hundreds of eight print competitors take to the streets of paris for the infamous waiters run. hello, i'm rich preston. welcome to the programme. russia is observing a national day of mourning today, for the victims of friday's attack on a concert venue, just outside moscow. these are live pictures outside what remains of the concert hall. it's just gone 6pm local. mourners have been placing flowers there at a makeshift memorial. others have queued to donate blood for the many survivors. at least 137 people died in the attack on concertgoers in the crocus city hall — this is the new number from russian officials. the islamic state group has released graphic footage, which appears to back up its claim of responsibility, for the attack.

caroline hawley reports. a growing mountain of tributes in memory of those killed in russia's deadliest attack on civilians in two decades. many had been attending a concert. among the dead, three children. the country is in mourning and in shock. inside the venue this morning, a complex rescue operation was still under way. such was the damage, they're having to cut through debris to try to gain access to the music hall itself, where it's feared that more bodies could be found. translation: overnight, a hole| in the main building was created, in order to get engineering equipment inside the concert hall and ensure the work of rescue workers. plans were also made to extinguish small fires on the roof of the building. a glimpse here of the terror of friday night, as the gunmen shot their way into the hall.

people finding whatever shelter they could from indiscriminate firing. imagine you had a relative at the concert and hadn't heard from them since. translation: the last| time yana contacted me was from the concert hall. she sent me one photo and then a second. i wrote to her and sent a second message. the first message was read on whatsapp. the second wasn't. the islamic state group says it carried this out, and the us had told russia it had intelligence of an imminent extremist attack, a warning that vladimir putin then publicly dismissed. he's tried to link ukraine with what happened here, saying the attackers were attempting to flee across the border when they were caught, prompting a furious denial. translation: one more thing, - what happened in moscow yesterday, it's obvious that putin and other scumbags are just trying to find someone else to blame. their methods are always the same. we've seen it all before — destroyed buildings and shootings and explosions — and they are always looking

for someone to blame. this is an image released by the islamic state group. bbc verify has also been looking at graphic footage released last night — which we're not showing — and have matched the logo on a t—shirt in that video with one worn by this man, under arrest. the attack has prompted an outpouring of grief in russia, and in the minds of mourners, there are bound to be questions. caroline hawley, bbc news. ijust want i just want to remind you ijust want to remind you the latest death toll that is coming from russian officials, they now say 137 people died in the attack. these are live pictures outside the crocus city hall, where people have been paying tribute to those victims. officials also say that death toll is likely to rise as rescuers

continued to search the building for those who died in the attack. russian officials also say 11 people have been detained, including four assailants who are directly involved in the attack. islamic state group as we have heard has claimed responsibility. in the last ten minutes these pictures are coming to us from the reuters news agency, they were released by the kremlin. they show the russian president, vladimir putin, paying tribute himself to those injured and killed in the attack in a church nearby to the crocus city hall. we can see president putin their lighting a candle, and paying his own tribute. he has said in his public addresses that those involved in the attack will be punished and brought to justice. your similar accusations that they may have tried to flee towards ukraine. that is an allegation ukraine has denied. 137

people killed in that attack. ukraine and russia have been trading missile strikes overnight. ukraine's military said it struck two large russian landing ships, a communications centre and other infrastructure used by russia's black sea fleet in crimea. a russian—installed official in crimea reported a major ukrainian attack, saying air defences shot down more than 10 missiles over the crimean port of sevastopol. this comes following a night of air strikes on the capital kyiv and the western city of lviv. the mayor of kyiv, vitali klitschko, says there were several explosions. these images show an explosion of a missile seen on the kyiv skyline, confirming ukraine's statement that air defence systems repelled much of the attack. in lviv, close to the polish border, there's been damage to critical infrastructure. the polish army has issued

