live from washington. this is bbc news. the united nations and african union warn that the people of sudan are in dire need of a humanitarian truce. nurses in england start a 28—hour strike — health service bosses say its the largest industrial action so far. # shimmering in the sun... # and we'll hear from the creator of this viral hit that's taken over tiktok. hello, i'm carl nasman.

some breaking news in ukraine, a series of big explosions in the city of pavlohrad. social media reports say warehouses storing ukrainian military equipment were targeted. it's unclear whether or not there have been any casualties. the russian attack comes after a drone strike on russian occupied crimea on saturday which destroyed 40,000 tonnes of oil products. this is the latest we are getting tonight. from the reuters news agency, reports of air defence systems repelling missile attacks in the early hours on monday in the early hours on monday in the kyiv region, according to local authorities. after air raid alerts were issued throughout all of ukraine, kyiv�*s regional administration wrote on the pillaging messaging app saying air

defences were at work after explosions were heard. —— the telegram messaging app. we start in sudan, where two rival military factions have announced a new ceasefire, but are showing few signs that they will honor it. air strikes continued to pound the capital of khartoum on saturday, as more than 500 deaths have been reported, though the true number of casualties is believed to be much higher. the united nations and african union are warning that the people of sudan are in dire need of a humanitarian truce. martin griffiths, the un's emergency relief coordinator, is being sent to sudan along with a special envoy to coordinate humanitarian operations. it's understood many of the aid agency's warehouses were looted by fighting military factions. thousands of people are evacuating on ships to the saudi arabian port city ofjeddah. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding has recently arrived injeddah, and gave us this update. as the fighting intensifies in khartoum, people are fleeing either north to egypt, but increasingly fleeing quite a long journey, people talking 16—30 hours

to get to the coast, to get to port sudan and then hoping to get on these... well, there's a range, a flotilla, if you like, of warships, saudi arabian warships and other nationalities�* ships, a lot of ferries as well, just ordinary passenger ferries which have been coming over here to jeddah. the saudis are making a big show of their humanitarian effort here, they're very keen to show that they are very invested in the humanitarian operation in sudan, and for those leaving, they are given a 30—day visa on arrival here in saudi arabia. but most counties, when we came backjust this morning from a long trip across the sea, across the red sea to port sudan, when we came back with about 50 people, a range of nationalities. fundamentally, the battle we are seeing going on right now is arab against arab and different clans, different regions. the danger is that elsewhere across sudan,

the legacy of a long war against the south, the civil war there, means that there are all sorts of simmering ethnic disputes, and the concern is that as communities try to protect themselves, we're already seeing signs in darfur that old conflicts, simmering conflicts are being reignited as communities turn on each other and militias turn against other communities. these are some of the latest pictures out of port sudan on the red sea. they show us citizens waiting to board an american navy ship — the usns brunswick — a fast transport vessel. us officials say hundreds of citizens are likely to be evacuated and nearly 1,000 americans have been evacuated from sudan since the violence began. meanwhile, the uk evacuation operation from an airfield near khartoum has now ended. these were some of the final people to be flown out from the wadi saedna airfield, north of the sudanese capital yesterday evening. but an extra evacuation

flight has been arranged from port sudan tomorrow. 0ur correspondent sanchia berg has more on what the british foreign office has said. what the foreign office is saying is there will be an exceptional flight out of port sudan rather than the airstrip just outside khartoum, where the other 23 evacuation flights have gone from. this flight will be going from port sudan international airport, and anyone who is going to try to get on that flight has to be at the british evacuation handling centre by midday sudanese time tomorrow. and just a quick reminder of who's eligible to get on that flight — british nationals, of course, their dependents, but also nhs clinicians who are not british nationals, who are currently working in the nhs. and that's the doctors, of course, who we've heard a lot about over the last few days. i did speak to the foreign office this evening and i asked them how many people they thought might be trying

to get on this flight, and they said as far as they knew, there were only a small number of british nationals remaining in sudan. now to new york, where us regulators are racing to find a rescuer to buy first republic bank. its shares plunged last week after it admitted customers had withdrawn $100 billion in deposits in march, around the same time its competitor silicon valley bank collapsed, prompting fears of a wider banking crisis. according to officials, a decision on a buyer could be announced this evening. let's get more on this now, betsey stevenson was the department of labor's chief economist under former president 0bama. why is it so important that financial regulators find a buyer for this bank? well, obviously, we want to make sure that we are able to keep the banks from collapsing. this is not a bank that has systemic problems.

