this is bbc news, welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. 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 at the cafe 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 vladen tatarsky and to listen to his account on the ongoing russia ukraine war. and the blast went offjust after vladen tatarsky received a gift from one of the visitors. he was given a statue, a small statue of himself covered with gold paint. he just put it on the table and right after that, minutes after, the blast went off. there are some 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. i'm joined now by ivan tsarynny who is the ceo

and co—founder of feroot, a cybersecurity firm. he joins us live from toronto. how do you think people in russia will be reacting to this news? . ~' , ., russia will be reacting to this news? ., ~ , ., ., russia will be reacting to this news? ., ~ ., ., news? thank you for asking me. very tricky _ news? thank you for asking me. very tricky question _ news? thank you for asking me. very tricky question as - news? thank you for asking me. very tricky question as news - very tricky question as news and a russia is probably showing it at a very different light than what we're seeing here i'm curious to see the news to see exactly how russians are seeing it. we are seeinu russians are seeing it. we are seeing journalists _ russians are seeing it. we are seeing journalists targeted - russians are seeing it. we are seeing journalists targeted by | seeing journalists targeted by moscow at the moment. we saw the arrest of the wall street journal journalist. the arrest of the wall street journaljournalist. we are gathering the news of this blast in saint petersburg. do you think that is something we will see more of now that journalists will be more in the

spotlight? journalists will be more in the spotlight?— spotlight? definitely journalists, - spotlight? definitely journalists, as - spotlight? definitely journalists, as we i spotlight? definitely l journalists, as we say, spotlight? definitely - journalists, as we say, are in the spot line. the arrest of the spot line. the arrest of the journalist from wall street journal, and some employees of tiktok spying. news is a really powerful tool and during warrant times can be and is used as a weapon as well, as we have had some of the officials in a russia reference journalists.— in a russia reference journalists. in a russia reference “ournalists. , , ., ., journalists. this blogger that died in this _ journalists. this blogger that died in this blast, _ journalists. this blogger that died in this blast, he - journalists. this blogger that died in this blast, he was - died in this blast, he was messaging and blogging on the telescope app... sorry the telegram app. do high profile bloggers use telegram a lot? that is a very interesting

platform. for example, it is very, very popular, especially in eastern europe and russia and it is being used by both sides of the wire and this journalist targeted in this explosion. it has a very questionable story credibility. for example, i remembersome for example, i remember some security for example, i remembersome security groups and almost none of them trust telegram for any reason and everyone has switched away to signal or whatsapp or other apps, make sure there is no back door to communications and nobody else has an eye on what is being discussed in both public and private conversations. this guy had half a _ private conversations. this guy had half a million _ private conversations. this guy had half a million followers. i had half a million followers. vladlen tatarsky. it does not compare a lot when you compare

famous people on twitter, for example who have millions of dollars but is that enough to have the influence he has? in terms of followership in telegram communities, it is a fairly substantial, fairly large for telegram for some of the channels. followership is one indicator of popularity and another one is also the narrative that folks are delivering and in the case of vladlen tatarsky, as far as i know, and i have read and seen some of his courage, he was on the far—right side of the pro— war party or movement in russia and he was definitely very, very vocal and critical of some of the slowness per se, from his mind, that he had seen from russian government and russian

military. the followership and tonality definitely stood out in my opinion.— tonality definitely stood out in my opinion. thank you for “oininu in my opinion. thank you for joining 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. you can see that i am very happy, 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. petteri orpo and his national coalition party claimed victory late on sunday, with 20.8% of the vote,

ahead of the right—wing populist finns 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 great | day because we have done well in the elections. congratulations also to the coalition party and to the finns. democracy has spoken. the finnish people have cast their votes and celebrating democracy is always a wonderful thing. ms 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 mr 0rpo it is now down to business as he vows to fix finland. i want to build trust and cooperation between parties and build up the strong majority government. emer mccarthy, bbc news. 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. 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 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 overwhelmingly 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. 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. 0ur europe correspondent, jenny hill, reports. there was a determination about pope francis this morning, a desire, perhaps, to get back to work. but just 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: palys merry christmas mr lawrence 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 world 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. 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. 0ur news reporter azadeh moshiri told me more about the blue ticks. these 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 way they were assigned, they were more about who you know rather than who you are and what you do. so now organisations have to pay $1,000 per month, a little over £800, to have their verified badges, and individuals have to pay $8 a month, little over $6. but the new york times and other organisations and celebrities said they simply won't do that, and that's why now the official new york times page has lost its verification badge. we see that now on the screen. it has lost its blue tick. laughter. how does elon musk feel about it all? yes, so he ordered,

according to reports, that the badge be removed because he did not take very kindly to the fact that the new york times said it flat—out won't pay, so he started sending out tweets. i'll read the first one. 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 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 trialling these subscription models as well, so some people

might agree with them. 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. 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.

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. the composer ryuichi sakamoto, who's died at the age of 71. film writer lillian crawford talked to us about some of sakamoto's best known work. his film score for merry christmas mr lawrence, 1983, it is probably the music he 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 and takeshi kitano. but ever since, he's created absolutely gorgeous scores for directors including bernardo bertolucci as 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 with great directors. his final score will be released later this year. he was influenced by western classical music, particularly debussy. it is something he used throughout his career. he absolutely loved tchaikovsky and tchaikovsky's solaris. it was very watery, and he was using this. 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. 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. a reminder of our top story. ukrainian officials say a deadly explosion in st petersburg that killed a well—known russian blogger is evidence that domestic terrorism is on the rise 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. that is it from us. catch you very soon. 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 19 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 0rpo, 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 0rpo on his victory.