this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... at least 23 people have died as violent storms triggered by a tornado rip through the southern us state of mississippi. i'll be speaking live to a storm chaser in mississippi who witnessed the tornado. also on the programme. growing tension in france — riots today in the west after unrest in the capital. indian opposition leader rahool gandhi says his disqualification from parliament is politically motivated. and a once in a decade flyby, as an asteroid passes between the earth and the moon.

a tornadoe has 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 a—hundred—and—fifty 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 six thousand metres into the sky. you can see here the latest pictures which have just come through to us, of the destruction in rolling fork. earlier i spoke to our

correspondent frances read... 23 people at least have lost their lives. a large number. a trail of destruction of you said it is a km with up some are saying just think about of the debris was thrown 6000 metres into the air but possibly up to 9000 meters. that's almost 30,000 feet. tremendously frightening, whatever the official measurements eventually turn out to be. at the moment, as you'll see from the pictures, 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 get people trapped in those houses, under rubble, under structures that have fallen down. we

rubble, under structures that have fallen down-— rubble, under structures that have fallen down. we can see trees that are following _ fallen down. we can see trees that are following on _ fallen down. we can see trees that are following on houses _ fallen down. we can see trees that are following on houses of - fallen down. we can see trees that are following on houses of the - are following on houses of the people are probably still in the houses. w , people are probably still in the houses. , �* , people are probably still in the houses. , �*, , people are probably still in the houses. �*, , p houses. exactly. it's very difficult in these kinds _ houses. exactly. it's very difficult in these kinds of _ houses. exactly. it's very difficult in these kinds of natural - houses. exactly. it's very difficult| in these kinds of natural disasters to get help to where it needs to be in the timeframe that it needs to be. all efforts now will be on trying to save as many lives as possible. elf trying to save as many lives as ossible. u, , trying to save as many lives as ossible. _, , , , . , possible. of course these pictures we see at the _ possible. of course these pictures we see at the moment, _ possible. of course these pictures we see at the moment, it's - possible. of course these pictures we see at the moment, it's all- we see at the moment, it's all at nighttime. people would have been woken up by the x or been waking up to this devastation.— to this devastation. absolutely terri in. to this devastation. absolutely terrifying- by _ to this devastation. absolutely terrifying. by morning - to this devastation. absolutely terrifying. by morning local. terrifying. by morning local residents said some towns, a place called rolling fork worked on, completely gone. they've warned people to stay far away from damage power lines, not enter those damage buildings. if they're on the outside don't go in them or walk through the flood waters. some eyewitnesses described it as being eerily quiet just before the tornado struck, that's not unusual, that something we hear quite a lot. they said despite the sky being dark because this came into the night, they can

see it coming. of course many people have been taken to hospital, others who are trapped or 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 sheltered within their house with a yes, in the usm do have basements but they're not always effective, not all houses have them. i'm joined now by meteoroligist and storm chaser, dr reed timmer who was in mississippi last night and streamed his experience live on his youtube channel. thank you forjoining us for the talk me through what happened last night and how those events unfolded. all the ingredients were in place for a tornado outbreak, fast—moving super cell storms moving at speeds of up to 60 mph. we were chasing sorbents for about five hours during the day. none were going to turn attic and then at sunset it was like attic and then at sunset it was like a switch was flipped from off to on. the low level wind started to

accelerate 60 knots and soon as it hit the mississippi river, as they streamed up the it went to an attic and there was a long track tornado that was possibly on the ground continuously for over 50 to 100 miles. we will have to see if those were multiple tornadoes are one long track one. we're heading south to north are from pittsburgh towards rolling fork and the storm was absolutely electrified. it pulsed lightly and, strobe light and they could see the whole structure of the storm. suddenly you saw that tornado, probably over a quarter to a half—mile wide as it was crossing the mississippi river and headed toward the of rolling fork. you chase storms, _ toward the of rolling fork. you chase storms, you _ toward the of rolling fork. you chase storms, you chase tornadoes. we're just seeing pictures chase storms, you chase tornadoes. we'rejust seeing pictures now chase storms, you chase tornadoes. we're just seeing pictures now of the utter devastation left in some of those towns that you are near too, was it ever touching go, ever scary at some point? we too, was it ever touching go, ever scary at some point?— too, was it ever touching go, ever scary at some point? i've been doing this for a long _ scary at some point? i've been doing this for a long time, _ scary at some point? i've been doing this for a long time, for _ scary at some point? i've been doing this for a long time, for about - scary at some point? i've been doing this for a long time, for about 25 - this for a long time, for about 25 years. we definitely knew where the

