this is bbc news. i'm chris rogers. our top stories: the un secretary—general and the russian president agree in principle to allow access to civilans trapped in the city of mariupol, following talks in moscow. translation: you are telling me russian corridors in ukraine are not functioning. mr secretary general, you have been deceived. the corridors are open. it been deceived. the corridors are open-— are open. it is my deep conviction _ are open. it is my deep conviction that - are open. it is my deep conviction that the - are open. it is my deep i conviction that the sooner are open. it is my deep - conviction that the sooner we end this _ conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better. the world's nuclear watchdog, the iaea, visits the chernobyl nuclear plant for the first time since the russian occupation. we have a special report from the site. the very fact that troops occupied a nuclear facility in the first place,

and then the way they behaved while they were here — the risk of an accident here was real. we are live on bbc 2... the former bbc radio 1 dj, tim westwood, faces allegations of sexual misconduct by women who say he abused his position in the music industry. he kept putting his hand on my leg and stroking my leg, and touching my face. running his hands in my hair, like, what are you doing?! like, stop touching me. as the rwandan president defends the agreement with britain to accept asylum seekers, we visit a french migrant camp. will the rule will reduce attempts to cross the channel? will the rule reduce attempts to cross the channel? and police release footage of alec baldwin practising with his gun, on the set where a crew member was shot dead.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. as the conflict in ukraine enters its third month, the united nations secretary—general has embarked on a diplomatic mission to moscow. antonio guterres told president putin that the russian invasion fully contradicts the constitution of the united nations charter. he also expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in ukraine. vladimir putin insisted that moscow's military operation in the beseiged port of mariupol was over, and that no—one was being prevented from leaving the city — or its steel plant. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports from moscow. he was trying to show it was business as usual. in the kremlin, vladimir putin began the day meeting russian olympic champions.

like them, he hates losing. with the olympians, putin was up close and personal. not so with his next guest. the un secretary—general had come to talk about russia's invasion of ukraine. the seating plan said everything about the gap between moscow and the international community. translation: you're telling me that - russia's humanitarian corridors in ukraine are not functioning. mr secretary—general, you've been deceived. the corridors are open. we've helped more than 100,000 people leave mariupol. and from the un, a plea to russia for peace. it is my deep conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better, for the people of ukraine,

for the people of the russian federation and those far beyond. the kremlin agreed in principle to un and red cross involvement in evacuations from mariupol. but moscow isn't rushing to halt its offensive. for diplomacy to succeed, there needs to be the political will for peace. but right now, there's little sign of that in the kremlin. vladimir putin seems determined to continue the offensive he launched in ukraine — at least until he can secure what he can present to the russian people as a victory. that means no ceasefire in ukraine. the russian military continues to attack, and continues to deny that russian troops have committed war crimes. kremlin critics argue that considering the scale of destruction, the un chief should have travelled to ukraine first

before flying to moscow. i'm not in a position to give any advice to the general—secretary of the united nations, but i would probably go to mariupol first. i would go to bucha. i would go to irpin. i would go to all those places, talk to people, and then fly back to moscow and meet with putin and say, "mr president, what you are doing is crime." russia claims to be acting in self—defence, but it was president putin who ordered his troops to attack ukraine. the kremlin started this. it's determined to end it on its terms. steve rosenberg in moscow. when russian tanks rolled into ukraine, hundreds of soldiers made their base at chernobyl, the site of the world's worst ever nuclear accident.

now a team from the un's nuclear watchdog has visited the plant, for the first time since russian forces withdrew. the head of the iaea said radiation levels do now appear to be normal but he said the risk of an accident at chernobyl, when the soldiers were in charge, had been serious. workers at the plant told the bbc they were forced to steal fuel to keep generators working and prevent a dangerous leak of radioactive material. 0ur eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, sent this report from chernobyl. the road to chernobyl is littered with the wreckage of war. this was a route taken by russian tanks as they advanced on kyiv. it cuts right through the contaminated zone, around the world's worst ever nuclear disaster, but hundreds of russian troops stopped and made their base here at the atomic plant. very good. well done, well done... today, the head of the un's nuclear energy watchdog

thanked the ukrainian technicians who stayed at their post, protecting the site under occupation. i don't know if we were very close to disaster, but the situation was absolutely abnormal and very, very dangerous. the un brought radiation monitors and other kits to replace what was damaged by the russians or stolen when they withdrew. the troops had dug trenches into radioactive soil here, and churned up dangerous dust with their armoured vehicles, apparently oblivious to the risk. the un says radiation levels here are now back to normal, but the ukrainian military are still clearing the area of mines and booby—traps. one word that's used about the russian troops�* presence here in chernobyl is "reckless" — the very fact that troops occupied a nuclearfacility in the first place, and then the way they behaved while they were here — the risk of an accident here was real. slava ukraini! so as they marked the anniversary

