this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. our top stories... anger grows in france over president macron�*s pension reforms, with plans for more protests. a state visit by king charles has been postponed. from the slopes to the stand — gwyneth paltrow gives evidence in a trial where she's accused of causing a skiing accident, but insists she was the real victim. i was skiing, and looking downhill, as you do, and was skied directly into by mr sanderson. spanish firefighters tackle the first big widlfire of the year — it's destroyed 7,000 acres of forest.

the indian opposition leader rahul gandhi calls his disqualification from parliament politically motivated. and we have a special report on the mis spy who defied orders to help bring peace to northern ireland. hello and welcome to bbc news. security forces in france remain on high alert, after legislation to raise the state pension age caused massive protests. the dispute — and outbreaks of violence — forced the authorities to postpone a planned state visit by the british monarch, king charles. separate demonstrations are expected on an unrelated issue in western france, linked to concerns about water usage by large—scale agricultural producers. it's feared the disputes could converge at a time of growing tensions.

0ur correspondent simonjones. sirens wail police patrolling the streets of paris last night, trying to prevent a repeat of scenes like these. commotion on thursday, what had been largely peaceful protests against the president and his pension reforms turned violent. that night, piles of uncollected rubbish in the capital were set alight. the french authorities say almost 1,000 fires were started. glass smashes this was nantes. and similar scenes on the streets of strasbourg. commotion and in bordeaux, the entrance to the town hall was set alight. this city, along with paris, was due to be visited by king charles and camilla, the queen consort. but as the clean—up operation continues, that visit has been

postponed, president macron declaring it would "lack common sense" to host the royal couple, as more protests are planned in the coming days. even those who were due to roll out the red carpet were planning strike action. the president of france. the king and the president have met before, when charles was the prince of wales, but their next meeting is now on hold. protesters who oppose raising the pension age from 62 to 64 feel vindicated. when you have a republican monarch like macron and a real monarch like charles iii dining together at versailles, i mean, it's about publicity, and i think it's a victory for us to have the visit cancelled because we know why it has been cancelled, so, yes, i think it is a victory, and we are quite happy about it. visitors who are still coming to paris are being greeted by some unattractive new attractions, but president macron�*s supporters insist reform is needed,

and it is the bold thing to do. the best way to pave the way for a populist is to sweep the difficult issues under the rug. so, even when it's controversial, even when it's difficult, even when it's unpopular, we have to continue to act, we have to continue to reform. chanting the protests show no signs of abating. oil refineries have faced blockades, fuel shortages are worsening, some petrol stations have introduced rationing. and in the west of the country, there is a huge police presence, ahead of expected demonstrations this weekend over water, with protesters accusing farmers who are building massive new reservoirs of grabbing resources, at a time of shortage. the next national day of action has been called for tuesday. king charles won't be there to see it — his visit will be rearranged — but paris hasn't been completely denied a glimpse of the new monarch.

the local waxworks have just unveiled a replica of him as its new attraction. simon jones, bbc news. the bbc�*s bethany bell is in paris with the latest. well, as we heard in that report there, there are demonstrations planned in the west of france on the separate issue is to water reservoirs. but the concern for the government is that this willjoin up with the people who are angry about the pension reforms and the protests will widen still further. the sense of anger against president macron is very, very strong and marked here among many, many french people who feel he has acted beyond and above what he should have done. {lila feel he has acted beyond and above what he should have done. 0k, well, sta with what he should have done. 0k, well, stay with us. — what he should have done. 0k, well, stay with us, bethany, _ what he should have done. 0k, well, stay with us, bethany, because - what he should have done. 0k, well, stay with us, bethany, because i- stay with us, bethany, because i just want to show our view is

something which has been making the headlines, the president —— the question of president macron�*s watch. he has been criticised after he removed a luxury watch, his critics say, worth up to 80,000 euros during an interview. his team say that the watches worth around 3000 euros. but let's take a look at what happened. so this is macron speaking during the interview and you can clearly see on his left wrist the watching question. now, just listen in for a moment. so there, you hear it, a knock on the table. his hands are then under the table, as you can see in this shot. and when you next see his arms above the table, well, you can see the watch is no longer there. no, mr macron�*s team saying he removed the watch, it was entirely innocent, because it was —— against the table. but his critics are suggesting that

