welcome to bbc news — i'm chris rogers. our top stories... the ukrainian port city of odesa is struck by russian missiles — killing at least eight people and injuring many more. president zelensky says the us secretary of state will arrive in kyiv on sunday — the highest—level us visit since the war began. the polls will open in france in a few hours — emmanuel macron and marine le pen are urging people to vote. four people are found after a tourist boat went missing off the coast of japan — more than 20 are still unaccounted for. and — carnival returns to rio — after two years — the samba beat is back on the streets.

officials in ukraine say at least eight people have been killed in russian missile strikes on the black sea port of odesa. the dead include a three—month old baby. 20 other people were injured in the attacks, on a military facility and two residential buildings. the ukrainian foreign minister says the attacks were designed to "spread terror." it comes as russian troops are reported to be trying to storm the azovstal steel works in the city of mariupol, where ukraine's remaining forces in the city are still holding out. more on that in a moment, but first our correspondent, caroline davies, has the latest from odesa. thick black smoke that cut through the calm of a saturday

afternoon in odesa. this was the aftermath of a missile strike on the city. blown—out glass and rubble, cars crushed and burnt, floors collapsed. through the debris, the city's firefighters led those that can walk out to safety. vitalia and her son nikita were on the 12th floor when the missile hit. translation: there was a very strong explosion i directly on top of us. it broke all the windows in the apartment. i smelled smoke very strongly. we collected what we could and then we ran. when we reached the fourth and fifth floors, we wanted to turn around. it was impossible to breathe, and all the doors were blown out. translation: we were afraid that we would suffocate, - but in the end we broke through. i got burned, there was a car on fire and the flames hit me. i didn't feel it at first, but then people told me. i was in a state of shock. while we were filming, the crowd was pushed back, told that to get too close would be dangerous. the ukrainian authorities

have said that the missiles were launched from the caspian sea. despite anti—aircraft defences, two missiles hit a military facility. two hit residential buildings. at least eight people have died, 20 wounded, eight are in hospital. one of those killed was a three—month—old baby girl. at a press conference held in one of kyiv�*s metro stations, president zelensky spoke about the strike and those that have lost their lives. "a three—month—old child was killed," he says. "one month old when the war started. "can you imagine what's going on? "filthy scumbags. "how else can they be called? "there are no other words." odesa sits on ukraine's southern coast. while much of the fighting has focused in the east of the country, odesa had started to reduce its curfew and remove some of its street defences. this has come as a shock

to many people here in odesa. the city has been relatively quiet over the course of the last few weeks, and many people hoped that that that could mean the start of some form of normal life. this shows that things can change in a moment. it's orthodox easter sunday, but few feel they'll find peace while the threat from russia hangs over the country. caroline davies, bbc news, odesa. president zelensky has announced that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, will visit kyiv on sunday, along with the us defence secretary. they're the most senior american officials to visit ukraine since the start of the conflict. our correspondent, anna foster, gave us this update from kyiv. highly unusual to find out about a high—profile visit like this before it's actually happened. normally this is the sort of thing that's released after the event, but he did tell everybody that the most senior us officials so far, since the war began, will be arriving here in kyiv tomorrow. that press conference was the first that he's held since the war began surrounded byjournalists. as you know, he normally does one—on—one interviews in his highly secure bunker, but here he was deep below

the streets of the city. he was animated. he was angry at times. he called for a meeting with president putin which he thought might help bring this war towards an end, and he also said that the fighters who are still holed up in mariupol were crucial when it came to a new round of peace talks. he said that if those fighters were killed by russian forces, then peace talks, which haven't happened for several weeks now, would not happen again. siren blares. we've also seen a video today released by the azov brigade. that is the far—right volunteer force that was integrated into the ukrainian national guard back in 2014. now, it's very hard to verify, but we see their fighters seemingly in the bunkers below the azovstal steel plant. we see them meeting the civilians in there, children and women among them. you see the conditions are cramped and crowded, and they're also handing out easter gifts to the children down there. in terms of evacuating civilians from mariupol, well,