of the 1986 meltdown, ukrainian officials said they diverted another disaster, although the soldiers on guard when the russians rolled in were all captured. 169 from this unit are now missing. "they're our comrades and we're worried about them," alexander tells me. "we want them back as soon as possible." just beyond the exclusion zone, the invading troops occupied houses too. here, they parked a tank right outside. nina was so scared, she hid in the woods. "we stayed there for two nights without any food "or water," she tells me. "it was awful." nina's fear was no high—tech nuclear accident, it was the russian soldiers who climbed through her window and took over her home. sarah rainsford, bbc news, chernobyl.

let's get some of the day's other news: the russian energy company gazprom has said it will stop supplying gas to poland and bulgaria on wednesday morning. both countries have refused to pay in roubles, after moscow introduced new laws last month requiring so—called "unfriendly" states to do so. the polish and bulgarian state energy companies have threatened to take legal action for breach of contract. the world bank says the price of goods could remain at historically high levels until the end of 2024 because of the war in ukraine. wheat — one of the country's main exports — is predicted to soar by more than a0%. it says energy prices will increase more than 50% as europe tries to wean itself off russian supplies. one of america's most prestigious universities is setting aside $100 million to help tackle the social and economic legacies of slavery and racism. an investigation carried out

by harvard found that 70 members of its staff owned slaves before the practice was abolished in the state of massachusetts nearly 250 years ago. the european union and the uk have warned elon musk that twitter must continue to protect its users from harmful content. the entrepreneur struck a deal to buy the social media giant for 3h billion pounds last night. he has vowed to relax content restrictions, which has worried some human rights groups. the former bbc radio i dj tim westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who say he abused his position in the music industry. the 64 year—old is accused of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour and touching, in incidents between 1992 and 2017. the bbc and the guardian newspaper have heard detailed accounts from seven women in a joint investigation. their identities have been protected. tim westwood strenuously denies all the allegations.

0ur correspondent, chi chi izundu, reports. this is not about music now, and i'm just very, very scared. this is predatory behaviour. i was 17. if you are trying to remove an item of my clothing - and i put it back on, that means i don't want it to be gone _ this is the story from a group of women. this was an assault. an abuse of power. seven women, who alleged they had been subjected to unexpected and unwanted sexual behaviour from the former bbc radio i dj, tim westwood. it's westwood! we are live on bbc two. welcome to the radio i rap show. this is how radioi get down in the 9—7. pamela — not her real name — used to work with kids trying to get into music. she says tim westwood invited her to do work experience at bbc radio i because he wanted help getting a younger audience. so i get to london and he picks me up, personally. i remember being in the car.

he kept putting his hand on my leg and stroking my leg and touching my face. running his hands in my hair, like, "what are you doing?" like, "stop touching me." we went back to this apartment — his apartment. i was meant to be staying in a hotel. so, as i'm sat in his apartment, i'm thinking, "ok, when am i going to this hotel?" this is what i should have clarified, but i didn't. he came up and i sat on the the bed, "come sit," and i sat on the edge of the bed. and then he starts touching me and removing stuff, and i'm pulling it back. and he's, you know, kissing me on the neck. and i didn't give him any come on. and i didn't give him any kind of come on. there was no flirtation. that is not somebody i would ever look and find attractive. so, me, sat in this house thinking, "how am i going to get out of this?" but knowing i can't get out of it. i'm in london, alone, with this guy who's a lot older than me. now, if i try to get out of it, who's to say how he's going to react?

so i just submit to it. traumatic — that's how i would describe it. in a statement, the bbc said: another two women have accused the dj of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour when they were 17 and 20, and unwanted sexual behaviour when they were 17 and i9, while another four women that we have spoken to accuse the dj of either grabbing their breast or slipping his hand down the back of their shorts or up their skirt, after taking a picture with him at nightclubs. the earliest alleged incident took place in 1992, the most recent in 2017. none of them went to the police. but, nowadays, i'm a big dog. as an early adopter of hip—hop, tim westwood has been a prominent figure in black music for more than a0 years. he presented bbc radio 1's rap show for nearly 20, interviewing some of the biggest names on his show.

