20/04/2017 BBC News at Ten

A policeman has been shot dead on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

A major security operation is underway.

You have to stay back please! The Champs Elysees is closed because of

shotguns, stay back. A gunman got out of a car

on the busy boulevard and opened fire on a coach

carrying police officers. The attack took place just

under two hours ago - the entire area around the Champs

Elysees has been evacuated. And meat we were moving towards the

car and heard two or three shots. I didn't realise they were shots to

start with. There was panic all around.

Two other police officers have been injured -

the French authorities say they are treating it

This is the live scene in Paris now -

the police say they're not ruling out the possibility that there

It comes three days before the first round of French presidential

elections. We'll have the very latest on this breaking story.

We'll have the very latest on this breaking story.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, casts himself

as the anti-establishment candidate in his first major speech

It's the establishment versus the people. It's our historic duty to

make sure the people prevail. This election is about ensuring we have

strong and stable leadership in this country in the national interest.

Scientists says they have identified drugs that may be able

to halt the progress of diseases like dementia and Parkinson's.

The children of Syria displaced by war -

a year after they were forced from their homes we return

Later on BBC London, a couple who pretended their baby died on a bus

are convicted of causing or allowing her death. There will be fewer buses

on Oxford Street. Find out why. A policeman has been shot dead on

the Champs Elysees in Paris after gunmen opened fire on police

officers. The French Interior Ministry said the gunmen got out of

a car and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon. He tried to

run from the scene but was then shot dead. The area around the world

famous boulevard has been evacuated. Authorities are treating it as a

terrorist incident. The attack comes three days before the first round of

the French presidential elections. With the latest from Paris, Europe

editor Katya Adler. You have to stay back, please. The

area is dangerous because of shotguns. Please stay back. Tonight,

France's worst fears realised, yet another terror attack and just two

days before an all-important presidential election here. One

policeman killed, another seriously injured in a shooting on the

emblematic and busy Champs Elysees. TRANSLATION: I was walking on the

pavement, there was a bus full of police, the man parked just in front

of the bus, then got out a Kalashnikov and then he shot six

times. I thought it was fireworks. Then he went and hid behind a lorry.

TRANSLATION: We were moving towards a car and I heard two or three

shots. I didn't realise they were shots to start with. Then there was

just panic all around, everyone started running down the Champs

Elysees just by instinct. I didn't stop to work out what was going on,

I just ran, too. The attacker was then shot dead by police. Guns

drawn, the police are showing people of the street. This country which up

until just now was obsessed by politics and the upcoming election

has been thrown back into a sense of fear it was just about recovering

from after the mass Paris attacks over a year ago. Tonight, people in

central Paris were too scared to leave their homes. The tension is

palpable. Shots are being fired, is it gunshots? No. A sudden noise

where we were was mistaken for gunfire and had police shouting us

off the street. Metro stations in central Paris have been shut down

for now as armed police spread across the streets of the capital.

Tonight, Paris is fearful, and on high alert. Katya Adler: the BBC

News, Paris. Our correspondent Christian Fraser

is in the Champs Elysees. A developing, breaking story. What

is the latest, Christian? I can tell you, the police operation that was

under way for the last two hours around the Champs Elysees has come

to an end. Police activity we're seeing is around that car, which has

pulled up alongside the police van. Thereafter render it police officers

working on that car. To the east of Paris they are going to an apartment

they believe is linked to the attacker. We don't know yet whether

a second attacker was involved. It is possible. The counterintelligence

police here, DGS I, in France, say they know the identity of the

attacker, it would suggest their may well be a terror link. Three days

before a French election there will be working through the night to find

out who this person was, who did he speak to, who did he know? And

whether there is further risk. We understand President Francois

Hollande has called an emergency meeting with his interior minister.

