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 major us 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. speaks arabic. distant gunfire. 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 conflicting 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 a week before last and 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 that 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 describe 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 that — 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 of justice and transitional justice, questions of peace, questions of what happens in the eastern part of sudan, questions about what happens with those who are responsible for crimes and those who are part of the former bashir regime and then, this incredibly difficult question about security sector 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 talked 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, i mean, 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 and 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, ethiopia. 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 helped to perpetuate the violence that's 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, also 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. susan stigant, director of africa programs at the us institute of peace, who has recently returned from sudan herself. susan, thanks for your insights. thank you. we want to bring you some breaking news from mexico. six adults and a child have been shot dead at a water park in cortazar. local authorities say gunmen stormed the park. the statement from officials did not provide any insight into the possible reason for the attack. in india, a former politician

and his brother have been shot dead live on tv. atiq ahmed, who's pictured here on the right with his brother ashraf ahmed, were taking questions from a journalist moments before they were shot. atiq ahmed was under police escort facing murder and assault charges. last month, the supreme court declined to hear his petition, 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 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's 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 underway, 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. an update on our top story with regards to the clashes we have

been thing today in sudan and according to the update we now know according to the doctor's central committee in sudan, 56 have been killed in violence. we have a number of 595 people wounded and you remember we have seen clashes and violence in the capital khartoum as well as spreading across the country. just those updated numbers, 56 people killed. 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. that led to the government reviewing the smart motorway network. here's 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 at the minute 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 time frame 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. tens of thousands of people demonstrated in tel aviv, demonstrating reforms that give the government decisive control that appoints judges. critics say it will hurt democracy.

0pponents say it will hurt democracy. opponents of nuclear power have been celebrating in germany as it shuts down three nuclear plants, believe placed a quick nuclear power after the 2011 fukushima power disaster. a fu kushima power disaster. a survey fukushima power disaster. a survey show most germans oppose the closures as they see nuclear power cleaner than fossil fuels. hundreds nuclear power cleaner than fossilfuels. hundreds of fossil fuels. hundreds of prisoners fossilfuels. hundreds of prisoners of war have been freed in a second day a prisoner exchanges between warring factions in yemen. some detainees were released according to the international community of the red cross in an operation that involved flights criss—crossing yemen and saudi arabia. 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. earlier, i spoke with jaylani hussein, the executive

director of minnesota's council on american—islamic relations, the state's leading muslim civil rights and legal advocacy organization. can you explain what is the call to prayer and white is so important to be heard over the speakers. thank you for having me. it's a symbol of really islam and it's a continuation of what other faith traditions do and so for muslims across the world, wherever they are, you see that that's the first sign that you probably know that they're muslims living because that call to prayer comes out. just like most people would know that there a church nearby if bells are going off on sunday or on other holidays, so, it truly is a symbol of islam and most mosques across the world have the 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 so this step in minneapolis is not only historic and we hope that many cities across the country who have many mosques across america can also do that and i think not only it's a freedom of religion issue but it's really also making sure signs of inclusion, that muslims are actually part and parcel of our communities. so what did restrictions look like before and how did this change come about, and why now? well, the state of minnesota actually had the policy that made sure that there wouldn't be any violation of consitutionally protected practice of freedom of religion, so the city of minneapolis had a noise ordinance that specifically had allowed noise only from from 7am until 10pm and we live in the northern

part of the country here, so our prayers move pretty gradually throughout the year so technically only three prayers would be allowed throughout the year and so what we worked with, councilwoman aisha chughtai, who worked with our office, and one of our local mosques there, daral—hijrah, and we were able to change that noise ordinance to make sure that it did allow for the call to prayer and really allow for any other type of practice of religion that may be limited by that noise ordinance from 7am to 10pm. and how has this been received in the city, in the community? it's incredible. i've received from our organisation, and just from what we've seen so far, an incredible amount of support and even in this process of requesting this, it was truly an interfaith effort. we had our community members from all faith traditions that

came in support of this effort and for the muslim community, this is a tremendous joy for them. i had a member of our community who is a descendant of slaves, and never thought, 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 who are not muslim, they are extremely welcoming and so tremendous support and excitement and i think we have set a precedent here for other cities. spacex plans to carry out its first test flight on monday of starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send

astronauts to the moon and eventually beyond. starship is set to launch on monday at 7:00am, local time. the spacecraft consists of a reusable capsule that carries crew and cargo and the first—stage super heavy booster rocket. starship generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than double that of the saturn v rockets used to send apollo astronauts to the moon. just reminding of the latest from sudan. the doctors central committee telling us that 56 people have been killed, 595 people have been killed, 595 people injured after heavy fighting between rival military factions with the un secretary general calling for an immediate ceasefire. fighting has continued deep into the night with government airstrikes reported on rfds positions in cities while the air force had earlier warned civilians to stay inside. stay with us here on bbc news.

thank you for your company. goodbye for now. 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, also seeing some spells

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. into 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 on tuesday, maybe even giving rise to the odd shower. 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. northern ireland, a small place of only 2 million people, once again capturing the attention of the world. presidents and prime ministers past and present have been getting into the province to join in celebrations for a political agreement signed here 25 years ago. supporting the people of northern ireland,