live from london. this is bbc news. 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. 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 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. after the incident pm kishida made a speech in another location 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 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. hugo dobson is professor ofjapan�*s international relations at the university of sheffield. he gave his assessment of the changes to security since shinzo abe's assassination. one thing to highlight here is that withinjapan, there was a debate in the aftermath of prime minister abe's assassination. the national police agency did admit mistakes were made and a review was instigated. and i think one failure that was identified was that prime minister abe was not evacuated from the scene as quickly as should have been the case. two shots were fired.

it was the second shot that killed him. and it was that intervening time that proved to be fatal. i think from what i've seen today, we're still trying to piece together the details that this lesson has been learned in the case of this morning's incident, and that prime minister kishida was removed quickly and effectively from the scene immediately. but it's always going to be difficult to mitigate against individuals acting alone with readily—available low—tech weapons. so it's a challenge and it's a challenge that's at the heart of our democracy. we want to be close to our politicians. we want them to be visible. but it does involve certain security risks as well. and i understand, particularly when it comes to the local elections, it's more likely that people will be in crowds, sort of nearer the politicians and less stage—managed, aren't they these events 7 absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to be very up close and personal. candidates often try and 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. often the prime minister will be there to endorse a candidate. so, you know, election campaigns injapan tend to really put the emphasis on the personal, and then that risk will inevitably be heightened as a result. but it is interesting to see that prime minister kishida did continue with the scheduled talks today. that was hugo dobson from the university of sheffield. 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. there is still a police presence outside the constitutional council here in france, in paris. and that's because that building is where one of the most significant

decisions in modern french political history was made. there, a body of french grandees decided that the controversial 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 it was a chorus of boos and hisses. there was a real anger there. and that is when the trouble started earlier this evening. i can still smell on my clothes, the burning of the 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 that the reforms probably will go through and french people in the future will have to work to an older age. gunfire and explosions have been heard in the sudan capital khartoum as the sudanese army clash with paramilitary forces. witnesses report the fighting is close to the headquaters of the army in the centre of the city. smoke was seen rising from khartoum airport and there are reports of clashes near the presidential palace. the two sides are in dispute over who governs the country. sudan has been run by the military since a coup in october 2021. international leaders have urged the two sides to return to talks aimed at returning the country to civilian rule. merseyside police say a woman has been arrested ahead of the grand national at aintree racecourse. in a statement they said she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance in connection with potential co—ordinated

disruption activities at the event. a spokesperson said that authorities were aware of plans for a protest. she is currently in custody. an estimated 600 million people will watch the grand national race on tv around the world. our reporter nicky schiller is in the newsroom with more. the grand national is one of the world's most famous horse races. it is the 175th race today, although it actually dates back to the 1800s. the first when was called lottery, and indeed, it is a bit of a lottery to pick a winner. however an estimated 30 million adults in the uk will place bets worth £250 million on today's race. it takes place here, at aintree racecourse, which, if i zoom out, is near liverpool in the united kingdom. what makes this race so special? it is two things. first of all, the number of horses and riders that take part. up to a0 will start the

race today. the riders wear a range of colours so you can see them on the course. the second thing is the fences. there are 30 jumps in the race. some of the jumps are famous, including the chair. this is the highest. it is five foot two, or around a metre and a half. the other is bechers brook. this makes them controversial. dozens of horses have died and animal rights activists are planning protests. the courses have been made safer but since then four horses have died. this lady is rachel black no. she made history in 2021, becoming the first female jockey to win the race, and she is one of the favourites to win this year. there is one horse associated with the race. red rum. back in the 19705 with the race. red rum. back in the 1970s he won the race three times.

no horse has done that since. as a tribute his remains can be found at the winning post in aintree. 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. blinken is visiting hanoi, where he is expected to hold talks with top vietnamese officials. joining us live now from singapore is bik trahn adjunct fellow at the center for strategic and international studies. thank you forjoining us. talk is through what antony blinken can achieve. . ~ through what antony blinken can achieve. ., ~ , ., ., ., achieve. thank you for having me. the visit of — achieve. thank you for having me. the visit of the _ achieve. thank you for having me. the visit of the secretary - achieve. thank you for having me. the visit of the secretary link - achieve. thank you for having me. the visit of the secretary link into | the visit of the secretary link into vietnam is to strengthen the relations and the united states's