he removed it because it was a very expensive luxury watch during a conversation about raising the pension age —— it was hitting against the table. so let's go back to bethany. and i suppose what we are looking at here fundamentally is this tension between president macron and his critics, who say he is only a president for the wealthy. yes, i spoke to one man here in paris this morning who said, the wealthy are in power here and it is always going to be difficult for the people at the bottom, and we are the ones who always pay the price. so, yes, there is this sense certainly among some french people that mr macron is a president for the wealthy and he doesn't care about the people who are struggling to make a living. also, this was one of the factors which may have played into this idea of postponing king charles�*s visit, because the optics

of that visit, king charles having dinner with king charles in versailles, the former royal palace, would not have looked good for president macron. and it has been interesting watching some of the protests recently where president macron has been portrayed as a kind of king —like figure, which of course goes very much against the grain in republican france. bethany bell speaking _ grain in republican france. bethany bell speaking to _ grain in republican france. bethany bell speaking to me _ grain in republican france. bethany bell speaking to me earlier- grain in republican france. bethany bell speaking to me earlier from - bell speaking to me earlier from paris. firefighters in eastern spain have been battling the country's first major wildfire of the year, which has destroyed more than 7,000 acres of forest in the valencia region. authorities say more than a thousand people have been forced from their homes, as emer mccarthy reports. valencia's rolling hills burning in march. more than 500 firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, as emergency services evacuated residents from eight communities. translation: frustrated.

i'm frustrated because of everything that has burned. but i was fearing this because of how badly things have been done, so this a normal thing to happen. so this was a normal thing to happen. spain is in drought, after three years of below—average rainfall. the tinder—dry conditions raising fears of a repeat of last year's devastating fire season. translation: we are facing the first big fire this year, unfortunately. - and furthermore, it's taking place out of season. therefore, i would like to express the full support of the government to the public servants who are fighting the fire, to all the citizens who have been affected by the devastation at the flames, especially those who have had to evacuate and who have had to leave their homes as a result. the only thing i can ask for is maximum

prudence, maximum caution. as the ferocious flames burned into the night, and with summerjust around the corner, maximum caution may be needed for months to come. emer mccarthy, bbc news. the indian opposition leader rahul gandhi has said his disqualification by parliament on friday is politically motivated. the indian opposition leader rahul gandhi has he says it's an attempt to distract from accusations he made against prime minister narendra modi over his relationship with the billionaire businessman gautam adani. mr ghandi also faces two years in prison, after a court found him guilty of criminal defamation for a comment made at a rally where he disparaged mr modi's surname. mr ghandi is a leading figure in the main opposition congress party. here he is speaking at a news conference on saturday. i'm here defending the democratic voice of the indian people. i will continue to do that. i am not scared of these threats, of these disqualifications, of these allegations, of these prison sentences. i don't care. i'm not scared of them.

0k? these people don't understand me yet. i am not scared of them. they are used to everybody being scared of them. i am not scared of them. let's speak to salman ravi from the bbc world service, who's in delhi. he may have been disqualified from parliament and faces a jail term, he is on bail at the moment, but it hasn't stopped him speaking out, has it? �* . ., , hasn't stopped him speaking out, has it? a o, y , ,, hasn't stopped him speaking out, has it? , a it? actually, the press conference that was addressing _ it? actually, the press conference that was addressing it, _ it? actually, the press conference that was addressing it, he - that was addressing it, he categorically mentioned since he was raising the matter in the parliament, the lower house of parliament, the lower house of parliament, he wanted time to speak on 30,000, the figure he mentioned during the press conference. invested in the issues and shares of gautam adani. and the question he says he wanted to raise in the parliament. but then he said he wrote two letters to the speaker and then he also went in personally and

met with the speaker, but he was not allowed to speak. actually, he said that there is also a good reason for the opposition parties who are otherwise divided. so now this issue has rallied the opposition parties together. and rahul gandhi got support from even some of the political parties who were not good with the congress, but they came out in support of rahul gandhi. in the court case that was going on, it was a case of 2019 when, at a public meeting in a southern indian state, rahul gandhi mentioned the surname modi and he was referring to some of the offenders who had actually taken loans from the banks had left the country. so he was referring to them and that was the case which was filed in the western indian state of gujarat, the defamation case. we know that the speaker has mentioned

