welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the headlines: at least 26 people are now known to have died after severe storms batter the north—east of the united states. the bbc has been told there are �*positive updates�* in the case of british men, two of whom are pictured here, who were arrested by the taliban in afghanistan earlier this year. coach travellers in dover face estimated waits of 6—8 hours, despite extra ferries being laid on overnight to help clear the backlog , as passengers travel abroad for the easter holidays. pope francis presides over palm sunday mass at the vatican — just a day after leaving hospital in rome for treatment for bronchitis.

the uk's home secretary tells the bbc the government's looking at further places to house migrants. authorities in the united states have been assessing the damage caused by severe storms and tornadoes. at least 26 people are now known to have died — as the storms ripped through the south and the midwest — leaving a trail devastation. hardest hit were tennessee, arkansas and indiana. in illinois, one person was killed — when a theatre roof collapsed in chicago. our reporter shelley phelps has more. two tornadoes left a trail of destruction in arkansas. this was the small town of wynne where at least four people were killed. homes and businesses lie flattened. the local high school torn apart, devastated teachers and students came to see the extent

of the damage for themselves. yeah, i taught here for 25 years. this is my classroom and when i walked out yesterday i didn't realise that would be the last time i would be teaching in this classroom. it's just... god protected this town, and he will rebuild it and everything will be fine again. i am a sophomore. i have been here since first grade. the school, ijust love it. we have many traditions that... voice waivers ..that i'm so proud of the school for. i'm just so sad it is gone. i know we can come back stronger. we can build a better school, keep those traditions going. 100 miles away in the state capital of little rock,

another person killed, over 50 hospitalised and at least 2,000 homes and businesses damaged. cody says he was lucky to be a ninth after a tornado swept over his van, tearing up trees around him. —— lucky to be alive. it was constantly making screaming noises. i could hear it blowing through the cracks in the van, pushing in, shaking the whole thing. if i didn't have as much equipment in that van and it didn't have the bulkhead and some other stuff attach to the van to make it a bit heavier, i am pretty sure it would have been blown away. also hit was the central state of illinois where a storm caused a theatre roof to collapse at a packed heavy metal gig in belvedere. inside wasjessica, whose friend had convinced her to go at the last minute. the lights go out, i hear noise. everything crashes down, which is the ceiling and i felt like a tornado hit. i don't know the logistics of it or

anything like that. but that went down. one person was killed in the tragedy and dozens of others injured. recovery operations are working at pace but some of the affected areas could face more storms on tuesday. shelley phelps, bbc news. cbs correspondent bradley blackburn gave me the latest on the tornado. we know that at least two dozen people have died. slightly more than that because the numbers do keep increasing. this storm system moved into the north—east last night. it's blamed for at least one death in delaware, where a tornado touched down and affected homes, knocked down trees. we've seen the death toll in places, in communities in tennessee. as many as nine people died in one county. your reporter mentioned in arkansas, five deaths there. so this storm system took a serious toll in terms of lives and many, many structures damaged. the power of tornadoes is so fascinating because it is sporadic,

but it is so intense. yeah, the intensity, too. and also where this is all impacting. give us an idea of the extent of all this. it's across a broad part of the united states, multiple states, at least eight states affected by this, with it, with some serious damage. but, as i mentioned, with tornadoes, it can be isolated in particular communities. so in illinois, where you mentioned the incident that happened in the theatre in northern illinois, we know that 90 mile per hour winds were recorded in that community. it was strong enough to pull a roof off of that theatre when hundreds of people who were inside attending a concert, it sent parts of that roof caving down on them. rescuers were trying to pull people out of that rubble. at least one death reported there and dozens of people were were hospitalised. so you see pictures like that. and of course, many homes, other structures destroyed, people trying to pick up the pieces. yeah, they will need a lot of help. what assistance is there?

