live from washington, this is bbc news. at least 27 people killed, including aid workers, in clashes between sudan's army and a paramilitary force. more than 100 animal rights protesters arrested after storming the ground at the grand national horse race. and minneapolis becomes the first us major city to allow broadcast of the muslim call to prayer over speakers five times a day, all year round. hello, i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. we start in sudan, where heavy fighting between two rival factions of the military has left at least 27 people dead including three un staff.

earlier, gunfire and explosions rocked the capital, khartoum. the sudanese military has ordered citizens to remain inside amid clashes at the presidential palace and the city's airport. what you're seeing here was recorded earlier at khartoum international airport, where at least two people were reportedly killed. footage there shows large plumes of smoke and fighter jets flying low overhead, and there was this video from inside the khartoum airport showing passengers taking cover on the floor. major airlines have reportedly suspended flights. this is the skyline across khartoum. exact death tolls are yet to be confirmed. a journalist from the washington post newspaper reported 30 people dead and nearly 400 injured, citing the united nations. victims include three united nations aid workers who were killed in the crossfire at a military base. we want to show you what happened earlier on sudanese state tv. the newsreader briefly appeared, talking about

clashes, but listen carefully and you can hear gunshots in the background. reading in arabic gunshots as you see, the picture then froze, and a short while later the broadcast suddenly cuts off. these clashes erupted after tensions over a proposed transition to civilian rule. let's remind ourselves of the political situation in sudan. sudan has been run by the military since a coup in october 2021. the fighting is between army units loyal to the de facto leader, general abdel fattah al—burhan, and the rsf, commanded by sudan's deputy leader, mohamed hamdan dagalo.

the two sides are in a dispute over who governs the country. violence is also being reported in several other cities across the country. the reuters news agency is reporting eyewitness accounts of sudanese army air strikes in the city of 0mdurman. the target is a base belonging to the rsf paramilitary group north—east of the capital, khartoum. both sides have issued conficting claims of control over key installations, from airports to the presidential palace. in a post on facebook, the sudanese army has labelled the rsf a rebel militia and said there will be no negotiations or talks until the dissolution of the group. earlier i spoke with the director of africa programs at the us institute of peace, susan stigant, who was actually in sudan two weeks ago.

could you tell that tensions were running high? yes, i was there the week before last. at that point it was clear that the tensions were incredibly high. there was a mobilisation of heavy weaponry, reports of mobilisation of additionalforces. and it was clear in the political negotiations that were going on, in an effort to form a new civilian government to end the coup of october 2021, that the parties were coming down to the really difficult issues, and particularly the question of the structure of decision—making and power and control, and the relationship between general burhan as the head of the sudan armed forces and general hemedti as the head of the rapid support forces. but the fear and concern and tensions were absolutely palpable at that point. so those tensions, as you described there,

were palpable — the feeling that we were starting to come to what appears to be, at least, a pivotal moment. but perhaps for people who might not be entirely familiar with the political situation in sudan, just briefly explain to us what is going on here. in the time leading up to today, there have been talks and negotiations taking place to really move to a new civilian—led government. this resulted in a draft political framework agreement before the end of 2022. and the discussions continued on really five core issues that were the most difficult to resolve — questions ofjustice and transitional justice, questions of peace, questions of what happens in the eastern part of sudan, questions about what happens with those who were responsible for crimes and those who were part of the former bashir regime, and then this incredibly difficult question about security reform. and so there have been intensive discussions taking

place, and i think much of the focus has really been pushing to try to get to that agreement that could bridge towards a new normal for sudan, if you will. and so what we saw over the last 2a hours, i think, is the clearest and i think in many ways quite tragic evidence that those who are holding the power, those who are holding the power of the gun, are not comfortable. and as much as we believe and we say that violence will not resolve the issue, those people who have the authority over coercive force right now, they believe that they are strengthening their positions for the future through the use of violence. so susan, you talk there about people with the authority in sudan. but i wonder, then, what does all of this mean for people's everyday lives in the country?

