a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: in his home city, president putin lays flowers near the scene of the st petersburg metro blast. 11 died and authorities believe it was a terrorist attack. it was a huge bang. it was deafening. i was sitting next to a metal railing, i think it saved my life. everyone was knocked in one direction by the blast. after the landslide — colombian authorities bury the dead, and bring in emergency water supplies as they race to avoid the spread of disease. on. and trump meet an egyptian equivalent at the white house. why china is experiencing a baby boom, driven partly by older mothers. we have a special report. hello.

at least 11 people have died in a suspected bombing on the metro system in st petersburg — russia's second city. local media is reporting that the suspect is from central asia. the explosion happened in a train carriage as it travelled between two stations. within minutes the entire network was closed and police later found and defused a device at another station. three days of mourning have been declared. our correspondent steve rosenberg is in the city with the latest. welcomer 2 million people use the saint petersburg metro every day. this city relies on this underground but earlier today, a metro station left the metro station behind me, entered the tunnel and was rocked by an explosion which rocked not only the city but also this country. a woman is shouting, are there any

children? a train carriage torn to shreds and a desperate effort to pull people from the wreckage. from the safety of a passing train, a hint of the devastation it is leaving behind. at least ten passengers were killed today and dozens more wounded. the blast occurred in the tunnel but the wrecked train sped on and managed to reach the next station. this was the scene one stop behind, the platform are filled with thick, choking smoke and the stench of explosives. translation: there was a huge bang. it was deafening. i was sitting next toa it was deafening. i was sitting next to a metal railing and i think it saved my life. everyone was knocked in one direction by the blast. the emergency services were on the scene fast and from this underground hell, the wounded were helped to the surface and to safety. adding to their physical injuries was a deep

sense of shock at what had happened. a spokesman for russia's anti—terrorism committee said the train had been blown up by an unknown explosive device. special units of the security forces, he said, were being dispatched. be saint petersburg metro went into emergency lockdown. all passengers evacuated, all stations closed and searched. later, it was revealed that an explosive device had been discovered at another metro station in st petersburg. this one was made safe. it was confirmation today's explosion had been a deliberate attack. the russian president, vladimir putin, was in st petersburg today. he is meeting with the president of belarus which was overshadowed by the tragedy across town. the and special services will do all they could to find because of what happened, president putin said, and he promised support for the families of the victims. russia says

this was an act of terror, soul who carried it out? russia has made enemies with its bombing campaign in syria. in recent years, the country has been targeted by islamist terrorists. in 2015, a plane carrying russian holiday—makers was blown up over sinai, killing 217 passengers and crew. so—called islamic state said it planted the bomb. the russian president vladimir putin visited the metro station where the bomber‘s train had ended its journey and paid where the bomber‘s train had ended itsjourney and paid his respects. saint petersburg has declared three days of mourning. the metro is the lifeblood of this city. an act of terror on a train has left people here more violence. —— fearing more violence. vladimir putin has been meeting security officials here in

st petersburg as the investigation gets underway and tonight, there are reports in russian media that this attack may have been carried out by attack may have been carried out by a suicide bomber. those reports are unconfirmed. what i can confirm is that security has been tightened in st petersburg and across russia tonight. there have been several attacks on russia's transport systems in the last few years. a suicide bomb attack killed 27 people on high—speed train travelling from moscow to st petersburg in november 2009. a year later, two female suicide bombers attacked moscow's subway. at least 38 people died. a suicide bombing at one of moscow's airports killed 37 people and wounded 172 injanuary 2011. and two suicide bombings targeted the public transport system in the city of volgograd in december 2013, just weeks before the start of the winter olympics in sochi. 3a people were killed. we can now speak to vladislav inozemtsev, a russia expert from the john hopkins university in washington. thank you very much for your time.

what is your thinking on this? first of all, i would say it is a very sad story and brings grief on everyone who were suffering there. but what i can say first of all is that the terrorist attacks are now practised by islamic extremists all over the world, in europe, in russia, and i would say it is nothing. it's very strange to say, that is nothing unusual about this attacks are going on andi unusual about this attacks are going on and i think that whether russia intervened in syria or out of the country, these attacks would continue because the spread of islamic extremism and islamic idolatry is going on in north caucasus and central asia and russia is now getting a lot of migrants from all these regions, so i think this extremist wave can spread even more around the country. so how do

