supporters of alexei navalny defy police presence at 3 moscow church — where the late russian opposition leader's funeral is expected to be held in the next hour. this is the scene live where people are gathering and in the last few minutes navalny�*s spokesperson has said his body is being handed over by the russian authority. and israel faces mounting international criticism over the deaths of more than 100 palestinians — killed while trying to get much needed aid in northern gaza. hello, i'm luxmy gopal. here in the uk, the left—wing maverick george galloway has won the rochdale by—election. mr galloway — who won by almost 6,000 votes — made his support for the palestinian cause his dominant campaign theme in the constituency, which has a large asian muslim community. so, here are the figures.

after george galloway comes local man david tully, who finished second receiving 21.3% of the votes, beating the conservative candidate paul ellison, the absent former labour candidate azhar ali and the liberal democrat candidate iain donaldson. reform uk thought they'd do better. the leader richard tice is saying the by—election was not "free and fair", claiming campaigners suffered abuse and death threats. 0ur political correspondent peter saull reports from rochdale i do hereby declare that george galloway is duly elected. george galloway is nothing if not persistent. 37 years after he was first elected as a labour mp, he is on his way back to parliament determined to be a thorn in his former party's side. this is going to spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates in scores of parliamentary constituencies, beginning here in the north—west.

in the west midlands, in london, from ilford to bethnal green and bow, labour is on notice that they have lost the confidence of millions of their voters. he's always divided opinion, though. george galloway! you want to burn our future! that protester hauled away after accusing rochdale�*s new mp of denying climate change. you are well aware that you're a divisive figure. what are you going to do to speak to those in rochdale who will be pretty concerned, frankly, that... when i look at the result, it doesn't look all that divisive. it looks like the great majority of voters tonight voted for me. he will face plenty more scrutiny in the coming weeks and months, but his supporters were jubilant and partied into the early hours of the morning.

this was, though, a bizarre contest, thrown wide open after labour dropped its candidate over remarks widely alleged to be anti—semitic. azhar ali had apologised but didn't turn up to the count. another extraordinary sub—plot was that of david tully, a local businessman who decided to run as an independent and came second, beating all of the main parties. the mainstream parties have been tried and tested, and that's what i wanted to stand up for. to voice, be a voice for the people. and there were angry recriminations about the campaign. this has been an extraordinary by—election campaign. we are in a situation where a parliamentary election, we have to ask serious questions, has this been genuinely a free and fair election? unfortunately the behaviour of certain candidates and their supporters raised serious doubts about that and they fall far short of our traditional democratic standards here in the uk.

much like its new mp, this quiet corner of greater manchester has a fascinating political history. in the 19th century, it was the birthplace of the cooperative movement. this morning, another chapter has been written and it provides a major headache for labour. peter saull, bbc news. for those of you unfamiliar with george galloway�*s long career in politics, here's a short timeline of his different roles over the years. he first became an mp in 1987 for the glasgow hillhead constituency, which later became glasgow kelvin, for the labour party. in 2004, he became a member of the left—wing respect party, and became the party's leader by late 2013 until it dissolved in 2016. he founded the workers party of britain in 2019, the party he's just won a parliamentary seat for in rochdale. he's been one of the most outspoken politicians here in the uk over the years, becoming one of the most prominent critics of the war

in iraq and a supporter of the palestinian cause. those views have often been seen as controversial by some. his comments on israel in particular have drawn accusations of anti—semitism. well, ellie reeves is labour's deputy national campaign co—ordinator. speaking on the today programme in the last hour she said it would have been a different result had labour had a candidate in the race. let's take a listen. we regret not standing a candidate in the rochdale by—election. we apologise to the people of rochdale for that. if labour had stood, i don't believe george galloway would have won. 0urjob is to select a labour candidate for the general election we are expecting this year, someone who can work with all of the communities and rochdale to rebuild trust.

live now to rochdale — and our news correspondent rowan bridge. how much of a political earthquake has this been?— has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a — has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a shock, _ has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a shock, if— has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a shock, if you _ has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a shock, if you look - has this been? well, i mean, it is certainly a shock, if you look at i certainly a shock, if you look at the political history of the place, so tony lloyd, the labour mp who held the seat until his death had a labour majority of 9500. that has been dramatically overturned. george galloway won with a majority of 6000, a swing of something like a0%. it is worth noting that the turnout was only around a0%, something like 60% of voters in the constituency did not turn out at all. i think what is also fascinating is the sort of subplot, if you like, of david tully�*s vote. he took about 20% of the vote. labourfinished tully�*s vote. he took about 20% of the vote. labour finished way down in fourth. it's quite an earthquake in fourth. it's quite an earthquake in terms of where those votes went to. the major parties, falling well

