coming up on bbc news... all eyes on the emirates stadium where victory for arsenal over chelsea could take them three points clear at the top of the premier league. summer. tonight we hear why the investigation is taking so long and one family's reaction. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. this is the boat, overloaded with more than 100 people, that got into trouble just off the french coast last night leading to the deaths of five migrants including a child. it happened just hours after mps had passed the government's rwanda bill which is designed to deter people from attempting crossings like this. our correspondent andrew harding

was on that beach in the early hours of this morning just north of wimereux, filming as police ran towards the people smugglers and migrants. they'd only been at sea a short time when disaster struck. here's his report. a skirmish early this morning on a french beach. 0k, we'rejust running to catch up with some migrants here. the police are trying to stop a small boat from leaving the shore. it turns violent. and the police are failing. the boat is dangerously overloaded. it looks like the migrants who did get onto that boat are in trouble. but as we watch, we have no idea that people on board are dying, including a seven—year—old girl. to understand how this happened, we need to go back to yesterday afternoon, with crowds jostling at the bus station in

calais, anxious to get to the beaches outside town, the smugglers muscling in. the forecast is for a clear, calm night in the channel, perfect conditions for a crossing. young men from syria, from sudan, none put off by news that they might end up being deported from britain to rwanda. are you worried that you might be sent to rwanda by the british? "no, if it is safe and i can study in rwanda, then "that's fine too," he says. you hear that? yeah. you don't want that? no, i don't want. but it's not stopping you today? no. nothing will stop you? no, no, don't stop me. waiting for the migrants along the french coast line, a high—tech force, funded now by britain, which is spending millions of pounds on drones and other gear to help the french police find and stop the small boats. and yet, compared with the same period last year, the number of crossings has risen.

"we need more equipment and more staff," she says, who co—ordinates the police effort here. "our officers are brave, but the number of people getting on each boat is rising." official footage of french border police in the channel earlier this year, a difficult rescue operation in rough seas. as the number of attempted crossings rises, so does the death toll among migrants. adding to the sense of crisis here, a new development. hundreds of vietnamese have recently begun arriving at the coast. we met this group camped in a forest. the vietnamese people here seem quite confused about where they're going. they don't even know if they're supposed to end up in england. all they do tell us is they are escaping from gangsters back in vietnam who they owe money to. two years ago, it was albanian migrants, now it's these

people from vietnam, swelling the numbers. and so to events overnight. we head to a beach south of calais, a popular launch site for small boats. and we sit for hours in the moonlight and wait. whispers: somebody walking there. i can hear somebody walking nearby there. two shadows, almost certainly smugglers, come to check we are not police. above us, a police plane circles. we've arranged for a bbc cameraman to be on board. the crews spot two groups of migrants on their thermal imaging camera. they're in the sand dunes and moving towards each other. on the beach, a french foot patrol quickly arrives. surely the migrants will give up now, but they don't. shouting. suddenly, the beach

erupts with shouting. 0k, we are running with the police as they try to intercept a group of what looks like 60—70 migrants. and now things turn violent, fireworks thrown at the police. several young men pulling out crude weapons. you can see the smugglers here, some of them have sticks, they're trying to protect the migrants as they head towards the sea to stop the police from stopping them. and it works. a few stragglers are left behind, but the boat is allowed to move out towards open water. look at the child on someone�*s shoulders on the right. could the french police have done more to stop this? we ask one officer.

"we are not allowed to go in the water," he replies, "did you notice they had sticks and there were children too, so we had to be careful." the boat is wildly overloaded. on the right here, you can see another child being led out in an orange life jacket. more than 100 people are trying to squeeze on board. somewhere in the scrum, a seven—year—old girl's last moments. faint shouting. it sounds like someone crying for help. rescue boats do arrive a little later, the five dead are taken away. but half the passengers on the inflatable stay on board and later head off towards the english coast. and in the last few hours, we have learned that those 58 people on

