live from london, this is bbc news. a man is pinned down and arrested by security staff injapan as the prime minister, fumio kishida, is rushed to safety after an explosion. france's president, emmanuel macron, signs into law his government's controversial pension reforms despite months of protests. scientists say the remains of ancient viruses which have spent millions of years hiding inside human dna help the body fight cancer. nurses in england will escalate their strike action in the coming weeks after turning down the government's latest pay offer. the french president visits

notre—dame cathedral as restoration continues, four years since a fire destroyed significant parts of the world heritage landmark. hello, i'm lucy gray. the man arrested on suspicion of throwing a smoke bomb at japan's prime minister fumio kishida has been identified by the authorities as 24—year—old ryuji kimura. there are no further details regarding possible motivation. mr kishida was about to give a speech in support of a local candidate of his ruling party the ldp. pm kishida made a speech in another location later, where he said the incident should not be allowed to disrupt the electoral process. the attack comes ahead of nationwide local elections and by—elections for vacated seats injapan�*s lower house. our correspondent shaimaa khalil in tokyo has been giving us the latest.

very dramatic scenes coming this morning from wakayama in western japan. chaos among the crowd as a young man is being tackled and then pinned to the ground by security personnel. and then a screaming crowd scrambling to leave the scene as a loud explosion is heard, and then smoke fills the air. the man is then being taken away from the scene. the prime minister is ta ken to safety. we heard from one witness who said she was among the crowd of about 100 people. she saw something being thrown from the back. she felt quite uneasy, she ran away with her children, and then she said that she felt stunned, the loud noise made her daughter cry. we understand that the prime minister fumio kishida was about to give a speech after visiting a port in that area in support of the local candidate of his ldp ruling party in the upcoming local elections, and just as he was about to start, this object was thrown. he ducked down and he

was ta ken to safety. we have heard from the prime minister now. this event was cancelled in that particular venue, but then in another event, he addressed the crowd, appearing, of course, defiant, wanting to send the message that he's unfazed by this, that he won't stop, saying that this shouldn't stop the electoral process, that we're doing something important and that it should not be stopped by this. but it does raise important security questions, doesn't it? particularly as it comes just a while after the assassination of the former prime minister, shinzo abe. that's right. this comes less than a year after the assassination of the former prime minister, shinzo abe, and there are very uncomfortable parallels being made. first of all, that it happened relatively soon after that high—profile assassination. remember, these events are very, very rare injapan. this is one of the safest countries in the world. they have very strict gun laws. but in the assassination, just

before shinzo abe was assassinated, we could see that assailant standing very close to him before he shot him with a homemade bomb. today, the young man appeared to be in the middle of the crowd when he threw that object. we don't know the motivation yet, but i think this is going to make many, many people uneasyjust about the parallels as well. shinzo abe was also giving a political speech and that was what mr kishida was trying to do. since the assassination of shinzo abe, there has been heightened security around politicians, but also a heightened degree of nervousness, and i think today's incident is just going to increase that a lot further. joining me now is hugo dobson, professor of japan's international relations at the university of sheffield. let's just pick up with what shaimaa was staying there, the changes brought in, the security since the assassination of shinzo abe. what you make of the changes and what can

you make of the changes and what can you tell us about them? good morning. _ you tell us about them? good morning. lucy- _ you tell us about them? good morning, lucy. i— you tell us about them? good morning, lucy. ithink- you tell us about them? good morning, lucy. i think one - you tell us about them? good i morning, lucy. i think one thing you tell us about them? good - morning, lucy. i think one thing to highlight here is withinjapan there was a debate after the assassination of shinzo abe. the national police agency did admit mistakes were made and a review was instigated. one failure identified was that by minister abe was not evacuated from the scene as quickly as it should have been the case. the manic shots were fired, the second killed him. it was that intervening time that was crucial. —— two shots were fired. mr kishida was removed from the scene quickly and effectively, and it will be difficult always against individuals acting alone with low—tech weapons. we want to be close with their politicians, visible, but it does involve

