this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds. our top stories... a state of emergency in the us state of mississippi, after a violent tornado kills at least 25 people. many tornadoes passed in five to ten minutes. this was on the ground for over an hour, smashing through towns and cities over 100 miles. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. the uk government is expected to announce the use of ferries as part of a series of alternatives to hotel accommodation for migrants as early as next week. and growing tension in france — riots today in the west —

welcome, if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the governor of mississippi has declared a state of emergency after tornadoes ripped through the us state. at least 25 people were killed. the authorities say 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. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, reports. this is all that remains of the mississippi town of rolling fork. heavy vehicles were picked up and tossed around like toys after the twister touched down, all but wiping this tight—knit community off the map. we've got a new scan coming in here as we speak.

the storm struck at night, the warnings too late for the residents of rolling fork and nearby silver city. oh, man. he sighs. dearjesus, please help them. around 8:20 we heard the tornado sirens going, a warning to people to take cover. it happened so fast. right now we've got multiple homes damaged in the silver city area. also in other parts of the county. some survivors likened the sound and the ferocity of the storm to an incoming freight train. had to get ourselves _ into the middle part of the house, and 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. - even those used to tracking such malevolent forces of nature say the impact took them by surprise. all the ingredients were in place for a large—scale tornado outbreak, fast—moving, super—cell storms

moving at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour and we were actually chasing storms for about four to five hours in the day. none were going tornadic. then right at sunset it was like a switch was 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. 0ur north america correspondent sophie long is in mississippi now. u nfortu nately unfortunately i'm afraid that death count has risen to 25. we are currently just south of count has risen to 25. we are currentlyjust south of rolling fork which was a small town which was almost completely obliterated last night. at least 13 people have died there. we are just about to start following 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 knock told tomato which is always more devastating than those happening during the day. people are sleeping, they don't hear 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 a tornado of that strength. it was on the ground for over an hour. some tornadoes passed in five to ten minutes, this one was 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. shelters have been set up the people have lost their homes in several areas. the four people missing have now been accounted for. but i think

the damage that was caused in just over an hour the damage that was caused in just overan hour in 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.— many years to come. sophie, 'ust briefl , many years to come. sophie, 'ust briefly. otherfi many years to come. sophie, 'ust briefly, other search i many years to come. sophie, 'ust briefly, other search and i many years to come. sophie, just briefly, other search and rescue l briefly, other search and rescue team still out about?— team still out about? there is certainly an — team still out about? there is certainly an operation - team still out about? there is certainly an operation still- certainly an operation still ongoing. you'll be aware that 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 it where i am at the moment, but some areas are still very dangerous. there is a lot of debris of course being cleared up, but the latest we have is that the four people who were missing have been accounted for, but the death toll has increased. for more on this let's speak to theres apel, owner of the mississippi wide independent media outlet, dark horse press, who spent today speaking with residents in rolling fork. thank you for being with us. tell us what you saw and what being told. well through the years have probably

reported on destruction like this for the last three decades. i can say that this is the worst i have ever seen in mississippi. notjust whole neighbourhoods, but the whole town has been absolutely destroyed. walking through downtown you couldn't even tell what the buildings had been. you can see not just the debris on the ground, but they were power lines everywhere. you can only imagine what it was like to be those people. the mobile homes were destroyed, of course, but even the brick—and—mortar, the ones that had been there for in some cases probably more than century were flattened. entries that had been there, obviously, to, 300 years in some cases pulled up by the roots. it was as devastating as anything that i've ever seen. that's what i was hearing from most of the first responders on scene as well. what were people saying to you about their attempts to take shelter, and whether they had got any alerts, because of course this was in the middle of the night? i because of course this was in the middle of the night?— middle of the night? i think the hard art middle of the night? i think the hard part is— middle of the night? i think the hard part is it — middle of the night? i think the hard part is it was _ middle of the night? i think the hard part is it was in _ middle of the night? i think the hard part is it was in the - middle of the night? i think the| hard part is it was in the middle middle of the night? i think the i hard part is it was in the middle of the night. it did start early enough that people in most cases were still

awake, but what you do when a tornado that size is moving toward your neighbourhood? where you go? the land there is very flat. so what people tended to talk about is just evenif people tended to talk about is just even if they could escape, what is the next step? do you run from it on foot? do you stay in the home and hope you're 0k? that's what some people dead. today, as i dealt with people, when i sound that was a bit more of a shock, almost as though they weren't quite sure that this it actually happened to them. it hadn't said in yet. there were definitely tears, but you also saw people who just were digging in the rubble or cutting trees or that kind of thing, almost robotically. you can tell it just hadn't hit them yet what happened. just hadn't hit them yet what happened-— just hadn't hit them yet what ha ened. ,, . ., ., , happened. such a level of shock. so many homes — happened. such a level of shock. so many homes destroyed _ happened. such a level of shock. so many homes destroyed and - happened. such a level of shock. so many homes destroyed and lives - many homes destroyed and lives devastated. what help and support is on its way? fist devastated. what help and support is on its wa ? �* , devastated. what help and support is onitswa? , devastated. what help and support is on itswa ? �* , ., on its way? at this point, there are reaponders — on its way? at this point, there are responders on the _ on its way? at this point, there are responders on the ground - on its way? at this point, there are responders on the ground from - on its way? at this point, there are responders on the ground from all| responders on the ground from all over the state of mississippi that i saw, things from the top of the

