near the city of aleppo, which killed at least 42 people. rishi sunak faces criticism after giving a knighthood to the largest conservative party's donor. calls for a police investigation after the bbc revealed the post office knew of flaws in the it system used by branch managers. and beyonce is back with herfirst country album. hello. we start this hour in the middle east. syria has blamed israel for air strikes on the northern city of aleppo which have killed at least 42 people and wounded many others. they include syrian soldiers and some fighters from the lebanese group hezbollah. in gaza israel has said it's looking at ways to increase humanitarian aid being sent to the gaza strip and has denied that it places any limits on the amount getting in. on thursday the un's top court ordered israel to take all necessary

and effective action to ensure basic food supplies reached the palestinian population. i spoke to our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, about the latest developments. well, we are hearing from the syrians very clearly that they blame israel for the strikes. but when i spoke to the israeli military a short time ago, asked them for any comments, they said that they don't comment on reports in the foreign media. that can be quite a stock reaction when it comes to cases in syria of this kind. so it's areas in the countryside around aleppo that were hit, we understand. the uk—based syrian observatory for human rights, is saying that these were near to rocket depots belonging to hezbollah, the powerful lebanese armed group that does have sites inside syria. and we are hearing from

the syrian observatory for human rights and from other sources that there were hezbollah members among those killed. the syrian state media had initially come out saying that it was syrian military personnel and also civilians that were killed in the strikes overnight. really a large number of people killed when we compare to similar sorts of action that we have heard reports of in the recent months and years. if we could move to the un court, it ordered israel to enable the unhindered flow of aid into gaza yesterday. has there been any reaction to that from israel? there has. israel has been given a month by the court to give details of how it is complying with this new provisional order. but we had the israeli foreign ministry spokesman coming out giving an initial response. he said that israel wishes no harm to the civilian population

in gaza and that it is already taking steps to ensure the continuous flow of aid going into the gaza strip, working with the un and other humanitarian partners to bring in aid by air, sea and land. he accused hamas of trying to commandeer and steal aid, and also said that really hamas was the party that was responsible for the situation in gaza and had started the war. i mean, it's quite specific some of the detail in this new provisional measures that it's food, water, fuel, shelter, medicines, hygiene and sanitation kits that should be allowed into gaza. there is a demand for israel to open up more land border crossings and to open them up for longer hours as well.

and all the time of the aid agencies are saying they are not managing to get enough aid in, particularly into northern gaza. that's correct. and it's in northern gaza of course that the un has now been consistently warning of a man—made famine breaking out. and the icj does say that the catastrophic living conditions have deteriorated further since its earlier provisional measures were announced on monday said that people are no longer facing the risk of famine, but that famine is now setting in. and if we could also look, today we have seen pictures of people going in for friday prayers in the al—aqsa mosque, of course it also comes as we have easter celebrations amongst the christian population. that's correct. and quite soon now there will be the processions by the christians along the via dolorosa through the old city, the stations of the cross, remembering the events, the biblical events around the crucifixion of jesus. and at the same time you have palestinian muslims going into the old city for friday prayers, friday prayers

during ramadan, the islamic holy month, and it's a special holy time. this is also a tense time, and what we have seen in terms of numbers of palestinians, particularly from the occupied west bank being able to go along to those processions, to those prayers as they normally would, they have been very much limited by the ongoing situation by restrictions that are put in place. earlier, i spoke to westiminster correspondent shelley phelps about the unusual timings of these honours. the timing is a bit surprising, because we typically get honours lists at new year and then on the king's birthday, which is in june. you also get dissolution honours. and there has been a lot of comment about the timing

because it is in recess so mps are not at westminster. it has raised a few eyebrows. this has come out on a friday, on the easter bank holiday weekend. you know, critics kind of saying, "well, is it likely to get a bit less coverage?" and of course, will fewer people notice it because they are enjoying their easter weekend and eating their chocolates. the controversy particularly after mr sunak awarded one of the conservatives's largest donors with that knighthood? yeah, that's right. so most of the attention in terms of the names on this list has focused on mohamed mansour. as you said, he is a conservative party donor, a businessman. last year, he donated £5 million to the party, he is a senior treasurer at the conservative party. and you have mentioned just a moment ago, there has been a criticism from labour about this. but number ten sources are pointing to what they say is his extensive experience in terms of charity work and public work.

