this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the international criminal court issues an arrest warrant for vladmir putin — for his alleged role in deporting ukrainian children to russia. the judges issued arrest warrants. the prosecution depends on international cooperation. china's president, xijinping, is to make a state visit to russia next week — for talks with president putin. turkey will start the process of ratifying finland's nato membership bid as the leaders of the two countries meet. a review of london's metropolitan police is expected to heavily criticise the force for racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour.

plus, the benefits of early exposure to peanut butter. why a spoonful for babies may help prevent an allergic reaction. welcome to bbc news. the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russia's leader, vladimir putin — for war crimes. the court says there are grounds to believe that president putin is personally responsible for the deportation of hundreds of children, from children's homes and orphanages in ukraine — for adoption in russia — since last year's invasion. it's the first time the court has ordered the arrest of a prominent, serving political leader. ukraine's president zelensky, has

hailed the decision as historic — but moscow dismissed the announcement as �*outrageous�*, saying it doesn't recognise the jurisdiction of the court. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, reports from kyiv. awar a war that sent millions fleeing for their lives. but it is one that is now left president putin to make accused of war crimes by an international court into even more isolated on the world stage. it will make the judges of reviewed the information and submitted by the prosecutor. find information and submitted by the prosecutor-— prosecutor. and determined that there are credible _ prosecutor. and determined that there are credible allegations - prosecutor. and determined that there are credible allegations forj there are credible allegations for these alleged crimes.—

there are credible allegations for these alleged crimes. based in the hauue, these alleged crimes. based in the hague. they _ these alleged crimes. based in the hague, they accuse _ these alleged crimes. based in the hague, they accuse the _ these alleged crimes. based in the hague, they accuse the russian - hague, they accuse the russian leader in the official are individually responsible for the war crime of unlawfully deporting children from ukraine to russia. following the invasion, many were displaced and thousands of people being sent to so—called, re—education camps in russia. alleged crimes for which ukraine's president has repeatedly demanded justice? this president has repeatedly demanded 'ustice? , , ., president has repeatedly demanded 'ustice? , . justice? this is a historic decision from which _ justice? this is a historic decision from which historical— justice? this is a historic decision l from which historical responsibility will begin — from which historical responsibility will begin. the head of the terrorist _ will begin. the head of the terrorist state and another russian official_ terrorist state and another russian official have become suspects in a war crime~ — official have become suspects in a war crime. as official have become suspects in a war crime-— official have become suspects in a war crime. �* , , . war crime. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations _ war crime. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations were _ war crime. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations were outrageous - war crime. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations were outrageous and l the allegations were outrageous and unacceptable. the allegations were outrageous and unacceptable-—

unacceptable. they are not for the international _ unacceptable. they are not for the international criminal _ unacceptable. they are not for the international criminal court - unacceptable. they are not for the international criminal court and i international criminal court and bear— international criminal court and bear no — international criminal court and bear no obligations _ international criminal court and bear no obligations under - international criminal court and bear no obligations under it. i international criminal court and bear no obligations under it. these are only arrest _ bear no obligations under it. these are only arrest warrants _ bear no obligations under it. these are only arrest warrants and - bear no obligations under it. these are only arrest warrants and more | are only arrest warrants and more are only arrest warrants and more are expected for the killing of civilians and elsewhere across the country. russian forces have been accused of rape, torture and indiscriminate shelling. the man investigating these allegations and those against mr putin denied the warrants were symbolic. it will make their reasonable grounds to believe that crimes of the no courts jurisdiction have been committed and those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime sleep well at night should perhaps look at history. vladimir putin may never be arrested or appear in court, but it's not everyday that is serving head of state is accused of war crimes and it is a signal for international community that they will seek justice for what it's international community that they will seekjustice for what it's been happening here in ukraine. at home,

vladimir putin to interest and support but he faces the possibility of arresting a trial and probably will not be getting on and probably will not be getting on a plane soon. with the reaction from russia and the impact this arrest warrant could have, here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg. ona on a practical level, do not expect russian police to slap the handcuffs on vladimir putin and dispatch them to the hague. russia, dislike america, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the international criminal court in russia does not extradite its citizens. and yet, this is an extraordinary moment. think about it. the serving president of the worlds largest country, a nuclear power, a permanent member of the security council, the icc has issued a warrant for his arrest over war crimes and that makes him even more of a pariah in the timer vladimir

putin is still trying to be a global player in any of the chinese president coming in three days' time for a state visit. no wonder the kremlin is furious, outrageous, unacceptable. and the former russian president and putin ally referring to the arrest warrant in a social media post wrote this. he said no need to explain where this paper should be used. and he followed that within emoji of a toilet bowl. earlier, our security correspondent, frank gardner, explained the charges and their significance. the charges are very specific and they specifically name not just president putin, but also russia's commissioner for child ren's rights, lvova—belova. and what they are accused of in both cases is having an overall responsibility for the unlawful and in some cases forced abduction of children from russian occupied

