this is bbc world news. at least 23 people have died as violent storms triggered by a tornado run through mississippi. we tornado run through mississippi. , could hear stuff it in the roof, a lot of trees down.— could hear stuff it in the roof, a lot of trees down. following tension in france, riots— lot of trees down. following tension in france, riots today _ lot of trees down. following tension in france, riots today on _ lot of trees down. following tension in france, riots today on the - lot of trees down. following tension in france, riots today on the west i in france, riots today on the west after unrest in the capital. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to stage a tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. and a massive asteroid has passed harmlessly between the orbits of the earth and the moon. luckily for us, missing both.

the governor of mississippi has declared a state of emergency. at least 23 people have been killed. president biden has called the storms �*heartbreaking' — and vowed federal support. one of the worst affected towns is rolling fork — where entire neighborhoods were flattened to rubble. our north america correspondent, david willis, reports. after the twister touchdown, all but wiping this tight—knit community off

the map. the storm struck at night. the warnings too late for the residents of rolling fork and nearby silver city. residents of rolling fork and nearby silver ci . . , ., g , , silver city. oh, man. dearjesus, lease silver city. oh, man. dearjesus, please help _ silver city. oh, man. dearjesus, please help them. _ right now we have multiple homes damaged in sioux city and other areas of the county.— damaged in sioux city and other areas of the county. some survivors like in the sound _ areas of the county. some survivors like in the sound in _ areas of the county. some survivors like in the sound in the _ areas of the county. some survivors like in the sound in the ferocity - areas of the county. some survivors like in the sound in the ferocity of i like in the sound in the ferocity of the storm to an incoming freight train. even those used to tracking such malevolent forces of nature say the impact put them by survives. all the ingredients were employed for

large—scale right at sunset it was like a switch flipped from off to on. a massive search is now under way for survivors. president biden described the images as heartbreaking and said he and the first lady were praying for all who had lost loved ones. david willis, bbc news, washington. 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 in mississippi. but it will be south of where we had the worst storms last night.

this is definitely above average. peak severe weather season is where we are. march, april, may. i understand that what is really shocked people is that this was being tracked, alerts were given out, which was fantastic because it allowed people to seek shelter but it was the ferocity with which it touchdown. just talk us through that. what would people have experience? we don't generally know how devastating they are going to be until about an hour or less, sometimes before the actual tornado touches down. so, adding difficulty tiara tornado touches down. so, adding difficul a ., , ,

difficulty two things is the tornadoes _ difficulty two things is the tornadoes last _ difficulty two things is the tornadoes last night - difficulty two things is the i tornadoes last night occurred difficulty two things is the - tornadoes last night occurred after sunset, so we can't get visual confirmation. so any time there are 20 euros at night it makes the situation just that more damaging and destructive and just dangerous. brian, very quickly, the town is a poor town a lot of people were in mobile homes. the infrastructure was not best. i mean, 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

and what advice would you give next? yeah. unfortunately, mobile homes 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're 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, as in a mobile home when there's tornadoes. russian president vladimir putin 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. it can be a delivery vehicle as well. on it can be a delivery vehicle as well. 0njuly it can be a delivery vehicle as well. on july the ist we will it can be a delivery vehicle as well. 0njuly the ist we will finish well. on july the ist we will finish the construction of the special repository to store the tactical nuclear weapon in belarus.

is it a significant development and how is it seen in belarus — we spoke earlier to hanna liubakova, the atlantic council fellow from minsk. of course, the development is a significant one, but i think what russia wants to do. russia wants to blackmail the west. russia wants to scare the west. and i think it's another sign that belarus is becoming

