hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. it has twice the power of any rocket that's ever been flown before. but for the moment, starship remains on the ground. the spacex launch was scrubbed earlier today over a problem with a pressure valve. but what are the prospects for later this week? we will get you all the details on starship shortly, but first let's get the sport. here's will perry. hello from the bbc sport centre. it's been a dramatic evening at the world snooker championship in sheffield, with play suspended at the crucible after a protester vandalised one of the tables

and a second person tried to attach themselves to the other table. robert milkins and joe perry were playing theirfirst—round match at the time of the incident. a man climbed on to their table, covering it in orange powder. mark allen and china's fan chen—yee were also in action and escorted from the theatre. their match has since resumed. the other is expected to later. never seen that before at eight snooker event. that is a first. as i say, we don't know what that is on the table, whether it can be brushed off or whatever, but if it can, that match is not going to be played tonight at that table, because the whole table needs a recover and that takes a long time. how did they fit that session into the schedule, which is already tight, through the 17 days? every session is marked out, when it is going to be played. in terms of the action, there was a big shock earlier in the day, with the 2016 runner—up ding junhui knocked out. ding led iran's hossein vafaei by five frames to four overnight, but the world number 23 was in scintillating form, winning the first four frames

of the day on his way to a 10—6 victory. vafaei now faces defending champion and world number one ronnie o'sullivan in the second round. three—time champion mark williams is also through to the last 16. his opponentjimmy robertson did produce one of the shots of the tournament. but williams won six frames in a row to progress 10—5. he'll face the belgian lucas brecel next. one game to bring to bring you up to date with in the premier league. still in the first half at elland road, where it's leeds 0—0 liverpool. just over half an hour played. both teams came together ahead of kick off to pay respect to the 97 people who lost their lives in the hillsborough disaster 3a years ago. the two captains laid wreaths in front of the away end. leeds went into this one two points above the relegation zone,

liverpool six points off the europa league spots. frank lampard says "anything is possible in football" as chelsea look to overturn a two—goal defecit against real madrid in the second leg of their champions league quarterfinal. chelsea are without a win in six games, they've lost their last three, and lampard says they will need a special stamford bridge atmosphere to pull off a shock against the holders. it is just worth focusing on the here and now, with a little understanding, if we get things right, if we work hard, if we do the right, if we work hard, if we do the right things in the game, then anything is possible. i've got no doubt it will be positive. when i talk about it, the start of the game. the rest of it is down to us, it is down to us as a team to play with a real desire and a know—how, to try and turn this game around the. philadelphia eagles quarterback jalen hurts will become the highest paid player in nfl history after signing a contract extension. hurts had a year remaining on his original rookie deal but will now earn $255 million over the next five years. he was drafted in the second round in 2020 and has

since developed into one of the league's best quarterbacks, leading the eagles to last season's super bowl, where they lost to the kansas city chiefs. sri lanka are in complete control after the second day of their first test against ireland in galle. they started the day on 386—1; but went on to reach 591—6 before declaring — an innings that included unbeaten centuries from dinesh chandimal and sadeera samarawickrama. in response, ireland have struggled against the sri lankan spin, with prabath jayasuriya taking five wickets, as they ended the day on 117—6. christian, that's all the sport. we will have more for you later. well, thank you very much. there has been fighting for a third day in the sudanese capital khartoum, as two power—hungry generals vie for power within the country's military leadership. two factions have been in charge since october 2021. general abdel fattah al—burhan is the head of the armed forces and,

in effect, the country's president. and then there is his deputy mohamed hamdan dagalo, better known as hemedti, who is the leader of the country's biggest paramilitary group — the rapid support forces, or the rsf. the two men are bitterly divided on the direction the country is headed, as it moves towards civilian rule. one of the main sticking points is the plan to merge the 100,000—strong rsf into the army, and then there is the disagreement over who would lead that new force. people in the capital say there have been heavy gun battles and air strikes in crowded residential neighbourhoods. in the last hour, the un envoy to the country said at least 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 civilians and fighters wounded. our senior africa correspondent anne soy reports. after three days of fighting, airports are still a flashpoint. these satellite images show the damage that has been done in the capital. and these soldiers from rsf claim to have taken control

of yet another airport. civilians are bearing the brunt of the fighting. there's nowhere safe to go. sudan is a majority muslim nation. ramadan is a time to travel and meet friends and family, but not now. we've seen bloodshed from both sides. we're just caught in the middle. you know, it's like, just... explosion listen, this is our new normal now. millions who depend on humanitarian aid are not receiving any. the un says a four—hour pause to allow for humanitarian access last week was breached. aid workers have been caught up in the clashes and the world food programme has pulled out after three of its workers were killed yesterday. unless there is a very immediate humanitarian truce for the people to get their needs, i think the people will be

