hello, you're watching bbc world news. i'm chris rogers. our top story this hour — france's president, francois hollande, promises absolute vigilance after the deadly gun attack in paris. the shooting on the champs—elysees claimed the life of one policeman. two more were seriously wounded. the suspect, shot dead by police, was a french national known to the security services. i'm karin giannone in paris, a city in shockjust days before the first round of france's presidential election. we're live in the capital to assess the security situation and what the attack might mean for sunday's vote. hello. 1—storey dominates this hour. the french president will chair a meeting of his security council this morning after a gun attack in the heart of the french capital. the gunman targeted police officers, killing one and wounding two others

and a passer—by. the gunman drove up to a police bus, got out and began firing an automatic weapon thought to be an assault rifle. officers then shot him dead. it happened on one of the city's best known streets — the avenue des champs—elysees, which runs between the place charles de gaulle, and the place de la concorde — towards the western end, it's thought, about 300 metres — barely 1,000 feet — from the arc de triomphe itself. karin giannone is in paris for us. thanks, chris. people all around france will be waking up with an ever more familiar feeling after what appears to be another terror attack in their country. it happened a couple of 100 metres behind the arc de triomphe which you can see that, at the top of champs—elysees. frontal than the full throes of the final tv debate

of the presidential campaign and the candidates were live on tv when this took place just after nine p.m.. candidates were live on tv when this took placejust after nine p.m.. as -- it is took placejust after nine p.m.. as —— it is devoted the attention away from politics and once again to the security situation in france. i will show you what the sequence of events was. reports suggest the gunman was known to the intelligence services and police have been searching his home in the eastern suburbs of paris. the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, is saying it was behind the shooting, and has named the attacker as a belgian, abu yousif. it is just days before the french vote in the first round of the presidential election — several candidates have cancelled campaign events on friday. francois hollande, the current president, said he's convinced the attack is related to terrorism. james reynolds reports from paris. in the minutes after the attack, the police in paris took every movement as a threat.

at this stage, officers didn't know if any other gunmen might still be at large. the shooting happened right in the centre of the city as parisians and tourists were heading out to dinner. the champs—elysees was already full of police officers, guarding againstan attack on civilians. but it seems that this shooting targeted officers themselves. translation: we are convinced that the track the investigation is on will reveal that the event is of a terrorist nature. late into the night here, the police are still stopping people from approaching the scene of the attack, just a block or so away in the champs—elysees. and everyone around here wants to know exactly what happened. the police want to make sure that all nearby streets are safe. 0fficers kept their handguns drawn. they searched everyone coming out of a nearby building.

i was shocked when i came out of the subway. police in riot gear approached me and just put me to the side. i told them "my hotel's just right behind you" and they wouldn't allow me to go. the country will now investigate the shooting and make sure that its plans for sunday's presidential election are in place. james reynolds, bbc news, paris. in a brief statement, the paris prosecutor, francois molins, said the gunman had been identified. translator: the only other thing i can tell you is that the attacker‘s identity is known and has been verified. i won't reveal it, because investigations and raids are already underway, in particular to establish whether there is any evidence or not of complicity. france has endured a series of attacks in the past three years. the timing of this one is surely significant — just days before the first round of voting in the presidential election.

sarah corker has been looking at political reaction to the attack. you have to stay back, please. the area is dangerous because of shoot gun! please stand back! as news broke of another terror attack in france, all 11 candidates standing in sunday's presidential election were making their final television appearances. as a mark of respect, the three leading candidates have called off rallies and meetings on the last day of campaigning. translation: tonight, while we have been talking, we know that at least one police officer has been killed. this threat is incalculable and is going to be a part of our daily lives for years to come. on the world—famous boulevard, a car pulled up alongside a police bus, a man got out and opened fire with an automatic weapon on police officers. centre—right francois

fillon took to twitter. jean—luc melenchon standing for the far left wrote: sentiments echoed by other candidates. translation: i left the set earlier and i heard that the nightmare is starting again. i was gripped by feelings i felt before of sadness and dull anger at the same time. feelings of sadness, of course, for the law enforcement officers who are once more paying a heavy price in the fight against islamic terrorism. france has been in a state of emergency since a string of jihadist terror attacks that began in 2015 and have killed over 230 people. injanuary 2015, gunmen in paris attacked the officers of the charlie hebdo magazine and a supermarket.

