this is bbc news, with the headlines. russia says a pro—kremlin military blogger has been killed in an explosion at a cafe in st petersburg where he was holding a meeting. 16 others have been injured. vladlen tatarsky wrote blogs on the telegram platform from the front line supporting the russian invasion of ukraine. and 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. in nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. amen. pope francis presides over palm sunday mass at the vatican — just a day after leaving hospital in rome for treatment

for bronchitis. /pheul /treu resistance against the hello and welcome to bbc world news. russia says a pro—kremlin military blogger has been killed in a blast in a cafe in st petersburg. police say 16 others have been injured in the incident. the city is the second largest in russia after the capital, moscow. vladlen tatarsky was one of a handful of reporters writing blogs on the telegram platform from the front line and was a vocal supporter of russia's war in ukraine. it is not clear at this time who's responsible for the blast, but in the last few minutes, the russian foreign ministry has paid tribute to victim. paid tribute to victims. sergei goryashko, a journalist at bbc russian, has been giving us the latest.

we do know that among those who suffered in that blast in a cafe were 25 people, according to the local authorities. there are different leads about what actually caused the blasts. and according to one of them, he has been given a bust, a sculpture of himself, actually a golden bust. and just minutes after he was presented this thing, the blast occurred. and according to the multiple sources, jt was a woman who gave it to him. but it's not clear yet whether it was exactly that which caused the explosion, whether this bomb was inside that sculpture. we do know that for now, local authorities do not confirm that anyone else died during that attack. and russian investigators are already following different leads about what has happened and to why there was not enough security measures in that cafe. and tell us more about the blogger. who was he? what did he do?

so his real name was maksym fomin, and he's from donetsk region in ukraine. in 2014 he was in a penal colony in donetsk region. he was put there because he actually robbed a bank. but when the separatists movement came to donetsk, maxim was freed from that penal colony. he joined some paramilitary forces in 2014, and he was in a war with the ukrainian authorities. he was actually military in that so—called separatists, donetsk people's republic. and in 2022, he became one of the most prominent russian patriotic bloggers, pro—kremlin bloggers. he was sometimes on the front line in the ukraine, and he was very famous

by his phrase, he said on a video in september 2022, and he was in kremlin after puti's speech. he told that russia like will conquer anyone, will kill everyone, and will loot everything we need from everyone we want. so by video became viral and maybe he can can be named like his landmark video. he was quite a popular blogger. still, it's not clear yet why he was chosen as a target of whoever it could be. he was not like the most prominent russian patriotic tv anchor or journalist. he was one of the many bloggers who support the war in telegram. but i wouldn't say that he was like the most famous one. still, it comes as another hit on a russian pro—kremlin, like so—called patriotic bloggers. patriotic like journalists. another one was this summer.

the daughter of russian philosopher alexander dugin darya was also killed in a blastjust on a motorway in outskirts of moscow. 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. 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. earlier i asked our north america correspondent peter bowes about whether the scale of the storms have taken

people by surprise. people living in these communities are used to tornadoes, but nothing on this scale. i think the most frightening thing is that these tornadoes come very quickly. i think a couple of days ago, some video that went viral of a local weather forecaster in arkansas noticing a tornado sweeping through a town as he was live on air. clearly, he hadn't predicted it in that moment. and that is the problem for people living in these places that there's very little to do in terms of preparation. we hear a lot about hurricanes. hurricanes sometimes, of course, much wider in terms of the strong winds. and we see them coming — the forecasters see them coming. people have some warning, these tornadoes in many cases that have come out of the blue and that's why the devastation and tragically the loss of life is so bad. and the question always remains, what can be done to prevent these situations from arising?

