we need to make sure that we are tackling air pollution and smoking rates and poor quality housing, but also making sure we're treating and supporting people to live well with their lung condition. olaf, originally from germany, lives near glasgow and has another common lung condition, copd. out of the blue, i got the feeling, "oh, i can't breathe." and it's like somebody puts steel around your chest and you can't breathe any more. but he now he logs his symptoms from home. results can be sent back with data from a fitness tracker, to pick up problems early. all this can then be analysed by his doctors. we can see here, for instance, a flare up and then an improvement. it is hoped this idea can cut hospital admissions by half. a large proportion of these patients do not need to come to hospital. we now have the technology, the tools, the data to provide all the care that they require

at home safely. lung disease costs the nhs billions. ministers say more funding for research and new targets to cut pollution and smoking should make a difference. but doctors think more still needs to be done to improve and save thousands of lives. jim reed, bbc news. let's return to today's scathing review of london's metropolitan police — which found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. the report's author — baronness casey — said many londoners had lost faith in the metropolitan police — and the force could be broken up if it didn't change. labour party leader sir keir starmer and shadow home secretary yvette cooper are giving a press conference in response to the report, let's listen in. good afternoon everyone thank you very much forjoining us. baroness

casey's report today commissioned by the mayor of london is forensic, thorough and truly damning. it is deeply critical about the problems in the metropolitan police and the urgent change some of those issues are specific to the mat. but it also raises deep and wider issues a policing across the country. on standards, on culture, a neighbourhood policing, and public protection and tackling violence against women and girls and on discrimination. in each of these areas, there are problems we know any other forces too. so today in parliament today, i asked the home secretary for the government's plan on public protection, tackling recrimination within forces. answer

came none. that is dangerously complacent. it reflects the very same hands off, home of this approach that baroness casey criticised in her report and it is deeply damaging for policing and for community safety. successive conservative home secretaries and conservative home secretaries and conservative prime ministers have withdrawn from their responsibilities on standards and effectiveness. that is a dereliction of duty. we cannot have an endless cycle of watershed moments and warm words when nothing changes. that isn't signing up for the police, it isn't signing up for the police, it is doing the opposite and it is letting policing and our communities down. labourwill letting policing and our communities down. labour will not stand for this. every yearfor down. labour will not stand for this. every year for the last 12 years i have attended the police national bravery awards and i heard the incredible stories of bravery of offices across the country and the remarkable work the police do, but

it is believed labour believes that sanders should be upheld and major reforms are needed. and it is why we are so determined that confidence should be constrained. and that is why it is so important that we have kissed on the�*s leadership in this area. as someone who has worked so closely at the overhaul in policing, someone who has seen determination that are needed to restore confidence in the police force. someone who has worked so closely with the police to prosecute some of the most dangerous criminals and terrorists and has set such clear standards and made clear that our response to baroness casey's response to baroness casey's response to baroness casey's response to the report is part of our mission, the mission that keir starmer has set for the labour party and the next labour government to

keep the uk say. and the next labour government to keep the uk say-— and the next labour government to keep the uk say. thank you, yvette and thank you _ keep the uk say. thank you, yvette and thank you for _ keep the uk say. thank you, yvette and thank you for coming _ keep the uk say. thank you, yvette and thank you for coming this - and thank you for coming this afternoon. this week i will announce details of labour's mission on crime. these missions are about long—term plans to tackle long—term problems. forthose long—term plans to tackle long—term problems. for those on the receiving end, there is no problem that has such a profound daily impact on their life as crime. from the anti—social behaviour that blights too many neighbourhoods and town centres. to the knife crime that is rising again and the violence against women and girls but is shamefully high. so in light of the shocking report, iwant shamefully high. so in light of the shocking report, i want to bring forward the announcement of part of that mission. and today i can announce that part of our mission

will be to raise confidence in every police force to its highest level. i know this will be difficult but like our other missions, it is ambitious, serious and measurable. every day across the country, we know brave police officers put their safety on the line to protect us all. risking their safety for our tests. i know that because in my role as director of public prosecutions, i worked with many of them to bring criminals to justice. with many of them to bring criminals tojustice. we with many of them to bring criminals to justice. we owe them our with many of them to bring criminals tojustice. we owe them our thanks. but we also had to face the reality that public confidence in policing has been shaken to its core in recent years by the holing out of neighbourhood police, the collapse in the child and prosecution rates, the delays and bring criminals to justice. and as we've seen today,