board the boat, who insisted on continuing theirjourney, did in fact reach british waters and have been taken in by british officials to the uk. today's event is clearly a reminder of quite how difficult it is to deter people if they are, as they seem to be, willing to take these extraordinary risks. it is also further proof of how difficult it is for the french authorities to intervene safely to actually stop people from reaching the water, taking these boatjourneys and getting into such terrible trouble. andrew harding on the northern french coast, thank you very much. well, that all happened just hours after the government's long—awaited rwanda bill was finally passed by parliament after almost two years of legal battles and political wrangling. the legislation aims to send asylum seekers who cross the channel to east africa. the un has called on the prime minister rishi sunak to rethink the scheme, and as our deputy political editor vicki young reports, the government's legal troubles aren't over yet.

the rooms in rwanda have been ready for almost two years. the government now hopes that some asylum—seekers will arrive this summer. the uk parliament's passed a new law declaring that this is a safe country. ministers think that will restrict legal challenges that prevent deportations. on a visit to poland, rishi sunak said he was incredibly sad about today's deaths in the channel. fundamentally, it is deeply dangerous, and there is nothing compassionate about allowing the current system to continue. once we get the deterrent up and running this will help us stop the boats. people need to know that if they come to our country illegally, they won't be able to stay. the plan faced fierce opposition in parliament, the bill went back and forth five times between the commons and the lords as peers tried to change it. the time has now come to acknowledge the primacy of the elected house and to withdraw from the fray. we do so secure at least in the knowledge that the so—called judgment of parliament was not the judgment of this house,

and that we tried our hardest to achieve something a little more sensible. but eventually, just after midnight, the lords backed down. the government says that clears the way for planes to take off to rwanda injuly and an airfield and flight slots are booked. a group of around 52,000 people could be eligible for deportation. they've arrived in the uk illegally since lastjuly. by the end of last year, the policy had already cost £240 million, with millions more on the way. solicitors who have previously represented asylum—seekers say more court cases are likely because they believe rwanda still poses a risk. we represent some of the most vulnerable people in society, those with severe mental health issues, victims of trafficking, lgbti individuals. we have to do everything we possibly can in our clients interest to safeguard their fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms. the labour leader says if he was prime minister, he would scrap the scheme. what i would do is use that money

to build up our border security, to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade and stop those boats arriving in the first place. not a gimmick which nobody thinks is going to work. this was the scene near dover earlier, hundreds of migrants arriving in just one day. across europe, governments say they want to stop these dangerous journeys, but there's no agreement over the best way to do that. rishi sunak says the only way to do it is to deter people from making those dangerous crossings across the channel, but of course a deterrent effect only works if there is migrants think there is a fairly high chance that they will end up in rwanda. this bill has made its way through parliament and maybe we are a step closer to flights taking off in the summer, but ministers are braced for more court cases. rishi sunak made a bold pledge to stop the boats. he is running out of time to

prove that that is more than just a slogan. the prime minister has announced a new package of military aid for ukraine worth £500 million. rishi sunak says the assistance will include 400 vehicles and long—range missiles. he made the announcement during a visit to poland where he held talks with nato secretary—generaljens stoltenberg. mr sunak also said uk military spending would rise to 2.5% of national income by 2030. labour has already committed to a 2.5% target but only when the "economic conditions allow". our political editor, chris mason, reports from poland. europe's front line — ukrainian tanks heading into battle. a war in our back yard showing no sign of end. in neighbouring poland today at a military base outside warsaw, the prime minister, his polish opposite number and the secretary—general of the nato defence alliance, and, from rishi sunak, this promise on defence spending. today i'm announcing the biggest

strengthening of our national defence for a generation. we will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of gdp by 2030. that starts today. is it time to be candid now with people that the costs of supporting ukraine are going to run into the billions and billions for years and years to come? could this last another decade? well, chris, as i touched on, unfortunately, we're living in a more dangerous time than any point since the end of the cold war. if we don't deter russia in ukraine, all we're going to do is embolden putin to go even further, and indeed embolden other adversaries around the world. there is no way we can run away from that cost. we have to pay. not least because we need to understand that the most expensive alternative is to allow putin to win in ukraine. labour says it would raise defence

