hello and welcome. it has emerged that the gunman who killed a policeman and wounded two others in paris was known to the french authorities. karim cheurfi was shot dead by security forces on thursday evening, after he opened fire on the champs—elysees. the paris prosecutor said he had served a prison sentence for the attempted murder of two police officers. well, the issue of security has dominated the final day of campaigning ahead of the first round of voting in the french presidential election on sunday. thomas fessy reports. the french prepare for an election organised under a state of emergency. armed police and gendarmes 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 the presence of soldiers patrolling their cities.

when the campaign started, many in france 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 just wanted to ignore it, personally. so 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, it's economy, and economic recovery. this is the most important. more than security? yes, sure — for me. the champs—elysees have reopened, and are 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, francois molins, revealed that the attacker had spent 1a 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. 0n 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. thomas fessy, bbc news, paris. more than 100 police officers gathered in paris to remember their colleague killed in thursday's attack. they laid tributes at the scene of the attack in the champs elysee where the officer

was shot dead. some expressed disappointment at what they saw as a lack of public expressions of support by the government. flags in paris have not been flown at half mast, as was the case in previous terror attacks. the pentagon says american troops have killed a leading member of the so—called islamic state group. abdul rahman al—uzbeki was reportedly targeted during a commando raid near mayadin in syria. the pentagon says al—uzbeki was involved in plotting the new year attack on a night club in istanbul — which killed at least 39 people. let's round—up some of the other main stories. at least 70 afghan soldiers have reportedly been killed in an attack on a military base outside the northern city of mazar—i—sharif. officials say taliban gunmen, disguised in afghan army uniforms, targeted soldiers as they were leaving friday prayers. at least ten taliban militants were killed in the fighting, which lasted several hours. emergency services in south africa say at least 19 children were killed when their minibus collided with a truck. the accident happened near the capital, pretoria. it's not yet clear

what caused the crash, and officials fear the death toll could rise. prison authorities in the us state of arkansas have carried out their first execution of an inmate in more than a decade. the death, by lethal injection, of ledell lee is the first of several imminent executions planned by the state authorities. supplies of one drug they use in the procedure apparently expire at the end of the month. don't forget you can get in touch with me and most of the team of the team on twitter. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: from takeaways to box sets — wills and kate take to the airwaves for some revealing regal radio. on day three of the election campaign trail, the prime minister and the chancellor have given theirfirst hints about the conservative manifesto.

theresa may says she'll keep the current level of spending on foreign aid, despite pressure from within her own party to cut it. but she would not commit to keep the so—called triple lock on pensions, which guarantees they rise by inflation, average earnings, or 2.5% each year, whichever is highest. labour seized on the opportunity to say they would keep it. and the chancellor philip hammond has hinted that the conservatives will end the party's promise not to raise income tax, vat and national insurance. our first report is from our deputy political editor john pienaar. trust me, i'm a politician. no leader stays popular forever but theresa may clearly feels that she is well liked enough for now to make promises that some might like but others wilmot. 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. that meant sticking to britain's target spending on foreign aid, which some right—wingers want cut. what we need to do, though, is we need to look at how it is spent and make sure we are able to spend the money in the most effective way. what about the other costly pledge, keeping up the value of pensions? today, you are telling the country you are a leader people can trust. can pensioners trust you to go on raising their state pensions and 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 clear about the need to make sure 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 and paid national insurance and 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. many 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 promise to pensioners takes a leader very confident about this election, especially now she is protecting overseas aid spending at the same time. a big lead in the polls comes in handy if you are about to annoy millions of pensioners. a big majority in the commons, even more so if she then gets on and does it. that deserves a hug,

jeremy corbyn 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. he stood by what's called the triple lock, pensions up every year by inflation or average earnings, or 2.5%. can labour afford this? 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, sure that this election will be better than last time. we are the only clear opposition to the conservatives, opposing a hard brexit, 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 48 days until polling day. let's to