evidence of serious failures on standards. including with the met, the failure to root out police officers who then had committed the most terrible and unthinkable crimes. there will be police forces outside of london who might shrug their shoulders and say, this isn't us but i've worked in criminal justice the decade and i said then, wake up. the findings in the report are a warning for every police force. confidence must be restored. policing by consent depends on trust and one that breaks down, policing becomes harder and crimes rise. of course, there is a special focus today on the metropolitan police following the devastating report. in great detail the culture, the attitudes and practices of the

police force has lost its way. she pulls no punches in exposing a police force where poor management and basic lack of workforce planning have undermined the effectiveness of the force. predatory and unacceptable behaviour has been allowed to flourish. londoners let down with the huge loss of neighbourhood policing. public protection failures that affect women and girls at greater risk. across the force, she found institutional racism, institutional misogyny and institutional homophobia. page after page, the report provides both a detailed diagnosis of what's gone wrong and a blueprint for radical reform. the strength of its findings require an immediate and urgent response. without that, policing cannot be restored in confidence in policing cannot be your thoughts. a fight against crime will be weakened and

people will continue to feel let down and fearful. a government that i lead will accept the findings of the report in full. we would work, notjust the report in full. we would work, not just with the the report in full. we would work, notjust with the met but with policing institutions and forces across the country. to ensure that deep reforms and changes are made. the new met commissioner has our support in the work the team has now began to turn around. but he must go further and faster. and he will have our support in doing that. i know that there are offices right across the met who are desperate to see those improvements put into place and action taken to rebuild the confidence. but mark my word, i will be relentless in demanding progress. the reforms needed will be as the

report suggests, on a par with the transformation of the royal ulster constabulary to the police service of northern ireland. and note that word, service. having played my part in that transformation northern ireland, i know how serious a job it is to make that sort of deep cultural change to an institution. it requires its own leadership, an iron will to make real change. it means being ruthless in weeding out those who will not change or are changing too slowly. it means tough disciplinary standards and swift action on those who continue to act against the new valleys of the organisation. a proper partnership between government and the police service to get the job done. above all, it means changing the police from a force to a service with public service values at its heart.

from standing above committees to standing with them. that is the route to rid radical change and it is a total commitment from the police to achieve it. that is why i will expect radical change in the met. no excuses. london is a diverse city, that is its beauty. but if we can get catholics to serve in northern ireland, reach out across communities there, then i will not accept any special pleading that the met cannot represent modern london. but i have to say, you cannot separate the failings laid out in black—and—white today from the political choices that have led us here. the report makes it clear that there has been a hands off approach to policing since 2011. this approach has been accompanied

haphazard cuts, people feeling that law enforcement has effectively been withdrawn from the country and accountability has been destroyed. progress halted and then slammed into reverse. after 13 years of tory government, policing is yet another public service that is collapsing. no longer serving those who rely on it, sacrifice to a tory hands off ideology that has failed. and until we change course, we will carry on down this path of decline. successive conservative prime ministers have diminished the fight against crime and do nothing to reform the police. in short, they have been negligent. it remains extraordinary that even now after the terrible examples of violence against women from police officers, there are no mandatory national rules the police forces and vetting.

it left police forces to do their own thing. i would put an end to the said situation. in ourfirst own thing. i would put an end to the said situation. in our first term, we would bring a national standard for all police forces to include monetary vetting, training and disciplinary procedures. bringing strong accountability. we build neighbourhood policing with 13,000 more police. get specialist 909 call handlers, trained in domestic violence in every police control rooms. set up specialist rate units in every police force in the country. throughout my whole career, i have seen reports come and go, moments like this. the biggest danger like this that this becomes just another report rather than the beginning of lasting change. it

cannot be an occasion for even more words and too little action. there needs to be a reckoning and there needs to be a reckoning and there needs to be changed. a change the londoners, a change for those good police officers who are fed up of being let down by the government and a change for the public who deserve a change for the public who deserve a police service that they can have confidence in. the british policing model which we should cherish began here in london nearly 200 years ago, unlike most falls across the world, our police are guardians not guards. rooted in the powerful tradition of policing by consent, whether police and other public and the public are the police. and other public and the public are the olice. . , and other public and the public are the olice. ., , ., ., the police. that is the leader of the police. that is the leader of the labour _ the police. that is the leader of the labour party, _ the police. that is the leader of the labour party, keir- the police. that is the leader of the labour party, keir starmer| the labour party, keir starmer setting out his view on how his party would raise confidence of the public, notjust in the met bulletin

