we look at what life is like for ukrainians under russian occupation. and thousands take to the streets of sao paulo in support of former president jair bolsonaro, as he rejects allegations he plotted a coup to stay in power. hello, i'm carl nasman. we start the programme in the middle east where there's growing optimism that a temporary ceasefire in gaza could soon be agreed. us national security adviser jake sullivan said sunday that the basics of a deal are on the table. the latest round of negotiations were held in paris this weekend, with the us, egypt and qatar trying to broker an agreement between israel and hamas. the talks are addressing the release of hostages taken being held captive in gaza, and the release of palestinian prisoners held in israel.

hamas has not commented on the reports of progress towards an eventual deal. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said sunday israel intends to go ahead with a ground offensive in gaza s southernmost city, rafah — regardless of what happens in hostage negotiations. nearly 1,5 million palestinians are now sheltering in the city. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams has more, from jerusalem. the press is full of optimism. the americans seem to think it is doable but there are a host of issues to resolve. how long will the ceasefire last? how many israeli hostages will be released in the first phase? how many palestinian prisoners be released in return, and will the people of gaza be able to go back to their homes and what will be done to address the dreadful humanitarian situation throughout the gaza strip?

any one of those issues could wreck the whole process and hamas is saying all of this talk of optimism is rubbish. there's also the issue of israel's threatened assault on rafah and benjamin netanyahu said one way or another it will happen. although today he did hint that if there is a ceasefire, it might have to wait. there is no sign at all at the moment that the israeli military is ready to do it. the troops are not in place. warnings have not been given and nobody knows where the population of rafah are supposed to go before an attack starts. my guess is that an attack on rafah is still weeks away, if it happens at all, because let's think about it. when a ceasefire is put into place and lasts for several weeks and everyone does what they should, how easy will it be to go back to war? and that is the problem, a dilemma for

benjamin netanyahu. the israeli prime minister's office said the military has presented a plan for evacuating civilians in the gaza strip, along with an "operational plan". no details have been released publically, but currently there are about 2.2 million people inside gaza. and those still trapped are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity. fergal keane has more on the deepening humitarian emergency in gaza. it is mostly a story of exhausted waiting. each long minute, they seek anything to fight the pain of hunger. the young, who each day go out to feed their families. a charity is able to offer beans, a bowl per household. ii—year—old mohamed spends every day seeking food for his family. "when i go back to my family with this food, they are happy and we all eat together.

but sometimes i go empty—handed and i feel sad." this is northern gaza, where hunger is worst. and so much other suffering too. two—month—old mahmoud fatoo is one of the vulnerable victims. the doctor examining him told us how he had died. israel says the un is failing to organise distribution in the north. but the un says it can't because there is lawlessness now. and that israel has

a responsibility to create security. in israel, opinion polls suggest many support the views of zvika mor, views of whose son eitan is a hostage in gaza and who opposes any aid being sent without the return of the hostages. that sounds very, very harsh, when you're talking about civilians, babies, children dying? yes, but we have babies and women and elders. 0k? it's very, very simple. give us our people, and we will give you food and medicines. of course, hunger is only one enemy of the young. back close to rafah, the casualties of bomb blasts and bullets from fighting further north. as the war between israel and hamas grinds on. we are seeing children, especially, with limbs blown off, can't be salvaged, can't be saved, including upper limb, and also lower limb. and what it is going to do is,

it leaves an entire generation of gazan civilians, very, very disabled. giving up is not a choice, not with a family to be fed. a father out trying to find work, a mother with bone cancer. mohammed's family are stranded where history and hunger have trapped them. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. the us air force has confirmed to several media outlets that a man who set himself on fire in front of the israeli embassy in washington dc is an active duty airman. a video posted online purportedly showed a man wearing a military uniform shouting �*free palestine�* as he burned. us secret service officers put out the fire and the man was taken to hospital with critical injuries. two years and a day since russia launched its full—scale invasion of ukraine, president volodymr zelenskyy has released battlefield estimates to the public for the first time.