a statement saying they want answers from russia after a missile violated the airspace for under a minute — before adding that poland's airspace is now safe. israel's defence minister is heading to washington as the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu comes under increasing pressure from the us to halt its planned assault on rafah in southern gaza. the health ministry in gaza, which is run by hamas, says 19 people waiting for aid near gaza city were killed by israeli forces on saturday. israel denies firing on the crowd. meanwhile the un secretary—general, antonio guterres has continued his call for a humanitarian ceasefire after a visit to egypt, saying israel should remove remaining obstacles from getting aid into the territory. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is following developments from jerusalem. the israeli military says that it's hit 65 targets in the gaza strip

in the past 2a hours. still the main focus of its operations there remains the shifa hospital in gaza city. its troops returned there for a major raid last monday, and we are hearing from the israeli military that now something like 800 people have been arrested in that area, and it says that something like 480 members of hamas and islamichhad are among those who have been arrested, also 170 people it's calling terrorists have been killed. it's very difficult to contact palestinians in the area. communication are poor, but palestinians there, including displaced people, medics and patients, well, we've been hearing from some of them that conditions are desperate. it's very hard for them to get access to any medicine and food, and innocent people are among those being killed. five patients are said to have died. meanwhile, palestinian medics are saying that there is also fighting very close to two hospitals in the south of the gaza strip,

and it's still not clear exactly what happened a day ago, when hamas officials in gaza say that israeli forces killed 19 people and wounded 20 more as they were waiting for an aid convoy to arrive in gaza city. the israeli military has denied that its forces opened fire, and say that they are still investigating exactly what happened there. meanwhile, those talks are still going on in qatar, indirect talks between israel and hamas on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal, but we've got the members of the us delegation, the cia director and also the head of the israeli delegation, the head of the mossad spy agency, leaving the talks for the moment, a palestinian official close to them telling journalists that big gaps remain between the two sides. israel has carried out air strikes deep into lebanon targeting an area in the eastern city of baalbek — known to be a stronghold of the militant hezbollah group.

this footage released by the israel defense forces claims to show an air strike on what the israeli military called "a hezbollah manufacturing site containing weapons". lebanese media say at least four people were injured when a two—storey building was hit. israel and hezbollah have been exchanging near—daily fire over the border in southern lebanon since the gaza war began in october. that's resulted in tens of thousands of people in southern lebanon and northern israel being displaced. earlier i spoke to hesham shawish from bbc monitoring about the situation in the region. there have been a number of israeli strikes over the weekend deep inside lebanese territory, deeper than what has been occurring over the past six months, and it comes after a week of de—escalation between israel and hezbollah. what lebanese media were saying about the latest strikes is that a residential building was struck

yesterday, a four—storey residential building, in which four civilians were wounded, and the strike happened very close to the home of a hezbollah official. overnight, we also saw strikes over the border in syria's qalamoun mountain range, where a hezbollah weapons depot was struck. and then a short while ago, in the beqaa valley, we also saw reports of a strike targeting a car. no—one was killed there, but it happened right next to the masnaa border crossing with syria, which would be very, very busy on a sunday afternoon, with people coming and going. no—one was killed in that strike, but two civilians were wounded. and one is in a critical condition. can you talk us through the significance of this? we often hear about retaliatory strikes to and fro over the lebanese border with israel, the south of lebanon, but this happened in the north of the country, close to the border with syria.

how significant is it that we're seeing more of the strikes? sure, so whenever we see strikes deeper into lebanese territory, it raises tensions. the strikes follow a week of where we saw a marked reduction in cross—border clashes between hezbollah and israel, and that de—escalation was attributed to french mediation. the previous week, we saw a visit by the head of france's foreign intelligence agency and he met lebanese officials including hezbollah figures, but the strikes this weekend really do raise the stakes and raise fears of a spread in the conflict. as you mentioned, this is raising concerns of an escalation of the conflict in the region. can you talk us through how this is being reported in lebanese media? sure. so, in terms of the pro—hezbollah media outlets, they've been covering hezbollah's response to yesterday's strikes in the beqaa valley. so, hezbollah launched 60 katyusha rockets at the israeli—occupied golan heights

