this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... switzerland's biggest bank, ubs, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival credit suisse. last—minute talks are taking place in switzerland to save credit suisse. president vladimir putin visits mariupol — the ukrainian city which was captured by invading russian forces last year. serbia's president has declined to sign an eu proposal to normalise relations with kosovo. and a charity helping british muslims with financial problems, says it's overwhelmed — we'll have a special report.

hello and welcome to the programme. the financial times is reporting that ubs has offered to buy credit suisse for up to $1 billion dollars, although bloomberg reports that credit suisse sees that as vastly undervaluing the bank. the swiss banking giant had been caught up in the market uncertainty triggered by the collapse, nine days ago, of america's silicon valley bank. it had been offered an emergency credit facility of more than $50 billion dollars by switzerland's central bank, but that had not prevented a sharp fall in its share price. our business correspondent marc ashdownjoins me now. where are we up to with these negotiations? fist where are we up to with these negotiations?— where are we up to with these negotiations? where are we up to with these ne . otiations? �* ., ., negotiations? at the moment we have not heard anything _ negotiations? at the moment we have not heard anything new _ negotiations? at the moment we have not heard anything new for _ negotiations? at the moment we have not heard anything new for the - negotiations? at the moment we have not heard anything new for the past i not heard anything new for the past couple of hours, but things are moving very quickly and they are

trying to work on the finer details of this. what we have been told is that at about lunchtime, ubs tabled that at about lunchtime, ubs tabled that offer, valuing credit suisse at around $1 billion. to give you some context there, the shares have been sliding for the whole week, really. go back to 2007 when it was at peak value, it was worth $100 billion but by friday it was worth $8 billion, and now they are offering $1 billion. that would value the shares at about a quarter of a swiss franc. they closed at 1.86. so it looks like a low offer on one hand, as you say. credit suisse rumoured to have pushed back on that, saying it is undervalued. but this is all being overseen by the swiss government. they are hosting these emergency talks with the regulators and we understand they are keen to get this deal done and are even willing to change legislation to fast track things through. shareholders would normally want a good look at this,

and want a consultation period and a vote, but there could be an announcement within the next hour, which sums up the urgency we are facing him. credit suisse �*s troubles have become the banking world's troubles, really. money has started to disappear out of stocks across the board. they were sliding all week and friday was another bad day, said the aim here is to give reassurance to the wider banking world to get this deal done. i was world to get this deal done. i was tellin: world to get this deal done. i was telling our _ world to get this deal done. i was telling our viewers _ world to get this deal done. i was telling our viewers an _ world to get this deal done. i was telling our viewers an hour - world to get this deal done. i was telling our viewers an hour ago that the swiss government will hold an important press conference but we have been given no timing and no location, but there is an urgency around this, isn't there? certainly. the finer points _ around this, isn't there? certainly. the finer points will— around this, isn't there? certainly. the finer points will need - around this, isn't there? certainly. the finer points will need to - around this, isn't there? certainly. the finer points will need to be - the finer points will need to be ironed out, but getting that headline, the deal and the reassurance, when the asian stock markets open in less than eight or nine hours now, so this could see restructuring. credit suisse is the second biggest bank in switzerland and is one of the big 30. they are

the structurally important banks around the world and they can't really be allowed to fail. ubs, switzerland �*s biggest bank is another of those 30. a bit of uncertainty if those two banks come together. we could see credit suisse �*s 95 branches separated from their investment arm, said the bank could investment arm, said the bank could in effect be broken up and that would mean something for people working there. there are 50,000 employees around the world working for credit suisse and between ubs and credit suisse there are 10,000 here in london. so uncertainty for them. but yes, i think the primary aim at the moment is to bring a bit of stability. we have had turbulence across the stock markets all last week and are keen to get this deal done and we will let you know as soon as it happens.— done and we will let you know as soon as it happens. something you mentioned earlier, _ soon as it happens. something you mentioned earlier, its _ soon as it happens. something you mentioned earlier, its share - soon as it happens. something you mentioned earlier, its share price i mentioned earlier, its share price has gone from recently being valued altogether at 100 billion us dollars. in 2007, yes. down to $8 billion. ~ . . , dollars. in 2007, yes. down to $8 billion. ~ . ., , ., ., , billion. what has gone wrong? they have had years _ billion. what has gone wrong? they have had years of _ billion. what has gone wrong? they

