and in the women's world cup, in a last minute twist, colombia stun germany with a shock late win. hello, i'm monika plaha. welcome to the programme. at least 37 people have been killed in an explosion at a political rally in north—west pakistan. dozens more were injured in the explosion in the bajore district, where the leader of an islamist party was due to address the gathering. local clinics and hospitals have been overwhelmed by casualties, and the authorities have declared a health emergency. the party has urged its supporters to donate blood.

the tribal area of bajaur is near pakistan's border with afghanistan. it's not immediately clear what caused the explosion, though police suspect it was a suicide bomber. no organisation has admitted carrying out the attack. our pakistan correspondent, caroline davies has the latest, from the capital, islamabad. a sunday afternoon political rally by one of pakistan's biggest religious parties. hundreds crowded in, covered from the afternoon sun by a marquee, waving flags and chanting. then the speaker was interrupted by the explosion. some people were stretchered out, soaked in blood. others were simply carried by any hands that could offer help. the district hospital declared a health emergency and a call was put out for blood donations. as the wards filled up, some were taken by helicopter to nearby peshawar. the death toll rose quickly. police have said they have struggled to identify all of the dead.

among those named is a local political leader. there has been an increase in violent attacks in pakistan, particularly in this province. police have said that they have discovered evidence suggesting that the explosion might have been a suicide bomber, but have not yet confirmed it. if this was an attack, it is not clear what the motive could be, and no group has claimed it, leaving many questions about what has happened, and how it could affect the build—up to pakistan's much anticipated general election, still expected later this year. pakistan's prime minister has condemned the attack. and caroline gave me this update a short time ago. different numbers that have been associated with this explosion throughout the course of the afternoon into the evening. now, that is relatively common as the authorities are trying to understand exactly what happened. and, of course, the death toll does rise as people are taken to hospital and sometimes there's nothing further that can be done for them.

so the death toll at the moment we've heard is 37 dead and around 90 injured, although we are keeping a close eye on that in case that number continues to rise throughout the course into this evening. now, looking at some of those images that you could see in the report, you can see that very early on it became apparent that this would probably be a serious loss of life in that political rally. people are very closely packed together and you can see the real force of the blast. there's also other images that we haven't used that are particularly graphic of the injuries that people have sustained. this was a serious incident. now, in terms of exactly where people are being treated, we know that some are currently being treated, obviously relatively locally nearby, but that that was very quickly overwhelmed. and instead people were being taken furtherafield, people were taken to peshawar. and because this is a rural area, just in terms of trying to get people to places quickly, helicopters were used as well to try to get people out of the area and given treatment.

yeah. caroline, really shocking and worrying images there. have there been any developments about the motive of the attack? so there's been plenty of speculation about what might be behind it. there's been discussion about whether this is about some form of political pressure being put on. this is, of course, a party that is currently part of the coalition in the government. there's discussions about whether this is a localised issue or whether it's something wider and the thing is that we just don't know at this stage. this is not entirely clear exactly what the motive is behind it. we haven't heard from any group claiming this this incident. we haven't even heard absolute confirmation from the police that they definitely think that this was a suicide blast, they say that they have seen elements that mean it could be, that they're investigating it, but that hasn't been confirmed yet either. and we've also heard from some elements of the pakistani taliban distancing themselves from this incident as well. so at the moment, it really

is unclear, monica, about exactly what the motive is behind this. and we know that militant activity has risen in pakistan over the past few months. but in this particular region, has the violence been commonplace? yes. so in this particular province, the violence and the sort of attacks have been particularly rising as well. now, of course, we've also seen incidents back injanuary, i reported from peshawar, where there had been an explosion inside a mosque, inside what's referred to as police lines, which is a sort of police enclave inside peshawar. and that was a significant loss of life as well. so there have been multiple incidents, some of them smaller, targeting security forces like the police, the army. and in this particular instance, though, it was a political party that seems to have been the target if this was a deliberate attack. and, of course, that's raising multiple questions because it's highly anticipated that there will be a general election later on this year.

