this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... president vladimir putin visits mariupol — the ukrainian city which was captured by invading russian forces last year. switzerland's biggest bank, ubs, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival credit suisse. serbia's president has declined to sign an eu proposal to normalise relations with kosovo. the russian president,

vladimir putin, has visited the ukrainian city of mariupol. it's the first time he's ventured inside territory seized by russian forces since last years invasion. his visit, under cover of darkness, has been fiercely criticised by the exiled council of the southern port city, which has seen some of the fiercest battles of the war. i'm joined now by the ukranian mp for kharkiv, maria mezentseva. thank you for being with us. what you make of this visit by president putin? well, nothing spectacular really. it is one of the first visit to the occupied territories that president putin has conducted. this is the scene of a brutal invasion. and i am

looking at the footage of him sitting all alone in the filler monarch building, and russian authorities are claiming that they have restored the building etc, we are asking, what has been done regarding the cleaning of the green seeds over their quest but this is not a joke for us at all. apart from criticising that visit, i am linking it personally with the recent icc warrant which president putin has received as an international criminal because it is conducting numerous war crimes and numerous deportation of ukrainian children to russian territory. therefore, we see that he is trying to regain some publicity for the russian population, and justify somehow the crime of aggression which led to

numerous war crimes and the deportation of children, and the destruction of our infrastructure, which is yet another genocide. then it is up to the court to decide. but nothing spectacular, really. he is trying to make a fuss of it and it doesn't work.— trying to make a fuss of it and it doesn't work. �* ., , , , ., doesn't work. and does the russian resident doesn't work. and does the russian president "s — doesn't work. and does the russian president 's visit, _ doesn't work. and does the russian president 's visit, both _ doesn't work. and does the russian president 's visit, both to _ doesn't work. and does the russian president 's visit, both to crimea i president �*s visit, both to crimea and then to mariupol, territory internationally recognised as belonging to ukraine, does that sadden, anger, demoralised people, orfire them up even more to sadden, anger, demoralised people, or fire them up even more to oppose the aggression of russia? the or fire them up even more to oppose the aggression of russia?— the aggression of russia? the latter one, it the aggression of russia? the latter one. it fires — the aggression of russia? the latter one. it fires us _ the aggression of russia? the latter one, it fires us more. _ the aggression of russia? the latter one, it fires us more. it _ the aggression of russia? the latter one, it fires us more. it makes - the aggression of russia? the latter one, it fires us more. it makes us i one, it fires us more. it makes us more angry because we understand that with the support of the collective democratic world starting from the uk and elsewhere, we are approaching our victory daily. regardless of the fact that justice is a very protracted process, a very hard one to achieve, we see indeed

some progress. hard one to achieve, we see indeed some progress-_ hard one to achieve, we see indeed some progress. historical events are ha eninu. some progress. historical events are happening- i— some progress. historical events are happening- i am _ some progress. historical events are happening- i am in — some progress. historical events are happening. i am in constant - some progress. historical events are happening. i am in constant touch i happening. i am in constant touch with our military _ happening. i am in constant touch with our military but _ happening. i am in constant touch with our military but we _ happening. i am in constant touch with our military but we do - happening. i am in constant touch with our military but we do need l happening. i am in constant touch | with our military but we do need to get another attempt. it is a special tribunal for the trial of aggression and we are thankful to the uk for supporting us. and we are thankful to the uk for suworting ve— and we are thankful to the uk for su ”ortin us. ~ . . ~ ., supporting us. 0k, ukrainian mp for kharkiv, thank— supporting us. 0k, ukrainian mp for kharkiv, thank you _ supporting us. 0k, ukrainian mp for kharkiv, thank you for _ supporting us. 0k, ukrainian mp for kharkiv, thank you forjoining - supporting us. 0k, ukrainian mp for kharkiv, thank you forjoining us. i kharkiv, thank you forjoining us. thank you. i spoke to james landale about why president putin chose to visit mariupol. there were other places he could have visited, but mariupol was the scene of a long, slow victory. a huge humanitarian crisis in the city after all the bombardment but it did eventually falter russian hands, and just so soon after the allegations made against vladimir putin by the

international criminal court, that he was a war criminal, the kremlin said that this visit was spontaneous and clearly, though designed, i think to show a degree of normality, perhaps a degree of defiance, almost to show the world and to show people in russia that at least from his point of view, there is an element of normality in parts of occupied ukraine. that at least is what mr putin was trying to show. if you look at other sources of information from the city, they show pictures of widespread devastation and ruin, a lot of rubbish. you see pictures of people queueing for food. reports of shortages of electricity. so it is just one side of the story being portrayed. but clearly, you know, it will be seen as a response to those claims by the international court. let mejust let me just update you on the situation regarding credit suisse,