you think it will play with the russian public? how will they react? i would say that their reaction will be disbelief because, as you mentioned, many other attacks in 2009, 2010, 2011, they affected the society for several weeks, i would say. the government will use this event to strengthen rhetoric is an counterterrorist operations. but i wouldn't say that i expect that life in the country will change quite significantly. actually, it will be forgotten in several weeks if nothing like this happens once again. there are already suggestions on social media, which will have some from former service personnel, that this could be a false flag operation. what do you say to that? ido operation. what do you say to that? i do not think this is true because there were a lot of rumours about this about the 1999 bombings of moscow apartment buildings, but this

time the situation is different. britain will definitely run again in the 2018 election and he will definitely win these elections —— vladimir putin. so i do not see why the government or a secret services would have some kind of necessity in this type of operation. i doubt that it was a covert operation. ijust think it is a sign of insecurity in russian cities because the security infrastructure is quite poor. all of the advancements in securing underground stations was a money wasting enterprise. until now, the security standards in russia are actually low and i would even say that it actually low and i would even say thatitis actually low and i would even say that it is impossible to safeguard the metro stations. can you imagine anyone ina

the metro stations. can you imagine anyone in a big city with metal screenings at the entrance to the metro station? i have not seen this in paris or in vienna or in rome or in london. thank you very much indeed. there's more on the attack in st petersburg on our website, including analysis of who might be behind the blast, a breakdown of events as they happened and the latest pictures from the scene. that's at bbc.co.uk/news or download the bbc news app. in other news: following viole nt protests in paraguay, politicians say they'll delay a vote on a measure which would allow the president to stand for a second term in office. the protests on friday saw the congress building set alight and one demonstrator killed. iraqi forces say they've opened safe corridors in western mosul for civilians to flee the battle to drive is out of the city. some 400,000 civilians are estimated to remain in the western half of mosul. there's been growing concern over heavy civilian casualties during the government offensive

backed by air strikes from the us—led coalition. president trump's son—in—law, jared kushner, has met the iraqi prime minister in thdad. the us delegation receieved first—hand assessment of the battle against islamic state. their talks also focused on aiding civilians displaced by the fighting. standard & poor has lowered south africa's credit rating tojunk status. the ratings agency says its move was directly related to presidentjacob zuma's sacking of his well—respected finance minister, pravin gordhan, on thursday. south africa's parliament is considering holding a vote of no confidence in the president. after the mudslide in colombia which killed more than 250 people, there is now concern that disease could spread in the area. authorities are trying to bury bodies as quickly as possible, and the president says emergency water treatment plants will be set up. laura bicker has more from the city of mocoa. we've had the first of a funerals

we re we've had the first of a funerals were tiny flowers are carried with their heads bowed. as we came into their heads bowed. as we came into the town, there is a huge queue outside the cemetery with people with masks on because that is where they have the tough task of trying to identify their loved ones. the search and rescue teams have been working tirelessly to try and find anyone who may be left in the mud but for days, many of them have been tearing out that mother with their hands. it is now a coordinated effort but with each hour that goes by, iam effort but with each hour that goes by, i am sorry to say that the chances of finding anyone alive diminishes. this is one of the worst national disasters colombia has seen and it is an area very well used to disasters. the mountain you can hopefully see behind me has five rivers meeting and they had an unprecedented amount of rainfall.

the president is visiting here, his third day in a row. he is trying to talk to people here who are coming to terms with death who now need to prepare themselves for the prospect of disease. they are handing out sanitation kits to try to prevent the spread of disease because as you drive into the town, this now is horribly overpowering. as you can imagine, this is a town trying to come to terms with death and now has a more difficult prospect as they tried to bury those loved ones and come to terms with their loss. it's worth mentioning that while laura gave that report, she said on twitter that a small boy was tugging at her trousers throughout that report pleading, she says, for help. laura's posting more on the aftermath of the mudslide on social media. you can follow her on twitter @bbclbicker president donald trump has declared his strong support for the leadership of his egyptian counterpart abdel fattah al—sisi. he is first egyptian president

to visit the white house in nearly a decade after a difficult diplomatic relationship with the previous obama government. as they met in washington, mr trump said his administration would work with cairo to fight islamist militants. sarah corker reports. after yea rs of after years of being kept at arm ‘s length by washington, this meeting at the white house symbolises the egyptian leader coming in from the cold. president trump means to reset american ties with egypt rather strange times in the obama administration. we agree on so many things. i want everyone to know, in case there was any doubt, we are behind president sisi. he has done an excellent job in behind president sisi. he has done an excellentjob in a difficult situation. the two presidents vowed to work together to fight islamic militants. translation: since we met

