good morning. it s sunday march 24. our main story: russia has begun a national day of mourning after at least 133 people were killed in an attack on a rock concert in moscow. the islamic state group has claimed responsibility but russia s security services have claimed the assailants had links to ukraine something which kyiv has fiercely denied. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, has the details. in what was left of crocus city, the full horror of what happened became clear. the attackers had torched the building. a rock concert became an inferno. gunfire but first, the gunman had opened fire. gunfire to kill as many of the audience as possible in one constant stream of bullets. russia says the four gunman who did this have been arrested. and claims they planned to cross into ukraine. kyiv denies any connection to the attack. it s islamic state that s claimed responsibility. president putin promised vengeance. translation: all the - perpetrators and organisers of this c
hello. i m nicky schiller. welcome to the programme. we start this hour in the middle east. the head of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. in a post on social media, unrwa s head, philippe lazzarini, described the move as outrageous . he said israel s decision meant many more people would die of hunger, dehydration and lack of shelter. there s been no word from israel. it comes as the country s defence minister, yoav gallant, is set to travel to washington, with israel leadership under increasing pressure from the us to halt its planned assault on rafah, in southern gaza. israeli forces continue to carry out ground and air attacks in northern and central gaza, including around al shifa hospital. juliette touma is from unrwa. she says if aid from the organisation is blocked from entering gaza, famine will take hold. well, it s simply outrageous. the clock is ticking, an
on civilians in two decades. many had been attending a concert. among the dead, three children. the country is in mourning and in shock. inside the venue this morning, a complex rescue operation was still under way. such was the damage, they re having to cut through debris to try to gain access to the music hall itself, where it s feared that more bodies could be found. translation: overnight, a hole| in the main building was created, in order to get engineering equipment inside the concert hall and ensure the work of rescue workers. plans were also made to extinguish small fires on the roof of the building. a glimpse here of the terror of friday night, as the gunmen shot their way into the hall. people finding whatever shelter they could from indiscriminate firing. imagine you had a relative at the concert and hadn t heard from them since. translation: the last| time yana contacted me was from the concert hall. she sent me one photo and then a second. i wrote to her and sent
energy bosses warn that the government s plan to cap the price of electricity produced by older renewable facilities is risky. hello and welcome to bbc news. ten people are now confirmed to have died, after a huge explosion at a petrol station in county donegal in ireland. a search operation is continuing, as some people are still thought to be missing. eight people were also taken to hospital. police say the cause remains under investigation, but are describing what happened as a tragic accident . the explosion happened at an applegreen service station, in the village of creeslough, yesterday afternoon. from there, our ireland correspondent chris page reports. a rescue effort has now become a recovery operation a sad sign that the emergency services don t expect to find anyone else alive. blown out walls, a crumpled roof, and tonnes of rubble showed this was a lethal explosion. the blast triggered a wave of devastation and desperation. local people hurried to what was lef
hello and welcome to sportsday. i m gavin ramjaun. the perfect start england get their rugby union world cup campaign going in record breaking style against fiji. hardened on target again for manchester city, who cook top tonight in the premier league. could this be the perfect weekend for max verstappen? he s claimed pole for the japanese grand prix, where he could retain his world title. hello there and welcome along to sportsday. as far as opening games to a world cup campaign go, they really don t come much better than england s. earlier today, they blew away fiji, scoring 1a tries in a record breaking victory in new zealand. they won 84 19, extending their record winning streak in test matches. jo currie reports. the year long covid delay means these players have had a long wait for this moment. england s red roses are expected to bloom at this world cup. fitting, then, that they get their campaign under way in eden. for emerging fiji, a first ever appearance at the to