welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: china continues to simulate an attack on taiwan on another day of large—scale military drills. a family's grief. the funeral takes place for two british—israeli sisters killed in a shooting in the occupied west bank. an avalanche kills at least four people in the french alps. rescuers are still searching for survivors. and royal revelations. fresh details are released about the upcoming coronation of king charles iii. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news

— it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. we start with china and taiwan because china's military has carried out another day of simulated attacks on the self ruled ireland of taiwan. chinese state media say operation joint sword is using all elements of the military to prac�*s simulated precision strikes on key targets. meanwhile, the darwin's defence ministry says it has spotted 70 fighterjets and bombers and ii fighterjets and bombers and 11 navy vessels on sunday. the drills began shortly after taiwan's leader angered beijing by meeting the us house speaker gavin mccarthy in california, a move that china considers to be fuelling calls for independence for the island that it considers its own. for more on this story we can speak to

katie silver who has been looking into the details of this for us will not grow to get you on newsday. i understand there has been reaction from the united states about these drills, whatever they said. about these drills, whatever they said-— about these drills, whatever the said. ~ . ., ., they said. we have heard from they said. we have heard from the us they said. we have heard from the us state _ they said. we have heard from the us state department - the us state department basically saying that china should not exploit the meeting between president xi and speaker mccarthy, saying they are calling for a strength and are calling for a strength and a maintenance of the status quo and they are monitoring the situation closely. they also talked of when it came to fire pole. i will read this for you. the us state department said "they have sufficient resources and capabilities in the region to ensure peace and stability and metre national security commitments, that is referring the fact that in 1979 we saw washington break diplomatic ties with taipei in order to then recognise beijing and in doing so they wrote into law and the two legally militarily help taiwan protect itself should the need arise. the

washington faces a difficult situation because it recognises one china and as a result we have seen washington walk a fine diplomatic, somewhat ambiguous line at times in terms of how far it will go to protect taiwan. this all comes off the back of this simulated encirclement you have been speaking with. we have seen, today marks the third day, according to state media that will be the last. all elements of the chinese military being deployed. that includes things like long—range rockets, naval destroyers, as well as missile boats. we have seen these encroachments across the taiwanese straight as well as by air, 70 aircraft, ii taiwanese straight as well as by air, 70 aircraft, 11 ships, we have also seen china's military releasing video on we chat which shows, it is an animation that shows how extensive this simulate —— simulation is. so what has also responded, they are calling for stability and peace within the region and they have also

released a number of videos themselves. they say there have been two clips release, and they sayjoe's confrontation at a between chinese vessels with taiwanese vessels. the response from the united states, as you say, has to be measured in some way, doesn't it. say, has to be measured in some way. doesn't it— way, doesn't it. we've also seen this — way, doesn't it. we've also seen this kind _ way, doesn't it. we've also seen this kind action - way, doesn't it. we've also seen this kind action froml seen this kind action from beijing before, haven't we? the last time was when nancy pelosi, the former us health bigger, was in taiwan, talk us through that.— through that. that meeting occurred last _ through that. that meeting occurred last august. - through that. that meeting occurred last august. as i through that. that meeting occurred last august. as a | occurred last august. as a result of that we saw similar simulated exercises but they were somewhat more extensive then. they were the most war games we had seen from beijing in decades. there they fired missiles, we haven't seen that this time around, and the discourse from beijing was very stern indeed, these seem to be somewhat more contained, perhaps because the visit of the meeting occurred in the us

rather than in taipei, speaker mccarthy was due to meet with president tsai in taipei but the venue was changed in part to do flame extensions, we have seen, they do simply somewhat more measured, back in december we saw 71 chinese aeroplanes flown over the taiwanese is straight, it seems that this unofficial border or line in the taiwanese straight it seems to be crossed more and more. while i have got you, wonder if you can also reflect on the comments that are becoming an from the french president, emmanuel macron, about china and taiwan, particularly interesting in the light of the fact he has been to china recently and that diplomatic phone line he has to toe here. that's right. president macron was there up until about saturday. many said, for example, that perhaps the military might was delayed somewhat until the french president left the country. now, when he went he said he was not going to address the issue of taiwan it would be up

