this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at two: 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. a 10—year—old boy has died after being attacked by a dog, at a holiday park in cornwall. a 28—year—old woman has been arrested in connection with the incident. 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. anti—government protestors continue to demand a move away from military government. 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 a seal rescue centre has opened in birmingham to deal with the huge increase in pups needing treatment for injuries caused by plastic pollution. and at 2.30, a look back at the final week in the commons before easter recess with the week in parliament. good afternoon. more than 70 mps and peers have called on the government to ensure that the wikileaks co—founder, julian assange, faces justice in sweden if the authorities there re—open a rape investigation against him on charges he denieds.

the united states has already requested that the uk hand over mr assange to them, to answer a charge of computer hacking leading to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets. here's our political correspondent, susana mendonca. after seven years holed up in london's ecuadorian embassy, julian assange is now in the hands of british justice, but the question of where he should go next is becoming increasingly politicised. and 70 members of the house of commons and house of lords have put their names to a letter to the home secretary, sajid javid, to request that he do everything he can to champion action thatjulian assange be extradited to sweden. they also urge him to stand with the victims of sexual violence and seek to ensure the case againstjulian assange can now be properly investigated. the swedish authorities have been pursuing julian assange for years over accusations of rape, coercion and molestation, which he denies. the wikilea ks founder claimed he would be

extradited to the us if he went to sweden and instead sought asylum ecuador‘s embassy. the swedish prosecutor stopped pursuing the case in 2017, but now they have until august next year to restart the rape investigation. at the same time, the united states wants julian assange extradited over hacking charges after wikilea ks released secret documents including this video of a us military helicopter firing at iraqi citizens. the americans hope the home secretary will favour the request. they have chosen the lesser charge to increase the chances of extradition, but the price they pay for choosing the lesser charge is that when it comes to a comparison with the swedish charges, the swedish charges are much more severe. some, including the labour leader, sayjulian assange is being pursued for political reasons. others say he should face charges

brought against him. and susana is with me now. some cross—party intervention here. talk as they want to what has been said. we have got mps and peers from different political parties, most of them are labour, you have some conservatives in there, some of them from change uk, independent group, lib dems. they all basically saying that if sweden were to request the extradition ofjulian assange, that is where he should be sent, rather than him being sent to the united states. that is because they feel that those accusations against julian assange, the sexual assault accusations are more serious in terms of potential criminality than the hacking charges in the united states. essentially this is what the mps are saying, they are asking the home secretary to think about the victims of sexual violence when he makes his decision. at the moment,

there is only an extradition request from the united states. if sweden then decides to go down that road, then decides to go down that road, the home secretary would be in a position where he would have to choose between the two of them and choose between the two of them and choose which one i suppose was the one that was most worthy ofjulian assange being sent back to that country. many people are saying keep politics out of that, what are we likely to see what they might happen next? the remarks from some people, the former lord chancellor in the former labour government of tony blair, he is saying this is a matter for the courts, politicians should not get involved. the court should make the decision based upon various things, the time at which these cases then cease to be active. for example, with the case in sweden, it has to be acted upon by august of next year, in america the case has a longer period of time before it

would cease to be active. those types of things should be taken into account. he is saying that we should leave the politics behind and focus on the law. in terms of what happens, it depends on what sweden does. at the moment we understand they are thinking about it, looking into whether to take action. if they do come forward with an extradition request to the british comic, then the british government will be in a position where it has to make a decision about what to do. all right, thank very much. anti—government protesters in sudan say their demonstrations will continue until the military hands back power to a civilian authority. the protest movement led to the downfall of the long—time leader 0mar al—bashir last week. a general has been appointed as the third leader in as many days, but demonstrators say the change doesn't go far enough. andy moore reports. a new day in khartoum and a new leader, but the protesters are still on the streets. the new man has already accepted

an important resignation, salah gosh, the head of the powerful national intelligence and security service. the crowds are waiting to see what to make of the man now in charge of their country. translation: abdel fattah al burhan is the new guy but who is he and what will he say and do differently? will he chant to our slogans or not? we won't deal with him emotionally. we are waiting to hear his first address and then we will decide how to deal with him. translation: it is a great thing for sudan and, inshallah, our hopes will be realised. we are not leaving the streets until everything goes to our advantage. sudan's third leader in as many days, lieutenant general abdel fattah al burhan abdelrahman was sworn in late on friday night. his elevation followed the resignation of the man who led the military coup to topple the president. 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. on that basis, i have chosen the kind brother lieutenant general

