this is bbc news. the headlines: in the heart of power in china's capital — president macron tells xi jinping — i'm counting on you to bring russia back to reason. a true diplomatic breakthrough — beijing brokers a deal

between bitter rivals saudi arabia and iran. buckingham palace is cooperating with an independent study into links between the british monarchy and the slave trade. cleaning up the uk's biggest police force. officers are diverted from investigating terrorism and serious crimes in london to tackling wrongdoing within the ranks. the uk's first residential gambling treatment centre for women has opened its doors to cameras for the very first time. the gordon moody facility opened in 2021, after the number of women receiving support for addiction more than doubled in five years. rachel stonehouse has met three women who've been through treatment at the centre. everything was revolving around the gambling and i was just anxious all the time. i would get to the point where i wasjust gambling. it was boring, but i had to do it because that side of my brain was going, gamble, gamble, gamble. it has been the lowest point of my life and the saddest point because everything around me,

i was destroying. they hit rock bottom, but now they are back at the place which changed their lives. do you find the creative sessions therapeutic? i do, actually. is there anytime, it is the only time that i can be in the present. the women lived here away from their loved one for five weeks. rebecca was 19 when she first started gambling. almost a decade ago. i had my first son and i had pursed natal depression , postnatal depression and i remember winning. ijust went on a gambling site and i won really big and then i never stopped. what was it like leaving your children during those five weeks to come here? it is so hard being in here when you've got a baby at home that is poorly and they are just saying to you, i want to cuddle. and you can't.

sorry. it is ok. all across the country, people are pausing. that is what people are being encouraged to do by the gambling companies. the body which represents the industry in the uk, the betting and gaming council, told bbc news it is encouraged by the latest figures which show rates of problem gambling among women are down on the previous year at 0.1%. they also say they will donate more than £100 million to tackle harmful gambling. same living room! and now all three women are looking to the future. i mean, i haven't gambled, i haven't relapsed and that is what is important for me. and every day is so new. like, we are at... every day that i am gamble—free is a new day for me. live now to harp edwards — women's residential treatment manager at gordon moody — a charity providing treatment for gambling addiction. we have just been seeing some of the amazing work. how is the experience been for you? the

amazing work. how is the experience been for you?— been for you? the experience of workin: been for you? the experience of working as _ been for you? the experience of working as the _ been for you? the experience of working as the treatment - been for you? the experience of working as the treatment centre j been for you? the experience of - working as the treatment centre has been amazing, i think it has been really rewarding for us, particularly myself, the team and for the organisation, just to be involved in the changes that have been made within these women's lives. i been made within these women's lives. ~ �* , been made within these women's lives. ~ �*, , , ., been made within these women's lives. ~ �*, , ., ., lives. i think it's probably fair to sa that, lives. i think it's probably fair to say that. on _ lives. i think it's probably fair to say that, on the _ lives. i think it's probably fair to say that, on the whole, - lives. i think it's probably fair to say that, on the whole, people | say that, on the whole, people probably think of gambling as more of a male problem, why is that? i think stereotypically people think gambling is a male problem, probably because a lot more males probably come forward for support with gambling. but here, at the gordon moody, ouractual gambling. but here, at the gordon moody, our actual referrals this year alone have more than doubled, which has led to us having to have a

60% increase in our service provision this year.- 60% increase in our service provision this year. 60% increase in our service rovision this ear. �* ., provision this year. and when women come forward — provision this year. and when women come forward and _ provision this year. and when women come forward and come _ provision this year. and when women come forward and come to _ provision this year. and when women come forward and come to see - provision this year. and when women come forward and come to see you, i come forward and come to see you, they find it hard to talk their experiences?— they find it hard to talk their experiences? there are certain asects experiences? there are certain aspects of _ experiences? there are certain aspects of their _ experiences? there are certain aspects of their experiences i experiences? there are certain l aspects of their experiences they find difficult to talk about. but they also tend to build a really good community amongst each other, it's very safe, this place, that we have created for the women to be able to talk about these experiences and i think, having other women around you that have experienced a similar thing, around you that have experienced a similarthing, to around you that have experienced a similar thing, to know that you are not alone, can really help and it allows people to talk freely in a nonjudgemental environment. from the vafious nonjudgemental environment. from the various stories — nonjudgemental environment. from the various stories you _ nonjudgemental environment. from the various stories you are _ nonjudgemental environment. from the various stories you are hearing, - various stories you are hearing, what you think gambling addiction is growing? amongst many groups of women, why do you think there has been this change? i women, why do you think there has been this change?—

