live from london, this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the uk prime minister confirms that british diplomats and their families have been evacuated from sudan in what he calls a "rapid" and "complex" operation. a french official says that around 100 people of multiple nationalities have been evacuated on a french flight from sudan, after a "complicated" rescue operation. alarm blares and this was the alarm that sounded from almost every uk phone earlier — part of the new emergency alert system being tested by the uk government. 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.

welcome to bbc news. british diplomats and their families have been airlifted to safety from the sudanese capital, khartoum, as fighting between rival factions of the army enters a second week. the ministry of defence has confirmed embassy staff were removed under the cover of darkness. the united states has carried out a similar operation. there's no word yet on how other british nationals are supposed to leave. with the latest, here's our africa correspondent andrew harding. in war—torn khartoum this morning, dramatic moves to rescue at least some trapped foreigners. overnight, american military

helicopters flew into sudan, heading for the capital in the centre of the country. in a short but successful operation, nearly 100 us embassy staff and their families were airlifted to safety. there are reports of a convoy also leaving by road from the french embassy, and within the last hour, confirmation that british embassy staff have been extracted from the city. the prime minister announcing the news in this tweet, saying... the diplomats that were working in the british embassy in khartoum have been unable to discharge their functions because of the violence in that city. so both to fulfil our duty to protect them as their employer, we are relocating them to other embassies in the region.

footage here of an earlier convoy taking people out of khartoum and heading towards a port on the red sea coast. but while many foreign governments are prioritizing the evacuation of diplomats, otherforeign nationals in sudan say they feel abandoned. the situation with us, around us, we were considering at one point to bejoining a un convoy to the border earlier today. we were kind of advised by the british government to, you know, as per their travel advice, to not do that, so we didn't. we recently found out that actually all british embassy remaining staff have been on that convoy. we are kind of uniquely without guidance and support as british citizens. amid all this, still no hint of a ceasefire. instead, growing fears that sudan's deadly power struggle may be set to intensify. andrew harding,

bbc news, johannesburg. 0ur correspondent caroline hawley can give us more detail. 0n the evacuation, what we know from british government officials is that 1200 military personnel from the army, the navy and the raf were involved in evacuating diplomats and their families. we don't have an exact number. we think in the tens. as you heard in andrew's report there, the reason that is being given is that diplomats have had specific threats against them, but british government officials are still saying that the safety and protection of british nationals is a top priority. what's less clear is what's going to be done for them, because you heard in andrew's report he was speaking to one british national, the bbc is hearing from others, that they are getting increasingly frustrated and fearful about what's going to happen to them. but what james cleverly, the foreign secretary, has said is that diplomats in sudan

were unable to fulfil their functions, their duties in khartoum so they have now been withdrawn. the uk ambassador in khartoum was already in the uk and there is now, the government says, a crisis response centre that is operating 2a hours a day, but what we don't know is what are the options for the british nationals other than the advice they are being giving at the moment which is to stay put, to stay indoors and to register with the embassy. but when i spoke to the foreign office yesterday, they were not able to give me any numbers of how many people have already registered for them and i think there is little comfort for them in this evacuation of diplomats because they don't know what they're going to do now and there are no british consular staff now left in khartoum.

the british defence secretary, ben wallace, says sudan... 0ur involvement is obviously limited to trying to engage for the safety we cannot have done this without the support of the french and the united states where in ourjoint planning, we helped each other and i think it is really important that we recognise this has been an international effort. let's speak to our correspondent merchuma, who is following developments from the kenyan capital nairobi. what we have learned their is at the british diplomats it would appear are en route back to the uk. the big question is i suppose what we know about british nationals, in fact

