secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore. stay with us on bbc news.e fridays' in an effort to tackle stress caused by working from home. "the pope was shot, the pope will live" — that is the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism has come to the vatican. the man they called the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort. to help the victims - of a powerful earthquake — the worst to hit the i country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, gary kasparov. it is the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts

secunder kermani, bbc news.rmer has reshuffled his top team after a poor set of results in the english local elections. let's speak to our political correspondent damian grammaticas for more. what are the highlights of this cabinet reshuffle? this what are the highlights of this cabinet reshuffle?— what are the highlights of this cabinet reshuffle? , , . ., cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour— cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour or— cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour or so, _ cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour or so, so _ cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour or so, so the - cabinet reshuffle? this is coming in the last hour or so, so the labour. the last hour or so, so the labour leader, the leader of the opposition keir starmer has shifted a couple of top people in his team. isn't he the shadow chancellor, the opposition finance spokesperson, has been moved out. she has been demoted. she has been replaced by rachel reeves, a current np.

secunder kermani, bbc news.ghanistan expert madiha afzal and asked her what we know about who is behind the attack. so, the taliban has overtly denied responsibility for the attack, but afghanistan's president, ashraf ghani, has blamed the taliban for it. without a ceasefire, it's hard to know. one would have to take the taliban's word for it. that they haven't committed the attack. and it could certainly be the work of isis, as the islamic state group has conducted attacks such as this in afghanistan in the past. but the taliban has as well. and what we do know is that the taliban have intensified their attacks across afghanistan, with more violence, in this past week since the final us withdrawal began than in any other week since last october. and they have shown no interest in reducing violence and coming to the table for peace talks, much less a ceasefire. actually, they have openly threatened journalists as well. so, the taliban, while they may not have conducted this attack, are certainly not innocent in

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore. has insisted the olympic games can go ahead safely. opposition to the games, though, is intensifying with the country facing a growing numbers of coronavirus cases and a slow—moving vaccination programme. from tokyo, our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes reports. never before has the summer 0lympics face such overwhelming opposition from the people of the host nation. as japan's covid pandemic continues to get worse, the opposition is growing louder and more prominent. this double page spread has appeared in several newspapers. it's an old photo from world war ii of japanese children training to fight the americans with bamboo spares. except now the enemy is covid. no vaccines, no drugs... are we supposed to fight the virus with bamboo spears? are we supposed to fight the virus with bamboo spears? the head of japanese online retailer rakutan is also making headlines. he described holding the olympics now as a suicide mission. even those who have signed up as 0lympic volunteers are

secunder kermani, bbc news.r keir starmer has reshuffled his top team after a poor set of results in the english local elections. the bbc�*s damian grammaticas has been explaining the moves. the labour leader, the leader of the opposition, sir keir starmer, has shifted a couple of people in his top team. basically, the shadow chancellor — that's the opposition finance spokesperson — has been moved out, she's been demoted and replaced by rachel reeves, who's a current mp. that's anneliese dodds who's lost that position. at the same time, the party chair position, who was also the election campaign coordinator, angela rayner, she has been shifted. but it seems that she has actually dug her heels in and ended up with quite a powerful position, overseeing the opposition�*s approach to what they say is called the leveling up agenda. that's what the government here calls its efforts to redistribute economic opportunities toward more deprived areas that have fallen behind, and that particularly goes to the heart of som

secunder kermani, bbc news.ed on the italian island of lampedusa in the space of a few hours on sunday, and more arrivals are expected. more boats were spotted off the coast of nearby malta, with charity alarm phone saying they needed assistance. sara monetta reports. clear skies and calm waters. with the weather improving, the number of migrants leaving libya to reach europe has soared. here in lampedusa, italy's closest point to africa, 14 boats have arrived over the weekend. the tiny sicilian island now hosts over 1,400 people in its reception centre and more are currently out at sea. in the control room of this ngo ship, monitors flare up when a boat in distress is identified. the alarm from the hotline was alerted to five boats in distress, all within the maltese search and rescue zone, and they carry over 400 people. on these five boats in distress, there are men, women, children, minors, and they are all trying to escape from libya, and we heard that one of these boats has safely reached lampedusa but, to

