live from london. this is bbc news. france evacuates citizens from sudan, as us presidentjoe biden confirms american embassy staff and theirfamilies have also been evacuated from the country. an alarm will go off on all smartphones in the uk later today as a new emergency alert is tested. ethnic—serb parties are boycotting an election in north kosovo — we'll find out why. over 40,000 runners are taking part in this year's london marathon. it's expected to be the largest ever.

hello and welcome to the programme, i'm lewis vaughan jones. starting with the latest developments from sudan. they— developments from sudan. they developments from sudan. are centrin- around international they are centring around international efforts to get their citizens — international efforts to get their citizens of the country from top from top the latest from france, they have undergone and i quote a rapid evacuation operation to get rid of their citizens. and earlier we heard from america, they had done the same, this is a statement from presidentjoe biden, saying, on my orders, the united states military conducted an operation to extract us government personnel from khartoum.

this is saudi arabia in the port ofjeddah and we understand around 150 people have been evacuated to safety, mostly citizens of gulf countries. the canadian government has urged remaining canadian city scenes in sedan to shelter in a safe place. in khartoum, air strikes and shelling have been going on for over a week. we can listen to someone on the ground. we are suffering from lack of food. lack of energy, lack of water. we have not had electricity for three days now. we do not have access to water since saturday. but we are drinking from wells. and the situation is still bad.

let's remind you where this is happening. let's take a look. taking place in sudan but the focus of the fighting is there in the capital khartoum. fighting under way since last weekend, reports so far of around 400 people dead. general al—burhan on the left. general hemeti from rsf on the right. let's speak to our correspondent merchuma — who is following developments from the kenyan capital nairobi. the latest from sudan as all the

countries — the latest from sudan as all the countries trying to get the nationals out and saudi arabia are some _ nationals out and saudi arabia are some of— nationals out and saudi arabia are some of the people trying to get there _ some of the people trying to get there people out and it is a very difficult — there people out and it is a very difficult situation and if you can 'ust difficult situation and if you can just go— difficult situation and if you can just go back to when the helicopters were only— just go back to when the helicopters were only on the ground for about one hour — were only on the ground for about one hour |t— were only on the ground for about one hour. , , .., , were only on the ground for about one hour. , , , ., one hour. it is basically in and out, no one hour. it is basically in and out. no time _ one hour. it is basically in and out, no time for _ one hour. it is basically in and out, no time for people - one hour. it is basically in and out, no time for people for. one hour. it is basically in and| out, no time for people for the people doing the evacuation to follow because of the volatility of the situation and that our country mass evacuations especially when the nationals are so many and one is egypt who is asking nationals especially those in khartoum to make the journey towards port sudan about 600 kilometres from khartoum end evacuations can be done from

outside. everyone is doing different ways of doing that. even for the people in khartoum, they do not know when the practitioners will happen and food supplies are running low and food supplies are running low and people do not have water and they need medical aid and time is running out and still fighting ongoing. a couple more details of the united states evacuation operation. it was three chinook helicopters flew in and landed near the american embassy and collected fewer than 100 people and described the operation as fast and clean by a united states

official. 0ther as fast and clean by a united states official. other countries are undertaking different approaches leaving the country by land. key players, including the african union, will already be in negotiations to try to broker some kind of a peace deal to end this conflict but as our correspondent, andrew harding, explained it might be other countries who intervene. and the united states who have more direct lines of contacts, perhaps money and pressure that they can bring to bear are the key players for now but a lot of african countries, very worried about this because as we said before, sudan border seven countries, many of them with their own huge security challenges, places like libya, the central african republic and chad and ethiopia. and they all have a lot to win or lose depending on what happens inside sudan.

we have seen over decades, frankly, in sudan, the fighting men do not put any priority on the humanitarian situation, the impact on civilians. mostly we have seen that in the fringes of sudan and south sudan over many years, in places like darfur, on the border areas, we have seen horrific numbers of civilian casualties and we continue to see that, grim reports from north and south darfur, the western edges of sudan, close to chad but as you can see now, they have brought that conflict to the streets of this huge city of khartoum and the fact they are not willing to implement it humanitarian ceasefire so far shows you how far down their list of priorities the fate of civilians really is. well, countries around the world are watching the crisis unfold and are making decisions over whether to evacuate their diplomatic staff. the uk's new deputy prime minister 0liver dowden spoke to the bbc about the situation.

clearly, it is a complex and fluid situation. it is the case that the ministry of defence is acting in support of the foreign and commonwealth office. now, you would not expect me right now for security reasons to comment on ongoing movements on the ground. but that is the current situation. what i would say to british nationals who are in that country, they should follow the advice which is to stay indoors, to make the foreign office aware through their website of their location. what i would say is, the situation in sudan is very different to, for example, what you saw in afghanistan. clearly, we don't kind of have the level of personnel and so on there that we had in that situation.

