this is bbc news. i'm sure in life. the headlines at 103m: more than 70 mp5 and peers sign a letter urging the government to ensure julian assange faces authorities in sweden, if they request his extradition. the sudanese general who led a coup to overthrow long—term leader omar al—bashir steps down, just 2a hours after he took charge of the country. doctors celebrate a new treatment called gene silencing, that's seen major success in treating the crippling pain caused by porphyria. a dutch fertility doctor is found to have used his own sperm to father 49 children, without his patients‘ consent. and shakespeare's works are well known, but where in london did he live? we speak to the historical detective who's tracked him down. the travel show is in los angeles in search of the local wild mountain lions whose lives and habitat are under threat.

good morning, welcome to bbc news. more than 70 politicians have signed a letter urging the government to allow the extradition ofjulian assange to sweden if officials there make a formal request. swedish prosecutors are deciding whether to reopen an investigation into allegations from two women who accused the wikileaks founder of rape and sexual assault, which mr assange denies. he was arrested on thursday after seven years in the ecuadorian embassy in london. with me is our political correspondent, susana mendonca. tell me about the letter, who signed it? 70 mp5, a lot of them are labour

but also from other political parties, the independent group and some liberal democrat mps. it was posted on social media by stella creasy and urges the home secretary to stand with the victims of sexual violence to ensure the rape case againstjulian assange is investigated. it says if sweden decides to go down the route of calling for extradition to get him there to face those charges, britain should give them give him to them first rather than the us which also wa nts to first rather than the us which also wants to extradite him for charges of hacking. in terms of that case againstjulian assange is on the rape allegations he denies, these we re rape allegations he denies, these were put in a few years ago to him, the case was dropped in 2017 because the case was dropped in 2017 because the swedish authorities were not

able to formally notify him because he was in the ecuadorian embassy in london. as far as we know the swedish authorities are looking at whether to put the case again, they haven't formally asked for extradition proceedings yet so various mps are getting ahead of things before it goes down that route but you could be in a situation or if you have the us asking for him to be extradited there and sweden asking for him, the home secretary would be in a position to decide which takes precedence. presumably there are criteria the home secretary would have to operate two or his decision could be subject to judicial review, so could be subject to judicial review, so there seem to be differences of opinion on that labour side about howjulian opinion on that labour side about how julian assange could opinion on that labour side about howjulian assange could be perceived. we had diane abbott on the radio saying this man had done a

great deal to expose injustices and was at danger of being persecuted for that and that was a reason for not allowing the americans to have him. and that is a point that jeremy corbyn has also made, he said julian assange should be extradited to the us —— should not be extracted because he had exposed civilians in iraq killed by us forces, but that comment has led to criticism from labour members who feel as though julian assange shouldn't be given the opportunity to avoid potential charges of rape against him just because of what he may have been perceived as a good thing, what he did in terms of revealing those atrocities committed by the us, so they are saying he should still face

charges on that issue and that is the disconnect between the labour leadership and some of the members who have signed this letter. for the government it's difficult because this is a legal issue and we heard from lord falconer on the area earlier on the today programme, a former chancellor who says this is a case for the courts, not the politicians, and politicians shouldn't take a view whetherjulian assange is sent to one place or the other, that should be made by the courts. one of the mps to sign the letter to the home secretary, is the labour mp, stephen kinnock. hejoins me via webcam from llandudno. thank you for being with us. what prompted you to sign this letter because this is a legal case, isn't it better to leave it to the home

secretary? inevitably it has become politicised, senior politicians on all sides are making statements so we felt we had to underline that first and foremostjulian assange is accused of rape in sweden and it's vital that doesn't get airbrushed out of the conversation because of the other issues to do with wikileaks. the top priority is to ensure that if the swedish authorities wish to have him extradited there to face those charges, that must take priority. so on this you think diane abbott and jeremy corbyn got the emphasis wrong? it felt strange to me that this is a man who has been accused of these crimes but the politics of what he has done with wikileaks seem to be taking precedence over the vitally important issue of whether 01’ vitally important issue of whether or not he is guilty of the crimes he

is alleged to have committed in sweden. i also think that sajid javid has serious questions to a nswer javid has serious questions to answer because it seems the swedish authorities were not given any advance notice of the arrest. julian assange is accused of two separate things in differentjurisdictions, why was only the united states given advance notice of the arrest but swedish authorities were not? they have responded rapidly in sweden and confirmed they are looking to resubmit the request for his extradition to stockholm. it's possible the exhibition request was still active from the americans but not from the swedes because we heard the charges had lapsed because he had been incommunicado. that's possible and i am not party to the details of the legal position but it seems odd that the only reason those