yes, i mean, two weeks ago people were certainly feeling the impact of the economic crisis. inflation had hit over 150%, and that economic crisis has really been building since the october 2021 coup. and today in khartoum, and in other urban areas across the country, people are living in the middle of active fighting. i think there are concerns about people getting access to basic services, and there are real safety concerns for individuals. and when you think about a time four years ago when the sudanese people really came together, men and women, young and old, from all across the country to mobilise in a peaceful way against an authoritarian regime, who put themselves at risk, who have really sacrificed in hundreds of instances their lives — being in the midst of a fight between security and military,

i think, is really shocking for many sudanese and for many of us who watch the country closely. and talking about the country, but also the region, susan, as well, we're hearing that fighting is spreading out of the capital. we've also heard that neighbouring chad has closed its border with sudan. what do you think are the risks of potential spread here? do you think that we expect any engagement from surrounding countries? the neighbourhood where sudan is located — i mean, you've mentioned chad, south sudan, central african republic. these are countries that are all facing their own political transitions and where the relationships between different groups across the countries are fragile and tenuous. and so i think an incredibly — you know, the first—order message right now is to end

the violence, and i don't think that can be said too much, too loudly or at too high a level at the moment. i think a second—order message is to say to the neighbouring countries, step back. ensure that you are not engaging in any way that could have helped to perpetuate the violence that is taking place, and in fact take a step forward to try to encourage those who are fighting to put the weapons down and to return to some sort of sensible political framework and political negotiation that could hopefully deliver a new government and a more peaceful situation for the sudanese people. susan, do you think that that possibility is still there at this moment? is the window still open for the violence to be ended? well, i think the escalation and the speed of the escalation of violence, the rhetoric between the two leaders and the spread of the violence is incredibly concerning. and we know that there are always openings and windows, and so i think coherence among

international partners, space for the sudanese who are still courageously and with the greatest determination trying to find ways to bridge and deliver the message that a pathway towards a democratic, peaceful sudan does not include the use of violence in a civil war. susan, you work for the us institute of peace. i just want to ask you briefly about the role of the united states. we've heard from the secretary of state, antony blinken, today calling for an immediate end to violence and calling this a fragile situation as the country looks to transition back to civilian rule. do you think that there are any indications that the us might seek to mediate in some way? the united states has been actively involved in supporting the ongoing political — the negotiations that were taking place prior to today. i fully anticipate that the us will be exercising its diplomatic support. hopefully that includes engagement at the highest

levels of the united states government, and i anticipate that that will be done in close partnership with leaders from the region, with the african union, with the united nations, with the united kingdom, with the united arab emirates, saudi arabia. i think these are all countries that have influence and interest in seeing a stable sudan and countries that are absolutely important in reaching some of the people who are actually the ones who are creating the situation on the ground right now. in india, a former politician and his brother have been shot dead on live tv. they were taking questions from a journalist moments before they were shot. he was under police

escort facing murder and assault charges and last month the supreme court declined to hear his position in which he alleged there was a threat to his life from the police. to the uk, and 118 people have been have been arrested at the grand national, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world. they were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and public nuisance offences in relation to disruption. a large number of police had been deployed to the ground after animal rights activists had warned they would try to disrupt the race. 0fficers went onto the course to remove the protesters. the start of the race was delayed for 1h minutes whilst the group were cleared, but it did eventually go ahead and was won by corach rambler, ridden by the jockey derek fox. 0ur correspondent sharon barbour was at aintree racecourse. well, it's been a really tense day here at aintree, a day of high drama. it began with the protesters animal rising, which all week had threatened to disrupt that most important of races

in the racing calendar, the grand national, which was due to start at 5:15pm. everybody said that they couldn't possibly. there were so many police here surrounding the racecourse, inside as well. the protesters arrived. they began their rally, they began a protest. they sat down on the ground and when we spoke to them. they were determined, they said, to disrupt the race, but still it wasn't believed that it was possible. well, they did. the race was stopped for around 15 minutes as they got onto the track. nine animal rising protesters were arrested. a little bit about that organisation — it was until a few days ago animal extinction. it was a sister organisation to rebellion extinction. we don't know how many were here, but certainly they got onto the track. they managed somehow to get through security and disrupted a race that is so important not only here in liverpool, where the income is around £60 million from the event,

but right around the world. 500 million, thejockey club say, watch the race in 140 countries. so certainly, even though the race got under way, for the activists it was a success in raising what they say are issues around animal welfare. certainly there are going to be a lot of questions not only about security and what they can do to now protect that race, but also questions about what they can do, perhaps, about the safety of the horses taking part. back to you. staying in the uk, and prime minister rishi sunak is to ban the construction of new smart motorways, which use technology to regulate speed and traffic flow on the country's biggest roads. 1a planned smart motorways, including 11 that are already paused, will be removed from government road building plans. the bbc�*s panorama programme in 2020 investigated smart motorways, revealing 38 people have been killed on them over a space of five years.

it led to the government reviewing the smart motorway network. here is a snippet from the documentary by richard bilton. we put in a freedom of information request for one stretch of the m25. 0ne warning sign was out of action for nearly a year — 336 days. there was also a 20—fold rise in near misses — 72 in the five years with the hard shoulder, 1,485 in the five years without. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent damian grammaticas and asked him how smart motorways work and what prompted the government decision. yeah, so the way these work is that in order to try to improve the flow of traffic on the motorways and keep traffic moving, what the government has done here over recent years is bring in these sort of measures.

