live from london, this is bbc news. in iran, local media report that dozens of girls have been poisoned in several schools across the country. 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 taiwanese president's visit to the us sparks three days of military exercises from china. there will continue to be full cooperation, and the last few days have been difficult. nicola sturgeon has vowed to "fully cooperate" with police after the arrest of her husband, the snp's former chief executive. the king and queen consort have invited hundreds of volunteers and charity workers to next month's coronation.

welcome. 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 told me how wide spread these incidents are. just before coming to the studio, the number of cities that were targeted rose to six, actually, and as you remember, as mentioned in your intro,

for several months, we had the story of iranian school poisonings, but it went quiet for a while and the reason for that was that there was persian new yearfor two weeks, so students were on a break at that time. they went back to school on monday, and again, reports of school poisonings started appearing here and there, but today is the most widespread one. as i already mentioned, six cities across iran were targeted and in some of the cities, multiple schools were attacked. we started receiving videos from the city of the iranian vatican. parents are furious, they're talking to officials, they're shouting at them, there are scenes of chaos and horror. in other cities, we have obtained videos from hospitals where parents are picking up a girl student who has fainted on the floor, other students are crying, gasping for breath on hospital beds, and we have reports

in a north—western town and also in the southern kurdish town in western iran, the hospitals are packed with schoolgirls. do we have any information or indication at all as to how they�* re being poisoned 7 there's no clear answer, so that is one of the reasons that iranian parents are really furious, because the authorities have not given them any clear explanation. they said they have made some arrests, but they are not being really clear that who are these people that have been arrested and what is their intention. that's why it is raising suspicion that iranian hardliners, religious hardliners might be behind these attacks, which kind of links it to the iranian protests because as you remember, iranian girls, especially at the schools at the forefront of the protests, calling to an end for mandatory hijab in iran. so they think that iranian hardliners are taking their revenge on the schoolgirls. there has been some suggestion that the government is putting forward the hypothesis that this is psychological in origin.

that's correct, but the videos we are seeing, and we were just actually talking to a schoolgirl in iran a few minutes ago, and she was saying that they smelled something unusual at the school. it didn't immediately cause panic, so they went back to their classroom, their principal told them that everything is fine, they're just burning something next to the school. they went back to the school and students started falling sick one by one, and that created the panic among the students. so, we are talking to many students in iran and all of them categorically so far have rejected that idea and they are saying that, first, they smelled something unusual, the smell of a tangerine or garlic, and then they fell down. the videos we've seen, students are gasping for breath, some on oxygen masks — it's really not possible that so many students across the country start fainting or pretending to be sick. 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 seven 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's prepared ever for this type of situation. 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. lucy williamson, bbc news, tel aviv. earlier i spoke to khaled elgindy who explained how this appears to be a serious escalation of tensions. well, we've seen a very serious escalation over the past several weeks. it's just that most of the violence has been directed at palestinians, something like at least more than 80 palestinians already killed since the start of the year. and there's been an uptick in reprisal attacks mostly by loan

—— lone wolf palestinian actors opposed to militias. so far, we've seen very little of that, and i think the latest lone wolf attacks are inward direct response to the violence inflicted on palestinian worshipers at the al aqsa mosque. worshipers who were simply praying i think that elicited a response we saw in previous years. what was the justification of this raid on the mosque? justification given by the israelis, the official was that palestinians had barricaded themselves in the mosque and have prevented

people from leaving. the reality, based on eyewitness accounts from palestinians who were there and even human rights reporters who have since reported on this situation, the reality is it's quite common for muslim worshipers in ramadan to spend the night in any mosque, but particular, holy sites such as al—aqsa, very popular for muslims to do that during the holy month. the problem is that israelis also don't want muslims to spend the night at al—aqsa because they want to allowjewish visits early in the morning and want to avoid any contact between the two groups, so it's really a way to allow increasing jewish visitation

and possibly prayer on the al—aqsa mosque compound, which is also holy tojews as the temple, but under the status quo that has been in place for many decades, jews are not allowed to pray on this site because it would threaten the muslim claim to that holy site and eventually turn it into a jewish site. that is the fear that palestinians have. despite the security crisis, protests against a planned judicial overhaul in israel are being held for the fourteenth weeks in a row. the main rally in tel aviv is taking place, but a march through the streets of the city has been cancelled in co—ordination with police. thousands of officers have been deployed. let me take you live to the vatican in rome where pope francis is leading the easter vigil mass.

