hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. 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. 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.

translation: you can see that there are people who are not necessarily here out of the same convictions we have, 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. the fire and its aftermath temporarily displaced the yellow vests from centre stage. 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. in kosovo, 110 people, the majority of them children and mothers, have been repatratriated from syrian jihadist groups. among the returnees are four suspected former islamic state fighters, who were arrested on arrival. 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. nearly 10% of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented in england and wales if health checks were tailored to individual patients. currently people over the age of a0 are eligible for a heart check every five years.

but new research from university college london suggests that high risk people should be screened more often and low risk patients much less. our health correspondent, james gallagher, reports. somebody‘s risk of a heart attack or stroke can be worked out by looking at risk factors such as their blood pressure, cholesterol levels orfamily history. doctors use the information to give advice on lifestyle changes or to prescribe drugs like cholesterol—lowering statins or for blood pressure. the study followed 7,000 people to see how their risk changed over time, and then investigated whether there was a better way of performing routine check—ups. currently, people should be seen every five years, but the study suggested the healthiest people could be seen every seven years, the less healthy, every year. the ucl team predict 8% of heart attacks and strokes will be prevented with tailored testing. that works out at about 5,000 fewer heart attacks and strokes a year in england and wales. the researchers say these personalised checks would not cost

the nhs any more money. the british heart foundation said the approach could potentially save lives, but warned it could be hard to implement and that too few people were having the current assessments. james gallagher, bbc news. one of labour's most senior figures has apologised after she was photographed drinking alcohol on public transport. diane abbott, the shadow home secretary, said she'd been drinking a can of mojito cocktail despite a ban on drinking alcohol on london's transport network. she said she was "sincerely sorry". teachers are being regularly attacked by pupils, with almost a quarter saying they suffer physical violence at least once a week. the survey of nearly 5,000 teachers by the nasuwt teaching union, found that attacks involved being spat at, headbutted and having personal property damaged. the head of the union says the issue is one of the things teachers worry about the most. by far, the greatest volume of teachers, over 90%, say they have been subject to some

form of verbal abuse, and of course, verbal and physical abuse will go hand—in—hand. there is no doubt now, as far as teachers are concerned right across the country, that second only to workload are there concerns about pupil indiscipline. a scheme to help people with mental health illnesses find a job if they want one is being expanded. nhs england is rolling it out the individual placement and support scheme to 28 new areas, which means most of england will be covered by the scheme. employment specialists will offer coaching and advice, along with practical tips on preparing for interviews. it's hoped that within five years, it will help 55,000 people per year. britain's cyber security watchdog says a list of stolen passwords globally shows that 123166 is the most commonly used, appearing more than 23 million times. the word "password" appeared

3.6 million times. other popular words used are liverpool and blink 182. the national cyber security centre is calling on people to improve their passwords, by using 3 random words. young taxpayers are being warned by the government to be wary of fraudsters offering tax rebates worth hundreds of pounds. the scams, mostly by text and email, are timed to coincide with the sending out of legitimate rebates after the end of the tax year. here's our business correspondent, rob young. the new tax year is just a few weeks old. this is the time of year when hm revenue and customs sends refunds to those taxpayers who paid too much last year. there is a warning that scammers exploit this. hmrc says criminals target the smartphones of young adults in an attempt to get hold of their bank details.

in spring, con artists send text messages such as this one, pretending to be from the tax office. it offers an enticing £265 rebate, but anyone who clicks on the link could end up sending their bank details to a criminal. here is another example of a scam. this email, which looks official, isn't. fraudsters might try to use the unwitting victim's card numbers, set up payments from their accounts or take out loans. hm revenue and customs had 250,000 reports of attempted tax scams in april and may last year. they fear the problem will be worse this spring. they believe news taxpayers without much experience of the system are particularly vulnerable, especially as they are more likely to manage their affairs on their smartphone. they say anyone who is due a genuine refund will receive it directly into their bank account or get a cheque through the post.

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. well, earlier i spoke to samuel ramani, who is an expert on libya and international security i asked him to explain who are the main international supporters of general haftar as he attempts to gain control of libya. so, khalifa haftar has gotten consistent international support, first of all, from egypt. general el—sisi stated that he would be backing the offensive on counter—terrorism grounds, and the need to preserve stability over libya's oil resources. in addition, he's gotten financial support from the united arab emirates, which is a major investor in eastern libya, which is the predominant base of his territory, and russia has provided him with some covert support. so, in the united nations,

they blocked a resolution that would have labelled him as a unilateral aggressor in the conflict, and they've also deployed private military contractors to libya in order to shore up his military position, and haftar visited moscow last year, perhaps asking for more military assistance. france has been — not backing him with material resources, but they've been in the european union having the same role as russia, blocking criticism of his government and his move towards tripoli. saudi arabia too, has been engaging as well. so, i would say those five powers. egypt, uk, russia materially, and france and saudi arabia diplomatically. now, what's 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 that is fighting the general at this point? so, the government international accord, which has been established in libya, has been losing consistently territory over the past year in particular, so has lost control over much of libya's oil reserves and is shrinking now to just a base around tripoli. so, it still needs the staunch support of the overwhelming majority of countries in the united nations as a legitimate government of libya, but in practice, it's really