been this change? i think it is more about the awareness, _ been this change? i think it is more about the awareness, i _ been this change? i think it is more about the awareness, i think - been this change? i think it is more about the awareness, i think what i been this change? i think it is more| about the awareness, i think what is happening is our referrals is increasing because a lot more people are becoming aware of gambling addiction and this is the reason as to why we are seeing particularly in our organisation and increase in our referrals. back it has been really interesting talking to you, good luck with the weeks ahead as you continue to _ luck with the weeks ahead as you continue to get _ luck with the weeks ahead as you continue to get those _ luck with the weeks ahead as you continue to get those referrals i luck with the weeks ahead as you | continue to get those referrals and treatments. details of organisations in the uk offering information and support with addiction are available online. viewers outside the uk, if you need support for addiction, you can speak to health professional or an organisation in your country. this weekend marks 25 years since the good friday agreement, which ended three decades of conflict in northern ireland. during that time, our ireland correspondent chris page was in his last year of school in county down. he's returned to sullivan upper to reunite with classmates and his teacher to reflect

on what that time meant to them. no—one under 30 had known peace in northern ireland until the good friday agreements. the parties which signed it included sinn fein, which was linked to the ira. we often discussed the deal in class and debated it at the current affairs society. there were still this amazing optimism of everyone here that, yes, this can happen and we're not going to give up hope on it. in terms of teaching it, i sort of felt, "there is something happening here." this is actually — it's notjust history, this is now. we're going to start this report from bbc newsline on the 22 of may, 1998, right from the start, just to set the scene. archive: for one teenager, . it was an important day in more ways than one. it is my birthday for a start, so i'm 18 on the very day of referendum which means that i can vote, it is my first vote and, as i say, ijust finished an a level today. you know, i'd always been interested in politics in my life, but really, it had always felt like a kind

of a distant thing that other people do. you know, what really comes to me is how alive politics felt at that period. my own kind of personal history was that my father was a prison governor in the maze prison, and he was shot and killed by the ira outside our home in 1984, when i was three and a half. i remember you, when sinn fein came, where you were sitting, _ right up the front, and people still tend to sit at the front. at those meetings, which is why in a way you stood out, - but i also was aware - of your story, in that sense. i'll read something from this that kind of speaks to the moment of my father's murder, i suppose, but also tries to reckon with an aftermath, and it's sort of an aftermath which is endless, really. "my father rejoices. "that's what it means, my name, i mean, but did he? "what, if anything,

was the source of hisjoy? "was there joy between us before he left or after he walks "through the hall, the squeaky door saddle, across the tiles, "walking outside, into the morning, into those bullets "sailing through the blue air, into perforation, into a heap, "into gravel, an almost human shape, into death, "into silence or whatever comes after. " what are your thoughts on the good friday agreements sort of then and now? one of my father's murderers is going to get out under good friday and did get out of prison under the good friday agreement, and i would have voted, if i had a vote, in favour of it. what sort of left me

from those conversations was the courage of the political leadership here. how they put their political career on the line to do the right thing in the end. i am really hopeful that can happen again. the sound of a brass band can be pretty rousing — but one charity representing them says the number of community bands across the uk is falling. brass bands england has been working with young people to try to revive the tradition, and say it's paying off, with record numbers now taking part in competitions. steve knibbs reports. brass bands facing recruitment problems isn't really anything new, although the reasons are very different. here in 1962, the city of gloucester band told the bbc that it was the royal gloucestershire hussars, no less, that had poached its best players. why do you think your players have gone to the army band rather than stay with yours? well, it may be because they get paid for the rehearsals,

which are treated as parade. 61 years later, the flowers band in full rehearsal. currently the sixth best band in the world, according to the rankings, and ironically formed after the disbandment of the royal gloucestershire hussars. the band is thriving. but after the pandemic, others folded, while some bands lost huge numbers of musicians for very modern reasons. these days, children have all sorts of distractions, and they want instant gratification. they want to turn on a computer game and be an expert on a guitar or something like that or a game like that. so i think it's much harder work to take up a musical instrument and to stick with it and to persevere with it because the results take a long time to master. musicians say that brass bands are often misunderstood and the reality, and what keeps people playing, is very different.