in the same year in november, the bataclan concert hall and a major stadium were attacked, leaving at least 130 people dead. injuly 2016, a lorry drove through a crowd celebrating bastille day in nice, killing at least 84 people. and this year, a man armed with machetes attacked soldiers at paris's louvre museum. and just last month, a man was killed at paris's orly airport after attacking a soldier. the nation is once again on high alert. 50,000 members of the security forces have been deployed for sunday's ballot. regis le sommier, deputy of editor of paris match magazine, joins me live now. a warm welcome. first of all, your reaction to yet another terrorist

attack in france? this is, you know, the time of high tension. i mean, we're getting to the end of the presidential campaign and a has—been, you know, in the previous and arrest of two potential terrorist in the town of marseilles, we are expecting them to target some of the candidates and they were taken to their homes which is known for being favoured by terrorist who build suicide belts and so in that, you know, it doesn't really surprise me that the islamic state would like to put on a show at the specific moment because it is critical that france and front, as you said and mentioned in the previous report is the target several times of terror attacks, europe has known a wave of this also but france particularly and this time around, what is very

surprising is also the speed of the claim by the islamic state that it was an attack carried out by one of theirs. usually, we wait for a few days before, you know, knowing it is the claim of the islamic state so there is some confusion usually, is at them or another group? but this time around, i mean, very, very fast, they said it is one of them, it is one about, they gave the name and be nom de guerre, his real name, they gave his nom de guerre right on they gave his nom de guerre right on the statement. so they were looking to strike at this particular moment in order to curb debate, the french presidential election. yes, indeed. and this came during the presidential, the final presidential

debate on live tv. do you think the political outcome may be, the impact ofa political outcome may be, the impact of a terrorist attack at this point? well obviously, you know, it gave some very surreal, moments some very surreal, moments yesterday, people were watching and you know the candidate was explaining one after the other their political programme, you know, they have a few minutes and marine le pen had just spoken about specifically what really was amazing in that she spoke only half of her time about what the guys who were registered on anf what the guys who were registered on an ffile and it turns what the guys who were registered on an f file and it turns out that the quy an f file and it turns out that the guy who carry the attack at that very moment of the chopper lycee was already known by police, on this type of file. and he was known to be a radical and, due type of file. and he was known to be a radicaland, due no, guess what, it happened at that moment ——s file.

also at that moment, the candidates had to explain what they would do it was, you know, a test for a number of them and i don't know the political outcome of all of this and where it will lead but obviously it is going to strengthen probably the ones who have put security and, you know, on top of their programme, meaning probably the right—wing candidate francois ffion and marine le pen as well. i don't know how it will go for other candidates but definitely those are going to be strengthened because that comes, as we said, two days after the crucial scrutiny, the crucial ballot is taking place on sunday —— fillon. thank you very much. there is a sense of being accustomed to this sort of thing, a series of terrorist attacks, the son is now rising over

paris but as we have seen, time and time again, life us to return to normal, the people of paris are talking about what happened last night but getting on with things. karen, i have been looking at social media, particularly in the paris area and it is a horrible phrase the one that seems to be used a lot by parisi and, terrorism has now become the norm. —— parisians. it is a depressing phrase. offenders going about filming yesterday, front has been under a state of emergency since november 2015 and it is an incredible contrast. last night people were sitting in cafes doing exactly what they would normally do out on the streets, drinking and eating for the evening. but in amongst them, there were soldiers with machine—guns on patrol, all over the city. everywhere you look, you see police and you can hear sirens or the army on the streets

but it is, it is a sense ofjust living life as normal with this accompanying security presence that has become almost normal. karen, thank you. let me remind you the result of development saw coming into the studio from paris and we will keep you updated but also online. there is also an analysis there on our website. plus, the latest developments and pictures and video from the scene. in other news — the supreme court in the state of arkansas says a series of executions can be carried out after a lower court had blocked them. the use of one drug had been barred because its supplier didn't want it to be used. the state had planned to carry out eight executions in 11 days but some are still blocked by separate court decisions. there've been more protests in the venezuelan capital caracas