now, some are simply electronic boards that advise you, they change the speed limit and try to keep traffic moving. the one that is most controversial is a scheme that exists already on quite a number of motorways where the hard shoulder — so the edge of the motorway, what would not be used in traditional motorways, an area that you could park up if you had a problem — that had been converted on some motorways into an extra lane for permanent moving traffic. now, the idea was that it's monitored by cameras. there are these billboards. if you had trouble or a problem, you were told to stay in your car. the traffic would be directed to slow down and go around you. now, part of the problem was that there were accidents happening there, and as that panorama programme revealed, there had been some 30—plus deaths on some of those

motorways in recent years. so this had led to a safety review, a pause in the development of new areas of smart motorway. and what we now get is this announcement that the projects that have been paused, so 14 of them have been paused or planned, will not go ahead. two projects which are nearing completion will actually now be done. but crucially, i think it's important to say the ones that are already in place will stay. they will continue, with some safety upgrades, so those will not change. so damian, is this actually the end, then, of smart motorways? and can the government do this? no, by any means it's not the end. so smart motorways cover already something like 10% of the motorway network, some 400 miles here in the uk, so the ones that are in place will stay in place. what the government has done today is to say that for the sort of timeframe you can look into, up

to the end of the decade, all road building plans — and smart motorways are part of that — they're now being removed from those plans. nothing before the end of the decade, and it will continue to look at how users view this. but it's worth saying, too, this is notjust about safety. a large part of this is about cost — inflating prices for the work to convert motorways into smart ones. the bill for the project upcoming is put at about £1 billion, so that's £1 billion worth of savings the government is making. so there's a cost saving it can make here, as well as, it says, listening to or responding to public concerns about safety. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas breaking that down for us. damian, thank you. in england, coordinated strike action involving doctors and nurses isn't being ruled out, according to the union the british medical association, as their pay dispute continues. nhs leaders say the further planned walkouts by nurses in england pose serious risks. simonjones reports.

preparing for more picket lines. members of the royal college of nursing will strike again over the may day bank holiday in england. for the first time, it will involve those working in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care. hospital bosses are concerned. that will present an unprecedented level of action that we haven't yet seen from nursing staff and therefore the challenges with that, you know, the organisation and all of the work that will go into managing and mitigating that, will be enormous. the pay deal on the table would amend a 5% rise for this year plus a one—off payment for last year. jessica collins, a paediatric nurse from cambridgeshire, voted against the deal. this just isn't the pay restoration we asked for. in fact, it's nowhere near and i think there is a lot

of disappointment in the unions for trying to encourage us to accept it. clint cooper, a nurse in yorkshire, was in favour of the deal. absolutely gutted. i understand why my colleagues have rejected it, but i stand by my word. i will not leave my patients. this morning, junior doctors returned to work after four days of strike action. they're asking for a 35% pay rise and their union has not ruled out co—ordinating strike action with nurses in future. it's difficult to hypothesise but all options are very much on the table and involve easing health secretaries called to prevent any further strike action. the royal college of nursing responded that it is in close contact with the bma but insist there is no planned co—ordinated action. the government says the 5% pay offer made to nurses is fair generous. it has been accepted by another union, unison.

ministers say that what the best for patients and staff. malcolm spent the night in a&e at saint thomas�*s hospital in london afterfalling and breaking a finger. i don't think they should be allowed to go on strike. because it's an importantjob. hospital bosses say the nhs needs a period of stability. instead, it's facing more disruption. simon jones, bbc news. to the us state of minnesota, where the state's largest populated city, minneapolis, has become the first us major city to allow broadcast of the muslim call to prayer, adhan, to be heard over speakers five times a day, all year—round. the state has had a large east african immigrant community since the 1990s, which led to the emergence of groups including the state's council on american—islamic relations, which strives to ensure muslims in minnesota enjoy the same protections

as all americans. joining me now is the executive director of the council on american—islamic relations�* minnesota chapter, jaylani hussein who is in minneapolis. jaylani, thank you for joining the program. what did restrictions on the call to prayer look like before and why the change now? thank you for having me. it is a symbol of really is lime and is a continuation of what other faith traditions do so for muslims across the world, wherever they are, it's the first sign that you probably know that they are muslims because the call to prayer comes out. just like most people would know that in a church, there are bells going on sunday or on holidays, so it truly is a symbol and most mosques across the world have a call to prayer and

