and around the world. donald trump becomes the first former us president to face criminal charges — the charges are thought to relate to falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to a pawn star. ——to a porn star. the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the united states for a campaign finance issue is an outrage. the social media personality, andrew tate, has been released from prison and will now remain under house arrest ahead of further hearings. former paralympic sprinter oscar pistorius — who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend — is denied an early release from prison. italy becomes the first western country to block the ai chatbot chatgpt, over privacy concerns.

hello and welcome. donald trump will be the first former us president to face criminal charges, after a grand jury indicted him over money paid to the former porn star stormy daniels. mr trump is expected to appear in court in new york next tuesday — to face the charges and enter a plea. he denies any wrongdoing and the affair — saying the indictment is "political persecution". our north america correspondent gary o'donoghue reports from new york. but then it's not everyday a former president gets charged with a crime. in fact, it's happened before. and this is the man who's brought the charges against donald trump, district attorney alvin bragg — a democrat and a prosecutor in america's highly politicised legal system. but if mr bragg was saying nothing, the former president wasn't so reticent. he's called it "political persecution", "election interference" and his opponents

"thugs" and "radical—left monsters". no—one is above the law, not even a former president of the united states. the case all centres on the financial accounting for $130,000 paid to this woman to buy her silence before the 2016 general election. hi, everyone! stephanie clifford — aka stormy daniels — an adult film star, says she had sex with donald trump in 2006, something he denies. today, it's donald trump. tomorrow it's going to be a democrat. the day after that it could be your brother, your son, your daughter. and we have to be concerned about the rule of law falling. because what's happened here is this is a case that would not have been brought against another individual in this country, if his name wasn't donald trump. in the next few days, donald trump will come here to the courthouse. he'll have his fingerprints and his photograph taken. he'll then appear before a judge to enter a plea.

until recently the most powerful man in the world will be processed like any other defendant. it's finally good to see somejustice happen. it's a political sham, and it's politically motivated. but this case in new york is not the only legal problem facing donald trump. stop the steal! two other criminal investigations are looking into his role in the storming of the capitol onjanuary the 6th two years ago, after he lost the election, and attempts to overturn the results. # cos there ain't no doubt i love this land...#. those inquiries could prove much more serious for the former president, as he readies himself for another run at the white house. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news, new york. to find out what trump supporters have made of today's development, our correspondent nomia iqbal has been to boones mill in virginia. away from the spectacle

of the courthouse in manhattan, this quiet part of virginia really loves donald trump. whitey, who owns the store, says this indictment is good for his pockets and trump's popularity. oh, it's only been positive, and it just sends all the sympathy to him. and it's what...it plays right into his hands. they'll do anything to try to take down trump, so this proves it. the case that's been brought against donald trump, it's been decided by your fellow countrymen and women in new york who are doing their civic duty. but they're, uh... ..over the top liberals. yeah. they're just out to smear him any way they can, but it'll backfire on them. even sybil, the shop dog, is gearing up for 202a. people have travelled from outside of virginia state to get their trump merchandise. saw the store, i wanted to stop cos i'm a trump supporter, and i'm even more of a trump supporter today than i was yesterday. tell me why. cos of this stupid indictment.

it's just politically motivated. when i heard it on tv last night, ijust, i could not believe it. but the only thing it's going to do isjust make the case stronger for trump. this indictment has clearly fired up donald trump's core supporters, the ones he relies on. some have said it's awakened the sleeping giant. but will it get him the votes he needs to win back the white house? no, i don't. you don't? interesting. why? because...| don't really think the american public will go for an indicted person. yes, he has for two elections, going on three. so i wish the election was this november and not in '24. it's often asked, is there a red line for donald trump's most ardent supporters? it would seem even becoming the first president ever to be indicted has made them more entrenched, not less. nomia iqbal, bbc news, virginia.

