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 frontline — supporting the russian invasion of ukraine. finland turns right. the opposition claims victory in the general election. prime minister sanna marin concedes. and paris says �*non�*. the french capital votes by a huge margin to end on—street rentals of e—scooters. in the new york times twitter

account is among those to lose verified status. the publishers there is a will not pay for the privilege. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. 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 frontline — 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 7 vladlen tatarsky, whose real name is maxim fomin, he was born in the donetsk region in the town 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 he joined 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 in 2022 started, 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, we can anticipate that they will probably blame the ukrainians. however, the ukrainian authorities deny any involvement in this attack. to finland now where

the prime minster, sanna 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. democracy has spoken in the finnish people have cast their vote and celebrating democracy is always a wonderful thing. 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. we speak now to the managing editor of a finnish newspaper and he tells us why the ncp may have trouble forming a government coalition despite winning a 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's possible but with sanna marin leading the social democrats, it's 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 in the united states are now believed to have been killed when a wave

of tornadoes swept through southern and midwestern regions of the united states. from alabama, arkansas to indiana and illinois. the president has declared a major disaster in arkansas where the storms flattened homes and destroyed entire communities. 0ur correspondent 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 this 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 hejust... 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 is 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 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, that will stop. 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 paris 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 for 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 they didn't work 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. - a small crowd outsidej included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked

by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is 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 country's general election after the prime minister sanna marin conceded defeat. an update on the british men kidnapped in afghanistan. we have been told there is an update. 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 maybe 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 cornwell, 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. we have 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 detention. 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 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. 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 one april. earlier i asked our news reporter azadeh moshiri why these verification badges are such lightning rods of attention. twitter has had them for years, they've become somewhat of an arbiter of influence on line,

of status for celebrities and influencers and a way to figure out which accounts are authentic so they fight disinformation but most importantly, they have been free and elon musk has said all of that has to change so instead, organisations have to pay $1000 per month to keep that verification barge, a little over £800 and individuals have to keep paying $8 a month, a little over £6 and as you say, the big lightning rods of attention, because of the status people get from them, several organisations like the new york times and some celebrities have said they refused to pay that fee. in said they refused to pay that fee. , ., ., ,~' fee. in terms of elon musk, he's had — fee. in terms of elon musk, he's had quite _ fee. in terms of elon musk, he's had quite a _ fee. in terms of elon musk, he's had quite a strong - he's had quite a strong reaction to this, hasn't he? he has, reaction to this, hasn't he? he has. and _ reaction to this, hasn't he? he: has, and let me read you some of his tweets. "the real tragedy of new york times is that their propaganda isn't even interesting," and wait for

it, i. even interesting," and wait for it, " there live feed is the equivalent of diarrhoea on line," so he is more invested than just the principle of it all. for him it is a business strategy because twitter has been haemorrhaging money. advertising revenue plummeting service subscription model is something elon musk believes is necessary and is the future of social media and given the fact that rivals and peers like the parent company of facebook, meta, are also trialing these prescription models, some people clearly agree. 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 inernationally 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. piano music plays.

haunting, melodic, timeless, ryuichi sakamoto's theme from 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 bernardo bertolucci's 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, himself a former musician tweeted. .. 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 orchestra in 1978, his pioneering sound earning him the mantle of the grandfather of electronic pop music. this in later life, he also became an environmental campaigner. in a statement, ryuichi sakamoto's management company said he continued to create work whenever his health would allow. he lived with music until the very end. earlier i spoke to the film and culture writer, lillian crawford. i asked her about some of sakamoto's most renowned work. merry christmas mr lawrence 1983, it is probably the music is best known for and quite an extraordinary example of a film where the music is almost so much more famous than the film itself and has had a greater

legacy that stars him in a role in the film alongside david bowie. but ever since, in the film alongside david bowie. but eversince, is created absolutely gorgeous scores for directors including bernardo bertolucci is we heard in the report as well as pedro almodovar, brian depalma and more recently working with directors like alejandro gonzalez innaritu. working right up to the end of his life a great directors. his final score will be released later this year. score will be released later this year-— score will be released later this year. that lyrical music really stays _ this year. that lyrical music really stays with _ this year. that lyrical music really stays with you, - this year. that lyrical music i really stays with you, doesn't it? in something he said in a 2018 interview that stayed with me i have to say, he described his striving to challenge the conventions of western musical composition and says, when i write scores, my thinking is

limited in the scores of western composition which i learned when i was a teen and i wonder if you can speak to that, the fact he was trying to find a happy marriage, if you will, a compromise between western music that he learned but also the fact that he was the first japanese musician to win an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely- — win an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. it's _ win an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. it's a _ win an oscar, wasn't he? yes, absolutely. it's a very - absolutely. it's a very interesting point. he is influenced by western classical music, debussy in particular and debussy�*s wavelike, water like music was music that are used throughout his career, he loved tchaikovsky and tchaikovsky's salah is, it was very watery, and he was using this. —— solaris. the international nature of his music was great, listing directors from america and italy and spain, and films are set across the world. he was really able to adapt his style to those different cultures and i think that's a really strong and unique aspect to his work.

just very briefly if you can talk is through this battle with cancer. he talk is through this 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 i diagnosed in 2014 and then later in his life, and there is a wonderful documentary called ryuichi sakamoto coda 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. 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. this a time for quiet contemplation... ..as well as expressing opinions... as this gallery in greece

opened its doors to dogs, primarily to promote people adopting strays but also to allow owners to bond with their pets in a new way. 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 dogs enjoyed an afternoon of modern art and just had to be kept on a lead and their owner responsible for any accidents. the museum said that opening 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. and so the initiative of making the museum pet friendly is to be able to give pet owners the opportunity to come to the museum, and that is not to leave the animal alone for 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. stephanie prentice, bbc news. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. 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. north—western 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 north—western 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. 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. there will be one or two showers and the increasing chance of rain in the north west of the uk by easter monday.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. this is the story of the cruelest of diseases. devastatingly hard, watching the woman that you love starting to disappear from your life. the story of struggling for care, against a failing system... push... i had to fight every single day, for years, in order to achieve very little. the social care system, everyone knows it's broken. ..and a story of love

and commitment that has spanned a lifetime.