welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... more evidence emerges about the sexual violence ukraininan women have suffered at the hands of russian forces — we have a special report. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape along with her child. she called the ukrainian police, and she has given them her testimony. she has told them she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. ukraine's president warns russia is amassing tens of thousands of troops ahead of a fresh offensive in the eastern donbas region. we'll hear from our defence correspondent who's in the donbas region.

also on newsday. .. the murder of british mp sir david amess — a supporter of the islamic state group is found guilty. a new era for pakistan — but can shehbaz sharif heal the country's divisions after imran khan is ousted as prime minister? and back on the campaign trail — emmanuel macron heads for areas that are strongholds for his rival, marine le pen. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 6am in singapore, and 1am in ukraine — where the retreat of russian soldiers from towns and cities around kyiv�*s revealing more of the atrocities they commited there.

as ukrainian forces move into areas for the first time in weeks, they're uncovering more and more stories of violence used against the local women — in particular, of soldiers using rape as a weapon of war. our correspondent yogita limaye has been speaking to some of those affected, and i want to warn you — you may find, some of the vivid descriptions of abuse in her report distressing. a quiet rural neighbourhood, shattered by barbaric violence. in a village west of kyiv, a first—hand account of rape by invading soldiers. when we started talking to this woman, we didn't know what we were about to hear. we are hiding her identity to protect her. translation: a soldier entered our house. - my husband and i were there. at gunpoint, he took me to a neighbouring house.

he was ordering me, "take your clothes off or i'll shoot you." then he started raping me. while he was doing that, four more soldiers entered. i thought i was done for, but they took him away. she returned home to find her husband shot in the abdomen. he died two days later. she buried him in the backyard. translation: | found drugs - and viagra that they left behind. they would get high and they were drunk. most of the invading soldiers are killers, rapists and looters. only a few are ok. i want to ask putin, "why is this happening?" i don't understand. we are not living in the stone age. just up the road, we heard

of another rape case. it's being investigated by the police. this is the house a woman was taken to and assaulted. upstairs, the bedroom — where she was later killed. it's a disturbing scene. on the mirror, a message in lipstick. "tortured by unknown people, buried by russian soldiers," it says. out in the garden, we were shown her grave. a day after we went, ukrainian police exhumed her body. the note, we're told, was left by a separate unit of russians who found her body and buried her here. they later told a neighbour about the dead woman.

translation: they told me she had been raped and that her throat - was either slit or stabbed, and she bled to death. they said there was a lot of blood. we travelled 70 miles east to another village, to what used to be the home of a family. a couple in their 30s, and their young child. signs of their peaceful, ordinary life lie amidst the ruins. on the 9th of march, russian tanks rolled in. two soldiers shot the man dead. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape, along with her child. she called the ukrainian police and she has given them her testimony. she has told them she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. and she said that they threatened to kill her little boy, too, if she didn't do exactly

as they said. as the soldiers left, they burned down the house. the police chief has told us they have gathered evidence and plan to go to the international court. in kyiv, we met ukraine's human rights ombudsman, lyudmila denisova, who has been recording rape cases. in kyiv, we met ukraine's human rights ombudsman, lyudmla denisova, translation: about 25 girls - and women aged 14-24 were raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in bucha. none of them are pregnant. a 25—year—old woman called to tell us her 16—year—old sister was raped in the street in front of her. to calculate the number of such sexual crimes is impossible at the moment, because not everyone has come to us.

not everyone is willing to talk to us. among the people we met, there is no relief that the russians have gone, because they've left behind deeply wounded lives that might never recover. yogita limaye, bbc news, kyiv. meanwhile, ukrainian troops defending the beseiged city of mariupol, on the black sea, say they're now making a last stand, with ammunition running out and russian forces closing in. mariupol has been surrounded for a month, with president zelensky saying the siege has reduced the city "to ashes," and he fears tens of thousands of civilians have died there. it's believed thousands of russian troops are preparing for a new wider offensive in the east, to seize the entire donbas region. satellite images suggest a huge column of russian armoured vehicles is on the move there. our defence correspondentjonathan beale is in eastern ukraine. many people who live in this

region have already left — that's why you can see few lights on in the block of flats behind me. i think the fighting here will be different than what we've seen in kyiv — it's more open countryside. the advantage the ukrainians have is that they are already well dug in. remember, they've been fighting russian—backed separatists here for the past eight years, they are some of their most battle—hardened troops — also tired, but it looks like their morale is still high. the advantage for the russians as they are now fighting on fewer fronts. they also have the numeric advantage — one western official said he expected russia to notjust double, but possibly triple the number of forces it has in this region, but also saying that could take some considerable time. i think everybody knows that this next phase of the war could be decisive in the east, it could also be bloodied. the new russian general in charge is known as "the butcher of syria" for a reason. that was our defence correspondent jonathan beale in luhansk in the donbas, eastern ukraine.