mr zelensky said sunday that 31,000 ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the war. that number is far lower than an estimate the us released back in august. it put the number of ukrainian combat deaths at about 70,000. in the months since then, fighting has only intensified. and russia is gaining ground in eastern ukraine. ukrainian soldiers are rationing ammunition and artillery, as in the us, republicans in congress continue to block billions of dollars in military aid to ukraine. throughout the war, six million people — mainly women and children — have fled the country, according to the un. millions more are being forced to live under russian occupation. little is known about their lives but the bbc has spoken to two teenagers who fled from russian—occupied mariupol and kherson. they look like ordinary teenagers visiting london, but they're survivors of war. translation: 0ur| village was shelled.

a friend of my aunt came and took us to mariupol. we thought we'd be safer there because they wouldn't shell the city itself. two, three days later, our village was occupied. then, mariupol city was besieged. it was a hell. we wanted to go back but it wasn't possible. veronica is from kherson in the south of ukraine. 0ur city was occupied for seven months. after it, it became a front line. during the occupation there were loads of shelling in smaller towns or villages. we were sitting in the basement for a month. when we left the basement, two shells landed near me. it was very scary.

the sound of missiles gives me goose bumps. it's like a loud whistle and then a blast. it gets closer and louder and louder. it's extremely frightening. russia denies that it targets civilians. russian soldiers took my phone. i had deleted all my social media as i knew that they wouldn't like my chats. they asked if i knew anything about ukrainian service men and i said that i didn't. but i felt scared and they said, don't worry, if we wanted to kill you, we would have already done so. what was the most dramatic memory? while we moved from the occupied city we saw lots of cars that were burnt. i saw people coming inside their tent and later coming out of it naked. some people were also beaten. people were tortured in various ways there. i heard screaming,

"don't hit me, please." veronica's family heads across the dnipro river on a makeshift ferry as the bridge had been bombed. too emotional to speak in english, veronica tells me how her parents stressed out when they got stuck in the middle of the riverfor two hours. the makeshift ferry was shelled just half—an—hour after they got to the other side. i had so many problems but i keep smiling, because i want to. it's not like i'm faking a smile while feeling sad in reality. but no, i want to smile, because i'm alive. 0lga malchevska, bbc news. supporters of former brazillian president jair bolsonaro have joined massive protests in sao paulo. thousands of people rallied along the city's main avenue — the first major demonstration of its kind since bolsonaro left office just over a year ago. his supporters believe he is the victim of political persecution by the country's left—wing government — which says he attempted

a coup after being ousted at the last election. 0ur south america correspondent ione wells was among the crowds. this rally was called into an ongoing investigation into mr bolsonaro and whether or not he incited thousands of his supporters last year to storm the presidential palace, congress and also the supreme court, calling for a military takeover and the election result to be overturned. in his speech today at the rally, he called allegations of the alleged coup a conspiracy and also asked for an amnesty for supporters of his who ended up arrested and put in prison as a result of rioting and looting those government buildings last year. he is really a polarising figure. clearly, from the crowds today, he still does have a large fan base. there are still right wing supporters of his

who do believe that he should still be allowed to run for office again even though he has currently been banned for running for office for the next eight years. brazil is still politically polarised between those who support former president bolsanaro and those who loathe him and disagree with everything he did while in office, but also what he has attempted to do since the election took place. just a couple of weeks ago on the same avenue in sao paulo there was a counter protest against the former president and support of the current left—wing president, lula, that was marking the anniversary of riots that took place in brazil last year and this was critical of him for calling the election fraudulent and there was no evidence to suggest that, but also certainly was kind of in support of the current president lula and his left—wing policies as opposed to the crowds we are seeing here today. around the world and across the uk.