down people's choices at the ballot box. i think that is significant. what is going to be interesting is, come some point this year we are likely to have a general election, and how things play out at that point, because labour will have, presumably, a proper candidate standing in the election then, and nobody knows how this would have turned out if labour had fielded a candidate in rochdale that was theirs at the ballot box. it will be interesting to see how it plays out at a general election if labour and at a general election if labour and a proper candidate. you mentioned the independent _ a proper candidate. you mentioned the independent candidate - a proper candidate. you mentioned the independent candidate david i the independent candidate david tully, coming in second. the main parties didn't do well at all. how much do you think george galloway�*s success was driven by his and the labour party's on gaza, and how much was driven by voters wanting to protest at or reject mainstream political parties? the protest at or reject mainstream political parties?— political parties? the reality is,

both of those _ political parties? the reality is, both of those factors _ political parties? the reality is, both of those factors played . political parties? the reality is, both of those factors played in | political parties? the reality is, i both of those factors played in the selection. george galloway clearly made gaza a central plank of his campaign, and you heard him speaking there, he talked about entering parliament and shaking the walls for gaza. but he said he also campaigned on local issues like hospital services, deprivation, the centre of the town, the fate of the local football club. i think if you talk to local people, one of the things you would hear from to local people, one of the things you would hearfrom people is that they wanted a candidate that cared about rochdale. clearly, that is a sort of underlying theme that ran in parallel to the gaza issue. gaza was important, 30% of the population in rochdale is of muslim heritage, and so for them, gaza clearly was a significant issue. if you talk to voters outside of that issue, the state of the town and people felt

they wanted a candidate who cared about rochdale, and i think you saw that in the vote that david tully got. both issues played out, and between them, david tully and george galloway took 60% of the vote. thank ou for galloway took 6096 of the vote. thank ou for that galloway took 6096 of the vote. thank you for that analysis. _ earlier i spoke to the polling expert sirjohn curtice, professor of politics at the university of strathclyde. i asked him how remarkable this outcome was. the honest truth is that this is a truly remarkable outcome. let me just to give you a couple of statistics. this is now the second time that george galloway has managed to win a by—election in a muslim constituency, representing a party that is not currently represented inside the house of commons. that has only happened on six occasions in the whole of the post—war period. george galloway is responsible for two of them. the second is that, of those are turned out, only one in five voted for either labour or the conservative party.

that's the two principal parties in the united kingdom. that is very easily an all—time low. so you can see that this is a very, very unusual result. the question we are really asking ourselves now is, well, is this a unique by—election result, in unique and unusual circumstances, or does it have potentially wider ramifications for the future of british politics as we head towards a general election, probably in the autumn? that was going to be my next question, in terms of what can we draw from this, in terms of what might happen in the next general election. john, you often have a note of caution about reading too much into by—election results? i've already suggested that one needs to be particularly careful about this by—election. george galloway has a unique ability to appeal to those from a muslim background. this is the third constituency he has managed to wind with a substantial muslim population

since he stopped being the labour mp for glasgow hillhead. so, he is a charismatic politician, very strong rhetorical ability, frankly unmatched by anybody else currently in british politics. that said, two things that we should take away, one is that we already know that there was unease inside sections of the labour party, particularly labour mps who represent constituencies with substantial muslim populations, about the fact that a sir keir starmer, the labour leader, has been relatively reluctant to criticise israel. he has been no more critical about israel and its involvement in gaza than the uk government or the us administration in washington. that has left labour mps with large muslim constituencies, muslim populations, rather unhappy, because they are concerned that

perhaps there will be other independent candidates standing against them at the general election. the truth is, most of these mps have large majorities, it's unlikely we are going to get candidates of the ability of george galloway standing elsewhere. but it is going to increase the tension inside the labour party. however, despite labour's difficulties, the conservative party vote fell by 19 percentage points in this constituency. that is the biggest fall in the conservative vote in a by—election in this parliament where labour are defending a seat. itjust underlines the message we have had from other by—elections in the uk in the last six months orso, including most recently in wellingborough, that the incumbent conservative government is still deeply unpopular. hitherto, in most by—elections that disgruntlement in the british public has been reflected in large

swings to labour. with labour having disowned their candidate in rochdale, and that was crucial, their vote as a result plummeted. so voters in rochdale sought other ways of expressing their disgruntlement, one for george galloway and the other, quite remarkably, for a local independent candidate. with less than an hour to go until alexei navalny�*s funeral is due to begin, his team has said they continue to face difficulties in organising the farewell ceremony. in the last half hour it was announced mr navalny�*s body has been handed over to relative, but his spokesperson had previously warned the funeral could be delayed when his body was still at the morgue just hours before the event was due to begin. this come after reports navalny�*s team had been unable to find a hearse to drive the body to church nor a venue to hold a wake. she added that there was a heavy police presence around the church and cemetery.

