hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. the very latest developments now after the death of alexei navalny, we have heard now in a new video message from his widow, let's take a listen. she is speaking in russian so ijust want to bring you a couple of the key sentences she says. early in that video message, saying another person should be here in my place but that person was killed by vladimir putin somewhere in a prison beyond the arctic circle. putin didn't only kill alexei navalny of the person, with him he wanted to

kill our people, our freedom, the person, with him he wanted to kill our people, ourfreedom, our future. we will have more on exactly what she said in just a moment. she will actually be meeting eu foreign ministers in brussels and we have more on that too. alexei navalny was being held in prison north of russia and the latest we have from his mother and lawyers, in trying to see the body of this location, a morgue near the prison, have been trying and been denied for the last three days to see the body. a family representative posted this message on social media. we can start to get some reaction from the russian government. they were asked about the death and they say an investigation is under way. they also said the reaction of the

west was unacceptable. we will get more on that in a moment. let's return to the eu. eu ministers are meeting potentially asking for new sanctions against russia. we wait to see on that. their top diplomat josep borrell told the bbc a message of support must be sent to the people of russia and spoke to our chief international correspondent about the significance of the invitation of alexei navalny�*s widow to join the eu invitation of alexei navalny�*s widow tojoin the eu ministers meeting. it is a way of first honouring navalny. secondly, to express our deep sorry for this death and third and may be the most important thing is to provide a voice to the russian opposition. because in russia, there are people who want to live in freedom, like you and me, and these people have been fighting, together with navalny, and many which are anonymous have also been sent to jail and may be dead. these people deserve support.

let's speak to our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford. talk us through if you can what you have picked up from this new video message. have picked up from this new video messaue. ~ ~' , message. well, i think the first thin to message. well, i think the first thing to say _ message. well, i think the first thing to say is _ message. well, i think the first thing to say is the _ message. well, i think the first thing to say is the surprise - message. well, i think the first thing to say is the surprise of. message. well, i think the first i thing to say is the surprise of the statement coming at all. this is a very dramatic and deliberate intervention by yulia, who's always been a woman who supported alexei navalny, real pillar of strength for him often biocides and protest and when he was imprisoned during a house arrest, during all of the difficulties of his political career so always there supporting and backing him up but not herself in the political spotlight and that was a nash was dragged into it and now she's been dragged into it very dramatically, and she says she's chosen to step in because alexei navalny she says has been killed by vladimir putin. extremely direct,

extremely strong accusations from her. this video is exactly like the style of the videos alexei navalny made his name creating so she's looking directly at the camera, using many of the phrases alexei navalny used to use so she starts off with the word hi, and then instead of saying it's alexei navalny, she says it's yulia navlany and she goes on to call for russians to stand beside her and to continue the fight against vladimir putin and to continue to build what alexei navalny used to talk about, which is what he described as the wonderful beautiful russia of the future, a different country, a free russia, she says, a country that he wanted to live in and she wants to be able to live in and she wants to be able to bring up her children in. so extremely dramatic and just the intervention itself is also very, very notable. intervention itself is also very, very notable-— intervention itself is also very, very notable. she is in brussels. what's the _ very notable. she is in brussels. what's the significance - very notable. she is in brussels. what's the significance of - very notable. she is in brussels.

what's the significance of that? l what's the significance of that? well, she's in brussels i guess looking for international support for what has now become her fight, her personal fight. for what has now become her fight, her personalfight. i for what has now become her fight, her personal fight. i should say the kremlin today was asked again does vladimir putin have anything to say about what happened, about the death of alexei navalny? and the spokesperson said no, no comment, nothing to say, nothing to add as to why alexei navalny body was not being handed over. he said it's nothing to do with the presidential administration, there is an investigation going on, but as that happens of course, the politics of all of this moves on and yulia navlany is now pressing international leaders, european foreign ministers, to do more to ensure there are consequences for her husband's death in prison, even as she waits to find out or hopes to find out exactly why and how he has died although i must say in this video she directly says they know

