welcome to bbc news. i'm vishala sri—pathma. our top stories: 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. paris says �*non�*. the french capital votes by a huge margin to end on—street rentals of e—scooters. and ticked off. the new york times loses its verified status on twitter, saying it won't pay for the privilege.

ukrainian officials have said a deadly explosion at a cafe in st petersburg shows that domestic terrorism is breaking out in russia. there's no indication of who was behind the blast on sunday that killed vladlen tatarsky, a well—known blogger who backed the russian invasion of 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. sergei goryashko from bbc russian gave us 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 vladlen tatarsky and to listen

to his account on the ongoing russia ukraine war. the blast went offjust after vladlen 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. there are 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.

we can speak now to the law and philosophy professor, claire finkelstein, who's an expert in national security law, policy and democratic governance. she's in philadelphia. thank you forjoining us. firstly, how do you think people in russia will react to this news?— this news? very quietly. because _ this news? very quietly. because in _ this news? very quietly. because in russia - this news? very quietly. because in russia they l this news? very quietly. l because in russia they do this news? very quietly. - because in russia they do not essay anything either in favour or against the death of this logger. he had a complicated history, he was very pro— russian state until very recently and very recently vladlen tatarsky was speaking out against russian military strategy and had recently been somewhat critical of it according to news reports tonight about this blast. so we do not know whether or not he was possibly assassinated his own government for having been critical of russian military strategy or whether or not he

was killed by, possibly, ukraine or by, as your reporter suggested, anti—war russian activists. suggested, anti-war russian activists. ~ ., ., suggested, anti-war russian activists. ., ., ~ ., ., activists. we do not know who is claiming _ activists. we do not know who is claiming this _ activists. we do not know who is claiming this at _ activists. we do not know who is claiming this at the - activists. we do not know who | is claiming this at the moment and we have not heard anything about that yet. in terms of the journalist who have taken the spotlight at the moment in russia, wejust heard spotlight at the moment in russia, we just heard a few days ago that a wall street journal reporter had been arrested and now this assassination. is there a reason that this sort of profiling ofjournalists is taking place now, do you think? we know that russia is in a lot of trouble in this war and we know that they do not hesitate to target civilians. they care enormously about their propaganda and so if they came to feel that vladlen tatarsky was a liability as far as the public profile goes, if they feel that he was possibly

demoralising the russian people or troops or what have you then if they had given him private warnings about his criticism and he had refused to quiet down, i doubt they would have hesitated to do away with him. but he had a long history of being supportive of russia so it is just very hard to tell. and what do you think happens now? now that the attack has happened and we have seen these arrests ofjournalists, what happens now? arrests of journalists, what happens now?— arrests of journalists, what happens now? these are very different cases, _ happens now? these are very different cases, of _ happens now? these are very different cases, of course. . happens now? these are very| different cases, of course. the american journalist from the wall streetjournal who was taken hostage and arrested, russia claims that he was engaged in espionage activities and that is highly dubious. why russia would be doing this at this moment in time is unclear

but it puts it in direct confrontation with united it is a very poor idea in the case of a very poor idea in the case of a russian civilian it is much more of an internal matter. they are, of course, claiming that ukrainians did it. the previous attack on a russian blogger was suspected to be and said to be by us intelligence forces, very possibly the work of the ukrainian government. so we will have to see. it matters a great deal who did this to what the future of this incident will hold. and, briefly, in terms of how people can react to this war, we saw at the beginning last february in 2022 people protest in cities like st petersburg are we seeing much of that now? there has been a big dying back of protest. the russian

government has cracked down enormously on its own population. they have been fairly successful in quieting down descent, whether or not thatis down descent, whether or not that is because there has been an enormous amount of propaganda that has actually swayed the opinion of the russian population or because protesters has ta ken a different form because of the crackdown is unclear. ruth porting suggests that there are fishes in the top leadership and we keep hearing about that, we keep hearing that vladimir putin is losing his support among russia's elite that yet nothing ever seems to come of it. so it is very, very hard to tell where the russian people of. ukrainians have been effective in publicising to the russian people what is happening to their sons and

their brothers and taking photographs of dead russian soldiers and actually taking the time to trace back to the relatives and sending them to the relatives and this is likely an effect of campaign and we know that russian troops are rebellion —— rebelling in large numbers so i doubt that the war is very popular with people on the outside. we will have to leave _ people on the outside. we will have to leave it _ people on the outside. we will have to leave it there - people on the outside. we will have to leave it there but - have to leave it there but thank you very much forjoining us. the leader of finland's main centre—right party, petteri orpo, is likely to become the country's new prime minister after winning sunday's election. he defeated prime minister sanna marin�*s centre left social democrats. ms marin became the world's youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019. emer mccarthy reports. relief and celebrations for