secunder kermani, bbc news.minister, benjamin netanyahu, has defended his handling of two nights of violence injerusalem, warning that threats to peace and order would not be tolerated. last night saw renewed clashes between palestinians and israeli police, after days of simmering unrest over possible evictions of palestinians from land claimed byjewish settlers. in the latest development, israel's attorney—general has asked the supreme court to postpone a hearing on the planned evictions. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, reports. on the most sacred night of ramadan, this is how prayers ended — with israeli police using stun grenades, palestinians throwing stones injerusalem's old city. today, israel's prime minister blamed extremists. translation: we will enforce law and orderl decisively and responsibly. we will continue to ensure freedom of worship to all religions, but we will not allow violent unrest. it followed some of the worst violence in years on friday, with clashes right by the al—aqsa m

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore.bes ceremony has been rocked today after it was announced its broadcaster nbc has refused to screen the event. tom cruise has said he will be returning three of his awards, the second big name to take a stand after scarlett johanssen called for reform of hollywood foreign press assoication which runs the awards ceremony — which is second only to the oscars in prestige. in a statement released tonight, nbc said... dominic patten is the senior editor of deadline hollywood, which broke the story on nbc�*s decision to not broadcast the awards. a very different awards season. a lot of people might think well, what are you talking about? the 0scars just ended but we are already less than a month away from the end of amy's eligibility and heading towards them in september. so lots of timelines were at play here. both in terms of actually being able to put on a 2022 golden globes and the hollywood foreign press association so—called reform movements and netflix and time warner, and others said

secunder kermani, bbc news.an 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. it follows similar unrest on friday, during which 200 more people needed medical treatment. tensions have been rising for weeks over proposals to evict palestinian families from their homes in a neighbourhood where israeli settlers are laying claim to the land. much of the unrest has been taking place at the al—aqsa mosque compound, where israeli troops used rubber bullets and stun grenades against crowds throwing stones and bottles. jalal abukhater is a palestinian journalist and writer. he was there earlier at al—aqsa mosque and joins us now from eastjerusalem. thank you so much forjoining us. let me ask you first of all what you saw when you were there at the mosque. today's scenes were _ there at the mosque. today's scenes were not _ there at the mosque. today's scenes were not as _ there at the mosque. today's scenes were not as violent i there at the mosque. today's scenes were not as violent asj sce

secunder kermani, bbc news. question a man arrested in connection with the death of police community support officer julia james. the 53—year—old was found dead near her home in snowdown, kent, almost two weeks ago. detectives arrested a man in his 20s from the canterbury area on friday evening. there has been more violence in the last few hours in and around the old city ofjerusalem. it's the third consecutive night of confrontations between israeli police and palestinians, with tensions running high over planned evictions of palestinians from homes in eastjerusalem. last night's violence came after thousands had prayed at the al—aqsa mosque compound, on the most holy night of ramadan. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is injerusalem. what is happening now? well, after dark, after ramadan _ what is happening now? well, after dark, after ramadan evening - what is happening now? well, after. dark, after ramadan evening prayers, several of the hot spots around east jerusalem became inflamed once again in

secunder kermani, bbc news.have landed on the italian island of lampedusa in the space of a few hours on sunday — and more arrivals are expected. more boats were spotted off the coast of nearby malta, with charity alarm phone saying they needed assistance. sara monetta reports. clear skies and calm waters. the weather improving, number of migrants leaving libya to reach europe has soared. here in lampedusa, italy's closest point to africa, 1a boats have arrived over the weekend. the tiny sicilian island now hosts over 11100 people and its reception centre. and more are currently out at sea. in the control room of this ngo ship, monitors flareup when a boat in distress is identified. the alarm from _ distress is identified. the alarm from the _ distress is identified. the alarm from the hot - distress is identified. tue: alarm from the hot line distress is identified. tte: alarm from the hot line was alerted to five points in distress, all within the search and rescue zone, and they carry over 400 people. on thes