there are also four conservative mps on the list, so they include tracey crouch, who is standing down at the next election, but she is a former sports minister. she is known for having done a lot of work into football governance. there is also philip davies. now, his wife, esther mcvey, is a cabinet minister. he is a gb news presenter. but it wasn't all politicians on the list. there are some interesting names from the tech and creative industries. so, christopher nolan and his wife emma thomas who are known for their work on oppenheimer. mr nolan, he got an oscar for this. they were also given gongs in this list. and shelley, it has of course opened up more general election speculation, the fact that we have got this honours list now. some suggesting could that mean a summer election? yeah, you're right, there has been a bit of speculation around that. in the labour criticism, anneliese dodds, what she said is, she said this is the actions of someone who knew they were on their way out, so feeding a little bit into that speculation. interestingly, though, michael gove, the community secretary, he was just on a podcast yesterday, he was saying that he doesn't

think that the election will be until november, although he did say he didn't have any insider knowledge. and of course, there is inevitably so much rumour and speculation about when that general election is going to be. we know the latest it is going to be is byjanuary 2025. the police service of northern ireland has said a 61—year—old man has been charged in relation to sexual offences. a 57—year—old woman has also been charged for aiding and abetting additional offences. both are due to appear before newry magistrates�* court on the 24th april. police say the offences are non—recent — and that all charges will be reviewed by the public prosecution service. next, a development in what's been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages ofjustice in british history. sub—postmasters who ran local post offices were prosecuted for theft — even though a computer system was known to be faulty. now secret papers have revealed the post office knew that the computer system could be tampered with — but still fought sub—postmasters in court. aruna iyengar has more.

it's the latest twist in the ongoing post office drama. between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of sub—postmasters and sub—postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted because of faults with horizon, an it system created by fujitsu and used for tallying up the books. the postmasters took their cases to court in 2019, and won. they became known as the 555 group. but now, this secret 2017 draft report uncovered by the bbc shows the post office spent £100 million fighting sub—masters in court when it knew its defence was untrue. commissioned by the post office, the bramble report by deloitte said fujitsu employees had the ability to amend or delete transactions entered by branch staff. the system wouldn't flag up

to a postmaster if a change had been made, and those changes could cause a shortfall in branch accounts. it also said a malicious actor could potentially change data, though there's no evidence this happened. labour mp kevanjones sits on the horizon compensation advisory board. he's called on the police to investigate. if they knew about this, and they clearly did because if you read the report, it said they used part of it selectively in their case against the 555. if they knew about it, surely they've put themselves in a very difficult position in terms of their legal obligation to release all information to the court. the post office has said it's deeply sorry for the impact the scandal has had on people, and has told the bbc the public inquiry�*s next phase would look at the issues raised. fujitsu said the group regards the matter with the utmost seriousness and offers its deepest apologies to the subpostmasters and their families.

janet skinner, a former sub—postmistress from hull, lost herjob and was sent to prison in 2007 based on information from the horizon system. they could have prevented that court case, you know, the 555 that went to that court case. they could have prevented that and they could have saved a lot of time, money and tears. for many, delivery ofjustice is taking far too long. aruna iyengar, bbc news. a line breaking news coming from the uk. british transport police say a 19—year—old has been charged with attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in relation to a stabbing on a train in backing in

south—east london. it happened on wednesday in south—east london. that news coming to us from the british transport police. to south africa next. emergency workers have been working through the night to recover the remains of 45 people who were killed in a bus crash. the bus was travelling from botswana to the limpopo province. the department for transport says the vehicle plunged off a bridge into a ravine after colliding with the crash barrier, and burst into flames when it hit the ground. an eight—year—old child was the sole survivor and has been taken to hospital with serious injuries. our correspondent shingai nyoka is in harare and gave me an update. well, what we know, as you said, is that those emergency workers are at the scene. so far, they have retrieved about a dozen bodies. nine of those have since been identified. but the transport minister was talking to south african media earlier on and said that the process ofjust recovering those people has been hampered by accessibility to the site.

the bus crashed into a ravine which was about 50 metres below the bridge itself. what they are saying is that the driver lost control of that vehicle but that it was an alternative route and so it wasn't a busy road. there was no oncoming traffic or vehicle. and this happened at about 11am on thursday morning. and so the suggestion that they are looking at is that perhaps this was a driver error, but those investigations are still going on. when you look at the pictures, it is amazing that that eight—year—old survived. do we know any more their condition? well, she is in... she has serious injuries, we understand, but is in a stable condition at a nearby hospital. and the story we are hearing, why she survived and why everybody else perished, is that she was thrown out of the vehicle as it tipped over into that ravine.

