this is bbc news, the headlines: representatives of protesters in sudan have met military leaders in the capital, khartoum. the meeting came in response to a call for dialogue made by the country's third leader in as many days. a spokesman for the protesters told the bbc they insisted on the formation of welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. a civilian government. our top stories: hopes that tensions in sudan appear to be easing — with the new military the maltese navy has transferred more than 60 migrants leadership meeting protesters. from a german charity vessel to a maltese port, translation: this is a renewed call after a number of other eu countries for all those bearing arms to sit offered to take them in. down for discussions to arrive india has observed at a peaceful outcome and peacefully the centenary of a massacre coexist under the basis by british troops that's seen as one of the darkest incidents of new measures. of the colonial era. on april the 13th, 1919, four eu countries agree to take soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed in dozens of migrants, people protesting against repressive rescued after being stranded at sea laws in amritsar. for nearly two weeks. and revolution in the ring — iran's first ever female boxer wins her debut bout. now on bbc news it's time for a look back

back on course — tiger woods makes a major challenge at the masters as italy's francesco molinari leads the field. hello and welcome to bbc news. there are signs that tensions between sudan's new leadership and protesters may now be softening. representatives of both sides have held meetings. and though demonstrators want a civilian government, they say competent military figures might be acceptable. it follows the ousting of long—time leader omar al—bashir. simonjones has the latest. still on the streets, having forced out two leaders in just two days. protesters have helped bring about the downfall of the country's long—term president, and then the man who led the coup to topple him — seen as too close to the old regime. they want an immediate transfer to civilian rule and have momentum. but in an attempt to pacify them, general abdel fattah burhan abdelrahman, sudan's third

leader in as many days, has announced the end of the nightly curfew, the release of political prisoners, and a war on corruption. but he won further changes won't come quickly. translation: a military council will be formed to represent the sovereignty of the country and a civil government should be formed with the general agreement of the people. the military council will also be committed to paving the road for civil rule, based on a maximum of a two year transitional period. at the end of these two years, power will be handed over to a civilian government chosen by the people. sudan's unstable political situation follows months of unrest over rising prices. the organisation that aims to bring peace and prosperity to the continent says all sides need to talk to each other. more now than ever it's time to engage in inclusive dialogue, to create the conditions that would make it possible to meet the aspirations of the sudanese people, to uphold democracy and good

governance and restore constitutional order as soon as possible. the new man in charge has been seen on the streets of khartoum talking to the protesters. and an initial meeting has taken place, but whoever ends up the long—term leader will face huge challenges — not least an economy in serious trouble. simon jones, bbc news. more than 60 migrants have been allowed to disembark in the maltese capital valetta after four eu countries agreed to take them in. the ship had earlier been refused entry by malta, and also italy, saying it was libya's responsibility to take in the boat. the italian foreign minister has warned of a new wave of migrants if european nations get involved in the libyan conflict. catherine karelli reports. these migrants have been at sea

off the coast of malta for nearly two weeks. but no longer. the passengers on board the alan kurdi rescue ship will now be redistributed between germany, france, portugal, and luxembourg. the maltese government isn't happy. it's standing firm in its refusal to take in any migrants, calling on other eu member states to step up. it says that the case was neither its responsibility nor its remit. italy's government also refused entry to the vessel. its ports have been closed to humanitarian ships since last june. thousands of migrants and refugees are trapped in the libyan capital, tripoli, as the battle for the city rages on. italy, with eu support, has been training the libyan coastguard to intercept boats as part of a controversial deal that has seen a sharp drop in migrant arrivals. the italian prime minister, speaking earlier, called for a solution to the unrest in the country. translation: there is a real risk of a humanitarian crisis, which we want to avoid.

when we think of libya it's obviously not only related to migration, we think of bringing peace to a country that's fundamental for the balance of northern africa, the middle east, the whole mediterranean, and therefore also for the european union. the alan kurdi ship is operated by the german charity sea—eye. the vessel takes its name from the three—year—old boy whose body washed up on a turkish beach at the height of the european migrant crisis in 2015. the ship is the latest to have been left adrift off the coast of europe as governments try to push migrants back towards africa. let's get some of the day's other news. at least three people have been shot dead during protests in mogadishu that erupted when a police officer killed a rickshaw driver and his passenger. hundreds of other drivers took to the streets, burning tyres and throwing stones, but witnesses say they were met with gunfire. the city's mayor has condemned the rickshaw shooting and called for protesters to remain calm.

