live from london, this is bbc news. gunfire and blasts are heard in sudan's capital khartoum, as the army clashes with paramilitary forces. a man is arrested, and the japanese prime minister rushed to safety, after an explosion. france's president, emmanuel macron, signs into law his government's controversial pension reforms. and — scientists say the remains of ancient viruses can help the body fight cancer.

hello and welcome to the programme. i am lucy gray. there have been gunfire and explosions in sudan's capital khartoum as the sudanese army clashes with paramilitary forces. witnesses report the fighting is close to the army headquaters in the centre of the city. smoke has been 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. the us secretary of state anthony blinken described the latest fighting as a "tragic situation", and suggested forces opposed to a return to civilian rule may be responsible. we want to play you now what happened on sudanese state tv. the newsreader briefly appeared talking about clashes, but listen carefully and you can hear gunshots in the background.

as you see the picture then froze and a short while the broadcast suddenly cut off. the latest reports we are getting in, the paramilitary says the army is attempting to carry out a coup. our africa correspondent, emmanuel igunza, says both sides are making claims about winning but it was difficult to know who controlled what bits of the capital. yes indeed, the situation remains very fluid in the capital, khartoum. we do know that fighting began very early in the

morning and since then, we have had contradictory statements from the national army itself, but also from the paramilitary group who had claimed that they were in control of the presidential palace. and key strategic areas, including the airport. just a few minutes ago we had a different statement from the army, saying that they were completely in charge of the presidential palace and also the airport. a fluid situation. it is not clear who controls what. the fighting is ongoing and the cut—off of the communication... this is not surprising because, over the last week, we have seen the military movement that had been ongoing in the north of the country, particularly from the rapid support forces, and the military has also been trying to cut off this advance by the rapid support forces. quite a situation there unfolding in the capital, khartoum.

do you know what specific incident sparked this latest violence? we have had both sides blaming each other, of course. yes, this has not started just the other day. over the last few weeks we have seen differences occurring between the rapid support forces and the national army when they were engaging the ongoing talks to establish civilian rule. the talks have collapsed because they have failed to agree on a timeframe over which they will be integrated into one army, and also, the leader of sudan, who is the leader of the army, and his second in command, have failed to agree on who will head the unified military. these differences have now escalated and we have seen they rsf making movements and taking military vehicles into the capital and also this escalated into them coming quite near and this is what seems

to have sparked the recent fighting that we have seen in the capital. lets ta ke lets take a little bit more of a look at what is causing the tensions. at the centre of the dispute are the rapid support forces — a paramilitary group — headed by general mohamed hamdan dagalo — effectively the country's deputy leader. as part of sudan's transition to civilian rule, the rapid support forces were meant to be integrated into the army. but there's a standoff between the rapid support forces and the head of the army general abdel fattah al burhan over the timetable for the change — and who will be in charge police injapan say a twenty—four—year—old man has been arrested after he appeared to throw a smoke bomb at the japanese prime minister, fumio kishida. ryuji kimura was seized by security guards after an explosion at a local campaign event in wakayama city. 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. 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. i think one thing to highlight here is that, withinjapan, there was a debate in the aftermath of the assassination. the police surgeon she did admit that mistakes were made. one failure was that it is always going to be difficult to mitigate against

individuals acting alone. with readily available low—tech weapons. it is a challenge and it is a challenge that is 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. i certain security risks as well. i understand that when it comes to local elections, it is more likely that people will be in crowds near the politicians, and they are less stage managed?— the politicians, and they are less stauaemanaed? ~ , , stage managed? absolutely. japanese election campaigns _ stage managed? absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend _ stage managed? absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to _ stage managed? absolutely. japanese election campaigns tend to be - stage managed? 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 often try to get into the thick of it, shaking hands with as many voters as possible, actually making physical contact. rallies are common and senior politicians will often attend. the minister might be there to endorse a candidate. election campaigns injapan tend to put the emphasis on the personal and then that risk will inevitably be heightened as a result. it is interesting to see that the prime minister did continue with his

scheduled talks today. 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 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 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. 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 holding talks with top

vietnamese officials. 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. scientists in london say remnants of ancient viruses that live inside human dna can help the body fight cancer. 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.

let's return to our main story. there is heavy fighting in an apparent power struggle between the army under paramilitary group. there is heavy fighting between... the two parties claim that the control the headquarters... situation, there is fighting in the streets. in some areas civilians...

the sudanese army are now controlling all the headquarters of the army and he described... his there is a statement from the united nations in sudan asking for the two parties to come and ease the tension and find a solution.