spending to 2.5% of national income as soon as resources allow, not as concrete a commitment. i fully support what the prime minister has announced in relation to further funding for ukraine. it is vitally important that we continue to support ukraine against russian aggression. labour added the army had shriveled under the conservatives, but defence posture is changing direction in front of our eyes. what we are seeing in numbers, promises and backdrops is the politics of defence stepping up, an argumentjust beginning between the conservatives, labour and others over who can be trusted to protect us and how much it's going to cost. after the cold war, there was a peace dividend, defence spending shriveled. but in this dangerous world, it's climbing again, and that could have big consequences for other budgets or taxes.

chris mason, bbc news, in warsaw. the post office inquiry into the faulty horizon computer system has heard that the former chief executive, paula vennells, asked her husband for a less emotive way to describe a computer bug. giving evidence today, susan crichton, the company's former in—house lawyer was asked how his suggestion to describe them as "exceptions" or "anomalies" later appeared in a briefing document that was discussed with mps. ms crichton said she couldn't remember any conversations about swapping the words. prince louis, the youngest child of the prince and princess of wales has turned six today. his mother, princess catherine, took this photo to mark his birthday. kensington palace has stressed it is unedited following the controversy over changes to her mother's day family photograph. the prince and princess of wales have said they are grateful for birthday messages for their son. just seven months after the welsh

government lowered the speed limit in built—up areas right across wales to 20 miles per hour, it looks like it's all about to change again in some places with the speed limit going back up again. our wales correspondent, hywel griffth, is in cardiff. there's been a lot of criticism of these changes? yes, back in september the welsh labour government argued it was making the biggest change in community safety for a generation in order to save lives. however, it probably wasn't prepared for the backlash for the record petition sent to the senate. now a change in direction. the default 20 miles an hour limit will stay in wales, but there are likely to be many more exceptions. so from next september lots of road signs like this may change yet again, arguably leaving some drivers even more confused. mixed messages for the motorists

of monmouthshire. since september this stretch at st arvans has had three different speed limits. slowing down to 20 miles an hour doesn't please everyone, including those who come here for the peace of pilates. i think people are very frustrated by it, to be honest. you get people getting angry if you try and stick to the 20. it's not a great speed to be travelling at, i don't think. it's quite difficult to maintain that speed. the community council spent decades campaigning for its 20—mile—an—hour zone and wants it to stay. in this community this is acceptable, it's what people have asked for and it's what people need. some feel safer because of these signs, others are being driven to distraction. few policies have been quite as contentious as the default 20—mile—an—hour limit in wales. nowjust seven months after it was introduced, the welsh government wants to take a different direction. the standard speed limit of 20 stays, but there will now be more exemptions.

not a u—turn but a definite reversal after feeling public pressure. where there are hospitals or play areas or schools it works well, but the same routes where i live are raised time and time again and it's those routes that are causing anger amongst people. so that is why it is essential we move swiftly. more exceptions means 20—mile—an—hour zones will be more limited and worries some road users. the idea of it only being in schools or in hospitals, we don't think the evidence is there. there is no evidence that those small sections have anything like the same impact as more central areas. some speed limits could be reset from september. the pace of change will be too sudden for some and frustrating for others. hywel griffith, bbc news, monmouthshire. our top story this evening... five people including a seven—year—old girl have died while trying to cross the channel in a small boat.

and still to come... why this nasa probe has been spouting gibberish but is finally making sense again. coming up in sport on bbc news... testing a potential new treatment for head injuries that could be delivered pitch—side. we'll have more on how rugby union is trying to tackle sports related concussion. this is five—year—old destiny—rae. her kidneys stopped working properly when she was ten months old, making her one of the youngest patients ever to go on dialysis at great ormond street hospital. despite being on the transplant waiting list for years, the odds were stacked against her getting a new kidney as people who are black wait on average ten months longer than white patients for a kidney transplant.

