live from washington. this is bbc news. girls at schools across iran are taken to hospital after another outbreak of apparent gas poisoning. crowds in israel remember the victims of a spate of attacks on civilians — amid a worsening security situation and political unrest. and we'll bring you the story of the execution of an unarmed ukrainian soldier. hello, i'm carl nasman, it's great to have you with us. we start in iran — where local media are reporting that dozens more girls have been poisoned in suspected gas attacks on iranian schools. bbc persian�*s parham

ghobadi has the latest. six cities across iran were targeted and in some of the cities, multiple schools were attacked. we started receiving videos from the city of qom, which is 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 the northwestern town of ardabil and also in the southern kurdish town in western iran, the hospitals are packed with schoolgirls. reports of poisonings are frequent. no girls have died, but dozens have suffered respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. at the beginning of this month, bbc reality check looked into this — reporting, "more than 1,000 iranian students — mostly schoolgirls —

have fallen ill over the past three months." the first known case was recorded in november, in the city of qom. and it's spread, to a number of other provinces, including the capital, tehran. the bbc has analysed dozens of videos posted to social media and has verified many of the school locations filmed. iran's parliament says it's investigating. but the chief of that investigation blamed iranian students. "we call on students to be more careful. these incidents take place partly because they are mischevious" — he said. some speculate whether the schoolgirls are being poisoned as "payback" for their role in these anti—government protests. but there are no actual answers. here's parham ghobadi again. 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 who are 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. now in another worrying development in iran, authorities have announced they will be installing smart cameras in public places to identify women who are unveiled, and not observing the country's strict dress code. for more on that, here's azadeh moshiri. the mandatory hijab has been at the centre of protests in iran eversince 22—year—old mahsa amini died in police custody after she was arrested for violating the country's strict dress code. now, it led to protests around the world and across the country.

it even led to some women burning their veils during those very same protests. but it also led to something else — women developed a lax attitude towards the mandatory hijab. it wasn't unusual to go to a big city in iran like tehran, the capital, and see several women walking around the streets unveiled. it also led to law enforcement hesitating in how they would respond, given the protests in the country were growing, but that's changing. iran's law enforcement has now announced that they're installing smart cameras on streets in order to identify women who are violating the mandatory hijab law. they also said that they would send warning messages to the violators of the hijab law and violators of public decency. now, this follows a recent incident in mashhad, where a man poured a tub of yoghurt over the heads of two women who were unveiled. all three were arrested. here's a reminder of that moment that was caught on cctv.

now, the issue of the hijab was never something that the islamic republic was going to take lightly. and that's because the hijab is an important symbol of the islamic revolution. it's when the country physically started to look different. it's when a country where women had choice turned into a country where they don't. the smart cameras signal that not only is the mandatory hijab here to stay, but it will be heavily enforced. and there's been a significant diplomatic development in iran, too — officials from saudi arabia have arrived to discuss the procedures for reopening its embassy and consulate. it comes after last month's deal brokered by china to restore their diplomatic ties. the announcement by the saudi foreign ministry comes after a two—month timetable

for reopening diplomatic missions was agreed at their first high level talks in seven years. saudi arabia cut ties with iran in 2016 when its embassy in tehran was stormed. that came after the kingdom executed a prominent shia muslim cleric — revered by many iranians. to israel now, and the latest on yesterday's attack in tel aviv. one person died and seven were injured — including three britons — after a car rammed in to them near a beach. earlier that day, two british—israeli sisters were killed and their mother injured in a shooting in the occupied west bank. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson reports from tel aviv — a warning her piece contains some distressing images. maia dee was 20 years old and volunteering for national service in a high school. her younger sister rina was 15. theirfather told me they were "beautiful, popular and wonderful".

