this is bbc news, i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: northern ireland police question two men over the killing of journalist lyra mckee. they warn that a new breed of terrorist is coming through the ranks. there was a real sense that what happened to lyra marked the sea change, and i want people to have confidence to come forward to help us. french police fire tear gas and arrest more than 100 people during the latest anti—government yellow vests protests in paris. after a week of climate change demonstrations in central london, the head of the police force urges protestors to move on. and a hero's welcome for the japanese man who's become the first blind person to sail

a yacht across the pacific ocean. we start in northern ireland where detectives are questioning two men in connection with the murder ofjournalist lyra mckee. the 29—year—old was shot dead as she was watching rioting in londonderry on thursday night, 21 years after the good friday peace agreement was signed. the suspects, who are 18 and 19, were arrested under the terrorism act. officials say they believe a dissident irish republican group, the new ira, was behind the killing. from belfast, louise cullen reports. a journalist, campaigner, beloved partner and devoted daughter. the police today said they'd met lyra mckee‘s family to try to answer their questions and they said the killing had united the community

against the dissidents. my broader concern is that what we're seeing is a new breed of terrorists coming through the ranks. and that, for me, is a very worrying situation. there is a real sense that what happened to lyra marked the sea change, and i want people to have the confidence to come forward. two men were arrested in derry this morning in connection with the murder of lyra mckee. they were brought here to belfast for questioning at the psni serious crime suite in musgrave police station. they're being held under the terrorism act. the police were carrying out a search operation targeting dissident republicans in the creggan area of derry on thursday night when rioting flared. in cctv footage, a masked man steps out from behind a wall. he disappears. then a few minutes later, a man with a gun fires shots towards police and onlookers. lyra mckee was rushed to hospital where she died from her injuries. police believe a group calling itself the new ira was behind the shooting. one of the things that's worrying about this organisation

is that they do have people who were experienced in the dark arts of bomb making, when they were in the provisional ira, and some of those people have gone over to the new ira in the last decade or so. for friends of the journalist and lg bt activist, reality is just beginning to sink in. when i woke up this morning, i did think that i dreamt all this, it hadn't really happened. i'd dreamt the vigil, i'd dreamt everything and then i heard the news and i realised that it wasn't some awful nightmare, it was true. and people across northern ireland are standing with lyra's family and friends, with books of condolence being signed and vigils held in a number of towns and cities. everybody should show their condemnation of this murder in some shape or form. we need to move forward, and that nobody wants to go back to those dark days, and that our children deserve the opportunity to never be brought up in that, the way we all were. the community has been brought together to stand against that possibility by the killing

of a woman who called herself a ceasefire baby. louise cullen, bbc news. there've been clashes between demonstrators and police in paris, on the 23rd saturday of ‘yellow vest‘ protests. officers fired tear gas and arrested nearly 200 people. the protesters have been banned from the area around the champs elysees and notre dame cathedral. our europe regional editor danny aeberhard reports. chanting it's week 23 of the yellow vest protests, and the first since monday's catastrophic fire in notre dame cathedral. but if the authorities hoped that that disaster heralded a moment of newfound unity, they were wrong. political tensions continue to smoulder, erupting into clashes on the streets of paris. a group of protesters set motorbikes alight in one area. the violence was nothing like the scale of the riots in december. one protester said radical elements had hijacked a mostly peaceful demonstration.

for peaceful reasons. we should be able to move around everywhere, but it's true, it's not very pleasant doing this. we can't protest as we would like, so it's getting tense. anger remains, though. some of it this week was directed against the colossal sum, about $1 billion, raised in just days to restore notre—dame. demonstrators have criticised the ease with which billionaires and corporations have funded huge donations for the fire—damaged cathedral rather than to alleviate poverty. hundreds of extra police officers have been drafted into central london to help clear climate change protestors from the capital's roads. more than 750 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began on monday.