let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... president biden and indian prime minister narendra modi have discussed the war in ukraine during talks via video link. mr biden was expected to urge modi to toughen his stance towards moscow. dehli has so far declined to impose sanctions or directly criticise the invasion. last month, the us president described india's stance as somewhat shaky. the sri lankan prime minister, mahinda rajapaksa, says the country has reached a decisive juncture and he's called for patience as protests continue over the government's handling of the economic crisis. in a televised address, mr rajapaksa said the demonstrations were costing the country an opportunity to earn dollars. thousands of people have gathered in colombo calling for the prime minister and his brother, president gotabaya rajapaksa, to stand down. students have been demonstrating across indonesia following suggestions that president joko widodo wants to

extend his stay in office. the police fired tear gas and water cannon on protesters at the parliament building in the capital, jakarta. indonesian leaders are allowed two five—year terms — and joko widodo's presidency is due to end in 202a. the indonesian leader has denied that he's aiming to extend his term. in france, emmanuel macron and marine le pen are beginning a fortnight of campaigning, after reaching the second round of the presidential election last night. mr macron won more than 27% of the votes in the first round, with ms le pen, who leads the far—right national rally party, four points behind. to discuss the race ahead, i'm joined now by peter conradi, the sunday time's europe editor, who's in paris. great to have you on the programme. i want to start by asking you what you made of the result in the second round, and the fact that now we've seen macron on the campaign trail

heading to some of the areas where it supporters of marine le pen are, do you think that strategy will be successful?— successful? yes, it will be interesting _ successful? yes, it will be interesting to _ successful? yes, it will be interesting to see - successful? yes, it will be interesting to see what. successful? yes, it will be - interesting to see what happens successful? yes, it will be _ interesting to see what happens over the next two weeks. because the first round results where, and a sense, what people had been expecting insofar as we have emmanuel macron facing off against marine le pen, which is exactly the same as we had in 2017. what both candidates basically have to do in the next two weeks is rally something like 50% of the voters, who voted for none of the above, ie voted for ten of the other candidates standing, and win them over to their side. so what we've seen, as you've mentioned, is emmanuel macron off in marine le pen's heartlands, that the industrialised north of france, she's been off campaigning, as well, and it's this battle that will be

going for the undecided people, really. going for the undecided people, reall . ., ~' going for the undecided people, reall . ., ~ ., going for the undecided people, reall . ., , ., ~ ., ~ really. peter, do you think that mr macron possibly _ really. peter, do you think that mr macron possibly left _ really. peter, do you think that mr macron possibly left campaigning l really. peter, do you think that mr. macron possibly left campaigning too late? i know there's been some criticism about that, the fact that he's been so focused on ukraine and russia that he is sort of lost ground here.— russia that he is sort of lost ground here. russia that he is sort of lost round here. , , ~ ground here. yes, but i think there has been that criticism _ ground here. yes, but i think there has been that criticism because - has been that criticism because there was the war in ukraine, there was some concern in the run—up to the first round that he would do badly — in fact, he got 27.84% of the vote, which was better than he got in 2017. which, given he's the incumbent and got in 2017. which, given he's the incumbentand a got in 2017. which, given he's the incumbent and a lot of people have frankly gone off him a bit during the five years he's been in power, that's a good result. but i think he knows he's really got to shift full time to campaigning now, ukraine is still there, it's not an issue that terrifies voters i think in the way that it did at the beginning of the campaign, but it's certainly something that had an impact because

it feeds through to what has become the main occupation, which is rising fuel prices, generally rising prices of everything which was the centrepiece of marine le pen's campaign and what voters really care about, and it's what macron himself is really addressing — and he made that clear in his speech yesterday evening when he welcomed the first round, and he immediately set off this morning on the campaign trail. so itjust shows he'll really stuck into campaigning because he knew he'd make it through the first round — this second round is what really counts and what will determine if he remains in power or not.— remains in power or not. peter, ureat to remains in power or not. peter, great to get _ remains in power or not. peter, great to get your _ remains in power or not. peter, great to get your thoughts - remains in power or not. peter, great to get your thoughts on . remains in power or not. peter, l great to get your thoughts on this programme. great to get your thoughts on this programme-— in other stories for you today — a new prime minister has been sworn in in pakistan, after the former cricketer imran khan was ousted in a confidence motion. his successor, shahbaz sharif, is the brother of another

