pope francis pleads for peace in his easter message. he's been meeting worshippers after easter sunday mass — as thousands gather in st peter's square. as military strikes in gaza continue, ceasefire talks between israel and hamas are expected to resume in cairo. voting takes place in local elections across turkey , with president erdogan�*s party hoping to regain control of cities it lost five years ago. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in windsor, where king charles and queen camilla attended the easter sunday service at st george's chapel. here they are leaving the chapel a short time ago, much to the delight of crowds

who had lined up to see them. this is the king's most significant public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. he wasn't expected to mingle but he did, greeting well—wishers and thanking them for waiting out in the cold. the prince and princess of wales did not attend, as catherine is receiving cancer treatment. the king has continued some work since his diagnosis, but all engagements so far have taken place in private. so this attendance at the easter morning church service at st george's chapel will be seen as an encouraging sign about his health. our correspondent sarah campbell is at windsor castle and said nobody was expecting the king to mingle. king charles, in his first significant appearance since his cancer diagnosis, and as you saw there, taking the opportunity for a walkabout. shaking hands with many

members of the public, who had been queueing up here since early morning. i spoke to quite a lot of them, i don't think any of them expected that. so, again, i think we have to take this as a positive sign that the king feels well enough to do that. his medical team must have felt that he was well enough to make his way to the chapel, to lead, to talk to members of the public, because as we've been talking about all morning, anyone who's been going through cancer treatment knows that issues of immunity, infection are in issue, but clearly his medical team felt that this was a safe space for him to be able to do that. and i think the people who had waited there will be very pleased that they did. and, sarah, i think the thing that stood out for me was he looked very comfortable shaking hands with members of the public. ultimately, he is being treated

for cancer, so it does raise the question whether it's chemotherapy or not, because that really does affect your immunity, doesn't it? but he has been out and about amongst the public. yes, and the palace have been very clear that they haven't given any specifics either on the specific cancer or on the treatment that he is undergoing, so we don't know that. but certainly, i think we can deduce from most cancer treatments, be it chemotherapy or other sorts of treatments, that immunity is an issue, and is a positive sign that he is out there and happy to shake hands with people. of course, we know that the king loves a walkabout. you will remember that the day after queen elizabeth ii, his mother, died, when he made his way back to london to buckingham palace, and wanted to get out of the car, wanted to meet people, shake hands, talk to people, say thank you for the well wishes, and one get a sense from that today

that this has been something that the king has missed. that he likes that personal contact with people. so i'm sure that he will have liked the fact that he could do that today as much as the people who have waited to hopefully get a glimpse of him and some of them got probably more than they expected. in rome, tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in st peter's square to hear pope francis lead easter sunday mass — and give the traditional �*urbi et orbi' blessing. there had been concern about the 87—year—old's health, after he pulled out of a ceremony on good friday. here's the pope making his address. translation: dear brothers and sisters, happy easter. i today, throughout the world, there are sounds the message proclaimed 2000 years ago from jerusalem. jesus of nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised.

the church relives the amazement of the women who went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. the tomb ofjesus had been sealed with a great stone. today, two great stones, heavy stones, block the hopes of humanity. the stone of war. the stone of humanitarian crisis. the stone of human rights violations. the stone of human trafficking, and other stones as well. 0ur religion editor, aleem maqbool taked us through the pope's address. well, he's talked a great deal already about conflict. and there was special focus on gaza and special focus particularly on children there.

he said, first of all, that he wanted immediate access to humanitarian aid for all those in gaza, but also called for the prompt release of hostages, but for an immediate ceasefire as well. when he was talking about children, though, he was talking about looking at the conflict through their eyes, talking about the suffering they've seen, how they would be asking about why there was so much death. and he said in very stark terms, war is always an absurdity and in itself, a defeat. he's always through the conflict, been very strong on the conflict in gaza. he did mention other conflicts around the world. he talked about ukraine and the hope for an exchange of prisoners, but talked also about sudan and elsewhere. but very strong, as i say, as he brings his a message and blessing to an end here in vatican city in front of around 50,000 people.

very strong, in his words, about the conflict in gaza. i wonder if i could just squeeze in one more question whilst i've got you. the catholic church, how is it faring with pope francis? yes, his health hasn't been best. but any particular challenges worthy of note? well, his papacy has, i suppose, been characterised by some sense that some conservatives, some traditionalists feel that pope francis is moving away from traditional teaching. he actually, in material terms, not a massive amount has changed, but certainly in terms of the rhetoric and the tone on certain things, like, for example, the role of women in the church, perhaps same—sex blessings. he is taking things forward a touch.

