this is bbc news. our top stories: russia resumes missile attacks near kyiv. moscow says it targetted a factory making anti—ship —— moscow says it targeted a factory making anti—ship weapons and threatens more to come. russia warns the us and its allies against supplying further weapons, saying it's adding fuel to the conflict. disaster teams in south africa are on high alert for further floods as more rain is expected over the weekend. china carries out military exercises near taiwan at the same time as a group of us lawmakers visit taipei. and finding peace on the pitch — how football is helping some children cope with the trauma of war.

hello and welcome to the programme. russia has threatened to intensify attacks on the ukrainian capital kyiv if its territory is targeted further. tensions have risen since the russian naval vessel moskva sank on thursday. it was the flagship of the russian naval fleet in the black sea. moscow claims the sinking was caused by a fire but ukraine insists it hit the vessel with missiles. a weapons factory near kyiv has already been partially destroyed in a russian attack. our correspondent yogita limaye reports from the ukrainian capital. this was the moskva, russia's prized warship in the black sea. it's now sunk. ukraine says its missiles hit the vessel. russia says a fire

caused the ship to sink. it's a humiliating loss for the country and one of the biggest such incidents since world war ii. in what is being seen as retaliation, russia's defence ministry shared this video, saying it had launched an attack on a military facility outside ukraine's capital. the russian rocket hit the target — a missile factory now destroyed. russia has threatened more strikes on kyiv if ukraine continues to attack its territory. sirens wail. after the relative silence of two weeks since russian forces withdrew from kyiv, air raid sirens continued to ring from night into the morning. yuri gladchenko lives near the site of the attack.

translation: | woke up i to the sound of an explosion at just past 1am. my house shook like there was an earthquake. then, i heard more explosions. the lights went out. i have no electricity or water now. the area around the factory which was hit is a residential neighbourhood. it's quite densely populated. it's only about a 15—minute drive from here to the centre of the city. the attack overnight a reminder ofjust how vulnerable kyiv remains as a target. this city has just begun to come alive. people who were forced underground for weeks when areas around kyiv came under russian control are cautiously coming out for a moment of calm in the sun. translation: you forget sometimes that you're - still afraid of every sound, even if it comes from your neighbour's house or if

someone bangs a car door. you shiver and try to overcome that. no words can describe how scary it is. we can't be sure what will happen next. the future might be worse. the images coming from the east showjust how bad things could get. this is the port city of mariupol, believed to be close to falling into russian hands. it's been more than seven weeks of war. yogita limaye, bbc news, kyiv. russia has formally warned the us and other allied nations against supplying weapons to ukraine. the warning came in a diplomatic note seen by us media. our north america correspondent david willis told me more. this was a 2—page diplomatic note — it was delivered to the us state department from the russian embassy in washington, dc — and it basically accuses the us and the west of prolonging the conflict in ukraine

and threatens what it calls "unpredictable consequences" if those shipments of military assistance continue. now, the timing of this is potentially very significant because this note was sent on tuesday evening of this last week, just as word was beginning to leak out of another package of us military aid to ukraine — $800 million worth — which, for the first time, included some heavy and sophisticated weapons, including howitzers, long—range artillery, and those sort of things, designed to match russian capabilities on the ground in eastern ukraine, around the disputed donbas region. now, it doesn't appear that this is going to provoke any sort of change in strategy on the part of the us — indeed, it doesn't seem to have concerned people at the white house very much. there was a tweet from a state department spokeswoman, who said, "nothing will dissuade us from the strategy

"that we have embarked upon" and, indeed, a senior us official was saying a short while ago that this could amount to a concession by russia that this military aid from the west is having a serious impact on the conflict in ukraine. it's worth making the point, though, this is just the latest in a series of warnings of this kind from russia and, most recently, they have suggested they could begin targeting nato deliveries of this military aid — something that russia hasn't done so far — possibly even in nato territory, so, it's a significant development, i think. david willis. disaster teams in the south african province of kwazulu—natal are on high alert for further floods as more rain is expected over this weekend. 400 people are now known to have died. those living in the area have been urged to move away from low—lying areas. the bbc�*s vumani mkhize sent this report from durban.