security risks as well. find visible, but it does involve security risks as well. and i understand _ security risks as well. and i understand in _ security risks as well. and i understand in terms - security risks as well. and i understand in terms of- security risks as well. and i understand in terms of the | security risks as well. and i - understand in terms of the local elections, it is likely people will be in crowds nearer the politicians and they are less stage—managed, these events. and they are less stage-managed, these events.— and they are less stage-managed, these events. absolutely. japanese election campaigns _ these events. absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend _ these events. absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to - these events. absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to be - these events. absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to be very| election campaigns tend to be very up election campaigns tend to be very up close and personal. candidates will often try to get into the thick of it, shaking hands with as many voters as possible, actually making physical contact. rallies are quite common and senior politicians will attend come of the new prime minister will be there to endorse a candidate. so election campaigns in japan tend to really put the emphasis on the personal and there is a heightened risk at the result. prine and mr kishida did continue with the schedule of talks today and was not fazed by the incident —— prime minister kishida. was not fazed by the incident -- prime minister kishida.- was not fazed by the incident -- prime minister kishida. thank you very much. _ prime minister kishida. thank you very much. hugh _ prime minister kishida. thank you very much, hugh dobson - prime minister kishida. thank you very much, hugh dobson from - prime minister kishida. thank you | very much, hugh dobson from the university of sheffield.

the us secretary of state antony blinken is in vietnam, where he hopes to bolster relations with a key trade partner that shares us concerns over china's growing influence. mr blinken is visiting hanoi, where he is expected to hold talks with top vietnamese officials and have discussions about the country's human rights record. our southeast asia correspondent, jonathan head, has been explaining the significance of the visit. well, this is part of the us�*s indo—pacific strategy, building up as strong relations as it can with all the significant countries that are around china. of course, the us already has very strong military allies in south korea and japan, in the philippines, for example. vietnam, of course, is an old adversary. the communist party inflicted the greatest military humiliation on the americans 50 years ago. but the attempt by the us to court vietnam as a partner has been going on for quite a long time and mr blinken�*s visit is an attempt to push it along. the reason it hasn't gone much

further is that vietnam is carrying out a very delicate balancing act between trying to bring in as much common ground with the americans and keep the americans engaged at the same time as not upsetting china. vietnam has a long border with china. they've had tense relations in the past, they have territorial disputes, and yet they're both communist—led and the party, the leadership of both parties do put a priority on good relations. vietnam's relationship with china is officially much closer than it is with the united states. the us would like to get this title of a strategic partnership with vietnam that vietnam's given to a lot of other countries. at this stage it looks like vietnam, although they talk about upgrading the relationship, is not yet ready to give that title. it's very tricky for vietnam to do this kind of balancing act, isn't it? particularly, i think in terms of trade, china sort of wins the contest, doesn't it?

i think also this opening of this huge us embassy is a big attempt, isn't it, as part of america's sort of wooing process? it's a symbol, it's very important. the us is saying, "we're committed". you have to remember that in this region a lot of countries are uncertain about america's commitment. that policy towards the asia—pacific region has been somewhat erratic in the last 20 years. there wasn't much focus on it during the years of the iraq war, for example, during the bush presidencies. president obama made his big pivot towards asia. but then many asian countries are saying, well, we don'tjust want aircraft carriers, we want a really substantial relationship. and then under president trump, well, he was far more transactional. he actually sort of threatened vietnam because he felt it was trading unfairly as he accused it, of currency manipulation. so i think for a lot of countries here, they want the us engaged. they want that balance between us and chinese power. they do not want the us and china to be fighting each other. they're not entirely sure just how

long the us will be committed. the biden administration has thrown a lot of weight behind its interest in this region. but then what happens after the next presidential election? i think all governments in this region are mindful of that. jonathan heard reporting. president emmanuel macron has signed his controversial pension reform into law. the reforms, which raise the minimum retirement age to 64, cleared their final legal hurdle when the constitutional council — france's highest legal authority — ruled in favour of the changes. joe inwood reports from paris. that building is where one of the most significant decisions in french political history was made. there, a body of french grandees decided that the controversial pension reforms of president emmanuel macron meaning that french people would work until 64, not 62 were in line with the constitution. now, i was in the crowds just down the road when that news of the announcement came through and there was a chorus of boos and hisses. there was a real anger there. and that is when the trouble started.

i can still smell on my clothes, the burning of the bins and of the flares that were going off. now, the protesters, their plan was to try and get here, but they haven't been able to because of a very, very heavy police presence. there were baton charges. there were hundreds, thousands of gendarmes, of french police trying to keep them away from this area. but that doesn't mean it's been a peaceful night here in paris. there have been fires. i've just been watching videos of live fires taking place, being set off around the city as the protesters express their anger about these reforms. but i think, at the moment, that's all they're able to do to express anger rather than change them, because tonight's decision means the reforms probably will go through and french people in the future will have to work to an older age. scientists in london say remnants of ancient viruses that live inside human dna can help the body fight cancer. the reserachers at the francis crick institute say the discovery could help them develop vaccines that help the body spot these viruses, which could lead to improved treatment