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore.ren as young as 12 to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. children aged between 12 and 15 will be offered the pfizer—biontech jab. it had previously been limited to those aged 16 and over, under emergency use rules. the us food and drug administration said it had carried out a thorough review of all available data before reaching the decision. most children who catch covid—i9 develop no symptons, or only mild ones, but can still spread the illness to others. stay with us on bbc news, still to come. efforts to save a whale stranded in the thames in south west london have failed — vets say it was too weak to survive on its own. i. i, nelson mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa.— south africa. after six years of construction _ south africa. after six years of construction and _ south africa. after six years of construction and numerous - south africa. after six years of - construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by

secunder kermani, bbc news. madiha afzal, a fellow at the brookings institution, who has been following the situation in afghanistan closely. thank you very much for coming on the programme. wejust heard there, we don't know is a clue who is behind the attacks, some evidence pointing towards the fact it is islamic state. what are your thoughts? i am afraid we cannot hear your... we have a quick problem with the sound. there we go, great! don't worry, you'll be the first and he won't be the last. just start that answer again for us. sure come absently. the taliban has overtly denied responsivity for the attack, but afg hanistan�*s for the attack, but afghanistan's president has afg hanistan�*s president has blamed afghanistan's president has blamed the taliban for its postal without a cease—fire, it is hard to know. one would have to take the taliban's work for they have not committed the attack and it could certainly be the work of isis, the isis. —— the islamic state group has conducted attacks such as this in

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore.ll, say it was started deliberately. mr lawwell and his family were forced to flee the property when the incident happened on the outskirts of glasgow early this morning. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon has this report. 0n lorna gordon has this report. the outskirts of glasg started 0n the outskirts of glasgow, a fire started delivery at the home of one of scottish football's most significant figures. this footage filmed by a passer—by. i significant figures. this footage filmed by a passer-by.- significant figures. this footage filmed by a passer-by. i 'ust came round the cornerh filmed by a passer-by. i 'ust came round the corner and _ filmed by a passer-by. i 'ust came round the corner and i _ filmed by a passer-by. ijust came round the corner and i seem - filmed by a passer-by. ijust came round the corner and i seem like l filmed by a passer-by. ijust came round the corner and i seem like a massive ball of fire. it was really orange, it lit up the night sky there was a lot

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore.re police saying at this stage, lorna? police scotland have said they were called to reports of vehicles on fire outside a house in an upmarket area on the outskirts of glasgow at around one o'clock this morning. we know that the fire spread to part of the detached two—storey house and at its height eight appliances were at the scene for the pictures taken just a couple of hours ago showed the charred remains of what looks to be a converted garage connected to the main house and some burnt out vehicles in the driveway in front of the house as well. no one was injured but celtic football club confirmed there was significant damage following what they said was an explosion and fire forcing peter lawwell and his family to leave the property. they went on to say that peter lawwell and his family are extremely shaken and shocked by what happened overnight and are receiving the full support of the club. the police and fire service remain at the house and they are working to establish what ca

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore. football now and chelsea have made it an all—english champions league final, after beating real madrid 3—1 on aggregate over the two legs of their semi—final. they'll face manchester city in turkey in just over three weeks�* time. our sports correspondent natalie pirks was watching. he's been here before — just last season, in fact. but to reach the champions league final with chelsea, thomas tuchel would have to beat a european powerhouse. the cagey affair caught fire when timo werner got in front of real�*s defence — a little too in front. a let—off for the 13 times champions soon turned into a let—off for chelsea. commentator: that'sl a fine save from mendy. that was the warning chelsea needed when midfield dynamo ka nte powered through. havertz troubled the crossbar, and werner made sure. and there's the follow—up and this time, it does count! benzema was a constant threat — as chelsea defenders flailed, mendy flew to the rescue once more. chelsea almost made the perfect start to

