live from london, this is bbc news. a fragile ceasefire in sudan and the rush to get out — 300 british nationals are flown out of the country via cyprus. these are the pictures as the first flight arrives back in london. it was bad, it was very bad. i don't even want to remember it. i'm lewis vaugthones at larnaca airport in cyprus, where more evacuees arrive as the hours go by. —— we are expecting four more flights from khartoum. in russia, the jailed

oppositon activist alexi navalny is now charged with terrorism offenses. welcome to bbc news. thousands of people are continuing to flee from sudan while the temperary ceasefire still holds. germany and france say all their citizens have now left the country. three planes carrying british nationals have arrived in cyprus — officials have said flights will continue around the clock. the latest is that 301 britons have been evacuated so far. the ceasefire is broadly holding. there were reports of some clashes, but nothing major. there are also reports of prisoners breaking out ofjail, including some facing war crimes charges by the international criminal court. britons are still being told to go to this airbase about 20 miles north of the capital for the flights to cyprus. a total of 2,000 people from 50 countries, have now crossed the red sea from port sudan tojeddah on a ship

organised by saudi arabia. meanwhile, tens of thousands of sudanese continue to try and reach neighbouring chad, egypt and south sudan. live now to the bbc�*s lewis vaughanjones at larnaca airport in cyprus. we were hearing about damage to the airfield north of khartoum. is that delaying flights where you are? that's exactly what we are waiting to hear. so far we've had four flights land here on the runway behind me here in cyprus from khartoum with those uk nationals. the expectation has been that there will be another four throughout the rest of the day, so 300 people have already come through on those first four mac flights and presumably hundreds more will be expected on those later flights but that damage

to the runway could potentially lead to the runway could potentially lead to delays and certainly question marks over that number of flights arriving here. ishould marks over that number of flights arriving here. i should explain why they would be arriving here at all. the uk rescue operation out of khartoum, out of sudan, isn't involving military flights flying directly to the uk, they are coming here first. this is effectively a hub so they take off from that airbase just north of khartoum, they land on the runway behind me and then they transfer people off those military planes into specially chartered but ordinary civilian planes through the airport here which is why this is such a crucial hub. the british high commissioner has spoken to the bbc and there are some interesting details on what he said about how this operation is going. first of all, he defended the operation and explain the complexity

and the difficulties on the ground. there has been some criticism of the delays and leaving people to make their own journeys to the airbase north of khartoum but he has defended the criticism, saying it's a difficult and dangerous situation on the ground. when it comes to the numbers of people with uk passports actually leaving, you may remember only a handful of people on the first flight which raised some eyebrows. the high commissioner said that number was because that flight wasn't due to take anyone out, it wasn't due to take anyone out, it was a logistics operation but because people where they are at that airbase airlie, they took them, which explains that number. —— at that airbase early on. the emphasis now is that the process was effectively for planning, for

logistics, but it doesn't matter, anyone who has a british passport and their immediate family should get to that airbase and they will be taken. a couple of interesting lines from the british high commissioner explaining and defending the operation thus far. as for those people that have arrived here so far, before they were transferred to the uk, we've had that one flight leave here and land in the uk and before it left, we managed to hear from some of the people who have made the journey from khartoum, from their houses, to the airbase. it was something else. i can't even describe. it was bad, it was very bad. i don't even want to remember it.

i went there for three weeks' holiday with my two kids. they were very excited to go back to their home and see our family, but in two weeks, they were asking me to go back to london. so some of the personal stories of real, real difficulty in making it here. let's quickly look at the numbers again. 301 have made it here out of khartoum but 170 got on that first flight from here to the uk. clearly there's a difference in that so there are people who have escaped khartoum but are still here now and waiting for that next flight to leave here and take them back to the uk. �* , ., ., ~ leave here and take them back to the uk. �*, ., ., ~ ,., leave here and take them back to the uk. it's worth making the point that we are now — uk. it's worth making the point that we are now past _ uk. it's worth making the point that we are now past the _ uk. it's worth making the point that we are now past the halfway - uk. it's worth making the point that we are now past the halfway mark l uk. it's worth making the point that| we are now past the halfway mark of the ceasefire. are there any sort of