he says he strenuously denies all these allegations. all of the women that we spoke to as part of this investigation have two things in common — number one, they were all young, and numbertwo, they are all black. and all have the same question of their experience with tim westwood — who do you tell? because this is a man who has huge power in the music industry and a huge influence in black communities. and because they're black women, they felt that their experiences would be ignored. i want him and people like him to be held accountable. we have to stop protecting these people. chi chi izundu, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: us police footage of the actor alec baldwin practising drawing his gun on the film set where a crew member was shot. nothing, it seemed, was too big

to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government to help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was seven o'clock - in the morning on the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, . when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white - colony.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: during talks in moscow about the invasion of ukraine, the un secretary—general and the russian president agree in principle to allow access to civilans trapped in the city of mariupol. vladimir putin repeated his reasons for invading ukraine, while claiming he still hoped for a diplomatic solution. let's stay with that story. i'm joined now by the former us ambassador to ukraine between 2006 and 2009, william taylor. he's vice president, russia and europe, at the us institute of peace. nato has said they want to supply more weapons to ukraine, very important dogs in germany about how to further support and invaded and embattled country, but to your knowledge, what i ukraine's needs right

now? the battle does seem to be changing? you are right, the battle is changing. the battle space is changing. the battle space is changing. the battle space is changing. the first phase of the war when the russians first invaded on a couple of fronts, but on their main attack it was from the north down towards kyiv, the capital from from the north down towards kyiv, the capitalfrom belarus and from russia, and that part of the country is characterised by forests and swamps, and so the weapons the ukrainian military needed to counter the invasion were short range weapons, where they were small units of ukrainian military that could get close to a kilometre or so of the tanks and artillery, and be able to take them out with a short range weapons, the same with the short range aircraft. and, we know that the ukrainian

military stopped the russians, indeed turned them back and pushed them away from the capital, back into belarus and into russia. the second phase which we are about to see, we are beginning to see right now is in the east, it is around what we know as donbas, the eastern part of ukraine, and the russians this time are now looking at terrain and that is wide and flat. it is like kansasin wide and flat. it is like kansas in the united states. it is the step. and so this environment, the russians can engage the ukrainians at a greater distance, so the short range weapons no longer work for the ukrainians, and thus they need the heavy duty long—range weapons, so that is what nato is now in process of getting to the ukrainian. but at what point, _ getting to the ukrainian. but at what point, if we haven't reached that point already, coming from the comments by the

women in the past 2a hours, does russia view of nato supplying these weapons as effectively being at war with russia? the russians may know the answer to that, maybe they don't. they have invaded our nation on the border without provocation, without justification. that nation is trying to defend itself. that nation is a democracy that shares values with europe and the united states, and we are supporting that nation and its defence of its own territory, and we have been supporting them with weapons and training for years — ever since the russians first invaded. you got to remember that the russians invaded ukraine first in 2014 when they invaded crimea, annexed crimea, and invaded

donbas, donetsk and the hearts. the ukrainians have been fighting the russians ever since and you —— nato and admissions have been helping, to prevent the russians from moving forward, further into their country, and so that continues, it continues with heavier weapons. william taylor, we must live up there, thank you for your time. the rwandan president, paul kagame, has defended a controversial agreement with britain to accept asylum seekers. speaking for the first time about the deal, he said rwanda was not, in his words, trading human beings. president kagame said a similar agreement in 2018, to take in migrants who were stuck in libya, had been successful. 0ur reporter, daniel henry has been to calais in france, where many migrants end—up before trying to cross the channel, into the uk. this is a story about hope,

fear, courage and war. it is a story told by young men, clean conflicts they didn't cause, searching for somewhere safe to settle. most of the young men we have met here are from sudan, they say they are fleeing war and they say they are looking for a better life but, so far, this is what they've found. some have travelled four months, others, for years stop they have made it to this corner of calais but the journey isn't complete. and for those hoping to get to the uk, it is going to get to the uk, it is going to get to the uk, it is going to get harder. previous plans to get harder. previous plans to turn boats back from the channel have been dropped by the british and rwandan government say their signed agreement is about safety, protecting people from taking dangerous risks and giving them a second chance in east africa.

