welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's nkem ifejika. our top stories: no out—right winner in italy's general election but the anti—establishment five star movement says it holds the balance of power. as syrian government forces advance into eastern ghouta, president assad insists the offensive will go on. delegates at china's annual parliamentary session are expected to rubber stamp a proposal allowing president xijinping to rule for life. and — lights — cameras — action — the oscars are underway — and sam rockwell is one of the early winners. italy appears to be heading for a hung parliament, with exit polls suggesting that no group has won a majority

in the country's general election. the anti—establishment five star movement is projected to be the single largest party — italian media is saying it's won more than 30 per cent of the vote, that's several points more than the centre—left. the polls are just that — exit predictions. but they suggest the five—star movement will end up with 34% of the vote. the centre—left democratic party of prime minister paolo gentiloni is projected to get 18.1%. and the anti—immigrant the league 15.8%. it's unclear if forza italia of the former prime minister, silvio berlusconi, with 13.9%, will be the single biggest party within the centre—right coalition. in polling stations across italy

today, there was a sense of uncertainty. voters told us they wa nted uncertainty. voters told us they wanted change at were not sure which political party to trust. gestation mac italians are abused and frustrated. politicians need to hear oui’ frustrated. politicians need to hear our voice to do. translation: am so worried i said a prayer before coming to vote. leaders of running the government are preparing for a bruising at the polls. top concerns remained the insecure job bruising at the polls. top concerns remained the insecurejob markets, frustration with the euro and mass irregular migration from africa. luigi di maio is the leader of five star movement the to become italy's biggest political party. translation: traditional politicians

have kept telling italians everything is fine but it is not. my aim is to be amongst the people. but here coalitions are favoured so his controversial party could be left out in the cold. meaning this familiarface could out in the cold. meaning this familiar face could be out in the cold. meaning this familiarface could be kingmaker in stead. naples and the south of italy will swing today's vote. silvio berlusconi campaign here this weekend, half of a right—wing coalition peppered with populists like this rising star voting today in milan. so what does this rather chaotic political picture mean for italy and europe? after all, this is the third largest economy in the eurozone. confusion is quintessentially italian. brussels is used to it, the financial market

seem prepared to it and they believe a coalition government will water down more extremist populists policies on offer but how does that help italians get to grips with their problems? concession mac these days, italy's politicians blame everything on immigration but that isa everything on immigration but that is a lie. —— translation:. youth unemployment, that is our problem. that is why italians live badly. their vote is now cast, all italians can do is now way. political horsetrading will follow. change does not come fast in italy. earlier i was prematurely introducing my guess. nadia urbinati is professor at political science at columbia university in the united states. she's currently in the italian city of bologna, observing the elections. any surprises from the expert paul?

——x any surprises from the expert paul? ——x of poll a few. any surprises from the expert paul? --x of poll a few. the instance, the five star movement movement got many more voters than it was supposed to. so, yes. the coalition, the dosage of voting inside the right—wing coalition also was an object of surprise because la lega, are strongly xenophobic party, got more preferences than the more moderate silvio berlusconi party. so it is a rear “— silvio berlusconi party. so it is a rear —— readjusts the far—right. the

south—east totally completely five star movement. with some the region receiving 50% of the vote. luigi di receiving 5096 of the vote. luigi di maio's party, the five star movement. isn't this a game changer if they decide they could form a coalition? —— is this. if they decide they could form a coalition? -- is this. well, this is what they have to be able to convince the other parties that they are serious they say they want to enter in the conversation. now they use the word conversation and dialogue on issues. but in fact they

are still in the process of learning how to enter the kind of coalition strategy and language. but since they are learning very quickly because they have shown to be great campaigners. they had a fantastic electoral campaign so perhaps, we hope so, because we do not have any hopes at this point to have a stable majority, that they can learn how to make a coalition. first of all, they have to enter in a kind of dialogue with the other forces because they have to elect very soon the speaker of the lower house and the senate. actually, first the senate and then the lower house, in order to start

the lower house, in order to start the process of the formation of a new government so the process of the formation of a new government so they have the very quickly adjust themselves to a mentality of adjusting and mediating and compromising. let's see. thank you very much. we will talk more about the italian election later in the programme. as syrian government forces advance into eastern ghouta, president assad has insisted the offensive will go on. his words came amid reports that hundreds of civilians are fleeing the enclave. the united states has strongly condemned the assault, as well as russian and iranian backing for it. a monitoring group says more than 30 people, including children, were killed on sunday, and that the army has now taken about a quarter of ghouta. our middle east editorjeremy bowen reports from damascus. these people said their entire village was moving because the syrian army had arrived. one man cursed the russians

