today at one, donald trump claims he's the victim of election interference, after an extraordinary day, after an extraordinary day in american history. he's the first former us president to appear in court on criminal charges, and is accused of multiple counts, of falsifying business records. the only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. also this lunchtime. nicola sturgeon�*s husband, peter murrell, the former chief executive of the snp, is arrested, over the party's finances. head teachers across england vote overwhelmingly to reject the government's latest pay offer.

israeli police clash with palestinians at the al—aqsa mosque in another flare up of tensions. life coaching or a cult? the bbc investigates a self—improvement business, accused of taking over the lives, of its clients. how do you feel, paul, about the fact that so many people think you're running a cult. we're not running a cult. they don't know what a cult is. and the miraculous escape after hitting a gas pipe. a new digital map of our underground utilities, could prevent future tregedies. coming up on the bbc news channel. frank lampard emerges as a surprise contender for the chelsea job until the end of the season. their former captain was sacked by the club two years ago.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. after an extraordinary day in american history, donald trump has told his supporters, he's the victim of election interference. he's the first former president to face criminal charges, 3a counts in all, of falsifying business records. he appeared in court yesterday, and pleaded not guilty, accused of trying to conceal potentially damaging information over hush money payments to two women, that might have affected his run for the white house, in 2016. from new york, our correspondent, nada tawfik, has our top story. # proud to be an american. # 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. 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 sa 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 results in prosecution.

nena tawfik, bbc news, new york. the former chief executive of the scottish national party, peter murrell, has been arrested, as part of an investigation, into the party's finances. mr murrell, who's the former snp leader nicola sturgeon�*s husband, is being questioned and a number of properties are being searched, including the couple's home. alexandra mackenzie is there now. what more can you tell us? well, there is a significant _ what more can you tell us? well, there is a significant police - what more can you tell us? well, | there is a significant police search going on behind me e at the home of peter murrell and former first minister nicola sturgeon. peter murrell is the former chief executive of the snp, and this isn't the only search that is going on the snp headquarters have been searched by police. back injune 2021, police scotland launched an investigation

into snp finances, the party had raised more than 16,000 —— £600,000, that was between 2017 and 2020, which the party pledged to spend on a new independence campaign. questions were rised —— raised after accounts showed it had just under £97,000 at the end of 2019, and last year, mr murrell provided a loan of more than 100,000. the new prime minister humza yousaf said it was a challenging and difficult time for the snp. thank you. head teachers across england, have voted overwhelmingly to reject the government's latest pay offer. the national association of headteachers, which mainly represents primary school leaders, says 90% of those who voted, turned down the offer. strike action is now being considered. here's our education

editor, branwen jeffreys. primary schools are now at the centre of the teachers�* pay dispute, with head teachers likely to vote on strike action. so today their leader spoke at another union conference, welcomed by the national education union, which has already called more strikes. if you have overworked, underpaid and overregulated your workforce you expect me to do? i am a trade union official, i have to call it out. applause. teachers�* pay for next year is up in the air. three unions have rejected the pay offer so far. that leaves schools like this primary in birmingham trying to plan without knowing how much they will have to find. and out of their budget will also have to come pay rises for support staff. we do have a teaching assistant per classroom here. and they do a phenomenaljob. i wouldn't want to lose any of them.

but there is no infinite pot of money. the government says its offer is reasonable and fair. a £1,000 one—off cash payment on top of 5% this year. for next year, 4.3% for most teachers, plus £30,000 starting salary. so what do parents think about head teachers considering strikes? it is disruptive, chaotic, it is not great _ it is disruptive, chaotic, it is not great for— it is disruptive, chaotic, it is not great for parents but i think a lot of parents — great for parents but i think a lot of parents still are behind their teachers — of parents still are behind their teachers and we think their wages need _ teachers and we think their wages need improving. if the teachers are still at _ need improving. if the teachers are still at school and the heads are on strike, _ still at school and the heads are on strike, they— still at school and the heads are on strike, they have nobody to organise thing. _ strike, they have nobody to organise thing. when — strike, they have nobody to organise thing, when it goes wrong, you know, it will_ thing, when it goes wrong, you know, it will be _ thing, when it goes wrong, you know, it will be fine until it goes wrong and something happens and it is where _ and something happens and it is where was the head teacher and the government might do something. there is more government cash going into england's schools. £2 billion extra next year. half a billion more