compelled to do some looting. the number of casualties is rising. here, staff at a local hospital struggled just to get into the workplace this morning. whilst army officers who support the country's de facto leader, general al—burhan, were keen to be seen visiting the injured. and the fighting is spreading, with troops now on the streets in the red sea city of port sudan and reports of unrest elsewhere. despite international calls for a ceasefire, neither side is ready to back down. anne soy, bbc news. as well you can imagine, not easy to get information outside of khartoum at places, columns are a bit sketchy as well. mohamed alamin is a journalist

in the sudanese capital khartoum. it is good to see you. bring us up—to—date with the situation this evening in khartoum. up-to-date with the situation this evening in khartoum.— up-to-date with the situation this evening in khartoum. thank you very much. evening in khartoum. thank you very much- this — evening in khartoum. thank you very much. this evening, _ evening in khartoum. thank you very much. this evening, the _ evening in khartoum. thank you very much. this evening, the clashes - evening in khartoum. thank you very| much. this evening, the clashes have continued from the place i can hear very well, sporadic gunfire and heavy bombs in the direction of the army headquarters in the areas surrounding. it is a little bit... today's morning and even the daytime, afternoon, the army has strongly actually bombarded the locations of the rs f, especially robbie headquarters, and the rs f counter that attack by using artillery shells, so this has actually done a lot of damage in

different parts of the capital, because it has... this random shelling has led to bombs falling houses of civilians, and as you said, the number of casualties among civilians is very high, and as the hospitals are not operating well because some hospitals have been stormed, even, some of these forces have used the hospitals as safe places during the clashes itself, the hospitals themselves are lacking a lot of things like medicines, everything, so maybe the number of casualties in the coming days, if the situation is improved a little bit, maybe the number of casualties is much bigger. this is what have been told by some... iii is much bigger. this is what have been told by some. . ._ is much bigger. this is what have been told by some... if the rsf are in the city. — been told by some... if the rsf are in the city. and _ been told by some... if the rsf are in the city, and from _ been told by some... if the rsf are in the city, and from what - been told by some... if the rsf are in the city, and from what you - in the city, and from what you describe sounds like there is street

to street fights certainly around the quarter of the military barracks, does that mean that people are just occurred down, barracks, does that mean that people arejust occurred down, no barracks, does that mean that people are just occurred down, no one barracks, does that mean that people arejust occurred down, no one is moving around at all you cannot go out to the shops, there is no movement?— out to the shops, there is no movement? , ., ., ., movement? there is no movement, what --eole call movement? there is no movement, what peeple call it- _ movement? there is no movement, what people call it. khartoum _ movement? there is no movement, what people call it. khartoum is _ movement? there is no movement, what people call it. khartoum is now— movement? there is no movement, what people call it. khartoum is now like - people call it. khartoum is now like a city of ghosts. it is the name for the empty streets and the people are afraid to look outside, even, their houses, notjust to move outside. so the people are afraid. they have stayed indoors for like three days now of and also this has started to really affect the situation. electricity is down in sudan for 2h hours. the situation is going bad,

and in a city like khartoum, which is the... the projector is already fragile in the situation is going to be worse in the coming days —— the infrastructure is already fragile any situations going to be worse. let mejust read any situations going to be worse. let me just read a statement that we have had from the us ambassador to the united nations, who says that there is now an ability for humanitarian to safely operate, including those displaced by the ongoing fighting. she says this, there will and must be accountability for anyone, including military or political actors, who attempts to undermine ordinal delay sudan's democrat in progress. you cannot quite mistake that. there will be consequences for those involved. does that sort of threat, that sort of warning, have any impact on the two generals who are leading this? it is

impact on the two generals who are leading this?— leading this? it is actually, for me, no, unfortunately, - leading this? it is actually, for i me, no, unfortunately, because leading this? it is actually, for - me, no, unfortunately, because we kept hearing these speeches for a long time, since the crew has happened in october 2021, and on the aftermath of the coup, and the two sides are cooperating together to make the crew and international community... a political process, bringing the two generals to the power, and the peace, provide unity for them. after all of these things and after all these concessions by the stakeholders, the two generals are still hungry for the power and going for this power struggle, so that means the chances they have been given over the past four years

has strengthened them, especially the rsf, and now there ambitions cannot be contained. so this speech, we kept hearing for a long time, so i think what we need is to focus on how to open the humanitarian corridors for the aid they need, for those armies not to attack the hospitals, attacked doctors, not attack civilians. at least this is what we need to do now, and then any kind of radical solutions can come later. we cannot talk about the political solutions or any kind of solutions unless this war is stopped now, and on the other hand, the majority of the sudanese people,