again, an evacuation corridor was planned, but failed. around 200 civilians, we're told, were gathered in the centre of mariupol hoping to leave on buses, but they were told by russian soldiers that if they didn't disperse, then they might get shelled. we then they might get shelled. can get some analysi: let's speak to russian politics expert, brian taylor, who's a professor in the political science department at syracuse university. he joins us from new york. thank you forjoining us. from where you are sitting, do you think that russia's objective was to take over and invade the whole of ukraine and overthrow president zelensky�*s government but do you think theyjust want to flex their muscles, scales but in their intention was i was to take the sting perhaps the south? i was to take the sting perhaps the south?— the south? i think the objectives _ the south? i think the objectives at - the south? i think the objectives at the - the south? | think the - objectives at the beginning and these were stated by president putin himself were quite maximalist in terms of trying to overthrow the ukrainian government. putin talked about in terms of denazification and

demilitarisation but it was clear from the first steps in the invasion they were aiming for kyiv and i think the problem was that they underestimated the strength of the russian state and the will of the ukrainian people and fighting ability of ukraine army and overestimated their own ability and kind of pulled back that maximalist objective and are going for more minimal goals which they have also talked about for the beginning and establishing control over the eastern part of ukraine known as the donbas. is known as the donbas. is directly _ known as the donbas. is directly page and says he won't do things and then does them and then says he will do things and then says he will do things and then says he will do things and then doesn't do them. we cleverly take his word for it. is there not a danger that we relax a little bit about his intentions of the whole of ukraine and then suddenly he's going for the capital again? i think we definitely shouldn't relax about what putin might try to achieve going forward but i think we just look at the withdrawal of russian forces

from the northern part of ukraine in the redeployment of them to the east it seems like their current objective at least is to try and gain more territory in the east, maybe try and encircle passive ukrainian forces there, potentially with an eye to the main victory day celebrations and some kind of claimed victory, similar to the claim about the fall of mariupol a couple of days ago. just looking _ couple of days ago. just looking at _ couple of days ago. just looking at the _ couple of days ago. just looking at the operation in the east, it does sometimes seem unpredictable, doesn't it? how do you think things are going to pan out in the coming weeks? it really is quite unpredictable, partially because we have very little information about how the ukrainian forces are doing, how many losses they have faced. we know quite a bit about russian losses in overarching terms and it seems many of the troops they put him have been degraded and lost and so they have declining amounts of equipment and declining numbers of troops

they are trying to redeploy them to the east were even there they are facing that large territory. if you think ofjust large territory. if you think of just the two large territory. if you think ofjust the two regions of the donbas, donetsk and luhansk, it is an area bigger than scotland and they are trying to push both in the north and the south and perhaps encircle ukrainian forces there but they haven't shown the ability to combine their forces, shown the ability to combine theirforces, protect shown the ability to combine their forces, protect their supply line, establish air superiority so i think we are still in for quite a fight and it looks like it is going to be slow—growing, you know, no kind of fast blitzkrieg can be expected at this point. thank ou for expected at this point. thank you for your _ expected at this point. thank you for your analysis - expected at this point. thank you for your analysis there. l you for your analysis there. brian taylor, russian politics expert. campaigning has ended, and voting in the second round of the french presidential election will begin in the next few hours. the incumbent, emmanuel macron, is facing off against the far right candidate, marine le pen, with polls suggesting that president macron is currently the favourite to win. ms le pen stayed away

from the cameras on saturday — but mr macron spoke to the media on the beach near his home in le toucquet. some voting is already taking place, in france's overseas constituencies. special polling stations have also been set up for french nationals in other countries, such as here, in new york. in all, around the world, 48.7 million people are eligible to vote in the french presidential election. my colleague reeta chakrabarti has been following the final days of the election from paris, to get a sense of what might unfold on sunday. people are chewing over the situation, which is quite a complex one. so, to discuss it, i'm joined now by the political analyst alex kouchner. alex, viewers will maybe remember your surname. yourfather served in successive french governments. you will then, therefore,

have been watching french politics for quite some time. how would you compare the situation now to what it was five years ago, because it's the same two people who are running for election? yes, round numbertwo, but things have dramatically changed. five years ago, both candidates claimed they would change the system. they were challengers, if you will. now, emmanuel macron has a record. he's the sitting president. so he has to own to his own record, and marine le pen has to put behind her her very bad 2017 campaign, and what has shifted is french society. political parties are in disarray. the french society has cracks it has never seen before. we have had the gilets jaunes, then we've had covid, now we have the ukraine war, so, what you have today is a very tough political landscape for both candidates. we saw in the first round the traditional parties of the left and the right, the socialists and the republicans, annhilated, an abysmal result.

