welcome to newsday reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... one of russia's most influential, pro—kremlin, bloggers is killed in an explosion at a cafe in st petersburg. vladlen tatarsky wrote on the telegram platform from the front line — supporting the russian invasion of ukraine. finland turns right — the opposition claims victory in the general election. prime minister sanna marin concedes. at least 29 people are known to have died after severe storms hit the north—east of the united states. and paris says "non." the french capital votes by a huge margin to end on—street rentals of e—scooters.

hello and welcome to the programme. we start today with russia — it says a pro—kremlin military blogger has been killed in a blast at a cafe in st petersburg, which is the second largest city after the capital, moscow. police say several others have been injured in the incident. vladlen tatarsky was one of a handful of reporters writing blogs on the telegram platform from the front line — he was a vocal supporter of russia's war in ukraine. these are pictures before the explosion. tatarsky was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe in st petersburg when the bomb went off. earlier, sergei goryashko, from bbc russian gave me this

update on the story. so, for now we know that the explosion was around 6pm local time in st petersburg at a cafe where dozens of people gathered to meet vladen tatarsky and to listen to his account on the ongoing russia ukraine war. the blast went offjust after vladen tatarsky received a gift from one the visitors. he was given a statue, a small statue of himself covered with gold paint. he put it on the table and right after that, minutes after, the blast went off. russia reports that the statue had been given to him by a woman in her 20s who actually participated in anti—war protests in st petersburg. however, it has not yet been confirmed that she is anyhow

responsible for this attack, and there were reports from the russian state media that she has already been detained, but they were not confirmed yet either. sergei, as you point out, lots of information coming in, some of it unconfirmed at this point in time, and i know you and your team must be sifting through the details but can you give a sense of who this blogger was and how important he was in political life in russia? vladlen tatarsky, whose real name is maxim fomin, he was born in the donetsk region in a town called makiivka. he lived there for most of his life, and in 2014 he was serving a prison sentence in a penal colony for a bank robbery. just right after pro—russian separatist forces took control over donetsk, maxim was liberated and hejoined the paramilitary

separatist forces of the so—called donetsk people's republic. so he has been fighting with the ukrainian military since 2014. when the russian full—scale invasion started in 2022, he also joined the russian army and was on the front line. and afterwards he started his telegram channel and became really popular on russia social media, he has something like 500,000 followers there. he is one of those, like, vocal pro—kremlin supporters who actually supports the war and who would like the kremlin to be even harder on ukrainians and to be hard in this war. vladen tatarsky has often criticised the russian ministry of defence for not being really hard on this invasion. he has been quite a popular figure amongst those vocal supporters of the invasion but i cannot say that he was

anyhow popular, politically. he didn't run a party, he didn't try to run for elections or anything like that. sergei, just give us a sense of what happens next, if you don't mind, briefly. well, it is very important, of course, what has happened today — it was an attack in the second largest city in russia and i would believe that the security forces will try to do everything in their power to bring someone to justice and to create the sense that the case has been solved. of course, they will probably blame the ukrainians. however, the ukrainian authorities deny any involvement in this attack. to finland now where the prime minster,

sana marin, has conceded in a tightly—fought election. with nearly all votes counted, the centre—right national coalition party currently holds 48 of the 200 parliamentary seats, with the far—right true finns party on a6, and marin�*s social democrats in third place, with a3. the ncp will have the first chance to create a ruling coalition. speaking after the results, their leader, petteri 0rpo, spoke about the change his government would bring. this was great victory, i think the finnish people want change, they want change and now i will start negotiations, open negotiations with all parties, and i have one crucial issue, and it is, we have to fix our economy, we have to do reforms to boost our economy and growth. sustainable growth and at the same time, because our campaign, you saw how difficult it was, the discussion between the parties it was,

