live from london, this is bbc news. an italian man has died and three british citizens are among the wounded after a car ploughed in to tourists near a beach in tel aviv. in iran, local media report that dozens of schoolgirls have been poisoned in several schools across the country. the taiwanese president's visit to the us sparks three days of military exercises from china. the king and queen consort have invited hundreds of volunteers and charity workers to next month's coronation.

hello, i'm lewis vaugthones. welcome to the programme. an italian man has died and three british citizens are among the wounded after a car ploughed in to tourists near a beach in tel aviv. the attacker was shot dead by police. it comes after two british—israeli sisters were killed and their mother injured in a shooting in the occupied west bank on friday, in what has been a week of heightened tensions in the region. our correspondent lucy williamson reports from tel aviv. a warning — her piece contains some distressing images. last night, tel aviv�*s holiday crowds became targets. gunfire. this, the moment when police surrounded the attacker and then shot him dead. people shout. you can hear the fear of people filming nearby. the driver was a 45—year—old man from a nearby town who drove his car into pedestrians, killing an italian man named as alessandro parini,

and injuring five others, three of them british. we heard gunfire. we saw shots and then we saw people sprinting across the street and then we heard sirens and we decided it was time to get out of here. today, the car's journey through the grass is marked with flowers and candles. tributes to the tourist who died. this is where the attack happened last night, right on tel aviv�*s promenade. hours afterwards, you've got locals and tourists already gathering here. on a warm weekend evening this place would have been packed with people. one of the doctors treating the injured said some had broken bones and one a fractured spine. but an event like this leaves psychological wounds too. i think that nobody is prepared ever for this type of situation. you know, it's impossible i think to understand the fact that somebody one day decides to take the life of another person. this was the second attack

to hit israel yesterday. two british israeli women were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied west bank. tensions between israel and palestinian militants have spiralled this week. the flowers along tel aviv�*s seafront today, an uncomfortable reminder that places like this are an easy target against the backdrop of a conflict that seems very difficult to resolve. and a short time ago, lucy williamson gave us this update from jerusalem. the latest here is that the promenade has filled up with people again. you can probably tell from behind me just how popular this place is, and certainly yesterday evening, a warm spring evening, it would have been a very soft target indeed. it was the second attack to take place yesterday, the other attack i mentioned there, the killing of two british—israeli sisters in the occupied west bank. their mother is still critically ill in hospital and israeli police

are still searching for those responsible for that attack. this sort of ad hoc attack is something that has been seen here increasingly over the past few months but this week in particular it comes at a time when tensions have really taken a step up between israel and the palestinian militant groups here. we have seen dozens of rockets fired from gaza and also from lebanon, israeli air strikes in those places, too. and the israeli prime minister has said in the last couple of days that over this weekend he will be calling out extra border force units and also extra units to help combat what he called the threat of terrorist attacks. this weekend, of course, easter converges with jewish passover and the muslim holy month of ramadan so it is a particularly sensitive time. lucy, has there been any response from the authorities there? well, as i say, the prime minister has spoken out about the need to reinforce some of the security measures here. he did pay a visit to the site

of the west bank attack yesterday, spoke about how israel would track down the perpetrators, as he said they had done with all the other attacks that had taken place. there has been a statement of support from the us and also the italian prime minister sent out a message saying, expressing her deep sorrow and condolences at the news that one of their compatriots had died. thanks to lucy with the latest there. the operator of ukraine's electricity network says russia has fired a total of more than 1,200 missiles and drones at key ukrainian energy facilities so far during the war. but the country's energy minister has said electricity exports can resume, after ukraine got through what he called its most difficult winter. our europe regional editor danny aeberhard has more on this story. this is a major achievement for ukraine. basically, russia in october started