They are currently in the Filise Palace going through the details of

that attack. We are hearing updated news one police officer was killed,

two injured. Taking place on one of the busiest streets right in the

middle of Paris. Yes, we were broadcasting at the foot of the Arc

de Triomphe. That is the Champs Elysees the other side. As we were

broadcasting one or two police cars when pastors, then all directions,

clearly would have got out on police radios that fellow officers were in

difficulty. There was a rather bizarre situation where they stopped

a bus on the roundabout that goes around the Arc de Triomphe. About

six police cars swooped on this bus, armed police got out. Clearly they

thought someone was on that bus trying to get away. For the hour

that followed, there was a lot of panic here as people tried to get

away from the area. There were armed police at the end of each street.

Clearly, quite a serious situation developed over the course of the

next hour, because the police just didn't know what they were dealing

with. Christian Fraser with the latest in Paris. We can spread to

Europe editor Katya Adler in our Paris studio. This attack has taken

place three days before the first round of the French presidential

elections. What could the impact be? First let me tell you the reason I'm

in the bureau, we are just 200 yards from where the attack took place and

police really just shoved us of the street. Of course, this is an attack

French security services so feared might be planned to coincide with

the French presidential election just a couple of days ago police had

a raid in Marseille and found a house full of explosives. Just now

we're hearing reports on French media that the attacker was known to

police for links to Islamic extremism. And France, amongst all

European nations, really been the most targeted. If this is confirmed

as an Islamic fundamentalist attack. In these kind of events, since 2015.

France has been under a state of emergency since then. The shootings

tonight took place just as the French presidential candidates were

holding their last televised debate. And at this moment we just don't

know how it's going to affect the presidential election here on

Sunday. Thank you, Katya Adler. We'll bring you the very latest on

this breaking story later in the programme.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has used his first major speech

of the election campaign to pledge that he will put power and wealth

in the hands of the people if he becomes prime minister.

He presented himself as the anti-establishment candidate

taking on what he called a system rigged against working people.

And he told his supporters that the outcome of the snap election

Meanwhile the Prime Minister has restated her commitment to cutting

annual net migration to a "sustainable" level

Here's our political editor Laura Kuenssberg.

No one's going to say they're all the same.

And not the admirers of the Labour leader

who queued round the block to

We need something different, not more of the same.

This is a man who should be leading the

country, should be our Prime Minister,

because he is offering a

The left waited a long time for a leader like Jeremy

But will the rest of the country rush towards him?

The Labour Party that's standing up for

working people, to improve the lives of all.

It's the establishment versus the people.

It's our historic duty to make sure the people

APPLAUSE CHEERING

In practice, that means hikes to the

minimum wage, bigger benefits for carers,

higher taxes for some of the

biggest businesses, who he said proudly should fear him.

If I was Southern Rail or if I were Philip

Green eyes be worried about a Labour government, I really would.

If I were Mike Ashley or the CEO of a tax-avoiding

corporation I'd want to see a Tory victory, I really would.

Because those are the people who are monopolising the

wealth that should be shared by each and every one of us in the

But it means more borrowing and spending, too.

Ideas that at the last election didn't do Labour many favours.

What is it you hope to show to voters in the next seven weeks

That they haven't seen in the last two years since

Our message is one of inclusion and social

get that message out across the whole country.

This invited audience of loyalist leapt to their feet.

This was a classic Jeremy Corbyn speech, the kind of speech that won

He spelt out in sky-high letters how he will pitch this campaign.

He's obviously a man of principle, a man

Can he step up to the plate and the next level?

Well, he's got 50 days now to do that.

I'm really impressed, Jeremy has always said

the right thing, he just never had the opportunity.

Maybe decent people don't get elected, but he's also got an

allotment, he makes his own jam, did you know that?

Beyond the home crowd in seats like Luton, will

Jeremy Corbyn and his team's campaign of us and then cut through?

He's a modern socialist, and I think if

I don't think he's a coherent leader.

Inevitably, the Prime Minister claims Mr Corbyn is not up to it.

Not least because unlike the Tories he won't commit as she affirmed

today to the Tory ambition to cut immigration to under 100,000.

No mention of the fact the target has

This election is about ensuring we have strong and

stable leadership in this country in the national interest.

