BBC News

Police in Gloucestershire declared a major incident and evacuated properties in the Walford area near RAF Fairford. An army bomb disposal team examined several vehicles and several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act. A resident told Radio Gloucestershire she saw three vans parked in her gate and men in balaclavas before she was evacuated. A security correspondent said the investigation was not intelligence-led and was led by counter-terrorism police, with Russia and Iran among possible suspects because of a context that included hybrid warfare incidents in Europe, though police had not concluded. The correspondent also described RAF Fairford as a UK base used by the US, noted previous UK permission for US defensive operations during the Iran war, and discussed plans for US tactical gravity bombs to be stationed at Fairford and Lakenheath.

In Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Andy Burnham appealed for calm after hundreds of protesters, including First Minister Michelle O'Neill and other nationalist politicians, blocked a road in Portadown. The Protestant Orange Order had planned to march down the nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years as part of the annual Drumcree parade, which had not gone down the road since it was banned in 1998. After appeals by the Residents' Coalition and hearings that ran into the early hours, the parade was given the go-ahead. Burnham said the decision had to be made on the recommendation of the PSNI Chief Constable, which had not been made, that the independent Parades Commission decision had been upheld in the courts, and that he had spoken to the Taoiseach while stressing work to uphold the Good Friday agreement. Michelle O'Neill called on the Northern Ireland Secretary to intervene and said Garvaghy Road residents deserved to live free from sectarian harassment and intimidation. Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said no Orange march had gone down the road, that the crowd was peaceful, united and orderly, and called for the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable to intervene.

South African police launched manhunts after at least 27 people were shot dead in two separate mass shootings. In Johannesburg, police said 17 people were killed when gunmen with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire at a bar west of the city; separately, at least 10 people were killed and 11 wounded in an ambush at an entertainment venue in a township outside Cape Town. A news anchor in Johannesburg said the overnight total was 27 killed and 26 injured, with another 12 people killed earlier in the week in KwaZulu-Natal, bringing the number killed in mass shootings over two to three days to about 40. She said possible links to illegal mining in Johannesburg were being examined but police had not concluded the cause, while gang violence and shootings at taverns where alcohol was sold were concerns, and illegal firearms including AK-47s were an ongoing and worsening issue. Pope Leo was on the third day of a four-day visit to France, holding mass in Lourdes after praying in the grotto, with huge crowds present; he had warned at the start of the visit about the dangers of artificial intelligence, and the visit came amid what some believe is renewed interest in spirituality in France and across Europe.