not getting anywhere near the international support or alliances that haftar is getting, just perhaps italy and qatar, and even they aren't willing to support militarily. so, what do you think is going to happen? as we see general haftar trying to capture tripoli, there is fighting, he's meeting resistance. where do you think this is going to go? i think that when haftar began his offensive, he was frustrated with the fact that he had a lot of control over the country's oil reserves and territory, but was not able to convert that into diplomatic gains at the bargaining table. he wanted to show strength. i think that the offensive hasn't really worked out as fast as haftar would've liked, there's still something of a stalemate that's developing, but he's hoping eventually that if he does gain more ground, they will try to cut the losses and he will be able

to come back and get at least international recognition of his control of eastern libya. i think that's the long—term game plan. they are pushing him in that direction too, even though he is still pushing for victory. this is bbc news, it's 3:15, these are 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 the journalist lyra mckee. french police fire tear gas and arrest more than 100 people, during the latest anti—government yellow vests protests in paris. more now on the situation in sudan. suliman baldo is a sudanese academic that served as an adviser to the un on the darfur conflict. he is currently senior analyst on sudan for the enough project to end genocide and crimes against humanity. first of all, i want to start with this cash hoard that was found at

the home of alla alba share. why would he have had this money? —— al—bashir. would he have had this money? —— al-bashir. he didn't want it to be exposed as to how much he is involved personally and members of his family in massive mega corruption. that is a major reason for the economic crisis in the country. that is why he was fighting to the bitter end. however, the cash that was discovered in his home would be only the fairest, i am sure, given how deeply he is involved in the corruption. was he

keeping it in case he needed? would he have used it to run the country? he would have used it to buy loyalties so they maintain loyal to him and to the government and the money they are receiving, to also divide groups in peripheral areas of sedan and to break up opposition parties that are standing up for their principles. these are well established political parties in sudan who have been going through yea rs of sudan who have been going through years of manipulation through these attem pts years of manipulation through these atte m pts of years of manipulation through these attempts of patronage and buying of influence. well, omar al-bashir remains injailand influence. well, omar al-bashir remains in jail and there influence. well, omar al-bashir remains injail and there are discussions between civilians and the military for a transition to civilian rule. is there a chance

that the military is going to lose patience with these discussions and simply unilaterally decide to maintain rule over the country?” don't expect that to happen. the military council as pledge to the international community that it will not dissolve the force to break up the civil protests that are continuing. they did depose the —— omar al—bashir to maintain the system of corruption, repression, however, the nation is not buying that and they have succeeded in deposing omar al—bashir, they have succeeded in deposing the general and the head of the council today is on notice. the peoples demands of a

tra nsfer on notice. the peoples demands of a transfer led by civilian authorities, they will be disobedience in the country that has —— company that has paralysed the country in the previous days. thank you for your time. 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. 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 at fukushima in japan to welcome them. mitsuhiro iwamoto, a japanese 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. he steered the vessel, a sighted navigator doug smith assisted him with verbal guidance on potential hazards and wind direction. mr iwamoto's first attempt at the crossing ended in disaster in 2013 when his yacht sank after being hit by a whale. so 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 a cold beer, safe in the knowledge they've also raised money for charities to help prevent diseases which cause blindness. caroline rigby, bbc news. it's turning out to be one of the hottest easter bank holiday weekends on record with temperatures reaching 25.5 celsius in hampshire on saturday — the warmest day of the year so far. and there's more to come, with sunshine and high temperatures expected for most of the country on sunday and monday. from sunny southport, olivia richwald sent this report. summer holiday scenes over the easter weekend. southport, on merseyside, has one of the biggest expanses of sand in the north—west and the second longest pier in the country. these girls have taken two

trains to be here today. it feels like summer because it's really hot and it's really sunny. what have you been doing? er, laying on the beach and going to the shops. it's been a lovely day here. it's been very warm. obviously, the sun's ultra warm for this time of year, so you've got to enjoy it while it lasts. i think days like this are few and far between. i've spent plenty of easters reporting on unseasonal snow, but i have to say that southport in the sunshine is far more enjoyable, and this isjust the beginning, because it's due to be lovely tomorrow and monday. across the uk, most places have been basking in blue skies and sunshine. from the north of wales on anglesey to the south in carmarthenshire, people were hitting the beaches. it was the perfect day for the european stone stacking championships in dunbar in scotland. when the mercury goes up, thousands go down to brighton, where the water skiers were enjoying calm seas. inland, the boats were moving somewhat slower in milton keynes, and on the thames, where birds of all varieties were soaking

up the sun. today, southport was hotter than seville and st tropez. tomorrow's easter eggs will be served sunny side up. olivia richwald, bbc news, southport. so how long will the good weather last? here's nick miller. 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 where some spots will start the day close to freezing for a touch of frost. temperatures rebound in the sunshine across england and wales, the hazy sunshine for northern ireland and for some of those in scotland, the vast majority is dry for the northern and western isles, again, some outbreaks of rain a time. breezy here, cooler than elsewhere in 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, it is mainly dry and clear and low single figures in cooler spots in 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 easter weekend. more cloud around, increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms and we'll start to see temperatures coming 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 demonstrators who have been banned from the area around the badly damaged notre—dame cathedral. the metropolitan police commissioner has called on climate change protesters in central london to go home. hundreds of demonstrators have been illegally occupying marble arch,