welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: no outright 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. heading north — a delegation from south korea is leaving for pyongyang — hoping to ease tensions on the peninsula. and — lights — cameras — action — the oscars are under way — sam rockwell and alisonjanney among the winners. —— allison janney italy appears to be on course 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% 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. our europe editor katya adler sent this report from naples. in polling stations across italy today, there was a sense of uncertainty. voters told us they wanted change but were not sure which political party to trust. translation: italians

are abused and frustrated. politicians need to hear our voice today. translation: i'm so worried about italy, i said a prayer before coming to vote. matteo renzi and other centre—left leaders running italy's current government, are preparing for a bruising at the polls. italians say that top concerns remained the insecurejob markets, frustration with the euro and mass irregular migration from africa. luigi di maio is the leader of the anti—establishment five star movement tipped tonight to become italy's largest political party. i caught up with him in naples this morning, just before he casts his vote. translation: traditional politicians have kept telling italians that everything is fine when it is not. my party's motto is to be amongst the people. but the political system here favours coalitions so his controversial party could be left out in the cold.

meaning this familiar face could be kingmaker instead. naples and the south of italy will swing today's vote. silvio berlusconi campaigned here this weekend, on behalf of a right—wing coalition peppered with populists, like this rising star, anti—immigration politician, voting today in milan. so what does this rather chaotic political picture mean for italy and europe? after all, this is the eurozone‘s third largest economy. confusion — or "confusione" as it's known here — is quintessentially italian. brussels is used to it, the financial markets seem prepared for it. they believe that a coalition government will water down more extremist populists policies on offer but how does that help italians get to grips with their problems? viola carofallo heads a civilian protest party in naples.

translation: these days, italy's politicians blame everything on immigration but that is a lie. youth unemployment, precarious contracts — that is our problem. that is why italians live badly. their vote is now cast, all italians can do is wait. today's election will be followed by weeks of political horsetrading — change does not come fast in italy. 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 thirty 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 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 five 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. most of them are civilians who have not been able to escape the war. translation: when the planes shelled, i could not see anything in front of me. i did not wait for the ambulance,

i started running. the air strikes have been followed by ground troops who are making rapid advances. the strategy seems to be to cut eastern ghouta in half. negotiations between the rebel groups and the russians have been going on for quite some time. it is not clear if the objective is a ceasefire or the effective surrender of the rebels. the biggest rebel group says it is regrouping after a retreat. the fighting is still going on, for the regime the prize is the end of the last major rebel enclave around damascus. for the rebels, these are desperate moments. jeremy bowen, bbc news, damascus. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. for the first time since the end of the vietnam war, the united states has sent an aircraft carrier to the country. the us navy says the visit

by the nuclear—powered carrier the uss carl vinson is intended to symbolise growing military ties between the two countries. 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% said no to the change. -- 7096. the swiss pay almost $500 a year for the public broadcaster, which runs tv and radio channels in all four national languages. south korea is sending a high—level delegation to north korea on monday for talks. the discussions are expected to focus on the prospect of resuming dialogue between pyongyang and washington. that delegation is then due to travel to the united states. our correspondent laura

bicker is in seoul. this is quite significant, isn't it? yes. this is a significant moment in a month of moments on this peninsula. on the etiquette guide, sending two high—level ministers, president moon is sending his security chief and intelligence chief, on the adequate side this is almost a reward for kim jong on sending his sister during the olympic games. it also reflects what president moon wants to get out of visit. he needs north korea to mention the word denuclearisation. why? that seems to be the precondition for any talks between north korea and the united states. widow from president trump this weekend who said there would be no talks with north korea until they

say they are willing to be nuclearised. —— we heard from president trump weekend it it seems to bea president trump weekend it it seems to be a big jump from taking part in the winter olympics to denuclearisation but if he can get them to try to get that wording to negotiations then he has a shot at getting the north koreans and the united states to talk to one another. everything has happened quickly. it seems as if many of these moves were unexpected barely eight weeks ago. however, the president did promise he would try a rapprochement with north korea, didn't he? he did promise he would sit down with north korea. we had mixed messages from the united states. rex tillerson said that they would talk as they wanted to talk. the vice president, who was here at the start of the winter olympic games and was scheduled to meet with