a huge campaign of attacks on its energy infrastructure. all thermal and hydroelectric power plants were damaged during those assaults, and also lots of substations as well. substations are very important, they take often months themselves to repair, let alone the damage to the power plants. so the energy minister, herman halushchenko, has basically hailed a titanic effort by electrical engineers to get the system up and running. he said that now no ukrainians have restrictions, and he has also praised the work of international partners. ukraine has been trying to source critical components from about a0 countries. and, danny, what does this mean for the state of the war more broadly and any suggestion that russia could restart its attacks again? well, clearly, ukraine isn't saying that it's out of the woods,

on the energy front yet. ukrenergo, the energy network operator specifically said ukraine cannot count on russian attacks stopping. the large—scale attacks that we saw through to the beginning of march have ended, there are smaller—scale attacks still, and so it's preparing for the next winter. russia no doubt will try to renew this attack. it does, if nothing else, make it very difficult for ukraine, but ukrainians have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient, coping with all sorts of things from power cuts to water shortages, and they will pride themselves, no doubt, on having survived an extremely tough winter. obviously, in parts of ukraine it regularly gets down to subzero temperatures so they will be welcoming the warm weather to come. to iran now, where local media reports that dozens of schoolgirls have been poisoned in several schools. this phenomenon began last november

and since then, there have been reports of poisoning incidents from gases or toxic substances. in some cases, students have been hospitalised. let's go to our newsroom to learn more about this and bbc persian service's parham ghobadi is standing by. great to see you, tell us a bit about what you know.- great to see you, tell us a bit about what you know. today, we received reports _ about what you know. today, we received reports that _ about what you know. today, we received reports that in - about what you know. today, we received reports that in at - about what you know. today, we received reports that in at least. received reports that in at least five cities in iran possible gas attacks against schools, and we received at bbc persian, loads of videos from different schools and hospitals. and what we see is scenes of panic and chaos and in other places there are angry parents protesting, yelling at the school officials. it is worth remembering that the reason that we are hearing about the school poisonings last month and then suddenly it stopped was that iranians students were

honoured two—week break for the persian new year. they returned to school on monday and bit by bit, we started receiving reports of these gas attacks again from here and there in iran. today was the most widespread one. one official, one iranian medical official in the south—western province of iran said on the first two days when students went back to school, at least 770 girl students were attacked and were hospitalised. imagine, this is one province out of 31 provinces in iran. ~ ., ., , , iran. do we know how the students are doing? — iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes. — iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes, from _ iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes, from the - iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes, from the videos, l iran. do we know how the students i are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly — are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see. _ are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see, for _ are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see, for example - are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see, for example we - can clearly see, for example we received a video from the western kurdish town in the west of iran and you see a girl who has fainted and they are trying to pick her up from they are trying to pick her up from the floor, there is another girl who is crying in a hospital bed. hospital beds in this town are packed, we received another video, the person who sent it to us from

the person who sent it to us from the north—western town, he said that in that, which was the biggest hospital in that town, he said that the hospital beds were packed, and he said that at least eight schools were attacked in that town only. find were attacked in that town only. and do we know — were attacked in that town only. and do we know who is behind this? nobody knows who is behind this. what we know is that the iranian parliament has designated a working group to find the truth and find the reason behind these attacks. the person who is in charge of these working group in a radiant parliament yesterday pointed his finger at iranian parliament yesterday pointed his fingerat iranian girl parliament yesterday pointed his finger at iranian girl students, saying that they are being mischievous and they have to behave themselves and take care of themselves.— themselves and take care of themselves. china has started three days of military exercises off the coast opposite taiwan. beijing, which views taiwan as a breakaway province of china, called the operation a "stern warning" to the island's government. taiwan says 71 chinese planes and nine ships crossed the taiwan strait median line — an unofficial dividing line between chinese

and taiwanese territory. the mobilisations began hours after taiwan's president returned from a trip to the united states, where she angered china by meeting the house speaker kevin mccarthy. earlier, i spoke to celia hatton, who is the bbc�*s asia pacific regional editor, who told us more about what's been happening. well, we have seen, this is the first of three days of drills in an operation dubbed joint sword. what we have seen so far is a move to really send ships to the north and south of taiwan. the taiwanese, sorry, the chinese people's liberation army spokesperson has also said that the operation will also take place to the east of taiwan. they say they are practising the encirclement of the entire island. so far we have seen 71 planes and nine ships cross that median line that you just mentioned.

