poultry will shortly be allowed out again — heralding the return of free range eggs. hello and welcome we are keeping an eye on pictures from londonderry and northern island because where we hear from bill clinton shortly. that is in the minutes ahead, as soon as he starts speaking we will return to derry and get the latest. 25 years after the good friday agreement. there's been a slight rise in uk unemployment; new figures show that in the three months to february the jobless rate was 3.8%, up from 3.7 the previous quarter. pay continues to rise sharply — especially in the private sector —

but not fast enough to keep up with price rises. our economics correspondent, andy verity, has more details. all good? business has been challenging, up and down. it has been consistently inconsistent. one day we are super busy, we can't keep up. the next day we don't have any work on. a year ago, construction companies like this builder of grand design style renovations, based near heathrow airport, were struggling to cope with the surge in demand for new projects as the economy bounced back from the pandemic. there was no lack of work, but profits were squeezed by the rocketing cost of raw materials and the shortage of skilled staff that sent wages soaring. it is difficult to meet demand when there is also less money in the jobs because the cost of labour has risen so much. so we have labourers earning the money which plumbers and carpenters were earning, like, two and a half, three years ago. but everybody wants the job to be

cheaper because they have no certainty and the market conditions. so we do not have the money in the job to bring new people on board at the higher wage bracket. it was brexit that first caused the skills shortage that forced labourers�* wages up. but now that is gradually settling down. with official interest rates eight times as high as they were for most of the past 15 years, customers are being put off borrowing more for home improvements. so, in the past, people may take a remortgage, and when they take a remortgage they will take money out of the property and they will do an extension, they will do a basement, they will do a loft. but at the moment, people are looking at the rates and thinking, "lending is going to cost me so much more money, i am going to put the project on hold." with more people now seeking work, unemployment has ticked up from 3.7 to 3.8% of the workforce. vacancies dropped by 10,000 but remain high at 1.1 million. and across the economy, employers are paying more to attract and keep staff, with average earnings up 6.6%. certainly permanentjobs demand has dropped off a little bit over

the last six months, but it is still well in advance of where it was pre—pandemic, and temporary labour has been rising month on month. because of the uncertainty that is out there economically, companies want to bring people in but maybe don't want to commit to a permanentjob. broadly, it is still a great time to be looking for a job. the higher—than—expected pay rises will embolden those on the bank of england's monetary policy committee who want to raise interest rates for the 12th time in a row next month to head off inflation and undermine those who argue that rate rises have already gone too far. andy verity, bbc news. let me bring you the latest from sedan because as we were reporting that cease—fire, the 2a hour pause was to kick in and the latest we are hearing from reuters, the news agency, including witnesses saying gunfire is being heard in the

sudanese capital after the time the cease—fire do to start. of course, so much really pinned on the hopes of actually having a pause, getting to people to try and help, many people trapped in sellers without food and water and injured. 180 people killed so far in the intense fighting we have seen this sort of thing for the last four days. these are pictures from the capital earlier in the day, these plumes of smoke quite close to the airport. so much of the fighting has been focused around there but the pause wasn't supposed to have been agreed by the sudanese army and the rebels and was supposed to have started 35 minutes ago but the recent reports that gunfire is still being heard in the capital. and just a line from the capital. and just a line from the un, saying in the last of the wild that the humanitarian aid workers and facilities are continuing to be targeted in sedan

and the un is receiving reports of attacks in central violence against aid workers. this is unacceptable and must stop the stop he has just posted that on twitter adding that the un aid office in south therefore was also looted back on monday. all of those strands is not very encouraging but these are early minutes in this new cease—fire, so it may take time to bend down and come into force. that is the hope of various aid agencies to try to use this 24 various aid agencies to try to use this 2a hour window to try and get to some of those most urgent tasks in the capital and elsewhere. will keep an eye on these reports and bring you an update as it comes into us.