the metropolitan police have defended their handling of the situation, describing the operation as unprecedented. jon donnison reports. the extinction rebellion has life in it yet. for a sixth day, climate change protesters targeted central london. yesterday's pink boat at oxford circus was replaced by a green hammock. their message: they're not going away. if there were a better way, please, somebody tell us because we've tried the suggested ways. we tried writing to mps, we've tried doing petitions, we've tried just standing in the street with banners. it clearly hasn't worked. cheering she was eventually arrested, as were others, but they're not making it easy for the police. some protesters had glued themselves together with their arms encased with piping. a cheer goes up now as one protester has been released. here at oxford circus, the police are using bolt cutters, angle grinders and special chemicals to break through the glue

that protesters have used to stick themselves together. cheering there were similar scenes at waterloo bridge. we were here to protect our kids and to protect our future kids and their future kids, and you don't have to understand science to understand that. the metropolitan police have had to request 200 extra officers from neighbouring forces, but deny they're struggling to cope or that cells are full. it's been a really challenging operation. they're using very dynamic communications and very dynamic tactics. i think many people would say we haven't seen anything quite like this in this city or around the country before. by late afternoon, the last of the protesters at oxford circus had been removed and traffic was flowing again. you are suffocating me. you are drowning me.

but as dusk fell at waterloo bridge, some demonstrators were preparing to bed down for the night. in the morning, they'll be back. jon donnison, bbc news, in central london. let's get some of the day's other news. in sudan, the country's public prosecutor has begun an investigation into former president omar al—bashir on charges of money laundering. millions of dollars in cash were reportedly discovered, hidden in sacks of grain at his home. mr bashir was ousted from power last month following months of protests and a military coup. commemorations have been held in the us state of colorado to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting at columbine high school, in which 13 people were killed. the gunmen, who were students at the school, finally turned their weapons on themselves. flowers and cards have been laid at a memorial to the victims in the suburb of denver.

egyptians are voting in a three—day referendum on changes to the constitution that would give more power to president abdul fattah al—sisi. the amendments could extend mr sisi's time in office from four to six years, and allow him to stand for a third term. they also grant him wide control over judicial appointments and strengthen the role of the military. mr sisi's government has crushed opposition since he took power in 2013. bbc arabic‘s ranyah sabry is in the egyptian capital, cairo. she explained how people there have been reacting. for the time being, from what we have been seeing on the screens at local stations, for people at the outside the voting polls are much larger than those entering the voting polls. it is a smooth process so voting polls. it is a smooth process so far, everyone voting not centrally connected, meaning somebody would give his vote at one

place & an id card, but there is no guarantee that he couldn't go & elsewhere. the turnout has been low, which is expected. the last referendum there were only 36% of the voting electorate that turned out to polling stations, but again we still have 72 hours to go. sunday and monday there will still be voting in place, and officials expect at least monday evening. ukrainians will head to the polls on sunday as voters make their choice between the incumbent president petro poroshenko and his opponent, the comedian, volodomyr zelensky. the bbc‘sjonah fisher reports on what's been an extraordinary campaign for the ukrainian presidency.

just like a football match, the supporters are being segregated. this is where they split them up. there is a sign here. if you support volodomyr zelensky, you go to the green side. if you support petro poroshenko, the president, their fan zone is the purple on the right. this is the olympic stadium in kiev, where the champions league final took place last year. it has now been split in half. on that side are supporters of petro poroshenko and then there is a line of police and on this side here, supporters of volodomyr zelensky.

as you may expect when you hold a debate in a football stadium, the crowd are getting involved. every time one of the candidates says something which the other supporters do not like, very loud booing and big reactions. after 60 minutes, less than the duration of a football match, this debate is over. going into this, volodomyr zelensky was the favourite to win on sunday. we will have to see whether what happened here makes any difference to that. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come, alive and buzzing: how 200,000 bees living on the roof of notre—dame cathedral survived this week's inferno. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would actually go through with it. one of the most successful singer songwriters of all time, the american pop star prince has died at the age of 57. he was a great musician and, you know, a genius. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting uneasily with the abiding memories

of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: police in northern ireland warn a new breed of terrorist is coming through the ranks. they're questioning two men in connection with the killing of thejournalist, lyra mckee. french police fire tear gas and arrest more than 100 people during the latest anti—government yellow vests protests in paris. there's been heavy fighting south of the libyan capital, tripoli, after soldiers loyal to the un—backed government said they had launched a counter—offensive against general khalifa haftar‘s forces.