unfortunately in america, we haven't had that opportunity to see this being practised widely or even practised at all. and me natalie l and —— and minneapolis is now historic and we hope that many cities across the country who have many mosques across america can also do that and i think it's a freedom of religion issue but also a sign of inclusion, that muslims are actually part and parcel of our communities. 50 what did parcel of our communities. so what did restrictions look like before and how did this change come about, and why now? well. come about, and why now? well, the state of _ come about, and why now? well, the state of masivesi _ come about, and why now? well, the state of masivesi dakuwaqa i the state of masivesi dakuwaqa actually had the policy that ensured —— the state of masivesi dakuwaqa actually had the policy that there would be no constitutional violations of the practice of religion, so there were ordinances which

specifically had no such thing from 7pm until 10pm and we live in the northern part of the country here, so our prayers move pretty gradually throughout the year so technically at least three prayers would be allowed throughout the year so what we worked with, bodies who worked with our office on one of our local mosques —— mosques there, and we were able to change that ordinance to make sure that it allowed for the call to prayer and really allowed for any other type of practice of religion that maybe limited by that noise audience of 7am to ten p.m. that noise audience of 7am to ten pm— ten p.m. how is this being received — ten p.m. how is this being received in _ ten p.m. how is this being received in the _ ten p.m. how is this being received in the city, - ten p.m. how is this being received in the city, in - ten p.m. how is this being received in the city, in the | received in the city, in the community?— received in the city, in the community? it's incredible. i received _ community? it's incredible. i received from _ community? it's incredible. i received from our _ community? it's incredible. i. received from our organisation, so far an incredible amount of support. even in this process

of requesting this, it was truly an interfaith effort. we had community members from all faith traditions who came to support this effort and for the muslim community, this is a tremendous joy. muslim community, this is a tremendousjoy. i had a member of our community who is a descendant of slaves, she told me she never thought she would ever hear the call of prayer in america and it's something that obviously we have a right to do so this is incredible. i talked to families and individuals who said this is the one thing that their children never get to experience and for many of our neighbours and our community members were not muslim, they are extremely welcoming and so tremendous support and excitement and i think we have set a precedent here for other cities. . ~ set a precedent here for other cities. ., ~' , ., , set a precedent here for other cities. ., ~ , ., , . ., cities. thank you very much for “oininu cities. thank you very much for joining us- _

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. most of us got to see some sunshine on saturday. i suspect that sunday will be a slightly cloudier affair. that cloud rolling its way in from the west. that said, if you do get some sunshine, it will feel relatively warm. but those cloudier conditions, courtesy of this frontal system pushing its way in from the west, even bringing some splashes of rain. high pressure still holding firm just about, so we're looking at mainly dry weather and where we are closest to the centre of the high across parts eastern england, a sunny but rather chilly start with some early fog patches. further west, though, a lot of cloud, spots of rain and drizzle. through the afternoon, northern ireland could well brighten up but that could spawn some pretty sharp showers. north—east scotland,

spells of sunshine, lifting of sunshine, lifting temperatures here to around 17 degrees. generally values between 12 and 16 degrees. as we move through sunday night, we keep some quite large areas of cloud. the cloud will break in places but if you do see clear spells for any length of time, they could fill in with some patches of mist and fog. and if it stays cloudy where you are, it will remain relatively mild but in the clearer spots, temperatures could drop relatively close to freezing. so still on monday, still this patchwork of clear spells and cloudy areas. it could well be that we see quite a lot of cloud rolling its way in from the north sea and that, coupled with a bit of a breeze from the north sea, will make it feel really rather chilly for some of our eastern coasts. so temperatures in hull, for example, around 13 degrees, same sort of temperature for aberdeen but further west, glasgow, 17 degrees, in some spots up to 18 and as as we head deeper

into the week, this area of high pressure stays with us, meaning it will be largely dry but with this high building to the north—east of us, this easterly wind will tend to strengthen a little. so that breeze, quite noticeable coming in off the chilly north sea will make it feel rather cool for some of these eastern coasts. we could see more cloud in the south developing some spells of sunshine elsewhere. once again, the highest temperatures likely to be across the north and west of the uk. and that is a theme that will continue as we head deeper into the week. always a little bit chilly the further east you are. could turn quite cloudy around the middle parts of the week. but there will always be some spells of sunshine and generally warmest in the west.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. argument done by eno barony plays. # high spirits so they can't kill it. # god's plan, no man... hiplife, to us, is what peanut butter is to bread. this is what actually- defines us as ghanaians. every ghanaian everywhere is representing ghana with hiplife. i would not even have fathomed being a musician if hiplife didn't happen. the story of hiplife is important to tell...