abdel fattah abdelrahman burhan. al abdelrahman burhan is seen as further away from the old regime. he has been seen on the streets of khartoum, engaging with protesters and trying to win them over. but, so far at least, that plan doesn't seem to be working. the demonstrators say they will stay on the streets until there is a handover to a civilian government. andy moore, bbc news. let's speak to alex de waal now, a sudan specialist and executive director of the world peace foundation. he joins us from addis ababa in ethiopia. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. he is not known as a manipulatorfor no news. he is not known as a manipulator for no reason, news. he is not known as a manipulatorfor no reason, there have been some suspicions cast as to exactly what is going on behind the scenes. i know the international crisis group based in kenya had their consents. just explain to us where we are. essentially the

situation is a shambles. if you are a military officer and you are going to launch a queue, you have to do it decisively and put yourself clearly in command and the coup makers and sedan have not done this. the situation that the now removed president omar al—bashir set up an elaborate system. he was the big spider at the centre of the web. when the military needs to take over and remove him on the centre of this web, they were faced notjust and remove him on the centre of this web, they were faced not just with keeping control of the military, but also many other security services and parliament should. and the national intelligence and security. also meeting the demands of the protester on the street, they have not managed to achieve the two aims yet. they do not have a consensus among the security bosses and they do not have an deal with the protesters. the situation is precarious. there's a lot of talk at the moment, we are learning a lot about the power, the setup up by the

security forces, a lot of concern about the split taking place and in the build—up, in fact, to his removal, many of the processes had wa nted removal, many of the processes had wanted to speak to the military. how much power do they have miss the military are the biggest of the security forces, without any particular doubt. why the protesters wanted to speak to them is that they are the most socially integrated, the officer class is drawn from the elite and many of the children of the colonels and brigadiers have power there within the compound of the military headquarters, their own children we re headquarters, their own children were outside protesting. when the order was given, and those commanders of those said no way, we are not going do that. there are some of the parliamentary is to draw from some of the people in rural areas, some of the unemployed youth, criminal gangs, they were ready to do that. the army officers were

ready to fire on the other security units, but not on the civilian protesters. in orderfor units, but not on the civilian protesters. in order for there to units, but not on the civilian protesters. in orderfor there to be stability in sudan and any sort of transition, this conundrum has to be fixed. we can't have a civil war among these are good units and we can't have the security units firing on the demonstrators. that conundrum has not yet been solved. when the defence minister stepped aside and he spoke of his replacement, he said that he is hoping he will take the ship to the shores of safety. being realistic, what is that likely to look at in terms of meeting the protesters' demand for a civilian government. are they correct actors, the right actors in place? the sudanese frankly cannot sort this out on their own. that is too much in determinants. the only thing that the new head of state general al

burhan abdelrahman, he may be able to keep the ship fleet for a few days. some help is required from the international community. the formulas on the table. we have a good partnership with the neighbouring african countries and the united states and norway, they stared sudan through the peace process some ten, 15 years ago. if they were to be reconstituted and they were to be reconstituted and the african union is going to meet and it has a real there should be no military takeovers, likely what they will say is we will not recognise this takeover unless within two weeks, that is a clear plan for handover to a civilian administration. that is sort of the formula that they would have on the table. if that were to be supported bya table. if that were to be supported by a clear international pressure and engagement, then i think there's and engagement, then i think there's a chance of the ship being into calmer waters with base stability and democracy. thank you very much. you are very

welcome. a boy has died after he was attacked by a dog at a holiday park in cornwall. with me is our correspondent, charlotte gallagher. what is the latest, what do we know about the attack? police were called to the holiday park in lieu after a ten—year—old boy was attacked by a dog. they say it was a bulldog type breed. paramedics and of course but the boy sadly died at the scene. around three hours later, a 20—year—old woman was arrested at 13 minute drive away from the caravan park. —— 28. she has been arrested on the charge of manslaughter. and having a dog out of control. i spoke to the manager and he said he had no idea what happened this morning, they turned up for work and there we re they turned up for work and there were police all over the side. he told me he had not seen this dog

before. the police have not named the boy he has been killed, but say they are supporting his family. charlotte, thank you very much. doctors have used a new type of treatment — called "gene silencing" — to reverse a disease which leaves people with crippling pain. the condition , acute intermittent porphyria , can also cause paralysis and is fatal in some cases. the treatment works by fine—tuning the genetic instructions locked into our dna. experts say the same approach could be used in previously untreatable diseases. james gallagher reports. and the cows, look, moo! sue has endured pain few can imagine. she used 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. british steel is in talks with the government about a loan of £100 million in order to meet eu emissions rules. newly—issued free carbon permits could have been used to settle the compa ny‘s pollution bill for 2018. but the steel maker has been affected by a european union decision to suspend uk firms' access to free carbon permits until a brexit withdrawal deal is ratified. we are nowjoined by rob young who has more on the story. why do they need the money, just remind us? what we know is british steel is involved with talks with the department for business,

