live from london. this is bbc news. the evacuation of foreign nationals from sudan gets under way, as fighting in the capital, khartoum, continues. the australian entertainer, barry humphries has died at the age of 89. he was best known for performances of his alter egos dame edna everage and sir les patterson. the australian prime minister anthony albanese has taken to twitter to pay tribute to barry humphries, calling him "one—of—a—kind" and "gifted." a deadly restaurant fire in madrid. two people have died and at least ten others are injured. and what's behind a sharp decline in the number of african lions? we hear from two experts on how

to protect the endangered species. hello. welcome to the programme. we start in sudan, where the army says foreign nationals from the uk — as well as the united states, france and china — are to be evacuated "in the coming hours". these are saudi state tv pictures of a boat reported to be carrying saudi citizens and some other nationals arriving injeddah, across the red sea from sudan. other ships are said to be due to dock injeddah later. the head of sudan's military agreed to facilitate the evacuation, as fighting in the capital khartoum enters its second week. the saudi broadcaster says the evacuees were carried in a convoy of vehicles to port sudan from where they boarded ships tojeddah.

the most intense fighting in sudan has been taking place in the capital khartoum, where explosions and gunfire have been heard in the past few hours. the un estimates that at least 400 people have been killed across sudan since the fighting began a week ago. the conflict is the result of a power struggle between the national army led by general abdel fattah al—burhan and the rsf paramilitary group led by general mohamed hamdan dagalo. the two men had been sharing power since leading a coup in 2021, but recently disagreed on how sudan should be ruled going forward. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding is following the story from johannesburg in south africa. in terms of the ceasefire that was supposed to last, and has been interrupted by gunfire, what does that show about how this situation is escalating? it is

that show about how this situation is escalating?— is escalating? it is still very unstable — is escalating? it is still very unstable in _ is escalating? it is still very unstable in khartoum. - is escalating? it is still very| unstable in khartoum. early is escalating? it is still very - unstable in khartoum. early this morning, there were some positive signs. don had been unusually quiet, people said, then we heard the announcement from the head of the army, essentially the head of sudan, general abdel fattah al burhan, who said that as you are mentioning there, french, danish came in, others, they said they could bring their planes into the airport immediately to evacuate diplomats and others into the city. very quickly after that, we were talking to people in khartoum who were describing intense, perhaps the most intense bombardment is right in the city centre, and of course the airport in khartoum is itself in the city centre. that seems to have continued all day. i was speaking to a businessmen half an hour or so ago, and he was describing massive explosions close to where he was sheltering in the city. he said it felt like russian roulette. he was just waiting for the next bomb to

land on him. very tense, very worried communities in the centre of khartoum. 0f worried communities in the centre of khartoum. of course, millions of people still trapped, notjust the diplomats and foreign nationals waiting to be evacuated, but many sudanese who found it too dangerous still to leave the city. we sudanese who found it too dangerous still to leave the city.— still to leave the city. we were seeinu still to leave the city. we were seeing pictures _ still to leave the city. we were seeing pictures of— still to leave the city. we were seeing pictures of some - still to leave the city. we were seeing pictures of some of - still to leave the city. we were seeing pictures of some of the j seeing pictures of some of the initial movements to evacuate people. how is that operation going to be able to proceed? how will it be affected by this apparent break in the ceasefire?— be affected by this apparent break in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at — in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at all, _ in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at all, ever, _ in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at all, ever, i _ in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at all, ever, i think - in the ceasefire? there has been no ceasefire at all, ever, i think that i ceasefire at all, ever, i think that is the clearest point. we know that saudi arabia managed to get some of its diplomats out by road in a convoy, about a 12 hour drive to the red sea coast to port sudan, and there it seems there are options to get out of sudan itself. there are other possible options being considered. perhaps a drive over

land north to egypt, and also we know military planes, the americans, possibly the french waiting in djibouti. that is about a two hour flight to the east, again to the red sea coast. we are hearing some suggestion that the airport may now be under control. we know there are pockets, perhaps big pockets of resistance from the paramilitary forces in the centre, and that this fight is by no means over. it seems unlikely that we are going to get many if any evacuations today from the airport. many if any evacuations today from the airport-— the airport. briefly, we were heafina the airport. briefly, we were hearing earlier _ the airport. briefly, we were hearing earlier from - the airport. briefly, we were l hearing earlier from charities, organisations who were trying to help people in the area, saying that what needs to happen is a break in fighting, a ceasefire, and as you say there has been none. initially, both sides had seemed to suggest there would be an agreement to one. what does this say about how anything is going to be agreed upon between them, if this is what has happened at the first hurdle? i