the process of identifying the people that have died is still going on, but i think it is complicated by the fact that many of them were not from south africa, they were travelling from botswa na. and so there is diplomatic negotiations and discussions that are happening, to take place. the south african government, however, has said that it will help in the repatriation of those bodies. just want to bring you a line that we are getting from south africa involving the former presidentjacob zuma. people say they have arrested a man for drunk driving. the man collided with the president's official armoured state vehicle. this happened on thursday and police say at the time of the collision the former president was in the vehicle

with his protection. no one was injured including members of the protection service. he was evacuated and taken to his home but police have arrested a 51—year—old man for drunken driving. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

relatives of the wall streetjournal reporter, evan gershkovich, are marking the anniversary of his detention in russia. mr gershkovich is the first american to be charged with spying by the russian authorities since the end of the cold war. the us government and the wall streetjournal have dismissed the charge; they say he is being used as a bargaining chip by moscow. my colleague sumi somaskanda has been speaking to evan's co worker at the wall streetjournal, paul beckett — and his sister danielle. she asked danielle how evan was doing. it's really hard for him, but we're so proud of him. he's very resilient and he is working really hard to stay strong.

he worries about us. we try to make sure that he knows that we're doing well. and he even recently sent women in his life some bouquets for international women's day, march 8th, which was really nice. paul, i want to ask you, his detention was extended for a fifth time this week. what can you tell us about that? it's a pattern we've seen since start of this. every two or three months, the russians produce him in court and ask for more time to investigate. we haven't seen any evidence through that whole process. now it's been extended for another three months, which means we don't know when there will be a trial. so really it's pretty foggy when you look forward and thatjust increases the urgency of bringing him home and increases the urgency of the us and russian governments

and any other government that can be helpful figuring out a way to get him back. and paul, last time we spoke, we discussed also the prospect of a possible swap for evan. where do those discussions stand right now? well, we saw in early december the state department said that they had made an offer for evan and for paul whelan, who's been there for five years, and the russians rejected it. since then, we saw president putin mention evan twice, once in his annual press conference and then at the end of his interview with tucker carlson. so we know there are conversations going on. obviously, it's appropriate that those happen quietly and in secret. and we're not privy to them, but we're confident that they're happening and we just hope that they bear fruit soon. danielle, can i ask you about that as well, what the communication has been like with the white house as this process has been ongoing? well, we have heard several times the white house has made statements that they're serious about getting evan home, which is wonderful to hear.

but we know that this is a conversation that's happening between governments. but we're very grateful to have contact from speha team. and we were able to meet. and speak with president biden and he personally promised our family that he's going to get evan home. let's get some of the day's other news now. analysis shared with the bbc has shown how fire is being used as a weapon in sudan's civil war, with more than a hundred villages burnt since the conflict began last year. fighting between the sudanese army and the paramilitary group rsf has forced millions from their homes. tens of thousands of people have died. two years of talks aimed at reaching a global deal on how to prevent future pandemics have so far failed to reach consensus. countries at the world health

assembly in geneva largely agree on what should be done, but disagree over how binding any commitments should be. the us government has authorised an initial $60 million to help the state of maryland clear the debris of the bridge that was brought down by a giant container ship on tuesday. the biggest crane on the east coast is being sent to baltimore to join the emergency effort. officials say the first priority, is to find 4 workers who are missing, presumed dead. first, we need to continue to focus on recovery because it is our obligation to bring a sense of closure to these families. the second, we need to clear the channel and open vessel traffic to the port because the health of the maryland economy and the national economy depends on it. third, we need to take care of all the people who have been affected

by this crisis. and that means the families. that means the workers. that means the businesses. that means the first responders. that means everybody. and in the military, i know i was taught something. and one of the things we were taught is you always take care of your people. and we are going to make sure that in this moment, we take care of our people. and fourth, we need to rebuild the francis scott key bridge. now beyonce is top global social media trend right now. it's after she released herfirst ever country album. if you've listened to the radio on tiktok recently you will probably have come across one of the tracks — texas hold em. country music is booming right now — especially here in the uk which is now one of the biggest markets for the genre outside the united states. felicity baker reports.

