a series of devestating tornadoes in the united states have left at least three people dead in the states of arkansas and illinois. donald trump will appear in court on tuesday as he becomes the first former us president to face criminal charges. the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the united states for a campaign finance issue is an outrage. social media personality andrew tate has been released from prison to house arrest before further court hearings. a warning that rapidly melting ice in antarctica is slowing down deep ocean currents, which could have devastating impacts for the world's climate.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the death toll from a series of tornadoes that have ripped through parts of the united states is rising. at least three people have now been killed in the states of arkansas and illinois. dozens have been injured and tens of thousands have lost power. the governor of arkansas, sarah huckabee sanders, has declared a state of emergency. our reporter shelley phelps has more. oh, my god! it's coming our way, y'all! ripping away building tops, uprooting trees and flipping over vehicles, the catastrophic tornado started moving through little rock on friday afternoon. this was the moment a weather presenter spotted it while live on air, giving warnings to locals. here it is and could be a strong tornado, ef2 or stronger. this is exactly what we didn't want to happen today. over reservoir road at this time. over reservoir road. we're gonna keep it here, we're gonna follow it.

certainly looks like a tornado. oh, my goodness. siren wails 2a peopleare in hospital with injuries. debris lies scattered everywhere and more than 90,000 homes are without power. this man told cbs news what he saw. ..and through our window, i saw the — there's the transformer back here that kind of blew up, i saw that, the lightning striking it and kind of blew up, caught me off guard. uh, went into the bathroom, closed the door and, all of a sudden, it was just, like, so much wind everywhere. it felt — kind of like the house was shaking and things were kind of like being thrown against it and it was just something i never experienced before. it comes just a week after a deadly tornado hit mississippi, killing 25 people. on friday, president biden visited one of the hardest—hit towns, rolling fork. today, i authorise the federal government to cover 100% of the cost for removing debris and emergency measures that are involved in keeping up here, by keeping shelters up and running and paying for every — overtime for everyone. 100% of the cost, not

through the state, but through us, for 30 days. and then after that, we're not leaving, either. similar help will be required with the clean—up effort in arkansas and difficult hours lie ahead for the millions of people facing severe weather warnings across the south and the midwest. shelley phelps, bbc news. donald trump's lawyer has insisted his client won't be handcuffed on tuesday when he surrenders to a court in new york. the former president is charged with falsifying business records. the indictment includes at least one felony offence, meaning a jail sentence is possible. the case is linked to hush money paid to the former porn star stormy daniels. 0ur north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue reports from new york. this manhattan courthouse doesn't normally look like this. but then, it's not every day a former president gets charged with a crime — in fact,

it's never 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: . ..and his opponents: . 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. chanting stop the steal! two other criminal investigations are looking into his role in the storming of the capitol onjanuary 6 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. earlier i spoke to journalist and political commentator michael tracey. i asked him what the public reaction has been like to trump's indictment. one of the chief reactions that's observable to anyone sort of monitoring the fallout here is that although elements of the republican party — especially republican elites, maybe some donors, maybe some former elected officials, even some of whom may have served in the trump administration — as much as they might�*ve been maybe trending toward a desire to disassociate themselves from trump, you can see this having some sort of a galvanising effect where even somebody like a mike pence trending toward a desire to disassociate themselves from trump, you can see this having some sort of a galvanising effect where even somebody like a mike pence or a bill barr — obviously, the former being the previous vice president, the latter being the former attorney—general —

who had had falling outs with trump, had had rows with him to the point that trump would probably regard them as political nemeses, even they have come out and declared, basically, opposition to the sort of premise behind this particular prosecution or, at least, the pendency of this particular prosecution. and i think it's understandable, even leaving apart — you know, leaving aside the reaction of republican elites because this is a threshold—crossing event. as you've made clear in this report, there has been no president who's been ever charged criminally before, and so, you'd expect that to be prompted by an offence of a certain level of gravity or to be associated with some sort of transgression of significant magnitude. and if it really happens to be the case — as all indications seem to point to — that this stems, ultimately,

from the payment of a confidential settlement sum to a former adult film actress, then maybe that's not quite what most people would've expected to really give rise to that crossing of the rubicon moment. and, michael, we know that donald trump is also running for 2024 presidency, so how has the indictment — how will the indictment impact all of this? well, it's very — it's impossible to say. you know, there are portions of the republican party electorate who you might expect would at least be open to arguments about how trump is not the most politically expedient choice for 2024, given maybe some of his baggage or given some of the drama that just seems to engulf him constantly, but now that he could be portrayed as an emblem of kind of these efforts or machinations that

