and the battle over deep—sea mining — as the demand for permits increases, greenpeace says it damages pristine eco—systems. an artwork that's appeared on the side of a building in north london prompts speculation it could be by the world famous graffiti artist, banksy. we begin in russia where vladimir putin has vowed to strengthen the armed forces and prioritise what he calls, russia's special military operation in ukraine. he was speaking after a presidential election that was tightly—controlled by the kremlin. it delivered him more than 87% of the vote, and mr putin said the result had demonstrated people's trust, in russia's current path. he said when russians were united, no—one could

intimidate or suppress them. as our russia editor steve rosenberg reports, in a rare move mr putin also mentioned the opposition figure, alexei navalny, by name. for vladimir putin, six more years in the kremlin. russia's president is sounding more confident than ever. translation: whoever might want to intimidate us, - whoever might want to suppress us, our will and our conscience, they have never been able to do it, and never will. then, mr putin's first public comments on the death ofjailed opposition leader alexei navalny. translation: you may be surprised, but a few days before mr navalny - died, some colleagues of mine told me there was an idea to exchange him for certain people in prison in the west.

you can believe it or not. i said, "i agree," even before he had finished talking. but what happened happened. election results on russian tv, not a hold your breath moment. "the winner, by a mile and a half, vladimir putin." "what an incredible level of support and unity around the figure of putin," he says. "and a powerful signal to the west." but in this race, vladimir putin was, from the start, unbeatable. there were other candidates but no serious challenger. potential rivals here are swiftly removed from the political stage, forced into exile or put in jail. and elections, tightly controlled by the kremlin. but if they couldn't win, mr putin's opponents could at least protest. and they did, in many

parts of russia. opposition figures had called on russians to flood polling stations at midday, to vote against putin, or spoil their ballots, a symbolic protest against the system. we were here. i've never seen queues like this before at a russian polling station. before his death in prison, alexei navalny had backed the protests. it took courage to come. the authorities had warned that large crowds at noon would be viewed as illegal gatherings. ivan, not his real name, told me why he had come. it was important for me to see the faces of other people who would come here today, and to see that i'm not alone in my political views and that there are a lot of muscovites and other people who believe that russia can be another country, with another future. for now, there'll be no change in the kremlin. this election was never about would

vladimir putin win or wouldn't he? elections here are designed to ensure he wins, and wins big. from the outset, for the kremlin, this vote was about creating the impression that mr putin has a mandate from his people, not only for war in ukraine, but also for what he's doing at home, transforming russia into an increasingly militaristic society, in confrontation with the west. but across town, muscovites continue to pay tribute to alexei navalny, the man who had wanted to be russia's president. here, a ballot paper. in place of putin's name, navalny�*s. and this message — "he's the candidate we wanted." steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. oleksandra matviichuk, is head of the centre for civil liberties in ukraine — and spoke to me earlier. she told me what she thought

of putin's victory speech: it was a very suitable moment for putin to attack ukraine again. our international partners promised to be with us as long as it takes, but it is not secret that military support to ukraine, in the united states it is blocked, and other partners can't help us with artillery shells and ammunition and now we have a lack of weapons for the current moment. it is a brilliant time to attack and to occupy more territories. it is a genocidal war for us, it's a war about our existence. we have no other choice. we will fight because if we stop fighting, there will be no more us. let's look at the middle east now — and our correspondent anna foster is in eastjerusalem, over to you, anna. the israeli military have urged displaced palestinians around the

al—shifa hospital in gaza to evacuate for their own safety. this is after another is really read on the al—shifa hospital overnight. this is the biggest hospital in gaza. it has been rated by the israeli military before. people reported hearing sounds of exchanges of fire. israel said they had what they called credible information that hamas had regrouped and once again using the hospital as a base and command and control centre to launch operations. the cd detained around 80 people in those reads. hamas accuse israel of violating humanitarian law by targeting a hospital. let us hear a bit more from the idf. following concrete intelligence that demanded immediate action, we know senior hamas terrorists have regrouped inside the al—shifa hospital and are using it to command attacks against israel.