plans being made about what happens when it comes to flights or any other root out once that ceasefire ends —— route out. the other root out once that ceasefire ends -- route out.— ends -- route out. the emphasis since the — ends -- route out. the emphasis since the beginning _ ends -- route out. the emphasis since the beginning has - ends -- route out. the emphasis since the beginning has been - ends -- route out. the emphasis since the beginning has been on| ends -- route out. the emphasis i since the beginning has been on the first 2a hours which was always seen as the most crucial period. it flights out of khartoum within that first 24—hour period was the ambition and still is the ambition of the uk government and authorities and military there. now this problem with the runway might throw that into potentialjeopardy. we haven't heard anything either way on that. as for people making their way from their house is through to that airbase, 20 miles or so north of khartoum, that is an extreme the dangerous journey to risk taking. it

seems like there is a big gap at the moment between the hundreds of people that have made it here compared to the thousands of people that we know registered in khartoum before this operation started. in a before this operation started. in a moment, before this operation started. in a moment. i _ before this operation started. in a moment. i am — before this operation started. in a moment, i am going to play an interview with french military general who has interesting views on how the french organise their evacuation but let bring you the latest from caroline holly in cyprus, she's been talking to brigadier dan reeve and the most senior military official overseeing the evacuation from sudan has defended the decision not to risk all british nationals to the airport as other countries like france have done. he says, "this is not a race to get it wrong. in my professional judgment, it would not be safe to bring people together in one location in khartoum and seek to

extract them. we've seen incidents of convoys being attacked. the question..." question. the question being question..." the question being asked directly or via british forces haven't went through the capital khartoum to get your pockets of people to escort them to the airport, we've had people pleading for that on this programme in the last 2a hours, but the position has been clear that the risk is just too great and the brigadier overseeing the british operation, i willjust repeat the quote because it is important, given how many times this question has been raised, "this is not a race to get it wrong. in my professional judgment, it would not be safe to bring people together in one location in khartoum and seek to extract them. we have seen incidents of convoys being attacked." perhaps we will get more on that in the next little while and play that interview to you.

i reference the military general from france who said france is ready to help extract other nations�* citizens caught up in the conflict. french forces carried out ground missions in khartoum to rescue its citizens, and other europeans, bringing them to an airstrip outside the capital. they were then flown to djibouti in the horn of africa. 0ur correspondent catherine byaru hanga spoke to major general laurent boite. this was a complex operation because of the war in sudan and we have to extract french citizens and other nations�* citizens. to do so, we begun with special planes from france, to build up a force. then we went into sudan, in a small airport near khartoum, and then we launched the ground mission to pick up our citizens and also european and other nations�* citizens from the city.

there was a ceasefire, but there was some fighting. then back to this little airport and then back by plane to djibouti. we understand some french soldiers were injured during the mission. can you tell us what happened? during the mission, we had to go on the ground to pick up citizens. a french military was injured. we managed to make it back to the airfield and to the surgeon because we sent a little surgeon team on the ground in sudan. some governments, the uk and the us for example, say they cannot carry out missions into the city. they're asking their citizens to get to certain places to be evacuated. what do you think about that? first of all, we have a word in france — "impossible n'est pas francais." so we carried on the mission, we opened the gate and managed to save about 500 people from about 80 nations.