are somewhat nefarious within the legal establishment or the security state or other aspects of the kind of governmental apparatus as being sort of marshalled unfairly against trump and, therefore, his wider movement, then you can see that also having a galvanising effect amongst those very same segments of the party coalition who might�*ve otherwise been receptive to overtures from maybe different republican candidates. trump was prosecuted — or he — there was a special prosecutor, let's remember, authorised to investigate trump for years within his presidency on the ground that he had some salacious, illicit, treasonous relationship with the kremlin and, therefore, was guilty of, again, treason. that didn't pan out. and so, there's — memories of that are still fresh and if now, this seems to just be another sort of instalment in that continuum of kind

of never—ending attempts to legally take down trump, then you can see that engendering a certain kind of partisan reflex or a certain loyalty sort of gravitation toward trump in the way that maybe trump himself could not bring about if it wasn't him being positioned against the machinations of some sort of legal establishment against him. that was journalist michael tracey speaking to me a little bit earlier. ajudge in the us a judge in the us state ajudge in the us state of delaware has ruled that the defamation lawsuit against fox news by dominican voting systems can go to trial in mid april. some supporters of the former president donald trump had claimed that dominion had claimed two tampered with their machines to deny him the election. fox news prompted baseless claims in the company is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 11 people have died in a stampede in pakistan as residents flocked to collect rations

at a factory during the muslim holy month of ramadan. initial reports say a woman and two children were among those killed in the city of karachi. it's not immediately clear what led to the crush. more than 100 fires are continuing to burn in parts of northern spain, although many of them are now under control. the authorities say most of the fires centred in the region of astuurius were started by arsonists. hundreds of people fled the area and a number of roads were closed. israeli police have shot dead a palestinian man who allegedly stole a gun from an officer in occupied eastjerusalem. there were no casualties among israeli forces. clashes later broke out between the security forces and palestinians. earlier on friday, thousands of palestinians gathered for ramadan prayers at al ak—sa mosque. king charles has laid a wreath by the spire of church in hamburg, in northern germany that was largely destroyed

by allied bombing during the second world war. it's being seen as an important symbol of reconciliation. the port was one of the most heavily bombed german cities of the war. a court in romania has agreed to allow the controversial social media influencer andrew tate to leave prison and move into house arrest. the british—american former kickboxer has millions of online followers. he's being investigated for a number of crimes, all of which he denies. tim allman reports. hello, andrew. freedom at last. cheering and applause it seemed almost like a hero's welcome as andrew tate returned to his home in romania. but he wanted to stress he was also relieved and grateful. i want to give respect, firstly, to the judges who heard us today because they were very attentive and they listened to us and they let us free,

so i have to give absolute respect to them. i have no resentment in my heart for the country of romania or for anybody else. ijust believe in the truth. andrew tate is a controversial character. he has a huge following online and he's previously been accused of misogyny. it's been proven that the smartest people in the world are men. that's been proven. and i said that female infidelity is more disgusting than male infidelity, and i think that the world agrees with me. banging on door then, in december last year, romanian police raided his home. along with his brother and two local women, he's being investigated on allegations of rape, people trafficking and forming an organised crime group. he continues to deny any wrongdoing. i truly believe thatjustice will be served in the end. there is 0% chance of me being found guilty of something i have not done. i maintain my absolute innocence, and i think most people understand this, and i look forward to being home. the two brothers have been forbidden from contacting any witnesses and can't leave

their house without approval from the authorities. no charges have yet been brought. andrew tate says he'll now focus on reading the koran and doing push—ups. tim allman, bbc news. a reminder of our top stories: the death toll from a series of tornadoes that have ripped through parts of the united states is rising. at least three people have now been killed in the states of arkansas and illinois. dozens have been injured and tens of thousands have lost power. donald trump's legal team say he's "angry but not worried" after becoming the first former president to face criminal charges. he'll surrender to a court in new york on tuesday. turning now to ukraine, and president volodymyr zelensky has led ceremonies in bucha on the first anniversary of its liberation from russian forces. he said he would make the place what he called "a symbol of justice". bucha, a suburb to the north—west of kyiv, was the focus of fierce fighting and has come to symbolise alleged war crimes carried out by russian forces. from there, here's our