for china to bring this up if they would like to address it, but he did say, for example, it would be addressing other issues of human rights. it seems now what we hearing from likes of politico and others, on the plane back to paris he made some comments that were really quite frank, he said, for example, that paris does not want to be taking either washington or beijing's stance and in fact it needs to protect itself, needs to build up its own arsenal so it doesn't have to be a follower of america. so for example you talk about those things as reducing reliance on the us dollar, building up france's military, as well as strengthening the renewable and nuclear energy space, all about making it less reliant on the us and to quote him he said "to avoid crises that are not ours." it seems in this sense, this recent visit of this meeting between china and france's leader and,

indeed, a business delegation went as well, it seems emmanuel macron wants to take a measured approach for france to be able to choose its own foreign policy rather than having to just take one side.- just take one side. indeed. katie silver, _ just take one side. indeed. katie silver, always - just take one side. indeed. katie silver, always going l just take one side. indeed. | katie silver, always going to get you on newsday with your thoughts and analysis. thanks forjoining us. lots more on the bbc website on the story as well. if you're looking for more in—depth analysis to head to the website or download the bbc news app, if you haven't done so already. i wanted take you to the middle east now. it has been a day of worship and a day of grief in israel and the occupied territories. tens of thousands of dues gathered atjerusalem's western wall for passover prayers. not far away, hundreds ofjewish worshippers walked close to the al aqsa mosque. and in a settlement in the west bank, the funeral took place for two british—israeli sisters shot dead on friday. from jerusalem, my colleague lucy williamson reports. as maia and rina were brought in, the wailing of rina's teenage school friends filled the prayer hall.

theirfather, a rabbi, bent low over their bodies. the pain on his face hidden for a moment, in a last embrace with his daughters. today, thejewish people have proven that we are one. we are united. this simple, quiet family is devastated. the whole country hurts. maia was 20 years old when she died, rina was 15. their mother, still unconscious in hospital, doesn't even know yet that they are dead. they were travelling from their west bank settlement to the sea of galilee for a family holiday this week when their israeli car came underfire. among the mourners today, israel's national security minister, itamar ben—gvir — a hard—right leader, who was once a member of a banned extremist group.

each unique loss here pulls up deep, unresolved questions about land, security and rights. funerals are the fingerprints of this conflict. contested land mapped by the graves of israelis and palestinians. tensions have risen sharply here this week asjewish, muslim and christian religious festivals coincide. jerusalem's old city was packed today, with easter congregations and jews attending a blessing at the western wall. somejewish worshippers also walked past the al—aqsa mosque on a passover visit to the site, known tojews as temple mount. moments like this are watched carefully by security forces, activists and militant groups. the behaviour of israeli police here this week triggered anger in the region.

today, the compound has so far remained peaceful even if, beyond it, tensions remain high. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knell is following events for us in jerusalem. she has more on the story. this is an extremely sensitive time and officials and diplomats have been warning that that could put pressure onjerusalem's most contested holy sites through this period and really could lead to an escalation in violence. that is exactly what we've seen. during the day, there was a lot of concern about what would happen because at the al—aqsa mosque, hundreds of palestinian muslims marking ramadan had barricaded themselves in the mosque. and there were fears there could be another raiding of the mosque by israeli police, as we saw last week. that had caused regional condemnation. instead, actually, what we saw were that israeli police allowed palestinian muslims to stay. you could see that some people were praying in the courtyard of the compound, while

the heavily armed police allowed hundreds ofjewish visitors to go around the site for the passover celebrations. a mass prayer that was taking place at the western wall just below, that had brought thousands ofjewish worshippers into the old city. i mean, that went off in the end without incident. also at the holy sepulchre church, which is quite nearby, easter sunday services happened without incident. that was yolande knell reporting on that story for us. let us take a look at some of the other stories making headlines today. starting with the fact that south korea says it will hold discussions with the united states after reports surfaced that us intelligence agencies had intercepted south korean communications on whether to sell weapons to washington. the good neighbours

league from the pentagon appeared to reveal that soul mark was concerned artillery shells would end up in ukraine, going against the policy of supplying lisa laird. security forces in pakistan says older and two militants have been killed in separate incidents in waziristan. they said weapons and ammunition had been recovered after an intense exchange of gunfire and a clearance operation was under way to secure the area. the military has stepped up its operations in northwesterners a month after a series of attacks by the pakistani taliban. with covid cases on the rise — hospitals across india are to run a two—day mock drill for emergency responses. following more than 5000 new infections and ii covid—related deaths nationwide in 2a hours, several indian states have reintroduced strict coronavirus guidelines.