tornado is moving, we knew the structure of the tornado. i was scared for the people in the path of this one. when we arrived in the town of rolling forkjust after the tornado came through and saw the dark side that these storms leave behind and just total devastation. we're people that were abandoning their homes, the rubble, walking around confused, asking what happened. these are serious injuries, even death in the town. we just began transporting people to the hospitaljust on the north side of vicksburg. people with the most serious injuries and storm chasers dropped everything and assisted in the search and rescue effort. because a nervous hospital is about 40 because a nervous hospital is about a0 miles away from rolling fork. we had to get people to help and to the hospital and it was utter devastation. definitely similar to what we saw in kentucky a couple of years ago on the december ten and 11 outbreak where kentucky sustained serious devastation. i

outbreak where kentucky sustained serious devastation.— serious devastation. i understand ou serious devastation. i understand you helped _ serious devastation. i understand you helped get — serious devastation. i understand you helped get some _ serious devastation. i understand you helped get some people - serious devastation. i understand you helped get some people to l you helped get some people to hospital who had sustained quite serious injuries how is the search and rescue operation going now? i can see it's light and even sunny where are now. is it calm down, is it helping that? the where are now. is it calm down, is it helping that?— where are now. is it calm down, is it helping that? the weather is calm toda . a it helping that? the weather is calm today- a little _ it helping that? the weather is calm today. a little bit _ it helping that? the weather is calm today. a little bit windy. _ it helping that? the weather is calm today. a little bit windy. just - it helping that? the weather is calm today. a little bit windy. just a - today. a little bit windy. just a classic post—frontal environment, lot of time after the super cells move through on the backside of the outbreak you are crystal clear skies like this. it's very dry, sometimes cold afterwards. definitely that conditions are good for the recovery effort. it'sjust beginning right now you see people sitting in the rubble, not really sure what to do, checking on loved ones, cell phone coverage is down. i'm south of the damage path near the vicksburg area. about to head back and surveyed to see if there was one continuous tornado put up a super cell moving at 60 miles per hours like that doesn't really have time to cycle through tornadoes so you get this

really long track, classic dixie allie, fast—moving tornadoes, they continue through the night and there's a lot of mobile homes out here in the mid south. it's the worst case scenario. yesterday there were people in their vehicles, there were people in their vehicles, there were no tornado sirens going off and you actually even saw vehicles that were going airborne, orbiting around the tornado. just the worst, most devastating tornado that happened last night and it impacted other communities like silver city, areas that were similarly impacted by the super outbreak of 2011.— super outbreak of 2011. thank you very much. _ super outbreak of 2011. thank you very much. dr _ super outbreak of 2011. thank you very much, dr reed _ super outbreak of 2011. thank you very much, dr reed timmer - very much, dr reed timmer meteorologist and storm chaser bringing us the latest following that tornado in mississippi overnight. security forces in france remain on high alert, after legislation to raise the state pension age caused massive protests. the dispute and outbreaks of violence forced the authorities to postpone a planned state visit

by the british monarch, king charles. meanwhile there have been separate demonstrations in western france, linked to concerns over water usage by large—scale agricultural producers. bethany bell is in paris for us. bethany, talk me through what you know, what is the latest on these protests today? the know, what is the latest on these protests today?— know, what is the latest on these protests today? the situation seems to have calm — protests today? the situation seems to have calm somewhat _ protests today? the situation seems to have calm somewhat from - protests today? the situation seems to have calm somewhat from a - protests today? the situation seems to have calm somewhat from a few l to have calm somewhat from a few hours ago when we saw protesters hurling molotov cocktails at police. we saw police cars on fire, we saw the police using tear gas against the police using tear gas against the protesters. just a little while ago france's interior minister has said that there have been injured, at least one policeman seriously injured and at least one protests are seriously injured. these

