live from london. this is bbc news. a growing number of foreign diplomats flee sudan's violence — in what have been called challenging operations — the us, france and the uk remove their embassy workers. it was dangerous and precarious, but nevertheless we managed to use both c—130 and aaoo aircraft to collect our diplomats and fly them to safety. beep. and this was the alarm that sounded on almost every uk smartphone earlier — part of the new emergency alert system being tested by the uk government. labour opposition mp

diane abbott, has been suspended pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the british newspaper the observer. a growing number of foreign diplomats and their families have been airlifted to safety from the sudanese capital, khartom, as fighting between rivalfactions of the army enters a second week. here in the uk, the ministry of defence has confirmed embassy staff were removed under the cover of darkness. the us and france have 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. amid the bombs and the gunfire in khartoum today, a series of dramatic rescue missions.

among those successfully airlifted out of sudan after a week of terror, british embassy staff and their families. over 1200 people contributed to this operation. it was dangerous and precarious but never the less we managed to use both c—130s and aaoo aircraft to go in, collect our diplomats and their residents, and fly out to safety. earlier, american military helicopters had flown into sudan's capital, landing inside the us embassy to rescue nearly 100 people. diplomats from france were also brought out, although their convoy reportedly came underfire. like them, british embassy staff had to run a deadly gauntlet through khartoum's streets. footage here of another convoy heading by road to a port on the red sea coast. there is a clear pecking order for these rescues, with foreign diplomats at the front of the queue, while

others are left behind. as i talk to people, there seems to be a growing sense of panic. sudanese and expats alike are desperate to get out and there is a concern that as the city starts to empty, the fighting will get more bloody, if indeed that's possible, which of course is the nightmare scenario for those of us left behind. why is it that the british government is prioritising diplomats over ordinary british citizens who may be trapped in sudan? well, 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 and in order to continue to protect british nationals, we will of course be enhancing our teams in the region. amid all this, no hint of a ceasefire. quite the opposite. there are growing fears that sudan's

deadly power struggle is set to intensify. andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. well, let's have a look at some of the latest pictures that have come into the newsroom. this is a french military plane landing on a french air base in djibouti. france has been evacuating europeans from sudan, as rescue operations to evacuate foreigners continue by road, air and sea. i'm joined now by former major general and military logistics expert tim cross, who served in the british army from 1971 to 2007, including in the iraq and kosovo wars. thank you forjoining us. you have done several tours in the balkans and iraq, talk to us about the challenges in the evacuation operations. challenges in the evacuation operations-_ challenges in the evacuation o erations. ,., ., , operations. good evening, the first thin to operations. good evening, the first thing to say — operations. good evening, the first thing to say is _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say is there _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say is there has _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say is there has always - thing to say is there has always beenin thing to say is there has always been in place what are called noncombatant evacuation order plans.

every embassy, especially in dangerous countries, will have plans on what they would do under these sort of circumstances. we had these plans in place in the cold war are forgetting all the families out of west germany. plans are in place. of all the plans you put in place, of the three plans put in place, it is always the voice that happens because events drive these things. the embassy will have had plans in place and what is happening today is we have, the uk, have managed to get our diplomats and families out under one of those prearranged plans. they will have been complex and undoubtedly dangerous as the defence secretary was saying, but they have been successful. the difficulty is, how do you find and get together with the british citizens and indeed any other citizens from other countries together, where you can

then get them out? the first issue is where our day, who are they, what are they doing there and how do you contact them? i haven't been involved in a noncombatant evacuation order somewhere like sudan, but we were heavily involved in the refugee crisis in kosovo where tens of thousands of people were on the move and just trying to bring some sort of order to this is not easy. it is definitely a chaotic situation, the rebel forces are strong, hundred thousand strong all over the country, the fighting is getting worse and a lot of people are being hurt. if we are going to get the rest of the british citizens out, finding out who they are and where they are, getting them together where we can descend on some sort of capability, and if it proves to be necessary to send in a military capability, you have to sendin military capability, you have to send in quite a strong combat power force because it could find themselves engaged in a firefight. clearly the mod and government will not want that to happen for obvious reasons. it is difficult to see how