and it seems the answer to that is really very little. yeah, and president biden has been speaking and giving his reassurances of help. yes, and the phrase that we always hear from president biden situations like this is that he is going to help communities to "build back, better". what he means is provide the financial resources to to build homes again and make them more rigid, make them more sustainable in terms of perhaps resisting some of these strong winds. but that's a very big ask, and especially when we're talking about some of the poorest communities in the united states, some of these structures that have been blown down have been quite flimsy. so the task for local authorities and the federal government, in terms of providing that assistance, that practical assistance over the very long term, is huge. quite honestly, it's going to take years

and years for some of these communities to recover. yeah, just moments of destruction, as you say, will take many, many months to repair. and a major disaster has actually been declared in arkansas, hasn't it? what does that mean, in effect? yeah, exactly. that's the terminology that that is used that really kick starts the financial process. so there'll be financial aid for people in those communities people that in a moment, in a heartbeat have been made homeless. so there'll be assistance for those people. but then of course longer terms there'll be low cost loans in terms of rebuilding under the financial assistance. one of the problems we're hearing about in that community and in other places like tennessee is the widespread nature of these tornadoes means it's actually very difficult for local officials to get in to assess the damage and to determine what kind of assistance is needed. so this is going to go on for several days. and we're hearing from the federal government as well

that while those inspections are going on, there is a very strong likelihood that similar announcements will be made in terms of major disaster zones for other towns and cities in a wide number of different states. earlier i spoke to the salvation army's central arkansas coordinator, major bill mockabee, about what is help is needed on the ground in the worst affected areas. so we have, we're seeing utter devastation on the ground, with the tornado that came through. it touched down here in little rock arkansas and was on ground for 25 miles, and everything around that is just completely devastated. homes, businesses, they have been completely totalled. right now, the salvation army, el centro, arkansas, we hit the ground running that evening, serving meals, and drinks to first responders,

and we were already able to mobilise a couple of feeding units, and provided lunch and dinner yesterday, and we continue to get resources coming our way, so that we can continue to feed and service the amount of people that have been affected in some of the dense, most densely populated areas of arkansas. so we will continue to provide food, liquid, drinks, along with our emotional and spiritual care, with prayers or pastoral care, because a lot of the folks we are dealing with right now, they are still a little numb from what has taken place, but they have lost everything in a moment. yes, exactly, and i wanted to ask you about that because obviously food and shelter are vital to help those people affected, but so many hundreds have lost their homes, lost everything, where do you everyone start helping them? where do they even start to try and rebuild their lives? so right now, the city of little rock is putting together a resource centre where we have all of the different agencies, the salvation army included,

where we can start to really co—ordinate those efforts to get people moving in the right direction, start to rebuild. we are really focussing on the emergency part right now, but we will get to that long—term recovery, and that is going to be months, even years long for many of the people here in central arkansas. break news from the world of football. katie melua have sacked their manager graham potter, the club has been under performing in recent weeks and currently iith club has been under performing in recent weeks and currently 11th in the premier league, they lost to aston villa at home yesterday, 2—0 and they have been struggling, as i said, they are still in the champions league, but iith said, they are still in the champions league, but 11th in the premier league at the moment. graham pot e a lot of speculation about his position in the past few hours but

he has now been sacked by chelsea. been sacked by chelsea. passengers arriving at dover for the easter getaway to france have faced lengthy waits, despite extra ferries being laid on overnight to clear a backlog. a statement from the port of dover says all of the weekend's coach traffic is now contained in the port ready for processing through immigration controls. marc ashdown reports. inch by inch, things are slowly moving at the port of dover, but coachloads of schoolchildren destined for easter breaks have faced lengthy delays. we got here, down into the queue, about 2:30am this morning. we were about number 33, we're now down to 31, and we reckon we've probably got another 12 hours left waiting. this group are en route to luxembourg but have been queueing since yesterday. i've got mostly elderly passengers on that have paid good money for a holiday, i think some of them now want to go home. now the blame game has begun. the port of dover said ferry companies accepted

