live from london. this is bbc news. at least three people have been killed in sudan — in fighting between the army and paramilitary forces, in the capital khartoum. a man is arrested — and the japanese prime minister rushed to safety — following an explosion at a campaign event. the world's most famous horse race — the grand national — sets off shortly — amid animal rights protests. the french president visits notre dame cathedral — nearly destroyed by fire four years ago. the restoration is expected to be finished on schedule.

sudan's army has claimed it's in control of the airport and presidential palace in khartoum after a day of fighting with paramilitary forces. at least 3 people are reported to have died in the clashes. 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 a return to talks — which are meant to restore civilian rule. the uk foreign secretaryjames cleverly said the violence must stop and called on the sudanese leadership to do all they can to restrain their troops. the us secretary of state, anthony blinken, has described the situation as fragile.

major parties in khartoum some weeks ago reached a very important framework agreement on how to proceed with a transition to civilian government. and there's been real progress in trying to move that forward. i spoke to general burhan just a couple of days ago on that very topic. and there are still some remaining, important remaining issues that need to be dealt with. but i think there's a real opportunity to move forward on the agreed framework. and certainly that's what we're strongly supporting. it's a fragile situation. there are other actors that may be pushing against that progress. but this is a real opportunity to finally carry forward the civilian—led transition and one that we and other countries

are trying to bolster. we want to just play you what happened on sudanese state tv, earlier. the newsreader briefly appeared, talking about clashes — but listen carefully and you can hear gunshots in the background. the picture then froze — and shortly after the broadcast suddenly cut off. isma'il kushkush is an independent journalist based in khartoum — and spoke to me earlier about what was going on. sudanese woke up this morning to the sounds of heavy artillery and gunfire between the sudanese army and the rapid support forces.

fighting has been taking place in major strategic centres around the city, the republican palace, the army headquarters, the khartoum international airport, the sudan tv and radio station and centres of rapid support forces centres. the reports so far of three people that have been killed, a number of people have been injured. from what i hear, i expect the numbers to go higher. today is a saturday. it's a holiday. it is ramadan. we are an hour away from sunset. electricity has been cut off in some parts of the city. i'm not sure where this is going, but it doesn't look positive. this is the worst—case scenario, i think, of what many sudanese and is what many sudanese feared during this period, the last three years of hopeful transition into a democracy.

i was going to ask you that question. for many sudanese, i mean, their heart must sink to see how things are unraveling at the moment. just talk to me — what sort of conversations people are having. well, this was not unexpected. i think many believe that something like this could happen. there was hope that some agreement would happen. for the past few weeks, there have been talks about an agreement that was supposed to be signed earlier this month that kept on getting delayed. the past few days, differences between the rapid support forces and the army have emerged who have been... many observers are aware that there were there were differences, but some key issues, particularly on the issue of command, as the rapid support forces were supposed to be merged into the army

within an agreement, there was some escalation between the two groups in the northern town of malawi yesterday and the day before. but now we're seeing the fighting come to khartoum. last week, actually, when the first of those deadlines were passed, i spoke to three sudanese women as part of another bbc programme and they were expressing the very real experiences of living under such uncertainty, and they also express their potential desire to leave. does that seem like a very real scenario now? how how safe are people feeling? that is exactly i think the sentiment throughout throughout the country. people have been seeking ways to leave the country for the past months. even more so with the coup of october 25th and 2021,

and the idea that the transition into a democracy would happen, i think more and more people have become wary and doubtful and people have been looking for ways to leave the country. but again, this was the absolute worst case scenario fighting between these two military groups, the sudanese army and the rapid support forces. and we're seeing that and we're seeing that happening in the capital. i know the airport is closed at the moment, but i'm sure that there are many people who will be seeking to leave the country. i mean, this is a struggle for power, essentially, isn't it? this is what it's all about. and who is going to to lead the country. it's about who leads the country. it's about a number of other issues that have been sidelined during this transition, or the debates about issues of accountability, ofjustice for war crimes committed

over the past decades in sudan, about dismantling the old regime and the economic access to economic power that certain centres, military centres have. these there are a number of issues, but this very issue of command and the merging of the rapid support forces into the army, i think was really a major issue that has caused this fighting that we're seeing today. that was a localjournalist that was a local journalist speaking earlier. in the last hour the reuters news agency has reported that chad has shut its borders with sudan. that chad has shut its borders with sudan. to give us a better idea of what we currently know is going on in sudan, our reporter, simijolaoso, is in our newsroom. hello. it all begins with the former