yesterday the pope missed the good friday procession due to "extremely cold weather in rome". he has been recently admitted to hospital suffering from by condos —— bronchitis so let's listen in. music plays

elise ann allen is a senior correspondent covering the vatican for the crux news site —— she explained the importance of the easter vigil mass while the service was going. the easter vigil mass is pretty much the most important mass on the catholic calendar. it is the most important liturgy that the pope or any priest will celebrate throughout the year. of course, it marksjesus christ's resurrection from the dead. so we've had holy week celebrations commemorating his crucifixion and death throughout the week, and the easter vigil really kicks off the easter season. it commemorates his resurrection, and it's a very long mass as opposed to easter mass on easter morning.

the vigil mass is a vigil. it's a lengthy liturgy with several readings. and usually there are a number of people that enter the church. this year, there's a group of about ten who are going to be entering and receiving the sacraments, the room to be baptized and receive confirmation and first communion from the pope tonight. so he has a full itinerary in this mass at ten. this is called the sequence, of the easter sequence. it's chanted before the official liturgy of the word begins when all the readings are done normally at the easter vigil. if you're doing the long version,

there are going to be seven readings from the old and new testaments before you get to the gospel reading, the vatican does an abbreviated version. they only do three. but this is the easter sequence being sung before that in latin, and it's sort of recounting salvation history, sort of recounting god's act of salvation throughout the bible, culminating withjesus coming and with his death and with his resurrection. 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 9 ships crossed the taiwan strait median line — an unofficial dividing line between chinese and taiwanese territory. the mobilizations 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.

i wasjoined earlier by the founder and senior adivsor at china dialogue, isabel hilton. my first question was how important are these drills? they�* re pretty important. there's a very large deployment of ships, a large deployment of aircraft flying into the air defence identification zone, essentially into taiwan's airspace. the ships are crossing the median line in the taiwan straits, and there was a bit of live fire across one of the islands, which is the island closest to the mainland. so, it's unmistakably large deployment, and beijing is calling it an exercise in encirclement — in other words, saying we can blockade taiwan whenever we want to and this is how we do it. right, understood. the backdrop, the political backdrop is important. if you talk us to the sequence of events in terms of visits to china and the us and how

they plan to this. to china and the us and how they play to this. it's been a pretty busy week. the one that has resulted in military exercises was of course tsai ing—wen�*s visit to the us, which was played pretty coolly by washington. she didn't have any high—level meetings in washington. she didn't meet president biden, but she did meet kevin mccarthy in california, not in washington. the thing about kevin mccarthy is that the house has to vote on arms to taiwan, so they uk military support requires the approval of the house. clearly, tsai ing—wen has to maintain warm relations with the house speaker. that's not difficult, they're very much inclinded to support taiwan, much to beijing's fury.

at the same time, we have the european union at the same time, president macron of france with 50 important businessmen, and the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, both visiting china. president macron was rather warmly received, ursula von der leyen rather less warmly received because she's conspicuously more critical of china's position on russia and in fact in general, and the relationship between the eu and china. the operator of ukraine's electricity network says russia has launched more than 1,200 missiles and drones at its energy facilities so far during the war. the operator described it as the largest attempt ever to destroy a european country's energy system. on friday, ukraine said it could start exporting electricity again, having overcome what it called �*the most difficult winter'.

it's waterproofs for both players and patrons at augusta right now as the masters plays catch up in the bad weather. after completing round two earlier... the field is trying to get through the third round in the rain with groups of three and off split tees. that means half have started on the first... the others from the 10th. so far leader brooks koepka has extended his advantage overjon rahm. they started two apart and are now four apart. meanwhile two notable players who aren't contending but did make the cut. tiger woods is still there... while another former champion fred couples became the oldest player to make the final two rounds at the masters. he's 63. the gap between the top two in the english premier league is five points again after manchester city

reduced arsenal's lead with a 4—1win at southampton. arsenal play liverpool on sunday... but its five league wins in a row now for city... and they beat the bottom side thanks in part to two goals from erling haaland. .. that makes 44 so far this season... while kevin de bruyne becamejust the fifth player in premier league history to reach 100 assists. southampton are now four points from safety. i would like to be in the position, to be _ i would like to be in the position, to be honest. i would like to have eight points right now. five. mark i would love — eight points right now. five. mark i would love it. it is what it is. chelsea lost 1—nil at wolves in frank lampard's first match since being appointed as interim manager... his second spell in the job. portugal midfielder matheus nunes with the winner... his first goal since joining wolves in august. chelsea remain in 11th with a champoins league quarter final against real madrid up next for lampard. it's not where the club wants to be but it is a we have work toward. you see things happen where it there is

a transition of the club and yes get to the point where there is an excuse and get to the point where you try to move forward and at the moment every step forward is the one we can focus on. elsewhere newcastle are still third above manchester united after both teams won today. bournemouth's1—nilwin at managerless leicester takes them out of the relegation zone... and they've been replaced by nottingham forest... who lost 2—nil at aston villa. there were also wins for spurs and west ham. the top four all played each other in germany's bundesliga... and it was the teams in first and second that won to create a bit of a gap between them and their opponents. bayern munich still have a two point lead after they won 1—nil at freiburg... while in the meeting of second and third... dortmund scored a late winner to beat union berlin 2—1. rb leipzig's win at hertha has taken them fourth above freiburg. the title race in spain is all but over... but second place real madrid can close the gap to leaders barcelona

