our home and legal correspondent dominic casciani joins me. ation? let's pick up on the point about capacity. critics say this crisis has been decades in the making. we've beenjailing more people — and jailing them for longer. this was the situation last friday — 87,691 in jail. that left 1,238 spaces — so 99% full. there is very little capacity left in the system. so they need solutions beyond the early release scheme at the heart of pmqs today. the government is talking about 20,000 extra prison places. but look at this red line, roughly where we are. the blue line is where the government hopes we will end up. the dotted line, that's what officials now fear will happen — we will run out of cells again by 2027. a big driver of all this is also record court backlogs — 67,500 serious crimes waiting for trial in crown court, caused by cuts, the pandemic and loss of lawyers from criminaljustice. lots of people are effectively warehoused in prisons, waiting for dates. it is a real systemwide problem and critics say that whatever the row at the mome

dominic casciani. thank you.gender identity in schools in england. the bbc understands that new guidelines — expected to be released tomorrow — will also prohibit sex education for all children under the age of nine. the prime minister ordered a review into relationships, sex and health education last year, following some concerns that some children were being exposed to inappropriate content. more details from our education correspondent, elaine dunkley. these are important lessons for children on health and relationships. at primary, children learn about issues such as friendships, puberty and parts of the body. sex education isn�*t compulsory, but whether it is taught has been up to head teachers. in new guidance that has been leaked, the government is expected to ban any sex education for children under the age of nine. unions say teachers and parents want clarity on this issue, not lea ks and misinformation. i�*m worried about the way it�*s been released. we would have liked to have been consulted on that an

our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, has been telling us about the key points from today's ruling at the high court. i think the key point is it's very, very noisy down here because hundreds of people have turned up to supportjulian assange and to show solidarity with him because they believe he's been appallingly, unjustly treated over the last few years, since 2019, when he's fought this us extradition. and there has been, i think, in fairness, a sense of legal inevitability about the direction this was going in a succession of court rulings. but this morning, two seniorjudges here at the high court have actually put the legal blockers on the whole thing for now, at least, because they accepted a very narrow argument thatjulian assange says he has in effect, when he, as part of the wikileaks organisation in 2010, leaked us military secrets, he did so to expose war crimes and therefore he had a right to free speech in doing that under the us constitution and therefore cannot be prosecuted for doing so. now, the us says it's given assurances that this is not the type of case where

our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, explains the key points from the high court's ruling.surances that this is not the type of case where free speech comes into play — but this has not satisfied thejudges here in london. and they've said, "well, we want to have a full appeal on this point, to really try and unpack this." the other point of assurance from the us, thatjulian assange will not face the death penalty — that has been accepted by his team now, that is no longer an issue. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... a woman has died after a dog attack in a house in hornchurch, in east london. police were called just after 1pm this afternoon. officers have seized two xl bullies from the property. —— after 1pm yesterday afternoon. there've been a record number of sightings of asian hornets in the uk — particularly in the south — where they're a growing threat to native bees and insects. the national bee unit said it destroyed 72 nests in 56 locations in 2023 — most of which were in kent. 0ne ofjapan�*s most iconic photo spots is being blocked by autho

our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani is at the court of appeal in central london.ourt? it's uuite an what did we hear in court? it�*s quite an important case and it comes down to a fine judgment about what a harsh sentence means in the case of rivaldo caldocane injanuary. by the time he came through injanuary and six months since the killings of the three people in nottingham, prosecutors had accepted there was overwhelming evidence that he was severely mentally unwell and suffering from an almost untreatable form of paranoid schizophrenia and the court heard he was on the medicine of last resort i'm a conclusion thejudge medicine of last resort i'm a conclusion the judge reached medicine of last resort i'm a conclusion thejudge reached in nottingham was the best way to manage caldocane because he had to accept the plea of manslaughter by diminished responsibility rather than go for a murder trial, the best way to manage him was a secure hospital order, and in such a way that he crafted the order so caldocane's chances of release were very slim indeed. in effect if

our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, has been telling us about the key points from today's ruling's very, very noisy down here because hundreds of people have turned up to supportjulian assange and to show solidarity with him because they believe he's been appallingly, unjustly treated over the last few years, since 2019, when he's fought this us extradition. and there has been, i think, in fairness, a sense of legal inevitability about the direction this was going in a succession of court rulings. but this morning, two seniorjudges here at the high court have actually put the legal blockers on the whole thing for now, at least, because they accepted a very narrow argument thatjulian assange says he has in effect, when he, as part of the wikileaks

our home and legal affairs correspondent, dominic casciani, is here to explain.he case brought by south africa there last december. it wants the icj to rule that israel is committing genocide against the palestinian people in relation to how it is fighting the war against hamas in the gaza strip. when the court ruled injanuary, the judges stressed that they didn't need to say — for now at least — whether palestinians had been victims of genocide. instead, they ruled that they had "plausible rights" to be protected from it — and that those rights were at risk. that was then widely reported as meaning there was "a plausible risk of genocide" — but not everyone agreed and it became a global legal debate. joan donoghue was president of the icj at the time and has recently retired. and she's told the bbc that some reporting of the court's finding has been wrong. this is something we're correcting that's often said in the media. it didn't decide that the claim of genocide was plausible. the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocid

let's speak to our home and legal affairs correspondent dominic casciani who is at the royal courts ofjustice. talk us through, from a legal point of view, this ruling today. legal point of view, this ruling toda . , ., , legal point of view, this ruling toda. , .,, ., ~ legal point of view, this ruling toda. , ., ~ ., today. yes, to be frank, there was a certain inevitability _ today. yes, to be frank, there was a certain inevitability felt _ today. yes, to be frank, there was a certain inevitability felt by _ today. yes, to be frank, there was a certain inevitability felt by many - certain inevitability felt by many legal observers, that this was going to be the outcome. during the stage where valdo calocane was sentenced at nottingham crown court, there was overwhelming evidence, as thejudge saw it at the time, that he had been deeply unwell, suffering an acute episode of psychosis, brought on by an almost untreatable paranoid schizophrenia, we now know that he suffers from. in that context the judge had to decide what the best way, notjust dealing with him in terms of sentencing, but prot

our home and legal correspondent dominic casciani has more.one as well, the way it has happened at the high court. quite simply, the law covering public protests is about a0 years old and it says the police in england and wales can interfere in a protest if there is serious disruption to the life of the community. what does serious disruption mean? well, in 2023 the government tried to do to define that downwards to define that downwards in parliament by saying serious disruption meant something that was more than minor. at the time parliament said it wasn't happy with that definition because it could capture all sorts of everyday, fairly banal protests. but after losing that vote, suella braverman, who was then the home secretary, introduced that definition anyway through one of her powers as home secretary. it is that decision to do it by what liberty, the campaign group, say was the back door, that has been deemed unlawful by the high court. this is such a serious matter because so far there are hundreds of people, mainly environmental prot

our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, has more from outside the high court.ian assange and show solidarity with him because they believed he has been boringly unjustly treated over the last four years, since 2019 when he fought this us extradition. there has been a sense of legal inevitability about the direction was going in. by a succession of court ruling. this morning to make seniorjudges in the high court effectively put the blocks on the whole thing, for now, because they accepted a very narrow argumentjulian assange says he has. in effect, when part of the wikileaks organisation in 2010, leaked us military secrets he did so to expose war crimes and therefore had a right to free speech and doing that under the us constitution and therefore cannot be prosecuted for doing so. us says it has given assurances this is not the type of case where free speech comes into play but this is not satisfied the judges here into play but this is not satisfied thejudges here in london and they said we will have a full appeal at this point. as we try to unpack this. the

dominic casciani is here.ce this? hat the jurisdiction of the court, can they enforce this?— the jurisdiction of the court, can they enforce this? not really, no. it is not they enforce this? not really, no. it is not like _ they enforce this? not really, no. it is not like there _ they enforce this? not really, no. it is not like there is _ they enforce this? not really, no. it is not like there is a _ it is not like there is a world police force to go and execute a warrant. south africa asked for a lot more than it actually got. while it is chalking this up as a victory, if you look at the wording, it only applies to rafah, nowhere else in gaza, and there is actually room in here for israel to actually effectively appease the courts, because the court said hold the military offensive there, if it may bring about the physical destruction of the palestinians. in essence it is saying, if you have other military options, go for those. 0n the enforceability, the practical route for south africa if nothing happens

our home and legal correspondent dominic casciani has been following the court proceeding in the haguearily, because when you break this down it is complicated to see how it could be enforced. the court said israel should halt the offensive, because it may bring about the physical destruction of palestinians. the important word is may. keep the rafah crossing open. make sure investigators can get in and report back. but none of that is enforceable. there is no world police force to back up the ruling. the practical route for south africa in this case is to go to un and seek a security council resolution. this becomes a political question, because it is less about how israel itself necessarily acts and more about what other nations may do. so the real question is what will president biden do and what will the uk do and other countries? will that pile pressure on israel? there is a sense from one israeli accuse democrat academic i spoke to that the court is bending in the wind of public opinion, rather than something that isjust public opinion, rather than something that is just and fair

our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, has been telling us about the key points from today's ruling given assurances that this is not the type of case with free speech comes into play. but this has not satisfied the judges in london. they said we will have a full apparel on this point the other point of assurances from the other point of assurances from the use as thatjulian massage will not face the death penalty, that is been accepted by his team now for the that is no longer an issue. for more on this _ the that is no longer an issue. for more on this i _ the that is no longer an issue. for more on this i spoke tojulian sanchez brother and he had more on how they are showing is doing. he: had a restless night last night for that we're all on tenterhooks because he could have been extradited or the extradition could've been ordered today which would have been in a horrible outcome forjulian. i think the judges today understood the gravity of what was at stake. in rejecting these assurances, particularly the assurance against freedom of expression. they understood what this means i