this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the uk conservative party is under increasing pressure after an mp made comments the mayor of london has described as �*islamophobic, anti—muslim and racist�* . lee anderson was suspended from the party after saying london�*s mayor was controlled by �*islamists�*. the party�*s leadership was drawn further into the argument on sunday — the deputy prime minister refusing to say whether he thought the comments were islamophobic. 0ur political correspondent iain watson has more the difficulties caused by the conflict in the middle east for uk politics are as nothing compared to the suffering of the people in the region, but the challenge for the main the difficulties caused by the conflict in the middle east of the people in the region, but the challenge for the main party this year is how to manage tensions in their own ranks stoked by events beyond their control, and in an election year, just one loose or offensive phrase from any of their representatives could be enough to undermine or overshadow their best laid plans. mr anderson has said he accepts the party had "no option" but to suspend him, given the "difficult position"

it put the government in. but he has not apologised. you�*re live with bbc news. of the many elections being held in 2024, one of the easiest outcomes to predict is the vote in belarus. the country�*s authoritarian leader, alexander lukashenko has been in powerfor nearly 30 years and, critics say, to ensure it stays that way, he banned all opposition parties from standing in sunday�*s parliamentary elections. the last election in 2020 is widely believed to have been won by an opposition candidate — sviatlana tsikhanouskaya. but mr lukashenko refused to concede, sparking huge protests, and forcing ms tsikhanouskaya to flee the country to avoid arrest. so this time, the opposition has endorsed an unusual candidate — yas gaspadar, an ai chatbot. in a post on x, formerly twitter — ms tsikhanouskaya wrote, frankly, he s more real than any candidate the regime has to offer, "and the best part?

he cannot be arrested! . well, to discuss this unorthodox ai candidate — and the state of the elections in belarus, i spoke with franak viacorka — chief adviser to ms tsikhanouskaya. we appreciate you joining us on bbc news and these are the first elections in belarus since 2020 which will rightly viewed as rigged and they come a day after the second anniversary of russia�*s full—scale invasion of ukraine. i want to start by asking you what is at stake today for your country? i think it�*s a rehearsal of lukashenko likely presidential elections and he is trying to conduct elections without opponents or alternatives because he�*s afraid of a return to 2020 when there were massive problems sparked in the country.

today will not change anything for belarus because only loyalists i�*ve participated and many leaders are in prison, so he has society boiling and are any protest possible, and can he crack down on any dissent? you mentioned the protests in 2020. the opposition leader, tsikhanouskaya who has called for a boycott this time around but i understand turn out was around 70%, so is a boycott, descend possible in belarus right now? we don�*t call it a boycott, we call it ignoring elections because there are no alternative candidates and a boycott has no sense because there is no minimalturnout, but participation doesn�*t have sense because all candidates are already appointed so we use it as an opportunity to promote our ideas on the european perspective for belarus to explain why democracy is better than than the lukashenko regime and we launched the virtual candidate to explain our ideas and we try to energise people, but we ask them, please don�*t go to a voting station because

it�*s also risky. many people who came to vote were detained immediately at stations for participating in protests in 2020 and after. i want to ask about the artificial intelligence candidate that the opposition is supporting. obviously not a real person but advocating for things like the release of political prisoners, for free and fair elections and prohibition on nuclear weapons. these are things that might get you into trouble in belarus, so how symbolic is this artificial intelligence candidate? it�*s an opportunity to speak to people in the country because right now the regime is trying to build an iron curtain between those in exile and those in the country and artificial intelligence is helping us to safely reach people inside the country so they can ask

questions, talk to this person and debate about nuclear weapons, about russia, about war in ukraine on this candidate is giving the right answers. people are asking if crimea is russian or ukrainian, and the candidate is saying definitely ukrainian, so when people received this answer they do not communicate and they cannot be put in jail, and for us and the key to the technology is it is a tool to mobilise people but also to keep communications with them in a secure way. you mentioned earlier that you think that this is really a dry run for elections next year. president lukashenko today announcing that he plans to run again for president and has been ruling for nearly 30 years. what is your reaction and the reaction of the opposition to the announcement today? first, let me correct you, he is not a president. no one in the democratic world recognises him as a president. we call him dictator, usurper, self—proclaimed leader but not president.

