live from washington, this is bbc news us officials are struggling to identify who leaked documents including details of ukraine's air defences. president macron weighs in on the escalating tensions between china and the us. and delegations from saudi arabia and oman are in yemen for talks with houthi rebels amid hopes of a ceasefire after eight years of war. hello, i'm helena humphrey, good to have you with us.

we start here in the us where thejustice department is investigating the leaking of dozens of leaked intelligence documents which surfaced on social media a few days ago. some officials have suggested the topics point to an american source but they're not ruling out the possibility that pro—russian activists or agents might be involved. the bbc�*s carl nasman is here with more. carl, what exactly is the pentagon saying?. these documents have been out there for a few days but us officials are concerned about this, especially when it comes to security, a pentagon statement coming out officials saying they are working to verify these documents but they say they contain classified, highly sensitive material, they say here they are focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on us national security and our allies. a criminal

investigation has been opened into this case, it is believed to be one of the biggest and the most serious cases of leaked documents since edward snowden gave documents to journalists back in 2013. remind us about these leaked documents themselves. what's in them and who leaked them? we do not know yet who is behind these leaks, you mentioned us officials are looking into this, they believe it could have originated in the united states based on the depth and breadth of information contained in the documents, they have not ruled out any involvement from russia or russian sympathisers, in terms of the documents themselves, to different leaks, themselves, to different lea ks, one themselves, to different leaks, one happened back in march, small a—league of document these had to do with the war in ukraine sensitive documents things like maps, photos which potentially could be used by russia to determine the timing and locations of a potential spring offensive by ukraine, so

there are some concerns there. as well according to the new york times some of these documents show that the crucial air defence systems ukraine may be running low on those had been keeping russian aircraft out of ukrainian airspace. interesting some of the documents appear to have been altered by russian sympathisers to make russia look better, russian casualties and some documents have been lowered and ukrainian casualties have been boosted up. there was a second leak around a hundred this could be potentially embarrassing for the united states because they seem to reveal the us has been spying on some of its closest allies, israel and south korea, overall this is being seen as a worrying sign for us spy officials in a spying operation that has been very effective through this war in ukraine. carlton nason on the trove of documents in the investigation

to determine their providence. to israel now, where, in a settlement in the occupied west bank, a funeral has taken place for two british—israeli sisters who were shot dead on friday. 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. injerusalem —jewish, muslim and christian festivals coincided today. this was jerusalem's western wall where tens of thousands ofjews gathered for passover prayers. somejewish worshippers also walked past al—aqsa mosque, on a passover visit to the site. tensions are running especially high injerusalem as ramadan and passover coincide — with a focus

on the al—aqsa site. if we look more closely with this map, we can get a better understanding of the site. al—aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in islam, is located on a hilltop complex known by muslims as al—haram al—sharif and byjews as the temple mount. jews revere it as the holiest site in judaism. a few days ago, israeli police raided the mosque after palestinians barricaded themselves inside, following the evening ramadan prayer. there was a stand—off last night when hundreds of palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque again while israeli police waited outside. but there was no further violence. i spoke to bbc monitoring reporter, joel greenberg, for more. welcome to you. thanks for being with us. we saw violent scenes at the al—aqsa mosque earlier this week when israeli police moved in. last night we also saw muslim worshippers once again barricading themselves inside. we didn't have the same outcome, the police

didn't move in. do we have a clear idea as to why? i think, first of all, the israeli experience with what happened last week maybe forced some second thoughts on the part of the police about how best to handle this situation. i think the results of external intervention, diplomacy, we know that the jordanians, jordan put out a public statement yesterday, in real time as this was unfolding, warning against any action that would cause more conflict and more clashes at the scene. so while we don't know the whole story, it seems that the israeli authorities decided it was best to handle it differently and they did not go into that area of the mosque that was shut by the worshippers inside and, in the end, there were no confrontations, though there was tension in the morning whenjewish visitors came to this site, which is also revered byjews as the temple mount. but in general by not going into the mosque,

a clash of the likes of which we saw last week was avoided. just for some context here, explain to us why the al—aqsa mosque compound can be such a flashpoint, particularly at this moment we have that convergence of ramadan and passover this year. the al—aqsa mosque compound, forjews, it is the holiest site injudaism venerated as the site of one of the oldestjewish temples, it has always been a flashpoint. this year, the muslim holy month of ramadan coincides with the jewish holiday week of passover, which is this week, and we have a situation where you have muslims going there to worship and then jews coming up certain visiting hours in the morning to mark their holiday, so this is an unusual time when both holidays really coincide and the police and authorities, the israeli authorities are trying to balance these two holidays without having too much friction between worshippers