in the us, this comes down to the state, so it's on governors to assess the damage and then request assistance from the federal government. we know that process is already under way in arkansas. the governor there, sarah huckabee sanders, has requested that president biden make a disaster declaration that would clear the way for federal funds to help with rebuilding. she's also declared a state of emergency in her state, activated the national guard to assist with search and rescue in the town of wynne, there. they were trying to comb through homes, looking for people that may have been trapped inside some of that rubble to try and render them aid. the bbc has been told there are �*positive updates�* in the case of the british men, arrested by the taliban in afghanistan. the government said it had been in negotiations following the news of their detention. yetunde yusuf has more. back under taliban control since the summer of 2021, now it�*s emerged that three british men have been held in custody by the

taliban in afghanistan. so i may be on my way back tonight, maybe next week, maybe a month. it�*s understood one of them is miles routledge, who was evacuated from the country during the final days of occupation in 2021. he�*s gained a social media following visiting countries deemed dangerous by the authorities. two other british men were also arrested. kevin cornwell, a 53—year—old charity worker and paramedic, and another british man who hasn�*t been named. in the last few hours, the organisation supporting the families of the two men told us there have been some developments. we have had confirmation that the two detained britons are in good health, and we have further positive events to hopefully relay very shortly. and we believe this is a strong indicator that we're moving towards a situation of a resolution, hopefully. meanwhile, the home secretary

says people should be cautious about travelling to dangerous countries. if there are risks to - people's safety, if they're a british citizen abroad, then- the uk government is going to do whatever it takes to - ensure that they're safe. updates on the men are expected in the next 2a to 48 hours. yetunde yusuf, bbc news. scott richards of the presidium network who we�*ve just heard from in that reportjoined me earlier — his organisation is helping two of the three detainee�*s. the first is 53—year—old kevin cornwell from middlesbrough and the other remains unamed. both were arrested on the 11th of january this year at a kabul hotel. no charges have been filed against either person. scott told me the latest. against either person. this against either person. morning there was a phone between this morning there was a phone call between the families of the two detained britain�*s. this is a very exciting step forward, because today

there has been no communication available to anyone that has been detained under these circumstances. we graciously received this positive action from afghanistan from allowing us having that conversation, unscripted, this book it for about two minutes and during that confirms what we believe that the men were in good health and reasonably good spirits as anyone can be in detention. lets reasonably good spirits as anyone can be in detention.— reasonably good spirits as anyone can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good _ can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good to _ can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good to hear _ can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good to hear that _ can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good to hear that they - can be in detention. lets be clear, that is good to hear that they both seem to be well. on the detention, let�*s get some details right on that, is it your understanding that there are no charges at the moment? do you know on what ground the detention is being held on? the oriainal detention is being held on? the original arrest _ detention is being held on? tue: original arrest was detention is being held on? tte: original arrest was based on the illegal possession of a weapon. but we are unaware of anyone seeing any official charges, but we have heard speculation around these. until there is a formal statement, it is difficult to anticipate that. but we do understand and know that the

original basis was a belief that the weapon was illegally held. which it isn�*t, because of we know it was licensed. it is what we called a misunderstanding. find licensed. it is what we called a misunderstanding.— licensed. it is what we called a misunderstanding. and are you 0 timistic misunderstanding. and are you optimistic that _ misunderstanding. and are you optimistic that this _ optimistic that this misunderstanding is clarified and both people will be returned home? we are very hopeful towards that end and have been working very hard toward that end to make clear the circumstances around the license, the events that happened and to appeal to the taliban to look closely at the matter and to take advantage of this being a holy month to look towards a pardon or otherwise. to look towards a pardon or otherwise-— to look towards a pardon or otherwise. �* , ., ., ~ , otherwise. and your network is the presidium network, _ otherwise. and your network is the presidium network, just _ otherwise. and your network is the presidium network, just talk - otherwise. and your network is the presidium network, just talk a - presidium network, just talk a little bit about your relationship here, how you are involved with this. t here, how you are involved with this. ., , here, how you are involved with this. . , , , this. i have been present in afghanistan _ this. i have been present in afghanistan since _ this. i have been present in afghanistan since 2014 - this. i have been present in l afghanistan since 2014 where this. i have been present in i afghanistan since 2014 where i this. i have been present in - afghanistan since 2014 where i was originally a special adviser to the minister of finance and informer roles with the previous government.

and to some degrees was involved in the doha peace process. and in particular in august 2021 was involved in the early days and early relationships with the new regime will miss tried to stay around because catastrophic impact on the banking system and with education as well. dominic and i who founded the network also worked as advisers for the afghan task force, an evacuation, following that we created the presidium network and have run interventions with prisoner release in ukraine and here. the british home secretary has defended the government�*s plans to send migrants, who arrive in britain by crossing the english channel in small boats to rwanda. suella braverman described the plans as being a �*significant deterrent�*, but the opposition labour party has criticised the move, accusing the government of failing to �*get a grip�* of the migration system. it comes as the bbc understands the government could announce

