this is bbc news — i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as russia advances on ukraine's eastern donbas region, the us and britain say chemical weapons may have been used by russian forces attacking the southern port city of mariupol. more evidence emerges of sexual violence against ukrainian women at the hands of russian forces — we have a special report. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape along with her child. she called the ukrainian police and gave them her testimony. she said she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. at least 25 people have died

in landslides and floods that have hit the philippines. the us state department orders its non—emergency consular staff in shanghai to leave, as a strict covid lockdown brings increasing hardship. and back in court for a blockbuster defamation case, asjohnny depp�*s trial against his ex—wife amber heard begins in the united states. the us and uk governments are investigating reports that chemical weapons have been used by russia in the besieged southern ukrainian port of mariupol. in his nightly address, ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky urged the west to do all it could to deter the kremlin from using such weapons. elsewhere, officials in the eastern ukrainian region

of luhansk say russian tanks have started advancing for a renewed assault. mark lobel has the latest. a playground turn battleground in ukraine's east web pro—russian troops claim to be liberating ukrainians held hostage. ukraine says russian tanks have begun advancing towards the eastern donbas region for a renewed offensive. as battle rages in the besieged city of mariupol, ukraine's azov regiment says russian drones have dropped chemicals causing breathing problems and vertical like symptoms after a probe might russian military spokesman threatened smoking out ukrainian defenders of a steel plant there. as britain's foreign secretary seeks to verify the claims, she says putin would be held to account for any callous escalation of this conflict. as the war

approaches its eighth week, ukraine's deputy prime minister claims more than 500 female ukrainian civilians are in russian prisons. ukrainian civilians are in russian risons. �* ,, �* russian prisons. translation: they shave _ russian prisons. translation: they shave their _ russian prisons. translation: they shave their heads, - russian prisons. translation: they shave their heads, they . they shave their heads, they check them every day, forcing them to undress and get naked. they humiliate their human dignity. i know fact of ray, i saw signs that they had been beaten. so we have to act, we have to be strong and durable, we need to understand that the absolute evil is working against us. it's the evil that feeds on weakness.- against us. it's the evil that feeds on weakness. other 's reaction as _ feeds on weakness. other 's reaction as were _ feeds on weakness. other 's reaction as were some's - feeds on weakness. other 's i reaction as were some's bodies recovered in front of her eyes close to kyiv. germany, the netherlands and hayne have pledged $2.7 million towards

the international criminal court's ongoing investigation into possible war crimes in ukraine. russia has reportedly criticised it as partial as alleged evidence mounts up. it's the direct impacts of the violence. when manuel was speaking at the europe security council told the story of a little boy four years old he was shot in the stomach trying to live with his family. i met one boy who lost his mother and landmine accident, he was in the vehicle at the same time. hundreds more small explosive devices are being discovered in residential areas such as hearing kharkiv, landing as people slip. in this relentless war where the fighting never stops. mark lobel, bbc news. as more russian forces head to the east of the country for a major new offensive, horrors are being uncovered in the villages and towns close to the capital in the north,

that they used to control. there are repeated stories of violence against women — in particular of soldiers using rape as a weapon of war. sharing these stories is important as it shines a light on claims of abuses, and gives a voice to the victims of this war. our correspondent yogita limaye has been speaking to some of those affected, and a warning that her report does contain material you may find upsetting, including descriptions of sexual violence. a quiet rural neighbourhood, shattered by barbaric violence. in a village west of kyiv, a first—hand account of rape by invading soldiers. when we started talking to this woman, we didn't know what we were about to hear. we are hiding her identity to protect her. translation: a soldier entered our house. - my husband and i were there.

at gunpoint, he took me to a neighbouring house. he was ordering me, "take your clothes off or i'll shoot you." then he started raping me. while he was doing that, four more soldiers entered. i thought i was done for, but they took him away. she returned home to find her husband shot in the abdomen. he died two days later. she buried him in the backyard. i found drugs and viagra that they left behind. they would get high and they were drunk. most of the invading soldiers are killers, rapists and looters. only a few are ok. i want to ask putin, "why is this happening?" i don't understand. we are not living in the stone age. just up the road, we heard

of another rape case. it is being investigated by the police. this is the house a woman was taken to and assaulted. upstairs, the bedroom where she was later killed. it's a disturbing scene. on the mirror, a message in lipstick. "tortured by unknown people, buried by russian soldiers", it says. out in the garden, we were shown her grave. a day after we went, ukrainian police exhumed her body. the note, we are told, was left by a separate unit of russians who found her body and buried her here. they later told a neighbour about the dead woman. translation: they told me