the representation of the people's act of 1951 is a law and section 103 says that even though in any part of the country, any court which can fix a member of parliament in any case, he says that is to stand disqualified immediately. though he can file an appeal in the courts, but then basically, he has to be suspended from the house. this is what the notification from the parliament said.— what the notification from the parliament said. and briefly, has there been _ parliament said. and briefly, has there been any _ parliament said. and briefly, has there been any specific— parliament said. and briefly, has there been any specific response j there been any specific response from mr modi's people to mr gandhi's claimed that this is politically motivated?— motivated? both of the bjp ministers. _ motivated? both of the bjp ministers, the _ motivated? both of the bjp ministers, the ruling - motivated? both of the bjp ministers, the ruling party| ministers, the ruling party ministers, the ruling party ministers, they took to either television channels or twitter or social media accounts saying that they have done nothing because whatever has been done was in accordance with the law. what the speaker did or what the parliament did was according to the law. and

even the court which has pronounced its verdict finding him guilty of defamation, this is also a legal process and the bjp or the ruling party has got nothing to do with that. this is what they said. bk. that. this is what they said. ok, thank you _ that. this is what they said. ok, thank you very _ that. this is what they said. ok, thank you very much. _ that. this is what they said. ok, thank you very much. salman ravi in delhi. several tornadoes have killed at least 19 people in the us state of mississippi. the authorities said the twisters left a trail of damage for more than 150 kilometres. trees and power lines were torn down, and tens of thousands of power outages reported. radar information indicated that at one point, debris was being pulled more than 6,000 metres into the sky. search—and—rescue operations are under way. the hollywood actor gwyneth paltrow has told a court in the us that she did not cause a skiing accident in 2016, in which the man suing her was injured. terry sanderson wants more than a quarter—of—a—million dollars in damages, claiming the oscar winner is to blame for the long—lasting brain injury he suffered.

0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. day four of this trial saw the oscar—winning actress take to the witness box to give her account of the ski—slope collision she stands accused of causing. i was skiing and two skis came between my skis, forcing my legs apart, and then, there was a body pressing against me and there was a very strange grunting noise. so, my brain was trying to make sense of what was happening. ithought, "am i...? is this a practicaljoke? is someone, like, doing something perverted? this is really, really strange." my mind was going very, very quickly. more used to the red carpet of hollywood premieres than the austere surroundings of a utah courtroom, gwyneth paltrow denies she was to blame for a collision on the slopes of the upmarket ski resort park city that left a 76—year—old retired optometrist, terry sanderson, suffering from brain damage and broken ribs.

his lawyers maintain she was skiing recklessly and, asked what effect the accident had had on mr sanderson, his daughter, shae, had this to say. my dad is very insecure. he doesn't show it, but he doesn't trust his brain any more. gwyneth paltrow told the court she felt sorry for mr sanderson, but maintained that he hit her, rather than the other way around. mr sanderson's lawyers claimed she was distracted by her children and fled without checking if he was hurt. i think you have to keep in mind when you're the victim of a crash, right, your psychology is not necessarily thinking about the person who perpetrated it. so, the answer to my question is...? no. ..no, you did not inquire? i did not. terry sanderson is due to give evidence next week, along with gwyneth paltrow�*s children, moses and apple. david willis, bbc news, washington. let's return to our top

story, france preparing for further protests against president macron's retirement reforms. i've been speaking to the french—american journalist cole stangler, who covers labour and politics in france, about whether the people of france feel that the government is listening to them. i think really, what we are seeing now are two main issues here that sort of boiling over. one is the specific issue of the pensions. so as you have been saying, macron's plan to raise the pension age, retirement eligibility age from 62 to 64, that is counting for a big source of the anger here. i think the movement has taken another turn reallyjust in the last week or so and that is because of the method the government has adopted in order to approve this reform. using this constitutional provision that allows them to improve legislation without an up or down vote in parliament, people here see that as undemocratic, authoritarian, even if you listen to a lot of critics, so

