welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is gavin grey. our top stories: vladimir putin wins another six yea rs vladimir putin wins another six years as a resident of russia. he's also dismissed britain's claims that russia was behind the poisoning of former spy, sergei skripal. syria's president assad visits soldiers fighting rebels on the frontline in eastern ghouta. and it's a medical breakthrough, say scientists — after stem cell transplants are used to treat multiple sclerosis. vladimir putin has secured another six—year term as russia's president

following a landslide election win. he told supporters he saw the result as a vote of confidence in his achievements and in the country. speaking at a news conference he spoke about the ongoing dispute with britain over the poisoning of a russian spy. he insisted that his government had no chemical weapons and had nothing to do with it. these are the latest figures from the russian central election commission. with 98% of the vote now counted, mr putin has won 76.6% — hugely ahead of his nearest rival — the communist party candidate pavel grudinin. he's won just under 12%. the far—right nationalist vladimir zhirinovsky is on a bit less than 6% the election commission put turnout at 67% — a little more than the previous presidential election in 2012. steve rosenberg reports... he has been centrestage in russia

for the last 18 years. tonight, by the kremlin, vladimir putin thanked his people for re—electing him their president. "we are destined to succeed," he said. "russia, russia!" they chanted. but, in putin's fourth term, are russia and the west destined for a cold war? later, the president dismissed british accusations that he was behind the nerve agent attack in salisbury. translation: it is rubbish, drivel, nonsense, to think that russia would do something like that ahead of a presidential election and the world cup. president putin's pitch to voters had been to stick with me and russia will be strong.

and many russians believe that. "he is a genius", he said. "putin wants russia to prosper and for us to live in happiness." she says "it is thanks to putin that russia still exists". however, critics of the kremlin says that the election was fixed and only those candidates who stood no chance of unseating vladimir putin were allowed to run. the problem with russia is that there is no such thing as russian politics. politics has been eliminated in russia altogether. there is only one political institution in russia and that is the physical body of vladimir putin. which is why vladimir putin was always going to win this vote. this election was not about choosing a new president, it was about reappointing the old one. and although many russians support vladimir putin, crucially, it is the political system he has built in russia that guaranteed him a landslide win. these images are

embarrassing, however. caught on cctv, a woman stuffs a ballot box near moscow. suddenly, there are two of them at it. and during a vote count in siberia, balloons are moved to cover the camera. election officials say they will investigate. but the results will not change. neither will the name of russia's president. international chemical weapons inspectors will arrive in south—west england later on monday. they are trying to verify the type of nerve agent used to attack the former russian agent and his daughter. the british foreign secretary has accused russia of making and stockpiling the agent. whatever the weather, the decontamination work and forensic investigation in salisbury goes on. two weeks after the chemical attack

on sergei and yulia skripal, it is clear that one focus of the enquiry is his bmw, amid suggestions that the chemical agent may have been placed there to ensure the occupants were poisoned. a team of international chemical experts arrives in salisbury tomorrow. they begin a further independent investigation. yet today, the foreign secretary went further than ever, blaming russia and lifting the veil a little on secret intelligence. borisjohnson says it shows that russia has been making nerve agent within the last decade. we have evidence within the last ten years that russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents or the purposes of assassination, it has also been creating and stockpiling novichok. the foreign secretary also dismissed and derided the suggestion from one of russia's most senior diplomats that

the nerve agent used in salisbury could actually have come from britain's own military research facility. porton down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the united kingdom. it has been dealing with chemical weapons and research. and it is only eight miles from salisbury. you are not suggesting that porton down is responsible for this nerve agent? i don't know. however theresa may's government got solid support from the shadow chancellor after criticism ofjeremy corbyn‘s more questioning of approach. vladimir putin has questions to answer because this is likely to have been a state execution. what we do not do in this country is we do not leap to conclusions without evidence. as the investigation continues, the government will focus on broadening international backing for britain's stance. on tuesday, there will be discussions as to whether or not a second round of measures against moscow

