welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: a stand—off 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're 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 troops with drones. just hearing some sound of aircraft. they have told us,

the ukrainian soldiers here, to take cover under the trees. the russians are flying over these positions, trying to spot where they are. and novak djokovic reaches another wimbledon final, beating britain's cameron norrie. hello, welcome to the programme. twitter and elon musk are in an extraordinary stand—off over his more than $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's our north america technology reporter

james clayton. elon musk is essentially saying that when he put that offer in, he thought that there were more users that actually used twitter than there actually are. and, to be fair, there are a lot of spam accounts on twitter. twitter actually said yesterday that they delete 1 million bots bots a day. elon musk says he bought something under false pretences and there were way more active users on twitter than there are. as a result of that, "you breached the contract "and, as a result of that, i am pulling out." whereas twitter is saying "no, no. "we told you all of this information, we have given "you all the information you need, and you are now "in breach of this contract. "we want to carry on with this deal, it's a good dealfor us, "and we'll see you in the us courts." so, as you say, an absolute stand—off between twitter and elon musk. and, to be honest, elon musk, it looked like he was trying to get out of the dealfor weeks. this is the final confirmation of him trying to do that, and it is now down to very,

very expensive lawyers to try and thrash this out. people have been sceptical because the price that he offered for twitter was much more than many thought twitter was worth. the share market — the share price for twitter has gone down significantly since then, as it has done for many other tech shares. was it a good deal? tesla's share price — tesla also owned by elon musk — hasn't gone well. many shareholders are very, very upset with elon musk for doing this. his vast wealth is tied up in tesla. so, if tesla is doing badly, it really hurts elon musk. so, many people are speculating that he was looking for a way to pull out of this deal. it isn't really about bots or spam accounts, but about elon musk trying to get out of something that he agreed to. the problem is he's already put pen to paper, so it might be more difficult than he might anticipate to actually get out of this deal. he says he loves twitter, he's a very prominent

twitter user, he loves free speech and felt the twitter had lost its way, so he said this had nothing to do with the financials particularly, but about a product that he loved that had lost its way and that he was a "free—speech," i think, "absolutist" he said, and that he wanted to kind of protect free speech on twitter. the problem with that is it's a slightly naive thing to say because then he couldn't really define what free speech was to him, couldn't define how it was going to be moderated — he said it would be down to the laws in different countries — well, that isn't protecting free speech, then. it then got very difficult for elon musk. a lot of criticism. he may have thought, "you know what? "it isn't worth it. "i've bitten off more than i can chew." "the deal is less good financially than it used "to look and i would rather get out of it." this way of saying there are all of these spam accounts on twitter is the best way for elon musk to do that. we don't know what is going on in elon musk�*s head but that is certainly what a lot of people are speculating on twitter.

the bbc�*s james clayton in san francisco there and now, staying in the us. 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're witnessing wasn't a constitutionaljudgement, it was an exercise in raw political power. on the day the dobbs 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 house to codify roe as federal law. your vote can make that a reality. our correspondent in washington, rianna croxford, explained what the order is intended to do.

the order contains some measures intended to to —— the order contains some measures intended to help and protect and ease access to abortion services. the three main takeaways are really that it looks to expand access to medication abortions — those are the pills you can get in the post — it looks to ensure access to emergency medical care and contraception, and thirdly, it also looks to offer legal protections to abortion providers and also those seeking abortions out of state. now, it's not entirely clear how this will play out in practical terms. no doubt, president biden will face pushback on state level and still, we're only just seeing the fallout of roe v wade — at least nine states so far have outright banned 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 the constitutional right to abortion because congress is so divided. and so, really, his message here is is if you care, if you are upset, if you're angry, go out and vote in the midterms in november if you want to see a change. this is obviously an incredibly divisive topic in the united states. rianna, what is the reaction been to this executive order? well, anti—abortion groups have criticised president biden, saying he's acting against the supreme court's ruling. on the flip side, some pro—abortion groups have praised this as a much—needed first step. however, there are those who are still looking for substantial action. we can't forget how we got to this moment. it comes off the back of weeks of pressure that president biden has been under, pressured to do more, but that will be nearly impossible to achieve considering that congress is so divided. so really, president biden�*s message here, especially to the 40 million women affected by the roe v wade decision, is to

go out and cast your vote and no doubt, this will be a very big issue on the ballot box this november. 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 5:00 this evening, that we got the news that mr abe 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. western japan. —— rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news in nara, western japan. 0ur correspondent mariko 0i is tokyo outside shino abe's —— 0ur correspondent mariko 0i is in tokyo outside shino abe's house, where his body is expected to arrive shortly. mariko, what is happening where you are? mariko, what is happening where ou are? ~ , , you are? well, this is where, as ou you are? well, this is where, as you can — you are? well, this is where, as you can possibly _ you are? well, this is where, as you can possibly see - you are? well, this is where, l as you can possibly see behind me, a long queue of media behind me. we are waiting for the body of former prime minister shinzo abe to arrive any minute now. his body had left the city of nara at around 6pm local time. it's about a five hour drive. that's why everyone is gathering here, waiting for his arrival. this is his home, this is actually where his mother also lives as well, and we are expecting that

