and hundreds of aproned competitors set to take their mark for the infamous la course des cafes or the waiters run in paris — a tradition that goes back more than 100 years. we'll stay with that story. now, tourists in paris today might find themselves in the unusual position of having to dodge hundreds of waiters and waitresses swarming the streets trying desperately not to spill trays of coffee and croissants. wonder if the race is actually over. we will find out. it is because the infamous la course des cafes returns to the city after a 13—year hiatus. the race, which is over 100 years old, sees servers complete a two—kilometre loop in the city's historic marais area while trying to avoid any spillages. paris stopped hosting the event

in 2008 because of its 100,000 euros cost, but it has been revived in the run—up to the olympics. 0ur paris correspondent, hugh schofield, has more on the historic event. as you say, it is a historic event. in melbourne city or london. i mean, they do happen in other cities, but they're all pale imitations of this one because this was the original, which was started in 1914 and was run every year, you know, for for the next 100 years, more or less, until, as you said a few years ago, when the sponsors pulled out. it was actually set up by a newspaper called lavanya. and there are people who come from the auvergne region of central france. they traditionally and still supply waiters and waitresses. and a lot of them are involved in running the bars and brasserie of paris.

people from this region and this newspaper set up the race back in 1914 to kind of show off the trade and to attract people into the business of being being waiters. and if you look at the old footage on pat and others, you can see on pate and others, you can see regular footage from the �*30s and �*aos of the race taking place with men, only men in those days, running around the city, wearing their sort of formal attire of of apron and black trousers and so on. it ran out because the newspaper ran out of money a few years ago, and now it's being revived by the city this time. and the idea is, i guess, to make it an annual event again. but, of course, the link to the olympics is there in a kind of way, because everything that happens in paris this year is about self—promotion, about showing the city off to its best advantage. and one way of doing that is showing that, yeah, the tradition of hospitality in bars and brasseries is still very much alive here. and this race sort of fits in with all of that. do you know what? i was just looking at those pictures. wonderful, really.

and those early pictures show the waiters with wine on their trays. then we progress through the years and we see soft drinks and water. yes. and now is itjust going to be coffee? i mean, are we all going pc with this as well? it's... well, i mean, there's... what can i say? i mean, it's a breakfast tray. it's a breakfast tray. it's coffee and water and a croissant and, yeah, no more wine. it's just... quelle domage. this is two hours. the other point is that this is sponsored by the water company of paris who wants to promote paris tap water in advance of the olympics and to show off the fact that if you go to any cafe in france, in paris, you can get you could ask for and get a, you know, a carafe of tap water. that's very much part of the experience here. and that's, of course, very ecological and that's

what they're promoting to. that was hugh schofield and i can tell you there is a winner. now on bbc news — we have this special programme on how the princess of wales announced her cancer diagnosis in a special message to the world... from the princess of wales, a deeply personal statement. it has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family... her operation injanuary had been successful, said catherine, but there was a problem. it was thought that my condition was non—cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present... that meant she was now undergoing chemotherapy. this, of course, came as a huge shock and william and i have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. it followed a flood of speculation about her health,

so will that come to an end now, and what next after kate's cancer diagnosis? she is one of the most popular royals, whether hosting events herself or at the side of her husband, the prince of wales, catherine has played an active role as a senior royal since marrying william in 2011. catherine is a hugely popular member of the royal family and she is a very important member of the royal family for that reason. you know, when she steps out looking glamorous, she will be on the front page of every magazine, of every newspaper, and that is important for a royal family that needs to be seen. there are fewer senior members of the royal family out and about and i think part of the reason why this social media frenzy has developed over the last couple of months is because she hasn't been as visible because she has been taking time out for this recovery

and she has been missed. the princess of wales is a key player within the royal family and she is of huge importance to their regular goings—on. if you think of annual events like trooping the colour, the horse guards parade, all the things that we have to look forward to within the royal family's calendar. but separate from that, she possesses her own brand. that is really valuable to the people and to herself, that connection she has with the people separate to her role in the royal family has really made her this international icon. but, for now, her public activities are on hold after her statement on march 22nd, 202a. i wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst i have been recovering from surgery. it has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but i have

had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which i am so grateful. in january, i underwent major abdominal surgery in london and, at the time, it was thought that my condition was non—cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and i am now in the early stages of that treatment. we will begin with that breaking news from the royal family... i catherine, the princess of wales, | releasing a video statement saying she has been diagnosed with cancer. kate's statement prompted headlines around the world. reaction to the statement was immediate and heartfelt. well, they seem to have been under the cosh for a while, but i hope she recovers and also the king as well, i hope he recovers. you know, prayers from the usa or from all of us because i think

all of us have been touched by cancer with family members so to know that... we know what you're going through. i mean, it is terrible to hear that news about anyone and yes, i am processing. a bit miffed with some of the social media and some of the comments that have come out from that and i think she has actually been very brave to set the record straight. buckingham palace issued a statement on behalf of the king. he said he was... he also said that he and the queen... there was a message from california, too. harry and meghan said... and there was a very personal message from the princess's brother on instagram. james middleton posted a childhood photo with his sister and he wrote...