they died yesterday, when their israeli car came under fire as they travelled from their west bank settlement to the sea of galilee for a family holiday. their mother is still unconscious and critically ill in hospital. theirfather — a rabbi, who was travelling separately — heard the news of an attack on the road, before realising his family was involved. i couldn't sleep at all. every time i had a nightmare, i woke up, and then the reality was worse than the nightmare, so i went back to sleep. but the imagery was just recurring in the nightmare. that's how it went. hours after maia and rina died yesterday, another attack in tel aviv. holiday crowds became targets when a car rammed pedestrians on the busy promenade. this is the moment when police surrounded the attacker, and then shot him dead. you can hear the fear of people filming nearby. the driver was a 45—year—old

man from a nearby town. he killed an italian national named as alessandro parini, and injured 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 tourists 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 very... it's impossible, i think, to understand the fact that somebody

one day decides to take the life of another person. israel's prime minister says attacks will only unify the country. tonight, in tel aviv, another protest against his divisive judicial reforms, stopped for a minute's silence to remember the victims of these latest attacks. politics and religion may divide people here, grief and loss is familiar to all. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. let's turn to taiwan now, which says it's detected nine warships and more than 70 military aircraft — since china announced it would hold three days of live military drills around it. these are the latest pictures of those drills, released by chinese state media. here's a reminder now of the context for all this. taiwan is a self—ruled island off china — which beijing claims

as part of its territory. the drills began just hours after taiwan's president tsai ing—wen returned from the us, where she met the house speaker, kevin mccarthy. china warned against that meeting. despite that, us politicians returned the visit. today in the capital taipei, a delegation is being hosted by president tsai. among them is michael mccaul, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. he said washington was working to quickly supply weapons to taiwan. the house foreign affairs committee chairman, i sign off on all foreign military sales, including weapons to taiwan. and i promise you, madam president, we will deliver those weapons and we will provide training to your military. not for war, but for peace. since russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine in february last year, over 70,000 possible war crimes have been committed by the russian armed forces.

the sheer volume of the work facing prosecutors is so big, it could take them decades to bring the perpetrators to court. there are thousands of videos of alleged atrocities circulating on social media. one such film appeared in the first week of march. this is a still from that video, widely seen on twitter. the man in the picture — an unarmed, ukrainian soldier. it's a video of an execution. christian fraser — with the help of ukrainian producer 0lga malchevska — have been investigating that video and the open source material that goes around it, to make sense of what happened. it took several weeks, which shows just how time consuming even one of these investigations will be. a warning — some of this report is distressing from the start. the battle for bakhmut. it is the longest sustained russian assault of the war.

and in the fight for control of the town and the route to it, both sides have suffered grievously. neither will divulge any accurate figure of how many have been killed. but in the midst of this savage conflict, there are some horrific crimes being committed. one of which was captured on film. when we set out on this investigation some weeks ago, we had still not confirmed the name of the man in this video. the confusion around his identity had stemmed from the initial statement issued by the ukrainian military. according to preliminary information, an unarmed soldier shot by russian war criminals was tymofiy shadura from mechanised brigade.

the final answer will be given by relevant examination. the name we were given was tymofiy shadura. this is him. he's from a village north—west of kyiv. and you'll notice that he does in fact bear some resemblance to the dead soldier in our video. we know that shadura had gone missing in the new year around around the town of zaliznianske, it's just 12 miles from where the execution video was allegedly filmed. the army said the body was still lying behind enemy lines. but a journalist who had spoken to the ukrainian forces in that area questioned whether the man was in fact tymofiy shadura. the name now being circulated was 0leksandr matsievskyi. and from this picture, taken some time prior to his death, you will see that this man has a cut and a plaster above the right eye which matches what we see in the video. now, we've since made contact with the man who was commanding 0leksandr�*s unit.

translation: we were set up in the bushes which meant - it was difficult to keep eyes on each other difficult to keep up with the blast and shooting, in a calm moments ago has managed to get close and that is when they found the two bodies in a tiny trench. we knew they were ours, but we couldn't tell who they were. they had been stripped of their weapons. he was 42, from nissin, north—east of kyiv, he was born in moldova, he worked in russia, was divorced and with a son and before the war had worked as an electrician. by march when the video began to circulate the family had, in fact, already been informed that he was dead, a body had already been returned to them. we know he had gone to the front where he had been missing in action.

soledar had become a key area. this is video of russian soldiers coming underfire trying to advance on the town, they had been given very little detail on how he had been killed but then came this video of the execution which by now was attracting worldwide attention. it was seen by his mother. here is the one interview she has given to german media.

