this is bbc news. the headlines: western intelligence suggests putin isn't being told how badly russia's offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence, at every turn over the last month. russia proposes a ceasefire in the besieged city of mariupol to allow civilians to leave. more than 150,000 people remain trapped. it's the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with the virus. a review of the home office's handling of the windrush scandal has found a "lack of tangible progress or drive" to make changes — and says more progress must be made.

the organisers of the oscars say will smith refused to leave the ceremony after hitting chris rock — and they've started disciplinary proceedings against him. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. american and british intelligence officials say president putin is not being given an accurate picture of events on the ground in ukraine. an accurate picture of events a white house spokesman said mr putin was being misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how badly the war is going for russia. that view was echoed by sirjeremy fleming, the head of the uk's security and intelligence agency gchq - he also said that mr putin had overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. 0ur security correspondent, gordon corera, reports.

what is really going on inside the kremlin? and just how isolated is russia's leadership from the reality of events in ukraine? western spies say they believe vladimir putin is not getting the full picture. speaking in australia, the head of britain's gchq intelligence agency said that putin had got things badly wrong. it's clear he's misjudged the resistance of the ukrainian people, he underestimated the strength of the coalition that his actions would galvanise, he underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. morale in the russian military was low, he said, troops sabotaging their equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. but putin had been shielded from the full reality.

even though we believe putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what is going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime. the gchq director's comments echo those of us officials, who said they thought putin was being misled and that there was growing tension between him and russian defence officials. we would concur with the conclusion that mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn, over the last month. western spies seem to have had real insight into the kremlin. they warned well in advance the invasion would take place, and that putin was misjudging how it would play out. now they think he's still not being told the full truth about what is really going on in ukraine,

and that worries them, because it means he might make further misjudgments which could extend the war. 0n the ground, the war has not gone according to vladimir putin's original plan. what's not clear is how far he understands that, and what he will do next. gordon corera, bbc news. 0ur correspondentjenny hill in moscow said there's been very little reaction from moscow to this analysis from the uk and us. we have had a very dismissive response from the kremlin spokesman, who said these intelligence agencies don't understand the kremlin, they don't understand vladimir putin and they don't understand how decisions are made in russia. the kremlin, as you know, continues to insist that everything is going according to plan. state media continues to parrot that line. if you watch state tv here, and for many people it is the only source of information, you probably do believe that russian troops are currently involved in a special operation,

an honourable and necessary one, to rescue russian—speaking populations of eastern ukraine, but also to protect russia itself from the aggressions of neo—nazis and nationalists next door in ukraine. and you probably do also believe that it's going very well. we have regular, upbeat briefings from the defence ministry here. another one this morning, talking about the advances made by russian troops. last night, on one tv programme, a military pundit said not only is it going very well, but this will go down in the military textbooks of the future, that future armies will look to the russian troops as a shining example of best practice. jenny hill reporting. the ukrainian government has sent 45 buses to evacuate civilians from the devastated southern port of mariupol, where tens of thousands of people have endured weeks of russian bombardment. russia has agreed a one—day ceasefire to allow people to leave, although there is scepticism that it will hold. this is the latest map of russian positions in ukraine.

the us says only a fifth of russian forces around the capital kyiv have actually moved from the area, despite a declaration by russia earlier in the week that it would pull back. from lviv, our correspondent, anna foster, sent this report. five weeks into this war, ukraine is bracing itself for a new offensive. its forces are now preparing to resist a fresh assault on the eastern donbas region. days after russia said it would move troops away from the capital, kyiv, the city still reverberates with the sound of shelling. translation: we do not believe anyone. - we do not trust any beautiful verbal constructions. there is a real situation on the battlefield and now this is the most important thing. we will not give up anything, and we will fight for every metre of our land and for every person. here in lviv, and across ukraine, there is real anger towards the russian invaders. emotionally, how do you feel about russia?

emotionally? i just hate them. we are ukrainians, we have our own country, our own culture and we will keep it. for millions of people, this city has been a gateway — a route out of this war. those who stayed behind share their pain. i don't feel these people are strangers. they are sisters and brothers, truly painful. it tears me apart and today it is 4 million people and there is a possibility it will be 6 million people tomorrow, and it also can come to my family and my home. in the besieged city of mariupol, thousands have been trapped for weeks. there's no power and medicine, food and water are hard to find. this satellite image shows hundreds of people queueing outside a supermarket. stranded and cut off, getting hold of food has been tough.

translation: we are dog poor, standing by the fire, homeless. i how long is it going to take? we have nowhere to take a shower, we're drinking water from god knows where. the ukrainian government has now sent 45 evacuation buses to mariupol. today, russia says it will briefly ceasefire there so people can finally leave but that promise has been made before and broken. anna foster, bbc news, lviv. oil prices have fallen sharply after reports that the us is set to take new steps to bring down the cost of fuel. the war in ukraine has rocked global energy markets in recent weeks over concerns that supplies would be cut. the cost of brent crude — the benchmark for oil prices — is still almost 70% higher than it was a year ago. a little earlier my colleague reeta chakrabarti spoke to our correspodnent katie prescott, and started by asking what this all means for consumers. oil prices soared since the conflict in ukraine because russia

is such a key supplier, it's the second biggest in the world after saudi arabia and at one point we saw the oil price hit $140 a barrel, as anyone filling their car will have noticed. this is a global issue so what president biden is doing, we expect later, is to announce the american government will put a million barrels extra a day into the global system to push up supply and try to bring the price down. will it work? we saw the price of oil drop about 6% when reports of this announcement came out earlier. analysts say it probably will be effective in the near term, certainly for this year. what needs to happen to increase supply to match what we are losing from the russian market will be for other countries to follow suit and we will have to watch that in the coming days. let's get more now on the intelligence reports from the us that vladimir putin has not being told the truth about how badly things

are going on the ground — and reports also from the head of the uk government's security and intelligence agency, gchq, that russia appears to have "massively misjudged the situation" in ukraine. joining me now is the military analystjustin crump — ceo of sibylline — a country risk advisory company and justin is also a former british army tank commander. thanks forjoining us. why has the us and uk intelligence services made this statement? i us and uk intelligence services made this statement?— this statement? i thinkjeremy flemin: , this statement? i thinkjeremy fleming. the _ this statement? i thinkjeremy fleming, the director - this statement? i thinkjeremy fleming, the director of - this statement? i thinkjeremy fleming, the director of gchq| this statement? i thinkjeremy - fleming, the director of gchq said, the way that western intelligence has been promoted to the public throughout this crisis, going back to well before the invasion itself, and you may recall the uk and us governments and nato indeed for that matter, openly talking about putin's ambitions and the plans to invade and this is part of that trend in general. beyond the obvious ofjust sharing information that is known and declassified, to promote that

engagement in the information space, the other big point is by blaming putin's advisors for this strategic mess, there is also a hint that this is a way for him to get off the hook, so this is a bit of a de—escalation measure by the us and the uk, who share intelligence very much, to give something to putin here. ., , , much, to give something to putin here. . , , ., here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of _ here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what _ here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the _ here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the uk - here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the uk and - here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the uk and the | here. the kremlin has been rather. dismissive of what the uk and the us has said, from what we gather, but how much resonance would it really have with vladimir putin? it is how much resonance would it really have with vladimir putin?— have with vladimir putin? it is not surrisin: have with vladimir putin? it is not surprising that _ have with vladimir putin? it is not surprising that they _ have with vladimir putin? it is not surprising that they would - have with vladimir putin? it is not surprising that they would not - surprising that they would not receive this thing very well, and it does have elements of truth and we are already aware of tensions with putin's intelligence advisers, and we have heard a lot about of tensions with the fsb, his own service, and the main directorate of

military intelligence, as well, and so there is a lot of feeling already that there is blame within russia for what is very clear, bad decision—making. i don't think putin is completely out of touch with what is completely out of touch with what is happening and i think it was ill—advised going into the conflict and there is recognition of that in russia. he and there is recognition of that in russia. , ., ., , ., ., russia. he is not the only one who has been ill-advised. _ russia. he is not the only one who has been ill-advised. president - has been ill—advised. president macron seemed to be convinced that this invasion was not going to take place. this invasion was not going to take lace. , ., this invasion was not going to take lace. , . ., this invasion was not going to take lace. , ., ., ., place. yes, and the head of the french military _ place. yes, and the head of the french military service - place. yes, and the head of the french military service has - place. yes, and the head of the | french military service has been sacked as a result of that, that is a face—saving gesture from emmanuel macron who took a different position from the uk and the us and even nato, took a different policy line, because that is now very embarrassing at this stage, that france was against sanctions originally and was trying to form a different position regarding russia compared to some of the rest of nato and that was probably the big hope for putin that he could split nato,

particularly germany and france, and that did not happen in the end. it is not surprising therefore that emmanuel macron had to blame someone for that, so no surprise. irate emmanuel macron had to blame someone for that, so no surprise.— for that, so no surprise. we can look at the _ for that, so no surprise. we can look at the position _ for that, so no surprise. we can look at the position of - for that, so no surprise. we can look at the position of the - for that, so no surprise. we can i look at the position of the russian forces and the territory they hold currently in ukraine. looking at this and seeing what has been happening with the forces over the last couple of days, what is it likely that russia is going to do? feasibly, his tanks could get cut off from parts of the country that he really wants to concentrate on. there has been a debate over the last few days and something we have talked about often, about what russia needs to do next if it is going to achieve a sort of victory for what is happen, of course it is a strategic failure because they have lost their reputation, that is already clear, but they are now trying to salvage some sort of victory for putin and they have given up on kyiv as an actual

objective, and i think that was a real objective early on but it was too much for them to achieve and they have decided to decrease operations here but they will keep pressure on the ukrainian government but they need to bring forces out of there as they are doing and ship them round to the donbas region in them round to the donbas region in the south—east. so there will be more activity going on. there is engagement in talks but the russians say they are not really going anywhere and until there is a future about the future —— until there is agreement about the future of the donbas region, both sides feel they have more to gain on the battlefield so russia will try a bigger offensive in the south, especially if they can gain control of apple, but russia will look to free up forces and bring more from the north—east and put all of their forces behind minefields and defences —— especially if they can gain control of mariupol. this is how they are holding onto ground,

west of kyiv, that is where they will shift, east of kyiv, that allows them to keep the pressure on quite cheaply, at huge risk to ukrainian civilians, and use that as pressure on president zelensky and the government to allow them to get concessions in the south where they are fighting more intensively. we have got pictures of landmines which have got pictures of landmines which have been laid. this is on a road, not the usual terrain they would be used on, but it seems they have been used on, but it seems they have been used by both sides, so to what extent is that going to sabotage their own efforts, whether that is to move troops and artillery to a new position or to get civilians to safety? new position or to get civilians to safe ? , . ., ., new position or to get civilians to safe ? , . . . . . safety? they are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield _ safety? they are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield and _ safety? they are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield and that - safety? they are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield and that is - safety? they are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield and that is why i on the battlefield and that is why there have been conventions against their widespread use but russia has not signed the convention on that. large—scale use of anti—vehicle

mines, they are the obvious ones people think about but what is more difficult is the smaller antipersonnel mines which can be dropped from aircraft and these things can affect generations for generations afterwards. in some parts of the world they have lasted for a long time, even though they are programmed to detonate after a certain period of time at many of them don't and there is carelessness in their use and you never know with these scattered mines, whether they have fallen accurately, they lead to a long—term hazard to civilians. russia's use in front of its positions in particular, this allows them to protect their positions cheaply, by using lots of mines, and that stops ukraine for mounting effective counter offences and it means they can hold the ground they have captured relatively cheaply and cut their forces in have captured relatively cheaply and cut theirforces in half have captured relatively cheaply and cut their forces in half to hold the ground if they are well defended and

then use those trips elsewhere, so for russia it is a trade—off, a trade—off they have calculated works —— use those troops elsewhere. especially around kharkiv because thatis especially around kharkiv because that is where most russian forces have been deployed from, two down in the donbas region. for have been deployed from, two down in the donbas region.— the donbas region. for now, thanks for “oininu the donbas region. for now, thanks forjoining us- _ 0ur correspondent anna foster is in lviv. we heard her report a short time ago. to what extent is there a sense that other parts of the country are either seeing a bigger intensification or an easing off of the pressure from russia? i intensification or an easing off of the pressure from russia? i think at the pressure from russia? i think at the moment — the pressure from russia? i think at the moment people _ the pressure from russia? i think at the moment people here _ the pressure from russia? i think at the moment people here look- the pressure from russia? i think at the moment people here look at - the pressure from russia? i think at i the moment people here look at those areas which are being bombarded and that soaks up so much of people's attention, that may be areas where things might be easing off, they are not at the forefront of people's consciousness, and also in lviv you

have an influx of people from around the country and i was at a shelter this morning talking to victoria, who had come with herfamily and husband and children, just four and two years old, they arrived from mariupol and they were in the theatre that was bombed, you remember the story about that, they were inside when that happened, and it took them about a week to get here. so for people like that they really focus on those areas and what is happening there and of course remember, president zelensky, as we heard in that piece a few moments ago, he is always focusing on what is happening and he also spoke last night about the russian assurances that we were told about it, that russia were planning to pull back from places like kyiv and chernihiv but everything we have seen since has contradicted that, may be a small movement around kyiv but the shelling and the bombardment continues and president zelensky is telling his people who are very tuned into what he is saying, he is

telling them that in his opinion it russia isjust telling them that in his opinion it russia is just regrouping for a new offensive, especially focusing on the donbas region and that is what people here are looking at and it is soaking up their attention, all of their thoughts on the war. the? their thoughts on the war. they can't afford _ their thoughts on the war. they can't afford to _ their thoughts on the war. they can't afford to believe - their thoughts on the war. they can't afford to believe that - their thoughts on the war. they can't afford to believe that isn't the case, can they, after what they have been through in the last few weeks? you have been talking to people who are still within ukraine and we have focused a lot on the people who have left, but the sheer number of people who are internally displaced is even greater?— displaced is even greater? huge, millions of— displaced is even greater? huge, millions of people _ displaced is even greater? huge, millions of people who _ displaced is even greater? huge, millions of people who are - millions of people who are internally displaced and what is really interesting, i went to a reception centre a couple of days ago and they have quite a slick operation going but when people arrive, people who don't want to leave the country and they want to stay in ukraine, they move them onto places, perhaps in the local area, and there was one group of miners who arrived here from the donbas

region and they were sent to a mining community north of lviv because if you have left anything behind you want to be able to put down some kind of roots and you want a place to live and you want to be able to do yourjob, so for people who are staying here they want to be able to really focus on the coming weeks and months and focus on surviving and trying to have some sort of normal life but what is really interesting, as well, the people who are staying here, they want to go back and they talk about going back. there was a young actor at the theatre, he is from kharkiv and he said as soon as the war is over he wants to go back to his home town and to help it rebuild. there is a bigger sense that people want, they have to have the hope, quite rightly, they have to have the hope that one day this will be over and then they can go back to the lives they left behind. for then they can go back to the lives they left behind.— then they can go back to the lives they left behind. for the moment, thanks forjoining _ they left behind. for the moment, thanks forjoining us. _ a review into the windrush scandal has said the home office must make "much more progress"

if it is to bring about the "cultural changes required". ministers were forced to apologise in 2018 for deportation threats — which in some cases were carried out — to people who had been living and working in the uk for decades, but who were told they were here illegally because of a lack of official paperwork. our community affairs correspondent, adina campbell has more. the independent chair of the review and also the report author of the report a couple of years ago which looked at the causes of the windrush scandal. she pointed to deep—rooted concerns about the windrush compensation scheme. 13 had not been implemented so that is an ongoing concern and if you remember, the whole point of the report was to make sure that the windrush generation could be financially compensated and the home office would right their wrongs and

the compensation scheme was part of that. however, there have been long—running issues with the compensation scheme, complaints of how long it is taking for people to get their money, and the system itself being very complicated. you only have to look at the numbers, we know £37 million has been paid out in the last three years by the home office, and that is to about 1000 claims but three and a half thousand claims but three and a half thousand claims have been submitted which means 2500, and two thirds of those claims have not yet been resolved. there are these ongoing issues. in terms of today's response, the home secretary priti patel has welcomed the report and she says the home office is a different department of the one she originally saw and she also says she wants the home office to be more compassionate and more open, but it says the home office has laid the foundation for radical change. a private company which provides catch—up tutoring in england — randstad — has lost the contract for the next academic year.