i think the statement from the princess of wales is quite extraordinary. it's dignified, it's brave, it's come at the right time. i think it was beautifully composed. it was recorded, as we know, a few days before friday night and it has now come out. the context really is that there was news about the princess's health and it is quite clear from her statement that they needed to tell their children about it first so that it was the right time to do it. the setting for the statement was so purposeful and so thoughtful. she is at home at windsor. there's daffodils behind her and i think it was a lovely, upbeat setting for the message, but what i really loved is what she was wearing. the fashion was not the focus for this video, but the way that she came to the people in her sort of iconic striped jumper and jeans, it was dressed down but it was relatable. it really felt like she was speaking to us, speaking to the people

in a relatable, personable way. i think it's unprecedented. i don't think i've ever seen a statement from a member of the royal family like that about their health, so huge credit to her for doing it. i think everyone who watched it could just feel the combination of bravery but also pain that she is going through emotionally in this process, so i think it is a pretty significant landmark, actually, for the royal family, and in a sense, for coverage of the royal family. i think what struck me most of all about the statement was that catherine is someone who is very private. you don't hear her talk, actually, very often. it's not something she is hugely comfortable about doing in public, but here she was, clearly after all the months, the weeks of speculation, wanting to lay out in her own words what was wrong, what the problem was and addressing the public directly. for now, kate has signalled her priorities are getting well and looking after her children.

this, of course, came as a huge shock and william and i have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. as you can imagine, this has taken time. it has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. but most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to george, charlotte and louis in a way that is appropriate for them and to reassure them that i am going to be ok. as i have said to them, i am well. i'm getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirit. having william by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too. as is the love, support, and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. it means so much to us both. we hope that you will understand that, as a family,

we now need some time, space, and privacy, while i complete my treatment. my work has always brought me a deep sense ofjoy and i look forward to be being back when i'm able. but, for now, i must focus on making a full recovery. at this time, i am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. for everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. you are not alone. undoubtedly, i think catherine would say that her role within the royal family is one of wife to william, his support to the heir to the throne, and also the mother of three young children. george is the eldest, he is still only ten years old, charlotte is eight years old, prince louis is five. and throughout their upbringing, both the prince and princess have tried as much as they can to give them as normal an upbringing

as possible, which within the confines of the royal family cannot be easy. she almost always l does the school run. she is at the rugby games, at the football matches, i and that is her highest priority, and that has been consistent. throughout this experience. her surgery was timed - for when the children went back to school and this whole recovery process has gone on while they l have been at school. they have been distracted, surrounded by friends - and teachers to support them, and now this new news - is being shared as they have several weeks off of school and have time . to step away, create a bit of - a bubble and to support the children during an incredibly difficult time. those problems were nowhere in sight when kate made her last official appearance before the statement at sandringham on christmas day. very happy christmas. 0njanuary 17th, kensington palace announced she had undergone abdominal surgery and would stay in hospital for up to two weeks. she was not expected to resume royal duties for several months. 0n the same day, buckingham palace reveals that king charles

would receive treatment for an enlarged prostate. later, it was announced that the king had cancer. a few weeks later, he appeared in public at sandringham. when kate released a mother's day photo with her children, it sparked controversy over how the image had been manipulated. speculation on social media about kate's health intensified. that was a very honourable attempt to try to show people that she was there and with her kids and it was a lovely photograph and ijust wonder, we'll never know, as i say, whether that, in different times, would have been entirely the right thing to do. and it was unfortunate that immediately, partly because of the social media frenzy, people interrogated. they did, they interrogated the photograph as if it was a piece of evidence in a court case. so, i suspect, given that wasn't as successful as it should have been, we had to get to a place where there was going to be a direct communication

from the princess herself. when she was spotted out shopping with her husband, william, on march 19th, there were claims that the pictures were of a body double. i was quite surprised how many people i know actually did go online. in fact, there was a survey this week where 50% of the people surveyed had actually gone online to look at the conspiracy theories, and that is the problem. it's the wild west, the world of the social media, and, of course, it's possible to ignore it all but what happens sometimes is that social media wild west—ness gets into the traditional media and i think that's where we potentially were before the princess of wales made the statement. what unfolded was a social media catastrophe from a pr point of view, where the message really got out of control. the palace has always operated under "never complain, never explain", keep calm and carry on, and i think they really tried to stick with that this time because in terms of the larg picture, in