petteri orpo after a nailbiting election. i petteri orpo after a nailbiting election. ., , petteri orpo after a nailbiting election. . , ., , _ ., this was a great victory. i think the finnish people want change. they want change and now i will start negotiations, open negotiations with all parties. open negotiations with all arties. ,., open negotiations with all arties. ., , parties. petteri orpo and his coalition party _ parties. petteri orpo and his coalition party claimed - parties. petteri orpo and his. coalition party claimed victory late on sunday with 20.8% of the vote ahead of the right—wing populist party and a swing away from the centre—left social democrats. it is a bitter defeat for prime minister sanna marin even though her party looks set to increase its share of seats in parliament. translation: this is a ureat parliament. translation: this is a great day — parliament. translation: ti 3 is a great day because we have done well in the elections. congratulations to the coalition party and to the finnish people. democracy has spoken. celebrating democracy is always a wonderful thing.

sanna marin became the world's youngest prime minister when she burst onto the political scene in 2019. now at 37 she has steered the country to within days of nato membership and has been praised for finland's response to neighbouring russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine. but at home she has become a polarising figure. she came under scrutiny last year when a video emerged of her singing, dancing and drinking at a party as well as her government's public spending. for petteri orpo it is now down to business as he vows to fix finland. i want to build trust and cooperation between parties and build _ cooperation between parties and build up — cooperation between parties and build up the strong majority government. 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. president biden has declared

several major disaster areas, making federal funds and resources available for reconstruction. our 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 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. i want to bring you an update on the case of the british men 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 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: 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 bbc news. the latest 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. just a day after being discharged from hospital, pope francis has led palm sunday mass in st peter's square, at the start of one of the busiest weeks in the christian calendar. our europe correspondent, jenny hill, reports. 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: | thank- you forjoining 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. 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 1 april. our news reporter, azadeh moshiri, is with us now. that's really got people's backs up this? it does because people are really attached to their blue checkmarks. these have been around for years and have been around for years and have become a sort of informal arbiter of influence and status online, celebrities, journalists even have them. they also allow users to know which accounts are genuine and authentic, so it also combats disinformation, but most importantly they are free. but elon musk has said that has to change because he said in some ways it was a bit of fiefdom the weather aside, about who you know rather than who you are and what you do. so now organisations have to pay $1000 per month, a little over £800, to have their verified badgers and individuals have to pay $8

and individuals have to pay $8 a month, little over $6. the new york times and other organisations and celebrities said they simply won't do that and that's why now the official york times page has lost its verification badge. we york times page has lost its verification badge.— york times page has lost its verification badge. we see that now on the _ verification badge. we see that now on the screen. _ verification badge. we see that now on the screen. it - verification badge. we see that now on the screen. it has - verification badge. we see that now on the screen. it has lost. now on the screen. it has lost its politics. laughter. how does elon musk feel about it all? , ,., ., it all? yes, so he ordered, according _ it all? yes, so he ordered, according to _ it all? yes, so he ordered, according to reports, - it all? yes, so he ordered, according to reports, thatl it all? yes, so he ordered, i according to reports, that the badge be removed because he did not take very kindly to the fact that the new york times are it flat—out won't pay so started sending out tweets. i'll read the first one. the real tragedy of the new york times is the propaganda is not even interesting. the second one goes further: pretty graphic metaphor from elon musk who has a certain way with words. but for him, this is quite important to twitter�*s

new business strategy. they are a haemorrhaging money, advertising revenue, and need a new way to get funds. he truly believes that the subscription model is the future. while it has received some criticism for the fact that it may not protect against disinformation, some of his peers like meta, facebook�*s parent company, are trying this absorption models as well. some people might agree with them. apparently he thinks it be _ agree with them. apparently he thinks it be next _ agree with them. apparently he thinks it be next summer. - agree with them. apparently he thinks it be next summer. we l thinks it be next summer. we remain to say. 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 known 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. on 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. 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. that report by tim allman. the composer, ryuichi sakamoto, has died at the age of 71. 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. 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. and a reminder of our top story. ukrainian official said only explosion in st petersburg that killed the well—known russian blogger is evidence that domestic terrorism is on the rise in russia. that's no indication of who is behind the attacks on sunday that killed a well—known blogger who backed the russian invasion of

ukraine. that's it from us for now. you can reach me on twitter and instagram — i'm @bbcvishalasp. thanks very much 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 1a. 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 1a 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 1a 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.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a well—known russian military blogger and supporter of the war in ukraine has died in an explosion at a cafe in st petersburg. at least nineteen others were injured. vladlen tatarsky was addressing members of a pro—war group. he died when a statuette containing a home—made bomb exploded. the leader of finland's main centre—right party, petteri orpo, is likely to become the country's new prime minister after winning sunday's parliamentary elections. the far—right, anti—immigration finns party took second place. the outgoing prime minister, sanna marin, congratulated mr orpo on his victory. voters in paris have opted overwhelmingly to ban rented electric scooters from the

streets of the french capital. the public consultation was called by the city's mayor