police force in london about which a damning report has published, but about all police forces across the uk. you are watching bbc news. this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm martine croxall and these are the latest headlines. britain's former prime minister, borisjohnson, accepts that he did mislead mps about illegal parties held during covid lockdowns but insists his original denials were made "in good faith". president putin says the chinese leader xijinping has invited him to beijing, as the two men hold talks in moscow aimed at boosting ties. britain's biggest police force is branded "institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic" in a scathing new report which says it needs a complete overhaul. the culture sadly in the met is all pervasive and the institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia is largely led by what their officers have said and what our own research has shown.

sri lanka's president says his country will no longer be deemed bankrupt as it prepares to receive the first installment of a bailout from the international monetary fund. the bbc discovers seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died after operations there. others have returned home with serious health issues. hello and welcome to bbc news. a 50 page dossier of evidence which the former british prime minister borisjohnson believes will prove he didn't knowingly mislead parliament over partygate allegations has been published. here are some of the points that mrjohnson has compiled in his defence. he says that statements he made to parliament about potenital rule breaking in downing street during the pandemic were made:

"in good faith, on the basis of what i honestly knew and believed at the time". he says: "i did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the house on december12021, december 8 2021, or any other date". our chief political correspondent, nick eardley, has more. it is a couple of weeks since the committee published the interim report and said it should have been obvious to borisjohnson that the rules were being broken, because he set them and there were occasions when they believed the former prime minister may have misled parliament. today we get boris johnson's defence, which he hopes will clear his name. borisjohnson, huddled around

a table with downing street staff. this was during covid restrictions in england when we were all told not to gather for social events. the partygate scandal helped bring down mrjohnson but now he is facing another question, did he mislead parliament? i'm sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times. this was december 2021 when party reports first emerged. mps are now looking at whether mrjohnson misled the commons and whether he did it intentionally or recklessly. fast forward to today and borisjohnson�*s defence is published where he accepts parliament didn't get the full story and he says it wasn't his fault.

there is a lot in mrjohnson�*s 52 page submission, including extracts of messages involving key aides. he said he relied on their advice before making comments to parliament, writing, i was the prime minister of the country... but not everyone will be convinced. mps on the powerful privileges committee have already suggested it should have been obvious to mrjohnson that the rules had been broken. they will interrogate his evidence tomorrow and could recommend sanctions, from an apology to suspension from parliament, potentially triggering a by—election. that hearing which will be televised tomorrow is down to last for several hours and it will see borisjohnson asked some detailed questions about what's contained in this submission. he has now admitted that parliament was misled. that is a key moment in this process. the question will now focus on whether he did so

intentionally, or recklessly. mrjohnson is making the argument in his submission that it was neither, that he asked his aides on several occasions whether the rules had been followed and when he went to parliament he was acting in good faith. but this row has trundled on for months and months. there are many who think that mrjohnson should have known more and it should have been far clearer to him when he appeared before mps in december 2021 that those rules had been broken and he should have made it clearer to mps that that was the case. we will find out a lot more about his defence tomorrow afternoon. i'm joined now, sonia sodha, a columnist at the observer and former advisor to ed miliband while he was leader

of the labour party. thank you forjoining us. to what extent does borisjohnson�*s defence hold water in your view? i4541431111 extent does boris johnson's defence hold water in your view?— hold water in your view? well it's rally unconvincing _ hold water in your view? well it's rally unconvincing to _ hold water in your view? well it's rally unconvincing to me, - hold water in your view? well it's rally unconvincing to me, we - hold water in your view? well it's rally unconvincing to me, we will| rally unconvincing to me, we will see what the privileges committee make of it. his defence rests on the idea he has admitted he misled parliament about what was going on in downing street during the pandemic, but he says he couldn't have known that these parties and gatherings broke the lockdown regulations and there is no evidence that his advisors told him, so he could he know, even though he was prime minister. that is the key bit of his defence. from a public opinion view, the public won't have much truck with that. it remains to see whether relying on a technical