this governments work will be designed by three different this insurance. it will require us to tackle poverty, to build a fair, green and growing economy and improve our public services. they will be central to our efforts over the next three years to improve the lives of the people of scotland. the energy regulator ofgem says firms have agreed to new rules about the forced installation of pre—payment metres. energy companies will no longer be able to fit the metres in the home of anyone aged over 85 in england, wales and scotland, and the ban also applies to any customer with a terminal illness or a condition that could worsen in a cold home. the rules have been prompted

by footage showing british gas breaking into a property to fit a pre—payment metre — but charities say this announcement doesn't go far enough. our cost of living correspondent colletta smith has more details. for the last two months, energy suppliers have been banned from forcibly installing one of these. hello, british gas, your gas supplier. we are here with a warrant. it was after an investigation for the times showed this aggressive behaviour by contractors fitting physical meters for british gas. and after we revealed the thousands of households seeing their smart meters flipped into prepayment mode when customers didn't even know it was possible. yeah, theyjust cut me off. yeah, and i didn't know... i didn't know. i actually thought it was a power cut. and i was wondering what was going on. and they did tell me then that, "you have been changed over to a prepayment meter," and it's like, oh, right, that's it. nothing.

but now all energy suppliers in britain have signed up to a new code of practice so they can begin forcibly installing prepayment meters once again. the changes mean customers over 85, people with terminal illnesses and some lung conditions can't be moved on to prepayment meters. but the regulator says there will now be extra checks so other households who may be vulnerable will be protected as well. companies need to make sure that they make at least ten attempts to communicate with that customer to understand their circumstances. secondly, for all customers in this process, there needs to be a site welfare visit, again, so companies can understand the circumstances the customers are in. £30 credit will be added automatically when someone�*s switched so they don't get cut off in the process. that's reassured some organisations whose campaign for better protection. these rules are very specific- about the types of checks that need to happen after someone's beenl forced onto a prepayment meter, which means there are multiplej opportunities for an energy firm to identify whether or not it's

safe for that prepayment - meter to be in that home. energy companies say if they didn't have a way to install prepayment meters, customers would get deeper into debt, which eventually, everyone would have to pick up the bill for. the code of practice introduces consistency in how suppliers are approaching people. what really matters, i think, is that customers do tell suppliers about what's going on for them. suppliers can only help customers if they know what's going on in their life and what their household circumstances are. the more they know, the more help and support they can offer. today, ofgem is hoping the new rules will help keep suppliers happy and customers safe. but it's still relying on companies to admit when they've made mistakes. colletta smith, bbc news.

mps say the impact of racism may have been underestimated by both the government and the nhs in the different maternal death rates of black, asian and white women. research last year showed a black woman is nearly four times as likely to die as a white woman in pregnancy, childbirth or the period immediately after — and an asian woman is nearly twice as likely. the cross party women and equalities committee says much faster work is needed to address what it calls this appalling disparity. the department of health says it's focussed on improving outcomes for all mothers. here's our health correspondent naomi grimley. it was actually one of the hardest experiences i've ever had to go through. sandra is campaigning for better care for black mothers —— sandra. she formed her own pressure group after suffering not one but two traumatic births. the excitement she felt in her first pregnancy soon evaporated in hospital when her doctor was hurt and dismissive. i begged and pleaded for pain relief or an epidural and she actually said she's not going to give me any epidural until i stop crying and stay still. she came back after two hours

to then give me the epidural and that was horrible, to know i couldn't even show any form of emotion. and when i finally stayed still and, you know, obeyed her rules of not crying and not moving, then she gave me the pain relief. and that was quite dehumanising at the time. in a report out today, the women and equalities committees says too many black women have experienced treatment that full short of acceptable standards and we are concerned the government and nhs leadership have underestimated the extent to which racism plays a role. mps advocate better staff training and more personalised care, though they point out ongoing staffing shortages make that harder. in its response to this report, the department of health pointed out it had set up a specialist task force last year to examine exactly these issues, but it was originally supposed to meet every three months and we have learnt its only meeting today after a gap of nine months.

