today at 1:00pm, china's president is on a state visit to moscow today, with russia hoping for chinese support in the war in ukraine. president xi jinping will be the first foreign leader to meet vladimir putin since a warrant was issued for his arrest on war crimes charges. we'll be live in moscow for the latest. also this lunchtime... as the alps lose their ice, un scientists release their most comprehensive assessment so far on the impact of climate change on our planet. this report is a clarion call to massively fast—track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. turbulence on the markets after the rescue of the troubled bank credit suisse.

it's revealed that almost 400 hotels across the uk are now being used to house asylum seekers — at a cost of £6 million a day. and why something fishy has been going on after the body of a rare shark was discovered on a beach in hampshire. and coming up on the bbc news channel... facing a length ban — aleksandar mitrovic�*s moment of madness means he could be out for a significant part of fulham's season. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. for the increasingly isolated russian leader vladimir putin, it is a hugely significant moment — the chinese leader xijinping has travelled to moscow to meet him.

president xi says today's state visit will give "new momentum" for relations between the two superpowers. mr xi will be the first foreign leader to shake vladimir putin's hand since an international arrest warrant was issued for the russian president on war crimes charges. 0ur russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports from moscow. when xi jinping arrived you could tell the russians were pleased to see him. full military honours for one of the world's most powerful leaders. but this was pomp with a purpose. russia knows it needs china more than ever. putin and xi have met many times before, but never before has russia's president being under such pressure. his war in ukraine has not been going to plan, and last week in the hague, the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for vladimir putin for alleged war crimes.

xi's visit is a show of support. the two leaders have been building what they call a no—limits partnership. it's not an equal one, though. russia, under heavy international sanctions, is increasingly dependent on china as a market for its goods and raw materials. as for no limits, well, there have been some. up till now, beijing has been reluctant to provide russia with lethal aid for the ukraine war to avoid secondary sanctions against chinese companies. still, china is thought to be supplying dual—use technology, like semiconductor chips, vitally important to the russian military. ahead of the summit, president putin went travelling himself, paying his first visit to territory occupied by russia in its full—scale invasion of ukraine. he toured mariupol, a city that had been heavily damaged by russian shelling. his presence sent a clear message

to ukraine and to the west — this kremlin leader is not about to compromise. studio: stevejoins us from moscow now. as you said in your report, president putin is under renewed international pressure, especially after those war crimes charges, so particularly keen to welcome the chinese president today to moscow. yeah, absolutely. a couple of points to make here, these two men have a lot in common. they have a very similar worldview, they are both authoritarian leaders, they both embrace the idea of a multipolar world, as they call it, spending up to us domination. vladimir putin quite likes the idea of standing back to back with china against the collective west, as he calls it. there is another more practical point to make. if you have burnt your bridges with the west, as vladimir putin has done, then what

do you do? you've got no choice really you tilt to the east and that is what the russian president has done. the events of the last year have accelerated russia's dependency on china, on chinese markets, and china says, bring it on. this gives china says, bring it on. this gives china more clout in negotiations with russia, it gives china more influence in russia. it means china can buy russian energy at a discount. what you get is a partnership, but not a partnership of equals. china is very much the senior partner here, russia, the junior partner. steve rosenberg in moscow, thank you. in the last few minutes, scientists have published their most comprehensive study yet into the effects of climate change. the report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change summarises almost a decade of evidence about global warming. it's likely to become a benchmark for governments around the world as they try to address the growing

threat to our planet. 0ur climate editor, justin rowlatt, is in interlaken in switzerland. just assess for us the significance of this report. just assess for us the significance of this report-— of this report. this report is completely _ of this report. this report is completely crucial. - of this report. this report is completely crucial. as - of this report. this report is completely crucial. as you i of this report. this report is i completely crucial. as you say of this report. this report is - completely crucial. as you say it will form the basis of future negotiations between governments. the press conference releasing that document has just started in the building behind me, which is why it is so quiet out here. it draws together eight years of scientific research in a form that governments have signed off and means it will be used as the basis of negotiations, the basic text for the talks that happen every year, the global talks that happen on climate, which is why this is such a crucial document. rescue dogs try to sniff out the bodies of the more than 250 people who are reckoned to have died after a tropical storm ripped through malawi this week.