the current prime minister fumio kishida and others to visit here, to pay respect before his funeral which will take place sometime next week. mariko, it has been an incredibly shocking 24 hours in the country. what is the mood in the street? what are people saying? figs in the street? what are people sa in: ? �* , , ., in the street? what are people sa inc? a in the street? what are people sa in? a �*, in the street? what are people sa inc? a �*, , saying? as you say, it's 'ust been an fl saying? as you say, it's 'ust been an utteri saying? as you say, it's 'ust been an utter shock i saying? as you say, it's 'ust been an utter shock to h saying? as you say, it'sjust| been an utter shock to many people here. as some people were saying in rupert's report as well, you know, gun crime is incredibly rare and people just don't expect this kind of thing to happen and i myself was hyping the assassination of former prime ministers shinzo abe and you do not expect to put the word assassination in japan in one sentence so people are still adjusting the news but also, questions have been asked about the security of former leaders of the country. you mention security there, done crime generally low in japan. is there a sense that there was complacency around

there was complacency around the protection of mr abe? that is something — the protection of mr abe? that is something that _ the protection of mr abe? t�*isgt is something that people have been discussing, especially on social media, because he only had at least one or two security guards when he was making that speech in the city of nara and if you look at the pictures from the moment of that attack, all of them are looking either at mr abe on the front and no—one was looking behind him and, of course, the attacker, the 41—year—old suspect it is now in police custody, attacked him from behind, shooting him twice, the first gunshot actually missed him but the second one got him in his neck which basically killed him, a couple of hours later on the same day. so a lot of questions have been asked, you know? if this happened in america, wouldn't the security guards be pushing mr abe down to the ground as soon as you hear the first gunshot? but going up here, you just don't expect to hear things like that

so if you hear a similar noise, people may go did someone's tire may be puncture and that's why there was that loud bang? as a result, people's reaction may have been a bit slower than you may imagine. may have been a bit slower than you may imagine-— may have been a bit slower than you may imagine. mariko, mr abe was speaking _ you may imagine. mariko, mr abe was speaking during _ you may imagine. mariko, mr abe was speaking during a _ you may imagine. mariko, mr abe was speaking during a campaign l was speaking during a campaign rally for an upcoming election. is the election going to go ahead? , , ., ., ahead? yes, we understand that the u- er ahead? yes, we understand that the upper house _ ahead? yes, we understand that the upper house election - ahead? yes, we understand that the upper house election will. the upper house election will still take place tomorrow, that's sunday here injapan. campaigning was halted for a couple of hours after the attack to pay respect but we have since started seeing a lot of the politicians tweeting about it as well and of course, they all paid tribute to mr abe but many of them also said that while —— violence is not the answer to disagreements in politics. let's go and vote so that people's opinions are heard in a proper, democratic way. heard in a proper, democratic wa . heard in a proper, democratic way. mariko oi in tokyo for us, thank you _ way. mariko oi in tokyo for us, thank you very _ way. mariko oi in tokyo for us, thank you very much. - this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: 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 to help safeguard american women's access to abortion. 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 an 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. distant explosions do you think you can

stop putin? sure. you can? we will, we will. 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. aircraft whirrs above 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. let's get some of the day's other news. 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 worshippers. reports say around 40 people are unaccounted for. 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. and here in the uk, sir mark rowley 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 predecessor dame cressida dick was forced to resign earlier this year. the list of potential candidates to succeed borisjohnson 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 hisjob. 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 to sort of work l

something out in the meantime than choose 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. tennis now an novak is heading for his wimbledon final. he beat the british number one cameron norrie on centre court. our sports presenter chethan pathak has more. 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. now, two notebooks written 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. they will be part of an exhibition opening this

weekend. the books were returned in march to cambridge's university library in a pink gift bag. inside was a typed note which read "librarian, happy easter". and there's just time to tell you about a condor chick in peru who's been rescued, after locals found him in a bad condition. this eight—month—old condor was suffering from malnutrition when it was discovered in peru's ancash region. residents there failed to revive him and took him to a recovery centre. he'll be released back into the wild after rehabilitation. the condor is the largest flying bird in peru and one of the biggest on earth. incredible. before we go, a reminder of our top story. twitter says it will sue elon musk if he pulls out of a $44 billion agreement with the company. earlier, the tesla chief executive had accused the social network of refusing to provide evidence to back its assertion that spam accounts comprise less

than five per cent of its total users. and there is more on that on the website. you can get me on twitter, @richpreston. that is it. goodbye for now. 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 $44 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 unforgivable act of brutality".

his attacker was a former member of the japanese navy.