the mountains of debris and junk washed up on this durban beach are an indication of the severity of this floodwaters that ravaged the city. waste pickers salvage what they can to recycle and sell, while residents also remove the washed—up debris. volunteers and waste pickers have begun what is a monumental clean—up operation here at the durban beachfront and, as you can see behind me, the scale of debris that was washed away by the raging waters is immense. unfortunately for the kwazulu—natal province, more bad weather is expected over the easter weekend, which is going to hamper the clean—up operations. while the torrential rains and mud slides could not be avoided, residents say infrastructure degradation in the city contributed to the severity of the floods. we watched street cleaners sweeping the rubbish into the drains, because i think they've just never been trained properly. you know, there's no understand of consequensive reactions. i watch it all the time

and it's such a pet peeve because definitely, things could've been less catastrophic if we had better drainage and if we took care of the drainage that we did have. i mean, looking around at all the debris and stuff, there's no ways we're gonna make it. i mean, it's sad it had to happen on happen —— i mean, it's sad it had to happen on the easter weekend, when everybody was looking forward to it. unfortunately, if you cannot play in the water, the next best is to help clean up the beach. over 13,000 houses were damaged by the floods. authorities say they will assist residents rebuild their homes by providing financial relief. and then, what we have as a policy as well for the partially destroyed is that we provide a voucher system once the structure is declared to — the structural integrity is still intact, then the family can receive a voucher of — to the maximum of 8000 to be able to benefit and get material to be able to close their roof. the rebuilding process here will be long and expensive and for residents of the city, the events of this week will linger long after the floodwaters have receded.

vumani mkhize, bbc news, durban. twitter is taking action to fend off a hostile takeover bid from elon musk. it's using a defence known as a �*poison pill�* to make it difficult for the billionaire to increase his stake beyond the 15% he already owns. on thursday, he offered $15 billion cash for the company which was rejected outright by some shareholders. our technology correspondent james clayton has more. twitter had been pretty quiet about this offer up until now but this gives a pretty clear direction of travel on what twitter thought about that offer. they clearly don't want to be bought by elon musk — not at that price, anyway — and this is a way of defending themselves against a hostile offer. a poison pill is designed to essentially make yourself less palatable, more difficult to swallow for anyone who wants to buy you. and what it will do is it will mean that if elon musk

wants to buy more than 15% of the company, twitter will flood the market with shares and make it very difficult for elon musk to buy more than 15%. now there are ways around this — it's very clever, but it's not impossible to stop elon musk and go directly to shareholders — and we already know that he had tweeted on thursday that he said it would be indefensible if shareholders didn't get a vote on the deal, so it now looks like elon musk will wrestle with twitter�*s board over the future control of twitter. china has carried out exercises around taiwan which coincide with a bipartisan visit to taipei by six us lawmakers. an army spokesman said they were directed at what he called "the wrong signal" being sent about the island by the united states. the biden administration has repeatedly talked of its "rock—solid" commitment to taiwan, but china regards the self—governing island as an integral part of its territory and a foreign ministry spokesman has condemned the us support for taiwan.