against the government of president nicolas maduro. police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters, some of whom threw stones at security forces. three people died in similar protests on wednesday. venezuela is suffering from a severe economic crisis. the birth of a killer whale calf has been filmed at seaworld in texas. it will be the last orca to be born in captivity after seaworld decided to phase out its killer whale shows because of growing criticism. it's the mother's fifth birth. she and the calf are said to be in good health. we will bring you all the very latest developments here on bbc news. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually

go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. this is bbc world news.

i'm chris rogers. our main headline: the french president has promised absolute vigilance after the gun attack in paris — that left one policeman dead — and two more seriously wounded. francois hollande will chair an emergency cabinet meeting later. officials say the suspect — shot dead by police — was a french national, known to the security services. police raids have continued to establish whether he had any accomplices. more live from paris later in the programme. we start in france — where the shootings in paris have interrupted final campaigning — in what was already being called the most unpredictable presidential election in living memory. centrist favourite emmanuel macron and far—right marine le pen look

likely to go through after sunday's vote to a run—off on may 7th. but they are closely followed by conservative francois fillon and far—left candidate jean—luc melenchon who can't be ruled out. socialist benoit hamon, though, is being given little chance of making the next round. security is of course right back at the top of the agenda. but there are other huge issues for financial markets. number one is the fate of the euro currency. le pen wants to abandon it and bring back the franc. melenchon has also threatened to pull out, but he's softened that stance recently, now saying it should be reformed and the independence of the european central bank taken away.

both a big worry for financial markets. macron and fillon are supporters of the euro and want to see its institutions strengthened. then there's the eu itself. le pen wants a referendum on ‘frexit‘, so does melenchon — unless europe agrees to his reforms. another big worry for investors. macron and fillon want to stay in — macron wants a stronger eu, but fillon is more eurosceptic and wants more control of france's borders. the other major issue for the business world — labour reform, and france's famous 35—hour working week. melenchon wants to cut the working week even further, to just 4 days. at the other end of the spectrum, fillon wants to scrap the 35—hour limit altogether and make it easier to hire and fire. we will be going live to paris coming up in about 12 minutes, talking more about this. stay tuned

for that. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcaaron. and aaron will be joining and aaron will bejoining me and aaron will be joining me later as we look at the international reaction around the world in our newspaper review. time to hear from a couple of our correspondence. —— correspondents. the moments after the shooting were chaotic — with reports of more gunfire being heard. those reports turned out to be false, but this clip from our europe editor katya adler shows just how unnerving a situation like this is. banging. shots are being fired. is it gunshots? no, no, no. it's not a gunshot. entrez, entrez! everybody in, everybody in! keep the door open. just cut the camera, please. cut the camera, please.

as you heard, it turned out that those noises were not gunshots, but it shows how difficult situations like this are for security services. thomas fessy reports now on the security situation in france, just days before the election. well, there is no doubt that this latest attack is putting security issues right back at the centre of the presidential campaign, just in the final hours of the campaign. interestingly enough, security issues and terrorism have not been the focus of this campaign so far. it's been a lot more talked about economic issues, unemployment, but also the distrust of the political class, and job losses. and you have hardline candidates, like marine le pen, of the national front, obviously, who are quite — who are talking about these security issues, and radical islam, and migration and

terrorism, quite often. but it's not been very much the centre of this campaign, and now, with this latest attack, it'll be on everybody‘s minds before the vote on sunday. now, security had already been increased around all the candidates in the last few days, because an attack — a plan for an attack had been foiled in the southern city of marseilles, where two people have been arrested. they were apparently planning an attack either on presidential candidates, or a rally, we don't know exactly, but explosive has been found at their apartment. the security forces were able to search their home in the framework of the state of emergency that's been in place for the past two years in france.