28 uk citizens and 46 us citizens were among them, so very proud of that and to help your country. so, this is a complex mission, the most important thing was to open the gate. when it was opened, it was possible to let other countries, and other assets came to do their own business. the advice from the british government today is for people to make their own way to the airfield. what do you think about that? any nation does the best option it has. it's not what france decided, we decided to go into the city to secure the convoy, to go through the different faction, to go to the airfield. the focus right now is on rescue missions from sudan. what do you expect to happen in the next few days? for france, our own nationals

are out of the country, so we are still here, we are ready to help other countries because we can help them, we can give them our experience because now we know how to do it in the country, so we can collaborate with every nation that needs our help, to support them to do the missions. so you're willing to provide support to the uk or the us, should they ask french troops? or any country that will ask us. let's go back to stansted airport because we've seen the first uk flight touched down with a number of britons who made the journey from khartoum to cyprus then cyprus to the uk.

nancy kacungira is there. do we know how many people were on the flight? we do we know how many people were on the fliuht? ~ . , ., the flight? we are trying to figure out those details, _ the flight? we are trying to figure out those details, there _ the flight? we are trying to figure out those details, there has - the flight? we are trying to figure out those details, there has been| the flight? we are trying to figure | out those details, there has been a flurry of activity here. what has felt like a normal day at stansted airport has really seen some extraordinary scenes. right now, the overwhelming feeling and the overwhelming feeling and the overwhelming sense you get is the sheer emotion that people have shown coming off these buses. this flight has arrived from cyprus, having departed from sudan, it's now on british soil. we caught a glimpse of the people on that flight getting off the tarmac into buses. they went through arrivals and we saw them coming into a section of the airport where they were met by some families, some relatives, some staff from the red cross and counsel workers and that's where we

witnessed was emotional scenes, people who had been coiled tightly like spring is suddenly being able to release all this emotion from the danger of the last few days. we've heard that 301 people altogether have been evacuated from sudan, british nationals that is, four flights have left and there will be another four by the end of today. hopefully that will be the case given what we've heard about the runway north of khartoum, so many questions we don't know the answers to yet and one of those is whether those family reunions have happened because they were taken to a separate area in the airport and whether that flight was full because we've known other flights, whether that flight was full because we've known otherflights, the germans are for example, had flights coming out with only 30, a0 people on board. coming out with only 30, 40 people on board. . v coming out with only 30, 40 people on board. . �*, ., ., , on board. that's one of the things it is difficult _ on board. that's one of the things it is difficult to _ on board. that's one of the things it is difficult to get _ on board. that's one of the things it is difficult to get a _ on board. that's one of the things it is difficult to get a hold - on board. that's one of the things it is difficult to get a hold of, - it is difficult to get a hold of, the exact numbers. these aren't

being shared at this point, we are getting generalfigures from being shared at this point, we are getting general figures from the foreign office but undeniably what matters to these people coming off these flights at the moment is the fact we have made it because there are many more who haven't. we are hearing reports of some people, some families that are being separated when they get to the airport because some of them don't have the right documentation, they don't have a british passport. the bbc has spoken to one man and his family, he, his pregnant wife and his child have had to leave their 70—year—old mother behind because she didn't have a british passport and she is poorly, so that is why some of the people here are so relieved but they are also anxious because some of them have left people behind and nobody knows what will happen after the ceasefire expires and as you mentioned, there are layers and layers of complexity being added with that runway which we are hearing are starting to bear the brunt of the many flights that have

been taking off over the last few days, many of them landing and taking off at night and doing so quite roughly, that's had a huge affect on the tarmac there. the british government have said they don't expect this will hinder any of the continued efforts they are making to evacuate people out of sudan but those are the sorts of things that people will be keeping a keen eye on as people continue to try to make their way out of sudan before things get worse. it is try to make their way out of sudan before things get worse.— before things get worse. it is layer u on before things get worse. it is layer uon la er before things get worse. it is layer upon layer of _ before things get worse. it is layer upon layer of challenge _ before things get worse. it is layer upon layer of challenge that - before things get worse. it is layer upon layer of challenge that all. before things get worse. it is layer upon layer of challenge that all of| upon layer of challenge that all of these foreign countries are facing as they try to get their nationals out. so many sudanese also poring over the borders, we saw those pictures from jeddah a short while ago with so many people crammed on board so that is the latest on this story that is dominating through the course of the last few days, the situation in sudan. we are going to take a break and then round up some of the other stories around the