let's t0 life to sydney. mike pence is in australia on the latest leg of his tour to the asia—pacific region. he is there with the prime minister, that tumble. they are making their comments. the two men are meeting to talk about a host of issues, including the issue of north korea, trade, and a course, that awkward conversation back injanuary between donald trump —— donald trump and malcolm turnbull. you can see the two men there, with malcolm turnbull in the sunshine. mike pence is in the shadows. let's have a listen in. we make a commitment to growing in strengthening the relationship so important to our region and to our world. so important for the security and the prosperity, the opportunity for both our peoples. welcome, mr

vice president. prime minister turnbull, thank you so much for those gracious words and the hospitality you shown me my family. a warm welcome you have given us is something we will cherish for the re st of something we will cherish for the rest of our lives. —— is a warm welcome. i wanted to be in australia to offer greetings from the president of the united states, donald trump. —— the warm. the president wanted me to give you his best wishes and congratulations on your strong leadership for the commonwealth. mr prime minister, with the strong encouragement of your administration only two days ago, as you mentioned, it was my privilege to announce that president

donald trump will attend the apec summit and the meeting in the philippines this november. i trust that my visit here today, on my first trip to the asia—pacific as vice president of the united states, and the president's plans to travel to this region this fall, are a strong sign of our enduring commitment to the historic alliance between the people of the united states of america and the people of australia. as i told malcolm turnbull today, australia is and always will be one of america's closest allies and truest friends. we are partners in security, we are partners in prosperity. and together, we are bound by our historic alliance. and under president trump, i can assure you that the united states is committed to strengthening our bond for the benefit of all of our people, and for the benefit of the world. the

relationship between our nation stretches back for generations. as the prime ministerjess said. from the prime ministerjess said. from the coral sea to kandahar. 0ur friendship has been forged in the pfizer sacrifice. —— just said. anzac day approaches to honour the australians and new zealanders who sacrifice for freedom, often shoulder to site it —— shoulder to shoulder. —— shoulder to shoulder with americans. in the first and second world wars, in vietnam, and in iraq and afghanistan, our grandparents, parents, and children, have served together, sacrifice together, and have defended our freedom and all we hold dear. that is the unshakeable bond between

america and a straighter. even now, our citizens are fighting together against isis in afghanistan. around the world, we are deepening our defence collaboration. as the prime ministerandl defence collaboration. as the prime minister and i discussed today, we will continue to deepen our defence and security collaboration in the days ahead. the historic alliance is more vital than ever to regional security and prosperity. we recently increased our intelligence sharing. we have conducted and will continue to conduct a joint military exercises to ensure our readiness, including the talisman sabre later this year. as the prime minister said, we will continue to uphold a rules —based system, vital to the region. in the south china sea and throughout the region, we will defend the freedoms of navigation and ensure the unimpeded flow of

lawful commerce and promote peaceful democratic discussions for issues of regional concern. as just confirmed, under donald trump's leadership and yours, the united states and a straighter will stand firm and stand strong to confront the urgent and important issues of security in the asia—pacific, like north korea. the united states will continue to work closely with australia, our other allies in the region, and china, to bring economic and dramatic pressure to bear until pyongyang abandons the nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. mr prime minister, know that president donald trump and i are both grateful to you for calling on china, even this week, to play an even more active and constructive role in addressing the north korean threat. the president and i have, in his words, great confidence, that

china will deal properly with north korea. i know that you share that hope. as president donald trump mcleary few days it, if china is unable to deal with north korea, the united states and our allies will. —— made clear a few days ago. the united states in a straight face the we know security is important to our prosperity. malcolm turnbull and i have discussed ways to renew prosperity for our people. we are building ona prosperity for our people. we are building on a sturdy foundation. the free trade agreement between our countries is a case study in success. countries is a case study in success. while we can still make additional progress, it is a model for when a mutually beneficial trade agreement can be. —— for what. you continue to be a big economic partner. 0ur relationship is worth a stunning $1.5 trillion. how to wait investment has grown by 50% injust the last three years alone. and we

