this is bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories: a standoff between the world's richest man and twitter, as elon musk says he wants to pull out of his $40 billion deal to buy the company. president biden signs an executive order, he says to help safeguard american women's access to abortion. what we are witnessing wasn't a constitutionaljudgement, it was an exercise in raw political power. tributes are paid to the former japanese prime minister shinzo abe after his assassination. the tech war in ukraine. we follow ukrainian forces trying to hold back russian forces with drones.

the soldiers had been told to take over under the trees. russians have been told to spot where they are. and novak djokovic reaches another wimbledon final, beating britain's cameron norrie. hello and welcome to bbc news. twitter and elon musk are in an extraordinary standoff over his $40 billion deal to buy the social media company. the world's richest man wants to pull out of the deal, claiming he's not received the data he asked for about the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform. but twitter�*s board says it will sue mr musk to enforce the deal. shares of twitter fell 6% in extended trading over the news.

here is our technology reporter, james clayton. james clayton is james clayton is sayin- james clayton is sayin- that james clayton is saying that when he made the offer it said there were more clever use of them actually are, there are a lot of spam account. twitter said yesterday did delete 1 billion. —— 1 billion baht today. he is saying that he bought those under false pretenses, there are way more inactive users, you have breached the contract, i am pulling out. twitter is saying, no, we told you this information, we have given you all the information you need, you are now in breach of this contract, we want to carry on with this deal, it is a good dealfor us, and we will with this deal, it is a good deal for us, and we will see you in at the us courts, so, as you in at the us courts, so, as you say, an absolute stand—off between twitter and elon musk. elon musk, it looked like he was trying to get out of this deal for weeks. was trying to get out of this dealfor weeks. this is the final confirmation he is trying to do that. it is now down to

very expensive lawyers to try and thresh as that. people have been sceptical because the precis offered for twitter was much more than many people thought twitter was worth. the share price for twitter has gone down significantly since then, as it has done for many other tech shares, so was it a good deal? the shepherds for tesla, but hasn't done well. many shareholders are very upset with elon musk for doing this. —— share holders. if tesla is doing badly, it really hurts elon musk, so many of speculating that he was looking for a way to pull out of the deal. it isn't really about bots, spam accounts, this is about elon musk trying to get out of something he agreed to. the problem is he already put pen to paper so it may be more difficult than anticipated to get out of this deal. he says he loves twitter, he is a prominent twitter user, he loves of free speech, has said that twitter has lost its way, so he said this has nothing to

do with the financials particularly, this is all about a product that he loved that has lost its way, and he was up for free speech, and absolutist, and he wanted to kind of protect free speech on it twitter. the problem with thatis it twitter. the problem with that is that it is a naive thing to say because he couldn't then define what free speech was, couldn't define how it would be moderated, he said it would be moderated, he said it would be down to the laws in different countries. that isn't protecting free speech than, so it all got very difficult for elon musk. a lot of criticism. he mayjust afford, this is not whether, i have bitten off more than i could sure, the deal is much less good financially than it used to look and i would rather get out of it. in this way” rather get out of it. in this way,, saying they are all the spam accounts of the best way for him to do it. we do not know what is going on in his head but that is what many speculate. president biden has signed an executive order which he says will help safeguard women's access to abortion. it's in response to the supreme court overturning the landmark ruling that made the procedure

legal across the united states. speaking at the white house, mr biden condemned the judge's decision. what we are witnessing wasn't, on the day the decision came down i immediately announced what i would do but i also made it clear, based on the reasoning of the court, there is no constitutional right to choose only the way — the only way to fulfil and restore that right for women in this country is by voting. by exercising the power at the ballot box. let me explain. we need two additional pro—choice senators in a pro—choice senators in a pro—choice house to quantify macro as federal law. we can make that reality. let's get the latest on this from our correspondent in washington, rianna croxford. tell is more about what is in