areas of ukraine into basically russian internment. and as james landale mentioned earlier, different forms of this, somewhere forcibly abducted, some were tricked. there have been plenty of well—documented cases where parents have been told to hand over their children to a bus depot at a certain time and when they were told they were going off to a holiday camp or a sports camp and they were taken to places like crimea, russian occupied, or even inside russia itself, where they are being systematically turned into russian citizens, for us to forget their ukrainian nationality and adopt their entirely russian nationality, singing the russian national anthem, speaking russian, learning the russian syllabus. the numbers here pretty big. now, will these arrest warrants change the war on the ground in ukraine?

no. it's not going to have any great effect on the battlefield at all. is it embarrassing for the kremlin? yeah, a little bit. are we going to see president putin in the hague? not a chance. asjustice steve rosenberg mentioned there, he does not travel a great deal. he's got powerful friends, xijinping of china who is coming to see him and who is absolutely crucial in all of this. so if we were going to look at the big picture, what is more important, russia's friendship at china and are they going to get weapons from china, that is far out weighing anything that a court in the hague, which has nojurisdiction in russia might say. where it does, i think i may have an effect is all those countries outside the western bloc who are kind of wavering a bit. they are optically in favour of the invasion but also thinking,

nato asked for this. not particularly when they kept expanding eastwards. russia is simply defending its own borders. the fact that russia, after 13 months of consistent denials of war crimes, is that these crimes, alleged crimes are being taken seriously enough after four visits to ukraine by one of its chief prosecutors. the fact that this has been taken so seriously by an international criminal court that has brought to justice war criminals from the balkans and africa and elsewhere, that, i think might well, that is not going to play very well for russia in countries that are wavering on the sidelines, not sure who to believe, moscow or washington. as we've mentioned, the news out of the icc has happened as china announces its president — xijinping — will visit russia next week — to hold talks with president putin. beijing and moscow say the two men will discuss strategic cooperation. beijing is currently promoting a plan it says can bring, a negotiated end, to the war in ukraine. however, china's neutrality

has been questioned — as beijing continues to maintain close ties with moscow. the announcement for the state visit was made by the foreign ministry in beijing. translation: during his state visit to russia, president xi jinping - will have an in—depth exchange of views with president putin on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern. china will uphold its objective and fair position on the ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks. here's our china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, on what beijing might want from this trip. beijing has created considerable expectation that this visit by xi jinping might lead to some sort of a breakthrough in terms of promoting peace in the war between russia and ukraine. now, the reasons for that are that beijing does have some sway with moscow,

and some would say considerable sway. beijing says it's a neutral player in the war and therefore it could become an honest broker, and also, the chinese government has just come off the back of brokering this deal which saw saudi arabia and iran resume diplomatic relations, so people are thinking, you know, if you can get those two together, could beijing also do the same thing in terms of the war between russia and ukraine? now, the problem is that some analysts would say, is it really in china's interests to stop the war if we consider the most cynical potential possibility? in a way, russia is doing china's dirty work. it is challenging the west, it is making the west eat up all of these military resources it has and actually furthering beijing's geopolitical goals.

that said, of course, it has also disrupted trade, and china did have good relations with ukraine before the war started. so, for those reasons, people might say it wants to have peace. still to come on bbc news. we take a look into the review expected to heavily criticise london's metropolitan police for racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour. stay with us. today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision, all of this caused by an apparently organised attack.

the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. now, this was an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats. of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible. _ and that's what the voters wanted. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. turkey says it's decided to start the process of ratifying finland's application to join nato, after long delays. but it says, more talks are needed about sweden's bid. president recep tayyip erdogan, says finland has kept the agreement,

the 3 countries made last year, while sweden still hadn't handed over people he referred to as terrorists. turkey has delayed ratifying the bids of the two countries — saying they haven't done enough to combat kurdish militant groups. here's mr erdogan making the annnouncement. translation: we have decided to start the protocol of finland'sj accession to nato in our parliament. i wish that this decision will be good for our countries and our alliance. the news came amid a visit by finland's leader to ankara. the nato alliance chief, jens stoltenberg released this statement shortly after the announcement. i welcome today's decision to move ahead with the ratification of finland membership in nato. this will strengthen finland security and sweden's security and it will strengthen nato. i hope that the turkish grand