0ur targeted mission isn'tjust an operational necessity, it is a global imperative. 0ur forces have undergone specified training to prepare them for the sensitive environment and complex scenarios they may encounter. 0ur war is against hamas, not against the people of gaza. we seek no harm to the civilians that hamas is hiding behind, which is why we will conduct this operation with caution and care, while ensuring that the hospital continues its important functions. this is still an operating hospital, there are still medics and patients and there. there are also many people who continue to use the

al—shifa compound, many displaced palestinians who try to go there for shelter. speaking of displaced palestinians, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was making comments again yesterday about potential is really ground offensive in rafah, at the southern end of the gaza strip, where more than half of the population of gaza is now sheltering. major netanyahu has said repeatedly that israel intends to carry out a military ground operation to defeat what he calls the final elements of hamas. there are 1.4 million displaced palestinians there, that has led to international pressure on israel to come up with a plan before it carries out its ground offensive. benjamin netanyahu was meeting with the german chancellor yesterday. the german chancellor reiterated the need to get humanitarian aid into gaza and he talked again about protecting civilians during a ground operation. benjamin netanyahu

responded to that stop. i assured chancellor 0laf scholz that our goal in eliminating the remaining terrorist battalions in rafah goes hand—in—hand with enabling the civilian population to leave rafah. it is not something we will do while keeping the population locked in place. in fact, we will do the very opposite. we will enable them to leave because our consideration for reducing and minimising civilian casualties has guided us and will continue to guide us in the future. there is also an israeli team that has travelled to the capital of qatar today for continued talks on some kind of humanitarian ceasefire. this has been difficult to try and get both sides to agree on the language and the detail of such an agreement. but while that goes on

the humanitarian situation in gaza continues to deteriorate. joining me now is unicef spokesperson tess ingram. you have been doing new research particularly on the impact of children in the north of gaza. we did screenings of children under two all across the gaza strip. the results were staggering. we did screenings injanuary and again in february. the rate of acute malnutrition doubled in that period, from 15% to 31%. we are seeing a drastic and fast increasing the number of suffering from acute malnutrition, which is a serious and painful condition for children, that can often result in death. in the last 20 minutes the independent international group of experts that looks at the situation around the world for famines, the famine review

committee, has made an assessment that there is going to be a famine in the gaza strip projected between now and may. we are already in the period we are a famine has been projected in the gaza strip. explain how much aid is actually getting in at the moment? we know it isn't enough, but when it comes to distributing that aid robotically to the north of gaza, can we quantify the north of gaza, can we quantify the shortfall? the amount of trucks that have been getting into the gaza strip as a whole is less than we need. average 175 tracks per day in the first two weeks of this month. it used to be 500 before escalation in hostilities. it has reduced drastically at a time when it should be increasing, to meet the needs of this war. then that's monitored aid that we get, it comes in at the south, we had to move it the whole way up the slack strip to the north. along that we there is a security

and logistic challenges. there are restrictions preventing us bringing us much aid in as we need. unicef has specific treatment for these man children that could save their lives that we are not getting enough of it into the north of the gaza strip. we are calling on israel to fulfil its legal obligation under international humanitarian law, to provide food and medicine for these kids, and to facilitate our work. we have seen aids go in by ear, the first aid go in by sea, any —— we have seen aid go in by ear. if we can open up as many of the arteries for road access into the gaza strip that is the best option.

bringing aid n by tracks allows us to bring it in at scale, it is more cost effective, more efficient. that is what we are trying to achieve. eardrops and the ship are welcome but there are a drop in the ocean. —— air drops. there are other crossings that remain closed, we need those open so we can get trapped into the north with supplies that children desperately need. thank you forjoining us. as the world looks to move away from using fossil fuels, demand for deep sea mining

permits is increasing. there are tens of billions of pounds worth of metals and minerals lying on the ocean's sea bed, which could be used in renewable technologies. but what impact could mining have on marine life and coastal communities? 0ur climate editor, justin rowlatt reports. in november last year, a research vessel chartered by a mining company is assessing the impact of mining on the abyssal plain, the sea bed of the deep ocean. protesters from greenpeace board the vessel, hampering the research, according to the mining company. you might think this is the usual conflict between industry and activists, except that in this case the miners, like the greens, claim to be acting in the best interests of the planet. why? they claim the potato sized metallic nodules they are after are crucial to the green transition, and that hoovering them up from the sea floor is far less damaging than mining on land. this is what the miners are after. this is a polymetallic nodule.