secunder kermani sent this report from the compound in abbottabad, pakistan, where bin laden met hisd to his death. an empty plot of land with rubble strewn across it. a lot is changed over the past ten years, a guy that still has dangerous franchises in yemen and somalia but the global threat posed by the group has greatly diminished and pakistan, the number of attacks by militant groups is drastically reduced all across the border in afghanistan, president biden has cited successes against al-qaeda is on the reasons for the withdrawal of us troops from the country that is currently under way there although there are concerns that continuing instability in afghanistan will play into the hands of al-qaeda. internationally, the killing of bin laden was seen as a victory over terrorism. and pakistan, it also raised uncomfortable questions about how exactly you managed to live here for so long and in one court case, it highlights the murkiness around this whole episode. the doctor is a pakistani man who ran a fake vaccination campaign here on behalf of the cia aiming to trace 0sama bin

our correspondent secunder kermani has more details., fear and bloodshed outside the school gates. the explosions took place just as students were making their way home — many of those killed girls and young women. inside a hospital, relatives search body by body for their loved ones, whilst outside, a desperate wait for news. "oh, my god, my god," this woman cries. "two of my daughters were studying there." one of them is injured, the other is missing. the islamic state group is likely to be behind the bombing. although less powerful in afghanistan than the taliban, their attacks here are typically even more brutal and they repeatedly targeted this community, afghanistan's shia hazara minority. violence has been flaring across the country, with the taliban stepping up assaults on the afghan government, whilst us and international troops begin a final withdrawal. in this latest atrocity, so many lives cut too short, and for those who have survived, an increasingly uncertain future. secunder kemani, bbc news. ali doshi is a university st

activists say more needs to be done to prevent violence against women. 0ur correspondent there secunder kermani held four elections in the past two years. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knell has more. israel has held four elections in the past two years. donald trump's suspension from facebook has been upheld by the company's oversight board, but it also said the ban must be reviewed in six months�* time. the former us president was suspended after posts he made when his supporters attacked the us congress injanuary. mr trump attacked the board�*s decision — and bans from the main tech platforms — saying it was "a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country". 0ur correspondent in washington, gary 0�*donoghue, says despite the former president�*s social media ban, he is still managing to get his message out. he�*s still doing interviews with some of his favourite networks. he�*s holding meetings. he�*s having a lot of sort of free media coverage when republican leaders and politicians go to mar—a—lago and take selfies with him there. that�*s happening still, and he�*s set up this

earlier, i spoke to our south asia correspondent secunder kermani, who described how badly affected thehis particular neighbourhood in the west of kabul has suffered repeated attacks by the islamic state group because it is from members of a shia minority. is have attacked mosques, cultural centres, sports hall, tuition centres in the past. as you say, funerals have been held today so far at a hilltop cemetery overlooking kabul, and the majority of the victims were teenage girls, students at the school, from poorer backgrounds who whose families would have worked hard to give their daughters a better chance at life, and instead they were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the gates yesterday afternoon, followed by two more blasts. this particular violence is against a context of increasing attacks and unrest ahead of this proposed us troop withdrawal. we've seen a spike in violence over the past week. last weekend was when the final tranche of american and nato forces in afghanistan, around 10,000 troops, they formally began withdrawing from the country, and that process will be co

earlier, i spoke to our south asia correspondent secunder kermani, who described how badly affected thewest of kabul has suffered repeated attacks by the islamic state group because it is from members of the shia hazara minority. is have attacked mosques, cultural centres, sports hall, tuition centres in the past. as you say, funerals have been held today so far at a hilltop cemetery overlooking kabul, and the majority of the victims were teenage girls, students at the school, from poorer backgrounds who whose families would have worked hard to give their daughters a better chance at life, and instead they were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the gates yesterday afternoon, followed by two more blasts. the government has called on rail operators to "urgently set out a comprehensive plan" to resolve the ongoing disruption to services due to cracks found in some trains. rail disruption is continuing for a second day after 183 hitachi trains were taken out of service yesterday as a "precautionary measure" after the fault was found. great western railway and london north eastern rail