and they will expose that and reveal how he died. and they will expose that and reveal how he died-— how he died. sarah, thank you very much for that. _ let's speak to moscow freelance journalist uliana pavlova. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for coming on the programme-— thank you for coming on the rouramme. ., ~ i. ., ., programme. thank you for having me. talk us through _ programme. thank you for having me. talk us through what _ programme. thank you for having me. talk us through what the _ programme. thank you for having me. talk us through what the reaction - talk us through what the reaction has been there in moscow. 50 talk us through what the reaction has been there in moscow. so the reaction has _ has been there in moscow. so the reaction has been _ has been there in moscow. so the reaction has been quite _ has been there in moscow. so the. reaction has been quite widespread in moscow and across the world. people keep coming in and having this impromptu memorialfor alexei this impromptu memorial for alexei navalny, this impromptu memorialfor alexei navalny, laying flowers, pictures of alexei navalny, and of course this is illegal in russia. people who do that face greater risks and a lot of people have been arrested, over 300 people have been arrested, over 300 people arrested so far, across russia. according to all the information. i want to repeat, just for laying flowers. most people were actually arrested in saint petersburg, but this is happening all over russia and again, even if

just one person shows up to lay flowers to the alexei navalny memorial, they do it at a great risk to their own personal freedom. memorial, they do it at a great risk to their own personalfreedom. me’ee to their own personal freedom. we've heard a bit of— to their own personal freedom. we've heard a bit of a _ to their own personal freedom. we've heard a bit of a response _ to their own personal freedom. we've heard a bit of a response from - to their own personal freedom. we've heard a bit of a response from the kremlin. government spokesperson. at least talking about the fact investigation is under way. what do you make of the reaction of a vladimir putin? i you make of the reaction of a vladimir putin?— you make of the reaction of a vladimir putin? i think this looks like a classic— vladimir putin? i think this looks like a classic russian _ vladimir putin? i think this looks | like a classic russian government cover—up. putin doesn't even want to pronounce alexei navalny�*s name but of course they will be asked questions about his death and it becomes more and more obvious that the body of alexei navalny is not being released to his mother and lawyers who are now trying to claim the body. and i think what is also very interesting, you mentioned the speech of yulia navlany earlier, in that segment, and yulia navlany said

potentially they are waiting for the traces of nova choc to disappear so i think they think nova choc was used on alexei navalny. irate i think they think nova choc was used on alexei navalny.- i think they think nova choc was used on alexei navalny. we will wait to see on the — used on alexei navalny. we will wait to see on the future _ used on alexei navalny. we will wait to see on the future developments l used on alexei navalny. we will waitl to see on the future developments on that. thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you. israel has given the first indication of when its forces might launch a ground offensive against rafah in southern gaza. a minister in the israeli war cabinet, benny gantz, said the assault would begin in three weeks unless hamas released all hostages. it comes as hamas—run gaza health ministry says over 29,000 palestinianshave been killed and over 69,000 are injured in israeli strikes on the gaza strip. rafah is currently overcrowded with at least 1.4 million palestinians sheltering there, after being made to move away from northern and central parts of the strip. speaking on sunday, mr gantz, a former defence minister in the israeli government, said the message was clear. if by ramadan hostages

are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere — to include rafah area. we will do so in coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians, in dialogue with our american and egyptian partners to minimise the civilian casualties as much as possible. let's speak to haneen harara, a palestinian journalist in gaza now internally displaced to rafah city. thank you very much for coming on the programme. how will that news about this deadline it seems be received? ~ , ., ., received? well, i 'ust want to comment h received? well, i 'ust want to comment about _ received? well, i just want to comment about the _ received? well, i just want to comment about the latest - received? well, i just want to - comment about the latest statement, the americans are trying to raise

the americans are trying to raise the limit of the casualties of civilians. that means there is attention, two massacres here on the gaza strip. they talk of i30 attention, two massacres here on the gaza strip. they talk of 130 days of ongoing atrocities against 2.3 million people, in the northern part of the gaza strip, suffering form starvation. from here, the people who are forced to displays from their homes directly to the south area, rafah, arejust here and have the same problems. they are suffering from the direct attacks that are targeting the innocent people and civilians by land, air and sea, and even indirectly which can be more deadly than direct ones. so the people here are just fleeing