we also have heard reports that some of those crossings have been quite brief, for example, some of the ships have crossed just over the line and then returned back to the mainland. at the moment, we're hearing that a lot of these drills are taking place fairly close to the chinese mainland and so that is interesting, and so that is interesting, it tells us a little that these operations seem to be relatively measured, in comparison to the unprecedented drills that we saw last august. yes, let's spend a momentjust remembering what exactly happened last august. last august, the predecessor of the current house speaker... the current house speaker is kevin mccarthy, he is the third most important person in the us elected politics. his predecessor nancy pelosi actually made a visit to taiwan. now, nancy pelosi has a long history of sparring

with the chinese government, she is a very voracious critic of the chinese government so her visit to taipei was seen as being quite incendiary. china launched an almost week—long series of live fire drills, really something that we have never really seen before. today, by comparison, we are seeing relatively measured drills. some people say this is just a bid by beijing to get us used to seeing this kind of drill more often. others are saying this really is more of a measured response, that is because taiwan's leader this time travelled through the united states and met with kevin mccarthy not in dc but in california, and they are saying those are sort of climbdowns, a little bit, by the us and taiwan, and in response china is also issuing a bit more of a measured response. celia, what has the reaction been in taiwan? it has been interesting, actually. a lot of people in taiwan are saying, oh, this again. they are getting used to this kind of rhetoric, these kinds of drills. you know, this isn't the first time

that a taiwanese leader has travelled through the united states and beijing has issued a response in kind. you know, i think they are a little bit more getting used to this kind of political rhetoric. we have to keep in mind as well that there will be a big election in taiwan next year, the presidential election is coming up so i think a lot of people there are really bracing themselves for a year of quite fiery politics. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's hugh. brooks koepka will take a two shot lead into the third round of the masters, which is just getting underway after the second round was delayed because of the bad weather at augusta. world number twojon rahm got within a shot but bogeyed the 18th to stay at 10 under. those two will go out in the final group.

tiger woods also bogeyed the final hole of his second round butjust survived the cut. he's started his third round at three over. rory mciroy though is going home after he finished five over par. manchester united's chase for champions league football next season remains on course after a 2—0 win over everton. they are up to third in the table, thanks to goals from scott mctominay and subsititute anthony martial. everton could drop into the relegation places later today. we always want to play entertaining football and it was quite entertaining. it was a great game, two good teams. i was very happy with the performance from my team. particularly when you have so many games to play, that you can deliver this shows the character and mentality of this team, so all credit to the team. too many mistakes against a good side, a side that has been very good here, particularly, and they deserve to win.

you know, sometimes you hold your hands _ you know, sometimes you hold your hands up _ you know, sometimes you hold your hands up to— you know, sometimes you hold your hands up to their performance, particularly in the first half. it is another reminder of the truth of the market you are in when you play the top sides, but everyone is a difficult side in the premier league so i am under no illusion about the work in front of us, and neither are the players. most of the premier league games are into the second half. we have had goals in every match so far. west ham in relegation peril lead in their game. in frank lampard's first match in his second spell as interim manager at chelsea, they are losing at wolves.

celtic have taken a huge stride towards another scottish premiership title after winning the old firm derby against rangers. it finished 3—2 withjota's goal proving the difference. they are now 12 points clear of second placed rangers with just seven games left to go. plenty to talk about in the rest of the european leagues too. in la liga, real madrid are in action against valladollid later. and in italy, lazio take onjuventus. some interesting matches in the german bundesliga underway too. the top four are playing each other. it's second v third, with dortmund home to union berlin. and top of the table bayern munich against freiburg in fourth, the side that knocked them out of the german cup this week. and in international cricket, new zealand clinched their t20 more on our website but that is all for now. there's uncertainty about access to a widely—used abortion pill in the united states