and, obviously, that shows that the security services are very much on alert on that kind of threat. today, that latest attack shows that the threat is very much there, and that it may have an impact on the turnout of the vote on sunday. whether people will be fearing to go out and vote, or whether they will feel that it is safer to stay home, we'll have yet to see. walid haddad was in a cafe facing the george the fifth hotel, just off the champs elysees, when the shooting started. i was sitting on a cafe in the — let's say a00m from where everything happened, in front of the famous george v hotel, on george v avenue, and i was inside.

so i heard several noises. i first was told it was construction, a very high—volume construction work. then, two minutes after i left the cafe, as i was heading with a friend in the direction of the champs—elysees, then i started to see people running, and very frightened, could see it in their faces, running the opposite way of mine. so i quickly asked a person what was happening, and he definitely told me that i should definitely run with them, as they heard a lot of shootings, and they were really shocked. so i started to run with them, because of course... and let's say a minute later, i could see a helicopter over paris with a camera, so probably maybe for tracking another potential shooter. and quite quickly they started to close the sector, the champs—elysees sector,

and after, the surrounding streets. and until now, from the champs—elysees, i have been less than a kilometre, and we can still hear some sirens, and not very far from our place it is still forbidden for all the traffic. we have all the latest developments from paris. it very much seems that the message from francois hollande is that security will be reviewed later? yes, and it is difficult to imagine how much difference it could make is that security is reviewed, because france is already under a

state of emergency since the terrorist attacks prior to this. there are police officers everywhere, army man everywhere, it is difficult to see how it could be even tighter. we will wait to hear what comes out that security cabinet —— men. what comes out that security cabinet “ men. “— what comes out that security cabinet —— men. —— cabinet meeting. this terrorist attack is on the front page, knocking off the politics. you can see the scene behind me, the other side of the arc de triomphe. terrorism strikes again in the heart of paris. politics pushed right down. now we will have to wait and see just what sort of impact this terrorist attack will have on the presidential election campaign. from

me live in paris, back to london. hello. if you think we're finished with winter weather, think again. next week it will turn much colderfor a time. frost and even some wintry showers around for some of us. not around for some of us. too quiet in northern scotla many not too quiet in northern scotland, many areas appreciating some rain. dry across the channel islands and large parts of england and ireland. from the thicker cloud in wales, especially north—west england, ireland and scotland, damp and drizzly at times. especially around close anthills. this persistent rain accompanied by a stronger wind around northern scotland. a cold and showery and mass behind this weather system, some showers turning wintry. a windy day with a. outbreaks of and breeze across scotland and parts of northern ireland. midlands staying mainly cloudy. to the east, east

anglia in southern england, some bright and sunny breaks. some warmth, 18— 19 celsius. through friday evening, taking a band of thicker cloud and a few spots of rain southwards. eventually into england and wales. north of that for england and wales. north of that for england and wales. north of that for england and scotland, as saturday begins, turning cold with a touch of frost. that takes us on the weekend. big weather changes. the weekend is looking pretty quiet. a mixture of cloud and some occasional sunshine coming through. a few spots of rain from this weather front working south on saturday. turning colder, one or two showers working into northern parts of scotland. to the south, a bit of walks in the sun. quite a contrast in temperatures on saturday. as ever, the sun appears and makes all the difference at this time of year —— warmth. sunny spells on sunday, cloud in northern

ireland. thicker cloud in scotland, gales in the north with some outbreaks of rain. it stays this way for the london marathon. cloudy and cool to begin with. many runners will appreciate that. some uncertainty about cloud amounts in london. now, going from sunday to monday, particularly by the time we get to tuesday, that weather change i was talking about, colder air pushing south across the uk and a stronger wind and some of those showers will be turning wintry. this is bbc world news. the headlines — france's president francois hollande has promised absolute vigilance after the gun attack in paris that left one policeman dead and two more seriously wounded. it happened on the busy champs—elysees, in the heart of the city. the attacker — who was known to the intelligence services —

was shot dead as he tried to flee the scene. police have searched the suspect‘s home in the eastern suburbs and are investigating whether the man had any accomplices. the islamic state group says it carried out the shooting, naming the attacker as a belgian, abu yousif. the incident comesjust days ahead of the first round of the french presidential election. some of the candidates have suspended their campaigns in light of the attack. an emergency meeting of the security cabinet is scheduled later.