i want to build trust and cooperation between parties, and build up the strong majority government. matias makynen, 3rd vice chair of sanna marin�*s social democrats party, told the bbc he doesn't believe finns are divided as a nation — despite a swing to the right. i wouldn't say that finland is divided. we see quite hard times, and our security policy is the main topic on discussion. on these themes, finland is quite united. of course, seeing the far right movement rising in these times is a bit worrying, but we think it is because of inflation and the hard times people are having with energy prices and food prices and so on. jussi pullinen, the managing editor of the helsingen sanomat newspaper, told us why the ncp may have trouble forming

a governing coalition, despite the right winning the majority of seats. it is going to be exceptionally difficult. the parties clashed around a lot of issues. sanna marin ruled out many of the savings the national coalition party is planning to do, perhaps in social security and other government spending. so, a deal between those two parties looks unlikely. it is possible but with sanna marin leading the social democrats, it is going to be difficult. they might have more common ground with the true finns party on the right, but there are a lot of issues splitting the right, especially around the european union. the other issue dominating the election was immigration, to get more labour into finland from other countries and from outside the eu. the true finns were the only party that was saying no, mostly no to these plans,

and that is also a thing that they are going to clash over with the national coalition party going forward. at least 29 people are now believed to have been killed when a wave of tornadoes swept through southern and midwestern regions of the united states — from alabama and arkansas to indiana and illinois. presidentjoe biden has declared a major disaster in arkansas, where the storms flattened homes and destroyed entire communities. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has the details. a trail of destruction across multiple states. scenes like this in little rock in arkansas are all too familiar. homes reduced to piles of rubble, fallen trees and debris as far as the eye can see. in this state alone, almost 3000 structures have been destroyed or damaged by the storm. residents have been describing the terrifying moment the tornado hit.

0h, bleep. cody coombes was driving his company van when the winds suddenly whipped up and trees started to collapse around him. this video is from his phone and these images are from the vehicle's dash cam. the wind was just absolutely howling. it was constantly making almost like screaming noises. i could hear it blowing through the cracks and the van just kind of pushing it and shaking the whole thing. we have tornadoes in arkansas fairly often, especially around this time of year, but they almost never hit central city locations like that. so for it to actually have a significant amount of damage on a high population area, it wasjust... i've never seen anything like it. in the neighbouring state of tennessee, this view from the air shows entire communities destroyed by the fierce winds. the first thing he did when he looked out and he just... because i wanted to know.

he said, "don't even look." we made her and the kids get in the bathtub, you know, because that's supposed to be the safest place. and we just all hunkered down because itjust... all the doors blew out. she had double doors on the front, double doors in the back, all the glass in the windows, it all blew out at once. the wind started picking up and picking up and picking up. you could feel it, i mean... the whole house, you could feel it shaking. officials say due to the widespread nature of the damage, it could take several days to reach all the areas affected. president biden has promised financial assistance, including immediate help for those people who are now homeless. but recovering from this will take years. peter bowes, bbc news. voters in paris have opted overwhelming to ban rented electric scooters from the streets of the french capital. the referendum was called by the city's mayor after three

people died and more than 400 were injured in accidents involving e—scooters last year. for more, here's our paris correspondent hugh schofield. well, this result is not at all unexpected, as everyone had predicted, not least the operators. the people who've turned out to vote are the people who hate e—scooters and the people who use them, who tend to be younger. and many tourists as well didn't turn out to vote. so we have this very, very strong vote of 90% of people turning out saying they want to ban them, which, you know, fits with what anne hidalgo, which, you know, fits with what the mayor herself, wanted. and it should mean by the end of the summer that there are no more of these free floating e—scooters on the streets of paris. one has to say straight away that this does not mean a ban on e—scooters in general. there are many, many people who have their privately owned e—scooters and they are able to continue using them as long as they obey the general rules set by the government

and the city and so on. so this is only about the free floating fleets of e—scooters which have been cluttering up the streets and which many people think are dangerous and are recklessly driven by young people, often two of them on it, and scooting down pavements and the wrong way down roads and so on. and i think it's an important decision and a bad one for the operators because paris has always been the kind of leader, the bellwether in all of this. paris went into e—scooters before other cities, and when parents went in, the operators were able to say, look, paris has adopted e—scooter fleets like ours and what a what a great thing it is. now, you should do the same. well, now paris is leading the way out of them, and the great fear of the operators must be that it sets a trend in the other direction now as well. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme...