they are going to get the rest of these british citizens out but i know people are working on it. you talk about his _ know people are working on it. you talk about his plans being in place for noncombatants, there has been criticism of the governments were not getting in quickly enough to support notjust the diplomatic staff but citizens on the ground. do you think those criticisms are fair? no, not really. i can understand why people would feel that way. to move your embassy diplomats and embassy staff with their families out of the country is not a decision you make quickly or easily. 0bviously country is not a decision you make quickly or easily. obviously the foreign office will have watched what is going on here and at some point the foreign secretary along with the cabinet and prime minister would have to make a decision, we have no option but to get people out, we can no longerfeel have no option but to get people out, we can no longer feel they are safe. that is not an easy decision to make so you wouldn't want to make it likely because it sends a message and you are trying to do it in concert with all the other embassy

staff from within khartoum. the more difficult question to answer is if any country like sudan, and this conflict has been going on a long time in sudan and south sudan and in many other african countries, so keeping track of your citizens and getting people to register who they are, where they are going and what they are going to do and so on is not an easy balance. in my view, in places like sudan we should know who these people are and the foreign office should be keeping of them, but there will always be individuals who will go to places where they are advised not to go and there will always be individuals who say i am not going to comply with this, i am doing my own business or whatever. you talked about the requirement to sendin you talked about the requirement to send in military people if it comes to that. can you talk to us about the mechanics of that, sending armed forces into another country, how that works and the dangers facing your tricks in that situation. it is

complex. _ your tricks in that situation. it is complex. it _ your tricks in that situation. it is complex. it is — your tricks in that situation. it is complex, it is not _ your tricks in that situation. it 3 complex, it is not easy. many of the listeners would have watched the operation when the israelis got their hostages out, having been hijacked. you have to have a secure base to operate from, notjust in the uk, but in this case probably in a neighbouring country, so somebody who is prepared to allow you to set “p who is prepared to allow you to set up a secure base. inevitably, in this circumstance, you are talking about some sort of air operation. the defence secretary said they used some a 400 and three 40s. we need to get in normally at night, and using hercules means you can land not on an airfield, you can land on a desert or sand or grass trips. and then you need to be combat power to secure that location whilst you get out and find the people and bring

them to the airfield. we out and find the people and bring them to the airfield.— them to the airfield. we will be that there _ them to the airfield. we will be that there are, _ them to the airfield. we will be that there are, thank _ them to the airfield. we will be that there are, thank you - them to the airfield. we will be that there are, thank you very. them to the airfield. we will be - that there are, thank you very much forjoining us. the situation in khartoum is of obvious concern to sudan's neighbours, our correspondent kalkidan yibeltal is in the ethiopian capital addis ababa, and explained how the government there has responded to the collapse of order. ethiopia has said he few things since the beginning of the conflict. initially there were rumours. it was quick to reject that and to dismiss that, they are contested lines between the bordering areas between ethiopia and sudan, so there were rumours that because of that, and the interest in sudan, it was

initially rejecting these rumours. but later it seems the country was involved in the evacuation operations, the us evacuation plans. earlier today the us embassy here released a statement thanking ethiopia for its support and assistance in the evacuation plans. but the country here and the government is monitoring what happens because it could have a rippling effect and the humanitarian crisis that could be unleashed there could have implications for ethiopia as well. . , . could have implications for ethiopia as well. ., , ., ., , as well. that is a really interesting _ as well. that is a really interesting and - as well. that is a really i interesting and important as well. that is a really - interesting and important point because when you look at the geography, you have got chad, the central african republic, south sudan and ethiopia as well bordering where this is happening. you are only about 1000 kilometres away from khartoum. he mentioned this ethiopian conflict in the northern region, on the border with sudan.

