welcome to bbc news. i'm ben bland. the man who shot dead 3 welcome to bbc news. i'm ben bland. the man who shot dead a policeman in paris on thursday is said to have four previous convictions. officials have given details of his time in prison. translation: during his imprisonment of a0 years he didn't show any signs of radicalisation. —— 14 show any signs of radicalisation. —— ia years. security forces mobilise ahead of the french elections. the pm says everything will do to make sure the elections go smoothly. us troops target and kill leading member of the so—called islamic state group in syria. as theresa may campaigns for the upcoming election in the uk, there are suggestions of a possible softening of the government's thomas not to raise taxes. last week harry styles went to number one with this debut single! can he do it again? and the royal couple on the radio as they visit the bbc to talk about at all health and play some charttopping music.

—— mental health. campaigning in france has ended ahead of the first round of voting in the presidential election. the final day was overshadowed by the attack in paris on thursday. the paris prosecutor has confirmed that a note found near the gunman's what it contained messages empathetic to the so—called islamic state. wrapping up their campaigns, all the candidates addressed the issue of national security. this report from paris. the french prepare for an election organised under a state of emergency. armed police have been a common sight in the streets since the 2015 shootings in paris. 50,000 of them have been deployed across the country. security has been stepped up around famous tourist sites.

like montmartre in the capital. the french are also used to soldiers patrolling their city. when the campaign started many believed it would be defined by terrorism and security. it turned out voters have so far been more concerned about unemployment and the economy. it remains unclear whether thursday's attack will have a last—minute impact on people's choice. we've had enough of anxiety and things like that, with all the attacks and so on, so we just wanted to ignore it, personally. maybe it will have an impact, but i don't know. translation: i'm not worried about sunday in particular. but i am worried in general for all of us. ijust don't think our politicians really have a full grasp of the problem. the most important i think is the economy and the economic recovery.

this is the most important. more than security? yes, for me. the champs—elysees has reopened and is bustling again. but on the pavement a reminder of the attack in which a police officer was killed and two others wounded. on friday, the paris prosecutor revealed that the attacker had spent ia years injail and never showed signs of being radicalised. police questioned him again earlier this year, over suspicions of terrorism, but he walked free. there was no proof to charge him. on the eve of the most unpredictable presidential election in years, thursday's shooting will have repercussions beyond the french capital. across france, people hope for a peaceful vote. more than 100 police officers have gathered in paris to remember their colleague killed

in thursday's attack. after converging on the trocadero square in front of the eiffel tower, the group walked to the scene of the attack in the champs—elysee, where xavierjugele was shot dead. some of those attending expressed what they saw, and flags in paris have not been flown at half mast as after previous terror attacks. and there is of course much more on our website. you can find analysis of what this attack might mean for the first round of the french presidential election this weekend and also profiles of the candidates. in other news: at least 70 afghan soldiers are reported to have been killed in an attack on a military base outside the northern town of mazar—i—sharif. officials say taliban gunmen disguised in army uniforms struck as soldiers were leaving friday prayers at a mosque on the base.

they say at least ten taliban militants were killed in fighting, which lasted several hours. the us state of arkansas executed its first inmate in 12 years on thursday after a legal battle that lasted well into the night. the us supreme court rejected ledell lee's final appeal to stop the lethal injection. he was one of eight men that arkansas has originally planned to execute over an 11 day period. at least 11 people have been killed in another night of looting and violence in venezuela, at the end of two days of protests against the socialist government of nicolas maduro. tens of thousands have taken to the streets over the past three weeks to call for new presidential elections. police in germany have arrested a man accused of bombing the bus of german football team borussia dortmund last week. but as damien mcguiness reports, the attack may have been part of a complex financial scam. the bombing was potentially deftly, shattering the windows of the coach.

it was only a matter of luck that nobody was killed. police initially thought the attack on borussia dortmund's team bus was an attack of politically motivated terror, now prosecutors say the attacker was driven by greed, not ideology. a 28—year—old man who stayed in the same hotel as the players is accused of bombing the team in order to force the club's share price down. as acute as say that his aim was to make a huge profit on the stock market. —— prosecutors say. translation: we traced the accused by noticeable option dealings. we now know the accused brought three different derivatives —— derivatives of the borussia dortmund stock and with all of these he spec elated on falling stock rises. he brought the main part of this finance products himself on april 11, the day of the attack. the team has expressed relief that the perpetrator appears to have been caught. but there is