from both faiths. and amid all of this, of course, as you have been tracking, joel, we know this week we saw an exchange of rocket fire from lebanon and gaza into israel, returned by israeli forces and last night back and forth from syria. do we know if that situation has been relatively contained? well, as of today, there were no further exchanges of fire on the syrian front or lebanon and gaza, which we had previously. so there are some assessments that perhaps this round of violence, which was sparked by the police raid at al—aqsa earlier has maybe been contained. maybe this was a round of punch and counter—punch which is not continuing any further. as of now there have not been any more cross—border strikes by either side. and finally, joel, i wanted to ask you, you are there injerusalem at the convergence of these holidays and amid these tensions, what is the

atmosphere like there right now injerusalem? i would say that in the old city ofjerusalem, which is in occupied eastjerusalem, that's where you have the most tension right now, where you, again, havejews observing their holiday, worshipping at the western wall, which is right adjacent to the al—aqsa mosque and you have muslims coming to the mosque for ramadan observances. so there there is a very heightened police presence and there is an attempt to separate, you know, to have a situation where there is not a direct friction between both sides. other parts of the city remain relatively calmer, but that area, that confluence right there at the temple mount and the al—aqsa compound, that area is particularly volatile and that is where police are keeping an eye and palestinians also giving a very watchful eye on the israeli police behaviour at that site. bbc monitoring reporter joel greenberg injerusalem. good to talk to you.

thank you. to taiwan — and fresh comments from the french president emmanuel macron. speaking to politico the french president said europe should develop and pursue strategies independent of washington and beijing to avoid getting caught in what he called "crises that aren't ours". he said the european union has no interest in an acceleration of the ongoing crisis between china and taiwan. he made he commentsjust days after a visit to china where he held talks with china's president over the war in the ukraine. mr macron went on to say. the comments come as china simulates precision strikes against key targets on taiwan and its surrounding waters during a second day of military drills. the drills, which beijing has called

a "stern warning" to the self—governing island, are a response to taiwan's president visiting the us last week. live now to cindy sui, formerly the bbc�*s taiwan correspondent and now an independentjournalist covering greater china. she'sjoining me from macau. what should we were make of the comments of emmanuel macron saying us should pursue its own directions on taiwan? the comments _ directions on taiwan? the comments of _ directions on taiwan? the comments of macron - directions on taiwan? the comments of macron is i comments of macron is surprising as it is not really uncommon or unthought of, he is saying something i think european leaders, government officials have been thinking for quite some time. i remember even a few years ago european diplomat having lunch with me in taipei, were expressing some similar concerns, they see the

current administration of taiwan taking things quite to a very dangerous level and they had even back then expressed some concerns that things are very different in the way they used to be under previous administration when both sides enjoyed the best relations since the end of the chinese civil war. and that was just a few years ago, that was from 2008 - 8016, the few years ago, that was from 2008 — 8016, the situation has dramatically changed for the worse, and president recon is expressing what a lot of europeans are concerned about, which is that europe could be dragged into a war that they never even wanted to fight between the us and china, and with taiwan being perhaps some people would say the proxy, in a war, and the competition between washington and beijing. it's interesting mr macron has been outspoken and has finally verbalised what a lot of people were worried about. that

verbalised what a lot of people were worried about.— verbalised what a lot of people were worried about. that is the verbalisation _ were worried about. that is the verbalisation from _ were worried about. that is the verbalisation from the - were worried about. that is the verbalisation from the french l verbalisation from the french leader, potentially on behalf of the europeans but i do wonder what you think taiwanese leaders will feel about all of this, listening to it having watched the french president come back from a visit to china? , china? the time when he slid under the _ china? the time when he slid under the current _ china? the time when he slid under the current ruling - china? the time when he slid under the current ruling party which is pro—independence, they want formal independence for taiwan eventually that is an article two of their party charter says they want to create republic taiwan which is formal independence they would not welcome the comments of emmanuel macron, what had they have been trying to do and i have been trying to do and i have seen this in the past five, 67 years, try to make taiwan's problem a global problem which is to say taiwan's, the threat taiwan faces from china is the world's threat, they are trying to expand the problem to make other countries feel like they have to come to taiwan's eight.