It's about strengthening our negotiating hand

for Brexit and about sticking to our plan for a stronger Britain,

developing a more secure future for ordinary working people in

And Laura Kuenssberg is in Westminster for us now.

So Jeremy Corbyn starting out as the underdog but clearly believes he can

appeal. One thing is completely clear from today. Jeremy Corbyn is

not going to be squeezed into any kind of election straitjacket, he's

sticking to what he has always run on, sticking to the same kind of

pitch that captured the Labour leadership for him. His appeal is

clear, right round to the whole country. He says the Tories are the

party of the few, Labour is the party of the many. And only he can

somehow make the country fell for everybody. What he'll be tested on

of course in the next seven weeks is whether that message can do more

than put fire in the belly is of people on the left. Can he translate

that into something that works for voters of all sorts of different

varieties? People close to him believe they can put a significant

dent in the Tories enormous poll lead. They believe the course of

this election could turn quite sharply. Whether they can really

close the gap when time is so tight, that's quite a different question.

They are aware it's a tall order. But he's not stepping back at all

from his message to try to come across as any more moderate or try

to show in anyway is somehow not who he really is. There has been a

development for one of Mr Corbyn's biggest backers, facing something of

a challenge. This might sound very obscure but it's absolutely

fundamental to the Labour Party's fortunes in this election and

potentially beyond. Len McCluskey is the boss of Unite, the union, the

biggest in the country and the biggest backer of Mr Corbyn. He's

been facing a challenge to his leadership from a man called Gerard

Coyne. That election has been relatively low-key, but it's drawing

to a close. The ballot papers have gone out and counting is about to

begin. Today, right from the blue, a dramatic twist. News which does

Gerard Coyne had been suspended from his job at the union. It doesn't

mean he's kicked out from being a candidate, but it does mean, just as

this general election campaign is going, there is a question over

who's going to be in charge in the offices of the place where labour

absolutely needs their support. The result officially is not expected

until next week, but we believe it might emerge tomorrow. You can't

underestimate how much this backroom struggle has been a struggle,

really, a proxy, for the whole future of the Labour Party. In the

next couple of days, a big clue about how Labour will go forward

very soon. Laura Kuenssberg, thank you.

The deadline for parties in Northern Ireland to try to form

a government has been extended to the end of June -

beyond the forthcoming General Election.

Several parties at Stormont have said talks were unsustainable

as they'd be campaigning against each other.

It also means the British Government avoids having to make a decision

Launching the Greens' election campaign in Bristol,

the co-leader Caroline Lucas said her party would stand up

for equality and a bigger role for the state.

She appealed to young people to vote Green -

and said they'd been betrayed over tuition fees, a lack

of affordable housing and inaction on climate change.

The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has told the BBC he will not be

standing as a candidate in the forthcoming general election.

Mr Farage has previously failed in seven attempts to get

Ukip currently have no MPs after Douglas Carswell quit

The Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has been strongly

criticised for failing to condemn new welfare rules -

which mean some women will have to demonstrate they were rape

victims - in order to receive benefits.

Under the changes, tax credits will only be paid for a family's

first two children - unless they can show that other

Our Scotland editor Sarah Smith reports.

Here's something you don't expect to see in the general election.

Four rival party leaders all on the same side.

Demonstrating against the so-called rape clause.

The policy, introduced by the Westminster

government, that limits tax credits to two children unless the mother

declares a child was conceived as the consequence of rape.

Inside the Scottish Parliament Nicola Sturgeon

challenged the Tories Scottish leader to defend the policy.

Do you support the rape clause in principle

or do you, like me, think it is utterly abhorrent?

I will answer the question the same way I

answered it in the press this morning.

If the First Minister doesn't like the two-child tax

But the truth is, the truth is, this First

Minister is always happier, always happy complaining about the UK

Government than she is about doing anything herself.

We have just seen in this chamber the true colours of

If Jeremy Corbyn was Prime Minister there would be no rape clause.

There would be no more housing benefit

cuts and there would be no more austerity.