will be launched at the risk of an endless tit—for—tat. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. facebook has announced a comprehensive internal and external review to determine whether the personal data of 50 million users has been compromised, after reports of misuse by political consultancy company cambridge analytica. the firm's ceo alexander nix has been called back before a committee of mps here in the uk. facebook will also be asked to testify. donald trump's white house lawyer says the president is not considering firing the special prosecutor robert mueller. earlier in the day trump criticised mueller‘s probe into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election calling it a witch hunt. this prompted media speculation and unease among senior republicans. three people have been killed and at least twenty three were injured after a fire broke out

at a hotel in manila in the philippines. the blaze raged for over nine hours before it was brought under control. 300 guests were evacuated. the cause of the fire is not yet known. syria's president bashar al—assad has visited soldiers in eastern ghouta — an area his forces have been trying to retake from the rebels. these images — published on a syrian presidency facebook page — show him surrounded by troops. a monitoring group has confirmed that government forces and their allies now control some eighty% of eastern ghouta. thousands more civilians fled on sunday. but a pro—rebel website says there's been relative calm for the first time in a month. the turkish president says the northern syrian city of afrin is now under turkish control after its troops backed by syrian allies, entered the city centre. turkey has been engaged

in a two—month battle with kurdish fighters over the city, in northern syria. the kurdish administration of afrin says its forces will now strike turkish and allied militia positions at "every opportunity". mark lowen reports from istanbul. the sound, not of battle, but of celebration, syrian rebel fighters backed by turkey, taking the town of afrin after a lightning advance. their flags marked the new order here. the ypg, kurdish militia, had promised to fight to the death in afrin, but in the end, their resistance looked to melt away. afrin fell within hours, the vestiges of the ypg ripped away. in the name of god the merciful, we are now inside afrin liberated from terrorism, says this fighter, the city has returned to the syrian revolution and we call on all residents to come back. the scars of this two month—long offensive are everywhere,

a town encircled and besieged, residents fleeing the turkish advance. over 150,000 people are said to have escaped in recent days. a triumphant president erdogan announced the success. turks from all sides have rallied behind an offensive, targeting a group they say are linked to kurdish militants within turkey. crushing age—old foes is a rare uniting force in this otherwise polarised country. translation: most of the terrorists have already fled with their tails between their legs. our special forces and members of the free syrian army are clearing the remaining pockets of resistance and the booby traps left behind. in the centre of afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving, instead of the rags of terrorists. as a kurdish statue in central afrin was torn down, a bad omen for the much—needed reconciliation. many residents who will return are kurds, hostile to turkey and syrian arab fighters.

but in some areas of afrin, the rebels were welcomed as liberators, the question now is whether turkey will push on to other ypg—held territory. that will be discouraged by the west, which sees the kurds as vital allies. but for now, victory is being savoured, and eight years into syria's war, each side continues to carve it up. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. returning to our top story now and the re—election of vladimir putin as the re—election of vladimir putin as the president of russia and his denial that russia was involved in any way in the nerve agent attack in the uk. ariel cohen is a russia analyst with the american think tank the atlantic council. hejoins me now from washington dc. we will talk about the election in a minute. let's firstly talk about the

deny all that there was any involvement in the nerve agent attack in the uk. do you have thoughts on that? there were previous denials. the russians denied that they shut down the malaysia an airliner, mh17, over eastern ukraine. they denied that the syrian government used chemical weapons in syria. to the history of denial goes way back. the simplest explanation is that mr skripal and his daughter were poisoned by agents who had access to the novichok chemical weapon at the nerve agent. but if there is a clear explanation of how the russian controlled chemical agent fell into anybody else's hands, and vladimir putin has that explanation, and who the

perpetrators were, i'm sure the british government would be interested in hearing that. having said that, clearly the attempted murder, mass murder, iwould said that, clearly the attempted murder, mass murder, i would say, said that, clearly the attempted murder, mass murder, iwould say, is causing russia a lot of problems vis—a—vis the global stocks are, football championship. as well as a horrible image. so why would the russians be doing something as horrendous as that, like they did to the previous by? i think there is very little doubt they were behind the move 2009 murder of another spy. sorry to interrupt. in terms of vladimir putin, he wants to know why he would have done it shortly before an election under world cup was to mark among other things is because at this point russia and russian

