live from london, this is bbc news. in sudan, conflicting reports that a french embassy convoy was hit with gunfire, leading to their return and the evacuation effort being disrupted. in the uk, labour opposition mp diane abbott has been suspended pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the observer newspaper. an alarm will go off on all smartphones in the uk later today as a new emergency alert is tested. the london marathon is under way — some 10,000 runners are taking part in the event, expected to be the largest ever.

hello and welcome to the programme, i'm lewis vaughan jones. the fighting continues in the sudan capital, khartoum. there are conflicting reports though that the french embassy convoy was hit with gunfire, which led to their return and disruption of the evacuation process. the sudan army are fighting with the

rtf. in a statement released a short time ago, the spokesman for the sudanese army has accused its opponents of: "attacking the french embassy convoy with gunfire, which forced the convoy to return and abort the evacuation. the attack also resulted in wounding a frenchman." the spokesman went on to say that: the sudanese army condemns this barbaric behaviour and violence, which is a characteristic of the rapid support militia." but let me bring you this from the rsf which has tweeted

saying the rapid support forces were attacked by aircraft during the evacuation of french nationals. we have had no international confirmation. we approached the french government and they confirmed operations were ongoing and when asked specifically about the attack they replied no comment. let's speak to our correspondent merchuma who is following developments from the kenyan capital, nairobi. just like our colleague sales where

—— just like our colleague sales where we are waiting to hear from the french government. —— like our colleagues who are elsewhere we are waiting to hear from the french government. rsf claims it was assisting the french evacuation so a lot of conflicting information. a lot of conflicting information. a lot of conflicting information. a lot of reports of heavy gunfire around the airport in khartoum and this is the airport supposed to be use in case there are any take offs are people who wanted to leave sudan and we have also heard of fighting in other places in sudan and there

are concerns that the humanitarian situation in darfur is getting out of hand and the save 50 children have been killed in the fighting and there are no ways people in camps in darfur cannes get humanitarian assistance because most agencies have left. —— can't get humanitarian assistance because most agencies have left. the evacuations have been put on hold by most countries. 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, oliver 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, to 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. we know statements the americans have released that three chinook helicopters landed in the capital and to cut fewer than 100 people on the ground and in and out in less than an hour. president biden issued a statement saying "on my orders, the united states military conducted an operation to extract us government personnel from khartoum."

this saudia arabia. port ofjeddah. 150 people came through that route. mostly citizens of gulf countries — but also from egypt and canada. the canadian government has urged remaining citizens in sudan to "shelter in a safe place". millions of people are effectively trapped in khartoum. we heard from a witness on the ground. we are suffering from a lack of food, lack of electricity, lack of water. we have not had electricity for three days now and also we have not had access to water since last saturday, but we are drinking from wells here in khartoum. and the situation is still bad.

some breaking news in the uk, and britain's opposition labour party has suspended mp diane abbott for suggesting that jewish people and travelers suffer from prejudice rather than racism. abbott apologised for her letter to the observer newspaper, stating that it was an initial draft sent by mistake, and acknowledged thatjewish people have suffered the "monstrous effects" of racism. our political correspondent, helen catt, has more. this is a letter that appeared in the observer newspaper this morning in reply to an article in the paper relating to race. diane abbott was the first black woman elected in the house of commons and a decades—long campaignerfor racial justice and in the letter

she drew a distinction between racism and prejudice. she said jewish, irish and traveller people undoubtedly experience prejudice, she said this is similar to racism and the two words are often seen as interchangeable and it is true many white people with points of difference such as redheads can experience prejudice but not all their lives are subject to racism. she says she wholly withdraws that and apologise for any anguish caused and explained an error had risen from an initial draft being sent but she said that was no excuse and racism takes many forms and it is completely undeniablejewish people had suffered its monstrous effects as had travellers, irish people and many others.

labour party pending an investigation. they described the comments as deeply offensive and wrong. the labour party has been trying to do a lot of work to try to get away from rows about anti—semitism. there was a period of time when the labour party was deeply divided over the issue of anti—semitism and when sir keir starmer became leader he promised he would root it out and stamp out anti—semitism within the labour party and spent a large part of the last couple of years trying to do that so i'm sure it is not surprising the labour party has moved quite swiftly to suspend diane abbott whilst they investigate what was behind this letter.

a loud alarm will be heard on smartphones across the uk at 3pm. 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. it's something different. is a new sound coming out of your telephone. loud beep. 0k, not too 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 170 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 is 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 there's something that 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. well, the new uk emergency alert is being modelled after similar systems in places like japan, canada and the us. so, let's take a closer look for a moment at the american system, which sends a wireless emergency alert to your mobile, along with a vibration and a loud sound not dissimilar from the one being used in the uk alert system.

now, in the case of a real nationwide emergency, you may even get a text direct from the us president's office, as in this test presidential alert. in the us, these alerts are not only used for emergency weather events, but also in the cases of missing children in specific states where you may get a text and also you may see on a highway billboard the name of a missing child, or the last place they were seen now, to europe for a moment, where extreme weather events have been plaguing the continent in the past few years. now, in france here, they've been using these alerts disasters. now, injapan, these alert systems have been in place for many years to let people know that a tsunami is incoming and those come in not just on your phone but on the tv, and also with sirens blaring

across the coastline. and in new zealand, the emergency alerts have been heavily used during the pandemic, alerting people to nearby covid outbreaks or the restrictions and rules in their specific area. now, of course, when these systems work, they work wonderfully and they can save lives. but, as with all systems, they're not foolproof, as in the case in florida just a couple of days ago where an emergency alert was sent out in error at 4:00am leading to governor ron desantis issuing this apology and promising of the emergency alert system wrongly.