legalistic defence, i did it, but i didn't mean it, whether that holds water with the committee, i one surprised. there are a couple of things that are problematic for him, he is even referring to the gatherings as parties in his own correspondence when talking about how to deal with them. secondly, he stands accused of not correcting the record in parliament as soon as he knew he play have misled the house. both of those things will count against him tomorrow. it both of those things will count against him tomorrow.- both of those things will count against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors, against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors. they _ against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors, they have _ against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors, they have to _ against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors, they have to advice, - against him tomorrow. if you appoint advisors, they have to advice, if- advisors, they have to advice, if you can't trust their advice, there is no point in having them. surely he is just saying, is no point in having them. surely he isjust saying, look, i believed the people who were put there to keep me informed? i the people who were put there to keep me informed?— the people who were put there to keep me informed? i think the issue with that though _ keep me informed? i think the issue with that though is _ keep me informed? i think the issue with that though is he _ keep me informed? i think the issue with that though is he was _ keep me informed? i think the issue with that though is he was prime - with that though is he was prime minister. he was the one who signed off these regulations. lots of other people were making huge sacrifices. i know people who didn't see their mum or dad before they died due to covid and they hadn't seen them for

months when they were ill. boris johnson, he signed off the regulations, i think it is clear to lots of us in the public that actually hanging out with your colleagues and drink wine and having a secret santa might not be within the letter of the covid regulations. if we knew that, why did boris johnson not know when he was prime minister and he was signing things off and he was communicating them to the public and getting asked by journalists, can people do this? can they do this? he was coming back with the appses. the idea —— answers. the idea he didn't know and it is not his fault, that is a bit of a stretch from be public opinion perspective, but also from his defence fence to the committee about whether he did mislead parliament intentionally. this whether he did mislead parliament intentionally.— intentionally. this committee is su - osed intentionally. this committee is suwosed to _ intentionally. this committee is suwosed to be _

intentionally. this committee is supposed to be above _ intentionally. this committee is supposed to be above party - intentionally. this committee is - supposed to be above party politics so, what does public opinion really matter here, how likely is public opinion going to be swayed? some people will always be in boris johnson's camp and some never will be. ~ ~ ., , be. well, i think it matters, because _ be. well, i think it matters, because i — be. well, i think it matters, because i think _ be. well, i think it matters, because i think it _ be. well, i think it matters, because i think it will- be. well, i think it matters, i because i think it will probably have an impact on how the house of commons deals with anything that the committee recommends. you're right, privileges committee is a cross party commit eye and it is theirjob to make findings after they have grilled him and they will set out their findings and grilled him and they will set out theirfindings and a grilled him and they will set out their findings and a recommendation for what the sanctions should be and it might be for example writing a letter to the house of commons to apologise. it might be being suspended from the house of commons for a number of days. but it the committee can't enforce that. that will be up to the house of commons. there will be a vote of mps. there is a lot of latent public anger, but that will with on rishi sunak�*s

minds and conservative mps' minds when they think about how to respond when they think about how to respond when these findings and recommendation come before the house of commons for a vote. i do think the public opinion is still important here.- the public opinion is still important here. the chinese president has described china and russia as �*strategic partners'. on the second day of xi jinping's visit to moscow, he invited the russian leader vladimir putin to beijing. that's despite the fact that only last week, the international criminal court accused mr putin of war crimes over the conflict in ukraine, and issued a warrant for his arrest. china does not recognise the court. here's our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley. it's a visit being watched around the world for what its global consequences could be. according to the chinese president, his meetings in moscow will give new momentum to china's relations with russia at the expense of both countries hope of the west.

out of this meeting with the russian prime minister came an invitation from president xi. for president putin to pay a return visit to china. and then in the grandeur of the kremlin the two leaders met for a second time, eventually standing shoulder to shoulder, a big morale boost for vladimir putin, now wanted for war crimes in ukraine after an arrest warrant last week from the international criminal court. on several fronts the war is not going as president putin wanted. this talk of some kind of chinese peace plan but what russia wants is chinese weapons to help change the course of the conflict on the ground. so far china has only given dual use technology for fear of secondary sanctions on chinese companies. xijinping's bottom line is that he will not abandon russia, he is not willing to see a humiliating defeat for vladimir putin in ukraine.