switzerland �*s troubled lender. we are hearing reports from reuters news agency that the swiss government will hold "an important press conference later today". this is being reported by the broadcaster srf and other media as well. they have not given an exact timing, or any other detail about that press conference, but we know that the swiss government will be holding a press conference and this comes after the financial times newspaper reported that the biggest bank in switzerland, ubs, has offered to buy credit suisse for up to i billion us dollars. but bloomberg reports that credit suisse sees that as vastly undervaluing the bank. the swiss bank have been caught up in the market uncertainty triggered by the collapse nine days ago of america �*s silicon valley bank. it had been offered, credit suisse, an emergency credit facility of more than $50 billion by the swiss central bank. but that had not prevented a sharp fall in its share price. our

business correspondent gave me more details. ubs has tabled an offer for credit suisse of $1 billion, or up to. the closing stock price of credit suisse on friday has something like 8 billion, so that is pretty cheap. and then we heard that credit suisse may well be pushing back on ack as well and i suspect that could be negotiations. we are also hearing that the swiss government, which is overseeing these negotiations, could potentially change the law in switzerland to fast track this through. 0rdinarily, something like this, a merger of two banks could require 2—6 weeks of consultation with shareholders and then there would be a vote but we are being told that potentially we could get an announcement by 6pm swiss time, 5pm uk time. that kind of shows you the urgency here. credit suisse �*s troubles have turned into the banking world's troubles and stock prices across the world slid last week. i think what they are trying to do is give some reassurances really, before the markets open

tomorrow morning.— tomorrow morning. potentially chan . in . tomorrow morning. potentially changing the — tomorrow morning. potentially changing the law— tomorrow morning. potentially changing the law to _ tomorrow morning. potentially changing the law to get - tomorrow morning. potentially changing the law to get this i tomorrow morning. potentially i changing the law to get this done tomorrow morning. potentially - changing the law to get this done as soon as possible, a takeover that would normally take weeks and months, and all of this points to a real urgency. i guess that is to try to get it done before markets open for the monday trading sessions. absolutely. what we are talking about is potentially the restructuring of credit suisse. they got 90 banks around switzerland and they have also got an investment banking arm. they bank for some rich customers, lots of assets there, so lots of bits they have got to sort out. could also mean somejob lots of bits they have got to sort out. could also mean some job losses here as well, as ever in these things, and afraid. credit suisse employs around 50,000 people around the world, but between ubs and credit suisse here in the uk, in london �*s banking sector they employ around 10,000 people. potentially some duplication between the two banks. the bank of england and the finance minister are monitoring things very closely, we are told, as

are regulators, and i do think the big hope is swift action now which could head off another tricky week ahead on the stock markets. for --eole ahead on the stock markets. for people watching this and thinking how did we get to this point, where a global, a huge global bank based in switzerland is now the latest one to get into trouble in a chain that started with two quite a niche banks in the us, silicon valley bank and signature bank and theirfailures, so how has it got to this point? credit suisse is important, there are about 30 banks around the world which are considered too big to fail, they are too important to the structure of financial systems to fail and credit suisse is one of those. ubs is another. there is concern here over the merging of two of the big banks, both in switzerland and some of the issues further down the line there. but yes, this started last week and i was sat here talking about silicon valley bank, and then we had first republic bank, so yes, two slightly different issues. bad timing as part of it. i think there have been some issues with credit suisse for years and years, but with the banking

world, it is all about confidence, fear and when that fear sets in and money starts to follow and evaporate, so investors start to take the money out. i will caveat that, and when you talk to bankers who do not feel like you are in the same crisis as a few years ago. but the pace of movement here, the emergency situation, trying to get this deal done potentially by this evening and before the markets open, thatjust evening and before the markets open, that just shows evening and before the markets open, thatjust shows how important it is. mark ashdown. earlier i spoke to chris roebuck, a former head of leadership at ubs and i asked him what this means to the swiss government. it what this means to the swiss government-— government. it is a test of leadership _ government. it is a test of leadership for _ government. it is a test of leadership for the - government. it is a test of leadership for the swiss i government. it is a test of _ leadership for the swiss government, for the _ leadership for the swiss government, for the swiss regulator, and for ubs, _ for the swiss regulator, and for ubs. and — for the swiss regulator, and for ubs, and for switzerland as a counirx _ ubs, and for switzerland as a counirx i_ ubs, and for switzerland as a country. i mean, we have got here to some _ country. i mean, we have got here to some degree — country. i mean, we have got here to some degree a reversal of work we were _ some degree a reversal of work we were in_ some degree a reversal of work we were in the — some degree a reversal of work we were in the financial crisis, where ubs was — were in the financial crisis, where ubs was hit — were in the financial crisis, where ubs was hit badly and credit suisse wasn't _ ubs was hit badly and credit suisse wasn't the — ubs was hit badly and credit suisse

