several loud explosions having reported in ukraine. a vietnamese property tycoon has been sentenced to death, after one of the biggest corruption trials in history. as iran vows to punish israel for an air strike killing its commanders — president biden says us support for israel is "iron—clad". two former post office managers are giving evidence to an inquiry, on the decisions which led to the wrongful conviction of hundreds of people who run post offices in the uk. and coming up — we have an exclusive look at stunning new discoveries in the ancient city of pompeii. hello. welcome to the programme.

now to the war in ukraine — there have been several loud explosions in the city of kharkiv in the east of the country. president zelensky described it as a "heinous attack". there have been several loud explosions in the east of the country. presidents are lenski has described it as a heinous attack. more blackouts for households and businesses have been announced. there has been a strike on a southern ukrainian city. that has just come in from the governor of the region. he said on the telegram app the region. he said on the telegram app two people have died and four were injured. we will have more on all of those developments from ukraine later in the programme.

president biden has promised israel "iron—clad" united states support amid fears that iran could launch reprisals for an attack that killed senior iranian commanders in damascus. warned iran is threatening to launch a "significant attack" after israel struck the iranian consulate in syria 10 days ago. mr biden was speaking hours after the iranian supreme leader again said israel would be punished for the strike on its consulate. meanwhile, the hamas political leader says there'll be no change in the group's demands for a permanent ceasefire in gaza, despite the killing of three of his sons in an israeli airstrike. israeli media is reporting that the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, had not been briefed in advance of the attack. this video is believed to show ismail haniyeh receiving the news in qatar, where he lives in exile. israel has confirmed the strike, describing his sons as "hamas military operatives". he's been actively involved in negotiations to broker a ceasefire with israel — demanding a permanent end to the fighting. here's president biden on the threat posed by iran in the region.

we also want to address the iranian threat, to launch a significant... they're threatening to launch a significant attack on israel. as i told prime minister netanyahu, our commitment to israel's security against these threats from iran and its proxies is ironclad. we say it again, ironclad. we're going to do all we can to protect israel's security. our security correspondence frank gardner gave us his assessment of the us—israel relationship. there are two different aspects to the us—israel relationship. there is us growing disapproval of israel's actions in the gaza strip and its failure to protect civilian lives. and there's quite a lot of bad blood, i think, between president biden and prime minister neta nyahu over that. they've had some pretty tense words, but when it comes to israel's security against external threats from iran. then it is exactly as he says, ironclad. what does that mean in practice? it means that centcom, which is

the part of the us department of defense that deals with the middle east, will put at iran's disposal much of its assets in the region, so air defense, warships, etc.. now, iran will have spent the last ten days calculating how it is going to respond to the attack on its consulate in damascus. i say consulate, but it was basically a military base next to the iranian embassy in damascus on april the first that killed 13 people, including a number of senior iranian revolutionary guards commanders. iran feels it has to respond to that, otherwise it looks weak in the region, but it's got to calibrate it very carefully. it does not want to get into a full scale war with israel. so if it fires, for example, ballistic missiles from iranian soil at israel, probably israel will be able to shoot them down and the us may help it on that. but israel has made it very clear it will respond with direct attacks

on iran and then bang, you've got a full scale middle east war. iran's got a lot of ballistic missiles. so the gulf states, the gulf arab states are extremely nervous about this. saudi arabia, qatar, uae and iraq have all passed messages to iran saying, please don't retaliate in a big way. you know, clearly you need to be seen to do something, but don't go and antagonize the beast as they as they would put it. so that is, that's really what's going on behind the scenes. there's no direct information to say that iran is just about to launch something, but clearly the us will have intercepted some kind of messages and i think there's probably a little bit of an internal dialogue going on in iran between those who say we must show force, we've got to really punish israel for this. israel, by the way, has never claimed responsibility for the attack on april the first on the iranian consulate in damascus. but everyone assumes that it is.