has that traditional right—left split gone now? well, party—wise, yes. as you say, they were all but written off. the socialist party, who has actually given us our last president before emmanuel macron, did i.7%. that is dismal. and the conservative party are now under 6. they're all but written off nationally, but politically, you still have politics from the right and politics from the left, and, actually, french voters still relate to that, and it's still a very strong markerfor them. this is marine le pen's third attempt at the presidency. how successfully has she managed to soften her image, would you say? well, it's quite the feat. and in that sense, she did have a very successful campaign. after all, she is, again, at the second round, and what has changed is her programme — or, actually, not her programme, the way she presents it. she's been moving away from race and immigration and closer to wages and communities. this has softened her image.

she was also very much helped by eric zemmour, an extreme right—wing polemicist with trumpian bravado, whose rants on immigration seem to have made her appear more poised, and actually she's no longer a fringe candidate. in that sense, she is very successful. if you look back 20 years ago, marine le pen's father was running in the second round. 82% of the french people voted against the front nacional, with 80% saying that party was a threat to democracy. in 2022, 47% of the french feel that marine le pen is the closest candidate to their worries. 51% think she is the one who changed things best, and we're now having debates on whether or not she is from the extreme right. hint — the answer is yes. the thing is, voters don't seem to feel that way any more. my colleague reeta chakrabarti speaking to political analyst alex kouchner in france there.

let's get some of the day's other news. more than 100 people have been killed in two explosions at an illegal oil refining depot in nigeria. officials said that the victims were burned beyond recognition in the blasts in imo state, south of the capital, abuja. more than 45 people have been rescued — but a child has died — after a boat sank off the northern coast of lebanon. the vessel was carrying about 60 passengers when it capsized near the port of tripoli. the lebanese transport minister said they were still looking for those missing, who included both lebanese and syrian citizens. a search is under way injapan for 26 passengers and crew four people have been found as a search is under way in japan for 26 passengers and crew of a tourist boat that went missing off the northern island of hokkaido. the crew of the kazu one contacted the coastguard to say the boat was sinking. with me to discuss is our news reporter azadeh moshiri. what more do we know so far? as

ou what more do we know so far? is you said, four people have been found but as you said information is still trickling through in the coast guard hasn't confirmed what condition they are in or whether they have a lie. what we do know is three people were found by police helicopter around the tip of the village are either one person was found about 30 minutes later by the coast guard aircraft. now, the issue is that the temperatures are extremely low in this area. they can dip as low as 0 celsius so it has been an extremely dangerous might for any of the survivors but japan has deployed has many resources the can, boats, aircraft as well as divers and researchers survivors is ongoing. d0 well as divers and researchers survivors is ongoing.— survivors is ongoing. do we know any — survivors is ongoing. do we know any more _ survivors is ongoing. do we know any more about - survivors is ongoing. do we know any more about what | survivors is ongoing. do we - know any more about what may as know any more about what may —.s you mention, know any more about what may 5.s you mention, 26 know any more about what may 5s you mention, 26 people were on board and we believe there were two children and two children,

crewmembers and reports yes they were out of toppled that peninsulas are very popular tourist destination in which dramatic coastline and is a unesco world heritage site and given that japan's borders unesco world heritage site and given thatjapan's borders have been closed to tourists it is likely that these are either japanese residents or citizens. the issue is that there were high waves during this trip and the crew ended up sending a distress signal to coastguards warning that their boat was taking on water and had tipped about 33 degrees, though they did say that passengers had life jackets on board. that is the bass but coastguards heard from the crew at that point. thank you for that update. you are watching bbc news. a reminder of the headlines... the ukrainian port city of odesa is struck by russian missiles — killing at least eight people