leadership considered european leaders, including theresa may, but also angela merkel and emmanuel macron as weak leaders. there is no unity. there are frictions within europe over brexit. there are problems with mr trump over trade wars. so the question —— connection between the atlantic allies is wea ker between the atlantic allies is weaker than in many previous year. putin is taking advantage of that. also, probably, sending a message to anyone who would defect and disclose anyone who would defect and disclose any type of secret like the people who disclose the secret is about the olympics doping, that they will be dealt with harshly. thank you very much for your time. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: saving the world's biggest fish. we meet the man who's rescued 500 whale sharks. today we have closed the book

on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, fainting, headaches and the dimming of vision, all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle —— the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. it was an international trophy and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's what the voters wanted.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: vladimir putin wins a landslide victory in the russian presidential election, securing another six years in office. he also dismissed suggestions from britain that russia was behind the poisoning of former spy, sergei skripal and his daughter. well let's stay with that story and listen to president putin's comments on the nerve agent attack in britain and the issue of chemical weapons. translation: in relation to the tragedy you mentioned, i learnt about it from the media and the first thing that came into my mind was that if it was a military operation, people would have died straightaway. this is number one.

secondly, russia does not have those weapons, russia has demolished all its chemical weapons under international supervision, unlike some of our partners who haven't done it yet. and we are ready to pour a great. we set it straightaway. we are ready to ta ke set it straightaway. we are ready to take part in investigations. but there has to be interest from the other side. as for — and also, i think that any person with common sense understands that it doesn't make any sense for any buea russia to do this. just before the

elections and before the world cup, but despite all these difficulties, we are prepared to work together. we are prepared to discuss any questions and overcome any difficulties. thousands of people in the brazilian city of rio have marched in honour of marielle franco, a human rights activists gunned down last week. franco, a black woman from one of rio's most violent favelas, campaigned against police brutality. andrew plant reports. rio de janeiro on rio dejaneiro on sunday afternoon. this is the latest of several demonstrations in brazil: a protest over a murder that many believe was a targeted assassination. it made headlines across brazil and around the world. marielle franco was eight popular local politician, killed

alongside her driver last wednesday. translation: never tried to silence marielle franco said a message to the world. we need to know who the coward was that did this. translation: they killed her like she was an insectjust translation: they killed her like she was an insect just to get translation: they killed her like she was an insectjust to get her out of the way. but they don't realise that when they killed her, it made thousands more resolute. thousands will nowjoin in the fight to continue what she started. campaigner for the country's poorest, she spoke out against perceived police brutality in brazil's impoverished favela districts. brazil has used the army to try to stem violence. news of her killing spread around the world on social media. her name was treated millions of times and her death was

mourned everywhere from new york to paris. many here believe she was targeted because of the outspoken criticism of brazil's police and security forces. officials they had bet is still being investigated. meanwhile, campaigners say more marches are planned across the country. andrew plant, bbc news. scientists say they've achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, after the results of an international trial involving stem cell transplants. doctors in sheffield in northern england were part of the study, which showed an improvement in symptoms and the progress of the neurological condition halted. around 100,000 people in the uk are affected by ms, as our medical correspondent fergus walsh explains. so nice to finally get out. it feels like my diagnosis wasjust a bad dream. before her transplant, louise willetts from rotherham had severe relapses, attacks of multiple sclerosis. at one point, she was in a wheelchair. it also affected her mind — she struggled to read and follow conversations. now, she's completely well and has a newborn daughter too. it does feel like a miracle.

almost have to i pinch myself and think, is it real, is it really gone, will it come back? i don't live in fear any more so i actually live every day as i want to live it, rather than around my ms. ms is caused by a faulty immune system, attacking the brain and spinal cord. symptoms include balance and muscle problems, fatigue and loss of vision. the bbc‘s panorama followed louise's treatment. originally developed for cancer patients. a high dose of chemotherapy was given to knock out her immune system. then these healthy stem cells, taken from louise's blood and bone marrow, were infused. unaffected by ms, the stem cells rebuilt her immune system. now, more than two years on, she's back at sheffield's royal hallamshire hospital for a check—up. hi, hi louise.

