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 united nations and iran reach an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme. the only thing that matters is that we are able to inspect, that we are able to account for every gram of enriched material that is there. and this is the spirit of the exchanges, and we have been working satisfactorily in that regard. 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. welcome. russian and ukrainian forces are still fighting in the streets of bakhmut — which russia has been trying to capture for several months. the deputy mayor of the city has told the bbc that the 4,000 civilians still living there — out of an original population of 75,000 — have no gas, electricity or water. thousands of russian troops have died trying to take the eastern city — if it falls, it would be the first

russian victory of note in more than six months. our diplomatic correspondentjames landale reports from kyiv. this is bakhmut, or at least what's left of it, after some of the fiercest fighting since russia invaded ukraine. for more than six months, as the bbc has reported, ukrainian forces have held off a ferocious onslaught. but now russian commandos are growing increasingly confident, including the leader of the mercenaries known as the wagner group, which have been at the heart of the assault. translation: we have - almost surrounded bakhmut. there's only one road that remains in and out of the city, the pincers are closing. before, we were fighting against the 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 they accept there is now fighting in the streets. translation: the city is almost destroyed, i not a single building has remained untouched. currently there is no communication in the city so it's cut off. the russians are shelling everything. they want to destroy bakhmut like they did with mariupol. for sergei shoigu, russia's defence minister, making a flying visit to his forces in eastern ukraine, seizing bakhmut would be a rare military victory for him and his bosses in the kremlin. and perhaps a much—needed diplomatic boost, after an international audience in india laughed at russia's foreign minister. the war which we are trying to stop,

and which was launched against us using ukraine... audience laughs. ..ukrainian people... but for now, ukrainian fighters on the ground in bakhmut still seem ready to fight their invaders every inch of the way, with russia paying a much higher and bloodier price. james landale, bbc news, kyiv. well earlier i was joined from kyiv by our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. i asked him if russia is close to claiming bakhmut. 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 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. ——those trenches 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 ukrainian commanders are still sounding very bullish when they say about the importance of defending bakhmut and giving up inch by inch and make russian forces pay a very high price for any territory they gain. certainly ukraine's hold 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. well, this is the interesting question, overtly, bakhmut is not strategically important in tha it's not a 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. they need some kind of victory after not a great winter so far, so they are throwing everything they possibly can at 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 donbas.

but equally, ukraine is fighting very, very hard for this. and it's pretty clear that the main reason they are doing this is because they are using bakhmut to try to degrade russia's military capability, in other words, to kill 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 greater number of russians being killed as a result of this. and that is why it is so incredibly hard fight and so incredibly bloody. breaking news to bring you. in the

last hour, the united nations and iran have reached an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme. the announcement was made at the end of a two— day visit to the capital by the head of international atomic energy agency, rafael grossi. his trip followed the discovery of traces of uranium, enriched to near weapons—grade level, at an underground nuclear plant in iran. he spoke to us a short while ago. i thought it was indispensable of me to establish a dialogue at the highest possible level to try to put things back on track and hopefully get some results. you, i hope, you may have already seen joint statement which has just been issued in parallel in tehran and here indiana, which is addressing the points ijust referred to in the

first place. the interactions we have the inspections and what is expected from iran in the second place. the issues related to the sum of the questions about which, you know, locations where we have been trying to find clarifications from iran. and finally, very importantly, our ability to establish monitoring and verification measure is that we believe are indispensable as a very concrete, very tangible results of this important mission. that concrete, very tangible results of this important mission.— concrete, very tangible results of this important mission. that was the head of the international atomic energy agency speaking in the past hour. we will get more on that stray from our correspondent, bethany bell, shortly. ist,