charges in sweden had lapsed was purely because of his availability, the swedes made it clear they feel there is a case for him to answer and soi there is a case for him to answer and so i think it would have been better for the and so i think it would have been betterfor the home and so i think it would have been better for the home secretary to have been evenhanded in this and given the swedish authorities at the same opportunity as the americans by giving them advance notice of the arrest, that would have been the right thing to do whatever the legal details. stephen cannot, thank you, i hope the weather is good for you on the coast. the general who led a coup in sudan to overthrow long—time leader omar al—bashir has stepped down, after just 2a hours in charge of the country. general awad ibn awf made the announcement after tens of thousands of protesters demanded a civilian—led transition. caroline rigby reports. car horns beep. jubilation on the streets of khartoum. for months now protesters have been demanding change in sudan,

an end to the 30—year rule of strongman omar al—bashir, but these celebrations are not about him. they are because the man who led a military coup to topple the president has also resigned. translation: i announce as the leader of the transitional military council that i am stepping down from this position to select someone whose expertise and competence i can trust and on that basis i have chosen the kind brother lieutenant general abdel fattah abdelrahman burhan in succession to me. taking the oath, this is the country's third leader in just two days, an army general seen as less close to the former president who was indicted by the international criminal court for genocide. the military plans to stay in power for two years before eventual elections. they chant. but after enduring years of economic crisis and political corruption, many in sudan want even greater change, and transition to civilian rule.

momentum here is with the people, not least women, who have played a major role in this revolution. change in sudan remains precarious but also full of possibility. caroline rigby, bbc news. a new type of medicine called gene silencing has been used to reverse a disease that leaves people in crippling pain. it works by fine—tuning the genetic instructions locked in our dna. experts say it could be used for other conditions including parkinson's disease and alzheimer's. here's our health and science correspondent, james gallagher. and the cow, look, moo! sue has endured pain few can imagine. she has to take strong painkillers every day due to a disease called porphyria. sue needed hospital treatment if she had a severe attack but even morphine didn't stop the pain then. i've had a child, i have done child labour but itjust feels like it's never going to end, it is so, so intense,

so strong that it's in your legs, in your back and itjust resonates everywhere. it's really, really unbearable. but sue's life has been transformed by a monthly injection of a new type of medicine called gene silencing. this is how it works. inside our cells are genes. they send out messages containing the instructions for running our body but in porphyria an error leads to a build—up of toxic proteins. gene silencing intercepts the messenger, disabling it and restoring the correct balance of proteins. the study showed gene silencing cut attacks by 74% and half of patients were completely freed from the attacks needing hospital treatment. british doctors who took part in the clinical trial say the impact was amazing. these are very difficult patients to treat and they've had a very difficult time and i'm surprised, genuinely surprised how well it works in this condition and i think it offers a lot of hope

for the future. sue is now enjoying life without pain but the implications of this study go much further than sue and porphyria. experts say gene silencing is an exciting new area of medicine with the potential to work in diseases that are currently untreatable. james gallagher, bbc news. we saw professor david rees in that report and he joins us we saw professor david rees in that report and hejoins us now. give us a sense of how difficult this can be for people to manage. porphyria is very difficult and there is no real effect of treatment until this point, typically people have severe unpredictable episodes of pain, they walk around feeling at any moment they can be struck down with agonising pain and then if you spend agonising pain and then if you spend a lot of time in hospital with

severe pain, on high doses of opiates it makes it difficult to have a normal social or family life 01’ have a normal social or family life or to work. this process of gene silencing, are you blocking signals? yes, there is a natural system in the body controlling how genes are expressed which is for everything from growing to diane, and this is one of the natural way is the body controls the genes. making this synthetic molecule is a way of switching of genes. in porphyria you effectively have a build—up of nasty chemicals and this somehow prevents that. it's part of a chain of enzymes that build these molecules so enzymes that build these molecules so you get a big accumulation of toxic molecules and these damage the nerves and that gene silencing treatment is a gene upstream of the

blocking so it switches off the molecules that accumulate. and it stays off. in the trial it has to be given once a month so it's not permanent but it surprisingly long lasting given that it's a single injection and has a long lasting a fa ct. injection and has a long lasting a fact. the trial was done in a number of countries and you were looking after patients in this country. were you surprised by the effectiveness? yes, we tend to be sceptical of new treatments, it has been a difficult disease to treat and a lot of people have their lives devastated by it, a lot of treatments have some affect but we haven't had a big transformative effect. but we haven't had a big tra nsformative effect. it but we haven't had a big transformative effect. it is still early, there is more information to come but it could be transformational. anyone watching brea kfast transformational. anyone watching breakfast this morning would have