to the central part of the gaza strip after they are hearing the news a couple of days ago about the ground invasion for the military, israeli military, and... i ground invasion for the military, israeli military, and...— ground invasion for the military, israeli military, and... ithink we have 'ust israeli military, and... ithink we have just lost — israeli military, and... ithink we have just lost her. _ israeli military, and... ithink we have just lost her. you _ israeli military, and... ithink we have just lost her. you can - havejust lost her. you can understand given the circumstances, the difficulties of the quality of the difficulties of the quality of the line, but well worth hearing her perspective, from the location. these are live pictures of rafah in gaza and you get a sense of the conditions people are living in. so many have been moved from areas of direct conflict, in different parts of the gaza strip, down to rafah, and now the potential that they will be moving again. those latest numbers from the health ministry,

over 29,000 palestinians have been killed, 69,000 injured. tens of thousands demonstrated how to protest in mexico city is main square against proposed changes to the body that organises elections. the opposition accuses the president low pairs of trying to undermine the national electoral institute ahead of polls injune. he's been critical of polls injune. he's been critical of the institute, which is an autonomous nonpartisan organisation. he says it's biased and has a history of collusion with fraud. here is some of what the protesters have been saying.— have been saying. there are indications _ have been saying. there are indications and _ have been saying. there are indications and its _ clear power is being abused. i am worried that there will be a state election. i am worried about organised crime getting involved in the elections and our country losing its way. i the elections and our country losing its wa . u, the elections and our country losing itswa. ,, , its way. i can because i believe in the government _ its way. i can because i believe in the government of— its way. i can because i believe in the government of institutions. i | the government of institutions. i don't _ the government of institutions. i don't believe in the political

figures _ don't believe in the political figures i_ don't believe in the political figures. i think we need to defend institutions. there are issues that can he _ institutions. there are issues that can be improved, always areas of opportunity, but i do not agree there _ opportunity, but i do not agree there is— opportunity, but i do not agree there is one person who makes all there is one person who makes all the decisions. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. in bristol, two fifteen year old boys have been charged with the murder of another teenager. 16—year—old darrian williams was fatally stabbed in rawnsley park play area in the easton area of the city last wednesday. the two attackers were wearing masks and fled the scene on bicycles. they have also each been charged with possessing a knife in a public place. the business secretary kemi badenoch will make a statement to mps today after accusing the former chairman of the post office of misrepresenting the circumstances of his departure. it follows a newspaper interview in which henry staunton claims he was told by a senior civil servant to stall compensation payments for victims of the post office scandal.

the british museum has turned off comments on one of its social media posts because of a campaign demanding the return of stone monuments to easter island. the museum in london has two statues taken from the chilean territory in the 19th century. you're live with bbc news. lawyers at the international court ofjustice in the hague are beginning hearings to decide the legality of israel's occupation of palestinian territory since 1967. the request for an advisory opinion came from the un general assembly and predates the current war in gaza. the palestinian delegation says it hopes the icj's opinion will help to achieve a two—state solution. israel says the territories, which include the west bank and eastjerusalem, were taken from egypt and jordan in war and were never sovereign palestinian land. 0ur correspondent anna

holligan is in the hague. some pretty significant issues to be picked here?— picked here? hugely, yes. the palestinian _ picked here? hugely, yes. the palestinian delegation - picked here? hugely, yes. the palestinian delegation want. picked here? hugely, yes. the| palestinian delegation want the judges here at the un's top court to rule that israel's occupation of the occupied palestinian territories is illegal and should end immediately so throughout the morning we have heard from a series of lawyers. we started off with the palestinian authorities minister and he showed a series of pictures past and present are palestinians forced to leave their homes. they argue this is a deliberate political campaign of displacement and replacement. and that it amounts to an apartheid situation. we'vejust that it amounts to an apartheid situation. we've just heard from the british lawyer philip sanz. he argued that the palestinians' right to self—determination under

international law is being violated international law is being violated in numerous ways and therefore the international community has a moral or legal and political obligation to act. the hearings arejust or legal and political obligation to act. the hearings are just coming to an end now for the day. you can see some of the press waiting outside because we are expecting to hear from the palestinian delegation very shortly. we should probably mention these advisory opinions which was requested by the un general assembly backin requested by the un general assembly back in 2022, they are not legally binding, but they do carry a significant amount of political weight, especially given the current context in the occupied territories. let's underline the correlation between these two, you are talking about, and current events in gaza. exactly. this is completely separate in a sense that this case was brought before the attacks by how

