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. ukraine says its energy export can resume — despite russia firing a total of more than 1,200 missiles at key energy facilities throughout the war. 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.

welcome to the programme, i'm louis juanjones. first is our... 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. 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's prepared ever for this type of situation.

you know, it's impossible i think to understand the fact that somebody you know, it's impossible, ithink, 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 this sort of ad hoc attack is something that's 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've 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 there in tel aviv. 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. 0ur 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. and he's 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 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, coping with all sorts of things ranging 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.

thanks to danny for that. 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've seen, this is the first of three days of drills in an operation dubbed joint sword. what we've 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're practising the encirclement of the entire island. so far, we've seen 71 planes and nine ships cross that median line that you just mentioned. now, 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. crossed just over the line and then returned back to the main line. at the moment, what we're hearing is that a lot of these drills are taking place fairly close to the chinese mainland, and so that's 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. yeah, let's spend a momentjust remembering what exactly happened last august. that's right. last august, the predecessor

of the current house speaker — the current house speaker is kevin mccarthy, he's 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's 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've never really seen before. today, by comparison, we're 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's 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�*s also issuing a bit more of a measured response. celia, what's the reaction been in taiwan? celia, before i let you go, what's the reaction been in taiwan? it's been interesting, actually. a lot of people in taiwan are sort of saying, "oh, this again." they're 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. so, you know, ithink there, they're 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. thanks to celia for that. 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's likely the issue will escalate to the us supreme court. thanks to samantha. 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 about 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 preliminaryjudgement itself. so, as samantha was saying as well, 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 as well some amazement from some people and criticism that one judge in texas can issue a ruling like this, and then of course, you've had this rival ruling in washington state as well, so for the fda, of course, they've got these two rival judgements at the moment creating a lot of confusion. and i think that's pretty much where we are at the moment, a lot of confusion over what the implications might be for this particular drug, and i think concerns from pro—choice activists that this could also have a chilling effect on the availability of the drug even while it technically remains legal for distribution. just remind us of the wider context, the politics of all this. yes, well, of course we had the roe v wade judgement and the overturning of it 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've seen since then are these legal battles playing out in the courts. we know the department ofjustice is going to appeal this ruling, and of course, we've had kamala harris, the vice president, speaking about it today as well overnight. and i think what a lot of people are looking at, are saying, this has been in place, this drug, the distribution of this the distribution of this drug, for 20 years, so it's caused some shock, i think, that it's suddenly potentially going to removed from the market, but we don't know of course know exactly what might happen over the coming weeks and months, but of course the other issue as well is if you did start to see some of those telemedicine options removed from the market, you might see an increase in, for example, in surgical abortions. thanks to jess for that. 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. i was joined earlier by bbc persian service's parham ghobadi who has been following the story. today, we received reports that in at least five cities in iran were possible gas attacks, again, against the schools. here at bbc persian, we have received notes of videos from different mosques, schools and also hospitals, and what we see is scenes of panic and chaos. in some other places, there are angry parents protesting, yelling at the school officials. it's worth remembering that the reason that we were hearing about these school poisonings last month, and then suddenly, the stop, was that iranian students were on a two—week break for the persian new year. now, they return to school on monday and, bit by bit, we started receiving reports of these gas attacks, again, from here and there in iran, but today was the most widespread one.

0ne iranian medical official in the southwestern province said in the first few days when students went back to school, at least 770 girl students were attacked and were hospitalised. now, i imagine this is one province out of iran. d0 now, i imagine this is one province out of iran-— out of iran. do we know how the students are _ out of iran. do we know how the students are doing? _ out of iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes, - out of iran. do we know how the students are doing? yes, from | out of iran. do we know how the i students are doing? yes, from the videos, students are doing? yes, from the videos. we can _ students are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly _ students are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see - - students are doing? yes, from the videos, we can clearly see - for. videos, we can clearly see — for example, we received a video from a western kurdish town and you can see a girl that has fainted and they're trying to pick her up from the floor. there's another girl crying in a hospital bed. hospital beds in this town are packed. we received another video from the northwestern town, and the person said in that, it was the biggest hospital in the last town. he said the hospital beds were packed, and at least eight

schools were attacked in that town only. do schools were attacked in that town onl . ~ ., , schools were attacked in that town onl. ~ ., , only. do we know who's behind this? nobody knows _ only. do we know who's behind this? nobody knows who's _ only. do we know who's behind this? nobody knows who's behind - only. do we know who's behind this? nobody knows who's behind this. - only. do we know who's behind this? l nobody knows who's behind this. what we know is that iranian parliament has designated a working group to find the truth of the reason behind these attacks. now, the person who's in charge of these working groups in iranian parliament yesterday pointed his finger at iranian girls students, saying they are being mischievous and how to behave themselves and take care of themselves. protests against a planned judicial overhaul in israel are to go ahead for the 14th week in a row, amid a security crisis that has seen a call—up of army and border police reservists. you can see people on the streets as they have been for a considerable amount of time. prime minister benjamin netanyahu wants to make significant changes to thejudas kerry, which is critics say will reduce its independence —— to the