playing some of the best venues in the country, you know, we play the albert hall every year, sage gateshead, symphony hall in birmingham, travelling abroad, france, switzerland and without being in a band i wouldn't have done those things, had those opportunities. brass bands england is on a mission to show young people that brass is cool again. here at nailsworth primary school, one of hundreds of workshops being held across the country. the idea to nurture links between primary schools and local brass bands, and it appears to be paying off. we had the youth champs up in stockport and there were 38 bands there, over a thousand young musicians playing. so i think at that end of the scale, things are looking really healthy and hopefully the work that we are doing is helping that increase because you can't have the top end without the bottom. and it seems thatjust having a go has piqued a bit of interest. i was surprised because i thought

we would just do like maybe classical orjazz or something, but we got to do a lot of different music genres. but you'll have another go? yeah! i thought it was going to be just sat down and he'd just teach us. but he made it really fun, and i thought that really made me want to come. thanks to workshops like this, youth bands are doing well and it's hoped that the young musicians will keep up their interest and move into the community and main competition bands to ensure they have a thriving and long term future. steve knibbs, bbc news nailsworth. yeah! what about that? give yourselves a big cheer. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. it's become a familiar sight as vaping has grown hugely in recent years, and the latest national figures are worrying communities

and schools everywhere, with 9% of 11—to—15—year—olds currently using e—cigarettes, an increase from 6% in 2018. for the past few months, an educational pilot scheme has been under way in liscard. i knew it had nicotine in it. ijust didn't realise how dangerous nicotine in itself was. you can get really addicted to it and then people think it's going to help you with your stress, but actually it makes you more stressful. the clear messaging needs to go out . that vaping is a really useful tool. for adults to use to quit smoking. however, it's not ok- for young people to vape. critics say children are being drawn in with bright packaging and exotic flavours. it's hoped the liscard pilot could be rolled out to other cornish schools and communities, while the government says it's introduced regulations to protect children through restricting sales and advertising. you're live with bbc news. buckingham palace says it is cooperating with an independent study into the links between the british

monarchy and the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. the palace is granting researchers from the university of manchester full access to the royal archives and the royal collection. the study will be completed in 2026. i'm joined by royal historian and biographer robert lacey. lovely to see you. what did you make of this move by king charles? it shows that? it shows that how aware he is, he has spoken in the past in emotional terms about the distress that memories of slavery caused him and prince william has spoken in the same way, as a slavery being something that he was personally ashamed of, he actually said he wished it had never happened. and this project is a phd thesis, we

understand, that will address this issue precisely. cynics would say that it issue precisely. cynics would say thatitis issue precisely. cynics would say that it is much better for the monarchy to collaborate with the study like this, than to appear to block it. certainly, to give full access to the royal archives is a very rare thing, the royal archives are closely protected, particularly when it comes to the personal letters of the monarch and what they might have thought about something like this. so it shows the new king opening the door in a very firm way and being willing to look back at the past. and being willing to look back at the ast. , ., , ., ., the past. historically, what are the links between _ the past. historically, what are the links between the _ the past. historically, what are the links between the monarchy - the past. historically, what are the links between the monarchy and i links between the monarchy and slavery? links between the monarchy and slave ? ~ �* ., links between the monarchy and slave ?~ �* ., slavery? well, if we're going back to the beginning, _ slavery? well, if we're going back to the beginning, romantically, i slavery? well, if we're going back| to the beginning, romantically, we were at school about queen elizabeth the first knighting sir francis drake, welcoming sir walter raleigh

in their exploration of the new world. that is what led directly to the slave trade and the development of our empire was very much based on what was called the three—way trade, with ships going down from england to pick up slaves from west africa, take them across to colonies, both in what became the united states and in what became the united states and in the caribbean, and then coming back to england with the profits of it all. so, right from the beginning, the british monarchy was involved. the british empire was created in the name of the british monarchy. it is only recently that the slavery aspects of this have been realised, but it is interesting that king charles and also the prince of wales have jumped straight on it's to show that they are aware and are willing to help any investigation stop what you mention how unusual it is to for full access to be given to the royal archives and the royal collection as well. would king charles have been able to

