this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm luxmy gopal. the headlines... the head of russia's wagner group claims its forces now surround most of bakhmut — the eastern ukrainian city that's been the focus of intense fighting. the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog — who has been visiting tehran to meet iranian officials — says talks have taken place in an atmosphere of "honesty and cooperation". the former uk health secretary, matt hancock, and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide, leaked messages in the telegraph newspaper show. un countries are said to be finalising an agreement on a long—awaited environmental treaty to protect the high seas —

the area of the ocean not controlled by any one country. and the ceremony injerusalem to consecrate the oil that will be used to anoint king charles during his coronation in may. ukrainian and russian forces are fighting in the northern suburbs of the city of bakhmut — which has been battered by seven months of fighting. oleksandr marchenko, the deputy mayor, confirmed the street clashes, but said the russians haven't taken control. western analysts say the scene has been set for ukrainian forces to carry out a fighting withdrawal. a british defence ministry update said ukrainian soldiers are digging new trenches west of the city and are being reinforced by elite troops. the capture of bakhmut would be

the first russian victory of note in more than six months of fighting. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, sent this report from the capital, kyiv. this is bakhmut, or at least what is left of it after some of the fiercest fighting since russia invaded ukraine. for more than six months russian shells and missiles have rained down on the city, thousands of russian soldiers have died trying to seize it, now their commanders are growing increasingly confident. translation: we have - almost surrounded bakhmut. there is only one road that remains in and out of the city, the pincers are closing. before we were fighting against a professional ukrainian army, but now we fight against old men and boys. ukrainian forces are still defending the city street by street and reports suggest reinforcements are being sent in.

but these russian troops, say the ukrainian army, is destroying bridges like these, potentially to prepare for what western analysts call a controlled fighting withdrawal from parts of the city. local officials insist ukraine still controls bakhmut, but accept there is now fighting in the streets. translation: the city is almost destroyed, i not a single building has remained untouched. the bridges are destroyed, currently there is no communication in the city so it is cut off. the russians are shelling everything, they have no goal to save the city, they want to destroy bakhmut like they did with mariupol. russia broadcast pictures of its defence minister making a rare flying visit to his forces in eastern ukraine. for him and the kremlin seizing bakhmut will be a rare victory and they hope a stepping stone to gaining more territory. but for now ukrainian fighters on the ground still seem ready to fight them every inch of the way, with russia paying a much higher and bloodier price.

let's speak now to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, in kyiv. james, russian forces surrounding the area, but the deputy mayor is saying that the russians haven't taken control. is it's close to a plane to add that balance might tip? how far off that be? buti plane to add that balance might tip? how far off that be?— how far off that be? but i think the first thing to _ how far off that be? but i think the first thing to say — how far off that be? but i think the first thing to say as it _ how far off that be? but i think the first thing to say as it is _ how far off that be? but i think the first thing to say as it is very - first thing to say as it is very hard to know precisely what is going on on the ground because access is incredibly limited. we are very reliant on certain selective sources of information. the second thing to say is that, yes, you know, russian commanders are saying that the city is almost encircled, that there are just one or two routes in the west that are left to get back in for ukrainian forces. those routes are, there are reports that those routes are coming under substantial shelling from russian forces. british military officials are

saying that ukrainian forces, the defenders are coming under increasingly severe pressure, particularly in the north of the city. there are reports of ukrainian forces digging new trenches towards the west, suggesting they think they might need to use those changes in the west in a way that they are not at the moment. you've got some western analysts saying these are the conditions that are potentially being set for what they call a controlled fighting withdrawal. that doesn't mean it's about to happen because they are also talking of reinforcements going in and rush in, ukrainian commanders are still sounding very bullish when they say about the importance of defending bakhmut and on the giving up inch by inch and make russian forces pay a very high price for any territory they gain. certainly ukraine's called on bakhmut is looking increasingly precarious as it has done for a number of days now. james, how strategically significant

is bakhmut? because there are some experts saying or questioning whether the cost of defending it is worth it. ~ , , worth it. well, this is the interesting _ worth it. well, this is the interesting question, - worth it. well, this is the - interesting question, overtly, bakhmut is not strategically important in its natural communications or transport hub, yet both sides are fighting incredibly hard for this. the question is why? from the russian point of view, they clearly need some good news. i need some kind of victory after not a great winter so far, so they are faring everything they possibly can add this to make some kind of progress and they also want to use it potentially, they say, by seizing bakhmut, they can maybe use it as a springboard, stepping stone, choose which metaphor you like, to make further territorial gains in that part of the down bass. it equally, ukraine is fighting very, very hard for this.