correspondent, hugo bachega. so, president zelensky came here to mark this day one year since the ukrainian forces recaptured this town that was occupied by russian forces, and bucha has become the symbol of the atrocities committed by russian forces here in this country. we came here to yablonska street — this is the street where dozens of bodies were found, and i think images of those bodies lying on the ground here shocked all of us and they've become a symbol of the brutality of the occupation here. and not only the execution of these people, you know, many of the civilians were trying to visit relatives, were trying to flee the city when they were killed, but there were allegations of torture, allegations of rape but now, here in bucha, there is a massive effort to collect evidence of those potential war crimes, international investigators, activists, volunteers are here to collect evidence and there's also a massive effort to rebuild what has been

destroyed, so houses have been rebuilt, also the roads, shops, but one thing that perhaps cannot be rebuilt and that is the psychological impact of the atrocities that were committed here, the trauma of the violence that was committed by the occupying forces in this town. every year, thousands of migrants risk their lives trying to make their way to europe. italy is one of the countries on the frontline of this migration. in march alone, more than 3,000 people have reached the country — more than double the arrivals in the same month last year. the bbc�*s thomas naadi has been combing through objects and documents left behind by migrants on the italian island of lampedusa in an attempt to trace just one person through one of the lost items.

for many years, a group of volunteers here in lampedusa have been gathering objects lost by migrants and refugees along their journey. giacomo sferlazzo is one of the founders of the collective that have set up this small, informal museum. he found these objects at a dump here on the island. translation: some bring with them soil. | they bring it from their country. we have found a number of these little parcels that show the bond with one's country, with africa. i'm here to trace just one of these people through one of these lost objects. it's impossible to find someone through a parcel of soil, but giacomo helps me with more tangible items. here's a passport. there are also some personal address books. ghana. oh, wow! a ghanian driver license. many, many people. quite a lot of them. so, where are these people? with more than 20,000 recorded deaths and disappearances since 2014, this stretch of sea is the deadliest migration

route in the world. fabio giovanetti is part of a local volunteer group that looks after the graves of migrants buried here on the island. only a handful are identified. translation: a dead person has the right to be buried and, - most importantly, to be remembered. these people have relatives. they would have had parents and children, and we do what their relatives would've done. i travelled back to accra with countless photos of documents and phone books from the collective in lampedusa, and i begin my search. but a sea of dead ends await me. recorded message in foreign languages. please check the number and dial again. thank you. tone beeps. again?! and then finally, i get a breakthrough. frank from the document fraud expertise centre of the ghana immigration

service has been able to access a phone numberfor a relative of the owner of the driver license i brought back from lampedusa. hello, good afternoon, sir! welcome, thomas. thank you. thank you very much. please have a seat. we've been able to establish a link on the name, so that's the good news for you, yes. this is the moment i've been waiting for. and after a brief phone call, i travelled to germany to meet the owner of the driver license giacomo showed me in lampedusa many months ago. richard travelled to europe through libya, where he was kidnapped for ransom. he eventually made a crossing via tripoli in 2011.

the journey is very rough. it took me, let's say, two years from ghana to nigeria. nigeria back to cotonou. cotonou to nigeria. from niger, chad. chad to libya. it hell. now that you are in europe, is that what you imagined or hoped for? when i was in africa, i thought in europe, things are easy. you get money easy. but it's not like that. you have to work hard. but at home, there was no plan for me to leave my house or to survive, so... i will say i'm grateful to be here. richard. i've got something to show you. quietly: wow. i'm so grateful to have it back. from a pile of belongings left behind on a small island, richard is one story lost and then found. thomas naadi, bbc news, bremen, germany. the full documentary will be available on the bbc africa youtube channel this saturday.

rapidly melting ice in the antarctic is slowing down deep ocean currents dramatically and could have devastating consequences on the global climate — that's according to scientists writing in the journal nature. they say ice melts are driving a "substantial slowdown" of water circulation. this could trap nutrients in the deep ocean, reducing their ability to support marine life near the ocean surface. earlier, i spoke to ted scambos, an ice expert and senior research scientist at the university of colorado. he shared his concerns about sea ice melting in antarctic. it has been an interesting and important trend in the last several decades that antarctica's ocean circulation has changed, the coldest waters aren't as cold as they used to be and, in fact, the surface circulation or near—surface circulation is also changing. and as a result, we're seeing less sea ice — at least in the last few years — and it's an important change

for the ecosystems as well because of the lower nutrient content in the deep ocean and changes in the circulation in the upper ocean. it's concerning and another manifestation of climate change reaching the very farthest corners of the planet. yeah, and the findings of this research suggest that the deepest parts of the ocean could actually slow down by 40% in only three decades, so how significant is the speed of the slowdown here, and just talk me through some of the implications. so, this water actually does rest deep on the seabed of the deepest parts of the ocean around the world and, in fact, it's a place that traps quite a bit of heat from global warming elsewhere. it's not of immediate concern in terms of, say, weather changes because this water sits in the bottom of the ocean.

