welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the bbc sees more evidence of apparent war crimes committed against ukrainian civilians by russian forces. hundreds of bodies are found to have been shot, execution—style, in the bucha region. the evidence we found underground here, it is clear they were executed. as nato foreign ministers meet in berlin, finland and sweden, neutral for decades, say they plan to join the alliance, a decision hailed by nato�*s secretary—general. this would be an historic moment. their membership in

nato would increase our shared security. president biden says america must do all it can to end hate—filled domestic terrorism, following saturday's mass shooting in buffalo that left 10 dead. and north korea's covid crisis — a further 400,000 cases and eight deaths are reported. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the progamme. finland and sweden have announced their intention tojoin nato, in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. we'll get to that in just a moment but first, i want to tell you about this exclusive report. a bbc team have uncovered further evidence of potential war crimes committed by russian forces in ukraine.

since russian forces were pushed back from kyiv at the end of march, the bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been discovered in the bucha region, just outside the capital. now the bbc has learned more than half of the dead were shot, in what has been described as executions. in this special report, the bbc�*s sarah rainsford has been investigating one case. i want to warn you — her report contains some distressing details. this is a place where dark acts were committed. civilians tortured and killed. by russian soldiers fighting a war in which they break all the rules. like they do not know them or even care. we were shown underground to where five men were held captive and then shot in the head. in the gloom, we saw the chilling evidence. the men's bodies were found

kneeling here, beaten, their hands tied behind their backs. it is cold, it's damp and it is dark down here. where the five men must�*ve spent the most terrifying moments of their lives. we still do not have a full picture of exactly what happened, but from the evidence we found underground here, it is clear they were executed. we counted more than a dozen bullet holes. translation: the soldiers were based upstairs, - the headquarters were in a medical centre. here was a torture room. were they tortured and and killed civilians. it was all happening at a children's camp.

its name means radiance, place of sunshine. when the town of bucha was occupied, russian troops set up base here. aliana showed me pictures of her brother in happy times. but vlodymyr was one of the men found in that basement. his death has shattered her. weeping. when they last spoke, he told her that he loved her. but she heard a voice full of fear. translation: it's so hard. i hate them with every cell of my body. i know it's wrong to say about people but they are not human. how could they torture those men? there wasn't a patch on their bodies that was not beaten. when russian troops retreated from bucha, they left streets filled with death. moscow claims all of this was staged. and yet, weeks on, the hard evidence is piled up here.

the cars of civilians covered in bullet holes. investigating it all is overwhelming and shocking, even for the police officer in charge. translation: more than half of the people killed _ in the bucha region were shot, not killed by mines or shrapnel orfound under the ruins, but shot with guns, more than 650. that shows the russians' cruelty, their crimes against humanity. it feels like every house, every yard in bucha was witness to that cruelty. just opposite of the children's camp, we heard of another man who was held prisoner there. air siren wails. viktor is in western ukraine now, but he told me he had been thrown in a cellar at the camp, his legs soaked in water so he would freeze and

a gun held to his head. translation: they kept saying, "where is the fascists? _ "where is the nazis? "where is president zelensky. "you have until tomorrow to remember what you have seen "or you will be shot." viktor escaped because there was shelling and his captors scattered. but vlodymyr is not buried in the grave with no date for his death. his family do not know when he was shot but this town does know that civilians are not only caught up in this war, they are being targeted. finland and sweden have abandoned their military non—alignment and announced their intention to join nato, in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. the alliance's secretary—generaljens stoltenberg has described the move as historic, while president putin, talking about finland,

described the plan as a mistake. let's just remind ourselves of what nato is — the north atlantic treaty organization — a military alliance which was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the us, the uk, canada and france. after the soviet union's collapse in 1991, many former eastern bloc countries joined nato. now finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometres with russia, and sweden want tojoin. sweden's prime minister magdalena andersson said russia's invasion of ukraine fundamentally changed security. we are now facing a fundamentally changed security environment in europe, and while we navigate in this new environment, the fundamental question for us is "how do we best protect sweden?" and the kremlin has shown that they are prepared to use violence. i'm joined now by kurt volker,