after conflicting court rulings. a federaljudge in texas suspended government approval of mifepristone after anti—abortion activists claimed it wasn't safe. the biden administration appealed against the ruling and a federal judge ruled access to the drug must be preserved in 17 states. samantha simmonds explains. this row is all about this drug, mifepristone, which has been in common use for 20 years as a widely used anti—abortion drug. it was given full fda approval and tested for its safety back in 2000, as you can see from this headline here in new york times. now, though, a trump—appointed judge in texas, this man, judge matthew kacsmaryk, has ordered a hold on the approval of the drug after an anti—abortion group argued that its safety was never properly tested. one of those isjonathan keller of the california family council. we are encouraged that the federal judiciary is finally taking a look at the approval of mifepristone and really holding the fda

to account for cutting corners and failing to protect women and children with the approval of the drug originally. the biden administration immediately appealed against that ruling. on top of that, a federaljudge in washington state ruled that access to the drug must be preserved in 17 states and challenged the attempt to block it. vice president kamala harris says that banning the drug sets a dangerous precedent. it is contrary to what makes for good public health policy to allow courts and politicians to tell the fda what it should do. this is a drug that the fda have proved as safe 20 years ago, and has been proven to be safe for 20 years. since roe was overturned, removing constitutional protection for abortions last year triggering a wave of state—by—state bans, the us abortion battle has increasingly focused

on abortion pills. banning them would be another win for the anti—abortion movement. so, what happens next? well, the ban on mifepristone doesn't actually go into immediate effect so nothing will change in the short—term. and the duelling court orders actually mean it is likely the issue will escalate to the us supreme court. here's our correspondentjess parker with what could happen next. this is a legal battle, or several legal battles, leading to more legal battles. now, as samantha was just saying, nothing changes for seven days. the federaljudge in texas has allowed that period of time for possible appeals. so you are likely to see appeals in terms of trying to halt this taking effect for the time being, as well as appeals to the preliminary judgment itself. so, as samantha was saying, you could, and many legal experts think, this could end up eventually with the supreme court. there is another court, the fifth circuit,

that the case would go to first. but it has caused major headlines here in the united states, the latest example of this contentious issue going to the courts and is well, some amazement from some people and criticism that one judge in texas can issue a ruling like this. judge in texas can issue and of course, you have this rival ruling in washington state as well. so, for the fda, of course they got these two rival judgments at the moment, creating a lot of confusion. i think that is pretty much where we are at the moment. a lot of confusion over what the implications might be for this particular drug. and concerns from pro—choice activists that this could also have a chilling effect on the availability of the drug, even if it technically remains legal for distribution. just remind us the wider context, the politics of all this. of course, we had the roe versus wadejudgment and the overturning of its last year. a seismic moment for

the united states of america. and something that really divides people. it's an incredibly divisive issue in the united states. and i think that what you have seen since then our these legal battles playing out in the courts. we know the department ofjustice is going to appeal this ruling and of course, we have had kamala harris, the vice president speaking about it today as well, overnight. i think a lot of people are looking at this saying, this has been in place, this drug, the distribution of this drug, for 20 years. so it has caused a shock, i think, that it is suddenly potentially going to be removed from the market. but we don't, of course, know exactly what might happen over the coming weeks and months. but of course, the other issue is that if you did start to see some of those options removed from the market, you might see an increase in, for example, surgical abortions. it's likely to be the biggest party of the year — the coronation of king charles iii. and invites have been sent out

to hundreds of community and charity representatives from across the uk. invitations have also been extended to hundreds of british empire medal recipients. azadeh moshiri has more details. this is the invitation to the coronation. and you can't tell from my screen, but it is made from recycled paper. fitting for a king who has made the environment a lifelong focus. if you look a little closer, you will see if there are other symbols that represent the environment. flowers, fruits, plants... but also, right at the bottom, there is a symbol from english folklore and that is the green man. according to the palace, he represents spring as well as renewal and rebirth and that is to represent the king's new reign. king charles and queen camilla, as she is referred to in the invite, have invited 850 community champions. a50 of these are from local communities but there are also 400 younger champions. they have come from organisations like the scouts

