to shore up his position as uk prime minister. what matters is the future of our country, that is what i am squarely focused on. as gangs tighten their grip on haiti — the first flight evacuating us citizens has landed in miami. hello, i'm annita mcveigh. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we begin in russia where vladimir putin has vowed to strengthen the armed forces and prioritise the war in ukraine, after yet another landslide victory in an election that western leaders have criticised as neither free nor fair. exit polls give him

87.8% of the vote in the presidential election — which was tightly—controlled by the kremlin, with no credible opposition candidate allowed to run. the electoral commission says turnout was 77% — which would be a post—soviet record. mr putin said the result demonstrated people's trust in russia's current path, and 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 his late critic, 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 protest. 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." let's get the latest from our bbc monitoring russia editor, vitaly shevchenko. first of all, the fact that vladimir putin mentioned alexei navalny by name, but she hasn't done quite some time. why did he do that? it is the first time that he mentions the name of his arch rival and most effective political opponent and you have got to wonder about the psychology of power in russia when the leads only mentions the name of his opponent after he has died. the latest we hear from moscow is that almost all of the

ballots counted, putin is getting more than 87% of the vote. he is winning big, at least according to the electoral authorities, controlled by the kremlin. we are also getting signs of how exactly this has been engineered. one of the three other candidates who appeared on the ballots give a news conference this morning where he said he was happy for vladimir putin to win, he had expected this result, and he called it a victory. also this morning, one of russia's biggest and most respected independent election monitoring group published a statement, even though it was not allowed to monitor the selection, it said that this is

the selection, it said that this is the worst election it has seen. it said it was all but impossible to see what sort of preference the public in russia had to, given the tight control of the electoral process. russia this morning woke up the same as it was yesterday or the day before, tightly controlled and ruled by vladimir putin, with no organised domestic opposition which could challenge his rule. thank you for that. more on that story coming up for you. to the middle east now, where israeli troops raided the compound of gaza's al—shifa hospital overnight. let's get the latest from our correspondent anna foster, who's in east jerusalem. anna. we have seen this morning people in that area around al—shifa hospital told to evacuate by israel defence

forces for their own safety, told to head towards the coast of gaza. not the first time al—shifa hospital has been raided. it has happened before. israel said that hamas had regrouped and once again operating within the hospital. hamas says that israel has violated international law by again targeting a hospital. people walk up there to the sound of heavy exchanges of gunfire in the early hours of this morning. this comes against a backdrop of talks resuming in the capital of qatar that you try and reach some kind of ceasefire deal between the two sides. we can speak now to a former defence attach a taxi for the qatari government. these talks have ebbed and flowed over the last few months. what is your assessment of where they are currently? it continues to unfortunately during the eighth day of ramadan, with

optimism. statement from qatari foreign ministry last week was it hopeful, remains hopeful, that around three weeks from now there would be a ceasefire. however that is a long way and with everything developing in the al—shifa area everyone is watching what is happening, and probably going to happening, and probably going to happen around rafah. we are going against the clock unfortunately and the death toll and humanitarian crisis is rising in gaza, as you know. we understand that there are sticking points from the reports that we have seen between benjamin that we have seen between benjamin

that i knew�*s —— between the government of israel and hamas. what is the sticking point? it is something that negotiators keep close to their vest but in coming days we will see more information coming out about what seems to be the sticking point. with the continuation of the plan of the government of israel going forward with an operation in rafah, and what we are seeing now at al—shifa hospital, fourth or fifth we are seeing now at al—shifa hospital, fourth orfifth incursion in the area, it is counter—productive to be doing that, and to be negotiating in good faith. these talks are inevitably slow because everything has to go through qatar, and each at that time is as well. we have suggested in the

israeli media that negotiating team had asked for a broader mandate from benjamin netanyahu, ability to make more choices themselves. we know that hamas team often had to go back and locate senior hamas leaders to run things past them, it all makes this a slower process.— this a slower process. yes. this is the nature — this a slower process. yes. this is the nature of— this a slower process. yes. this is the nature of these _ this a slower process. yes. this is the nature of these negotiations. | the nature of these negotiations. both the israeli side have to go back to the prime minister in israel, and the hamas political office has to organise with hamas backin office has to organise with hamas back in gaza. we have seen in the past that lead negotiators for israelis would approve something, and would be refused, and vice versa on the hamas site as well. these things are very delicate. the qataris and the americans with the egyptians at times have been pushing both sides to move forward in negotiations but the nature of the negotiations, the mechanics of the

negotiations, the mechanics of the negotiations, the mechanics of the negotiations, the ongoing military operations, as we are seeing today with al—shifa, does make things more complicated. thank you forjoining us. former defence a taxi to the qatari government. that is an interesting point. even as we talk about the ceasefire talks that are happening, we are also talking simultaneously about this new israeli raid on the al—shifa hospital and the continuing looming possibility of an israeli offensive in rafah, something israel has insisted it will happen. yesterday the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu made a statement after speaking to the german chancellor. the german chancellor echoed a message from world leaders that if israel is to carry out this new military operation in rafah it needs