this really lawyer or this really controlled ally. because what putin said is that they don't really give this weapons to belarus. they will have deploy the weapons, but they would be controlled by russia. so by doing this, of course, putin is trying to threaten the west, but it's also showing who is in control of belarus. why would mr. lukashenko agree to this? he has three non—nato boarders. i think it's also in the way for alexander lukashenko to show how important he is, because for since 2020, because he's been saying that we would welcome this nuclear weapons in belarus from russia. so to sort of raise the stakes and to become more significant right in putin's eyes and in the western eyes. at the same time, i don't really think that putin trusts lukashenko enough to really give this weapons to him uncontrolled. so, i think what lukashenko is doing, he violates the constitution of belarus, because our constitution says that we are a neutral country, we strengthen neutrality, and the people of belarus are also against the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of our country. so that's basically what lukashenko is doing. so he's violating the constitution and people's will. the dispute an outbreak of violence foresee authorities to postpone a visit by the monarch king charles. meanwhile there have been separate

demonstrations in france over concerns by large—scale agricultural producers. 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 this demonstration in western france. 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 tween their cause and then there's bigger because of upset and anger about president microns pension reforms. 0ne upset and anger about president microns pension reforms. one man said we are making a link. it's the same fights, ourfight said we are making a link. it's the same fights, our fight the water and ourfight for work. so same fights, our fight the water and our fight for work. so there is a sentence here of a very angry country. there are been small scale local demonstrations throughout france today and of course another day of national action. attendance day of national action. attendance day of national action. attendance day of national action against president microns pension reforms has been planned for tuesday. he says it's an attempt to distract from accusations he made over his relationship with the billionaire

businessman. mr gandy 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 charmaine. mr gandy is a leading figure in the 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. 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.

mr adarni constructed the idea of resurgent gujarat. 0rganised all that. this is a partnership, a close partnership, and i will keep asking that question. at the centre of it all was an undercover agent known as robert. in a new documentary, he explains what really happened. the continuing violence was led by one question explosion by the early 1990s, more than 3,000 people had been killed on all sides in what was known as the troubles. explosion 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 mi5 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. i've finally tracked him down, but following mi5�*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." explosion screams robert was due to meet senior republicans, but the government canceled 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 a 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 minute that they took. if they wrote it down, then, 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 were 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 mi5. 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 cease fire 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. the uk is preparing to announce regarding the small boats. this could come as soon as next week. the former us prime minister liz truss has faced criticism following reports that she has drawn up a list of resignation honours. mr rush who spent only 49 days in office was nominated for individuals. the mayor

of greater manchester has been fined almost £2000 for speeding. he was caught driving at 78 mph on a section of the m 62 motorway where there was a reduced limit of a0 mph. in a statement, he admitted he was going too fast. 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". millions across the world had been switching off their lights to mark earth hour. even the apocalypse of athens shut off their lights to mark the event. the appeal was launched by world wildlife fund in 2007 to raise awareness of climate change and proposes that a large number of

people around the world can reduce carbon emissions by turning off unnecessary lights and electronic devices for one hour. the grammy nominated composer and son of andrew lloyd webber has died at the age of a3. understatement on twitter, his father said,. h paul barrows who carried queen elizabeth ii scoffing at a funeral are among those to be recognised in a special honours list. king charles has recognised military personnel for the role they play during the period of national mourning. the queen structure who worked with her for more than 25 years also receives an honour. the

vatican has returned three fragments of the ancient parthenon sculptures to greece and the move that has been described as a gesture of friendship. our reporter, sherry 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.

on sunday, he will become a very small number of non—white oarsmen to take part in the annual contest on the river times. he has been speaking to our sports reporter. 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. let's get more on our top story, a deadly tornado in the us state of mississippi. search and rescue efforts are under way and at least 23 people have died. let's get the latest with our correspondent sophie long, who was there in mississippi. sophie, bring us up—to—date on the picture on the ground there. unfortunately, i'm afraid that does toll has now risen to 25. the people who were missing have now been accounted for. we are currentlyjust south of rolling forks, which is a small town which was almost completely obliterated last night. at least 30 people have died there. we're just about to start following