tributes to a maestro — the renowned japanese composer ryuichi sakamoto dies at the age of 71. 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 eiffeh — this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines... a pro—kremlin military blogger is killed in an explosion at a cafe in st petersburg. 16 others are injured. finland's centre—right has claimed victory in the general election after the prime minister — sanna marin — conceded defeat. the new york times has lost its blue tick on twitter after refusing to pay a fee to remain shown as an official, verified account.

it prompted elon musk to launch a volley of insults at the newspaper. twitter announced the verified badges would be part of its paid subscription model from 1st april. i'm joined now by our news reporter azadeh moshiri. great reporter azadeh moshiri. to get you on the programme. great to get you on the programme. i have got to say these blue check marks are a lightning rod of attention, aren't they?— lightning rod of attention, aren't they? lightning rod of attention, aren't the ? , , ., ., aren't they? yes, they are, and twitter has _ aren't they? yes, they are, and twitter has had _ aren't they? yes, they are, and twitter has had them _ aren't they? yes, they are, and twitter has had them for- aren't they? yes, they are, and twitter has had them for years, they have become somewhat of an arbiter of an influence online, arbiter of an influence online, a status for celebrities and influences, but they have also been a way of figuring out which accounts are authentic so they also fight disinformation. most importantly, they have been free, and elon musk says all that has to change and so instead organisations have to pay about $1000 month to keep that verification badge, that is a little over £800, and individuals have to pay $8 a month, that is a little over

£6. as you say, they are big lightning rods of attention because of the state as people feel they get from them so several organisations like the new york times and some celebrities say they are refusing to pay that fee. in terms of elon musk, he has quite a strong reaction to this, hasn't he? he quite a strong reaction to this, hasn't he?— quite a strong reaction to this, hasn't he? ., , this, hasn't he? he has. let me reduce some — this, hasn't he? he has. let me reduce some of— this, hasn't he? he has. let me reduce some of his _ this, hasn't he? he has. let me reduce some of his tweets. - this, hasn't he? he has. let me reduce some of his tweets. the| reduce some of his tweets. the real tragedy of new york times is that their propaganda isn't even interesting and, wait for it, also their feed even interesting and, wait for it, also theirfeed is even interesting and, wait for it, also their feed is the twitter equivalent of diarrhoea, it is unreadable. he has quite a way with words. but he has a lot more invested in just their principle, for elon musk this is a business strategy because twitter has been haemorrhaging money, advertising revenue has been plummeting so this subscription model is something elon musk really believes is necessary as the future of social media. and given the fact that rivals and peers like meta are also trying

out these subscription models, some people really agree. —— clearly agree. some people really agree. -- clearly agree.— clearly agree. thank you so much for — clearly agree. thank you so much forjoining _ clearly agree. thank you so much forjoining us - clearly agree. thank you so much forjoining us on - clearly agree. thank you so much forjoining us on the l much forjoining us on the programme with your thoughts, it is always great to get you on the programme and particularly on a story like this, i know you have been looking at this story for some time. the renowned japanese composer and producer ryuichi sakamoto has died at the age of 71. he had fought a long battle with cancer. he was a pioneer of electronic music but became internationally renowned as a film composer. he was the first japanese musician to win an oscar. the bbc�*s tim allman looks back at his life and career. haunting, melodic, timeless,

ryuichi sakamoto's fame front merry christmas mr lawrence, a fusion of east and west, it has become one of the most famous pieces of film music of all time. look! but it was for his work on the last— look! but it was for his work on the last emperor- look! but it was for his work on the last emperor that - on the last emperor that sakamoto really made his name, winning an oscar, a grammy, and a bafta. 0n social media, tributes poured in. professor brian cox tweeted, he leaves a magnificent catalogue of music behind. ryuichi sakamoto ryuichi sa kamoto was ryuichi sakamoto was born in

