this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines... 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. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. 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, in the south of the country. the authorities said the storm left a trail of damage for more than 150 kilometres. president biden has called the storms �*heartbreaking' — and vowed federal support. one of the worst affected towns is rolling fork — where entire neighbourhoods were flattened to rubble. our north america correspondent, david willis, reports. the extent of the devastation is truly extraordinary. entire communities reduced to piles of matchwood. heavy vehicles were picked up and tossed around like toys. 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 in the impact of such a malevolent force of nature. around 820 we had the sirens on, warning people to take cover. it happened so fast. right now we've got multiple homes damaged n the sioux city area, and also in other areas of the county. local residents say the first they knew of it was when the lights started flickering. many were left stranded after their vehicles were swept away. we had to 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 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. well, yeah, it was,, 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 are 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 forward. 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've been separate demonstrations in western france linked to concerns over water usage by large—scale agricultural producers. bethany bell is in paris for us.

in terms of the scale of damage, just take us through that. ihell in terms of the scale of damage, just take us through that. well the bi da of just take us through that. well the big day of action — just take us through that. well the big day of action that _ just take us through that. well the big day of action that took - just take us through that. well the big day of action that took place i big day of action that took place here was thursday and that's where over a million people took to the streets over france. this weekend has been much quieter than that, but we have seen, as you mentioned, this demonstration in western france. i demonstration in western france. i demonstration about a separate issue, the use of water, but there were some scenes where we saw protesters throwing molotov cocktails and stones at police. several police cars were set on fire. police used tear gas, and we are told by the authorities that at least one policeman and one protester were gravely injured. what was interesting as well to see in that protest in western france was that protest in western france was that some of the demonstrators there were making links between their cause and then there's bigger

because of upset and anger about president microns pension reforms. 0ne president microns pension reforms. one man said, we're making a link. if the same fight. 0ur fight for water and ourfight for work. so there is a sense here of the very angry country, then small—scale local demonstrations throughout france today. and of course, another day of national action, attends day of national action against president microns pension reforms has been planned for tuesday.— planned for tuesday. bethany, president macron _ planned for tuesday. bethany, president macron spoke - planned for tuesday. bethany, | president macron spoke earlier planned for tuesday. bethany, - president macron spoke earlier this week on television. did he cut through to the french? how did he come across's through to the french? how did he come acres?— come across's those of his opponents sa that he come across's those of his opponents say that he is — come across's those of his opponents say that he is extremely _ come across's those of his opponents say that he is extremely out - come across's those of his opponents say that he is extremely out of - say that he is extremely out of touch, that he is really with a contempt for democracy in some people's words. president macron though says he is doing this because

thatis though says he is doing this because that is necessary for the french economy. it was more, will allow the pension age to increase from 62 to 64, which is lower than a number of other european countries. but it is interesting, even those people who don't particularly dislike them are saying they find his style very heavy—handed at the moment. saying they find his style very heavy-handed at the moment. bethany, thank ou. russia says it has struck a deal with its neighbour belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. president putin talking to russian state media said it wouldn't violate global efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, because he said the us had a similar deal with its european allies. 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 adani. 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. earlier on saturday, he spoke at a news conference.

i am 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 getting scared of them. i am not scared of them. a massive asteroid dubbed the �*city killer', because of its size, is passing between the earth and the moon this weekend. it may look like a tiny dot, but this asteroid is travelling at 17,000 miles an hour — and thought to be 40 to 90 metres wide. scientists say there is no chance of it making contact with our planet, and it will pass safely by. i'm joined now by the professor of planetary science, john bridges, from the school of physics and astronomy at the university of leicester.

does the size really matter at this? is not due to the speed in relation to the impact it was made because not to the impact it was made because no- �* , to the impact it was made because no. �* , ., to the impact it was made because no- , ., ., to the impact it was made because not well, it's a combination of both. not well, it's a combination of both- it's _ not well, it's a combination of both. it's about _ not well, it's a combination of both. it's about 50 _ not well, it's a combination of both. it's about 50 metres, i not well, it's a combination of. both. it's about 50 metres, but not well, it's a combination of - both. it's about 50 metres, but of course yes it is going on at such a high speed, six and a half kilometres every second. so it has so much energy. so that's why there is this general issue that if ever an asteroid of this sort of speed and side did burst over the earth, it could have potentially catastrophic effects. it could have potentially catastrohic effects. , , , catastrophic effects. this must be wonderful for— catastrophic effects. this must be wonderful for scientists _ catastrophic effects. this must be wonderful for scientists like - wonderful for scientists like yourself in terms of what information you can gather from an asteroid like this.— asteroid like this. yes, we've learned an — asteroid like this. yes, we've learned an awful _ asteroid like this. yes, we've learned an awful lot - asteroid like this. yes, we've learned an awful lot during . asteroid like this. yes, we've i learned an awful lot during the space age, notjust about the planets but also about the asteroids and comets, the building blocks of our planets. so it's almost a double edge sword if you like. we are fascinated by the objects and we

like to study them, and since i am on the team we brought back samples from an asteroid into our lab to study, but of course we do recognise increasingly, because we see all of those great impact structures on the other planets and on earth, we do know that it is potentially hazardous.— know that it is potentially hazardous. , ., ., ., , hazardous. there is a lot of space debfis hazardous. there is a lot of space debris u- hazardous. there is a lot of space debris up there, _ hazardous. there is a lot of space debris up there, isn't _ hazardous. there is a lot of space debris up there, isn't there? - hazardous. there is a lot of space debris up there, isn't there? are | hazardous. there is a lot of space i debris up there, isn't there? are we getting to the point where there is the risk that the space debris could well knock off an asteroid like there's, or in the future knock it off its track and make it hard towards the moon or the earth? well, last ear towards the moon or the earth? well, last year there — towards the moon or the earth? well, last year there was _ towards the moon or the earth? well, last year there was a _ towards the moon or the earth? well, last year there was a mission - towards the moon or the earth? -ii last year there was a mission called dart led by nasa, which actually went out to an asteroid called indigenous and its small moon called by more for us, and it purposefully impacted into that asteroid to change its orbit. and of course the