still have room to grow. we need to break down barriers and encourage piracy is that will encourage more trade, innovation, and opportunities for our people. —— encourage policies. that was the us vice president, mike pence, in sydney, australia, alongside the prime minister of australia, malcolm turnbull. reaffirming the country's' unsha keable bond, between reaffirming the country's' unshakeable bond, between the two countries, he spoke about north korea. 0bviously australia a very big regional partner in the situation of north korea. he said that australia and the united states will stand strong against the regime of north korea and mike pence also reaffirmed that all options are on the table until north korea abandons, as he said, they nuclear programme. he had great confidence

that australia and the united states, with the help of china, could change the course of action of that country. back to the general election, and as we mentioned earlier, the chancellor, philip hammond, said he would like the government to have more flexibly on taxes. speaking to the bbc, he said he would change the manifesto promised not to change income tax, vat or national insurance. he was talking to our economics editor in washington. it was the solemn pledge, tweeted to the voter by david cameron before the election of 2015 — no increases in tax, the vat or national insurance. will it be repeated before this election? today the chancellor, visiting washington for a meeting of leading industrialised nations, hinted maybe not. i came into politics not to see taxes rising, but to see the burden of taxation falling as our economy grows, and that remains my very clear political ambition. but you do not support specific tax pledges, not to raise income tax,

national insurance and vat, because it would tie your hands. all chancellors would prefer to have more flexibility in how they manage the economy, and how they manage the overall tax burden down, than to have their hands constrained. the problem with pledges — they tend to come unstuck. here is the chancellor on budget day, announcing an increase in national insurance payments for the self—employed. there then followed a screeching u—turn, after critics pointed out mr hammond had broken that 2015 pledge. the chancellor is here in washington to talk about the global economy, but frankly, his mind is on matters rather more domestic. in his interview with me, i think he went as far as he feels able to, given that the manifesto is not yet finalised. he is no fan of constraining promises, particularly on tax. he used one word over and over again — flexibility.

mr hammond has opened up a flank, and labour attacked. i think he's recognising that he's got problems with the economy, he's got problems in the budget that he's done, and as a result of that, there will be tax rises under a conservative government if they get re—elected. this is quite a tax bombshell. as always the big test in any election, the economy. and today's poor retail figures suggested that the increase in inflation is starting to bite and consumers are starting to feel the strain. some might say you have called this election to get the mandate before the economy truly turned sour. we've called this election because it will strengthen the prime minister's hand in the negotiations to get the right brexit deal for britain. but, in terms of the economic data, it has been remarkably resilient over the last nine months. just this week, the imf revised up its forecast for britain's economy this year to 2%.

the chancellor will return from his us trip at the weekend, back to an election battle where the promises the party makes to voters will be key. as far as mr hammond is concerned, the fewer, it would seem, the better. the health trust facing an investigation into the avoidable deaths of babies was told by regulators a decade ago that its maternity services needed to improve. the healthcare commission told the shrewsbury and telford trust that its monitoring of babies' heart rates during labour wasn't good enough, and that its training of staff was inadequate. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. she was very dependent on me. my life went round a clock. i had to give her medication at certain times, make sure her feed was running 0k. i was more of a nurse and a carer than a mum. abbey everett was born in 2004 with brain injuries,

including severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy. staff at the royal shrewsbury hospital failed to promptly deliver her, despite foetal heart traces indicating abbey was in distress. the errors led to abbey dying aged just 17 months. her heart rate went down, down and down. and they didn't intervene. and obviously they tried to move me, to see if they could find a trace, and there wasn't anything there. so if they would have done theirjob, and got me into theatre when she was dropping, as in her heart rate dropping, then i might still have her now. following abbey's death in 2007, the bbc‘s panorama programme learned the nhs regulator wrote to the trust urging them to improve maternity services. the healthcare commission said they should keep a record of foetal heart monitor traces, staff training needed updating and learning from clinical incidents had to improve. two days ago, we asked the trust to lay out the actions they had taken following the healthcare

commission's advice. this afternoon, they responded. they failed to provide evidence that any changes had, in fact, been made. instead, they say that every baby's death is investigated to ensure that lessons are learned, and again repeated their unreserved apology to the families who have lost a child. we were prepared to have a child, to change our lives completely. and that didn't happen. kai hall should still be alive. but staff at the trust failed to properly monitor his heart rate, and missed that he was in distress. his heart—broken parents are astonished the trust was told a decade ago to improve its maternity care. it makes me angry, but it makes me sad as well, to think of all the people that have lost their children because theyjust haven't done anything, they haven't acted. it's horrible. you feel robbed. this memory bear is katie and matt's