let's get more on all this now from daniel lippman, white house reporterfor politico. welcome to you. good to see it. a few hours now since we have had news of this development. what is your assessment of what this will mean for donald trump and his aspirations to take a seat in the white house again. to take a seat in the white house aaain. ~ ~ �* , to take a seat in the white house aiainl. ~ �*, to take a seat in the white house auain.~ ~ �*, , again. well, i think it's good news for him politically _ again. well, i think it's good news for him politically in _ again. well, i think it's good news for him politically in the _ again. well, i think it's good news for him politically in the short - for him politically in the short term because this rallies his base, his base feels like they are looked down upon by the establishment in the big cities, the elites, they file globalisation has passed to them by. they want to make america more of a country from that decades ago, remember, make america great again, but in the long term, if he is the republican nominee, think the biden campaign in waiting is salivating because we have always heard about the suburban voters and the importance they place on law and order. citing biden�*s campaign will

be telling these people put your money where your mouth is, do we want an indicted campaign or do we want an indicted campaign or do we want someone who's never been charged with a crime, and trump is probably only going to be charged with more crimes in the next few months. ~ ., ., months. where our potential republican — months. where our potential republican candidates - months. where our potential republican candidates going | months. where our potential l republican candidates going to months. where our potential - republican candidates going to go? where will they sit with this? well. where will they sit with this? well, the had where will they sit with this? well, they had to — where will they sit with this? well, they had to support _ where will they sit with this? well, they had to support him _ where will they sit with this? well, they had to support him last - where will they sit with this? -ii they had to support him last night because that is where the base of a republican party is, and so they can criticise trump on other things, and even had glenn young ken, the governor of virginia say well, i don't know much about paying off aduu don't know much about paying off adult entertainers, so that was kind of a nice subtle dague, not that subtle dig at donald trump. this really blocked out the sun for them, because when you are a campaign, all you want is attention. you want to get press, you want to get coverage for anything you're doing in the focus that trump is up to for the next few months, so that is going to hurt the campaigns, but if he gets

charged with more crimes about democracy and january six, then they could use it as an opportunity to say hey, this is not the business records case, this guy is willfully ignorant of the law. you mentioned president biden _ ignorant of the law. you mentioned president biden there. _ ignorant of the law. you mentioned president biden there. our- ignorant of the law. you mentioned president biden there. our people | ignorant of the law. you mentioned | president biden there. our people in the united states are very much thinking about next year's presidential election and whether or not it will be a runoff between biden and trump again. the average american doesn't _ biden and trump again. the average american doesn't treat _ biden and trump again. the average american doesn't treat every - biden and trump again. the average american doesn't treat every news l american doesn't treat every news article. i wish they read every story of mine, for example, but i think they pay attention and bursts when there is big news. citing most americans are probably aware of what happened. they have families to take care of. they are busy at work. they are dealing with financial pressures that are facing many people, so i think they will only plug in when there are big moments, but, you know, they are paying attention, and this is shaping how they think about trump i'm of the issue is that it is

such a small percentage of people who are persuadable voters in either party, so most people have already made up their minds. they have seen trump operate the last six years and say a lot of things that both his supporters like and his opponents are horrified by. so most people know who donald trump is. qm. are horrified by. so most people know who donald trump is. ok, the white house — know who donald trump is. ok, the white house reporter— know who donald trump is. ok, the white house reporter for _ know who donald trump is. ok, the white house reporter for politico, . white house reporterfor politico, we read all of your articles obviously thank you very much for joining us. on a somewhat related note: a delawarejudge has ruled that a lawsuit that dominion voting systems brought against fox news will go to a jury trial. fox had hoped to avoid a trial. dominion is seeking one—point—six billion dollars in damages, claiming that fox defamed the company following donald trump's loss in the 2020 election. dominion became a popular punching back by trump supporters, who alleged that their machines helped joe biden�*s victory. turning now to ukraine, and president zelensky has been leading ceremonies in bucha on the first anniversary of its liberation from russian forces. bucha, a suburb to the northwest of kyiv was the focus of fierce

fighting and has come to symbolise alleged war crimes carried out by russian forces. from bucha, here's our correspondent hugo bachega. president zelensky came here to mark this day, when you since ukrainian forces recaptured this time that was occupied by russian forces. this region has become the symbol of atrocities committed by russian forces here in this country. we came to the street where dozens of bodies were found, and i think images of those bodies lying on the ground here shocked all of us. they become a symbol of the brutality of the occupation here, not on the b execution of these people, we know many of the civilians are trying to visit relatives, trying to flee the city when they where killed. there were allegations of torture, the allegations of rape. but now here in