more than 200 people have died since general haftar began his attempt to capture tripoli two weeks ago. tripoli's international airport at mitiga has now been closed for security reasons. for more analysis on the worsening situation in tripoli, we can speak to samuel ramani, who is an expert on libya and international security, as well as a contributor to the washington post. hejoins us now from oxford university. thank you very much forjoining us. events a re thank you very much forjoining us. events are moving and happening in tripoli, but people would be very confused about the situation in libya. if you can give us a sense, as the general pushes into tripoli, who internationally, what countries internationally are supporting him? haftar has support from egypt. they said they would back them and

preserve stability. in addition, he has financial support from the united arab emirates, which is the predominant base of his territory, and russia has provided him with some support. in the un, they block the —— resolution for the conflict and deploy private military contract does to libya. after i visited moscow last year, they asked him for more military assistance. france has not backed him, but they have had the same role as russia, blocking criticism of his government. saudi arabia has engaged as well. we have those five hours. -- five powers. what is confusing about this is there is a un backed government separate to general haftar in libya. is the international community no

longer supporting this government thatis longer supporting this government that is fighting the general this point? the accord which was established in libya has been losing territory over the past year, has lost control over lots of libya's oil reserves and is shrinking. it still needs the staunch support of the overwhelming countries in the un, but in practice, it is not getting anywhere near the international support or alliances that haftar is getting. they are willing to support military. what do you think is going to think —— what is going to happen? see him fighting, they are meeting resistance. where is this going to goad? i think that when haftar began his offensive, he was frustrated with the fact he had control over the reserves and territory, but could not convert that into gains that the bargaining table. i think

that the bargaining table. i think that it hasn't worked out as fast as he would have liked, there is something of a stalemate developing, but he hopes that if he does gain more ground, they will try to cut the losses and come back and get international recognition of his control of eastern libya. they are pushing him in that direction, even though he is now pushing for victory. it is a complicated situation and we are keeping an eye on it. thank you very much. in 1916, the soil association charity was formed in the uk to promote farming without agrochemicals. now, more than 70 years later, the charity has 27,000 members, and works to support eating locally grown food, as well as educating the public on nutrition. the group certifies more than 80% of the organic produce in the uk. john butler, one of the first organic farmers, shares his memories. the great thing about

organic farming is that you do all you can to build up life in the soil. now, one of the chief ways of doing this is by using natural organic manures as opposed to artificial chemical fertilisers. soil produces food. and without soil, hunger is the consequence. and we damage our soil at our peril. now, when a soil is deprived of its protective layer, then the structure begins to break down. the war brought in mechanisation and then developmental chemicals. in the struggle for greater food production, scientists all over the world have turned their attention to the control of weeds

and pests by chemical spray. these things, most of them did not smell very nice. they were not nice to handle. the deeper instincts of many people were offended by them. they were usually called 'artificials' in a derogatory term. if you put artificial fertiliser near a worm, that worm will wiggle away from it. it is violent, vicious stuff. it was only gradually that people began to see the deterioration of the soil. when it has lost its cohesiveness, then it is subject to erosion. irememberwell standing here in that field and looking out over the horizon and just being horror struck to see a great dust cloud obscuring the horizon. in dry, sunny, windy conditions in the springtime particularly, the fine soil particulate on the surface

get whipped up into cloud that can rise into the air 300 or 400 feet. there is no soil erosion with good farming. if i went out and picked up a handful of my soil here, you'd see it's so alive, it almost walks off my hands. it's full of wiggly things. there was a classic book written by lady eve balfour, who founded the soil association, called the living soil, that really made people sit up and think. lady eve was an independent minded lady and she was interested in farming, one of the first women farmers. she is a dear old thing. a little frightening because she had short grey hair and deep husky voice. she pointed out that it is obvious that anyone who looks at fertile soil that it is alive, it is a living thing, really. it has a mineral base of sand and grains of rock,

but this is all knit together with organic matter by microorganisms, both plant and animal microorganisms, which produce this substance called humus, which binds the soil together in crumbs, and this crumb—like structure, which is fundamental to the health of the soil. i was brought up with the saying that a good farmer leaves the land better than he found it. i never actually like to call myself an organic farmer. i don't know. i like to be considered a good farmer. i love farming. that's why i've been so richly rewarded. because i've put my heart into it and i've been the richest man in the world because of it.

ajapanese sailor has become the first blind person to sail a yacht across the pacific ocean. mitsuhiro iwamoto left california in the united states forjapan two months ago. caroline rigby tells his story. it came into view as a small dot on the horizon, a 40—foot yacht carrying the first blind person to sail across the pacific. nearing the end of an epic 14,000—kilometre journey and two months at sea. as they neared dry land, people gathered at the dock to welcome them. mitsuhiro iwamoto, ajapanese citizen who lost his sight at the age of 16, set sail on february 2a from san diego, where he now lives. thank you for coming. a sighted navigator dog assisted him with information on potential hazards and wind direction.

