but the snp have been co—operating with this investigation and will continue to do so. they said at the meeting on saturday, the governing body of the snp, the nec, agreed to a review of governance and transparency that will be taken forward in the coming weeks. so we don't want to speculate, but i wonder whether it is coming out of that meeting, this investigation. is coming out of that meeting, this investigation-— is coming out of that meeting, this investigation. that is the thing, we can't speculate _ investigation. that is the thing, we can't speculate at _ investigation. that is the thing, we can't speculate at this _ investigation. that is the thing, we can't speculate at this moment - investigation. that is the thing, we can't speculate at this moment in l can't speculate at this moment in time. this is now a live investigation and we have to be careful on where we go with talking

about that. the snp have said they will cooperate fully, as you said, and they have been cooperating with police throughout this investigation. i understand there are a number of police cars and vans outside peter murrell and nicola sturgeon's home in glasgow. and when stunt mr murrell has been taken into police custody to be questioned —— we understand he has been taken into custody. there were questions over a donation that peter murrell gave to the snp have over £100,000. that was something else that was asked about during the election campaign for the new leader of the party. again, that is something we don't know about how that relates to this investigation. but we do know he will be questioned

today by police. we don't know how long that will take. there are no charges at the moment. it is merely an arrest and the police will be talking to mr murrell at a police station. . ~ talking to mr murrell at a police station. s, ~ , s, s, s, ~ , station. thank you for taking us throu~h station. thank you for taking us through that — station. thank you for taking us through that breaking _ station. thank you for taking us through that breaking news. . let's ta ke let's take you life to poland and warsaw,. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky is making his first official visit to poland since russia invaded ukraine. warsaw has been one of the most outspoken and generous supporters of kyiv since the war started. it's taken in millions of refugees and sent more than 300 tanks. it was also the first country to send fighterjets to ukraine. you can see president zelensky on the red carpet. mr zelensky is

expected to thank the polish people at the royal castle in warsaw. he is also going to visit some of the more than a million ukrainian refugees who fled to their neighbouring country to seek refuge and have been largely welcomed and supported by the polish people and the government there, who have offered them homes, jobs and schools for the kids, a lot of support for them. but for president zelensky, it is the military support but of course has been key to him and their military efforts as ukraine tries to repel that russian attack for more than a year now. those 300 tanks have been crucial, as has been other military

support for his country. a warm handshake there. president zelensky�*s first official visit to the country since the outbreak of war. while he will be grateful, he will no doubt be repeating his request as he does wherever he goes in the world for more. more military support, more help, more tanks. whatever he can get to help his country repel the russian invaders. but there is one bone of contention. polish farmers have expressed their anger at the volume of ukrainian grain. you will remember that grain is a key issue when ports were precluded at the beginning of the war. now some polish farmers are

concerned about the volume of ukrainian grain entering poland, which they say is pushing down the prices of their own crops. you can see the polish military also paying their tributes. a very warm welcome for president zelensky. this is the ceremony of official welcome by the president of poland in the courtyard of the presidential palace.

band play. poland has very much stood side by side with ukraine, being a proud and vocal, outspoken supporter of its neighbouring country, and very generous as well. it has taken in millions of refugees, sent more than 300 tanks, the first country to send fighter jets 300 tanks, the first country to send fighterjets to ukraine. mr zelensky will be thanking polish people at the royal castle. you're watching

bbc news. reporting for duty after clocking up more than 500,000 miles, most recently in dorset. it's patients, not passengers, who'll be looking out for this bus at its next stop in ukraine. we have a huge shortage of doctors in ukraine, but mobile hospitals like that can move from village to village, from to small town. the job of converting it is already under way. out with the seats, in with the hospital beds. while the donated military hardware may have grabbed the headlines, medical help like this flight carrying both battle casualties and the sick, who struggle to get care in the war—damaged hospitals, is also needed. this bus could be the first of many