to move people out of their way first. in fact benjamin netanyahu explicitly address that. he said he had given reassurances to the german chancellor and others that before israel went ahead with that operation that they would do that. it was perhaps the cleanest he has been. we will keep you up—to—date on that on bbc news website, that story and all the other main stories around the world and across the uk. this is bbc 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 had to cancel performances last year after being diagnosed with cancer. the m25 between junctions 10

and ii 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. and the government has been warned heat pumps are still too expensive and too few people know about them. to meet uk climate change targets, the government wants to install 600,000 low—carbon heat pumps annually by 2028. but only 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the uk in 2022. the national audit office says ministers are optimistic to think the target could be reached. you're live with bbc news. now more on speculation about the position of uk prime minister, rishi sunak. business secretary kemi badenoch has told conservative mps speculating about replacing him as prime minister to "stop it" and "end the psychodrama". there had been reports about some tory politicians wanting the leader

of the house of commons, penny mordaunt, to lead them into the next general election. in the last hour, mr sunak was asked about the speculation. here's what he had to say. i'm not interested in all westminster politics. it doesn't matter. what matters is the future of our country and that's what i'm squarely focused on. that's what i get up every morning, working as hard as i can to deliver, whether it's cutting people's taxes, increasing the state pension, today increasing the number of apprenticeships and talking to small businesses. those are the things that matter to people. as we've seen over the last few weeks, our plan is working. inflation is coming down, wages are growing, the economy is back to growing again. if we stick to this plan, i can deliver a brighterfuture for everyone in our country. that's what i'm doing. i mean, you say you want to focus on the big things for british people, so why can't you get your disloyal colleagues to shut up? all conservatives are united in wanting to deliver a brighter future for our country and that's

why we're cutting people's taxes — £900 for a typical person in work. we're increasing the state pension by £900 in just a few weeks. we're in the middle of one of the biggest expansions of free childcare that our country has seen. we're getting the number of boats down by a third last year, tackling illegal migration and today announcing new numbers of apprenticeships, supporting small businesses. these are all the things that matter to people and we are absolutely united in delivering for the country on these important matters. when it comes to election funding, why would you take £5 million from someone who you've said made racist comments? he's already apologised for these comments and my point of view is when someone apologises, genuinely expresses remorse, that should be accepted and that's that. when is the earliest those planes will take off to take asylum—seekers to rwanda ? yeah, i'm still committed to the timeline that i set out previously, which was we aim to get a flight off in the spring. it's important that we get the rwanda scheme up and running

because we need to have a deterrent. we need to make it clear that if you come here illegally you won't be able to stay and we will be able to remove you. that is the only way to properly solve the issue of illegal migration. we've made good progress. boat numbers were down by a third last year, so that shows that our plan is working, but in order to finish the job we need the rwanda scheme through. we're getting it through parliament. everyone is trying to block us, including the labour party, because they don't have a plan to tackle this problem. we do. i'm determined to see it through, get the deterrent up and running as quickly as possible. july or autumn for a general election? i spoke about this last week and many times before, but what matters is the choice at that election, the substance, and as we've seen over the past few weeks and we'll continue to see this week, our plan is working. taxes are being cut by £900 for a typical person in work. the state pension going up by £900. the number of boat crossings down by a third. waiting lists starting to come down. those are the things that we're focused on and if we stick with that plan, i can deliver a brighter future for everyone in our country.

that's the choice at the election and that's what we'll deliver. let's speak to our political correpsondent, harry farley. given the turnover of conservative prime ministers in the last couple of years one can understand why conservative mps might be speculating yet again about the leadership. but given what he has just said, how effective do you think rishi sunak is going to be at trying to shut this speculation down? what rishi sunak has just said as he is not interested in westminster politics. i think the problem for him is that westminster politics, or at least the conservative mps in westminster, are very much interested in him, and his future as the conservative party leader. i have been over in house of commons, the houses of parliament, this morning, and the mood among conservative mps is dire, to say the least. it is fractious. they had a very difficult week last week. lee anderson, the former deputy chairman

of the conservative party, joining the rival party on the right reform uk. and you also her reference they are met the conservative party donor and businessman frank hester and the comments he made a bit former labour mp diane abbott, and the perception from some was that those two rows were handled badly by rishi sunak and his team and ultimately conservative mps are looking at the same service that we can all see that show the conservative party trailing the labour party by a significant distance. and conservative mps, some of them, are thinking, cannot get any worse? i have been over the house of commons, you don't have a massive queue of tory mps waiting to see rishi sunak should go and we need to replace him. but it is fair to say that the mood is very fractious, and when thatis mood is very fractious, and when that is the case some conservative