they take millions of years to form and they contain cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese, all metals used in renewable technologies. the problem is getting hold of these destroys the creatures that live among them. for years, it was assumed there was little life in the cold, dark depths of the ocean. it's true there aren't many animals per square metre, but what scientists are learning is that what is there is far more diverse than was expected. but the abyssal plain is vast. it covers 40% of the entire surface of the earth. land makes up just 29%. mining companies say the area they plan to work is a tiny proportion of the total. i understand why the greens are cautious, but on this occasion they've got it wrong. let's go back to first principles. we should be carrying out extractive industries in parts of the planet where there is the least life,

not the most life. mr barron says greenpeace's approach is anti—science. as the world is saying, "give me more scientific evidence", here we were going back to an area that we had been harvesting these very same rocks from a year earlier. greenpeace, unfortunately, do not sit into that group that want more scientific evidence. what they wanted to do was to disrupt us. greenpeace says its protest wasjustified because the metals company plans to press ahead with mining before regulations have been agreed. there is so much science out there already which is urging extreme caution. 800 scientists, more than, have said we should not be transitioning right now to actually mining. we don't want to see licences coming forward... they're not transition to mining, they're collecting evidence, right? with the intention to put that into application... you've said we need more science and then greenpeace is blocking the effort to get that science done, aren't you? i think there's a big difference between tick box science

by a company that has a clear commercial interest in the outcomes of that research, and independent scientific research, which is helping us understand the complexity and the fragility of deep ocean environments. a decision about greenpeace's future with the international seabed authority will be made at the meeting injamaica. in the meantime, scientists continue to gather more information about the ocean depths. it's a new industry and we should be concerned and we should ask difficult questions. essentially, there's always a risk with these things. and collecting data, collecting evidence is the way to reduce that risk, to understand what it is, and then ultimately to make a decision. and i suspect that decision will be difficult. the really good news, says dr glover, is that decisions about regulating the collection of these nodules are being made before the industry begins. and that, he says, is very rare indeed. justin rowlatt, bbc news.

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. tributes have been paid to steve harley, who fronted the band, cockney rebel, and has died at the age of 73. his best known song — make me smile — reached number one in the british charts in 1975. he'd been forced to cancel performances last year after being diagnosed with cancer. the m25 between junctions 10 and 11 has re—opened after being closed all weekend, to demolish a bridge and install a new gantry. the daytime closure of the motorway — which is one of the country's busiest stretches — was unprecedented. national highways says the work was finished eight hours ahead of schedule. a fictional starship has landed on a 50p coin. the royal mint has unveiled its

latest collectable star wars pieces. collectors and fans can enjoy a feature on the coin depicting a silhouette of the millennium falcon and the rebel alliance starbird symbol. you're live with bbc news. a 47—year—old man has been arrested after a man and a woman were injured in two separate crossbow attacks in shoreditch, east london. the man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. following his arrest, officers searched the man's address. they discovered a crossbow, knives and other weapons. officers say they are keeping an open mind regarding the motive for the attacks.

after the selection vladimir putin mentioned alexei navalny by name. talk about how unusual that is. it is significant. putin would like to turn that page. you want to draw a line through the past. he tried to put some kind of dignity to alexei navalny in death, saying it was a tragic event, but also acknowledging that happened without denying it, but also seeing that is our past, now we are going into a different future. but it was quite a dignified gesture and i think it will be appreciated as such. how is the election being viewed globally? what is the reaction when it comes to the legitimacy of the selections?

western leaders have never had any reason to like putin so these elections are really did not face any real competition, does not improve his legitimacy in their eyes. the same thing can be said about the ukrainian leadership. in terms of turnout, of rations trying to vote, that was quite astounding, unprecedented. scenes of people queueing for six or seven hours in front of russian embassies, that is something that has never been seen. you measured ukrainian leadership. how did ukraine factor into this election? it is not a big issue because i don't think that their policy is going to change. my sense is that putin has sought to this re—election also because he feels that he does

not want to leave a legacy of the war in ukraine to his successor, he started this war, he has to end that. i think he sees it as his mission. thank you for all that insight. 0fcom has found that five programmes on gb news featuring tory politicians acting as news presenters broke broadcasting impartiality rules. 0fcom rules say a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer, or news reporter, unless that is editorial justification. it found that two episodes ofjacob rees—mogg's justification. it found that two episodes of jacob rees—mogg's state of the nation, two episodes of friday morning, one episode of saturday morning, failed to comply with the broadcasting code. joining me now is investigations editor for deadline and former media editor for the times. i would love to get your