and on the other hand, the hawks saying we need to exercise strategic patience and do our retaliation at a time of our choosing. kasra naji is a journalist with the bbc persian service. what has been the reaction from around? i haven't seen any reaction specifically about that statement from joe biden but nevertheless they expected this, so it's nothing new in the sense that the iranian leaders and officials and military and the revolutionary guards all know that if there is a massive attack on israel, a missile or drone attack on israel, a missile or drone

attack or whatever, whatever shape that attack might take, the us will be on the side of israel. the fact that that is a determining factor for the around the ends in the sense that they have two, as frankjust said, they have to decide if they are going to launch a strike of some sort. that strike must be in no way that will not draw iran and israel into a direct conflict and also not bring the us into the fray on the side of israel. iranians have two way that pretty strongly. i side of israel. iranians have two way that pretty strongly.- way that pretty strongly. i was talkin: to way that pretty strongly. i was talking to frank— way that pretty strongly. i was talking to frank there - way that pretty strongly. i was talking to frank there about i way that pretty strongly. i was talking to frank there about some of the other possible responses from iran including a possible cyber attack. . �* , iran including a possible cyber attack. . v . iran including a possible cyber

attack. . �*, ., , , attack. that's a possibility. there are all sorts _ attack. that's a possibility. there are all sorts of _ attack. that's a possibility. there are all sorts of scenarios - attack. that's a possibility. there are all sorts of scenarios that - attack. that's a possibility. there l are all sorts of scenarios that have been talked about in the iranian press and in the international press, in the us and israeli press. what i have seen most likely position is that iran will probably use its proxies, either in iraq or syria or even in lebanon and yemen. because anything direct will bring iran and israel into direct conflict. they have to avoid that. thank you so much for your for the latest there. we'll be answering your questions about these fears of an iranian attack on israel and what it could mean for the wider region — coming up at 12:30 gmt — we'll bejoined by dr alam saleh, senior lecturer in politics and international relations on iran and the middle east

at the australian national university and the bbc�*s security correspondent frank gardner. so get in touch with your questions using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions — or email yourquestions@bbc.co.uk let's bring in some breaking news on a story that we have been watching since the weekend and that is that police have charged a 25—year—old man with the murder of a woman who was stabbed to death as she pushed her baby in a pram in bradford at the weekend. a25—year—old appeared at bradford magistrates' court charged with her murder. he is also charged with her murder. he is also charged with her murder. he is also charged with possession of a bladed article. he appeared before the magistrates' court wearing a grey sweatshirt. he spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. he has

been remanded in custody to appear before bradford crown court tomorrow, the 12th of april. i should say that four other men in their 20s were also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and drug offences. the four men are all from the west midlands area and were arrested in aylesbury and buckinghamshire, i should say aylesbury, buckinghamshire. we are following that story closely on bbc news. we will bring you more when we have it. now let's go to our main story again and we are getting more news of explosions in ukraine. the latest report we had was a strike on a southern ukrainian city on thursday which killed two people and wounded four. with more on all of those developments let's speak to

our correspondent from london. what has been happening in the country today? it has been happening in the country toda ? , ., ., ., today? it is not a good morning in ukraine today. _ today? it is not a good morning in ukraine today. another _ today? it is not a good morning in ukraine today. another massive i today? it is not a good morning in - ukraine today. another massive wave of russian missile attacks targeting cities across all of ukraine basically. one of the key targets was a major power station outside of kyiv. it has been completely destroyed it was the main source of electricity for three ukrainian regions including the capital. in the second largest city in ukraine 200,000 people were left without electricity as a result of russian air strikes. electricity rationing has been introduced, people are sheltering in the metro. to give you an idea of how major and impact the

strikes have, kharkiv is bigger than manchester or liverpool. 1.5 million people live there before the war. elsewhere in ukraine in a southern city we have heard that two people were killed and four injured as a result of a russian missile strike. it's not clear what has been hit, but over the past weeks, russia's attacks in ukraine have intensified noticeably, targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure. presidents are lenski this morning reiterated calls for more missiles and air defences for ukraine. he says if ukraine doesn't get them it would mean giving rusher a licence to

carry out terror. . you say that this comes as say lenski is calling for much more aid to ukraine lots of people rallying around including lord cameron what is the position without this extra aid that ukraine faces? it is increasing more complicated, some would say dire. ukrainian forces on the ground have been retreating slowly but steadily the russian troops have been making progress, capturing small villages,

completely destroyed. the members of the ukrainian military i have spoken to are sounding desperate. the main lines of russian attack seem to be the north—east and the south—east these missiles attacks that happened this morning as well clearly seek to undermine both the ukrainian morale and also make it more difficult for the ukrainian state to continue fighting. it is difficult to fight when you live in darkness. thank you very much- — when you live in darkness. thank you very much- we _ when you live in darkness. thank you very much. we are _ when you live in darkness. thank you very much. we are getting _ when you live in darkness. thank you very much. we are getting reports i very much. we are getting reports here from the interfax news agency that russia news agency says it has hit energy facilities in ukraine with high precision weapons and drones. an update coming into us. let's go back to another story that

we have been watching throughout the morning here and there is the post office inquiry. there is a qr code on the screen. you can scan that if you are in the uk. we will have live updates from their inquiry here on bbc news. around the world and acro here on bbc news.