ukraine is fighting very, very hard forthis. —— donbas. and ukraine is fighting very, very hard for this. —— donbas. and it's pretty clear that the main reason they are doing this as they are using bakhmut to try to degrade brescia's military capability, in other words, to kill russian soldiers. thousands of russian soldiers. thousands of russian soldiers. thousands of russian soldiers have died trying to seize the city which they had yet to take, and at the moment, it seems that the calculation amongst ukrainian commanders is that for now, even though they themselves are, you know, incurring substantial losses, we don't know precisely because they won't tell us, but clearly they are losing substantial numbers. they believe that that is a price worth paying for what they believe are the greatest number —— greater number of russians being killed as a result of this. and that is why it is so incredibly hard fight and so incredibly glad he. james, thank you. reporting to us from kyiv there. the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog — who was in tehran earlier on saturday — says his meetings with iranian officials have taken

place in an atmosphere of honesty and cooperation. it follows the discovering of suspected weapons grade uranium at iran's underground fordo site. rafael grossi of the international atomic energy agency met with the head of iran's atomic energy organisation, mohammad eslam. iran has been producing uranium to 60% purity for two years in breach of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. the agreement, which was aimed at preventing iran from developing nuclear weapons, saw the country limit its nuclear activities and allow monitoring by the iaea's inspectors in return for relief from crippling economic sanctions. earlier i spoke to kasra naji of the bbc�*s persian service — he told me more about the iranian response to the discovery of suspected weapons grade uranium. iranians are saying there may have been what they call unintended fluctuations in the process of enrichment of the 60%. they say it is possible

that the enrichment up to the level of 60%, there have been some unintended consequences and is part of that, there may have been some particles that were highly enriched. i don't know whether that is acceptable, and acceptable explanation by the iaea. the chief of the iaea rafael grossi went to tehran to get to the bottom of this and he is coming back within an hour or so in vienna, when he touches down, he will have a press conference and we will know then whether he has received any agreeable explanation. even if they are not happy with the explanation, what could the consequences be? as we have been saying, iran is already in breach of the 2015 nuclear deal because it has been openly enriching uranium to 60% for two years.

the consequences could be serious. next week there is a board of governors of the iaea meeting and they could decide to censure iran, condemn iran, passed a resolution against iran and even refer iran to the security council. if it goes to the security council, consequences could be very serious. secondly, as far as the nuclear agreement is concerned, the europeans, americans, any of them can at any moment decide and say that because of iran in violation, they will pull out. if they do that, the whole thing will collapse and the international sanctions against iran will be reimposed. there are consequences potentially but what will the consequences

of iran being in breach of the 2015 nuclear deal for two years? that's it. world powers, particularly the us, the uk, france and germany are working together. they have to decide whether they want to stay within that nuclear agreement and if not, if they decide to pull out, then all those international sanctions against iran will be reimposed back on iran. that is pretty serious a development iran is in breach and not only that, there is also a question of the iaea finding traces of radioactive material in three places in iran that iran had not declared before. the iaea has found that want iran to explain how traces of radioactive substance found its way into these places? iran hasn't answered that and that is another issue that is outstanding between iran

and the iaea. the daily telegraph has published more leaked whatsapp messages about the former health secretary, matt hancock. they appear to show that mr hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide. mr hancock also criticises the then chancellor's eat 0ut to help 0ut scheme. the revelations come as mps investigating the conduct of the former prime minister borisjohnson, say he may have misled parliament multiple times over gatherings at downing street during the pandemic. earlier i asked henry hill, the deputy editor of conservative home about how these latest allegations affect the party as a whole. it's obviously cutting across what was a very good week for rishi sunak. his windsor framework, this deal he struck to try and ameliorate the problems created

by the northern ireland protocol, seemed to have gone down very well both with elements of his own party, who might have been expected to be critical, and with the public at large, and yet, here we are at the weekend and who are we talking about? borisjohnson. that is not what downing street will have wanted. there is a hard core of borisjohnson supporters and some of them may feel vindicated by his continual energetic rebutting of these concerns, but for the most part, this is not the image the party wanted to be projecting. what do you think it does to any hopes he might of had of becoming more central to politics, making a return to it? does this quash his chances? borisjohnson is unquashable simply because he just refuses to go away but this is a reminder to any mps who might have been on the middle ground, there is a committee of borisjohnson supporters, but for mps who might have been tempted to maybe think borisjohnson is the solution, this story is a useful