most of the young man we met didn't want to talk on camera but they still wanted to make their feelings clear. translation: their feelings clear. tuna/mom- their feelings clear. translation: �* ., ., , translation: i'm not really shocked by — translation: i'm not really shocked by boris _ translation: i'm not really shocked by boris johnson's i shocked by borisjohnson�*s position, i don't even blame him because, to me, boris johnson belongs to the same establishment as marine le pen, they have accepted this kind of deal, even our ancestors are ashamed of him. ifeel that paul kagame has sold africa for his own interests. around 1500 people live here. these young men believe that brighter days are ahead, but the risks they have taken will be rewarded one day. daniel henry, bbc news, calais. police in new mexico have released footage of the moments after the accidental fatal shooting of the cinematographer, halyna hutchins, by the actor alec baldwin on a film set six months ago. santa fe sheriff's department has made public all the evidence associated with the criminal investigation, including interviews with witnesses at the scene. david willis reports

from los angeles. alec baldwin rehearsing his quick draw only moments before a film set was transformed into a crime scene. the incident sent police racing to the sprawling desert ranch in new mexico. newly released police bodycam footage shows the chaos that confronted them on arrival. 42—year—old film—maker halyna hutchins, regarded as a rising star in the movie industry, was airlifted to a nearby hospital where she later died. alec baldwin, who was both the star of the film and one of its producers, appeared stunned and disbelieving. he said he didn't pull the trigger and he didn't know who put a live round in the weapon he fired. the newly released footage also includes his first interview with the police. i take the gun out and as i

take it, as it clears, as the barrel clears, i turn and cock the gun, the gun goes off. it should have been a cold gun with no rounds inside or dummy rounds, cosmetic rounds, no flash. i take the gun out slowly. i turn and cock the pistol, bang. it goes off, she hits the ground, she goes down, and then he starts screaming. and i'm thinking, in a flash round, i could see maybe if there was wadding and there's some stuff like that, hot, and maybe it hits you and burns you. they say sometimes that happens. but remember, we're rehearsing so no one's protected. last week, local safety officials issued a report detailing safety failures on the set, and fined the producers the maximum possible penalty of nearly $140,000. inquiries are continuing, and detectives say they're still awaiting the results of ballistics and forensic analysis, along with an analysis of alec baldwin's phone data before they decide whether to press charges. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

for aspiring writers are there, struggling to finish their work, it may be time to head to this coffee shop in tokyo, known as the manuscript writing cafe, and you won't be able to leave until you finish the project you have been working on. as you go in and you have to write down your goal and the amount of time you need to finish, and through the day that staff will check to see how your work is going. a perfect cure for those who do get distracted when writing, i could do with a cafe like that. to keep up—to—date on the news, head to our website. you will find our life page focused on the war in ukraine, updated 24 hours a day. you can download the bbc app as well. also after your opinions on the

stories we are covering and your own stories. you can get in touch with all of our bbc correspondence on bbc media. it would be good to hear from you. thanks for watching. hello again. it was southern areas of both england and wales that had the best of the sunshine on tuesday, temperatures reaching 17 degrees in parts of southwest england but also around cardiff's bute park as well. wasn't like that everywhere, though. after a largely sunny start for quite a few, we had cloud tending to bubble up through the afternoon and spread across the skies, as you can see here on the satellite picture. with that cloud increasing, temperatures weren't as high for many of you. indeed around the eastern coast, just eight degrees in places. right now, we're seeing a good feed of cloud coming in still from the north sea, so predominantly cloudy weather in scotland and across eastern areas, from northeast england all the way into parts of east anglia. but there are breaks elsewhere, notably across parts of southern england, across parts of the midlands, wales, running into northern ireland,

north—west england as well. these areas, you might well start off with a little bit of morning sunshine, but even where you start off with the sun, cloud will tend to bubble up and spread across the skies in any case as we go through the day. so, whether you start off cloudy or cloud develops later on, most of you will see quite a lot of cloud through the day. across northeast scotland, you might hold onto some sunny spells through the afternoon here. there will be one or two elsewhere in the west. temperatures about nine to 14 degrees for most. the area of high pressure has been bringing us this long spell of settled weather, still on the charts for thursday, but it is starting to weaken to a degree. we may well see just a few showers running into northern scotland, maybe one or two not far away from south—west england. 0therwise, still predominantly dry, often a lot of cloud building through the day and temperatures not really changing a great deal, 10—15 or maybe 16 celsius. friday follows a very similar pattern as well. if you start off with the sunshine, cloud will tend to develop later on.

one or two showers for northern scotland, but otherwise it's another dry day with light winds across the whole of the country. temperatures not changing a whole deal either. looking at highs potentially peaking up to 16 degrees where any sunshine breaks through the cloud. the weekend will start to see some changes in the weather as high pressure starts to relinquish its grip. a little area of low pressure could thicken the cloud up enough to bring just a few passing showers. that's most likely across northern areas of the uk, the south most likely to stay dry with a few brighter spells.