the department for education said £319 million in funding for tutoring in the next academic year would now go directly to schools — after there had been criticism of randstad's management of the scheme, and its online portal. a committee of mps has refused to endorse the government's choice to be the next chair of the charity commission. the digital, culture, media and sport committee recognised that barrister orlando fraser had the experience and qualifications for the role, but said they had "serious concerns" about the process leading to his selection. a candidate previously approved by the committee withdrew before his start date. the committee is critical of the decision to put mr fraser forward as their preferred candidate from the same selection process. according to the zoe covid study in the uk, 1 in 15 people have symptomatic covid—19 in the uk, with the highest rates of the virus in england. the figures from the study indicate

an increase of 7% from last week with more than 300,000 new daily symptomatic cases of covid in the uk on average. england's rate is running at1 in 15. wales at1 in18, and in scotland, 1 in 16 have it. today is the last day of free coronavirus testing for most people in england, as the government moves ahead with its �*living with covid' plan. the move has been criticised by some scientists who say the change is coming too soon — but ministers insist the money can be better spent elsewhere. our health correspondent, jim reed, reports. two years on from the start of this pandemic and scenes like this may soon be part of history. access to both covid testing sites and free fast tests taken at home will end for most people, part of the government's plan to live with the virus. so what clothes for next week, then? that could affect people like diane and her son, wesley, in hull. wesley lives with cerebral palsy, putting him at higher risk from covid itself. we've no other choice but to pay.

as far as we know, we don't know any different that the tests stop from friday, the free tests stop from friday. it's more the worry of making sure they have got them when we need them and we willjust have to be careful with them and where will we get the money? we don't have a choice. you've just got to find it. from tomorrow, in england and wales, there will be no more mass testing centres with scotland and northern ireland following soon after. free testing will continue for health care workers, hospital patients and those with a weakened immune system if they have symptoms. instead, most people will have to start paying for a lateral flow kit, used at home from £2 each at a local pharmacy. as with other respiratory viruses, such as flu, it's not the same disease but it's a similar sort of comparison. at some point we have to come to terms with that.

as long as people receive the boosters, come forward for vaccination, then we have very high levels of population immunity. covid infections here in hull and across much of the uk have been rising sharply recently, driven by a new offshoot of the omicron variant. in the city's indoor market though, people seem to accept free testing cannot continue forever. we've got to get used to living with it and accept things and the government hasn't got a never—ending pot of money. i personally think if somebody can't afford to buy them, they should be provided... it should be provided. personally, i'm happy to pay for it. we know now that covid is not going away. this next step, the ending of free testing, feels like a significant moment though as we start to live alongside this virus. jim reed, bbc news. the organisers of the oscars say they asked will smith to leave sunday's ceremony after he slapped the comedian chris rock on stage — but he refused.

disciplinary proceedings have now been launched by the academy against the actor, who has since apologised for his actions. it comes as chris rock returned to the stage last night for the first time since the awards. our correspondent, sophie long, reports from los angeles. applause chris rock, arriving in boston for his first show since being slapped by will smith. he got, like, a huge standing ovation. for like, it was like a five minute one, i mean. it went on and on and on. he, like, got all teared up and stuff. like, can you imagine being him as a performer, and coming out and you don't know if you are going to be ridiculed or applauded or what, and people gave him a standing ovation for forever, and then it died down, and then another standing ovation, then tears came out of his eyes. the comedian told the audience he was still processing what had happened. he didn't say whether he accepted smith's apology. was it acceptable for the actor to strike another man in the name of protecting his wife? that's the question that's

prompted an outpouring of passionate polarised opinion in hollywood and beyond. some, who were in the room, say it was a deeply shocking, traumatic event that overshadowed the historic achievements of others, like the cast and crew of coda, the big winner of the night. when i was in the room it felt quite shocking and quite violent, and i felt like it took away the energy of the room. but now i feel like people should sort of let the academy deal with the consequences, and we should actually celebrate the films that won. the academy has apologised to chris rock for what he experienced on the oscars stage, and thanked him for his resilience. and it said will smith could be suspended or even expelled from the academy, a sanction only ever applied to a few of its members. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes.

the weather will stay cold in the afternoon and many will see sunshine but also some showers. the most part the showers will move through so they won't last too long in any one place but we do have this band of heavy showers working to parts of kent where over the hills and over grassy services we may see some accumulations of snow and cold winds for south—east england and east anglia around 40—50 miles per hour make it for particular be bitter. overnight tonight the snow showers will feed in over parts of scotland and england and as much as five centimetres in places, and the other thing, another cold night with a widespread frost and so we are expecting icy services to take us into friday morning. friday another day of sunshine and showers, broadly speaking, but a bad showers into northern scotland probably bringing snow and sleet to northern ireland later on.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: russia proposes a ceasefire in the besieged city of mariupol to allow civilians to leave. more than 150,000 people remain trapped. western intelligence suggests putin isn't being told how badly russia's offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. it's the last day of free covid tests for most people in england,

as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with the virus. a review of the home office's handling of the windrush scandal has found a lack of tangible progress or drive to make changes — and says more progress must be made. the organisers of the oscars say will smith refused to leave the ceremony after hitting chris rock — and they've started disciplinary procedings against him. sport now, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. hello. hi, martin. england have pulled off a remarkable turnaround by reaching the women's cricket world cup final. the defending champions will now face australia after a dominant 137—run win over south africa. england were on the brink of elimination after losing their first three games but have now won five in a row to reach a second successive final. our sports reporter henry moeran has been speaking to 2017 world cup winner alex hartley. he asked her about opener

danni wyatt's magnificent century. it's just cricket, she said in it'sjust cricket, she said in her press conference i did get dropped a few times but you have to ride your luck on days like that and she batted fantastically, she helped england get to a mammoth score and it ended up being too much for south africa and england were clinical and ruthless and finally they are the england side we all love to watch. on the eve of the draw for the 2022 world cup in qatar, amnesty international has told the bbc that football associations need to start looking into the conditions for migrant workers at their hotel bases, now. the tournament starts in november, with england set to find out their group opponents in tomorrow's draw. there could also be a place for scotland or wales. when it comes to football associations they have a responsibility to ensure the operation in qatar which is allowing the teams to play the world cup is not contributing

to human rights violations so they need to ensure the labour conditions of the workers in the hotels they are staying and the people that will service them are paid on time, are not overworked, live in a decent place and enjoy their rights. so at the very least they need to do this homework and be very vocal about what they are seeing and transparent about their findings. elsewhere in qatar, lgbtiq+ organisations have been engaging with fifa over the 2022 qatar world cup. they have said "progress has been slow" and "issues of concern" remain. the decision to stage the tournament in qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, has been heavily criticised, and the 16 groups involved feel reassurances over the safety of lgbtiq+ people in the host country "have not been adequate", adding that if safety reassurances cannot be given they would have

to question if the risk facing lgbtiq+ people wanting to attend is too high. las vegas has been announced as the latest city to host a formula one grand prix. the race will be in november next year, at night, and the 3.8—mile track will include a portion of the nevada city's famous strip. it will be the third us—based race on the f1 circuit. tom pidcock has signed a five—year contract to stay with the ineos grenadiers team. the 22—year—old became the first briton to win the cyclo—cross world championship in january. he also won olympic mountain bike gold at last year's tokyo olympics. his current deal was due to run out at the end of this year, but he's now tied to the team until at least 2027. in golf, bournemouth's georgia hall is hoping she can add another major championship to the women's open she collected in 2018.

25—year—old hall won the saudi international by five shots earlier this month and she is in a confident mood as the first women's major of the year — the chevron championship — gets underway, she tees off atjust after 6pm uk time. i want to take it to another level and i'm ready to do that and i feel eager to win a lot more events and get as good a world ranking as i can, world number one i would hope. i want to take it to another level and i really want to succeed even more in my career so hopefully i can do that. it looks gorgeous and sunny there. back to you, martin. that great british institution — the fish and chip shop — is under threat because of the rising cost of living. as prices go up for fuel, energy and food, the pressures

are such that among the many businesses feeling the pinch is the chippy. it's feared that thousands could close in the next couple of years. ben boulos sent this report from fleetwood, near blackpool. people say cheap as chips. chips ain't cheap any more. they are not. regular cod and chips, mushy peas and a ketchup, please. it's notjust chips that are getting more expensive. at tom's family's shop in blackpool, everything is costing them more. peas, potatoes, fish, pretty much everything has gone up. our peas have gone up over 100% a bag. it's gone from around £8 to £18. and that's not including vat. so, your vat on top of that. we've never had anything go up so much in such a short space of time. sunflower oil to fry the fish, fertiliser to help grow the potatoes, and even wheat in the batter. ukraine and russia are big exporters of lots of the ingredients

of the nation's favourite dish. fish and chips on the beach. it's a british institution. but most of the cod and haddock in our chippies isn't actually caught in these waters. more than a third of it is imported from russia. so, with sanctions and a hunt for alternative sources, the price of white fish has soared. we are hoping we don't have to put our prices up too much. there is going to be a small increase, for sure. we've opened all day, every day, for 30 years. we've thrived on being open all day, every day. and we're starting to think that dinner times are going to have to be cut down, maybe 2—4 every day. or we're going to have to start doing something different. and we don't know what that is yet. from tomorrow, fish and chip shops across the country will also have to manage increases to the minimum wage, and higher vat, at the same time as their customers' personal finances are also squeezed further.

and what about the vat rise? what does that mean for you? it's catastrophic. our profit margins are already very minimal. and now they're taking another 5%. it speaks for itself, really. the money's just not there. i want it to carry on. this is my home, this is the only place i've ever lived for 30 years. i don't want to leave. i'd be sad to leave. it would be sad to see somebody else with it. but if somebody else can do it, we can do it, so we'll carry it on. hopefully. energy websites appeared to falter today as customers rushed to submit meter readings before friday's pricejump. the issues — which appeared to be an industry—wide problem — came as experts urged householders to send in readings for gas and electricity to their supplier today to show exactly how much energy they have used ahead of ofgem's price cap, which goes up from tomorrow. and we'll be talking about energy meters with richard neudegg from the price comparison website,

uswitch in the next hour. as we've heard, gas prices are rising, at the same time as we try to limit our carbon dioxide emissions because of climate change. part of the government's answer is to get homeowners to replace their gas boilers with electric heat pumps and, from tomorrow, grants of £5000 will be on offer to help people make the switch. while they do have environmental benefits, there are concerns over the costs, as our climate editor, justin rowlatt, has been finding out. this is what the government wants you to do. tear out your carbon dioxide spewing gas boiler and replace it with the electric alternative for heating your home. a heat pump. they are more climate friendly than gas, and don't depend on supplies from despotic dictators. there you go, what do you think? oh, wow. 0k. yeah. i thought it might be wider than that, i don't know why.

they may not look much, but heat pumps are superefficient. for every unit of energy you put in, you get three or four units of heat out. the government wants 600,000 of us to be switching to them every year by 2028. so why aren't we all scrambling to get hold of them now? that is because we care much more about how much things cost than how efficient they are, says leah robson, who has been installing heat pumps in south london for nine years. typically, gas prices are around four times cheaper than electricity prices, so effectively your efficiency, in terms of cost, is pretty much cancelled out. what is more, heat pumps operate at lower temperatures than gas boilers, so you will need to make sure your home is well insulated, consider double glazing and maybe beef up some of your radiators. add in the fact that heat pumps cost more than twice as much as gas boilers, and you realise even

at current high gas prices, they work out more expensive for virtually all of us. the idea is the new grant scheme will help level up the costs — just one of the reasons energy companies say lots of people are asking about them. interest�*s really spiked since the invasion of ukraine, because i think people are saying to themselves, "how do we get off gas? "what can i do to get off gas?" and heat pumps are not only the solution to reducing our gas usage, but over time they will be cheaper too. but they aren't now, so why put one in? i'm not sure we are going to save money from doing this, but, you know, at least we will know it is doing less damage to the environment, so it's paying us back in different ways. let's be honest, not everything is about money. you don't expect your new kitchen to turn a profit, do you? justin rowlatt, bbc news, sutton. the senior midwife donna ockenden, who led the report

into the maternity care provided at shrewsbury and telford hospital nhs trust, says her team will be working to support the families affected for some time to come. her report — published yesterday — concluded that failures at the trust may have contributed to the deaths of more than 200 babies and left many others with life—changing conditions. nine mothers also died. she told bbc breakfast that the families wanted to know more about what had gone wrong. families wanted to know what had happened to them and they wanted meaningful change in maternity services in shropshire and across england. telling the family is what happened to them, having meetings with them will be an essential part of this process and that starts the week after next. has of this process and that starts the week after next.— of this process and that starts the week after next. as that continues, what i week after next. as that continues, what i want — week after next. as that continues, what i want to _ week after next. as that continues, what i want to know _ week after next. as that continues, what i want to know is _ week after next. as that continues, what i want to know is of _ week after next. as that continues, what i want to know is of these - what i want to know is of these people who have now been told what

happened to them was wrong, was not their fault as was often told to them, what happens now as they live with and we will be talking to a mother who was living with a child who was severely impaired because of her treatment when she gave birth to him, what recourse should there be then? ., , him, what recourse should there be then? . , ., ., ,, then? families will need to make their own choices _ then? families will need to make their own choices about - then? families will need to make their own choices about their - then? families will need to make| their own choices about their next steps. i know that many of them want a direct apology from the trust. i think saying sorry for the harm, meaningfully saying site for the harm that has been called will be an important aspect for families. some families may decide to commence litigation, that would be a decision they would need to take. you are right to say there are families not

only living with the grief caused by the loss of their babies but some families living in really complex situations with very damaged children. overall we have to work together so families feel we have made a difference. the health secretary sajid javid says he is "determined" to "go after the people that were responsible" for the scandal. police are now investigating about 600 cases in a probe linked to hospitalfailings. it is right that the government has accepted all the conclusions of the report, the recommendations, all 84 recommendations, to make sure this kind of thing never happens again. but it is also right, and i am absolutely determined to do this, that we make sure that we go after the people that were responsible. of course, there are systematic failures, and we must change systems,

but there are individual failures and i want to make sure we leave no stone unturned in finding the people that were responsible for this, and making sure they are held to account too. that was our health correspondent, sorry, our health secretary, sajid javid. ijust demoted him. let's take a look at the situation in pakistan, where imran khan is facing the heat. our correspondent in islamabad, secunder kermani, is watching events and asseses how likely a no—confidence vote could be. imran khan's position looks to be under serious threat. the opposition had launched an effort to oust his government a couple of years ago but until now they didn't seem to have any realistic chance of succeeding. that has changed in the last month and a vote of no confidence is due to be held. we expect up to take

place on sunday or monday at the moment following the defection of a number of imran khan's coalition partners, the opposition had a simple majority required in parliament to depose him as prime minister. something could still change in the next few days, discussions are ongoing in both political camps but at the moment imran khan's position looks to be extremely shaky. there has been public resentment about the rising cost of living in pakistan, the poor state of the economy and much of that was directed against the government although they point to successes in combating covid in which pakistan has not done as badly as many feared, they also point to expansion of that social welfare system but the key thing that has changed in pakistan over the last year is the position of the military. all attacks in pakistan