after one of the biggest corruption trials in history, a court in vietnam has sentenced a property developer to death, for defrauding the saigon commercial bank of more than $40 billion over a ten—year period. 67—year—old truong my lan was found guilty of embezzlement, bribing state officials and violating bank lending regulations. 85 other people were also prosecuted, as part of a widespread clampdown on corruption by vietnam's communist authorities. our south east asia

correspondent, jonathan head, is in bangkok. it is extraordinary. the amounts of money are absolutely staggering. we're talking about a significant chunk of vietnam's gdp that this woman was able to siphon off over 11 years through these secretly channeled loans that went through a whole bunch of front companies and proxies to her own companies. the prosecutors believe that of that 44 billion, perhaps $27 billion may never be recovered. that is a staggering loss and will be very, very tough for the state bank to make up in terms of saving the bank. really, the authorities have sort of blamed her and have talked about the way in which she was bribing officials and the kind of sophistication of this this network. and really, it is part of an ongoing anti—corruption campaign that's been going for several years, led by the communist authorities, who say they're determined to stamp it out. but of course, it does

raise a lot of questions, which is how was it that this woman, she is very high profile, she's one of the biggest property owners in vietnam. how was she able to do that for 11 years? and of course, officially, the authorities say, well, she was paying off this person and that and hiding this and that. but it is extraordinary that it went on for 11 years without being stopped. and i think those questions still hang over whether the vietnamese authorities are capable of reining in this kind of fraud. and, jonathan, you say that this was a trial that was followed by so many people in vietnam. and she is a well known property developer in the country, but now she faces the death penalty. that itself is extraordinary. normally, the death penalty is not usually handed down on women. but i think this case was so exceptional in terms of its scale and the damage it's done to vietnam's finances, they probably felt they needed to make an example of her. they may also be trying to encourage her to give as much money back as they can get her to do. this is something the other 80

defendants in court today have largely done. they're all more minor, of course, but these are all the people accused of conspiring with her, including, for example, a chief inspector of the state bank who was bribed $5 million, according to prosecutors, in order to look the other way, they've all pleaded guilty and offered to bring back as much money as they can. i think the state believes that she must have far more assets, that she can return to the state to try and make up this massive hole in this bank's finances. next to pompeii — the southern italian city famously buried in an eruption from mount vesuvius almost 2000 years ago. stunning artworks have been uncovered in a new excavation of a previously undiscovered part of the ancient site. our science editor, rebecca morelle, is in pompeii with more on the remarkable new finds. i am standing in the black room is a new room that has only been revealed to the world this morning after lying hidden for 2000 years. and it is absolutely extraordinary. now to give us a little look around

i'm joined by an archaeologist at pompeii. i mean, it is a wonderful room. and it's such a privilege to be sort of standing in it and feeling that sense of space because the walls are towering above us. and so, yeah, you get a really sort of lovely impression of how this room would have felt. now the artworks here are absolutely beautiful. so you have these big high black walls and then these quite small, intricate paintings. yeah. so here we have apollo with his lyre, and he's consulting with his priestess, cassandra. and you're right, they do seem very small in the wall, but we have to imagine that this is a winter dining room. so the light would have been very low. so the room lit by oil lamps and i think the flickering of the oil lamps would have sort of animated these as if they're sort of dancing a little bit. so they would have been much more visible than we are seeing them now. so sort of shimmering now, the oil lamps, they are a reason why this room is painted black

because there's so much colour here in pompeii. but there's a good reason the walls are black. the romans think of everything. they know that soot comes off these oil lamps. and because they're burning so many in winter, they they paint their walls black in order to kind of catch the soot. so you don't actually see it. they pre—empted it. now, in contrast to these beautiful black walls, you have this floor here. i mean, this gorgeous white mosaic floor. now you have lots of patterned floors here in pompeii. this one is plain. it is, it is, it's plain. but there's a good again, another functional reason is that any light that there is will reflect off it. and this mosaic floor all white. it's a big sea of, i think, 3 million tessera, but it will reflect back up the light. so it's got a it's got a good functional use. now i'm just going to head over here and see another artwork. i mean, this is so pretty, but i think my favorite thing is the dog and the dog's expression dog is fantastic. he looks he looks a bit grumpy. but i love the fact he's kind

of broken through that fourth wall and he's staring out at you. he captures your gaze. and i think for us as well, it draws us into the painting and gives us a real good sort of connection with the artwork. paint a picture of what would have been happening in this room 2000 years ago. what would it have been used for? well, a room this size has to have been used for entertaining. this is a wealthy house. these are people who need to bring clients in to impress them and they're going to be impressed. so they might be dining here, they might be lying on couches. then there's a stream of slaves that are hidden from us until the very last minute. there's a corridor behind this wall. they come round with platters of food. and you have to imagine there's boisterous conversation, probably political debate, much as we do now. but there's a lot of entertaining going on here. so almost like a party room, i guess. i mean, it's an absolutely extraordinary room. it's so beautiful.