former us ambassador to nato in 2008 until 2009, and was special representative for ukraine negotiations between 2017 and 2019. it is great to get you on the programme. in the first instance, were you surprised by this or where you expecting this or where you expecting this to happen following russia's invasion of ukraine? there has been a lot of talk about finland and sweden joining nato really ever since the end of the soviet union and the end of the soviet union and the fall of the berlin wall. what does neutrality really mean and a modern world? so there are these discussions, but i went to a high school in sweden so i understand the traditions there and the traditions there and the traditions attached to non— alignment and peacetime. when you look at russia and the way it has behaved, attacking a neighbour, engaging in all of these barbaric acts as we jostle in your report, this is

something that is showing that nonalignment is no longer a safe option, so nato membership is really the only way to go to protect their populations. doesn't this increase though the chance of further escalation? this is precisely what president putin said nato was going to do, expand further, and it ratchets tensions, surely between the two sides? what was talking but when he said nato planning to expand, he was talking about ukraine which was actually not going to happen. there have been no movements on ukrainian membership in nato for 1h years, but what has happened now, with russia's aggression against ukraine, countries that have been nonaligned for 200 years, like sweden, orsince world war ii like finland, they now calculate it is no longer safe to be that way. will this resulted in some kind of

escalation and attention? i don't think so because russia already has its hands full with its invasion of ukraine. this did not go according to plan. it's military is severely stressed. the last thing it wants is to open up another front anywhere else, so i do think this will go by rather peacefully. think this will go by rather peacefully-— think this will go by rather eacefull . ~ ., ., ~ peacefully. what do you think mi . ht peacefully. what do you think might happen _ peacefully. what do you think might happen then _ peacefully. what do you think might happen then next, - peacefully. what do you think might happen then next, in l might happen then next, in terms of how president putin may respond? i terms of how president putin may remand?— terms of how president putin may respond? i think you will make statements, _ may respond? i think you will make statements, i - may respond? i think you will make statements, i think- may respond? i think you will| make statements, i think they will talk about deployment of forces near the finnish border, although they are unlikely to do it at the moment. they will talk about the deployment of nuclear weapons closest to the finnish border or in kaliningrad, this russian conclave that is wedged between poland and y nia, so they may do things like that, but any actual pressure back on finland or sweden i think is rather unlikely, again, because they have their hands full in

ukraine.— have their hands full in ukraine. �* ., ., ukraine. and what about turkey's _ ukraine. and what about turkey's all _ ukraine. and what about turkey's all in _ ukraine. and what about turkey's all in all- ukraine. and what about turkey's all in all of- ukraine. and what about| turkey's all in all of this? are you concerned that may hold up, the assertion of sweden and finland? you're but there is definitely a negotiated to be had between turkey, sweden and finland. the turks have a domestic terrorism problem, a political party called the pkk, which has a terrorist wing, and does conduct terrorist attacks inside turkey. sweden and finland do not recognise the pkk as a terrorist body, and there are kurdish representatives in sweden and finland who turkey believes are connected to the pkk, even ever the fins and the swedes don't, so this is something for them to talk about now because i think they agree on the principles that they should be no support for terrorism or harbouring of terrorism, but

disagree on who is her, this can be regarded in time. taking matters because nato makes a decision by consensus, so this does require turkish listing two kurt volker there, fantastic to have you on the programme. thank you forjoining us with your thoughts. let's turn to north korea now. state media have reported eight new deaths from fever—like symptoms as it deals with a covid outbreak. nearly 400,000 more cases of people with similar symptoms were also reported. the country's state news agency said kim—jong—un has ordered the military to help stabilise the supply of medicines in pyongyang. i've been speaking to mason richey who's an associate professor of international politics at the hankuk university of foreign studies. i asked him about the mysterious fever that has been reported in north korea. north korea does not have extensive testing capabilities