executive order. measures that intend to help and protect access to abortion services. the three main takeaways are that it looks to expand access to medication abortions, the pills you can get into the prize, looks to ensure access to emergency medical care, contraception, and thirdly looks to offer legal protection to those seeking abortions out of state, and extends those two abortion providers. now, is not entirely clear how this will play out in practical terms. clear how this will play out in practicalterms. no clear how this will play out in practical terms. no doubt president biden will face pushback on its state level. we are only nowjust seeing the fallout of roe v wade. about nine states so far have banned the right to abortion, and ultimately president biden's hands are tied. he can't overturn the supreme court's decision, he can't push through a federal law restoring break to abortion because congress is so divided. at the heart of

this, his message to voters is, if you care, if you are upset, angry, go out and vote in the mid terms in november if you want to see change.— mid terms in november if you want to see change. what is the reaction into _ want to see change. what is the reaction into this _ want to see change. what is the reaction into this executive - reaction into this executive order? �* ., ., reaction into this executive order? ., ., ,, order? anti-abortion groups have criticised _ order? anti-abortion groups have criticised president - order? anti-abortion groups i have criticised president biden saying he is looking to overturn the ruling. on the flipside, some pro— abortion groups have praised this is a much—needed first step. however, there are those who are still looking for substantial action to happen. we can't forget that this happened at the back of the fact that president biden now since roe v wade was overturned has been under pressure from those in his party to do more. his initial response was ruling the scene as an adequate, but ultimately that is going to be nearly impossible to do right now with such a divided congress. really, if you are one of the a0 million women affected by the roe v wade decision, go out and vote seems to be the question and answer

here. . ., ., ., here. rianna croxford in washington, _ here. rianna croxford in washington, thank - here. rianna croxford in washington, thank you. | world leaders have reacted with shock to the assassination of the formerjapanese prime minister shinzo abe. presidentjoe biden said he was "stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened", and india's prime minister narendra modi declared a day of national mourning. mr abe was shot dead in the street while giving an election speech. his attacker was a former member of the japanese navy. these are the latest pictures from japan as people pay tribute to mr abe, who was his country's longest serving prime minister. rupert wingfield—hayes reports. this was shinzo abe this morning, standing on a street corner, rallying support for his party in sunday's parliamentary elections. lurking a few metres away, this man was caught on camera by a local tv crew. then suddenly, two very loud bangs rang out. gunshots mr abe's bodyguards are on the assailant in seconds. lying on the street,

a strange looking gun made of steel pipes, and held together with black tape. the former prime minister is flown to a nearby hospital, but the news is bad. he has been hit in the back and neck, and his heart has stopped. this is where mr abe was brought, and this is where doctors worked for hours to try and save his life, and it was from here, at a little after five this evening, that we got the news that mrabe had died. tonight, the whole ofjapan is in shock. there have been political assassinations here before, but nothing like this, certainly not in more than half a century. "i was really shocked," this lady says. "i never thought a gun would be used. "using a gun injapan? "i've never heard of this. "it seems guns are becoming more common." her husband says. "that makes me feel very sad."

back in tokyo, prime minister fumio kishida could barely hold back the tears, as he went before the media. "i prayed that somehow his life would be spared," he says, "but unfortunately he has gone. "this is a terrible day, i have no words." this evening police began searching the suspect�*s home, reportedly finding more home—made firearms, but no clear motive. from around the world, the tributes have been pouring in. from presidentjoe biden to borisjohnson, and mr abe's old golfing partner, donald trump. shinzo abe certainly had his detractors, too, not the least of which was china's president xijinping. but he broughtjapan and america closer together than ever before. he championed free trade in the pacific, and served his country longer

than any other leader. for that, he will be remembered. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news in nara, western japan. russian forces are continuing their heavy shelling of towns and villages in eastern ukraine, in preparation for an expected new offensive to seize more territory. russia already occupies large areas of the south and east of the country and are pushing forward in the donetsk region. the latest russian target is the city of slovyansk. from there, jonathan beale sent this report. near the front line, close to the city of slovyansk, ukrainian troops prepare to target russian positions. they know this next battle will be crucial. i think that slovyansk is the next big aim for russians. do you think you can stop putin? sure. you can?