tokyo in 1952. inspired by debussy and the beatles, he began studying composition at the age of ten. he set up the yellow magic 0rchestra the age of ten. he set up the yellow magic orchestra in 1978, his pioneering sound earning him the mantle of the grandfather of electronic pop music. in later life, he also became an environmental campaigner. in a statement, ryuichi sakamoto's management can —— company said he continued to create work when ever his health allowed. he lived with music until the very end. i'm joined now by film critic lillian crawford who is in south london. if you could just talk us through the contribution that sakamoto made to both film and music, given what we have just seen from my colleague's report there, in terms of the influence fire —— far and wide, i suppose. influence fire -- far and wide, i summa—

influence fire -- far and wide, i suppose. absolutely. his film score for merry _ i suppose. absolutely. his film score for merry christmas - i suppose. absolutely. his film score for merry christmas mr l score for merry christmas mr lawrence is probably the music is best known for and really it is best known for and really it is quite a extra ordinary example of a film where the music is almost more famous in the film itself and has a great legacy that starts him in a row in that film alongside david bowie. but ever since he has created absolutely gorgeous scores for directors, including bernardo bertolucci, as well as pedro almodovar, and more recently working with other directors. really producing great film music right until the end of his life. his final score the film coming out later this year is going to be his final score.— this year is going to be his final score. yes, that lyrical music really _ final score. yes, that lyrical music really stays - final score. yes, that lyrical music really stays with - final score. yes, that lyricalj music really stays with you, doesn't it? and something he

said in 2018 interview that really stayed with me, he described his striving to challenge the conventions of western musical composition and said that, when i write scores, my thinking is limited in the forms of western composition which i learned when i was a teen, and ijust wonder whether you can speak to that, the fact that he was trying to find a happy marriage, if you will, a compromise between western music that he had learned and also the fact that he was the first japanese musician to win an oscar, wasn't he?- an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. _ an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. he _ an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. he was - an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. he was very i absolutely. he was very entrance —— influenced by western classical music, physically debussy, and i think that lucy's movement is something that sakamoto used throughout his career. he absolutely loved tchaikovsky and the watery imagery and he was often using these kind of poetic images in his music. the international nature of his music is a really interesting point. you have directors from

america, from italy, from spain, and films that across the world, he was really able to adapt his style to those different cultures and i think thatis different cultures and i think that is a really strong unique aspect of his work as a composer. aspect of his work as a composer-— aspect of his work as a composer. aspect of his work as a com oser. �* , y ,, composer. and briefly if you can talk us _ composer. and briefly if you can talk us through - composer. and briefly if you can talk us through his - composer. and briefly if you | can talk us through his battle with cancer. he can talk us through his battle with cancer.— with cancer. he was first diagnosed _ with cancer. he was first diagnosed in _ with cancer. he was first diagnosed in 2014, - with cancer. he was first diagnosed in 2014, and i with cancer. he was first - diagnosed in 2014, and then again later in his life and there is a wonderful documentary which is about his battle with cancer, reflecting on his music but also coming to terms with the end of his life, and i highly recommend seeing that film. ., ~ , ., and i highly recommend seeing that film. ., ~ . that film. thank you so much forjoining — that film. thank you so much forjoining us— that film. thank you so much forjoining us on _ that film. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday - that film. thank you so much l forjoining us on newsday with that story. in a rare move — greek museums have allowed pet owners to bring their four—legged friends inside to enjoy some art in athens. it's part of an initiative to promote animal adoption on world stray animal day.