think the most significant thing we have heard for days, really, from the leadership of the army, from general abdel fattah al burhan, is that he believes this will and can be solved militarily. in other words, he is in no mood for negotiations, and therefore talk of ceasefire, we have had so many talks and promises of ceasefires over this holiday weekend in particular, they seem not worth the paper they are written on, certainly not credible at this stage. written on, certainly not credible at this stage-— at this stage. thank you for brinuain at this stage. thank you for bringing us _ at this stage. thank you for bringing us the _ at this stage. thank you for bringing us the latest - at this stage. thank you for bringing us the latest on i at this stage. thank you for i bringing us the latest on that, at this stage. thank you for - bringing us the latest on that, our africa correspondent, andrew harding. here, prime minister rishi sunak has held an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers to discuss assistance for british nationals trapped in sudan. government officials say they're doing "everyone possible" to support those still trapped inside the capital khartoum. earlier we spoke to arshad malik — the country director for sudan with the charity save the children. he talked about the impact that the conflict is having on children and what support

is in place for those who need it. at the moment, we still are trying to keep our staff safe as much as we can. like, the city of khartoum has been under a kind of lockdown since the 15th of this month because of the ongoing crisis, and we are at the moment monitoring the situation. our staff have reported safe but we are extremely concerned about the situation children are facing and communities otherwise. we have reports of internal displacement in multiple locations within khartoum state, but also in other states including gezira, sennar, white nile, river nile and some other states, and they have... this is because of fighting but also because there is lack of water, electricity cuts in the city, and lack of basic commodities. and lack of safe drinking water, at the moment, is one of the biggest concerns because this is one of the most widely reported issues at the moment

in the areas which are affected because of the crisis, and this will increase the risk of waterborne diseases, including cholera. infective control — like, for example, mosquito nets and other things — are not available at the moment. we are in contact with msf to see what the gaps are. they have reported a shortage of key medical supplies including blood bags, oxygen concentrators as well as iv... and i think we are also, at the moment, planning to bring in supplies from wherever we can. we have teams on standby. we are constantly in touch to understand, number one, the needs, but also we are trying to assess the situation from a perspective of child protection and what is the impact of this crisis on children.

the australian comedian barry humphries, best known for his character dame edna everage, has died at the age of 89. he'd been receiving treatment at a hospital in sydney following hip surgery. barry humphries was a leading figure on the british comedy scene with his many satirical characters. his family said he never lost his brilliant mind and unique wit. 0ur arts correspondent, david sillito, looks back at his life. dame edna everage! hello, possums! dame edna always said she was born with a priceless gift — the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others. i am weightless and you could do with losing a little. success has gone to yourjowls, russell harty! oh, you're being very, very cruel! for more than 50 years, she took pleasure in saying the unsayable. i've had a little work done, but... have you? ..not quite as much as some of us here! laughter and applause no...

no, but the thing is, you are still recognisable, that's what i like. laughter she was so familiar it was easy to forget that behind the glasses and frocks was a man called barry humphries. that's me standing outside. oh, one of the big clocks they've got over there. he arrived in britain in 1959, an australian comedian with a devilish delight in satirising the people he'd grown up with. most of us who go to england try to get rid of our australian accents if we can. because we've always felt, with our accents, rather inferior, you see, to our english cousins. as indeed we are. the real barry humphries was an art lover, a painter, a collector of rare books, polite, a loyalfriend — the opposite of another of his characters. and i have the honour to be

the australian cultural attache. how are you, sirjohn? les patterson. barry. g'day. but he and sir les did have one thing in common — drink. it took a divorce and a spell in hospital to convince him to give up the booze in 1971. i had such a wonderful trip overseas, you know. but throughout his life he always had edna. from her beginnings as a mousy parody of the suburban melbourne values he'd escaped... still, i dare say in a week or so i will have my australian accent back again! what is it, a little choker, darling? ..to the brash housewife superstar. gorgeous, darling. did it all come off the one chandelier? laughter and applause # it's my niceness # i pride myself on my niceness #. for many, edna was so real, so engaging, it was easy to forget that the wit, the charm, the sheer audacity was

all down to the brilliant comic mind of a man called barry humphries. i've been draped! # my wonderful, wonderful niceness # # with you. # the comedian barry humphries, who's died at the age of 89. 0ur correspondent in sydney, phil mercer, told us he'll be best remembered there for dame edna everage. he really took the world by storm, didn't he, barry humphries as dame edna everage having audiences with royalty and millions of fans, i think it's that particular role that will define the life of a man whose career spanned so many generations. he was awarded many honours in the world of acting and also in civic society as well. a national treasure, i think, here in australia. and there will be an enormous amount of sadness at his passing at the age of 89.