reason for that was we now know we can change the orbit. not much, just a little bit, by tens of metres, or tens of minutes. then we know we can deflect these potentially hazardous asteroids from earth. so i think that's probably the way to deal with these. the debris in orbit is of course sort of our parallel issue if you like. we might start damaging satellites if we leave too much debris up there.— satellites if we leave too much debris up there. 0k, unfortunately we have to — debris up there. 0k, unfortunately we have to leave _ debris up there. 0k, unfortunately we have to leave it _ debris up there. 0k, unfortunately we have to leave it there. - debris up there. 0k, unfortunatelyl we have to leave it there. professor john bridges, thank you.— �*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�*.

thejournalist, 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. 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, regarding the future housing of 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 for accommodation by the home office. 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 40 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. rowan shand, just 16, known as fred to his friends and family, stabbed to death. police say some kind of incident took place here in kings thorpe at about 330 on wednesday afternoon, and rowan received a single stab wound to the chest. he died laterfrom his injury. initially, there were four arrests. two men were released without charge. but today, two boys, aged 14 and 16, appeared before magistrates charged with murder. the teenagers can't be named for legal reasons and have been remanded until monday when there'll

be another hearing at northampton crown court. a community which has lost one of its own trying to support each other. the young ones have been coming, and they are absolutely devastated. they're devastated and shocked. and, you know, the church, the community, all wejust want to come together and be there for this. there is been an online appeal to help the family that has so far raised more than £19,000. firefighters in eastern spain have been battling the country's first major wildfire of the year, which has destroyed more than 7000 acres of forest in the valencia region. authorities say more than a thousand people have been forced from their homes. the bbc�*s emer mccarthy reports.

valencia's rolling hills burning in march. more than 500 firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze as emergency services evacuated residents from eight communities. translation: frustrated. i'm frustrated because of everything that has burned. but i was fearing this because of how badly things have been done, so this was normal thing to happen. spain is in drought after three years of below—average rainfall. the tinder—dry conditions raising fears of a repeat of last year's devastating fire season. translation: we are facing the first big fire this year unfortunately, - and furthermore it is taking place out of season. therefore, i would like to express the full support of the government to the public servants who are fighting the fire, to all the citizens who have been affected by the devastation of the flames, especially those who have had to evacuate and had to leave their homes as a result.

the only thing i can ask for is maximum improvements, maximum caution. as the ferocious flames burned into the night, and with summerjust around the corner, maximum caution may be needed for months to come. emer mccarthy, bbc news. the vatican has returned 3 fragments of the ancient parthenon sculptures to greece, in a move that's been described as a "gesture of friendship". our 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. eight pallbearers who carried queen elizabeth the seconds coffin, at her funeral, are among those to be recognised in a special honours list. king charles 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, also received one of the special �*demise' awards. from the suburbs of paris, to the cambridge university boat race crew — it's been quite the journey for 21—year—old noam mouelle. on sunday, he'll become one of a very small number of non—white

oarsmen to take part in the historic annual contest on the river thames. he's been speaking to our sports reporter, james burridge. je m'appelle noam mouelle, etje prepare la boat race avec cambridge. it's quite something, i would say, it's very challenging. there is a lot of pressure, obviously. i've never been that stressed, stressed out about rowing in my entire life. noam mouelle's mum wanted him to do an outdoor sport. little did she know how far that sport would take him — from the suburbs of paris to the wild and lonely great ouse, for one of rowing's biggest endeavours, the boat race. when you tell people in france, so people who don't do rowing, that you're doing the oxford—cambridge boat race, it's a bit like... it's hard for them to imagine, right? because it's something that seems very old—school and very uk—based,

and seems like almost a glitch in the matrix that a french guy could do this thing. while the boat race has always had an international flavour — it attracts many rowers from around the world — it doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to diversity. in fact, noam is that rare exception this year. across the board, when you look at rowing clubs in this country, just 6% of its members come from diverse backgrounds. people in the uk mostly learn to row in schools, and for your school to have enough money, let's say, to have good rowing equipment and so on, you need to be in a private school. and it's only a certain demographic which goes into private schools, which is why maybe you have a bit less diversity here in rowing, at least. but that's really not the case in france. people are just rowing in rowing clubs. and so, for example, you will have people who row for their school, but they use the facilities... so rowing—club facilities, which makes the sport definitely

noticeably more diverse. british rowing say they're increasing the number of outreach programmes in under—represented communities and want to change the make—up of gb rowing. noam doesn't want to be a trailblazer, but is hopeful he can encourage more people into the sport. if someone feels like rowing is not for them because people who row are different from them, right? and if that person sees that i'm doing the boat race, let's say, or anyone else, and they think, "oh, maybe, maybe i could try, maybe i could give it a shot in my local club or in my school or whatever," well, yeah, definitely, i would say, in that case, i'm happy. and if you were to win, what will the reaction be like in france? it will be pretty special. so, they're getting a big screen to put in the rowing club, so that people can watch. so, like, all of the kids, some of the kids and the older people are going to watch this race live on the 26th. my parents are going to be there.

many friends are going to be watching online as well. so i think if i win, yes, that would be... that would be very, very special. you can reach me on twitter. now on bbc news the weather. 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 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 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, maybe 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 much of 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 along 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 some heavy spells of rain. but 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. tensions continue in france — with demonstrators clashing with police in st solene, 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.