mps at least, a minority, it is worth seeing, are looking at alternative options. one other point, the rwanda bill comes back to the house of commons today. that is the house of commons today. that is the government's plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda, the bill aims to block further legal challenges to that scheme, rishi sunak and the governance will be hoping that that can pass to the houses of parliament as quick as possible. each of get flights off to the wonder in the spring and he is hoping for some good news to tell his conservative mps. briefly, the opposition liberal party ahead in the opinion polls, it is looking very much a take on the conservatives on this territory, labour party talking about asylum seekers and foreign national criminals. yes, labour party opposed to government's remand that scheme,

when it goes back to the house of lords this week they are hoping to insist on further changes. the taliban in afghanistan has accused pakistan of carrying out air strikes which have killed at least eight people. a taliban spokesman says aircraft bombed civilian homes near the border with pakistan, and women and children were among those killed. he condemned the attacks as a violation of sovereignty. let's get more from our pakistan correpsondent caroline davies. tell us more about what has been happening. obviously tension is a very high in recent times. very high. in the last few minutes wejust had very high. in the last few minutes we just had confirmation from the foreign ministry here in pakistan confirming that pakistan did carry out attacks inside afghanistan territory stop the statement has come seeing that this money pakistan carried out intelligence —based

anti—terrorist operations inside afghanistan, they said the target of the operations was a particular terrorist group responsible, they say, for multiple terrorist attacks including one that happened on saturday. now they have talked about the fact that pakistan is concerned, they say they've had these conversations ongoing... seven soldiers were killed. yesterday at the funeral there were

comments by pakistan's new president talking about the fact that pakistan would do something to strike back. we also simultaneously heard from the defence minister hugh who was talking about the importance of the fact that he said that a lot of terrorist activity was coming from afghanistan. that is something that afghanistan. that is something that afghanistan has repeatedly denied. but as we can see, increase tensions here, finally went the afghans spoke about this they said this could have severe consciences for pakistan. the pakistan government might not be able to control. an artwork that appeared on the side of a building near finsbury park in north london is by the world famous graffiti artist, banksy. he's claimed the mural as his own in an instagram our reporter rachel mcadam has more. we now know that this mural is a

banksy. speculation going on this morning. a few clues that made him sure this was legitimate. the first is, there is a clear message. the messages that nature is struggling and we need to help it. it is spring, with no leaves on the street, that is what the artist has chosen to paint on the wall. the second thing he points out is the colour of the paint, it is the same as the local council street signs. he says that is the level of detail that banksy is the level of detail that banksy is for. as usual, the possibility of a banksy has brought excitement and speculation to the local area in person and on social media. one local resident posted this photo because she woke up and this was painted on the side of her flat. you can see that she looks pretty excited, just on her balcony,

smiling over there. the speculation can now come to an end because banksy has posted on instagram. this is the before. and this is the after. stay with us here on bbc news. in the next half hour we'll have more on vladimir putin and his victory in the russian general election. reaction from brussels for you. stay with us for that.

one band of rain pushing eastwards over night followed by a second band of rain, it could be heavy rain with gusty winds, gail is likely in the far north of scotland. it would be a mild night out there. this will brighten up in many places leaving just a a few showers. if you showers will continue in northern ireland. earlier heavy showers in scotland will move away, sunshine will come out, winds will ease. scotland and northern ireland, peaking at 16 celsius in the south—east of england. we could see rain in the south—west upended by the end of the day, that's where the front will move back northwards overnight and into wednesday, taking the rain northwards. some of that

rain affecting northern ireland, perhaps some southern and eastern parts of scotland. most of them a more likely from the into wales, through the midlands and across northern angling. scotland and northern angling. scotland and northern ireland are drier and brighter through the day. south—east of the debt may stay dry as well. quite mild, i6, 17 celsius. behind the rain to the north things are cooling off a little bit. we will see some rain over this week ahead but may not be too much rain across north—east of scotland, and we will properly mess most rain in the south—east of finland. wetter in the west, particularly across western parts of scotland. as we head into thursday winds picking up across northern areas, more rain into scotland and northern ireland. as we move to the end of the week at the weekend it is staying windy, but the wind direction is changing, coming to the north—west or the north, that will bring colder weather and lots of showers.

this is bbc news. the headlines: vladimir putin wins a fifth term as russian president and says he will prioritise the war in ukraine. western governments call the election a "sham". a bbc investigation has found that many women from malawi working in oman are being abused by their employers. the tiny critters posing a threat to australian wildlife —

why the country's senate is tackling fire ants. more on our top story now and russia president putin has suggested he may extend the invasion of ukraine to protect russian border regions. he was speaking after being re—elected in a vote which western countries have labelled a "sham". the european union said russians had been "denied a real choice". its foreign affairs ministers are currently meeting to discuss the election, the war and possible new sanctions against russia. live to our europe correpsondent nick beake. hello. what could these new possible sanctions comprise?— sanctions comprise? well, much like the results of — sanctions comprise? well, much like the results of the _ sanctions comprise? well, much like the results of the russian _ sanctions comprise? well, much like the results of the russian elections i the results of the russian elections were basically a foregone conclusion, the reaction from the various eu foreign ministers today

has been pretty predictable. there