alexei navalny�*s supporters have accused president putin of ordering his murder in a siberian jail nearly two weeks ago. the kremlin says the accusations are unfounded. with more on this let's speak to vitaly shevchenko, russia editor at bbc monitoring. we have heard about the restrictions being placed on people turning out to mourn and remember him, which shows that even after his death, the kremlin seems to be no less fearful of a loss of control?— of a loss of control? absolutely, the last thing — of a loss of control? absolutely, the last thing the _ of a loss of control? absolutely, the last thing the kremlin - of a loss of control? absolutely, the last thing the kremlin wantsj the last thing the kremlin wants this ceremony at the funeral to become is a rallying point for what is left of the opposition in russia.

within the past 30 minutes or so, alexei navalny�*s body has been handed over to his relatives, and rehearse with his body has started moving towards the church in south moscow where a service will be held, or is due to start in just under an hour's time. hundreds and possibly thousands of people have turned out to attend the service. police have erected steel barriers which channel this queue of people along the pavement. we've not heard any reports of arrests so far. the mere act of attending this church service and the funeral is an act of defiance and resistance in modern day russia, because people there would be aware that hundreds were

arrested while laying flowers at memorials that appeared across russia shortly after alexei navalny�*s death two weeks ago. perhaps for that reason, as far as we can tell, mourners in moscow are not carrying any political slogans. it's a solemn affair from what we have seen so far. but the government is taking no chances and there is a heavy police presence on site. what heavy police presence on site. what viewers are — heavy police presence on site. what viewers are seeing _ heavy police presence on site. what viewers are seeing now _ heavy police presence on site. what viewers are seeing now is _ heavy police presence on site. what viewers are seeing now is live pictures from the cemetery on the outskirts of moscow. you can see people gathered there at the gates as well. the fact that, despite these threats of clampdown, people have been turning out, we saw on the day his death was announced, we saw mourners gathering to lay flowers in moscow, and what we are seeing today

is people gathering in their thousands, according to the latest report, around 1000 people outside the church where the funeral is due to take place, what does that tell us about his legacy in terms of opposition in russia? this us about his legacy in terms of opposition in russia?- opposition in russia? this is -robabl opposition in russia? this is probably the _ opposition in russia? this is probably the only _ opposition in russia? this is probably the only thing - opposition in russia? this is probably the only thing that| probably the only thing that supporters of alexei navalny can do at the moment. turning up for a solemn, religious ceremony, without carrying any political slogans. the administration of vladimir putin has made sure that the moment his opponents organise themselves into an effective force, they start being targeted by russia's security apparatus. so, it would appear that the kremlin is unwilling to target this gathering of people, for now at least, because the optics of that

would be good, especially for a government that is so firmly rooted in what it calls traditional or conservative values, arresting people outside a church or at a ceremony would look bad. as i say, there is a lot of police outside the church and at the ceremony where alexei navalny is due to be laid to rest later today. the authorities are taking absolutely no chances. that funeral is due to begin in around 40 minutes. we will speak to you again a little bit later. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news here in the uk. police forces are failing to record the ethnicity of many people reported missing — bbc analysis suggests. in almost a fifth of all missing persons incidents in england and wales in a twelve—month period — there was either no ethnic group recorded or the individual�*s

ethnicity was marked "unknown". the home office told bbc news it was funding a report into the issue. the government's announced that 19 cash—strapped english councils will be allowed to sell property and other assets to pay for services next year. councils are normally banned from selling assets to cover day—to—day spending. but the government's relaxing the rules for authorities in deep financial trouble — including birmingham and nottingham. a new species of sea slug has been discovered in uk waters. it was caught off the south—west of england from a research ship. the creature has been named pleuro—brankea britannica. it belongs to a group found in warmer waters — which could be migrating north due to climate change. you're live with bbc news. france is demanding an independent probe into the deaths of more than 100 palestinians desperately seeking aid from a rare convoy in gaza city, after calling it unjustifiable. the un says the last time aid