last september, i have had a deep it admiration of your unique personality especially as you are standing very strongly in the counterterrorism field to counter the evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives. and outside the white house, there were competing demonstrations. supporters of mr sisi and those protesting about his violent crackdown on dissent. human rights watch says tens of thousands of people have been arrested in a purge of political opponents as 2013. president obama temporarily froze military aid to egypt. it was later reinstated. we want democracy! we want democracy! in cairo, the concern for normal egyptians is soaring food prices. some have gone up soaring food prices. some have gone up by soaring food prices. some have gone up by 40% in the last year as the

currency was no longer link to the us dollar. translation: one day we eat, and one day we don't. everybody is sick of it. i wish they would feed us. meanwhile, back in the us, mr sisi is believed to want an increase in the $1.3 billion a year his country gets in the us military aid as it fights so islamic state. egypt is one of washington's closest allies in the middle east. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... president trump's choice for the supreme court comes a step closer to having his nomination confirmed, paving the way for a battle with the democrats at friday's full senate vote. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: president putin has laid

flowers near the scene of the st petersburg metro blast — which killed 11 people. the authorities say it was a terrorist attack. authorities in colombia have declared a national emergency following the devastating mudslides. families are beginning to bury their dead — but hundreds of people are still missing. in washington, a congressional committee has approved the appointment of president trump's nominee for the supreme court. the nomination of neil gorsuch will now go to a full senate vote on friday. democrats have threatened to use a delaying tactic, known as a filibuster, to block the confirmation. republicans say would try to change the rules of friday's senate vote so that only a simple majority is needed. joining me now from new york is corey brettschneider, professor of political science at brown university. good to talk to you. this rule change, if it goes ahead, could later come back to bite the republicans, couldn't it? it could

have far—reaching effects. republicans, couldn't it? it could have far-reaching effects. yes, that is one incentive for the republicans in congress not to do this. at some point in the near future, they in congress not to do this. at some point in the nearfuture, they might find themselves in the minority and this would really impedes their ability to stop nominees that they disagreed with. so what goes around comes around and they might think twice. john mccain says he will vote for the rules change to confirm real gore such but he says it is the beginning of the end of the senate. he believes it is a slippery slope to the legislative filibuster being eliminated two. what is the importance of that? bay prize not only deliberation and recent interaction but also as much as possible consensus and this is essentially giving up on that possibility. if they are unable to reach consensus about nominees, the worry is they will find the same when it comes to legislation. and if in the future a minority party will have just little or no say in

whether a particular nominee is appointed, could that lead to much more radical nominees?” appointed, could that lead to much more radical nominees? i think one possibility. all of a sudden, there would no be a need for compromise so the parties might find that they can go for whatever they most desire, including nominees that support an extreme wing of the party. that is certainly a possibility. briefly, if you could, what do you make of the democrat's assertion that gorsuch is trying to mask his real agenda when he was giving answers to questions before, that he is less moderate that he appears? i found it impossible to understand what he was doing a side from giving factual descriptions of cases he was asked about hisjudicial descriptions of cases he was asked about his judicial philosophy as outlined in a substantial book that he wrote on issues of life and death and assisted suicide and he refused to a nswer and assisted suicide and he refused to answer and so i think that

inability to discern his views on whether they had changed frustrated the democrats. it was difficult to find out what his views were by watching him. and a yes or no, if you would, is he still certain for thejob? you would, is he still certain for the job? i don't think so. there is a real question about whether this isa a real question about whether this is a bluff. the odds are that the democrats will go through with this, thatis democrats will go through with this, that is a serious change in the seminal and that is a serious change in the seminalandi that is a serious change in the seminal and i think they would do well to think twice about it. thank you very much indeed. my pleasure. it's been just over a year since china abandoned its controversial one—child policy, because of concerns about its increasingly elderly population, and the decline in numbers of those of working age. it appears to be having the desired effect, with nearly 18 million births last year. that's an increase of nearly 8% on 2015, the last year before the policy changed. and nearly half of those births were to mothers who already have at least one child. there has been a rise in older

mothers who had stored their eggs centre—mac after fertility treatment, and are centre—mac now keen to have biggerfamilies. heartbeat of an imminent arrival, a last ultrasound scan for a 48—year—old mother—to—be. she had herfirst child through fertility treatment — 16 years ago. the hospital kept her frozen embryos, and now that china's one child policy has become a two child policy, she's about to have her second miracle baby. more good news — it's a boy. she tells me she's thrilled. she's got a daughter already and would be happy with another, but the in—laws want a grandson. a two child family is still a great novelty here, so a big fuss at the clinic for a special visitor. especially as this miracle

was conceived here in a petri dish, and frozen as an embryo for years, until china's policy changed and she could become somebody‘s little sister. translation: as soon as i heard about the policy change, i was terribly excited. i ran to the hospital immediately. my second child had been frozen there for too long. i couldn't wait to take her home. not everyone is so lucky. this lady is desperate to have a second child, but there are questions over whether her embryos are viable. translation: i only have three embryos left and the doctor says one is good, one is average and one is poor, but i'm staying optimistic. i hope heaven will give me this gift. blessings born from frozen embryos.