mass on the 7th of october, and israel's military�*s response. we should also mention israel doesn't recognise the international court of justice's jurisdiction recognise the international court of justice'sjurisdiction in recognise the international court of justice's jurisdiction in its operations, its occupation of the west bank. —— hamas. it says is a political rather than a legal matter so it's not taking part in any of the hearings over the next five days. we will hear from an unprecedented number of countries, 51 countries, to take part. each will have half an hour to give their opinions, their assessment of the consequences of israel's occupation, and what i think we will get from that as an indication, an insight into what direction any future peace negotiation might take.— negotiation might take. thank you for that and _ negotiation might take. thank you for that and we _ negotiation might take. thank you for that and we let _ negotiation might take. thank you for that and we let you _ negotiation might take. thank you for that and we let you join - negotiation might take. thank you for that and we let you join the - for that and we let you join the gang of reporters just behind you there to get the reaction. thank you. a 42—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three children were found dead at a property in bristol. avon and somerset police made

the discovery when officers attended a concern for welfare call in the early hours of yesterday morning. the arrested woman is in police custody in hospital. police gave an update. take a listen. i'd like to start by saying that this is a terrible and deeply distressing tragedy, in which three young children have lost their lives. our thoughts are very much with the children's loved ones who are going through an horrendous ordeal. we were first called by a member of the public who was concerned for the welfare of the occupants early on sunday, the 18th of february. officers arrived at about 12:40am, and found three children whose lives could not be saved. forensic postmortem examinations will now be carried out on the children to establish the cause of death. and it is important that we don't give further detail on this until the proper processes have been carried out. the postmortem examinations are not likely to be completed until the middle to the end of this

week at the earliest. formal identification has not yet taken place, but we believe the victims are a boy aged seven, a girl of three and a ten—month—old boy. their next of kin have been informed and are being given all of the help and support that they need by specialist family liaison officers. a 42—year—old woman was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital due to injuries that she had sustained. her condition is not life threatening, and she remains in police custody at this time. here's our news correspondent, danjohnson. this has totally rocked people here, that something so awful can have happened to children so young on what is a really quiet residential street. the semidetached house the police were called to just after midnight on saturday is just around there. the neighbours really are stunned by what has happened. it is such an awful, tragic incident and the police had

been describing how people have been affected, but how they have come together and the staff, the police officers and paramedics who were involved in this have been affected as well. talking about the welfare services that will be available to them in the aftermath. there is a murder investigation going on here. there is still forensic examination work taking place at the house and in the garden of the property as well. the police are waiting to question that 42—year—old woman, who was injured herself and who is in hospital, although she is under arrest on suspicion of murder. avon and somerset police has also referred itself the police watchdog, the independent office for police conduct, because of prior contact between the police and this household — the iopc says that was some contact earlier this month. we are talking about something two or three weeks ago. it is not something that happened in the immediate run—up to this incident but something that will be examined by the police watchdog.

they have made that referral. the iopc is considering what to do with that evidence, with that information, how much further to take that investigation. but the murder investigation here is progressing as the neighbours try to absorb what sounds like a truly shocking, awful, awful family tragedy. when conjoined twins mari—am and nay were born in senegal, doctors expected them to survive forjust a few days. at the age of two, they were moved to london for treatment at great 0rmond street hospital — and since then the girls have defied all the odds, recently celebrating their seventh birthday. lucy 0wen has their story. what is it now? marieme and ndeye, playing with their friends at mount stuart primary in cardiff. their dad always wanted them to go to a mainstream school. it's just a way for me to show they are part of society. they don't have

to hide from anybody. they see kids they play with them, laugh with them, to make friends, to develop as individuals. they are both so pretty. marieme's favourite colour is my favourite colour too. | that's why they're together, because they really love each other. they may share a body, but the girls are two very different characters. marieme is very quiet, very reserved, introverted personality. it's completely different from ndeye. she's very independent. she wants to be in charge of everything. when they were born, doctors in senegal didn't expect them to live more than a few days. they thought separation was their best hope of survival. but when the girls arrived in the uk it was discovered that marieme's heart was too weak for the complex surgery and the decision was made not to separate them.