wasn't. the reason we are here now is fundamentally because ubs was hit badly and _ is fundamentally because ubs was hit badly and bailed out, it learnt the lessons — badly and bailed out, it learnt the lessons. what's interesting is that since _ lessons. what's interesting is that since the — lessons. what's interesting is that since the financial crisis, it is clear— since the financial crisis, it is clear that _ since the financial crisis, it is clear that from scandals and other things. _ clear that from scandals and other things, suisse did not learn those lessons — things, suisse did not learn those lessons. and the fundamental one is 'ust lessons. and the fundamental one is just making — lessons. and the fundamental one is just making money at any cost is a recipe _ just making money at any cost is a recipe for— just making money at any cost is a recipe for disaster, and you risk —— your— recipe for disaster, and you risk —— your management must be right and leadership— your management must be right and leadership is about integrity as much — leadership is about integrity as much as— leadership is about integrity as much as productivity. at least 1a people have been killed, after an earthquake in ecuador. 13 of the casualties were in and around the southern province of el 0ro, and one young girl also died in northern peru, when her family home collapsed. the us geological survey says the tremor had a magnitude of 6.8. the effects were widepsread, including the collapse of this building, a museum, which was mounted on a pier at the seaside. it had stood on the same spot for more than 60 years.

now to uk politics, and the former uk prime minister borisjohnson is to publish evidence in his defence, before he faces questions from mps over whether he misled parliament about parties held in downing street during the covid lockdown. his own government brought in the laws, banning many gatherings at the time, but mrjohnson was fined for attending drinks parties. misleading parliament is seen by other mps in the uk as a serious breach of the parliamentary rules. borisjohnson will appear before a committee of mps on wednesday in a televised session investigating his actions. earlier, our political correspondent, tony bonsignore explained more about what borisjohnson can expect when he faces the committee. so, wednesday afternoon, he will be grilled by the seven mps on the privileges committee, a cross—party committee. it is their chance to, as well as all the evidence they have amassed, since last summer

when they got going in earnest, and as well as that, this is their chance to try to get to the truth. this is borisjohnson's chance to defend himself. he is going to go out ahead of that with this dossier, including we understand unpublished messages, which he says it will prove that he did not know about it at the time. because at the heart of this, a couple of appearances in the house of commons in december 2021, when borisjohnson said, in response to questions about alleged parties, he told mps all rules were followed, he was sure that all rules were followed and there were no parties. this is what this is about. we have had a police investigation, we have had an inquiry by senior civil servants, but this is about what did borisjohnson know when he stood up in the house of commons and made those comments, made those assertions. and, is it possible that he was in contempt of parliament if he knew, and that is a big if, if he knew more than he let on.

you mention the police investigation. as a result of that, he was fined, wasn't he? he was found to have breached the rules and he was fined. what more can this then lead to, if anything? is there any comeback if the investigation, if the mps conclude that he did mislead parliament? we have had the police investigation by the metropolitan police and 83 people were issued with fines for lockdown busting parties, of which borisjohnson was one. that is not in dispute. what is in dispute here is, what did he know at that time when he stood up in the house of commons? and that is why it is the privileges committee, this small committee of seven people, that is looking into this. they are looking into whether he impeded the normal functioning of parliament in terms of what he said. let's assume for a moment that they think he did mislead parliament.

what can they do? they could ask him to apologise. it depends again, the scale of wrongdoing that they might think has happened and the reason for it. they might ask him to apologise and that is one possibility. they might suspend him for a few days, another possibility. or, if that suspension were to be ten sitting days or more, we then get into the area of what's called a recall petition, where his constituents would be able to say we don't want this guy as our mp any more, we want a by—election. if 10% of constituents sign up to that, borisjohnson's political career could effectively be over. so, today we had, obviously every politician has been asked this at the moment, but 0liver dowden was asked about this this morning and this is what he had to say. i have known borisjohnson reasonably well over the years and i'm reasonably well over the years and i'm quite _ reasonably well over the years and i'm quite sure that he will put