and they were aimed at a military barracks. but the fact that hezbollah launched them at occupied territory and because the rockets fell in open areas does seem to suggest that hezbollah doesn't want the conflict to spread, doesn't want an escalation. the other media outlets in lebanon are reporting the strikes factually, but we'll see a lot more reaction over the coming days. what happened in the past ten days, when israel struck deeper into lebanon, is that we saw a lot more over—criticism of hezbollah and their handling of the conflict. so, for example, we saw lebanon's president, michel aoun — the former president, sorry — telling a hezbollah delegation in a closed meeting that he was not convinced with hezbollah's handling of the conflict. and itjust shows the type of discourse which is happening, the tensions that are being raised when strikes, when suspected israeli strikes go further,

deeper into lebanon. in ireland, nominations to replace leo vardakar as the leader of the fine gael party have closed. it's believed simon harris is the only name in the hat. if chosen, it paves the way for him to become the youngest ever taoiseach at 37. earlier i spoke to our reporter in belfast — kevin sharkey. simon harris is a senior member of the current irish government, and what is happening now is sequencing, if you will, towards him being eventually elected as the prime minister of ireland next month. later this afternoon he will be confirmed as the new leader of his own fine gael party, and that in itself is significant, because fine gael is currently part of the three coalition government in ireland, and fine gael currently holds the position of prime minister and the government, so basically

have the pick of the next prime minister, so it will go on to nominate simon harris at a meeting of the parliament, that won't happen until the 9th of april, a few weeks away yet, and when he is nominated he will be supported by the other members and parties of the government, fianna fail and the green party, so he will be elected as an extra minister of ireland next month, and as you say, when he is elected he will be the youngest ever foreign minister of ireland. can you remind us what brought us to this point? well, rathersuddenly, a few days ago, leo varadkar announced he was stepping down as leader of fine gael and taoiseach for personal reasons, a sequence of events moving towards his replacement, and when he was replaced next month he will have much to do. in ireland at the moment, right at the top of the political

agenda is a housing crisis. he will have to address that, and there are other issues abroad, and notably with ireland's closest neighbour, britain, he will be working with the british government and british prime minister, not least regarding the institutions in northern ireland just recently restored. when simon harris is elected as the next and youngest prime minister of ireland on the 9th of april he will have much to do. now it's time for a look at today's sport. a shock in formula one — as max verstappen failed in his attempt to equal his record of 10 successive wins earlier at the australian grand prix. those plans went up in smoke — quite literally — as a brake fire put an early end to his race. carlos sainz completed a remarkable comeback from appendix surgery two weeks ago, to come first in melbourne.

sainz started alongside world champion verstappen who was on pole. but the dutchman handed him the lead, after having to retire his red bull with brake problems. the race finished under safety car conditions after britain's george russell crashed his mercedes at the end. he was unhurt — and sainz claimed victory ahead of team mate charles leclerc, with the mclaren of britain's lando norris completing the podium. you start the year with the bad news of the nonrenewal, and i've been thinking, what is next in my life? then you prepare yourself, you go to training, you do your winter testing, and then a good start to the season, and then we alone will i be back? we'll be back in good form and how long will it take to get up to speed and be confident! and suddenly you come back and win, and itjust shows how beautiful is life in that sense, life is good

sometimes. drama in motogp. bastianini came through before the aprilia writer came often one and crashed. that allowed pedro acosta to finish third in his debut season. england are in action for the women's six nations — they favourites after 6th consecutive title. and taking on italy in parma. it is currently 0—0 in that match. which also saw wins for scotland, who edged a thriller with wales in cardiff... france also got their challenge to england off well, with a win over ireland. next to tennis — the two time