which is part reason why kim jong—il on regime and party which is part reason why kimjong—un on regime and party referring to this as a mysterious fever and they did carry out some tests that showed several cases of covid—19 including the 0micron variant and of course, illogical conjecture was the vast majority of these cases which now sends april, number at least 820,000 in total cases, and as many and of course mostly likely quite a bit more almost certainly given the rapidity of the spread and pyongyang in surrounding provinces. what does it signal that the state news agency is making reports about this or telling people about this at the time given that it will be for a very long time,

they have covid—19 under control? i think most analysts agree that this will primarily mean were covid—19 cases. for a lot of reasons for the regime operating and the difficulty of travelling between provinces and in between cities already. in north korea, also the very quick border closure that happened injanuary 2020, north korea did apparently succeed in keeping the number of cases very low for a very long time. we're almost certain that they had cases but there either were not detected or very low because the way the country operates internally. but this outbreak and in population that has almost no vaccines, and therefore no artificially induced antibodies has clearly exploded and going out of control mystically and internationally there's no hiding it any more and at some

point, the north korean government decided come out and admit this, possibly simply because it is no way to deny it but also preps his way to start smoothing the pathway towards getting perhaps anti—viral drugs or vaccines or both coming into the country. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a controversial american evangelist arrives in britain drawing thousands of supporters and also protesters. this morning and indian air force plane carrying mr goto's body arrived in delhi. the president of any walk to the plane to solemnly witness mr goto's final return from the political field. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage. it has become the first country in the world to approve the change in a

national referendum. it was a remarkable climax what was surely — it was a remarkable climax what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given— extraordinary funeral ever given to _ extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. it has been a peaceful— given to a pop singer. it has been a peaceful funeral- been a peaceful funeral demonstration - been a peaceful funeral demonstration so - been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far, i been a peaceful funeral. demonstration so far, but suddenly— demonstration so far, but suddenly police _ demonstration so far, but suddenly police are - demonstration so far, but i suddenly police are tear—gas demonstration so far, but - suddenly police are tear—gas in the crowd, _ suddenly police are tear—gas in the crowd, we _ suddenly police are tear—gas in the crowd, we don't— suddenly police are tear—gas in the crowd, we don't know- suddenly police are tear—gas in the crowd, we don't know why. suddenly police are tear—gas in l the crowd, we don't know why. a the crowd, we don't know why. prelaunch patrol has been established here. that was said to be in good spirits but a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now at least it's time to celebrate. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: the bbc sees more evidence of apparent war crimes committed against ukrainian civilians by russian forces. more than 1,000 bodies are discovered in the bucha region. nato is confident that finland and sweden will rapidly become the alliance's latest members,

despite the misgivings of turkey. the white house has announced that president biden will visit the city of buffalo on tuesday, after a gunman killed ten people in a case of suspected racially—motivated domestic terrorism. it happened at a supermarket in the city in new york state on saturday. an 18—year—old white man has been charged with first degree murder. most of the victims were black. 0nce once again, one man's deep—seated racism and access to semiautomatic weapons have combined to deadly effect in america. 18—year—old peyton drove for miles to reach the supermarket in a predominantly black neighbourhood, buffalo. heavily armed and dressed in tactical gear, the live stream to his entire horrific attack. the killing spree began in the

car park were four people were killed, before he entered the building and continued his rampage. a security guard, a retired buffalo policeman, tried to stop him and was among those killed. most of the victims were black. before the attack, the gunmen posted a code of manifesto online, a hate filled screed laid bare his extremist views. 0utside his extremist views. outside the supermarket, he was disarmed, taken into custody, and charged with first—degree murder. in court his lawyer entered a not guilty plea. now new and difficult questions have emerged. after threatening such finals last year, the gunmen was held by the authorities for a mental health evaluation then released. a further blow to this tightknit community torn apart by a teenager with a gun. will grant, bbc news. darius pridgen is pastor