former prime minister, and takes office amid corruption allegations which he has said are politically motivated. our correspondent in islamabad secunder kermani has more. well, shahbaz sharif heads a broad coalition. he's a well—known figure here, part of one of two dynasty is that dominated pakistani politics for decades until the appearance of imran khan. —— two dynasties that have dominated. that sharif brothers have a reputation for delivering big infrastructure projects but, as you say, they're also accused of corruption. they dismiss that as "politically motivated", but public opinion is deeply polarised. supporters of this new administration hope it will improve services for ordinary people, but its critics see it as a return to a past they hoped had been left behind. imran khan had personally led a crusade to see the sharif brothers in jail. instead, imran khan has been ousted from office, his mps had resigned from their seats, and he will be leading protest rallies later this week. imran khan still has

significant support, though, he's widely seen as honest by his supporters, and many of them believe his rather dubious claims that he was overthrown as a result an american—led conspiracy because he was drawing closer to countries like russia. here, political tensions look set to escalate further. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: shanghai eases its strict lockdown. we'll bring you the details. pol pot, one of the centuries greatest mass murderers is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent

protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust and the editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest _ it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock. and for supporting her legacy, the competitors will be chasing a new best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemedj just to slide away under i the surface and disappear. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... the bbc uncovers more evidence of the sexual violence ukraininan women have suffered at the hands of russian forces.

—— ukrainian women. ukraine's president warns russia is amassing tens of thousands of troops ahead of a fresh offensive in the eastern donbas region. turning to china now — where officials in shanghai have announced a slight easing of strict covid lockdown measures for a limited number of residents. communities which go for at least two weeks without a covid infection will have their restrictions altered. the current restrictions have provoked increasing anger from those unable to orderfood to their apartments. i'm joined now by our reporter monica miller, who has been looking into this for us. monica, how is the lifting of the restrictions going to work? the officials have laid out a blueprint that groups together more than 7500 housing units into different categories in a way to try

to get the city up and moving again. those in a low risk category are those who have tested zero covid cases for 1h days. they are allowed to go out and about in the city. however, they still have to abide by social distancing measures and, if there any positive cases found, they will have to shelter back in their homes. it's really unclear exactly how many residents overall will be allowed and when they will be allowed and when they will be allowed to leave their homes. and, as you had mentioned, it's been about three weeks of people who are very frustrated, they are having a hard time accessing food and medicine — in some cases, parents have been separated from their children in the event that either one of them has tested positive. you don't have to go much further than social media to get a sense of their rage and frustration, and mental exhaustion as they have found themselves under these conditions. now not everyone is a fan, however, of this blueprint. a lot of people are saying these cases are spiking

every day — in fact, there were more than 26,000 cases detected, and they say this isn't a good booth, and those that really believe this will help the city contain these cases. also government officials are saying they are not walking away from their zero covid policy — they say it would be irresponsible to do so right now, putting many vulnerable people at risk, including the elderly. but there is a case to be made from the business community. shanghai is its financial centre, the european kit chamber of commerce has put a letter together and sent at the beijing officials saying they need to find another solution for this, otherwise businesses will pull out. a, this, otherwise businesses will pull out. ., ., ., , out. monica, thanks for “oining us on the programme. _ to the uk now — and a man from london who was radicalised by the islamic state group has been found guity of murdering the conservative mp sir david amess. ali harbi ali killed sir david

at the mp's weekly constituency surgery in leigh—on—sea last october. ali had spent months researching how he might murder other mp5, even staking out the home of a government minister. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani reports. 15 october last year — and in the leafy suburbs of leigh—on—sea, a man hasjust murdered an mp. they say he's got a knife and he's just stabbed someone. two officers with just batons and pepper spray are the first to the scene. they decide they can't wait for firearms or taser units to arrive. stay back, yeah? mate, drop the knife! on the floor now! on the bleep floor! get it down! taser, taser! we've got him. it's all right, it's all right. right, search him.

right, mate, at the moment, you're i under arrest for murder, all right? i at southend police station, the killer declares his motive. ali harbi ali grew up in croydon, in south london. he was clever enough to consider becoming a doctor until syria's civil war changed the teenager's ambitions. at first, he wanted to fight for the islamic state group. but in 2019, he followed a worldwide call from the group's propagandists to strike at home instead. his target — any of the 524 mps who had voted to bomb is fighters. and, carrying a knife, he was tempted to kill any one of them as they came and went from parliament.

people can self—radicalise and do this almost entirely in secret, alone in their house, and do that online. and some of their activity when they then leave their house presents an opportunity for us and the public, maybe, to work together and identify their behaviour. harbi ali considered attacking cabinet ministers, but settled on this man, sir david amess, mp for southend west. he'd advertised his constituency surgery on twitter and, lying that he was local, harbi ali fixed an appointment, e—mailing to say, "i don't think i'll take too long." ali harbi ali arrived here at the old bailey a self—confessed terrorist killer, but he then taunted sir david's family, declaring that he'd done nothing wrong. he said he'd killed to protect muslims in syria. but the judge said that was no defence to the crime of murder, and the jury tookjust 18 minutes to convict him. he literally did something that you can't even imagine. and it doesn't heal, itjust hurts.