hello. nice to see you. the mri shows there is no active disease in her brain. but i'm really delighted at these scans. so this is really good news. yes, it is. the results of this trial are, quite simply, stunning. it should mean that many more ms patients are offered a stem cell transplant with the hope of stopping the disease in its tracks. it can fundamentally alter the course of patients with ms who've got resistant and disabling disease. the stem cell transplant involves a one—off cost of £30,000, no more expensive than the yearly fee for some drugs. it's not suitable for all ms patients, but the life—changing results with louise and others are plain to see.

fergus walsh, bbc news. well sharks are the world's largest fish. they are endangered and are used to be severely hunted off the coast of west india. the practice is 110w coast of west india. the practice is now banned, and fishermen are even encouraged to rescue and release whale sharks that get tangled up in their nets. the bbc went to meet one man who has rescued more than 500 -- 500 whale sharks. this is bbc news. hello there.

after another very wintry weekend, we are heading closer to the spring equinox, and the weather will turn slowly milder through this week. but on sunday, here was the scene in york. we had a lot of fresh snow fall across eastern parts of the uk, and also in the south—west too. in fact, we've had an amber warning in force from the met office for that heavy snow. it expires at 3am. but 20 centimetres of snow in one or two places. so we are likely to see ongoing travel disruption in the south—west, even after that amber warning has expired. we've still got this cold easterly wind, with biting windchill in the south once again. the winds won't be a strong, though, as we had through monday, down to the fact that high pressure is building, and that will bring a lot of dry weather too. bitterly cold to start monday morning. temperatures around about —2 or —3 degrees, even in the towns and cities. it could be as low as —8 degrees across parts of scotland. still some snow showers lingering

in the south—west early monday morning. particularly down towards the channel isles, and perhaps along the south coast of england we will start to see a few more snow showers. but a lot of dry weather as we work our way further north across the country. a really sharp and widespread frost first thing in the morning. plenty of dry weather on the cards away from the far south. we will continue to see a few snow flurries, particularly in the channel isles, with other places looking dry. cloud working in from north—east england and eastern scotland too. could be a flurry of two of snow under that cloud. temperatures still on the cold side for this time of year, 4—7 degrees. certainly not as cold as it was during the weekend. through the week ahead, things are set to turn milder. after a largely dry start to the week, there will be some rain later on in the week. but high pressure dominates the weather through monday and on into tuesday as well. winds are coming in from a slightly the different direction. not quite as cold, although still, temperatures not doing great for this time of year. on tuesday, a weak weather front bringing some rain showers in parts of wales, as well as to the south—east.

elsewhere, a largely dry day. best of the sunshine for parts of northern ireland, western scotland and north—west england. temperatures around 6—9 degrees by the time we get to tuesday. and then as we go to the middle part of the week, you willjust start to notice the yellow colours. this is the milder air mass which is starting to move in from the atlantic, pushing away those cold easterly winds that have been with us for some time. for wednesday, it's a north—west, south—east split. southern and eastern areas, largely dry and bright with some sunshine. there will be some patchy rain for scotland and for northern ireland. temperatures take a little below average for this time of year, but we are back into double figures. that's it for now. bye— bye. this is bbc news and these are the headlines. vladimir putin declares victory in russia's presidential election winning another six years in office. most of the ballots have 110w in office. most of the ballots have now been counted with around three quarters backing vladimir putin. president has hailed his victory as

approval of his policies. and a victory rally in moscow he also dismissed the suggestion his country was behind the poisoning of a former spy was behind the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in the uk. earlier, british foreign secretary borisjohnson earlier, british foreign secretary boris johnson accused earlier, british foreign secretary borisjohnson accused russia of making and stockpiling the nerve agent used in the attack. and scientist say they have achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of old pulls clarissa is after an international trial involving stem cell transplants. study showed an improvement in symptoms and progress of the neurological condition halted. now on bbc news,