make that decision unilaterally or would he have had to consult on its? when it comes to access to the royal archives, that is entirely a matter for the king. but you are quite right to raise the question of the government. this whole delegate issue would not be addressed by the head of state without him consulting with the government and so we can take it that this is notjust a royal initiative, but that it has downing street backing as well. idem; downing street backing as well. very aood to net downing street backing as well. very good to get your _ downing street backing as well. very good to get your thoughts, thank you very much forjoining us. staying here in the uk, the port of dover says ferry operators are trying to reduce the number of coaches that will be travelling to france on good friday in an attempt to avoid a repeat of heavy congestion seen on the weekend. the port says a temporary border control infrastructure will also be installed to help process coaches if needed. 0ur transport correspondent katy austin ois at dover and has more now on those new plans.

the port authorities say that they and everybody else involved here recognise that what happened last weekend was a horrible situation, particularly for school children and elderly people, who are trying to set off on their trips. some coach passengers said that they were stuck for 12 hours before they could finally board their ferries. the reasons officials gave the four that was a variety of things, including bad weather, more coaches than expected and the process of getting people through the border checks, because after brexit, passports have to be stamped and things take a little bit longer. so there has been a review of how to make things run more smoothly over the next few days, it is expected to be quite busy down here, again, as we come into that easter weekend and you might be able to see behind me that there is quite a bit of traffic coming into the boat, but it seems to be going quite smoothly at the moment and the port of dover says that not as many coaches are

expected to come through, about 30% fewer than last weekend, but, to try to make sure that we don't see those same kind of delays, they are trying to make sure that they are reducing the number of coaches travelling tomorrow on good friday and it spread out that traveller, either at other times of the day which are less busy or two today and saturday instead. that is one of the main measures that is being taken to try to prevent problems, there are a couple of other things too, for example, the board says that they will be a full contingent of french border police, despite the fact there are not as many coaches as last weekend and there is a marquee being put up to provide some extra space to process those coach passengers at the border. another thing is the board is asking car drivers and coach drivers not to get here early, because that would just adds to the congestion. so what we are seeing so far is that things to be moving pretty smoothly, we will

see how that goes over the course of the day. reports from italy suggest that the former prime minister, silvio berlusconi has leukaemia. mr berlusconi was taken into intensive care on wednesday, suffering from breathing problems. his political allies insist his condition is stable. mr berlusconi's forza italia party is part of italy's governing coalition, and he continues to exert strong political influence — notably defending vladimir putin, who described him as one of this best friends. the 86—year—old billionaire has suffered a series of health problems, including pneumonia, and had open heart surgery seven years ago.

he has been in and out of hospital over the past year or so. with complications, particularly around covid. the news now is that he has... here is vladimir putin, we're just getting these pictures into us from the kremlin, and a very ornate surroundings and you will see, with him, is the belarusian president holding talks with president putin, he is there for a few days in moscow, we are just monitoring what is being said during these talks, but you will know that belarus is among the kremlin's president putin's strongest allies, it has been used as a country very much as a launch pad, at times, for the russian invasion of ukraine. troops have been stationed there and we did hear from have been stationed there and we did hearfrom president putin have been stationed there and we did hear from president putin last month saying that russia will station a tactical nuclear weapons in belarus,

so we will wait and see if that is commented on at these meetings, but the belarusian leader being one of the belarusian leader being one of the staunchest allies of putin at the staunchest allies of putin at the moment, we are keeping an eye on what is going on in moscow. in contrast with the pictures from beijing with macron and we will bring you pictures on that shortly. there's long been concern about antarctica's glaciers and how quickly they are melting. now researchers say they could actually retreat 20 times faster than previously thought. the study looked at how ice melted in norway thousands of years ago and found it reduced by 600 metres a day. earlier i spoke to doctor christine batchelor from newcastle university in the uk, who led the research and i asked her about the findings. we analysed sea floor ridges offshore of norway to show the rate at which the ice sheet that used to exist during the last ice age retreated during the last deglaciation, which is a period