realistically, how well—prepared is ethiopia in terms of coping with helping people in sudan or if they come over the board to and helping them inside ethiopian territory? in short, i can say ethiopia is going to find it very difficult, if there is an influx of people crossing borders from sudan, like what is happening in chad right now because it has a significant problem and it is reeling from this really brutal civil war. is reeling from this really brutal civilwar. it is reeling from this really brutal civil war. it isjust is reeling from this really brutal civil war. it is just starting now to rebuild all the damaged that was caused by the war. millions of people are still dependent on aid and millions are still trying to pick up their shattered lives. an additional strain on the country is going to be very difficult, so it is in the best interest of ethiopia

that this dire situation in sudan should be resolved very swiftly, but it doesn't look that way. just briefl , it doesn't look that way. just briefly. to — it doesn't look that way. just briefly, to many _ it doesn't look that way. just briefly, to many people in ethiopia have relations in sudan and khartoum, i'd be worried about their friends and family? yes. khartoum, i'd be worried about their friends and family?— friends and family? yes, there is a si . nificant friends and family? yes, there is a significant number _ friends and family? yes, there is a significant number of _ friends and family? yes, there is a significant number of ethiopians i significant number of ethiopians living in sudan and in khartoum particularly. in the first days of this violence, this conflict, there were statements from the minister of foreign affairs here that ethiopians there were cut in the crossfire and some of them were killed. i did it provide numbers. many people who have friends and families, they are following what is happening in sudan. , . ., ., sudan. there is much more on the developing — sudan. there is much more on the developing situation _ sudan. there is much more on the developing situation on _ sudan. there is much more on the developing situation on the - sudan. there is much more on the developing situation on the bbc. developing situation on the bbc website. a new uk—wide alert system, has been tested on millions

of mobile phones, designed to warn people of a life—threatening emergency. at 3 o'clock this afternoon, the test alarm was sounded, but critics say it's yet another example of the state interfering in the private lives of citizens, as our correspondent dan johnson reports. alert beeps. oh, my god! some got it early... it's a minute to. oh, yeah, it's early. some got it late. some didn't get it at all. didn't work. 0h, don't know what happened. nothing. your phone didn't go off? no. dog barks. at somerset�*s big bark show, the dogs mostly kept calm and carried on. i didn't know what was going on. everyone's phones were going off. i was like, oh, yeah, it's that thing today. thought it was going to be a lot louder and a lot noisier, but it was loud enough that we could hear it. do you think it was useful? i reckon in certain situations it would be very useful. i think they've got to be careful what they use it for. if i didn't know it was coming, it would be quite worrying. .

i think if you're someone that struggles with anxiety- or that kind of thing, - that could be quite a problem. the person next to me went off first, and then i was like, oh, why hasn't mine gone off yet? and then mine went off in like a chain, and then we were just kind of waiting for years to go off and it never did. no, i'm still waiting for mine at the moment. it wasjust random, hearing people randomly sort of all pinging off and i'm just sat there like, no, i'm still waiting. the emergency alert| system is now live... the system is supposed to alert every smartphone on 4g and 5g, even if they are on silent. the mobile network three said a number of its customers didn't get the alert, and it's trying to work out why. so, this ten second test only partially shattered the sunday afternoon peace here in derbyshire. as long as it's used for the right reasons, i think it's a great idea. at least we know it would work. there had been concerns about this alert exposing hidden, secret phones, the sort of thing relied on by, say, domestic abuse victims, and this was a planned test at a certain time.

who knows when it will go off again? the question now for a review already announced by the government is why so many phones didn't react to what could have been an emergency message in a life—threatening situation. danjohnson, bbc news, somerset. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's karthi. there'll be a manchester derby in the fa cup final for the first time after manchester united beat brighton 7—6 on penalties in their semifinal at wembley. it was 0—0 after extra—time, which meant the game went to spot kicks. brighton's solly marsh was the first to miss, before victor lindelof booked his side's place in the final. it is manchester united versus manchester city at wembley onjune the third. this is the way we want to play and maybe not always that comfortable on the ball, we can do better, but