other nationals, a variety of nationals. the french government did say they helped to evacuate multiple nationalities. in terms of foreign nationals in sudan, what can you tell us? fist nationals in sudan, what can you tell us? �* , , ., tell us? at this point, it is a waitin: tell us? at this point, it is a waiting game _ tell us? at this point, it is a waiting game for— tell us? at this point, it is a waiting game for foreign - tell us? at this point, it is a - waiting game for foreign nationals waiting game forforeign nationals in sudan, just like the sudanese nationals, because the information that that the embassies and governments are giving the foreign ministries for different countries are saying just shelter in places until you hearfrom are saying just shelter in places until you hear from the government or embassies of how they are going to evacuate. so far there is no clear communication on when, where and how. how the other foreigners will be evacuated. although the information coming is that they will just show you that are in place which is a pretty difficult thing to do at the moment because we have reports of people running out of food supplies, they do not have water and they cannot begin to make

theirjourney outside khartoum like other people have done because there is a shortage of fuel as well and decided that there is a sense of concern, especially forfamilies, concern, especially for families, because concern, especially forfamilies, because even internet is becoming an issue in sudan and it was now the only way people could communicate after power outages that have made phone calls and even phones go out of power. to reallyjust waiting and seeing, but concern is taking a concern forfamilies seeing, but concern is taking a concern for families who have family members in khartoum. it is concern for families who have family members in khartoum.— members in khartoum. it is not 'ust foreian members in khartoum. it is not 'ust foreign nationals, i members in khartoum. it is not 'ust foreign nationals, whati members in khartoum. it is not 'ust foreign nationals, what we �* members in khartoum. it is notjust foreign nationals, what we know - foreign nationals, what we know about the future because the country rely so heavily on aid?— rely so heavily on aid? indeed. and the sudanese _ rely so heavily on aid? indeed. and the sudanese have _ rely so heavily on aid? indeed. and the sudanese have actually - rely so heavily on aid? indeed. and the sudanese have actually come i rely so heavily on aid? indeed. and i

the sudanese have actually come out to ask, was itjust being fronted so other people can be evacuated and leave sudan and leave their soil, what about them? what happens to them as they remain behind? that is a question many are asking. what happens when all the foreign nationals have been taken out of sudan? it is a very uncertain place, a very dim place to be, especially what country that has really thought to get this far. from the uprising that led to the overthrowing of omar al—bashir and now the coup and this. at some point there was light at the end of the tunnel and everyone was talking about a transition, but now this, many of them feel they are being abandoned so to say. and now that a humanitarian passage is not really a priority, but evacuation is a priority now. also it is a country that has relied on aid so much and when there was a coup in 2021, some of the countries pulled out and said

we're not going to give humanitarian assistance, including the us, so there is a fear this could happen again for the people who remain behind. that other countries would say no, with everything that is going on we will not give more humanitarian aid or assistance. thank you very much. colonel richard kemp was the commander of british forces in afghanistan in 2003 and worked for thejoint intelligence committee. he's not at all surprised by the uk government's decision. very much as expected and following on fairly swiftly from us evacuation of their staff and other nations evacuating as well. i think the reality is that those embassy staff could do nothing in khartoum or anywhere else in sudan while this level of violence is going on, so it was right, i think, for the british government to pull them out as quickly as they could. how much cooperation is there? because there were some questions as to whether the french evacuation convoy had been fired on by either

of the warring factions. they've both denied it, of course. but in terms of foreign countries evacuating their staff, is there a level of cooperation between them and the foreign government? yeah, absolutely. there's cooperation between countries like the us, uk, france, other countries around the world who are essentially trying to get their nationals out. of course, there is a need to coordinate with them and also as far as possible with the government of sudan and of course the government of sudan right now is in a very difficult position. it's got divided factions fighting each other which has caused this situation and so the potential cooperation with them is pretty limited. they have limited control over what is going on in their country. and we saw that, as you mentioned, from the reported attacks on the french convoy and also there was reported attacks on a qatari convoy leaving for port sudan with some of their nationals as well,

so it is a very complex and fraught situation but cooperation takes place at national levels as far as it possibly can. so, obviously you have worked for the joint intelligence committee. what sort of intelligence would have alerted a government to say right, we are now out? well, i think it is going to be a combination of... and cobra, of course, has met a few times to coordinate the british evacuation effort, coordinating between the ministry of defence, the foreign office and other relevant government departments and, critically, the national intelligence services and my role when i was working for cobra was to coordinate the intelligence services and, of course, it's a combination of things. first of all, being able to anticipate what is going to happen and it looks like we didn't actually have intelligence to anticipate the situation was going to occur, but once it has occurred then intelligence is based on, you know, on the ground information

