this is bbc news, i'm carrie gracie, the headlines at 11am. the prime minister has described the killing ofjournalist lyra mckee in londonderry as "shocking and truly senseless". sinn fein said it was "heartbreaking". those people who carried out this attack have no place in society. those people who carried out this attack do not have any support. those people who carried out this attack have attacked all of us. climate change protests in london are entering their fifth day, with more than 1,000 police officers deployed to cover the demonstrations over the easter weekend. local authorities are accused of the social cleansing of people who rough sleep, beg or loiter by misusing council powers to issue fines.

this is the scene live in paris where notre—dame cathedral services have been moved elsewhere, as firefighters continue working to ensure no further fires erupt. two women have died after they got into difficulties in the water off aberdeen beach. chelsea and arsenal are through to the europa league semi—finals. good morning and welcome to bbc news. a journalist has been shot dead in londonderry in what police are treating as a terrorist incident. dissident republicans are being blamed for the death of 29—year—old journalist lyra mckee in a shooting during rioting after police searches in the creggan area last night.

a murder inquiry has been launched. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. disorder broke out following police raids in the city. footage on social media showed petrol bombs being thrown at armoured police vehicles. officers said that, after shots being fired, a 29—year—old woman was killed. she has been named locally as lyra mckee, a journalist who had been on the scene of the rioting. unfortunately, at 11 o'clock last night, a gunman appeared and fired a number of shots towards the police, and a young woman, lyra mckee, 29 years old, was wounded. she was taken away from the scene in a police land rover to altnagelvin hospital, but unfortunately she has died. the police have described it as a terrorist incident and say a murder inquiry has been launched. political leaders in northern ireland have condemned the violence. the deputy leader of sinn fein, michelle 0'neill, calling it an attack on all the community.

and the leader of the democratic unionists, arlene foster, saying it was a senseless act. creggan is an area which is a housing estate so this is outside people's houses was where the rioting was happening. so they had come out, there were young people, there were children on the street, there were teenagers milling about and a gunman just fired indiscriminately up the street. tributes on social media have described the killing ofjournalist lyra mckee as heartbreaking. dissident republicans are being blamed for last night's violence which led to her death. emma vardy, bbc news. more reaction because the irish prime minister leo varadkar has offered his condolences to lyra mckee‘s family. he tweeted the government condemns in the strongest possible terms the fatal shooting of journalist and writer at lyra mckee in derry. we are full of sadness after last night's events.

we cannot allow those who want to propagate violence, fear and hate to drag us back to the past. this morning, speaking to journalists, the leader of the dup, arlene foster, has called on the community to support the police in bringing the perpatrators to justice. violence, criminality, terrorism was always wrong and is still wrong today in 2019. we condemn it wholeheartedly. we hope that everyone will work in londonderry, and indeed further afield, with the police service to give them all the support that they need. and can i commend the officers last night who stood between the community and those who sought to do the community harm. and i would also commend those in altnagelvin hospital who tried to save lyra's life. so obviously this is a very sad day. but we look to the future and we need to build a platform where there is no equivalence in relation to terrorism

or criminality, a platform for democracy, and a platform that works for everybody. arlene foster. from the other side of the political divide. the vice president of sinn fein, michelle 0'neill, has also spoken this morning, and added her voice to those condemning the attack. this is a tragic loss of a young life and our hearts are broken for all those concerned. those people who carried out this attack have no place in society. attack do not have any support. those people who carried out this attack have attacked all of us. they've attacked the community. they've attacked the people of derry. they've attacked the peace process. and they have attacked the good friday agreement. they should disband, they should desist. they have no role in our society. i'm about to travel to derry and stand in solidarity with the people, to stand in solidarity with the community who don't want see this on the streets. it's important that we are all joined up and united in our condemnation.

it is important that we are all joined up and united in terms of supporting the community at what is a hugely, hugely difficult time. michelle 0'neill. 0ur reporterjulian fowler is in derry and earlier told me about the group police are blaming for this attack. the police are blaming dissident republicans, particularly a group known as the new ira. they were responsible for a car bomb outside the courthouse here in the city just at the beginning outside the courthouse here in the cityjust at the beginning of outside the courthouse here in the city just at the beginning of the year. the police say they were acting on strong intelligence in carrying out the searches in the creggan area last night, that an attack was planned on monday. the commemoration events at this time of year commemorating the easter rising in 1916. during those searches in the creggan last night, the police came under sustained attack, more than 50 petrol bombs were thrown at police vehicles.