there was determination, resilience, domination over opponents, a fight for every yard and a fight for every battle. a big compliment to the lads and i think we had our chances and good chances. there have been two very one—sided games in the english premier league this sunday, with one of them involving an extraordinary opening spell. newcastle beat tottenham 6—1 at stjames park, and they were 5—0 up afterjust 21 minutes. two goals each forjacob murphy, and aleksandar isak did most of the damage for the home side, whose win takes them up to third in the table. harry kane pulled one back in the early part of the second half, but substitute callum wilson completed the rout just after coming on. spurs stay in fifth place, but they're now six points adrift of the top four. newcastle though are closing in on a top four finish. the mood is good but everyone has

got a very stable and balanced mindset, we are never too high, never too low especially in this running. we have got seven really tough games and we have to take each won one by one, i know it is very cliche but we cannot look the moment and tick them off and see where we end up. —— we cannot look past opponents at the moment. west ham, on the other hand, are six points clear of the bottom three after providing the other big victory of the day. they beat bournemouth 4—0 to move above them in the table. there are five games in italy's serie a on sunday. champions in waiting napoli are attempting to take their lead back to 17 points later againstjuventus. juvey have leaped up the table after their 15 point deduction for false accounting was reversed. it's currently 0—0. inter�*s win over empoli has taken them fifth, romelu lukaku with two of their three goals. barcelona, the leaders in spain's la liga, are now 11

points clear of second placed real madrid after beating atletico1—0. valencia won the early game in la liga, beating elche 2—0. arsenal came from 2—0 down to draw 2—2 in their women's champions league semifinal first leg in germany. wolfsburg who are two time champions went 2—0 up but arsenal pulled two back, one each half ahead of the second leg at emirates stadium on may first. barcelona beat chelsea 1—0 in the first leg of the other semi final on saturday. in the women's six nations, france have set up a decider against england next weekend in front of a crowd of 50,000 at twickenham. that's after france beat wales 39—14. wales were 34—0 down, but made a game of it with two tries in the second half. france though wrapped it up a few minutes from time with this score. quarterfinal places are for grabs at the world snooker championship in sheffield. jack lisowski looked on the way out in his second round match with anthony mcgill.

he was ten frames to one down but has cut that deficit to 11—5. they resume on monday. britain's elvin evans has ended an 18—month wait for a victory after winning the croatia rally. it was the sixth win of his world rally championship career, but he said the result felt insignificant after craig breen�*s death last week in testing ahead of this event. tributes were paid to the irishman during a solemn podium ceremony. and that's all the sport for now. thank you. in the uk, the labour party has suspended the mp diane abbott after she suggested jewish people and travellers suffer from �*prejudice' rather than �*racism'. ms abbott apologised for her letter to the observer newspaper, stating it was an initial draft sent by mistake, and acknowledged that jewish people have suffered

what she called the "monstrous effects" of racism. here's our correspondent leila nathoo. her comments have been pretty universally criticised both from within labour and outside. she made them in response to an article about racism towards different communities, she said for example travellers, irish and jewish people were never made to sit on the back of buses in america no where they manacled to slave ships. a labour spokesperson described the remarks as deeply offensive and wrong, the party moved very quickly to suspend her while an investigation is carried out. she has now apologised and says she withdraws her remarks, dissociate herself from them. she says it is undeniable that travels, irish and jewish people have suffered racism and this was only an initial draft of her letter. diane abbott has a long history of speaking out about racial equality, she was the first black woman mp

elected more than 30 years ago but she is also a close political ally ofjeremy corbyn, the former labour leader, who no longer sets as a labour mp because of his associations with claims of anti—semitism that dogged his leadership. for diane abbott to now suggest thatjewish people now face a different or lesser racism than others certainly does herself no favours. keir starmer has tried one of his essential missions has been to try and disassociate labour from anti—semitism. he has tried to be decisive here so the issue doesn't raise its head again. it will be interesting to see whether she is allowed to return to the parliamentary labour party down the line now that she has apologised, unlikejeremy corbyn. ofsted — britain's office for standards in education — has defended the use of one word descriptions of school performance following the suicide of a primary head whose school had been downgraded to �*inadequate'. chief inspector amanda speilman

acknowledged there was a �*culture of fear�* within schools about ofsted inspections. here's our education editor branwen jeffreys. ruth perry took her life while waiting for an ofsted report. her school, caversham primary, wasjudged inadequate. inspectors had concerns over systems to keep children safe. today the chief inspector stood by thatjudgment. i think the findings were secure and i think the inspection team worked with the professionalism and sensitivity that i would expect from our inspectors. have you any concerns at all about what happened during that inspection, when her school went from outstanding to inadequate? from what i've seen, i don't have any reason to doubt the inspection. i met ruth's sister, julia waters, last week. today she said she was profoundly disappointed by this response. she added... "waiting for the inspection report and the shock of the inadequate judgment contributed to my sister's decline and despair, because informal feedback in 2019 from ofsted had been glowing."