storm freddy is likely to be the longest lasting tropical cyclone on record, say meteorologists. today's report says climate change is likely to intensify tropical storms like this yet further. but all hope is not lost said the un chief today. the 1.5 degree limit is achievable, but it will take a quantum leap in climate action. this report is a clarion call to massively fast—track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. the alpine glaciers of europe lost 6% of their volume last year alone. to bring climate change under control, the un boss says we need action on all fronts. everything, everywhere, all at once, he says. at this weather station in the alps they have been collecting climate records for decades. today's report warns

that we will almost certainly bust through the 1.5 degree boundary that avoids the worst impacts of climate change in the next few years. low carbon technologies, electric vehicles like this, as well as renewable power, will be essential to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, but we will also need technologies like this plant in iceland that can draw carbon dioxide from the air, the scientists said today. these are at an early stage of development and are still very expensive, they warn. it is another sobering reminder of the huge challenges the world faces if it is to meet the climate challenge. but listen, buried in the report there is some good news. the scientists say the cost of many renewable technologies, wind, solar,

batteries, has fallen dramatically, it is being implemented very rapidly, and that is good news. it also says there are small changes we can all make, walking and cycling more, eating less meat, making us healthier and also reducing our emissions. studio: justin rowlatt in interlaken, thank you. european banking shares fells sharply this morning before rebounding after the emergency takeover of credit suisse. the swiss bank was sold to its rival, ubs, yesterday in a government—backed deal designed to prevent any further turmoil. the bank of england has said banks are "safe" but in london, the ftse index of leading shares fell by around i% in early trading before recovering. here's our business correspondent, theo leggett. grim—faced and determined, top officials from switzerland's central bank arriving for weekend talks that led to the shotgun wedding of the country's two biggest banks. at a hurried press conference it was announced that credit suisse was to be acquired by its bitter

rival, ubs, the latest victim of a sudden crisis of confidence in the banking sector. the bankruptcy of a global systematically important bank would have caused irreparable economic turmoil in switzerland and throughout the world. for this reason, switzerland had to take the responsibilities beyond its own borders. credit suisse has been battered by scandals and it's been losing billions of pounds a year, but even so it was not expected to get into so much trouble so quickly. and that's the problem the banking sector is now facing, a loss of confidence, because if people aren't confident their money is safe in a bank, they will go and withdraw it, and that can rapidly create serious concerns. the demise of credit suisse was triggered by the collapse last week of two american lenders which sent shivers through the industry. now the bank of england and five other central banks have taken coordinated action to ensure banks have access to a steady

supply of cash. but concerns that other lenders could get into trouble and create a 2008—style banking crisis haven't gone away. this should not be 2008. 2008 was a common problem through the banking system, bad assets that virtually everybody owned. this started out as isolated problems. the policy response is turning it into something more systematic. so should banking customers here be worried? analysts say for most people there is no cause for concern just yet. if you've got savings in an account with a bank that has got a banking licence, up to £85,000 per account is guaranteed by the financial services compensation scheme, and forjoint accounts up to 170,000. 11,000 people work at credit suisse and ubs here in the uk, and amid all the turmoil, theirfuture is very much up in the air. theo leggett, bbc news. almost 400 hotels across the uk are being used by the government to house more

than 50,000 asylum seekers. seaside resorts, airports and even retirement villages are among the locations being used, as part of a home office scheme which is costing more than £6 million every day. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford, reports. welcome to the wiltshire — a hotel, golf course and retirement village set in rolling hills near royal wootton bassett, home to more than 100 mostly older residents. now also home to more than 80 asylum—seekers, who moved in in december. the leisure village residents pay to access the hotel's pool, gym and golf course, but have had to enter by the back door since the asylum—seekers moved in. down in the village, i found resident and former tv presenter christopher morris — now 84 years old and quietly fuming. we find it difficult now to access the facilities. we can't go in the front door — it's locked. there are security men shooing us away. we have to go round the back.

and the facilities are much more reduced, people don't bother to go there any more. the retired residents are unnerved by the arrival of lots of young men who mill around at night, but they're not the only ones who say the hotel is completely unsuitable for asylum—seekers. i found this 25—year—old from sudan heading to catch a bus to swindon. he's been in the hotel for three months, and says its isolated location means there's no way of learning about british society. there's nothing to do here. nothing. we stay the whole day at the room doing nothing. what do you do? nothing. nothing, actually. we started getting depressed. i've been talking with them to see some therapist. the home office has rented hundreds of hotels to house tens of thousands of asylum—seekers, but few can be as strangely located as this — wedged as it is between a retirement village and a golf course.