she had been raped and that her throat was either slit or stabbed, and she bled to death. they said there was a lot of blood. we travelled 70 miles east to another village, to what used to be the home of a family. a couple in their 30s, and their young child. signs of their peaceful, ordinary life lie amidst the ruins. on the 9th of march, russian tanks rolled in. two soldiers shot the man dead. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape, along with her child. she called the ukrainian police and she has given them her testimony. she has told them she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. and she said they threatened

to kill her little boy, too, if she didn't do exactly as they said. as the soldiers left, they burned down the house. the police chief has told us they have gathered evidence and plan to go to the international court. in kyiv, we met ukraine's human rights ombudsman, lyudmyla denisova, who has been recording rape cases. translation: about 25 girls and women, aged 14-24, - were raped during the occupation, in the basement of one house in bucha. nine of them are pregnant. a 25—year—old woman called to tell us her 16—year—old sister was raped in this street in front of her. to calculate the number of such sexual crimes is impossible

at the moment, because not everyone has come to us. among the people we met, there is no relief that the russians have gone, because they have left behind deeply wounded lives that might never recover. yogita limaye, bbc news, kyiv. let's get some of the day's other news. the white house says president biden used an hour—long video conversation with the indian prime minister to emphasise it was not in delhi's interest to increase its imports of energy from russia. mr biden told narendra modi the us stood ready to help india diversify its energy imports. the government in delhi has so far declined to impose sanctions or criticise russia's invasion of ukraine directly. the prime minister of sri lanka, mahinda rajapaksa,

says his country has reached a decisivejuncture and called for patience as protests continue over the government's handling of the economic crisis. in a televised address, mr rajapaksa said the unrest was harming the economy. emmanuel macron and marine lepen have begun the next round of their campaigns ahead of the french election. i saw of other candidates to go head—to—head on the 24th of april. mr macron easily beat ms lepen when they faced each other in 2017. a stringent covert lockdown in shanghai has seen american governmental staff instructed to leave. the instructions were issued despite the authorities announcing a plan to ease some restrictions. video posted in

recent days on social media shows angry residents saying that after three weeks of lot down, they are running out of food and other basics. our correspondent stephen mcdonelljoins me from beijing. it's been a long time and many of those in the town have not been unwell, they haven't got covid. you can really since the frustrations.— frustrations. absolutely. the main problem, _ frustrations. absolutely. the main problem, apart- frustrations. absolutely. the main problem, apart from i frustrations. absolutely. the . main problem, apart from being locked down, is that there isn't enough food, there are not enough provisions being delivered. the real problem seems to be that there are not a life delivery drivers who are outside of lot down and when the authorities decided to lockdown a city of 25 million people, you would think you would kind of organise that c have police and other emergency workers stop if you're going to feed that many people, tens of

millions of people, you've got to get the food to the house so perhaps they should have organised the delivery drivers in that way. there is however a bit of a glimmer of hope today. finally today the numbers have come down ever so slightly and i will give them to you. in terms of daily symptomatic infections, meaning you have to go to hospital, yesterday, 1318 people in shanghai, today 994. asymptomatic, but you can still have symptoms, just not very serious symptoms, that means you have to go to an isolation centre but not a hospital so in shanghai yesterday, 25,037 shanghai yesterday, 25, 037 people, shanghai yesterday, 25,037 people, today, 22,384. they are still big numbers but if you are living in shanghai, you'd be happy to see it slightly come down and hope it doesn't come down and hope it doesn't come back up tomorrow. one official in the city is predicted that within ten days,

there will be no more infections other than people already in centralised isolation. when there are tens of thousands of new infections, it is hard to see that so we will have to c. in it is hard to see that so we will have to c.— will have to c. in the meantime, - will have to c. in the meantime, have - will have to c. in the | meantime, have they will have to c. in the - meantime, have they ease restrictions slightly because of these videos that have gone viral on social media and elsewhere people expressing their frustrations, elsewhere people expressing theirfrustrations, people shouting out of their windows from their apartments, that kind of thing. the authorities tried to give people a bit of hope, i guess. tried to give people a bit of hope, iguess. if tried to give people a bit of hope, i guess. if your housing community can go for two weeks without a case, you are given some sort of extra freedom. you can't go wherever you like, you can't go wherever you like, you can move around the streets in your neighbourhood. some have already said they were let out and within half—an—hour, a case was discovered and they were all brought back again. there