judiciary. benjamin netanyahu, for his side, saying these reforms are necessary and these reforms are what they voted for at the last election, but there have been significant criticisms and protests. thousands and thousands of people have been out on the streets, notjust right now. it's about 20 past seven in the evening there in tel aviv, but for weeks and weeks and weeks. these were paws given the time of year, but the protesters there out yet again in no �*s design they will be stopping. —— no sign. the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles is on track to be banned by 2030 in the uk. but how ready are we? 0ur climate editor, justin rowlatt,

has been finding out. 0urjourney begins in cardiff, home of bbc news's science and environment team. most carjourneys are local, around nine miles on average. electric vehicles are perfect for these and much cheaper than petrol or diesel, if you can charge at home. but one in three of us can't do that, and what about longer journeys? home charging costs about 10p a mile at the moment. public rapid charges like this costs at least twice as much, and that's not all. we need to tackle the vat issue because the vat on public charges is 20% as opposed to the domestic rate which is only 5%. and just look at this — the number of charges has been increasing rapidly in recent years, but the number of electric cars on the road has been growing even more quickly. and it isn'tjust fast charging that's expensive — electric cars are, too.

the new model from mg, now owned by one of china's biggest carmakers, has a 200—mile range and costs £27,000. that is cheap for an ev. it's absolutely possible to make a mass market electric car, but it will be a value—for—money car, not a cheap car, because the raw materials that go into making electric vehicles, the batteries specifically, they're subject to market conditions that we don't control and at the moment, the cost of those raw materials has never been higher. so, we need more chargers and cheaper cars before the government ban on new petrol and diesel cars comes in in seven years' time. the national motor museum shows how petrol and diesel cars have evolved from early cars like this, into the super—efficient vehicles we drive today. but... ..they are still powered

by exploding gases. by exploding gases and produce nearly a fifth of uk carbon emissions. so, is electricity fit for the job? internal combustion engine, electric car, which is the future? can i have that one monday to saturday, and that one on sunday? so, your heart's with the internal combustion engine, but the future is here, you think? it is. electric vehicles may not have the charisma like this, but the truth is the electric revolution is now all but unstoppable. justin rowlatt, bbc news, hampshire. looks it's likey 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. now, this is the invitation

to the coronation, and you can't tell from my screen, but it's made from recycled paper — fitting for a king who's made the environment a lifelong focus. now, if you look a little closer, you'll see if there flowers, fruits, plants — but also, right at the bottom, there's a symbol from english folklore and that's the green man. according to the palace, he represents spring as well as renewal and rebirth, and that's to represent the king's new reign. now, 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, who have come from organisations like the scouts, but also girlguiding uk. now, we caught up with three of them to 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. i'm representing the community. it's notjust my award, it's the award for all people who look like me who live in suffolk. and this is one of the young champions. sahil usman, at only 15 years old, helped his community in blackburn during the pandemic, as well, and 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 covid, i was in the extremely. i vulnerable category and i knew that l i wouldn't have anyone there for me. i mean, it will have someone there for me. _ but the elderly won't have anyone there for them. i 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 i basically gave them to the elderly people - in my community of lancashire. just before i go, i want to take you back to israel. we will be keeping an eye on these pictures and the hours ahead. these are protesters out in the street yet again for the 14th week in a row against the planned changes to the just theory. this is bbc news. 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, and hat 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 won't see that rain until we get to bank holiday monday. now, earlier on, this is where the cloud was, and the cloud continues towards the north sea—facing coasts as we head through the rest of the afternoon, especially across aberdeenshire and parts of norfolk. and parts of norfolk, but here, it should thin and break at times. some fair weather cloud bubbling up as we head through the afternoon between 13—16 celsius. butjust eight or nine celsius underneath that cloud in the eastern scotland. 0vernight 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. now, as we kick off easter sunday morning, the cloud is thickening out towards the west, parts 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 once again. still some cloud across eastern scotland. fair weather cloud through the afternoon, thickening at times. through the afternoon, highs between 16—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 itself. that should clear through the small hours all apart from parts of east anglia. some more heavy showers moving in from the west with some sunny spells in between. the wind will strengthen at times throughout the day as well, so sunny spells and showers through the afternoon. temperatures a little lower by the time we get to the end of the day. and there's plenty of activity in the atlantic as we head through the rest of the week, another deep area of low pressure forming on tuesday, likely to give us more heavy rain. here's the outlook through the week. as you can see, it is going to be unsettled, wet and windy at times, also little cooler. also a 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 and drones at key energy facilities throughout the war. they say the country survived "its most difficult winter".