resident hello. it all begins with the former president of _ hello. it all begins with the former president of sudan. _ hello. it all begins with the former president of sudan. he _ hello. it all begins with the former president of sudan. he led - hello. it all begins with the former president of sudan. he led the - president of sudan. he led the country for 26 years. until 2019 when there were protests across the country in khartoum, including against his rule. that eventually led to a military coup. military leaders came together to form the southern council. the idea was for this joint committee to eventually lead the country into a civilian led government. it was led by these two men, the military leader general burhan, and the leader of the rapid support forces. the rapid support forces are a paramilitary group that grew in power under the leadership of the former president. these two were always at odds and that takes us to october 2021, when there were

pro—democracy protests, again, following several unsuccessful coos, which eventually led to the military taking power. they had the prime minister arrested, they took over the state tv and radio headquarters. they even restricted internet access. it has been years of the southern council allegedly trying to transition the country into civilian led leadership. now, with open conflict and the general elections that are planned forjuly this year, only time will tell if they will actually happen.— only time will tell if they will actually happen. only time will tell if they will actuall ha en. . ~ , . actually happen. thank you very much indeed for that _ actually happen. thank you very much indeed for that background. _ a man has been arrested injapan, after he appeared to throw a smoke bomb at the country's prime minister. the man was held by security guards after a loud explosion, at a local campaign event in the city of wakayama, where fumio kishida, was speaking. 0ur tokyo correspondent, shaimaa khalil, has the details —

and a warning — her report contains flash photography. chaos among the crowd as a young man is wrestled by security and pinned to the ground. then this. explosion. smoke fills the air after a loud explosion, with screaming bystanders scrambling to flee the scene. this is how a speech by the prime minister fumio kishida was interrupted. he was taken to safety unharmed. no other injuries were reported. but those who came to see him fled in fear. translation: something flew over our head. - we ran as fast as we could. and about ten seconds later, we heard a loud noise. my child started crying. it was shocking. my heart is still pounding hard, it has not stopped. police say a man has been arrested and identified as 24—year—old ryuji kimura.

his motivation is unclear. shortly after, a defiant mr kishida addressed a crowd in another location and said this should not disrupt the electoral process. translation: we are in the middle of an important election _ in our country, and together with you all, we have to carry on. violent attacks are extremely rare injapan. this is one of the safest countries in the world, with very strict gun laws. but the smoke bomb incident comes less than a year after the assassination of the former prime minister shinzo abe. since then, there has been heightened security around politicians, but also a heightened sense of nervousness. injuly last year, a young man stood very closely behind shinzo abe as he was speaking at a political event, before shooting him with a home—made gun.

in today's attack, the assailant appeared to be in the middle of the crowd as he threw the suspected smoke bomb. you can see him here holding an unidentified metal device. mr kishida is safe and has continued the campaign trail events. but questions will be asked about why he was in such a vulnerable spot only a few months after his predecessor was assassinated. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, tokyo. earlier, i spoke to shihoko goto — the asia program deputy director at the wilson center think tank. first of all, there is a collective sigh of relief there. not only is prime minister kishida safe, but all of those who are in this venue, they're all safe too. but at the same time, it does pose two questions. one is, what has the japanese security structure learnt from the assassination of prime minister abe less than a year ago?

they say that stringent measures have been taken, but how was this actually allowed to happen in the first place? and secondly, as we look forward, japan is hosting the g7 summit meeting in may and there will be a lot, of not only the leaders from the world's richest countries, but a lot ofjournalists and a lot of people from all overjapan and all over the world. how can japan actually safeguard the security and safety of all, all of those who are coming? there are a lot of questions to be answered and a lot of introspection and a lot of training that really needs to come out of this. well, indeed, because i think if we just looked at recent pictures of the us president biden in ireland, he virtually had a ring of security guards, even in a very civilian and very happy atmosphere. but if you look very closely,