that they have nothing to do with this war, this war is not for them, this war, this war is not for them, this war, this war is not for them, this war again is the demands of... the basic needs of life now. it is getting worse and the demands of the sudanese people is, actually, not able to be and plummeted without the international community. {131 able to be and plummeted without the international community.— international community. of course, a lot of governments _ international community. of course, a lot of governments focusing - international community. of course, a lot of governments focusing on - a lot of governments focusing on their own nationals, john kirby has just said that there are no plans for us government and evacuation from sudan, and he is urging americans that are still in khartoum to exercise extreme caution because of the situation that you have well described. ijust wanted to ask of the situation that you have well described. i just wanted to ask you one last question. obviously there

are several rebel groups in darfur, and area that has a lot of international focus, and area that has a lot of internationalfocus, but and area that has a lot of international focus, but also and area that has a lot of internationalfocus, but also in and area that has a lot of international focus, but also in the darfur region is the wagner group. are the russians the combustible elements in this? are they supporting the paramilitaries? yes. supporting the paramilitaries? yes, we cannot say _ supporting the paramilitaries? yes, we cannot say that _ supporting the paramilitaries? yes we cannot say that what is happening currently during the war, but generally russia supporting the rsf, and we know even the rsf has, during the war, that corrupted in the central african republic, the rsf has moved in order to defend the russian mercenaries fighting inside central africa, so the paramilitary

is actually defending the russian interests in notjust sudan but all over, in the region. but it is about international race. a lot of interests are overlapping in sudan. we have different interests in different areas, so sudan is now a place of overlapping, intersection of these interests, and unless the sudanese people themselves will succeed to reach a point of a big consensus and change, they cannot, they will not defend the country, so they will not defend the country, so the russians are notjust supporting the russians are notjust supporting the rsf, the russians are actually

having a lot of interests in sudan, big investments in sudan, in oil, and they are taking sudan as a centre... to and they are taking sudan as a centre... ., , ., and they are taking sudan as a centre- - -_ and they are taking sudan as a centre... ., , ., , ., . centre... to exploit, yeah. we will have to leave _ centre... to exploit, yeah. we will have to leave it _ centre... to exploit, yeah. we will have to leave it there. _ centre... to exploit, yeah. we will have to leave it there. mohamed l centre... to exploit, yeah. we will have to leave it there. mohamed, | centre... to exploit, yeah. we will. have to leave it there. mohamed, do stay safe. thank you for sparing time this evening. mohamed alamin in the sudanese capital of khartoum. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories making headlines today. roads and railways between northern spain and southern france have been closed because of huge wildfires on both sides of the border. the worst affected area is northern catalonia, with huge plumes of smoke drifting above the town of yansa. the area has seen little rainfall over the winter following last summer's long drought. the british aviation industry says it can reach net zero by 2050, so long as it receives proper government support. at a sustainable skies world summit that began in farnborough today,

the biggest companies said they can reach that target using more efficient aircraft and alternative fuels. but european airlines say it will cost them more than 800 billion euros, which will need to come from higherfares. angry birds are being consumed by sonic the hedgehog. rovio entertainment, the maker of the hugely popular mobile game, has been bought out by the japanese gaming giants sega. the deal is worth $775 million. you're live with bbc news. elon musk had set unusually low expectations for starship's proposed launch this afternoon, which i am guessing generated even more interest. the prospect that the world's biggest ever rocket mightjust blow up on the launch pad had me completely gripped. but in the end, spacex pulled the launch. it turned into nothing more than a "wet dress rehearsal". the gargantuan rocket that houses the 33 engines had been loaded with fuel, but it seems there was a problem

with one of the pressure valves. fully stacked, starship stands about 120 metres tall towering over nasa's saturn v, which launched the apollo missions, at 111m tall. and compare that to nasa's artemis rocket, 98m tall, which will one day return astronauts to the moon. it has plenty of oomph too — around 17 million pounds of thrust, which has almost twice the power of the artemis rocket. this is a beast! with more on this, i'm joined by our science correspondentjonathan amos. good evening to you, jonathan. so what was the problem, at the end of the day? what was the problem, at the end of the da ? ,, w what was the problem, at the end of the da ? ,, n ., what was the problem, at the end of theda ? ,, ., , ., what was the problem, at the end of the day?— it i the day? sticky valve, christian. it is alwa s the day? sticky valve, christian. it is always the _ the day? sticky valve, christian. it is always the sticky _ the day? sticky valve, christian. it is always the sticky valve! - the day? sticky valve, christian. it is always the sticky valve! the - is always the sticky valve! the sticky valve. _ is always the sticky valve! the sticky valve, isn't _ is always the sticky valve! the sticky valve, isn't it? - is always the sticky valve! the sticky valve, isn't it? i- is always the sticky valve! tie: sticky valve, isn't it? i wasjust sticky valve, isn't it? i was just listening to your numbers there. i like to do some compilations on a piece of paper. and you will remember the old concorde. i was