innovation and skills for a loan of about £100 million in orderfor it to meet the eu emissions rules. every year, each large company has to pay for the amount of pollution that they are met. ordinarily, a company can pay the bill for the previous year with the next year's allocation of free carbon permits, that uk companies have not yet been given this year's allocation of those free carbon permits because the withdrawal agreement has not yet been ratified, but an's relationship with the eu has not yet been settled and that is why there seems to be their shortfall of £100 million or thereabouts at british steel. as well as officials, i'm told the business secretary greg clark is aware of the situation and can back up aware of the situation and can back up said in a statement today that the department of business has been extremely responsive and supported to date but that that is not the same as saying they will get this. how likely is it that this will get

sorted out eventually? this is just sorted out eventually? this isjust a sorted out eventually? this is just a short—term sorted out eventually? this isjust a short—term problem, if mps approve the withdrawal agreement at some point soon, the eu may well say for example the date that this payment issue can be kicked at some point into the future, resolving the problem for now or british steel may well get the money to pay the bill. either way, sources say there is no threat to any british steel sites or two jobs, the company employs 5000 people directly, many more in the supply chain. the company says that it is made significant process in recent yea rs it is made significant process in recent years and is looking at expanding. but this is an interesting corporate wrinkle in the ongoing political debate about whether or not we should approve the withdrawal agreement between the uk and the eu. thank you very much. north korea's leader kim jong—un says he's only interested in meeting president trump again if the us comes up with a better deal. he's given the united states until the end of the year to reconsider its offer, saying washington needed to change its attitude or risk

an increase in tensions. a second summit between the two leaders collapsed in february. in response, president trump said a "summit would be good "in that we fully understand where we each stand." in addition, he praised north korea's potential for "extraordinary growth, economic success and riches under "the leadership of chairman kim." it is just it isjust coming up it is just coming up to it isjust coming up to 2:20pm. a dutch fertility doctor 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 near rotterdam. the results were confirmed afterjudges allowed their release. anna holligan has more. jan karbaat called himself a pioneer in the field of fertilisation, he was first taken to court in 2017

by a group of donor children, including joey, suspicious they were related. i remember watching these young people in court, sitting shoulder to shoulder, clearly sharing some of the doctor's distinctive physical features, but uncertain as to whether they were among brothers and sisters. dr karbaat‘s family had initially objected to these paternity tests, but the court agreed to harvest his dna in case the children won their case in the future from his hairbrush and toothbrush, and that was then locked kept in a safe, and then one of his sons came forward and agreed to provide his dna. that matched some of these children who call themselves the donor kids and then the paternity tests were allowed because, the court said, the children's interests should come first. the results confirmed he used his own sperm at the clinic and exceeded the limit

of six children per donor. translation: this result means that the larger group, 49 children in total, now also have certainty because their dna can be linked to each other. and joey says the results meant he could focus on the future. translation: it means a lot, and at last we can close this chapter in peace, and i can carry on with my life now. this search took 11 years. a procedure is under way to compensate the donor kids who left court with what they came for, the truth about where they came from. today marks the centenary of the amritsar massacre, when hundreds of civilians were killed under the orders of a british general. despite it being one of india's greatest tragedies, there has never been

a formal apology. now, museums from both countries have united to re—examine the brutal events of 1919 as monika plaha reports. they were closed into a pen, thousands of people and shot at like fish in a bowl. raja's great uncles were just teenagers at the time of the attack. they were out enjoying vaisakhi, also known as the sikh new year. little did they know the horror that was about to hit them. when the firing started, two of them managed to escape. they either scaled a wall or they managed to get through one of the exits. the youngest, unfortunately was trampled by people running and fell under dead bodies and remained there until the following day. the british indian authorities had earlier declared martial law and banned public meetings due to a rise in demonstrations. general reginald dyer with his troops were sent to disperse the crowds at jallianwala bagh. they blocked the exits and between them, over 1,000 shots were fired. general dyer staunchly

defended what he had done. he was interrogated by the british government as part of their investigation and he said he was trying to create a moral effect, that he was trying to strike terror in the people of punjab. since the massacre happened 100 years ago, this is the first time a british museum has joined forces with one in india to shine a light on the brutal attack and it's all part of a driving force to educate and create awareness on what's known as one of the greatest scandals of the british raj. jallianwala bagh is a park located in amritsar, a holy city in the heart of punjab. it's the cultural centre of the sikh religion and home to the golden temple. the british government has been under renewed pressure to apologise for its role in the amritsar massacre. we deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused. but theresa may came under criticism when she stopped short of an apology.