maternal deaths are rare in the uk but the expert who first spotted this problem says action is long overdue stop. so there is no silver bullet but we know this has been a problem for 20 years so we have to do something. the solutions will be different in different places and for different groups of women. we need to be implementing actions and we need to be evaluating those actions to find out what works so we can spread the best practice models. nhs england acknowledged there is more to be done and said it would review the report. but sandra argues an entire mindset needs to change. making sure that black and brown mothers have a voice, have a platform and are not silenced. listen, listen to understand, not to just say, ok, i have ticked this box. naomi grimley, bbc news machetes and knives with no practical use which are designed to look menacing would be banned in england and wales,

under new government proposals. the plans also include increasing the maximum prison sentence for making or supplying such weapons, from six months to two years. labour said the weapons should have been banned years ago. celestina olulode reports. a brazen attack in broad daylight with a so—called zombie knife, a type of blade inspired by horrorfilms. these are some of the weapons that could be banned under new government proposals, something this mother, whose son was stabbed to death, welcomes. hakim was my eldest. he was a beautiful soul sent to this universe. unfortunately, he never get to do all the things he would have done in life. saranba's son and his killer had been attending a course for people with previous weapons—related offences. 18—year—old hakim was stabbed with a weapon described as a rambo knife. under new proposals, this type of blade would be banned. there were more than 280 murders

involving a knife or sharp object between 2021 and 2022. that is the highest annual total since records began over 70 years ago. last year, there were 115,000 knife—related offences. that is 9% higher than the year before and more than 30% up from a decade ago. we would expect to see at least a stabbing a day at king's. now, with machetes and zombie knives, these knives are much bigger, heavier, and they cause a different type of injury. so rather than just the penetrating wound, we are seeing horrendous slash wounds, which, although they might not seem as immediately life—threatening, they can cause significant disfigurement, they can sever tendons. the weight of the blade itself can fracture bones, as well. the proposals would give police officers stronger powers to seize machetes and zombie knives, and there could be tougher penalties for those that sell them.

the consultation has a number of proposals. the first one is around those knives which blatantly shouldn't be in circulation because they are only used to, you know, intimidate and injury. 0thers include increasing the penalty to two years for selling these knives and distributing them to children. it is now an offence to possess certain items, even in private. attempts have been made to tackle the problem before. labour's shadow home secretary, yvette cooper, says machetes and zombie knives should have been banned years ago, whilst the liberal democrats have accused the conservative government of consistently failing to keep communities safe. i will never be the mum that i used to be. i will never be the person that i was once. my life has completely changed. so many of the things that were fun to me, that i looked forward to doing and have so much pleasure doing it, i cannot because i remember

my son is not there. so when you take a knife, you stab somebody, you are notjust stabbing one person, you are destroying lives. celestina 0lulode, bbc news. a0 holocaust survivors are taking part in the annual march of the living at the former nazi camp of auschwitz, to commemorate the victims of the holocaust. around 10,000 people from all over the world, many of them israeli students, set off from the infamous gate in auschwitz, along the three—kilometre route, to the remains of the auschwitz—birkenau camp. the nazis murdered 1.1 million people at auschwitz in occupied poland, 1 million of them jews, but also poles, roma and soviet prisoners of war. this year's march, is taking place a day before the 80th anniversary of the warsaw ghetto uprising, one of the second world war�*s most remarkable acts of defiance, in which about 500 young jewish men, armed only with pistols,

machine guns and grenades, fought against the might of the german army for three weeks. auschwitz is the focus of today's march , so that the terrible events that happened there are never forgotten. more recently, the auschwitz museum has used social media as part of that. their twitterfeed — now has one and a half million followers — seeing 12 posts a day like this. 89 years ago today in 1932, a czechjewish girl, doris kindlerova, was born in prague. it describes how she was deported to auschwitz and did not survive. or this one from friday — marking the date in 1895, a pole, stanislav pazdzierny, was born in krakov. a teacher — deported to auschwitz in april 1942. prisoner number 33160 — who was shot dead, a month later. parvel saveetski —

works at the auschwitz museum and told us more about this. we can talk about how manyjews, how many poles, how many romans, sinti and many other groups of victims. and of course, this is important as it is. it is important to mention many different dates from the history of auschwitz. but statistics is one thing. this is a general history. but for people to understand what behind these numbers are mentioning in thejewish people is so important. and a few years ago, we are in social media from 2009 and few years ago with more archives that are accessible for search. we started looking at the dates and sometimes reminding when people were killed. but we also started looking at birthdays and gradually, day by day, week by week, we added more people. and right now 12, at least 12 people are remembered on their birthday, which is very important.