he was admitted into hospital in february after a fall at his apartment here in sydney. he was treated at st vincent's hospital and we have heard from his family saying that he was himself until the bitter end, never losing his brilliant mind and also making light of his condition and planning new shows. so that's a measure of the man fighting until the very end. but barry humphries has died here in sydney. he was 89 years of age. and tributes to barry humphries have been pouring in from around the world. 0ur newsroom reporter naomi choy smith has been looking at all the latest messages on social media. those tributes, as you say, pouring in from around the world, especially in australia. and we only have to look at this aussie legend jason donovan's tweet here, saying, "australia has lost "one of its greatest — funny, literate and fiercely intelligent," and posting this picture ofjason donovan — who, of course,

is the neighbours star — with dame edna there. he said barry humphries was quite simply an entertaining genius and those words echoed, really, across social media. we have another aussie icon there, dannii minogue, tweeting, "a legacy of laughter he will leave". "vale barry humphries," with a hashtag there. we've even gone into the world of politicians, as we were reporting earlier. the prime minister of australia anthony albanese posted this tribute to barry humphries and the premier of new south wales, as well, chris minns, posting this tribute saying, "the all—time most successful solo theatrical performer anywhere in the world — barry was a legend." notjust in australia, though — we're also seeing reaction from the uk, including another comedy legend, ricky gervais tweeting, "farewell, barry humphries, you comedy genius." so, of course, striking a chord in australia, the uk and beyond.

0ur reporter naomi choy smith there looking at tributes to barry humphries, who's died at the age of 89. two people have died and 12 people have been injured after a fire at a restaurant in the spanish capital, madrid. it was sparked by a waiter flambeeing a dish as it was being served at the italian restaurant burro canaglia in the city's salamanca area. the flames then set decorations and artificial flowers on the walls and ceiling alight. one person is in a critical condition and five of the others hurt are described as seriously injured. it's believed around 30 people were in the venue on friday evening when it happened. the mayor of madrid said the emergency response was helped by the restaurant's location. translation: it was so lucky that we have the fire — translation: it was so lucky that we have the fire station _ translation: it was so lucky that we have the fire station so _ translation: it was so lucky that we have the fire station so nearby. - have the fire station so nearby. within ten minutes of the alarm being raised, the fire was out. it wasn't complicated to put out,

despite being extremely intense, as the firefighters described it, with so much smoke being generated. a memorial service has taken place here in london, to mark the 30th anniversary of the murder of a black british teenager. stephen lawrence was eighteen when he was killed by a gang, in an unprovoked racist attack at a bus stop in south—east london. it led to a landmark report that concluded london's metropolitan police were "institutionally racist". today stephen's family and religious leaders met to remember him. stephen lawrence's murder was simply and solely unequivocally motivated by racism. it was the deepest tragedy for his family. it was an affront to british society. and the skewing and the stymieing of the murder investigation by the met, because of institutional racism, was a severe blow to the lawrences and to the rest of the nation. the welsh club wrexham, could be promoted back

into the english football league for the first time in 15 years this evening, and get the hollywood storyline their film—star owners, have been aiming for since they took over a couple of years ago. the club could escape non—league football tonight, with a victory over boreham wood at the racecourse ground. hollywood stars rob mcelhenney and ryan reynolds have pumped in millions of pounds into the club, and theirjourney has been turned into a global tv series, meaning this game will be followed by new fans all over the world. our reporter dave guest is in the city for us with fans getting ready for the match. well, here at the fairfield tavern in wrexham, excitement is starting to build, slowly at first, they are only on teas and coffees at the moment because of the time of day but wrexham is a city in the mood to celebrate today because their football club went from virtual oblivion a couple of years ago to now possibly facing maybe promotion back to the english football league. it is all thanks to two hollywood stars, ryan reynolds and rob mcelhenney. they bought the club and spent millions on it and now the club is one match away from that possible promotion.

