this is bbc news, the headlines: there's been tight security in the us capital as a small number of far—right supporters held a brief rally near the white house in washington. organisers had said up to 400 people would attend, but far fewer did so they were outnumbered by a large crowd of anti—nationalist p rotesto rs. the un security council has called for a credible and transparent inquiry into the killing of dozens of children in an air strike in yemen. the attack on thursday hit a school bus in an area held by houthi rebels. houthi officials say as many as a0 children died. fighting has continued in the afghan city of ghazni, where the taliban attacked government buildings and the police headquarters. 17 years on from the us—led invasion, a small number of british troops have arrived in the capital kabul to support afghan troops hoping to end the conflict with the taliban. now on bbc news, how is formula e racing helping us to make the shift

towards electric cars? newsbeat reporter ellie roper follows team 05 virgin. these cars are definitely the future... we go green in mexico city! all the talking stops and it is all about business. and off goes alex lynn! not much to say. i think this is the future. it has a guilt free capacity to it. from marrakech to montreal it's all electric and it's all environmentally friendly. i think all of us have to move our technology to be clean rather than dirty energy like petrol. 10 teams travel the world to compete on street tracks. now in its fourth season it's notjust changing the face of motorsport. it is changing the way we drive as well. it's taken him until the last

couple of races... in the wall is alex lynn. lynn climbs out of the car. lynn's in the barriers again! he crashed in free practice one and he has crashed in free practice two. can he dig himself out? that makes me feel sad for him, actually. he's a really good kid. a fantastic driver, but that shows you the pressure every one of these drivers is under. i'm newsbeat‘s eleanor roper. i've come to oxford to meet with 24—year—old alex lynn as he embarks on his first season as a driver in formula e. this is your big moment,

this is what you've been waiting for. how does it feel looking ahead to your first season? it's everything you've worked for over the years and years of practice. as you come through the ranks and different categories and this is the start of racing. you build up to the moment where you're prepared and you are ready to take the opportunity when it comes, and that's the benefit of being a reserve driver. you learn everything in the background and it's a slightly slower pace and then when the time comes, you are ready to do the job. are you living your dream now? when i become the champion, i'll be living the dream. so you're not happy yet? no, never settle. alex takes us to silverstone to show us his cars before they're shipped off for the start of the season. ok, so talk us through the controls? obviously it seems like there's quite a lot. but these are the three main ones here. the brake setting, the paddle, which is changing the region of the car, and the torque, which is the power output.

in case you were wondering, the regen is a way of changing battery during the race. and while we're at it, here are a few more formula e basics. there are ten teams and each team has two drivers. all of the cars have the same chassis and battery, but other parts of the car can be changed by the team's engineers. energy figures, lap time, laps remaining... as you are driving, you're focusing on the road. can you still take in all this data at the same time? you have to otherwise you won't win a race. as a team, we feel we are coming together to the first test, and after that will be the first race, and this all counts now. all the talking stops and it's about business. as reality sets in for alex, we head to valencia for pre—season testing. it's the last chance for teams

to size eachother up the season begins. while electric cars might not be as loud as formula 1 cars, they are still pretty fast. with top speeds of around 140 miles an hour. the car is pretty traditional in the sense that it is a single seater race car, so the architecture is pretty standard. the big difference, these cars run purely on electricity. no petrol, no fuel tank, nothing. behind the driver, before when you would have the fuel tank, we have a large battery and an electric motor which drives the wheels. it's the battery which is the main limitation. at the moment, each driver needs two cars to finish the race, with a car changeover happening halfway through the race. and the car change is one of the many things they are practising here in valencia. he must have run out of usable energy, he was crawling the line, so he must have done.

before every race, the drivers use a simulator to practise driving on the upcoming track. it's a chance to get to grips with the tight twists and turns that come with a street track. we had ourfirst race in hong kong. that went well. we got two points—scoring finishes. so it wasn't the dream scenario but it was a solid start for the whole team. so in that sense it was a good start. alex's engineer talks us through what went wrong. the problem is we had an energy problem which means alex ran low on energy in the last lap and unfortunately got some positions before getting to the line. hong kong was a mixed bag. generally it was a positive weekend. a few little mistakes but we did not quite get the most out of it. we are here in marrakesh. we are here in marrakech.