this was a political rally in anticipation of the fact that there may well be an election in sort of october, november time this autumn. and this was a political rally to try to build up support. and that is, i think, raising many questions with people about exactly what we might anticipate happening in the course of the next few months. if even at this stage, we're starting to see political rallies being targeted. joining me now for more analysis on this is the director of the south asia institute at the wilson center, michael koogleman. it isa it is a very tragic incident. what is your assessment and what we have seen today, yet another deadly attack in pakistan.— seen today, yet another deadly attack in pakistan. absolutely and the fatality figures _ attack in pakistan. absolutely and the fatality figures keep _ attack in pakistan. absolutely and the fatality figures keep going - the fatality figures keep going up. pakistan really does not experience these mass casualty attacks in the

ways it has in years past. that means when you have something like this, it is shocking and for many in pakistan it brings back the trauma of 100 years ago. before 2014, when these attacks is to happen quite frequently. it is also important to note that most of the terrorist attacks that have taken place in pakistan over the past two years have targeted security forces, police and soldiers, and this one targeted civilians. this has been relatively unusual over the last few years, so this makes it all the more dramatic and very tragic on the whole. ., ., , ., , whole. you mentioned previous attacks and _ whole. you mentioned previous attacks and the _ whole. you mentioned previous attacks and the target - whole. you mentioned previous attacks and the target was - whole. you mentioned previous attacks and the target was a - attacks and the target was a political rally ahead of an expected election later this year. what is yoursense election later this year. what is your sense of this, is pakistan losing control of its security? i would argue that since the taliban took over in afghanistan, two years ago, we have seen an upsurge in

terrorist attacks in pakistan and the pakistani state has not come up with a plan to address these rising cases. there have been attempts to negotiate with the pakistani taliban, which has carried out most of the attacks of the last two years, though likely not this one. those talks didn't work. the pakistani state has not come up with any other plan or strategy. what it has tried to do is better fortified the border with afghanistan to prevent attackers coming into pakistan and staging the attacks. there have been considerations about the possibility of a broader counterterrorism offensive but i don't think that is going to happen anytime soon because you need consensus from all the different political parties. and there would be economic costs and pakistan is going through an economic crisis right now. it is not an option at this point of time.— right now. it is not an option at this point of time. you mentioned the lack of — this point of time. you mentioned the lack of planning _ this point of time. you mentioned the lack of planning strategy - this point of time. you mentioned l the lack of planning strategy there, either concerns of more security risks as we move towards the

upcoming election? absolutely, we have seen in _ upcoming election? absolutely, we have seen in years _ upcoming election? absolutely, we have seen in years past _ upcoming election? absolutely, we have seen in years past election - have seen in years past election —related violence where political parties are attacked, when they are hosting rallies, just like this one today and because unfortunately the pakistani state has not prioritised this rising threat of terrorism, thatis this rising threat of terrorism, that is going to make it all the more difficult.— more difficult. and we haven't had any confirmation _ more difficult. and we haven't had any confirmation on _ more difficult. and we haven't had any confirmation on who _ more difficult. and we haven't had any confirmation on who was - more difficult. and we haven't had i any confirmation on who was behind the attack at the moment, but the region has seen a surge in violence in recent years. why do you think there has been an increase in that specific area? there has been an increase in that specific area?— specific area? again, when the taliban took _ specific area? again, when the taliban took over _ specific area? again, when the taliban took over in _ specific area? again, when the i taliban took over in afghanistan, two years ago, but emboldened militants such as the pakistani taliban which is based in afghanistan, it emboldened them and inspired them to try and essentially carry out in pakistan what the taliban was able to carry out in

afghanistan, to essentially remove the government from power through this violent insurgency. it is not going to happen in pakistan, the pakistani taliban does not have the capacity. instead it is simply trying to weaken the state in pakistan by carrying out these attacks, mainly on security forces, soldiers and police, but also on civilians as well. the other major threat is an islamic state courtesan. that is a group that was likely behind this attack. it is a rival of the taliban. and the party that was attacked today, many of its leaders have expressed support for the taliban so i would imagine it is a strong likelihood that they wanted to attack this political party in great part because of the public support that this gui f party have expressed for the taliban. this group that was attacked today, it is a member of the ruling coalition and the current government in pakistan

today ——jui—f. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. president zelensky has warned that the war is coming to russia. it comes after another drone attack on moscow. let's hearfrom president zelensky. translation: russian aggression has gone bankrupt on the battlefield. - today is the 522nd day of the so—called special military operation, which the russian leadership expected to last for a week or two. ukraine is getting stronger. gradually, the war is returning to the territory of russia, to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process. the russian defence ministry said three drones were downed with two crashing into offices, a local airport had to be briefly closed. kyiv has been blamed, but it's not certain who's behind it.