the current advice for british nationals is to stay at home, to make the foreign office aware of their situation. as i say, the foreign office are being operationally supported by the ministry of defence actively. but i can't give you any further comment. a loud alarm will be heard on smartphones across the uk at 3pm on sunday afternoon. the government is testing a new emergency alert which could be used in the future to warn people about life—threatening situations such as fires, flooding or terror attacks. more details from danjohnson. loud beep. brace yourself for the three o'clock alert! beeping. up and down the country this afternoon, almost every smart phone will make this noise. loud beep.

tell me what you think. beeping. something different. a new sound coming out of your telephone. loud beep. 0k, not that bad, i thought it was going to be worse. it's not too bad? not too bad. you think that is all right? do you think it'll take people by surprise, though? yes, for sure. so every phone in the uk will...? pretty much. what do you think that's going to be like? a bit annoying because i'll be at work on sunday. - always makes you a little bit suspicious why it's coming out now, you know. you see what's going on in the world today and you think, hmm.. makes you think. you think there could be a threat? that's what. .. why bring it out now? bravo rescue is on scene... the initial focus is extreme weather, warning communities about intense flooding or the risk of the sort of wildfires we saw last summer, but it could also alert us to terror attacks or criminals on the loose.

the government says it will only be used in life—threatening emergencies. what i'd say to people is please put up with the inconvenience for ten seconds because it is a test of a system that, in future, could save your life. voice on clip: the emergency alert system is now live and will be - used to warn people - when lives are in danger. the government has been letting people know what to expect but there are still concerns about confusion, the potential distraction for drivers and the risk of secret, hidden phones being exposed, especially those relied on by domestic abuse victims. one in four women will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime. 7% of women in england and wales experienced domestic abuse in the last year, so it's safe to assume there are a significant number of people that need to know that their safety may be at risk from these alerts and they can opt out and turn them off. even phones on silent will make the noise.

only aeroplane mode or actually switching it off will stop it but then, apparently when you turn the phone back on, it will receive the alert and make the sound. there is a way to opt out, though. on an iphone, go into settings, notifications, and switch off "extreme and severe alerts". oh, my god! it is the same sort of system that warns americans about tornados. other countries use it for earthquakes or tsunami alerts. loud beeping. the netherlands have something similar. you cannot miss it. that's for sure. i bumped intojoni from amsterdam. i think it is good that you know that there is something if you need to be warned, you will be warned. still, some people won't necessarily respond — like baby rex. it hasn't alerted him, so, yeah. that is your review, i suppose. you need to test it on him.

next time, it will be for real. dan johnson, bbc news. voters in north kosovo are choosing new mayors in four regions where serbs are in the majority. ethnic—serb parties are boycotting the election, because authorities refuse to grant limited autonomy to kosovo serbs. our balkans correspondent, guy de launey, has the latest. you say the people are voting, they are not really. reports from these four municipalities in north kosovo is the turnout you could probably count it on the fingers of one hand. in one area, there's been suggestions that only one person has turned out and that was a candidate to be the mayor in that particular municipality. the reason all this behind is that ethnic serb parties are boycotting these votes, these are majority serb areas, so—called ethnic serb people in the areas are not going to go out and vote so there is a bizarre

situation, the majority of the candidates are ethnic albanian, the only people likely to go out and vote are ethnic albanian, they are easily in the minority in these areas and the president of serbia says it is absolutely shameful these elections are going ahead without the participation of serb candidates or seb voters. talk us through the background to all of this. all of this is down to the identity of these areas of north kosovo. serbia and most serbian people do not recognise the kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from serbia which it made in 2008. you have these four municipalities in north kosovo majority serb and there is an agreement made ten years ago between serbia and kosovo under the auspices of the european union that these areas and some other parts of kosovo in which there

are a majority of serbs would get a limited degree of autonomy, but that has never been implemented and this boycott today is primarily all about that. we also saw last month yet another agreement between the leaders of serbia and kosovo, one of the clauses of which says the two sides will implement all previously agreed agreements and, clearly, this is an extension of that, but frankly, that agreement last month never looked particularly solid and i think we are finding out how solid it is today. fascinating. so if no—one turns out, as you suggest, what happens then? we will have a very bizarre situation where the majority serb parts of kosovo will, in essence, have elected ethnic albanian mayors and other municipal officials, and this is clearly an untenable situation, so it's going to be quite difficult in the days and weeks ahead. there will be some very uncomfortable discussions about this

situation and, of course, serbia saying this cannot be democratic if you have this situation where the majority serb areas are governed by an ethnic albanian minority. on the other hand, the authorities in kosovo saying it is not a democratic situation if you encourage people to stage a boycott and not go out and vote. sport and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good morning. manchester city will find out their fa cup final opponents at wembley later, when manchester united take on brighton. more on that coming up. city are chasing a premier league, champions league and fa cup treble after beating sheffield united as natalie pirks reports.