we will, we will. distant explosions blasts of artillery, the familiar sounds of this war, but there's also a quieter, harder—to—see battle involving drones and electronic warfare, jamming and tracking signals. the russians have a lot of stuff for blocking the drones, for blocking the signal with remote control, with the camera and so on. it's also a dangerous game of hide—and—seek, as we soon found out. helicopter whirrs we're just hearing some sound of aircraft. they've told us, the ukrainian soldiers here, to take cover under the trees. russians are flying over these positions, trying to spot where they are. it's a... russian's.

they've been using drones, small, cheap ones to spot enemy positions and direct artillery. they've already lost five. but they believe they're getting results. back at base, they're even making their own bombs to target the russians. we have three or four mortars, one tank, maybe up to 100 soldier and five or six ammunition. yeah, yeah. so, we have good results for the ten people! the russians aren'tjust tracking their drones, they're also trying to jam communications. but us technology's helping overcome that. at another secret location, they're using one of the thousands of starlink satellite units provided by elon musk. elon musk. "russia, hello?" the other western name as popular among ukrainian troops is boris johnson. but even though he'll soon be gone, there's still hope that britain

will continue to back ukraine. translation: now we're defending - western values here. modernising our army and providing sufficient weapons will bring peace to your country, to you in britain. russia's already targeting the city of slovyansk. it still outguns ukraine and has the advantage in electronic warfare. home—grown ingenuity and western support is making a difference. but is it sufficient to halt the russian advance? jonathan beale, bbc news, the donbas. this is bbc news, the headlines: a standoff between the world's richest man and twitter, as elon musk says he wants to pull out of his $a0—billion deal to buy the company. president biden signs an executive order to help safeguard american women's

access to abortion. in the uk, the list of potential candidates to succeed boris johnson as leader of the conservative party and become the next british prime minister has grown. rishi sunak, who resigned as finance minister on tuesday, says he wants the job. but many conservative mps are calling for borisjohnson to leave downing street immediately. our political correspondent alex forsyth has the latest. the leadership race is on. will you be standing for the leadership? though this morning, potential candidates were keeping quiet. are you going to be the next prime minister? no answer first thing from the former chancellor. then this afternoon, there was this. i'm standing to be the next leader of the conservative party and your prime minister. rishi sunak, one of the first to quit borisjohnson's government, today launched a slick campaign on social media for his job. he's not the only one. tom tugendhat�*s announced he'd run this morning. the attorney general, suella braverman, has

already thrown her hat in. the possible contenders are piling up — some familiar, some less so. they'll be courting supporters, weighing their chances, and preparing their campaigns. and while some want a quick contest to replace the prime minister, others say it's got to be thorough if the party's to rebuild. the conservative party has a choice. it can fall into fractious infighting, whoever leads it, or it can try and get behind the new leader and prepare for the general election, a general election which, by the way, may be beyond any leader winning given the state of the economy and what's happened over the past few weeks and months. it's in here the first decisions will be made. mps whittle down the longlist to just two candidates. then, in theory, it's up to party members, though some have suggested that process could be cut out. not an idea welcomed by these young conservatives from around the country. there is more to a party

than just what happens in westminster. us people at grassroots level are the ones who perhaps feel the wrath on the doorstep a lot more than those in westminster. to restore the faith in the government, i want to see more integrity, more honesty from leaders. and i don't know, if you don't pass that onto members who are voting, whether you will get that. better to take a bit longer and have i to sort of work something out in the meantime than choosel quickly and choose wrong. westminster has calmed after the high drama of yesterday, but away from the microphones, there is still manoeuvring. borisjohnson's been clear — he's staying on as prime minister until a new party leader's chosen, even though some of his critics want him to go sooner. number 10 says it will keep things running, but it won't announce new policy or make big economic decisions. so, the man in the highest office has only limited power. for now, though, he remains in residence behind the famous black door, while his party wrangles over what and who comes next. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster.

