this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring

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. map one of the worst affected towns is rolling fork — our north america correspondent, david willis, reports.(vt 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 tofnado sirens on, warning people to take cover. it happened so fast. right now, we've got multiple homes damaged in sioux city 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 it was coming right behind us because as soon as we got in there we heard a big boom. sad. 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. meteorologist and storm chaser, dr reed timmer was in rolling fork when the tornado touched down. 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 fork. brian hoeth is a meteorologist with the national weather service's southern region. for now, the worst of the weather is certainly over in mississippi. today is going to be fine but that we do have a chance for some severe weather again tomorrow in mississippi, but it will be south of where we had the worst storms last night. as far as how rare this is, we usually get about four tornadoes on average in march for mississippi.

when all are said and done it we got all the data from the tornadoes last night and i'm thinking we will have more than four so this is definitely above average.— more than four so this is definitely above average. peak severe weather season is where _ above average. peak severe weather season is where we _ above average. peak severe weather season is where we are _ above average. peak severe weather season is where we are now, - above average. peak severe weather season is where we are now, isn't i season is where we are now, isn't it's march april may i understand that what is really shocked people is that this was being tracked, alerts were given out, which was fantastic, it allowed people to seek shelter, but it was the ferocity with which it touched down. just talk us through that. what would people have experience? it’s talk us through that. what would people have experience? it's always hard, a lot people have experience? it's always hard. a lot of— people have experience? it's always hard, a lot of times _ people have experience? it's always hard, a lot of times we _ people have experience? it's always hard, a lot of times we know - people have experience? it's always hard, a lot of times we know that i hard, a lot of times we know that

there is the chance for tornadoes, but as far as how devastating they are going to be, we don't generally know about until may be about an hour or less sometimes before the actual tornado touches down. so, adding difficulty to things is the tornado last night occurred after sunset. so we can't get visual confirmation, so anytime there is tornadoes at night it makes the situation just that more damaging and destructive and just dangerous. brian, very quickly, the town of, it's a poor town. a lot of people were in mobile homes, the infrastructure was not the best. people could see, it was just smashed. it looked like splinters on the ground. in terms of the power that this tornado packed and the time that people would have had to seek shelter, what were their chances? what advice would you give next? ., . , chances? what advice would you give next? ., ., , .,, chances? what advice would you give next? ., ., , ., , next? unfortunately, mobile homes are one of the _ next? unfortunately, mobile homes are one of the worst _ next? unfortunately, mobile homes are one of the worst places - next? unfortunately, mobile homes are one of the worst places you - next? unfortunately, mobile homes are one of the worst places you can | are one of the worst places you can be when there is a tornado. and so,

when we have these tornadoes, especially the violent ones like what we saw last night, and they run into areas that are people live in mobile homes, that's when we are going to see those fatalities. it's just the folks, a lot of times don't have anywhere else to go. and it's just not a safe place to be is in a mobile home where there is tornadoes. russia has announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its neighbour, belarus. he indicated a few months ago that some belarusian military planes were being re—equipped to potentially carry nuclear missiles.

translation: we will be storing the political weapon in belarus. so is it a significant development, i spoke earlier to hannah. i think it is a sign that belarus is becoming this really controlled ally because what putin said is that they don't really give their weapons, they will be controlled by russia. so by doing this, of course putin is trying to threaten the west, but it is also showing who is in control of belarus. ~ , ., ., ., belarus. why would he agree to this? p53 belarus. why would he agree to this? ps} nato borders. _ belarus. why would he agree to this? ps} nato borders. i— belarus. why would he agree to this? ps} nato borders. ithink— belarus. why would he agree to this? ps} nato borders. i think it's- belarus. why would he agree to this? ps} nato borders. i think it's also - ps} nato borders. i think it's also in the way — ps} nato borders. i think it's also in the way for _ ps} nato borders. i think it's also in the way for alexander - ps} nato borders. i think it's also i in the way for alexander lukashenko to show how important he is, because since 2020, he's been saying that we would welcome the weapons in belarus from russia. so to sort of raise the

stakes and to become more significant size and in the west in size. at the same time, i don't really think that putin trusts lukashenko enough to really get these weapons to him. uncontrolled. so i think would look at the centre is doing,, our constitution says that we are a neutral country. we strive for neutrality. and the people of belarus are against the nuclear weapons on the territory of our country. so that's basically what lukashenko is doing. so he is violating their constitution and the people spell. , bill. 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. 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. earlier our paris correspondent sent us this update. well, the big day of action that took place here was thursday and that's where over a million people took to the streets all over france. this weekend has been much quieter than that, but we have seen, as you mentioned, this demonstration

in western france. a 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 some of the demonstrators there were making links between their cause and then this bigger because of upset and anger about president macron's pension reforms. one man said, "we're making a link. "it's the same fight. "ourfight for water and our fight for work."