but also girlguiding uk. we caught up with three of them. see what this invite means to them. franstine jones was the first female president of the national black police association. she is seen there with the then home secretary theresa may and she explained what this invitation means to her. you don't see many people like me in suffolk. being awarded for the work they do. so i do feel like i am representing the community for my award. it's the award for all people who look like me it's the award for all people who look like me who live in suffolk. now, manju malhi is a british chef who was awarded a british empire medal by the queen during her birthday honours list. that is because of services she offered to vulnerable people around her during the covid—19 pandemic. during lockdown, there were a lot of people feeling so lonely and isolated, a lot of us were. but some of the older

members of the community, theyjust felt really lost. and they felt no direction. so we started doing conference call cooking sessions online for those who weren't so tech savvy. and this is one of the young champions. sahil usman, at only 15 years old, helped his community and blackburn during the pandemic, as well. but he did so while he was facing a very serious personal challenge. i was diagnosed basically injuly 2018 with leukaemia. _ but what happened was during. the covid, i was in the extremely vulnerable category and i knew that. i wouldn't have anyone there for me. i mean, it will have someone there for me but the elderlyl won't have anyone there. so what i did, i gathered around 300 hampers, going to the shops- and getting all the essential items and i put them together— and basically gave them to the elderly people i in my community of lancashire. well done to him and thanks to azadeh moshiri for talking us through that. that's it from me at

the moment, i'm lewis vaughanjones, this is bbc news, bye—bye. hello there, good afternoon. lots of fine and dry weather to come in the forecast, not only for today but also for tomorrow too. there is plenty of blue sky out there at the moment. this is flintshire as captured by one of our weather watchers. but generally, more high cloud than we saw yesterday. that is set to turn the sunshine rather hazy at times. but a lot more sunshine as we head through the rest of the easter bank holiday weekend. there will be some rain moving in from the west later. most of us went to see that rain until we get to bank holiday monday. earlier on, this is where the cloud was. the cloud continues towards the north sea facing coast as we head through the rest of the afternoon. especially across aberdeenshire and parts of norfolk. but here it should then and break at times. some fair weather cloud bubbling up as we head through the afternoon

but plenty more sunshine with top temperatures peaking between 13 and 16 celsius. butjust eight or nine celsius underneath that cloud in the eastern scotland. overnight tonight, the wind is set to pick up and the cloud will thicken for many too. more extensive cloud than last night, and it should be a frost—free start to the day tomorrow. there won't be too many issues with mist orfog either. as we kick off easter sunday morning, the cloud is thickening out towards the west part of northern ireland, we could see one or two showers here, moving into argyll and bute. by the time it gets to the end of the afternoon, the southerly wind will strengthen but lots of sunshine around. again, some cloud across eastern scotland. fair weather cloud through the afternoon, thickening at times. highs between 16 and 17 celsius quite widely, could even possibly be the warmest day of the year so far at 18 degrees. but then, our weather front will be sweeping in from west overnight on easter sunday into easter monday. that should clear through the small hours all apart from parts of east anglia.

some more showers there moving in from the west with some sunny spells in between. the wind will strengthen at times throughout the day so sunny spells and showers through the afternoon. temperatures a little lower by the time we get to the end of the day. and plenty of activity in the atlantic as we head through the rest of the week a deep area of low pressure forming on tuesday likely to give us more heavy rain. here's the outlook through the week. you can see it is going to be unsettled, wet and windy at times and little cooler.

this is bbc news. the headlines: israel mobilises its police and army reserves following deadly attacks in tel aviv. on friday, an italian tourist was killed and the attacker was shot dead by police. several others were also wounded including three british citizens. ukraine says its energy export can resume — despite russia firing a total of more than twelve hundred missiles at key energy facilities throughout the war. china begins three days of military excercises off the coast opposite taiwan, following president tsai ing—wen's trip to the united states. beijing warned the island against what it called "taiwanese separatists in collusion with external forces". and buckingham palace has invited more than 850 community and charity representatives

from across the uk to attend