live from london. this is bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories... foreign diplomats escape sudan's violence — these are europeans flown by the french military to djibouti, while in another operation uk embassy staff have been evacuated via cyprus. 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. 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 goverment. the british labour opposition mp diane abbott, has been suspended pending

an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the british newspaper, the observer. the dutch siffan hassan and the kenyan kelvin kiptum have won the race for female and male categories in the london marathon. hello, i'm rich preston — a very warm welcome to bbc news. 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. the uk, france and the us are among those to remove embassy staff under the cover of darkness. the british evacuees are on their way back to the uk, via cyprus. the situation for other nationals in sudan remains unclear. in the last couple of hours we've seen a french military plane arriving at one of france's airbases

in dijibouti said to be carrying european diplomats and citizens. 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. in khartoum today, a series among those successfully airlifted out of sudan after a week of terror, amid the bombs and the gunfire in khartoum today, a series 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. it's understood the us used three helicopters to airlift their embassy workers, but the circumstances for the french and british military were more challenging because of the location of their embassies. here's the british defence secretary ben wallace again. the location of our embassy was right between the two headquarters. the us embassy is further south of the town on the edge. secondly, the us had access to bases in nearby to other

countries we do not, so we had to learn from a further so we had to mount from a further distance which obviously precluded the use of helicopters or rotary wing, and we had a smaller footprint and i think that is a big challenge but i'm very confident our men and women in the armed forces have done an amazing job and people are safe and sound on the way home. well, some more information for british nationals still in sudan — the uk's foreign offices has tweeted: "if you are a british national in sudan, we advise you to register your presence to receive updates from the fcdo." it goes on to say: "you should also stay up to date with the fcdo travel advice by signing up to e—mail alerts." earlier, i spoke to tim cross — a military logistics expert and former major general who served in the british army from 1971 to 2007, including in the iraq and kosovo wars. the first 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 for getting all the families out of west germany. plans are in place. of all the plans you put in place, of the three plans you put in place, it is always the fourth 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 somewhere together, where you can then get them out? the first issue is where are they, who are they, what are they doing there and how do you contact them? i haven't been involved in a noncombatant evacuation order from 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, a 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 send in some sort of capability, and if it proves to be necessary to send in a military capability, you have to send in quite a strong combat power force because they 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 these plans being in place for noncombatants, there has been criticism of the governments for not getting in quickly enough to support not just 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. 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 longer feel they are safe. that is not an easy decision to make so you wouldn't want to make it lightly 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 to answer is if in a 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 track 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 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 troops in that situation. it is 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 up a secure base. inevitably, in this circumstance, you are talking about some sort of air operation. the defence secretary said they used some aa00 and c1a0s. you 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 strips. and then you need to the combat

power to secure that location whilst you get out and find the people and bring them to the airfield. live now to our correspondent kalkidan yibeltal who's following the story from the ethiopian capital addis ababa. good evening, we have been hearing these stories about the evacuations of westerners, americans, german, french, british. how is it working in terms of evacuating nationals from other african countries out of sudan? . . , ., from other african countries out of sudan? . .,, ., , ., , , sudan? that has not been happening as many would _ sudan? that has not been happening as many would have _ sudan? that has not been happening as many would have wanted - sudan? that has not been happening as many would have wanted to, - sudan? that has not been happening as many would have wanted to, the i as many would have wanted to, the stories we are hearing is countries in the west of... there have been incidences where nationals were evacuated, for example were they

were evacuating foreign nationals from sudan. there were citizens from burkina faso among that convoy. but we understand largely other african countries are monitoring the situation and possibly they could launch their own operations but so far what we have seen is the western countries and countries in the gulf and asia are trying to either deploy their armed forces to evacuate their nationals or trying to assess the situation to launch an operation to that effect. it seems largely african nationals living in sudan right now are left behind.- right now are left behind. when fiuuhtin right now are left behind. when fighting broke _ right now are left behind. when fighting broke out _ right now are left behind. when fighting broke out over- right now are left behind. when fighting broke out over a - right now are left behind. when fighting broke out over a week. right now are left behind. when fighting broke out over a week ago, various regional leaders were quick to criticise the break of violence, as well as the african union. 0riginally there were attempts by some of these leaders to travel to sudan. that didn't happen as planned