seen breakfast this morning would have seen sue talking about the difference it has made from her and how it has changed her life not having to rely on painkillers and feeling more comfortable. are there other conditions that this could be applicable to? potentially definitely, gene expression is vital to all sorts of disease processes and being able to switch off genes ina and being able to switch off genes in a controlled way is a powerful tool so diseases like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, dementia and cancer are potentially treatable in this way, not saying it will work but it may well work for lots of conditions. the question is a lwa ys lots of conditions. the question is always asked by people, when can they hope to see this as a treatment that would be widely available because it is still a long process between even a successful trial and

a product being licensed?” between even a successful trial and a product being licensed? i have no direct control of that, this is now in the late stages of clinical trials so we hope the drug will be available to use therapeutically in available to use therapeutically in a year 01’ so available to use therapeutically in a year or so but there are still lots of barriers and the trial has to be completed. but it's a wonderful thought and encouraging results so far. professor david rees, thank you for coming in. the headlines on bbc news... more than 70 mps and peers sign a letter urging the government to ensure julian assange faces authorities in sweden, if they request his extradition. the sudanese general who led a coup to overthrow long—term leader omar al—bashir steps down — just 2a hours after he took charge of the country. doctors celebrate a new treatment — called gene silencing — that's seen major success in treating the crippling pain

caused by porphyria. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's hugh ferris. good morning, mercedes continued their dominance at the chinese grand prix, valkyrie bottas qualifying on pole, his teen's sixth pole position in their last ten races, and lewis hamilton is in the other mercedes. domination is a theme that runs through formula 1's history. mercedes are doing the same as offering mayo but it's not the dominant driver at the front of the pack. valtteri bottas usually plays second fiddle to lewis hamilton. in shanghai it was the faint conducting proceedings, quickest in practice and qualifying to claim his first pole of the season, edging out his british rival by two 100s of a

second. ferrari slipped back, sebastian vettel more than a quarter ofa sebastian vettel more than a quarter of a second off the pace but his number one status over charles leclerc has been confirmed by his boss. he shouldn't despair is one thing that can upset the form but is a safety car and in final practice this showed how easy it is to lose control at this track. saturday is traditionally called moving day at the masters but big names in the field could have made their move. tiger woods is part of a leaderboard stacked full of superstars at augusta. that is despite almost being injured by a security guard at his second round, a sliding tackle. francesco molinari is one of five major winners who have that advantage while ian poulter is two shots behind that

group. you can watch live coverage of the third round of the masters on bbc two from 7:30pm. anthony crolla says he is fine despite suffering at brutal knockout. his ukrainian opponent is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and dominated the fight in los angeles, a right hookin the fight in los angeles, a right hook in the fourth round ending anthony crolla's hopes of becoming a two—time world champion. newcastle a re ten two—time world champion. newcastle are ten points clear of the relegation zone. a strike came from the spanish striker in the first half and that wind pushes newcastle first half and that wind pushes n ewcastle u p first half and that wind pushes newcastle up to 13th in the table. one of liverpool's greatest players, tommy smith, has died at the age of

74. the tommy smith, has died at the age of 7a. the most famous of his goals came in the 1977 european cup final when they beat morrissey statements and glad back. he was known as the anfield irony because of his top playing style. leicester tigers have boosted their hopes of staving off relegation with a thrilling win at newcastle. the defeat leaves the falcons bottom of the premiership with three games remaining. jonny may's early try helped the tigers move to lead with the half—time deficit cut to just a point but the winning try came from guy thompson, a win that lifts them up guy thompson, a win that lifts them up to ninth, eight points above newcastle. in the pro14 ulster secured top spot, a huge blow over edinburgh at murrayfield, a 29—7 win while

ospreys murrayfield, a 29—7 win while os preys ra n murrayfield, a 29—7 win while ospreys ran in seven tries as they beat southern kings 113—7, dan evans' patrick keeping them alive, they are above cardiff blues in that conference table. st helens have gone back to the top of super league, they began the evening ahead of science but six tries from six different scorers did damage for the home side. in the night's other match wakefield continued their good form as they beat wigan. an australian horse is said to have achieved racing mortality after extending her victory run to 33. she was described as the greatest of all time as she crossed the line this morning in sydney. the eight—year—old mare is unbeaten since april 2015 and she now gets to

retire. that's all the sport for now. plenty of football to look forward to today. i will have more for you later on. a dutch fertility doctor accused of using his own sperm to inseminate patients without their consent has been confirmed as the father of 49 children. dna tests revealed that jan karbaat, who died two years ago, impregnated their mothers at his clinic in bijdorp, near rotterdam. let's get more on this now from our correspondent in the netherlands, anna holligan. this must have caused quite a stir. quite an emotional upset for the children involved, jan karbaat called himself a pioneer in the field of fertilisation and i remember being in the courtroom in 2017 sitting among these children who were sharing some of the