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 out to help out 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. for the latest on this store here's our political correspondent helen catt. well, the latest batch are selected messages from over several months. and, of course, it's worth bearing in mind that the infection picture was changing over that time. but it seems to suggest there's a suggestion in a message from the cabinet secretary in october that borisjohnson hadn't been convinced of the need for action. about a week before the second lockdown in england happened, there were also messages from borisjohnson,

including one injuly 2020, in which he complains of a general collapse in social distancing at home and in social settings and the need to get absolutely militant in hotspot areas. now, of course, that was just over a month after he had attended a birthday gathering for which he was then later fined for breaking the rules. an earlier sets of leaked exchanges, a separate set appear to show matt hancock, the health secretary, spending several hours going back and forth with a press aide trying to determine if he had broken covid guidance, which, of course, he had helped set and encouraged others to follow, when it emerged that he had kissed another aide in his office. a spokesman for borisjohnson said it wasn't appropriate to comment on these leaks. the public inquiry provides the right process for these issues to be examined. that was echoed by a spokesman for matt hancock, who said there was absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. all the materials for the book had already been made available to that inquiry. he said that releasing them in this way gives a partial biased account to suit an anti lockdown agenda.

more now and that breaking news that the united nations and iran have announced an agreement has been reached that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme. let's get more on this with the bbc�*s bethany bell. she joins us from vienna. bethany, i was there any indication of any kind of timeframe on these further inspections being carried out two by ten particular way to put their minds at ease? we out two by ten particular way to put their minds at ease?— their minds at ease? we don't have an exact timeframe _ their minds at ease? we don't have an exact timeframe at _ their minds at ease? we don't have an exact timeframe at the - their minds at ease? we don't have| an exact timeframe at the moment. the head of the iea said they will be having meetings soon to work out the modalities. what he says this agreement gives you an is more access to the places that they want to go to. more access to people they have been interested in speaking to

a and the iea has had questions about activities by iran in terms of its nuclear work in the past that also most recently, they detected highly enriched uranium traces in the underground nuclear plant which were enriched up to almost 84% purity weapons grade. and what we understand now as they will be —— there will be much more access by there will be much more access by the un's inspectors to go to this underground place to figure out what caused that. iran which says its nuclear programme is peaceful says that it nuclear programme is peaceful says thatitis nuclear programme is peaceful says that it is enriching up to 60%, but they may have been unintended fluctuations which caused this 84%. of course, bethany, even the

enriching up to 60% purity is actually in breach of the 2015 nuclear deal that iran did with world powers.— nuclear deal that iran did with world owers. , ., ., world powers. yes, well, that deal has been in _ world powers. yes, well, that deal has been in a _ world powers. yes, well, that deal has been in a very _ world powers. yes, well, that deal has been in a very difficult - world powers. yes, well, that deal has been in a very difficult state i has been in a very difficult state ever since donald trump pulled out of that. in fact, for months now, there haven't been talks to try and bring that back into operation again. there is some hope among some diplomats that may be progress with the inspectors in this way, if iran does carry out this agreement to allow them more access, but then possibly we could start seeing progress in terms of putting that deal back together again, but other people they'll be sceptical of iran's intentions. they will say it is not the first time that iran has promised access and then not

delivered. mr grassi was saying that he felt that this was a new situation right now that he was confident, but he also said the agency would report on the success or otherwise of the in terms of access for its inspectors. bethany, thank ou access for its inspectors. bethany, thank you for _ access for its inspectors. bethany, thank you for bringing _ access for its inspectors. bethany, thank you for bringing us - access for its inspectors. bethany, thank you for bringing us the - access for its inspectors. bethany, | thank you for bringing us the latest on that. 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. others 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. the union unite has defended not joining the other unions, tens of thousands of staffer do to out next week in england. unison in the gene be called off the strikes after the government agreed to reopen pay talks for about this financial year and the next. unite says it rejected attending the talks because a government's preconditions we re were unreasonable. the government will announce soon where it wants to build a ground—breaking power station — one where the carbon

dioxide that's produced there is captured and then buried, which stops most of the gas — which is a main driver of climate change — being released into the atmosphere. our environment correspondent jonah fisher has more. the story of keadby is the story of uk's energy past, present and possible future. because for all the talk of wind and solar, there is a problem that keeps the industry up at night. on those days when the wind isn't blowing, when the sun isn't shining, when it's cold, when it's dark, when it's still, there are going to need to be other sources of power that are going to keep the lights switched on. batteries, nuclear and hydrogen will form part of the solution, but the government has also committed to building a new type of power station — one that continues burning the fossil fuels that got us into this mess. to take a closer look i climbed up one of keadby�*s two carbon

dioxide—emitting gas power plants. from here on top of the cooling tower you get a real sense of the energy transition here in keadby. over there on the horizon, those mounds are the leftovers from when there was a coal—fired power station here. you can see the wind turbines along the horizon. and just down there that could very well be the site for the uk's first ever gas—fired power station where the carbon dioxide is captured. the idea behind a carbon capture power station is that instead of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere where it contributes to climate change, the gas is captured and transported underground. in this case, beneath the north sea. the demolition in 1991 of the towers of keadby�*s coal—fired power station marked the end of an era. now the village awaits a government decision as to what comes next.