world making headlines. you're watching bbc news. hey, my name is cara and i'm eight years old. i'm eamon campbelland i'm here at great 0rmond street hospital as my daughter is today having her infusion of blood plasma. in my hand is a cannula and i have to come every four weeks for it, but every time i have it, i get more and more used to it. two years ago, we started noticing that she was having difficulty walking even from the car park to school, then she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition. from there, we realised she needed blood plasma. a year down the line of having these treatments, these infusions from the blood plasma, she is now like a normal eight—year—old. it feels really nice that sometimes

some little boys or girls can get help by my dad or some other people when they give plasma. you're live with bbc news. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says he had an hour—long call with chinese president xijinping, the first between the two since russia's invasion. china says it maintains a neutral stance, and president xi has so far refused to condemn moscow's invasion. in february beijing offered a 12—point paper calling for a political settlement to the crisis. here's our kyiv correspondent james waterhouse to tell us more. well, kyiv will see this as a bit of diplomatic progress. why? just last month president zelensky signalled he wanted to speak to xijinping of china. he even invited him to kyiv after he met with vladimir putin in moscow, but

xijinping decided not to make that extra journey. nevertheless, we are told it was a long and meaningful phone call. we are not hearing much in terms of detail, but ukraine is desperate to improve relations with china, a country that to date has refused to condemn russia's invasion. it has even strengthened its economic ties with moscow. so, while ukraine will see this as serious progress, there are still huge ideological differences on how to end this war because what beijing wants, we are told after this phone call, it sees negotiations and talks as the only way out of this conflict. ukraine sees a military victory as the way out, to avoid just that, any kind of political compromise. so, politically we have seen progress today for kyiv. what difference it will make, we won't know just yet.

china back in february put forward that 12 point paper calling for a political settlement to the crisis. we've heard from president zelensky a little more after that call with president xijinping a little more after that call with president xi jinping saying no a little more after that call with president xijinping saying no peace at the expense of territorial compromises so repeating what he has said many times that no chunks of ukraine will be given away to moscow just to secure some sort of peace deal. an interesting addition from ukraine's president and the last little while. here's our china correspondent stephen mcdonell to tell us more. we were asked to come to the foreign ministry for an unusual evening press conference. we weren't told what it was about, just that it was important and it wasn't until we entered the room that we found out that xi jinping and volodymyr zelensky had had this phone call.

the emphasis from the press briefing today has been that this shows china is impartial. the question was posed which western government has been able to have such a call with the leaders of both warring parties, thatis leaders of both warring parties, that is which western government, we hear the question posed, has been able to speak to volodymyr zelensky and vladimir putin? and the contrast, of course, was made to xi jinping who has spoken to both of these leaders. crucially, we were told that there is to be a high—level chinese government delegation which will travel not only to kyiv but to other countries as a means of pushing forward this peace proposal from china as a means of pushing forward this peace proposalfrom china and we were told that volodymyr zelensky welcomes china's proposals for peace and welcomes china's efforts to bring about a diplomatic solution. we asked how this could be made to

occur when both sides in this war have such different positions and there was no concrete suggestion on that front. just that peace is the only answer and we were also told that there was a growing wave of enthusiasm internationally for china's peace proposal. 0ther china's peace proposal. other countries were not mentioned, just that there is a broad movement towards backing china's peace plan and the hope is that this delegation when it travels to ukraine at some point in the future will push that process along. the jailed russian opposition leader, alexei navalny, has told a court in moscow he is now being investigated on terrorism charges. he said he'd been told by his investigators that he'd be tried by a military court. mr navalny�*s anti—corruption foundation has been accused of being behind the bombing of a cafe in st petersburg