doctor's physical features but uncertain whether they were among brothers and sisters so this has confirmed their suspicions that he was their father. it was the result of paternity tests and they had to battle to get them because jan karbaat‘s family had initially objected saying it's not what he wa nted objected saying it's not what he wanted but after his death in 2017 they harvested dna from his hairbrush and toothbrush and that was kept locked in a safe and then one of his sons came forward and agreed to give his dna, that provided a match with some of these children who called themselves the donor kids and then they were able to check the paternity against the doctor's dna. one of the young women told me she thought her father had a god complex and believed he was doing them a favour by passing on

what he saw as his superior genes, obviously not the way the children saw it but at least now they say they have some form of confirmation. we might be able to hearfrom they have some form of confirmation. we might be able to hear from joey, one of the children who fought this case. i don't think we have that extra ct case. i don't think we have that extract but can i put you another interesting line that was quoted as coming from the organisation involved in this campaign that the dutch news agency ap, saying they think he also distributed some of his sperm to other clinics? exactly, they still don't know how many children may have been fathered by this man and the other thing he suspected of doing is mixing sperm, so some suspected of doing is mixing sperm, so some of the children who grew up believing their brothers and sisters in theirfamily believing their brothers and sisters in their family home shared their dna and they had the same mother and

father, albeit their dna had been donated by a sperm donor, have discovered they have different fathers, so it's difficult to imagine how it feels for them, but jia wei, who is one of those who has been most vocal in this case, said at least now they have some form of closure and they can focus on the future —— mike joey. closure and they can focus on the future —— mikejoey. the next step will be looking at suing the doctor's estate and when i spoke to these young people a few years ago they said their intention was to sue they said their intention was to sue the doctor for the fact they shouldn't even exist, which is something that would be difficult for anyone not involved in this to get their heads around but for now they have got what they went to court to try to get and that is the truth about where they came from. fascinating, disturbing story. thank

you for updating us on that, live from the hague. a trial which freed up more than half a million hours for nhs patients is being extended for three years. it involved re—directing patients to health care professionals other than gps and reducing paperwork. nhs england said the scheme should be in place in three—quarters of gp practices by 2022. so what we've done is we've, for example, trained reception staff to get the patient to the right person, because it may not need to be a doctor — it could be a nurse, it could be a paramedic, it could be a pharmacist. we've trained our admin staff to be able to do paperwork in a different way, so that doctors are freed from admin and they're free to see patients instead. a historian believes he's pinpointed the location of the london home where william shakespeare wrote some of his most popular works, including romeo and juliet and a midsummer night's dream. evidence suggests the bard took up residence in the parish of st helen's bishopgate in the late 1590s. the theatre historian geoffrey mark

cross referenced different records to find the exact location and he is with me now. this is one of those mysteries about the years he spent in london, how did you track this down? it's a complicated story but it has been known since the 1840s that shakespeare lived in this parish but a company bought this huge property in 15113 and he still owned it and i started coming through the leases and in there is not shakespeare's lease but to people who must have been next door to him so from that we can work out pretty closely within a few yards where he was living. the location is most interesting for his work, you ci’oss refe re nce most interesting for his work, you cross reference that with other

information surviving from a period when there is surprisingly little historical evidence. records from that period are rare, it's like trying to do a three—dimensional crossword went most of the clues and puzzle are missing but occasionally people turn up in several documents, but the interesting thing is not so much that fact about his house, he had to live somewhere. his house is presumably long gone. yes, but his neighbours, he was living between two radical doctors, we seem to have a medical theme today, this is a period before the circulation of the blood was discovered. people putting leeches on. there is one, doctor peter turner, and doctorjordan, both studied on the continent in italy and in germany at leading

universities. jordan is extraordinary because he was the first doctor to take a serious interest in women's medical issues, he wrote the first book on hysteria and appeared at witch trials defending the people accused of witchcraft. what fascinated him was the idea that women could come up with symptoms of being bewitched by their mental power. you described in writing about it in the telegraph todayis writing about it in the telegraph today is like the notting hill of his day, he had a lot of wealthy and international people, people who sneer at this lonely figure from the english midlands, how could he know all these foreign places, he cannot have written the place, but he knew a lot of these things because he imbibed them second hand like a lot of good writers. jordan studied at

paddy white university, but he also travelled around —— pad you are. shakespeare had to go to church every sunday with these people, and a range of people who had great experience of things that he wouldn't have visited himself and the other interesting thing is that these doctors are interesting characters, what makes shakespeare such an interesting writer is he makes such interesting characters and talking to these people was a key pa rt and talking to these people was a key part in him seeing how characters varied amongst people and that came out in his plays. geoffrey marsh, excellent, thank you so much for being with us this morning. the name of the next star wars film has been announced.