it actually was still profitable in the first quarter. the challenge this bank has is so many of its deposits are uninsured, nearly half of them. and people are just getting nervous. so the problem here is not what we might think of as a solvency problem, it's really a liquidity problem. can they provide money when people come asking to get their money out of the bank, do they have it? that means unwinding all the things they've done with that money, all the loans they have given out. so we don't want a fire sale of all of their assets. what we want is somebody else to take them over, reassure depositors that they are going to get their money back. and what does it say about the state of the bank or the banking industry overall that there are some willing buyers waiting in the wings? i think this points out that the problem is really one of liquidity. they need to be able to show depositors,

if you want your money back tomorrow, we can provide it. we don't have a problem where our assets are worth less than our liabilities. so they have assets that are substantial, and able to pay off their liabilities, it's just not a good idea for a bank to have to liquidate everything over a weekend in order to meet the demands of their depositors. so we have a bank that's profitable and what we want is for the banking industry to step in and provide extra liquidity and take over the bank. flashing back to the financial crisis in 2008, regulators kept talking about preventing banks from becoming too big to fail, they didn't want banks to be so big. are we going in the wrong direction here when it comes to banks buying up their smaller competitors? well, i think there is a longer run picture about, what can we do to make sure we have

stability notjust in our large banks but also in our small and medium—sized banks? we did see a lack of regulatory oversight, really a problem with the fed not doing as much oversight as they should have, as well as a problem with congress rolling back some of those regulatory requirements for small and medium banks. and what we are seeing is, without the oversight, banks are getting themselves into trouble. it's much better to have a larger bank acquire a bank that is illiquid than it is to have it fail. but you are right to point out that at the end of the day we want a thriving banking sector and that means having appropriate regulations in place. we have 30 seconds left, first it was silicon valley bank, then signature bank, now first republic,

could there be more banking dominoes to fall? if i say no, there will definitely be one! probably. looking at history, banks failed all the time before we had deposit insurance. we found that most banks, once we get deposit insurance, they�* re pretty stable. we saw historically, the introduction of deposit insurance brought bank failures down substantially. what we have now is a few banks out there, where a lot of their assets are held by people who are not insured. so there's a bigger conversation to be had about whether we should be extending fdic insurance to a wider swathe of people, to larger deposits, so we can put that stability back into the banking system, that we see in the banks that mostly have depositors who are insured. betsey stevenson, former chief economist of the us department of labor,

thank you so much. still no final word this late sunday night in the us on a buyerfor sunday night in the us on a buyer for that sunday night in the us on a buyerfor that bank. sunday night in the us on a buyer for that bank. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. spike the king penguin is now king of the world, voted most popular penguin in an international online voting competition. and that's despite his past misdemeanours. he pooed on sir david attenborough nearly ten years ago. he is a local celebrity definitely. 32 penguins competed for the title, the contest was organised by penguin international, a lobby group aiming to raise awareness of the birds�* plight. you are going to be sent a paper crown as a prize, will you be putting it on spike? no, he wouldn't tolerate it at all.

i only handle him for vet checks a couple of times a year, putting on wing tags. otherwise, you try to grab them, they will give you a good old slap with their wing. but there will be a special ceremony to honour spike, it's planned for may 6th, the same day as the coronation. in england, nurses at some hospitals have begun a 28—hour strike, with nhs leaders calling for the public to use health services wisely. after talks with health bosses, the royal college of nursing has agreed that staff can be called in, to provide limited cover for emergencies and intensive care, but the industrial action will still be the most wide ranging of the current dispute over pay. the health secretary, steve barclay, says the strike action is disappointing, and will be incredibly disruptive for patients. here's our health