and prevention of cancer. the bbc�*s science correspondent, james gallgher, has been explaining what researchers have found. it's absolutely fascinating and it starts from an idea that i don't think many of us are particularly comfortable with, the idea that we're actually something like 8% virus in the first place rather than being entirely human. and that's because over millions of years, a type of virus called a retrovirus has infected our ancestors. we are going back a long time here. and it leaves behind the trace of its own genetic instructions, those structures for building that virus inside our own genetic code, inside our dna, and that's still there today. now, our bodies have used some of that for their own purposes, but a lot of the time itjust completely suppresses those viral instructions. now, the thing that happens inside cancer, and that's what this study at the francis crick institute has shown, is that cancer is basically what happens when our cells go out of control and descend into chaos. and what happens in that moment is that some of those ancient millions—of—years—old viruses start

to be woken up and start to be produced in our cells again. so what this study showed is that at that point, the immune system can start recognising, thinks, hey, wait a minute, these cells are infected, and tries to destroy them. and that's part of how the body is attacking cancers inside our body — by recognising these ancient viruses. you'd just prefer it if your immune system would attack the cancerous tumour anyway, wouldn't you? it's so bizarre. so you have to wait for there to be a virus on it for it to attack in order for it to attack the tumor, right? well, what the immune system is is attacking the tumours anyway, but this seems to be an extra process that's going on. so in this study, which looked

at lung cancer patients, they spotted the patients that had better outcomes. the ones that were more likely to survive had a cluster of a very specific type of immune cell going around their tumour. and these are are known as b cells, and they're the cells that produce antibodies inside our bodies. so you might have been familiar with those from the covid pandemic, the things that go around, hunt out and seek out and destroy viruses. and the same process is going on in part of how the body attacks cancer, except instead of attacking a current infection. in a weird way, it's attacking one from millions of years ago. let's speak to cancer biologistjulian downward, who's associate research director of the francis crick institute. i sitting is this? that one that we are 8% viruses a new one for me for sure —— how significant is this? the sure -- how significant is this? the focus on the _ sure —— how significant is this? tue: focus on the cancer, sure —— how significant is this? tte: focus on the cancer, which is a huge health challenge —— lung cancer, more than 2 million people a year globally die from lung cancer, to the mass health problem, there are currently treatments from that which are not all that good. only 20% of

patients will survive for more than five years. so we really need to improve that. things have been getting a bit better with immuno therapies, but the immuno therapies which reactivate the immune system gets cancer relying on the t cells and we had thought that b cells, which are thought to more typically involve attacking viruses and bacteria were involved in targeting cancers, so it's a big shift in thinking and with a lie was to alter the way we think about immunotherapy and how we develop immunotherapy. you could eventually use this, hopefully they create a vaccine to prevent the cancer in the first place? prevent the cancer in the first lace? , prevent the cancer in the first . lace? , ,, ., prevent the cancer in the first lace? , 4' ., prevent the cancer in the first lace? , ~ ., ., ., prevent the cancer in the first lace? , ~' ., ., ., place? yes. so we know a lot about how to stimulate _ place? yes. so we know a lot about how to stimulate b _ place? yes. so we know a lot about how to stimulate b cell _ place? yes. so we know a lot about how to stimulate b cell responses l how to stimulate b cell responses and antibody responses against foreign invaders and really these ancient viruses that have been found

in our dna that are being expressed in our dna that are being expressed in the cancers are things we could make vaccines against. and now with vaccine technology improving enormously in the last four years with the covid pandemic, things like the mrna vaccine technology, we could potentially relatively quickly make vaccines against these ancient viral fragments that we all carry in our dna but are only expressed in the cancer cells. t5 our dna but are only expressed in the cancer cells.— the cancer cells. is there any risk with these _ the cancer cells. is there any risk with these ancient _ the cancer cells. is there any risk with these ancient viral— the cancer cells. is there any risk| with these ancient viral fragments that you find of messing around with them and it having unintended consequences?— them and it having unintended consequences? them and it having unintended conseuuences? , . ., consequences? there is always a risk involved in stimulating _ consequences? there is always a risk involved in stimulating the _ consequences? there is always a risk involved in stimulating the immune l involved in stimulating the immune system. in that you can have runaway immune responses that can cause autoimmune toxicities. in the case of these viruses. they can never form active viruses, they are really just fragments, archaeological