about what's happening in the country and actual events themselves as they take place and i think rather than relying on sort of specific source intelligence to decide to evacuate british citizens, it was based more on exactly what is happening in the country and events that are unfolding as we watched them over the last week and, obviously, an appreciation that this is not going to end either quietly or very soon. i've been speaking to sir nicolas kay, former uk ambassador to sudan, about his reaction to this latest development. it's very hard to think of similar cases where an embassy has been closed down so rapidly and quickly. and, you know, it's... it's a moment when diplomats are needed, as well, and i do hope that and i'm sure the foreign office is planning very

hard now to see how they can support those british nationals passport holders who are stuck in khartoum. that is absolute the priority, i'm sure, for ministers and the whole foreign office and i'm sure part of that planning will also be for, eventually, i'm sure a uk presence back in khartoum and on the ground. i hope that will happen as quickly as possible. as caroline hawley said, the real thing is to get a ceasefire or at least a humanitarian pause. but every effort, every sinew needs to be strained now to make that happen. if i could be so bold, you sound as if you are not in total

agreement of what is happening in terms of the evacuation of diplomatic staff because it does maybe give credence to what british citizens are saying that they feel abandoned. you would hope that they have got something planned of in place to support their citizens. with that normally be the case? i'm sure there is a plan or many plans. i think the problem is that they are finding at the moment that there are large numbers of people there. khartoum itself is unsafe, so movement around khartoum to collect british nationals together in a point for evacuation, a place where they could be airlifted or moved is very dangerous so i think the judgment must be at the moment that the risks of asking british nationals to move around khartoum, to congregate in one place, that risk is higher than the risk of staying sheltering in place. what would you do if you are still the ambassador in sudan?

how would you be handling this? fortunately, that was at least ten years ago that i had that pleasure and privilege. i'm sure colleagues in the foreign office are doing exactly what they need to be doing which is liaising very, very thoroughly with the forces that are there on the ground, trying to persuade them to respect humanitarian ceasefire. they will be working with allies and partners as we've seen with the americans and others with their plans. that was the former uk ambassador to sudan. earlier, almost every smartphone in the uk sounded an alarm. it is part of a new national emergency alert system that was being tested and hopefully will be used to warn people about serious risks that could threaten lives such as flooding, wildfires or even a terror attack. there was a

government statement released earlier saying it's was a success but some did not receive the alerts and lessons will be learnt. naomi smith has been speaking to people in central london. when that alert sounded here at oxford circus which is already a busy place to be, everyone paused, there was a loud sound, people looked at their phones, there are curious, is wiping to see exactly what was going on. there was not any mass panic, more curiosity. a little bit of confusion, especially amongst summer tourists who are getting the alerts on the phone even though they are not uk residents, so we have had a range of reactions her. son have said this is a good idea, they would prefer to be alerted but others said it was a bit of anxiety inducing. i will bring in a couple of ladies who have a view, they were having lunch when this alert can throw. tell us a

little bit about your reaction to the alert and the people around you. i personally suffer from anxiety so suddenly not remembering the alarm was going to go off, having my phone go off so loudly and abruptly really put me on edge and in the middle of the restaurant it was chaos, everyone's alarm was going off at different times. not open moment. you find it useful at all? would this help you in the event of an emergency, severe weather alert? i think so but maybe the confusion came in the restaurant specifically did not go off at the same time so yours went first and then a couple of minutes later mine had still not gone off so i think that is what caused the disruption so i think it would be useful if maybe in future there is a bit more clarity rm there is a bit more clarity ram timinas there is a bit more clarity ram timings and — there is a bit more clarity ram timings and with _ there is a bit more clarity ram timings and with tourists - there is a bit more clarity ram timings and with tourists i - there is a bit more clarity ram timings and with tourists i think lots of— timings and with tourists i think lots of people eating had no clue what _ lots of people eating had no clue what it _ lots of people eating had no clue what it was for.— lots of people eating had no clue what it was for. generally a good idea but more _ what it was for. generally a good idea but more communication i what it was for. generally a good l idea but more communication and education are that. you said you had heard a bit of disinformation? yes. heard a bit of disinformation? yes, and instagram _ heard a bit of disinformation? yes, and instagram there _ heard a bit of disinformation? yes, and instagram there were lots of mixed _ and instagram there were lots of mixed messages going around, being