are not a lot of people who are making the most of this so far but making that announcement was a response to people's anxiety and on a big level, if you look at the whole of china, china's number two leader. everything, you lockdown the financial capital. and all around the country there are local areas, they don't want people to come into the area. you can't do that. trucks delivering items all over the country not able to get through. there must be a huge impact on reality looming for the chinese economy. all along, the chinese economy. all along, the chinese economy. all along, the chinese government is saying not going to change the

zero covid approach, other cities will be long locked down. maybe beijing in a month, who knows? stay with us on bbc news, still to come: back in court for a blockbuster defamation case, asjohnny depp's trial against his ex—wife amber heard begins in the united states. super pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders

have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world—best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. as russia advances on ukraine's eastern donbas region, the us and britain say chemical weapons may have been used by russian forces in mariupol. the bbc has uncovered more evidence of sexual violence against ukrainian women at the hands of russian forces. in the philippines,

at least 25 people have died in landslides and floods caused by tropical storm megi which hit the country's eastern and southern regions on monday. authorities say they've recovered 25 bodies so far. let's go live now to our correspondent in the philippines, howard johnson. howard, tell us more? this troical howard, tell us more? this tropical storm _ howard, tell us more? this tropical storm has - howard, tell us more? this tropical storm has taken i howard, tell us more? ti 3 tropical storm has taken many by surprise because it was at the lowest level, signal one, the lowest level, signal one, the not that concerned about it, but it's a very precipitous storm, we have seen some parts, nearly 300 millimetres of rain dumped on areas, the wind is not that high, not like other storms we see better houses, this is about dumping incessant rain, since sunday it's been doing that. on social media streams inundated with water, land slides and the lady and cmr area and baybay city badly

affected, 20 people died when there were landslides there and this is an area prone to land slides. it's come during holy week when families would go back to the provinces to celebrate with loved ones but at the moment many people are stranded at ports, because there is no see traffic at the moment, that's been restricted because of the conditions. many people are reaching out on social media saying they need aid and they need support. thousands and thousands have had to leave their homes because of these landslides and the danger it still presents? it is estimated 135,000 people have been affected, 13,000 at evacuation centres, let's not forget this area was badly hit by super typhoon rai, devastating large tracts of the philippine and some two point 4 million people affected by that according to the national federation for the red cross,

those people were stilljust rebuilding their lives when the storm came along which people were taken by surprise just like iphone right and people in these evacuation centres it's expected to leave the philippines and the length —— last 24—hour is, and people will be hoping it moves out, as quickly as possible. let's get all the latest sports news now. this is your sports news where we start with tennis and 9th seeded italianjannik sinner is through to the second round of the monte carlo masters. he didn't have it all his own way though as he needed three sets to get past a dogged borna corcic. the croatian struck back to win the second set and level the match — in the end, the pressure told on the 25 year old — sinner claimed the final set and a 6—3, 2—6, 6—3 win and a place in the last 32. top seed novak djokovic enters the fray in monte carlo on tuesday when he plays

the spaniard alejandro davidovich fokina as he begins his quest for a record—extending 38th masters series title. on monday, djokovic met up with another sporting superstar — the brazilian footballer, neymar. paris saint—germain�*s early exit from the champions league gave neymar and team—mate marco verratti the chance to pop down to monte carlo to watch the tennis — and to play football with djokovic. and there's someone else looking forward to meeting djokovic in monte carlo — spain's number 8 seed, and recent winner of the miami masters, carlos alcaraz. looking for the first round, but obviously, it will be a good match against novak, play against the number one player of the world, is amazing for me. but, how to play well on the first round, how to beat him in the world finals? now to football where chelsea are in the spanish

capital later as they try to keep their champions league hopes alive. the blues are 3—1 down to real madrid and thomas tuchel�*s side will need something special in their quarter final second leg in the bernabeu if they're to continue their defence of the title. not the biggest chance, given the first game results, and given the competition, and the opponent, and the stadium we play in, but, we never, we never manage our input and our effort on our belief, by the chances we have for a result, we never did, and we will not start tomorrow. by giving less, because it's very unlikely that we make it. bayern munich are at home to villarreal in their quarter final second leg looking to overcome a 1—0 deficit. the spaniards held the six—time champions at bay and the home side will hope polish striker robert lewandowski,

a target of barcelona, will help reignite their campaign. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, and the rest of the team, that's your sports news for now. a libel case �*brought by the hollywood actor johnny depp against his former wife amber heard — will start hearing evidence today. the latest legal battle between the pair results from an article she wrote about domestic abuse, although he wasn't specifically named, depp said it implied that he was an abuser. our entertainment correspondent david sillito reports from the us state of virginia, where the trial is taking place. fairfax, virginia and the fans arriving for the beginning of this court case, betweenjohnny depp and his former wife, amber heard. the heart of this libel trial allegations of repeated assault. this is of course the