to the middle east now, where talks on a possible new gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are expected to resume in cairo, according to egyptian media. israel is sending a delegation of security and intelligence officials to the indirect talks. it comes as the families of israeli hostages held by hamas in gaza step up the pressure on the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to secure their release. this was the scene in tel aviv on saturday night, as relatives of the hostages joined with anti—government protesters — bringing tens of thousands of people onto the streets. bbc arabic�*s abdelbassir hassan has the latest from cairo. so far, if i'm going to speak about what's going in cairo already. the preliminary talks have already started in cairo with a delegation, a delegation from israel,

mediators from the united states, qatar and egypt are already meeting at present. hamas is not yet represented until now, but a source close to the meeting told the bbc that they are going to join soon. we have talked to hamas. they said they haven't received an invitation to attend this round of talks which is going on in cairo. the latest situations or positions from the sides, hamas has already announced that itjust wanted israel to withdraw from the territories it has already entered after october 7th. they would like the israeli troops to withdraw from northern gaza to allow those who left their homes to go back to northern gaza and to allow the food and humanitarian aid across the strip. they would like to have a full or complete ceasefire.

0n the other side, israel is known to have been sticking to one position, which is a continued battle or a continued campaign against hamas. they wouldn't stop the war. they can negotiate a truce which could be like weeks in exchange for prisoners from both sides. but so far there could be what they describe as a deadlock. and what's expected in cairo? you can't predict what's going on because we don't know whether they are going to discuss a six week truce or, according to the latest un resolution, the rest of ramadan, which is a ten days only truce until the end of ramadan, which is going to end in ten days from now. now to turkey, where millions of people are voting in local elections, which could see president erdogan�*s party retaking control of key cities it lost in the last polls five years ago. most eagerly watched is the outcome in istanbul,

which is home to nearly a fifth of the population. the current mayor there, ekrem imamoglu, is seen as mr erdogan�*s biggest challenger in decades. if he wins today, it would boost his standing as a potential rival to president erdogan in 2028. the elections are taking place against a backdrop of severe economic problems, including inflation of nearly 70%. earlier we heard from esra yalcinalp from bbc turkish for more on this. well, about 60 million people are expected to vote today in turkey. but we can say that all eyes will be in istanbul today, because of its significance for both the ruling justice and development party, ak party, the party of mr erdogan, as well as the opposition chp. turkey's economic and social

powerhouse, istanbul, was ruled by akp and its islamist predecessors for about 25 years, and then in 2019, the chp alliance won, with ekrem imamoglu as the mayor. and he is running up against the akp candidate, the former minister for the environment and urbanisation today, and ekrem imamoglu is viewed as president erdogan�*s biggest challenger that has come in decades, and if he manages to win today in istanbul, the opposition will have very high hopes for the upcoming presidential elections in 2028, and it is certainly where mr imamoglu is the person who will face

mr erdogan to be the president. a lot of analysts are saying that this election is notjust an indication of what might happen in the next presidential elections, it is also very important for the opposition in turkey, which this year has been described as a somewhat split, because they have united in the past, analysts saying that it is under threat of an increasingly authoritarian regime, what is the political environment like at the moment in turkey, particularly with commentary on a possible constitutional amendment to mr erdogan staying in power? well, turkey is having these elections amid economic troubles that have been going on for some years now, with inflation getting up to 80% last year, and now with an official inflation of 67% last february, and ongoing huge loss of purchasing power in its citizens. so, the voters may also vote weighing up the government's economic performance in these local

elections, although they are local elections, they carry a lot of implications for the general outcome of the country. and there is some discontent with the akp regarding the economic performance, like i mentioned, and one factor to watch will be the islamist new welfare party. so, this is going to be an alternative for those ones who don't want to vote for the opposition chp but want to show akp that they are getting uneasy with their politics. so, something to watch will be that. and in terms of the fairness of the elections, some pro opposition voices have voiced concern over election security, as the top ministers were in istanbul campaigning for the akp candidate for weeks against ekrem imamoglu. but regarding the propaganda leading

up to the elections, we can say that the ruling akp party has an advantage in turkish elections, however, we must add that documented fraud cases on the election day are very rare. hello from the bbc sport centre. it could be a pivotal day in the english premier league title race. with ten games to go, just one point separates arsenal, liverpool and manchester city at the top of the table. city, in third, are trying to win their fourth league title in a row. arsenal haven't won it for 20 years. and the two sides face each other at the etihad stadium later — and both managers are hoping the international break hasn't disrupted their momentum. well, you cannot do it. that moment is gone. they had to go to national teams, we have maximised as much as we possibly could, the time we had here with some