at least four people have been killed in an avalanche in the french alps. as for the victims were hikers. the interior minister said several more people were injured on the armancette glacier. azadeh moshiri has more. now, this is what we know about the area where the avalanche happened. it happened in southeastern france, in the alps. the glacier itself was near the mont blanc. now, four people were killed in the armancette glacier. several others were injured. but french authorities believed that they are part of a hiking group and that several other people are actually trapped beneath the snow. now, we're about to show you a video of the avalanche that's been circulating on social media. it's also been verified by the french news agency afp. this is the statement french

president emmanuel macron made on twitter shortly after the incident. there hadn't been an avalanche warning that day, but this isn't the first time this has happened. in 2014, two brothers died on this same glacier as they were hiking, even though they were hiking, even though they were hiking, even though they were experienced mountaineers they still couldn't survive the avalanche. in this instance, the region and the ski resort have warned people to be very careful and take extreme caution as they can't guarantee another avalanche won't happen. but for now rescuers are engaged in a search and rescue operation as they look for more survivors. azadeh moshiri reporting on the straight for us. migrant rescue charities have raised a safety alert for some 400 people on board a boat that they say is adrift and taking on water in the mediterranean sea. one group called alarm phone

says the boat left tobruk in eastern libya, and is currently at this location, which is in malta's search and rescue area. according to the charity those on board say the captain abandoned the boat. an update for you on a story that's come through the last couple of minutes. information of firefighters and the french city of marseille have found two bodies at the site of a building collapse. authorities say at least six people are still unaccounted for after the building collapsed following an explosion early on sunday. rescue work has been hampered by a fire that broke out in the building and the partial collapse of adjoining buildings. the cause of the incident has not yet been established but a gas explosion is being seen as a possibility. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. what i love most about myjob or what makes it most unique the ability to tell stories

about people from all over the world. give them a platform to be able to share their stories and i love doing it whether it's in the studio or out in the field. the focus of my story—telling throughout my career has been women and children. those who have been impacted by conflict, by upheaval, i often find in my story—telling that the issues that concern a young woman in kabul is also something that young women here in london are also thinking about. so we are far more connected, our concerns whether that's about child care or about the cost of living or about energy prices, it's something that is truly global and so to be able to bring uk audiences, those stories into their living rooms on their mobile phones, on their digital platforms, is so critical in the increasing ly ininterconnected world. you're watching bbc news. with

just 26 days to go with king charles's corn nation, we can bring you breaking news about the ceremonial celebrations is. buckingham palace hasjust buckingham palace has just released buckingham palace hasjust released a wealth of fresh details about the process route, the carriages and the priceless crown jewels chosen to play a starring role. without further ado here is the latest from our royal correspondent. less than four weeks now to their big day, and preparations for the coronation of king charles iii and the crowning of camilla as his queen are in full swing. first the route that will take them from buckingham palace to westminster abbey and back again has been confirmed. from the palace, down the mall to trafalgar square and then down whitehall, around parliament square to the abbey's west door, the return route will be the same journey in reverse, door, the return route will be the samejourney in reverse, a much shorterjourney the samejourney in reverse, a much shorter journey than the samejourney in reverse, a much shorterjourney than that taken by the late queen elizabeth after her coronation. the king and queen consort will travel to the coronation in one of the newest royal carriages,

the diamond jubilee state coach escorted by the household cavalry. inside westminster abbey, the service itself will see the crown jewels, the regalia, the symbols of the monarch's authority, being used for the first time since queen elizabeth was crowned. the sovereign�*s orb and sceptres, swords, placelets and spurs will all have their part in this elaborate religious service which culminates with the crowning of the monarch with st edward's crown. camilla will be crowned with queen mary's crown which contains some of the diamonds, she'll also hold the queen consort�*s rod which is make of ivory. they will process from the abbey just as they will process from the abbeyjust as queen elizabeth did for the return journey to the palace and for that they will board this — the 18th century gold state coach. it weighs four tons and it's notoriously uncomfortable. the king and queen may be relieved theirjourney back