and he is willing to keep providing certainly non—military supplies that have propped up putin's war machine over the last year or so. from the kremlin, china is happy to have russian energy at reduced rates and moscow is more and more reliant on china as a market. the war in ukraine is reshaping economic, diplomatic and political relations. today in kyiv, a surprise but pointed visit from the japanese prime minister, delivering a message of support for ukraine, timed to coincide with president xi's trip to moscow. against the backdrop of a war that is changing the world, these were only exercises last week, but they brought together china, russia and iran, countries trying to forge ahead with a stronger anti—alliance. with a stronger

anti—western alliance. caroline hawley, bbc news. steve rosenberg told us more about the diplomatic balancing act that president xi is performing on his visit to moscow. he doesn't want to damage the trade relationship with the united states and the eu, those are his biggest trading partners. on the other hand, he wants to develop his relations, his partnership with russia. for many reasons — the two countries share a very big border, 4,000 kilometres. so a good relationship with russia makes sense. the two leaders share a similar world view, both embrace the idea of a multipolar world and standing up to us domination and the two economies, the russian and chinese economy, are complementary. russia has raw materials, china needs raw materials. so for many reasons the partnership make sense, but it is not an equal partnership. china is very much the senior partner now and i think china is putting chinese interests first and believes that it stands to gain a lot by developing

this relationship with russia. here in the uk, a scathing review of britain's largest police force — london's metropolitan police — has found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. the report's author — baronness casey — said many londoners had lost faith in the metropolitan police and the force could be broken up if it didn't change. our special correspondent, lucy manning has more. let's remember how all this began. sarah everard walking home — kidnapped, raped and murdered by a met police officer. it shocked then and this report is frightening. a force that is broken, failing. there is, without doubt, a discriminatory culture right across the metropolitan police. and i think that institutional racism, institutional sexism, institutional misogyny

and homophobia are definitely present across the organisation. we think the met is not able to assure all of us that its officers are of sufficient integrity and standards to be serving police officers, so it needs to clean itself up. the met has lost the consent to police, the report believes. it can't protect its own female, gay and minority ethnic staff and it can't provide adequate policing for these groups when they're victims of crime. for too long, the met has had predatory officers and a culture of denial about the scale of its problems. the details set out in this report of a broken force are frankly horrific. rape evidence that had to be discarded because the fridges in police stations didn't work. a sikh officer who had his beard cut by colleagues, a muslim officer who found bacon in his boots,

and female officers routinely targeted and humiliated by their male counterparts. couzens and carrick, the met�*s murderer and its rapist. baroness casey clear those who have the powers to search, arrest and detain need to have the trust and confidence of those they police. so this needs to be a landmark moment. the commissioner of the met apologetic, promising change, but not accepting every word of the report, despite baroness casey's plea to do so. it's disturbing. it's upsetting. it's heartbreaking. i apologise to those who've suffered as a consequence. do you accept baroness casey's findings that the force is institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic? i accept her diagnosis about the racism, misogyny, homophobia in the organisation, and also that we have these systemic failings, management failings and cultural failings.

i understand her use of the term institutional. it's not a term i use myself. it's nearly a quarter of a century since the met was labelled institutionally racist after the murder of stephen lawrence. in a statement, his mother baroness lawrence said... shabnam chaudhri was a detective superintendent in the met and lived through some of the racism the review highlights. there was a particular officer, for example, who whenever. i was out of the room, l referred to me as the p, with the p—word. she believes the met must change from the top to the bottom. my message to sir mark rowley is implement your systems - and processes, ensure - that your leadership is strong, ensure that leadership -

is supported at every level. ensure that those who want i to whistle blow can speak out, so that you can root out the dirty, rotten apples that sit _ within your organisation that. have a huge detrimental impact on trust and confidence. reports have come, commissioners have gone and still the met hasn't changed. the warning is this is its last chance. if it doesn't, it could face being broken up. trust in the police has been hugely damaged. ultimately i want both my daughters to grow up in a society which not only do they feel trust in the police, but is just fundamentally safe. for too long, it has failed too many — the very people who need protecting. victims of crime. black and asian communities, women and children. people just walking home. lucy manning, bbc news. former scotland yard superintendent nusrit mehtabjoins us now from london.

