this is bbc news. i'm karin giannone. our top stories: violence and claims of vote rigging in bangladesh's general election — as the governing party is returned to power. votes are being counted after historic elections in the democratic republic of congo but the poll is marred by delays and technical glitches. the parents of a british man murdered by his chinese wife win custody of their six—year—old granddaughter, but are forced to leave their grandson behind. and we meet the thai man who uses his pets to help bereaved people through their grief in bangladesh, the party of prime minister sheikh hasina has been declared the winner of the country's general election. but the main opposition parties have condemned the result and demanded

a new vote, amid accusations of vote rigging. at least 18 people have been killed in violence clashes. our correspondent yogita limaye is in the capital, dhaka. her report does contain some flashing images. clashes outside a polling centre in dhaka. they spot a reporter and try to stop him from filming. it was just one of the many violent incidents in bangladesh on election day. others were more deadly. but, in large parts, polling did go off peacefully. bangladesh's prime minister, sheikh hasina, has already been in powerfor ten years. tonight, the election commission declared yet another victory for her. she has been credited with bringing development to the country and tackling islamist militancy. but her government has also been accused of cracking down on the opposition.

two days before the polls, i asked her to respond. look, all the allegations they are making, but they couldn't prove it. on the one hand, they are placing allegations. on the other hand, they are attacking our party workers, leaders. the opposition has now called for a fresh election. people are being killed, people are being arrested. candidates have been arrested. it's unprecedented. unprecedented. these are workers from prime minister sheikh hasina's awami league, standing outside a polling booth, and this is something we have seen across the city of dhaka today. behind me, all the political posters you can see are also from the same party. in contrast, the presence of the opposition on the streets is really hard to find. translation: i was a bit worried that my vote might have been stolen, but i did get to vote. translation: all the parties did not get equal opportunities to campaign. that is why i did not cast my vote. in one part of bangladesh, the bbc saw ballot boxes which had been filled even before polling began.

those and all the other boxes were opened and counted, taking ms hasina towards a historic victory. but it is also a controversial one. polls have officially closed in historic elections in the democratic republic of congo. but the vote has been marred by long queues and broken voting machines. four people are also reported to have been killed in election—related violence. voters have been choosing a successor to presidentjoseph kabila who has been in office for 17 years. this poll has finally gone ahead after a two year delay — but it could now be the drc‘s first peaceful of transfer of power since independence. louise dewast has the latest from kinshasa. a warning — this report contains some flashing images. elections are underway, and they are chaotic. these people came to vote, but were turned away. this polling station wasn't ready, yet the country's electoral commission has had

two years to prepare. presidentjoseph kabila himself was able to vote. people desperately want change. in kinshasa, a sprawling city of 12 million people, most live with no electricity or water, despite the country's immense mineral wealth. the election means the future to me, so i have voted for the candidate who will bring for us a bright future, as he promised us to fight the poverty and to bring back the justice in the country. people here are very aware that this election could be flawed, that the vote could be rigged in favour of the ruling party's candidate. presidentjoseph kabila has repeatedly said that these elections will be free and fair, but not many here believe him. the fear is that president kabila wants his chosen successor to be in power so he can keep pulling

the strings behind the scenes, and then run again in the next elections. translation: we have always been afraid of vote—rigging, but we don't have a choice. we come to vote, but i really don't know if my voice will count or not. if these long—awaited elections are not seen as credible, this could trigger violence, and ultimately worsen the humanitarian situation in this conflict—ridden country. a lack of stability here could destabilise the entire region. louise dewast, bbc news, kinshasa. the outgoing white house chief of staff, john kelly, has given a wide—ranging interview to the la times. in it, he defends his sometimes rocky tenure, and says it is best measured by what the president did not do when he was at his side. mr kelly is leaving the white house on wednesday. the bbc‘s dan johnson

in washington told me more. there are some interesting insights here that shows where he differed from the approach of the president and is perhaps the key to why he is leaving the white house next week. he said, talking about the border wall, john kelly's assessment was that it was not a wall. he said very early in the administration, going back almost two years, they drop the idea of a continuous solid concrete wall across the border and even though the president still uses that language, john colley says the reality is the border security will be improved by increasing technology, putting more border agents on the board around by improving fencing in some areas, what the president referred to as steel flats. the idea of one continuous concrete wall, john kelly has shut that down as he leaves the white house. other issues he confronted, he defended the tough