extra easter bookings, which added pressure to the system. the companies say they've shared all booking information in advance and have laid on extra crossings overnight to help get things moving. the port is also blaming french border processes. since the uk left the eu, there's no longer freedom of movement to the continent, so passport checks are much more rigorous. and they happen here on english soil, so when you've got, say, a coachload of 80 schoolchildren, every single person has to get off, have their passport examined and stamped. freight traffic and cars haven't been affected. the home secretary said the delays are not down to brexit. they've seen an acute pressure of bookings, of coaches and journeys across the channel. it is a very busy time of year. there's been bad weather, but they've been putting on extra journeys overnight. last summer, there were huge queues at the start of the school holidays, and the christmas getaway saw problems because of strikes. how, then, to prevent

a repeat in the future? i can imagine ministers are going to call in the port of dover, - the ferry companies, and say, "right, we can't have this again," so therefore there will be mandated capacity limits, which will be carefully worked out by the port, by the ferry companies, so that they know that they can cope. there will be an early test of resilience in a few days' time, with large numbers expected to travel over the easter bank holiday. 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 are being held in custody by the taliban in afghanistan. so it may be i might be evacuated tonight, maybe next week, maybe a month.

it's understood one of them is miles routledge, who had to be evacuated in the final days of the occupation in 2021. he's gained a social media following visiting countries deemed dangerous by the authorities. two other british men have also been arrested — kevin cornwall, a 53—year—old charity worker and paramedic, and another man who hasn't been named. the organisation supporting the families of the two men say after three months, they finally had contact. we're not really talking about a hostage situation with controlled language. they were able to discuss personal matters, able to confirm the health and well—being of the individuals. and this is really the first time that we've seen this in any of this style of detentions. it was also an enormous diplomatic step forwards. 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 i to ensure that they're safe. the presidium network say negotiations are still under way, and that there's hope for a positive outcome. yetunde yusuf, bbc news. earlier i spoke to bashir bakhtyar from the bbc afghan service and began by asking him what more we can know about these negotiations. negotiations, the taliban have said nothing at all, because normally, in cases like this, they remain sort of incommunicado. they don't want to talk about it, even if they are arresting locals orforeigners, but the government here, they have said, as we heard in the report that negotiation is under way, but these negotiations are not clear either. with whom, through which channels? because the uk doesn't have any diplomatic representation in afghanistan. it is going to be a bit difficult. and as you say, the taliban aren't saying anything.

is it possible to get any information about the situation out of afghanistan? there are ways actually, because we know that there are, the un is in afghanistan, some other ngos are working in afghanistan, they have got good contacts with the taliban, and i am sure the uk government can benefit from those contacts and can sort of open up negotiations channels, if they haven't done yet, with the taliban, to find ways to contact these people who are held in afghanistan. tell us more about what the foreign office are saying? the foreign office has said that they are trying to contact these men, but as i said, it is going to be very difficult to establish direct contacts with these people in afghanistan, because we do not know in which part of afghanistan they are held. probably, or presumably they are held in kabul, but we know that the taliban, they have got different secret service departments. we don't know which department has taken them, and also, these are high value personalities for the taliban, they don't want to open up very

easily for negotiations. we know that the taliban are under enormous international pressure, because of the non—recognition of the regime. so, when they find cases like this, they use it as a very good bargaining chip, and i think it would be very difficult for the taliban to come up and say, "yeah, "we are holding these people, and these are our conditions." what might the taliban want in return, for the safe passage or return of these three men? it is very difficult, because as i say, the taliban, they are hungry for international recognition, and i am sure when they find excuses, any excuses, in that level, they want privileges, they wanted advantages, they want concessions from the international community, especially the western powers like the uk. they want to get help in having that recognition. in previous cases, when high