bucha, there is a massive effort to collect evidence of those potential war crimes, international investigators and active as volunteers are here collecting evidence. there's also a massive effort to rebuild what is being destroyed, so houses have been rebuilt and the roads, shops, that perhaps cannot be rebuilt, that is the psychological impact of the atrocities that were committed here, the trauma of the violence that was committed by the occupying forces. the social media influencer andrew tate and his brother tristan have been released from preventative custody, after a judge ruled in favour of their appeals. but they will remain under house arrest. two romanian associates, georgiana naghel and luana radu, are also being released.

——for alleged human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. the brothers and two romanian female associates have been under police detention since december. all four have been ordered to stay in the buildings where they live, unless they have judicial permission to leave. the former paralympic athlete 0scar pistorius's bid for parole collapsed in chaos today (gfx)the 36—year—old had been seeking early release after serving half of his 13—year sentence(ani he was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp in 2013. ahead of the hearing, a lawyer for steenkamp's parents spoke to reporters outside the court. for him it's a life sentence. he is the killer of her daughter. he is eligible to be considered for placement on parole. they don't feel that he should be released. they feel that he has shown no remorse, he is not rehabilitated, because if he had been, he would have come clean and tell the true story of what happened that night. the supreme court of appeal found that he hasn't diverged everything that happened that night, and that is the position that they also hold. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding has more from pretoria.

i'm afraid it's a pretty farcical situation, the south african justice system looking like it's made a big mess of this. in fact, today's parole board hearing, we're now learning, should never have gone ahead in the first place. that's because the prison authorities here actually received a letter three days ago on tuesday this week, explaining to them that 0scar pistorius has not actually served, according to their calculations, half his time in prison, half his sentence. in fact, that time will come next august in 202a. now, i spokejust a short while ago to 0scar pistorius's uncle arnold, who was mystified, who said it was clear to him that he had served half his sentence and he said he would be getting legal advice on how this confusion could have arisen. what seems to have happened, though, is that because pistorius was initially sentenced once, that was appealed, he was sentenced again. he spent some time in prison,

some time under house arrest, that he spent another longer period — which he's currently still doing — in prison. there's confusion about exactly when his sentence should be considered to have started, and it seems like the supreme court of appeal here and the chiefjustice decided it only began on the last time he began his prison sentence. so, they're taking the strictest interpretation of the law, if you like. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: we'll be finding out why italy is the first western country to ban the ai chatbot chat gpt. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worst, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but not quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing.

the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. _ the eiffel tower's birthday- is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel — this is bbc news. turning to the us now, and the national weather serviece there has confirmed a �*large and destructive tornado' has hit the city of little rock in arkansas.

these are some pictures that have come into us from a cbs news affiliate. there have so far been no confirmed injuries, but 70,000 people are repoted to have lost power in arkansas. we're one hospital in the area has said it's expecting casualties, but there are no details yet. we can speak to our north america correspondent david willis, who's in los angeles. hi, david committed to see you. what do we know about this tornado? according to those pictures and reports from people on the grounds, this tornado ripped through the arkansas capital, little rock, about mid afternoon or thereabouts, uprooting trees, throwing cars into the air, ripping the roofs off buildings. now, there are said to be potentially quite a few casualties, we have not got any reports so far of deaths, but the university of arkansas for medical sciences, the local institute of learning has been