and iranians, key allies of the regime. air strikes, he said, including banned cluster bombs, had not stopped. translation: it has been four days, no fuel, no bread, no food, no water. where is the world? where are human rights? we are humans, not animals. 400,000 people live in eastern ghouta, an area of fields and small towns about the size of manchester. translation: my name's abid. when the planes shelled, i could not see anything in front of me. i did not wait for the ambulance, i started running. the strategy seems to cut eastern

ghouta in half. it is not clear if the objective is a ceasefire or the effect of surrender of the rebels. the biggest rebel group says it is regrouping after a retreat. the fighting is still going on. for the regime at the major enclave around damascus. for the rebels these are desperate moments. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: crown prince mohammed bin salman of saudi arabia has arrived in egypt. it's his first foreign trip since he became heir to the throne. prince mohammed was welcomed at cairo airport by president abdel fatah al sisi. saudi arabia and egypt are close allies. voters in switzerland have rejected a proposal to abolish the mandatory

licence fee for public broadcasting. in a referendum, more than seventy percent said no to the change. the swiss pay almost $500 a year for the public broadcaster, which runs tv and radio channels in all four national languages. the annual session of china's parliament, the national people's congress, has opened in beijing. premier li keqiang has been outlining the government's economic forecasts. delegates will spend the next two weeks thrashing out policy and direction for the nation but one proposal has the world watching — a change to the constitution that would allow president xi jinping to stay in power indefinitely. let's speak to stephen mcdonell, our correspondent in beijing. has it that the announcement happened yet? no, that will be at some stage during the congress. probably in about a week ‘s time

that they will have a vote on that but i have to say the national people's congress probably will not knock this back. i do not think the congress has ever reject the proposal from congress has ever reject the proposalfrom china's congress has ever reject the proposal from china's communist party leaders and, especially since this is dealing with issues shipping's extension of his term i think it is highly unlikely that the congress would not vote in favour of it. what else are they talking about? absolutely, something else began the sea is this new body announced. there are some concerns about this body because it could be that it about this body because it could be thatitis about this body because it could be that it is going to be set up in a similar way to the existing anticorruption similar way to the existing anticorru ption body within similar way to the existing anticorruption body within the communist party. if that is the case, that means that people who are not party members can be detained, taken away for months on end, held

in secret locations, accused of corruption and then, with a heavy reliance on their confessions, to send them away to prison. about 1.5 million people have been punished in this way but this new body is going to extend this power to a group of nonparty members and i suppose some would defend this and said corruption have to be stamped out a human rights organisations and academics and the like have criticised this because it is extrajudicial punishment, processes, giving people little chance to defend themselves. an awful lot on the books of this. we have two weeks, an extra five days of discussion, so a lot to talk about— the environment, the economy. we have seen targets set. for example,

at the moment, that premier is speaking in the great hall, the speech is being several hours, and we are getting more information about what is being, what plans the government has for the next year. we will bring you every twist and turn over the coming weeks. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: tributes are paid to sir roger bannister — the first man to break the four—minute mile — who's died at the age of 88. first, the plates slipped gently off the restaurant tables, then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards, and it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched on to her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans have successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news

earlier and so my heart bang, bang, bang! the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights as citizens of the united states, and they should be protected, even in the right to test them out, so that they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospitals. this religious controversy, i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you that it's going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end, as they say. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the anti—establishment five star movement says it may hold the balance of power following the italian general election. the grouping is thought to have won an outright majority. let's stay with that top story now. with me now to discuss this is edoardo bressanelli,

who is senior lecturer in european politics at king's college london. thank you a lot forjoining us. how important is this for the european union? it is very important, even though we have to wait to see what the final result is going to be. exactly, because it isjust the final result is going to be. exactly, because it is just a projection so far. we count the votes a nd projection so far. we count the votes and only count the votes, will be able to say something more specific and of course the effect, the five star movement is the first party, is very significant because its platform is eurosceptic, to say the least, if not anti european. and the least, if not anti european. and the second part is the d democrats are the second party, the third party, the northern league is also very eurosceptic, and if they get together, well, we do have a eurosceptic government. you have the

