all all this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. and around the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. our top stories... anger continues in france over president macron�*s pension reforms, with plans for more protests. a state visit by king charles has been postponed. we have a special report on the mis spy who defied orders to help bring peace to northern ireland. indian opposition leader rahul gandhi says his disqualification from parliament is politically motivated. 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.

and a once—in—a—decade flyby, as an asteroid passes between the earth and the moon. 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.

our correspondent simonjones reports. 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 clear—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's 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's 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. bethany bell is in paris for us. so, bethany, what more do we know at this stage about any further protests?— this stage about any further rotests? ~ ~ ., ., protests? well, we know that protesters — protests? well, we know that protesters are _ protests? well, we know that protesters are gathering - protests? well, we know that protesters are gathering in i protests? well, we know that - protesters are gathering in western france to protest against this planned reservoirfor france to protest against this planned reservoir for agricultural purposes. and it is tapping into this general sense of anger in france at the moment. so on top of all the anger that has been mounting over president macron�*s pension reforms, the government is worried that the other things will feed into that the other things will feed into that and rather like with the yellow vest movement a few motives —— a few years ago, the sense of anger will

just continue to increase. and president macron has said that with security forces having discovered things which would lead to suggest that some of those protesters in western france may be planning violence, which was something he condemned. at the same time, the council of europe, which is europe's main human rights body, has warned the security forces that even though there has been some violence here in france, that must not lead to the crashing of people's rights to protest. so there have been warnings against what they say is police heavy handedness, possibly. so a real sense here of a country in uproar, a country which at the moment, the crisis doesn't seem to be showing signs of abating. find be showing signs of abating. and 'ust as be showing signs of abating. and just as you _ be showing signs of abating. and just as you are — be showing signs of abating. and just as you are speaking to us, we are showing viewers pictures coming to us live from western france, as you are explaining, protests and

concerns around water usage by large—scale agricultural producers. as we look at these pictures, tell us also about something that has been grabbing a few headlines, the question of president macron�*s watch. question of president macron's watch. , , ., , , watch. yes, this was in his television _ watch. yes, this was in his television interview, - watch. yes, this was in his| television interview, where watch. yes, this was in his - television interview, where he took off his watch. he says because it was making a noise. his not —— has opponents say because he was trying to remove the signs of having a very expensive watch —— his opponents. the present denies it was such an expensive watch. but itjust goes to show this very split view of the president at the moment —— the president at the moment —— the president denies. those in france feel this is a precedent for the rich and not for the poor and those who say actually, no, president macron is doing the sensible thing, that his pension reforms will help

france's economy, will help unemployment and it is the right thing to do to increase the pension age. so really, a sense of president macron very much been criticised by many french people, who feel that he is somebody who is behaving more than he has the power to do so. and it is interesting, one of the factors behind the postponement of king charles�*s visit is that optically, that might not have looked very good if president macron had been seen having dinner with a real moniker in the former royal palace of versailles, that wouldn't have done his image much good —— a real monarchy. have done his image much good -- a real monarchy-— real monarchy. bethany bell, thank ou ve real monarchy. bethany bell, thank you very much- _ 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 mi5 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 mis�*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. uk audiences can see peter's full story on bbc 2 at 7pm tonight, at ten to ten in northern ireland, and it's also on the iplayer. and for international audiences, there's full coverage on the bbc news website. two teenage boys have appeared in court this morning charged with murdering a 16 year—old who was stabbed to death in northampton. rohan shand died in kingsthorpe on wednesday. 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 round. 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. the indian opposition leader rahul gandhi has said his disqualification by parliament on friday is politically motivated.

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. earlier, i spoke to the world service's salman ravi,

who is in delhi, about the allegations his expulsion from the parliament was politically motivated. actually, the press conference that he was addressing, he categorically mentioned that since he was raising the matter in the 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 who owns this money. this is 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. and the court case that was going on, it was a case of 2019 when, at a public meeting in a southern indian state, that rahul gandhi mentioned the surname modi. and he said he was referring to some of the offenders who had actually taken loans from the banks and who 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. now the notice that the speaker has given, he has mentioned the representation of the people's act of 1951 as a law. and section 103 says that even though in any

part of the country, any court which can fine 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. 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 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 are being affected by the devastation of 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 and maximum caution. as the ferocious flames burned into the night, and with summerjust round the corner, maximum caution may be needed for months to come. emer mccarthy, bbc news. the vatican has returned three fragments of the ancient parthenon

sculptures to greece, in a move that's been described as a "gesture of friendship". one is a chunk of a horse's head, the other a bearded man, and the third, a head of a boy. our reporter shelley phelps has more details. three more parthenon fragments are now being displayed at the acropolis museum in athens, alongside other ancient artefacts. there were smiles all round at the ceremony attended by representatives of pope francis and the greek orthodox church. the gifting of the fragments of the parthenon which have been held in the vatican museums more than two centuries shows itself as... an ecclesiastical, social gesture of friendship and solidarity with the people of greece.

the decision to return the frangments was announced by pope francis last year. my personal heartfelt wish is that this issue is repeated by others. pope francis shows that this is possible and significant. it's hoped the move will spur other overseas insistituitions holding parthenon sculptures to return them. translation: the ceremony today which completes the incredibly generous gesture from pope francis, similar to the government of sicily and republic of italy a few months ago, shows the road that we can follow, in order for the unity of the parthenon to be restored, in the place where this should happen. greee is continuing calls for brtain to return marbles taken from the parthenon temple by lord elgin in the early 19th century. there's been speculation that the british musuem where they're held could arrnage a loan of the sculptures. but greek ministers say the country could never accept a loan of something they consider stolen. shelley phelps, bbc news.

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. je m'appelle noam mouelle, etje prepare la boat race avec cambridge. 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 ouse, 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, "oh, 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 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.

in sainte—solioe, centralfrance —— people at a protest against the deployment of new water—storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation, despite an official ban on the gathering. 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 — it was going to be building in from the south—west. 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. and 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 towards the east, we'll still see that mild air just 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—oxford boat race in the afternoon. temperatures in single figures for many of us, i think, on sunday, a coolerfeeling day, but we'll just about hold on to double figures in the far south—west. 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. protests in sainte—soline, central france against the deployment of new water—storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation, despite an official ban on the gathering. 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. 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.