stephanie prentice reports. atime a time for quiet contemplation. as well as expressing opinions. at this gallery in greece, it opened its doors to dogs, primarily for people adopting strays but also to help people bond with their pets. part strays but also to help people bond with their pets.- bond with their pets. art is a livin: bond with their pets. art is a living thing _ bond with their pets. art is a living thing and _ bond with their pets. art is a living thing and to _ bond with their pets. art is a living thing and to be - bond with their pets. art is a living thing and to be able i bond with their pets. art is a living thing and to be able to bring your dog, bring your life here, is fantastic. i think more museums could, you know, could follow this example. the do . s could follow this example. the dogs enjoyed _ could follow this example. the dogs enjoyed an afternoon of modern art and had to be kept on a lead and their own are responsible for any accidents. the museum said that opening their doors to pets also opened their doors to pets also opened their doors to a wider range of people. dogs in particular suffer extreme stress and separation anxiety when they are separated from their

owners. are separated from their owners-_ are separated from their owners. ~ ,., ., owners. and so the initiative of making — owners. and so the initiative of making the _ owners. and so the initiative of making the museum - owners. and so the initiative of making the museum pet l of making the museum pet friendly is to be able to give pet owners the opportunity to come to the museum, that is not to leave the animal alone for many hours during the day. the event was _ many hours during the day. the event was a _ many hours during the day. the event was a hit _ many hours during the day. the event was a hit with creatures great and small. the museum there is a well behaved dogs like these will now be welcome all year around. well, before we go. and before we go — glitz and glamour in mumbai as bollywood and hollywood celebrities attended the launch of indian tycoon nita mukesh ambani's cultural centre the stars walked the red carpet on the second day of the opening of the centre for a fashion exhibition. the showcase features works of pioneering indian designers and international names. the cultural centre aims to showcase the india's cultural and traditional history through arts.

some beautiful images there and some of the biggest names in film in india appearing as well. for now, that is it from us, thank you for watching. hello there. for the vast majority, sunday turned out to be the drier and brighter day of the weekend as cloud continued to melt away. and for monday, the prospects are largely dry. there will be some lengthy spells of sunshine, but with those clear skies overhead, we are getting off to a decidedly chilly start. the chilliest morning many of us will have seen for quite some time. however, this time of year the sun has got some strength to it, so the frost should tend to lift pretty quickly. many of us will see lengthy spells of sunshine. just a bit of patchy cloud. more cloud generally, i think, getting into northern ireland through the afternoon. certainly the sunshine here will turn rather hazy. the wind is picking up here as well. also getting quite breezy in the west and the northwest of scotland. temperatures, well, nine degrees in aberdeen,

not as chilly as it has been for these north sea coasts, and the highest values out west up to around 13 or 14. but as soon as the sun goes down, again where we keep clear skies, we will see those temperatures dropping and a touch of frost, particularly across england, wales and eastern scotland. northwestern scotland and northern ireland not getting quite as cold because here we will see more in the way of cloud and some splashes of rain thanks to this frontal system. now, this is going to be a very weak affair. it's running up against this area of high pressure. so this front will just bring some areas of cloud and some splashes of rain into northern ireland, western and northwestern parts of scotland. eastern and southern scotland likely to see the sunshine turning quite hazy as cloud amounts increase. but for england and wales, another bright day with sunny skies overhead and it will feel just a little bit warmer, 13 or 14 degrees. that's not too bad if you do get yourself into any sunshine. now, on wednesday, we will see a more active frontal system, that will bring some heavier and more persistent rain across northern ireland and scotland. that rain may well slump down into northern england,

wales and the south west through the day. the south east corner likely to hold on to at least a little bit of brightness. temperatures, again, up to 13 or 14 degrees. now, some of that rain will get down into the south east corner as we move through into thursday. this frontal system becoming quite slow—moving for a time. but then high pressure is set to build once again as we head into the start of the easter weekend. so as we move through friday, many places will be dry and through the weekend, a lot of dry weather around as well. there will be one or two showers and the increasing chance of rain in the north west of the uk by easter monday.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. the international criminal court's arrest warrant for vladimir putin on war crimes charges represents a massive boost for advocates of internationaljustice, or does it? moscow has dismissed the move as political and a significant number of governments and people around the world appear to agree. and, of course, putin will not be removed from office, still less arrested. well, my guest is the world renowned human rights lawyer geoffrey robertson. is the campaign for global cooperation to uphold international law and human rights going backwards?