he's hurting all the people that were involved, making them relive it. arrogant to the end, he refused to stand for the verdict. just metres away, sir david's grieving family, watching the killer's final insult to them and a public servant who had only ever wanted to do good. dominic casciani, bbc news, at the old bailey. the former world champion boxer amir khan has been speaking to the bbc about his work helping refugees from the war in ukraine. he's just returned from poland, where he witnessed the impact of the conflict on the millions who have been displaced. his charity, the amir khan foundation, has pledged to provide a playground for a refugee home that houses ukrainian orphans and children with learning disabilities. he told my colleague samantha simmonds more. so i decided to go, we've launched a ukraine emergency appeal that was in poland.

it was a little bit safer to go to poland, and what the amir khan foundation and myself have decided to do is to help build outdoorfacilities for the ukrainian children. i mean, in any conflict, it's the children who suffer the most. and as a parent myself, we want to ensure our help and support. so that's the reason why i had to go there myself and, coming next week, we'll be doing a big charity bowl in london where we will be raising money for the ukrainian refugees. and tell us more about what you saw when you were there. what i saw there, obviously, you know, it was a lot of children who have disabilities, as well, they'd been homed by the polish people. and you could see in their faces how upset they are. i had a chat with a couple of the parents, as well, and they feel like they want to go back home again, they are missing theirfamilies —

they left some of their families back in ukraine, and they had to leave because obviously, it was really dangerous to live there. you could see that the children have not had much to do over there, so that's the reason why i decided to build a playground there for them, so they can keep themselves busy. but what we've done is nowjoined with the international red cross, and the amir khan foundation will be giving first aid, clothing, and shelter for people in the area in poland. speaking to the bbc and my colleagues there. and a reminder you can get much more on the stories you've seen in the programme on bbc news online and the bbc news app including the main story you heard of the beginning of the programme, that the bbc has heard first—hand

testimony and evidence that ukrainian women have been raped by russian soldiers. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. it was a much milder start monday morning, largely frost—free, as it will be again this morning. and that's because we've changed the wind direction. they're coming in off the atlantic, they are gathered around an area of low pressure, which means we are pulling in more cloud and showery rain, as well. but it will at least stay relatively mild, if not warm in the sunshine as we saw on monday night, 19 celsius in heathrow. but lots of heavy showers have been gathering towards the south through the night. there could be some rumbles of thunder, patchy rain heading its way northwards elsewhere, and that's why we are seeing our temperatures holding up. the winds starting to ease, so it won't be as windy on tuesday, and we've still got this onshore breeze for the east of scotland, the northern isles, so quite chilly here, but it shouldn't be as chilly for the eastern side of england, but as you can see, we've got

showers and longer spells of rain, some of them heavy, some of them thundery pushing their way northwards and eastwards through the day. where we see some sunshine, temperatures will lift above average, particularly for england and wales. 18—20 celsius possibly across the east anglian region in the southeast, but for most, temperatures a little bit above par, except where we have the more persistent rain, which is likely to continue its journey northwards then through tuesday night into wednesday. eventually, the milder air reaches the northern isles, and again, it looks like a relatively mild start to wednesday, but misty and murky in places. we could have some patches of fog around tuesday as well as wednesday, which will take their time to break up. and then it's more likely to be a day of sunny spells and scattered showers, so perhaps a bit more sunshine on offer. but again, like we will see on tuesday, pollen levels pretty high, and temperatures getting into the high teens more widely as well further north, it will feel warmer, i think, across scotland and northern ireland on wednesday. come thursday, we've got another weather system starting to work its way in from the west ahead of that early morning mist

and fog taking the time to break up. but again, temperatures 15—19 celsius, and that's above average for this time of year. and then further ahead into the easter weekend, that weather system weakens as it works eastwards because it's working into high pressure. so it's how established that high—pressure becomes, really, this weekend, how good it is at keeping our weather fronts at bay. there is still a little bit of uncertainty, as you can see, with low pressure close by to the west later on into the easter weekend, but at the moment, for many, there will be some warmth around, often dry and bright, but we do need to keep an eye on that one. do stay tuned.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the bbc has uncovered more evidence of the sexual violence ukraininan women have suffered at the hands of russian forces. it's being found in the wake of the troops' departure from the towns and villages around kyiv. a 26—year—old man from london will be sentenced on wednesday, after he was convicted of murdering the uk mp sir david amess. ali harber ali had become a follower of the islamic state group. shehbaz sharif has been sworn in as the new prime minister of pakistan. mr sharif accused the previous government of mismanaging the economy and said pakistan was beginning a new era of development.

the two rival candidates for the french presidency have been launching their campaigns for this month's second round run—off.