michelle roberts has her story. and it's like a microphone. a microphone? �*ello, �*ello, �*ello! destiny—rae is five. she loves play—doh, singing, and her mum, maria. but she doesn't like broccoli or dialysis. but maybe when you get your kidney, you might like broccoli. what do you think? she's been having dialysis three times a week since she was ten months old, because her kidneys don't work. added together, that's more than six whole months of her young life rigged up to the machine. the odds of finding a donor are stacked against destiny. there's a national shortage of organs, particularly from black and ethnic minority people. no suitable deceased donor has been found, but a special organ swap scheme with living donors, the uk living kidney sharing scheme, might help. the sharing scheme widens the search, using people who are willing to give one of their healthy kidneys to a stranger.

they promise to donate if, in return, theirfriend or loved one gets a kidney from someone else. the swaps only go ahead if everyone matches up, so that no patient misses out. three, two, one, go! destiny and her mum met liffey in an online discussion group, talking about the difficulty of finding a donor. they don't go together? although liffey's not a tissue match for destiny, she hopes the scheme can pair them with someone who is. destiny was actually the same age as my own daughter and i couldn't imagine being in the same position as maria and destiny, _ and someone not wanting to help. a healthy donor like liffey can lead a normal life on one remaining kidney. although it's a massive decision to make. my daughter loves her, she calls her aunty liffey. they've got an amazing bond. it's so beautiful to see. and yeah, she's literally sent from heaven. she's my guardian angel. every three months, destiny and liffey wait to hear if a match can be found.

they're hoping today it's third time lucky. i got a phone call. they found the match for us. do you want a hug? come on. a few weeks on, the operations have gone ahead successfully. maria and destiny are still isolating at home, but are looking forward to a new chapter in their lives. now we can plan. things that we couldn't do before, we can now do, and ijust excited for the fact that i can see a future. i couldn't see a future before. michelle roberts, bbc news. donald trump is back in court in new york — with first witness david pecker — the former publisher of the national inquirer — back on the stand. before the trial resumed though, the judge held a fiery hearing to determine if mr trump violated a gag order, which bans the former president from verbally attacking the jury and witnesses. our north america correspondent

nada tawfik is there. sophie, david pecker took the stand and described a long—standing mutually beneficial relationship with donald trump. he said in the lead up to the 2016 election that michael cohen, donald trump's former lawyer, and mr trump himself asked for a meeting with the national enquirer, and they asked him how he could help donald trump campaign. mr pecker said he agreed to publish negative stories about mr trump's opponents, and crucially, to kill any negative stories about mr trump himself. his testimony will be important to prosecutors case as they try to establish there was a criminal conspiracy on donald trump's part to influence the election. donald trump's lawyers have said this is how newspapers work and nothing about this was illegal. donald trump has been sitting silently in court, but he

has been fuming on social media. he has been fuming on social media. he has accused thejudge has been fuming on social media. he has accused the judge of trying to take away his free speech and came after that fiery hearing on the gagging order where, really, after that fiery hearing on the gagging orderwhere, really, donald trump's lawyers frustrated the judge to the point where he said they were losing credibility with the court. they try to argue that donald trump's posts were in a political response to his opponents. thejudge said they had not offered any evidence of that.— it is the most distant man—made object in the universe — nasa's voyager one probe, which is currently more than 15 billion miles from earth. the spaceship, left the solar system in 2012, can still send data back to earth. the problem is, for months, nasa says what it has been sending was gibberish. now though, it's making some sense again as our science correspondent victoria gill explains. we have ignition and we have liftoff. a spacecraft bound for

a journey no one imagined. when voyager one launched in 1977, its mission was to explore our solar system. it captured details of saturn's rings and discovered thatjupiter has a thin ring of its own. then itjust kept going. in 2012, it became the first human made object to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space. but last year, after nearly 50 years exploring, something finally went wrong. the data voyager one was sending back to earth stopped making sense. nasa engineers worked out that one chip on its decades old onboard computer had stopped working. to fix it, they transmitted an essential piece of code that was on that broken chip back to the craft. this very remote reboot worked, and the spacecraft has now sent data reporting its health and status back to earth for the first time in five months. this image taken by voyager one