commitment is because the concern, that power that came from china. they have a joint concern about china's power in the area, don't they, but it is a difficult balancing act for vietnam, in terms of, they don't want to be seen to be getting too close to the us, in case it upsets china and inspired some sort of reaction from china? this is true, sort of reaction from china? this is true. because _ sort of reaction from china? this is true, because china _ sort of reaction from china? this is true, because china is _ sort of reaction from china? this is true, because china is vietnam's . true, because china is vietnam's trading pas and one of the few communist regimes in the world, so they want to keep positive relations with china, but because of china's actions in the south china sea it does need help from the united states. , , , ., ., , does need help from the united states. , , ., ., , ., . states. just explain to us how much vietnam is dependent _ states. just explain to us how much vietnam is dependent on _ states. just explain to us how much vietnam is dependent on china - states. just explain to us how much vietnam is dependent on china for. vietnam is dependent on china for things like train. i think it's the key manufacturing area that they rely on imports from china? vietnam's depend on china for a lot

of intermediate and capital goods. that is the production and manufacture of its own exports... i think we are having a bit of trouble from the line but we will try one more. can you hear me?- from the line but we will try one more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you- — more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you. i _ more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you. i will _ more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you. i willjust _ more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you. i willjust say - more. can you hear me? yes, i can still hear you. i willjust say the - still hear you. i will 'ust say the last bit, about _ still hear you. i will 'ust say the last bit, about the _ still hear you. i willjust say the last bit, about the importance i still hear you. i willjust say the | last bit, about the importance of trade between china and vietnam. yes. vietnam's is an export economy and it has been dependent on china for immediate and capital goods. [30 for immediate and capital goods. do you think that vietnam is really reluctant, at least in the short—term, to increase its diplomatic relations with the us, to what it has called a strategic partnership? this is what the us is after, isn't it, the improvement of their relationship to a strategic partnership?—

their relationship to a strategic --artnershi? . , . partnership? that is correct. the united states _ partnership? that is correct. the united states has _ partnership? that is correct. the united states has been - partnership? that is correct. the united states has been talking i partnership? that is correct. the - united states has been talking about that for the last few years and our understanding from the observers as vietnam is reluctant in making the decision. . ~ vietnam is reluctant in making the decision. ., ~ , ., ., vietnam is reluctant in making the decision. ., ~ ., ., , 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. our correspondent jenny hill's in berlin. talk us through. there are two protests, aren't there, today, on either side of the brandenburg gate there. it is a controversial one, isn't it? it there. it is a controversial one, isn't it? , , ., ., , isn't it? it is. first of all this isn't it? it is. first of all this is a hugely _ isn't it? it is. first of all this is a hugely historic - isn't it? it is. first of all this is a hugely historic day - isn't it? it is. first of all this is a hugely historic day for l is a hugely historic day for germany. the governments here have

been trying on and off to get out of nuclear power production for about two decades. that day has finally arrived. by midnight tonight, the last three nuclear power plants will be disconnected from the grid, ending more than 60 years of atomic energy production in this country. but the people behind me here at the brandenburg gate, that is real cause for celebration. you can see the dinosaur there, for celebration. you can see the dinosaurthere, nuclear for celebration. you can see the dinosaur there, nuclear energy vanquished on this day. many of these people have been campaigning for some decades to get out of nuclear power production. they say it is unsafe, they worry about accidents, they worry about the storage of contaminated waste and components. they say that too much money has been spent on an industry and money that could be better invested in renewables. i met a couple that said they have been campaigning for this day for decades themselves. they say it is a really special moment for them. but it is a controversial moment, and that is because, if we wander around here,

past all the tourists at this very popular site, you can properlyjust make out on the other side of the pillars, another demonstration that has not quite got under way. these are people that say it is a huge mistake to end nuclear power production right now. they worry about energy security. those nuclear power plants that will be disconnected today provide a huge proportion of energy for germany, but already, today's shutdown had to be postponed for several months while this country, heavily dependent of course on russian gas, scrambled for alternative sources of energy. the german government wants to get out of coal—fired power by 2030. some of those people are saying, how on earth are we going to keep, in particular german industry, going, and what will this mean for energy prices? they also say, when it comes to environmental concerns, nuclear power is perhaps far cleaner than continuing to use fossil fuels. a controversial one, indeed. it is highly specialised work, the work

that begins today in those three power plants. it will take years, probably decades, to fully decommission them. even as that work gets under way, the politicians here, even within germany's coalition government, are still bickering over whether they have made the right decision.- bickering over whether they have made the right decision. thank you very much. — made the right decision. thank you very much. jenny — made the right decision. thank you very much, jenny hill _ made the right decision. thank you very much, jenny hill in _ made the right decision. thank you very much, jenny hill in berlin. - made the right decision. thank you | very much, jenny hill in berlin. and now it is time for the sport. we are just over an hourfrom now it is time for the sport. we are just over an hour from the first premier league match of the day. newcastle will be looking to hang onto their place but it could be a tricky trip to aston villa. they are six after a brilliant run of form and six runs in the draw after the last seven. they have clear philosophy when they play. they are tactically interesting. they will be a tough challenge for us. we have to get parts of our defensive structure is right or they will give us problems. credit to them for that. they have a goal—scorer as well in ollie watkins