and injuring many more. president zelensky says the us secretary of state will arrive in kyiv on sunday — the highest—level us visit since the war began. a nobel prize winner is set to become the president of east timor for the second time. he declared victory, after preliminary results showed he had secured more than 62% of the vote against the incumbent. mr ramoshorta, who's 72, will be sworn into office on 20 may, the 20th anniversary of east timor�*s independence from indonesia. let's speak to michael leach, who has just returned from east timor after being an observer in the election. hejoins me from melbourne. festival, what did you see the? after 20 years of independence what is it like in east timor? it is a bustling quite dumb

southeast asian society. there is still quite a high level of poverty but —— it is a bustling southeast asian society. very reliant on the oil and gas they produce, needing to develop new injuries before oil and gas runs out. this is the kind of context in which this election took place. context in which this election took place-— context in which this election tooklace. ., ., , , took place. what other promises that have been _ took place. what other promises that have been made _ took place. what other promises that have been made to - took place. what other promises that have been made to improve j that have been made to improve life there, to win the second election?— election? like a lot of countries _ election? like a lot of countries around - election? like a lot of countries around the l election? like a lot of- countries around the world there is something of a covid—19 recession taking place in east timor, timor—leste state after the last couple of years experience has cut economic growth. jose ramos—horta has promised to work with the government to improve though thanks, outcomes after the election, to work together with the parties, pump

prime the economy and getting the economy moving again. it has to say it is a presidential system most of those five it abilities lie with the government of prime minister. this has been between two veterans of east timor politics. you get a nice length of young politician is new generation of politics going through? demise politics are still dominated by the 1975 generation political leaders who first declared independence from portugal back in 1935just before the indonesian invasion. we have seen two people from that generation but the buying leaders going through and a sense this might be the final round of elections, this year and next, with the parliamentary election is coming, where they are dominated by that 1975 generation. we are seeing some younger leaders being brought through but the question of the

old allegiances are they doing enough to mental and been through quickly those young leaders perhaps —— to mental, older leaders. perhaps in this gem of the parliament we will see even more younger leaders being brought by the older ones. . , ., . ~' being brought by the older ones. . , ., ., ~ ., ones. really good to talk to ou. the earl and countess of wessex have been met with protests against british colonialism on the second leg of their carribean tour, marking 70 years of the queen's reign. they received a warm welcome in st vincent and the grenadines, but there was a small demonstration calling for slavery reparations. the wessexes postponed a visit to grenada shortly before arrving in the region. earlier, i spoke tojerry edwin, who is an attorney activist in grenada. i asked him what they want from the royals.

i want to say the southernmost caribbean island of grenada, we want to say that we sympathise with the royals. persons who have been catholic — if i may, forgive me — in their allegiance to everything british requires, i think, for the royals to recognise that pain, that the beneficiaries, people who look like me, scattered throughout the islands and london, leeds, all over manchester the british world. what we want to see again is the soul of britain. the same country that said we will not have enslaved persons on our soil. of 17th, 18th and 19th century slavery. so we'd like to see

the soul of britain again, and that is not to commodify this relationship at all — that certainly would prolong something that is horrible, but we would like the royals to show us that they feel our pain, not merely apologise for it. and how would you like them to do that? we know there have demands on the british government, not the royal family to compensate for those who were affected by slavery or even died from slavery. is that what you would like to see? well, we've seen schemes of reparations, for example when the kaiser compensated the namibians, and we've seen seen that germanjews, rightly so, deserved to be compensated for what they lost, but we're not talking about a disparate group and i don't think that commodifying this, saying that there is some

pecuniary value to it. we would like to see things that are more tangible, meaningful. transfer of technology, return of... i wouldn't want to call them artefacts but participation, for example, in building museums and memorials, not london but at the scene of the horror. for the first time in two years, rio's famous carnival has been taking place. the event was cancelled last year — and delayed this year — due to the coronavirus pandemic. thousands of locals and tourists were there for a display of dance, music and colour. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. music plays. you can say this for the people of rio — they certainly know how to put on a show. but this particular show has been absent for two long years, the shadow of covid looming large. translation: it's a moment of rebirth, of understanding l