a now infamous case a few years ago in hawaii when a an emergency alert went out about an impending ballistic missile, creating panic, sending people running for their lives to shelter. in the end, it turned out that there was no threat. so, the systems sometimes are not foolproof, but in the vast majority of cases, authorities say they work and they can save lives. just some breaking news to bring you from here in the uk, and the bbc�*s simonjones is reporting that a97 migrants in 11 boats were brought to dover yesterday — that's the highest daily figure of migrant crossings over the channel this year. the previous high was a92 earlier this month. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre. there's never been a manchester derby fa cup final and brighton are hoping there won't be this year after the second semifinal at wembley later. with manchester city already through, united stand in brighton's way as they attempt to reach the final

for the first time since 1983 when they were beaten by manchester united, who go into the game on the back of defeat in the europa league to sevilla, a performance of which their manager has been scathing for me it was so unacceptable and you can make a mistake but you have to carry on. if you play a quarterfinal you give everything and we didn't and that is for me is in any club for we didn't and that is for me is in any clubforany we didn't and that is for me is in any club for any team unacceptable. as a manager i cannot accept my team is not giving its best. 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. natalie pirks is pitchside for us at wembley. natalie, brighton are the bookies'

favourites for this game. sounds extraordinary, but perhaps not given the two teams' recent form? it is incredible to thinkjust eight weeks ago manchester united were here winning the caramel cup final with the victory against newcastle. brighton eighth in the league and with games in hand it six wins in nine and coming in off the back of a week to build up and they beat chelsea last weekend. united had a morale sapping defeat in spain in the quarterfinals of the europa league, they were abject in defence, fingers pointed at de gea and harry maguire who is suspended today it is are mounting up for manchester

united but they could be boosted by the return of bruno fernandes and perhaps marcus rushford. —— rashford. brighton are looking to be in the fa cup final for the first time since 1983 and they have beaten united in the last two games they have played them so seagulls fans will come here with confidence and whoever wins will face manchester city in the final injune. 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 118—0 win over ireland on saturday.

it's day nine of the world snooker championship, and john higgins has built a commanding lead over kyren wilson in their second round match. the four—time champion was at his very best from the off, winning the opening two frames with back—to—back century breaks and did not let up against his opponent, with another century break on his way to a session whitewash, higgins leading 8—0 heading into the evening session. things resume at the crucible in just over an hour. that's all the sport for now. the bbc�*s matt graveling is in london, for the london marathon. hundreds of people filing past us having completed 26.2 miles and a day of

stories here. the wheelchair race came through,. marcel huq one for the third time in a row and kelvin kiptum one the second fastest time ever and sifan hassan who won the 5000 and 10,000 metres in tokyo but he took her very first london marathon and first marathon ever. i am so happy and i can't believe i would win the biggest marathon on earth. this is london, you know. it

feels like a dream.— feels like a dream. joining in our as a comedian _ feels like a dream. joining in our as a comedian who _ feels like a dream. joining in our as a comedian who is _ feels like a dream. joining in our as a comedian who isjust - feels like a dream. joining in our as a comedian who isjust come | as a comedian who is just come across the finishing line. i as a comedian who isjust come across the finishing line.- across the finishing line. i have “ust across the finishing line. i have just talked _ across the finishing line. i have just talked about _ across the finishing line. i have just talked about my _ across the finishing line. i have just talked about my nipples i across the finishing line. i have - just talked about my nipples chafing on bbc_ just talked about my nipples chafing on bbc one. an amazing experience, very tiring _ on bbc one. an amazing experience, very tiring and i have seen my playlist — very tiring and i have seen my playlist till the end which was a good _ playlist till the end which was a good decision. my brother run it as well and _ good decision. my brother run it as well and we — good decision. my brother run it as well and we bumped into each other half round _ well and we bumped into each other half round the course which was a huge _ half round the course which was a huge moment and i saw a friend, rupert, _ huge moment and i saw a friend, rupert, from school he said come on the robbins— rupert, from school he said come on the robbins and i am a swindon town

fan. the robbins and i am a swindon town fart |_ the robbins and i am a swindon town fan. ., ., , the robbins and i am a swindon town fan. . ., , ., , ., ~ ,, fan. i am raising money for the ms socie , a fan. i am raising money for the ms society, a fantastic _ fan. i am raising money for the ms society, a fantastic cause - fan. i am raising money for the ms society, a fantastic cause and - fan. i am raising money for the ms society, a fantastic cause and iron | society, a fantastic cause and iron and ambassadors will have to keep doing these runs that i will be honest, today i have done it in just under three hours, basically my life goal so very proud to do it for the ms society but also for my ego are very proud day. everyone coming past as snow, running like ivo for some fantastic charities. —— everyone is coming past us now. very impressive to speak when you have just 126 miles stop there will be tens of

thousands more stories just like ivo's. good luck to all of them. 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... amongst international evacuation efforts in sudan, conflicting reports that a french embassy convoy was hit with gunfire, leading to their return and the operation being disrupted. it comes as special forces airlift us diplomats from the country. ethnic—serb parties are boycotting an election in north kosovo because of the capital pristina's refusal to grant limited autonomy to kosovo serbs. voters are choosing new mayors in four municipalities where serbs are in the majority. the dutch siffan hassan and the kenyan kelvin kiptum have won the race for female and male categories in the london marathon, while sir mo farah has finished in ninth position.