the big picture of things, that has always served them historically in every situation. if they stick to their message and release the information that they feel comfortable with, it has always worked out. but, this time, we really saw a real unravelling, a real frenzy around the lack of information. this time, it is a new set of circumstances, so i don't think there has been any time before this when the social media impact of what people perceive as a being a news vacuum probably this time has been more dramatic than ever before. there have always been conspiracy theories around the royal family, but this time, i think it got to a stage where it had to be dealt with directly. maybe there is a learning from this time about how the palace, the people of the palace, the advisers of the palace, kind of judge, and it is very difficult, judge what the mood really is as opposed to what the social media mood might appear to be, and i suspect in most cases

they are very different. in his message of support, the prime minister, rishi sunak, said that catherine had been unfairly treated in the weeks leading up to the statement. labour leader sir keir starmer said she had been the subject of lurid speculation. this year, i think it was especially important, and their team really took the time to think this through, that a fresh, recent family photo was really what the public needed. and, unfortunately, it seems that this was a bit rushed, it was a bit of a last—minute decision and so after school on friday, the children and their mum sat down for a photo, prince william took the photo, and the princess of wales edited it that evening and then it went out into the world and just caused absolute chaos as social media sleuths started identifying these photoshop inconsistencies. and this was a really good example of old—world techniques and sort of releasing these family photos not really working in our modern age. today at 6pm, the princess of wales issues an apology| when a mother's day photograph leads

to a storm of speculation... _ catherine apologised for what she called any confusion over how she had edited the photo, and a number of picture agencies withdrew the image. they issued so—called "kill notifications", an industry term used to make a retraction. it's a really interesting question as to whether actually the princess of wales had to go public because of the speculation. i do think that the photograph, the family photograph, in other circumstances would have been a great success, and people would have said it was a lovely picture of the family, the children smiling, but because of this vortex of kind of social media sort of craziness, not to put too strong a word, it didn't work. and people immediately, almost compounded the conspiracy theories about why a photograph may have been changed other thanjust a happy mother trying to make the photograph the best possible outcome. the royal family will be hoping that kate's public statement about her health will bring

much of the rumour and speculation to an end. injanuary, i underwent major abdominal surgery in london, and, at the time, it was thought that my condition was non—cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and i'm now in the early stages of that treatment. this will be a familiar situation for many people watching this because one in two people in the uk will get some form of cancer in their lifetime. and, just like them, princess catherine has asked for time, space, and privacy while dealing with this. and kensington palace has not put out detailed medical information. we don't know what type of cancer she has or when it was caught, and we won't be speculating on that. | i think some patients find telling | other people harder than actually

taking it themselves because they're worried about their reaction. - they're worried about them. and, as a mother, all she's going to be thinking aboutl is her children. and so that must have been really difficult. . she's got a lot on her plate. and then imagine us all having to | tell our friends and our children, | and then she's had to tell the whole world. - huge amounts on her plate. and i think she's done such a fantasticjob. . princess catherine has said that she has been advised by her medics to have preventative chemotherapy, as she terms it, and that she's in the early stages of this. chemotherapy, well, it's a catch—all term, really, for drugs, for medication, that kill cancer cells. when it's given after an operation, it's often given to mop up any cancer cells that are still there and to prevent cancer from growing. catherine didn't say much herself about when she's having her treatment. it started late february, her preventative chemotherapy. and kensington palace has said

it won't be releasing further detail on this, that she has an expectation, as everyone else does, for medical privacy. hello, what's your name? many of the side effects can be prevented or managed and will go away once the chemotherapy is over. some of the side effects that people might be familiar with are things like tiredness, fatigue, feeling sick. and people will have heard that some people — not everyone — gets hair loss during chemotherapy, and there are ways of helping to reduce this and prevent it. at this time, i'm also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. for everyone facing this disease in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. you are not alone. those words in support of cancer sufferers have been widely welcomed. every family has difficult times and it doesn't make it any easier,

but i think in particular i was struck by the princess of wales' comments about people suffering from cancer and saying, "you are not alone." these very simple, powerful statements from a member of the royal family can make a huge difference. so, part of the enduring interest in the royal family is, i've always thought, that it holds up a mirror to ourselves. of course, the royal family is different, but every family suffers, sadly, from illnesses, from separations, from changes in relationships. and i think this is what people find interesting and sometimes fascinating about the royal family. and i'm sure like every other family, pulling together, just pulling together as a family is going to be critically important. kate's cancer diagnosis is the latest in a string of challenges for the royal family. in the last few moments, - we've received breaking news from buckingham palace, - which has announced that the king has been diagnosed with cancer... from the deaths of the queen and prince philip to the king's own cancer diagnosis,