demonstrations of course, about a separate issue about water usage. it was interesting to see that some of the protesters were there today are beginning to make links between the struggle about water in western france and the bigger social and rest, which is been engulfing france in recent days and weeks. 0ne rest, which is been engulfing france in recent days and weeks. one man said the struggle for water and the struggle for the pension rights was one in the same thing. i think this is something that the government is concerned about, there will be this generalised anger that is already quite high here in france when it comes to his unpopular pension reforms. and other things willjust add fuel to that anger. you mentioned _ add fuel to that anger. you mentioned they _ add fuel to that anger. you mentioned they are - add fuel to that anger. you mentioned they are a - add fuel to that anger. you mentioned they are a number of protests. at today's protest seemed to have calm down. we're expecting more action later next week. yes.

to have calm down. we're expecting more action later next week.- more action later next week. yes. a tense national _ more action later next week. yes. a tense national day _ more action later next week. yes. a tense national day of _ more action later next week. yes. a tense national day of action - more action later next week. yes. a tense national day of action against| tense national day of action against president macron his unpopular pension reforms, it's been for tuesday. that was in very great deal one of the reasons why the planned visit by britain's king charles was postponed because the french government felt that it was inappropriate that king charles singh charles and the queen consort visit france during this period of insecurity. also a number of his advisers were thinking, given how many of president mccombs opponents at the moment are perceiving him as somebody who is —— emmanuel macron. somewhat like a king, we seem protesters out, posters saying he was rather like a king. it wouldn't be very good to see him sitting in

the former royal palace with a real king. there will be this tense day of national action here on tuesday. at the moment, both sides in this struggle not showing particular signs as to how they might try to bring this crisis to an end. thank you. let me show you some live pictures from israel — where more protests are taking place. the country has been gripped by months of some of the biggest demonstrations in its history — over prime minister netanyahu defying calls to scrap a shake—up of the legal system. these scenes we have seen repeated weekly across the country. escalating since the start of the year. escalating since the start of the year. 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 am here, defending the democratic voice of the indian people. i will continue to do that. i am not scared of these threats, all these disqualifications, all 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 getting scared of them. i am not scared of them. i will continue to ask the question.

what is the prime minister's relationship with mr adarni? it is an old relationship. it was a manager that began when he was chief minister. it was a manager that began when he was chief minister. mr adarni constructed the idea of resurgent gujarat. this is a partnership, a close partnership, and i will keep asking that question. "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 3 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 2 at seven pm tonight, at ten to ten in northern ireland and it's also on the iplayer. and for international audiences there's full coverage on the bbc news website.

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. it may look like a tiny dot, but this asteroid is 115 feet across and travelling at 17,000mph. it is coming comparatively close to our planet. if it were to hit our world, it could do significant damage. it's thought it could destroy a city. this is the moment when an asteroid hit russia back in 2013, damaging buildings and frightening the local population. but, thankfully, this time scientists say there is nothing to worry about.

it's just going to sail straight past us, so it's going to be moving really quite rapidly across the sky, so you'll see it move through lots of different constellations as the night progresses. but, yeah, this is not going to hit anything at all, it's just going to zip past between the earth and the moon. according to nasa, it is an important opportunity for astronomers to increase their knowledge of asteroids, in the event that a dangerous object were to be discovered with the potential to hit earth. all asteroids are kind of potato—shaped, they are irregular bits of rubble left over from the solar system's formation. but as this one comes closer, we'll be able to study it a bit more and maybe give a more realistic description of what it might look like. that's important, because it may not be the last time this asteroid visits planet earth. this orbits the sun as well, and that means, because it crosses earth's orbit, it will actually cross over again, and so therefore we will see it in a few years' time. check the night sky this evening to see if you can spot it. richard galpin, bbc news.

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 a.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. 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". 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. time to say goodbye.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @frankie—mack hello. tomorrow marks the start of british summer time. over the next 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 midlands. 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. further south, something a bit milder. lows 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 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. for most, 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: a tornado has killed at least 23 people in the us state of mississippi. the authorities said the twister 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. there have been continued tensions in france, with violent scenes in sant—soline in the west of the country. security forces clashed with protesters wanting to stop the construction of a reservoir. indian opposition leader rahool gandhi has said that his disqualification from parliament is politically motivated. he also faces two years in prison — after a court found him guilty of criminal defamation.