this is 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. vladimir putin is among the congregation in moscow as the orthodox church celebrates easter. and carnival returns to rio after two years — the samba

beat is back on the streets. ukrainian officials 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 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 defense 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. 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. that'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. it is christian orthodox easter over this weekend — and religious celebrations have been taking place in many countries — including russia. and these are celebrations at christ the savior cathedral in moscow. the mass conducted by russian orthodox patriarch kirill was attended by president vladimir putin. the church has backed the kremlin leader's "special military operation" in ukraine. patriarch kirill said he hoped the conflict would end quickly but did not condemn it. well earlier i spoke

to george demacopoulos is co—director of the orthodox christian studies center at ford ham university. i began by asking does the russian orthodox chuch have any choice but to not condemn the invasion of ukraine. not very easily. there hasn't been a single bishop within the russian federation to condemn the war. there have been some priests who have been silenced. one of the interesting things to know, of course, is that the majority of orthodox christians in ukraine fall under the jurisdiction of the moscow patriarchate and so you do find bishops in ukraine, russian orthodox bishops in ukraine who are condemning the war and have ceased recognising their patriarch, but in russia, no.

there has not been any move against putin or against the war from the leadership. and it does appear, in many comments by president putin, that he is actually using religion to justify the invasion of ukraine, doesn't it? yes, absolutely. both vladimir putin and patriarch kirill have presented the operation as a means to save, protect russian speakers in ukraine against a godless west and secularism. they paint it as a bulwark against the deceptions of the west, the corruptions of the west, the secularism of the west. for putin's sake he doesn't believe any of this. putin is really a christian.

it is all for show. he simply instrumentalising religion as one of the tools by which he is seeking to re—establish a kind of imperial russia. have you seen any evidence of this relationship between state and religion in russia for some time? has it been happening before events in ukraine? historically, in the czarist period, in the imperial period, peter the great suppressed the patriarchate and effectively made the church a state office throughout the final several hundred years of the czarist period. you had the bolsheviks, you had complete destruction of christianity, but then after the collapse of the soviet union and the rebuilding of what was to be a modern russia, the church began

to revive and many of the ex—communists were looking for ways to establish what russian identity meant in a post—soviet period and so they went back to their notion of russian orthodoxy and their historical religion, not only because it was sort of the birth—spring of their civilisation as they understood it, but also because it wasn't western, and soon the russian narrative even among secularists like putin is that russian orthodoxy offers a kind of civilisational alternative to a decadent west, and so putin and his government invested heavily in the church as a means to an end, as a way to, sort of, instrumentalise the faith of ordinary believers and to sort of co—opt all of them into this political agenda

that he was setting forth. 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 was out on the beach near his home. 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 in all, around the world, 48.7 million people 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've 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 — i mean, an abysmal result. has that traditional left—right 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 marker for 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, but 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. this is 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. seven 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 reporter azadeh moshiri. more can you tell us? figs the what more can you tell us? sis the search what more can you tell us? is the search goes on more bodies have been found and now have seven have been found but we don't know whether the people are alive, we don't know what condition they have been found in. the coast guard has said that some were found unconscious and sent to hospital. we know that this is thanks to the work of police helicopters, coast guard aircraft, as well as divers. the issue is that the temperatures get so in that area especially in the night—time, where they can reach 0 celsius, so conditions have been very dangerous for any potential survivors. d0 have been very dangerous for any potential survivors. do we know what _ any potential survivors. do we know what happened? - any potential survivors. do we know what happened? there i any potential survivors. do we - know what happened? there were 26 --eole know what happened? there were 26 peeple on _ know what happened? there were 26 people on board, _ know what happened? there were 26 people on board, two - 26 people on board, two children and two remembers. the bout itself was a tourist boat on a sightseeing trip. the

peninsula is an important tourist destination with a dramatic coastline and is a unesco world heritage site and currently because japan's borders are shut to tourists it is likely that the people on board why eitherjapanese board why either japanese residents board why eitherjapanese residents or citizens but clearly something went wrong, because when there are a high waters the crew sent out a high despite a distress signal and whilst all the passengers had their life jackets, the boat was taking on water, it had tipped 30 degrees and was sinking. that was the last the authorities heard from the boat. . ~ authorities heard from the boat. . ,, , ., authorities heard from the boat. . ~' , ., , authorities heard from the boat. . ,, , . authorities heard from the boat. . ~ , . ., boat. thank you very much for that undate- _ a nobel prize winner is set to become the president of east timor for the second time. jose ramos—horta declared victory, after preliminary results showed he had secured more than 62% of the vote against the incumbent, francisco guterres. mr ramos—horta, who's 72, will be sworn into office on 20 may, the 20th anniversary

of east timor�*s independence from indonesia. what's east timor like now 20 years after independence? i spoke to michael leach, who has just returned from east timor after being an observer in the election. yes, look, it's a bustling south—east asian society. there's still quite a high level of poverty, but people are very proud of their independence there in timor—leste. it's a beautiful developing country with a lot of subsistence agriculture still. very heavily reliant on their oil and gas they produce. needing to develop new industries before the oil and gas runs out. this is the kind of context in which this election took place. and what are the promises that have been made to improve life there, to win this second election? yes, look, like a lot of countries around the world there's something of a covid recession taking place in east timor, timor—leste.

after the last couple of years experience, a cut in economic growth. jose ramos—horta was promising to work with the government to improve those outcomes after the election, to work together with the parties, to pump prime the economy, to get the economy moving again. it has to be said, though, timor—leste's a semi—presidential system and most of those powers lie with the government and the prime minister. the president is there to unify the country and he'll be trying to get those parties working together again, which has been somewhat fractious over the last few years. yeah. and, of course, this vote has been between two veterans of east timor politics. did you get any sense that there are some young politicians, a new genereation of politicians coming through? yes, look, timorese politics is still dominated by the 1975 generation of political leaders, those who first declared independence from portugal back in i975just before the indonesian invasion.

we've seen this run—off between two people from that generation, but there are young leaders coming through. there is a sense that this might be the final round of elections this year and next, with the parliamentary elections coming, where they are dominated by that 1975 generation. we are seeing some younger leaders being brought through, but the big question for the older leaders is are they doing enough to mentor and bring through quickly those young leaders? perhaps in this term of the presidency, perhaps in this term of the parliament we'll see even more younger leaders being brought through by the older ones. that was michael leach, an independent observer at the elections in east timor. 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.

rescuers looking for ten miners missing in southern poland have found four bodies. a tremor struck the zofiowka mine, releasing a large amount of flammable methane gas. most of the 52 miners on shift were able to escape by themselves. 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. 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 that, from where we are in the southernmost caribbean island of grenada, we want to say that

we sympathise with the royals. to have inherited an institution that has treated persons who have been, er...catholic — if i may, forgive me — in their allegiance to everything british, requires, ithink, 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. that was so comforting for people who fled the horror 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 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 don't want to call them artefacts, but participation,

for example, in building museums and memorials — not in 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. 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 — 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.

that's the latest, 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. 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 north—easterly 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 systems 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 one or two 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 14 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'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.