also widespread disgust in germany, that someone may have been prepared to kill in order to make money from shares. borussia dortmund's trainer says the team is looking forward to the next match on saturday, at that some players haven't yet fully recovered. translation: the success would certainly give us a boost once more. i can speak for myself, would certainly give us a boost once more. i can speakfor myself, i definitely think that i am able and at the moment i don't see a reason why i personally, with all of the emotion involved here, should not be able to coach this game. the bombing shocked germany, especially as —— as it was unclear who caused the attack and why. officials remained cautious, saying the perpetrators could have been islamist extremists oi’ could have been islamist extremists or criminals with a completely different motivation. now it seems that caution has paid off. here in the uk, the prime minister is on day three of the campaign

trail and has given the first hints of what will and what won't be in the conservative manifesto. theresa may says she'll keep the current spending on foreign aid. and the chancellor philip hammond has hinted that he would like to end the party's promise not to increase taxes. our deputy political editor john pienaar reports. trust me, i'm a politician. no leader stays popular forever but theresa may clearly feels she's well liked enough for now to make promises that some might like but others won't. she looks confident, and the message is one we have heard before and will again. what drives me, the passion that i have in politics, is to make the united kingdom a country that works for everyone, notjust the privileged few. today that meant sticking to britain's target spending on foreign aid, spending some right—wingers want cut. we need to look at how it is spent and make sure we are able to spend the money in the most effective way.

clear enough, but what about the other costly pledge — keeping up the value of pensions? again today you are telling the country that you are a leader people can trust. so, can pensioners trust you to go on raising their state pensions year by year, just as your party and your government does now? what i would say, john, to pensioners is look what the conservatives in government have done. pensioners today are £1250 a year better off as a result of action that has been taken. we were very clear about the need to ensure we support people in old age and that is what we have done. that was not a yes, but here in berkshire, and a lot of places, plenty of people like the idea of looking after pensioners. they have worked all their lives and paid their national insurance and paid their taxes, so i think they deserve it as much as anyone else. if you can't look after the elderly, what can you do? if it can be done, stop it for them, they don't need it. a lot of them put it

straight in the bank. theresa may may be about to upset an awful lot of voters. even thinking about dropping the tory‘s promise to pensioners takes a leader very confident about this election, especially now she is clearly protecting overseas spending at the same time. a big lead in the polls comes in handy if you are about to annoy pensioners. a big majority in the commons, even more so. that deserves a hug. jeremy corbyn's campaigning his way, to small crowds and big ones. no talk of saving on benefits here. the corbyn way sounds like this. theresa may seems incapable of answering any question about the protection of the triple lock on the state pension. well, i give you that commitment now. labour will maintain the triple lock! standing by what's called the triple lock, pensions up every year by inflation, or average

earnings, or 2.5%. sorry, i am not quite sure where i am going. nor does anyone know for sure. the campaign has barely started. the lib dems look perky, they're sure this election will be better than last time. we are the only clear opposition to the conservatives, opposing a hard brexit, opposing exit from the single market, and being an effective opposition on every level. and on they go. pollsters and pundits might think they know how this ends but there are a8 days until polling day. us troops have targeted and killed a leading member of the so—called islamic state group, according to us military officials. abdurakhmon uzbeki was reportedly killed during a commando raid on the ground near mayadin in syria. the pentagon says al—uzbeki was involved in plotting the new years eve attack on a night club in istanbul, in which at least 30 nine people died. our correspondent laura bicker is in washington and has the latest on the raid. the pentagon has made the unusual

move of telling us that it was a ground attack. it is worth mentioning that most attacks of this kind are carried out by drones, carrying hellfire missiles. but on this occasion special forces were on the ground to target and eliminate al—uzbeki. so it's a far more risky operation that the pentagon has organised this time, but they will have hope to have garnered more intelligence when it comes to this kind of operation, because when it comes to a ground attack certainly that's one of the advantages. also a hellfire missiles can totally destroy things like computer systems, anything they can gather to try to perhaps carry out further missions to destroy the so—called islamic state group. how much more do we know about al—uzbeki himself? well, the us says he was responsible

for helping to plan that attack in a nightclub in istanbul that killed 39 people. the us also believe he was a close aide to the leader of so—called islamic state our bank added. he is also thought to have been instrumental in bringing in money for the group and organising fighters. —— abu bakral—baghdadi. when it comes to this kind of raids it is unusual for them to tell us when these rates take place. there are about 500 fighters in syria, mostly advising kurdish and arab troops, but when they carry out these attacks we hardly ever know about it, at this time they decided to make that ground mission public. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: one room — two grammys. we meet the british multi—instrumentalist making award winning music at home with mum. the stars and stripes at half—mast

outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. this is bbc world news. i'm ben bland.