he was surrounded by security guards whilst he was holding up his his phone, taking those selfies. what does that then mean for the g7 meeting? what are they doing wrong when it comes to campaigning? you raise the question, what sort of things have been discussed? well, i think when it's a domestic campaign and there is so much premium on having face time and actual physical contact with the voters, there's going to be a reconsideration of that. we haven't actually seen that after the assassination of prime minister abe. surprisingly, it's security in japan. from a non—security expert perspective, it hasn't really been intensified. it's still easy to go

into government agencies and the japanese parliament, etc. but on the international stage, when global leaders come, of course, biden's entourage will expect a very high level of of security some breaking news. organisers at the grand national have announced a short delay to the start of the horse race due to protests at the course. the horses are remaining in the paddock for now. some protesters broke through security and made it onto the track. lets go to aintree racecourse in liverpool where the grand national is due to be held shortly and join our correspondent sharon barbour. it's been a day of extraordinary tension and drama. it all of the biggest races in the world, watched by 500 million around the world, and an hundred and a0 countries. it has been stopped, and stopped by protesters. the protesters arrived

here this morning, there were a number of arrests and they sat down. they were determined, and they were determined to disrupt this race, the grand national, and as a result of that, there has been a huge police presence. the police officers couldn't officially tell me the numbers, but said they had never seen a police presence like it and some officers said they had seen police here from wales, so they had been drafted in, an enormous security event, but somehow there protesters have got in, they have got onto the track and stopped that race, which should have started now, a race that is so important in the racing calendar, so important to the economy here, £60 million it brings into this local economy alone. but also, it was important to the process protesters, who as you can see, say they were here to protect the animals and were determined to cancel the grand national. we spoke to a number of people before the race and they said they would never

get in, they would never stop in and it would never be stopped. their armed police here. there have been armed police here. there have been armed police here for the last six years since protesters threatened to disrupt this race. this action has succeeded and it's just an extraordinary day, when you consider how many police are here that have surrounded. we have seen hundreds of police officers everywhere, but somehow, the animal rising team have got in and disrupted this most important of races. we got in and disrupted this most important of races.— got in and disrupted this most important of races. we will get onto wh it is important of races. we will get onto why it is important _ important of races. we will get onto why it is important and _ important of races. we will get onto why it is important and when - important of races. we will get onto why it is important and when we - important of races. we will get onto why it is important and when we arej why it is important and when we are likely to see it begin, but, for our international audiences, what do we mean when we say protect the horses? i wonder if you could give us a quick history about some of the issues surrounding welfare of the horses?

animal rising was a sister organisation and their campaign was for animal rights and welfare of animals. if we think about the horses, we understand one horse has lost its life today. we don't know the information but another horse died this week. it is four miles and theissue, died this week. it is four miles and the issue, really, is that it is a jumping race and that is the most hazardous for the horses. over the years dozens of horses have died here at the grand national. the jockey club says they have taken all sorts of measures, because there have been concerns about the safety of horses. they have taken all sorts of horses. they have taken all sorts of measures to lower those fences, to change the colour of them, to put bush on the top of them to protect the horses and to change the debts after they take those jumps. it is a dangerous race and some years there are more deaths than others.

sometimes very few horses finish the race. it is a difficult situation for the jockey club and for racegoers. know dangers but the racegoers. know dangers but the racegoers we spoke to say that although they are sympathetic to the protesters, they love the race and they also said it could never be stopped. they also said it could never be sto ed. ,, . ., ., ~ they also said it could never be stoned. ,, ., ., ., ~' , they also said it could never be stoned. ,, . ., . ~' , . stopped. sharon, thank you very much indeed for that. _ sharon, thank you very much indeed for that. 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

mediaeval 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. i'm joined now by miles glendinning, professor of architectural conservation at the university of edinburgh thank you forjoining us here on the programme. iwonder thank you forjoining us here on the programme. i wonder if you could just take us through some of the considerations that have been taken on board in terms of rebuilding notre dame. i on board in terms of rebuilding notre dame-— notre dame. i think this is actually. _ notre dame. i think this is actually, the _ notre dame. i think this is actually, the whole - notre dame. i think this is actually, the whole notrel notre dame. i think this is - actually, the whole notre dame notre dame. i think this is _ actually, the whole notre dame case is really like a bit of a throwback to a 19th—century debate about how you deal with very high prestige buildings, cathedrals and castles, not so much about when they are damaged whether they should be restored to a prestige condition. there was a huge debate in the 19th century, and in a way, notre dame straddles this. as you pointed out in the report, a lot of the