sta nce confronted, he defended the tough stance on immigration but said he does have compassion for the migrants coming to the wall, something the president certainly has not shown over his period —— tweets over the christmas period. and he said that his time in the white house should be assessed by seeing is the president has not done, perhaps withdrawing from nato, something thatjohn done, perhaps withdrawing from nato, something that john kelly done, perhaps withdrawing from nato, something thatjohn kelly strongly argued against and the troops being withdrawn from syria and afghanistan. he had opposed it will bear was then quickly announced soon after he announced he would leave the white house. whatever decision donald trump makes he is always fully briefed on the facts. do we have any idea of where the two began to go their separate ways? john kelly was keen to impress the part of his role, a big part of hisjob over the last 18 months was in spending long long hour was trying to give the president the fullest briefings he could so that decisions we re briefings he could so that decisions were based on the best intelligence,

even though the president repeatedly said that he prefers to make decision on gut instinct, john kelly wa nts to decision on gut instinct, john kelly wants to defend his role in giving the president is much evidence to consider before making an important decision did in perhaps at that point, holding off from making a decision, getting the president to wait for more information. it may be that the president was impatient with that old of approach and he preferred to have someone as cheap as of who will carry out exactly what he wants and follows his wishes and urges to bejohn kelly said he did not approach this job for a political land, that it had to be impartial in that sense and on occasion to stand to the president and that is why many people respected john kelly and many on the other side, particularly democrats, who may followjohn kelly in that job, whether it can be someone who can stand up to the presidency at the moment we have an interim chief of staff, we are still waiting a permanent replacement. republican senator lindsey graham says president trump has reassured him he's committed to defeating the islamic state group before all us troops are withdrawn from syria.

this follows a meeting at the white house where mr graham hinted the speed of the withdrawal would be slowed down. the senator was one of several high—profile repulicans who criticised mr trump's decision to withdraw troops arguing it would hurt national security. a british couple whose son was murdered by his chinese wife, have won custody of one of their grandchildren after a long legal battle. ian and linda simpson are due to return to the uk later this week after reaching a deal during a court hearing over christmas in china. but they've been forced to leave their other grandchild behind. laura westbrook reports. eight—year—old jack and six—year—old alice have been at the centre of a long international custody battle. their british father, michael, seen here with them, was stabbed to death in his apartment in shanghai by his estranged chinese wife last year. weiwei fu is now serving a life sentence for murder. since their dad's death, jack and alice have been living

with their chinese grandparents. they haven't been told what has happened to their parents. their english grandparents want to raise them in the uk. but, in a heartbreaking decision, they had to agree to a custody deal to bring just their granddaughter alice back, leaving jack with his chinese family back in china. they will also have to pay them £10,000. ian simpson says bringing both of the children to the uk is what his son would have wanted. michael raised them very much in a western style. they spent a lot of time — they spent two visits a year over here. they speak english, and when... they were already talking about a divorce, weiwei, and she was — weiwei was happy that the children would go with michael, because he was the real carer. so, as far as we're concerned, that's where they should be. he has told the bbc that their campaign to have both of their grandchildren back in the uk will continue.

but, for now, these two siblings will live thousands of miles apart. laura westbrook, bbc news. the uk's home secretary has said britain and france will step up action to deal with the growing number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats. sajid javid, who has returned early from his christmas break, said he'd discussed the situation with his french counterpart. more than 200 migrants have made the journey in the past two months. on sunday six iranian men were found at kingsdown in kent. from there, alexandra mackenzie reports. cold, wet and exhausted — iranian nationals on a beach in kent. they arrived on an inflatable boat this morning. they received medical assessments and were questioned by immigration officials. this afternoon, the beach was busy with locals. it's fairly calm today. it is quite mild, but that's just not a crossing that people should be making.

the home secretary has spoken to france's interior minister. in a statement, he said... these are the shores that migrants are desperate to reach. but what happens next depends partly on how the problem is tackled across the water in france. here in dunkirk, volunteers help the migrants. it is thought government attempts to clear camps has led to organised crime gangs encouraging many to leave france. in boulogne, locals say boats have been stolen to aid these journeys. translation: here, it's very easy to get a boat to go to england. to steal a boat is easier than stealing a car.