five star movement which is antiestablishment, and for a long time they have said they are not particularly interested in government, they want to be close to the people as i think five star movement said, who is their leader, how likely is that they would get some kind of coalition with the league? you are very right, there is a political issue here and then there is the outcome of the vote. if we look at the projection for the senate right now, majority is possible. if you sum up the votes of the five star movement and the league. it is not possible if you just stay in a centre—right coalition. politically though, it is difficult and a different question because the movement has not been accepting, parliaments up to now. we have to discover whether the movement will change its strategy to try to get into government and of course, whether the league will accept an offer from government for

the movement. you describe these parties as eurosceptic parties. what is it mean in practice? for if you had a ukip like you're in the united kingdom, their platform will be a referendum to pull the uk out of the european union, which eventually happened and which has eventually taking place. want to be the same in italy, or what do they want? taking place. want to be the same in italy, or what do they wannm taking place. want to be the same in italy, or what do they want? it is difficult to say what kind of euroscepticism the movement is embracing. in european parliament, they are allied with nigel farage, thatis they are allied with nigel farage, that is the group they are in in the european parliament but then if you asked me specifically, there would be several associations by these parties in recent times, so it is not easy to capture exactly what kind of you as is and what kind this

movement will have, in case it will ever form movement will have, in case it will everform government. movement will have, in case it will ever form government. we'll be looking at that in the coming hours as those results come in, and over the coming days of course, as talks ta ke the coming days of course, as talks take place. tributes are being paid to an icon of british sport, sir roger bannister, who's died at the age of 88. in 1954, he was the first person to run a mile in underfour minutes. joe wilson looks back at his life. newsreel: 25—year—old roger bannister, third from the left. there are some moments of sporting history which become part of the world's history. he's decided that this is the right moment. what roger bannister achieved in 1954 was like a lunar landing for 20th century sport. bannister‘s old friend and rival chris chataway is in third place, waiting him time to take over as pacer. to run a mile and stop the clock before it reached four minutes — in 1954, this was a magical number, a barrier of human achievement. a feat that would redefine what was humanly possible. and it would fall to a young medical student to achieve it. after two—and—a—half laps, brasher gives way to chataway.

bannister, a superb tactician, has suffered some criticism in the past for adopting his own rather unorthodox training methods. but they are paying dividends now. at this point, it becomes quite painful. i overtake chris chataway and begin the finish. and here he comes. bannister goes streaking forward with about 250 yards to the tapes. every stride counted. the tape broke at three minutes 59.4 seconds. and bannister has done it. though he's out on his feet, his coach and team manager tell him he's achieved his ambition. it might have felt like the world stopped when that clock stopped. "four minute mile" was a sporting catch phrase everyone recognised. well, all i can say is that i'm absolutely overwhelmed and delighted. it was a great surprise to me to be able to do it today, and i think i was very lucky. there was certainly a feeling of it

being a national event, and something of a landmark for the country. sir roger bannister was a hugely influential figure in sport. especially for those whose athletics careers came after. roger was a great athlete. he would tease seb and i in later years about had he been around in our day and had better tracks and better shoes and better training methods, he would have beaten us. he was one of the cleverest people i think i've ever met, and he was, in equal measure, modest as well. he never really got what he did and it wasn't a front. laura muir is the most recent athlete to continue great britain's middle distance tradition, giving everything to win a silver medal at the world indoor championships this weekend. she studied medicine to become a vet, and recognises her link to bannister. i think he was very influential and very sort of inspirational to a lot of people, and certainly to me,

that you can combine, you know, academics and running. sir roger bannister was knighted in 1975. athletics was only a small part of his life. he regarded his work as a neurologist as more significant. when he was diagnosed with parkinson's disease, he described the gentle irony that a neurologist should find himself with a neurological condition. training for roger bannister in athletics had been half an hour a day on a cinder track. the world's first for minute miler was also perhaps sport's last great amateur. —— four minute. after a year of turmoil in the film industry, hollywood has once again rolled out the red carpet for the oscars. let's get more now from our correspondent peter bowes in los angeles. unhappy man because one of my favourite actors has an oscar. yes, sam rockwell winning for best supporting actorfor