australian open champion aryna sabelnka has been knocked out of the miami open. it's been a difficult week for — following the death of her ex—boyfriend. she lost in three sets to ukraine's anhelina kalinina in the third round. meanwhile in the men's draw... meanwhile in the men's draw the number one seed carlos alcaraz will play gael monfis next after beating roberto carballes baena in straight sets. having just won the title at indian wells, alcaraz cruised through 6—2 6—1 but says the win wasn't as easy as it sounds. it was difficult with the humidity. you know, the court, the balls, everything, it was difficult to adapt my game to these conditions. but really happy with the level that i hit the ball, that i solved everything and hopefully keep going. a remarkable collapse from england handed new zealand a dramatic three—run victory in the third t20 as the hosts kept the series alive in nelson. england were cruising in pursuit of 156 needing only 29 runs from 29 balls with eight wickets left, but then lost six for 25.

that left them needing eight from the last over, but they scored just four and lost two wickets. england lead the series 2—1 ahead of the fourth match in wellington on wednesday, in the five match series. credit to them. i think we got put under a lot of pressure and today we maybe didn't come up well against it. but i think that's a big learning curve. this team is always about learning opportunities and it's all right to make mistakes but we have to learn from them. i guess it is one to learn from, big time. a busy sunday in the english women's super league as chelsea aim to return to the top of the table with a win over west ham. the merseyside derby has finished — everton drew 0—0 with liverpool at goodison park. third place arsenal start the day nine points off leaders manchester city — they're away at aston villa in the late game. you can stay across all of that on the bbc sport website.

and that's all the sport for now. here in the uk — the chancellor has confirmed that the conservatives will have a commitment to keeping the so—called triple—lock on pension increases, in their election manifesto. under the government pledge, state pensions rise every april, in line with whichever is highest out of inflation, average wage increases, or 2.5%. our political correspondent georgia roberts has more. will the triple lock be in the tory manifesto this time around? well, i can confirm it will be, yes. the chancellor was determined to spread some economic cheer this morning after recent news of falling inflation, and some cheer in particularfor pensioners came, with a clear commitment to the triple lock if the conservatives win the next general election. when we came to office in 2010, pensioners were more likely to be in poverty than other income groups. now, because of the triple lock that we introduced, they are less likely to be in poverty, and i think that's a really important social change. it's a policy that's been criticised as unsustainable because of its hefty price tag. a recent report by the institute

for fiscal studies think tank said the triple lock added an extra £11 billion a year to public spending. butjeremy hunt said he could pay for it. what we saw in the budget was, because we have a plan for growth, the obr say that we will get back to 2%—ish growth over the next few years... i just want to be clear... that means that we can start to make very important... labour's party chair was asked what they would do. we'll set out those plans for our manifesto in detail. however, we don't want them to be threatened by that £46 billion black hole that, unfortunately, jeremy hunt has threatened with the national insurance change he proposed. the labour spokesperson told the bbc they are committed to the triple lock, too, but won't confirm it will be in their election manifesto. the liberal democrats dismissed mr hunt's pledge as a shameless election trick, but they have already committed to it themselves. this election year, all parties will have to spell out whether they think the policy really is affordable in the long term, with an economy that isn't

out of the woods yet. georgia roberts, bbc news. the prince and princess of wales say they have been moved by the public�*s warmth and support, since catherine's announcement on friday, that she is receiving cancer treatment. a statement from kensington palace, also said the couple were "grateful" that the public understood their request for privacy. here's daniela relph. (vt this is the national with erica johnson. catherine, the princess of wales, made a shocking announcement... making headlines globally. kate middleton... the impact of the princess' diagnosis has been felt far and wide. her video message was the most direct and personal we have ever seen the princess. this, of course, came as a huge shock. it was also an attempt to shut down the rumours. i think what the princess of wales is hoping is that this message will be direct enough to appeal

to people's better natures and say, "look, the invasion of privacy that has been going on on social media for the last couple of months has just been way too much. people need to stop and think and not engage in that kind of activity going forward." and now a fresh statement from kensington palace — a public thank you. it said: family has rallied around the princess, including those with whom relations are strained. the duke and duchess of sussex sent a public message of support. the bbc understands they've also reached out privately. public sympathy remains strong. we've been thinking of her all along and wish her the best. they're going through something so private and hard and, you know, the public eye on it, it's really tough, to be honest.