the path of devastation caught by the path of devastation caught by the tornado last night. but as you drive through mississippi, it becomes evident that it wasn't just the weather factors that created that violent tornado that resulted in such loss of life. first of all, it took place at night. it was a nocturnal tornado, which is almost always more deadly than those that happen during the day. people are sleeping, they don't have the alerts, they don't have the opportunity to move to better forms of shelter. also, it struck in a very vulnerable area, socially vulnerable area. when you drive through this part of mississippi it is one of the poorest parts of the poorest state in america. you see that many people are living in mobile homes or manufactured homes that simply aren't strong enough to withstand tornado of that strength. it was on the ground of course for over an hour. some tornadoes past and five to ten minutes. the summers on the ground for over an hour, smashing through more than 100 miles. so when you have homes like that, not only does it make storms

more difficult to weather, it also makes them more difficult to recover from of course. now shelters have been set up a people who have lost their homes in several areas. the four people missing have now been accounted for stop that i think the damage that was caused in just over an hour, in one night, is going to be felt in communities here for many years to come. be felt in communities here for many years to come-— years to come. sophie, 'ust briefly, the search and h years to come. sophie, 'ust briefly, the search and refuse _ years to come. sophie, just briefly, the search and refuse teams - years to come. sophie, just briefly, the search and refuse teams still i the search and refuse teams still out about?— out about? there is certainly an operation _ out about? there is certainly an operation still _ out about? there is certainly an operation still ongoing - out about? there is certainly an operation still ongoing and - out about? there is certainly an operation still ongoing and i - out about? there is certainly an l operation still ongoing and i think a state of emergency has been declared by the governor of mississippi, who is urging people to realise that the storm may have passed. you can see there is little sign of where i am at the moment but some areas are still very dangerous. there's a lot of debris of course. that is being cleared up, but at the moment the latest we have is that the four missing who were missing have been accounted for, but the death toll has increased.- death toll has increased. sophie, thank ou death toll has increased. sophie, thank you for— death toll has increased. sophie, thank you for the _ death toll has increased. sophie, thank you for the update. - death toll has increased. sophie, thank you for the update. plenty| thank you for the update. plenty more details on our website. that is

that for me for the moment. you can reach me on twitter. i'll be back a little later with all of today's top stories. the weather will be turning colder across northern areas today, and we will start to notice the difference in the south once we lose the early morning rain. pushing onto the continent as it pulls away, northerly wills will set in. initially across the north of uk and then spread south. pretty much all areas by the end of sunday. but we start this morning on a rather wet note across southern areas. that rain takes its time to clear away from east anglia on the southeast, could have a bit of time back of cloud for the north some sun around but it will be cold with a few

showers which will have a wintry element to them particularly in the north and east of scotland. temperatures below single digits and single figures for much of england and wales as well, away from the southwest. as we move through sunday night that cold air spreads outwards, it's going to be very cold night. widespread frost away from the far southwest of england and south wales. ice and frost could be an issue. into monday. we are between weather systems, and this will arrive as we head into tuesday. a ridge of high pressure will bring a lot of fine and dry conditions on monday too much of the uk. we will start cold and frosty, mind you, and thenit start cold and frosty, mind you, and then it should stay sunny into the afternoon as well stop cloud tending to build across southern and western areas. temperatures here around 11 degrees, that cold start, temperatures will reach highs of seven to nine celsius. different feeling on tuesday. cloudier,

windier, weather, rain pushes north there is an eastwards preceded by snow, certainly across the hills of north of england and across scotland. temperatures will be on the rise. were back into the low teens. beyond tuesday, it looks like a low pressure dominates the scene. setting out to the west of us in atlanta, that will usher in some very mild airat atlanta, that will usher in some very mild air at times from the southwest but there will be strong winds and rain too. mild distaste will be thursday. we could be up to 16 or 17 degrees across southern and eastern areas. it will be mild and unsettled right across the board.

this is bbc news, the headlines. tornado has killed at least 25 people in the us state of mississippi. trees and power lines had been torn down by the twister and thousands of power outages have been reported by residents. tensions continue in france as demonstrators clashed with police in the west of the country during protests or plans for a new water reservoir. if follows weeks of unrest following president macron's pension reforms. vladimir putin says russia has arranged a deal with belarus to put

tactical nuclear weapons on their