let's get some of the day's other news. a major network outage at one of canada's biggest telecom operators has caused chaos. banking, transport and government services have all been disrupted for millions. even the emergency services were affected. there's been heavy criticism of the country's reliance on a single communications operator. officials in indian—administered kashmir say at least 13 hindu pilgrims have died and dozens are missing in a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the amarnath cave shrine. a torrent of water rushed through the mountains inundating a base camp set up for hundreds of worhippers. reports say around a0 people are unaccounted for. and here in the uk, sir mark roley has been named as the new commissioner of london's metropolitan police. he succeeds dame cressida dick. sir mark said he was "deeply honoured" to be appointed to the role. his predessor, dame cressida dick, was forced to resign earlier this year. russia has vetoed a un

security council resolution that would have kept a crucial border aid crossing to syria open. the authorisation for aid deliveries across the syrian—turkish border at bab al—hawa is due to expire on sunday. it's been in effect since 201a. un agencies and ngos say the news is devastating, and risks putting millions of people at risk of starvation. our middle east correspondent anna foster is on the turkish—syrian border. this boat was delayed by more than 2a hours, and even until the last minute there were hopes that some kind of diplomatic agreement could be reached to try and keep un aid convoys flowing through this crossing at bab al—hawa, the last one that serves people living in north—west syria. it came in the end down to two boats, what most of the un security council members were pushing for, along with un agencies and ngos was another 12 month extension to the mandate that allows them to

bring aid through this crossing. but russia vetoed that. what russia did in response was put forward its own alternative proposal, which was only an extension for six months, and which would have needed renewing by vote in january of 2023. again, humanitarian aid groups say that would have been disastrous, that they need longer than six months to arrange the logistics of such a complicated cross—border aid operation. and to renew it in the middle of winter would have been catastrophic. so in response to that russian counterproposal, there were vetoes from the uk, the us and france. so where does that leave us now? if an agreement cannot be reached, if the un security council cannot reconvene in the next a8 hours, then decide crossing will close to un convoys. and just to put that into context, around 1000 lorries week pass through here, taking food, vital medicines, shelter to more than a million people, many of whom have been living in displacement camps

for a decade. sepp blatter and michel platini, who were once in charge of world and european football, have been cleared of corruption by a court in switzerland. prosecutors failed to prove that a payment of £1.6 million — nearly $2 million — made to platini by the former fifa boss blatter had been illegal. both men insisted the money was payment for advisory work. our sports editor dan roan reports. once the most powerful man in football, sepp blatter arriving at a swiss court earlier, the former fifa president denying wrongdoing ahead of the verdict in his trialforfraud. i am not innocent in life, but in this case i am innocent. also in court, the man once favourite to succeed blatter, co—defendant and former uefa president michel platini. the two men were accused of an unlawful payment of £1.6 million between fifa and platini in 2011. they said it was backdated pay for advisory work the former french footballing legend had done a decade earlier. a panel ofjudges today

ruling the pair's account of a gentlemen's agreement was credible, and that doubts existed about the prosecution's claim it was a bribe linked to a blatter re—election bid, both men acquitted. it'sjustice, but it's a victory for me, definitely. in the case of myjob, my work, aa years working in fifa, for me, it's so important. it's so important that this case has been settled on the highest swiss level. the payment had emerged amid the corruption scandal that engulfed fifa in 2015, an fbi investigation sparking blatter's downfall, with both men then kicked out of football in disgrace, and charged by the swiss authorities. platini, a man who both captained and coached his country, telling me afterwards how much it meant to have been cleared. so fifa never believed me. but the tribunal is a normal tribunal, they trust me and it's a great victory for me. despite his 17—year reign over an organisation that became defined by corruption,

this case marked the first time that blatter had faced criminal charges. and the verdict here today will be a major blow to the swiss authorities who must now decide whether to appeal. dan roan, bbc news, in bellinzona. tennis now, and novak djokovic is heading for his eighth wimbledon final. he beat the british number one cameron norrie on centre court. our sports presenter chethan pathak has been watching all the action. time and time again, when you think this could be the day that novak djokovic is beaten, he finds a way to power through. for the first set taken by britain's cameron norrie, 6—2, the fans behind me and the british fans on centre court really believed an upset was on the cards. cam norrie's development has been extraordinary, playing just for the first time in his career in the second week of a grand slam. he showed us that brilliant leftie serve, the topspin