in early april which killed a prominent pro—war blogger. vladlen tatarsky. an investigator has said 11 people have now been put on an international wanted list linked to mr navalny. he is serving a lengthy prison sentence after being found guilty of fraud. my colleague steve rosenberg in moscow has the latest. let's rewind slightly because ever since alexei navalny was sent to prison in 2021 for alleged parole violations, he has faced more and more charges. more and more criminal cases and more and more prison time. so he was then given another nine years, convicted of fraud. it's important to say that his supporters insist that all of the charges, past and present against him, are politically motivated. as you mentioned, he is vladimir putin's most prominent critic. last autumn, mr navalny said that he was facing another set of charges,

new charges of promoting extremism and terrorism. and predicted that that could add 30 more years to his time behind bars. today, what happened, there was a technical hearing about this new case to decide how many days mr navalny would be given to look through, to study the case against him before it goes to trial. we are talking about more than 196 volumes in this case, he was given until 5th may to study the case. at this technical hearing he said that one of the investigators had told him that part of this case had been taken out and a whole new case had been made around it. he is also going to be accused of terrorism. so in fact, there could be two court cases, two more court cases, against mr navalny. he predicted today that the terrorism charges could see him being given life imprisonment.

the government are saying there is no plans to provide a legal route for people fleeing sudan to claim asylum. we'll be talking to the shadow home secretary yvette cooper. hello, if you're fed up with be chilly air, things will turn milder by the end of the week and into the weekend as we start to pick up milder southerly winds. in the short term, it stays rather chilly, with a lot of cloud around today. some area seeing the sunshine here and there, probably the best of the sunshine across northern scotland where it will remain cold with a northerly wind, some of the showers with the wintry element. single figures this afternoon across northern areas, further south we got the low teens are not feeling too bad in the sunshine. this evening and overnight, many places dry, still the odd wintry shuffle across northern scotland but to weather front start to moving to northern scotland and one in towards the far

southwest of england so less cold where we have clear skies —— where we have clear skies, it will be chilly again. one weather front on thursday bringing rain across the south, another one across scotland. this one in scotland is likely to bring sleet and snow over the mountain tops. it will be mostly rain and further south this area of rain and further south this area of rain pushing into wales, central and southern england. it will be quite persistent in places. drier slots in between, temperatures lifting a little bit, 1a celsius in the brightness and low teens where we have the rain but has the rain clears away into the continent for friday, we start to draw in milder airfrom the friday, we start to draw in milder air from the southwest and you can see those orange colours pushing across much of the country but cold air is still affecting the far north of scotland. friday we are between weather systems, of scotland. friday we are between weathersystems, it of scotland. friday we are between weather systems, it will be mostly dry with the odd splash of rain here and there, variable cloud and some

sunshine coming through particularly across wales and the southwest of england and we will see temperatures reaching 17 or 18 cell cfs tap happens but even milderfor the north —— 17 or 18 if that happens. it stays mild for the bank holiday for most of us. variable cloud, some sunshine and if you catch the sunshine and if you catch the sunshine it could set off a few scattered, potentially heavy or thundery showers. that's particularly likely on sunday into monday as high pressure begins to build back in. it looks like things will slowly start to dry up but stay tuned to the weather forecast for the details.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the evacuations continue from sudan, is a fragile ceasefire holds. 300 british nationals have been flown out. the first flight has arrived back in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very _ in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very bad. _ in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very bad. i _ in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very bad. i don't _ in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very bad. i don't even - in the uk. it was bad, it was bad, it was very bad. i don't even want to remember it. pare it was very bad. i don't even want to remember it.— to remember it. are other main headlines... _ to remember it. are other main headlines... in _ to remember it. are other main headlines... in russia - to remember it. are other main headlines... in russia and - to remember it. are other main headlines... in russia and the l headlines... in russia and the jailed opposition activist alexei navalny has now been charged with terror offences. and the singer ed sheeran is in court in new york to defend himself against charges he plagiarised marvin gaye.