our russia editor steve rosenberg has the details from moscow and president putin's reaction. it was early morning in moscow when this happened. russia says it downed three ukrainian drones that were targeting the capital. two of them smashed into skyscrapers. though no one was killed, it added to the sense of insecurity here. but the president was upbeat. marking navy day in saint petersburg. russia's war in ukraine has not gone at all to plan. there is nothing like a parade of warships and submarines to project an image of russian power. translation: in project an image of russian power. translation:— project an image of russian power. translation: ., ., ,, ., translation: in the name of russia, our sailors are — translation: in the name of russia, our sailors are devoting _ translation: in the name of russia, our sailors are devoting all _ translation: in the name of russia, our sailors are devoting all of - our sailors are devoting all of their energy. they are displaying true heroics. they are fighting

valiantly, just like our ancestors did. our russia editor steve rosenberg with that report. here in the uk, the prime minister has said he's reviewing what he called "anti—car schemes", such as low traffic neighbourhoods across england. mr sunak has faced pressure to water down some of his environmental commitments, after a conservative by—election victory was linked to the party's opposition to plans to extend london's ultra low emission zone. earlier this month, it was announced funding would end for any new projects in england. from newcastle, alison freeman has more. all quiet on this street in newcastle today. it's part of one of several hundred low traffic neighbourhoods known as ltns that have been introduced in cities across the country. the aim — to reduce traffic in residential areas and stop side roads being used as rat runs. it's sort of adding 10 minutes onto yourjourney and you sort

of think to yourself, is this actually doing any good for the environment? my road might be quieter, but the main roads are chock a block. it's definitely quieter down the roads and so the traffic down the main road's not even that bad. so i don't really see what the problem is. tell me about the clean air sitting in those queues, i those incessant queues. queues. queues, queues of cars pumping out fumes and using up extra fuel. - this ltn, which was introduced back in march, is going to be trialled for 18 months. but these bollards have not only physically divided jesmond, they've divided opinion too, with more than 4000 people already signing a petition against it. feelings about low traffic neighbourhoods have been running high nationally. protests in places like ealing in west london led to the reversal of some zones there. and earlier this month,

the government said it was halting money for new schemes. today the prime minister said the government will be reviewing existing low traffic neighbourhoods and that he is on the side of drivers. but labour argues there is still a place for the zones. we are in favour of well—planned, low traffic neighbourhoods but as i say, they have to be decisions that are made by local communities. many people here say it's created more problems than it's solved, but with the drive towards net zero, more ways of tackling pollution need to be found. alison freeman, bbc news, newcastle. the economic community of west african states has agreed to impose immediate financial sanctions on the leaders of the military coup in niger. following a meeting in neighbouring nigeria, the bloc — known as ecowas — gave the junta a week to hand back power, and said it wouldn't rule out the use of force. niger's ambassador to

the united states told the bbc he would welcome military intervention if a peaceful solution was not reached. the bloc has also imposed a no—fly zone on all commercial flights to and from niger, and closed all land borders between niger and member countries. aneliese bernard is director of strategic stabilization advisors, a washington—based risk advisory group focused on west africa. she was formally with the state department in nigerfor several years. i spoke with her earlier. this military coup was not exactly precedented. that said, we need to be clear that niger itself has only had one democratic election, that being the one that got us president bazoum in the first place. so coups in general are somewhat of a familiar terrain for nigerians and for the government, for the region, for that matter. that said, ecowas's response to this

coup is incredibly significant and probably one of the more severe responses we've seen in the region. the last time ecowas threatened the potential use of force to dislodge the coup was for the gambian coup that took place in 2016. before that was in mali in 2012. so the point made is that the past five coups that have taken place in the sahel have not been met with such strong rhetoric by the regional bloc, but also the international community. so this is quite significant. and niger's neighbours, burkina faso and mali, they both pivoted towards russia since their own coups. do you think that will be the case for niger? it's absolutely unclear at this point. there is so far no evidence that russia is part of this or has influenced this directly. that said, in the... similarly with burkina faso and mali, we should anticipate that at least russian influencers