the health of the royals has been under intense scrutiny. it has been a difficult few years for the royal family on a personal level, first of all, with the death of prince philip and then really not long afterwards, the death of queen elizabeth ii. that has meant that there has been more pressure on the new king, king charles, and the prince of wales to step into those roles. the princess of wales has said that the prince of wales - is invaluable to her in terms of comfort and support, - so he's stepped back from quite a few of his royal duties, - and so we have him sort of out of this game as well. - and now this slimmed—down monarchy that we've spoken about in the reign . of king charles iii looks a little bit out of place. _ it looks too slim. and now there's not enough key players to support - the monarchy during this time. for now, catherine has asked for time out of the public spotlight. having william at her side is a source of reassurance, she says, as is the kindness shown

by many members of the public. it's really hard to imagine because we've put them i on such a beautiful pedestal, - but the royal family are real people and they struggle with the same things that we will struggle withj as everyday people. and i think that they recognise i that, in everything that they do, but especially in light - of king charles iii's diagnosis and the princess - of wales' diagnosis, where they have used their platform and taken the time to acknowledge i those suffering from similar- diseases, from similar cancers, utilising their platform to, - as the king did, encourage men especially to receive health checks... - and i think the princess of wales i did a beautifuljob emphasizing how she's taking time to heal her mind, i body and spirit and in an indirect. way, encouraging all of us to take i time to take care of ourselves. i it's quite clear the princess is an extraordinary mother, and it must have been very difficult for the princess to talk about telling her children about her cancer.

but i think a lot of people... that would resonate with a huge number of people. it's a very personal thing. and clearly, the way she described it, they thought long and hard, prince william and the princess of wales, about how to tell the children, when to tell the children. and here we are, it's the easter holidays and they've chosen this time. but i think it was a very emotional part of what was an emotional statement, because everyone can feel what that must have been like for her. we hope that you'll understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space, and privacy while i complete my treatment. my work has always brought me a deep sense ofjoy, and i look forward to being back when i'm able. but for now, i must focus on making a full recovery.

hello. a chilly start to the day again for many areas. but with the winds turning lighter today and more sunshine around, fewer showers, it should feel a little bit warmer as we head into the afternoon. still quite a cool breeze, though, across northern and eastern scotland and also eastern england. areas closer to this area of low pressure. but further west, the winds turning lighter, the showers fading away because of this ridge of high pressure moving in ahead of this area of rain which will arrive across western areas overnight with some slightly less cold air, as you can see from here. so, still quite a chilly feel out there across northern and eastern parts of the country with that stronger northerly breeze, lighter winds further west, fewer showers. most of the showers will be across the country, some wintry again over the hills of scotland. but through the afternoon, we could see temperatures up to 12

or 13 degrees in the south. that'll feel quite pleasant with lighter winds and the strong sunshine overhead. now, this evening and overnight, cloud and rain pushes into western parts of the country. the winds start to pick up as well. so, temperatures recovering here, but a chilly night to come across northern and eastern scotland, eastern parts of england, frost in places, maybe some mist and fog as the winds will be lighter here, but up to 7 to nine degrees across plymouth by the end of the night. so this area of low pressure sits out to the west of the uk during monday. so it's here where we'll see the wetter and windy weather further north and east tending to be a little bit drier. still quite chilly across northern scotland. a few wintry showers here. and as this rain pushes northwards into the cold air, we're likely to see some more significant snow falling over the mountain tops there later in the day. some good spells of sunshine across the midlands, southern and eastern england, up to 12 degrees here, but a chilly day to come across the north and not feeling particularly pleasant for the west because of all the cloud and the rain. and things don't really get better.

as we move through this new week, even into the run up to easter, we'll keep low pressure close by bringing bands of rain, fairly strong winds at times. sunshine and showers won't be raining all the time. and earlier in the week, with that cold air looming across scotland, we're likely to see further hill snow at times, you'll notice towards the end of the week, slightly milder and moving up from the south. so a very unsettled week to come with some hill snow across scotland. but you'll notice towards the end of the week into these the weekend, temperatures slowly start to recover.

live from london. this is bbc news... russia launches missile strikes on ukraine — poland says one projectile crossed over its territory. a day of mourning in russia, after friday's deadly attack on a concert hall near moscow that left at least 133 people dead. the chancellorjeremy hunt has said protection for pensioners — the triple lock will be in the conservative manifesto. and the prince and princess of wales thank the public support following

catherine's announcement she is being treated for cancer. hello and welcome to bbc news. our main news this hour: ukraine and russia have launched missile attacks on each other. they have been trading missile strikes. ukraine's military has said it has struck two large russian landing ships, a communications centre and other infrastructure used by russia's black sea fleet in crimea. a russian—installed official reported a major ukrainian attack overnight and said that air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the crimean port of sevastopol. of the images from social media showing the moment of attack on the

city.