to provide beds for more than 51,000 asylum—seekers — and rising — the home office has booked out hotels in seaside resorts and cities, in villages and the countryside, at airports and on golf courses — anywhere they can find willing hotel owners. there are 395 hotels in all — 363 in england and 20 in northern ireland — but far fewer in the other two nations — ten in scotland and only two in wales. the leicestershire village of kegworth is one of the latest places to have the local hotel's business model changed overnight to housing asylum—seekers. yew tree lodge was the local wedding venue, swimming pool and gym — as well as bringing in business from the nearby east midlands airport. but that all changed last month. fredricka reynolds used to do all the flowers for the weddings, but in an instant, that key part of her business was snatched away. they rang me on the thursday before the asylum—seekers came

on the monday, and cancelled all my weddings for the foreseeable. that's a huge amount of work and income to me. and she told me it's notjust the loss of thousands of pounds. me and my boys used to go swimming every saturday there. i've got two little ones and every time we drive past there, they want to go swimming and, unfortunately, that's closed now. because of the small boats crossing the channel, the number of asylum—seekers in hotels has gone from 3,000 to 51,000 in just three years. it's the government policy that almost no—one is in favour of — not even the government — and it's costing the taxpayer £6 million a day. daniel joins me now. as you said at the end of your report, not even the government think this is a good idea. the home office hate it _ think this is a good idea. the home office hate it and _ think this is a good idea. the home office hate it and the _ think this is a good idea. the home office hate it and the government l think this is a good idea. the home | office hate it and the government is 0ffice hate it and the government is really keen to stop putting people into hotels, but the problem is the

solution is they have got to try and stop it are going to be quite long term, first of all there is the quite controversial policies about sending asylum seekers to rwanda and putting people in detention centres and then returning them back to their point of departure. that is still going through the house of commons. there is a policy to clamp down on the backlog of asylum seekers, but that is something that will take some time. and meantime people are still arriving. we have had another 2500 people come across the channeljust in 2023 so there is a lot of pressure building. as much as the government hates doing this, they will be opening more hotels over the next few weeks. daniel sandford, thank you. the time is 13:16. our top story this lunchtime... china's president, xijinping, is on a state visit to moscow today, with russia hoping for chinese support in the war in ukraine. and still to come...

i will be in epping forest, cooking with the _ i will be in epping forest, cooking with the scouts, an organisation that relies— with the scouts, an organisation that relies on volunteers, and like many— that relies on volunteers, and like many others it is hoping for a coronation _ many others it is hoping for a coronation boost to numbers. coming up on the bbc news channel... ahead of their bid to reach euro 2024, wales captain aaron ramsey says his new—look side can "make their own history", after the retirement of four key players. it's 20 years today since the ground invasion of iraq began. us and british forces led the attack which led to the toppling of saddam hussein's regime. the violent chaos that followed — and the failure to plan for the aftermath of the invasion — eventually led to the rise of the so—called islamic state. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen, who's in the northern city of mosul, looks now

at what the invasion 20 years ago has meant for iraq and the world. a lot of the old city of mosul hasn't been rebuilt yet. it was destroyed in 2017, during the war to eradicate the jihadists of the caliphate of islamic state. it was really nasty, house—to—house fighting... explosions ..and it went on for months. i was here at the time and a lot of civilians, as well as fighters, were killed. the rise and fall of islamic state, also known as isis, was part of an unfolding catastrophe that engulfed iraq and was felt right across the middle east. now, a lot of it goes back to march 2003. that was when the americans and the british and their

allies invaded iraq. the americans called the massive air raids with which they opened the war "shock and awe". they claimed, wrongly, that this was the way to make the middle east safer for everyone. shouting within weeks, they'd removed the iraqi dictator saddam hussein. another false claim was that he had weapons of mass destruction. the us navy flew president george w bush out to an aircraft carrier, where he declared victory. the tyrant has fallen and iraq is free. cheering he could not have been more wrong. the americans hadn't worked out how they were going to replace saddam hussein's regime. in the end, they imposed a system that turned sectarian and ethnic groups

