this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm frankie mccamley. our top stories... at least 23 people have died as violent storms triggered by a tornado rip through the southern us state of mississippi. growing tension in france — riots today in the west after unrest in the capital. these are the dramatic scenes earlier. indian opposition leader rahool gandhi says his disqualification from parliament is politically motivated. and we have a special report on the mis spy who defied orders to help bring peace to northern ireland.

several tornadoes have killed at least 23 people in the us state of mississippi, which is located here, in the south of the country. the authorities said twisters left a trail of damage for more than 150 kilometres. one of the worst affected towns is rolling fork, where trees and power lines have been torn down. at one point, debris was being pulled more than 6,000 metres into the sky. we are looking at some of the latest pictures that have come through. you can see the trail of destruction, debris everywhere, cars on top of buildings, completely decimated.

0ur correspondent frances read is with us. you have been working in the us and you have covered a lot of weather stories, how does this compare? this is serious, stories, how does this compare? this is serious. 23 — stories, how does this compare? “m 3 is serious, 23 people at stories, how does this compare? “m 1 is serious, 23 people at least have lost their lives, a large number. a trail of destruction, as you said. 150 kilometres. think about this, the debris was thrown 6000 metres into the air, possibly 9000 metres, that almost 30,000 feet. a tremendously frightening, whatever the official measurements turn out to be. at the moment, as you will see, a total scene of destruction. trees uprooted, houses destroyed, towns destroyed, and now tens of thousands of people without power. we've heard about hail the size of golf balls as well. the worries are, when you have natural disasters like this, you have people trapped in situ, in those houses, under rubble,

under structures that have fallen down. ~ , ., . under structures that have fallen down. ~ ,, ., ., ~ under structures that have fallen down. 1 , ., . . ~' down. while you are talking, we can see trees that _ down. while you are talking, we can see trees that have _ down. while you are talking, we can see trees that have fallen _ down. while you are talking, we can see trees that have fallen on - see trees that have fallen on houses, people probably still in houses? , ., �*, , houses? exactly, and it's very difficult in _ houses? exactly, and it's very difficult in these _ houses? exactly, and it's very difficult in these natural - houses? exactly, and it's very - difficult in these natural disasters to get help where it needs to be, in the timeframe that needs to be. all efforts will be on trying to save us many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing _ many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing at _ many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing at the _ many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing at the moment, - many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing at the moment, it - many lives as possible. the pictures we are seeing at the moment, it is i we are seeing at the moment, it is all at night time, people would have been woken up by this will be waking up been woken up by this will be waking up to this devastation.— up to this devastation. absolutely, absolutely terrifying. _ up to this devastation. absolutely, absolutely terrifying. by _ up to this devastation. absolutely, absolutely terrifying. by morning, | absolutely terrifying. by morning, local resident said some towns, there was a place called rolling fork, they were completely gone. they have warned people to stay far away from damaged power lines, not enter the damaged buildings, if they are on the outside of them, don't go into them or walk through the flood waters. some eyewitnesses described it as being eerily quietjust before the tornado struck. that's not unusual, something we hear quite a lot. they said despite the sky being

darker, because this came in through the night, they could see it coming. many people have been taken to hospital, others who are trapped have been told to wait for first responders if they can. for many, by the time they heard the warning, it was only really time to get shelter within their house. in the us, some houses do have basements, but they are not always effective, and not all houses have them.— are not always effective, and not all houses have them. obviously a really worrying _ all houses have them. obviously a really worrying time _ all houses have them. obviously a really worrying time for _ all houses have them. obviously a really worrying time for people - all houses have them. obviously a l really worrying time for people that live in the area or know people in the area. but residents around these areas, are they used to tornadoes? is this tornado season something they could be expecting? yes. they could be expecting? yes, althou:h they could be expecting? yes, although potentially _ they could be expecting? yes, although potentially not - they could be expecting? yes, although potentially not on - they could be expecting? 111 although potentially not on this scale. usually we would see it a few weeks later than we were expecting. it is march tojune that you would expect tornado season. you can see from satellite images the weather system moving in. we would usually expect something