reminder of why he left office in the first place. in terms of the job offer for sue gray and the criticism that has come from various conservative voices about that, do you think any of those criticisms and concerns wash with conservative voters or is it a case of actually people had already made their mind up about where they stood on the party gate argument anyway? i don't think sue gray's appointment is going to change anyone's mind about partygate, but for the people who believe it was a stitch up, it is further evidence to their minds that it is a stitch—up, but for everyone else there is no suggestion and no evidence sue gray's personal prerogative is in question. there are broader concerns about having a civil servant who has occupied such a sensitive role in conservative governments going to the opposition, but with partygate specifically, most sides are baked in at this point. you touched on it earlier about the week that

prime minister rishi sunak has had with some of his successes with the windsor framework. but do you think all of this about borisjohnson, what effect do you think they have on how rishi sunak is viewed by party members? again, it's an unhelpful reminder for the party and the core party members who support borisjohnson but it comes down to how he handles this because this story, whilst it is cutting across his good news story about northern ireland, it is a reminder of the sort of leadership that rishi sunak has made a point of putting behind the party. he is saying he is steadying the ship, trying to offer a more professional brand of leadership and again, if he makes sure this is fire walled off and doesn't take ownership of it, it is a reminder for members that however much they might have liked borisjohnson, he came with serious downsides and there is a reason his government

ended up imploding. how steady do think that ship will remain in the continuing leaks over former health secretary matt hancock's whatsapp messages? to an extent that will depend what is in them. 0bviously some of that might make uncomfortable reading for the former chancellor because he was chancellor at the time and therefore he was involved in some of those decision—making but ultimately, he was relatively sceptical of a lot of the lockdowns which i think for the conservatives, that is no bad thing and unless there is a big smoking gun, the lockdown story is a pre—rishi sunak story and matt hancock and borisjohnson are both on the back benches and i don't think the government will suffer particularly.

police in australia say they've made what's thought to be the country's biggest ever drug bust, seizing cocaine with a street value of a—billion us dollars. the joint operation with the united states has led to 12 arrests linked to a mexican cartel. from sydney, phil mercer reports. australian police say the drugs were intercepted by us authorities off the coast of ecuador in november. the large haul of cocaine was bound for western australia. investigators substituted the illicit cargo with plaster of paris, a fine, white powder. the shipment was dropped into the indian ocean, west of perth, and monitored by drones and helicopters. over a number of weeks, our officers and other offices assisted to reconstruct those identical packages and dropped 1.2 tonnes of those drugs into the ocean a0 miles off the coast.

over the next few days, the police watched as a criminal syndicate with alleged links to a mexican cartel used two boats to find and retrieve the consignment. surveillance images show one of the vessels towing the other after it had washed up on a beach where two men were arrested. 0thers suspected members of the gang were later detained at a harbour in perth, the western australian state capital. the police also stopped a vehicle on a highway several hundred kilometres away where they found a large amount of cash. 12 people have been arrested, including a 39—year—old man from the united states. law enforcement authorities say australia's appetite for illegal drugs makes it a potentially aggressive destination for traffickers, but not this time. this haul is estimated to be

about half of australia's annual consumption of cocaine. un countries are said to be finalising an agreement on a long—awaited environmental treaty to protect the high seas — the area of the ocean not controlled by any one country. after more than 15 years of informal and then formal talks, negotiators are coming to the end of discussions at a summit in new york. the high seas make up more than half of the surface of the earth and are crucial in the fight against climate change. earlier i spoke to liz karan,the programme directorfor protecting 0cean life on the high seas at the pew charitable trusts about why protecting the ocean is so important. the oceans play a critical role in making sure that there is atmosphere in the carbon cycle. every second breath we take comes from the ocean. it also gives us food security, marine biodiversity, which is essential for people and nature and a healthy planet.

the high seas make two thirds of the world's oceans so protecting the high seas is critical part of protecting our planet. many of us when we hear the phrase high seas we associate it with pirate stories. how is it defined and where exactly is the boundary set between national waters? the high seas are those areas that are beyond 200 nautical miles of a country's exclusive economic zone and those boundaries were set by the un sea convention, that was negotiated in the 1980s. what are the negotiations like at the moment? how close do you think we are to any kind of resolution? what are the stumbling blocks? we are right now into overtime on the negotiations. they were supposed to conclude on friday evening. negotiators have been going for over a 24—hour straight, really working hard to come to a deal to protect the world's oceans.