it is adding insult to injury. you have the pension issue itself that people are very angry about and on top of that, you have the government approving this law that is very unpopular using a method a lot of people are finding inappropriate. so i think these two issues are counting for a lot of anger that we are seeing and that is continuing. next week, we have another major protest and wave of strikes that unions have called for. {gail unions have called for. coal stangler- — 0peration chiffon was the codename given to a top—secret british intelligence operation that eventually paved the way for the good friday agreement, bringing an end to more than three decades of violence in northern ireland. at the centre of it all was an undercover agent known as robert. journalist peter taylor has spent more than 20 years tracking him down and, in a new documentary, he explains what really happened. by the early 1990s, more than 3,000 people had been killed on all sides, in what was known as the troubles. the continuing violence

was fed by one question — should northern ireland remain in the united kingdom or become part of a united ireland? when peace finally came, with the good friday agreement, i was convinced that an m15 secret agent had played a vital role in helping to make it happen. he ran a top—secret back channel between the british government and the leadership of the ira. ifinally tracked him down, but following m15's rules, he lied to me and said he wasn't the man i was looking for. then astonishingly, in 2021, i received a letter. "dear mr taylor. you will no doubt be surprised to hearfrom me after so many years. for a variety of reasons, i could now give you some background, which might fill in some gaps." robert was due to meet senior republicans, but the government cancelled the meeting after ira bombs in warrington killed two children. robert disobeyed orders, sensing that despite its campaign, the ira was looking for peace.

at the meeting, he gave them an extraordinary prediction. "the final solution is union. it's going to happen anyway. this island will be as one." is that what you said? i must have done. that's what's in the... if they wrote it down, then i... yeah, it seems quite likely. but you had no authority to say that... no. ..and what you said flew directly in the face of what british government policy was. yes. those words were absolutely crucial because it appeared that behind the scenes, the british government was secretly working towards a united ireland, the ira's goal, but to unionists, treachery. but in the autumn of 1993, with no sign of the violence ending, robert's secret mission was exposed. he resigned from m15.

the operation looked like a failure. but that's not the end of the story. the ira still had a desire to carry on discussing a way forward, remembering robert's words, "the final solution is union, this island will be as one." i believe that robert's words helped pave the way for the ceasefire and, ultimately, the good friday agreement of 1998. it also meant that an uncountable number of lives were saved. looking back, it's a degree of pride that i've played a small part in history, done some good in the world. peter taylor, bbc news. and uk audiences can see peter's full story on bbc 2 at 7pm tonight, at 9:50pm in northern ireland, and it's also on the iplayer. and for international audiences, there's full coverage on the bbc news website.

now, from the suburbs of paris to the cambridge university boat race crew — it's been quite the journey for 21—year—old noam mouelle. on sunday, he'll become one of a very small number of non—white oarsmen to take part in the historic annual contest on the river thames. he's been speaking to our sports reporter, james burridge. it's quite something, i would say, it's very challenging. there is a lot of pressure, obviously. i've never been that stressed, stressed out about rowing in my entire life. noam mouelle's mum wanted him to do an outdoor sport. little did she know how far that sport would take him — from the suburbs of paris to the wild and lonely great 0use, for one of rowing's biggest endeavours, the boat race.

when you tell people in france, so people who don't do rowing, that you're doing the oxford—cambridge boat race, it's a bit like... it's hard for them to imagine, right? because it's something that seems very old—school and very uk—based, and seems like almost a glitch in the matrix. a french guy could do this thing. while the boat race has always had an international flavour — it attracts many rowers from around the world — it doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to diversity. in fact, noam is that rare exception this year. across the board, when you look at rowing clubs in this country, just 6% of its members come from diverse backgrounds. people in the uk mostly learn to row in schools, and for your school to have enough money, let's say, to have good rowing equipment and so on, you need to be in a private school. and it's only a certain demographic which goes into private schools, which is why maybe you have a bit less diversity here in rowing, at least. but that's really not

the case in france. people are just rowing in rowing clubs. and so, for example, you will have people who row for their school, but they use the facilities... so rowing—club facilities, which makes the sport definitely noticeably more diverse. british rowing say they're increasing the number of outreach programmes in under—represented communities and want to change the make up of gb rowing. noam doesn't want to be a trailblazer, but is hopeful he can encourage more people into the sport. if someone feels like rowing is not for them because people who row are different from them, right? and if that person sees that i'm doing the boat race, let's say, or anyone else, and they think, "0h, maybe, maybe i could try, maybe i could give it a shot in my local club or in my school or whatever," well, yeah, definitely, i would say, in that case, i'm happy.