remains of viruses that have long since lost the ability to infect anything. so there is no dangerfrom the viruses, but we would want to make sure that we're not causing immune responses against any other normal tissues in the body which could lead to some treatment related toxicities side effects of the treatment.— toxicities side effects of the treatment. , ., ., ., ., treatment. yes, there are a lot of checks which _ treatment. yes, there are a lot of checks which need _ treatment. yes, there are a lot of checks which need to _ treatment. yes, there are a lot of checks which need to be - treatment. yes, there are a lot of checks which need to be done. i treatment. yes, there are a lot of. checks which need to be done. how long do you think it could take until it gets to somewhere where it has a significant start being made? welcome any treatment going into the clinic requires a huge amount of testing and optimisation so we are looking at certainly five years to do this, but it has to be said that they develop into vaccine technologies has advanced so rapidly in the last few years that we are looking at not the distant future now, sort of the medium—term future that we might to bring into play. 0k, it is

that we might to bring into play. ok, it is fascinating. thank you so much for talking to us about it. really appreciated. professorjulian really appreciated. professor julian downward really appreciated. professorjulian downward from the francis crick institute. nurses in england will escalate their strike action in the coming weeks after they turned down the latest government offer aimed at resolving their long—running pay dispute. more than half of members voting in a royal college of nursing ballot rejected the proposal of a 5% pay rise and one—off bonus. let's speak to our correspondent, simonjones, who's at st thomas' there is a split, though, isn't there of opinion amongst nurses on this? talk us through it, simon. yes, a complicated picture because we have the royal college of nursing rejecting that 5% pay increase, but then we had another union, unison, which represents some nurses but largely paramedics and ambulance staff who voted to accept that 5% pay increase. so you may have a situation going forward when staff are from the royal college of

nursing her due to stage another work—out at the end of this month, their shifts may be filled by staff from the unison union, who may step in. they have accepted the pay offer. it is all very difficult for nhs bosses to calculate the effect of this, but they say what the nhs in england needs is a period of stability, but now there is going to be even more uncertainty. nhs providers, which speaks for hospital trusts like the one i am at today in london, they say ultimately they strike action that is going to be held in the coming weeks will be a real challenge because what will be different this time is nurses from the royal college of nursing who work in emergency departments and intensive care units and cancer care are going to walk out this time as well. so cover will have to be found for them. that may not be easy to do. some real challenges ahead and real concerns about how the nhs is going to cope with the soul. tqm.

going to cope with the soul. 0k, thank ou going to cope with the soul. 0k, thank you very _ going to cope with the soul. ok, thank you very much, simonjones but is there in central london. —— how to cope with this all. germany's last remaining nuclear power plants will be switched off later. berlin pledged to quit nuclear power definitively after the 2011 fukushima disaster in japan. anti—nuclear campaigners have welcomed the move, describing it as a triumph. but energy prices remain high in the country. i put it to our correspondent in berlin, jenny hill, that this has been a controversial topic in germany for a number of years. this has always been a very difficult subject for this country, but you're quite right. anti—atomic energy protesters, some of whom have been demonstrating for decades for this day, are finally having their moment. they are going to celebrate here in the next few hours. you can see they've set up this area behind us, the dinosaur representing the death of german atomic energy production. and some of the people who'll gather here, as i say, have been wanting this moment to come for a long time.

it's an historic moment ending more than 60 years of nuclear energy production in this country. the people who have been protesting against it say it's unsafe. they say they'd rather see money invested in this area of energy production, invested in renewables, fuels for the future. but as you rightly say, it is an extremely controversial decision. those last three nuclear power plants will be, during the course of today, disconnected from the energy grid. and a little later, i'm at the brandenburg gate in berlin, you can see it behind me there, on the other side of that gate, they're preparing another demonstration. those are people who say it's madness to switch off nuclear energy production at this moment in time. they worry about energy security. this country was heavily reliant, as you know, on russian gas. in fact, today's shutdown had to be postponed by several months as the government scrambled to find alternative sources of power. they worry, too, about the environment. they say, well, actually,

nuclear power is cleaner than fossil fuels upon which this country still relies, although the government has said it wants to get out of coal—fired power production by 2030. so there's a lot of discussions still going on. and even as the highly specialised work begins to decommission, it'll take a very long time, of course, to decommission those power plants. politicians here are still bickering over whether they made the right decision. it's four years since the devastating fire at notre dame cathedral in paris, when the roof and spire were consumed in flame. for a time it looked like the entire building might have been destroyed. when president macron promised to have the cathedral rebuilt and re—opened by next year, many thought he was being wildly optimistic — but as hugh schofield reports, the operation is advancing pretty much on schedule. four years ago, the world watched aghast as fire devoured notre dame. and the terrible climax — the spire of the cathedral crashing to its destruction.