state to the bottom. i saw state agencies and local agencies, emergency management, police, fire department, volunteer firefighters were there as well. we did have some state agencies there in the us forestry service was there. at this point i didn't see a lot of federal agencies but that's probably because they were moved in a little bit slower after the emergency declaration and that kind of thing. the mississippi emergency management agency is always prepared for things like this because we do tend to have some pretty rough disasters in mississippi. so, they have been orchestrating the whole thing and doing a good job mitigating some of the response. doing a good job mitigating some of the reaponse-_ doing a good job mitigating some of the reaponse-— the response. thank you for telling us about your _ the response. thank you for telling us about your experiences - the response. thank you for telling us about your experiences today. l us about your experiences today. let's move onto some of the days other stories now. let's move onto some of the days other stories now. 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. we have already transferred to belarus our well—known, very effective complex iskander. it can be a delivery vehicle as well. on april three, we will start training the ci’ews. 0njuly one, we will finish the construction of the special repository to store the tactical nuclear weapon in belarus. is it a significant development and how 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. the british government is preparing to announce the use of ferries to accommodate migrants who have crossed the channel on small boats. the announcement could come as soon as next week. 0ur political correspondent iain watson has the details. some of the people who are going to be coming here in small boats will be now housed on another form of vessel, on ferries. but an additional to that, the government, possibly by the end of next week has confirmed the use of two military bases to house migrants as well. now at this stage, there are around 50,000 people in hotels who have come to the uk. the military bases between them will accommodate between them will accommodate between three and 4000 people. so you can see, this will not be a solution in itself. 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 bethany bell sent us this update. the big day of action that took place here was thursday and that is where over 1 place here was thursday and that is where over1 million people took to the streets all over france. this weekend has been much quieter to enact, but we have seen, as you mentioned, this demonstration in western france. a demonstration about a separate issue, the use of water. but there was 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. and what was interesting as well to see in that protest in western france was that some of the demonstrators there where 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 are making a link. it is the same fights, our fight for water and ourfight for work. so there is a sense here a very angry country, there have been 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. 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 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. this is a partnership, a close partnership, and i will keep asking that question. �*0peration chiffon�* was the codename given to a top—secret british intelligence operation, that eventually paved the way for the good friday agreement — bringing an end to more than 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. 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 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. i've finally 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." 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 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 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. 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, just 16, known as fred to his friends and family. stabbed to death.

police say some kind of incident took place here in kingsthorpe at about 3:30pm on wednesday afternoon and rohan 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 will 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, wejust want to come together and, you know, be there for this. there's been an online appeal to help rohan�*s family. so far it's raised more than £19,000. angus crawford, bbc

news, northampton. eight pallbearers who carried queen elizabeth ii's coffin, at her funeral, are among those to be recognised in a special honours list. king charles has recognised 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 an honour. 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, 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 0use, 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 0xford—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, "0h, 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. 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 40 and 70 metres in diameter flew past the earth — at a distance of 175,000 kilometres — described by scientists as "ve ry close" millions around the world have been switching off their lights to mark �*earth hour.�* and it's notjust houses , monuments including rome's coliseum and the acropolis of athens shut off their lights at 8pm local time 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. let's bring you some live pictures now from waco, texas, where former president donald trump is holding a rally. next month the city marks 30 years since the waco massacre, an attempted raid by law enforcement of a compound belonging to a religious cult that led to a 51—day siege and dozens of deaths. that's it. stay with us here at bbc. hello there. it looks like things will be turning colder brieflyjust in time for the start of british summertime. 0ur clocks went forward one hour during the early hours of sunday. it will be turning colder, certainly across northern areas today, and we will start to notice the difference in the south once we lose the early morning rain, all courtesy of this area of low pressure pushing on into the near continent. as it pulls away, northerly winds will set in. initially across the north of the uk and then spread southwards, you'll notice the blue colours spreading, to 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 and the south—east, it could leave

a little bit of hang back of cloud further north, some good spells of sunshine around but it will be cold and that northerly wind with a few showers which will have a wintry element, particularly in the north and east of scotland, so temperatures here below the single digits and single figures are for much of england and wales as well, away from the south—west. as we move through sunday night, that cold air spread southwards, sky is clear, it is going to be a very cold night, widespread frost away from the far south—west of england and south wales, so ice and frost could be an issue. into monday, we are in between weather systems. this will arrive as we head into tuesday, but a ridge of high pressure will bring a lot of fine and dry conditions on monday to much of the uk. it will start cold and frosty, mind you, watch out for any early ice across northern areas. it should stay sunny into the afternoon as well, cloud tending to build across southern and western areas later on, temperatures here lifting to around 11 degrees, but after the cold start, and the strong late march sunshine, temperatures will reach highs of seven to nine celsius. a different feeling and day on tuesday, cloudier, windier,

wetter, rain pushes northwards and eastwards, preceded by snow on its leading—edge, certainly across the hills, across the north of england, and across scotland. temperatures will be on the rise, you'll notice in southern and western areas where back into the low teens. and then beyond tuesday, it looks like low pressure dominates the scene, sitting out to the west of us in the atlantic, that will usher in some very mild air at times from the south—west but there will be strong winds and rain, too. the mildest day 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... a tornado has killed at least 25 people in the us state of mississippi. trees and power lines have been torn down by the twister and thousands of power outages have been reported by residents. vladimir putin says pressure has struck a deal with belarus to have nuclear weapons on its statuary. —— territory. the uk government is set to use varies as accommodation for migrants.

demonstrators crash in france