always revolved around the country's powerful army and it's believed they helped imran can come to power in 2018 although both of them deny that bud light last year we saw a rift emerged between the army and imran khan's government and many analysts now say the reason the opposition feel emboldened now and are able to take on the government is because the army has dropped him and his no longer supporting him in the way they were. if longer supporting him in the way the were. ., longer supporting him in the way the were. . ., ., , ., ., they were. if imran khan does go and even if he doesn't, _ they were. if imran khan does go and even if he doesn't, what _ they were. if imran khan does go and even if he doesn't, what happens - even if he doesn't, what happens next? it will not be straightforward. a no—confidence vote has never been completed in pakistan and resulted in the deposition of a prime minister so we are in somewhat unprecedented territory but in terms of what happens next according to procedure, the opposition get to elect their

own prime minister because they have a majority in parliament. presumably they would soon after that seek to hold fresh elections to give themselves a mandate but it's a time of deep political uncertainty here. more than 6 million people in the uk have dyslexia — according to official figures. it's defined as a "learning difficulty", but sir richard branson, who has dyslexia himself, wants that label removed. he's partnered with charity made by dyslexia and their campaign means that from today, when listing skills on networking website linkedin, users will be able to add "dyslexic thinking" to their profile. the phrase is also being added to dictionary.com. with me now is the entrepreneur and business owner sir richard branson. he is on his island and we are all going to hide our envy. and alsojoining us is kate griggs, founder of charity made by dyslexia. she is in the equally gorgeous

summer set. thank you both for joining us. sir richard, how was dyslexia viewed when you were at school? did they even label it? h0. school? did they even label it? no, the 'ust school? did they even label it? iifr, theyjust thought anyone that was they just thought anyone that was slightly different was slightly stupid and there was no help given and so i concentrated on things that i found and so i concentrated on things that ifound interesting and so i concentrated on things that i found interesting which was what was going on in the outside world, and ended up aged 15 deciding to leave school. nowadays people know about dyslexia, people are helped with it and it's now realised that it should be something to be celebrated, that there were many extraordinary people in this world who are dyslexic, they have lots of qualities that a non—dyslexic person

doesn't have and that is why dyslexic thinking is now ending up in the dictionary and i'm proud to be a dyslexic flanker.— be a dyslexic flanker. let's come back to that _ be a dyslexic flanker. let's come back to that in _ be a dyslexic flanker. let's come back to that in a _ be a dyslexic flanker. let's come back to that in a second - be a dyslexic flanker. let's come back to that in a second because| be a dyslexic flanker. let's come| back to that in a second because i want to ask kate about her experience. you have dyslexia as well. we use that catchall term but it can cover a wide variety of issues. , , , ., , ., issues. yes, dyslexia is a pattern of strengths _ issues. yes, dyslexia is a pattern of strengths and _ issues. yes, dyslexia is a pattern of strengths and challenges. - issues. yes, dyslexia is a pattern of strengths and challenges. it i issues. yes, dyslexia is a pattern i of strengths and challenges. it can vary in _ of strengths and challenges. it can vary in how— of strengths and challenges. it can vary in how much or how much difficulty— vary in how much or how much difficulty you have with challengers. the things we traditionally think of dyslexia as our difficulties learning to read and write, difficulties with spelling, brims with and learning so all the things we focus _ and learning so all the things we focus attention on at school but what _ focus attention on at school but what we — focus attention on at school but what we also know as with dyslexia comes _ what we also know as with dyslexia comes this — what we also know as with dyslexia comes this incredible pattern of strengths and they are very much

soft skills — strengths and they are very much soft skills that every employer is looking _ soft skills that every employer is looking for so leadership skills, innovation, creativity, people skills. — innovation, creativity, people skills, logical reasoning, all the things— skills, logical reasoning, all the things the world of work now really needs— things the world of work now really needs so— things the world of work now really needs so that is why it is so important _ needs so that is why it is so important we embrace this term more broadly— important we embrace this term more broadly with the strengths and recognise the challenges and the support— recognise the challenges and the support of those challenges need. i am support of those challenges need. am sure support of those challenges need. i am sure she won't mind you saying that my daughter has a visual processing issue which is a form of dyslexia and what i noticed about her if she is able to come up with these extraordinary strategies to get around what might look like an obstacle and it's fascinating as someone who doesn't have it to watch. is that your experience? it's like a superpower, some people think. ~ y like a superpower, some people think. ~ , , ., , like a superpower, some people think. ~ , ., , think. absolutely, and i wish your dau~hter think. absolutely, and i wish your daughter and _ think. absolutely, and i wish your daughter and all— think. absolutely, and i wish your daughter and all daughters - think. absolutely, and i wish your daughter and all daughters and i think. absolutely, and i wish your i daughter and all daughters and sons well who have dyslexia. if you have

a problem in your life you're likely to compensate by being really good at the things that interest you and i think that is one of the wonderful superpowers dyslexic people have. one of the problems in the education system is its out focused on exams and not looking at the skills people have so it's not dyslexic suit need education to be reimagined. we need skills to prepare young people for the real life out there. people like myself or your child work tight, i think what is important is you were told kate is dyslexic, not to be sad

about it but to celebrate it, to get about it but to celebrate it, to get a bit of help with the things that are not that important in life like spelling, there are few you struggle with, and celebrate the fact that you were really good at some things and put your concentration on those things. it and put your concentration on those thin . s. ., , and put your concentration on those thins. ., , ., and put your concentration on those thin.s_ ., , ., ., and put your concentration on those thins. . ., , and put your concentration on those thins. ., . ., , ., things. it was a relief for us to discover what _ things. it was a relief for us to discover what it _ things. it was a relief for us to discover what it was _ things. it was a relief for us to discover what it was and - things. it was a relief for us to discover what it was and it - things. it was a relief for us to i discover what it was and it made things. it was a relief for us to - discover what it was and it made a great deal of sense. kate, to what extent are you seeing workplaces embracing this idea that dyslexic thinking is valuable? that embracing this idea that dyslexic thinking is valuable?— thinking is valuable? that the really exciting _ thinking is valuable? that the really exciting thing _ thinking is valuable? that the really exciting thing about. thinking is valuable? that the . really exciting thing about today. we have — really exciting thing about today. we have worked with organisations such as _ we have worked with organisations such as gchq who actively recruit dyslexic— such as gchq who actively recruit dyslexic people because of the way they think, they're in on their

graduate _ they think, they're in on their graduate schemes or apprenticeship schemes— graduate schemes or apprenticeship schemes are four times more likely to he _ schemes are four times more likely to be dyslexic. you have organisations like facebook, microsoft, forward—thinking companies that are actively employing people because of that dyslexic— employing people because of that dyslexic thinking skills, so the fact that — dyslexic thinking skills, so the fact that linkedln have recognised that all— fact that linkedln have recognised that all the research that is aligning _ that all the research that is aligning dyslexic thinking with the world _ aligning dyslexic thinking with the world economic forum skills for the future _ world economic forum skills for the future is _ world economic forum skills for the future is a _ world economic forum skills for the future is a really big thing, dyslexia _ future is a really big thing, dyslexia is a skill and something everyone — dyslexia is a skill and something everyone can add on their linkedln profile _ everyone can add on their linkedln profile and — everyone can add on their linkedln profile and i hope that will have real impact into the educational system — real impact into the educational system because we need to change the way we _ system because we need to change the way we see _ system because we need to change the way we see dyslexia and celebrate what we _ way we see dyslexia and celebrate what we are good at. sir way we see dyslexia and celebrate what we are good at.— what we are good at. sir richard, often people _ what we are good at. sir richard, often people who _ what we are good at. sir richard, often people who have _ what we are good at. sir richard, often people who have died - what we are good at. sir richard, i often people who have died dyslexia have what are called comorbidities which sound like a negative thing, other diversities, the art newer

typical in otherwise, so what is your hope for how those different skills will be recorded in the future in the workplace? the workplace — future in the workplace? the workplace and _ future in the workplace? the workplace and life _ future in the workplace? iie: workplace and life generally future in the workplace? "iie: workplace and life generally needs wonderful creative people who think slightly differently than everybody else and therefore i know for a fact that if i wasn't dyslexic i wouldn't have been as inquisitive as i am, every time i see something is not being done well like the record business, the airline business, the cruise business, i willjump in there and try to make it better. i don't necessarily know the difference between that and grows, it took me until i was 50 until i got that one sorted but it didn't matter, what mattered was i could

use my creativity to create something that was better than the rivals, that i could use my creativity to embrace people, to find better people than myself, around myself with great people, learn the art of delegation, praise not criticise, and i think if i had been no wall who had done well at school, i wouldn't have embraced these things in the way i have and i don't think virgin would have been the success it has been.— the success it has been. kate, i will not suggest _ the success it has been. kate, i will not suggest that _ the success it has been. kate, i will not suggest that everyone i the success it has been. kate, i i will not suggest that everyone will be as successful with dyslexia as sir richard but what would your advice be to young people who have perhaps discovered that i have this skill, this set of ways of thinking, or their parents who are worried about it causing i would suggest two

things, firstly don't be embarrassed about the things you struggle with, ask for help and if your parents talk to teachers at school and make sure they are giving to support your children need, but absolutely lean into your strengths because four out of five successful dyslexic people say the art successful because of the way they think so the way you think is brilliant, it has huge value to the world of work and it's an amazing way to think so now that you are really good at those things and lean into them. it's so wonderful to see this change of view— it's so wonderful to see this change of view to— it's so wonderful to see this change of view to be happening in front of us. of view to be happening in front of us kate _ of view to be happening in front of us. kate griggs and richard branson, thank— us. kate griggs and richard branson, thank you _ us. kate griggs and richard branson, thank you for talking to us. thank ou, thank you for talking to us. thank you. cheers- _ thank you for talking to us. thank you, cheers. time _ thank you for talking to us. thank you, cheers. time for _ thank you for talking to us. thank you, cheers. time for the - thank you for talking to us. thank i you, cheers. time for the weather. hello there. the weather's staying very cold today, and we've got some snow showers to come as well.

we have some snow showers affecting the north and eastern areas, they will mostly pull group so they won't last long in any one place but we have this span of heavier showers working into can sue over grassy surfaces we may see some accumulations of snow. gusts of a0 mph making it feel better in east anglia, overnight snow showers will continue across parts of scotland and england, could see five centimetres in places. another cold night with a widespread frost so we expect icy surfaces to take us into friday morning. friday another day of sunshine and showers but a band of sunshine and showers but a band of snow moves into the highlands of scotland, that pushes south, probably bringing rain and sleet to northern ireland later.

this is bbc news. the headlines: russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he'll cut off gas supplies tomorrow — unless they begin paying in roubles. translation: nobody sells us an hinu translation: nobody sells us anything free — translation: nobody sells us anything free of— translation: nobody sells us anything free of charge - translation: nobody sells us anything free of charge and - translation: nobody sells us anything free of charge and we | translation: nobody sells us i anything free of charge and we are not going to do charity either. normal relations will be suspended. western intelligence suggests putin isn't being told how badly russia's offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence, at every turn over the last month. russia proposes a ceasefire in the besieged city of mariupol to allow civilians to leave. more than 150,000 people remain trapped.

it's the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with ther virus. a review of the home office's handling of the windrush scandal has found a "lack of tangible progress or drive" to make changes — and says more progress must be made. the organisers of the oscars say will smith refused to leave the ceremony after hitting chris rock — and they've started disciplinary procedings against him. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. american and british intelligence officials say president putin is not being given an accurate picture of events on the ground in ukraine. a white house spokesman said mr putin was being misled

by advisers who were too scared to tell him how badly the war is going for russia. that view was echoed by sirjeremy fleming, the head of the uk's security and intelligence agency gchq - he also said that mr putin had overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. our security correspondent, gordon corera, reports. what is really going on inside the kremlin? and just how isolated is russia's leadership from the reality of events in ukraine? western spies say they believe vladimir putin is not getting the full picture. speaking in australia, the head of britain's gchq intelligence agency said that putin had got things badly wrong. it's clear he's misjudged the resistance of the ukrainian people, he underestimated the strength of the coalition that his actions would galvanise, he underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military

to secure a rapid victory. morale in the russian military was low, he said, troops sabotaging their equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. but putin had been shielded from the full reality. even though we believe putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what is going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime. the gchq director's comments echo those of us officials, who said they thought putin was being misled and that there was growing tension between him and russian defence officials. we would concur with the conclusion that mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn, over the last month.

western spies seem to have had real insight into the kremlin. they warned well in advance the invasion would take place, and that putin was misjudging how it would play out. now they think he's still not being told the full truth about what is really going on in ukraine, and that worries them, because it means he might make further misjudgments which could extend the war. on the ground, the war has not gone according to vladimir putin's original plan. what's not clear is how far he understands that, and what he will do next. gordon corera, bbc news. britain's chief of the defence staff, admiral sir tony radakin, says �*catastrophic misjudgements ' made by the russian president himself — are at the core of the kremlin's problems. he said vladamir putin had allowed himself to be misled. admiral radakin made the comments at the start of a speech to the institute for government in london.

the scenes coming out of mariupol and elsewhere are horrible and the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult but in many ways putin has already lost. farfrom being the far—sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgments. he has failed to recognise how deeply the notions of sovereignty, democracy and national identity have taken root in ukraine. like all authoritarians, he allowed himself to be misled as to his own strength, including the effectiveness of the russian armed forces. lastly, he has failed to anticipate the unity and cohesion that exists amongst the free nation of the world. here in europe and obviously far beyond. his actions to date have done more to galvanise

than divide and have shown ukraine to have the one thing that russia conspicuously lacks, which is real friends. what is very clear is that putin is a weaker and more diminished figure today than he was a month ago. and conversely, nato is stronger and more united today than at any time i can remember. tow; at any time i can remember. tony radakin, there, _ at any time i can remember. tony radakin, there, the _ at any time i can remember. tony radakin, there, the chief- at any time i can remember. tony radakin, there, the chief of - at any time i can remember. tony radakin, there, the chief of the defence staff. earlier, i spoke to the military analystjustin crump — ceo of sibylline — a country risk advisory company and justin is also a former british army tank commander. i asked him why the us and uk intelligence services have made these statements. i think asjeremy fleming,

the director of gchq said, the way that western intelligence has been promoted to the public throughout this crisis, going back to well before the invasion itself, and you may recall the uk and us governments and nato indeed for that matter, openly talking about putin's ambitions and the plans to invade and this is part of that trend in general. beyond the obvious ofjust sharing information that is known and declassified, to promote that engagement in the information space, the other big point is by blaming putin's advisors for this strategic mess, there is also a hint that this is a way for him to get off the hook, so this is a bit of a de—escalation measure by the us and the uk, who share intelligence very much, to give something to putin here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the uk and the us has said, from what we gather, but how much resonance would it really have with vladimir putin? it's not surprising

that they would not receive this thing very well! it does have elements of truth, though. we are already aware of tensions with putin's intelligence advisers, and we have heard a lot about tensions with the fsb, his own former service, and the main directorate of military intelligence, as well, and so there is a lot of feeling already that there is blame within russia for what is very clear, bad decision—making. i don't think putin is completely out of touch with what is happening and i think he was ill—advised going into the conflict and there is recognition of that in russia. he is not the only one who has been ill—advised. president macron seemed to be convinced that this invasion was not going to take place. yes, and the head of the french military intelligence has been sacked as a result of that, that is a face—saving gesture from macron who took

a different position from the uk and the us and even nato, took a different policy line, because that is now very embarrassing at this stage, that france was against sanctions originally and was trying to form a different position regarding russia compared to some of the rest of nato and that was probably the big hope for putin that he could split nato, particularly germany and france, and that did not happen in the end. but it came very close. it is not surprising therefore that macron had to blame someone for that, so no surprise. we can look at the position of the russian forces and the territory they hold currently in ukraine. looking at this and seeing what has been happening with the forces over the last couple of days, what is it likely that russia is going to do? feasibly, his tanks could get cut off from parts of the country that he really wants to concentrate on. there has been a debate over