And I will proudly campaign for that over the next six

weeks as she campaigns for independence.

So for the government to pass judgment...

The two-child tax policy applies right across the UK.

The SNP have made it a particularly hot political issue in Scotland.

This row could be a problem for the Conservatives.

They are hoping to attract the support of

but who don't want Scottish independence.

That's why all the other parties have come together to

highlight a Tory policy that is not popular in Scotland.

Ruth Davidson has worked hard to detoxify

Successfully increasing their support.

By attacking her on issues like benefit

cuts, her opponents want to reverse the campaign to rebrand and

reposition the Scottish Conservatives.

Let's return to the main news tonight.

A police officer has been shot and killed by a gunman

on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris.

Two other officers have been injured.

Christian Fraser who's in the Champs Elysees.

In the last few minutes we have received a clearer picture of what

has happened. Extraordinary pictures of the immediate aftermath of the

shooting and a grey Audi car pulled up alongside the police van and in

this image the policeman clearly fires at somebody on the pavement. I

was speculating earlier that perhaps there was a second attacker because

of the activity that went on around this area shortly after that. They

stopped a bus on the roundabout here and we're hearing from Reuters that

perhaps there may have been a second attack and they have seen a document

from the Interior Ministry of an arrest warrant for a second man that

travelled into France from Belgium by a train but that is only from one

news agency at the moment so I would express some caution with that.

Politically we are hearing from Marine Le Pen and Francois Fillon

they are cancelling their campaigning tomorrow. Remember it's

the final day of campaigning for them tomorrow so that is quite

something, two days ahead of the election they will not go into the

final rallies in Paris and elsewhere in the country. Francois Hollande

has been in a meeting this evening with his interior minister and we

expect an update from him shortly. I would just remind you there is a

police operation live and ongoing in Paris at the moment. There is a

search going on in the Department East of Paris. Francis to wonder

State of Emergency and has been extended five times. The longest

period France has been under a State of Emergency since the Algerian War

in the 1960s. With this drip, drip, drip of attacks, the constant number

of attacks we have seen in France, you would say it would have to be

quite a brave new President that would lift the State of Emergency at

the moment. Christian, thank you. Francois Hollande the President is

speaking now and he has said he is convinced the attack in Paris was

terrorist related. We will go back to the story later in the programme.

A brief look at some of the day's other other news stories.

A mother and father who tried to cover up their baby's death

by pretending she suddenly became ill while on a bus in London,

have been convicted of causing or allowing the death

Jeffrey Wiltshire and Rosalin Baker were cleared of murder.

The Old Bailey heard that 4-month-old Imani

The pair will be sentenced next month.

Public safety is at risk because police officers in England

and Wales are being forced to fill gaps in mental health services,

according to the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

Sir Tom Winsor says officers are being used as a service of first

resort, when ambulances and beds aren't available.

It's been described as 'potentially a major step forward'.

Scientists have found a way of halting dementia

The drugs used are already given to patients for other conditions

As our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reports,

the next step is to begin trials on humans.

This research mouse has a degenerative brain disease which

This second mouse has the same condition, but is being treated

with a drug that has kept it healthy.

The lead scientist says patient trials could begin in a year,

with the aim of halting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in humans.

Halting is an incredibly important goal here,

clinics, and if I could halt disease when people come to see me,

then you could maintain a meaningful quality of life,

independence, and freedom from institutionalisation,

which would be an extraordinary achievement.

So we're not talking about a cure for dementia,

but drugs that might nonetheless slow Alzheimer's

These neurodegenerative conditions involve the loss of healthy

That starts with the build-up of faulty proteins, which triggers

This makes the cells starve, and eventually die.

The drugs prevent the defence mechanism kicking in,

These Medical Research Council laboratories

drugs which work in mice, and are safe in humans.

One of the drugs is already used as an antidepressant.

But Joy Watson is not getting her hopes up,

because so many other Alzheimer's trials have failed.

She was diagnosed on her 55th birthday, and now even a simple task

You want to believe that it's going to be, you know,

a fantastic thing that it's reported to be.