players, and now everybody is back. everybody is so positive about what is coming, and looking forward to it. we played really good the last month, but an international break... always the first game, not now, always the first game of international break, you think... you know, it will happen. but yesterday we trained good. we have two more training sessions and we prepare the game. right now, every game is so important. and if we are able to do it, the next game will be important as well. second placed liverpool are sandwiched between those two sides. a point above city, but kept off top spot by arsenal because of goal difference. jurgen klopp�*s side play first on sunday, with brighton the visitors to anfield. we wa nt we want to win this game. it has nothing to do with the other game, honestly. like all the other games, we want to win, will it happen? i don't know. we will try. this part of the season is one where people

outside having a physician, and we are in a position where we want to fight. it's everything we want to do. in contrast to england — the race for the bundesliga is nowhere near as close. after 11 titles in a row, bayern munich coach thomas tuchel has all but conceded the club's chances of winning a twelfth after they lost at home to borussia dortmund on saturday. having conceding early, harry kane missed this chance to equalise in the first half. and the game was effecteively over whenjulian ryerson made it two nil with seven minutes to play. it leaves them 13 points behind bayer leverkusen with just seven games to play. inter miami struggled again without lionel messi. the argentine superstar watched form the stands as they were held at home by new york city in the mls. it had looked promising when luis suarez opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season. but, they conceded an equaliser and it finished one—all. miami are hoping messi will be back for their concacaf champions cup

quarterfinal tie with monterrey on wednesday. there's a fascinating final ahead at the miami 0pen tennis. the australian open champion jannick sinner up against a resurgent grigor dimitrov, who knocked out carlos alcaraz. that after the women's final gave the home supporters what they were craving. america's danielle collins with the biggest win of her career. she beat the former wimbledon champion elena rybakina in straight sets. for collins, who's 30 and will retire at the end of the season, it's her first wta 1000 title. bangladesh trail sri lanka by a huge a76 runs going after day two of the second test in chattogram. the tourists piled on the runs in theirfirst innings. they made 531, with six of their batsmen making half centuries. but none going on to reach three figures. kamindu mendi finished 92 not out. bangladesh are 55 for one at stumps, and with a mountain climb ahead of the third day. babar azam has been re—appointed

as pakistan's skipper in white—ball cricket. babar had been replaced by shaheen shah afridi after their failure at last year's 50 over world cup. but he takes over again as they prepare for the t20 world cup in two months time. more on the website including coverage of ireland v italy in the women's six nations and the english women's league cup final. both of those start at three o'clock. that's all the sport for now. supporters of india's main opposition alliance are holding a major rally in the capital ahead of next month's general election. it's the first meeting since the arrest of the chief minister of delhi, arvind kejriwal, on corruption charges ten days ago. 0pposition parties accuse the governing bjp of using investigative agencies to detain their leaders and prevent them from campaigning. the government denies this. 0ur south asia editor

anbarasan ethirajan has more. 0pposition supporters have gathered here and they are coming from delhi and other neighbouring states near the capital city. now they are calling for the release of the delhi chief minister. he was taken into custody ten days ago on corruption charges, which he denies. major leaders are addressing this rally, saying that india's democracy and constitution should be saved, and that is the motive of this major rally here. the congress party says its bank accounts have been frozen and they have been asked to pay more than $200 million in fines for allegedly violating tax rules. but the government denies any political motive behind this action, saying the law will take its own course. india's elections are due to start on 19th april and will be held in several places. the campaign is going

across the country for this mammoth exercise, but what the opposition is saying is that there is no level playing field. for example, they accuse the election commission of being biased towards the governing bjp and they said that investigating agencies are being used to cripple them, to stifle dissent, to prevent them from campaigning. however, the governing bjp denies these charges and the mammoth exercise of india's general election, in which prime minister mahendra modi is seeking a third straight term, is starting on 19th april. donald trump has been criticised byjoe biden�*s campaign team for sharing a video on social media featuring a truck bearing the image of the us president with his hands and feet tied together. a spokesman for mr trump said it was just a picture on the vehicle's tailgate, filmed as it travelled down the highway.