and you'll find pictures, those short diagrams that you mentioned, and this is kind of a commemorative project that is interrupting people's lives. when you follow any account on twitter, when you are in a twitter feed, you see so many different information coming every single second. and once every while you have this reminder that you look into the eyes of a person, you'll try to read the name. and what we try to do is to remind people all around the world, you mentioned 1.5 million people follow us on twitter, but we are also in other social media platforms. so we try to remind them every day, actually every two hours, that something from the history of auschwitz is happening and about people who are brought here, who are deported, it's incredibly powerful. and we were scrolling through many of the posts,

as you were just describing it to us. how complicated is is doing all that research? and tell me a little bit about the feedback you've had from around the world. the research is, of course, challenging because there are many, many different databases from different institutions that we need to look at. sometimes it's much easier to find pictures of the czech jews because the database quite easy to search. it's much more difficult to find some other groups ofjewish people like the greek, italian, hungarianjews. but we are trying to show this whole spectrum of the jewish suffering, but also show different groups of polish people. we, of course, struggle with the fate of the sinti and roma or the soviet soldiers, because there are no photographs. but then, of course, we need to look at the different data that is gathered, because sometimes the date of death is not known or the date of a transport, is it? no. or some database. the dates are conflicting, so we have to do actually little of historical research on every person to show as much accurate information. really fascinating that website. it

is worth a look in terms of everyday as we were describing new posts and fragments of information. it's really worth a look. i want to take you to the life pictures from londonderry, pretty much set and we've been watching those pictures coming for the last 45 minutes or so as we wait to hear from bill clinton. we've had musical interludes and tributes and tributes to architects of the peace process but we will hear from the former us president in the next little while so we will continue to watch those pictures as we wait for it bill clinton when he comes to the microphones, will return there. his speech expected on this anniversary of the good friday agreement, a 25 years since that agreement came into force and bill clinton, one of the massive drivers of that agreement.

we'll be able to buy free—range eggs again in the next few days, as bird flu restrictions are lifted across most of the uk. today is the first time in six months that captive birds and poultry can go outside — though experts say the h5n1virus is still circulating, and is an ongoing risk to wild birds. 0ur environment correspondent jonah fisher is on a poultry farm in north norfolk. the restrictions eased, the doors of the enclosure opened, and the chickens... well, they were in no rush to embrace their new—found freedom. the ending of a housing order brought into control the spread of bird flu means that in almost all of the uk captive birds can now go outside once more. today is a great day. you know, we have been looking forward to this for a long while. mark supplies all the leading retailers, and last year, as the outbreak spread, hundreds of thousands of his birds had to be killed. we have had a really tough time over the winter. we ended up with nine farms

being infected with the virus, which we sadly had to have culled. and we have got through that, and to be standing here now, seeing the birds coming outside, doing what they want to do, expressing their natural instincts, is a fantastic feeling. the decision to allow them out was taken despite bird flu still being present in the wild birds that have been spreading it from farm to farm. as the weather warms up, the balance is that now is the time, with that reduced level and with consideration of welfare impacts, to let the birds out. but my clear message to everybody is security requirements and precautions whilst birds are out are still required to be in place. it is good news for the birds and good news for those of us who want to buy free range eggs and meat. but there are farmers who say the risk is still too great, that despite the rule change they will be keeping their birds inside.