and if you were to win, what will the reaction be like in france? it will be pretty special. so they're getting a big screen to put in the rowing club, so that people can watch. so, like, all of the kids, some of the kids and the older people are going to watch this race live on the 26th. my parents are going to be there. many friends are going to be watching online as well. so i think if i win, yes, that would be... that would be very, very special. an asteroid large enough to destroy a city will pass between the orbits of the earth and the moon this weekend — luckily for us, missing both. the object, named 2023 dz2, or more simply, dizzy, was discovered a month ago. although asteroid flybys are common, nasa says that given its proximity and size, it is a one—in—a—decade encounter. but the asteroid will be visible through binoculars and small telescopes across the globe

from 68,000 kilometres away. thanks for watching, do stay with us on bbc news. you can get in touch with me about any of the stories we cover on twitter. i'm @ annitabbc. hello. another fairly changeable day ahead, but certainly, our soggy march weather is continuing towards the end of the month. so we're going to see a mix of some sunshine, but also more of those showers. they won't be quite as heavy or as frequent as they were yesterday. and the blustery winds that we've seen of late, especially in the south, are going to be gradually easing through the day. low pressure is going to just drift its way out towards the north sea, towards the east and a smaller ridge of high pressure for a time. building in from the southwest. so if you're stuck underneath that weather front today across parts of southern scotland, northern england, for a time for northern ireland as well, it's going to be quite grey with outbreaks of rain. into the afternoon, there is some sunshine across the bulk of england and wales, still a scattering of showers.

you could be seeing one or two heavy ones. perhaps the odd isolated rumble of thunder towards east anglia, lincolnshire, could be a bit of hail, but generally, they are not going to be as frequent or as heavy as we have seen. brightening up too for northern ireland, north wales. here, we could see some sunshine, just one or two showers through the afternoon. but still staying damp and cloudy for much of northern england, central and southern scotland. a little bit of wintriness over the highest ground as that cold air cuts its way in from the north. now, overnight tonight, the next area of fairly heavy rain sweeps its way eastwards across the southern half of england and wales too. so a really soggy start to sunday morning in the south, but mild, five to seven degrees. colder conditions further north, particularly for the far north of england and scotland, where we're likely to see a bit of frost to start your sunday. so that colder air moving in from the north on sunday. further south, as low pressure drifts to the towards the east, we'll still see that mild airjust holding on for parts of southern england, perhaps south wales, but colder conditions working in for many of us through the day. some wintry showers, some snowfall for parts of northern

and eastern scotland. perhaps the odd snow flurry across the pennines. further south, cloud and rain through sunday morning gradually easing away towards the south and the east through into sunday afternoon, hopefully drying up for the cambridge—0xford boat race in the afternoon. temperatures in single figures for many of us. i think on sunday, a cooler feeling day, but we'll just about hold on to double figures in the far southwest. and don't forget, saturday night, into the early hours of sunday, the clocks are going to spring forward by one hour. so it's the arrival of british summertime from sunday onwards. the weather not looking particularly summery over the next few days, but monday brings us a bit of a drier, quieter interlude. turns unsettled from tuesday onwards, but things are warming up during the middle of the week. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines. security forces in france remain on standby for more protests about president macron's retirement reforms. a state visit by king charles has been postponed. gwyneth paltrow has repeatedly insisted that she was the victim in a skiing accident that's the subject of a lawsuit in the us state of utah. giving evidence, the oscar—winning actress said she'd been hit from behind by terry sanderson, who claims he was the victim. and revelations from an m15 spy who helped bring peace to northern ireland, he's told the bbc he met ira leaders in march 1993, despite talks being called off by the british government.

fragments of sculptures from the parthenon that had been