one man is dead and another is in critical condition after a drive—by shooting outside a popular nightclub in melbourne. the attack is the latest in a spate of gun violence plaguing australia's second biggest city, where five people were killed last month. police do not believe the shooting was related to terrorism. the so—called islamic state group says it carried out a suicide attack at a market in the pakistani city of quetta on friday. 20 people were killed and many others injured in the blast. it targeted members of the hazara minority community. this is a mostly shia muslim group, whereas most pakistanis are sunni muslims. a man in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven at police officers outside the ukrainian embassy in london. police fired shots after the ukrainian ambassador‘s car was rammed twice

on saturday morning. more than 70 mps in the uk have signed a letter, urging the government to allow the extradition ofjulian assange to sweden — if officials there make a formal request. two swedish women have accused the wikileaks founder of rape and sexual assault — claims he denies. mr assange, who was arrested at the ecuadorian embassy in london on thursday, is also wanted for questioning in the us over computer hacking allegations. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. dragged out of ecuador‘s embassy in london on thursday, julian assange faces one big question. where will he be sent now? more than 70 politicians have put their names to a letter to the home secretary, sajid javid, to request that he do everything he can to champion action that will ensure thatjulian assange can

be extradited to sweden. they also urge him to stand with the victims of sexual violence and seek to ensure the case against mr assange can now be properly investigated. i've signed this letter because i think the top priority is the accusations against mr assange for rape and sexual violence in sweden, and i was very concerned that that vitally important issue seemed to be getting airbrushed out of the conversation. the swedish authorities have been pursuing julian assange for years over allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denies. at the same time, the united states wants mr assange extradited over hacking charges after his organisation wikilea ks released secret material, including this video from a us military helicopter... come on. fire! gunfire. ..appearing to show firing

at iraqi civilians in 2007. the home office isn't commenting on this letter, and as things stand, sweden hasn't requested that julian assange is sent there. but if it were to do so, british law sets out what would happen next, and it could mean the home secretary deciding where he goes. and one of the criteria in coming to that decision is the severity of the alleged offences. after seven years of voluntary imprisonment, this weekend julian assange is actually behind bars, provoking a political row and a potential international dispute over his future. chris mason, bbc news. a plane with the world's largest ever wingspan has made its first successful flight. funded by the late microsoft founder paul allen, the stratolaunch aircraft is designed to act as a flying launch pad for satellites. started in 2011, the project aims to make the process of launching satellites into space less expensive

than conventional rockets. earlier, i spoke to alan boyle, aerospace and science editor for the american tech new website geekwire, and began by asking him why the developers have gone through such effort to get the plane off the ground. the point is to provide a new method for putting satellites into space that's more responsive and more versatile. if you're launching rockets from the world's biggest aeroplane, you are able to go to places where the weather is better, you can launch anywhere where there's a big enough runway to accommodate that plane. so was more about having the ability to launch quickly and to launch into any orbit. you think it is fundamentally useful, this will be around

for a while, we will see more of them in the future? that's a debate. whether it will be the next saturn v or whether it will be the next spruce goose. a lot has changed in the launch industry in the last few years since this was developed. some said this was a plane that came after its time, actually. we will have to see how that plays out for the next couple of years. you mentioned spruce goose, tell us what that means. the spruce goose was howard hughes's huge wooden aeroplane. at that time the 1940s it was the biggest aeroplane in the world, but it only flew once. i'm glad to report that stratolaunch has flown longer in the air, two and a half hours, than the spruce goose did. that's good to know. what's the competition, is it the likes of virgin galactic? yes, it is. virgin galactic has a sister company known as virgin orbit. they are working on the same principle, but the plane is not

nearly as big. it is about its converted 7117 that would also launch a rocket from mid air and put satellite into orbit. it's not quite as heavy duty as this plane, but it could be a significant competitor for the applications that stratolaunch is looking at. just lastly, we mentioned in the introduction, this was largely funded by microsoft co—founder, paul allen, what was the idea behind him getting involved in this? yes, his dream was that this would open up more access to space, that's the big vision that he had. and he envisioned developing a new type of rocket engine and a whole line of rockets. after his death last october, stratolaunch has had to refocus on getting this plane flying. the big question is, what is the next step? stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: doctors celebrate a new treatment, called ‘gene silencing', to reverse a disease that causes crippling pain. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come.

quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: hopes that tensions in sudan appear to be easing — with the new military leadership meeting protesters. four eu countries agree to take in dozens of migrants rescued after being stranded at sea for nearly two weeks. democrats in the us congress have given officials a new deadline of april the 23rd, to hand over president trump's tax returns for the last six years. an initial deadline of wednesday was missed. the white house says it will never hand them over. here's dan johnson.

the agency that deals with tax affairs here, the internal revenue service, failed to meet the original deadline that was set by richard neal, he is chairman of the ways and means committee. the only man in congress who has the right to request tax records. now he wrote a letter, originally, setting one deadline, that was missed. he has now given the internal revenue service until the 23rd of april to provide the president's tax returns. and he says in his letter "please know that if you fail to comply your failure will be interpreted as a denial of my request". so certainly the rhetoric is ramping up on this. it has been a long—running battle that goes right back to even before the election, when donald trump stepped out of line, really, with normal practice for presidential candidates by not releasing his tax returns. and democrats have been fighting ever since, really, to see it.

it is only since taking control of congress at the start of this year that they have actually had the power to request. but the revenue service and the treasury says it needs time to actually consider exactly what the law is here and whether congress is entitled to those documents or not. the president has said he can't release his tax returns because they are under audit. others have argued that that is nonsense, there is nothing stopping him releasing those returns. the democrats say they are determined to see them because they want to establish exactly what the president's sources of income were in the years before he became president and whether, crucially, there were any conflicts of interest there. doctors have used a new type of treatment — called "gene silencing" — to reverse a disease which leaves people with crippling pain. the condition 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 other 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. the pain, it's like nothing i've ever had before. i've had a child, i've 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 messengers 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 7a%, and half of patients were completely freed from the attacks needing hospital treatment. british doctors who took part in the clinical trial said 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, at 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. i've had pain for kind of ten years. i did not expect that could go away. and to be able for that to have happened, i'm seeing friends and they are like, "you're not taking any painkillers?", and i was like, "no!" but the implications of this study go much further than sue and porphyria.

are currently untreatable. james gallagher, bbc news. sadaf khadem has won the first official boxing match ever contested by an iranian woman. fighting in her national colours, she beat a french woman, anne chauvin, in the french town of royan. khadem had to fight abroad despite having the blessing of the iranian sporting authorities. khadem said she's expecting a hero's welcome when she returns to iran next week. ramzan karmali has more. two women giving their all in a boxing ring. nothing unusual, you may think. but one of the fighters is making history. sadaf khadem's boxing journey began four years ago, training in private for much of that time. now she's just won her first ever amateur contest, over three rounds, in western france. khadem had to fight abroad as,

despite having the blessing of the iranian sporting authorities, it proved too complicated to fulfil the requirement that the bout be refereed as judged by women. but this wasn't the only barrier to her reaching her goal. translation: my parents were against boxing but then they accepted the idea and gave me support, and what i have now is because of them. khadem's boxing dream really took off when she attended a hush—hush training session in the hills of tehran two years ago. she met an iranian french born fighter mahyar monshipour, himself a former world champion. for this fight she trained at the national institute of sport and was handed a french license to practise and fight. it's also the first time she trained among men. translation: i hope this first fight will pave the way for more matches. i will go as far as i can with the plans that i have in mind and to reach the highest levels in boxing and make a name for myself

as a boxer. with her first win under her belt, khadem will be flying back to tehran next week, where she hopes her victory will inspire other women to follow her lead. ramzan karmali, bbc news. golf — and italy's francesco molinari is top of the leaderboard going into the final day of the masters in augusta. he enjoyed a second successive bogey—free round to finish 13 under par at the end of day three. but a familiar face is just two shots further back — could tiger woods be on the march? the bbc‘s tim allman reports. it feltjust like old times in augusta on saturday. cheering and applause. tiger woods hasn't won a major in more than ten years but he certainly looks in the mood to do something about that.

a round of 67, five—under par, left him 11—under for championship. that's the same score as fellow american tony finau who was eight under for the day. cheering and applause. brooks koepka had a funny old round. birdie following bogey, following birdie. but this eagle at the 15th helped him finish the day at ten—under for the championship. england's ian poulter was flying the flag for europe. a round of 68 leaving him at nine—under. but it is italy that is really flying the flag. francesco molinari was as cool as a cucumber all day. he hasn't dropped a shot since the first round and a series of birdies gave him a score of 66 and a two shot lead going into day four.