it is like playing russian roulette. alistair produces and packs eggs, and even though his entire business is based on the hens being happy, he says he is keeping them in as a single infection would be so devastating. i do not think at the moment there is enough evidence to suggest that the wild bird population is free from the disease. so, whilst the birds are housed and they are controlled in an environment which is protected from wild birds, we are taking one risk out of it. the easing of restrictions is unlikely to have an immediate impact on egg shortages, which are linked notjust to bird flu but to farmers leaving the industry. expect free range produce to be back in supermarkets by the end of the week. were coming to the end of the programme a few things where juggfing programme a few things where juggling and keeping an eye on one is the speech from bill clinton in

londonderry, as soon as he arrives at the microphone you will be able to see that here on the bbc but also keeping an eye on the situation in sudan because that cease—fire is supposed to have come into force about one hour ago but as i say that, i'm told in my air that bill clinton is on the stage so let's put those pictures up and sure enough, there he is the former user us president. there was an hour or so in the warm up but let's hearfrom bill clinton as, of course, we have been marking over the last couple of weeks 25 years since the good friday agreement. this weeks 25 years since the good friday a: reement. , , ,., weeks 25 years since the good friday aareement. , , ., agreement. this is so wonderful. i felt when rachel— agreement. this is so wonderful. i felt when rachel was _ agreement. this is so wonderful. i felt when rachel was calling - agreement. this is so wonderful. i felt when rachel was calling me i agreement. this is so wonderful. i | felt when rachelwas calling me up felt when rachel was calling me up as i did almost 50 years ago. actually, exactly 50 years ago this

month. when i gave my first speech as a young arkansas attorney general at this huge insulation banquet at the rotary club. there are about 500 people there. it was one of those and less old—fashioned dinners when everyone, it may be for people, were not introduced, everyone else was. we got there at six and they introduced me to speak at 930, needless to say, not everyone was eager in anticipation and then the guy that introduced me who had been my campaign chairman in the area, eager to make my campaign chairman in the area, eagerto makea my campaign chairman in the area, eager to make a good appearance, and to have his old friend, he said you know we can stop here and have a

very good evening. he didn't realise what he said, that we can stop your and have a very good day. so, let me begin by saying thank you to everyone. thank you brenna, thank you tim wheeler, aldana and james, thank you you are terrific. thank you role, thank you neil. thank you to my old friend, bono, who once again his wife came to a dinner in

dublin for me 18 hours after his youngest child was born. she got out of bed and came to dinner. which shows you that women are in heaven are inherently superior to men in every significant way. i left near helen sung, thank you nicholas trimble, he said everyone was ever in a father to be proud to have that set about them. rachel, i love your grandfather very much and your grandmother and i love what you said. so, indeed, we could have stopped here and have a very good

evening except... i wouldn't have come all the way here just to do that. i think the trimble family for being here and all of you who put a human face on it. i used to kid david that it was part of the health fashion tradition of the ulster protestants to pretend that they had no feelings, to be so proper that you seemed almost brittle. and i started looking almost directly in the eyes and thought this guy was pretty funny and he's really smart, and he's likely to lose his career by doing this and he's doing it anyway. and i reminded daphne

tonight, last time we had a good talk when we were both out of office. ., .., talk when we were both out of office. ., .. _, talk when we were both out of office. ., _, ., . office. you can continue watching this on the _ office. you can continue watching this on the sac— office. you can continue watching this on the bbc website - office. you can continue watching this on the bbc website news - office. you can continue watching this on the bbc website news at i office. you can continue watching l this on the bbc website news at six now. as part of their probe into its finances. colin beattie was arrested at his home in dalkeith near edinburgh this morning — the party leader and first minister humza yusuf had this to say. i've said already that people are innocent until proven guilty. there is change that is needed within the way the party is operated, i have made that absolutely clear. the arrest comes two weeks after the snp's former chief executive peter murrell was taken in for questioning — he was later released without charge. also on the programme... prepayment meters are back although with restrictions — but it's angered campaigners who want a total ban. in the us — the 16 year old boy who rang the wrong doorbell

and was shot in the head — a man has been charged.