on offer towards pay. even so, experts say there is little wiggle room in budgets. parents already know they have at least two more days of having children at home, after the largest teachers union after the largest teachers�* union announced more strikes. now primary head teachers in england may also decide to ballot over industrial action. far from this dispute being settled, there is every indication it might escalate. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. there have been clashes between israeli police and palestinian worshippers, at the al—aqsa mosque in occupied eastjerusalem. in response, palestinian militants fired rockets from the gaza strip. the latest violence comes as the islamic holy month of ramadan, and thejewish passover holiday, coincide. this report from our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, contains flashing and distressing images.

fireworks being thrown in the prayer hall at al—aqsa mosque. israeli police released this footage to show what they described as palestinian agitators who had barricaded themselves inside. meanwhile distressing images appear on social media, of officers hitting palestinian worshippers with a rifle but and sticks. they ignited widespread anger. israeli security forces say they carried out a predawn raid to clear the holy site, after dozens of people refused to leave. earlier, the islamist military group hamas had urged muslims to protect the mosque afterjewish fringe extremists called for an animal sacrifice here for pass over. soon, violence flared in garvagh too. israel�*s warplanes struck back, hitting sites with no—one reported hurt in the exchange of fire. this

morning as a clean up began at al—aqsa mosque, witnesses condemned the israeli action during the holy month of ramadan.— the israeli action during the holy month of ramadan. , , ., , month of ramadan. these people were ra in: , month of ramadan. these people were praying. what — month of ramadan. these people were praying. what else _ month of ramadan. these people were praying, what else do _ month of ramadan. these people were praying, what else do they _ month of ramadan. these people were praying, what else do they do - month of ramadan. these people were praying, what else do they do at - praying, what else do they do at night? they weren�*t bothering anyone. nojews come here a night, they wanted to empty the mosque of muslims. ., , ., , ., ., muslims. later tensions rose again as israeli police _ muslims. later tensions rose again as israeli police escorted _ muslims. later tensions rose again as israeli police escorted jewish . as israeli police escorted jewish visitors round the site. this is the holiest place injudaism, as well as the third holiest place in islam. some israelis say that it is now relatively calm. i some israelis say that it is now relatively calm.— some israelis say that it is now relatively calm. i think everything is auoin to relatively calm. i think everything is going to be _ relatively calm. i think everything is going to be fine, _ relatively calm. i think everything is going to be fine, like _ relatively calm. i think everything is going to be fine, like you - relatively calm. i think everything is going to be fine, like you see, | is going to be fine, like you see, this year, like, embedded in the last years, that also the politicians and everything here in israel make more ramadan possible for people to come here.— for people to come here. today, jewish israelis _ for people to come here. today, jewish israelis have _ for people to come here. today, jewish israelis have been - for people to come here. today, | jewish israelis have been burning left over bread ahead oaf pass over,

for the next week, important religious holidays overlap. the fear now, is that could lead to yet more confrontations atjerusalem�*s most sensitive holy site. yolande knell, bbc news. ukraine�*s president 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, providing military equipment, and taking in more than a million ukrianian refugees. the chairman of the contaminated blood inquiry has recommended more people should be entitled to compensation and further interim payments should be made. sir brian langstaff said some cases had so far gone unrecognised, including nearly 400 children with bleeding disorders, who were infected with hiv, some who died in childhood. thousands of people were infected with hiv and hepatitis by contaminated blood between 1970 and 1991.