now, remember that until this point we thought i'd had reported that it was this man. the world's media, including the bbc, had to issue a correction. from that moment, 0leksandr would become the image of the resistance. his face had been appearing all over the social media and even in the artwork on the side of buildings. a week later president zelensky presented 0leksandr�*s mother with the golden star. glory to ukraine, which were 0leksandr�*s final words. so where was killed, why was he alone, seemingly

isolated from his unit and who were the russians that killed him 7 0leksandr had joined the fight in march 2022, his commander said he had less than two weeks training. he belongs to 163 battalion, the 119 brigade the territorial defence force. it is not a regular unit, they are volunteers, more like dad's army. there are these units who are all over ukraine, in fact, the bbc filmed such a team in kharkiv last year. usually the line of command for these units is pretty vague and, putting it bluntly, these men and women are not normally at the front of the queue when it comes to the supply of weapons and ammunition. translation: we don't have walkie talkies for each soldier. _ we have one per unit because having one for every soldier would be too expensive. 0ne walkie talkie costs us$1000. i have machine—guns in my

unit from the 1930s. they are about 80 years old, and with machine—guns on wheels, i am expected to intercept the shaheds, the iranian—made drones. since summer and until our trip to bakhmut, my unit had shooting training — maybe three times, 30 round each time. so, who killed him? the inexperienced shoulder with an old gun and limited ammunition. from our investigation we have geo—located 0leksandr�*s last known position close to this farm track on the eastern outskirts of the town of krasna hora. as the crow flies, it's around two miles from soledar on the approach to bakhmut, and you will notice as we go closer in that there is this wooded area close to the farm track, which corresponds to the trees that we see behind 0leksandr in the video. in fact, we can be even more precise than that. we have uncovered the exact co—ordinates. 0leksandr died at this exact spot.

but who was it that killed him? without signals intelligence which belongs to the army and the prosecutor, there is only so much we can do, but let's start with this map that was taken from the social media telegram channel of the wagner group. they are the russian private military contractors, mercenaries, who have played a significant role in the fighting in this part of ukraine. now, this map is dated from 30 december, the very day that 0leksandr was executed. and if we take it and put it over the top of the google map, you will see that this advancing red is practically right on top of 0leksandr�*s position. now, for much of december the russian advance on soledar had stalled, but on the 27th, three days before 0leksandr�*s death, the russians spearheaded by the wagner group began advancing from the south and and from the east. it is a classic pincer movement. these pictures from shortly after show ukrainian military fighting back.

you can see the ferocity of the fighting. the same day he was killed, the official telegram channel on the russian ministry of defence claimed russian forces in the town of krasna hora conducting their special military operation have killed up to 50 ukrainian military personnel, but there is a bitter divide between the ministry of defence and this man — yevgeny prigozhi — the man who runs wagner. he was not about to let the army take credit for this advance, and here he is in bakhmut in february, congratulating his men who by that time had fought their way to the outskirts of the city. around that same time he was boasting on the social media messaging app telegram that it was his men who had taken krasna hora. in this post from wagner's press office they issued the statement which says...

and we have found within these very same channels of communication a series of photographs of these men inside the town. again, we have geo—located these photographs. this one was taken at the western exit of krasna hora, and this one from within the town. this is outside the construction factory and put them down here on the south—western edge of the town. now, many of these men who were fighting for wagner at this time in eastern ukraine were former russian convicts who were offered pardons if they served and survived six months. in the past week some have returned to russia, but many have not. there are russian mothers and wives posting photographs on telegram of loved ones who have simply

disappeared, and in february, around the same time 0leksandr�*s body was returned to his family, there was a film from novosibirsk in russia of scores of these unnamed coffins that had been returned from the same battle. many were killed — many were killed — and some were captured. 0ur colleague 0lga malchevska has spoken to the prosecutor general of ukraine about his investigation. russians are demolishing the evidence, and our task is to try to find out everything possible once again. what tools do you have to identify those people who killed the unarmed soldier? of course, it will take time, but, you know, one of the sources we have are prisoners of war which are in our possession. we will try to concentrate our efforts, also not only with open—source intelligence, but other sources of intelligence information, in order to find

who committed this crime. the video which started our investigation is, of course, a crucial piece of evidence. 0leksandr had clearly surrendered. we know he had been stripped of his weapons. he was compliant — so much so that he was smoking a cigarette. the geneva convention states it is a war crime to kill a prisoner of war who has laid out his arms and surrendered. it states... it is intentional execution of the prisoner of war, which violates all possible international humanitarian law obligations. how many russian war crimes have you documented so far? we have documented over 72,000 incidents of war crimes.