alternatives to hotel accommodation for migrants as early as next week. earlier, our political correspondent david wallace lockhart gave us this update. the home secretary is very keen to see this plan become a reality, but it is bogged down in legal challenges at the moment. no timescale yet on that. of course, this is a key plank of the government�*s migration policy that they want anyone who arrives in the country without permission to be detained and then sent to another country. in the case that they can�*t go back to their home country, the most likely country they would go to would be rwanda under a deal that they�*ve signed. now, the home secretary was asked this morning when she was on the laura kuenssberg on sunday programme about a 2018 incident when there were protesters, refugee protesters in rwanda who were fired upon with live rounds resulting in 12 deaths. she didn�*t know about that particular incident, but stressed she�*s still confident rwanda remains a safe country to send refugees to.

obviously, a big issue for the government at the moment due to the numbers crossing the channel in small boats. big questions around where they are kept at the moment as well. and that�*s something the home secretary spoke about this morning. well, let's be clear that our scheme to detain and swiftly remove does not require 50,000 new detention places. the government is in no way planning to do that. what we need to do is we do... what happens if more people arrive? we do need to increase our detention estate. we've got several thousand places already that we use and we've got capacity there. we will need to increase some of our detention capacity. but what we believe to work is that once we are able to relocate people from the uk to rwanda, pursuant to our well world leading deal, that will have a significant deterrent effect and people will stop making the journey in the first place. they'll stop paying the evil people smuggling gangs in the first place and numbers will come down. and that's notjust a speculation that's actually

borne out of experience. so other countries who rolled out a similar scheme, for example, australia. now that idea there that the rwanda scheme being up and running will therefore deter people trying to cross the channel that�*s not being bought by opposition parties. labour have actually been criticising the policy, not really from an ethical point of view, but more focusing on the fact that they think it�*s expensive, they think it�*s unworkable, it�*s been talked about for months and months, yet no one has been sent to rwanda under the scheme and the shadow levelling up secretary lisa nandy was on television this morning essentially saying that given how long the conservatives have been in powerfor, they have to take responsibility for the state of things at the moment. let�*s have a listen to what she had to say. this is so far a policy that has cost the british taxpayer a huge amount of money and hasn't seen a single person go to rwanda. so i think the evidence so far suggests that this is just yet another outlandish nonsense claim from a home secretary that is unable to do the very basics

of getting her own system working. she complains about an asylum system that's broken. i think she really does need to ask who broke it. and the answer to that lies by looking in a mirror. i think this is a con trick being perpetrated on the british people. the government is not processing asylum claims. they've got an enormous backlog. they've added £500 million to the costs because of these delays that have been caused by them pursuing all these new strategies. now much of that criticism there is shared by the liberal democrats, they�*ve called the scheme "botched." today they say it won�*t stop any boats crossing the channel. now, the home 0ffice�*s own figures, one of their estimations was the figures this year could reach up to 80,000. that will, of course, be something the government will be trying their best to avoid. that is not a figure they want to see, given that one of rishi sunak�*s key policies is to stop these boat crossings. but with that rwanda scheme still tied up in legal challenges with questions about where exactly asylum seekers would be would be

detained under the government�*s new migration policy. lots of questions about how that number will be avoided and when these schemes will be operating. well, the uk home secretary has also expressed her sympathy with people who�*ve faced long delays trying to get across the channel at dover — but has rejected any suggestion brexit is to blame. she�*s insisted the issue lies with transport companies and port authorities, and that it�*s a busy time of year. extra ferries were laid on overnight to try to clear the backlog — which led to some coach passengers facing waits of 14 hours. in the latest developments, the port now says that more than 100 coaches are waiting to cross the channel today. simonjones has this report. day three of the delays at dover, and once again it is coach passengers who are bearing the brunt of the problems. this group is trying to get to luxembourg for a short break, but before that it�*s going to be a long wait.

once we arrive at the port, it will take four hours to clear customs and then get on the ferry, so we are looking at ten hours. i have got mostly elderly passengers on that have paid good money for a holiday, and basically i think some of them now want to go home. the problem is we have got one driver so i don't think we will get to where we are going tonight. i don't really know what we're going to do. how are you feeling? unhappy, it's supposed to be my birthday week celebration, what can you do? those that have made it onto the ferries are still concerned about their onward journeys. 0ur drivers will run. out of driving hours, because they have been up| all night, our tour company are having to organise for a driver to come i and meet us so that they can take us to the resort to start the kids' - ski trip a day late. extra ferries were laid on overnight and freight traffic and cars are getting through without any major hold—ups. the government says the ongoing