brought up in bristol, in the west country, and it is famous for concorde, the engines, the olympus engines that were produced there, designed there, for concorde. concorde used to fly with four olympus engines. the amount of trust that this rocket should be able to produce is equivalent to about 100 concorde dashing down the runway, henri heat, trying to take off. that is how much oomph. that henri heat, trying to take off. that is how much oomph.— is how much oomph. that is the scientific term _ is how much oomph. that is the scientific term to _ is how much oomph. that is the scientific term to cover - is how much oomph. that is the scientific term to cover it! - is how much oomph. that is the scientific term to cover it! 33 i scientific term to cover it! 33 engines. are they throwing everything at it? the nearest analo: , everything at it? the nearest analogy, actually, _ everything at it? the nearest analogy, actually, is - everything at it? the nearest analogy, actually, is an - everything at it? the nearest analogy, actually, is an old l everything at it? the nearest - analogy, actually, is an old soviet rocket called the m1, which the soviets were going to use to send cosmonauts to the moon back in the 19605. cosmonauts to the moon back in the 1960s. obviously, they lost the race

to the moon, in part because they could not control the 30 engines that they had at the base of the m1. so it is really hard to court nate those engines. they have to be lit up those engines. they have to be lit up in stages —— co—ordinate those engines. you have to watch out for crazy residences. the big concern, the worry is that if one engine let's go, you get a cascade. do they all let go? and you lose your ship. these are the things that would keep elon musk awake at night, although we do not think he sleeps very much at the moment with all the companies he is trying to run. i at the moment with all the companies he is trying to run.— he is trying to run. i don't think so. he he is trying to run. i don't think s0- he has _ he is trying to run. i don't think so. he has got _ he is trying to run. i don't think so. he has got a _ he is trying to run. i don't think so. he has got a lot _ he is trying to run. i don't think so. he has got a lot on - he is trying to run. i don't think so. he has got a lot on his - he is trying to run. i don't think. so. he has got a lot on his plate. let's suppose that it goes up, that it gets up there. what is it supposed to do?— it gets up there. what is it supposed to do? it gets up there. what is it su osed to do? ~ ., it gets up there. what is it su--osed to do? ., , supposed to do? the rocket would be a name supposed to do? the rocket would be a game changer. _ supposed to do? the rocket would be a game changer, complete _ supposed to do? the rocket would be a game changer, complete game - a game changer, complete game changer. the history of rocketry is that you use a rocket once and then you throw it away, so you launch a satellite, as the record goes up, it

stages, it is mostly fuel tanks, and once the tanks are exhausted you drop them, you fall in the ocean, but you never see them again —— they fall in the ocean. we have seen earlier times and reusability. you are member the space shuttle, the orbiter, the space plane itself, they used to reuse that. elon musk himself, his falcon nine rockets that he lunches every week now, the bottom half of that rocket is used time and time again. he does not use the top half of the top half is expended. the dream is to get a fully reusable rocket and rapidly reusable. that is to say, it comes back and just like the jet airliner that lands in new york, they refuel it and it goes again, and that is the idea with this rocket. because it is so big, because it is so big, you can put a huge amount in orbit, more than 100 tonnes in one go. if you can also have a rapidly reusable vehicle, the cost of putting a kilo

in orbit, it falls through the floor, right, essentially? all you are paying for is the fuel that you put in the rocket. so it is an absolute game changer, if he can make it work, and that is what we are watching to see.— are watching to see. aesthetically s-ueakin , are watching to see. aesthetically speaking. it _ are watching to see. aesthetically speaking. it is _ are watching to see. aesthetically speaking, it is huge, _ are watching to see. aesthetically speaking, it is huge, it _ are watching to see. aesthetically speaking, it is huge, it is - speaking, it is huge, it is impressive to look at, but most rockets we look at have a white top. why has this one got a black top? the black at the top actually is the thermal protection tiles, so you cannot beat physics if you go into space and you come back, you come in at high speed and you get this pressure and friction, the pressure like when you pump up your tire on your bicycle, you feel the heat. when the vehicle comes in, it is pushing on the atmosphere, trying to get it out of the way of an air the —— all the air molecules squash up. high, high heating. you need some