because of the violence. do you know if there are any plans to resume those trips, for african regional leaders to get involved in what is happening? 50 leaders to get involved in what is happening?— leaders to get involved in what is haueninu? . . ., , happening? so far we are not seen an sins happening? so far we are not seen any signs of— happening? so far we are not seen any signs of concrete _ happening? so far we are not seen any signs of concrete plans - happening? so far we are not seen any signs of concrete plans for - any signs of concrete plans for african leaders, regional leaders to travel there because as you said, the violence has spread out very quickly. it is very rapidly. so the players did not materialise and currently what we are seeing is western nationals and foreign nationals in general wanting to leave sudan, so rather than wanting to travel to there and try to sort out the situation. it doesn't look likely at least in the immediate future, that countries in the immediate scratch at neighbouring areas or in the region are sending their senior politicians or

government leaders, heads of state to travel there and try to bring together the two generals to find a solution. but that doesn't mean there are not calls. we have been hearing calls from the west, the un, the african union and from neighbouring countries like ethiopia calling for the war in general is to try to sort their issues and not through the barrel of a gun. thank ou so through the barrel of a gun. thank you so much _ through the barrel of a gun. thank you so much for— through the barrel of a gun. thank you so much forjoining _ through the barrel of a gun. thank you so much forjoining us. - police in kenya say they've now exhumed 47 bodies thought to be members of a cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death. digging is continuing at a site in the coastal town malindi in the south east of the country. 19 bodies were initially discovered on friday following a tip—off about the shallow graves. earlier this month police said they'd rescued 15 members of the good news international church who'd been told to starve themselves to death. four later died and the group's

leader has been arrested. 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, tell me 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 yours 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. 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 says, for example, travellers, irish and jewish people were never made to sit on the back of buses in america nor were 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, she says she withdraws her remarks, completely dissociates herself from them. she now says it is undeniable that travellers, 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 sits as a labour mp because of his association, with those claims of anti—semitism that dogged his leadership. for diane abbott to now suggest that jewish people somehow face different or lesser racism than others certainly does herself no favours.

keir starmer has tried — one of his central missions has been to try and disassociate labour from anti—semitism. he has tried to be decisive here so the issue doesn't rear its head again. it will be interesting to see if she is allowed to return to the parliamentary labour party down the line, now that she has apologised, unlikejeremy corbyn. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's karthi. there will 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 we're 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. we are sad for us, for our fans. i think_ we are sad for us, for our fans. i think we — we are sad for us, for our fans. i think we deserved to win, but usually— think we deserved to win, but usually in _ think we deserved to win, but usually in the penalty, who it doesn't — usually in the penalty, who it doesn't deserve. 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 one one by one, i know it is very cliche but we cannot look past opponents at the moment, and tick them off and see where we end up. 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. in italy's serie a, champions in waiting napoli are attempting to take their lead back to 17 points againstjuventus.

juventus have leapt back up the table after their 15 point deduction for false accounting was reversed. the score is still 0—0, they are approaching 80 minutes of playing time. inter milan's win over empoli has taken them fifth. romelu lukaku scored two of inter�*s three goals. barceonla, 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. iga swiatek and carlos alcaraz

won in straight sets to retain their titles in stuttgart and barcelona respectively. the polish world number one, iga swiatek, beat world number two aryna sabalenka 6—3 6—4 in a repeat of last year's final. while in spain, alcaraz breezed past stefanos tsitsipas of greece in straight sets to win the tournament for the second successive year without dropping a set. quarter—final places are up for grabs at the world snooker championship in sheffield. john higgins is currently thrashing kyren wilson. the four—time champion led by 11 frames to one before the mid session interval. it's a best of 25 contest. he now has 11 frames to two lead. and that's all the sport for now. now, to an inspiring story about one special london marathon runner. roman kashpur, a ukrainian