as we are talking to you, we are seeing images of fighterjets, what seem to be fighterjets seeing images of fighterjets, what seem to be fighter jets flying seeing images of fighterjets, what seem to be fighterjets flying over the capital. is this street to street gun and fighterjets dropping bombs on areas of the city? yes there is street _ bombs on areas of the city? yes there is street to _ bombs on areas of the city? 133 there is street to street fighting. as i mentioned there is fighting between the two parties in the street near our homes. there is no air planes bombing. there are reports of huge casualties. we cannot confirm the numbers now but according to officials from the sudan army they said they have

captured hundreds of the members of the sudan force. we captured hundreds of the members of the sudan force.— the sudan force. we are having very conflictin: the sudan force. we are having very conflicting reports _ the sudan force. we are having very conflicting reports from _ the sudan force. we are having very conflicting reports from either - conflicting reports from either side. the paramilitary group is saying it has taken over government sites in the capital and then we heard the army saying that it was now in charge of the presidential palace and the airport. we have also heard each side blaming the other for starting this particular violence that is going on now. a very confusing scene, isn't it? it is very, very confusing. at first the statement came from the rapid support forces. they claim that members of the sudan army attacked their base. then the sudan army statement said they are defending themselves and the rapid support forces had attacked. then we have,

it is very confusing and difficult so far. , , ., ,., it is very confusing and difficult so far. , , ., , ., ., so far. just to explain, the two reasons for — so far. just to explain, the two reasons for this _ so far. just to explain, the two reasons for this fight. - so far. just to explain, the two reasons for this fight. there i so far. just to explain, the two i reasons for this fight. there was this transition, talks recent wear, the transition to civilian rule, and there was a framework, an agreement reached between the two sides. but they couldn't agree on the timing of it and also on who should head up the military?— the military? that is true. the differences — the military? that is true. the differences between _ the military? that is true. the differences between the - the military? that is true. the differences between the two l differences between the two partitions... rapid support force said would take ten years. the commander said that the control of the army would be under the civilian

prime minister but the army deny this. the control should be under the command of the army. this led to this difference and today parts of sudan are suffering from the clashes between the two parties. we appreciate — between the two parties. we appreciate you talking to us, thank you very much. apologies for the line but it was good to get him on. now it is time for a round—up of the sport. we'll start with football because the first premier league game of the day is at half—timenewcastle are looking to consolidate third place

but they are trailing 1—nil. jacob ramsay with the aston villa goal. he's also hit the bar, and ollie watkins hit a post early on. coming up in ther next couple of hours frank lampard is still looking for his first win on his return to the chelsea dugout on an interim basis. they are at home to brighton. everton are only out of the bottom three on goal difference and are at home to fulham. spurs would move back into the top four with a win over bournemouth. and later on dean smith takes charge of relegation—threatened leicester city for the first time — but they're up against champions manchester city. an awful lot of very good teams are trying to impose their game on to manchester city and come unstuck. what we have to do is go with the game plan and stick to that game plan, stay in the game for as long as we can, and we have also seen teams like brentford go there and get results. so, yes, they are one of the strongest teams in the premier league, if not the world, but we have to have that belief in ourselves that we can go there and get a result.

three people been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance at the grand national. animal rights activists have threatened to disrupt the race. it's the 175th running of the world famous steeplechase. hugh ferris is at aintree and sent us this, looking ahead to the race. the grand national is on a historic run. last year, the sam waley cohen, the first amateur jockey won, 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 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. great britain need something spectacular if they're to reach the finals of the billiejean king cup already 2—0 down, harriet dart has to beat caroline garcia to keep their tie alive against france in coventry, dart has forced a tie—break in that second set. england and wales are level at the top of the women's six nations table, so we're expecting an entertaining match between the two sides at cardiff arms park. england are favourites — they've won the title four times in a row, they lead the world rankings, and they've enjoyed big wins over italy and scotland. scrum half lucy packer played for wales in rugby sevens before choosing to represent england in the 15s — and she's relishing the prospect of some stiff competition. i think it's really amazing,

with the growth in the game and the growth in the game with wales, with the contracts being brought in, and it is really exciting to have another team at that higher competing level, which is what will grow the game even further. snooker�*s world championship is under way in sheffield. ronnie o'sullivan has started his title defence he's playing chinese debutant pang junxu in the first round at the crucible and and he's raced into a 6—2 lead. pang junxu is playing pretty well and actually beat o'sullivan in the champions league earlier this year. o'sullivan, is seeking an eighth world title — which would be a record in the modern era. it is going to be a busy afternoon. you can follow all that on the bbc sport website. olly foster there with all the sport news. there is

plenty more on all of the stories we are covering on our website. we will be keeping you across what is going on in sudan. you are watching bbc news. 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 and west. 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 heavy fighting is taking place in sudan — as the army clashes with paramilitary forces, in the capital khartoum. 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. 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. katy perry is among the stars set to perform at the king's coronation concert next month. the show, on the 7th of may,

will have the themes of love, respect, and optimism.