calling this a mass casualty events in which it is thought hundreds potentially have been injured, and as i say, that aerial footage that you just showed, quite dramatic and rekindling memories, of course, of the incidents in rolling fork mississippi, just exactly a week ago, which led to the death of 26 people and destroyed virtually all of the 400 homes in that community. yes, you know, in this part of the world, tornadoes are pretty common, but not certainly with the destructiveness with the one we are looking at here in mississippi. just back to what is happening there in arkansas, the hospital, one of the local hospitals said they are preparing to treat people with injuries, but i guess at the moment it'sjust too soon injuries, but i guess at the moment it's just too soon to tell how many might be injured. it'sjust too soon to tell how many might be injured.— it'sjust too soon to tell how many might be injured. might be in'ured. indeed who might be in'ured might be injured. indeed who might be injured and _ might be injured. indeed who might be injured and other— might be injured. indeed who might be injured and other incidents - be injured and other incidents elsewhere in the united states,

symantec, because tens of millions of americans are currently under hazardous weather warnings friday afternoon going into friday night, and this comes as i'm quoting now the national weather send her an immense blast of extreme spring air is sweeping the united states along an area from texas in the way up to the great lakes. so it could be, a few people could be in for an extremely discomforting couple of hours going ahead into the evening here. ., ~ i., , here. 0k, david, thank you very much. at least 11 people were killed in a crowd crush in pakistan's southern city of karachi friday as a ramadan alms donation at a factory sparked a stampede in the inflation—hit nation. a local official has told afp that 600 to 700 people were trapped in a small industrial compound. three factory employees have been arrested after failing to inform

police of the donation event in order to organise crowd control. just last week, one person was killed and eight others injured in a stampede for flour in northwestern pakistan. some tech news now, as italy has become the first western country to block the advanced chatbot chatgpt. the italian data—protection authority said there were privacy concerns relating to the model, which was created by us start—up 0penai and is backed by microsoft. the regulator said it would ban and investigate 0penai "with immediate effect". millions of people have used chatgpt since it launched in november 2022, as it can answer questions using natural human—like language. well, to understand a bit more about the implications of this ban, i'm joined now by the adviser on al ethical risks, reid blackman, he joins us from new york. welcome to you and thank you very much for being with us. just explain

that the italian regulators are concerned about here, why and it's? well, that's two different questions, what are they concerned about and why, in answer to the first, it is a matter of privacy concerns and this comes from two kinds of angles, one is that certain kinds of angles, one is that certain kinds of angles, one is that certain kinds of data was leaked when people are using the app, so what happened is you could see some users could see other users chats and also payment information, so you can think of that as a kind of cybersecurity concerned around people having access to data that they ought not to have access to. the second side of the privacy issue which speaks to gp are is that in order to create that chat box, in order to create that chat box, in order to create that chat box, in order to train that al, open ai, the company that created it used a tremendous amount of data drawn from the internet. we don't exactly know what they drew from or where they drew from, but there is a major concern that some of the information that they drew some included, number one, personal information from a

personal data, the kind of thing that's protected by gp are, and another concern around ip, so instance, artists work on mine without their consent used to train up without their consent used to train up the chat spot, if it is a writer used to train it. two kinds of privacy concerns, cybersecurity concerns and gp are concerns, as for why banning it's come i don't really know. i'm not privy to conversations between italian regulators and open ai. i don't know whether the regulators requested certain kinds of information from open ai and they declined to provide that information from i don't know if they tried to work together in any way. a band seems rather extreme, particularly because when you look at the impending eu and i asked him the only kinds of things that are banned are meeting the level of unacceptable risk, which doesn't look like this has meant. so even if you take into account impending regulation around this, it's not clear why a band was put into effect. . ~

clear why a band was put into effect. ., ~ , ., ., clear why a band was put into effect. ., ~ i., ., ,., effect. 0k, thank you for your anal sis effect. 0k, thank you for your analysis explaining _ effect. 0k, thank you for your analysis explaining to - effect. 0k, thank you for your analysis explaining to that - effect. 0k, thank you for your analysis explaining to that in l effect. 0k, thank you for your - analysis explaining to that in more detail. here in the uk, a further highly critical report into yorkshire cricket club following allegations of racism by former player azeem rafiq has upheld complaints of racism against 5 former teammates — but has cleared michael vaughan, the ex england captain and bbc pundit, of using racist language. the report, by the cricket discipline commission, is the latest into the claims into historical racism by rafiq which he first made in 2020. here's our sports editor, dan roan. as a former ashes winning england captain turned commentator, michael vaughan is one of cricket's highest profile figures, but for almost 18 months, accusations he used racist language hung over him. he denied the claim, and after a hearing earlier this month, today was cleared. a disciplinary commission ruled... vaughan stepped back from his bbc broadcasting work last year

