the latest headlines from bbc news. 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. us military officials say their troops have killed a leading member of the so—called islamic state group. abdurakhmon uzbeki was reportedly killed during a commando raid near mayadin in syria. the pentagon says al—uzbeki was involved in plotting the new year's eve attack on a night club in istanbul in which at least 39 people died. the us vice president mike pence has reiterated america's determination to curb north korea's nuclear ambitions. speaking in sydney after talks with australia's prime minister malcolm turnbull, he said pyongyang posed the biggest risk to the asia—pacific region. 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 editorjohn pienaar. 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 enough and the message — 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, and 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. the aid budget is safe then but how will the cash be spent in future? 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 if she then gets on and does it. 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%. can labourafor can labour a for this along with other promises? he hopes he can win this argument. sorry, i am not quite sure where i am going. but how could he? no one does. no one has actually voted yet. 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 48 days until polling day. and now this week's our world.

sahar zand reports from the toraja region of sulawesi in indonesia where the dead are a constant presence. the tradition there is that when someone dies, their body is preserved, and it can often take months, sometimes years, before a funeral takes place. from the start, this programme contains images of corpses which some viewers may find disturbing. it's the great unspoken. a taboo. something that i've had to face up to recently myself. most of us don't know how to think or talk about death. but there are some people who do think they know. under indonesian island of sulawesi, centuries—old

customs make the dead a constant pa rt customs make the dead a constant part of day—to—day life. i've come here to learn more about this remarkable practices which blur the line between this world and the next. a morbid obsession? or a healthier way to deal with the grief of losing a loved one? it's in it are ordinary place. here, ancient beliefs intertwine with newer religions, resulting in unique rituals. at this traditional torajan funeral, friends and family gathered to celebrate the death of a wealthy

local man who died over two years ago. but here's the strange thing — as far as his family and everyone else here are concerned, he is still alive. toraja ns torajans have a strong desire to stay connected to their dead loved ones. in spirit and in body. to see what this means in practice, i went to visit a torajan family. hello! hello. nice to meet you. this is an 86—year—old man and his

family take care of him. he died more than two years ago. here, it takes months and sometimes yea rs here, it takes months and sometimes years until funeral actually takes place. in the meantime, families keep the deceased in the house and ca re keep the deceased in the house and care for them on a daily basis. they treat them as if they were sick. toraja ns

torajans traditionally run special leaves and herbs over a body to preserve it. nowadays, a chemical called formally in is often injected into the body to an vomit. there is a powerful owner of musk and the chemical. when my father died, we buried him in two days and it was all very sudden and very quick and to be honest with you, i still feel as though i haven't adjusted, it was too sudden, i'm still in a bit of a

shock. as this help you? —— does this. what is really incredible, none of these kids seem to be fazed by the fa ct these kids seem to be fazed by the fact that there is a dead person lying here and everybody is so calm. he will remain here until his family have saved up enough money for a lavish funeral. during their lives, torajans work ha rd to during their lives, torajans work hard to accumulate wealth. but rather than saving for a luxurious life, they save for a grand departure from this earth. the wealthier they are, the larger and more elaborate funerals. some last

for days. he was a rich man and his funeral lasted seven days. animal sacrifice is a fundamental part of this tradition. buffalo are a very important element to the torajan funerals because they are believed to be the carriers of the deceased soul into the afterlife. the meat is eaten at the funeral feast and the buffalo horns decorate homes of the deceased. a symbol of wealth and status. does it depend on your wealth?

