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. in the last half hour, president biden has said the images across mississippi are "heartbreaking." growing tension in france — riots today in the west after unrest in the capital. and we have a special report on the mis spy who defied orders to help bring peace to northern ireland. and a once in a decade flyby, as an asteroid passes between the earth and the moon.

a tornado 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 the twister 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 6000 metres into the sky. you can see here the latest pictures of the destruction in rolling fork. debris everywhere, cars on top of what used to be buildings. complete

and utter devastation. lots and lots of torn down buildings. as the rescue operation takes place as people start to think about the cleaning operation, many people there will have lost their homes, their livelihoods. and we understand there are some survivors that police and rescue services are still looking for. president biden has called the mississippi storms �*heartbreaking' and vowed federal support. here's our north america correspondent, david willis. dozens are still missing, but it is difficult to imagine anyone emerging from this sort of devastation alive.

the tornado struck at night, leaving bewildered residents struggling to take and the impact of such a malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had — malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had the _ malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had the sirens _ malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had the sirens on, - malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had the sirens on, warning | 820 we had the sirens on, warning people _ 820 we had the sirens on, warning people to — 820 we had the sirens on, warning people to take cover. it happened so fast. people to take cover. it happened so fast right— people to take cover. it happened so fast. right now we've got multiple homes _ fast. right now we've got multiple homes damaged and also in other areas _ homes damaged and also in other areas of— homes damaged and also in other areas of the county.— homes damaged and also in other areas of the county. local residents sa the areas of the county. local residents say the first — areas of the county. local residents say the first they — areas of the county. local residents say the first they knew _ areas of the county. local residents say the first they knew of _ areas of the county. local residents say the first they knew of it - areas of the county. local residents say the first they knew of it was - say the first they knew of it was when the light started flickering. many were left stranded after their vehicles were swept away. we many were left stranded after their vehicles were swept away.- many were left stranded after their vehicles were swept away. we had to net vehicles were swept away. we had to get ourselves — vehicles were swept away. we had to get ourselves into _ vehicles were swept away. we had to get ourselves into the _ vehicles were swept away. we had to get ourselves into the middle - vehicles were swept away. we had to get ourselves into the middle part i get ourselves into the middle part of the house. we did, we got in there, and obviously was coming right behind us because as soon as we got in there we heard a big boom. every trailer in this town, gone. rescue — every trailer in this town, gone. rescue crews have been surveying the effects of the tornado which as well as reducing vast areas to a virtual wasteland, also cut power to around 100,000 homes. rebuilding these

communities in one of the most impoverished parts of america will take years. earlier i spoke to the meteorologist and storm chaser, dr reed timmer who was in rolling fork during the tornado. well, yeah. all the ingredients were in place for a large scale tornado outbreak, fast moving supercell storms moving at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. and we were actually chasing storms for about four to five hours during the day. none were going tornadic. and then right at sunset, it was like a switch was flipped from off to on, the low level winds started to accelerate above 60 knots. and as soon as the storm hit the mississippi river, as those southerly winds were streamed up, the delta there, it went tornadic. and there was a long track tornado that was possibly on the ground continuously for over 50 to 100 miles. we'll have to see if it was consecutive tornadoes. multiple tornadoes or one long track one, but we were heading from south to north,

from vicksburg toward rolling fork. and the storm was absolutely electrified. the lightning was pulse lightning, so frequent, strobe lightning. so you could see the whole structure of the storm. and then suddenly you saw that wedge tornado probably over a quarter to a half mile wide as it was crossing the mississippi river and heading toward the town of rolling fork. and you obviously, you chase storms, you chase tornadoes. but we're just seeing pictures now of the utter devastation left in some of those towns that you must be near to. was it ever touch and go? was it ever scary at any point? well, i've been doing this for a long time, for about 25 years. so, we definitely knew where the tornado was moving. we knew the structure of the tornado. i was scared for the people in the path of this one. and 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 saw people that were abandoning their homes, the rubble, walking around, confused, asking what had happened. you saw serious injuries,

even death in the town. and 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 the nearest hospital was about a0 miles away from rolling fork. and we just had to get people to help down there, to that hospital. it was just utter devastation, definitely similar to what we saw in kentucky a couple of years ago, the december 10 and 11 outbreak where mayfield and other communities in kentucky sustained serious devastation. and i understand you helped get some people, two people to hospital who had sustained quite serious injuries. how is that search and rescue operation going now? i can see it's quite light, bright, even sunny where you are now. so is the weather... has it calmed down? is it helping that? yeah. the weather is calm certainly now. today it is a little bit windy. just a classic post frontal environment.