issue with coaches is a matter for the ferry companies. they have seen an acute pressure of bookings, of coaches and journeys across the channel. it�*s a very busy time of year. there�*s been some bad weather, but they have been putting on extra journeys overnight. they are positive that this will be eased very soon. the port itself says french immigration checks following brexit have been an issue. it says it is deeply frustrated by the problems this weekend. earlier i spoke to simon calder, the travel editor at the independent, who explained the reasons behind the delays. guided by what the boss of the port of dover has been saying and indeed the ferry operators, they say this is due to the time it takes to process people through immigration. unlike lastjuly when you might remember at the start of the summer holidays there was chaos at dover, partly triggered by french passport

officials are not turning up. this time, no blame seems to have been placed on the french. remember we have so called just opposed border controls. so everybody because my passport is checked before they leave the uk, that�*s great in normal times —— juxtaposed border control. at times of high pressure, it�*s tricky, because the port of dover, a very constrained site beneath the white cliffs, never designed for strong passport checks and now, instead of, you might remember, if you were driving, experiencing this, you were driving, experiencing this, you might have just waived the passport at the cheerful officer, he or she mutually waving you through if they want to have a quick look they would just check it was your passport photo. now they are obliged to go through and have a look at your stamps to go through and have a look at yourstamps in and to go through and have a look at your stamps in and out of the eu, make sure you haven�*t stayed too long, they have to stamp your passport, this increases the transaction time and, i think, even

with everything working well, a coach takes 20 minutes to process, they have 300 coaches through on saturday, that adds up to an awful lot of waiting as we saw. ukraine�*s president hailed the first anniversary of russia�*s withdrawal from the kyiv region on sunday, saying ukrainians had stopped the greatest force against humanity of our time. volodomyr zelensky also renewed his pledge to see all occupied territory liberated. meanwhile, ukrainian officials say six civilians have been killed in russian shelling in a town near the embattled city of bakhmut, in the east of the country. joining me now from kyiv is our ukraine correspondent hugo bachega. what is volodymyr zelensky saying? i think it is important for the ukrainians to remember what happened in those towns here in the kyiv

region last year, because perhaps they changed the course of the war. the russians thought they would be here in kyiv in a matter of days and, obviously, that didn�*t happen, because they faced strong resistance, strong opposition in those towns. and, obviously, the president is now talking about how the ukrainians had stopped the greatest force against humanity of our time and i was in the strike on friday, a town which will forever be remembered at the site of one of the worst atrocities —— bucha. soldiers accused of possible war crimes, including the execution of civilians, torture, rape and now there is a massive effort in those towns to collect the evidence and to investigate those allegations. i think the president has also used this occasion to boost morale,

because here there is the expectation that the ukrainians are going to launch an offensive, to take back territory that is under occupation, large parts of the country, in the south, in the east, they remain under occupation, so the president is also saying that all occupied parts of the country will be liberated.— occupied parts of the country will be liberated. thank you very much for that, i be liberated. thank you very much forthat. i can _ be liberated. thank you very much for that, i can say _ be liberated. thank you very much for that, i can say you _ be liberated. thank you very much for that, i can say you are - be liberated. thank you very much for that, i can say you are having l for that, i can say you are having some minor troubles with your earpiece and communication, we believe that they, so thank you. pope francis has presided over palm sunday mass at the vatican — just a day after leaving hospital in rome. the 86—year—old was admitted with breathing difficulties, and later diagnosed with bronchitis. the pontiff�*s admission to hospital came ahead of the busiest week in the christian calendar. thousands of people gathered in st peter�*s square waving palm and olive branches as pope francis was driven into the huge esplanade, sitting in the back of a white, open—topped vehicle. he then celebrated mass , his initial blessing was made standing up, but he spent the rest of the service sitting down. in his homily he called on people

not to ignore those experiencing great suffering and solitude. the service ended with a procession in st peter�*s square. and the pontiff left waving to crowds of worshippers from his popemobile. paris is holding a referendum today on whether to ban street rentals of e—scooters. the french capital was one of the first cities to authorise their use but they�*ve faced criticism from some who say they�*re often driven recklessly and clutter the streets. 0ur correspondent in paris, hugh schofield has more. perhaps the operators are producing figures to show that there are 400,000 regular users. it�*s certainly very easy to find people. if you go out voxpopping who say yes, they rely on them for their daily trip to work. they find it very useful coming home late at night. it�*s cheap, they�*re relatively green and so on, and they�*re fun. so they certainly have their