of this scale to be more from next month on wood, if you are going to get something of this scale. apparently, 168 tornadoes were recorded in the us injanuary. that is completely out of season. the second highest number on record. with the changes, with climate change, we are seeing more out of season events. on the other coast in california, you see wildfire is now completely out of season. people expect these within a certain time frame, in the year. and now it could happen at any point. we are seeing more of that. yes, this region is impacted by tornadoes, they are used to tornadoes, they have grown up knowing what to do in a tornado. but not on the size and scale of this. thank you very much, we are going to be following that story closely throughout the day. security forces in france remain on high alert, after legislation to raise the state pension age caused massive protests. the authorities to postpone a planned state visit by the british monarch, king charles.

linked to concerns over water usage by large—scale agricultural producers. well, a little while earlier i spoke to our paris correspondent bethany bell and she gave me the latest on the protests. well, a little bit earlier this afternoon we saw in those separate protests in western france, some scenes where several police cars were on fire, where police were clashing with protesters, tear gas was fired. it was a scene of some violence. we were also getting reports that there were injuries in those protests. that particular situation seems to be calming down for the moment. the organisers of the protests say that three of their people, the protesters, have been seriously injured and we are getting reports of some injuries of policeman.

this, of course, a separate protest from the huge days of national action that had been called against president macron�*s plan for his pension reforms. all of this coming at a time of general social unrest. people here are very much on high alert still, here in paris and around the country. tensions are very high. you mentioned president macron. a lot of people have been talking about a specific watch of his. talk me through that. i think a lot of people here, depending on which side you take in this argument, there was a clip of president macron removing an expensive watch, it appeared, when he was in a television interview. the government says that the watch was not so expensive and that he was taking it off because it was making a noise.

other people said it was a symbol ofjust how much out of touch president macron is. among many of the protesters that have been going out in recent weeks, there is a sense that president macron is a president for the rich, for the wealthy. against that, president macron and his supporters say what they are doing with this pension age reform is necessary for france's economy, and that they need to do this, they need to increase the pension age by two years, from 62 to 64, in order to get france's economy back on track. a complicated picture here and we wait to see how things will evolve over the next few days. the indian opposition leader rahul gandhi has said his disqualification by parliament on friday is politically motivated.

he says it's an attempt to distract from accusations he made against prime minister narendra modi over his relationship with the billionaire businessman, gautam adarni. mr ghandi also faces two years in prison after a court found him guilty of criminal defamation for a comment made at a rally where he disparaged mr modi's surname. mr ghandi is a leading figure in the main opposition congress party. i'm here defending the democratic voice of the indian people. i will continue to do that. i am not scared of these threats, of these disqualifications, of these allegations, of these prison sentences. i don't care. i'm not scared of them. 0k? these people don't understand me yet. i am not scared of them. they are used to everybody being scared of them. i am not scared of them. and i will continue to ask the question — what is the prime minister's relationship with mr adani? it is an old relationship. it is a relationship that began when he was chief

minister of gujarat. mr adani constructed the idea of research in gujarat. gujarat organised all that. this is a partnership. it's a close partnership. i'm going to keep asking that question. eight pallbearers who carried queen elizabeth ii's coffin at her funeral are among those to be recognised in a special honours list. king charles has honoured royal aides and military personnel for the roles they played during the period of national mourning. angela kelly, the queen's dresser, who worked with her for more than 25 years was also received recognition. 0peration chiffon was the codename given to a top—secret british intelligence operation that eventually paved the way for the good friday agreement — bringing an end to more than three decades of violence in northern ireland. at the centre of it all was an undercover agent known as �*robert�*. journalist peter taylor has spent more than 20

years tracking him down, and in a new documentary, he explains what really happened. by the early 1990s, more than 3,000 people had been killed on all sides, in what was known as the troubles. the continuing violence was fed by one question — should northern ireland remain in the united kingdom or become part of a united ireland? when peace finally came, with the good friday agreement, i was convinced that an m15 secret agent had played a vital role in helping to make it happen. he ran a top—secret back channel between the british government and the leadership of the ira. ifinally tracked him down, but following m15's rules, he lied to me and said he wasn't the man i was looking for. then astonishingly, in 2021, i received a letter. "dear mr taylor. you will no doubt be surprised

