welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: bangledesh's prime minister, sheikh hasina, is declared the winner of the country's general election, as claims of vote—rigging emerge. but the main opposition has called the election farcical and is demanding a fresh poll. questions have been raised over the ability of a shipping company with no ships to run extra ferries in the event of a no—deal brexit. the uk government insists it was carefully vetted. time is running out for russia to hand over important anti—doping samples. a failure to meet the deadline could see new sanctions imposed. written out of history. why many black argentinians feel they are living in a country that doesn't recognise their cultural identity. 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 violent clashes. our correspondent yogita laymaye 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 are being arrested, and one candidate... which is 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. yogita limaye, bbc news, dhaka. shahnaz parveen from the bbc‘s dhaka bureau joins me live. what is the situation they are now? so there is an atmosphere of fear at the moment in this country,

because... but there were only 5% of votes for the major opposition party, so people are actually mostly staying in. they are not getting out. there is a fear of fresh violence, violence that we saw yesterday, already 11 people have died. and when i was coming to work this morning, there was no transport on the road. and the inter— net connection still blocked, and so far we are hearing the opposition party already rejected the polling results, and they were saying that this result is a farcical results, and they are asking for a fresh election. and they were saying that there doubt has come true, and that an election under a party is never going to be neutral in this country. and they have been already asking foran and they have been already asking for an election under a caretaker

government, and they are renewing the demand, and they asking for fresh elections. so far what we have seen as there is no violence in dhaka city, and today there might be some violent, because there were some violent, because there were some polling centres that had fresh violence yesterday, and there is a lot of fear in the city at the moment. how about the ruling party? how have they responded to these allegations of ballot tampering, given that those claims are so widespread? you see that there is a political culture of bickering between the two parties. so we have seen between the two parties. so we have seen this before happening, so the main opposition blaming the ruling party in the ruling party obviously denying it, and the same thing is happening now. the ruling party is rejecting all claims of tampering at the moment, and they are celebrating, and they are saying that the party that collaborated

with the islamist party or the party that collaborated with war criminals, they are, you know, they are out of bangladeshi politics. that's what they are saying, and the opposition is mentioned party that collaborated with the war criminals. so they are actually celebrating, and they rejected the claims by the opposition. thank you very much, and apologies for the slight difficulties with the lion that to dhaka. line there. 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 visayas and bicol regions had caused widespread landslides and flooding. local media say dozens of other people are missing or trapped by landslides. republican senator lindsey graham says president trump has reassured him he is committed to defeating the islamic state group before all us troops

are withdrawn from syria. the senator was one of several high—profile republicans who criticised mr trump's decision to withdraw troops, arguing it would hurt national security. the woman announced as the next chief executive of the premier league has told the organisation she has changed her mind. susanna dinnage was due to take charge in one of the most powerful roles in british sport in 2019, succeeding richard scudamore, who is stepping down after 19 years. she hasn't given any reasons for the decision. had she taken the job, she would have been the league's first female boss. here in the uk, the department for transport has defended its decision to award a contract worth millions to a shipping company that has never done any business. as part of the government's preparation for a no—deal brexit, seaborne freight has been contracted to transport goods vehicles between the english port of ramsgate and ostend in belgium. a bbc investigation has found that the company, which was formed less than two years ago, has no trading record and no significant assets. this report by our business

correspondentjoe miller does contain some flashing images. these are the large ferries that will carry thousands of lorries across the channel to relieve congestion at dover in the event of a no—deal brexit, as soon as march. but, while two large international shipping firms have been awarded contracts to provide extra crossings at locations like portsmouth and plymouth, one british business has been handed millions of pounds by the department of transport on the promise of reviving this terminal with a regular route to belgium. ramsgate's commercial port has been dormant for the best part of five years. currently, no large ferries depart from here. but the government has given almost £14 million to a firm called seaborne freight, which has never sailed a vessel and has no significant assets, to get a regular

service up and running injust three months. as of a couple of months ago, the company's total share capital was valued at £66. and this is seaborne freight‘s website, which says it serves the needs of cross—channel freight traffic, and claims that freight ferry services operate between ramsgate and ostend, even though there is as yet no such service in operation. one local councillor told me he believes seaborne is in no position to provide any service. as a conservative, ifeel that as a shell company, which is a company that exists just on paper, it is a complete waste of money, of £14 million taxpayers' money, to provide what will be an unsustainable service across the channel here at ramsgate. the department for transport acknowledges that seaborne freight, which was set up by seasoned shipping industry figures, is just a start—up, but insists it was carefully vetted. and the company's chief executive is adamant that it will have ships to provide a service in time for brexit day on 29 march.

but, when we asked them to name the vessels it would use on the route, the company declined to do so. a campaigner who opposes the use of ramsgate as a commercial port had a simple question in response. if you have ships, you can name them, but everybody in the industry does not believe seaborne freight has any access to ships at the moment. the government hopes it won't have to resort to contingency plans. it prefers a negotiated exit from the eu. but, regardless of whether seaborne's services are ever needed, it could keep some taxpayers' money. another example, say critics, of a failure to plan properly for a no—deal brexit. russia is expected to miss monday's deadline to hand over data from its moscow anti—doping lab. the world anti—doping agency controversially lifted a three—year ban on the country in september, on the condition samples were sent by the end of the year. a failure to meet the deadline would be embarassing for wada's leadership, and could see russia face fresh sanctions.