over the long term, it's going to change circulation in other areas and will change the character of places that see upwelling of this water, which tend to be very active fisheries, places where there's a lot of life and a lot of economic activity. and let's look ahead now to the possible measures and what solutions you think should be put in place to tackle climate change. i think tackling climate change is incredibly important. solving this particular issue would be a huge task in any other method than reducing co2 emissions or actually removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and trying to cool off the earth a bit. by that means, any sort of technical approach at this scale is just really hard to imagine. you look at a map and maybe you think that antarctica is a faraway place

and perhaps not so big. it's a huge area — larger than australia, as large as the united states and mexico combined. trying to adjust what's going on along the coastline of such an area and even into the deep ocean truly is beyond the reach of what we can do technically. our best answer is to reduce our carbon consumption and emission into the atmosphere and begin, actually, to remove it from the atmosphere, if we can find an efficient way to do that. the organisers of the wimbledon tennis championships have lifted a ban on russian and belarusian players that had been imposed in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. players from the two nations will have to compete as neutral athletes and comply with certain conditions, including agreeing not to support the russian and belarusian states or receive sponsorship from companies operated or controlled by them. ukraine's foreign minister has described the move as "immoral". russian world number five daniil medvedev welcomed the news.

i don't have any russian sponsors and, yeah, i'm going to play their likely played all the last year, every other tournament, to be honest, and yeah, again, i'm going to be happy to be there. i don't know what the crowd reaction�*s going to be, i can't control that, that i will be happy to play there in front of all the people hopefully on big courts and hopefully, we have some big, amazing matches. you are watching bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @monikaplaha thank you forjoining me.

hello. for many parts of the uk, march turned out to be a wet month, not least across england, where, according to provisional met office statistics, it was the wettest march since 1981. but it wasn't that wet everywhere — in fact, there were parts of northern scotland where we had less rain than normal. these figures, 56% of the average, cover the period up to the morning of friday the 31st. compare that with cambridge, which had seen more than three times the normal march rainfall. but for the start of april, through the weekend, it looks like things are going to become drier and brighter. quite a slow process, though, because the weekend starts with low pressure in charge. a couple of different weather fronts providing a focus for some outbreaks of rain. this front here providing some particularly persistent rain through the morning across parts of northern ireland, parts of wales, the south—west of england, central southern england as well.

a lot of that rain will tend to peter out. i think northern ireland is likely to stay cloudy and damp through the day. elsewhere, quite a lot of cloud, some spots of rain, some mist and murk and with this easterly breeze, it'll feel rather cool for some of these north sea coasts. further west, temperatures between 10 and 13 degrees and there could just be a few glimmers of sunshine. most places will be pretty cloudy. now, we will keep fairly large amounts of cloud as we head through saturday night but i think we'll see a few more clear spells around — some clearer skies, certainly, filtering into eastern parts of england later in the night. temperatures generally between two and seven degrees. very locally, there could be a touch of frost. but for sunday, we see high pressure tending to build and that means some drier and somewhat brighter weather. now, there will still be some areas of cloud around — perhaps most especially across western scotland, northern ireland, wales, the south—west of england — but equally, there should be some spells of sunshine — the best of that a little bit further east. temperatures — well, no great shakes on the face of it but at this time of year, there is some strength in the sun, so get yourself into some sunshine. it will not feel too bad. 0ur area of high pressure tries

to hold on into the start of the new week. we will see frontal systems making some inroads from the atlantic, so that means we will see perhaps some rain at times through the middle of the week, particularly towards the north and the west of the uk. at this early stage — and it is still a long way away — the signs for the easter weekend are quite promising.

the headlines:

this is bbc news, the the headlines: death toll from a series of tornadoes the death toll from a series of tornadoes that have ripped apart the united states is rising. at least three people have been killed in the states of arkansas and illinois. doesn't have been injured and tens of thousands of lost power. lawyers for donald trump say he will surrender to a court in new york on tuesday after becoming the first former us president to face criminal charges. his legal team say he's angry but not worried about the case, which concerns hush payments made to a porn star. a court in romania has allowed the controversial social media influencer, andrew tate, to leave prison and move into house arrest. him, his brother and two romanian women are being investigated on allegations of rape and people trafficking. they all deny wrongdoing.