editor hugh pym. 0ne leading trust, newcastle hospitals, has warned of a major impact on services, with the strike affecting the widest range of care so far. they said people should not attend a&e unless it was a life—threatening emergency, and warned that anyone coming in with a minor illness would have a significant wait. the royal college of nursing has agreed that staff will go into intensive care units, and for the most serious a&e cases, although fewer than on a normal day. in a webinar this evening, the general secretary had a message for members. colleagues, if you get a call like that from your employer, i am asking that you please attend work. it is for our patients. earlier, she defended the escalation of the union action. let's not scare the public by saying that nursing is being reckless on this one day of strike, they most

certainly are not. we will stand by our patients, the strike is about standing up for them and saying we need to get a better nhs. rhian is a senior nurse in leeds. she says the latest strike is another indication of how low morale has sunk. 25 years i've worked in the nhs and i've never seen or felt anything like this, never. it's heartbreaking. absolutely heartbreaking, soul destroying. it's horrible. and none of us want this for patients. some other unions including those representing ambulance staff have backed the pay deal offered by the government in england. and all of them will meet on tuesday to formalise their position. we will now get together on tuesday, the nhs staff council will meet to vote on whether it accepts the agreement we negotiated with them.

i think it's right to wait for the nhs staff council to come to that decision, and i think the strike is premature and disrespectful to those trade unions that will be meeting on tuesday. the unite union has rejected the pay offer and members will be on strike at some hospitals and ambulance services on monday and tuesday. if ministers are told there is majority union support, the offer will be implemented. but that won't stop some continuing with industrial action if they wish. to uzbekistan where votes are being counted in a referendum that could let the country's president stay in power until 2040. shavkat mirziyoyev has been praised by some for opening up the country after decades of authoritarian rule. earlier i spoke with michael hilliard who is at the 0xus society for central asian

affairs. they said this could usher in a new uzbekistan with more civil liberties. what do you think about? the new uzbekistan has been shavkat mirziyoyev�*s project since he came into power is 2017 and wanted to prejudice something different to karimov who ran it as a authoritarian enclosed state them much time. this could be a bit of a mixed bag. this does extend his term until 2040 but it does do things like guarantees lawyers a right to see their client, it has some domestic violence stuff in there as well. it allows people to have habeas corpus. these are some pretty good reforms that a lot of advocates have been pushing forfor a long time but it's a very worrying sign that mirziyoyev his backsliding and effectively doing effectively what happened last time there was a constitutional referendum in uzbekistan which was to extend karimov�*s terms, so a lot of deja vu for people covering uzbekistan for a while now. i was about to mention sceptics would say they've seen leaders follow this kind of playbook before, change the constitution, extend

the amount of time they're to remain in power. what with the referendum mean for democracy in the country? again, the first election we saw mirziyoyev coming to power, there was some criticism of him. the recent one was very stage—managed. it's not a very good sign that next election it will happen, probably sometime later this year to solidify this referendum afterwards. it will probably have less opposition calling them out. it will mostly be people supportive of the government or the president. again, it's a worrying signthat any hope of people having democracy seems to be dwindling out but again, there's some bits of this referendum that are good and some social reforms in there, there are social services in there so it is a mixed bag but a worrying sign for democracy. uzbekistan is a former soviet republic. how long of a shadow do you think russia and vladimir putin might be casting on the country? a big shadow.

unfortunately uzbekistan is pretty harshly treated because of geography. if they want to get goods from the international markets or sell anything, they have to either go north through russia which requires good relations with vladimir putin and moscow and they also require going through china and china has a lot of mixed opinions throughout the region so russia will always be a part of uzbekistan�*s calculations because most of your consumer goods, it's going to be come through russia or china and russia has very, very deep roots throughout the region. 0ligarchs are still ties with russian politics, russia supplying the defence industry. russia still has a deep shadow in this region, even though it's been a long time since it became a republic. how likely do you think this referendum is to pass? it's an almost certainty. we all knew it was going to pass, the moment it got announced.