sticky issues are around benefit sharing, ensuring that this will be an effective and equitable agreement, one that developing countries can participate in and have a capacity to do so as well as technology to participate in conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment. it is also about how decisions will be made about these high seas and whether or not those decisions will be by consensus or whether there could be a voting procedure. that is important because we don't want protections in these global areas to be held up by one country because it is such an important issue that these areas are protected. i imagine it is not easy reaching an agreement when it isn't controlled byjust one country

but you just need to get agreement across the board. how likely do you think it is that there will be something worked up soon? that everyone will be happy with or are there particular areas that are going to be more sticky than others? around these issues of how benefits will be shared from commercialisation of the high seas marine genetic resources, financial benefit sharing, how the treaty will be funded and capacity building for developing countries will be funded. a lot of these sticky issues, the negotiators have been working hard to get through but good progress is being made it is just slow. it is very important stuff and we want to make sure we get it right. i was just going to ask, briefly, what would some of the things look

like in an agreement? just in layman �*s terms, what would they involved doing in order to protect the oceans? this would be a landmark treaty that would set forward a legal process for establishing a network of high seas marine protected areas and that will be important for the global community to reach its goal to protect the world's oceans. it would lay out the process for assessing harmful environmental impacts by other activities that would be outside of those marine protected areas. it would make sure those effective and equitable capacity building in technology transfer so developing countries can participate in the conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment and then there is financial benefit sharing around marine genetic resources. it is a complicated pack of issues

that is why the negotiations are taking a long time but a good and is in sight. the special oil, which will be used to anoint king charles at his coronation in may, has been formally consecrated at a ceremony injerusalem. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell explains more. it is the most sacred moment of the coronation service, so much so that at the coronation of the late queen elizabeth she was shielded from view by a canopy as she was anointed with holy oil. yesterday at the church of the holy sepulchre injerusalem, the oil to be used at the coronation of king charles was consecrated. it has been made from olives harvested from the mount of 0lives and perfumed with traditional oils and orange blossom. it was brought to the church built on the spot where it is believed

christ was crucified to be blessed by the patriarch and the anglican archbishop ofjerusalem. the consecration of the oil for the enthronement and the coronation brings about something of a deep and profound meaning, both to king charles, to the church injerusalem, to the holy land and i think to the whole world. the oil will be brought to westminster abbey in london where, at the coronation service and in line with ancient tradition, it will be used to anoint the king and queen consort. tens of thousands of people are protesting in tel aviv against that has been severe flooding in malaysia, police had at least four people have died since wednesday, including a man whose car was swept away by floodwaters and an elderly

couple who drowned. nearly 41,000 people from six states have been evacuated to schools and community centres. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. plenty of spring flowers to try and brighten up our weekend, but if you look to the skies, it's all about shades of grey, this weekend. a lot of cloud around, particularly out to the west. a few breaks here and there, but there's also a scattering of nuisance showers across north and east—facing coasts in particular. in terms of the feel of the weather, 6 to 9 degrees, so on the chilly side with those grey skies, but nowhere near as cold as it's going to get. the breeze will freshen a little through the night and that could drive in more showers across exposed coasts and a frequent rash starts to develop across the north of scotland, turning increasingly wintry to the tops of the mountains here. 0n the whole, we keep the cloud, but we can't rule out if there are a few breaks, it could be a little touch of light frost here and there. so it's a chilly start to sunday morning.

again, a largely grey one. there'll be plenty of showers on exposed coasts and more widespread showers start to develop across the far north of scotland. once again, those temperatures will sit between six and eight or nine degrees. indications of the cold air, though, starting to arrive into the northern isles. yes, from sunday night into monday morning, it's going to turn increasingly cold and windy, which means that we're also going to increase the risk of some snow and some ice around. and that's because we've got arctic air starting to push down from the north. the high pressure that's dominated is starting to slip away from the uk. and we've got this weather front arriving. it's a cold front introducing this cold air behind. so to start with, it'll be rain as it pushes its way steadily south. and then we will see a frequent rash of showers into northern scotland and potentially, northeast england. here, temperatures 4 to 6 degrees. ahead of it on monday, still in that milder air, so we might see nine or ten. the remnants of that front eases away during the early hours of tuesday.

behind, tuesday will be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers, showers most frequent along the north and east coasts. and yes, they could be wintry in nature. and accompanied by a brisk northerly wind, it's going to feel more like close to freezing. that is going to be quite a shock to the system. so if you've got outdoor plans next week, it's certainly worth keeping abreast of the weather story, particularly monday into tuesday, where snow and ice could be an issue across north, east and east scotland, and northeast england.

this is bbc news. the headlines: russian and ukrainian forces are fighting in the streets of bakhmut, but russia does not control the city, its deputy mayor has said. 4,000 civilians are living in shelters without access to electricity or water. the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog says talks with iranian officials have taken place in an atmosphere of "honesty and cooperation". it follows the discovery of suspected weapons grade uranium at iran's underground fordo site. the uk government's former health secretary, matt hancock, and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide, leaked messages published in the daily telegraph newspaper show. un countries are said to be finalising an agreement on a long—awaited environmental treaty to protect the high seas —