second time they have met in court, arguing the issue, it was in the sum of 2020 johnny depp tried to sue the sun after an allegation he was a wifebeater. he lost the case, the judge wifebeater. he lost the case, thejudge ruling wifebeater. he lost the case, the judge ruling the wifebeater. he lost the case, thejudge ruling the claim wifebeater. he lost the case, the judge ruling the claim was substantially true, johnny depp said thejudgement was substantially true, johnny depp said the judgement was perverse and brill building. two accounts of a marriage that are diametrically opposed from the previousjudgement diametrically opposed from the previous judgement was overwhelmingly previousjudgement was overwhelmingly in previous judgement was overwhelmingly in the favour of amber heard. so this, second attempt to try to restore a reputation, and thejury attempt to try to restore a reputation, and the jury today been told to tell their families they could be here for seven weeks. forjohnny depp thejudgement in london had an immediate impact, he was dropped on the fantastic beasts movie, but many of his fans have remained loyal. hopefully, 'ust bein: have remained loyal. hopefully, just being here, _ have remained loyal. hopefully, just being here, knowing - have remained loyal. hopefully, just being here, knowing we - have remained loyal. hopefully, just being here, knowing we are supporting him, that we care enough to show up, and make plans for this kind of thing,

will encourage him, and support him, to go through this ordeal. and for amber heard who did not namejohnny depp in the article in question and the washington post, another long court case, challenge in her account of suffering abuse and assault. david stiletto, bbc news. britney spears has announced she is pregnant, months after she escaped the legal arrangement that gave her father control over many aspects of her life. the singer told her 40 million instagram followers she was having a baby with partner sam asghari. the 40—year—old, who has two teenage sons, also revealed she suffered depression during a previous pregnancy said she "won't be going out much" following her announcement. we will bring you all the top business stories next on bbc

news. including a lookahead to some key economic data coming out of the uk and us, or that to come, i'll see you in a moment. hello there. it was a much milder start monday morning, largely frost—free, as it will be again this morning. and that's because we've changed the wind direction. they're coming in off the atlantic, they are gathered around an area of low pressure, which means we are pulling in more cloud and showery rain, as well. but it will at least stay relatively mild, if not warm in the sunshine as we saw on monday night, 19 celsius in heathrow. but lots of heavy showers have been gathering towards the south through the night. there could be some rumbles of thunder, patchy rain heading its way northwards elsewhere, and that's why we are seeing our temperatures holding up. the winds starting to ease, so it won't be as windy on tuesday, and we've still got this onshore breeze for the east of scotland, the northern isles — so quite chilly here, but it shouldn't be as chilly for the eastern side of england, but as you can see,

we've got showers and longer spells of rain, some of them heavy, some of them thundery pushing their way northwards and eastwards through the day. where we see some sunshine, temperatures will lift above average, particularly for england and wales. 18—20 celsius possibly across the east anglian region in the southeast, but for most, temperatures a little bit above par, except where we have the more persistent rain, which is likely to continue its journey northwards then through tuesday night into wednesday. eventually, the milder air reaches the northern isles, and again, it looks like a relatively mild start to wednesday, but misty and murky in places. we could have some patches of fog around tuesday as well as wednesday, which will take their time to break up. and then it's more likely to be a day of sunny spells and scattered showers, so perhaps a bit more sunshine on offer. but again, like we will see on tuesday, pollen levels pretty high, and temperatures getting into the high teens more widely as well further north, it will feel warmer, i think, across scotland and northern ireland on wednesday. come thursday, we've got another weather system starting to work its way in from the west ahead of that early morning mist and fog taking the time to break up.

but again, temperatures 15—19 celsius, and that's above average for this time of year. and then further ahead into the easter weekend, that weather system weakens as it works eastwards because it's working into high pressure. so it's how established that high—pressure becomes, really, this weekend, how good it is at keeping our weather fronts at bay. there is still a little bit of uncertainty, as you can see, with low pressure close by to the west later on into the easter weekend. but at the moment, for many, there will be some warmth around, often dry and bright, but we do need to keep an eye on that one. do stay tuned.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the cost of living is soaring — but what about wages — we'll find out how pay increases compare in the uk in the coming hours. and while prices are rising fast over here, they're rising even faster in the us where the latest inflation numbers are out today and markets are on edge. no refresh of the rules for fresh food leaving dover for france. the environment secretary says it's not realistic to prioritise perishable goods. and get ready for the rise of the robot worker — we look at how the pandemic has led to a rise in the number

of computerised colleagues