a lot of times after these supercells move through on the back side of the outbreaks, you have crystal clear skies like this. it's very dry. sometimes it's cold as well afterwards. so, definitely the conditions are good for the recovery effort, but it's just beginning right now. you see people that are just sitting in the rubble, not really sure what to do, checking on loved ones. cell phone coverage is down there. i'm actuallyjust south of the damage path near the vicksburg area, and about to head back and survey that damage path to see if it was one continuous tornado, a super cell that's moving at 60 miles an hour like that doesn't really have time to cycle through tornadoes. so, you get these really long track classic dixie alley tornado outbreaks, fast moving tornadoes. they continue through the night, and there's a lot of mobile homes as well out here in the mid—south. and so it's just the worst case scenario. and yesterday, there were people in their vehicles in town. there were no tornado sirens that that were going off. and you actually even saw vehicles that were going airborne,

orbiting around the tornado. and just the worst, most devastating tornado that happened last night. and it continued and impacted other communities like silver city and amory, areas that were similarly impacted during the super outbreak of 2011. ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you some breaking news now that we are getting in, reports that russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. now i must stress, this is coming from the task news agency here have quoted president vladimir putin as saying on saturday, that such a move would not violate nuclear nonproliferation agreements. now the agency goes on to say that the russian president added that the united states has stationed nuclear weapons on the territory of european allies. he goes on to say according to these reports we are getting in, the

belarus and president, alexander lukashenko, who's has long raised theissue lukashenko, who's has long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in belarus, and there is a quote here from the russian president saying, we agreed with lukashenko that we would place tactical nuclear resident in belarus without violating the regime. and thatis without violating the regime. and that is coming from the task news agency, their report suggesting that russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. 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. well, a little 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. and 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 also getting reports of some injuries of policemen.

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. but of course, 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. there is, among many of the protesters that have been going out in recent weeks, 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. so, a complicated picture here and we wait to see how things will evolve over the next few days. �*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 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 mis�*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 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. the israeli defence minister yoav gallant has called on the government to halt plans to overhaul the justice system, which have caused mass protests across the country. the minister made a statement after discussing its impact on national security with prime minister benjamin neta nyahu on thursday. it comes as mass rallies take place across israel for 12 weeks in a row. police have closed roads in tel aviv where the biggest marches are happening.

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. here he is speaking at a news conference on saturday. 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. let's get some of the day's other news from the uk.... the uk government is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks about the future of housing migrants in hotels. it has previously signalled it wants to end the practice, which the home secretary suella braverman has said costs around £6 million a day. former airbases are among sites being considered by the home office to house people. the former uk prime minister liz truss has been facing criticism following reports that she has drawn up a list of resignation honours. ms truss, who spent only 49 days in office, has put forward four people. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, has been fined almost 2000 pounds for speeding. mr burnham was caught driving at 78 miles per hour on a section of the m62 motorway

where there was a reduced limit of a0 miles per hour. in a statement he admitted he was going too fast. in the uk, two teenagers have appeared in court charged with murdering a 16—year—old boy who was stabbed to death in northampton. rohan shand died in kingsthorpe on wednesday. angus crawford reports. rohan shand wasjust 16 when he died. he was known to family and friends as fred. police say there was an incident in the kings thorpe area of the town at 3.30 on wednesday afternoon. rohan received a single stab wound to the chest. later from his laterfrom his injury. he died.

they were remanded and will appear again at northampton crown court on monday morning. a community which has lost one of its own, trying to support each other. , ., ., , ., , other. the young ones have been cominu other. the young ones have been coming and _ other. the young ones have been coming and they _ other. the young ones have been coming and they are _ other. the young ones have been coming and they are absolutely i coming and they are absolutely devastated. they are devastated and shocked. and the church, the community, alljust want to come together and be there for theirs. there has been an online appeals to help grow 1's family. so far it has raised more than £19,000. at least five are dead and six missing after an explosion at a chocolate factory in pennsylvania. the blast occurred 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.

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.

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 away from us, 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. but 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 is 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 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.

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 the picture through today. a fairly messy picture with showers of 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 through 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. that 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 in 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 start to the 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. trees and power lines have been torn down and tens of thousands of power outages have been reported by residents. continued tensions in france as demonstrators clash with police in sant—soleen, in the west of the country, during a protest against plans for a new water reservoir. the unrest follows weeks of protests over president macron�*s pension reforms. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. putin told state television that belarusian president alexander lukashenko has long been raising the issue with him.