setting out on that same journey. you're live with bbc news. donald trump has spoken publicly for the first time since he was charged with 3a counts of falsifying business records, saying the legal action is an "insult" to america. the former us president earlier pleaded not guilty to hiding damaging information during the 2016 election. speaking to his supporters, mr trump said his only crime was to fearlessly defend the nation from those who would destroy it. in a campaign—style speech, he lambasted the biden administration and repeated the false claims that he'd been cheated out of office in 2020 by voting fraud. nada tawfik reports from new york. a show of defiance just hours after his arrest. back at his mar—a—lago club in florida, donald trump slowly made his way through a ballroom packed with crowds of supporters, shaking hands

and relishing their attention. in his first public remarks since being indicted, he said the justice system had become lawless. and i never thought anything like this could happen in america. never thought it could happen. the only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. cheering. he attacked everyone from the district attorney prosecuting him to president biden, and accused democrats of conspiring against him. he abruptly ended his speech after 25 minutes, with the events earlier clearly taking its toll. it was a day for the history books. a man who once held the highest office in the country experienced the indignity of being booked and arraigned. accommodations and security arrangements were made,

but he was shown no special deference. video cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but a few photographers captured trump's demeanour and facial expression in the moments before he pleaded not guilty to 3a felony counts. he's been accused of falsifying business records to conceal a crime. the charges are connected to a hush money payment to the porn star stormy daniels. this is a high stakes case for the manhattan district attorney, alvin bragg. in a press conference, he defended his office's decision to pursue an indictment against trump. 3a false statements made to cover up other crimes. these are felony crimes in new york state, no matter who you are. we cannot and will not normalise serious criminal conduct. donald trump left this courthouse and went immediately back to mar—a—lago, but he won't be able to escape his legal troubles here.

the next hearing is set for december, and this indictment may not even be his biggest concern if other investigations into election interference result in prosecution. nada tawfiq, bbc news, new york. 0ur correspondent, michelle fleury, in new york gave more details on what could happen next in the case after the indictment. certainly, lawyers for donald trump are going to push to file certain motions. one of them could be to have the case thrown out entirely. another could be to move it to a differentjurisdiction, perhaps one that has been floated is at staten island, because it is more favourable towards trump, the idea being that it will be easier to find a jury pool there that might be favourable to him. i think there's a long way to go. we've all been following the events of the last 48 hours and the drama of watching a former president being arrested and fingerprinted and going through the arraignment process.

but now you get to the typical grind of the legal process and that can be quite slow. as you mentioned, the next court date is in december, and that is when donald trump has been ordered to appear. but in future hearings, it mightjust be the lawyers behind closed doors. wall—to—wall coverage by the us media, of course, of this huge story in us politics. what has the analysis over there been? has it only served to harden party political lines? you've never been able to separate the legal from the political here. in part, you see it both with da alvin bragg, there have been questions as to why he brought this case now

and that is something that people poring over the indictment want to get a better understanding of, why he felt this was a case he had to bring, given that it involved a former president. and for donald trump's side, he has used it as an opportunity to drum up support from his base. since the indictment first dropped, he has raised $10 million. he is even selling t—shirts with a mugshot that didn't take place. you can see he is trying to gain ground because of course, he is trying to run for president of the united states again in the 2024 election. police in israel have clashed with dozens of palestinian worshippers inside jerusalem's al—aqsa mosque compound. they say they carried out a pre—dawn raid into the holy site after agitators locked themselves inside the mosque. the palestinian red crescent reported numerous injuries. nine rockets were fired at southern israeli towns from gaza following the police raid. earlier, i asked our correspondent lucy williamson injerusalem about the latest developments there. as you say, in the early hours of this morning, the israeli police say they went in to clear the mosque

after a group of palestinians barricaded themselves inside. they said they were targeted with fireworks and stones. there's video footage that has come out from both sides, showing quite dramatic scenes inside the mosque. you can see the fireworks exploding towards the israeli police forces. there's also other footage showing the police beating people inside the mosque with batons and what looks like other weapons. these sorts of scenes have been seen before in the al—aqsa compound. the risk is that because it's such a sensitive site, it will risk a wider conflict erupting, particularly because there are two religious holidays happening at the same time at the moment, the jewish festival of passover and the muslim holy month of ramadan. last night, we saw rockets fired from the gaza strip towards israel.