to hearfrom me after so many years. for a variety of reasons, i could now give you some background, which might fill in some gaps." robert was due to meet senior republicans, but the government cancelled the meeting after ira bombs in warrington killed two children. robert disobeyed orders, sensing that despite its campaign, the ira was looking for peace. at the meeting, he gave them an extraordinary prediction. "the final solution is union. it's going to happen anyway. this island will be as one." is that what you said? i must have done. that's what's in the... if they wrote it down, then i... yeah, it seems quite likely. but you had no authority to say that... no. ..and what you said flew directly in the face of what british government policy was. yes. those words were absolutely

crucial because it appeared that behind the scenes, the british government was secretly working towards a united ireland, the ira's goal, but to unionists, treachery. but in the autumn of 1993, with no sign of the violence ending, robert's secret mission was exposed. he resigned from m15. the operation looked like a failure. but that's not the end of the story. the ira still had a desire to carry on discussing a way forward, remembering robert's words, "the final solution is union, this island will be as one." i believe that robert's words helped pave the way for the ceasefire and, ultimately, the good friday agreement of 1998. it also meant that an uncountable number of lives were saved. looking back, it's a degree of pride that i've played a small part in history, done some good in the world.

peter taylor, bbc news. uk audiences can see peter�*s full story on bbc two at 7pm tonight, at 9:50 in northern ireland — and it's also on the iplayer. and for international audiences there's full coverage on the bbc news website. at least five are dead and six missing after an explosion at a chocolate factory in pennsylvania. the blast occured just before 5pm on friday at the rm palmer &co facility in the town of west reading. the cause is currently unknown, authorities say they are investigating. lets get the weekends sport action now — from the bbc sport centre, here's 0lly. it's another busy day of european championship qualifiers. we've already had one result.

scotland have started their campaign with a win. they beat cyprus 3—0 at hampden park. john mcginn scoring midway through the first half. they had plenty of other chances but had to wait before they could be sure of the points, manchester united's scott mctominay came off the bench and scored inside the last five minutes then added another in injury time. they have a tougher task next, when they welcome spain to glasgow next tuesday spain face norway later in group a in malaga. croatia are facing wales in split, you can see that all six sides in group i are in action, including belarus. they aren't allowed to play on home soil because of the country's support of russia's invasion of ukarine, they are facing switzerland in serbia newly—appointed bayern munich coach thomas tuchel says he was stunned at being offered the position by the bundesliga club tuchel replaced julien nagelsmann on friday. nagelsmann lost hisjob at the german champions

with the bavarian club second in the table and into the quarterfinals of the european champions league. tuchel, who was sacked by chelsea in september despite winning the 2021 champions league, revealed that he had his first talks with the club last tuesday the women's six nations championship is under way, we've had one result so far with wales beating ireland 31—5 in cardiff. in the next half an hour, the grand slam champions england face scotland in newcastle. this will be their captain sarah hunter's final game before retiring. scotland lost every match in last year's championship and have only beaten england twice in their history. hopefully you will see a slightly different style of play from us, at the six nations, than what we have

seen before. and hopefully that will let us put some points on the board. we have lost a lot of games by a small margin, so we need to find a way to score more points. 0ur defence has been pretty solid, particularly in the world cup. we need to take that to the next level. we don't need to change a huge amount about it, we want to take to the next level. the big thing for us as our and how we put the points on the board. when you come to the _ the points on the board. when you come to the end _ the points on the board. when you come to the end of _ the points on the board. when you come to the end of your— the points on the board. when you come to the end of your career, i come to the end of your career, you start— come to the end of your career, you start to _ come to the end of your career, you start to think— come to the end of your career, you start to think about how and when you wanted to end. for me, there didnl— you wanted to end. for me, there didn't seem — you wanted to end. for me, there didn't seem to be any better possible _ didn't seem to be any better possible for that to happen, you know? _ possible for that to happen, you know? i— possible for that to happen, you know? i started playing rugby in newcastle and finishing it, it feels like i've _ newcastle and finishing it, it feels like i've come full circle. england cricketer jonny bairstow will miss the indian premier league as he continues his recovery from injury. he hasn't played since september following surgery on his leg — he broke it in an accident on a golf course. the ipl starts next week and bairstow had been due to play for the punjab kings. he says he's confident he'll be fit for the ashes against australia this summer. and that's all the sport for now.