alice is the landlady here at the fairfield tavern. she isjoined by her family and also ducky. club mascot ducky, yes. he brings lots of luck? it does. it's going to fetch us lots of luck today as well. what did you think when you heard that two hollywood stars were going to take over the club? i didn't believe it to begin with. it was so surreal but it's happened and they have been here, is it, two years now? and what they have done in those two years is fantastic. they have notjust kept a connection with the club, they have been doing loads about the town as well? yeah, they have just like adopted the town. it's not just about the club. they fetched everyone together. we have always been a close knit community, but it has given that extra excitement and community spirit. dixie mcneil, you were a player and a manager at wrexham in the past, what do you think about what has happened over the past couple of years? the last couple of years, if you look back at the last 15 years when we have been doing non—league football,

suddenly we're going to get back in the football league. i think everybody is so elated, it's untrue, but for all the fans that have been going to the club for that number of years, i think it is brilliant that they will get success at last and go into the football league. 22 games played this season, 21 wins, 1 draw. what is your predicted scoreline for today? logically, i think we will win 2—0. if you look at their goals for, they are not big goal—scorers. we have two strikers that are scoring lots of goals, and, as i said, 10,000 fans behind you, you won't hold back. you're going to go for it. talking about fans behind you, are we all confident, guys, of success? cheers a text—message scam targeting parents conned people out of more than a million pounds last year.

that's more than $1.2 million. new figures from the bbc reveal more than eleven—hundred people fell for scammers pretending to be the victim's son or daughter in financial trouble — before asking for money. dan whitworth reports. it might seem like a legitimate plea for help, but it's nothing of the sort. they're texts from scammers that start with, "hi, mum" or "hi, dad" before making a request for money or help, normally accompanied by a distressing story about why the cash is needed quickly. in the last year, more than 1,100 people across england, wales, and northern ireland reported being targeted by these scams. more than £1.1 million was lost to texts targeting mums and more than £170,000 was lost to texts targeting dads — a total of more than 1.3 million. jan was one of the victims. after receiving a message she thought was from her son, asking for her to transfer money, she sent more than £3,000 to the person who contacted her. by the time she realised it wasn't him, it was too late. i was just so gutted.

i was so, so, so upset that someone could do this to me because i save... i'm... i save so hard. i try so hard to save money and i watch my pennies but ijust felt so gutted that someone could do this to me. only texts reported to action fraud have been counted in the new figures, meaning the number of people affected could well be higher. a police officer who works on fraud cases just like these is warning people to be aware of the dangers. the sorts of people that will be targeted will be parents, mums and dads with children. so, ultimately, this is about loved ones telling their parents or neighbours being informed about this sort of scam so the more people that know about it, the less chance they are likely to become victim of it. research suggests that nine in every ten people have received scam messages or calls similar to this.

the advice, if you do get one, is to delete or report it straight away. and if you're tempted to transfer any money to a loved one after receiving a text, make sure you speak to them first. dan whitworth, bbc news. the african lion is one of the most endangered species in the world. there are as few as 20,000 of them left in the wild. their numbers have dropped by almost half, across the continent in just the last two decades. i've been speaking to two conservationists — dr shivani bhalla and jeneria lekilelei. dr shivani began by telling us about her unpbringing — surrounded by lions. i grew up seeing wildlife and going on safari with my parents and ijust developed this huge passion for them. i very quickly realised lions were in huge trouble and the population in northern kenya, in samburu, where we live and work, was unknown — we didn't know what was happening to them. and i learnt that they would disappear from protected areas and not come back. the numbers were plummeting across the continent, across kenya, and that's what made us start ewaso lions — to see

what is happening with this population and what can we do to bring back the lion population. yeah, and i understand they're more endangered than elephants and rhinos. that's not something that people would necessarily expect. no, no—one knows this. they. . .they think there's just lots of lions everywhere, but there's only about 20,000 africa. they're only living in about 8% of their historical range. if you think about it, between the first lion king and second lion king, lion numbers have gone by half — they've dropped by half, so the numbers are really low and it's a huge concern for not just the whole african continent but all of us, all of us living in countries where lions are so important and play such a big role. yeah, that's a really stark way of looking at it, isn't it? the change in numbers between the two lion king films. jeneria, i'm going to turn to you. how closely is the lion conservation project tied to your culture? thank you very much. so, luckily, ewaso lions was started through our culture, to give our warriors a role to play within lion conservation,