many of them second children, after last year's policy change. older mothers with fertility problems are now suddenly at an advantage, because they have frozen embryos to fall back on, where other older women don't. she's been told no man will ever love her — she's even lost some friends because of her choice of sport. uganda's irene kasuubo is one of very few women taking body—building seriously. a woman is a woman and she can't do this or that, but as me, i say no. many women fear it. they fear to

change their bodies and they like it. i don't like it, i don't want that flat body. i was scared of her body. at first, i used to be shy but now, i'm not shy any more. i'm still a woman, but i've changed a bit. i have some muscles and i had to reduce the friends i had because even other friends don't like me, especially girls. they are like, irene, you are changing your body! i don't like it, you're like a man. but i my body and they're alike, no! no man will love you. you're like a man. and i'm like, i don't entertain

such comments because i want what i am right now. i have few friends now. i can do what a man can do, i can do what i feel in my heart. i'm still a woman. i got through and i experienced each and every a woman can experience in her life. before we go, i look at some spectacular pictures. south korea's tallest building, the 123—story lotte world tower has officially opened in seoul. an enormous fireworks display from the skyscraper itself accompanied by music on the opening night. and to top it off there was a simultanious laser show. a total of about 30,000 rounds of fireworks lit up seoul's night time sky. thank you for watching. morning. we have some rain working

its way over on the west but before we ta ke its way over on the west but before we take a look at that, let's look back at some of the highlights of monday. it beautiful weather watcher‘s pictures sent in from cambridge. a lovely afternoon and we so high is but the storm clouds gathered in argyll & bute. very atmospheric shot here and that's because the rain arrived from the west. it is very fragmented and it's moving somewhat erratically eastwards over the next few hours, perhaps sitting towards dawn in the south—east corner. behind it, some clearer skies, a fresh start to the day across scotland and northern ireland. more cloud into the south west and for wales the odd spot or two of rain at eight o'clock in the morning. the bulk of the rain probably sitting across the south course tap into oxfords, east anglia. even then, it will be fairly light and well fragmented. further north, lots of cloud with early

morning mist and mark perhaps. decent spells of sunshine for northern ireland and scotland. more ofa northern ireland and scotland. more of a breeze into the far north and west and that could continue to drift in one or two showers to the western isles. that wind will take the edge of things, particularly on exposed coast but the sunshine will break to across north—west england, wales and the south—west by the end of the day. perhaps as the midlands and eastern england staying cloudy and eastern england staying cloudy and again, still with the odd spot or two of rain. temperatures more subdued it down into the south—east. highs of 15 degrees. elsewhere eight or as highs of 15 degrees. elsewhere eight orasa highs of 15 degrees. elsewhere eight or as a daytime maximum. if you are heading off to premiership matches in the evening, i do not think you will be disappointed with this story. it pmk castle of these the dark, but cloud remaining well broken. not too cold. a similar story but perhaps with wins in scotla nd story but perhaps with wins in scotland and that will make it feel a bit chubbier. it will be dry and thatis a bit chubbier. it will be dry and that is the most important thing. high pressure stays with us through

the middle of the week. weather fronts toppling over the top of that high and it will continue to stay quite windy in scotland. on wednesday, we could seek deals or severe gales to the extreme north and a scattering of showers. some quite heavy. elsewhere, we see decent spells of sunshine. some fair weather cloud in the afternoon and temperatures pegged back a little but nevertheless, between eight and 14 but nevertheless, between eight and 11! degrees as the high. not too bad. asimilar 11! degrees as the high. not too bad. a similar story for the end of the working week. bursting into friday a lwa ys working week. bursting into friday always darting off relatively sunny with a bit of cloud into the afternoon. the latest headlines from bbc

news... president putin has declared

three days of mourning and laid flowers near the scene of the st petersburg metro blast. it killed 11 people and left more than forty injured. investigators are treating the blast as a terrorist act. russian security services remain on high alert. in colombia, funerals have been taking place of victims of the mudslide in the city of mocoa. more than 250 people are now confirmed dead. residents of the city remain without water and electricity. officials are handing out sanitation kits, warning of a risk of the spread of disease. president trump meets his egyptian counterpart and declares a "reboot" in relations. abdel fattah al—sisi is the first egyptian president to visit the white house in nearly a decade after a difficult diplomatic relationship with the previous obama government. time now for hardtalk.