the blades back at wembley in the fa cup — it's been some time. united! cheering but standing in the way of their first fa cup semifinal since 1936, was a side leaping into treble contention. come on city! wembley was far from full for this northern clash but sheffield united were not simply here to make up the numbers. it commentator: he's had to make a save! early on, they looked sharp. but this was truly a test against the best. city were starting to get a foothold and when danieljebbison swiped at bernardo silva in the box, the referee did not hesitate. penalty given. riyad mahrez coolly dispatched the spot kick to place city in the driving seat. the second half continued in the same vein. city calm and composed. mahrez driving through the blades like a knife through butter. remarkably, he wasn't done. the rout was complete just minutes later. mahrez! a hug for the hat—trick hero, the first fa cup semifinal hat—trick since 1958 and city's 17th goal in this fa cup campaign. the celebrations belonged to the fans. not, though, the manager,

who knows this is just one step closer to the prize. brighton have the chance to reach their first fa cup final since 1983 today. standing in their way are manchester united who were beaten 3—0 at sevilla on thursday after a poor performance. sir alex ferguson was known to shout at his players when they let him down — giving the so—called "hairdryer" treatment — current united manager eric ten haag was asked if he does the same. sometimes, yeah, you can go strong in certain situations, but it's a tool. it's about the timing of when to use. and so you as a coach, communication style, you can pick many, many, many styles. this is one of them. there will be a lot of our fans. great stadium, great atmosphere. we are able to win the game. maybe we can lose, but maybe for sure we can compete.

could france and wales meet later in the final match of the penultimate round of the women's six nations. victory for france in grenoble would set up a title decider against england who scored eight tries without reply in a a8—0 win over ireland on saturday. ronnie o'sullivan says he uses criticism as motivation, after he eased into the quarter finals of the world snooker championship in sheffield. his opponent — hossein vafaei — had called out o'sullivan for what he percieved as disrespect before the match. but the rocket was unbothered by any of that, easing to victory with a session to spare by 13 frames to two. both players looked to put any bad feelings behind them at the end. o'sullivan, chasing a record—breaking eighth world title, will play belgium's luca brecel next. and these are live pictures from the crucible where kyren wilson and john higgins are hoping to reach the quarterfinals.

the scottish player is three frames up. wilson lost the tour championship final to shaun murphy earlier this month — so is hoping to put that disappointment behind him. higgins has the better head to head record. he's been playing better the last couple of months after some struggling for form. and that's all the sport for now. wrexham football club are celebrating their return to the english football league after 15 years. hollywood actors ryan reynolds and rob mcelhenney bought the small welsh club in november 2020. their plan, they said, was for wrexham to win games. well, take a look at this. now they've won the national league title. here's the team celebrating

after beating borehamwood 3—1. this was straight after that win. you can see wexham fans running onto the pitch, as well as ryan reynolds and rob mcilhenny. let's hear from some of the fans. what a win. what a win! boom! how proud are you? very proud. absolutely amazing! i lost my husband just before christmas. - i've got a picture of him, and this is for him. - love you, geoff. love you. the whole town's wanted this for 15 years. you know what i mean? and for ryan and rob to come in and buy the club and give us what we wanted, can't thank them enough. you know what i mean? oh, it makes you want to cry. it's really... i might cry now, but, you know, this is the future generation, and theyjust want to be here and experience it. it's mega. i don't even like football, but we're just here. it's brilliant. amazing, isn't it? yeah.

it means the absolute world. my dad has been a wrexham fan for his entire life. he was coming to games when there was about 500 fans, let's say. now 10,000 tonight. it is absolutely fantastic. i'm so happy! i don't think i have words. ho secial i don't think i have words. ho special was — i don't think i have words. fir? special was that? i don't think i have words. ho special was that? that - i don't think i have words. ho special was that? that was i i don't think i have words. ho i special was that? that was one i don't think i have words. ho - special was that? that was one of the most incredible _ special was that? that was one of the most incredible moments - special was that? that was one of the most incredible moments of. special was that? that was one of l the most incredible moments of my life but this is not about me, it's about them. the london marathon, one of the world's biggest mass—participation sporting events, is well under way. plenty of elite athletes are taking part — plus thousands of members of the public hoping to raise millions for charity. the bbc�*s matt graveling is in london — not farfrom the finishing line. we have already seen a few finishes in both the man and a female