in 1990 is said by some to be the most important photograph ever taken of our planet. earth from 3.7 billion miles away. we're a tiny little speck amongst the stars. that is our island home. don't screw it up. what does it mean to see it back online? we're dealing with a spacecraft with very, very old technology. a lot of this technology is sixties. i'm sitting here at my my age thinking, good god, this thing is still going and it's brilliant. voyager one is now the most distant human made object from earth. it's traveling at around 38,000 miles per hour, and it's more than 15 billion miles from our planet. that means it takes a radio signal from mission control 22 and a half hours to reach the craft. by next year, though, its ability to generate enough power to operate its instruments is set to come to an end, leaving it to wander through the milky way and beyond, perhaps for eternity. hello from the children of planet earth. on board is a golden record

with sounds and images of life on earth. until it's cut off forever, scientists will keep communicating with this icon of space exploration. seeking only peace and friendship... victoria gill, bbc news. now listen to this. bird screeching. the sound of the seaside. but believe or not — what you just heard was not a seagull. in fact, it was a nine—year—old boy from chesterfield doing a seagull impression. why you may wonder? well, he hasjust been competing rather successfully in the gull screeching european championship in belgium. danny savage will try to explain. three, two, one. screeching cheering he's a champion seagull impersonator.

as an intrigued crowd of belgian seagull enthusiasts watch on from outside, the judges give nine—year—old cooper nearly top marks. which saw him win the junior category in the european gull screeching competition. screeching he's now a seaside sensation, doing the media rounds about his ornithological status on tv and radio. how special does it feel to be a gold medal winnerfor the uk? it feels amazing, and it reminds me of the olympics. and now i'm like, "yeah, i brought back gold for england!" could you do the seagull for us live here on radio 2? yeah. screeching when he first developed this talent, what did you think? "oh, great! another noise." he's not the quietest child. so it started off as a bit of another annoying sound from cooper, and we kept encouraging him to stop. then once we heard about

the competition, it was encouraging him to practice, much to the neighbours�* annoyance. sorry, neighbours! screeching there is a serious point to the competition — to put seagulls in a more positive light. they can be seen as annoying scavengers. cooper wallace from chesterfield! but we all like to see a gold—medal—winning brit. add to the list the boy from landlocked chesterfield who can perfectly mimic a seabird. danny savage, bbc news. i'm not sure how you follow that. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. i wonder if he is allowed to steal his mum's chips. good evening. a perfect day for seagulls and i won't surprise you with the weather story, business as usual, and west certainly has been best once again and in south wales we've seen a high

of 15 degrees and that's probably felt very pleasant indeed with a bit of shelter but it's been a totally different story on the east coast. i'm sorry, but once again, strong northerly winds and gusts in excess of 30 mph has made it feel really quite cold and at times quite cloudy. there were some glimpses of sunshine. through the night to night temperatures probably not faltering that much at all across the east coast but where we have clear skies further north and west that is where we will see the lowest temperatures and a touch of frost in sheltered rural parts but we will start with sunshine and a bit of drizzly rain sinking south and west but once again, the northerly wind is feeding on some cloud and a few scattered showers and a disappointing feel across the exposed east coast and once again only single digits. we might see 13 or 1a degrees again with shelter and sunshine in the west. on thursday, we will see this weather front introducing a subtle

change and unfortunately not necessarily a good one. a sunny start but then clouding over and there will be dribs and drabs of rain sinking south, so certainly more cloud across western areas in comparison to late, and temperatures again really quite subdued for this stage in april. we are looking at between eight and 13 degrees at the best. it will turn a little bit milder into the weekend but unfortunately it will turn wet as well as low pressure starts to push on from the south—west, so it means it's going to drive in some milder air behind the weather fronts but it will bring some rain at times, so showery outbreaks of rain but a bit milder into the weekend. thanks, louise. and that's bbc news at six. now it's time to join our colleagues for the news where you are. goodbye.

hi there, good evening.