reaction. we read the rules there. but these were not the only episodes featuring jacob rees—mogg's state of the nation, for example, that were in question, not all of them were investigated. this is a significant set of rulings from 0fcom. what we have now is some real clarity on a question that has been asked a lot in the last few months, which is, can sitting politicians effectively double as newsreaders? add in the five cases that 0fcom has investigated here, it has come down pretty heavily on the site of, no. it has five specific examples where newsreaders, politicians have effectively acted as newsreaders, in gathering information and then reporting it to

viewers in a way that has not been impartial stop a good example of this is that in may last yearjacob rees—mogg, the conservative politician, read out a new story about a ruling involving donald trump being found guilty of sexually abusing an american writer, and he delivered that news to his audience in an impartialway, delivered that news to his audience in an impartial way, sorry, without impartiality, that is the ruling that 0fcom has come to today. just briefly, before we have to leave this, what you think the feeling is going to be within gb news? how much do they depend on these sorts of programmes for their viewership? the feeling within gb news that they have fought these rulings. every single one of the investigations

that has been taken place by 0fcom, gb uses fought back against. they are now on notice that if they break these rules again in terms of politicians acting as presenters, then they could be sanctioned, and that could mean a fine. it is within gb news's interest to continue to observe these rules. thank you for your insight there. stay with us on bbc news. there is plenty more to come. hello again. the weather this week is going to be changeable. first half of the week will be mild, the second half of the week will feel colder with temperatures closer to average. today, we're looking at a lot of dry weather, sunny spells. there are one or two showers around, but as we go through the day they will tend to ease. that's because we've got a weather front pushing from the west to the east,

weakening all the time, bringing this line of cloud, possibly the odd shower. for most, it's going to be dry. it will be sunny. the sunshine turning hazy in the west later as rain arrives in northern ireland with strengthening winds, but still temperatures eight to 16 degrees north to south. as we head through the evening and overnight, our weatherfront brings its rain from the west towards the east, fragmenting and turning more showery in nature as it does so. it's going to be cloudy, it's going to be blustery and it's going to be another mild night with temperatures six to about ten degrees. we start off tomorrow on that cloudy note with some showers. a lot of these pushing over towards the east. we may end up with a band of cloud lingering in the far south—east, but a lot of dry weather following on behind with some sunshine. temperatures similar in the south—east to today, 15 or 16 degrees, and still quite mild for the time of year, nine to 12 to 14 quite widely. as we head from tuesday into wednesday, this is the front

lingering in the south—east, but it also has another attachment which is pushing northwards and eastwards during the course of wednesday. it's a waving front, so this forecast could well change, but what it looks like at the moment is we'll have all this cloud and rain across some central and eastern areas pushing away as we go through the course of the day. behind it, what you will find is brighter skies, some sunshine, but we could hang on to a bit more cloud and some showery outbreaks of rain in the far south—east. temperatures fresher in the north, but still mild as we push further south. as we head through thursday and into the weekend, look at the isobars over the next few days, they are squeezed so it's going to be windy at times. we've also got weather fronts drifting through, so we'll see some rain and then the wind changes through the weekend to more of a northerly. so the outlook basically is windy at times, there will be some rain and, as that northerly wind comes in, it's going to turn colder with some wintry showers on the tops of the hills.

the uk government announces less red tape for smes and a boost for apprenticeships, but with a survey showing uk manufacturing output is stalling, will it be enough to lift the economy? meanwhile, a mixed picture for china's economy. industrial activity rises, but the property sector

continues to slow. we'll assess the impact on the global economy. welcome to world business report. we start in the uk, where the prime minister, rishi sunak, has just delivered a speech on the economy. he has been setting out plans to support female entrepreneurs, cut red tape for businesses and boost apprenticeships. speaking at an event in the midlands, he said he wanted to make it easier for businesses to hire apprentices, investing £40 million into the apprenticeship budget. apprenticeships benefit young people and the businesses who hire them. but for smes, the system can be expensive and confusing, despite the huge progress. so, to ensure that funding is available whenever there is demand for apprenticeships, we're increasing the apprenticeship budget by £40 million, and for small businesses hiring young apprentices,

we will now fund the cost of their training in full.