two cars were hijacked and set on fire, and just before 11 o'clock a gunman was seen crouching down with a handgun and firing shots indiscriminately at the police. we now understand up to ten shots were fired. the journalist lyra mckee was standing near one of the police vehicles. she was hit. the police brought her to hospital where she later died. lyra mckee has been described by the national union ofjournalists as one of the most promising young journalists here in northern ireland, and her death has caused widespread shock. there has been condemnation from politicians throughout the political parties here in northern ireland and a short time ago the prime minister condemned what she described as a shocking and senseless killing and paid tribute to a lyra mckee, a journalist, she said, who died doing herjob with great courage. julian fowler in derry.

the climate change protests in london are entering their fifth day, as more than 1,000 police officers are deployed to cover the demonstrations over the easter weekend. campaigners from the group extinction rebellion are continuing to block sites in london including oxford circus and waterloo bridge. since monday, more than 500 activists have been arrested, with some roads in the city still blocked. 0rganisers of a climate change protest at heathrow airport say that they have created what they call an emotional disruption. a smalll group called extinction rebellion youth — mostly aged under 17 — have been standing by the entrance to terminals 2 and 3, but all roads have remained open. this follows continuing protests by extinction rebellion blocking some major road junctions in central london. 0ur correspondent sarah walton is at waterloo bridge in central london. just how severe is the disruption there, sarah? well, the road remains blocked off, it has been blocked off

110w blocked off, it has been blocked off now since monday. that means the traffic, normally there would be a lot of traffic on this bridge, one of the main routes over the thames in central london, it means they cannot get across. it is a public holiday, which means i can tell you at the end of the road the traffic is moving, we have not seen the same level of disruption we have for the last few days. we still have a group of about 150—200 people blocking the bridge from extinction rebellion, they are having a community meeting at the moment to talk about how the demonstrations have been going. interestingly a few moments ago they we re interestingly a few moments ago they were speaking about the positive relationship they say they have built with the police, they have been asking protesters to chat to the police when they see them, not to give them personal details, but to give them personal details, but to talk to them and be friendly. there are police here, i don't know if you can see a couple of officers on the other side of the bridge. this is mostly what they have been doing this morning, patrolling and monitoring the situation. i have seen no sign here today of arrests being made or people being moved, but we know that more than 400 people have been arrested in connection with the protests since

they began on monday. about ten people charged. i spoke to a protester this morning who said they we re protester this morning who said they were arrested at oxford circus yesterday, they spent about three hours in police custody, they were then released and they came straight back to the protests, and they say thatis back to the protests, and they say that is part of their strategy, to return to these sites and to stay for as long as they can. so they are still blocking waterloo bridge here, they are also still blocking 0xford circus and parliament square, and another site at marble arch. police have been asking people to leave these sites, oxford circus and parliament square command to move to the protest at marble arch where they do have permission for a demonstration site. chatting to people here, they say they do not wa nt to people here, they say they do not want to do that, it is a de—escalation of their movement and they haven't yet achieved what they set out to do, which is to get the government to take more urgent action against climate change, and so action against climate change, and so they will stay at this site for as long as they can, they say. thank you very much, sarah.

meanwhile, hundreds of protesters have blocked the entrance of the headquarters of the societe generale bank in paris. greenpeace activists are campaigning against the investment and financing of fossil fuel industries. french police have used pepper spray to try to disperse protesters who are have barricaded themselves both inside and outside of the building. we will keep an eye on that for you. two people have died after they got into difficulties in the water off aberdeen beach. the emergency services were sent to the scene at around 12:45am this morning after reports of two women in the water. they were picked up by the lifeboat service and taken by ambulance to hospital but both women later died. we hope to hearfrom we hope to hear from the police we hope to hearfrom the police in aberdeen shortly and we will go straight overfor aberdeen shortly and we will go straight over for the news conference. in other news. authorities say three top professional climbers are presumed dead in an avalanche

in the canadian rockies. the trio were attempting to scale howse peak and failed to check in on time. the men have been named as david lama and hansjoerg auer from austria, and jess roskelley, from the us. a bone in the knee, which appears to serve no purpose and which scientists thought was being lost to evolution, seems to be making a comeback. researchers at imperial college london say the fabella is now three times more common in the human body than in 1918. their study also found people with arthritis appeared to be more likely to have one. i mentioned the news conference in aberdeen and it is beginning. straight over there, with police and emergency services. 0k, everybody, thank you for coming down, iam 0k, everybody, thank you for coming down, i am a chief inspector with police scotland and responsible for covering aberdeen. this is ross greenhill from her majesty's coastguard and a representative from