an apology is a step in the right direction and will make some people feel a sense of catharsis but i think more importantly what needs to be done is the education system needs to be slightly revamped and colonial atrocities are taught in british schools. i wish somebody had apologised to my ancestors 100 years ago. i think it is futile now. historians say the shooting sparked a significant step in india's road to independence which led to partition in 19117. thousands of miles away and a century on, there was a demand for greater awareness on the massacre and for the events of that day to never be forgotten. monika plaha, bbc news. you are watching bbc news.

around 26 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in our oceans each year, leaving millions of marine life dead including an increasing number of seals. the bbc‘s beccy wood is at the national sea life centre in birmingham, where she's been finding out more. in this tank, believe me, there are two seals. we've got miley and we've got boo. they will pop up through the course of the next few minutes, trust me, but this is a multi—million—pound rescue centre that has been built here at sea life birmingham. and, like you said, it's all to do with plastics and pollution, and the impact that that is having on our environment — in particular, our marine life. now, these two moved in yesterday. this is boo and this is miley. miley is a little more camera—friendly. she likes the limelight a little bit. that's the one that's scooting across the bottom in front of you there, and boo is behind here. they've settled in very nicely. they are the new arrivals here and sea life are very pleased to have them. we have got chris coventry, who is from sea life. so why is now the right time to have this here? yeah, so the national sea life centre in birmingham is already home to 2,000 amazing creatures.

we had a great opportunity to have this multi—million pound development which we could put into our mammal rescue facility, so we could continue our mission of rescuing and protecting. and we had a great... our first residents here, miley and boo, we were able to foster them from our sister sites sea life hunsta nton and sea life scarborough. they are about to go into the height of the pupping season, so we can take the pressure off those guys so they can continue with the rescue and release work that they do. it is a busy time of year, isn't it? yes, and it is on the increase. so sea life hunstanton last year received over 500 calls from concerned members of the public who had found seals that were in need of some care, and our animal care team will go out and wherever possible we'll take them into our seal hospitals in order to provide them with the correct treatment and rehabilitation that they need, obviously, with the ultimate objective of releasing them into the wild. however, in some cases such as miley and boo's, that's not possible

because they just wouldn't survive. now, talking about the animal care teams, we've got karen richmond here who is a senior aquarist. they're settling in well. it's not unheard of for us to have seals coming from the west midlands up the river severn, but not quite in birmingham, is it? i know, it's quite different, but, yes, they are settling in really well and they seem quite happy. plastic does have a big impact on all marine life. what about seals in particular? they can quite often mistake it for food. they are very inquisitive creatures. quite often they will play with various things that they find. there has been an increase of issues with frisbees recently that they are getting them caught around their necks, along with nets and fishing hooks. and these two are hopefully going to provide a bit of a legacy for the rest of their species, aren't they? yeah, hopefully. we are hoping to bring some awareness into birmingham, so it's not a creature that you would quite often see around here, like you said, so we are hoping to raise a little bit of awareness, because all rubbish and all waterways link back to the ocean, so we can make quite a big impact on the difference for these guys in the wild. well, they are swimming around now.

you have finally seen them and, dare i say it, they've given this tank the seal of approval. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz shafernaker. it is it is cold, it is not your fog. i can't change that, let me straighten this out. what i will say is that next week, this time next week it could be some 10 degrees warmer or more. there is much warmer weather on the way. in the short term, storm out there in the out antic which is trying to push on, not heading our way, that is a little bit of rain floating with ireland here, we've got the sunshine. a few showers in the south—east, we have got the fine weather because there is a big high pressure in scandinavia and it is stopping these weather fronts from coming in. they are flirting with

the british isles here in the west overnight, but ahead of it, clear, cold, first thing on sunday morning, jack frost is paying us a visit. some frost on the ground for sure. tomorrow, partly cloudy rather than sunday, not quite the blue skies tomorrow. in the west, hazy, maybe a few spots of rain in cornwall, later in the afternoon. on balance, not a bad day if you do not mind a bit of a chilly breeze, and then warmer next week. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: 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. a ten—year—old boy has died after being attacked by a dog at a holiday park in cornwall. a 28—year—old woman has been arrested in connection

with the incident. 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. anti—government protestors continue to demand a move away from military government. 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. now, it's time for the week in parliament.