the women a role to play through lion conservation, and that is why our project, ewaso lions in northern kenya is very much tied into the samburu culture in northern kenya. and something that's very interesting that you've said is that hearing a lion's roar gives you hope. can you explain that? yes. wildlife in general means so much to our culture. we believe, like, such as elephants they are our ancestors. lions, when they roar or they come around my village in samburu, it means that that's a sign, a good sign of hope, that there will be no rain, there will be no drought at all, there will be no problem, and that is why lions around my village is very important. yeah, and the lion's roar as a sound and just the image of the lion as a symbol, they're both so poignant, aren't they? and what is the key to helping the lion population against all

these challenges of the drought of the other climate—change—related issues that are affecting the population? so, our lion population actually reached its highest last year. in the last 15 years it's slowly been increasing and finally last year we hit the 50 mark. and the key to having our lions doing well is, it's the communities who live alongside lions, who are the ones making decisions for lions. it's the warriors, it's the elders likejeneria, it's our mama simba women. they're the ones who are actually involved in conserving the lions. they'e lived with lions for generations, so it's not they've lived with lions for generations, so it's not like coexistence is something new. the challenge is, coexistence is getting harder. it's getting much harder for communities to live alongside lions, but by having the communities themselves decide what is best for their land and wildlife, like lions, then that is what's really caused them to increase in numbers and for them to be well—protected.

stay with us on bbc news. hello. it's felt positively springlike across the uk in the weekjust gone. temperatures widely in the mid—teens, low twenties in western scotland. north sea coast always somewhat chillier, but for all of us, some colder prospects in the days ahead. low pressure rolls across the uk through the remainder of the weekend, bringing outbreaks of rain, setting up some quite strong winds across northern scotland by the end of sunday. and they are northerly winds, and they will advance arctic air all the way south across the uk for the early part of the new week. so, a big change to come. for the rest of today, some showery rain moving across england and wales, perhaps something heavier and more persistent moving into the south coast by the end of the night. some rain for northern ireland, southern and central scotland. to the north, i think the skies somewhat clearer. we're looking at a mild night, frost—free with temperatures in the mid range of single figures.

on into sunday, quite a spell of wet weather targeting the south east of england and east anglia. it is the london marathon. not the nicest conditions for spectators and quite a keen wind picking up later on in the day i think will add to the cooler feel. but the really cold winds are starting to dig down into northern scotland by the end of the day on sunday. temperatures already down on the figures we've seen through the last week. but as we look at monday and that arctic air sinks south, the northerly wind really picks up everywhere. the colder feeling will be much more pronounced. and you can see what that northerly wind is ushering into scotland and across the higher ground of northern england — snow showers possible down even to lower levels across scotland. it's rain that we're looking at, though, still hugging southern england, perhaps affecting parts of south wales, and our temperatures sliding down widely into single figures. we've got to factor in that northerly wind, and then you can see for the likes of aberdeen, it's going to feel only a couple of degrees above freezing through monday daytime. and then monday night into tuesday,

gardeners, watch out. if you've put any tender plants out, it's time to get the fleece out because we are looking at quite a widespread frost. colder still i think monday night in to tuesday. we continue with that chillier feel into the middle part of the week. but current thinking has us picking up a more south—westerly atlantic influence to our weather for thursday and friday and the temperatures coming up. but it does look like we could see some quite wet prospects to end this week. but in the short term, it's the chillier weather that we have to look out for.

this is bbc news, the headlines the evacuation of foreign nationals from sudan has begun, as fighting in the capital, khartoum, continues for a second week. this ship — arriving in the red sea port ofjeddah — was carrying saudi citizens along with some other nationals. the australian entertainer, barry humphries has died at the age of 89. he was best known for performances of his alter egos dame edna everage and sir les patterson. the australian prime minister anthony albanese has paid tribute to barry humphries, calling him �*one—of—a—kind' and �*gifted'. comedians have joined the tributes describing him as �*subversive, mischievous and savagely funny�*. two people have died in a restaurant fire in madrid. at least ten others were injured. the emergency services said diners struggled to flee because the blaze started near the main exit.