0f course he will run. every dictator takes care only power. he is in powerfor 30 years and he will be in power until death. the same as vladimir putin. they have crossed all possible red lines and after that he is out of presidential office he will be tried and injail and he knows it. this is why today he sent a clear message to his supporters, the kgb, "guys, i will run the next election and we have to keep tsikhanouskaya out and destroy the position, and that is the only way to save resources and stay in power. and very briefly, how would you like to see the west respond to these elections and the overall situation in your country? we�*ve had a very strong response from the state department today from austria, from many countries, from parliamentarians that these are sham elections, fake. we ask for more sanctions, not only military but for those who participate in repression and we have to bring the regime to account, and all of the cronies who commit the crimes against

belarusians and help russia in the war against ukraine. thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. thank you. the war in sudan is now in its eleventh month — and has forced more than 8 million people from their homes. the sudanese army and the paramilitary rapid support forces continue to fight across the country, despite mounting casualities. in a statement, un high commissioner for human rights, volker turk said: ...accounts coming out of sudan have been of death, suffering and despair, as the senseless conflict and human rights violations and abuses have persisted with no end in sight". the report is based on interviews with 303 victims and witnesses. more than i3—thousand people have been killed, most of them from the african masalit ethnic community.

both the army and the rsf are accused of using heavy weaponry on densely popluated areas. the report also reveals that by december of last year, at least 118 people had been subjected to sexual violence. nineteen were children. turk says some of these violations amount to war crimes. we heard disturbing findings in the un report and we want to know about your reaction? it�*s not surprising but it is nonetheless heartbreaking when you consider that this conflict has been going on for almost a year now, and the fact that this report is coming reinforces the already existing body of work that has been done byjournalists, mostly sudanese journalists and journalists from elsewhere by humanitarian groups, so it is an opportunity for us to sober up and look at what is a horrendous but preventable problem in sudan. you�*ve been in the region and speaking to people who have fled to sudan. does this line up with some of the stories they have told you? yes, it does.

in may, i was in cairo when the conflict started, just a few weeks after it started, and i spoke to as many people that we could get. one of the stories that really stuck in my mind was the story of faris, who had kidney failure, and he came to cairo for treatment, like most sudanese did before the conflict. so when his kidney was fixed, he went back home but once he was there he was meant to have his second kidney also treated but he never had a chance to go back until towards the end and the last time i saw his mother and aunt, they were all terrified and the stories so far are so many. so much of the impact of the conflict has been on civilians. i�*m curious, in your mind, is it possible to place more blame on either side? we heard that there are atrocities being committed by both the sudanese army and the rsf.

it�*s very hard, because both parties and their allied militias, like the sudanese army and the rapid support forces have committed, it�*s not a question of if, they have committed them, the same amount of violation, but both of them have been accused by credible institutions and organisations of egregious human rights violations and that needs to stop, like, yesterday. we also know that four nations are involved in the conflict. there is evidence that the united arab emirates are responsible for arming the rsf and we know iran could be involved on the sudanese military side. in your mind, how much responsibility to outside countries bear for what we are seeing in the report? to a great degree. let me put it this way. sudan is not new to conflict. they have been fighting for a very long time. but, when you have outsiders, especially the uae, that you have mentioned,

being involved in supporting the rsf leader, it makes it very difficult. there is credible evidence by the un and other human rights group that shows that the uae who are a close partner of the us in various ways is supporting an organisation that is plausibly committing genocide. and you have a country also wear almost over a third are facing food insecurity, and half of the sudanese population do not have adequate food, so you have a country that you have plausible genocide and plausible famine going on at the same time, and one other party that is supporting rsf is the united arab emirates. we have about 30 seconds left but i want to ask you, ten months on, this is often called the forgotten conflict.