sort of protection for that and so this vehicle is covered in these titles. otherwise it is silver, because this is essentially a tin tub. it is made of steel. this is what they have been experimenting in texas, notjust designing the rocket and learn how to fly it but actually learning how to build it as well. they want to be turning these out like a model t ford, tesla, i should say a tesla, shouldn't i? this one sitting on the pad, we've got the lovely picture behind me, you've got pictures of it as well, he is already got parts of other rockets just like it ready to go, and it is very much an interim approach that he uses. so he learns how these rockets fit together and even before he has flown one, he is already thinking of improvements and if lamenting that into the next vehicle

on the —— implementing that... that on the -- implementing that... that is the amazing _ on the —— implementing that... that is the amazing thing about spacex, that even if they did wrong, they learn very quickly how to get it right, don't they? it is amazing, when you talk about the trust and what it is and how much it costs, one day, someone is going to sit on top of that. that is the idea, right? this would take someone to mars. , ., , ., , mars. frequent visitors to the site in texas is — mars. frequent visitors to the site in texas is nasa, _ mars. frequent visitors to the site in texas is nasa, because - mars. frequent visitors to the site in texas is nasa, because a - mars. frequent visitors to the site | in texas is nasa, because a variant of the bit at the top, the ship of the whole system is called starship, but the bit at the top seems to be called starship as well, spacex are going to build a version of that to land the artemis astronauts on the moon, so we saw that big rocket launch, the back end of last year. there was a capsule on the top. the capsule will go to the moon, it will meet up with starship there, going around the moon, they will

transferred over to starship, go to the moon service, come back up and come home. the moon service, come back up and come home-— come home. jonathan, lovely to see ou. come home. jonathan, lovely to see yon thank — come home. jonathan, lovely to see yon thank you _ come home. jonathan, lovely to see you. thank you for _ come home. jonathan, lovely to see you. thank you for explaining - come home. jonathan, lovely to see you. thank you for explaining that. l you. thank you for explaining that. we will keep our fingers crossed. it may go later in the week. back after a break. hello. our weather for the next few days looks pretty quiet across the uk as a whole. there'll be some cloud coming and going, maybe the odd light shower, but really nothing much to report in the way of rain before the end of the week. we will, though, have perhaps a strengthening easterly breeze contributing to a chillier feel in the next 48 hours or so. that easterly wind comes across from the north sea underneath this area of high pressure. currently centred across scandinavia, it drifts across to the north of the uk by the time we get to thursday. and that easterly wind, as we look at the small hours of tuesday, introduces some thicker cloud, mist and murk to many eastern regions of the uk, pushing across into the midlands by the end of the night as well. overnight lows widely 4—6 degrees

in a few sheltered spots. we could, though, just capture a few patches of ground frost, particularly the north—east of scotland, perhaps the welsh marches. tuesday, though, there's the high across scandinavia. easterly breeze again across england and wales. we should clear a lot of that low cloud, mist and murk quite early on in the day, perhaps a bit hanging back around some of the north sea coasts, but a lot of sunshine essentially taking us into tuesday afternoon. that wind off the north sea, though, will keep things feeling chilly across eastern counties and particularly adjacent to the north sea coast, because essentially, you're just fetching air in that's been cooled down by those north sea waters, and at this time of year, they are only around 8 degrees. we will see, i think, a bit more cloud across the south—east and east anglia pooled across from the near continent come the afternoon. highs here ofjust 12 and with the chance of the odd shower developing through the afternoon. that whole area of cloud marked up as a little weather feature here will transfer further west

on the easterly wind to the south of our high for wednesday. so, a bit more cloud initially on wednesday, perhaps across the midlands, wales and for the south—west of england. on and off through the day, there mayjust be the odd light shower. again with that wind, eastern counties, particularly coastal regions, struggling with the temperatures. towards the west as well, just a shade cooler, i think, than it was to start the week. but we are looking at temperatures in many spots reaching the low—to—mid—teens. for thursday, perhaps some rain arriving into the east later on, more widespread across england and wales on friday. the weekend, though, looks pretty showery for all and perhaps quite chilly to end.

hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. this is not only a trial over $1.6 billion in dominion's lost profit and damages, but this is a trial that has enormous implications for press freedom in the united states. why aren't they investigating november 3rd, a rigged and stolen election? this is an unusual case simply. because so many fox executives actually put their thoughts into e—mails, even- rupert murdoch himself. welcome back. we will be looking ahead this

next hour to tomorrow's blockbuster trial in delaware.