and those who are trying to exploit the chaos, so to speak, would possibly step in. and i wouldn'tjust look towards russia. i mean, we can also consider other issues at play, such as the presence ofjihadists in the region and how those groups also exploit some of the confusion around lack of governance and lack of security in situations like this. now it's time for a look at today's sport with olly foster. it was a busy day for the women's world cup. tell us more. we'll start with football and a dramatic day at the women's world cup. there were was despair in dunedin where the co—hosts new zealand were knocked out. there were wins for norway and morocco and a shock in sydney. the two—time champions germany can't afford another slip—up after losing to colombia. joe lynskey reports. new zealand will be a host nation, flooded with tears tonight. full

new zealand will be a host nation, flooded with tears tonight.- flooded with tears tonight. full in dunedin, flooded with tears tonight. full in dunedin. new — flooded with tears tonight. full in dunedin, new zealand _ flooded with tears tonight. full in dunedin, new zealand exit - flooded with tears tonight. full in dunedin, new zealand exit their. flooded with tears tonight. full in i dunedin, new zealand exit their own party. the co—hosts are out of the group stage. a 0—0 draw took switzerland through and in auckland gave norrie a chance. they faced the philippines, they were emphatic. norway had been under pressure, they won six now. after a slow start to go through on goal difference. norway are former champions but for some teams in the group stage it is a breakthroughjust to be here. morocco are ranked at 72 in the world and yet they beat south korea for the first world cup win. history made by the score line and by their defender. she became the first player to wear a hijab at the world cup. the last match of the date was lit up by columbia, few give them a chance against the two—time winners germany but in the 97th minute this. now they need another! they have

done it! ., ., , . now they need another! they have done it! ., ., ' now they need another! they have done it! ., ., , ., ' ' ., now they need another! they have done it! ., ., ,.,' a, , done it! colombia 12-1 and sydney felt south american. _ done it! colombia 12-1 and sydney felt south american. the - done it! colombia 12-1 and sydney| felt south american. the co-hosts felt south american. the co—hosts may be out but the party goes on. —— colombia one 2—i. england's cricketers will need to take all ten australian wickets on the final day for victory in the final test at the oval. that would level the series. australia, who have already retained the ashes are chasing 384. they made a strong start before rain forced an early close, on a day that started with a great reception for stuart broad, the england bowler who will retire at the end of this test. heres' our sports correspondentjoe wilson. the rain clouds which have dogged this serious which are so frustrated england at old trafford, here at the oval they foiled australia because they were going so well in the second innings. we had the emotional response to stuart broad at the start of the day, a guard of honour from the australian players, lots of england supporters came wearing stuart broad style headbands, but when it came to bawling neither

braude nor anderson or any other englishman could make much of an impression. he had a really good series, david warner less so. he knows this is his last chance to prolong his australian career for his grand finale. looking at the state of the match, thinking about the state of the weather, could australia come here on the fifth day and chased down a record target to win? wouldn't that be a grand ending? it's now eight formula one wins in a row max verstappen, as his complete dominance this season continued at the belgian grand prix. the defending world champion started in sixth — but made his way through the field to extend his championship lead to 125 points with ten races remaining. verstappen's team—mate sergio perez was a distant second, while ferrari's charles leclerc was third. defending champions new zealand, australia and england have all maintainted their 100 percent record at the netball world cup — reaching the next phase of the tournament. it's three wins from three, too, forjamaica — as they beat the hosts south africa

67—49 in cape town. elsewhere there were wins for wales, malawi, uganda and tonga on sunday. demi vollering has won the tour de france femmes title. the dutch rider, who claimed the yellowjersey in the mountains on saturday, came second in the time trial on the final stage — and that was enough to secure victory — finishing more than three minutes clear of her teammate lotte kopecky in the general classification. and that's all the sport for now. thank you so much. staying with the world cup earlier i spoke to sports writer and broadcaster nicky bandini about today's huge results in the tournament. we started off by speaking about columbia beating germany. huge, huge result for colombia. such a sort of impressive group and put together so many young players, making a huge difference for that team.