but a biden election campaign official accused mr trump of inciting political violence. 0ur washington reporter will vernon has the story. well, this is a video that donald trump posted on his truth social media yesterday. it's about a 20—second clip, says that it's filmed in long island. what it shows is two pick—up trucks travelling along the road, both absolutely plastered with pro—trump images and flags. but one of them, on the tailgate of the pick—up truck, has a picture — a mocked—up image ofjoe biden with his hands and feet tied so it kind of looks as though the president has been kidnapped and put in the truck. now, this image has caused some controversy, as you say. that statement from the biden campaign saying that trump is regularly inciting political violence, and said that it's time that people took that seriously. but the trump campaign's hit back

against these allegations — they said, as you said, you know, this was just a truck travelling down the highway and they said it's democrats that have called for despicable violence against president trump and his family. the actor chance perdomo, best known for tv series like chilling adventures of sabrina and gen v, has died in a motorcycle accident. he was 27 years old. he was nominated for best actor at the 2019 bafta tv awards for his role in bbc3 drama killed by my debt. in a statement, his publicist said... "his insatiable appetite for life was felt "by all who knew him. production on the second series of gen v has been delayed indefinitely following his death. millions of workers in the uk will see their pay increase tomorrow as more people become eligible for the national living wage. it has been just over £10 an hour — just over $12. it's going up to just over £11 an hour. our business correspondent marc ashdown has the details. barista sam loves hisjob,

but after paying his essential bills he's often left with just a few hundred pounds a month to live on. pay rises just help him stay afloat. i think they balance, because obviously everything else goes up in price so it sort of evens out every single year. maybe for, like, a month you'll be like, "0oh, i've got money this month!" and then it'lljust be, like — the next month will be a bit of a rough one. workers across the uk in some of the lowest—paid jobs are about to get a boost in their pay. from tomorrow, the national living wage is going up from £10112 an hour to £11.44 an hour. that's an increase of 9.8%. the age at which a worker qualifies has also been reduced from 23 to 21 years old. the treasury says a full—time worker should be paid about £1,800 extra over one year. this is the largest increase in a minimum wage in cash terms and the first time it's gone up by more than £1 in one go, and it reflects, really,

the strength in pay growth across the economy — which looks set to continue. minimum wage levels for workers aged between 16 and 21 will also rise. the lobby group uk hospitality says taken across all the pay scales, businesses could be having to find an increase of 17%. got significant cost headwinds they're facing into, notjust wages, but energy, food price inflation, and the cost of living pressures. so there's a perfect storm going on here, and on top of this, a 17% increase in their wage bill. charities want to see more businesses sign up to the so—called real living wage, which sets minimum pay at a higher rate. but tomorrow's increase will give a pay boost to millions of workers. mark ashdown, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. well, the sun has come out across some parts of the country this easter sunday, but it's not like it everywhere.

in fact, farfrom it. closer to the north sea coast and across central england, rather a lot of cloud, a chilly breeze off the north sea. we had a few showers as well. but if we look at the satellite picture, you can see a rugged area of cloud. basically, the brighter skies are the further north and west you are. and this area of cloud is part of a much larger circulation of rugged cloud, all linked to a big area of low pressure dominating the scene here. and if we look at the outlook for the next few days, smaller loads embedded within this larger vortex will be sweeping our way. here are the weather fronts. the blue is obviously the rain, stronger winds at times as well. so the next few days, the outlook is looking pretty wet after what has been already a very wet march in many parts of the uk. wet march in many parts of the uk. back to the afternoon, then. here are the temperatures you can see quite chilly on that north sea coast in the breeze, ten celsius, but 15 or 16 possible across some brighter skies

here towards the west. now, tonight, across england and wales, rain is possible almost at any time. there could even be a crack of thunder for a time in the south. the driest of our weather will be across scotland, maybe a touch of frost in the highlands. but in cities, temperatures will be typically between five and eight degrees celsius. 0nto our forecast for tomorrow. the wettest of the weather will be across northern england through the irish sea, just about into eastern parts of northern ireland as well. really quite a grey, rainy picture most of the day. to the south, we'll call it a mixture of sunny spells, but occasional heavy showers as well. and the temperatures typically ten in scotland, around 12 to 1a across more southern parts of the uk. then here's tuesday, then. that weather front will have moved a little bit further north, starting to fizzle out, but still bringing some damp weather to the northeast. and then the next weather front sweeps into the south west and then through the day and into the evening hours will be crossing the country as it moves northwards and eastwards. so here's that outlook, those weather fronts i showed you earlier on and those low

pressures you can see from the outlook, often rainy but not particularly chilly. in fact, mid—teens in the south.

this is bbc news. the headlines. king charles has attended an easter service in windsor with the queen, and other members of the royal family followed by a walkabout to greet crowds.

it's his most significant public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. pope francis has used his easter message to renew calls for an immediate ceasefire in the middle east. tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in st peter's square to hear him lead easter sunday mass. as military strikes in gaza continue, the israeli prime minister's office says a delegation has been sent to cairo to resume ceasefire talks with hamas. they are also expected to discuss a hostage release deal. voting is under way in local elections across turkey. president erdogan is hoping to regain control of cities it lost five years ago. now on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this week's show...

it looks like a flotation device.