we made it and it's a really amazing place for a race. it's boiling hot, palm trees everywhere, and yet, behind me is the atlas mountains. we've just been told there are two metres of snow fall, so it's this amazing contrast between hot, tropical weather and these snowy mountains. as the final preparations are under way, we catch up with alex as he looks ahead to the race. it would feel weird if you didn't feel nervous, and also, it's what you have only known, for me, since i was ten years old, since i started racing. and for me, it almost feels like home to have that feeling.

you end up sort of enjoying it. you go, yeah, this is what i do, that's what i live for, and that's that feeling of pressure and excitement all at the same time. we also meet alex's team—mate sam. alex is a really strong team mate. nice guy, great to work with. but you have to remember alex is in his first year, and i'm the one with all of the experience, so alex is catching up in that respect. on race morning, alex qualifies in sixth place, with sam qualifying in second. this is definitely the most rock ‘n‘ roll part of the race day so far. the track's now completely full of the vips and instagram influencers and stuff. you can see all of the teams, all of the cars are in their positions, this is definitely the most rock ‘n‘ roll part of the race day so far. the track's now completely full of the vips and instagram influencers and stuff. you can see all of the teams, all of the cars are in their positions, ready for the race.

alex is here in sixth position. he's got all of his engineers standing by. this is my first race i've been to. what you make of so far? very exciting, i got to drive one of the cars. i think the exciting thing about this is the technology they're developing with the cars on the track today, which obviously is moving at a very rapid pace. it will have an impact on home driving. obviously that's going to have a great effect on the environment. i've always loved cars, fast cars, and this is kind of like this has a guilt—free capacity too because you can enjoy all of that while doing something that is totally going to forward the work, the good work at home with the environment, you know? the batteries are not an issue. now it is about the infrastructure and the charging stations and all that. the knock on effect of charging cars at home, that is going to be amazing. and in the uk the government has

said from 20110, all petrol and diesel cars will be banned. with the date now set, pressure is mounting on car manufacturers to develop new technology. all eyes are looking to formula e as they try to drive this change. i think 2040 is too long and i think there are governments in europe that have said by 2025, all new cars must be battery driven. that's what i'd hope every new government around the world would do. that would really speed up the process. i think here we are going to see the prices going down massively of batteries in the next year and we're going to the range extending a lot. those problems will get sorted and everyone will buy electric cars. at the moment the main challenge facing electric cars is there battery. 22 yea rs facing electric cars is there battery. 22 years might seem like a long way off but with every year there's a step forward. next year they will go from two cars 21,

meaning the battery can last for a whole race in one car. it will show that we have improved 100% the potential of the batteries and the technology. you have the major manufacturers coming on board, mercedes, porsche, bmw, audi, nissan, that's because they want and, a racing car in an electric racing series because they want to sit ina racing series because they want to sit in a car that can do 300 miles oi'i sit in a car that can do 300 miles on one sit in a car that can do 300 miles on one charge and it all stems from formula e. what is it like being surrounded by so many people, eve ryo ne surrounded by so many people, everyone wants a piece from you at a time when you need to be working and concentrating? word have to take it in your stride and to be honest, in four hours i will be sitting in my hotel room with no one around me so you have to take it in your stride and deliver the result to be honest. commentator: green in marrakesh,

start from de grasse lead, he looks to the outside in his audi. at the end of lap one, bird is looking super good at the front. he is the championship leader and off goes alex glenn, i think it was daniel who was trying to climb up the order and alex glenn has gone from six to the back and the team principal is stoney faced. it was just a the back and the team principal is stoney faced. it wasjust a bit of the enthusiasm. is the car 0k? stoney faced. it wasjust a bit of the enthusiasm. is the car ok? i think so. alex lynn saying he thinks the car is ok and he will carry on his way. danny is coming in.