effectively there has been huge drumming up in major cities to get people out to vote. there's been police and all sorts of people driving people to the polls and get this going. there's not much opposition against it. everyone has been curtailed. i would eat my hat if it doesn't pass but it's almost a certainty. really interesting stuff there. michael hillyard at the 0xus society for central asian affairs, thank you for speaking to us. russia has sacked its deputy defence minister in charge of logistics. he was only appointed to the role last september but lame for continued columns in ukraine. santiago pena is said to be elected the new president of paraguay. he is a 44—year—old

former finance minister who comes from the right—wing colorado party which has been in power in paraguay nearly eight decades. to some good news now. we often hear of tiktok videos going viral online, and this next song is one of the latest videos to do so. take a listen. ifi if i were a fish and you called me you would say look at that dish, jabbering in the sun. such a rare one, can't believe that you got one. this was posted by singer—songwriter corook, seen here on the right, singing with their partner 0livia barton. the song, if i were a fish has now been watched more than 15 million times since it was uploaded. but it seems the tune�*s viral success has a deeper meaning than just those numbers, with hundreds of people posting their reactions. joining me now is the singer—songwriter behind that song, corook, aka, corinne savage. thank you so much

forjoining us. my first question is just tell us about the inspiration for the song, and a little bit about what is behind the lyrics — what is the song about? yeah, the song — i wrote the song on a really, really hard day. i was just feeling really out of place, i did not have a community, like i was too weird to fit in anywhere, and i brought it up to my girlfriend who was really supportive and wonderful, and she suggested that we write a song about how cool it is to be weird, and so it just turned into a self acceptance, self—love kind of song, and it made me feel a lot better. i was looking at tiktok today, and the song has more than 15 million views now which is incredible. why do you think the song has become so popular? you look shocked. i try not to check the numbers because itjust — it can drive me crazy sometimes, but that is

a big number. it is a big number. 15 million people — why did 15 million people decide to listen to the song, do you think? you know, i think that while in my sadness i might have felt like i was just so special for being so weird, i think that we are alljust kind of weirdos, just walking around, hoping that people accept us and love us for who we are, and i think that responsejust shows that we are all cool enough and we are all weirdos, and we should alljust love each other. well, it doesn't sound like you are paying too much attention to the feedback you are getting online, i was looking at i was but i was looking at some of the comments underneath your video, and one of them said that the song can cure world sadness. what do you think about that, and what do you think abour these reactions, the way people really are connecting with it? i think this song is so much more healing than i can even begin to fathom. i mean, for me, like i said, i was having a hard day,

and that is why we made the song, and it made me feel so much better. i think there is just some magic in it or something, and it is spreading like crazy, so i think it is healing for everybody. you have also had some great connection in the real world, not just online. tell me about that, and especially this impromptu performance you had in a park recently? yeah, so, like i said, i am trying not to look too much at the stuff online because it can be a little bit scary, but i really wanted to see how many of those people online would show up somewhere and sing with me if i asked them to, and so ijust posted the day before. i was like, "hey, i am going to be here and i am "going to sing my song and you guys should come." i thought maybe 25 would come, and then i showed up and there must have been like 300 people there. # if i were a fish and you caught me # you would say look at that fish shimmering in the sun

# such a rare one # can't believe that i caught one. it was just so joyful and magical and it wasjust sojoyful and magical and healing and we all just screamed the song and cried and ijust stood there for two hours afterwards saying hi to everybody wanted to say hi. it hi to everybody wanted to say hi. ., , hi to everybody wanted to say hi. . , , ,., hi to everybody wanted to say hi. , hi to everybody wanted to say hi. it was 'ust so call, it was reall hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool- _ hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool. a _ hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool. a bit _ hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool. a bit of - hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool. a bit of a - hi. it wasjust so call, it was really cool. a bit of a group| really cool. a bit of a group therapy moment. - really cool. a bit of a group therapy moment. it - really cool. a bit of a group therapy moment. it felt - really cool. a bit of a group| therapy moment. it felt like it. you mentioned _ therapy moment. it felt like it. you mentioned the - therapy moment. it felt like i it. you mentioned the internet can be a difficult place, social media, especially for a lot of young people, tick—tock, there is so much pressure on so many difficulties. how much do you think that maybe music can bring a bit morejoy to you think that maybe music can bring a bit more joy to the world the internet? well, music therapy is a real form of therapy. people go to school for it and i think that there isjust something so for it and i think that there is just something so special about having a feeling and