soldier, has done it — on a prosthetic leg! he's an army veteran who he lost his leg during the ongoing war in ukraine. and now he's raising money for charity, helping amputees. translation: i am overwhelmed. i'm so grateful for the support of family and my brothers, the ukrainian servicemen. i was running today and i realised that this really was not hard for me to do. all the struggles of today are nothing in comparison to the battlefields. when i was saving my comrades�* lives and burying fallen friends. ijust had to run 42 kilometres. i am happy with my time. it was just under six hours. i'm trying to help those who have been injured to get back to normal life and raise money for the rehabilitation. this flag, signed by my commander, will be put to auction to raise even more funds for ukrainian soldiers.

the editor of a german magazine which used artificial intelligence to generate an apparent interview with the formula 1 legend michael schumacher has been sacked. die aktuelle ran a front cover with the headline �*michael schumacher, the first interview�*. schumacher, a seven—time world champion, suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident in 2013, and has not been seen in public since. the magazine's publisher has apologised. it must be the most famous white suit in the world — and todayjohn travolta�*s, �*saturday night fever�* outfit will go under the hammer. the white polyester 3—piece, which featured in the 1977 film, is expected to fetch an estimated $250,000 dollars. it was originally bought for $100 dollars — from a small menswear shop in new york. it�*s one of two identical suits travolta wore on set and it�*s even said to still have the sweat marks on it.

that�*s it from us for now. thank you for your company. hello. quite a marked change to come in our weather for the start of the new week. through the weekend, most of us have seen some cloud and rain at times. it is actually looking drier, more settled to start the new week but it will be turning markedly colder. this area of low pressure that brought the weekend�*s unsettled weather heads off towards the continent for monday. as it pulls out of the way, we engage a northerly airstream and arctic air floods all the way south across the uk through monday and it will stick around for tuesday and wednesday as well. winds gusting a5, 55 mph around the coasts of northern and eastern scotland into the small hours of monday, the cold air pushing in, turning showers here increasingly to snow. further south, some rain for wales and the south—west of england overnight.

a frost for scotland and elsewhere we should see temperatures holding up in the mid range of single figures. and there we are again, monday daytime with that arctic air gradually running its way south. you can see some milder airjust about clings on to the south. 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 though really adding to the cold feel as the arctic air pushes in. we will still see temperatures in double figures to the south of the uk, but we are looking at a high ofjust 6 degrees in aberdeen. but we have to factor in that strong wind, particularly monday afternoon, and for aberdeen, it is going to feel closer to freezing. perhaps the wind becoming just a little lighter though as we look towards tuesday and wednesday and that comes into play for monday night. as the wind becomes lighter, clear skies and arctic air, a widespread frost developing. gardeners beware, any tender plants out at the moment obviously will be particularly vulnerable. the winds fall lighter

because we start to see this ridge of high pressure building for tuesday and wednesday. so still a northerly breeze, but as not as strong as it will be to start the week. still a few wintry showers possible for northern and eastern scotland but for tuesday, actually quite a lot of fine weather. sunshine turning hazy as the day plays out. temperatures just about in double figures across central and southern areas of the uk but with the wind a little lighter, it should not feel quite as cold as it does on monday. wednesday, a very similar story. later in the week becoming more unsettled but milder again.

this is bbc news. the headlines... a growing number of foreign diplomats flee sudan�*s violence. a french plane carrying around 100 people of multiple nationalities landed in djibouti. meanwhile, the british government says its evacuees will first stop in cyprus before heading back to the uk. the us military has sent three chinook helicopters to evacuate its embassy staff from khartoum while germany has confirmed its first army aircraft arrived in the capital. in the uk, labour opposition mp diane abbott has been suspended pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the british newspaper, the observer. the dutch siffan hassan and the kenyan kelvin kiptum have