and the starkness of the decoration here isjust fantastic, too. and, you know, you have to think you're the first people to be setting eyes on this other than the archaeologists who found this, for 2000 years. i mean, this is a place absolutely frozen in time. i mean, it's a yeah, it's incredible. and for viewers in the uk, you can see pompeii: the new dig on monday 15 april at 9pm on bbc two and also on the bbc iplayer. the polish parliament is today starting a debate on liberalising the country 5 abortion laws, which are some of the strictest in the european union. abortion is only allowed when the pregnancy endangers the mothers health, or when it is a result of rape or incest. our correspondent adam easton is in warsaw with more on the debate.

it isa it is a debate that has been described as the family and labour minister as unusually important and one that polish women have been waiting for for 30 years because this debate is about whether the state allows polish women to have abortion on demand up to 12 weeks and longer in certain other circumstances for the first time since 1993, as you mentioned poland has one of the strictest regulations regarding abortion in the european union. in the previous right—wing government, they presided over heightened restrictions and made it even tighter in 2020 when there was a court ruling which practically outlawed legal abortion in all cases, in 98% of cases. this is

something that opinion polls suggest, orsome something that opinion polls suggest, or some suggest, that there is growing support for greater access for abortion for women but politicians until now have been reluctant to heed those voices. it's not necessarily a new hat. i have done it before but i think every time you do it you learn something new about yourself, you get to learn from your peers and grow and hopefully it allows for you to have a seat at the table to protect yourself and your fellow actors and community members and i am definitely proud of it. and in this half hour on bbc news, i'll be back in a short while bob stopped to stay with us.

hello again. it's been a fairly cloudy start to the day, but the cloud breaking up for most of us away from the english channel and irish sea coasts, where we'll hang onto some murky conditions through the day. but for most, it's going to feel warm, and we're looking at spells of hazy sunshine. but if you have an allergy to tree pollen, particularly birch, maybe a bit of plane as well as some ash, these are the pollen levels today, moderate to high across most of the country. now, we've had a weather front which has pushed southwards through the morning, but what it's going to do is start to retreat northward. so it's going to bring some patchy rain back through the south—west and also wales. but for most of us it's dry. it's going to be sunny, albeit hazy at times. one of two showers, western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, the pennines. but temperatures today potentially up to 20 degrees — somewhere in eastern england is most likely for that. so as we head through the evening and overnight, our weatherfront pushing northwards will bring some heavy rain across northern ireland and central southern scotland, where of course the ground

is already saturated. it's going to be a mild night, temperatures eight to about 12 degrees quite widely. so it's a mild start to the day for friday. and on friday, what you'll find is it will be a fairly cloudy start across england and wales. most of that cloud breaking up and it will develop into a warm day. but around the coasts once again we'll hang onto murky conditions, whereas for northern ireland and scotland it's going to be cloudy for you with rain at times and gales developing across the northern and the western isles. temperatures 11 in the north to potentially 21 in the south. and as we head into saturday, once again, we'll start off on a cloudy note across england and wales. that will break up. we'll see some sunshine, but some heavier rain moving in across scotland and also northern ireland. a blustery day, too, with temperatures still on the high side, 20 in london, but starting to cool down in the north. and you can see that illustrated here as we go into the weekend

and the early part of next week, as the yellows and ambers are pushed away by the blues, indicating that the temperatures are on the slide. so the outlook from sunday to thursday remains changeable. it will be windy at times. there will be some rain at times, some showers, wintry in the mountains in scotland. but there'll be some sunshine too.

all eyes on frankfurt as the european central bank makes its latest policy decision. will europe lead the way to cheaper borrowing or wait for the us to make a move? us employers call for a shake—up of immigration rules as they struggle to fill vacancies despite record numbers arriving in search of a job. welcome to world business report. who will cut interest rates first, europe or america? in a few hours' time, we will know the european central bank's thinking on this matter when they announce their latest interest rate decision. the ecb has kept interest rates at a record high of 4.00% since september, but it

has signalled that cuts could be coming into view.