But I don't allow myself to get that enthusiastic any more.

You know, I'd rather wait until more substantial evidence

This is the antidepressant which halted neurodegenerative

But what works in rodents may not in humans.

The patient trial results will be eagerly awaited.

After six years of wars Syrians faced the largest humanitarian

crisis in the world. Bwin says children have paid the heaviest

price in the conflict. -- the UN says children have paid the heaviest

price. Almost half have of Syria's children

had to flee their homes. Millions are dependent

on humanitarian aid. Last year we brought you the stories

of two children from Syria, 12 months on our correspondent

Caroline Hawley has been to see how To see her play, you'd have no idea

what she's been through. Her family fled a chemical

attack near Damascus Her mother had only

a nappy soaked in Rouaa's been in this camp now

for nearly half her life. And the playground is the best

thing about it by far. It's fine by day, but at

night, she says, she is This makeshift school wasn't

here when we met her last. But the education she

gets is basic at best. Rouaa wants to be a maths

teacher when she grows up. No wonder her father

lies awake at night Mustapha left Syria for safety and

medical treatment but Syria's war will never leave him. It's lodged in

his brain in the form of shrapnel from a barrel bombs. Mustapha is

partially paralysed down his left hand side. His classmates have all

lost their fathers. Mustapha and his little sister lost their mother too

in an air strike. Three times a week, faithfully,

she takes Mustafa to Mustafa wants to be

a dentist when he grows up. For that he'll need

the use of both his hands. But don't doubt this little

boy's determination. Back to Paris now, a city facing a

major terror alert following the shooting dead of a police officer in

the city centre just over two hours ago. The gunman opened fire on the

Champs-Elysees killing the officer and seriously wounding two others

and he was then shot dead by police. It comes just three days before the

first round of the country's presidential elections. Europe

editor Katya Adler joins us from Paris. President Hollande has been

speaking while we have been on air about the attack. What did he say?

That's right, he spoke just after holding an emergency meeting with

security advisers and confirmed tonight one police officer has been

shot dead on the Champs-Elysees, two remain severely injured, he said

they were convinced it was indeed a terrorist attack. He called it a

cowardly assassination. He said that France's security services would

remain highly vigilant he said over the next few days around the France

presidential election, he sought to reassure French citizens who tonight

are extremely scared, he said they have been protected and will

continue to be protected. The attack took place just as the 11

presidential candidates for Sunday's collection were taking part in the

last televised debate. A number of those candidates have been tweeting

their condolences tonight to the family of the policeman who was

murdered. A number of the candidates have said that they would not be

campaigning tomorrow, Friday, which is the last day of campaigning

before Sunday's election. Of course, some of those candidates are more

hard line on security than others but it's very hard at this point to

say how tonight's attacks will affect France's presidential

campaign. Europe editor Katya Adler in France, thank you. Chrissy and

Fraser is on the Champs-Elysees. Christian, once again, a large part

of Paris in lockdown and very nervous city. I'm looking at the

Champs-Elysees and I can see armed police walking down the main part of

the road. I don't know if people were in the restaurants and hotels

which line the Champs-Elysees, whether there are still in there and

under lockdown, it is getting close to midnight. Very nervous seen on

that part of the Champs-Elysees. The police operation in terms of looking

for an accomplice is over in this part of Paris but it is underway in

other parts of Paris, to the east of the city they are searching an

apartment. I was telling you a short while ago we believe there is an

arrest warrant that has been put out for a second suspect. We don't know

whether he was on the police say they are looking for second suspect

who came into France from Belgium. They were, of course, feel full that

something like this might happen in the run-up to the election. In fact

the police said in certain parts of the country they would bring in

private security guards to protect polling booths but as Katya Adler

said there is a real fear for the election, with some candidates

cancelling their rallies tomorrow but it will have an effect on

turnout as well because some people quite simply will be too afraid to

turn out. Christian Fraser in Paris, thank you.

That's it from us. They will be continuing coverage throughout the

night on the BBC News