kim jong—un‘s sister before north korea pulled out. on the plane home, the vice president said if they want to talk they will talk. it seems that the us is determined there will preconditions to the talks. on the north korean side they say they are not having any preconditions. they said that through their state—run news on the weekend. they are continuing along the line that they are willing to talk to south korea, that they want to work towards reunification. what we need to keep in mind, things have happened quickly but there is a time clock going now because of military exercises between south korea and the us are due to resume in april. when those exercises resume, north korea usually responds with a missile. if that happens, tension could ramp up again on the peninsula. president moon is trying to act quickly after the winter olympic games and is trying to get

the us and north korea to talk to one another. just to add to those events, north korea has been saying that they plan to send athletes to the paralympic games taking plays place at next month. australia could become the first country in the world to read kate is a vital cancer. that is thanks —— to eradicate cervical cancer. it isa it is a quick injection. a vaccination against the human papilloma virus and its in survival rates for cancer in australia heading towards —— programme began in 2007. it could be the first to

eradicate the disease. hpv viruses isa eradicate the disease. hpv viruses is a sexually transmitted infection linked to almost all cancers —— cases of cervical cancer. the free vaccine was given to young teenage girls and then extended to other rages and boys as well. by 2016, eight in ten australian girls had been vaccinated. the vaccination rate dropped from 22% to just 1% in ten yea rs rate dropped from 22% to just 1% in ten years —— the infection rate. community helps protect those who are not vaccinated. despite the success , are not vaccinated. despite the success, cervical cancer rates are not vaccinated. despite the success, cervical cancer rates are still high in developing countries. its programme will could now serve asa its programme will could now serve as a model to help tackle the disease worldwide. do this here on bbc news. still to come, tributes are being paid to sir roger bannister, the first man to break the four—minute mile. 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 heard the news earlier and so my heart went 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 they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. 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. no grouping is thought to have won an outright majority. let's stay with that top story now. with me to discuss this is edoardo bressanelli, senior lecturer in european politics at king's college london. thanks at king's college london. forjoining us, you have i with thanks forjoining us, you have been with us all night and hopefully we've given you enough coffee to stay awake. the big question now is who will be the next italian prime minister? i'm sorry to say at this moment, this is impossible to answer. there may be different possibilities, the president of the republic, he is the one exploring

with the political leaders, who could have a majority in parliament because, as you said before, there's a party whose got plurality. there's a party whose got plurality. there's a coalition with even more votes who could be the prime minister but it's a question which still waits for an answer. who is the president likely to ask you to try first to form a government? luigi di maio is the leader of the five star movement and the five star movement is the first party. matteo salvini, the leader of the northern league, is the first party in the right—wing coalition. these are two of the key players to the president of the republic may ask you to start exploring whether he could form a collation in parliament which may be different from the one asking for the votes of the italian people and we can see whether the government can have confidence in parliament. it's worth

pointing out that luigi di maio, the leader of the five star antiestablishment movement, they have said in the past that they aren't really have said in the past that they a ren‘t really interested have said in the past that they aren't really interested in being in power, they want to be close to the people is their language is so how do they announced they want to form a government? the moment has changed and the movement is more mature. luigi di maio, he has a good communications strategy, he presented a governmental team, his ministers, before the election. there is a government in waiting for the five star movement but the problem for this party is they cannot do that alone. they need someone else. they need to party with someone else and if that doesn't happen then they can't form a government. looking north to germany, you have the grand coalition with the stb on the left and the cdu on the right, they have formed a government, could that happen in italy with the democratic party of the left and five star and

forza italia? -- stb. a scenario which we could roll out before the elections was a grand coalition between four to italia, led by berlusconi, and the democrats, led by matt, —— metteo renzi —— rule out. that is highly unlikely because the democrats got less than 20%. if you count the votes and the seats by the democrats, they might not have the democrats, they might not have the numbers. thank you very much. 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're 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 3:59.4 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 four minute miler was also perhaps sport's last great amateur. sir roger bannister, who has died at