who has done very well this season. i think that is a good mix and defensively they have been solid. there run is a strong one and at home they have been very good. another tough away game for us. it is a real dogfight to stay up in the premier league. dean smith has taken on the relegation battle at leicester following brendan on the relegation battle at leicesterfollowing brendan rodgers leicester following brendan rodgers or two leicesterfollowing brendan rodgers or two sacking. what effects to match for the interim boss. they are at the champions, manchester city. the main reason i took thejob on it was because craig and jt wanted to come with me as well. i looked at the squad, looked at the fixtures, and ifelt the squad, looked at the fixtures, and i felt that there were games there to be won. there were points there to be won. there were points there to be won. there were points there to grab where we could actually climb out of the bottom three. ., ., actually climb out of the bottom three. . ., ., j , actually climb out of the bottom three. . ., ., , three. here are all saturday's games in the premier— three. here are all saturday's games in the premier league. _ three. here are all saturday's games in the premier league. frank - three. here are all saturday's games. in the premier league. frank lampard still looking for when. they are at home to brighton. they play like

spurs move back into the top four, at least for 2a hours, with a win over bournemouth. city would cut arsenal's lead to three points if they beat leicester. gunners are playing on sunday. it's the 175th running of the grand national later. there is increased security at the course after the threat of protests by animal rights groups. 33—year—old woman was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. hugh ferris is at aintree, and sent us this looking ahead to the race. you'll make the grand national is on a historic run. last year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateurjockey year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateur jockey one, year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateurjockey one, the first year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateur jockey one, the first to year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateurjockey one, the first to do so since 1990. in 2021 rachel blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race in its long history. blackmore is likely to be one of the favourites this

afternoon,. it would be a poignant victory for the horse's trainer, whose son jack victory for the horse's trainer, whose sonjack died within the last year. the top three from 2022 are all back, including last year's winner. it is a race that is notoriously hard to predict, but does bring in £150 million worth of bets on racing day, of £500 million overall for the industry, and the local area here at aintree. . snookehs local area here at aintree. . snooker�*s world championship is under way in sheffield. ronnie o'sullivan has started his title defence. he started his title defence. he started his title defence against pang junxu. o'sullivan is seeking an eighth world title which would be a record in the modern era. it is his 31st consecutive appearance at the world championship which is a record. the

americanjimmy walker leads the rbc heritage on golf's pga tour at the halfway stage. best shot of the second round went to his countrymen. he hit this... a hole in one. as for shots of walker and plenty of big names in the mix. recently crowned masters champion, jon rahm, is on six under. i would have celebrated much more. that is all your sports for now. he looked like he did it every day! 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 researchers 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 tumour, 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. 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. earlier i spoke to our correspondent, simonjones, who was at st thomas' hospital in central london. it's a complicated picture because we had 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. they voted to accept that 5% pay increase. so you may have a situation going forward when staff

from the royal college of nursing, who were due to stage another walkout at the end of this month, their shifts may be filled by staff from the unison union who may step in. now they have accepted the pay offer. it's 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's going to be even more uncertainty. and nhs providers, which speaks for hospital trusts like the one i'm at today in london, well, they say ultimately that the strike action that's going to be held in the coming weeks is going to be a real challenge because what's going to be different this time is that 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 is going to have to be found for them.

that may not be easy to do. so real challenges ahead and real concerns about how the nhs is going to cope with this all. that was simon jones that was simonjones with the latest on the nurses�* pay dispute. hello. we�*ve certainly seen a lot more sunshine around today compared with yesterday. clearest of the skies to 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 midlands, central—southern england for the afternoon, but with some sunny spells, odd isolated light shower. but as the skies brighten through eastern england, particularly through the east midlands, east anglia, south—east, the chance of one or two heavy and thundery showers for a while. most of us 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, end the evening, and that will spread in across much of the uk tonight. it�*s in the west, though, most likely to see some rain or drizzle at times, and a much milder night than last night, whereas to eastern counties of england, the 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 a weather 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 cloud, though, 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, though, will be dry. sunniest 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 lift towards the end of the week. see you soon.

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. gunfire and explosions have been heard in the sudan capital khartoum as the sudanese army clash with paramilitary forces.

witnesses report the fighting is close to the headquaters of the army in the centre of the city.