sam rockwell winning for best supporting actor for playing the racist cop in three billboards outside ebbing, missouri. that was the first big announcement of the evening. many other awards, the first big announcement of the evening. many otherawards, i the first big announcement of the evening. many other awards, i will just run through a few of them for you. the shape of water has run its first production design, dunkirk, the wartime film directed by christopher nolan winning two in sound editing and sound mixing. darkest power, make—up and hair styling, and costume design for phantom thread, which is very appropriate because it is all about the fashion industry. with me here on sunset boulevard in the centre of hollywood is amy nicholson, a film critic, and lesley miller, the cultural director of the website pop sugar. let me ask you about the tone of the show because it has all been about the sexual harassment all away to this awards season. how do you think they have dealt with it at the oscars? it is interesting because one of the leaders of time's app

said they were going to stand down and really not make it as much about the movement, atjimmy kimmel has addressed that many many times during his monologue, so is clearly not shying away from it. imagine that many more times than was expecting. i was surprised by it but it is still being the talking point of the awards season, so it would be completely tone deaf to ignore it completely. thank you. let's talk about icarus, which was a documentary or about doping in the sports industry. it was more of a thriller than a documentary. absolutely. icarus knocked me off when i saw it at sundance last year. it was about vladimir putin trying to be the votes, we were making that joke the day that it premiered because the internet went down all the tickets got scrambled, and everybody was thinking vladimir putin has not want anyone to see this documentary. of all is that we

have been covering the oscars, it is impossible to predict whether it going to be the shape of water or five star movement. this is the closest picture race i have ever seen, ithink closest picture race i have ever seen, i think it could conceivably be five films in the race, which is ridiculous. i really thinks that luigi —— i really think that three billboards outside ebbing, missouri has the momentum at the moment. there has been some controversy about the racial element of that movie. a little bit, it about someone movie. a little bit, it about someone not on movie. a little bit, it about someone not on here movie. a little bit, it about someone not on here telling us about what america is like riding the heartland. both of you, thank you so much. the oscars still have a long way to go, we will talk to you later. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @nkemifejika. bye— bye. hello.

thanks forjoining me. ijust want to bring you right up—to—date with how we see the next week of weather for the british isles. given the extent and the severity of the conditions that we endured last week, no great surprise if i tell you that the snow is not going to just magically appear. things will gradually improve, and for that we have to thank an area of low pressure, which will supply relatively mild airs from the atlantic, rather than dragging in cold air yet again from the near continent. but that mild air comes at something of a price. it'll be a murky start across the central and southern parts of the british isles. further north, as we drag moisture into a colder regime across scotland, so we will see further snowfall, mostly on the hills but some of it getting down to lower levels. and in the south, some of those showers really quite heavy and prolonged. from monday into tuesday, that low pressure still very close by to the british isles. notice we're dragging a weather front ever further towards the north, and again, as things dry out under fairly leaden skies across england

and wales, so we push that moisture on the front up into a pretty cold regime. and again, for the most part across the high ground, that's where we're going to see further significant snowfall. further south, it's a fairly quiet sort of day. and as we get from tuesday on into wednesday, you'll see there are very few isobars across the south. so again, it could be pretty murky. sunshine rather in short supply, there will be some brightness, there'll be the odd sharp shower in the south. looking further north, i think the snowfall becoming confined to the north—western quarter, so some relief at last for southern and eastern parts. northern ireland, a smattering of showers, a little bit of sleet perhaps across the highest ground. still pretty quiet as we move from wednesday to thursday. this middle section of the week marked by some night—time frosts, and because the days are just that little bit cooler, there could be a little bit of wintriness about the showers, particularly across the higher ground of northern britain. further south, the weather front may just introduce some rain to the channel islands and to some of the channel coastal counties. temperatures not quite as widely

in double figures as they may well have been at the first half of the week. we may develop a low pressure close to scotland, so unsettled fare there. we may eventually drag some weather fronts with milder air up into the south—western quarter of the british isles as well, but in between, a pretty quiet sort of day and those temperatures just beginning to ratchet up by a degree or two in the beginning of the week. so this is the lineup for the week ahead, becoming slightly milder. it will be a bit unsettled and there could well be some snow, particularly for scotland. this is bbc news, the headlines: the anti—establishment five star movement says it may hold the balance of power, following the italian general election. no political grouping is thought to have won an outright majority

but five star, which was established less than ten years ago, has emerged as the single biggest party. the united states has issued its strongest condemnation yet of the syrian government assault on the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta. president bashar al assad said the offensive would continue and dismissed assessments of the humanitarian situation in the enclave as ridiculous lies. the annual session of china's parliament, the national people's congress, has opened in the capital beijing. the parliament is set to endorse the constitutional amendments that will remove the two—term limit for the presidency. this will allow president xi jinping to stay in power indefinitely. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.