yeah, she's got young kids, right? and she's a human being, so i thought it was all quite upsetting. protecting her three children has been a priority for the princess of wales. she said she's taken time to explain and reassure george, charlotte and louis. the new message from the prince and princess is both a thank you and a polite warning. they now want to be left alone. we don't expect to hear from them over the easter holiday. instead, we may see the king back in the royal spotlight. christmas at sandringham — the last full gathering of the royal family. next sunday, many will be back for the easter church service in windsor. buckingham palace are hopeful the king will also be there. daniela relph, bbc news.

there is much more on that story and all the other stories today on the website and the app, it is all online. stick with us. hello. many of us have had at least some spring sunshine to enjoy so far today. but the forecast for the week ahead looks decidedly un—springlike, with spells of rain. it will often be windy and it'll be cold enough over scottish hills for some significant snow, at least for a time now. this chart shows the rainfall we're expecting to accumulate over the next five days, particularly wet for some western hills and also in eastern scotland. now i say wet across scotland. certainly over the next couple of days that wet weather will be falling in this very cold air. and that is why we have that potential for some snow, as i'll show you in a moment. but in the short term, the rest of the afternoon will bring some spells of sunshine, scattered showers. it's a little bit less chilly than it was yesterday, but cloud and rain gathering out

towards the west and that will push its way in across many western parts of the uk as we go through the night. ahead of that, some clear skies, maybe the odd mist patch. it will turn chilly for a time by the end of the night, certainly becoming milder out towards the west. but we will see a frost across the northern half of scotland. so into tomorrow, it's a story of low pressure swirling its way in from the west with this frontal system running its way northwards and eastwards. now, i think some parts of eastern england are likely to stay predominantly dry with some spells of rather hazy sunshine. but rain across western england, wales into the midlands, northern england, northern ireland, southern scotland. and as that rain gets into central parts of scotland where it will start to turn to snow up over high ground. we'll be quite cold through tomorrow afternoon in northern scotland, 5 to 7 degrees south wales, southern england, 10 to 12 degrees. but through monday night into tuesday, this wet and indeed wintry weather will become quite persistent, with 50 millimetres

of rain likely across some parts of eastern scotland. but come inland, snow even overfairly modest hills above 300 metres elevation. you could be looking at 20 centimetres of snow, only slowly petering out through the day on tuesday. windy in the north of scotland, very cold as well. some places, particularly where snow falls, will struggle to get much above freezing. further south, some sunny spells, some showers and a little bit milder. it does turn a bit milder for just about all of us as we head through the week towards the easter weekend. but there will still be some rain at times.

this is bbc news. the headlines... president putin lights a candle in memory of victims of the concert hall attack where137 people, including three children, were killed. russia is observing a day of mourning today with flags flying at half mast and many events have been cancelled. the islamic state group says it was behind the attack. ukraine's armed forces say they've hit two russian landing ships and a communications centre in russian—occupied crimea. the claims follow ukrainian attacks overnight on the crimean port city of sevastopol. and in the uk, a pledge on pensions — the conservatives say they are committed to keeping the so—called triple lock on pension increases in their election manifesto. and the prince and princess of wales thank

the public for their support following catherine's announcement she is being treated for cancer. let's get back to one of our top stories today. russia is observing a national day of mourning for the victims of friday's attack on a concert venue just outside moscow. people were laying flowers outside what remains of the concert hall. president vladimir putin did not attend the scene — he paid his tributes lighting a candle in a church. at least 137 people died in an attack by gunmen on the crocus city hall. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, has been reporting from the scene.

well, we haven't heard much more today from the kremlin,