against each other. gunfire in the years of chaos and violence that followed... sirens wail ..hundreds of thousands of iraqis were killed — no—one knows how many, exactly — as armed groups fought each other, fought the americans and killed each other�*s civilians. much of mosul, and other cities, has been rebuilt. there are bright spots. as for the west, the americans and the british — the invaders — a lot of the world just laughs when they talk about "peace" or "international law" because of what happened here. but what matters most is the effect on the lives of millions of people notjust in iraq, but across the wider middle east, who suffered and died because of the invasion

and its consequences. jeremy bowen, bbc news, mosul. here in the uk, the defence minster alex chalk has laid a wreath at basra memorial wall at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire. in marking the 20th anniversary of the iraq war, he honoured the memory of 179 british personnel who lost their lives in the conflict. in the last few minutes, we've heard that northern ireland's democratic unionist party, the dup, will vote against the government's brexit plans — the windsor framework — in parliament on wednesday. but the party's leader, sirjeffrey donaldson, has said he'll continue to work with the government to address what he calls "outstanding issues". 0ur chief political correspondent, nick eardley, joins us from westminster now. the prime minister rishi sunak has invested a lot of political capital in this windsor framework —

how big a blow would this be if the dup vote against? he has, indeed, ben. ithink it he has, indeed, ben. i think it is undoubtedly a setback for the prime minister that the dup are going to oppose the bit of the deal we know that mps will definitely get a vote on this week. that statement that has dropped from the dup's leader in the last half hour or so saying that it is clear that the deal or the agreement doesn't deal with some of the fundamental issues that the dup has. it does say that they are prepared to work with the prime minister to make changes. but to be honest, it is not clear that any changes will be possible because the two months of negotiation between the uk and the european union get the uk and the european union get the windsor framework, i am not so sure that brussels will want to revisit it. so where does this leave the prime minister? well, one of the groups he was looking to win over, the unionists in northern ireland, are going to vote again. we expect to hear the verdict of tory brexiteers tomorrow afternoon, they

have been studying the legal text and they are preparing to give their verdict on it so it is quite possible there could be some conservative mps who failed to back this deal as well. it will pass parliament because we expect the majority of conservative mps to vote for it with the backing of labour, so this is not a question of whether it gets through parliament. but it does create potentially a bit of a headache for rishi sunak that some of the groups that he thought were coming on side still have some significant issues and it does mean that he's facing the prospect of quite a few of his own mps and the dup voting against them in a couple of days' time. dup voting against them in a couple of days" time-— of days' time. nick, many thanks. nick eardley _ of days' time. nick, many thanks. nick eardley reporting. _ walkers on a beach in hampshire have made an exciting discovery — the body of what's been descibed as an "exceptionally rare" kind of shark, believed to have been a smalltooth sand tiger.

but the tv historian dan snow — who was there at the time — says that before the body could be recovered by biologists for further study, trophy—hunters removed its head and its tail. well, he's now appealing for those body parts to be returned, in the interests of science, as briony leyland reports. it is a shark, so be careful! an unexpected visitor to the south coast in trouble. when a shark was spotted thrashing about in the shallows at lepe beach, locals went to help. a monster. the rescue mission seemed to have been a success. yes. yes! but yesterday, the shark — believed to be a smalltooth sand tiger, rarely seen in uk waters — was found washed up. historian and local resident dan snow tweeted about the discovery, and scientists urged him to salvage the shark. but he and a team of volunteers were too late. the head, fin and tail had been cut off. we are desperate to try and get hold of that head, because there's things like isotopic analysis — you can see where it's

been, what it's eaten. if you have its brain, we can tell lots from its brain. so we would love to get hold of it. there's nojudgements, but if we could just have it back, just to do some science on it, and then the person can have it back again. they can keep it. scientists want to know more about why the shark which, by the way, wouldn't present a threat to people, was in the solent at all. if this is, or was, a smalltooth sand tiger, then they're often found more in the atlantic, more around the bay of biscay. and as we see changes in climate change, ocean currents, we are seeing changes in distributions of species around the world, but also around our british waters as well. the hope is the head may yet be returned, so the full story of the shark and why it came to the solent can be told. briony leyland, bbc news. now, to celebrate the coronation of king charles, hundreds of charities are offering people the chance to volunteer during the bank holiday weekend in may. 0ur royal correspondent,