the last few days and something we have talked about often, about what russia needs to do next if it is going to achieve a sort of victory for what has happened. of course, it is a strategic failure because they have lost their reputation, that is already clear, but they are now trying to salvage some sort of victory for putin and they have given up on kyiv as an actual objective, and i think that was a real objective early on but it was too much for them to achieve and they have decided to decrease operations here but they will keep pressure on the ukrainian government but they need to bring forces out of there as they are doing and ship them round to the donbas region in the south—east. so there will be more activity going on. there is engagement in talks but the russians say they are not really going anywhere and until there is agreement

about the future of the donbas region, both sides feel they have more to gain on the battlefield so russia will try a bigger offensive in the south, especially if they can gain control control of mariupol, but russia will look to free up forces and bring more from the north—east and put all of their forces behind minefields and defences. this is how they are holding onto ground, west of kyiv, that is where they will shift, east of kyiv, that allows them to keep the pressure on quite cheaply, at huge risk to ukrainian to ukrainian civilians, and use that as pressure on zelensky and the government to allow them to get concessions in the south where they are fighting more intensively. we have got pictures of landmines which have been laid. this is on a road, so not the usual terrain they would be used on, but it seems they have been used by both sides, so to what extent is that going to sabotage their own efforts, whether that is to move

troops and artillery to a new position or to get civilians to safety? mines are a dreadful hazard on the battlefield and that is why there have been conventions against their widespread use but russia has not signed the convention on that. it makes large—scale use of anti—vehicle mines, they are the obvious ones people think about but what is more difficult is the smaller antipersonnel mines which can be dropped from aircraft and these things can affect generations for generations afterwards. in some parts of the world they have lasted for a long time, and even though they are programmed to detonate after a certain period of time, many of them don't, and there is carelessness in their use and you never know with these scattered mines, whether they have fallen accurately. they lead to a long—term

hazard to civilians. russia's use in front of its positions, in particular, this allows them to protect their positions cheaply, by using lots of mines, and that stops ukraine from mounting effective counter offences and it means they can hold the ground they have captured relatively cheaply and cut their forces in half to hold the ground if they are well defended and then use those troops elsewhere, so for russia it is a trade—off, a trade—off they have calculated works. especially around kharkiv because that is where most russian forces have been deployed from, to down in the donbas. president putin says, starting from tomorrow — foreign buyers must pay for gas in the russian currency — and has threatened to halt gas supply contracts if payments in roubles are not made from accounts in russian banks. translation: today i signed a decree setting up rules of trading of _

russian natural gas with so—called unfriendly states. we suggest to our counterparts from those countries a clear and transparent scheme. in order to purchase russian natural gas they should open rouble accounts in russian banks. it's from those accounts that payments will be executed for the gas supplies starting from tomorrow, april 1st. in case such payments fail, are not executed, we will consider them as nonpayment from our counterparts. nobody sells us free of charge anything and we will not do charity either. all the existing contracts will be suspended. our correspondentjenny hill joins us from moscow. why does he want these payments to be made in roubles? that why does he want these payments to be made in roubles?— be made in roubles? that is a good

ruestion. be made in roubles? that is a good question- this _ be made in roubles? that is a good question. this is _ be made in roubles? that is a good question. this is partially _ be made in roubles? that is a good question. this is partially for - be made in roubles? that is a good question. this is partially for his . question. this is partially for his domestic audience and he is saying that these people are dependent on us for gas and they will pay for it in roubles and also his way of saying to the west, you have imposed the sanctions which means foreign payments are tricky, so it will hurt you, as well. it is worth taking a closer look at the actual decree he has signed because in practice what will happen, russia has set up a special mechanism for these payments and a country like germany will actually pay euros into a russian bank account, a special bank account, and that bank will then take those euros and trade them on the stock exchange in return for roubles and they will go back into another russian bank account from which the final payment to the gas company will be paid. it is a bit more convoluted than vladimir putin suggested in that press conference. it is going to be interesting to see how countries react to that because actually vladimir putin had a

telephone call with the german chancellor olaf scholz last night in which he explains the mechanism, who came away with the impression that meant he would now be able to effectively pay in euros and there is a lot of confusion around that so we have got to wait and see how countries react. it is interesting, it is not simply a question of western countries are going to have to come up with a bag of roubles if they want to keep the gas flowing into their countries, and it seems to be a bit more of a compromised solution but we will wait to see how countries react.— countries react. what is the reaction _ countries react. what is the reaction from _ countries react. what is the reaction from the _ countries react. what is the reaction from the kremlin l countries react. what is the i reaction from the kremlin over countries react. what is the - reaction from the kremlin over these assessments by the us and uk intelligence services that vladimir putin has called this wrong and that he is being ill—advised? putin has called this wrong and that he is being ill-advised?— he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surrise he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surprise that _ he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surprise that the _ he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surprise that the kremlin _ he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surprise that the kremlin has - he is being ill-advised? perhaps no surprise that the kremlin has been | surprise that the kremlin has been very dismissive about those comments, and a spokesman earlier

said the western intelligence agencies don't understand the kremlin and they don't understand vladimir putin and they don't understand the way that decisions are made in russia. ifind that interesting because increasingly here, you get the sense that the kremlin is keen to tell russians that their country is unique in that they are effectively battening down they are effectively battening down the hatches in the face of western aggression and western lies, that there popular narrative. we have heard from vladimir putin this afternoon who is in a defiant and belligerent sort of mood, and he was casting russia very much as the victim and we have seen this again and again as the sanctions begin to bite and prices rise, russians are going to notice these things. again this afternoon he is telling russians that first of all western sanctions are part of an economic war and that the west has been waging this on russia now for years in order to undermine its development and he casts russia as the victim of western aggression and

he also tells people that whilst it will hurt russia, the sanctions are also hurting the west, so he has warned europe again that global instability is going to mean massive job losses and he is trying to divide the west by saying to people who are watching his speech that america is going to make profits out of selling liquefied natural gas to europe in the absence potentially of russian gas and that america is going to make profits more generally from that global instability. it is interesting to see how he handles what is increasingly a difficult time for his own country, but he is standing firm. he keeps a very tight control over what russians see and read here about his so—called special military operation in ukraine but again and again russians are told that the military operation is going according to plan. we have regular very upbeat briefings from the ministry of defence and they have talked again this morning about

the advances russian troops are mating and state television is full of this narrative and just last night one pundit was talking about the fact that not only is it going according to plan but what the russian troops are doing will go down in the military textbooks of the future, that future armies will look to the russian troops in ukraine as an example of best practice. ukraine as an example of best ractice. ., ukraine as an example of best ractice. . ., ., , the ukrainian government has sent a5 buses to evacuate civilians from the devastated southern port of mariupol, where tens of thousands of people have endured weeks of russian bombardment. russia has agreed a one—day ceasefire to allow people to leave, although there is scepticism that it will hold. this is the latest map of russian positions in ukraine. the us says only a fifth of russian forces around the capital kyiv have the us says only a fifth of russian actually moved from the area — despite a declaration by russia earlier in the week that it would pull back. from lviv, our correspondent, anna foster, sent this report.

five weeks into this war, ukraine is bracing itself for a new offensive. its forces are now preparing to resist a fresh assault on the eastern donbas region. days after russia said it would move troops away from the capital, kyiv, the city still reverberates with the sound of shelling. translation: we do not believe anyone. - we do not trust any beautiful verbal constructions. there is a real situation on the battlefield and now this is the most important thing. we will not give up anything, and we will fight for every metre of our land and for every person. here in lviv, and across ukraine, there is real anger towards the russian invaders. emotionally, how do you feel about russia? emotionally? i just hate them. we are ukrainians, we have our own country, our own culture and we will keep it. for millions of people, this city has been a gateway — a route out of this war.

those who stayed behind share their pain. i don't feel these people are strangers. they are sisters and brothers, truly painful. it tears me apart and today it is a million people and there is a possibility it will be 6 million people tomorrow, and it also can come to my family and my home. in the besieged city of mariupol, thousands have been trapped for weeks. there's no power and medicine, food and water are hard to find. this satellite image shows hundreds of people queueing outside a supermarket. stranded and cut off, getting hold of food has been tough. translation: we are dog poor, standing by the fire, homeless. i how long is it going to take? we have nowhere to take a shower, we're drinking water from god knows where.

the ukrainian government has now sent a5 evacuation buses to mariupol. today, russia says it will briefly ceasefire there so people can finally leave but that promise has been made before and broken. anna foster, bbc news, lviv. the uk has announced fresh sanctions, largely against russians whom the government accused of spreading "lies and deceit" about the invasion of ukraine. well, our diplomatic correspondent james landalejons me now and can tell me more. how many? most of the sanctions the uk and the west _ how many? most of the sanctions the uk and the west have _ how many? most of the sanctions the uk and the west have imposed - how many? most of the sanctions the | uk and the west have imposed against russia have been against politicians, generals and their companies, and oligarchs, but what the uk has done today is targeting the uk has done today is targeting the propagandists, in other words state media, so we are talking about travel bans and asset freezes here,

and they can't do anything with the uk and any business that does anything with them will be penalised. there is a famous state tv anchor i remember sitting in your chair, saying something that is simply lies about this invasion, and we are talking about someone who is behind rt and another person who owns sputnik, the state news agency, and other bass class editors and chiefs, these kind of people from these kind of organisations —— boss. there's also a think tank are targeting called the strategic culture foundation, they have been targeted. also a russian general who is in charge of the bombardment of mariupol. so they are saying here that they are going to target a new group. i

that they are going to target a new urou -. ., �* that they are going to target a new u-rou. .,�* ., , ., that they are going to target a new i.rou, .,�* ., , ., group. i don't really care for your comparisons _ group. i don't really care for your comparisons but _ group. i don't really care for your comparisons but we _ group. i don't really care for your comparisons but we will- group. i don't really care for your comparisons but we will draw - group. i don't really care for your comparisons but we will draw a l group. i don't really care for your. comparisons but we will draw a veil over that! ., , ., comparisons but we will draw a veil over that! . , ., , . over that! that is a difficult question- _ over that! that is a difficult question. what _ over that! that is a difficult question. what impact - over that! that is a difficult question. what impact are| over that! that is a difficult - question. what impact are they makinu ? question. what impact are they making? we — question. what impact are they making? we simply _ question. what impact are they making? we simply do - question. what impact are they making? we simply do not - question. what impact are they l making? we simply do not know. question. what impact are they - making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge _ making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge up _ making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge up by _ making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge up by the _ making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge up by the actions - making? we simply do not know. we can onlyjudge up by the actions of. can onlyjudge up by the actions of putin and if you talk to british diplomats they say it is too early to tell if it is having an impact on public opinion because the price of sugar, one diplomat said, has gone up sugar, one diplomat said, has gone up massively in russia, up a0% in the last three weeks, so these things will start to have an impact at the moment, but as yet it is very hard to assess that, and clearly the oligarchs are not comfortable about it and there is evidence of them desperately trying to find ways around it and the russian government is trying to get round the sanctions, sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, is in india to try and do business with the indians, maybe selling more russian oil, these kind of things,

so they are having an economic impact, but we get to know if they are having a political impact. forgive me for the comparison! aha, forgive me for the comparison! a qualified thank you and i guess we will let you off. and just to let you know that we'll have more analysis of the situation in ukraine on bbc global questions, a live tv debate featuring poland's deputy foreign minister, russia's former foreign minister and more — that's at 5pm. a review into the windrush scandal has said the home office must make "much more progress" if it is to bring about the "cultural changes required". )ministers were forced to apologise in 2018 for deportation threats to people who had been living and working in the uk for decades, but who were told they were here illegally because of a lack of official paperwork. a committee of mps has refused to endorse the government's choice to be the next chair of the charity commission. the digital, culture, media and sport committee recognised that barrister orlando fraser had the experience and qualifications

for the role, but said they had "serious concerns" about the process leading to his selection. a candidate previously approved by the committee withdrew before his start date. the committee is critical of the decision to put mr fraser forward as their preferred candidate from the same selection process. a private company which provides catch—up tutoring in england — randstad — has lost the contract for the next academic year. the department for education said £3a9 million in funding for tutoring in the next academic year would now go directly to schools — after there had been criticism of randstad's management of the scheme, and its online portal. today is the last day of free coronavirus testing for most people in england, as the government moves ahead with its �*living with covid�* plan. the move has been criticised by some scientists who say the change is coming too soon — but ministers insist the money can be better spent elsewhere. our health correspondent, jim reed, reports.

two years on from the start of this pandemic and scenes like this may soon be part of history. access to both covid testing sites and free fast tests taken at home will end for most people, part of the government�*s plan to live with the virus. so what clothes for next week, then? that could affect people like diane and her son, wesley, in hull. wesley lives with cerebral palsy, putting him at higher risk from covid itself. we�*ve no other choice but to pay. as far as we know, we don�*t know any different that the tests stop from friday, the free tests stop from friday. it�*s more the worry of making sure they have got them when we need them and we willjust have to be careful with them and where will we get the money? we don�*t have a choice. you�*ve just got to find it. from tomorrow, in england and wales, there will be no more mass testing centres with scotland

and northern ireland following soon after. free testing will continue for health care workers, hospital patients and those with a weakened immune system if they have symptoms. instead, most people will have to start paying for a lateral flow kit, used at home from £2 each at a local pharmacy. as with other respiratory viruses, such as flu, it�*s not the same disease but it�*s a similar sort of comparison. at some point we have to come to terms with that. as long as people receive the boosters, come forward for vaccination, then we have very high levels of population immunity. covid infections here in hull and across much of the uk have been rising sharply recently, driven by a new offshoot of the omicron variant. in the city�*s indoor market though, people seem to accept free testing cannot continue forever. we�*ve got to get used to living with it and accept things

and the government hasn�*t got a never—ending pot of money. i personally think if somebody can't afford to buy them, they should be provided... it should be provided. personally, i'm happy to pay for it. we know now that covid is not going away. this next step, the ending of free testing, feels like a significant moment though as we start to live alongside this virus. jim reed, bbc news. according to the zoe covid study in the uk, 1 in 15 people have symptomatic covid—19 in the uk, with the highest rates of the virus in england. the figures from the study indicate an increase of 7% from last week with more than 300,000 new daily symptomatic cases of covid in the uk on average. england�*s rate is running at1 in 15. wales at1 in 18 and in scotland, 1 in 16 have it. the organisers of the oscars say they asked will smith to leave sunday�*s ceremony after he slapped the comedian chris rock on stage — but he refused. disciplinary proceedings have now been launched by the academy against the actor,

who has since apologised for his actions. it comes as chris rock returned to the stage last night for the first time since the awards. our correspondent, sophie long, reports from los angeles. chris rock, arriving in boston for his first show since being slapped by will smith. he got, like, a huge standing ovation. for like, it was like a five—minute one, i mean. it went on and on and on. he, like, got all teared up and stuff. like, can you imagine being him as a performer, and coming out and you don't know if you are going to be ridiculed or applauded or what, and people gave him a standing ovation for forever, and then it died down, and then another standing ovation, then tears came out of his eyes. the comedian told the audience he was still processing what had happened. he didn�*t say whether he accepted smith�*s apology. was it acceptable for the actor to strike another man in the name of protecting his wife? that�*s the question that�*s prompted an outpouring of passionate polarised opinion in hollywood and beyond. some, who were in the room,

say it was a deeply shocking, traumatic event that overshadowed the historic achievements of others, like the cast and crew of coda, the big winner of the night. when i was in the room it felt quite shocking and quite violent, and i felt like it took away the energy of the room. but now i feel like people should sort of let the academy deal with the consequences, and we should actually celebrate the films that won. the academy has apologised to chris rock for what he experienced on the oscars stage, and thanked him for his resilience. and it said will smith could be suspended or even expelled from the academy, a sanction only ever applied to a few of its members. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. now it�*s time for a look at the weather with chris. hello again. the weather will stay cold

in the afternoon and many will see sunshine but also some snow showers. the most frequent of these affecting scotland and northern england. for the most part the showers will move through so they won�*t last too long in any one place but we do have this band of heavy showers working to parts of kent where over the hills and over grassy services we may see some accumulations of snow and cold winds for south—east england and east anglia around a0—50mph make it feel particularly bitter here. overnight tonight the snow showers will feed in over parts of scotland and england, could see as much as five centimetres in places, and the other thing, another cold night with a widespread frost and so we are expecting icy surfaces to take us into friday morning. friday another day of sunshine and showers, broadly speaking, but we�*ll see a band of showers into northern scotland probably bringing snow and sleet to northern ireland later on.

hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. the headlines: russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he�*ll cut off gas supplies tomorrow unless they begin paying in roubles. russia proposes a ceasefire in the besieged city of mariupol to allow civilians to leave. more than 150,000 people remain trapped. western intelligence suggests putin isn�*t being told how badly russia�*s offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. it�*s the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with the virus. a review of the home office�*s handling of the windrush scandal has found a lack of tangible progress or drive to make changes — and says more progress must be made. the organisers of the oscars say will smith refused to leave the ceremony after hitting chris rock, and they�*ve started disciplinary procedings against him.

sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here�*s louisa. hello again. england have pulled off a remarkable turnaround by reaching the women�*s cricket world cup final. the defending champions will now face australia after a dominant 137—run win over south africa. england were on the brink of elimination after losing their first three games but have now won five in a row to reach a second successive final. our sports reporter henry moran has been speaking to 2017 world cup winner alex hartley. he asked her about opener danni wyatt�*s magnificent century. it�*s just cricket, she said in her press conference "i did get dropped a few times but you have to ride your luck on days like that" and she did, she batted fantastically, she helped england get to a mammoth score and it ended up being too much for south africa.

england did put together a perfect performance. england were clinical and ruthless and finally they�*re the england side we all love to watch. dannii wyatt�*s century was pivotal to england�*s turnaround, herfirst in a world cup. speaking at a press conference after the match, she said england have the determination to win the world cup. every game has been a knockout so today was like any other match in the last few games and after the first few games we did not think this would be the case so we will prepare well for the final and we obviously really want to win that trophy after the start we had especially. qatar�*s right to stage this year�*s world cup was publicly questioned at the fifa congress in doha. the president of the norwegian federation said there was "no room" for hosts who cannot legally guarantee the safety of lg btqi+ people. lise klaveness demanded fifa "act as a role model" and ensure it takes a more ethical approach to selecting hosts in future.

it comes on the day a group of 16 organisations which support lgbtqi+ people�*s rights, urged fifa and qatar�*s supreme committee to provide safety guarantees to members of that community. premier league clubs will be able to use five substitutes in each game from next season. premier league shareholders met today and agreed the permanent change. five substitutes had been allowed during the covid pandemic, but the rule changed back to three this season. jack buckner is leaving his role as chief executive of british swimming to take up the same role at uk athletics. the 60—year—old oversaw team gb�*s record success in the pool at the tokyo olympics where they won eight medals, with 26 more won at the parlaympics. the former middle—distance runner replaces interim chief executive mark munro. las vegas has been announced as the latest city to host

a formula one grand prix. the race will be in november next year, at night, and the 3.8—mile track will include a portion of the nevada city�*s famous strip. it will be the third us—based race on the f1 circuit. four—time world champion sebastian vettel will begin his formula 1 season at the australian grand prix after recovering from coronavirus. the aston martin driver was ruled out of the season opening bahrain grand prix, then failed to produce a negative test in time for the second race in saudi arabia. tom pidcock has signed a five—year contract to stay with the ineos grenadiers team. the 22—year—old became the first briton to win the cyclocross world championship in january. he also won olympic mountain bike gold at last year�*s tokyo olympics. his current deal was due to run out at the end of this year, but he�*s now tied to the team until at least 2027. that�*s all the sport for now.

i�*ll have more for you in the next hour. thank you, louisa, look forward to it. let�*s return to our breaking news this hour. russian president vladimir putin says that starting from friday, foreign firms must pay for gas in the russian currency — the rouble — and has threatened to halt gas supply contracts if payments in roubles are not made from accounts in russian banks. i�*m joined now byjane foley, head of foreign exchange strategy, at the dutch bank rabobank. thank you. why is he so insistent that he has to be paid in this way he wants to shore up the value of the currency and so far it has had quite a stabilising impact on the value of the russian rouble. it dipped significantly at the start of the war, still relative to its

levels at the end of last year it is down but there is significant pain already in the russian economy because of the sanctions and inflation is part of that and a weak exchange rate emphasises inflationary impact so sugar prices inflationary impact so sugar prices in parts of russia are up 30%, we have seen inflation over 9% and that is likely to worsen so he wants to stabilise the exchange rate and one clever way to do that is to try to get your trading partners to buy the roubles to sell their currencies to do that and to buy their gas in russian roubles.— do that and to buy their gas in russian roubles. how likely is it that it will _ russian roubles. how likely is it that it will have _ russian roubles. how likely is it that it will have the _ russian roubles. how likely is it that it will have the effect - russian roubles. how likely is it that it will have the effect he i that it will have the effect he desires? ~ ., ., ., , desires? we have to look at the big icture. if desires? we have to look at the big picture- if we _ desires? we have to look at the big picture. if we imagine _ desires? we have to look at the big picture. if we imagine there - desires? we have to look at the big picture. if we imagine there are i desires? we have to look at the big | picture. if we imagine there are 400 picture. if we imagine there are a00 or more companies who decided to stop their russian operations, they want to unravel relationships with their russian partners, we heard

there was announcements in the last month but most of those companies cannot sell their russian assets because of the sanctions, they cannot talk to the russian brokers so you would imagine over time once those sanctions are rolled back, perhaps at the end of the war, there will still be a lot of selling of the russian rouble and if europe and japan look elsewhere for their energy needs, that means quite a downsize movement on the russian rouble for a long time so quite now he�*s trying to lessen the paint for the russian economy and try to force some of that flow back into the russian rouble, trying to get the exchange rate to a stronger level for the rouble and try to fight off some of that painful inflation already hitting the russian economy. given that some of the sanctions imposed on the west by russia include their financial institutions, how problematic is it

for these accounts to be settled through a russian bank working you have to bear in mind that it�*s difficult for most russian entities to deal outside into the western countries that have the sanctions, but the european governments have announced these sanctions. ii the announced these sanctions. if the need to buy _ announced these sanctions. if the need to buy gas _ announced these sanctions. if the need to buy gas through - announced these sanctions. if the: need to buy gas through swift or another way, need to buy gas through swift or anotherway, i need to buy gas through swift or another way, i am sure they could do that but this right now is a game of wolves with the europeans saying they will not be blackmailed, they will continue to paid gas in the currencies they generally pay for it with but putin also having quite a strong hand, knowing that europe right now is still pretty dependent on russian gas. jahe right now is still pretty dependent on russian gas.— on russian gas. jane foley from rabobank. _ on russian gas. jane foley from rabobank, thank _ on russian gas. jane foley from rabobank, thank you _ on russian gas. jane foley from rabobank, thank you for - on russian gas. jane foley from rabobank, thank you for your i on russian gas. jane foley from i rabobank, thank you for your time this afternoon. a review into the windrush scandal has warned the home office must make "much more progress"

if it is to bring about the "cultural changes required". ministers were forced to apologise in 2018 for deportation threats made to people who had been living and working in the uk for decades, but who were told they were in britain illegally because of a lack of official paperwork. our community affairs correspondent adina campbell is here. it was an enormous issue at that time, remind us of some of the details, how it came to light. today�*s review is after an independent report two years ago which looked at the causes of the windrow scandal. we now thousands of caribbean migrants in the lead up to the 2018 scandal being exposed had been wrongly detained, deported, didn�*t have access to nhs benefits, lost their careers, and it difficult to get housing and that was because of home office mistakes caused by a lack of paperwork and very rigid home office immigration policies.

today there has been a review looking at the progress of that report two years ago and the government apologised at that time on the whole point of that report was to learn lessons and make sure those injustices couldn�*t happen again. today one of the key findings in the report was looking at the culture at the home office and wendy williams, the independent chair overseeing this review and the person who looked at the report two years ago, said there hasn�*t been enough tangible change in terms of the culture of the home office and there is still a long way to go. if we take the compensation scheme which was one way of repairing some of the damage affecting this generation, we know it has been very problematic, there have been a number of complaints over the length of time it has taken for people to get the money they deserve and also problems with the application, people saying it is too complex and it needs to be looked at again. £37

million has been paid in the last three years for approximately 1000 claims but three and a half thousand claims but three and a half thousand claims have been submitted in that period so two thirds of claims are still unresolved. there has been some progress in the review, we know there has been an effective outreach community service and each strategic rice board and going forward the review says there should be a migrants commissioner, better engagement with the public and a higher standard of training. the home secretary priti patel welcome to di�*s report and says the home office is a different department to the one she originally sought but she wanted to be more compassionate and open but says the foundation has been laid for a radical change. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he�*ll cut off gas supplies tomorrow

unless they begin paying in roubles. western intelligence suggests putin isn�*t being told how badly russia�*s offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. russia proposes a ceasefire in the besieged city of mariupol to allow civilians to leave. more than 150,000 people remain trapped. as we�*ve heard, gas prices are rising, at the same time as we try to limit our carbon dioxide emissions because of climate change. part of the government�*s answer is to get homeowners to replace their gas boilers with electric "heat pumps" and, from tomorrow, grants of £5,000 will be on offer to help people make the switch. while they do have environmental benefits, there are concerns over the costs, as our climate editor, justin rowlatt, has been finding out. this is what the government wants you to do. tear out your carbon dioxide spewing

gas boiler and replace it with the electric alternative for heating your home. a heat pump. they are more climate—friendly than gas, and don�*t depend on supplies from despotic dictators. there you go, what do you think? oh, wow. 0k. yeah. i thought it might be wider than that, i don�*t know why. they may not look much, but heat pumps are superefficient. for every unit of energy you put in, you get three or four units of heat out. the government wants 600,000 of us to be switching to them every year by 2028. so why aren�*t we all scrambling to get hold of them now? that is because we care much more about how much things cost than how efficient they are, says leah robson, who has been installing heat pumps in south london for nine years. typically, gas prices are around four times cheaper than electricity prices,

so effectively your efficiency, in terms of cost, is pretty much cancelled out. what is more, heat pumps operate at lower temperatures than gas boilers, so you will need to make sure your home is well insulated, consider double glazing and maybe beef up some of your radiators. add in the fact that heat pumps cost more than twice as much as gas boilers, and you realise even at current high gas prices, they work out more expensive for virtually all of us. the idea is the new grant scheme will help level up the costs — just one of the reasons energy companies say lots of people are asking about them. interest's really spiked - since the invasion of ukraine, because i think people are saying to themselves, _ "how do we get off gas? "what can i do to get off gas?" and heat pumps are not only. the solution to reducing our gas usage, but over time i they will be cheaper too. but they aren�*t now, so why put one in? i�*m not sure we are going

to save money from doing this, but, you know, at least we will know it is doing less damage to the environment, so it�*s paying us back in different ways. let�*s be honest, not everything is about money. you don�*t expect your new kitchen to turn a profit, do you? justin rowlatt, bbc news, sutton. energy websites appeared to falter today as customers rushed to submit meter readings before friday�*s pricejump. the issues — which appeared to be an industry—wide problem — came as experts urged householders to send in readings for gas and electricity to their supplier today to show exactly how much energy they have used ahead of ofgem�*s price cap, which goes up from tomorrow. here�*s richard neudegg from uswitch with more information. who should submit a reading today and why? figs

who should submit a reading today and wh ? �* , ., who should submit a reading today and wh ? ~ , ., , , who should submit a reading today andwh? ., , ., and why? as we now, bills are going u . and why? as we now, bills are going up massively — and why? as we now, bills are going up massively tomorrow for - and why? as we now, bills are going up massively tomorrow for the i up massively tomorrow for the majority of a stutter on these price tariffs. if you have a smart metre it will do metre readings automatically so you don�*t need to worry, if you have a prepayment metre you don�*t submit readings either but about half of us have traditional metres and in credit metre and if you don�*t give metre readings to your supplier they will have to guess what your usage actually is and they will draw the line based on where they think it has fallen with these big right changes. if you have got into the habit of not giving metre readings it�*s often that the supplier guesses wrong what your patterns are so you could get billed for use as you have already hard at the new hire rights, or your direct debit will get out of step and there was a big risk they will come after you later saying you have underpaid for a long time and we need a big lump of money or a wild swing at your direct debit.

household budgets cannot take that right now on top of the increases we have already seen so the only thing you can do is tighten how you give these regular readings and that is why we see a lot of people scrambling to do that today. ittrui’hgt why we see a lot of people scrambling to do that today. what if ou are on scrambling to do that today. what if you are on a — scrambling to do that today. what if you are on a fixed _ scrambling to do that today. what if you are on a fixed rate _ scrambling to do that today. what if you are on a fixed rate agreement, | you are on a fixed rate agreement, surely you will not be affected by this cap changing. ii surely you will not be affected by this cap changing.— surely you will not be affected by this cap changing. if you have taken a fixed deal — this cap changing. if you have taken a fixed deal you _ this cap changing. if you have taken a fixed deal you won't _ this cap changing. if you have taken a fixed deal you won't be _ this cap changing. if you have taken a fixed deal you won't be affected i a fixed deal you won�*t be affected by the right change until you come to the end of that fixed deal, then you will default to the price capped tariffs and it might be the case your deal will end at some point in this next window, but if you are paying by direct debit you will still be subject to direct debit reviews now and again based on how your use has changed even if you were on a fixed right. the bill goes up were on a fixed right. the bill goes up and down depending how much energy you are using in the home so it still good practice if you have a credit metre every month or so, especially malcolm give metre

reading to your supplier. fiseah especially malcolm give metre reading to your supplier. aeon site we are seeing _ reading to your supplier. aeon site we are seeing unprecedented i reading to your supplier. aeon site i we are seeing unprecedented volumes of customer traffic, while they work to resolve this they say they can confirm any metre readings customers take today can be updated so it looks like there will be a bit of leeway if people are trying to submit a reading and are having difficulties. are you seeing that latitude from other suppliers quarter the advice to consumers here is if you cannot get on to your supplier�*s website or app, taking of the reading, you can take a picture and submit it as soon as those services come back on life and they should be able to apply it back to the date you took the reading but evenif the date you took the reading but even if not it will still be a good thing to do if you get a reading a few weeks from now, it�*s so important in the context of how big energy bills are getting to keep your account up to date and keep doing that as we get towards next

winter when we think bills will go up winter when we think bills will go up against it more difficult news for customers. richard neudegg from uswitch, good to talk to you. this week marks a0 years since the falklands war. argentina lost the war, but to this day it maintains that the falklands islands belong to them. our south america correspondent daniel pardo travelled to buenos aires to assess the legacy of the war. this remote piece of land has been disputed for hundreds of years. called the falklands or malvinas, it is an archipelago in the south of the atlantic ocean. this is british territory, but argentina has never thought it should be. the blue and white of argentina is on everyi balcony and in every window. the dispute led to a war in 1982 which argentina lost. since then, its people have been through a lot. inflation, poverty, and most recently, covid—19. in a deeply divided country, getting the islands back is the one thing that really

unifies most argentines. it is a fundamental part of their identity, and a0 years after the war, an overwhelming majority of people here still feel that the uk is illegally occupying their territory. polls suggest as many as 80% of the population feel this way. translation: they are ours. they are a piece of argentina. why did the brits have to come so far away to occupy a place that is not theirs? a friend of mine, his dad died in the war. so he got a big tattoo of the malvinas on his arm. people really do have strong feelings for the malvinas. i asked the president of argentina what he thinks about the falklands. translation: we will continue to insist on the diplomatic path | so that argentina can regain its sovereignty over the islands. the only thing that is blatant to me is that the malvinas are not english.