told mixed messages going around, being toid ii— mixed messages going around, being told it was_ mixed messages going around, being told it was for one thing and saying there _ told it was for one thing and saying there was— told it was for one thing and saying there was an underlying possibility that could be for something else and people _ that could be for something else and people were being advised to turn their phones off, so i feel like that— their phones off, so i feel like that created some confusion as it may he _ that created some confusion as it may be some clarity about that moving — may be some clarity about that moving forward would be useful. 30 moving forward would be useful. sc there moving forward would be useful. there you moving forward would be useful. sr there you have it, the review from oxford street. we have a lot of people who said it was good, a lot of people confused, people asking for more clarity but generally a good test all round. next on bbc news, we have also been looking at the suspension of the opposition labour party mp diane abbott earlier today. in the uk, the labour party has suspended mp diane abbott for suggesting thatjewish people and travellers suffer from "prejudice" rather than "racism". ms 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. 0ur political correspondent helen catt has more on the content of the letter. so, this was a letter that appeared in the observer newspaper this morning and it was in reply to another article that had been in the paper before which related to race. now, diane abbott, she was the first black woman to be elected to the house of commons. she is a decades—long campaigner for racialjustice and she was responding to this article and in it, in her letter, she said that, that she drew a distinction, or appeared to draw a distinction, between racism and prejudice. i'm just trying to find the words here for you, the exact words. she said thatjewish, irish and traveller people undoubtedly experience prejudice. she said this is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable. she then went on to say it was true that many types of white people with points of difference such as redheads can experience this prejudice, but they are not all their lives subject to racism. now, she has since withdrawn that.

she says she wholly withdraws that and has apologised for any anguish caused. she said, as you explained, an error had risen in an initial draft being sent but said that that was no excuse. she said that racism takes many forms and that it was completely undeniable thatjewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as had irish people, travellers and many others. the labour party has, though, suspended her from the parliamentary labour party pending an investigation. they described the comments as deeply offensive and wrong. there was a period of time when the labour party was deeply divided over the issue of anti—semitism, about prejudice againstjewish people, and when sir keir starmer became the leader he made a promise that he was going to root it out and, in effect, stamp out anti—semitism within the labour party, and he spent a large part, actually, of the last couple of years trying to do that,

so in that sense it's not...surprising the labour party has gone down that route and moved quite swiftly to suspend ms abbott while they investigate what is happening and what was behind this letter. kenya's kelvin kiptum has won the elite men's race in the london marathon. he ran the world's second fastest marathon ever. in the elite women's race, the dutch 0lympic long—distance champion sifan hassan pulled off an impressive performance to win in her debut marathon. 0ur sports reporter matt graveling was at the finish line. hundreds of people now filing past us here, just come past buckingham palace and down the mall having completed 26.2 miles. as you say, it's been a day of stories here. the wheelchair race, first and foremost, came through. marcel hug from switzerland, he won the third london marathon in a row. and then just after that the women's was a sprint finish, one second between first and second place. the men's race was won

by kelvin kiptum from kenya in a course record time, the second fastest marathon ever run by a man. and how about the women's race? won by sifan hassan in the most amazing fashion. she's an olympic track star. she won the 5000m and the 10,000m in tokyo. but she kicked in in the final 100m here to take her very, very first london marathon — and first marathon ever. i'm so happy that i finished! second, i can't believe i won. like, the most big marathon on the earth. this is, like, london, you know? it's my first marathon and i win london. like, it feels like a dream. well, joining me now is ivo the comedian. you've just come across the finish line. you were just surprised that we said this is live on bbc news. it's live!