doing something creative and productive with it. in making it something that everybody can sing along to. it something that everybody can sing along tw— it something that everybody can sing along lg— it something that everybody can sing along to— sing along to. what is next for ou? it sing along to. what is next for you? it seems— sing along to. what is next for you? it seems like _ sing along to. what is next for you? it seems like a _ sing along to. what is next for you? it seems like a bit - sing along to. what is next for you? it seems like a bit of- you? it seems like a bit of overnight stardom. what is in the works? i overnight stardom. what is in the works?— the works? i booked my first headhne the works? i booked my first headline shows _ the works? i booked my first headline shows coming - the works? i booked my first headline shows coming up i the works? i booked my first i headline shows coming upjust headline shows coming up just in new york and los angeles. and i'm really excited for those. i havejust so much music coming out and hopefully more shows and more meeting people. i'mjust more shows and more meeting people. i'm just going to keep doing what i do.— doing what i do. thank you so much for _ doing what i do. thank you so much for taking _ doing what i do. thank you so much for taking the _ doing what i do. thank you so much for taking the time - doing what i do. thank you so much for taking the time to l much for taking the time to speak with us corook, aka corinne savage.— speak with us corook, aka corinne savage. thank you for havin: corinne savage. thank you for having me- — corinne savage. thank you for having me. bringing _ corinne savage. thank you for having me. bringing some - corinne savage. thank you for having me. bringing some joy| corinne savage. thank you for i having me. bringing some joy to having me. bringing somejoy to the social media world and the real world there are.—

the social media world and the real world there are. thank you so much watching. _ real world there are. thank you so much watching. stay - real world there are. thank you so much watching. stay with i real world there are. thank you so much watching. stay with usj so much watching. stay with us right here in bbc news. sunday brought some pretty warm weather in parts of the uk, but it also brought some really heavy downpours. there are some further showers in the forecast for bank holiday monday, but equally some spells of sunshine. many of us will again feel relatively warm, particularly in the sunshine. but northern parts, particularly scotland, will start to turn rather chilly because of this cold front. now, it doesn't look like much here on the chart. it's just going to bring some extra clouds, a little bit of rain. but behind it, it will introduce some chilly air, particularly across parts of scotland. most of us, though, starting monday morning on a mild note, bit of showery rain across some

eastern parts of england. across england and wales, we are going to see some spells of sunshine, scattered showers which could be heavy and thundery, particularly from east wales eastwards, west wales, the south west of england, not seeing too many showers. northern ireland brightening up through the afternoon with some spells of sunshine. most of us temperatures between 14 and 17 degrees. but through the afternoon, those temperatures dropping across the northern half of scotland. behind our weather front, some cloud, the odd spot of rain, that frontal system sinking further southwards as we go through monday night. not much more than a band of cloud, really, but to the north of it, it is going to be quite a chilly start to tuesday. we could well see a touch of frost across some parts of the highlands. so for tuesday morning, a rather chilly start. for many, this band of cloud likely to be left across the uk. maybe the odd spot of rain, the odd shower breaking out. but most places, i think, will be dry and we should see some spells of sunshine, but a little on the cool side across northern scotland

and down into the eastern side of england, ten to 12 degrees even further south and west, not as warm as it has been. now, on wednesday, a weak front is likely to bring a bit of patchy rain through northern ireland and western scotland. some showers may start to develop down towards the south as the winds begin to pick up through the day. temperatures generally between ten and 16 degrees. as we head towards the end of the week, we will see frontal systems squashing in from the southwest, reintroducing the chance for some rain and for a time a brisk easterly breeze, which will make it feel rather chilly, particularly for some eastern coasts. but through the week, a lot of dry weather for a time through tuesday into wednesday, but then turning more unsettled.

this is bbc news. the latest news and headlines follow after this programme. following the recent death of jerry springer, another chance to see stephen sackur�*s hard talk interview of 2014 with the king of us tabloid tv. welcome to hardtalk, i am stephen sackur. what do you really want to watch on tv? i'd like to believe it's the serious challenging interviews you get

here on hardtalk, but my guest today may