that we have to hope, even though many have gone. this is what carnival�*s about — showing that we have survived and we will win. translation: this float represents what we lived through in this pandemic. it's also a tribute to those who lost their loved ones, to bring back the joy and celebrate again. brazil has suffered more than most — at least 660,000 lives lost so far. at least 660,000 lives lost so far — but at carnival, they look both to the past and to the future. "it will be a good parade," said this man. "besides the competition, the important thing is happiness and to celebrate life." "it feels like coming back home," said this woman. "to come back to walk on holy ground." a tribute to those lost, a celebration of things to come. life, passion, energy. the most important thing

is to have a good time. tim allman, bbc news. good to see it back, isn't it? a reminder of our top story.... ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, has announced that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and the us defence secretary will visit kyiv later on sunday. they're the most senior us officials to visit ukraine since the start of the conflict. it comes after 8 people were killled in a russian missile on a residential block of flats in the black sea port of odesa. of course, the are growing concerns over mariupol with the last remaining ukraine forces holding off the russian invasion there in the east of the country. we'll keep you updated here on bbc news and of gushing get more details from our correspondence on the bbc news website as well but for me

and the team, thanks for watching. hello there. there are some changes on the way for next week, and i'll show you those a little later on. saturday, though, was dry with some spells of sunshine for much of the country. and warm, as well — in dorset, temperatures reached 20 celsius. different story in the far north of scotland, where we've still got a lot of this cloudy weather. temperatures were nearer 8—9 celsius in the afternoon. it was also cooler around those north sea coasts. temperatures continue to go when. the wind continues to come in off the north sea, where sea surface temperatures are only around nine celsius. we've still got those

east—to—northeasterly winds on sunday, not as strong as on saturday. many places will be dry with some warm sunshine coming through, as well. now, close to this area of low pressure, there could still be a bit of rain threatening the far south of england. still got high pressure to the north of the uk, keeping the run of east—to—northeasterly winds going. and these are the temperatures we start with on sunday morning. still a bit of rain there potentially in the far southwest of england to move away. elsewhere, though, a generally dry and sunny start. we'll see some cloud building up, particularly in england and wales, and there could be one or two isolated showers popping off, but generally it's dry. similar story for northern ireland — more sunshine in the southwest of scotland, where it's a bit warmer, north—eastern parts of scotland cooler still with some of that low cloud. highest temperatures, southern england, south wales, 18—19 celsius. most of the wet weather on these weather system is getting steered to the south of the uk. high pressure is dominating, and it's centred all the way up there into greenland. now, we'll have lighter winds on monday. they're coming more from the north, so it'll be a bit cooler. and we'll find more clouds spreading out

and increasing through the day, and the greater chance of catching 1—2 showers in england and wales. should be dry in scotland and northern ireland, cloudy in northern parts of scotland, and, generally, it's cooler on monday, with highs around 1a degrees or so. and it could be a chilly start on tuesday, with cloudy skies across the north, and that northerly breeze will push the cloud further south, and temperatures will range from 16 in the southwest of england and south wales to only around nine celsius in northeast scotland and the northeast of england. so, these are the changes for next week — it'll be for next week — it's going to be cooler, there'll be a lot more cloud around, but this generally dry theme is set to continue. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... government officials in ukraine say at least eight people have been killed in missile strikes on the southern port city of odesa. the dead include a three—month—old baby. 20 other people were injured in the attacks. the ukrainian foreign minister says they were designed to "spread terror." ukraine's president zelensky has announced that the us secretary of state and us defence secretary will visit kyiv on sunday. they're the most senior us officials to visit ukraine since the start of the conflict. mr zelensky expressed his gratitude to the us for its provision of weapons. voting has begun in some french overseas territories in the second round of the presidential election. the polls will open in france itself in a few hours' time. the incumbent, emmanuel macron, is going head to head

with the far—right candidate, marine le pen.