supporters, but to say the least, they also have their detractors, one of whom is the mayor of paris, anne hidalgo. and she�*s the one who�*s called this referendum, you know, with a clear intention, one senses, that she wants them banned. there�*s no question of banning e—scooters in general, but of the free floating variety. and yes, the complaint is that they clutter up the space, you know, there have been moves to try and regulate that, but also that the free floating ones are often picked up by youngsters who ride very recklessly. if it�*s not your bike, you don�*t really care how you ride it. if it is your... sorry, your bike, if it is your scooter, you�*ll look after it. it�*s your regular means of getting about your ride it differently. and i mean, it�*s true. i mean, everyone knows everyone�*s had a horror story or heard a horror story or had had a close brush with someone coming builing down the road or down the pavement towards them or down the street the wrong way.

it happens the whole time. and that that is why a lot of parisians, particularly older parisians, are very angry. and the thing about this referendum, so—called, is that, you know, it�*s going to be older people probably who turn out to vote. the younger people who use them won�*t be voting. and that�*s the point being made by the operators who really are very, very angry about this referendum. finally this hour, for the 13th weekend in a row, more than a 100,000 israelis have held protests across the country against a radicaljudicial overhaul, despite prime minister, benjamin netanyahu�*s decision to pause the reforms earlier this week. talks have been initiated between the government and the opposition, but protest organisers fear the legislation could still be brought to a vote. more on that and today�*s other stories on the bbc news website and app, and you can reach me on twitter — i�*m @lvaughanjones.

this is bbc news. goodbye. hello there, good afternoon. it following an exceptionally wet march, especially across england and wales, you may be pleased to know that there�*s a lot of dry weather to come now in the forecast with plenty of sunshine, too. sunny spells captured today by weather watchers in pembrokeshire and again in derbyshire. and there�*s a lot more of that to come as we head through the next few days. so more sunshine, it�*s dry and fine for most particularly away from the far north and the west. why? well, because high pressure is dominating. it�*s towards the south—west and also out towards the east as well, just sending this chilly northeasterly breeze towards north sea facing coast today. so here it�*s always going to feel a little cooler and there will be some cloud across scotland

and northern ireland. small chance for a shower here, a bit more clouds, but still breaking up at times across west and wales, in the far south west of england, temperatures peaking between nine and 13 degrees celsius. of course, a little bit more strength than the sunshine at this time of year. so in the best of that, it�*s going to feel pleasantly warm. now as we head through this evening and overnight, a lot of clear skies around. the winds fall lighter and there will be some frost developing into tomorrow morning. temperatures hovering round about freezing. you can see from the blue tones here where the frost will tend to be a little milder towards the far south—east of england and also, of course, across the far north and west of scotland and northern ireland, but cloudier and breezy here now as we head through monday, then there�*s plenty more sunshine to come in the forecast. these weather fronts all blocked by the area of high pressure. so more sunshine, a bit more cloud across northern ireland, but that will tend to break up and across the north west of scotland too, temperatures between ten and 13 celsius. again, we�*ve got an onshore breeze for north sea facing coast. so a little cooler here once again. and it�*s another frosty start to the day on tuesday, start to see these weather fronts making more inroads into the far north—west of scotland, across west and eventually pushing

eastwards across to eastern scotland, too. but again, more sunshine is hanging on for england and wales on tuesday, temperatures peaking between 12 and 14 degrees. now, as we head through the middle part of the week, then our weather fronts will gradually push eastwards. they�*re largely fizzling out as they hit the high pressure. but we could see some rain even towards eastern areas and then high pressure builds back in as we head through good friday and the easter bank holiday weekend. a bit more cloud around than today, temperatures at or slightly above the seasonal average.

this is bbc news. i�*m lewis vaughanjones and these are the headlines. authorities in the united states have been assessing the damage caused by storms and tornadoes. at least 26 people are known to have died and dozens are missing after the severe weather left a trail of devastation. the bbc has been told there are �*positive updates�* in the case of british men, two of whom are pictured here, who were arrested by the taliban in afghanistan earlier this year. pope francis has led mass in st peter�*s square in front of more than 30,000 people, kicking off the year�*s easter services, just a day after leaving hospital in rome following treatment for bronchitis. coach travellers in dover face estimated waits of six to eight hours, despite extra ferries

being laid on overnight to try and help clear the backlog. the port said 111 coaches were waiting to cross