the age of 88. 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. we are coming up on the climax of the oscars, just those big categories, best actor in the next few minutes, best actress and best picture still to come and we have just had best director, guillermo del toro, for the shape of water, this is one of the categories most people thought he would win and so he did and that film has also won for best music for its original scoi’e for best music for its original score and production design. running through a few of the other categories, the film with the most wins so far is... now it is equal three, it has film editing, sound

editing and sound mixing for dunkirk, equalling the shape of water and we have darkest hour winning for make up and hairstyling, phantom thread, the film about the fashion industry, appropriately winning for design. call me by my name, adapted screenplay winner, and a surprise win forjordan peel for original screenplay for get out, the black horror film that is now perhaps in the running for best picture. it certainly wasn't a few weeks ago but in the last few days people have said perhaps it could sneak in and take the top prize, it one at the independent spirit awards. we can talk to amanda hutchinson, and lindsey miller. how do you think the show has gone so far? my goodness, it hasn't been as predictable as we thought. far? my goodness, it hasn't been as

predictable as we thoughtlj far? my goodness, it hasn't been as predictable as we thought. i totally agree. i predictable as we thought. i totally agree. lam predictable as we thought. i totally agree. i am so excited forjordan, thatis agree. i am so excited forjordan, that is an amazing moment. the first african—american to win for best picture. this is for get out. for anyone who hasn't seen it, it's been out for a while, why has it captured the imagination of people perhaps late in the day in this oscars race? so many people have seen it and word of mouth. and michu for the oscars, it isa of mouth. and michu for the oscars, it is a comedy, it has a hint of comedy with a mix of horror. interesting flavour. daniel kerr loe, he is in black panther, such a great movie for the whole cast. i am so great movie for the whole cast. i am so proud of jordan, great movie for the whole cast. i am so proud ofjordan, an exciting moment for the history of black people! i feel like the show has felt like a manifesto, everyone saying this is what the new face of hollywood will look like, we will be inclusive and it feels like a statement tonight in a great way.|j

wa nt to statement tonight in a great way.|j want to talk about that because clearly this issue has been hovering ovei’ clearly this issue has been hovering over the entire awards season and people have been wondering how the academy awards, the grandfather of all the awards shows, how it would deal with it and it's been front and centre from the very beginning, from the first comedy monologue, it's been talked about in quite serious terms? it has, especially with ashley, and even the presenters did a greatjob, they were selected brilliantly and to have the three women who brought attention to harvey weinstein, that speaks to the academy trying to have a commitment towards creating change in our culture and industry. towards creating change in our culture and industrylj towards creating change in our culture and industry. i think it will be interesting to see how the rest of the night pans out because as we wei’e saying, some rest of the night pans out because as we were saying, some of these awards have been a surprise and it makes the best picture race more interesting. i can tell you how it has panned out for gary oldman, he has panned out for gary oldman, he has got best actor for darkest hour, portraying winston churchill of

coui’se. portraying winston churchill of course. he was portraying winston churchill of coui’se. he was one of portraying winston churchill of course. he was one of the favourites. gary oldman winning for darkest hour. we have the best picture to come. of all the years we've been talking about the oscars, none of us really know, it's a cliffhanger and we should know within the next half an hour. thank you very much for that, peter bowes and your team in los angeles. and a good win for roger dickens as well. yeah, 14 nominations, he's had ovei’ many years well. yeah, 14 nominations, he's had over many years he's been working ovei’ over many years he's been working over cinematography and good for him he managed to win it. peter bowes in los angeles. i'm excited. i rooted for get out to win best picture but who's listening to me? you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i will be tweeting if get out wins that best picture awards. cabaye. —— best picture award. goodbye. 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‘s not just going to magically disappear. 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. south korea is sending a high—level delegation to north korea on monday. the discussions are expected to focus on the prospect of resuming dialogue between pyongyang and washington. that delegation is then due to travel to the united states. the us is calling for north korea to end its nuclear programme. now on bbc news, hardtalk.