lets ta ke lets take you to tel aviv. we are getting live images through of an ongoing protest that israelis are holding. they are holding demonstrations across the country. this that we are seeing right now is the latest mass protest against moves by the government to overhaul thejudicial system. we have seen protesters blocking roads, chanting anti—government slogans. we have seen many waving flags. police have been using water cannons to try to disperse the rallies. the demonstrations have been continuing, we know, for several months. these came just hours after the is really parliament agreed a law that would make it more difficult for the courts to remove a prime minister

deemed unfit for office. we are seeing those life pictures of those rallies, the mass rallies taking place in tel aviv. travelling at 17,000 miles an hour, a massive asteroid dubbed the �*city killer', because of its size, is passing between the earth and the moon this weekend. experts say the asteroid will pass by safely and can be seen through binoculars and telescopes. i've been speaking to dr ashley king who is a planetary scientist with the natural history museum. he explained how far the asteroid is and what this pass by will mean for us and researchers like him. we shouldn't be worried. it is definitely not going to hit us. but it is close. so, dizzy, the asteroid you mentioned that was discovered about a month ago, is going to pass just under 200,000 kilometres from the earth, about halfway to the moon. it will be nearby, but it is definitely not going to hit us.

this asteroid was discovered around a month ago, is this normal, do we often find out about a month in advance that an asteroid is quite close to us? so, most asteroids are relatively small, and they tend to be very dark. they are actually quite difficult for us to detect. the big ones, we know where they are. the smaller ones, it is only when they get closer to us that we can spot them. sometimes it can be a month or so before they make their closest approach, before we even know they exist. once we have spotted them, we can track them really accurately and we can be confident working out that this one is not going to hit us. good news for us, we will be able to sleep tight tonight. you talk about the size, and also, researchers like yourselves, how exciting are something like this for you? is it something you can gain intelligence on? as you said, this is a once in a decade or so type event. this asteroid is probably about 70 metres or so in diameter.

it is going to pass by quite close to the earth, and we are going to be able to study it. we will be able to use our observatories, use our telescope to look at this asteroid as it passes by. asteroids are amazing objects, they are kind of the leftover building blocks of our solar systems. they take us all the way back to the start of our solar system, just over 11.5 billion years ago. they tell us how we ended up with planets like the earth. we are really excited, it's a fantastic opportunity to learn what the asteroid is made from, what is it structure like, and what can it tell us about our origins. it is notjust you that is excited, i am quite excited. i would like to look outside my window. will somebody like me be able to see it with the naked eye, do we need binoculars or be in a certain part of the world? the chance of seeing it in the northern hemisphere, i think the naked eye, probably not. binoculars, probably a bit of a struggle. small telescopes, they have a chance of picking this up. it is going to pass by. it will be about ten minutes

to eight this evening. if you can't do that, there will be lots of streams on the internet and you will be able to watch this thing as it whizzes past the earth. you talk about this one been quite safe, we are going to be ok, and i will keep repeating that. but what if one was to come close to the earth? what mitigation measures are in place to protect us? that is a good question. people out there watching the skies, basically, looking out for these things and trying to detect them as quickly as we possibly can. recently, we had a nasa mission called dartt, that fired an impacter into an asteroid to see what would happen, how does the dust come out? one of the aims was to slightly change the orbit of the asteroid. so, that is one of the ways we think, if one of these things is going to hit us at some point, we might be able to send a spacecraft to knock these things off their orbit, so they pass by the earth rather than hitting us. we have a mission coming up,

called nasa's 0siris—rex mission. 22 asteroid and took samples that are coming back in six months. —— it went to. one of the aims are still enough of the composition of asteroids, what their structure is, so we can develop plans for if they are going to hit us, we want to work out the best way to stop that happening. the vatican has returned three fragments of the ancient parthenon sculptures to greece, in a move that's been described as a "gesture of friendship". one is a chunk of a horse's head — the other a bearded man, and the third, a head of a boy. 0ur reporter shelley phelps has more details. returning home. three more parthenon fragments are now being displayed at the acropolis museum in athens, alongside other ancient artefacts. there were smiles all round at the ceremony attended by representatives of pope francis and the greek orthodox church. the gifting of the fragments of the parthenon, which have been held in the vatican museums for more