wheelchair races and the men's race was won for the third time in a row by this swiss entrant. it was won for the third time in a row by this swiss entrant.— by this swiss entrant. it was amazing. — by this swiss entrant. it was amazing. it _ by this swiss entrant. it was amazing, it feels _ by this swiss entrant. it was amazing, it feels great. - by this swiss entrant. it was amazing, it feels great. it i by this swiss entrant. it was l amazing, it feels great. it was exhausting out there and i went as hard as possible. so happy. you had a stron: hard as possible. so happy. you had a strong lead _ hard as possible. so happy. you had a strong lead against _ hard as possible. so happy. you had a strong lead against second - hard as possible. so happy. you had a strong lead against second place l a strong lead against second place who has just come a strong lead against second place who hasjust come in behind us, were you aware how far ahead you were? no, i had no idea. when i looked back i hadn't seen them any more so ijust back i hadn't seen them any more so i just focused back i hadn't seen them any more so ijust focused on my race going forward and going as hard as possible. forward and going as hard as ossible. ~ ._ ., forward and going as hard as ossible. ~ , ., ., _ ., possible. while he may have won by a country mile — possible. while he may have won by a country mile rrot _ possible. while he may have won by a country mile not quite _ possible. while he may have won by a country mile not quite the _ possible. while he may have won by a country mile not quite the same - possible. while he may have won by a country mile not quite the same in - country mile not quite the same in the women's wheelchair race with the australian winning byjust one second across the line behind me. as for the elite race, they say it is the best women's field ever assembled and as i watched on the monitor a few seconds ago i could

see a leading pack of four women fully dominate the race. what they be up for course records? conditions mayjust be up for course records? conditions may just allow it and we be up for course records? conditions mayjust allow it and we have the olympic champion and returning champion from last year also on that race and it looks like it will be a tight one. and the man, we have four of the fastest five marathon runners everin of the fastest five marathon runners ever in the first person who is not racing today was the official starter of the race today. also it is important to say there are 10,000 people here raising money for charity and coming over this line in the next few hours and we will be with you on bbc news to find out all about the great causes and the millions of pounds they have been racing for charity today. —— they have raised for charity today. let's bring you more detail

on the international evacuation operations from sudan. there are conflicting reports that french embassy convoy was hit with gunfire, which led to their return and disruption of the evacuation process. a spokesman from the sudanese army has said in a statement that the rapid support militia attacked the french embassy convoy with gunfire,

the rsf said they were attacked by aircraft. hello there. it's a pretty messy weather picture for the second half of the weekend. a lot of cloud around and some showery outbreaks of rain. this was twickenham in greater london just a few hours ago and there was some light patchy rain here as well. now, you can see one batch of rain moving out of lincolnshire and east yorkshire, another threatening towards wales and some heavier rain potentially moving up through the south east of england. and that's because low pressure is gradually moving away to the east and it's allowing this northerly component to take over. plenty of showers in scotland today. and here we're going to start to see some colder air which will gradually push its way further south through the week ahead. so for the remainder of the afternoon, there'll be

outbreaks of showery rain at times, some of the showers could be heavy and thundery. there will be some sunshine for parts of england, a few more showers into northern ireland, some persistent rain into northeast scotland along with the northern isles. and with that northerly flow here, a real difference to the feel of the weather. seven to 12 degrees the high. but if you get a little more sunshine for any length of time, we might see 15 by the middle of the afternoon. through the evening hours, the showers in the southeast will slowly start to fade away. that northerly component starts to push a little bit further south. low single figures, touch of frost in sheltered rural parts of scotland and some outbreaks of rain into northern ireland. now, that is going to drift its way steadily southwards as we go into monday. and then behind it, the colder air on monday is set to arrive right across the country. so first thing in the morning, then, there's that rain moving out of northern ireland, pushing into wales and south west england. northerly flow means that we could see some showers even of a wintry nature at lower levels

in scotland by monday afternoon, and a cooler feel for all of us. top temperatures between six and 12 degrees, down on where they should be now for the time of year. that is going to lead into a very cold night. you can see the blue tones denoting a frost, —5 not out of the question for first thing on tuesday morning. so gardeners and growers take note. it's going to be a cold and frosty start on tuesday. should be a greater chance of seeing some sunshine, particularly first thing in the morning, clouding over a touch into the afternoon. but tuesday should be predominantly dry, but on the cool side for late april. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines. france starts evacuating citizens from sudan as us presidentjoe biden confirms that american embassy staff and their families have also been evacuated. more than 400 people have been killed since violence erupted last week. ethnic—serb parties are boycotting an election in north kosovo because of the authority's refusal to grant limited autonomy to kosovo serbs. voters are choosing new mayors in four municipalities where serbs are in the majority. a hollywood ending for wrexham fc, the welsh football club backed by stars ryan reynolds and rob mcelhenney, as it celebrates a return to the football league for the first

time in fifteen years. a record 47,000 runners are taking part in this