his first attempt at the crossing ended in disaster after his yacht sank when hit by a whale. the 52—year—old was overjoyed to finally complete the challenge. translation: it was really tough and i realised that the pacific ocean is boundless. i've had enough, so i will not sail yachts for a while. they celebrated reaching land with a hot shower and cold beer, safe in the knowledge they've also raised money for charities to help prevent diseases that cause blindness. close to 200,000 bees that live on the roof of notre—dame cathedral in paris have survived the devastating fire, which destroyed much of the building on monday. three hives are still intact. experts say that the smoke is likely to have made them drunk. hugh schofield reports from paris. for six years, they've been keeping bees on the roof of notre—dame. the inferno, one might have thought, should have reduced the three hives to a large pool of wax, but no. this brief video taken this afternoon

shows that all is still in order. the day after, we had pictures taken by drones, and i could see the three dots made by the roof of the hives, and nothing was in front, nothing that looked like melted wax. and then on thursday, nicola, my boss met on the pavement and he said he'd seen bees going back and forth into the hives. luckily, the hives were not on the part of the roof that burned, but on the sacristy, a much lower level, visible here in the foreground. night was falling when the fire broke out, so the bees should have been settling down to rest. i was first very pleased, but facing them, they were on earth before us and they will be after us, i am definitely convinced of that, even with whatever we do, pesticides, i am always positive and i know that they will survive definitely.

christian writers of antiquity saw bees as an inspiration for the church, a community of workers toiling for a common good. easter time at notre—dame, they are providing another symbol of life and hope. good news story coming up about the fire. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello. after two days of easter weekend warmth, you may be watching this to see if it is set to continue for the rest of the weekend. the short answer is yes, but keep watching now for the longer answer. this is the view from oxfordshire earlier where it was a chilly start for saturday. warm in the sunshine again and the weather front close to north—west scotland, giving some outbreaks of rain and more cloud to parts of ireland, but that backs away by monday. even here, we will see

the return of the sunshine. this is how we start easter sunday, still with some outbreaks of rain in the northern and western isles, maybe a few mist and fog patches towards eastern parts of england, but some spots will start the day close to freezing for a touch of frost. temperatures rebound in the sunshine across england and wales, hazy sunshine for northern ireland and for some of those in scotland, the vast majority is dry but for the northern western isles, again some outbreaks of rain at times. breezy here, cooler than elsewhere and the breeze still keeping some north sea and english channel coasts cooler than elsewhere but you have the sunshine, most of us high teens and low 20s, some spots near the mid—20s giving the warmest easter sunday on record a run for its money. pollen sufferers, though, know it is quite high out there for tree pollen so, yes, some of us are suffering as a result. this is how it looks through sunday night and into easter monday. still with outbreaks of rain towards the western isles, keeping it breezy here as well.

elsewhere, though, is still mainly dry and clear and low single figures in the cooler spots towards parts of eastern england and again it could turn misty in a few places. easter monday, this is how this is shaping up. notice the difference between northern and western scotland. that weather system, as we saw earlier has backed away so we are back in the sunshine here. there will be an increasing breeze and more in the way of high cloud pushing in from the south during easter monday so sun will be increasingly hazy. temperatures for some of us may not be quite as high so much as many of us will notice. it will still be a fine, warm day for getting out and about. now, this is how it looks as we go through the next few days after easter. notice we start to get low pressure taking over, weather fronts heading our way from the and that will bring a change after the fine easter weekend. more cloud around, an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms and we will start to see temperatures come down. but that will be a gradual process.

you can see it all under way here. if you want some rain on the garden, there is hope. especially during the second half of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: police in northern ireland are questioning two men in connection with the killing of thejournalist, lyra mckee. she was shot while observing rioting in londonderry‘s creggan estate in northern ireland on thursday night. two teenage men, have been arrested and are being held under the terrorism act. police in paris have fired tear gas and arrested more than 100 people following clashes between riot police and yellow vest protesters. a number of motorbikes were set on fire by the protesters — who have been banned from the area around the badly damaged notre—dame cathedral. the metropolitan police commissioner has called on climate change protestors in central london to go home. hundreds of protesters have been illegally occupying marble arch, parliament square and waterloo bridge since monday.