as i mentioned this is also very controversial within taiwan itself, any in taiwan don't think this is a good strategy, a survey recently found 75% of taiwanese people want to reduce tensions with beijing, they want good relations, they want peace, and this is survey after survey, the government showed only 30% of the people in taiwan want independent. i tell you this party right now is very much in favour of even if not formal independence to chair independence, not de facto independent which is what they already have, they want countries around the world to keep taiwan like a nation even if they don't officially recognise taiwan as a nation. 0n on that point, if they may ask about the united states because you are asking about these ties

with other countries around the world, we've seen close and entice of late but i'd just wonder, is there a clear understanding of what the united states would do if beijing did make a move on taiwan, becausejust earlier beijing did make a move on taiwan, because just earlier we heard comments from the senator lindsey graham saying that he was open to sending us forces to taiwan. was open to sending us forces to taiwan-— to taiwan. that's exactly what makes the _ to taiwan. that's exactly what makes the situation _ to taiwan. that's exactly what makes the situation so - makes the situation so dangerous. let's not forget history, history is very valuable. since the end of the, since the us to switched recognition to the prc, it is actually maintained a pretty successful policy of basically being neutral. they recognise the prc as the country, official diplomatic ties with the prc but they still have very good relations with the roc, taiwan, and they never commit to sending troops to taiwan. they also continue to sell weapons to taiwan to help it defend itself but never took

it defend itself but never took it one step further, know what has happened in the past seven years is the taiwanese ruling party has made it seem as if china wants to attack and it's all china's fault and there is nothing it is doing to make the situation much more tense, and that because it is facing an attack by china, of course need's washington's help and everybody�*s help but let's step back a minute and i think that's what macron is trying to do, and look at how we got here. we got here because both sides upped the pressure. it is like a vicious cycle of each side naming the otherfor changing the status quo and with each action of so—called changing the status quo, the other side upped the ante is a washington says beijing is flying all these aeroplanes near taiwan, flying all these aeroplanes neartaiwan, it flying all these aeroplanes near taiwan, it is actually international airspace but it is near taiwan, so we're going to send more weapons to taiwan,

more military advisors, we might even can better military exercises with taiwan but beijing's is saying wait a minute, i'm doing all this because you are doing all this, you are getting more weapons, you are getting more weapons, you are getting more weapons, you are sending policy over, you are sending policy over, you are sending policy over, you are meeting with saying when, so each side is saying you are at fault. —— you are meeting with tsai ing—wen. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. lyrics and ideas. this group of care leavers are creating a music track.— care leavers are creating a music track. whatever it is, our music track. whatever it is, your trauma _ music track. whatever it is, your trauma or _ music track. whatever it is, your trauma or your - music track. whatever it is, i your trauma or your thoughts music track. whatever it is, - your trauma or your thoughts or

your trauma or your thoughts or your feelings or your night is or even your dreams, aspirations.— or even your dreams, aspirations. or even your dreams, asirations. ~ , . , aspirations. music stays with ou. aspirations. music stays with yom the _ aspirations. music stays with you. the shared _ aspirations. music stays with you. the shared experience. aspirations. music stays with l you. the shared experience of life in the _ you. the shared experience of life in the care _ you. the shared experience of life in the care system - you. the shared experience of life in the care system and - life in the care system and they are putting it to music. the album is yet to be completed but the project has already received a national award. , ., ., already received a national award. , , , already received a national award. , , award. very good because you are showing — award. very good because you are showing yourself - award. very good because you are showing yourself that - are showing yourself that you've actually come this far. some people don't know how far they've actually came. the? some people don't know how far they've actually came.— they've actually came. they are such a great — they've actually came. they are such a great group _ they've actually came. they are such a great group of— they've actually came. they are such a great group of young - such a great group of young people _ such a great group of young people and theyjust go beyond my expectations every time i'm eat them — my expectations every time i'm eat them. my expectations every time i'm eat them-— eat them. the album should be finished later _ eat them. the album should be finished later on _ eat them. the album should be finished later on this _ eat them. the album should be finished later on this year. - you are live with bbc news. now to yemen where peace talks are being held with houthi rebels aimed at reaching a ceasefire there. the talks are happening in the country's capital sana'a