one of the world�*s biggest criminal marketplaces, used by online fraudsters to buy passwords, has been shut down following a global police investigation. known as genensis market, it sold login details, ip addresses and other personal data, allowing criminals to log into bank accounts. 2a people have been arrested in the uk, as our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford reports. come to the door! police! come to the door! an early morning raid in grimsby yesterday. the beginning of the uk contribution to an international operation against online fraud. officers from the national crime agency and the police arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of fraud and computer misuse. one of 2a people arrested in the uk. the target of the raids was the genesis market website, a one—stop shop for hackers

who could log in and buy stolen passwords for bank accounts, paypal accounts and accounts for services like amazon, uber and netflix. what was particularly dangerous about the data being sold on the genesis market website was that it wasn�*t just log in details. the hackers could purchase all of what is known as your digital fingerprints, your browser information, your ip address and your physical location. so that when the hackers logged in to a bank account or shopping website it really did look as if they were the original user. hackers trying to use genesis market today did not get the usual login page. rather, they got this message from the fbi saying the website had been seized as part of operation cookie monster, a reference to the fact that one of the things that genesis market was selling was computer cookies to help hackers impersonate genuine users. for too long criminals have stolen credentials from innocent members of the public. we now want criminals to be afraid that we have their credentials, and they should be.

members of the public are being reminded that to avoid fraud they should use two factor authentication by possible. authentication where possible. that is when a text message with a one use password is sent as part of the login process. daniel sandford, bbc news, at the national crime agency. the time is 1315. our top story this lunchtime. donald trump says he�*s the victim of election interference, after being charged with 3a counts of falsifying business records. and coming up. taking stock of the gender pay gap. has it closed, five years after companies were forced, to reveal their rates? coming up on the bbc news channel. rory mcilroy says he is confident of completing golf�*s grand slam by winning the masters which gets under way in augusta tomorrow. this year is the northern irishman�*s 15th attempt to win the only major to have so far eluded him. a bbc investigation has exposed a british

life—coaching business accused of being a cult. lighthouse international claimed it offered self—development and life coaching, but several people who signed up, say they were later encouraged to hand over tens of thousands of pounds, and separate from their familes, as the organisation took over their lives. here�*s catrin nye. it�*s been 18 months since jeffrey leejones left lighthouse international group, a life coaching company accused of being a cult. the 34—year—old sailor from portsmouth initially got involved with the organisation for business mentoring, but soon he was on the phone to his mentor at all hours of the day. i thoroughly enjoy the conversations you and i have. at first i was motivated, iwas inspired, and i started working hard. these calls then became more frequent, longer, more intense, more about deeper parts of your life. in time, i began to share traumatic things, things i found deeply painful.

jeff was encouraged to become part of lighthouse full time. that meant being on group phone calls every day, often led by paul waugh, their charismatic leader. many people who don't know me very well think i'm a mystic, because i'm able to sort of feel things that no—one else can. all these calls were recorded, then painstakingly transcribed. they began to take overjeff�*s life. they got longer and longer as we went. so within six months they were 5 to 6 hours. that�*s every day? every day. dawn ingram isjeff�*s girlfriend. so i would listen in at times. the topics were getting more sinister. narcissists, you know, toxic parents. and then that's when i started worrying because i thought he's literally being brainwashed all day, every day. people who have been part of lighthouse have become isolated from family. some move into shared houses, and there�*s a financial cost, too.

in total, jeff paid £131,000 to the organisation. he sold his house to fund some of it. lighthouse says that any money paid is a self investment. aaron, anotherformer mentee, paid over £35,000. i took out an interest free credit card and the idea came from my mentor. i started to feel as though i couldn�*t think anything unless my mentor said that it�*s a healthy thing to think. when people start to ask questions, things can turn nasty. i'm telling you now you've got to stop doing it. it's not acceptable. okay. treating it as if we're trying to do you over. you're a cynical little old witch! lighthouse do not like criticism. people who have spoken out have been reported to the police. lighthouse even contacted the employer of another critic to tell them she was unfit to do herjob. i consider lighthouse a very classic example of a cult.