caroline rigby has more. for years, russian athletes broke records and dominated medal tables. it was too good to be true. after russia was found guilty of state—sponsored doping on a massive scale, it became a country in sporting exile. clean athletes forced to compete as neutral at events like the olympics. but, in the seychelles in september, the world anti—doping agency changed all that. it made the controversial decision to lift its ban on russia, on the condition that, by the end of the year, it hand over data from this moscow laboratory at the centre of one of the biggest ever scandals in sport. with the deadline almost up,

the chief of the country's anti—doping agency called on president vladimir putin to intervene. translation: we are on the brink of the abyss, and i ask that you protect the present and future of sport. but russia suggests the anti—doping boss simply isn't fully in the loop. translation: the director unfortunately is not completely aware of the work that is currently in progress between the russian side and wada, who are in moscow. he just does not know the details. in the meantime, cooperation is ongoing. but now, senior wada officials privately admit that the deadline is unlikely to be met, and that could see further sanctions against russia, and its athletes once again banned from international competition.

stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: 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. 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 world news.

the latest headlines: the main opposition party in bangladesh is calling forfresh elections after prime minister sheikh hasina secured a third term in power. however, there have been widespread claims of vote—rigging. christine fair from georgetown university's edmund a walsh school of foreign servicejoins me now. she has been an election observer in bangladesh in the past. surprised you buy these claims of

widespread vote tampering? absolutely not surprised at all. for the past 1.5 years or so, sheikh hasina has been doing everything she could to basically fix this electoral outcome. you know, elections are never wreaked on the day of election. there's a lot of preparation that goes into effectively reading elections as she has done. —— elections are never rigged. what makes you say there has been so much preparation?‘ rigged. what makes you say there has been so much preparation? a number of things. she has been very draconian in putting into place new legislation that essentially criminalised any criticism of her government. over the last year, there have been a number of detained and disappeared journalists. she has also used a really curious war on

drugs. there is a caffeine mix with amphetamine coming out of myanmar and she has been waging this war on this particular drug and curiously, it seems as if many of her political opponents turned out to be the people she is targeting even though in one case it wasn't a member of her own party ——it was a member of her own party ——it was a member of her own party at his constituency was on the border of myanmar and it seems as though he was heavily involved in the trafficking and yet the state was slow to respond to him and it was aggressively targeting other people suspected of trafficking. the list is just endless. the relentless persecution of critics of her government, the criminalising of criticisms and then most importantly she has been relentless in targeting her opposition. they have been raided by police, they have been arrested for

no good reason, they have been beaten up and they have been attacked. this has been an outcome that has been certainly anticipated by bangladesh watchers like myself and of course this comes on be, this is the 2014 election, there was another election that was deeply flawed. all of the international observation programmes basically issued it. in some sense, bangladesh has become a 1—woman country. —— eschewed. also herfather has become a 1—woman country. —— eschewed. also her father tried has become a 1—woman country. —— eschewed. also herfather tried to turn bangladesh into a 1—party country. you would think she would have learnt the lessons of her father. as everyone knows, her father. as everyone knows, her father was assassinated. it is hard to see any level of light for democracy in bangladesh. we will have two leave it there but thank you for your insight. thank you for

having me. 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. 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. 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. 8—year—old jack and 6—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, ‘cause 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. 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 their fellow argentines. 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 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 a 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. that is the wages looking this. thank you for your company. goodbye. —— the way it it is looking. hello. as we head into the final 24 hours of 2018, the weather is looking pretty quiet with high pressure dominating. this was the scene as the sun set on sunday in st andrews, beautiful colours there. and as we head through the final day, that high pressure keeps us largely dry and settled during new year's eve, quite a bit of cloud on offer. there could be a bit of rain in the north—west, particularly for north—west scotland. now, here is the area of high pressure that's holding onto our weather, here's the weather front approaching from the north—west. fairly tightly packed isobars in the north, so quite a windy spell of weather developing for northern parts

of scotland on new year's day. we've got some rain working through into the west, but it will become increasingly light and patchy as it moves its way further south across scotland. elsewhere across the uk, we're looking at a largely dry day, spells of sunshine breaking through after a misty, murky start to the day, and again, it's still mild, so temperatures around about ten to 12 degrees during monday afternoon. if you're heading out new year's eve evening then, most of us again dry, with a few clear spells, there could be the odd spot of rain just pushing south into central parts of scotland, but that rain will be easing. so if you're hoping to catch the fireworks, it is looking dry for the majority of the uk. pretty cloudy conditions out there for a time, but as that front weakens as it pushes south, it willjust be a band of cloud sitting across parts of northern ireland, into wales and central england first thing on new year's day morning. for most of us, it is still going to be reasonably mild. but things are turning colder from the north and that's 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's not really until tuesday night into wednesday that we see all this cold air really packing in from the north and things will feel quite different by then. this is new years' day on tuesday, more sunshine will develop across scotland, northern ireland and northern england too. further south, we keep some slightly cloudier skies. that breeze coming in from the north introducing some cloud across north—east scotland and eastern parts of england too. so temperatures in aberdeen only around 11 or so. we're still looking at ten to 11 degrees celsius down towards the south and the south—west of england. moving through then into the overnight period and that's when we see some frosty conditions developing. the blue colours on the map indicate where we'll see the lowest of the temperatures tuesday night. not quite as cold around some eastern parts of england with a little more cloud around, but as we start 2019, things are set to turn colder, the frost returns, but there'll be plenty of sunshine on offer during the day. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: sheikh hasina has secured a third term as prime minister of bangladesh in what is being described as a landslide victory. the main opposition has called the election farcical, as claims of vote rigging emerge, and is demanding a fresh poll. questions have been raised over the ability of a shipping company to run extra ferries in the event of a no—deal brexit. the uk government insists it carefully vetted the company, despite it having never run a ferry service before. the clock is ticking for russia to hand over samples to the world anti—doping agency. a failure to meet the deadline could see new sanctions imposed. wada controversially lifted a ban on the country in september, on the condition samples were sent by the end of the year. now it is time to take a look

at some of hardtalk‘s stand—out