it's live. and, yeah, i've just talked about my nipples chafing on bbc one. well, thank goodness nobody�*s having their lunch right now. great! but how did you find it? an amazing experience. what a bland comment! "an amazing experience. " very tiring. i saved my playlist till the end. that was a good decision. er, i... my brother ran it as well. we bumped into each other halfway round the course. that was a huge moment. i gave my dad a big hug. i saw a friend from school — rupert! he cheered me on twice. he said, "come on the robins!" i'm a swindon town fan. there were so many great moments for me. this is a phenomenal stream of consciousness, so thank you very much for that. well, i'm sorry for not having more polish at this delicate moment. can ijust ask, who are you raising money for, ivo? i'm sorry, i'm raising money for the ms society. that's far more important than my friend rupert from school. my mother has ms and my family, we're doing various runs for the ms society. fantastic cause. and i'm an ambassador, so i've simply got to keep doing these runs, but, i'll be honest, today, i've just

done it in under three hours, which was basically my life's goal, so, you know, i'm very proud to do it for the ms society, but selfishly for my ego it's also a big day~ — ivo, congratulations. thank you so much. i'll let you go and enjoy a post—run pint. here we go. everyone coming past us now, all raising money like ivo for some fantastic charities. join us here on the mall in london throughout the rest of the day and we'll be hearing a few more fantastic stories about people raising money for charity. back to you. twitter has reinstated its verification ticks for many well—known users, without them having to pay a fee. it comes after owner, elon musk, revoked what had been a free service earlier this week. beyonce has now had blue ticks restored. mr musk has admitted that he has personally paid for some of the upgrades. i would love to know if you had

yours restored. i don't know where mine is, it may land back, we will see. if you want to get in touch, you can find me on twitter. quite a mixture of weather across the uk at the moment. some areas have seen a clearer spell, other with cloud and rain. the remnants of an area of low pressure pulling away eastwards. it will get somewhat clearer to start the new weeks, but it is also going to turn notably chillier. here is the low tracking towards the continent as we finish on sunday. behind the low, we are hooking in a northerly breeze and we are going to pull arctic air all the way south across the uk. that is for monday and will stick around for tuesday and wednesday. that cold air moving into scotland, even through the evening. strong winds,

particularly around the northern and eastern coasts and higher ground and wintry showers developing. the rentals away from eastern england, but some wetter weather overnight from northern ireland. are fairly widespread frost for scotland. how is that we should stay frost free as we start monday. —— elsewhere we should start free. that cold air continuing south across the uk, we have to factor in the winds to the way things will feel, particular strong across northern scotland and on many of our north sea coast. some rain pushing across the arrow c into south wales, south—west of england. some showers getting into the saudis by the end of the afternoon and showers across scotland. —— getting into the south by the end of the afternoon. we have to add in the effect of the wind and with wind—chill it will feel closer to freezing her. overnight monday, into tuesday, speaking of reason, just

look what happens to our temperatures. clear skies, winds becoming somewhat lighter. a widespread frost developing and hard frost and some areas, gardeners keep that in mind. they went because lighter because the spring of high pressure extends south across the uk for tuesday. there will be a lot of fine weather around. we will continue to pick up a few snow showers the northern and eastern scotland on the breeze. high cloud tending to cover our skies, turning descent and hazy as the day plays out but i think with anything with the wind a little lighter, it may not feel quite as bitingly cold as monday. wednesday, a very similar story to tuesday. end of the week, things start to become a more settled again but they will also start to turn milder.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the prime minister confirmed that british diplomats and their families have been evacuated from sudan in what he calls a rapid and complex evacuation. it has been confirmed that the evacuees will be heading back to the united kingdom after first making a stop in cyprus. the us military have sent a three chinook helicopters to evacuate its embassy staff in khartoum. the french official says that around 100 people of multiple nationalities have been evacuated after a complicated rescue operation. in the uk, liberal opposition mp diane

abbott has been suspended from her party pending an investigation and