the rnli. i will read a short preprepared statement to you and make ourselves available for some short questions thereafter. i can confirm that two women aged 22 and 36 have sadly died following an incident on the aberdeen esplanade in the early hours of this morning. at around 12:45am this morning along with our partner agencies including coastguard, rnli, we attended the scene after coastguard, rnli, we attended the scene after concerns were coastguard, rnli, we attended the scene after concerns were raised for two people who had entered the water. both women who are foreign nationals were recovered by the rnli ina nationals were recovered by the rnli in a lifeboat and taken to the hospital, aberdeen royal infirmary, where despite extensive efforts to save them they sadly died. above all my thoughts are with all of those who will be affected by this tragic incident. whilst officers continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding why these women came to be in the water so late at night, at this stage there appears to be no suspicious circumstances. from our initial inquiries, which include speaking to a witness who was present at the time, we understand they entered the water for the

purposes of swimming. but sadly they underestimated the conditions. extensive efforts are ongoing to make contact with their next of kin. however, i'm sure you will appreciate this might take some time. formal identification has not yet ta ke n time. formal identification has not yet taken place and further information will only be released once the families of those involved have been fully informed. i'd like to ta ke have been fully informed. i'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the rescue personnel who were involved in last night's operation who attended and assisted at the scene who attended and assisted at the scene during the night and did their very best to save the women who were involved. 0ur seas can be extremely unforgiving, conditions can change rapidly, and i can't stress enough the dangers of entering the water at any time day or night, whether or not you are suitably prepared or experienced. public safety is paramount and police scotland is committed to working with our partners to ensure that people know of the dangers of entering any body of the dangers of entering any body of water whether you are swimming, sailing or walking near the water's edge. thank you. do you know what

nationality they were? i'm just prepared to say they are foreign nationals at this stage. do you know where they came from? they lived in aberdeen city. who raised the alarm? aberdeen city. who raised the alarm? a member of the public. was that member of the public with them? he became aware of the circumstances. do you know where they had been prior? i'm not sure inquiries are at an early stage, this incident happened less than 12 hours ago. how far away from the shore were they? i'm not in receipt of that information but perhaps somebody from coastguard or rnli will be able to provide us with that. they were not too far away from just where the end of the groins are. that was roughly the location. you said they went in to swim. where they wearing swimsuits? again, it is an early stage in the investigation, i'm prepared to tell you at this stage that they were swimming. do you know anything about the conditions last

night? i will pass that to my colleagues. the conditions were not too bad at all. we have had an easterly breeze for the last couple of weeks, so that causes a bit of swell coming into the shore. it was high tide as well which also causes problems, particularly here, because when the water is in there is not a ready escape to get out of the water. this it was high tide, slight easterly breeze, and obviously being dark as well can cause a problem when you are searching for someone. what condition whether in when you found them ? what condition whether in when you found them? as far as i recall they we re found them? as far as i recall they were fine, they were in good enough condition. we just took them from the water onto the boats and then took them back to the harbour. there was nothing unusual. they want unconscious? not at the time. is this quite a distressing incident to

be called to? it is quite distressing for our crew. the rnli ethosis distressing for our crew. the rnli ethos is to save life at sea. when we came back into the harbour, that's not been achieved. the atmosphere in the lifeboat station just isn't the same. do we know if the two women are related? sorry, i don't know that, sorry. they are not from the same family? i'm not prepared to give any information on that, it's still early stages, not all people involved have been advised and it would be inappropriate to give any further information in that regard. talking about the witness who was there, is that the same person who called the police? it is. so basically there are three people involved? there was are three people involved? there was a member of the public aware of the circumstances and to members of the public in the water. that person was not with them? i'm not really... i'm not with them? i'm not really... i'm not prepared to give you any further information. i'm not hiding anything, i'm not misleading you, i just don't think it's appropriate to

comment on the full circumstances while the investigation is still ongoing. was he holding their bags while they went into the water? that is conjecture, we don't have the full information at this stage and it's too early to go into it. you have had officers examining the beach today, for what purpose? the purposeis beach today, for what purpose? the purpose is to make sure that we have made sure that anything was left after the search operation has been recovered and there is no further information or anything that would shed light on the circumstances or further inform it. there is nothing peculiar about it, it is just good practice. studio: we will leave the news co nfe re nce practice. studio: we will leave the news conference that they're on the beach at aberdeen. the police, the lifeboat service, rnli, and coast guard as well, and as you will have heard, a 22—year—old and a 36—year—old women, foreign nationals both, died as a result of that accident off the waters of aberdeen. they were close to the shore, as we