so there is a sense here of a very angry country, then small—scale local demonstrations throughout france today. and of course, another day of national action, the tnese day of national action against president macron's pension reforms has been 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? those of his opponents say that he is extremely out of touch, that he is ruling with a contempt for democracy in some people's words. president macron though says he is doing this because that is necessary for the french economy. this law 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 him are saying they find his style very heavy—handed at the moment. 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, in 2019. 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, ok? 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. i will continue to ask the question. what is the prime minister's relationship with mr adarni? it is an old relationship. it is a relationship that began when he was chief minister. mr adarni constructed the idea of resurgent gujarat. organised all that. this is a partnership, a close partnership, and i will keep asking that question. lets get the weekends sport action now — from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzi greenwood hughes.

scotla nd scotland have a tougher task nasca. they will play spain on tuesday. elsewhere, switzerland slashed belarus turkey beat armenia 2—1, and whales are losing to croatia 1—0 there in split. the newly appointed coach said that he was stunned at being offered the position to replace naga spent on friday afternoon august men lost his job at the german champions within seconds the german champions within seconds the table and a quarterfinals at the europeans champions league. he was fired by chelsea in september despite helping them to win the champions league in 2021. spoke to bosses late on tuesday. translation: basically, ithought that i would continue my career abroad. to use this as a means of exerting pressure is farfrom our

thoughts. the first talk was late tuesday evening when i was confronted with the opportunity. first i had to sleep on it and think about what is happening right now, because we didn't reckon with this. but the enthusiasm, the size of the task, the challenge prevailed immediately. and then you can only achieve it within two days if everyone is sure and you communicate openly and very directly with each other, and don't act tactically and name other clubs and option to exert pressure. this year's women's 6 nations championship is underway and england are off to a flying start — demolishing scotland 58 point to 7 in newcastle. they scored ten tribes, molly parker where a second hat trick. there was a standing ovation for sarah hunter, playing in the final match of her career with a appearances. sheer joy, you know.

i tried to play for this amazing team over the years. i just feel so lucky and privileged that i've been a part of it for so long. and the girls have been brilliant this week. i've had the best week, i've enjoyed it. to come out here and to play at home for this amazing crowd and put in a performance like that, itjust means everything. elsewhere wales also started with win — thrshing ireland. 31—5 at cardiff arms park. he hasn't played since surgery following a golf accident. in knots all the support for now. an asteroid large enough to destroy a city has passed safely between the earth and the moon, as predicted by scientists.

the object estimated to be between a0 and 70 metres in diameter flew past 175,000 kilometres from the earth, described by scientists as "very close". professor of planetary science, john bridges — from the school of physics and astronomy at the university of leicester, has been telling me more about the asteroid.

it's going such a high speed over six and a half kilometres every second. so it's so much energy. so that's why, you know, there is this general issue that if ever an asteroid hit this sort of speed and side did burst over the earth, then it could have potentially catastrophic effects. i mean, this must be wonderful for scientists like yourself in terms of what information you can gather from an asteroid like this. yes, we've learnt an awful lot during the space age, not just about the planets but also about the asteroids and comets, the building blocks of our planets. so it's sort of almost a double edged sword, if you like. i mean, we're fascinated by these objects and we like to study them. and since i'm on the hayabusa team, which where we brought back samples from an asteroid into our lab to study. but of course, we do recognise increasingly, because we see all those great impact structures on the other planets and on earth, we do know that it is potentially hazardous. there is a lot of space 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 this, or in the future, knock it off its track and make it head towards the moon or the earth? well, last year there was a mission

called dart, led by nasa, which actually went out to an asteroid called didymos and its small orbiting moon called dyamorphous, and it purposefully impacted into that asteroid to change its orbit. it was very successful, and of course the reason for that was if we now know we can change the orbit, just nudge them a little bit, even 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 low—earth orbit, of course, is a sort of a parallel issue, if you like. and we might start damaging satellites if we leave too much debris up there. 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". our reporter, shelley phelps, has more. 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. 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 —

yes, still, in 2023 — 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. 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 lens. ———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.

don't forget — 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, maybe north—east england as well. colder feeling day. 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 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 started new week. it doesn't last, because things will be changing from the west as more atlantic systems start to push in. 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 2a people in the us state of mississippi. trees and power lines have been torn down by the twister 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. it follows weeks unrest 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.

an asteroid, estimated to be between a0