was delivered to northern gaza was over a month ago, leading to starvation. these drone pictures released by the idf show people swarming to the aid covoy. as international criticism mounts, israel has admitted that its soldiers had opened fire. the idf said they were concerned about security while most of the deaths happened in an ensuing crush. some palestinians say israeli troops fired directly at them. the un secretary—general, antonio guterres, said he was shocked to learn that over 100 people had been killed. he's called for an independent investigation to identify those responsible. president biden called the incident "tragic and alarming". he's also expressed concern that efforts to broker a temporary ceasefire between israel and hamas may now be in jeopardy. earlier, i spoke to our middle east correspondent yolande knell to know the latest

about the gaza aid incident. what is very clear from the pictures that we have seen is that these are completely desperate scenes, that people in north of gaza, as we have been told by the un repeatedly for weeks now, are starving. there has been a huge shortage of aid getting through. only this week, a few convoys have been allowed. this was a privately contracted convoy with aid coming into the gaza strip, with the israeli military overseeing proceedings there. we are told that people came from across the north of the strip, really making their way to this site on the coastal road, just south of gaza city, as an aid distribution point. there were chaotic scenes, as the aid arrived. still starkly contrasting accounts of what happened. when you hear from health officials in hospitals that dealt with the casualties, they were overwhelmed by the casualties in northern gaza.

they say that many of those they saw had gunshot wounds to the upper body and witnesses have said that lorries did run over people as well after israeli soldiers opened fire and people really began panicking. the israeli military has a very different story. it says most of those killed were crushed to death in a stampede as people were looting from the lorries, and that led to the lorries running some people over as well. they said that israeli soldiers fired only warning shots to try to drive back the crowds, and there was more than one incident that happened here. i think there are these calls for an independent investigation coming from the un. lots of calls from other international players for the facts to be made clear. people are shocked and appalled by the scenes, and most of all it underlines how much aid is desperately needed, and a plan to distribute aid, to get it through to the people who need it.

iranians are voting in their first elections since the start of anti—government protests 18 months ago, sparked by the death of a young women who'd been arrested for not wearing the hijab properly. there are two separate polls: one for members of parliament and the other for the assembly of experts, who are responsible forappointing, dismissing, and overseeing iran's supreme leader, the country's most powerful figure and commander—in—chief. the elections are seen as a crucial test of the regime's popularity. iran's rulers need a high turnout, but opposition groups have urged people to boycott the election. with more on this we have our bbc persian reporter baran abbasi, who is in our london newsroom. the turnout seems to be lower than expected? the turnout seems to be lower than exected? .. , the turnout seems to be lower than exected? , , the turnout seems to be lower than exected? , _ ., �*, expected? exactly. this year's election seem _ expected? exactly. this year's election seem to _ expected? exactly. this year's election seem to have - expected? exactly. this year's election seem to have the - expected? exactly. this year's i election seem to have the lowest turnout since the history of the islamic republic, since it was established 45 years ago. people are

grappling with an ailing economy, and also a protest movement, as well as systemic corruption and distrust in the government. so, a lot of people are expected to stay at home and not to vote. apart from opposition leaders, a lot of the people who once held power in the islamic republic, likely reformists, have boycotted the vote and called it a sham. they said it was uncompetitive. it is expected to have a very low turnout. the leader today, the person who has absolute power in the islamic republic, cast his own ballot and ask people to turn up to vote, saying that not voting does not solve anything. but it seems just like a desperate attempt on the part of the government to have people turn up. a lot of people say they have lost

hopein lot of people say they have lost hope in bringing about any meaningful change through the ballot box. and the guardian council as well, the hardline counsel appointed by the leader, they decide who can run in the elections. thousands of people have been barred from elections, from running. almost all reformists, a lot of independents and even centrist conservatives. it are only given the choice to choice from conservatives and hardliners. thank you for that. stay with us on bbc news.

hello and welcome to new delhi, capital city of the world s most populous country. lets take a look at what we have on the programme. as the country gets ready for elections later this year... mr modi stands tall, the cult is allowed to build up. ..we talked to the opposition... you need to be hungrier, you need to be bolder, you need to be more imaginative. ..we talk disinformation... there is a lot of propaganda and disinformation coming

from non—bjp handles. ..and we ask what matters. the most raw yet nuanced political conversations in india often happen at these type of tea stalls. hello, and welcome to this is india, and today we're talking elections. i'm samira and i am here with the one and only am wrenched from my sick bed. india is the world's largest democracy, an economic powerhouse on track to become the world's third largest economy. internationally, india is having its moment — courted by the united states as a global counterweight to china, and a voice for the global south. any day now, india will call elections. the results don'tjust matter to the people living in it. it matters around the world. now, there are dozens of political parties, but two really dominate — the ruling bjp and the congress.

before we get there, arunoday, lets talk numbers.