and bishop of true bethel baptist church and president of buffalo city council. hejoins us now. thank you so much forjoining us. it must be a really difficult time for you and the congregation and the community there. i want to start by asking how is everybody right now, given what has happened? well, first of all for paying attention to this horrific crime. i would say these words, everyone is not well. i would not be being honest to say we are ok right now, we are not ok. , _, , , , ., ok. eye completely understand that. and ok. eye completely understand that- and i _ ok. eye completely understand that. and | can't— ok. eye completely understand that. and i can't imagine - ok. eye completely understand that. and i can't imagine that. that. and i can't imagine that this might be easy at all. but in terms of what happens next, i understand that president biden is on his way. on tuesday, he is expected to be addressing the community there. what are you hoping to hear from the president, was is that you hope to hear him say? i think we have to be very honest

and i think this community would want to hear from the president his honesty about, against white supremacy. i think it is the head, think it is important that the head of our country, one of the leaders of the world, as we pay attention to such horrific crimes that are happening across the globe —— glow, that we have to make sure at home that same sense of urgency to stop other countries from invading other countries, that that same sense of urgency is given to white supremacy and to the racism that we saw. i think is huge that the president is planning on coming into this community and it is my hope that will come to the real community where this occurred and they do think he will, and that he will speak out against racism. ~ ., ., ., , .,

racism. we often hear words of comfort and — racism. we often hear words of comfort and reassurance - racism. we often hear words of comfort and reassurance from | comfort and reassurance from political leaders at times like this, and they should be saying those things, but what specific things want from your government to make sure that something like this doesn't happen in the future was yellow well, you know, ithink happen in the future was yellow well, you know, i think that everyone knows that we are motivated by rewards and consequences.— motivated by rewards and consequences. and one of the thins consequences. and one of the things that — consequences. and one of the things that has _ consequences. and one of the things that has occurred - consequences. and one of the things that has occurred here | things that has occurred here in the murder charges are taking it to the highest level, him being charged at the highest level, and other charges will follow. i think that we have to make sure that our laws discourage acts like this so that the other people who may feel the need and the wants to kill or to advance a white supremacy agenda that would hurt other people physically, that that penalty should be so high and so swift. you know, there's a lot of

people just as there are some people, should say, we're this shooter's mental health, as if they should be an for what he did. he they should be an for what he did-- he was - they should be an for what he did.- he was evil, - they should be an for what he did.- he was evil, he l did. indeed. he was evil, he committed _ did. indeed. he was evil, he committed a _ did. indeed. he was evil, he committed a crime... - did. indeed. he was evil, he committed a crime... i - did. indeed. he was evil, hej committed a crime... i don't did. indeed. he was evil, he - committed a crime... i don't me to cut you _ committed a crime... i don't me to cut you off. — committed a crime... i don't me to cut you off, i'm _ committed a crime... i don't me to cut you off, i'm so _ committed a crime... i don't me to cut you off, i'm so sorry, - to cut you off, i'm so sorry, we are running out of time. just briefly i want to ask you how does your community he'll from here?— how does your community he'll from here? our community he'll from here? our community he'll from here _ from here? our community he'll from here after— from here? our community he'll from here after we _ from here? our community he'll from here after we have - from here? our community he'll from here after we have buriedl from here after we have buried our dead and we see across this united states united states agreeing with us that racism and white supremacy must end. thank you so much there, darius pridgen, forjoining us on the programme. pridgen, for “oining us on the programme.— there's been another shooting incident — this time at a church in california. the church is in laguna woods in orange county. the sheriff's department has said that one person has been killed and four others are critically wounded. these pictures have come into us of the church, and you can see a heavy police presence outside. one man has been detained. police said he was an asian man in his 60s. the motive for the shooting

is not yet known. we'll bring you more details as they come in. the controversial american preacher franklin graham has held an event attended by thousands of people in liverpool at the start of a uk tour. before the pandemic, british venues cancelled his appearances when rights groups protested he was politically extreme, islamophobic, and homophobic. 0ur religion editor aleem maqbool reports. for one night, the us evangelical mega—church experience came to liverpool. thousands wanted to see one of the most famous, some would say notorious, american preachers, franklin graham. he's the son of the late billy graham, who toured the uk for decades and filled stadia like anfield. have you ever thought to yourself, "i'd like to start it all over again?"