forward — i'm quite sure that he will put forward a _ i'm quite sure that he will put forward a robust defence of his conduct — forward a robust defence of his conduct. it will then be for the committee to make their determination and if necessary, the house _ determination and if necessary, the house of— determination and if necessary, the house of commons to make that determination and that is the proper process— determination and that is the proper process to _ determination and that is the proper process to go through. that— process to go through. that was on dowden. now, gavin has all the sport. it's a big weekend of fa cup quarter—final action, and sheffield united of the championship have joined manchester city in the last four. there was joy in the 91st minute for the blades, as tommy doyle's long range shot saw them come from behind, to beat fellow second tier side blackburn 3—2, who had led 2—1 with nine minutes to go, but 0li mcburnie's equaliser and doyle's late winner sends sheffield united to wembley. grimsby town are hoping to make history by becoming the first team from the fourth tier to make the semifinals, but it is not going to plan against premier league brighton. half time there at the moment and they are just about to start the second half. brighton took

the lead afterjust six minutes. max croghan was on hand to score. grimsby, down in 15th in league 2, knocked out southampton in the last round. brighton are looking to make theirfirst fa cup round. brighton are looking to make their first fa cup semifinal since 1983. manchester united are through to the semi—finals of the women's fa cup after beating lewes 3—1. united were looking comfortable at 2-0 united were looking comfortable at 2—0 until this error was seized upon by emily craft in spectacular fashion. they were not able to add to that and substitute nicky to paris retains her record of scoring in every round to secure the victory with just a couple of minutes left. brighton are beating birmingham city 2-0 brighton are beating birmingham city 2—0 and chelsea are also 2—0 ahead at reading. aston villa take on manchester city at 6pm.

arsenal are 3—0 up at crystal palace. there could be eight points clear of manchester city at the top if they continue in this vein of form and see out the win. the second half is not long under way at the emirates. in tennis, there's a repeat of the australian open final at indian wells later, as elena rybakina will play aryna sabalenka. and carlos alcaraz has the chance to become the men's world number one but daniil medvedev stands in the way. if medvedev beats alcaraz he will become the first man since britain's andy murray in 2016 to win four titles in five weeks. it's just great sometimes when you beat some records, or win a slam that you know when you are 70 i remember the year when i made for finals in a row. that's great. but in the moment it doesn't matter for

me. the most important thing is to try to win the tournament and to win these matches. and finally, marc leishman is leading the liv golf tournament in arizona. he came up against a potentially deadly opponent at the gallery golf club when a snake stopped him in his tracks. a big one. looks like a rattlesnake, but leishman wasn't going to get too close to confirm it. the australian kept his cool in the desert — that's all the sport for now. we will have all the football later on. thank you, gavin. breaking news now, this coming from our colleagues in the bbc persian service. iran has received a letter from the saudi king invited the iranian president to visit. this is according to an official at the president's office in tehran. it was treated. this is just about ten days after iran and saudi arabia agreed to re—establish

diplomatic relations, reopen their embassies in each other 's countries after years of bitter hostilities over various issues, including the conflict in yemen and syria. this came about after china was involved in brokering some sort of resolution to the diplomatic hostilities. there were meetings held behind closed doors in beijing, and this latest development, iran now saying that saudi arabia has invited the iranian president to visit. we will bring you any more details and updates on that as and when we get them. the liberal democrats leader, sir ed davey, says his party would seek a closer economic relationship with europe, to "fix britain's trade", if it was in government. speaking at the party's spring conference, he also pledged to fix the nhs, reform social care, and tackle the cost of living crisis. yes, we need immediate solutions to the cost—of—living crisis

engulfing so many families and pensioners, like using a proper windfall tax to cut energy bills. but we need far more than that, too. the interim chief executive of the scottish national party, michael russell, says the party is in as a "tremendous mess". he replaces peter murrell, who's married to scotland's first minister, the outgoing party leader, nicola sturgeon. he resigned, taking responsibility for misleading journalists who asked about the snp's membership numbers. it lost 30,000 members injust over a year. mr russell, said trust in the party needed to be rebuilt. it isa it is a tremendous mess and we have to clear it up. that is the task that i am trying to take on in the short term, and the most important thing in that short term, this is about scotland, notjust the snp and thatis about scotland, notjust the snp and that is that we have a fair electoral process.

thejohn lewis partnership is looking into selling a minority stake of the business — for the first time. the high street retailer is currently jointly owned by its staff. but it's understood the chairman is looking into changing the business model in order to attract new investment. the bbc understands the plan is in its very early stages — and no agreeement has been made. john lewis says staff will be the first to hear about any changes. a charity that specialises in helping british muslims with financial problems, says it's been overwhelmed by people needing assistance. the national zakat foundation says it's receiving up to 2,000 applications a month for crisis grants — double the figure it was getting last year. michael buchanan reports. for a few hours a day, two—year—old ali has his house and mother to himself, before his four siblings return from school. berlin is separated from the children's father. the family live off of £236 a week.