0ur news reporter azadeh moshiri is following the story. she explained why china reacted in the way it did. as far as china is concerned, taiwan is a breakaway province and president xijinping has always talked about the importance of reunification, has even said that force is an option to that end. but as far as taiwan is concerned, it sees itself as an independent country with its own constitution, its own elected leaders and it wants to be treated as such, so the tensions have been building between these two, especially in the past year where we have seen a record number of chinese war planes fly into taiwan's air defence zone, so it is no surprise, really, there has been so much criticism from china towards this visit and that's why the defence ministry has said that the visit is deliberately provocative and china's army warned that "those who play with fire will burn

themselves". of course, this comes with the backdrop of the war ukraine. people have drawn parallels between china and how it sees taiwan. what have us lawmakers said about the reason behind their visit? so, the us has shown consistent support throughout the years for taiwan and there have been congressional visits beforehand but the timing, as you say, is very significant, given the war in ukraine and us lawmakers and taiwan's leader haven't shied away from making that comparison and, in fact, we have some comments we can hear from them from earlier. we are going to start making china pay a greater price for what they are doing all over the world. the support for putin must come with a price. translation: the incident. of russia's invasion of ukraine also highlights the democratic countries should strengthen . their alliances and prevent the threat of authoritarian| states towards regional peace. the fact is beijing has refused to outright condemn president putin's actions in ukraine.

instead, it has acknowledged the legitimate — quote, "legitimate" — security concern that russia has there and the fact that there is a historical context, so that's set alarm bells ringing in the west, because they are worried that given some of the parallels between the two situations, china may decide to make good on its threats towards taiwan. now, taiwan is also important to the us for other reasons. it produces about 90% of the world's high—end semiconductor products and it is also placed near some strategically important islands to the us, us—friendly islands, so it's somewhere that is important globally in terms of security and its own economy. azadeh moshiri. more than 150 palestinians have been injured during clashes with israeli police at the al—aqsa mosque compound in occupied eastjerusalem. three israeli police officers were also hurt. tensions have been high in the run—up to the fasting month of ramadan, which coincides with passover forjews and easter for christians. israeli police say they entered the mosque to disperse a crowd

after rocks were thrown ontojewish worshippers at the western wall below. here's our middle east correspondent yolande knell. as day broke injerusalem's old city, sacred to three faiths, tensions were rising at its most bitterly contested site. israeli police say they moved in to disperse a riot by palestinian muslims at al—aqsa mosque. 0fficers fired stun grenades and rubber bullets. palestinians threw stones and firecrackers. the violence came inside the doors of the mosque. it takes hours for a fragile calm to set in, and we meet 0marjoining the clean up. he came for ramadan prayers. you just want to pray. and it's really heartbreaking

to see one of your holy sites, you come, like, 80 kilometres away, just to get this type of behaviour against you. i'm speechless. nearby, it's a special day for christians. thousands have come for easter and to walk the traditional way of the cross. it's incredible. it's a miracle to be here and to share this holy friday with all the people and to pray for everybody. we pray here for the peace. but for now, those prayers aren't answered. the overlapping religious holidays were always going to raise tensions here in the old city. people of different faiths are celebrating, but these narrow streets feel more on edge after the recent deadly violence and today's clashes. elsewhere, injerusalem, a jewish ritual. families are burning the bread, banned during passover, which begins tonight.

ilana says the holiday�*s overshadowed by attacks in israel, which have killed 14 people. you can't help thinking what will be the passover experience of those families who weren't expecting to have one person less at their table? and it's really a national pain. this should be a joyful time for palestinians and israelis, but instead it's an uneasy one. the lesson from history is that confrontations which start inside these ancient walls can easily slide into a wider conflict. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. well, let's return now to our top story, ukraine. the cost of the fighting is being felt across the globe, particularly in places that rely on wheat imports. russia and ukraine together export more than a quarter of the world's supply, without which many people face starvation. but there are millions of tonnes trapped in storage that cannot leave ukraine because of blockades. the bbc�*s catherine byaruhanga

has been to the port of odessa from where she sent this report. it's in small villages like this that much of the world's wheat exports are grown. but war and destruction are making that almost impossible. in the south of ukraine, the 0desa region has been saved from the heaviest fighting. boris's family has owned this farm for 20 years — he's worried about getting supplies of seeds and fuel for the current planting season. this could lead to even more globalfood shortages in the future. translation: when oil depots began to be bombed in 0desa, | there was a problem with the fuel. i managed to buy part of the fuel, but it's impossible to ensure the stable operation of business without fuel. it's here on the black sea that most of ukraine's exports leave for the rest of the world.