building, including bits that were destroyed like this art buyer, were actually 19th—century attempts to restore it to its hypothetical previous condition. on the other hand what has happened is actually quite a conservative repair scheme, which is from the other side of the debate, that you shouldn't restore, you should leave things as they are and just repair exactly as it is. they have actually put back some of the 19th—century rep the relation. it's really actually a project that has a foot in both camps in terms of that 19th century tradition. just listeninu that 19th century tradition. just listening to _ that 19th century tradition. just listening to you, _ that 19th century tradition. just listening to you, it reminds me of when i was at university and we were talking about environmental aspects and the impact on the urban environment, and of course it was acid rain, back then. it shows how old i am. is that still an issue for

restorers? i old i am. is that still an issue for restorers?— old i am. is that still an issue for restorers? ., �* ~ ., ., restorers? i don't know. there are technological— restorers? i don't know. there are technological issues _ restorers? i don't know. there are technological issues that - restorers? i don't know. there are technological issues that affect - restorers? i don't know. there are technological issues that affect all| technological issues that affect all restoration projects. i think probably the most important, modern influence, that has kind of skewed this debate a bit, has been all the wartime destructions of the 20th century. the bombing of dresden, berlin, or whatever. that has led to a slightly new attitude as to whether it is ok to put things back to a previous condition. people are now more ready to envisage fairly radical alterations so things like the rebuilding of the berlin royal palace, which was completely demolished. it's in that context, this project is a very conservative one. this pro'ect is a very conservative one. ., , ,., this pro'ect is a very conservative one. ., ,,., ., this pro'ect is a very conservative one. ., ., i, one. professor, i am so sorry but we have run out —

one. professor, i am so sorry but we have run out of— one. professor, i am so sorry but we have run out of time. _ one. professor, i am so sorry but we have run out of time. thank - one. professor, i am so sorry but we have run out of time. thank you - one. professor, i am so sorry but wej have run out of time. thank you very much for that. that was professor myles glendinning. you have been watching bbc news. hello. we have had some heavy showers developing in yorkshire, east anglia and south—east england. out in the west this bank of cloud has been gradually working its way eastwards, tears in the sky is hazy across western areas and bringing patchy light rain and drizzle into northern ireland and the western isles. that will continue to slowly push its way eastward through this evening and overnight. the light rain and drizzle will become increasingly patchy and eventually tends to fizzle out. clear skies at first across eastern counties, the share was fading here, but equally we could see mist and fog under those clear skies. it will be a chilly night for parts of east anglia and south england, temperatures down to two or three celsius. temperatures generally holding up elsewhere to between four and eight celsius. into sunday and we are underneath this area of high

pressure. we start to pull in more of a southerly wind, so a milder air direction, pushing that milder air across the uk. also a moister direction so we will see much more cloud through sunday and actually a fairly grey stop the many on sunday. a lot of clout out west with patchy rain and drizzle, mist and low cloud for the hills. early mist and fog for the hills. early mist and fog for eastern coastal counties will lift and we see sunshine developing here. that will extend north and westwards through the day. we will see spells of sunshine coming through the cloud and when we do, temperatures rise to 16 may be 17 celsius. through sunday evening it is a fairly quiet night, but also fairly cloudy night. that will keep the temperatures up a little bit the week ahead it is looking mainly dry for most of us. very little, if any, rain across the uk. some good spells of sunshine and for many away from eastern coasts, with a breeze of the sea, it will feel warmer. this is how mundy shapes up. we are under this area of high pressure keeping

the atlantic front is at bay. still a fair amount of cloud around a monday morning. some stand merck for western areas, perhaps drizzle through the day for the western isles in parts of north—west england. for many it's a mainly dry day and once we have got rid of the cloud, we should see spells of sunshine come the afternoon. that will help temperatures quite widely into the low to mid—teens, if not 16 or 17 celsius in the best of sunshine. as i mentioned earlier, for much of the week ahead, it is looking mostly dry with some spells of sunshine. after what has been a fairly cool and wet week, things are looking a bit warmer, too.

this is bbc news. the headlines: at least three people have been killed in sudan in heavy fighting between the army and 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. the start of the world's most famous horse race, the grand national, has been delayed by animal rights activists. the french president has visited notre—dame cathedral, which was nearly destroyed by fire

four years ago.