have heard, close to the beach, this happened at about 12:45am, the lifeboats were called, they got them onto the boats, but unfortunately they died later in the hospital. no suspicious circumstances at the present time, according to the police. according to a witness they went in to swim and the police saying it sounds as if they underestimated the conditions in the water at the time. but according to the rnli, condition is not too bad. so the investigation is ongoing and we will keep you up to speed on that. now, let's take a look at the sport this easter weekend and here is mike for us. good morning again, thank you. anybody busy on social media checking their phones this morning may have noticed this image coming up, the red background and the hashtag which says enough. why? footballers across england and wales are leading a 24 hours social media strike that started at 9am this

morning with that hashtag and it is in protest at how racism is being dealt by football authorities and social media companies. among those taking part is the footballer annie rose, who was abused during the euro 2020 qualifier in montenegro last month and the boycott kicks off the professional footballers‘ association antiracism campaign entitled #enough. —— danny rose. association antiracism campaign entitled #enough. -- danny rose. we wa nt entitled #enough. -- danny rose. we want them to deal with the situation quicker, impose stricter fines and punishments, and obviously the perpetrators need to be dealt with also. we like to think that government and anybody would get involved in this, stronger legislation. footballers can only do what they can do, we understand they have got to be professional and they‘ve got to focus on the game, but nobody should be put through the amount of abuse they have to put up with. whether you are a celebrity, regardless of how much money you earn,itis regardless of how much money you earn, it is before, during and after, whether you have played well 01’ after, whether you have played well or not, the abuse is there. they‘ve got family and friends, they‘ve got foundations and charities, they do a

lot of good work, footballers come out on their timeline, a lot of people they work with, young people and children, i having to view all of this and it‘s not acceptable. and children, i having to view all of this and it's not acceptable. the former premier league starjason lee. it will not be news kilmarnock fa ns wa nt to lee. it will not be news kilmarnock fans want to hear but steve clarke is the early bookies favourite to ta ke is the early bookies favourite to take over the scotland manager‘s job from alex mcleish after his second speuin from alex mcleish after his second spell in charge was ended afterjust 14 months. mcleish was only in the dugout for scotland for 12 games of which he won five and lost 790 came under real pressure after a poor start to the euro 2020 qualifiers. most notably that embarrassing 3—0 defeat to kazakhstan. david moyes is also in the running according to the bookmakers but the former saint mirren and chelsea player and coach clark has many supporters. i'd be making a beeline for steve clarke who is currently the kilmarnock manager. successful time at a variety of english clubs and he was a management material there as well. he‘s had a fabulous season with

kilmarnock and kilmarnock fans will be devastated if he did go but for me looking around the names like david moyes are being shouted about, there are quite a few that would do a decentjob, there are quite a few that would do a decent job, and there are quite a few that would do a decentjob, and maximise the potential of that group. anyone better than steve clarke? not that i can see. manchester united manager ole gunnar solskjaer is hoping to get back to winning ways after being knocked out of the champions league quarter—finals on tuesday. including the two defeats to barcalona, united have lost five of their last seven games. it's it‘s great to have games to look forward to. and the focus was changed straightaway. of course, we spoke about it after the game. forget about this, we are out, we wa nt to forget about this, we are out, we want to be here again and to be back at these stadiums we need to get amongst the top four. fantastic week to look forward to. players are in a good state mentally. jarrell miller, says he‘s "done nothing wrong" and will appeal the decision,

to deny him a licence to face, anthonyjoshua at madison square garden, on the 1st ofjune. he returned an "adverse finding," in a drug test and he‘s asked for his b sample, to be examined. former world champion paulie malignaggi says whatever the outcome in this case boxing does have a problem. there are a lot of fighters who are dirty and the drug testing needs to be more stringent, more often and more capable. you are going to see more guys get away with this. the fact you catch guys once ina this. the fact you catch guys once in a while because you are catching the cheetahs shows you it is there but the drug tests needs to be more strict and on a more regular basis. that‘s all this but for now. will perry will have more for you after midday. we are going back to the story that might lead with. professional footballers in england and wales are to boycott social media for 24 hours on friday, to protest against the way social networks and football authorities respond to racism. it follows a number of high—profile incidents in domestic and international matches this season.