but right now, the russian navy is blockading ports all along this coastline. millions of tons of grain arejust not leaving. and the question is, what will happen to international supply routes should this war continue, and if russia takes control this region? ukraine's supply chains have ground to a halt. food from this warehouse goes to countries like egypt, lebanon, and saudi arabia, which are experiencing price hikes. but traders are scared to bring their precious cargo here because of the war. this shipping company says a nearby port has 12 stranded ships with some 400,000 tons of grain. translation: everyone is out of work today. - it's still so painful. last month, people received their salaries — but now people will be

without money because everything has stopped. as ukraine's farm belt is stretched further to the brink, the more pressure world leaders will face to end this war, to help families put food on their tables. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news, 0desa. this is bbc news. a reminder of the headlines: russia resumes missile attacks near kyiv. moscow says it targetted a factory making anti—ship missiles and threatens more to come. russia warns the us and its allies against supplying further weapons, saying it was adding fuel to the conflict. the british government's plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda in central africa has been met with criticism and condemnation. the unhcr called it an unacceptable breach of international law. here's our chief political correspondent, adam fleming.

there's been quite a lot of criticism of this uk government plan to send some asylum—seekers to rwanda eventually. criticism has come from the un refugee agency, from a former international development secretary, and from a former immigration minister. but i think the government knew they would get this pushback — i think they might even be relishing it, because they see it as an opportunity to make the case, and they're actually preparing for this to go to court and be challenged legally. we've also had an interesting insight into the policy formulation process — it turns out that officials in the home office weren't able to precisely quantify the potential benefits of this plan, so they weren't able to approve it. and so, the british home secretary, priti patel, had to use a technique called a ministerial direction to actually get the policy signed off. home office sources defending that decision say you can't let a lack of data or imprecise computer and economic models stop the government taking action.

and in terms of what this action will look like, we heard earlierfrom a home office minister who could give very few details about how this scheme will actually work in practice, which makes me think it's more of an idea for a plan than a fully—worked—out plan. an international delegation of faith leaders is visiting ukraine, to show solidarity with those affected by the invasion. pope francis gave the mission his blessing, saying this is not the time to keep silent. the pope is in rome, presiding over the easter ceremonies, as gail maclellan reports. singing latin prayer. at st peter's on good friday, pope francis presided over the lord's passion, a ceremony marking a specific sorrow but echoing with contemporary pain. this is father bernard,

preacher of the pontifical household. translation: this year, we celebrate easter, - not to the joyful sound of bells, but with the noise in the ears of bombs and explosions not farfrom here. holy week ceremonies everywhere were scaled back for the past two years because of the pandemic. but, this year, the ancient tradition of the way of the cross returned to rome. the candlelight service consists of the 14 stations of the cross, stages between the condemnation ofjesus and his death and burial. what was intended as a gesture of reconciliation by the vatican — the carrying of the cross at one of the 14 stations by two friends, one ukrainian, one russian — has not been well received. ukraine's archbishop saying it didn't take into account russia's aggression against his country. the pope who has repeatedly condemned the conflict in ukraine called for

an easter ceasefire. translation: allow adversaries to shake hands, so they can - taste mutual forgiveness, to disarm the hand raised by a brother against brother, so that concorde can spring from where there is now hate. applause. easter activities proceed on saturday and sunday, but the war in ukraine is expected to continue to cast a long shadow over the events. gail maclellan, bbc news. the exodus from ukraine shows no signs of stopping. according to the united nations, nearly 4.8 million people have left the country. millions more have been displaced within ukraine's borders. among them — an unknown number of children. the bbc�*s tim allman reports on one attempt to make their lives seem a little more normal, for 90 minutes at least.