have had years of issues. _ billion. what has gone wrong? they have had years of issues. this - billion. what has gone wrong? they have had years of issues. this is - have had years of issues. this is what triggered this. following the silicon valley bank issues last weekend, there was pressure on the banking system. economists say the federal reserve of the us that drives a lot of the interest rates just push and push until something breaks. well, something broke last week and something has broken here. what triggered the problems for credit suisse now is discovering that they have these financial issues with their financial reporting, which led them to seek liquidity and look for more money. the saudi national bank is the biggest shareholders that they would not put any more money in and that speed things further. 0nce not put any more money in and that speed things further. once that process starts, it is all about confidence, and that evaporated taking money with it. depositors want to take their money out as well. they are high net value individuals these, so if they take their money out all at once and you have a flimsy balance sheet anyway, you will struggle. the hope is to a certain extent this will draw a line under the issues and make it move forward, and the big test will then

be what does the global market make of it? do they pick up or will they keep sliding? find of it? do they pick up or will they keep sliding?— keep sliding? and that is the question- — keep sliding? and that is the question. thank _ keep sliding? and that is the question. thank you. - i'm joined now by patrick reid, the ceo and founder of trading consultancy adamis principle. he's also mentored clients from goldman sachs, jp morgan and credit suisse. someone who knows the banking world incredible well. what you think about this reported offered by ubs to buy credit suisse for 1 about this reported offered by ubs to buy credit suisse for1 billion us dollars customer is it reasonable?— us dollars customer is it reasonable? ., , ., , reasonable? no, it is not. only in 2019 the numbers _ reasonable? no, it is not. only in 2019 the numbers were _ reasonable? no, it is not. only in 2019 the numbers were around i reasonable? no, it is not. only in. 2019 the numbers were around $40 billion, but this is normal. ubs want a billion, but this is normal. ubs wanta bargain, don't billion, but this is normal. ubs want a bargain, don't they? obviously, in the very first instance this is going to be rejected and this is normal in a knife negotiation. the sound is shifting very quickly as we speak. —— sans. the funny detail is one thing, but having that initial pricing is the key and that is a

headline. the problem really is ubs are, by all intents and purposes, archrivals and there's a lot of problems credit suisse have had over the years, similar to what your colleague was saying. they really have not got it right. let's not forget, in 2019 they were left to the tune of billions in losses through some really bad risk management. we have had the top brass coming and going like a revolving door of a luxury supermarket and that has not restored much confidence. and now we are in a situation where confidence is at an all—time low and you can see that in the share price. hope see that in the share price. how crucial is it _ see that in the share price. how crucial is it that _ see that in the share price. how crucial is it that something is agreed on, regarding the future of credit suisse, before the markets open? it credit suisse, before the markets 0 en? , credit suisse, before the markets oen? , ., , ,

credit suisse, before the markets oen? _ ., open? it is absolutely crucial. not caettin a open? it is absolutely crucial. not getting a deal— open? it is absolutely crucial. not getting a deal today _ open? it is absolutely crucial. not getting a deal today with - open? it is absolutely crucial. not getting a deal today with the - open? it is absolutely crucial. not i getting a deal today with the market opening tomorrow, we really are going to see brand—new lows for the share price of credit suisse. that said, it has to be believed. the deal has to be fair on both parties. it has to be believed. and then there's the finer detail. there may be an introduction of some more oxygen, but the market will dictate how long that accident will last for, and that is basically down to confidence —— that oxygen. switzerland has long been a byword forfinancial switzerland has long been a byword for financial safety, hasn't it? switzerland has long been a byword forfinancialsafety, hasn't it? it is where the very for financial safety, hasn't it? it is where the very wealthiest are happy as keeping their money. but ubs needed rescuing back in the financial crisis and now this other huge lender in switzerland is in trouble so what does this do do the