schools are inspected on many factors. at the end, there is one overalljudgment. many are now questioning the fairness of that approach. the chief inspector said that's a decision for ministers. everyjudgment in the system has a use at the moment. they are used notjust for parents, but also for government, both in allocating support and in deciding where interventions are necessary. so it would have to be a bigger, wider reform of the education system. keeping children safe, record—keeping, training is important, but ministers suggest the emphasis could be revisited and ofsted has promised to revisit schools more quickly. teachers in england have been on strike over pay. another strike is due next thursday. there's little doubt they're disillusioned. on top of that, unions say the chief inspector has misjudged the mood.

i thought it was very notable that amanda spielman accepted that ofsted created a culture of fear in schools. i thought that was the first time that that has been accepted. how that then squares with herjudgment that it's a positive and affirming experience, i am very puzzled about that. a primary school like thousands of others. but the inspection here has provoked a national debate. an inquest will look at the events around ruth perry's death later this year. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. prince louis turns 5 today — which can mean only one thing — a new royal picture has been released. it shows the young prince being pushed in a wheelbarrow by his mother, the princess of wales. it's one of two pictures the family have shared — the other is a close—up of a very happy, birthday boy.

there is much more on that and all our other stories on the bbc news website or app. thanks for your company, goodbye. hello. quite a marked change in our weather to come for the start of the new week. most of us have seen real cloud at times, it is looking drier to start the new week but it will be turning colder. this area of low pressure brought the weekend's unsettled weather and heads off to the continent for monday, as it pulls away it engages a northerly airstream and arctic air flights all the way south across the uk on monday and stick around for tuesday wednesday. winds gusting to five, 50 mph around the coast of northern and eastern scotland into the small hours of monday. a cold air pushing in, turning showers increasingly to

snow. furthersouth, in, turning showers increasingly to snow. further south, some rain in the south—west of england, overnight frost for scotland. elsewhere we should see temperatures holding up any mid range of single figures. there we are again, monday daytime with that arctic air gradually running its way south. you can see some milder air clings on to the south and that is tied in with this area of rain moving across from wales and the south—west into the south—east for the afternoon. that northerly wind really adding to the cold feel as the arctic air pressure then. we will still see temperatures in double figures to the south of the uk but we are looking at a highs ofjust 6 degrees in aberdeen but we have to factor in that strong wind, especially monday afternoon and for monday it is going to feel closer to freezing —— and for aberdeen. the wind perhaps a little lighter as we look towards tuesday and wednesday and that comes into play for monday night, as the winds become lighter clear skies and arctic air, a

widespread frost develops. gardner's beware, any tender plants will be vulnerable. the wind spelt lighter because we start to see this ridge of high pressure building for tuesday and wednesday. still a northerly breeze but not as strong, still some wintry showers for northern and eastern scotland buffer tuesday quite a lot of fine weather, sunshine turning his as the day plays out. temperatures just about double figures across central and southern areas of the uk, but with the wind a little lighter it shouldn't feel quite as cold as it does on monday. wednesday a similar story, later in the week becoming more unsettled but milder again.

you're watching bbc news. a greater number of diplomats fully to dan's violence. multiple nationalities landed in djibouti. meanwhile the british government says it's evacuees will first stop in cyprus before heading back to the uk. us military sent three helicopters to evacuate its empathy start from the capital khartoum while germany has confirmed its first army aircraft arrived in the city. here in the uk, the labour opposition mp diane abbott has been suspended pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the british newspaper, the observer. and the winners of the