national assembly was vote to ratify as soon as possible. the most important thing is that both finland and sweden become full members of nato quickly. not whether the joint at exactly the same time. several thousand people have been protesting for a second night in paris and a number of other french cities. this follows president macron's decision, to force through pension reforms, without a vote in the lower house of parliment. demonstrators in paris lit fires and threw fireworks at police, who intervened to disperse the crowds. earlier, oppositoon parties tabled two seperate motions of �*no confidence' in the government — for its use of a constitutional mechanism to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64. a major review of london's metropolitan police,

is expected to heavily criticise the force for racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour. baroness casey, was appointed to examine the met�*s standards — and internal culture — after the murder of sarah everard — by wayne couzens, a serving policeman. the bbc has been told the review — published next week — will be extremely bad for britain's biggest police force. our special correspondent, lucy manning, has been talking to former partners of police officers — who say the met fails to deal with abusive officers in its ranks. sirens. they used to be in uniform, until they were convicted. since wayne couzens was arrested, more met police officers have been sentenced, many for sexual offences or violence against women. the force has faced criticism it can't deal with complaints against its own officers.

i think it's easier to let these police officers stay than try and get rid of them. sally — not her real name — was the partner of a met police officer. they met when he investigated a crime she was the victim of. last year, she told the met he'd domestically abused her, and misused police powers. how do you feel that they have dealt with him, given the fact he is a police officer? well, they haven't dealt with him, have they? he's still working. he's still getting paid. he's still going to get his full pension. get everything he asked for. he is now going through the met�*s misconduct system, on restricted duties. i think, 100%, if he had attacked me and he wasn't a police officer, he would have been arrested, and taken and carted off. where are you on being able to trust the met? i don't. i don't trust the police at all. and i do not understand why we report allegations against police

to other police officers. there is no place in the police service for an officer like him. absolutely not. the met boss has accepted he is unable to sack hundreds of officers, and the bbc understands the casey review next week will heavily criticise the way the met tolerates wrongdoing and puts its own people ahead of the public. do you believe the head of the met when he says they are going to do better? no, sorry. prove it. prove it by actions. don'tjust stand there and give us a load of old words. we want proof that you're going to act on those words. you're brought up to believe the police are there to protect. the police should be there to protect. that's what we pay taxes for. but theyjust seem to protect themselves. natalie claims her ex—husband, a met officer, coercively controlled her. she struggled to find the right avenues to complain to the force

to get them to take action. her words are spoken by an actor to protect her anonymity. i've been in police stations. i've spoken to policewomen who squeezed my arm and looked compassionate, and told me this time it would be sorted, you know? it was unacceptable. you know, then like i said, you hear nothing. and it then makes him worse. he's bolstered by this, isn't he? he's enabled, and protected. what more do you think the met needs to do now? own up. i think they need total reform. we will take the most robust action against officers that are found to have committed these crimes. the re—vetting of officers has been stepped up. i recognise we are in a bad place. but we are committed, and absolutely determined, to turn that around, and we are going to do so. i completely understand that people will often feel nervous or hesitant to go to the police to report

a crime committed by the police. but it's clear it's notjust about a few officers who've been sentenced. the entire force will face serious accusations of racism, misogyny and homophobia. its reputation and ability to regain trust in serious doubt. lucy manning, bbc news. introducing babies to smooth peanut butter, when they're between 4 and 6 months old, could dramatically cut peanut allergies — that's according to a new study. researchers say the current guidance on when to introduce solids, to a baby's diet, needs to change. peanut allergies have been on the rise in the uk, withi in 50 children now thought to be affected. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. a spoonful of smooth peanut butter twice a week mixed with breastmilk if preferred. this is how doctors say babies can be safely introduced to peanuts. hole and chopped nuts should never be given

as they are a choking hazard. but when parents start? one in 50 children in the uk is allergic to peanuts and it can be life—threatening. there has been a threefold increase in recent decades partly driven by faulty advice to avoid peanuts altogether until the age of three. that was dropped in 2009. the current, official and advice is that introducing peanuts should begin at around six months as part of the weaning. a study by allergy experts says it should begin earlier, between four and six months. they estimate peanut allergy could fall by 77% if this was done. that would mean around 10,000 fewer children with a peanut allergy each year in the uk. so we know if babies eat peanuts it sees it as harmless in the body does not develop an allergic

reaction to them. contrast that with the baby that foresees peanuts on the skin, the body then tends to develop a peanut allergy. sienna is two and a half and allergic to peanuts. her mum has followed official advice and she was not that early on but my wishes she had been. if we had been given the opportunity it would be completely different. everyday life would be a normal situation as it was for her brother and we would just not have to worry about her as she gets older and he sure she is safe as well. we will do some bubbles on your arm. 0k? and when we are all done we will go pop, pop, pop. she is not being tested for other possible allergies. the researchers are urging the nhs to change the guidance to recommend

peanut products the issue is between four and six month. and say it would make a huge impact on safeguarding the health of children in years to come. jacqueline gold, the business woman who took the ann summers brand from the back streets to high streets — all over britain, has died at the age of 62. she'd been having treatment for breast cancer. our business correspondent emma simpson looks back at her life. ann summers started as four slightly seedy—looking sex shops frequented by men. jacqueline gold transformed this business into a female—friendly household name. this is one of our babydolls... playing her part in the sexual liberation of women and the high street as well. and that made her one of the most successful and well—known businesswomen in the uk. and she did it following her instinct...