let‘s talk to a representative from the antiracism educational charity show racism the red card. do you feel this is necessary? yes, show racism the red card. do you feelthis is necessary? yes, i do, it‘s time to take action and enough is enough. this has been going on enough time. we are an education charity working predominantly with children but we also work with football clu bs children but we also work with football clubs and we have noticed this tpims crease in the number of racist incidents online and in the playground. it is notjust in the playground. it is notjust in the playground. we support this by the players. why do you think this is getting worse? i don't know, there isa number of getting worse? i don't know, there is a number of things, there appears to bea is a number of things, there appears to be a growing intolerance to difference. whether that‘s because people are a different skin colour, religion, culture, or nationality, it is sometimes stoked up by irresponsible reports in the media and also by politicians. but it

seems to be increasing in the playground. we find that young people are seemingly finding it appropriate to use racial slurs rather than described people in the correct way. it is something that needs challenging and education is the key. but things like this, actions like this by the pfa and the footballers themselves are welcomed because it does raise the attention to the whole nation. the footballers themselves are role models to a lot of these kids. they are, they have great responsibility, the players, andi great responsibility, the players, and i think that the current crop of players are finding their voice. i think in the past it has all been a bit kept under the radar a bit, players haven‘t been allowed to speak out but players like raheem sterling and troy deeney and others, danny rose, they are speaking out and it‘s good and more need to follow. as i say it‘s notjust about skin colour. it‘s about all forms of

difference. it is vile and it must be called out. there must be greater punishments. the social media companies need to take greater action. but there needs to be more education in schools because we have to work at the grassroots level. it's to work at the grassroots level. it‘s not just to work at the grassroots level. it‘s notjust professional football, by the way, it is grassroots football. you keep saying it is on the playgrounds as well. i suppose the playgrounds as well. i suppose the next point i was going to make is if it is in the playground and on social media, you can see the football clu bs social media, you can see the football clubs saying there is not a lot we can do about that. but if it is at the grounds, then surely the players can expect their clubs to act more robustly against it. the footballers, regardless of how much money they are paid, and there has been a lot made of that, it doesn‘t matter, they are employees, and they are entitled to rights from their employer which is the football club. so football clubs need to take more action. everybody that goes into that stadium is a paying customer and they need to be dealt with as

anyone else would in society. if these things took place in a theatre these things took place in a theatre the police would be called, i‘m sure, the person would be dealt with. it is starting to happen, football clu bs with. it is starting to happen, football clubs are taking action now. we have seen examples of that, but it has been very, very slow and much more needs to be done. but it does go back to the grassroots. it goes back to society. this is a society problem, notjust a football problem. i suppose the clubs have some carrots and sticks at their disposal, haven‘t they, because a lot of the people out there want to go to those matches and if the matches were played in an empty stadium because the racial chanting was too outrageous, that would wake up was too outrageous, that would wake up some of the crowd, at least, to the disadvantage to themselves to doing that. the majority of football fans, we must remember, i am a football fan, we love the game and we love those who play the game. it doesn‘t matter where they come from. we just appreciate good football and

we are decent human beings and football supporters in the main are like that and you are seeing exa m ples of football like that and you are seeing examples of football supporters that are calling it out and filming things on mobile phones and it is going on twitter. there was something that happened recently at the fa cup semifinal against watford players and it was filmed by a supporter who was obviously second, andi supporter who was obviously second, and i think we need to do more to support the general supporter who doesn‘t like this and give them help and make it easier to report these incidents so they can be dealt with. steve goodsell, thank you for joining us. services that would have been held at notre dame are being held elsewhere because of the devastating blaze that destroyed the roof and spy blaze that destroyed the roof and spy on monday night. we can cross now to paris and speak to our correspondent

there, hugh schofield. what is the latest? as you say there is no possibility of holding anything in or near notre dame. i suppose they may have been a thought at one point that may be on the esplanade, the big square open area in front of the cathedral they could have done something symbolic, but that‘s completely off—limits because of safety concerns. so, what is going to happen today later on is that the traditional procession of the stations of the cross, which would have taken place inside the cathedral, is going to take place outside the cathedral and on a route thatis outside the cathedral and on a route that is well away from the cathedral starting off on the adjacent island ile saint louis, and across a bridge over the seine river. it involves 12 stops where the root of christ to the cross is commemorated, so i imagine they will have arranged something similar but obviously

without the regular paraphernalia around them and iconography around them which they would have had in them which they would have had in the cathedral. later on they will be having the good friday service at the church of saint sultans, a big church, much later construction, not too far away on the left bank, and on sunday it will be held on the right bank. —— sulpitius. on sunday it will be held on the right bank. -- sulpitius. time for a look at the weather. bank don‘t often go together but we have lots of sunshine, fine and settled conditions for the long easter weekend. this was taken earlier this morning, lots of sunshine at portland in dorset. the skies are hazy and high plywood around. continuing through the rest of the day. yesterday was the warmest day of the year across england, scotland, wales and northern ireland, 23.3 celsius in west sussex, higher temperatures than that today and even higher tomorrow, 25 or 26 across some parts of

london, quite