if you use a professional fishing boat, the maritime authorities think it's a fisherman who's going fishing. back in kent, the coastguard helicopter surveys the shoreline, as many other migrants are expected to risk their lives on this perilous journey. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, kingsdown. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: foreigners in their own country — why many black argentinians feel they've become invisible to their fellow citizens. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got underway with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today and then we'll be in france, and again,

it'll be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it looks good. just good? no, fantastic. that's better. this is bbc news. our main headline:

in bangladesh, the party of prime minister sheikh hasina's been declared the winner of the general election, but the main opposition parties say there's been widespread vote rigging. let's get more on this now. i spoke to dr ali riaz from illinois state university about those allegations of vote rigging levelled by bangladesh's main opposition party. i think it has the credence, that their points are credible because if you look at the size of victory, it actually raises serious concern because throughout the whole day, what we have seen in cases in bangladesh is that apparently this was a peaceful election but things sort of started to change way before the day because there was an intimidation of opponents. there was ballot stuffing that we have seen and that is why it what we need to look into and focus on

before the election day, and even during the election day, it was recorded by the press that the claim by the opposition really has resonated at it has a credibility that we need to look into. you do not think success is that this government has had, i mean the economic growth in the in recent yea rs, economic growth in the in recent years, the personal popularity of sheikh hasina, you do not think that is enough to produce the sort of victory? no, i do not think the side itself —— size itself actually is a very dubious one. had there been a fair election, we could have known how much. if that is the case, if the authorities are so popular, why do they have to resort to this type of election? it is not only the victory, it is how the victory has been secured, and that is what we have seen in the past a, but it is

not inconsistent with what we have been witnessing the passed few yea rs. been witnessing the passed few years. —— past. we've seen how the democratic space has shrunk, how the opposition has been dealt with, and thatis opposition has been dealt with, and that is why at it is not only the issue of the economic growth issue, it is also a governance issue that was on the ballads, so to speak. given the climate of the recent yea rs given the climate of the recent years that you have described there, how have you rated the performance of the opposition under these conditions, did they stand a chance? —— ballots. conditions, did they stand a chance? -- ballots. they did not stand a chance on the get go because the electoral commission was not actually acting as a neutral actor, the administration to a great extent was politicised there, and also given that the opposition was facing its own problems because the chief

of the bnp is already incarcerated, all these problems were there but since tober, they came together. so they had opportunity to be a formidable opposition, if not winning. had there been a fair election, we would have known that. —— october. but at this point, what we have seen is not exactly a fair election. let's get some of the day's other news. a powerful storm in the philippines has killed at least 22 people. the philippine disaster relief agency said a tropical cyclone which moved through the eastern philippines's visayas and bicol regions had caused widespread landslides and flooding. local media say dozens of other people are missing or trapped by landslides. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has written a letter to the south korean president, moonjae—in, saying he wants to hold more summits to discuss peace next year. the letter follows three meetings between the two sides in 2018. talks over north korea's weapons programme have stalled since mr kim met the us president donald trump in singapore in june. police in morocco say they've

arrested a swiss national in connection with the murder of two scandinavian tourists earlier this month. the two young women, from denmark and norway, were found dead at an isolated hiking spot in the mountains south of marrakesh. the arrested man is also suspected of recruiting moroccans to carry out terrorist attacks. 200 years ago, around a third of argentina's population were black, but today, very few people admit to being of african descent. despite their huge and historical influence on society, black argentinians still face racial discrimination and are often treated as foreigners in their own country. our correspondent celestina olulode reports from buenos aires. there's nothing more argentine than tango, but many are unaware its roots are african.

for the afro—argentines whose families descended from the slave trade, they often feel like they've been written out of history, and invisible to fellow argentines. i don't know why there's no people from africa. my theory is that they are not here because they would like to live with people that like them. mistaken as foreigners, these are the people who face racism today. translation: i belong to an ethnicity that has been systematically denied. it hurts. it's deep, and it remains with you throughout your time. translation: it makes me feel angry to have to explain that i'm argentine, because my ancestors

did a lot for this country. argentines are always trying to be white and european, and this is why they feel that everything black is bad. jose delfin acosta died whilst in police custody 22 years ago. his brother, angel, who is of mixed heritage, says jose was beaten to death by racist police. the government says the case is being investigated. it's also been referred to an international court. translation: racism didn't end with the death of my brother. racism is still around. and ifeel very lonely when i'm defending my brother because the organisations don't do anything. 200 years ago, a third of the people in this city were black. now, official estimates claim that argentines of african descent make up less than 1% of the population of this country. although many people dispute this,