and have been for a while, of course. they did reach the final of the copa america just last year. but seeing linda caicedo, 18 years old, only two years removed, by the way, from an ovarian cancer diagnosis, scoring such a brilliant, brilliant opening goal in this game. and then even after germany, thisjuggernaut, who haven't lost a world cup group game since 1995, they get that penalty at the end of the game and you think, ok, this is sort of reverting to the story everyone expected. and manuela vanegas comes up with that 96th minute winning header in injury time. i think it was probably the most dramatic game of the tournament so far. and there have been a couple. itjust goes to show anything can happen, right? and it is a huge result for norway as well, as they beat the philippines 6—0. yeah, i think that was perhaps an expected result, but what's maybe more of an important part of the story for norway is they recovered from such a bad start to the tournament. nobody thought they were going to lose that opening game to new zealand, which they did, and then they drew their second game. and you've got a team with some of the best players

in the world in it — ada hegerberg, who didn't play this game because she is injured. she's a ballon d'or winner. you've got caroline graham hansen, who is then at odds with the coach but is a brilliant, successful barcelona forward who has been playing in the champions league finals. you've got serie a's player of the year in that team — such a strong norway team. and we hadn't seen a game from them yet at this tournament, and finally it is like all of those girls showed up all at once. a really big performance from sophie haug in that game today as well. so they got through the group a bit more by the skin of their teeth than they expected to, but the important thing is to be into the knockout rounds. nicky, it is sad news, isn't it, for new zealand. the hosts are out. but i guess great news for morocco because they scored their first goal in the tournament. yeah, unfortunately new zealand are the first world cup hosts not to make it through the group stage. at the same time, if you think of the beginning of this group stage they were talking about the fact they had won their first ever group game, men's or women's at a world cup, so it was a huge start. and theyjust couldn't quite build on it. and as you say for morocco, a huge moment.

another team claiming its first win at this world cup. and at the expense of a south korea team who a lot of people expected bigger things from as well. that was sports writer nikki speaking to me earlier about the women's world cup and giving her analysis of all the latest results. stay with us here on bbc news. lots more on our website and app. hello. it's turned cloudy and wet in many parts of the country and if the rain hasn't reached you yet, it is not far away. here is the outlook for the week ahead. there is no let—up to the kind of weather we have been experiencing for the last few weeks. more unsettled weather on the way. if you look at the satellite picture, you can see a daisy chain of weather systems sweeping off north america and across the atlantic and heading in our direction, propelled by quite a strong jet stream, which will also be rippling

across the atlantic and at times it will even be south of us as we see these troughs developing, and that will also allow cooler air to sweep in from the north. let's have a look at the forecast then for the evening and overnight. plenty of cloud, here is the weather front with the rain sweeping northwards. it should reach the lowlands later in the evening or through the early hours. the north of scotland may stay dry through the night but for many of us it is cloudy, with rain at times, mist and murk and low cloud. breezy, if not windy, conditions, but mild — 17 celsius in cardiff with this maritime air mass. and tomorrow it is a cloudy picture, at times bursts of rain, some of them heavy. both in the morning and the afternoon. it certainly won't be raining all of the time and if anything even a chance of a few sunny spells. perhaps even lengthy ones across the south and the south—west, maybe to the east of the pennines. the cloud and the rain will never be too far away. that is how we are going to end monday, with the low pressure close by and a generally overcast

picture with rain at times. that takes us into tuesday, the low pressure moves away and we are in between weather systems. there is another one heading our way. i think tuesday, overall, it's going to be the best day of the week. we have the most amount of sunshine. yes, a few sunny showers in the north but not a bad day compared to what is going to happen on wednesday. look at this low pressure sweeping in and bringing a wet day on wednesday for many parts of the country. and then on thursday, we develop a northerly wind and it will be quite noticeable, right across the uk. it will be particularly noticeable across the north of scotland and along the north sea coast. this is looking at the weather into the following weekend. the same sort of weather, unsettled, on the cool side, with rain at times. goodbye.

at least 37 people have been killed in a bomb blast in pakistan during a rally organised by an islamist party. dozens of people were also injured in the north—west budge—jaw district. president putin praises the might of russia's fleet at navy day celebrations. he said he doesn't reject the idea of peace talks on ukraine, but it's hard to implement a ceasefire with ukraine on the offensive.

hundreds of supporters of niger's military coup protest outside the french embassy in niamey as france stops aid. leaders of the coup have warned against military intervention to reinstate the ousted president. here in the uk, the prime minister wants a review into low—traffic neighbourhood schemes, which seek to reduce the numbers of cars in some residential areas. he said he's on the side of car drivers. now on bbc news — take me to the opera: a time of change. i've been an opera fan for decades, and i want to share my passion with you. so i'm on a mission to find out how opera is trying to attract new audiences and reinvent itself. this time, i meet sir antonio pappano in the run—up to the end

of his remarkable tenure as music director of