from there our correspondent secunder kermani reports. she had so much going for her.eastern city of lahore, herfuneral. her distraught father arrived from london this morning. a law graduate, mayra zulfiqar grew up in london. they returned to the uk, but she remained in lahore. mayra lived in a rented house in this upmarket neighbourhood. it was here that she was attacked in the early hours of monday morning. police say she was shot twice. mayra's uncle told police that before she was killed, she came to him saying she was being threatened by two men who wanted to marry her, but whom she had turned down. neighbours have told me that they've seen men brandishing knives pull up outside her house and that mayra had been to the police in the past. officials say they are yet to make any formal arrest.

secunder kermani, bbc news, lahore.eet them. john teggart, whose father daniel was one of those who died, has called borisjohnson's apology "totally unacceptable", and said mrjohnson's apology should have focused on "our loved ones who were murdered" and not how the investigation was handled. last week an inquest found daniel taggart, joseph murphy, edward doherty, john laverty, joseph, and john the care, who were killed in valley murphy in august 1971, entirely innocent. 0n valley murphy in august 1971, entirely innocent. on behalf of successive governments and to put on the record, i would like to say sorry to their families for how the investigations were handled and for the pain they have enjoyed since there campaign began almost five decades ago. —— have endured. this has renewed the government was like determination to ensure other families can find answers with less distress and delay. the attorney generals office in new york state has informed the trump 0rganization that an investigation into its business dealin

here's secunder kermani. afghanistan recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections.w. so unfortunately, the real number of infections, the real number of deaths is likely to be significantly higher and that latest third wave of infections does seem to be spreading fast in the country and we are told that in the mainland treating covid—19 patients are already full and officials of the ordered schools and universities in large parts of the country to close down for the next two weeks and they've already ordered wedding homes to be shut down and this spike in infections is likely to be related to two factors. the festival earlier this month when families got togetherfor earlier this month when families got together for gatherings into for the suspected presence of the indian variant of coronavirus which is thought to of been more infectious between indian and afghanistan which have been continuing. there have been very little mask wearing, very little social distancing afghanistan is an extremely poor country and the health care system is very weak, so if the situation

here's secunder kermani from kabul.rn province of zabul last night, and anotherjust north of kabul this morning. officials say the taliban are responsible. and this comes, of course, as the country still reeling from the aftermath of that awful attack on a school on saturday in which the vast majority of the victims were young girls. that was likely carried out by the islamic state group, but there's still no official of responsibility. the president has declared that tomorrow will be a national day of mourning. meanwhile, the taliban announced a three—day cease—fire in honour of the muslim festival of eid which will begin later this week. now any respite from the violence will be welcome, and the president has also ordered his troops to observe that three—day cease—fire — but it is, of course, a very brief cease—fire, we've seen similar ones on two occasions in the past, only for violence to resume shortly after the cease—fire is ended. another senior afghan leader has said that these short pauses in the fighting are,

our afghanistan correspondent secunder kermani joins me now from islamabad.ce, even by afghanistan standards. absolutely. i mean, so afghanistan standards. absolutely. i mean. so many _ afghanistan standards. absolutely. i mean, so many places _ afghanistan standards. absolutely. i mean, so many places in _ afghanistan standards. absolutely. i | mean, so many places in afghanistan have endured so much pain, but this particular neighbourhood in the west of cobble has soft —— in the west of kabul has this suffered repeated attacks by the islamic state group because it is from members of a shia minority. iis have attacked mosques, cultural centres, sports hall, tuition centres in the past. as you say, funerals have been held today so far at a hilltop cemetery overlooking kabul, and the majority of the victims were teenage girls, students at the school, from poorer backgrounds who whose families would have worked hard to give their daughters a better chance at life, and instead they were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the gates yesterday afternoon, follo