they have no connection, but they do have an obvious connection with argentina. the connection he talks about is geographical. but the people who live on the islands feel a strong connection with the uk. when they had a referendum a decade ago, 99% voted to stay british. 6a9 argentines and 255 british soldiers died during the conflict. alejandra�*s brother, nestor, one of them. translation: the hardest thing about my brother dying - was my parents�* pain. they were never the same again. so many happy memories were shattered. the war left many angry towards the british and there is still a common feeling that the fate of the islands is unfinished business. but what does the president

say to those who argue that argentina should finally give up its claim? translation: the fact - that we are even discussing whether colonialism is viable in the 21st century, it�*s shameful. and those who should feel the shame are those who own colonies. if margaret thatcher had been leader of a developing country like we are, she would have been convicted of war crimes. the war is a traumatic and very recent memory in the life of most argentines. but losing it didn�*t change people�*s determination to get the islands back. if anything, it made it stronger. translation: the claim | is going to be everlasting. the last argentine to be born is going to reclaim the islands. daniel pardo, bbc news, buenos aires.

we have just been reporting that president putin says he is going to cut off gas supplies to the west from tomorrow if he doesn�*t get payments in roubles. borisjohnson has been asked whether britain would be paying rusherfor gas in roubles and his spokesman said that is not something we will be looking to do, we are monitoring the implications for the european market of the russian demand for gas payments in roubles, so a bit of posturing there, a bit of pushback from the uk government. now it�*s time for a look at the weather with chris. hello there. the weather�*s staying very cold today, and we�*ve got some snow showers to come as well. now we�*ve had reports of six centimetres of snow in parts of west yorkshire, from the overnight snow and the snow showers as well already this morning, when the snow showers have been coming along they�*ve been

bringing some very big, chunky flakes of snow because temperatures generally have been a couple of degrees above freezing and that helps snowflakes stick together. but we�*ve also got lots of sunshine around as well. now the radar picture picks up where most of the showers are, generally across northern and eastern areas, and for most parts, the showers will come and go. however, we have this band of more persistent showers working into kent, and here can be some localised accumulations this afternoon, mainly on grassy surfaces in the hills. but the other feature of the weather across lincolnshire, east anglia, into kent is that we�*ve got some very strong, cold, gusty winds gusts running into the a0s, even 50s of miles an hour, and that will make it feel really cold. temperatures at very best, getting up to around seven or eight degrees celsius, but when showers come along, temperatures will be getting a lot closer to freezing. now, overnight tonight it�*s going to be another cold night with showers feeding back in across these eastern areas of the uk, we could see some further accumulations of snow, maybe five centimetres in one or two areas. the frost will be widespread. so again, as we head into friday morning, we�*re looking at the risk of some icy surfaces just

about anywhere really. now through friday we�*ve got a little weather system coming into scotland that�*s going to be bringing some snowfall into the highlands, probably some hill snow further southwest for southwest scotland for northern ireland later in the afternoon, maybe find a few flakes of snow across some of the higher hills, but generally a bit of rain and sleet from that system and temperatures still on the chilly side for the time of year. now, friday night could bring a bit of hill snow to wales, maybe an odd flake into saturday morning across the southwest, but otherwise it�*s another day of sunshine and showers. it will continue to feel pretty cold outside. temperatures again below average as we head deeper into april, we�*re looking at highs of between seven and ten degrees celsius. now for sunday, probably a bright enough start to the day with some sunshine, but it turns cloudier from the north as the day goes by. a bit of rain coming into northern areas could see an odd patch of drizzle elsewhere, with some mist and fog patches forming around the coast and hills as the weather starts to try to turn a touch milder.

this is bbc news. the headlines: russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he�*ll cut off gas supplies tomorrow unless they begin paying in roubles. nobody sells is free of charge and we will— nobody sells is free of charge and we will not do charity either. all existing — we will not do charity either. all existing contracts will be suspended. he is trying to lessen the pain— suspended. he is trying to lessen the pain for the russian economy right— the pain for the russian economy right now— the pain for the russian economy right now and try to force some of that flow— right now and try to force some of that flow back into the russian rouble. — that flow back into the russian rouble, trying to get the exchange rate at _ rouble, trying to get the exchange rate at a _ rouble, trying to get the exchange rate at a stronger level for the rouble — rate at a stronger level for the rouble and trying to fight off some of that— rouble and trying to fight off some of that really painful inflation that's— of that really painful inflation that's already hitting the russian economy — western intelligence suggests putin isn�*t being told how badly russia�*s offensive is going, with reports of demoralised troops

refusing to obey orders. it�*s the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with ther virus. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. vladimir putin has signed a decree that from tomorrow moscow will cut off gas supplies, to western countries that do not pay in russia�*s currency, the rouble. europe bought more than a third of its gas from russia last year. earlier this week germany warned of an emergency, if russia stopped supplies. this is what the russian president said a little earlier. today i signed a decree setting up the rules of trading of russian natural gas with the so—called unfriendly states. we suggest to our

counterparties from those countries in a clear and transparent scheme, in a clear and transparent scheme, in order to purchase russian gas they should open rouble accounts and russian banks. it�*s from those accounts that payments will be secured for the gas and supply starting from tomorrow, april the 1st. in case such payments fail, it will consider them as nonpayment from our counterparties. nobody sells us free of charge anything and we are not going to do charity either. all the existing contracts will be suspended. our correspondent in moscow, jenny hill, gave us her thoughts on why the russian president had announced this move. i think this is partially for a domestic audience. he is saying these people are dependent on us for

gas and we are going to pay for it in roubles. it�*s also his way of saying to the west you have imposed the sanctions on us which mean foreign payments are tricky so it�*s going to hurt you too. i think it�*s worthjust taking a going to hurt you too. i think it�*s worth just taking a bit of a closer look at the actual decree he has signed today because in practice what will happen is russia has set “p what will happen is russia has set up a special mechanism for these payments are a country like germany will actually take euros into a russian bank account, that bank will then take those euros and tried them on the stock exchange you in return for roubles, those roubles will go back into another russian bank account from which the final payment to the gas company will be paid. so it�*s more convoluted than vladimir putin suggested in that press conference and it�*s going to be interesting to see how countries react to that because vladimir putin had a telephone call with the german chancellor last night and he explained this mechanism to the

chancellor who came away with the impression that meant he would now be able to effectively pay in euros. there is a lot of confusion about that so we will have to wait and see how countries react but it is interesting, it�*s not simply a question of western countries are going to have to come up with a bag of roubles if they want to keep the gas flowing into their countries, it seems to be a little bit more of a compromised solution than that. but let�*s wait to see how countries react. so how does affect us here in the uk where ofgem�*s price cap goes up from tomorrow and energy websites appeared to falter today as customers rushed to submit meter readings before friday�*s pricejump. our business correspondent, katie prescott, is here. the prime minister spokesman has said it�*s not something the uk will be looking to do, to pay for anything from russia in roubles. so what are the implications? it�*s what are the implications? it's interesting _ what are the implications? it�*s interesting to hear what jenny was interesting to hear whatjenny was saying. it seems like this is vladimir putin softening his stance from what he was saying yesterday about countries having to pay directly in roubles. what they are

being asked to do is put money into gazprom back in their own currency and gazprom bank will change that into roubles. so it�*s a bit of a softening of the stance he took yesterday. the uk doesn�*t actually buy that much gas from russia, it�*s a small percentage, about a%, so directly they should not affect us that much. although what has happened as a result of all of this is gas prices have spiked and we are hearing in the uk exposed to global gas prices and so that is really where everything is going to hit us. tomorrow, the energy cap that tries to keep a bit of a lid on gases going up. ofjane have raised the cap and that is going to affect a lot of people, particularly those not on fixed rates. people, particularly those not on fixed rates-— fixed rates. that's right. the standard _ fixed rates. that's right. the standard tariff _ fixed rates. that's right. the standard tariff on _ fixed rates. that's right. the standard tariff on average i fixed rates. that's right. the standard tariff on average is| fixed rates. that's right. the i

standard tariff on average is going up standard tariff on average is going up at £700 tomorrow to about £2000 a year. this has been expected and it�*s because of the rise in gas prices we have seen after the pandemic and of course because of the conflict in ukraine. so ofjane will look at the price cap every six months and review it and a huge component of that is what the global gas prices are. that is why it is going up so significantly. i�*m afraid it is expected to go up again in october. the office for budget responsibility said it could go up by £850. a, responsibility said it could go up b £850. �* , responsibility said it could go up b £850. ~ , , . responsibility said it could go up b £850. �* , ' . ., responsibility said it could go up b£850. , _ .,., by £850. a very difficult time for a lot of people- _ by £850. a very difficult time for a lot of people. thank— by £850. a very difficult time for a lot of people. thank you _ by £850. a very difficult time for a lot of people. thank you very i by £850. a very difficult time for a i lot of people. thank you very much. american and british intelligence officials say president putin is not being given an accurate picture of events on the ground in ukraine. a white house spokesman said mr putin was being misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how badly the war is going for russia. that view was echoed by sirjeremy fleming, the head of the uk�*s security and intelligence agency gchq, he also said that mr putin had overestimated the abilities of his military to

secure a rapid victory. our security correspondent, gordon corera, reports. what is really going on inside the kremlin? and just how isolated is russia�*s leadership from the reality of events in ukraine? western spies say they believe vladimir putin is not getting the full picture. speaking in australia, the head of britain�*s gchq intelligence agency said that putin had got things badly wrong. it�*s clear he misjudged the resistance of the ukrainian people, he underestimated the strength of the coalition that his actions would galvanise, he underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions to the regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. morale in the russian military was low, he said, troops sabotaging their equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. but putin had been shielded from the full reality.

even though we believe putin�*s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what is going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime. the gchq director�*s comments echo those of us officials, who said they thought putin was being misled and that there was growing tension between him and russian defence officials. we would concur with the conclusion that mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn, over the last month. western spies seem to have had real insight into the kremlin. they warned well in advance the invasion would take place, and that putin was misjudging how it would play out. now they think he is still not being told the full truth about what is really going on in ukraine, and that worries them,

because it means he might make further misjudgments which could extend the war. on the ground, the war has not gone according to vladimir putin�*s original plan. what is not clear is how far he understands that, and what he will do next. gordon corera, bbc news. britain�*s chief of the defence staff, admiral sir tony radakin, says �*catastrophic misjudgements�* made by the russian president himself are at the core of the kremlin�*s problems. he said vladamir putin had allowed himself to be misled. admiral radakin made the comments at the start of a speech to the institute for government in london. the scenes coming out of mariupol and elsewhere are horrific and the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult but in many ways putin has already lost. far from being the far—sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, putin has damaged himself

through a series of catastrophic misjudgments. he has failed to recognise how deeply the notions of sovereignty, democracy and national identity have taken root in ukraine. like all authoritarians, he allowed himself to be misled as to his own strength, including the effectiveness of the russian armed forces. and lastly, he has failed to anticipate the unity and cohesion that exists among the free nations of the world, here in europe and obviously far beyond. his actions to date have done more to galvanise and divide and have shown ukraine to have the one thing that russia conspicuously lacks, which is realfriends. what is a very clear is that putin is a weaker and more diminished figure today that he was a month ago and conversely, nato is stronger and more united today than at any

time i can remember. earlier i spoke to the military analystjustin crump, ceo of sibylline, a country risk advisory company. i asked him why the us and uk intelligence services had made these statements. i think it�*s something jeremy fleming, the director of gchq said, the way that western intelligence has been promoted to the public throughout this crisis, going back to well before the invasion itself, when you may recall the uk and us governments and nato indeed for that matter, openly talking about putin�*s ambitions and the plans to invade and this is part of that trend in general. beyond the obvious ofjust sharing information that is known and declassified, to promote that engagement in the information space, the other big point is by blaming putin�*s advisors for this strategic mess, there is also a hint that this is a way for him to get off the hook,

so this is a bit of a de—escalation measure by the us and the uk, who share intelligence very much, to give something to putin here. the kremlin has been rather dismissive of what the uk and the us has said, from what we gather, but how much resonance would it really have with vladimir putin? it�*s not surprising that they would not receive this thing very well! it does have elements of truth, though. we are already aware of tensions with putin�*s intelligence advisers, and we have heard a lot about tensions with the fsb, his own former service, and the main directorate of military intelligence, as well, and so there is a lot of feeling already that there is blame within russia for what is very clear, bad decision—making.

i don�*t think putin is completely out of touch with what is happening and i think he was ill—advised going into the conflict and there is recognition of that in russia. he is not the only one who has been ill—advised. president macron seemed to be convinced that this invasion was not going to take place. yes, and the head of the french military intelligence has been sacked as a result of that, that is a face—saving gesture from macron who took a different position from the uk and the us and even nato, took a different policy line, because that is now very embarrassing at this stage, that france was against sanctions originally and was trying to form a different position regarding russia compared to some of the rest of nato and that was probably the big hope for putin that he could split nato, particularly germany and france, and that did not happen in the end. but it came very close. it is not surprising therefore that macron had to blame someone for that,

so no surprise. the ukrainian government has sent a5 buses to evacuate civilians from the devastated southern port of mariupol, where tens of thousands of people have endured weeks of russian bombardment. russia has agreed a one—day ceasefire to allow people to leave, although there is scepticism that it will hold. this is the latest map of russian positions in ukraine. the us says only a fifth of russian forces around the capital kyiv have actually moved from the area, despite a declaration by russia earlier in the week that it would pull back from there, and focus on the east of the country. from lviv, our correspondent, anna foster, sent this report. five weeks into this war, ukraine is bracing itself for a new offensive. its forces are now preparing to resist a fresh assault on the eastern donbas region. days after russia said it would move troops away from the capital, kyiv, the city still reverberates

with the sound of shelling. translation: we do not believe anyone. - we do not trust any beautiful verbal constructions. there is a real situation on the battlefield and now this is the most important thing. we will not give up anything, and we will fight for every metre of our land and for every person. here in lviv, and across ukraine, there is real anger towards the russian invaders. emotionally, how do you feel about russia? emotionally? i just hate them. we are ukrainians, we have our own country, our own culture and we will keep it. for millions of people, this city has been a gateway — a route out of this war. those who stayed behind share their pain. i don�*t feel these people are strangers. they are sisters and brothers, truly painful. it tears me apart and today it is a million people and there is a possibility it will be 6 million people tomorrow, and it also can come

to my family and my home. in the besieged city of mariupol, thousands have been trapped for weeks. there�*s no power and medicine, food and water are hard to find. this satellite image shows hundreds of people queueing outside a supermarket. stranded and cut off, getting hold of food has been tough. translation: we are dog poor, standing by the fire, homeless. i how long is it going to take? we have nowhere to take a shower, we�*re drinking water from god knows where. the ukrainian government has now sent a5 evacuation buses to mariupol. today russia says it will briefly ceasefire there so people can finally leave but that promise has been made before and broken. anna foster, bbc news, lviv. the headlines on bbc news...

russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he�*ll cut off gas supplies tomorrow — unless they begin paying in roubles. (western intelligence suggests putin isn�*t being told how badly russia�*s offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. it�*s the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with ther virus. today is the last day of free coronavirus testing for most people in england, as the government moves ahead with its �*living with covid�* plan. the move has been criticised by some scientists who say the change is coming too soon — but ministers insist the money could be better spent elsewhere. earlier today we spoke to dr stephen griffin a virologist at the university of leeds, here�*s what he had to say. the lateral flow devices give us a lot of freedom and to not test

is probably less enabling in terms of living with this infection because particularly those who were clinically vulnerable need to understand what the problems of the virus is like in the community rather than whether they themselves are infected after they develop symptoms and the other problem here is an environment where we are having huge cost of living increases, the inequality in terms of people having to pay for this sort of testing is really upsetting and i really would prefer a phased response that we are seeing in other parts of the uk. well let�*s get reaction from jeremy brown, professor of respiratory medicine at university college london and member of the jcvi. thank you forjoining us. how sensible is it to be doing away with three tests for everybody?- sensible is it to be doing away with three tests for everybody? that's a ve direct three tests for everybody? that's a very direct question, _ three tests for everybody? that's a very direct question, i _ three tests for everybody? that's a very direct question, i would i very direct question, i would probably— very direct question, i would probably like to discuss it more in the frames— probably like to discuss it more in the frames of what the risks could

be. the frames of what the risks could be i_ the frames of what the risks could be. i suppose the benefits are economic— be. i suppose the benefits are economic because it costs a lot of money _ economic because it costs a lot of money the — economic because it costs a lot of money. the potential risk is that if people _ money. the potential risk is that if people are — money. the potential risk is that if people are not testing they won't be isolating _ people are not testing they won't be isolating if— people are not testing they won't be isolating if they are positive because _ isolating if they are positive because they don't know they are positive _ because they don't know they are positive and that might increase the rate of— positive and that might increase the rate of infection. however, we have a very— rate of infection. however, we have a very high— rate of infection. however, we have a very high rates of infection already— a very high rates of infection already and it's difficult to see how it — already and it's difficult to see how it can— already and it's difficult to see how it can get much higher. how concerned _ how it can get much higher. how concerned are _ how it can get much higher. how concerned are you _ how it can get much higher. him" concerned are you though that as immunity wanes, the picture we are seeing now will become more serious? the problem really is what happens in hospital. at the moment with this hi-h in hospital. at the moment with this high rate _ in hospital. at the moment with this high rate of— in hospital. at the moment with this high rate of infection in the community of hospitals have a relatively— community of hospitals have a relatively high rate of infection but it's— relatively high rate of infection but it's culpable. it causes a lot of stress — but it's culpable. it causes a lot of stress on the system and that stress _ of stress on the system and that stress is — of stress on the system and that stress is two to three components. there _ stress is two to three components. there is— stress is two to three components. there is covert illness itself which is relatively not that important compared to where it was a year or so ago. _ compared to where it was a year or so ago, there is also the issue that

you have _ so ago, there is also the issue that you have to— so ago, there is also the issue that you have to isolate patients who have _ you have to isolate patients who have got — you have to isolate patients who have got covid and that causes a lot of problems but when you place patients — of problems but when you place patients within the hospital and it's quite — patients within the hospital and it's quite stressful trying to sort it's quite stressful trying to sort it all— it's quite stressful trying to sort it all out— it's quite stressful trying to sort it all out so that you do not allow cross _ it all out so that you do not allow cross infection between people with covid _ cross infection between people with covid and _ cross infection between people with covid and people without covid and the third _ covid and people without covid and the third component is that if there is a high _ the third component is that if there is a high rate of infection there is a lot— is a high rate of infection there is a lot of— is a high rate of infection there is a lot of stuff absences. —— a star. we had _ a lot of stuff absences. —— a star. we had a — a lot of stuff absences. —— a star. we had a big _ a lot of stuff absences. —— a star. we had a big waiver of omicron around — we had a big waiver of omicron around christmas time and we coped with it _ around christmas time and we coped with it and _ around christmas time and we coped with it and we are getting the second — with it and we are getting the second version of omicron now and we can cope _ second version of omicron now and we can cope with — second version of omicron now and we can cope with it but it causes a lot of stress — can cope with it but it causes a lot of stress. it's ok just about. the problem — of stress. it's ok just about. the problem comes if the ability of the vaccine _ problem comes if the ability of the vaccine to— problem comes if the ability of the vaccine to prevent severe infection ways _ vaccine to prevent severe infection ways off _ vaccine to prevent severe infection ways off enough to allow the stress of more _ ways off enough to allow the stress of more people coming into hospital to increase — of more people coming into hospital to increase dramatically in the future — to increase dramatically in the future. ., . ., to increase dramatically in the future. ., ., future. how concerned are you about children because _ future. how concerned are you about children because many _ future. how concerned are you about children because many of _ future. how concerned are you about children because many of them i children because many of them certainly remain unvaccinated? i am

not too worried _ certainly remain unvaccinated? i am not too worried about _ certainly remain unvaccinated? i am not too worried about children. they are very _ not too worried about children. they are very unlikely to get significant infection— are very unlikely to get significant infection and in fact he has been a lot of— infection and in fact he has been a lot of omicron infection in most of the older— lot of omicron infection in most of the older age group children anyway so most _ the older age group children anyway so most children between the ages of five and _ so most children between the ages of five and 18_ so most children between the ages of five and 18 have been infected with omicron _ five and18 have been infected with omicron or— five and 18 have been infected with omicron or have been vaccinated so there _ omicron or have been vaccinated so there is— omicron or have been vaccinated so there is a _ omicron or have been vaccinated so there is a fairly high level of immunity in those age groups. from a ersonal immunity in those age groups. from a personal point — immunity in those age groups. from a personal point of— immunity in those age groups. from a personal point of view, _ immunity in those age groups. from a personal point of view, what _ personal point of view, what measures are you still following? we are being encouraged to wash our hands on some people are still choosing to wear masks. it�*s hands on some people are still choosing to wear masks. it's an important _ choosing to wear masks. it's an important question. _ choosing to wear masks. it's an important question. what i choosing to wear masks. it's an important question. what can l choosing to wear masks. it's an i important question. what can we do in everyday— important question. what can we do in everyday life which will control infection — in everyday life which will control infection and help take the pressure off the _ infection and help take the pressure off the nhs? i think wearing a mask in public— off the nhs? i think wearing a mask in public transport is an obvious one _ in public transport is an obvious one it's — in public transport is an obvious one it's a — in public transport is an obvious one. it's a simple thing to do and i am persisting in doing that and it

would _ am persisting in doing that and it would be — am persisting in doing that and it would be best if the population in general— would be best if the population in general would do the same. what ha--ens general would do the same. what ha ens if general would do the same. what happens if there _ general would do the same. what happens if there is _ general would do the same. �*gngsgt happens if there is another general would do the same. �*iji'isgt happens if there is another variant, one that is more serious and that perhaps isn�*t covered by the vaccinations we�*ve had so far? that vaccinations we've had so far? that is an important _ vaccinations we've had so far? that is an important question. it's very difficult _ is an important question. it's very difficult to — is an important question. it's very difficult to predict the future and every— difficult to predict the future and every time we try to predict the future _ every time we try to predict the future with covid it wrong—footed us. future with covid it wrong—footed us if _ future with covid it wrong—footed us if there — future with covid it wrong—footed us. if there was a variant that escaped — us. if there was a variant that escaped the vaccine plasma community like omicron does and is also more capable _ like omicron does and is also more capable of— like omicron does and is also more capable of causing serious infection, then that would actually lead to— infection, then that would actually lead to significant increase in hospital— lead to significant increase in hospital admissions and the stress on the _ hospital admissions and the stress on the nhs and that would be a problem — on the nhs and that would be a problem. the chances of that type of variant _ problem. the chances of that type of variant arising in feature is very hard _ variant arising in feature is very hard to— variant arising in feature is very

hard to know. it is anybody's guess whether— hard to know. it is anybody's guess whether that's going to happen or not. whether that's going to happen or not the _ whether that's going to happen or not. the only thing we can do is keep— not. the only thing we can do is keep a — not. the only thing we can do is keep a close eye on what's happening and watch _ keep a close eye on what's happening and watch what is happening in hospitals — and watch what is happening in hospitals and if it's getting worse that would indicate they might be a variant— that would indicate they might be a variant out— that would indicate they might be a variant out there that is of serious concern _ variant out there that is of serious concern. , , , , .,, concern. they will still be people who develop _ concern. they will still be people who develop long _ concern. they will still be people who develop long covid - concern. they will still be people who develop long covid from i concern. they will still be people i who develop long covid from catching it now and we still don�*t know what the long—term effects are? that it now and we still don't know what the long-term effects are?- the long-term effects are? that is an important _ the long-term effects are? that is an important point. _ the long-term effects are? that is an important point. there - the long-term effects are? that is an important point. there is- the long-term effects are? that is an important point. there is a i the long-term effects are? that is| an important point. there is a long tail of— an important point. there is a long tail of after— an important point. there is a long tail of after effects for catching covid _ tail of after effects for catching covid in — tail of after effects for catching covid in a — tail of after effects for catching covid in a significant minority of people — covid in a significant minority of people which is a miserable experience for them. it does tend to improve _ experience for them. it does tend to improve i_ experience for them. it does tend to improve i think in many patients but the date _ improve i think in many patients but the date is_ improve i think in many patients but the data is still coming through and the data is still coming through and the long—term data requires long—term follow—up and we have not really _ long—term follow—up and we have not really had _ long—term follow—up and we have not really had long term follow in the vaccinated population yet to know whether— vaccinated population yet to know whether long covid is going to be a serious _ whether long covid is going to be a serious issue in those that have

been _ serious issue in those that have been vaccinated and then catch omicron — been vaccinated and then catch omicron or another variant. thank ou ve omicron or another variant. thank you very much _ omicron or another variant. thank you very much for _ omicron or another variant. thank you very much for your— omicron or another variant. thank you very much for your time. - a review into the windrush scandal has said the home office must make "much more progress" if it is to bring about the "cultural changes required". ministers were forced to apologise in 2018 for deportation threats to people who had been living and working in the uk for decades, but who were told they were here illegally because of a lack of official paperwork. a committee of mps has refused to endorse the government's choice to be the next chair of the charity commission. the digital, culture, media and sport committee recognised that barrister orlando fraser had the experience and qualifications for the role, but said they had "serious concerns" about the process leading to his selection. a candidate previously approved by the committee withdrew before his start date. the committee is critical of the decision to put mr fraser forward as their preferred candidate from the same selection process. a private company which provides catch—up tutoring in england,

randstad, has lost the contract for the next academic year. the department for education said 349—million pounds in funding for tutoring in the next academic year would now go directly to schools after there had been criticism of randstad's management of the scheme, and its online portal. the organisers of the oscars say they asked will smith to leave sunday's ceremony after he slapped the comedian chris rock on stage — but he refused. disciplinary proceedings have now been launched by the academy against the actor, who has since apologised for his actions. it comes as chris rock returned to the stage last night for the first time since the awards. our correspondent, sophie long, reports from los angeles. chris rock, arriving in boston for his first show since being slapped by will smith. he got, like, a huge standing ovation. for like, it was like a five minute one, i mean. it went on and on and on. he, like, got all teared up and stuff. like, can you imagine being him as a performer, and coming out and you don't know

if you are going to be ridiculed or applauded or what, and people gave him a standing ovation for forever, and then it died down, and then another standing ovation, then tears came out of his eyes. the comedian told the audience he was still processing what had happened. he didn't say whether he accepted smith's apology. was it acceptable for the actor to strike another man in the name of protecting his wife? that's the question that's prompted an outpouring of passionate polarised opinion in hollywood and beyond. some, who were in the room, say it was a deeply shocking, traumatic event that overshadowed the historic achievements of others, like the cast and crew of coda, the big winner of the night. when i was in the room it felt quite shocking and quite violent, and i felt like it took away the energy of the room. but now i feel like people should sort of let the academy deal with the consequences, and we should actually celebrate the films that won.

the academy has apologised to chris rock for what he experienced on the oscars stage, and thanked him for his resilience. and it said will smith could be suspended or even expelled from the academy, a sanction only ever applied to a few of its members. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. now in just over half an hour here on bbc news we have a special live debate programme on the ukraine war. let's cross to my colleague zeinab badawi in poland to tell us more. you are going to bejoining me live for a special edition of global questions injust under for a special edition of global questions in just under an for a special edition of global questions injust under an hourfrom the magnificent central hall of the warsaw technology university. my audience already taking their seats. they are going to be putting their questions to my panel about the impact of the war in ukraine on

europe in terms of its humanitarian response, militarily, economic and energy consequences. and i've got a great panel line—up, they include the polish deputy foreign minister who is going to be telling us why warsaw wants a more muscular stand when it comes to dealing with russia will stop we also have the finished cabinet minister, that plucky little neighbour of russia and says it has beenin neighbour of russia and says it has been in the state of readiness for war with russia should it break out for decades. so we will be taking lessons from them. we also have joining us live from the us the first foreign minister of russia after the break—up of the soviet union and the fact he is living in the united states tells you everything about what he thinks of president putin plasma crusher. lots to discuss full stop to join us on global questions for a special live edition from warsaw. the programme that brings you the trend lines behind the headlines.

now it's time for a look at the weather with chris we have seen lots of wintry showers around during the day but overnight temperatures are starting to fall away and we will see those showers turn back to snow across northern and eastern scotland. eastern areas of england and particularly heavy showers coming into kent. for these areas we're looking at the risk some accumulations of snow, a few more centimetres building overnight. with a widespread frost it will also be the risk of some icy stretches to take us into friday. friday is another day of sunshine and showers broadly speaking. the show was quite prolonged the part —— across parts of kent. the weather front will bring some snow here and as it pushes southwards it will tend to turn to rain and sleet as it works into northern ireland in south—west scotland. temperatures similar to thursday but perhaps not feeling quite as cold. friday night, that

weather front dives southwards and the risk of some hills now moving its way into wales. hello this is bbc news with xxxx. the headlines(wait for russian president vladimir putin warns western countries he'll cut our off gas supplies tomorrow — unless they begin paying in roubles. nobody sells us free of charge and we will not do charity either. all existing contracts will be suspended. he is trying to lessen the pain for the russian economy right now western intelligence suggests putin isn't being told how badly russia's offensive is going — with reports of demoralised troops refusing to obey orders. it's the last day of free covid tests for most people in england, as the government pushes ahead with its plans for living with ther virus. sport and for a full

round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's louisa. premier league clubs will be able to use five substitutes in each game from next season. premier league shareholders met today and agreed the permanent change. five substitutes had been allowed during the covid pandemic, but the rule changed back to three this season. here with me now is our football reporter alex howell. alex, how is this going to work? at the moment you can have seven substitutes on the bench and make three changes from that but this new rule means you can name nine players from the bench and make five substitutions but these can only be made at three intervals in the match and an additional one at half—time. there have been some discussion it would favour a bigger clubs, but it had been introduced during the covid pandemic and they had been used this yearin pandemic and they had been used this year in the fa cup, using five subs,

but it was recommended to be brought into football and from next season it will be in the game permanently. thanks for explaining that commit you made it sound simple. qatar's right to stage this year's world cup was publicly questioned at the fifa congress in doha. the president of the norwegian federation said there was "no room" for hosts who cannot legally guarantee the safety of lg btqi+ people. it comes on the day a group of 16 organisations which support lgbtqi+ people's rights, urged fifa and qatar's supreme committee to provide safety guarantees to members of that community. we think we should play football everywhere, that's my general attitude, but the weightless world cup was awarded back then and the risk was taken or the lack of due diligence that was taken back then, it should not have been awarded in itself so the fundament is wrong.

england have pulled off a remarkable turnaround by reaching the women's cricket world cup final. the defending champions will now face australia after a dominant 137—run win over south africa. england were on the brink of elimination after losing their first three games but have now won five in a row to reach a second successive final. our sports reporter henry moeran has been speaking to 2017 world cup winner alex hartley. he asked her about opener danni wyatt's magnificent century. it's just cricket, she said in her press conference "i did get dropped a few times but you have to ride your luck on days like that" and she did, she batted fantastically, she helped england get to a mammoth score and it ended up being too much for south africa. england did put together a perfect performance. they were clinical and ruthless and finally they're the england side we all love to watch. jack buckner is leaving his role as chief executive of british swimming to take up the same role at uk athletics. the 60—year—old oversaw team gb�*s record success in the pool

at the tokyo olympics where they won eight medals, with 26 more won at the parlaympics. the former middle—distance runner replaces interim chief executive mark munro. las vegas has been announced as the latest city to host a formula one grand prix. the race will be in november next year, at night, and the 3.8—mile track will include a portion of the nevada city's famous strip. it will be the third us—based race on the fi circuit. four—time world champion sebastian vettel will begin his formula i season at the australian grand prix after recovering from coronavirus. the aston martin driver was ruled out of the season opening bahrain grand prix, then failed to produce a negative test in time for the second race in saudi arabia. that's all the sport for now.