what would you like to see done maybe on behalf of western nations or the white house? more attention paid here? more attention and that will include the appointment of a presidential envoy and secondly, calling for a cessation of hostilities and thirdly, it will behove the delivery of humanitarian aid, especially through local sudanese groups who have been at the front line of this since the conflict started. thank you so much forjoining us to talk about those findings in that un report. that�*s all from us here in washington dc. as we hand over to our colleagues in london. i�*m carl nasman, thanks for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. for many parts of the uk, monday looks like being a dry day with some sunny spells. the rain that we�*ve had in the south — and there was an inch of rain in cornwall — has been close

to that low pressure. that is tending to move away, restricting the rain towards the far southeast of england. but there�*s quite a breeze blowing for england and wales, so it won�*t be as cold as it was the previous night. we�*re looking at a frost, though, in scotland, maybe some icy patches following a few wintry showers, which will fade away quickly in the morning. plenty of sunshine for scotland and northern ireland on monday. sunny spells for england and wales. the rain pushing away from kent, sussex and the channel islands. but it�*s a northeasterly wind that follows that will bring the odd shower into eastern england, perhaps into the midlands, as well. and it�*ll feel chilly in that wind across the southeast of england. temperatures could make ten celsius, but we�*re looking at 8—9 being more typical — similar to what we�*ve had over the past few days. the winds do drop across south eastern areas after dark, and it gets cold and frosty for england and wales ahead of that weather front moving down from the northwest, together with some stronger winds. so a band of wet and windy weather sweeps through scotland and northern ireland, pushes into england and wales. most of the rain will be over the hills, followed by sunshine and blustery showers. wintry over higher parts of scotland.

may well be largely dry across the midlands, east anglia, and the southeast — but it�*ll be quite cold, and there could be some mist and fog around in the morning. that weather front bringing the rain continues to weaken as it moves south eastwards after dark, and then we await the next weather system coming in from the atlantic. it�*s just a brief window of dry weather. there�*ll be some sunshine after a chilly start, but we�*ll see the cloud moving in more quickly, and the rains moving across more quickly as well — notjust across northern ireland now, but other western parts of the uk before the end of the afternoon. the best of the sunshine in the far east of england. but temperatures are likely to reach double figures — and, together with these bands of rain coming in from the west, we�*ve got some milder air on thursday night, so no frost this time. we still have a weather front to move through on thursday — that�*s that band of rain clearing scotland, pushing into england and wales. and that will be followed by more showers — and these will be turning wintry over the hills. as things just get a little bit colder, we could well see temperatures across eastern england, though, in double figures — but only for a while, because the colder air will push down across

the whole of the country by the end of the week. and, with low pressure in charge, we�*ve got showers or longer spells of rain, and there may even be some wintriness over the hills.

you�*re watching bbc news. the latest headlines follow at the top of the hour, after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i�*m sarah montague. it�*s two years since russia launched its full—scale invasion of ukraine. it failed then — but now, after months of stalemate, ukraine looks to be in retreat, not least because the united states has yet to approve more funding for ukraine�*s defence. so, what next? european leaders warn that president putin�*s ambitions won�*t stop with ukraine,

and they talk of preparing for a world war. i�*m at nato�*s headquarters in brussels to speak to its secretary general for the past ten years, jens stoltenberg. it�*s an organisation founded on the principle that an attack against one is an attack against all its members. so, how dangerous a moment is this? is russia really preparing for a war with nato? jens stoltenberg, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. is ukraine going to lose its war with russia? no, and it�*s our responsibility to ensure that we provide them with enough military help to enable them to prevail. because president putin must not win this war. that will be a tragedy

for ukrainians, and dangerous for us.