green pioneer or costly white elephant? the uk's first carbon capture gas plant will either be here or further north on teesside. jonah fisher, bbc news in keadby. let's get some of the day's other news the roman catholic church in portugal has promised to take steps to deal with its history of child sex abuse. it follows a highly critical report that found that nearly five thousand children had been abused by clergy since 1950. a un report says gang related violence in haiti has reached levels not seen in decades. in a new assessment the organisiation says criminal gangs that control many parts of haiti are getting more access to sophisticated weapons and ammunition. the white house says president biden had a cancerous skin lesion successfully removed from his chest last month. doctor say no further treatment is required. the lesion was spotted during a routine health check and a biopsy confirmed it was a common form of skin cancer which does not normally spread.

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 ocean 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. 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. the special oil, which will be used to anoint king charles at his coronation in may, has been formally consecrated

at a ceremony injerusalem. our 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 olives 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. nicholas witchell, bbc news. i want to show you live seems in tel aviv in israel where tens of thousands of people are protesting against prime minister benjamin netanyahu's new right—wing coalition and itsjudicial reforms to reduce powers of the supreme court. they've been taking place every weekend. as you can see there, you get an idea of the scale. the protesters believe the sweeping changes being pushed through parliament will underminejudicial pushed through parliament will undermine judicial independence and threaten democracy whilst ministers say they will restore balance between the branches of government.

there you are. live images at tel aviv. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it's been a rather grey and gloomy saturday for many. a few scattered showers around as well. take a look at this weather watcher picture from formby in leicester, fairly indicative of the day. ——take a look at this weather watcher picture from thurnby in leicester, fairly indicative of the day. now, if you take a look at the satellite picture, you can see how extensive the cloud has been. there were some breaks across north east england and parts of scotland, but also some showers. and drawing your attention to this speckled cloud in the far northeast, potential for some snow showers waiting in the wings to arrive later on monday. so, through the next few hours, we keep that blanket of cloud for many, some coastal showers out to the west and east, perhaps more persistent ones in the far north east of scotland.

but because of the cloud around, on the whole, temperatures should just stay up into low single figures, but it's going to be a chilly start to our sunday morning. once again, another grey and gloomy day, almost a repeat performance of saturday's story. there will be some coastal showers around, on the whole, largely quiet and temperatures sitting between 6—9 celsius, just that little bit colder in the northern isles as that cold air starts to descend. so arctic air pushing its way steadily southwards as we go into monday. so really from monday onwards, you're going to start to notice the difference to the feel of our weather. if you haven't already heard, it's going to turn cold and windy, and snow and ice could be an issue, particularly to the far north and east. so it's likely as we go through the day on monday, this weather front will introduce the colder air. it's going to turn the rain ahead of the front into snow showers behind it, particularly across the far north and east of scotland and northeast england. to the south of that weather front we'll still keep those temperatures around generally 7—9 celsius. but then that sinks it's way steadily south, so we start off on tuesday with some sunny spells,

cold and frosty. and, yes, there will be further snow showers across northern and eastern coasts, and those temperatures are going to struggle 11—5 celsius, but factor in the strength and the direction of the wind, it certainly will feel noticeably colder. so certainly you'll need to wrap up warm. it looks likely that we are going to see that cold snap continuing through the middle part of the week as well. so if you've got outdoor travel plans monday into tuesday, do be aware that there's a potential for snow and ice in the northeast.

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 united nations and iran reach an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran's nuclear programme, following talks between iranian officials and the head of the un nuclear watchdog. 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, the area of the ocean not controlled by any one country,