the latest headlines: the man who shot dead a policeman in paris on thursday, karim cheurfi, had four previous convictions. security forces have been mobilised ahead of sunday's french presidential elections. the prime minister says everything will be done to make the election go smoothly. being gay in the deeply conservative, mainly muslim republic of chechnya comes with many risks. reports of torture, kidnapping, imprisonment, even death have emerged from gay rights activists in the past month. but chechnya's president has denounced the reports as distortion and slander. our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford has been to a safe house and met several men who recently fled chechnya, their voices and identities have been disguised. this man said he was tortured for

being gay. we met in a safe house after he fled chechnya for his life. he told me he was kept prisoner by the security forces for more than a week, beaten daily and electrocuted. translation: they have a special black box and they tie wires to your hands or ears and shock you. the pain is awful, you scream. it's terrible torture. they used to detain people before all the time to blackmail them. the level it's at now, its extermination. the extermination of 93v extermination. the extermination of gay men. human rights activists are sure dozens human rights activists are sure d oze ns of human rights activists are sure dozens of men were rounded up here in recent weeks. chechnya is a deeply conservative society, part of russia but one that seems to live by its own rolls. being gay is not accepted here. translation: people

came to us, they wanted help. anonymous and scare people reporting what happened to them. it's hard to know the scale of it but we know people are still being repressed. the head of chechnya has denied everything. with international concern growing ramzan kadyrov was called into the kremlin. he said all talk of a gay purge was slander. vladimir putin's spokesman told me there was an investigation but no evidence. there have been threats, though. thousands gathered in chechnya's main mosque just though. thousands gathered in chechnya's main mosquejust after the first reports of abuse were published. religious leaders accused the newspaper responsible of insult and they vowed retribution. reporting on human rights in chechnya has already got to journalists killed. when they announce a jihad of all staff, not just me, that was pretty scary because it was the first time... it was confusing and disturbing because

it reminds us the situation we are m, it reminds us the situation we are in, when some fanatics can do whatever. because it's a motivation for them. her life has already been shattered. —— he's. he said he can never return home. translation: shattered. —— he's. he said he can never return home. translationzlj can never go back there. it's not just the security forces. my own relatives won't forgive me. it's a permanent stain. our mentality means evenif permanent stain. our mentality means even if the security forces don't deal with me, my own relatives definitely will. after what he's already been through, he is also terrified to stay here. sarah raynsford, bbc news, moscow. around 90,000 people are without power in san francisco after a fire at an electricity substation in the city centre. the flames were quickly extinguished. but power cuts affected much of the financial district, with offices plunged into darkness and elevators stopping in tall buildings. many shops have closed and there's chaos in the streets, after traffic lights went out.

some hospitals are affected, with emergency patients diverted elsewhere. even the city's cable car lines are out of service. in afghanistan, women's football has seen a revival since the fall of the taliban, but one of the founders of the women's national team, khalida popal, fled the country in fear of her life because of her links to football. looking at her story, sarah mulkerrins reports. i can't forget that moment where i felt i may no longer be alive. the only way that you have either to leave or shut your voice. i'm not the person that shut my voice because i know my voice can change so because i know my voice can change so many things. khalida popal is the face of afghanistan football, but like so many teenage girls growing up under taliban rule, playing for her

country was just a dream. taliban rule, playing for her country wasjust a dream. it was just right after taliban left the country. the culture was totally changed. taliban, during the duration of the taliban was in our country, it was really tough time for women and especially. she saw football as a way of empowering women, she recruited a group of girls who believed football could change people's perceptions. the first game was against an international security assistance forces tea m international security assistance forces team in kabul. the scene of so forces team in kabul. the scene of so many public executions. we played ina stadium, so many public executions. we played in a stadium, the same stadium where the women were shot. it was kind of like revolution. it was kind of a huge change, all these women killed in this stadium, in that penalty area, and that was the area i kicked the ball. afghanistan won 5-0 but that did little to endear the players to some people. khalida

popal and her teammates became a target for abuse from both men and women. those girls who are playing football, doing any kind of sports, they are persecuted. the women told us, not the men, so we faced problems of violence from women, against women, from man against women. khalida popal's life and her family were threatened, so in fear of being killed she fled to india before she fled to denmark, where she lounged its as a refugee. injury cut short her career and now living thousands of kilometres from kabul, she continues to work with the women's football team and she hopes her sacrifice will make it easier for others in the future. of course i got old and this is the problem with my injury. but i do participate andi with my injury. but i do participate and i do co—ordinate the programmes and i do co—ordinate the programmes andi and i do co—ordinate the programmes and i do co—ordinate the programmes and i do help my country from far away. that's the thing that kept me alive and kept me happy and it

motivated me to work hard for my country. i love my country. adele grabbed the headlines and five awards at this years grammys. but it was also a remarkable night for another young british musician. jacob collier creates his distinctive sound in a room at his mother's house in london. and his arrangements landed him two grammys at the music industry's biggest night in la. tim muffett went to meet jacob and hear his extraordinary story. one small room... one big talent. one that's now being recognised far

beyond the four walls in which jacob collier produces his remarkable sound. jacob performs every instrument and creates every sound himself. i enjoy the process of imagining with the band, i liked the feeling of being responsible for each thing. the videos you make, you shoot them and edit them yourself in this room? yeah, i have a camera and i use my sister's ipad. this cover of a stevie wonder song went viral and was spotted by quincy jones, famous for producing and writing songs for michaeljackson.