myron is nine years old and he loves football. and he's certainly not going to let a small thing like a war dampen his ambition. "i'd like to play in the european championship," he says. "no — i'd like to play in the world cup." myron, along with his parents and his sister, lived in the luhansk region, which is now on the front line. so they fled to the city of dnipro, which is a relative safe haven. the local football association are arranging matches involving displaced children and veteran players. translation: it's difficult psychologically for them, l so events like this help to lift tension. they receive good vibes while playing football. and it's notjust the children who are benefiting from these good vibes. translation: the feelings | are very heavy, to be honest. these are hard times for our country and our people.

so it's important to find moments to recharge. the boys, refugees, came here and asked us to play a match. we agreed — no problem for us. the players sign autographs and pose for photos. for a short period of time, maybe, just maybe, it's as if the war isn't happening at all. tim allman, bbc news. the duke and duchess of sussex met the queen at windsor yesterday after flying into the uk from their home in the us. prince harry and meghan are now in the netherlands for the start of the invictus games. the couple hadn't been in the uk together since they stepped down as senior royals more than two years ago. the russian defence ministry warns that attacks on will intensify if ukraine continues to impact russian territory.

anti— ship missile factories have been targeted. that's it from me for now. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston hello. the uk may have recorded its highest temperature of the year so far on good friday, in the sunshine in london. but actually, across much of the north and west of the uk, it was quite a cloudy start to the long holiday weekend. it was eastern and south east england that saw most of the sunshine — and for the record, 23.1; celsius was that temperature in central london. to prove the point, the satellite picture showing all the cloud on good friday in the north and west. now, the rule of thumb for saturday's weather is where you're so cloudy, it'll be brighter and warmer, and where you saw the sunshine on good friday, saturday will be just as sunny. and where you get the sunshine, it will feel warmer. temperatures to start the day, no frost, nor will there be for the rest of the weekend. there will early on be

quite a bit of cloud towards the north and west, and through much of wales and south west england — it's misty, low cloud, but on through the day, notice how a lot of this disappears, it breaks up, we see the sunshine coming through. could stay rather cloudy in the northern isles, especially shetland, towards the coast of aberdeenshire, misty in places and some of the coasts around cornwall as well. it's a warmer—feeling today more widely across the uk with that sunshine. it's a sunnier day in northern ireland, too, though cloud increasing will start to bring some outbreaks of rain very slowly in from the west, as we go on through the night into easter sunday morning, also pushing into parts of western scotland, especially the western isles. elsewhere, one to two mist and fog patches, but a recently mild start to easter sunday. and there's a weather front trying to come in on sunday still to some degree being held at bay by this area of high pressure. so, while much of the uk will stay dry, we will see some outbreaks of rain covering more of northern ireland very slowly on through the day, and parts of western scotland, especially into the west isles. and then, later on, some of this rain would just feed in towards western counties of wales and the far south west of england.

whereas, elsewhere, you continue with another day of warm, sunny spells. it will feel cooler, where you have the rain. it'll be windier, too, and the weather fronts with, well, weakening rain will move through as we go into easter monday. behind that, you get some sunny spells. it'll feel cooler and, then, another spell of rain looks to be heading into northern ireland and into western, especially north west scotland, during monday. and with that, there'll be a strengthening wind. the western isles could well see some gales gusts 50 mph or more on easter monday. sunny spells, yes, dry for many, but it will feel cooler by then.

hello, good morning. it's liz30am. this is bbc news. the headlines: russia has threatened to intensify attacks on the ukrainian capital kyiv if its territory is further targeted. tensions have risen since russia's iconic warship the moskva sank on thursday. ukraine claims it was responsible. a weapons factory near kyiv has already been partially destroyed in a russian attack. russia has formally warned the united states and its allies against supplying further weapons to ukraine. russia said us arms shipments were adding fuel to the conflict and could lead to what it called "unpredictable consequences". the latest american aid package includes artillery,

drones, armoured vehicles and helicopters.