king and queen may be relieved their journey back to king and queen may be relieved theirjourney back to the palace escorted by military detachments will be only a quarter of the length of that undertaken by queen elizabeth in 1953. royalstaff undertaken by queen elizabeth in 1953. royal staff have done their best to make the gold coach as comfortable as possible. back at buckingham palace, there'll be a royal salute and one images an appearance on the palace balcony though that hasn't been confirmed one innovation — the palace has launched a new emoji to mark the coronation. so a ceremony rooted in history with at least one modern touch. earlier we werejoined by at least one modern touch. earlier we were joined by the british royal historian who shared her thoughts on what could be expected from king charles's coronation ceremony. the gold coach as you say is 260 years' old. it's been kept in the royal mousse, preserved very well for the last 70 years and only come out forjubilees

so we can say we saw it, platinum jubilee, for instance. the king is 74 and the gold state coaches are notoriously horrible ride. nobody�*s ever enjoyed riding in it and i think for a bit of an older gentleman in contrast to the queen who was only 25 may be an hour's long — multiple hours long journey through london maybe a bit too much. i do think it's a wise decision. i think it's a wise decision. i think it's a wise decision. i think it will be very nice for a lot of us to see the gold state coach in the day because it was a question mark whether or not we would see it. the fact we are will add to the spend dour of the day. the most special one will be the crown itself and when we say the crown, there are two crowns. 0nly ever really see one and that's the imperial state crown but we'll see st edward's crown, that's the crown that monarchs are actually crowned with on coronation day and that's the only time it's used. 0vernight it go back to the tower of london where it's kept very safely. that will be out on full display and unless you have been to the tower of

london will ever have seen st edward's crown. we'll see the orb and the sceptre, they're symbols and they'll be used ton day as they were intended to be used as opposed to, you know, again sitting in the tower of london for people to see when they visit the museum itself. we'll also see a lot of other diamonds that relate to history in the crowns themselves. 0ne in the crowns themselves. one of them being the black princess ruby which is centuries and sin tries years old. these are jewels really go back to key moments in our history and people who want to do further research will realise how embedded the coronation is in british history and english history and scottish history before that. queen camilla has opted for queen camilla has opted for queen mary's crown has opposed to queen elizabeth's crown which has the diamond lodge odd on to the front of it. it is a very wise decision. it's a crown that is steeped in controversy. it's history, you know, it has a very blood—shed history. there are multiple countries that lay claim to the

diamond and it passed down other centuries in quite dramatic scenes and ultimately given to queen victoria in the mid—19th century and since then it's been within the british crown jewels and only been worn by women because there's a myth if a man wears it, he'll meet his fate in bloodshed. 0nly ever worn by women. quite interestingly was in queen mary's crown that queen camilla will wear on the day, and it was changed and put on to queen elizabeth's crown for her coronation alongside george vi because queen mary attended her son's coronation which was quite rare but she wanted to show her support. an interesting point in that hasn't really been mentioned is that queen mary commissioned her crown for all future consorts to wear it and obviously the next coronation after her coronation, a bit of after her coronation, a bit of a hiccup she attended as well which wasn't anticipated when she was crowned with her husband in 1910. so it does stick to distribution in that camilla has chosen queen mary's crown but i do think leaving

the diamond out of the ceremony and trying to negate that sense of controversy, i do think it is a very wise decision that it's not prevalent on the day. in other stories. pope francis has been leading a mass at st peter's basilica in the vatican on easter sunday. the 86—year—old expressed his "deep concern" about the escalating tensions between israelis and palestinians, and called on the international community to end the war in ukraine. from vatican city, our religion editor, aleem maqbool, reports. from the early hours, they streamed into st peter's square for easter mass. people had come from all over the world, butjust days ago, there had been doubts about whether the pope would be well enough to take part in events at all. some here told of their relief when he appeared, but there was still nervousness as to how strong he really was after his bout of bronchitis. once the service got under way, pope francis seemed untroubled. but it was once the mass was over that he appeared most relaxed. though for the first time,