of climate warming broadly comparable with what we have going on today. we used data collected from sonar measurements from ships to build up high—resolution maps showing the shape and depth of the sea floor, and these allow us to look at landforms that were left behind from when there were large ice sheets that covered parts of north america, parts of europe during the last ice age, and the spacing of these ridges we found on the sea floor, these landforms, allow us to derive information about the rate at which this former ice sheet retreated. i think it really shows how nonlinear or pulsed the rates of ice sheet retreat can be, and of course the rate of ice sheet retreat translates into the rate of sea level rise. so this is the difference between getting a certain amount of sea level rise happening over ten years to over 100 years. the rate of sea—level rise is really important for helping us to plan defences such as those around the coast to deal with coastal flooding.

let's return to, well, i was going to say beijing, but actually to brisbane. the race is under way to find two people who are accused of kidnapping a platypus, they boarded a train with the animal wrapped up in a town, police have concern for the platypus, because they believe it was taken from its natural habitat, that is an offence that can attract a fine of more than $200,000. from brisbane we can go to beijing and our top story, the very latest pictures that we are getting together, the photo opportunity between the european commission president, president xijinping and president emmanuel macron and they are all smiling, so we can take from that that there has been successful discussions held between the three of them, we know that earlier missed out macron told xi jinping that he must use his influence to help stop russia's war in ukraine, his exact

words, i knowi russia's war in ukraine, his exact words, i know i can count on you to bring russia to its senses. more on this story coming up here on bbc news, just to stay with us. hello there. if you are out and about over the next few days, across the southern england and wales, the levels are going to be high or on saturday at very high. this ridge of high pressure is building on behind this weatherfront, this high pressure is building on behind this weather front, this weather front has produced a fair bit of cloud and rain, in the early part of today, it is continuing to continue into the north sea clearing all to the north of scotland and shetland, where shetland it will also be windy. behind it sunshine and showers, some of the shows will be heavy, damages goes from lincolnshire, down towards kent. 0f lincolnshire, down towards kent. of course, showers, we won't all see one full. top temperatures between seven and 1a degrees. we hold on to

some of these overnight and also the rain across shetland, but look at how the sky is clear and in light winds they will be one or two pockets of mist and fog forming. with low temperatures we will see some frost as well, —1, for example, in glasgow. but first thing tomorrow, start with a fair bit of sunshine, most of us will hang on a lot of sunshine through the day. but with a friend close to this east coast is going to bring in more cloud and also it will be thick enough here and there for the odd spot of drizzle, or indeed of the odd shower. a little bit milder tomorrow, 9—14, being out of temperature. as we head into the weekend, high pressure still clinging on, but this weather front coming in from the atlantic tries to move inwards into the west of northern ireland, bringing some patchy rain, but it fizzles and then on sunday this clutch of france makes more progress. so, on saturday still a weather front close to the east, areas of cloud, it should break up more readily than on

friday, and we will have some sunshine, but more cloud building on the west. the weather front, introducing some light, patchy rain into the west of northern ireland through the afternoon. top temperatures up to about 1k through the afternoon. top temperatures up to about 1a or 15 degrees. that weather front of fizzles and on sunday again we will be chasing banks of cloud, there will be some sunshine around, and that clutch of weather fronts from the atlantic will come in later in the atlantic will come in later in the day bringing in some rain, probably about by lunchtime into northern ireland with highs of 16 degrees. 0vernight and into easter monday, this weather front clears, but then on easter monday it is going to be showery.

today at one — metropolitan police officers are taken off their work investigating serious crime and terrorism, so they can help root out wrongdoing within the force. the head of the met says his clean—up campaign will mean many staff being removed from duty in the next few years. we have hundreds of people who shouldn't be here, and the tens of thousands of good men and women here are as embarrassed and angry about that as anybody, and they are helping me, they are helping us sort them out. we talk to a woman groomed and then abused by a serving police officer when she was a teenager. by putting that uniform on, by having that warrant card, it enabled him to carry out these acts, thinking he was untouchable.

we'll be looking at the future of the met with our home editor. also this lunchtime... scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon cancels a public