value british nationals were released from afghanistan, the uk, for example, said that we do not support any militariry resistance against the taliban. the only solution to — the solution, the only solution to the afghan conflict is through negotiations, so probably some sort of concession will be made this time as well. several of the world's largest oil exporters have announced cuts in production amounting to more than a million barrels per day. the announcements by saudi arabia, iraq and several gulf states come amid fears of a global economic slowdown reducing demand for oil. i'm joined now by our middle east business correspondent, sameer hashmi. hi, good to see you, this announcement seems to have come as a surprise to analyst, tell us what they have said?— surprise to analyst, tell us what they have said? surprise to analyst, tell us what the have said? , ., , ., , they have said? yes, it has come as a hue they have said? yes, it has come as a huge surprise. _ they have said? yes, it has come as a huge surprise, because _ they have said? yes, it has come as a huge surprise, because on - they have said? yes, it has come as i a huge surprise, because on monday, 0pec plus, the oil cartel was

supposed to have a formal meeting to disconduct production, this happens every month involving 23 members, which includes saudi arabia, russia, the uae, so the fact this announcement was made the day before is something that has come as a surprise, and what interesting it is not a decision taken by group which is 0pec plus, these are voluntary cuts made by the individual country, as we were mentioning it amounts to one million barrels a day which translates to almost 1.6 percent of daily global supplies, now we are in a scenario where the global economy is under pressure, the coyle is rising, this could lead to oil prices going up further, which will put more pressure on inflation and worsen the cost of living crisis. yes, so, it has a lot of potential fall out, hasn't it. what is going to happen at the meeting, tomorrow,

if these countries have made this decision unilaterally? 50. if these countries have made this decision unilaterally?— if these countries have made this decision unilaterally? so, so far we have seen about _ decision unilaterally? so, so far we have seen about six _ decision unilaterally? so, so far we have seen about six or— decision unilaterally? so, so far we have seen about six or seven - have seen about six or seven countries that have announced and they have done this voluntarily, so there is a good chance that more countries, more oil exporters could join in and announce cut,er which means the quantum could go up, the amount could go up, further squeezing oil supplies, now, we are in a scenario where oil production supplies are already tight, which means less supply and there are multiple reports that indicate that demand for oil will go up, as the year comes to an end, so if we reach a scenario where there is less supply but demand is going up, that means prices could go up further. we have seen that oil prices have kind of stabilised but now there are fears, according to many anliests that prices could go. we don't know how much but they could go up. what how much but they could go up. what fall out will that _ how much but they could go up. what fall out will that across _ how much but they could go up. what fall out will that across the world for ordinary consumers like you and many me? for ordinary consumers like you and man me? ~ , ,., y for ordinary consumers like you and man me? ~ , ., , many me? absolutely, we have seen

what happened _ many me? absolutely, we have seen what happened last _ many me? absolutely, we have seen what happened last year, _ many me? absolutely, we have seen what happened last year, after - many me? absolutely, we have seen what happened last year, after the, l what happened last year, after the, the war in ukraine started, oil prices crossed the $100 barrel mark, gas was up across the globe. it is difficult to say where will the prices go from here, but, usually what happens in a scenario like this, is of leading oil producers cut production, that it basically sends a negative sentiment to the market which in turn leads to hiring prices and we have seen that central banks around the world have been raising interest rates, and so what is going to happen now is, which a lot of analysts are talk about, if oil prices go up it will put more pressure on inflation and that could force central banks to keep interest rates high and this increases the risk of recession, a global recession or at least recession in some parts of the world. there are these kind of risks and we will have to see what impact it will have in the weeks to come. i to see what impact it will have in the weeks to come.— to see what impact it will have in the weeks to come. i am sure there will be plenty _ the weeks to come. i am sure there will be plenty more _ the weeks to come. i am sure there will be plenty more from _ the weeks to come. i am sure there will be plenty more from you - the weeks to come. i am sure there will be plenty more from you whenl will be plenty more from you when that meeting happens tomorrow. thank you for now.