main lasting link to kai. years after the trust was told to improve care, their son is one of several babies who need not have died. michael buchanan, bbc news, shropshire. thousands of people have been without power in san francisco. power cuts affected much of the financial district. many shops were closed, and there were chaotic scenes in the streets after traffic lights went out. the city's cable car loa ns lights went out. the city's cable car loans stopped running. —— lines. the duke and duchess of cambridge have made a surprise appearance on bbc radio one. while promoting a mental health charity, kate and wills also gave an insight into their social lives, revealing a love of takeaways

and box sets. 0ur royal correspondent peter hunt reports. please welcome to radio 1 the duke and duchess of cambridge. with a destiny to fulfil, some dj—ing in the meantime. these are royals bringing their message about mental health to a young audience, and a confession about listening habits. i have texted in, yeah. under a different name? obviously, i wouldn't tell you who i was. definitely not! what are you doing texting in your car? obviously i stopped in a lay—by. i have not texted while driving, because that is illegal. the princely fan, who seeks shout—outs, and who was castigated when he missed a royal event for a skiing and clubbing trip, loves going to gigs. it's not something you can really do all the time? no, and you know, i've got in enough trouble with my dancing recently, so it's kind of best to keep away from that, to be honest. the price of such airtime, questions that wouldn't have amused victoria, like what takes their fancy for a tv supper. yeah, i'm not so good with the spicy food, though. i'm not so good with spice.

but if you do a takeaway, they must never believe you when you're ordering it to the palace, right? it doesn't usually get ordered to the palace, chris. right, i see. we tend to go and pick it up. not ourselves. i've got you, got you. go for a little visit around the area. he's not going to go to chicken cottage, is he? laughter. the professionals changed, the royals remained, and were set to work. the official chart with greg james and the duke and duchess of cambridge — go. he had 13 weeks at number one with shape of you. before harry came slong and spoiled his easter. sounds familiar! laughter. radio bringing together briefly two national institutions, the monarchy and the chart show. so, number one is ed sheeran, shape of you. for a couple facing a life of pomp this was pure pleasure. when i'm on holiday would you mind stepping in? to be honest with you we could probably do a betterjob. peter hunt, bbc news. it is time for the weather now, with sarah keith—lucas. hello there. we may well be heading towards the end of april now, but the weather is feeling a little bit wintry, particularly next week,

we have got some chilly weather on the cards. during friday there was some glimpses of sunshine, this was the view taken in south yorkshire by one of our weather watchers, and through the weekend there will also 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've got 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. northern ireland also seeing some cloud and some drizzle. and then, through the day, some showers pushing into the north of scotland, but elsewhere quite a good deal of dry weather. this is at a:00pm on saturday afternoon. fairly cloudy for a time in central and southern parts of england, maybe the odd light shower and temperatures up to 15 or so. sunshine in east anglia, the midlands, parts of north wales, mostly cloudy for northern ireland but there could be some brighter spells. and in scotland and northern england, some sunshine, but to the north of scotland we'll continue to see showers and perhaps

even a little bit of snowfall on top of the mountains. 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 east coast, too, so it will be quite chilly 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 a fair amount of sunshine, some rain for the far north of scotland. most other places dry, and temperatures typically between 11 and 12 in the north, 15 or 16 further south. high pressure not far away as we look through sunday night and the new working week, and then we see low pressure moving in from the north.

and this is when we introduce that 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 around too. 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 gunman responsible for the attack in paris on thursday has been named as karim cheurfi. a handwritten note defending the so—called islamic state group was reportedly found near where he was shot. as theresa may campaigned for the upcoming election in the uk. there were suggestions of a possible softening her government's promise not to raise taxes. she said she'll keep the current spending on foreign aid. in about ten minutes, it's time for newswatch, but first, here's click.