sarah campbell, is in epping forest and can tell us more about how to take part in what is called the the big help 0ut iniative. sarah. yes, hi, ben. so we are at the scout headquarters, this is where volunteer leaders come and get changed. today, we have a group of them learning cookery skills. i have learned that if you don't have a frying pan around your campfire and you need to cook an egg, in that file, there are eggs inside an orange and you can use that instead of a pan. scouts rely on volunteers. as do many other organisations. numbers are down and so what they want is more people, and that is what the the big help out is all about, a coronation boost. across the uk, there is an army of volunteers giving up their time and sharing their talents and expertise, to the benefit of all. i'mjane, i've been involved in scouting for 23 years now. it's the satisfaction element, i think, of seeing them enjoying themselves and being part of it.

it's like being one part of a big family, really. my name is ian, i've been volunteering at london zoo for nearly seven years. my background, i was a public sector accountant, so something completely different to what i'm doing here. it's just wonderful to get such new experiences, meet many new people and make many hundreds of new friends. i'm priti, and i'm a volunteer. for the royal voluntary service. i've been volunteering _ because i love being around people. it gives me a sense _ of belonging to the community and it makes me happy. at the last count, there were 7 million people in england alone who volunteered at least once a month. sounds a lot, but that's about a third down on pre—pandemic levels. and it's at a time when the most vulnerable really need the support volunteers so generously give. this charity, little village, provides free toys, clothes and baby equipment. we're expecting to support

2,000 more children this year than we did last year, and for us to be able to do that, we need to have volunteers on sites to be able to help. so, come and help. and that's the idea behind the big help out — a national day of volunteering, planned as part of the coronation weekend in may. download the app, the big help out app, find those opportunities, find out what your passion is and how you can make a difference to your community, and then select the opportunity that's right for you. and although it's about may the 8th initially, what you really want is people to discover it, love it, carry on volunteering. that's right. it's more than one day. cheers. — take care, honey. there will be thousands of charities and organisations looking for new helpers. lots of sex in the city again. right... ooh. i people like husband—and—wife team carol and andy, who spend a few hours a week in their local age uk shop. |it's good fun and we have a laughj and a giggle about the things that have gone in the shop today. we enjoy it. we like each other's company,

and that's good fun for us, - it keeps us young. this is suzanne. she spends her evenings rescuing wildlife as an rspca volunteer. for my normal dayjob, it's very much sat down, it's very much behind a desk, so it's something that's real hands—on helping animals, and it's really rewarding seeing the difference that you're making. it is a simple message — get involved over the coronation weekend however you can, and find out where your help might be needed, using the new app. the...big...help...0ut! and a big thanks to the first osterley beaver scouts for their excellent sign making, well done. matt hyde is the chief exec of the scouts, tell us about the the big help out, not all of the organisations are on there yet, but by may the 8th, there will hopefully be thousands.— be thousands. that's right, we are lookin: be thousands. that's right, we are looking for— be thousands. that's right, we are looking for a _ be thousands. that's right, we are looking for a huge _ be thousands. that's right, we are looking for a huge boost _ be thousands. that's right, we are looking for a huge boost in - looking for a huge boost in volunteering around the country and we are saying volunteering is good for society, we are saying volunteering is good forsociety, it we are saying volunteering is good for society, it is good for these organisations and it is good for you

as well. so we want you to go and download the app, go to the big help out. there are opportunities now, but there will be more and more opportunities between now and may the 8th. so download the app, go to the 8th. so download the app, go to the website, get involved. if you are an organisation, get involved. and if you are a business, we want businesses involved as well. think about this is a great opportunity for your staff to promote incredible hr policies, flexible working, because businesses as well can make such a difference to our communities.— such a difference to our communities. ., , . , communities. lovely, thanks very much. communities. lovely, thanks very much- and _ communities. lovely, thanks very much. and this _ communities. lovely, thanks very much. and this is _ communities. lovely, thanks very much. and this is very _ communities. lovely, thanks very much. and this is very much - communities. lovely, thanks very much. and this is very much seen communities. lovely, thanks very i much. and this is very much seen as a legacy project for the coronation so they want people to get involved in may the 8th and then to carry on volunteering. once again, it is the big help out app. back to you. sarah, thank you very much indeed. we've just heard members of the rmt in network rail have voted to accept a pay offer from network rail — siad to be worth up to 14% for their lowest paid workers.