how much resource does it take to commit each war crime? some of them took months, and they are still committed on ukrainian land and against ukrainian people. in this case the challenge is not so much proving a war crime was committed. it is proving who was present and who was responsible in the chain of command, and that, as the prosecutor says, is time consuming. for investigators, it means notjust looking at the physical evidence, but pulling all open—source material, identifying people, verifying movements, documenting it, making sense of it. these are pictures of an investigation in izyum in kharkiv where a50 bodies, most of them civilians, were found in a mass grave in september — each with an individual story, and there are more than 70,000 other individual stories. wagner's boss yevgeny prigozhin has been asked whether it was his men who killed 0leksandr. the earlier boastful statements about wagner's movement seem at odds with the denials he is now

posting on telegram. he tries to suggest the video is a fake, and he questions whether there is any proof of his unit's involvement. "if that can be proved," he says, "then we will investigate it in detail." it will be of some comfort to 0leksandr�*s family that in this case a body was returned, and that he was formally identified, and has since been interred in his home town of nizhyn. but let's not forget where our story started. tymofiy shadura — what of him? what of the other men in 0leksandr�*s unit who were killed that day? the family say they have heard nothing and continue to wait for news. in many ways, this case is still far from closed. i'm carl nasman, thanks for watching. you can find more news 24/7 on our website and smartphone app. stay tuned here on bbc news.

hello there. i hope you've been making the most of the easter sunshine because on sunday the weather starts to change with some wetter weather in time for easter monday. at the moment, we're in between high pressure and low pressure that gives us a southerly wind. it's that weather front coming in from the atlantic that will signal the change. still dry overnight. and these are the temperatures by sunday morning. so not as cold as it has been of late. there may well be more cloud around for easter sunday, but we'll see the sunshine coming through at times. it's in northern ireland, though, that through the afternoon the cloud will tend to thicken. some patchy rain coming in here over the irish sea by the end of the day as well. and ahead of that advancing rain, we'll have a stronger southerly wind. now that's going to bring us a bit of warmth. temperatures could reach 17 degrees around the murray firth,

north wales, merseyside, perhaps london and the home counties, but a few degrees cooler than that in northern ireland with the rain arriving here and that band of rain will push its way into western parts of britain during the evening, continue eastwards overnight. heaviest rain over the hills in the west and followed by some bands of showers sweeping across northern ireland into southwest scotland. so with all that cloud and rain around, sunday night should be pretty mild into monday morning. easter monday though we still have that rain to clear away from eastern parts of england. it could linger throughout the morning in east anglia and the south east. following on from that, some sunshine. but these bands of showers could be heavy with some hail and thunder and there'll be some frequent showers across northern and western parts of scotland. we'll have a chilly breeze and temperatures are going to be lower. we're back down to around 10 to 1a degrees in the afternoon. we're into that showery air stream as we head into tuesday. but this developing area of low pressure is going to be heading our way as well. whilst many places could start the day dry with some sunshine, we've got showers in northern scotland.

we'll see the cloud increasing, the wind picking up from the south—west and rain moving its way northwards and eastwards through the day. and tuesday could turn out to be quite chilly, actually. temperatures typically 10 to 13 degrees. a lot of uncertainty overnight and into wednesday. the models are differing with the depth of that area of low pressure and the position. but for a while actually, it could be quite windy across some parts of the country and that signals this change to more unsettled weather over the week. showers or longer spells of rain and temperatures by day on the low side for this time of the year.

this is bbc news. we'll have all the latest headlines and news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. drums and chanting. the great spirit, whose voice i hear in the wind, hear me. i need your strength and wisdom. we are kind of an invisible culture, because people know