firstly, cults are started and led by a charismatic and authoritarian leader, but they�*re also bullies. the structure is steeply hierarchical, but it�*s heavily isolating. then you have this process of what i call brainwashing, or we could also call coercive control. if you do this to people, you can then exploit them. martin�*s daughter mel is still part of lighthouse. she no longer talks to herfamily. one feels so powerless. you feel what can i do? what�*s it like having a child in lighthouse? it�*s as if my daughter has died. because she�*s not my daughter, that i know, is not there anymore. i�*m sorry. one week ago, lighthouse international group was shut down as a business by a court over a lack of financial transparency. we put our allegations to their leader. how do you feel about the fact that

so many people think you�*re running a cult? we're not running a cult because they don't know what a cult is. they don't know, if you ask them what's the difference with a cult and a community that supports people, they wouldn't be able to tell you. why do you think so many people say it? because they're slurring us. they're smearing us. that's exactly what they do. are you going to carry on? yes, we are carrying on. thank you. we've had enough. no comment. catrin nye, bbc news. and you can see and listen to catrin nye�*s full investigation, by seraching for �*a very british cult,�* on bbc iplayer, or bbc sounds. 21 people have been convicted for their parts in the largest ever child sex abuse case investigated by west midlands police. 13 have already been jailed. live now to wolverhampton crown court and our correspondent there, phil mackie. what happened today? this is the first time we can report this case

because there have been a series of trials going on since last year the last of which has just ended at wolverhampton crown court with three further convictions. so in total 21 people have been convicted in connection with this sex abuse trial, the biggest west midlands police have ever dealt with. 13 already in prison and for awaiting sentence and for more convicted of less serious offences given non—custodial sentences. i cannot go into the detail about the crimes were because they are just so horrific and in fact west midlands police describe this as a case of shocking and systematic abuse. it first came to light following a hospital admission one young victim, they were all aged 12 and under and in that case safeguarding concerns were raised which led to a wider investigation which ultimately led to a series of trials which have gone on in the past year or so.

walsall children�*s safeguarding board is expected to publish a review in the coming months to look at whether there had been missed opportunities in the case and whether or not intervention could be made sooner. some of the victims who are now adults and others are still under 18 and they�*re being cared for and looked after by the authorities as a result of this case which is the biggest of its kind that west midlands police has ever dealt with. phil mackie, thank you. the green party has launched its local election campaign, and is putting housing centre stage. one of the co—leaders carla denyer says 100,000 sustainable council homes need to be built every year. there�*s also a call for the introduction of rent controls and an end to no—fault evictions. all over our country we have people unable to buy a home, trapped in housing that�*s unaffordable to rent and unaffordable to heat.

that�*s why at the green party we would bring in an immediate rent freeze and eviction ban. we can�*t allow people to become homeless in the middle of a cost of living crisis. and in the longer term, we would give councils the power to bring in rent controls in areas where the housing market is overheated. the gender pay gap is as large now as it was when companies were first forced to report their average pay for men and women five years ago. at 9.4% it suggests the progression of women in the workplace, has actually slowed. here�*s dharshini david. checking the inventory, and taking stock of their careers. millie and megan are both starting out in travis perkins. it serves the male dominated construction sector, but their hopes are high. i was aware that it was a male—dominated industry. i did have some reservations and hesitations around it. however, it was completely untoward.

you have the opportunity to prove yourself. only one in seven construction workers are women but travis perkins says publishing pay figures has helped reduce its earnings gap and prompted industry change. it has been a bit of a stimulus i think in terms of having better conversations about diversity and how we bring more women and more diverse colleagues into our organisations. we have also done a lot on our policies as well. so a family friendly policy we introduced a few years ago and more recently a menopause policy. on average there is a pay gap of 22% in construction, women earn 78p for every pound that a man owns. although it is improving. across all big employers the gap has stuck at 9.4%. women earn 90p for each £1 that a man owns. there are many reasons why gender

pay gaps exist from traditional career role to a lack of opportunities, corporate culture and even personal choice. that really opens up when children arrive and some analysts reckon the pandemic and rising cost of childcare may have helped to halt progress. so what your company is to retain and promote women after all over the course of a career woman can be a quarter of £1 million worse off than a man and it also means that we are starving the economy of crucial skills. :: :: , ., starving the economy of crucial skills. :: i: , ., ., skills. 700 tweets in the morning of international _ skills. 700 tweets in the morning of international women's _ skills. 700 tweets in the morning of international women's day. - international women�*s day. frustrated by tweets celebrating gender diversity events, the woman behind the gender pay gap blog response. it behind the gender pay gap blog resonse. , , ., , ., response. it is usefulto understand the scale of — response. it is usefulto understand the scale of the _ response. it is usefulto understand the scale of the problem _ response. it is usefulto understand the scale of the problem but - response. it is useful to understand| the scale of the problem but without legislation to force companies to close the gap it is not happening fast enough. ibig