financial reputation of switzerland? well, it is certainly being questioned by the ultra high net worth is, absolutely. and what i will say is they are going to be asking a lot of very serious questions about switzerland being the safe haven it is, the magnet for all of these riches, and they are going to look at all of their options. and as they should. so the problem really is, is it existential? i am problem really is, is it existential? iam not problem really is, is it existential? i am not so sure. but only in the coming days and weeks will be c. ubs have actually benefited a substantially from the exodus of the high net worth people from credit suisse to elsewhere, so there is that as well. there is a huge overlap. 0ne there is that as well. there is a huge overlap. one thing to mention is, 9000jobs huge overlap. one thing to mention is, 9000 jobs were reported just recently to leave credit suisse, and

that could be many, many multiples of that if the deal goes through. wow. i mean, certainly interesting times indeed. patrick reed, thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. thank you. 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 year's invasion. his visit, under cover of darknes, has been fiercely criticised by the exiled council of the southern port city, which has seen some of the fiercest battles of the war. vladimir putin arrived in mariupol by helicopter, at least according to pictures broadcast by russian state television. then he drove himself into the city on what is thought to be his first known visit to parts of ukraine seized by russian forces after last year's invasion. in the dark streets, amid tight security,

he met what were described as local residents, who happened to be standing by. they seemed happy to see him. "we need to start getting to know each other better," he said. "we pray for you," one woman said, "finally you are here. we have waited for you so long." mr putin was invited inside to see one of their homes, seemingly a new apartment. the aim, it would appear, to show a city being rebuilt after last year's devastation. for this is what mariupol looked like last year after three months of russian bombardment, during which ukrainian fighters held out at the azovstal steel plant — their long defence a symbol of ukrainian resilience. it was here, too, where russian forces bombed a maternity hospital — an early alleged war crime —

along with a theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering and died. the mayor of mariupol told me how he felt about seeing mr putin in his city. translation: he is a criminal. he has come in person to see what he has done because criminals always return to the scene of the crime. he has come to see what he will be punished for. mr putin also visited a theatre that had been rebuilt — one that the russian authorities had planned to use for show trials for some azovstal defenders. under bright streetlights, he was shown around a playground, only days after he was accused by the international criminal court of illegally deporting thousands of children from occupied parts of ukraine to russia. i'm joined now by philip short. he is the author of the book,

"putin: his life and times". what was your take on that visit? well, he went first to crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the annexation, and that i think had been planned for quite some time. remember, the chinese president is coming to moscow tomorrow, so going to crimea and then extending the visit to mariupol is a way of showing that, as far as moscow is concerned, these are normal russian territories, and putin goes there as he would go to anywhere else. it is also a way of poking in the eye the international criminal court, which of course has just issued a warrant for his arrest. it is a way of saying, you know, he doesn't care, thatis saying, you know, he doesn't care, that is water off a duck�*s back. the that is water off a duck's back. the ima . es of that is water off a duck's back. the images of the _ that is water off a duck's back. the images of the visit very carefully controlled, won't they? there was nothing revealed before the visit.

it was the state news agency that release those images. a very carefully choreographed and orchestrated move, i suppose, to portray one of the few victories that russia can claim since the invasion. , ., , ., invasion. yes. the land bridge from the donbas — invasion. yes. the land bridge from the donbas to _ invasion. yes. the land bridge from the donbas to crimea _ invasion. yes. the land bridge from the donbas to crimea is _ invasion. yes. the land bridge from the donbas to crimea is absolutely | the donbas to crimea is absolutely crucial and mariupol is at the centre of that. so yes, it was a place where putin would want to go if you are going to the occupied areas of ukraine. it is also, you know, you say choreographed, but on all sides, this is a war where the information dimension is almost as important as the war on the ground. so of course they choose their images extremely carefully, and naturally, to be fair, he would not

have said beforehand that he was going there for security reasons. this was quite a dangerous trip, as far as he was concerned. had the ukrainians been advised of it, they might well have tried to take some action against him.— action against him. what was interesting — action against him. what was interesting was _ action against him. what was interesting was the _ action against him. what was interesting was the specific i action against him. what was i interesting was the specific places that he visited in mariupol. 0ne interesting was the specific places that he visited in mariupol. one of them was that philharmonic hall, where there were trials held for those who have been defending the steel plant. there is some similar sum there, isn't there, in the choice of locations to go to? he alwa s choice of locations to go to? he: always doubles down. when russian forces commit war crimes, when things go horribly wrong for the russians, he never kind of backs away. he doubles down every time. he has always done that. so it is not surprising that these are the places he chose to go to. again, it is