to nine points with a win over valladolid. they are doing just that in the early stages of that match. elsewhere fourth placed real sociedad beat getafe. it's a similar situation in italy. lazio were 19 points behind leaders napoli heading into their match against juventus. currently goalless approaching half—time. roma have gone third with their win at torino. and in international cricket, new zealand clinched their t20 series against sri lanka with a four wicket victory in queenstown, with drama down to the final over; they chased down their target of 183 with one ball to spare despite losing three wickets in the last six balls. they win the series 2—nil. keep up—to—date with everything that is happening in augusta and everything that isn't that is all of the sport for now. the former first minister of scotland nicola sturgeon has vowed to "fully cooperate" with police after the arrest of her husband, the snp's

former chief executive — during an investigation into the party's finances. in her first public comments since peter murrell�*s arrest, ms sturgeon said recent days had "obviously been difficult" as she gave a short statement outside the couple's glasgow home. there is obviously nothing i can say about the ongoing investigation. much as there are things i might want to say, i'm not able to do so, other than to say that as has been the case, there will continue to be full cooperation. the last few days have obviously been difficult, quite dramatic at times, but i understand that is part of a process. it's likely to be the biggest party of the year — the coronation of king charles the third. 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 are other symbols that represent the environment — 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's referred to on 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, so yeah, i do feel like 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. now, manju malhi is a british chef who was awarded a british empire medal by the queen during her birthday honours list, and that's 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 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 in 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 covid, i was in the extremely vulnerable - category and i knew that i'm not. going to have anyone there for me. i mean, i will have someonel there for me, but the elderly won't have anyone there for them. so what i did was 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 out to the elderly people - in my community of lancashire. an adorable bunny has hopped up the ranks at a police station in the us where it has helped officers by keeping spirits up while he scurries about. percy the rabbit was rescued by the yuba city police deparment in california last year, and he hasjust been promoted to the rank of "wellness officer"

in time for easter sunday. this is bbc news. hello there, good evening. it's been a beautiful day of weather for most of the uk with lots of blue sky and sunshine, as captured by our weather watcher here in derbyshire, but a bit more cloud towards eastern coastal areas. still even, here, some sunny spells breaking through, and it's more or less the same again tomorrow — in fact, it could feel a little warmer for most, but there will be some rain later on in the day out towards the north and the west. most of us won't be seeing that rain until early on bank holiday monday morning. but overnight tonight, it's set to stay dry. lots of clear spells, especially through the central swathe of the country. out towards eastern coastal areas, some cloud, cloud thickening, too, across northern ireland. more cloud and a bit more of a southerly breeze, so frost—free without so much mist and fog as we start off sunday morning. so, easter sunday, lots of sunshine

around for the vast majority of us. it will be quite cloudy towards eastern coastal areas — again, the cloud just coming in from the north sea, but that should break up, especially through the afternoon, so a sunnier day here. cool underneath the cloud across aberdeenshire, outbreaks of rain moving into northern ireland from our weather front, approaching western scotland by the end of the day. temperatures slightly higher, between 15—17 celsius quite widely. if we see 18 celsius — always possible, especially across central, southern england — it will be the warmest day of the year so far. but of course, it's not set to last, the dry, warm weather, because we've got outbreaks of rain from these weather fronts, sweeping eastwards from sunday night into bank holiday monday morning. it's a much milder start to the day on bank holiday monday, outbreaks of rain clearing the east anglian coast as we head through the morning. there will be some bright and sunny spells behind, but also some rather hefty showers, and raining for much of the day — longer spells of rain towards the south coast, especially across the channel islands.

temperatures gradually dropping throughout the day. this is how we'll end the afternoon, between about 10—14 celsius, so obviously not as warm with all that wet weather around, and it's staying unsettled as we head through much of the rest of next week. a deep area of low pressure swinging across england and wales, into scotland as we head through tuesday night and into wednesday. some strong gusty winds potentially on this and some outbreaks of rain. here's the outlook for our capital cities as we head through next week. as you can see, it is going to be really very unsettled, wet and windy, especially towards the northwest, and also feeling a lot cooler.

this is bbc news — the headlines: in iran, local media report that dozens of girls have been poisoned in several schools across the country. this phenomenon began last november, with several reports of poisoning incidents from gases or toxic substances. ome of the girls were hospitalised. one of the girls were hospitalised. 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. china begins three days of military excercises off the coast opposite taiwan,

following president tsai ing—wen�*s trip to the united states.