he's now becomejacob's mentor. it pops up in some of your videos as well? i asked him if he wouldn't mind making a cameo appearance. in pyp, just because he wrote the song. how many instruments do you play? it's a difficult one. piano, guitar, drums, voice. most instruments you can getan drums, voice. most instruments you can get an understanding from one of those five things but i try not to count really. jacob's now touring. a special sympathiser enables him to perform live but in his room, in his mum's house, the ideas keep coming. jacob collier speaking to the bbc‘s tim muffett now i'm going to stay with the musical theme, but this one involves the royal family. have a look at who took a turn as djs here at the bbc. last week, harry styles went straight to number one with his debut single, sign of the times. can he do it again?

or... or will ed sheeran retain that top spot? he had 13 weeks at number one with shape of you before harry came along and spoiled his easter. sounds familiar! prince william was accompanied by the duchess of cambridge as they dropped in to the bbc radio 1 studios to talk about their campaign to raise awareness about mental health. and the duke also revealed that he had previously texted in to bbc radio 1, under an assumed name, though he didn't reveal what he'd been so keen to share. i haven't learned it off by heart, i still have to have it written down. may be a prince track perhaps! and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @benmbland. hello there. we may well be heading

towards the end of april now, the weather is feeling a little bit wintry, particularly next week some chilly weather on the cards. during friday there was some glances of sunshine, this was the view taken in south yorkshire by one of our weather watchers and during the weekend they will be a bit of sunshine and things mostly dry but temperatures still on the cool side, not as cold and frosty as earlier in the week. during saturday we have this weather front working its way slowly south across parts of england and wales introducing a bit of cloud, perhaps the odd spot of light rain here and northern ireland seeing some cloud and some drizzle. through the day some showers pushing into the north of scotland but elsewhere a good deal of dry weather. this is at apm on saturday afternoon. fairly cloudy for a time in central and southern parts of england, the odd light shower and temperatures up to 15 or so.

sunshine in east anglia, the midlands, parts of north wales, mostly cloudy in northern ireland but some brighter spells potentially and in scotland and northern england, some sunshine, but to the north of scotland we'll continue to see showers and a bit of snowfall on top of the mountain is. then moving through saturday evening and overnight we'll continue to see the showers in the far north and north—east of scotland. the winds tend to come down the isco so chilly around the east coast. clearer skies so around the east coast. clearer skies so first thing sunday temperatures lower than this in the countryside, but even in towns and cities down to around five or six, so a cold start to sunday morning if you're planning on running or watching the marathon in london. you might want to wrap up warm first thing but by the afternoon, sunshine breaking through and that should lift the temperatures into the mid—teens. across much of the country sunday not looking like a bad day. probably afairamount of not looking like a bad day. probably a fair amount of sunshine, some rain for the far north of scotland, most other places dry and temperatures

between 11 and 12 in the north, 15 oi’ between 11 and 12 in the north, 15 or16 between 11 and 12 in the north, 15 or 16 further south. high pressure not far away as we look to sunday night and the new working week and then we see low pressure moving in from the north, and this is when we introduced this very cold air, look at the blue colours and the northerly arrows moving from monday into tuesday, we could even see some sleet and snow showers. monday into tuesday, one or two wintry showers particularly in the north and east. further south it's colder and there will still be some sunshine in between those showers. to summarise the weather into next week, staying pretty cold, a bit of sunshine around, wintry showers and most places largely dry. bye—bye. the latest headlines: the gunman responsible for the attack in paris on thursday has been named. a note defending the so—called islamic state group was reportedly found near where he was shot. french security forces have been fully mobilised ahead of the elections.

the prime minister says everything will be done to make sure the vote goes smoothly. us military officials say their troops have killed the leading member of the so—called islamic state group. he was reportedly killed during a commando raid in syria. as the up coming election in the uk, —— theresa may campaigns for the upcoming election, she said there was a softening of her promise to not raise taxes and she says she will keep the current spending on foreign aid. those are the latest headlines. let's get some