showing the west that he doesn't care. quite deliberately doing it on the eve of a very important visit from the chinese president to moscow next week. , , ., ., ,, , ., next week. philip short, thank you for “oininr next week. philip short, thank you forjoining us— next week. philip short, thank you forjoining us here _ next week. philip short, thank you forjoining us here on _ next week. philip short, thank you forjoining us here on bbc- next week. philip short, thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. l forjoining us here on bbc news. thank you. 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. 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 assured 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, 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 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 that is that we have a fair electoral process.

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. 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. here in the uk, emergency warning

messages will be sent by the government to people's mobile phones across the uk next month to test a new public alert system. phones will vibrate, sound a siren—noise and the nature of the warning will flash up on the home screen. the system had been originally due to go live in october. serbia's president, has declined to sign an eu proposal to normalise relations with kosovo. aleksandar vucic claimed his decision was based on kosovo not being an internationally and legally recognized state. earlier, the european union's top diplomat josep borell announced an agreement between the two nations towards normalising relations. despite this, belgrade has refused to recognise kosovo's independence, since it was declared 15 years ago. earlier on, i spoke to our balkans correspondent guy delauney and asked him about the deal. there was a picture of me on social

media yesterday holding up a $10 bill saying i'm betting there will be no deal, which means that when he said there was a deal, i thought bang goes the tenor. but the devil is in the detail. straight after this meeting, straight after his statement, he will say no, there is not a deal and we have agreed on some things, but there is still a lot more to do. the prime minister of kosovo said we have got de facto recognition. if you have got such wildly differing points of view here, the president of serbia saying there is no deal, and the prime minister of kosovo saying we have got de facto recognition, how can you possibly have any sort of agreement? there clearly isn't one. what's disappointing is we didn't really get any detail on the eu foreign policy chief last night, he didn't ask questions, and he did not tell us precisely what has been agreed, beyond a couple of outlines which the eu has published on its website, and which clearly have a lot of detail to be filled in.-

lot of detail to be filled in. when we hear that _ lot of detail to be filled in. when we hear that serbia _ lot of detail to be filled in. when we hear that serbia 's _ lot of detail to be filled in. when we hear that serbia 's president | lot of detail to be filled in. when we hear that serbia '5 president is we hear that serbia �*s president is refusing to sign the eu proposal, has he said what changes he would need to see, or what he would like to see, before he is prepared to normalise relations? he to see, before he is prepared to normalise relations?— to see, before he is prepared to normalise relations? he says he has not red normalise relations? he says he has get red lines. _ normalise relations? he says he has got red lines, and _ normalise relations? he says he has got red lines, and those _ normalise relations? he says he has got red lines, and those red - normalise relations? he says he has got red lines, and those red lines i got red lines, and those red lines are as follows. serbia will not recognise kosovo �*s unilateral declaration of independence from serbia, and serbia will not accept kosovo �*s application to join the united nations and will do what it takes to prevent it from joining the united nations. that is what he is saying. he is not saying there is a compromise which would change that. as far as he is concerned, that is the position of serbia. it does not sound hopeful on that front. the iranian president has accepted a letter from the saudi king inviting him for a visit.the saudi king salman has invited president ebrahim raisi just a week after the two regional rivals agreed to re—establish diplomatic relations. saudi arabia cut ties with iran in 2016 after its embassy

in tehran had been attacked. 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 two thousand 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 2000 applications. zakat, especially, has always been seen in the muslim psyche in britain, certainly, as 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 £1,500 per month. translation: i have two children who i need i 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.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @benmboulos goodbye for now. 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 40 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 last minute talks are taking place in switzerland about a deal to allow its biggest bank, ubs, to rescue its struggling rival — credit suisse. the deal could affect thousands ofjobs worldwide ukraine condemns president putin after he visits the devastated city of mariupol — captured during the russian invasion. an aide to president zelensky called him a criminal returning to the scene of his crime. former british 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