after former yorkshire team—mate azeem rafiq alleged that moments after this huddle before a match in 2009, his former captain said, "there's too many of you lot" to him and three other asian players. today in a statement, vaughan said... vaughan urged reconciliation but condemned what he called an inappropriate approach by the ecb, saying there had been no winners. now out of contract, the bbc will have to decide whether to restore him to the team. i think michael himself will be able to have greater detail about exactly the toll it takes on him, notjust him, but his family, close friends as it were, but there have been some difficult, challenging times and dark times. but this was still another damaging day for yorkshire, which admitted four charges, including a failure to address systemic use of racist language over a prolonged period.

the panel said that its findings did not undermine rafiq's wider assertions and upheld some of the disrepute charges against five other former players and coaches here. all five, which included former england stars matthew hoggard and tim bresnan, had withdrawn from the disciplinary process. today, rafiq gave me this reaction. you know, the hearing was very much closure for me, and again today i feel very vindicated. seven out of the eight charges, for me, it is very important that we don't get hung up on individuals, because that is not the way we are ever going to solve this issue. yorkshire, facing a financial crisis after having to pay compensation to staff sacked in the wake of the scandal, could now be hit with a points deduction, and with what is expected to be a chastening game—wide report on diversity in english cricket still to come, the scrutiny is set to remain. dan roan, bbc news.

leaving you with this story, the vatican has said that pope francis can leave hospital on saturday as expected, given his continued recovery from a bronchitis infection. earlier pope francis baptised a newborn in the paediatric ward of the gemelli hospital in rome where he is receiving treatment — appearing in good physical condition. he also visited young patients on an oncology ward, bringing them chocolate eggs and copies of a book about the life ofjesus. pope francis is scheduled to take part in a palm sunday service on sunday. thatisit that is it from me for the moment. you can get in touch with me on twitter. i will be back a little later. see you then. hello.

the last day of march was unsettled across the southern half of the uk. plenty of showers and areas of heavy rain and strong winds, but this area of low pressure will clear away during the first part of the weekend, and into the start of april, things become a bit drier and brighter and more settled and we should start to see more sunshine on sunday. this area of low pressure has been pulling away into the near continent, taking strong wind with it but leaving a legacy of cloud. further showers and a weather front bringing further rain to northern ireland, parts of wales, south west and southern england, some of the rain heavy at times. further north, a lot of cloud across north sea coasts but western scotland and north—west england seeing the best of any clearer skies are so temperatures may take a bit of a tumble. for saturday, still an area of low pressure pulling away very slowly to the near continent, leaving a legacy of cloud across the country. a few showery bursts of rain being pushed in on an east north—easterly wind and eastern scotland and eastern england staying grey and cool. this weather front bringing further rain to northern ireland, parts of wales and the southwest will tend to fizzle

out through the day. we could see skies brightening a touch but it will be chilly, certainly compared to the last few days across north sea coast, with an onshore breeze. further west, highs of 11, maybe 12 or 13 in the sunny spells across the south—west. as we head through saturday night, it stays rather cloudy for most. this weather front should peter out and turn drier across northern ireland, south—west england and i think any rain across eastern england will fizzle out. many places dry with variable cloud and clear spells and temperatures dipping between 2—7. a cooler night to come, then. sunday, high pressure builds in, few isobars so the wind will be much lighter. we are importing some slightly drier air from the east so i think early on we should start to see any cloud beginning to break up and then sunshine will become abundant into the afternoon. a much brighter second half of the weekend for much of the country, away from northern scotland and northern ireland, a bit more cloud.

despite the sunshine, although feeling warm in the sunshine, still quite cool, 9—12. pretty reasonable for early april. into next week, it looks like high pressure continues to bring a lot of dry and settled weather. at times, weatherfronts bringing rain to the north and west of the uk but turning milder as we move through the new week.