$50,000 was spent on dengan‘s funeral. roughly 10 times more than the average annual income here. they sacrificed 2a buffaloes, more than a0 pigs, as well as feeding and accommodating hundreds of guests. the funeral is one way to make your soul get to reincarnation. soon, the soul of the poor people will be getting a little bit longer. and the soul of the rich people, they can have a short way to reincarnation. even at this point, dengan‘s funeral is not complete. only when his coffin is carried

to the top of this special platform is he finally considered dead. according to ancient animist beliefs here, this is the point where the soul finally ascends to the cosmos. from there, it watches over living relatives, bringing them good fortune, as long as the families take proper care of their dead. for centuries, the torajans have been laying their dead to rest

in caves like this. yet another place where the afterlife connects with this one. this cave winds for two kilometres. and it's pretty full. even here, friends and families bring necessities for their dead relatives. in a tradition predating photography, statues of dead noblemen and women are carefully carved out of wood. most people here are farmers,

and their average income is around $5,000 a year. it's clear that for torajans, the process of dying and being reincarnated is far smoother if you are rich. these sculptures are dressed in the clothes, jewellery and even the hair of the deceased. silent sentinels looking out over this one from another. here, the physical relationship between the dead and the living

continues long after death. even after burials. people are coming out of the church now, and they are all shaking hands in their traditional manner. they do this and then they touch their chest. and they're getting ready for a less usual ceremony. the village leader explains that the ritual is called manene, also known as the cleansing of the corpses. once every couple of years, families bring the coffins of long departed relatives out

of their graves and open them up for a big family reunion. these are the close relatives of a woman called maria, and they are here for the cleansing. one of the guests is a torajan professor of sociology. the family will bring maria out of this tomb for the first time today. chanting they're bringing maria out now.

we're just waiting for them to open her coffin. i'm feeling a bit nervous, to be honest. i had to come out to get some distance from it. there really was no escaping death. i watched as they slaughtered pigs. and the final sacrifice. a buffalo. the coffin is finally opened. once again, that strong odour of musk and formalin filled the air. thank you. they want me to show what she looked like before and what she looks like now. she died three years ago and got buried two years ago. they kept in the house for one year. maria is covered in her most

treasured possessions. relatives touch her as a greeting. i'm going to try to touch her hair, just as everybody else does, as a sign of respect. she feels... she feels very hard. the hairfeels like normal. still very soft. i couldn't help but wonder how children feel seeing their mother this. her eldest son seemed very calm. i don't see any more sign of grief. it's just normal. it's just the body is here and it's normal. when you couldn't see the body, when it was inside the coffin, even i was shaking.

i was a lot more nervous. and everybody seemed more upset. well, the relatives. but now everybody is content. another guest particularly close to maria is esther, her daughter—in—law. how do you think this helps you deal with the grief? but for me, i want to remember my relatives, my dad, i want to remember him when he was alive. i'm worried that if i see him dead, i will — his identity will change in my mind. many of these practices are slowly disappearing. the majority of horizons converted from the old animist religion to christianity after dutch missionaries arrived less than a century ago. but here, the two can and do coexist. they're wrapping maria in this white sheet. this is a symbol of

changing her clothes. in some villages they literally change the outfit into a new fashionable one. but here, because they are christians, they don't want to mess around too much with the corpse. at the beginning of christianity here, no manene, no funeral. all this is so different to how i've dealt with my father's death. or so i thought. what did you do to your father? we buried him. i visit his grave sometimes. you did it in a different way. how? so perhaps the principles behind

rituals here are not very different from most other cultures. remembering our dead is something most of us try to do. torajans don't leave that to chance. and for them, there certainly appears to be great comfort from their unique rituals around death. much of april so far has been pretty dry, a fluctuation in temperatures. through the next few days the mostly dry team will continue and quite chilly for many, especially next week. —— theme. a weak front introducing cloud next week, most places looking dry, some bothrain,. sunshine in the midlands, the north of england, north wales and northern ireland seeing rain later in the

day. —— some rain, though. clear skies overnight into sunday and light winds so we could wake up to a frost in the countryside first thing sunday morning, particularly through parts of the midlands, northern england and southern scotland. a chilly start to sunday but looking dry for most. if you have plans to run in the london marathon, not a bad day. some sunshine and into the afternoon temperatures up to around 16. that's how it's looking. bye for 110w. 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. 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.