than two centuries shows itself as an ecclesial, cultural and social gesture of friendship and solidarity with the people of greece. the decision to return the fragments was announced by pope francis last year. translation: my personal heartfelt wish is that this initiative _ is mimicked by others. pope francis showed that this is possible and significant. greece hopes the move will spur other overseas institutions holding parthenon sculptures to return them. translation: the ceremony today, l which completes the exceptionally l generous gesture by pope francis — similar to the gesture by the government of sicily and the republic of italy a few months ago — shows the road that we could follow, that everyone could follow, in order for the unity of the parthenon to be restored, in the place where this should happen. greece is continuing calls for britain to return marbles taken from the parthenon temple

by lord elgin in the early—19th century. there's been speculation that the british museum, where they're held, could arrange a loan of the sculptures, but greek ministers say the country could never accept a loan of something they consider stolen. shelley phelps, bbc news. let's head back to tel aviv and take a look at the live pictures of the ongoing mass protests in the centre. people gathering against moves by the government to overhaul the judicial system. we are hearing of clashes between people and police. police using water cannon to try to disperse rallies, notjust in tel aviv, but in other areas around the city. if you want to catch up on that or any other stories we have been talking about this half—hour, head to the bbc news website. i am also on twitter if you want to get

in touch. hello. tomorrow marks the start of british summer time. 0ver hello. tomorrow marks the start of british summer time. over the next few days, things will turn briefly colder again. few days, things will turn briefly colderagain. more few days, things will turn briefly colder again. more on that in a moment. back to this evening, this has been a picture through today. a fairly messy picture with showers or longer spells of rain in places. now our eyes are drawn to the system approaching from the south—west, which will bring rain into south—west england and wales to this evening and overnight, and also in the central southern and south—east england, east anglia, may be part of the lens. further north, may be dry but cloudy. clear skies across scotland, wintry showers feeding in from the north. here, temperatures at or below freezing. similar temperatures for the far north of england. furthersouth, temperatures for the far north of england. further south, something a bit milder. between four and seven celsius. the clocks move forward one hour through the early hours of

sunday morning. it's a wet start to sunday morning. it's a wet start to sunday across the southern half of the uk, thanks to this area of low pressure. as it moves eastwards, it opens the gate for the cold air across scotland to push its way southwards across the uk. something much colder over the next few days for all of us. certainly a wet start across the southern half of the uk, through sunday morning. the rain will pull away, leaving in its wake a legacy of cloud for england, wales and northern ireland. sunshine developing from the north, wintry showers for northern and eastern scotland, may be north—east england as well. perhaps 11 or 12 across the far south—west of england. as we head through sunday night, the skies become increasingly clear, but still some wintry showers pushing on across northern and eastern scotland. a widespread frost across the uk. away from the far south—west of england, but perhaps potentially some icy stretches where we have seen the wintry showers. monday is a very different picture. high pressure starts to build, and that

means a quieter day, a drier day, but a cold and frosty start on monday morning. still some strong winds across the eastern coast. this weather system could bring rain and snow into the northern isles. perhaps a bit more cloud developing from the south—west. foremost, a cold but dry and sunny started new week. it doesn't last, because things will be changing from the west as more atlantic systems started pushing. after the cold but sunny start to the new week, we will see things turning increasingly wet and windy, with heavy spells of rain. also, much milder, particularly from wednesday onwards. that's all from me. goodbye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: several tornadoes have killed at least 23 people in the us state of mississippi. the authorities said the twisters left a trail of damage for more than 150 kilometres. trees and power lines were torn down, and tens of thousands of power outages reported. continued tensions in france — there were violent scenes in sant—soline in the west of the country — where security forces clashed with protesters wanting to stop the construction of a reservoir for the agricultural industry. indian opposition leader rahool gandhi says his disqualification from parliament is politically motivated