welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. 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. there was a huge bang. 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. as colombians begin to bury their dead, the authorities declare a national emergency, but hundreds are still missing. a warm welcome at the white house. president trump meets his egyptian counterpart and declares a reboot in relations. 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 what authorities believe was a bomb attack on the metro in st petersburg, russia's second city and president putin's hometown. local media are reporting the suspect is from central asia. the explosion happened in a train carriage 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. the bbc‘s steve rosenberg is in the city. well, two million people use the st petersburg metro every day. the city relies on this underground but earlier today, a train left the metro station behind me, entered the tunnel and was hit 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 filled with thick, choking smoke and the stench of explosives. translation: there was a huge bang. 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. the 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. his meeting with the president of belarus was overshadowed by the tragedy across town. the police 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, so 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 his respects. st 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 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 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. earlier, i spoke to vladislav inozemtsev — a russia analyst from thejohns hopkins university in washington.

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's nothing... it's very strange to hear, but it's nothing unusual that these 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 ideology is going on in caucuses, in north caucuses and central asia, and russia is now getting a lot of migrants from all those 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 this reaction will be a little bit short—lived because, as you mentioned, several other attacks in 2009, 2010, 2011, they affected the society quite fearfully butjust for several weeks, i would say.

and, of course, the government will use this event to strengthen his rhetoric on counterterrorist operations, but i wouldn't say that i expect life in the country to change quite significantly. no, actually, it will be forgotten in several weeks if nothing happens like this once again. 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.com/news let's round—up some of the other main stories: 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 baghdad. the us delegation receieved first—hand assessment of the battle against islamic state. their talks also focused on aiding civilians displaced by the fighting. 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. 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. just near here, as we were coming into the town, there's a huge queue 0n.

just near here, as we were coming into the town, there's a huge queue outside the cemetery, with people with masks on, because that's where they have the tough task of trying to identify their loved ones. the search and rescue teams have been working tirelessly to try to find anyone who may be left in the mud, but for days many of them have been tearing at the mud with their hands. it's now a co—ordinated effort but, with each hour that goes by, i'm sorry to say, the chances of finding anyone alive diminishes. this is one of the worst natural disasters colombia has seen, and it's an area very well used to disasters. the mountain you can hopefully see behind me, there are five rivers coming together and they have an unprecedented amount of rainfall. president santos 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. as you drive into the town the smell is horribly overpowering. so, as you can imagine, this is a town trying to come to terms with death, and now has a more difficult prospect as they try to bury their loved ones and come to terms with their loss. just an indication of how desperate people are getting there, laura said on twitter that just out people are getting there, laura said on twitter thatjust out of shot in that report, a small boy was pleading for help and tugging on her trousers. laura's posting more on the aftermath of the mudslide on social media. you can follow her on twitter @bbclbicker 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 they could try to change the rules of friday's senate vote so that only a simple majority is needed. earlier i spoke to corey breittschneider, who's a professor of political science at brown university. he told me this rule change could have far—reaching effects. yes, i mean, that's one incentive i think for the republicans in congress not to do this. at some point in the near future, they congress not to do this. at some point in the nearfuture, they might find themselves in the minority on it 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 is saying he will vote for the rules change to confirm neil gorsuch but he says it is the beginning of the end of the senate. he believes it is a slippery slope to the legislative phyllis just being eliminated two. what is the significance of that? the senate

prize not only deliberation and reasons interaction but also as much as passable consensus. this is essentially giving up on that possibility. if they are unable to reach consensus aboutjudicial nominees, the worry is they will find the same when it comes to legislation. and if in the future, a minority party will have little or no say in whether a particular nominee is appointed, could that lead to much more radical nominees? i think that is one possibility, that all of a sudden there is no need for compromise and so you might find that parties can go for who ever they most desire, including nominees that is about one of the extreme wings of the parties. that is certainly a possibility. briefly if you could, what you make of the democrat's assertion that gorsuch massed his real agenda when he was giving answers to questions before, that he is much less moderate than

he appeared? i found it impossible to understand what he was doing aside from giving factual descriptions of cases. he was asked about his philosophy as outlined in about his philosophy as outlined in a fight substantial book he wrote about issues of life and death and assisted suicide and he refused to answer. so i think that to discern his views on whether they had changed frustrated the democrats. it was very hard to figure out what is actual views were by watching him. just yes or no, if you could, he is still quite certain for the job, isn't he? i don't think so. there is a real about whether the stoop love and the republicans are going to go through with it. the odds are that they will and it is significant change and i think they would do well to think twice about it. president trump has signed a law repealing us broadband privacy rules that were introduced by his predecessor barack 0bama.

the law was narrowly passed by congress last week despite strong opposition from democrats. it overturns federal regulations requiring internet service providers to obtain customers' permission to use and share personal health, finances, location and social security numbers. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we speak to the mysterious "grammar vigilante" who goes out, under cover of darkness correcting mistakes on street signs and shop fronts. 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. president donald trump has declared his strong support

for the leadership of his egyptian counterpart abdel fattah al—sisi. he is the first egyptian president to visit the white house in nearly a decade after a difficult diplomatic relationship with the previous 0bama government. as they met in washington, mr trump said his administration would work with cairo to fight islamist militants. sarah corker reports. 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 after strained ties in the 0bama administration. we agree on so many things. i want everyone to know, in case there was any doubt, we are behind president al—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

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 since 2013. president 0bama temporarily froze military aid to egypt. it was later reinstated. we want democracy! but in cairo, the concern for normal egyptians is 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. 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.