cheering and applause. molinari hasn't won a green jacket yet but the way he's playing, he's going to take some stopping. cheering and applause. famous for his dazzling glass sculptures, artist dale chihuly has returned to kew gardens in london for his latest installation. with over 30 sculptures on display, some never been seen before in the uk, our correspondent wendy hurrell has been to meet him. well, i love greenhouses, you know, and how can you not love kew? it's just the most extraordinary, with some 300 acres with all these greenhouses. it is notjust under glass that you'll find all these reflections of nature. the cherry blossoms are out at kew gardens. poking up out of the grass, not only tulips, but these amazing glass sculptures. this is just one of 32 installations across the gardens that

are going to be here until the end of october. it's the work of artist dale chihuly, based in seattle. thousands of these pieces of glass have been carefully shipped over here and displayed for us all to see. sapphire star glints in the spring light. summer sun is framed by the lake and palm house. icicle tower alone is made of nearly 2000 individual pieces of hand blown glass. because of the way they're packed and put into containers, containers very rarely get jiggled around very much, so there's very little breakage. yet that doesn't always apply in the studio that dale chihuly‘s wife manages. when the artist is pushing to the very limit what class can do, are there designs that just don't work? absolutely. i've worked on things for months and then decided at the very end that it was a bad idea and had

to break everything. that's a sad day. that is a sad day. it's a sad day when you have to break things you've made. but these seemingly fragile shards are now nestled amongst the budding plants. they're just even more beautiful and stunning in the landscape that we could have ever hoped for. i've got probably have a number of favourites. but i think the niijima floats in the japanese garden, with the cherry blossom out and the colours, with the pagoda in the background. kew gardens is hoping that the success of chihuly exhibitions across the world will be replicated here once again. wendy hurrell, bbc news. it's buddhist new year and in thailand this means celebrating with a bit of a splash. hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets carrying water pistols in what is thought to be

the world's biggest water fight. throwing water symbolises washing away last year's bad luck. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. hello, after a chilly start to the weekend, if anything during sunday it will feel a bit colder. of course it always helps if you get to see some sunshine, and most of us did at some stage on saturday. but for sunday there is expected to be more cloud building up and the east—south—easterly wind will be a bit stronger too. all that comes after a frosty start, and a good few degrees below freezing where we've had clear skies overnight, and away from any breezy conditions along north sea coasts and this weather front in north—western parts. this is a different flavour to the weather on sunday. more cloud around and some of us seeing a bit of rain. it is a frosty start for some, particularly where you are in the blue. we can see the effect of the cloud on the west, keeping temperatures up

a little and breezes coming along north sea coasts. lots of early sunshine to come, but the cloud is expected to build. in terms of catching a shower, early showers should fade and we may catch some in north—east england, a few more towards eastern scotland, wintry on the high hills. remember that weather front? here is the cloud and patchy rain from that. the isles of scilly, parts of cornwall and pembrokeshire, the further west you are, in northern ireland. the breeze is stronger. average speeds across western parts, you could get some gusts in excess of a0 miles an hour. more cloud, more wind, that will make you feel colder. really, these temperatures are already struggling for the time of year. now, as we go on through sunday night and into monday morning this weather system to the west really doesn't want to move. the closest you are to it, the more cloud there is around, still the chance of seeing outbreaks of rain, maybe still the odd shower clipping parts of eastern scotland, but most places stay dry. away from the west, not

as much blue, not so much in the way of frost. still a chilly start for many of us on monday morning. early sunny spells, again, some cloud expected to build. most places will stay dry. still getting some outbreaks of rain into parts of south—west england, wales and northern ireland. a few showers running into eastern scotland. still decidedly breezy on monday. temperatures may be a degree also higher. it is beyond monday when we are expecting more significant changes in our weather. still patchy rain in western parts on tuesday. low pressure to the west and high pressure to the east. the position of the weather system is changing slightly. we start to draw in warmer air from the south. this is all about the feel of the weather. but also, to some degree, the look as well. once we get rid of any patchy rain across western parts as the week goes on, increasing warmth and sunshine in time for easter.