let's return to russian president vladimir putin who says that starting from friday, foreign firms must pay for gas in the russian currency — the rouble — and has threatened to halt gas supply contracts if payments in roubles are not made from accounts in russian banks. i spoke to jane foley, head of the foreign exchange strategy, at the dutch bank raa—bo—bank, i asked her why the russian president was so insistant he be paid in roubles — here's what she had to say he wants to shore up the value of the currency and so far it has had quite a stabilising impact on the value of the russian rouble. it dipped significantly at the start of the war, still relative to its levels at the end of last year it is down but there is significant pain already in the russian economy because of the sanctions and inflation is part of that and a weak exchange rate emphasises

inflationary impact so sugar prices in parts of russia are up 30%, we have seen inflation over 9% and that is likely to worsen so he wants to stabilise the exchange rate and one clever way to do that is to try to get your trading partners to buy the roubles to sell their currencies to do that and to buy their gas in russian roubles. how likely is it that it will have the effect he desires? we have to look at the big picture. if we imagine there are 400 or more companies who decided to stop their russian operations, they want to unravel relationships with their russian partners, we heard those announcements over the last month but most of those companies cannot sell their russian assets because of the sanctions, they cannot talk to the russian brokers so you would imagine over time once those sanctions are rolled back, perhaps at the end of the war, there will still be a lot of selling of the russian rouble

and if europe and japan look elsewhere for their energy needs, that means quite dowanrd movement on the russian rouble for a long time so quite now he's trying to lessen the paint for the russian economy and try to force some of that flow back into the russian rouble, trying to get the exchange rate to a stronger level for the rouble and try to fight off some of that painful inflation already hitting the russian economy. given that some of the sanctions imposed on the west by russia imposed by the west on russia include their financial institutions, how problematic is it for these accounts to be settled through a russian bank? you have to bear in mind that it's difficult for most russian entities to deal outside into the western countries that have the sanctions, but the european governments have announced these sanctions.

if they needed to buy gas through swift or another way, i am sure they could do that this right now is a game of wills with the europeans saying they will not be blackmailed, they will continue to buy gas in the currencies they generally pay for it but putin also having quite a strong hand, knowing that europe right now is still pretty dependent on russian gas. as we've been hearing, free testing for coronavirus in england will end for most people from tomorrow. earlier, my colleague geeta guru—murthy asked your questions about those changes, and the omicron variant. let's listen back. as we've been hearing, it is the last date that free covid tests are going to be available

for most people in england. we've been taking your questions on the issue and here to provide some of the answers we hope is our health correspondent nick triggle. and dr sarah pitt, virologist at the university of brighton and fellow of the institute of biomedical science. well, we have a number of questions. let us start if i can with you, nick. and we've got a question from ruth, who has asked, "i have a compromised immune system and as a result have had four covid vaccines. am i eligible for free lateral flow tests and how do i get them under the new system ? " well, there's a group of people who are eligible for drug treatments to be sent to them if they are deemed at risk. these treatments have to be given soon, very soon after an infection. so these people are eligible for lateral flow tests, and they should have been contacted already by the nhs and and sent a pack of lateral flow tests. the group includes people with down's syndrome,

sickle cell disease, hiv, severe liver disease, some patients who are undergoing cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients. so if ruth falls into one of these groups, she should certainly be eligible for that. i would suggest she goes onto the nhs website. they've got a full list of who is entitled to these lateral flow tests and then the drug treatments as well. do you know how she gets hold of them? she hasn't been sent them. well, she should contact her gp or the nhs directly. they have been rolling them out over this winter period, so some people should have received them already. and if she does fall into one of those groups, certainly she should have got them already. ok, so they're going to be posted to people or they don't pick them up the lateral flow tests get posted out to to individuals, and then if they develop symptoms,

they should use a lateral flow test. and if they test positive, then the anti—viral therapies will be carried out to them immediately because it's important for them to start them, at least within five days of being infected. thanks very much for that. let me bring in a question from karl, who says if one in 15 people have covid, isn't it pointless to keep any free testing as anyone vulnerable would get infected by someone inevitably, even if positive people self tested? so the point about the lateral flow testing and the self—testing is a significant proportion, possibly one in three people who have active infection and therefore infectious to other people, don't actually have any symptoms. so if you don't test yourself, you're not going to know whether you have covid and if people are testing and if you test positive, even if you're not required to self—isolate, i think most people would take it gently and be really careful, particularly around vulnerable people. so that's the advantage of the testing being readily available and free.

so i would just advise your viewers that if you're not eligible for free covid tests, but if you're thinking about visiting elderly and vulnerable friends and relatives, perhaps you know, over the next few weeks when the weather's getting better and perhaps leading up to easter, do consider testing yourself if you can before you go, even if you haven't got any symptoms basically, if it now means that we've all got to go and buy these tests? it is still important because you're protecting other people? it is, and i know people, most people will say they can't afford it. and there's an awful lot of other calls on everybody�*s finances at the moment. butjust as a one—off thing, if you're going to sort of family events in the next couple of weeks, it would be a safe, good thing to do for the sake of the other people

around you, just to make sure that you're not infectious. that's good advice. cheryl asks how accurate are government figures about case numbers? isn't there a bigger rise in covid cases than what's reflected in the official data due to test shortages? because obviously lots of people might have symptoms or no symptoms at all, and we just simply don't know that we've got it. well, i mean, there's a lot of capacity in the testing system or there has been, you know, for the last year or so. so it's not so much a shortage of tests. but what has influenced the figures and how accurate they are is the number of people coming forward for tests. so if you look at overall infection rates, the estimates provided by the office for national statistics, it suggests that up until the turn of this year, around half of people who were infected were coming forward for tests and were therefore included in those daily figures that everyone has been keeping an eye on in recent weeks. that has dropped, and only around or less than a quarter of people who are infected are coming forward and getting tested and registering those tests.

so in that sense, it doesn't give you an accurate picture. but what it does do, the trajectory, what we've seen throughout the pandemic is the daily cases when they rise and when they fall, that's mirrored by the office for national statistics surveillance programme. so often we can see the trajectory is right, butjust not the overall numbers. ok, thank you for that. deborah asks, sarah, if i can ask you, will all clinically extremely vulnerable people also still have access to the anti—virals they were promised in previous waves? i understand only those cev people with certain conditions will be posted the anti—virals now. is there any way i can receive these drugs if i do catch covid? i would say that if you are in that category and if you are eligible, then you will be contacted by the nhs. so maybe check the nhs website to see what the guidance are.

i don't want to sort of encourage people to ring up their gp surgery, but that might be the only way to find out because there's obviously only certain people who will be eligible for that. and as far as i know they've been or will be contacted. nick mentioned that. also, let me give you this next question if i can from an anonymous questioner. they say my daughter caught covid and had an extremely high fever for several days. although the fever has now gone, she is still testing strongly positive on a lateral flow test. the guidelines say she can return to school as soon as her fever passes but is she still infectious? yes, the lateral flow tests pick up quite high levels of virus. that's one of the reasons why they're there. you know, maybe a few months ago we preferred the pcr test,

which is kind of able to pick up lower levels of the virus so that if you're still being positive by a lateral flow, then there is still active virus inside you and therefore you could be infectious to other people. and also, you probably still should be resting even if your fever�*s passed just to make sure that you recover properly. the government advice so far, i think, has only been to say to stay at home for five days, isn't it? yes, i know, but from a virological point of view rather than the government guidance point of view, if you're testing positive on a lateral flow, that means it's not looking for the genetic material of the virus, the lateral flow look for the actual virus. that means you've still got actual virus in your system and say you could be infectious to other people, but you still ought to be, at least even if you go back to school. take it gently, because what we don't want to do is for people who've had covid to kind of recover and then have a sort of a bit of relapse.

so the best thing to do is take it carefully. and if you test positive on a lateral flow, you still have virus in your system. ok, so i've got a couple more for you, if you don't mind. i mean, obviously, lots of people aren't testing anyway now, and we don't know who's spreading what. but an email from kay who says, how effective are these tests that distinguish between between covid and other illnesses like cold and flu? so as i said, the lateral flow looks for a very specific bit of the virus, and it's unique to the covid—i9 virus. so if you test positive on a lateral flow, you definitely have covid. if you have symptoms that look like it might be a cold, but you test positive for covid, then you definitely have covid. there isn't any crossover, and it definitely won't pick up something like influenza, which is a completely different sort of virus. and you know, there's nothing, what the lateral flow test is looking for is not

in an influenza virus, so they're definitely very accurate. ok, thank you for that. a question from rosie, who says if we're getting rid of mass testing, should we not be pushing ahead with the roll—out of vaccine boosters? i'm 71 years old with underlying health conditions, and any protection i had from my lastjab will by now have dropped drastically. but i can't get another jab until the autumn. yes, i mean, rosie is right. the protection against infection does wane. so immediately after the booster, there's about 75% protection against infection. but after ten weeks, and rosie's certainly at that stage, that may well have dropped to around 40% protection. but what's important is the protection against serious illness, and this is much more durable and much more long lasting. now, the government has announced a spring booster programme, and the roll—out of that has already started, but that's for people over the age of 75. i think rosie is 71, but she does have underlying health conditions,

so she may well qualify for that booster programme depending on what her health condition is. people with weakened immune systems are being offered those boosters, but i think the important thing for everyone to remember is that protection against serious illness, i think a lot of experts are agreed that we can expect to become infected several times during our our lifetime, and it's the protection vaccines offer against serious illness that is important here. yeah, the problem is long covid, isn't it, though, which is the subject of the next question i've got here from jane, who asks how much of a risk does omicron still pose and what do we know about the number of people getting long covid after omicron? yes, omicron does still pose a risk of very serious illness getting into hospital and dying. you know, we're running around about 200 deaths a day at the moment across the whole of

the uk, from covid, from the omicron variant of covid. and we just don't know what the long term effects are. we know that even if you've had quite a mild initial infection, initial disease, you still may develop long covid. and we just really don't know yet what that's going to look like and we are probably not going to know for a few years what long covid really looks like, what the extent of the risk of long covid is and how long it's going to be that people are affected because the definition of long covid is you haven't recovered after 12 weeks, but then we don't know whether people will go on still having some difficulties for a long time or whether, you know, the thing's resolved, let's say, within six months or something. and there's nothing in the virology that says that omicron is any different from alpha or beta or delta. so we need to take that risk very seriously, i think. so can i just ask you a follow up as well? obviously, overthe summer, people will be traveling more, probably.

are you worried that with a lack of testing that any new variants that are very dangerous don't get picked up as quickly? yes, they won't be picked up as quickly, but i suspect they will be picked up eventually because if they're more dangerous, more people will be turning up at hospital needing some kind of treatment and then they will get tested in the hospital laboratories and then some of those will be sent for the sequencing testing. so we will pick them up. but it willjust take a little bit longer for us to find them because as your viewers will probably remember, the time between getting initially infected with covid, any variant, and getting into hospital is usually about two to three weeks because people mostly have kind of a mild—ish sort of illness and then they feel,

they think they're better and then they go downhill. your viewers may remember that's what happened to the prime minister in april 2020. he said he was working at home and he felt fine and then suddenly he was in hospital. and that's a typical pattern that we've seen and it takes about two weeks. so in the meantime, a new variant would be spreading quite happily before we've even picked it up. so that is a slight worry. but we would definitely pick up the variants because we do have the testing resources to do that and the expertise. my virology colleagues have the expertise to do that. ok, dr sarah pitt from the university of brighton. thank you very much, nick triggle. and of course, much more on the website as those covid testing plans change tomorrow. a panel has found a former police detective, accused of failing to follow up tip—offs about grooming gangs, has been cleared of misconduct.

our news correspondent, danny savage is in sheffield. tell us a bit of the background first. , . . tell us a bit of the background first. , . , ., , . first. eight years now since the child sexual _ first. eight years now since the child sexual exploitation - first. eight years now since the l child sexual exploitation scandal was uncovered in rotherham. the g8 report famously at the time it looked back on the previous 13 years in that south yorkshire town and concluded at least 11100 children, much of them teenage girls, had suffered sexual abuse in the town with the authorities knowing at least about quite a bit of an ongoing and effectively accepting that it was part of the way of life in town and at those people who were victims, the children were sometimes in their eyes, the authorities, consenting to what was going on and were just problematic teenagers. jump forward to what has happened since then and what south yorkshire police have been doing the last four

years is investigating the attitudes of police officers back at that time. did those officers do enough to help those people who came forward complaining about abuse in the time? it was called operation linden and exposed first of all that there were 47 officers worthy of investigation and that 1a of them would face charges or potential investigation into potential misconduct or gross misconduct and a final case finish to date but detective sergeant david walker from south yorkshire police who led a team tasked with investigating organised abuse from 2009 to 2012. today the panel told mr walker that he had acted appropriately with any information passed on to him and he had been a hard—working, diligent and professional police officer, so

it now effectively that was the last case in operation linden, it has come to an end but now south yorkshire police officer has faced anything more serious than internal sanctions within the force on the victims of abuse in rotherham who say they were ignored by police at the time to feel distressed and let down and feel the police should have faced more serious charges and that somebody should have been held responsible for police attitudes at the time. . ~ responsible for police attitudes at the time. . ,, i. responsible for police attitudes at the time. . ~' ,, , responsible for police attitudes at thetime. . , . local questions from tina badawi but taking us there, the weather. it may have felt like we have gone back a season into the middle of winter with snow around, we started with snow in yorkshire and with showers continuing to feed into the day, often we had big chunky flicks like

these, temperatures a few degrees above freezing, that helps no flick stick together so for a few areas we have seen some snow and there is more to come overnight. eastern england and especially can come zone of heavy persistent showers so they could be several centimetres of snow overnight temperatures diving below freezing, a sharp frost, the risk of icy stretches to take us into friday. there were showers across the south—east reluctant to pull away. across the northwest we have a weather front that will bring some snow to highland scotland but as that pushes to the south west of scotland and northern ireland there is a tendency for it to turn to sleet and rain, otherwise sunshine and showers, though showers wintry, temperatures similar but the wind not as strong across eastern areas so perhaps not quite as bitterly cold. looking at the forecast on friday night, our weather front

continues to press south, being held now into wales, i can wait temperatures diving below freezing we have a risk of icy stretches perhaps not quite as cold in the west with temperatures not so cloud here. saturday morning we stocked up with hills snow in wales, that feature moves south, sleet and snow across the moors, otherwise a day of sunshine and showers, some turning heavy with a bit of help mixed in, temperatures generally coming up in degree but still pretty chilly for april, 9 or 10 your top temperature. the second half of the weekend brings further changes, we start with sunshine but it turns cloudier from the north with a weather front moving into northern scotland, bringing rain, cloud builds elsewhere, could see some mist and fog around the hills and the odd patch of drizzle, temperatures still disappointing but coming up to about 11 at best.

welcome to bbc news. vladimir putin has threatened to stop natural gas supplies to what he called "unfriendly countries" unless they switch to payments in roubles from friday. in an address to officials, the russian president said germany calls it black male. in an address to officials, the russian president said if countries did not open rouble accounts, they will be deemed in breach of contract and the contracts cancelled. translation: we suggest - to our counterparties from those countries that clear and transparent scheme in order to purchase russian natural gas, they should open rouble accounts