forehand, that dead backhand that he's got that is flat and perfect for this service. it was causing djokovic all kinds of problems he couldn't deal with. but the defending champion, as he so often does, took a breath, reset, reconfigured and won the second, third and fourth set to reach an eighth wimbledon final trying to win his seventh title here. the numbers are extraordinary. it's a 32nd grand slam final for djokovic. he's hoping to win 21, which would bring him within one of rafael nadal�*s record of 22. awaiting in sunday's final will be nick kyrigios who had friday off, rafael nadal withdrawing because of that abdominal injury means that the kyrgios didn't have to play on friday, with three days off he will play djokovic on sunday. before that we have the women's final, ons jabeur chasing history, the third seed here, the world number two, hoping to become the first african and arab player to win a grand slam in the open era. she'll be facing kazakhstan's elena rybakina, also

in herfirst grand slam final at the age of 23 — whatever happens we will have a first time grand slam winner in the women's final, at the moment it is too tough to call which way it's going to go. two notebooks by the british naturalist charles darwin which were returned anonymously to cambridge university 20 years after they disappeared, are to go on display for the first time this century. the small books are filled with ideas and drawings which would eventually become part of darwin's landmark work on evolution, "on the origin of species". but the books were returned in march to cambridge's university library in a pink bag. inside was a typed note which read" librarian, happy easter". much more on all those stories on the bbc news website. or on the bbc news app. you can follow me on twitter at @richpreston. stay with us on bbc news.

hello there. it was a very warm day on friday. temperatures touched 29 celsius across south—east england. and this weekend, more of the same, a lot of sunshine around. it's going to stay dry away from the far north—west of scotland. and it's all down to this area of high pressure, which will be sitting out towards the west of the uk to start the weekend, and we have a run of northerly winds. slightly fresher air mass, so i don't think it'll be quite as hot today as what it was on friday. most of the cloud will affect the north and west of scotland, northern ireland. some spots of rain for north—western scotland. best of the sunshine in the north, across eastern scotland. we should see temperatures reach 21—23 degrees here, but for england and wales, dry and sunny. temperatures reaching the mid—20s, so not quite as warm as friday.

it's going to be dry, lots of sunshine at wimbledon for the women's final. notice that — 29 degrees. for the men's final on sunday, it's going to be even hotter. now, through saturday night, much of the country will stay dry. still some splashes of rain across northern scotland. we'll have more cloud, more breeze here. elsewhere, further south, under clear skies, light winds, could see the odd mist or fog patch. and for most of us, temperatures will stick into low double figures. then, for sunday morning, we wake up to one or two mist and fog patches for england and wales. otherwise, it's going to be another dry and sunny day here. more sunshine as well for scotland and northern ireland, away from the very far north—west of scotland, where we'll see further cloud. so it'll be warmer in the north, the low to mid 20s. but for england and wales, very warm indeed — high 20s, perhaps 30 degrees across the south—east. and sea breezes will start to pick up as winds will be light. into monday, our area of high pressure shifts towards the eastern side of the country. that will allow winds to come up from the south, so it'll be even warmer and sunnier for england and wales. we start to see some cloud

developing across scotland and northern ireland. this weather front will bring some rain into the northern and western isles later on, so turning a little bit cooler here. as you head further south, though, we see those temperatures mid to high 20s, up to 31 or 32 in the south—east. another very warm day on tuesday, but notice these weather fronts working their way in off the atlantic. barely anything on them as they work across england and wales, so there is no useful rainfall in sight for next week. some splashes across scotland and northern ireland. it will cool down a little bit as those fronts move in in england and wales, and then it's likely to warm up again by the end of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the world's richest man, elon musk, has pulled out of a $aa—billion bid to buy twitter. a lawyer for the tesla chief executive has written to twitter�*s legal office, accusing the company of not complying with its contractual obligations, but twitter�*s board says it will sue musk to enforce the deal. president biden has signed an executive order to help safeguard women's access to abortion. the move follows the supreme court overturning the landmark ruling that made the procedure legal across the united states. mr biden called the ruling, "an exercise in raw political power". world leaders have reacted with shock to the killing of the formerjapanese prime minister, shinzo abe. injapan itself, the current prime minister described the shooting at a political

rally as an unforgiveable act of brutality. his attacker was a former member