no injuries reported there. israeli air strikes in the gaza strip have also taken against the militant group hamas. this is a regular flashpoint, isn't it? it is the holiest site injudaism and the third holiest site in islam. explain why it is so contentious, this site? it's very carefully managed. jews are allowed to pray at the wailing wall just below the site. they're allowed to visit temple mount/haram al—sharif, but they're not allowed to pray there. there are activities that are banned over there for anyone except muslims. at this time of passover, there's a call for a fringejewish group to try and take a lamb up to temple mount to do a ritual slaughter to mark the holiday of passover. that's seen as something that if it were to happen, would be very inflammatory to the situation. so we're now going into a week

where those two religious holidays are coinciding and security forces are watching to make sure there are no incidents of that kind that might prove a flashpoint. let's recap our breaking news this hour coming out of scotland. peter murrell, the husband of scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon, has been arrested as part of a police investigtion into the finances of the scottish national party. 58—year—old peter murrell was the snp's chief executive until he quit last month. in a statement, police scotland said they had taken a 58—year—old man into custory for questioning over the party's funding and financing. the investigation was launched after complaints about the snp's handling of the £600,000 in donations raised by the party, ostensibly to campaign for and hold a second independence referendum. it is alleged that the money instead was used to help with the party's day—to—day running

costs. peter murrell arrested, no charges yet. we will bring you more as that story develops. away from the south—east, it wasn't such a cold start to the day today because we had more cloud and rain, courtesy of this weatherfront pushing towards the east. later we have this second weatherfront coming in. that's going to produce heavier and more persistent rain as it does the same thing, moves from the west to the east. so the bright start in the south—east and the chilly one will turn hazier as the weatherfronts approach, introducing more cloud. this weatherfront through the afternoon will produce heavy rain across northern ireland, south—west scotland, north—west england, wales and the south—west. where we hang on to sunshine around the moray firth, we could hit 15 degrees,

but it will remain windy around shetland. if you are stepping out, bear in mind that tree pollen is prolific at the moment across southern england and wales, the levels are moderate or high today. this evening, all this rain continues to move in the direction of the north sea. we will see some clear skies behind it in the west but by the end of the night, some heavy showers coming into northern ireland. as a result, it's not going to be a cold night, but in some sheltered glens in north—east scotland, temperatures may fall away. tomorrow, we start with cloud and rain in the east. it pushes into the north sea, but lingers, especially across shetland, where it will still be windy. behind it, there is a mix of sunshine and showers. the showers become more widespread through the day, some of them heavy in eastern england and in the midlands, where they could also be thundery. thursday night, you can see how this high pressure builds across us and remains with us during friday and into saturday, blocking these weatherfronts from coming in with any substantial rain from the west.

for good friday, we still have the remnants of some cloud from thursday's weatherfront. we could see the odd shower in east anglia and london. they will be the exception rather than the rule. for most, it's going to be dry and there will be a lot of sunshine around. then as we head into the easter weekend, for saturday, again a lot of dry weather around. later, we could see some light rain coming into northern ireland from that weatherfront. sunday, mostly dry with patchy cloud, but showers for many of us on monday.

live from london. this is bbc news. the husband of former scottish first minister nicola sturgeon, is arrested over an investigation into the party's finances. donald trump has given a defiant speech to supporters following a historic court hearing. the only crime that i have committed is to furiously defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. and buckingham palace says after the coronation, the queen consort will be known as queen camilla. hello and welcome. we start with that breaking news coming out of scotland.