he'd missed one event on good friday, he'd now successfully negotiated the rest of the toughest week in his calendar. well, there have been moments in the week during services when the pope has seemed a little breathless, a little weak, even. but every time he's been in the crowds and interacted with people, he's really appeared to be much more energised. he looked in really good health. you know, the crowd, i'm sure, were encouraging him along, but he looked very healthy, you know, happy and doing his job very well. so it was great to see him in fine spirits. translation: i was very worried when he was in hospital and i kept informed because he's so special. he wanted to fulfil all his commitments for this holy week and to see him here, you realise how strong he is. at canterbury cathedral, in his sermon, archbishopjustin welby said easter was a reminder that light triumphs over darkness, even in seemingly

intractable conflict. we do not lose heart, but we pray and we work for ukraine and russia, for israel and palestine, with the recent tragedies especially and for the other so often forgotten struggles of our world. pope francis struck similar themes in his final public duty this holy week in his appearance on the balcony of st peter's basilica. but during his traditional blessing, he talked of his deep concern over events in the middle east, praying for peace in the holy city ofjerusalem and beyond. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in vatican city. you have been watching news day. china has simulated precision strikes against key targets on taiwan and its surrounding waters during a second day of military drills. beijing says the drills are a warning to the self—governing island in the wake of taiwan's

president visit to the us last week. lots more on the bbc website as always, but for now thanks so much forjoining me. do stay with bbc news. hello. compared to the week gone, the week ahead looks different weather—wise and that there'll be more rain around. rain totals totting up right across the country as this chart shows. but where we see the green colours appear, the hills of wales, parts of scotland, we could see 60—80mm of rain before the week is out. notjust wet, it's going to be windy at times. some of the windiest conditions will be through tuesday and into wednesday around some of these western areas. gusts of wind maybe up to 60mph. bearthat in mind, if you've got any of this week under canvas or if you're on the move. now, the change to the more unsettled and changeable conditions has already started, this weather front pushing eastwards overnight into the morning, bringing outbreaks of rain for all. through the morning, some of the wettest conditions will be across the south and east of the uk.

quite abundant rain to begin with, but don't write your day off, sunshine will come out. there'll be a scattering of showers across the country through the day, showers most frequent through the afternoon, northern england and northern ireland, as well as the highlands of scotland. winds going into a more westerly direction through into the afternoon, gusty in the south, it will make it feel a bit cooler for some of you compared with today, but for the likes of east of scotland, it'll actually feel a bit warmer with a bit more sunshine. now, as we go into tuesday morning, we'll see showers gradually fade away overnight, and it will be a chilly start to tuesday. 0nly1—2 showers continuing, and we'll get used to some colder nights through this week at times. but actually, a reasonably pleasant day for some on tuesday. to the north and east of the country, save just 1—2 isolated showers, a lot of dry weather, some will stay dry throughout the day. to the south and the west, though, make the most of the morning brightness because the afternoon turning cloudier, wetter, and also windier, gales in the southwest before the day is out. temperatures again dropping just a little bit. and that brings us into our windiest spell of weather this week, tuesday night into wednesday, deepening area of low pressure pushing across,

a pretty wet night through the uk to take us through tuesday night into wednesday. the rain persisting in parts of northeast scotland with some snow over the mountains as we go through wednesday. but south of that, we'll see a mixture of sunshine, heavy thundery showers with hail mixed in, as well. a little bit of brightness here and there. but it's going to be a windy day across the board with winds touching 50—60mph as i said, in the south. and that will make it feel distinctly cool. those windy conditions will last as we go through wednesday night and into thursday. that low pressure gradually pulls away, but another wet and windy low hits the south on friday. take care.

tensions rise again between beijing and taipei, eventually speaking investors in the region. we will have the latest. and as the easter weekend wraps up, special look into how staff shortages are still hitting the tourism sector. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. 0urtop business report. i'm karishma vaswani. our top story, investors are only welder waking up to new of an escalation in tensions between china and taiwan. 0ver escalation in tensions between china and taiwan. over the weekend china's military has been simulating attacks on the

self—willed island of taiwan. this comes after a meeting