it's not enough, and she has built up large debts trying to raise five children alone. they don't understand. they will ask me everything, "can you buy this, can you buy that?" they have to ask me for something, they want it. sometimes i say, "ah, tomorrow, we will do tomorrow," and they forget sometimes. muslim communities in britain are disoroportionally poorer than the rest of the country. poverty levels are particularly high among people of bangladeshi, pakistani and black african heritage. this charity distributes zakat — money donated by muslims to help fellow muslims in need. demand for its hardship fund is greater than ever — some months, they are seeing over 2,000 applications. zakat, especially, has always been seen in the muslim psyche in britain, certainly, is for people who are homeless, foodless, in some far—off land. and just to overcome that, some people say, "ok, the community is here for you. zakat is yours, as well."

that's difficult for us. we're seeing a record number of people accessing support. at the east london mosque, what started as a response to the pandemic has become an ongoing lifeline. a lot of our families, they live in a very overcrowded housing situation. it is a community that has always been an poverty, that has really struggled with employment. and it doesn't really help — the fact that things are really expensive. for this woman, her rent is the big problem — it's increased by £200 to £1500 per month. translation: i have two children who i need - to feed, but i can't work. it's so cold and chilly out there and i have no alternative but to come here. there's a huge stigma in muslim communities around asking for help from charities. but when the bills are rising this rapidly, faith and family can only go so far.

michael buchanan, bbc news. the late queen elizabeth has been remembered by her son, king charles, to mark mother's day in the uk. in a twitter post, the king showed an image of the young queen posing with his as a young boy, along with the other royal mothers such as queen consort camilla and katherine, princess of wales. time now for a look at the weather with chris. hello there. this march has been pretty wet so far. if we take a look at the rain that has already fallen, there are some parts of the country that has seen 1.5 times the march average already, even though we are nowhere near the end of the month. the weather pattern over the next week will be very wet across western and north—western parts of the country. i suspect, by the end of the month,

there will be some places that see well over double the march average rainfall. the main message is grab the sunshine and dry moments when you get them this week because it does look quite unsettled. so far today, the best of the sunshine has been across southern and eastern areas of england. there is a tendency for the weather to cloud over through the afternoon. outbreaks of rain spreading to northern ireland and, by the end of the afternoon, that is likely to fringe into the west of scotland, western parts of england and wales as well. a mild afternoon and overnight it stays cloudy with rain, heavy at times moving across northern ireland. wet weather for scotland and northern england as well. it will be a cloudy night, frost free, temperatures holding up at around six or seven celsius. looking into the new working week, low pressure will continue to fire weather systems across the uk, bringing pulses of heavy rain. it then gets windy towards the middle of the week. monday, a lot of cloud. there will be some rain working into scotland. that will be quite heavy. damp weather in wales and western areas of england.

the driest weather will be across parts of eastern england where it could become very mild. 16 the high in hull. that is well above average for march. tuesday, heavy rain for scotland but away from that, generally a brighter day. there will be plenty of showers around and some could be heavy and thundery. outbreaks of rain approaching northern ireland late in the afternoon. temperatures still mild for most — 13 to 15 degrees widely but chilly across the north of scotland and shetland. windy on wednesday and thursday, gusts could reach a0 to 60 mph across parts of the north—west and a day of sunny spells and heavy, blustery showers. the showers could have hail and thunder mixed in and downpours likely to be widespread. it stays windy with downpours on thursday, perhaps turning brighter as we head towards the end of the week. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines switzerland's biggest bank, ubs, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival credit suisse. efforts are concentrating on reaching a deal before the stock markets resume trading on monday. the kremlin says vladimir putin's visit to mariupol — a city captured during the russian invasion of ukraine — was unscheduled.

he flew there by helicopter on saturday evening. no news of his trip was made public before he returned to russia. former prime minister borisjohnson will publish evidence in his defence ahead of a grilling by mps over whether he misled parliament about covid rule—breaking parties. mrjohnson denies misleading mps. serbia's president, aleksandar vucic, says he has "declined" to sign a proposal by the european union intended to normalise relations with kosovo. the eu has been trying to broker a deal, fifteen years after kosovo declared independence. you're watching bbc news, now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from oakland, california. i'm stephen sackur. this city has long been

a cradle of the struggle for black freedom and equality.