i can't allow myself to choose who will live, who will die now. let the doctor listen to your heart. marieme and ndeye share one pair of legs, one pelvis, and each has a spinal—cord and heart. they have regular checkups at the children's hospital for wales. what you can clearly see here are two spines. so this is illustrating the approximate place of where they are joined. what does everybody say when you're in the standing frame, girls? oh, you look tall! now the girls continue to surprise everyone around them. at school they to spend time in a standing frame to get them used to being upright, in hope that one day they may walk. we're going to live. how long, i don't know, i don't want to know now. i don't want to know. ijust concentrate on the present, and celebrating life.

we'll bring you right up to date on our main story the sour. the fallout from the death of alexei navalny, in the last two hours we've heard from his widow. take a listen. it's in russian. i will bring the first couple of sentences that she said. another person should be here in my place. that person was killed by vladimir putin. somewhere in a prison beyond the arctic circle. putin didn't only kill alexei navalny as a person, with him he wanted to kill our hope, our freedom, ourfuture. we know exactly why putin killed him three days ago and we will tell you soon. i will continue alexei navalny�*s work and she finishes that statement with these words, i am not afraid, don't

you be afraid. plenty more coming up. this is bbc news. hello again. as we go through this week, the weather will turn a bit cooler, but temperatures will be closer to where we would expect them at this time of year. what we have at the moment is the back edge of that weather front clearing away and a ridge of high pressure builds in behind it, settling things down before the next few weather fronts come our way. so into the afternoon, a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, some scattered showers and a bit more cloud turning the sunshine hazy in the west before this weather front comes in, introducing some rain later. temperatures 8 to 14 degrees north to south. so down a little on yesterday, but still above average for this time of year. now through this evening and overnight, ourfirst weather front comes in from the west, pushes eastwards across scotland. then the second one comes in, bringing in more rain, strengthening winds and more cloud.

the far southeast, though, remaining fairly clear. this is where it will be coolest, especially in east anglia, with overnight lows around about 4 degrees. so that takes us into tomorrow. a weather front will come in from the northwest and continue to push steadily southwards and eastwards. as you can see from the iso bars, it's going to be quite a breezy day as well, but a wet one initially across scotland and northern ireland, with that band of rain continuing to sweep southwards into england and wales, followed by sunny spells and scattered showers and preceded by a fair bit of cloud and some bright spells. temperatures, 8 in lerwick to ill in london. then as we move on into wednesday, things change a touch in that we've got some heavy rain pushing northwards and eastwards, some snow in the hills of wales, northern england and scotland. and as the rain clears, we see a return to bright spells, sunshine and showers. but it's going to be widely windy, with strong gale force winds across the north of scotland and also into the northern and western isles.

but temperatures still round about the ii to 13 mark. but that will change. as we lose the southwesterly, we pull in more of a northwesterly from thursday, friday and into the weekend. so temperatures dipping back to where roughly we would expect them to be. now, on thursday, we've got this band of rain sweeping towards the east. it may linger longer in the south of england. behind it, we'll see some wintry showers, most of these in the hills, but you could see some sleet or even some hail at lower levels. but the temperatures going down for most — 6 in lerwick to 10 in hull, 12 in london.

this is bbc news. the headlines: alexei navalny�*s widow, yulia, says vladimir putin "killed" her husband, because he "couldn't break him". a member of israel's war cabinet warns the military will launch a ground offensive in rafah in three weeks unless hamas releases israeli hostages in gaza. a bbc investigation reveals that uk special forces were given the power to veto attempts by elite afghan troops to settle in britain. a significant decision has been reached here in the uk. a man has

been found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after four migrants died in a boat crossing the channel. these details are coming to us from our correspondence simon jones. this was a retrial at canterbury crown court. he admitted he was steering the boats carrying at least 43 people which then got into difficulty back in december 2022. he told the court he was doing it under duress. the prosecution said he, as the pilot of the boat, had a duty of care to all those on board and it would have been abundantly clear there was an obvious and clear risk of death to

the passengers.