thank you for now. pope francis has led palm sunday mass at the vatican, just a day after being discharged from hospital, following treatment for bronchitis. the pontiff, who's 86, appeared before worshippers in st peter's square, at the start of one of the busiest weeks in the christian calendar. 0ur europe correspondent, jenny hill, has that story. there was a determination about pope francis this morning, a desire, perhaps, to get back to work. butjust a day after he left hospital, he cut a rather frail figure, his voice at times rather hoarse as he led the palm sunday mass. translation: i thank you for “oining me and also for your prayers, _ which intensified in recent days. i truly thank you. applause. for worshippers here, a prayer answered. it's the most important time of the church year.

and pope francis is now expected to preside over a gruelling schedule of easter services. but his hospital stay has intensified speculation about his longer term future. pope francis has indicated repeatedly that he would stand down were his health to fail him. he's 86 years old, he has a number of significant health complaints, and many here wonder whether that time might come sooner rather than later. for now, celebration. the pope clearly delighted to be back amongst his people, reassuring the faithful of his devotion. jenny hill, bbc news, rome. early results from the finnish elections have given the centre—right national coalition party a 0.1% lead over prime minister sanna marin�*s social democrats. with 42% of the votes counted, the ncp have 20.8% of the vote with the government on 20.7 whilst the far—right finns party have 18.6%.

full results are expected in the next few hours, with the winner overseeing the country's entry to nato. the renowned japanese composer and producer ryuichi sakamoto, admired for his electronic music experimentation, has died aged 71. his film score for the last emperor, in 1987, won him an oscar, a grammy and a golden globe. he also acted — including in the film merry christmas, mr lawrence with david bowie in 1983. sakamoto had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021. more on the website. that is it from me for the moment. you can get in

touch with me on twitter. i will see you a little bit later. thanks for watching. hello there. good evening. high pressure dominated today, and there was a lot of spring sunshine, plenty of blue skies, always best across england, but also some sunshine across much of wales, too, but cloudier across scotland and northern ireland. and for north sea—facing coasts, there was a chilly and a brisk north—easterly wind blowing. we've still got that onshore breeze blowing tomorrow. but generally, over the next few days, it's dry and it's fine, very settled with high pressure dominating, particularly away from the north and the west. so, here's our high out towards the east. it's blocking all of these weather fronts trying to make inroads from the west, but they will eventually push eastwards through the middle of next week. until then, it is looking largely dry.

certainly dry tonight with clear skies. temperatures are likely to drop below freezing. but a frost into tomorrow morning, particularly for parts of england and wales. you can see that marked in the blue on the map. but it's milder for scotland and for northern ireland, where there is a bit more cloud around, a bit more of a breeze blowing too. as we head throughout the day on monday, there will be a lot of sunshine. yes, it's a cold and a frosty start, but it will feel pleasantly warm in the best of the sunshine. it's got a bit more strength to it now at this time of year. there's still that onshore breeze out towards north sea—facing coasts, so, here, it will feel a little cooler, but temperatures generally between 10 and 1a celsius. more cloud building throughout the day out towards the north and the west. and that's because we've got an approaching weather front, of course, introducing outbreaks of rain through the day on tuesday to the western isles, throwing a bit more cloud further eastwards, into eastern scotland. the best of the sunshine on tuesday, again, for england and wales. temperatures peaking between 11 and 1a celsius. now, as we head through the middle part of the week, then, our weather fronts gradually start to ease their way eastwards, giving us a lot more clouds and outbreaks of rain, most of the rain in the west on wednesday.

but the rain transfers further eastwards, fizzling out generally as it goes through the day on thursday. there could be some sunshine out towards the west, perhaps, on thursday. here's the outlook for the rest of the week for our capital cities. temperatures around about orjust slightly above the seasonal average, bit of rain through the middle of the week. and then as we head into the easter bank holiday weekend, things settle down again. we've got high pressure building back in, probably a bit more cloud, but still some sunshine. temperatures just above the seasonal average, possibly some rain on easter monday.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the russian government says one of it's leading war bloggers has been killed in an explosion at a cafe in st petersburg, russia's second largest city. vladlen tatarsky was a vocal supporter of russia's war in ukraine and was holding a meeting at the venue. 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. 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. and 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.