all: we're chapel hart and make sure l that you stay tuned in to bbc news. l if you haven't heard of chapel hart yet, you soon will. # oh,jolene...# it's an energy here with the fans here that is... a match. uk fans hit so different, like, y'all are a different breed - and we absolutely love it. # you can have himjolene...# they are one of many up—and—coming artists who are drawn to the uk's rapidly growing country scene. # ba—da—na—da—ba, ba—oh!# beyonce's move into country is being hailed as a game changer for a genre that is now taking on the mainstream. but does it meet fan expectations? not ever so keen on what she's done. but you know what,

everyone's welcome in this genre. i love it because she's a country girl. she's from texas. so who can do it better than beyonce? i mean, she's popular. it'll get more people into country music. i so i guess why not? i feel like we're next level. i think artists like beyonce, post malone, lana del rey doing things and country music is helping us get that exposure. this will be the biggest year for country in the uk, with more artists playing here than ever before. including grammy—award—winning duo brothers osborne, who first came to the uk nearly a decade ago. the whole purpose of us coming over here and playing our music is to connect with people and show them kind of maybe the cliched things that they think about country music isn't true. the thing about the uk that makes us want to come over here are the fans.

they listen like a sober crowd and they react like a drunk crowd. it's like the perfect combination that you want in an audience. with other artists following beyonce's move into country later this year, audiences over here are only expected to get bigger. felicity baker, bbc news. and we are getting some reviews for beyonce's album. the guardian says she is capable of doing whatever she wants. page six says, the revival that country music so desperately needed. another is social media by saying the best it has ever been in her career. many viewers welcoming beyonce's ability to straddle the country— pop genre. the times newspaper in london said that hour by newspaper in london said that hour by was a a—star album and praised it as a slick western epic with a sense of fun and adventure. you can get

more on beyonce his new album including those reviews and our review from our music correspondent, mark savage, you can head to the bbc news website or the app. here you have the red—hot lover on the ground at the same time as the amazing green glow of the natural light display in the sky. the time—lapse video was shot in western iceland where the volcano has erupted a couple of times since december.

hello. given what we've had recently, the weather this easter weekend is actually all right for this stage in march. 0k, plenty of showers around today. some of those in the heavy side. but the weekend, saturday, sunday, fewer showers around, the north looking dry on monday, too, but we will see more persistent rain return across some southern areas. here we go, though, detail through the next few days there. at the moment, showers developing quite widely, england, wales, northern ireland and returning to southern scotland after the departure of this morning's rain. northern half of scotland, though, fewer showers, lightest winds here, and wherever you are, temperatures up a little bit on yesterday, 10 to 1a degrees, around bang on average for where we should be for this stage in the year. now, as we go through this evening and overnight, we will see some showers continue in scotland and into the west. but many of you will be dry, lengthier clear skies. and it's going to be chilly tonight, even though temperatures lifting by day, the nights still quite cool. we could see a touch of frost in one or two spots to start your saturday morning. but for saturday, the area of low pressure which is the focus for showers actually drifting a bit further westwards.

so, we will see fewer showers, lighter winds, but have to watch for this weather front. moving northwards out of france and belgium, could bring a cloudy day to east anglia in the far southeast and even some rain at times in coastal districts. showers heaviest out towards the west through saturday. so the far south—west of england, south—west wales, northern ireland a rumble of thunder can't be ruled out. for much of scotland, england and wales, isolated showers which means more of you will spend the bulk, if not all day, dry and feeling pleasant enough in the sunshine with light winds. chilly night will follow. and of course, as we go through into sunday morning, easter sunday morning, the clocks will have gone forward and hour. so the evenings will be lighter, the mornings a little bit darker to begin with. not a bad start, though. a lot of dry weather around. there will be some showers in the west to begin with and more will develop through the day. heavy and thundery towards the southwest. but, actually, many of you again will spend the bulk, if not all, the day dry and temperatures 1a, 15 degrees in western scotland, through parts of central england, too. now as we go through into monday, this is where low pressure

develops again towards the south. exact details may change a little bit, so keep across the forecast, but it does look like across southern counties of england, south wales, potential for some longer spells of rain again. away from that, cloud and a cool breeze down some north sea coasts. but to the north and west, the best of your easter monday sunshine. whatever you have planned, enjoy. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the syrian government blames israel for deadly airstrikes near the city of aleppo, which killed at least 42 people. rishi sunak faces criticism after giving a knighthood to the largest conservative party donor. delays and long queues reported at dover as the easter getaway gets under way. and one of the biggest blockbuster movies of last summer, oppenheimer, is released for the first time in japan. if you have just joined if you havejustjoined us, hello. rail travellers are being urged to check their plans in advance. it is notjust ports, roads and trains are

busy this easter. airports and