secunder kermani, bbc news, pakistan. work that is going to be. she deserves a rest.— she deserves a rest. nine! it is 14 minutes past _ she deserves a rest. nine! it is 14 minutes past seven. _ she deserves a rest. nine! it is 14 minutes past seven. we - she deserves a rest. nine! it is 14 minutes past seven. we have i she deserves a rest. nine! it is 14. minutes past seven. we have been talking to carol this morning. the weather has got a bit of everything. we are making carol work for us this morning. sorry, carol. good morning. not like you normally don't, by the way! good morning. we have got all kinds of weather going on today. you can see here one of the weather watchers pictures of kinross, which is perth and kinross. we have got snow lying at low levels. the snow level across scotland will rise back into the hills through the day. for all of us it will be a chilly day. more heavy showers. some thundery. we have had of had already across parts of cumbria and lancashire. you can see where we have had the snow. a fe

secunder kermani reports.ealing for prime ministers imran khan and borisjohnson to help me." saad butt, accused of the abduction and named by mayra's uncle in connection to the murder, denies any wrongdoing and his lawyer says he's cooperating with the police. the other man, a friend of mayra's, zahirjadoon, also denies any role in her death. both men have been granted pre—arrest bail. mayra's family say they'll do all they can to ensure justice is done. listen to this. "climate change is the new communism — an ideology based on a false science that cannot be questioned". it's a statement you could have easily read on twitter by a climate change sceptic, though that wasn't written by a real person but rather a text generator — known as gpt 3 — that has learnt to write human—like messages, messages that could easily find themselves spread far and wide, across many different social media platforms. that's one of the findings of a new report out today by the georgetown's center for security and emerging technolog

secunder kermani has the latest. still reeling from the aftermath of that awful attack on a school on saturday in which the vast majority of the victims were young girls. that was likely carried out by the islamic state group, though still no official claim of responsibility. the president, ashraf ghani, has declared that tomorrow will be a national day of mourning. meanwhile, the taliban have announced a three—day ceasefire in honour of the muslim festival of eid, which will begin later this week. any respite from the violence will be welcome, and president ghani has ordered his troops to observe that three—day ceasefire. and it is of course a very brief ceasefire, we have seen similar ones on two occasions in the past, only for violence to resume shortly after the ceasefire has ended. another senior afghan leader, doctor abdullah abdullah, has said that these short pauses in the fighting are of course not a durable solution, that can only come from a negotiated settlement. but at the moment, talks between the afgha

graduate, travelled to the country for a wedding two months ago. 0ur pakistan correspondent secunder kermanivestigation. police have once again return to the crime scene today to carry out further searches. as of yet, though, still no formal arrests. searches. as of yet, though, still the headlines on bbc news... french fishing vessels have left jersey and returned to port — after demonstrating over their post—brexit rights. talks were held earlier between jersey and french fishermen. the bank of england predicts the uk economy will enjoy its strongest growth since world war two as lockdown restrictions are lifted. police in essex are continuing to question two teenagers on suspicion of murder after a father—of—four was stabbed to death — having spent the day celebrating his two—year—old twin daughters�* birthday. some news coming through in the last few moments, concerning the murder ofjulia james, the pcso, who was found dead near her home in kent on tuesday of last week. we are just hearing that a reward is being offered by crimestoppers for any information that can be given that will hel

our correspondent, secunder kermani, gave us the latest.. hitachi apologised and said some trains were now running again after checks. a warning, katy austin's report does contain flashing images. this type of high—speed model has only been on uk railways for a few years. after a problem was found with some overnight, hitachi's 800 series trains weren't running this morning, as a safety precaution. the problem is a weld underneath the body shell which is cracking, which sounds like metalfatigue. there are over 180 of these trains in service, which were grounded at 5am this morning while the engineers check to see if anymore were cracking. will that be easy to fix? no, repairing aluminum trains is very difficult. so, no, it's not quick and it's not cheap. the trains are being inspected. it is not yet clear weather the problem has been detected in any more, although a number have now been deemed safe. but there has been major disruption on transpennine express, hull trains, great western railway and london north eastern railway. it is a disas