but unlike his father, franklin graham's been overtly political. and no man comes to the father but by me. in particular, his comments condemning homosexuality led to british venues cancelling his appearances. but he agreed to keep his rhetoric in check and his tour�*s back on — to the dismay of some. at a counter event close by, the rector of liverpool and the mayor raised the pride flag at liverpool parish church. those gathered here said it was important to oppose what they saw as a message of hate from franklin graham, saying his views fuelled hostility towards people on the grounds of their sexuality. at no point have we argued that franklin graha has no right to speak. we would argue that he doesn't have a right to make people feel unsafe. he doesn't have a right to make people feel unwelcome — and that's what we need to fight against. the man himself is being very careful about what he says, though he disagrees with calls to be more inclusive. you can't be inclusive

as it relates to sin. we have to repent. the bible requires us to repent and that's to turn from our sins. and you're talking about things like homosexuality. i'm talking about all of us, our sins. the bible says we've all sinned. among those going forward to pray with franklin graham were many who appear to believe in his rigid interpretation of the bible. others had come in spite of aspects they were uncomfortable with. he's got his views, which for me are quite evangelical and i'm more middle of the road. but i think, you know, his heart's in the right place. but it didn't put you off coming to see him? no. the fact that he's said in the past, homosexuality�*s evil? no. that wasn't enough to put you off? no, no, cos i don't think it is evil. chanting protesters outside the venue thought no—one should be going to see franklin graham. but over the coming weeks in the uk, thousands plan to do just that. aleem maqbool, bbc

news, in liverpool. that is it from us. thanks for watching. to say with me. a lot of cloud across the uk, not ideal viewing weather for the total lunar eclipse in the western sky before dawn and, indeed, monday is going to bring a lot of cloud but also sunny spells and one or two downpours, some of them thundery. let's have a look at the picture on the satellite image and you can see a lot of cloud towards the southeast, showers and thunderstorms have been drifting out of france, approaching the uk. i think through the early hours the greatest risk of lightning across the south but clearly you can see some heavy rain across northern england, scotland, parts of northern ireland too. to the south it's a mild start, 1a, 15 degrees maybe in some spots in the north of scotland where we will have had some clearskies, perhaps as low as eight.

so the broad message for monday is, northern half of the uk often cloudy, outbreaks of rain possible almost at any time but through the morning and the afternoon. southern half of the uk, from around about yorkshire southwards i think there will be lengthy spells of sunshine cloud, showers will brew during the daytime and some of them thundery. monday night into tuesday, the big low pressure sell—out in the atlantic and around it weather fronts. this weather front is going to brush western parts of the uk during the course of tuesday so there will be a west, east split. at the west you'll have the outbreaks of rain in cooler weather. 0ut towards the east it will be much warmer, in fact turning quite hot in london, 26 celsius, it will be the warmest day of the week. the forecast for bid week still shows a large area of low pressure in the atlantic, around it weather fronts basically brushing the uk. large gaps in the weather for sure, they'll be lots of sunshine around but it's good to be very difficult to pinpoint where these areas of cloud and rain again to sweep in. we think on wednesday reaching southwestern parts of england and wales but many northern and eastern parts should have a mostly sunny day and it stays relatively warm as well. so let's have a look at the outlook for the week ahead and it is a mixed picture.

staying on the warm side, particularly across southern parts of the uk and relatively warm in the north too but you can see every weather icon and you can possibly think of. bye— bye.

drawing thousands of supporters and also protesters. this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories at the top of the hour straight after this programme. hello. welcome to the media show. welcome too to the headquarters of channel 4 in central london. and we're here because the government has confirmed it's pushing on with its plans to privatise channel 4, despite the reservations of the broadcaster. so we're going to look through all of the issues that this raises with our guest today, the ceo of channel 4, alex mahon. alex, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. this wasn't the outcome you wanted. so where did it go wrong? well, i'm not sure

that it went wrong. i mean, obviously, this is the government's decision to make.