something i put to the government. how can you do yourjob effectively when so many people here, that i've spoken to, say that there are no afro—argentines here? translation: for a long time, society was not educated or informed, and did not value the contribution of afro—argentines. we are changing this trend. we need to recognise we come from this history. it's a hard task, but one which will help this country redefine its true national identity and celebrate its african heritage. celestina olulode, bbc news, buenos aires. a thai man has made it his life's mission to help people through their grief of losing a loved one, and he does this with a team of animals. take a look. pet therapy in thailand. new year's eve is almost upon us and one of the biggest celebrations is in new york, where they've been practising for the famous

ball drop ceremony. four, three, two, one, happy new year! event organisers did a mock countdown and flipped a giant switch that illuminated the flashy ball, made up of more than 2000 waterford crystals. the ball drop ceremony is the highlight of the event, which will be watched by more than 1 billion people globally. we will bring you full coverage of all the celebrations here on bbc world news. just to end on, two american college football fans were given a shot at a game in texas when a bald eagle landed in the middle of the crowd. the bird was called clark and he was meant to fly all around the stadium during the national anthem but instead, he decided to land at one fan's shoulder. another spectator was then more inviting, holding out his arm for him to perch on. 90,000 people were there at the play—off semi—final between notre

dame fighting irish and the clemson tigers. it is so much for watching bbc news. —— thank you. hello. as we head into the final tree flowers in 2018, the weather is looking pretty quiet with high pressure dominating. —— hours of. as we head through the final day, that high pressure keeps us not only dry and settle during new year's eve, quite a bit of cloud on offer. there could be a bit of rain in north—west, particularly for northwest scotland. here's the area of high pressure that is holding on oui’ of high pressure that is holding on our weather, use the weather front approaching the north—west. fairly tightly packed ice bars in the north, so windy spell of weather developing parts of scotland on new year's eve. it will become

increasingly lightened hutchi as it moves its way further south across scotland. it also across the uk, looking at a largely dry day, spells of sunshine breaking through after a misty, murky start the day and again, it is still mild, temperatures around about ten to 12 degrees during monday afternoon. you two heading out new year's eve evening, most of us again dry, if you clear spells, the odd spot of rain just you clear spells, the odd spot of rainjust pushing into parts of southern and central scotland but that rain will be easing. if you are looking to catch the fireworks, is looking to catch the fireworks, is looking dry for the majority of the uk. fairly cloudy conditions that at that band weakens as it pushes south, it will just that band weakens as it pushes south, it willjust be sitting across parts of northern ireland and wales first thing on new year's day morning. things are turning colder for the north and that is all down to the fact that this cold front is pushing its way south during new year's day on tuesday. it will be fizzling out, so reallyjust a band of cloud, not much rain on that front. high pressure still the

dominating force but it is not really until monday night into tuesday that we see all this cold air packing into the north and things will feel quite different then. this is newsday on tuesday, more sunshine will develop across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. further south, some slightly cloudy skies. but is coming in from the north introducing some cloud across north—east scotland, and northern england too. we are still looking at 1011dc down towards the south and south—west of england fall is not moving through into the overnight period and that is only season frosty conditions developing. the blue colours on the map indicate where we will see the lowest of the temperatures tuesday night. not quite as cold for eastern parts of england with a little more cloud, but as we start 2019, of things are set to turn colder, the frost returns but there will be plenty of sunshine on offer during the day. bye—bye. this is bbc news, the headlines: bangladesh's election comission has declared prime minister sheikh hasina's governing party as the winner of the national elections by a landslide.

but the main opposition alliance has described sunday's vote as "farcical" and demanded a fresh poll. they say the election was rigged. polls have officially closed in historic elections in the democratic republic of congo. the vote has finally been held after a two year delay, but it's been marred by techical glitches and voting irregularities. in a candid interview, outgoing white house chief of staff john kelly has reflected on his time with president trump and criticised the migration policies of his former boss. john kelly is due to leave the job on wednesday. a british couple whose son was murdered by his chinese wife — have won custody of one of their grandchildren. they must leave the girl's brother with his maternal grandparents in china. now on bbc news it's time to take a front row seat as mark kermode gives his view on the big releases of the year —