as our china editor carrie gracie reports, there has been a notable rush of older mothers, who had stored their embryos after fertility treatment, and are now keen to have bigger families. 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. 0lder 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. back home and getting ready for the new arrival. baby clothes from the first time round, 16 years ago. hospital bag ready for the birth, and she's already decided if the two child policy becomes a three child policy, she'll go for a third. theresa may has laughed off

suggestions that giving spain any agreement over gibraltar during the brexit investigation could lead to war. it was included in a draft position on exit talks with britain. we are talking to the rest of the eu, starting the rest of the negotiations and ensuring that at the end of those negotiations, we see a result that will be in the interests of the uk and gibraltar but also will be in the interest of the 27 member states of the eu as well. if you're the kind of person who grits their teeth when you see a grammatical error, here's just the story for you. it's been rumoured for years that somebody in the british city of bristol goes out under cover of darkness correcting mistakes on street signs and shop fronts. jon kay has managed to track down the mysterious individual who describes himself as a "grammar vigilante". he's the back—seat of bad

punctuation. roaming the streets of bristol, righting wrongs.|j punctuation. roaming the streets of bristol, righting wrongs. i am a grammarof bristol, righting wrongs. i am a grammar of vigilante. i have been doing it for quite a lot of years now. i think it is a cause worth pursuing. at home, he makes sticky punctuation marks. i'm trying to match the colour of the' that is needed on the shop. he has even invented a tool that he calls an' eyes to reach the highest sign. that has worked perfectly. you apply the roly—poly and here. has worked perfectly. you apply the roly-poly and here. by day, he's a highly qualified professional. 0nly his family know what he gets up to after dark. i have felt extremely nervous. the heart has been something. he started his campaign 13 years ago. this was the first sign he tackled, amy's nails. the'

deleted. elsewhere, he has added them, leaving his mark all over bristol. there will be some people, maybe the owners of these shops who will say, you do not have permission, we have not asked you to do this. this is vandalism. what would you say to them?|j do this. this is vandalism. what would you say to them? i would say to them, it is more of a crime to have' is incorrect in the first place. there is one sign he has been desperate to correct for years. cambridge motors, mortars with anna ‘s. cambridge motors, mortars with anna 's. this is not meant to be like this. it needs sorted out. it is right outside bristol prison. but using a purpose—built trestle, he climbs up, cut a piece of yellow sticky back plastic to size and cove rs sticky back plastic to size and covers the rule'. notice anything? what to businesses that? it's good to see people still caring about

english grammar, isn't it? when you go past a sign that you've corrected and you know that you've made it... the words you are looking for is pride. it mixed my heart swell when i see the correct punctuation. 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. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. thank you for watching. come again. morning. we've got some rain working

its way in from the west but before we ta ke we take a look at that, let's look back at some of the highlights of monday. a beautiful weather watcher‘s pictures sent in from cambridgeshire, a lovely afternoon and we saw highs here of 18 degrees but the storm clouds gathered in argyll & bute. a very atmospheric shot here and that's because the rain arrived from the west. it is fairly fragmented and it's moving somewhat erratically eastwards over the next few hours, perhaps getting towards dawn in the south—east corner. behind it, clearersties, a fresh start for the day across scotla nd fresh start for the day across scotland and northern ireland. more clouds into the south west and wales with the odd spot or two of rain is at eight o'clock in the morning. the bulk of the rain probably sitting across the south west and up it is angrier. even then, liked and well

fragmented. further north, cloud, missed and mark perhaps. decent spells of sunshine for northern spells of sunshine for northern ireland and scotland. more of a breeze in the north and west and that could continue to drift in one or two showers during the northern and western isles and that window will just take the and western isles and that window willjust take the edge of things, i suspect, especially on exposed coasts. the are tribal breakthrough across north—west england, wales and the south—west by the end of the day. perhaps the midlands and eastern england staying quite cloudy and, again, with the odd spot or two of rain and temperatures are little more subdued into the south—east. highs of 15. elsewhere eight to 13 or 1a as highs of 15. elsewhere eight to 13 or14asa highs of 15. elsewhere eight to 13 or 1a as a daytime maximum. if you are going to be premiership matches, idle that you will be disappointed. eight o'clock kick—off so it will be dark but the cloud remains broken. not too cold, 8—10 celsius. it could be windy in scotland and that will make it feel a bit chilly but 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 with us through the middle of the week. weatherfronts toppling over the top of that high and it will continue to stay quite windy in scotland. in fact, continue to stay quite windy in scotland. infact, on continue to stay quite windy in scotland. in fact, on wednesday, we could see gales or extreme deals to the north and some of them quite a heavy showers into the far north—west. elsewhere, starting with decent spells of sunshine, some fair weather clouds bubbling up in the afternoon and temperatures pegged back a little but never the less, 844°c back a little but never the less, 8—1ii°c beehive. that is not too bad. asimilar 8—1ii°c beehive. that is not too bad. a similar story for the end of the working week. starting off relatively sunny, some clouds 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

which killed 11 people and injured more than a0. investigators believe it was a terrorist act. a second device was found and defused at a second station. in the colombian city of mocoa, funerals have been held for victims of the mudslide which killed at least 250 people. residents are still without water and electricity. officials are handing out sanitation kits and warning of the risk of disease. president trump has extended a warm welcome at the white house to egypt's leader, and declared a "reboot" in relations. abdel fattah al—sisi is the first egyptian president to visit the white house in nearly a decade. it was a difficult diplomatic relationship with the 0bama administration. much more for you any time on the bbc website. four men and a woman have appeared in court charged in connection with an attack on a teenage asylum seeker in croydon in south london.