the spire has become a symbol, which at a site in eastern france, they've been rebuilding exactly as the original. thousands of oaks from ancient forests have been felled and shaped, and now the first part, the massive base is ready for assembly — bang on time. we have said we will do this in five years, so our reputation is at stake. we must unite all our efforts, all our knowledge, all our savoir faire to reach this goal. inside the cathedral, it's still a sci—fi film decor of metal. scaffolding reaches up to the vast hole which was once the roof. but everywhere, craftsmen and women are at their work of architectural healing. one of the big tasks has been treating the stained glass. like the spire, these windows are not in fact medieval but 19th century.

unlike the spire, they were saved. firefighters knew not to spray them with water or they'd have shattered. the disaster, for them, ironically, is an opportunity to remove 200 years of dirt. translation: it's a human grease from the breath - of millions of worshippers, plus the soot from the candles and the stains left by condensation. it has all left its mark. it may still look like an unimaginably complicated task, but in fact the reconstruction of notre—dame has been advancing much quicker than the doubters ever thought was possible. just in the last few days, the base of the spire which we saw being assembled earlier, has been transported here to paris and hoisted into place. soon they'll be building upwards, and by the end of the year, it's confidently expected that there'll be a new feature on the paris skyline — or rather a very old one, the spire of notre dame.

hugh schofield, bbc news, paris. just in breaking news to bring you know from merseyside police are saying a woman has been arrested with. the famous grand national race is due to take place at 5:15pm at aintree, a statement saying the women from the london area was arrested in the greater manchester area this morning in connection with potential coordinated disruption activities at aintree racecourse. theyissued activities at aintree racecourse. they issued a statement saying she is currently in custody, where she will be questioned by officers. they say merseyside police have been working with thejockey club and other partners to keep people safe during the grand national festival. we were aware of some we were planning to protest at the event, this has been factored into our plans, we respect the right to peaceful protest and expression of

views, that criminal behaviour and disorder will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly. plenty more on that when we get it. to stay with us here on bbc news. we've certainly seen a lot more sunshine around today compared with yesterday. clears the skies, the north and the west of the country. but we have seen lots of cloud in the east of england that's been pushing its way westwards. and so a bit more cloud through northern england, the middle and central southern england for the afternoon with some sunny spells and isolated light show. but as the skies brighten through eastern england, particularly through the east midlands, east anglia, southeast, the chance of one or two heavy and thundery showers for a while.

most of it will be dry and temperatures higher than the past few days, around 13 to 15 degrees quite widely, which sets us up for a beautiful afternoon for some rugby at the cardiff arms park. big clash between wales against england. coverage of that will be on bbc two later. fine evening here too. but in northern ireland we'll see outbreaks of rain develop, lots of cloud across western areas to end the night and the evening, and that will spread in across much of the uk tonight. it's in the west, most like to see some rain or drizzle at times and a much milder night than last night. whereas to eastern counties of england, reverse of last night, it will be a bit chillier. and even in east anglia a touch of frost around. but the big picture for sunday shows where the front, which will bring more cloud for us tomorrow compared with today. but what it'll also do is introduce a shift in wind direction to a more southerly flow. and so across western and northern areas, the yellow colours here denoting, milder air will work its way in. a lot of clouds to begin with. very grey for many. best of any brighter skies to the east. we'll see the cloud break up with some sunshine coming through. rain and drizzle across central western areas becoming confined to coasts. and once the sun is out, particularly northern ireland,

northern parts of scotland, we could see temperatures peak at around 17 or 18 celsius. so that's pushing towards the mid—60s in fahrenheit. but across the board in the mid—teens for sunday. as for monday, well, again, there will be a bit of cloud to begin with, but not as much as sunday. and that will break up, one or two isolated showers in the north. most will be dry, sunny conditions through england and wales and temperatures highest towards western areas where we'll see them up to around 17, maybe 18 degrees in one or two spots. the peak probably being around the inverness and moray coast areas again. with high pressure in charge then for next week we're just on the edge of it and that does mean we will pick up more of a breeze coming in from the east and it could just bring a few showers and a bit more cloud on wednesday. but overall, a much drier and brighter picture than the weekjust gone. and temperatures back on the left towards the end of the week.

was in this is bbc news, the headlines: a man is pinned down and arrested by security staff in japan as the prime minister, fumio kishida, is rushed to safety after an explosion. his predecessor, shinzo abe, was assassinated last year while giving a campaign speech. scientists say the remains of ancient viruses which have spent millions of years hiding inside human dna help the body fight cancer. france's president, emmanuel macron, signs into law his government's controversial pension reforms

despite months of protests.