this is just beautiful, isn't it? that women were just as interested in sexy lingerie as men. i remember going to the board meeting where i was looking for investment for my idea. it was an all—male board and one of the board members turned round and said, "look, this isn't going to work, women aren't even interested in sex". oh, yes, they were. it's hard to believe now, but when this business got going, there was nowhere, really, for women to go on the high street to buy sexy underwear or adult toys. jacqueline gold built ann summers into a major force in british retail, a company led by women, for women. one lingerie boss says she was a trailblazer. she absolutely paved the way for women to feel empowered in the bedroom and the boardroom and really brought female sexuality into the mainstream. her vision and her commitment to championing women, which i find so inspiring, and which i think

will be her legacy. jacqueline gold was honoured with a cbe in 2016 for entrepreneurship and helping women in business. she died just weeks after her father, west ham co—chairman david gold. he gave her her start in the business, but with her ann summers parties and high street shops, she made it her own. emma simpson, bbc news. the businesswoman jacqueline gold, who's died at the age of 62. a former professional australian surfer, has broken the world record for the longest surf session. blake johnston eclipsed the previous mark of 30 hours and eleven minutes — at the cronulla beach in sydney, clocking up more than forty hours on the ocean. he's raising money for youth mental health projects and said he felt "pretty cooked" after catching more

than 500 waves. i'm olly foster with the latest from the bbc sport centre. ireland had plenty to celebrate on st patricks day on the final day of the cheltenham festival. galopin des champs won the gold cup. lizzie greenwood—hughes reports. always loud, always proud to be the home of racing. this year cheltenham has defied the cost—of—living crisis with ticket for gold day selling out in the fastest time ever. this is the start of a potentially historic weekend for the irish. and on st patrick's day at the

cheltenham festival, where's a better place to get the celebrations under way? come on the irish, come on their green boy, come on! i like england in dublin tomorrow! we will have to see about the rugby. come the big race it look like the english it game had all the lot. hot favourite galopin des champs made his move over the last fence and galloped his way to victory, completing a hat trick of gold the irish the black trainer. he was just so cool in behind all the time that the race unfold and he just pulled out when he thought he needed to pull out and the horse answered his call. winners in cheltenham

were brilliant but the gold cup has a exercise about it. a little pressure coming of everyone talking. didn't go smoothly early. he dug very deep to win today. well it is being hailed as one of the best gold cups ever and yet a golden age for irish horseracing. newcastle are maintaining their push for a top fourfinish in the premier league, alexander isak scored twice as they came from behind to notingham forest 2—i at the city ground. forest took the lead after emmanuel dennis capitalised on a poor backpass and came up with a lovely finish to beat the keeper and defenders. but newcastle struck backjust before half—time, isak with an improvised finish off his shin, to make it 1—1. the winner came from the spot in injury time, that's after niakhate handled in the box and isak stepped up to give newcastle the points. they are now one point behind 4th placed tottenham with a game in hand.

i thought we had a spell of ten or 15 minutes where we lost control and first half of the apart from that i thought we were the dominant team. didn't deserve to go behind, we hit the bar work to it three times in the first half. just delighted to win. it's a massive three points. i think whenever you come back it's a huge success, fine feeling. to score so late in the game is another boost. i think today was always good to be a difficult game. but i thought we deserved it. i thought a general play was very good. we've had the draw for the champions league quarter—finals and with the semi—final path also decided, chelsea and manchester city are on collison course but this is what they have to get past first, manchester city will take on pep guardiola's former team bayern munich with the first leg at the etihad while chelsea take on holders and ia time champions real madrid, the first leg is in spain. on the other side of the draw, it's all about the italian teams.

ac milan face the runaway serie a leaders napoli, inter milan have benfica. former manchester city midfielder michael brown was on the football news show and gave his reaction to the draw. chelsea are going to have to find something possibly different to what they have been doing in the premier league. we have seen how they have struggled and limped across, not necessarily scoring goals. can't decide on the team etc. full of confidence in adversity last year it when it didn't look like they were going to get through, and then a wonderful return. i'm really looking forward to the game. it will be really tough for chelsea. they have to have that confidence if they are going to have a result. and if you are guardiola looking right now by in munich, what do you do? all of the players will have been around many a meeting, and i'm guessing what that was going to come our way.

i'll have to go and beat my former team.