which is controlled by the houthi's. this isn't the first ceasefire attempt but it is significant. there was a temporary ceasefire last year, which expired in october. that helped calm the situation, that helped bring in confidence—building measures. and although it expired, there's been no realflare—up in the fighting since. so i think the very basic aim of these talks will be to ensure that another ceasefire is put in place. but i think it's more ambitious than that, and that's certainly what is coming out from unnamed sources. there's been nothing official from either the saudi side or the houthis on this, but i think the aim is to have at least a considerably longer ceasefire, if not a permanent ceasefire, which would be at least the start of the end of this war that's dragged on for eight years, which is in pretty much a stalemate, really. this particular element of the war, the one where the houthis — who are originally from the north, but came down to sana'a — took over virtually the whole

country at one point and a saudi—led coalition fighting on behalf of the government that had been forced out came in. so i think that the hope is that with the saudi delegation there, we've already seen a symbolic photo leaked by the houthis of one of the houthi leaders shaking the hand of a member of the saudi group, that this is a very, very serious mood this time, more so than ever before, to end the conflict. and it comes as there are diplomatic moves around the region that are helping that happen. the history of this conflict is complicated. fighting began in 2014 when after who the rebels took control of parts of northern yemen they seized sana'a. in march 2015 the former president fled abroad. also that yes saudi arabia and eight other mostly sunni arab

states began air strikes against the houthi's with the aim of restoring the government. saudi arabia neighbours yemen feared effort with took control of the country would give more power to run. a saudi—led coalition supporting the government has continued since then and there has been infighting on both sides and a stalemate that has led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. now — to mexico. this is miguel pantaleon — who was recently ordained into the catholic church. at 28 years old he spent almost a decade working towards joining the clergy. but he's joined the riskiest priesthood in the world. earlier i spoke with our mexico correspondent will grant, who has been investigating this. will, you spent time with these young men who, despite all of these risks nevertheless decided to join the priesthood. theyjust decided to join the priesthood. they just want to touch on firstly the motivation and commitment when clearly, it is

dangerous. it is very dangerous, it is potentially the most dangerous priesthood in the world, you said the numbers there, more than 50 killed over the past three administrations, nine under the current administration alone and yet they continue to do it. i think in essence many are pushed simply by their faith, their belief that what they are doing is god's work and very, very important to their communities. many of these young men that i spoke to came from those same communities that are caught in the middle of this drug violence and there were just 18 seminarians at the seminary that i spoke to them at. that was for a population of over 200—300,000 people that they were supposed to be serving, so they clearly have a very strong sense of faith that what they are doing is vital. and as you point out, some of them have been killed for speaking out about cartel violence, so how do they go about their role, which is also touching on moral issues? how do they navigate this?

they try and navigate it between a combination of prudence and pragmatism. trying not to speak out about individual cartel leaders. trying not to turn the pulpit into a soapbox, if you like, and deliver politicised speeches inside the church. that said, of course, a lot of the priests said they have no intention of self censoring from the pulpit in their homilies when they are talking to their congregations and of course they are talking about some things that are very, very clearly harming the communities, their congregations. murder, drug violence, the constant fear and intimidation and extortions that hurt their community so they have two exercise real care when, particularly, the squeeze is put on these young men to do the bidding of the drug cartels who essentially

run many of these communities. and your report also points out that these murders often go unpunished, unsolved. so what are the authorities have to say about this? the one thing to remember particularly in some of these more complicated parts of mexico is that the authorities and the drug cartels don't have just a close relationship. sometimes they are one in the same thing. local police forces, for example, so things are not investigated as they should be. in the very seminary that i went to, one young man was dragged off by a gang, he was basically asphyxiated and his body was dumped in wasteland nearby. that was essentially never properly investigated who did it. these sorts of things happen, they happen constantly in mexico. they happen to journalists, they happen to environmental advocates but they are also happening to priests and we thought it was a fascinating thing to look at properly during easter week just how serious the issue is.

you are watching bbc news. remember there is plenty more on our website, bbc.com or download our app. i'm helena humphrey, thanks for your company. i'll see you soon. 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 60 mph. bear that 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 the 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. only one or two 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 one or two 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 south—west 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, a 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 north—east 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—60 mph, 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.

if they don't officially recognise taiwan as a nation.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. givenjoe biden�*s pride in his irish roots, his determination to be in belfast and dublin to mark the 25th anniversary of northern ireland's good friday peace agreement, it comes as no surprise the us government continues

to use its transatlantic leverage to try to ensure the peace holds, despite