close the gap it is not happening fast enough-— close the gap it is not happening fast enou:h. �* ., ., . , ., fast enough. big advances were made in revious fast enough. big advances were made in previous decades _ fast enough. big advances were made in previous decades and _ fast enough. big advances were made in previous decades and while - in previous decades and while publishing pay figures is promoting constructive action, building a more rewarding future will take time and effort. for the first time, a digital map of the uk�*s entire underground utilities network is being created. gas and water pipes, electricity cables, sewage systems, you name it, it�*ll be mapped, in the hope of preventing accidents caused by workers accidentally who hitting something, they shouldn�*t. our science correspondent, victoria gill has that story. a puncture to an unseen pipe. when construction workers accidentally hit this water main in the midlands, it flooded whole streets around the site. and any repair to the pipes and cables underground is risky. to upgrade the water main here, the team has to navigate electricity cables and gas pipes, lying almost on top of each other. it�*s really hard to know what�*s going on down here because it is invisible to us

and it�*s so dangerous. and working near this vital underground network can be perilous. this farm worker struck a gas pipe. blast. remarkably, he escaped unharmed. floods, power cuts and other disruption caused by these kinds of accidents cost the uk an estimated £2.11 billion every year. so every repair site is carefully mapped, but at the moment there�*s no one place to find all that information. i have a plan here for the gas, i have a plan here for the power grid, and i have a plan here for openreach. now, that is changing. workers on site will be able to access all that data quickly on a digital map, on a phone or tablet. every single different asset is in a different colour, it then tells you the size and the voltage. here in northumbrian water�*s control room, that new map is being put to the test. i've just got an alarm in for blythe... the north east�*s utility companies

have all shared their underground plans with the government so that other companies can access them online. what we can do is simply pan and redraw the area and refresh the data. within seconds we can get an updated map or plan. wow. how much of a difference is this going to make? in the field, it will help keep our workers much safer than they were previously because of better information, better access to information. and from a consumers�* point of view and our customers�* point of view, the minimum amount of disruption and delay that we have associated with that, with maintaining the water network and keeping water flowing to our customers, is good news for them. the government plans to roll out this digital underground map across england, wales and northern ireland in 2025, covering a complicated network of 4 million kilometers of wires, pipes, sewers and cables. knowing the exact location of all that buried infrastructure could help keep disruption like this

as brief and as safe as possible. victoria gill, bbc news. some news we�*re just getting from italy now. italy�*s former prime minister silvio berlusconi has been admitted to hospital in milan. local media reports say the 86 year old is being treated in intensive care for lung problems. mr berlusconi has struggled with poor health in recent years and was only discharged from hospital last week. time for a look at the weather. here�*s tomas schaffernacker. it is the easter holidays and we expect bright sunshine! do not disappoint me! a little bit too early for that! overall not looking too bad, not completely dry but on the whole some dry weather around. good friday not looking too bad. so today first,

yesterday was beautiful for many of us and today it is cloudy with outbreaks of rain, not a pretty picture. you can see rain bearing clouds spreading across the country. a definite back edge to this cloud, it will arrive but not until later tonight and into tomorrow. so the weather front slowly moving across the uk today. this is how it looks roundabout now, not quite reaching east anglia and the south east. the back edge of that starting to move into northern ireland early this afternoon so the bulk of the rain across the irish sea, the north west of england, wales, northern england. temperatures between nine, 1a degrees really depending on the amount of cloud and when you have. through this evening and didn�*t chew tonight that band of rain quite happy for a time. hugging the east coast of scotland and england early on thursday morning and out towards

the west this sky is clear and it is relatively mild. and this