thank you forjoining us. you have read some of the report i'm sure, what is your reaction to its findings?— what is your reaction to its findinus? , ., findings? yes, good afternoon. the re ort is findings? yes, good afternoon. the report is strong. — findings? yes, good afternoon. the report is strong, it _ findings? yes, good afternoon. the report is strong, it has _ findings? yes, good afternoon. the report is strong, it has got - findings? yes, good afternoon. the report is strong, it has got under i report is strong, it has got under the skin of the met and revealed prejudices and flaws and it is hard—hitting. i have been waiting for 2h years, the communities have been waiting for it to be labelled institutionally racist and misogynistic and homophobic. it is so disappointing that mark rowley hasn't accepted that label and says it is unhelpful. what is helpful is losing the trust and the confidence of the community at the first hurdle. if he doesn't accept the label of institutional racism, which label of institutional racism, which label does he accept? and so for me

it really does need to move on. the report has to be accepted and the recommendations have to be implemented and really the metropolitan police service needs to start to reform right now. so metropolitan police service needs to start to reform right now.— start to reform right now. so what extent does _ start to reform right now. so what extent does what _ start to reform right now. so what extent does what you _ start to reform right now. so what extent does what you have - start to reform right now. so what extent does what you have read i start to reform right now. so what i extent does what you have read have a resonance for you with what you experience when you were an officer? the 14 experience when you were an officer? the 1a case studies were just gut—wrenching. most of what, if not all of it, what baroness casey said does resonate with me. i have seen it even at my rank, where i'm a whistle blower as well and i wasn't given protection. i have seen everything that unfolds to be isolated, vilified, to be harassed. i have experienced all that. so i talk from a position of power of being inside the organisation. to

what extent has the rise of social media, where people can speak with relative confidence or anonymously in chat groups made matters worse? mcpherson defined the canteen culture and overtly racism, homophobic and misogynistic and it went underground. that is no i the online canteen culture and what you see online through anonymous police accounts is really damaging to policing legitimacy, but they're able to air their views and it is quite damning what they say and how they victimise and harass members of public. what is happening on social media in the invisible canteen culture is what baroness casey is described and has seen.- culture is what baroness casey is

described and has seen. the sri lankan president says a loan approved by the international monetary fund means the country is no longer deemed bankrupt by the world. the country is expected to get the first $330 million tranche of the bailout in the coming days. translation: the world has accepted that - sri lanka is no longer a bankrupt country. and thus the country has the ability to begin normal transactions. following the receipt of the loan facility from the international monetary fund, with the improvement of the foreign exchange situation, the government is working to gradually remove import restrictions on essential goods, medicines and goods required for tourism. well it's a deal that's been nearly a year in the making as appeals to the imf were made after the former president fled the country. and, as our india business correspondent archana shukla reports, the release of funds will be based on numerous conditions set

by the imf. the $3 million loan from imf will certainly not push the sri lankan economy out of the woods, but it will give a fillip to the economic activity that was stalled over the last year, first being bringing sri lanka back on the loan market. remember last year when sri lanka defaulted on its loan repayment, it was declared bankrupt and it could not raise fresh funds. but now with the imf deal, more avenues will open up and sri lanka can go ahead and borrow fresh funds from other multilateral organisations like the world bank or the adb, and all the government projects that were running with this supply of money from multilateral organisations, will also come back on stream. add to that, with better foreign reserves and better reserves, the government will be able to import essentials and some of the import restrictions that it had put could also would also be slowly eased out, which means shortages on the ground would be eased in the coming months. and that will also help bring prices of essentials down to a bit. inflation is the biggest challenge

that the country has to deal with. it's at 53% even today. so bringing that down to about 12 to 18% by the end of this year is a target that imf has put. two other key targets that the government has to work on, one being tough debt negotiations with its private, as well as bilateral lenders, whether it's a write off on the loans or a postponement on the interest payments is what they will have to discuss and which is where discussions with china will be key to watch out for. restructuring of some of the large public sector enterprises, privatisation of some of the public units, is also on the cards to boost revenues for the government, which will be the key going forward and a key condition that imf will watch out for, not to miss the biggest being, keeping an eye on corruption and building policies to deal with corruption. because, remember, economic mismanagement, corruption, was one of the reasons why sri lanka is in the position that it is in today. and this is something that both

the imf and the citizens of this country will look forward to. the white house has been hosting the cast of sporting comedy show, ted lasso. it is easier said than done, we should know we shouldn't be afraid to ask for help ourselves. president biden invited jason sudeikis and his castmates from the hit apple—plus series — to discuss mental health. it's a subject the show has addressed directly with the lead character — the american coach of a fictional english soccer team, afc richmond, seeking out therapy to address anxiety, and the collapse of his marriage. much more on our web—site and the

app. you can reach me on twitter. hello, a bit more sunshine out there today on a wet month so far. especially for some in eastern england. cambridge for instance is heading towards its wettest march on record. we have seen over two and a half times its normal march rain faufl. fall. in lerwick we have seen just over barely a third of rain. but this is one of the wetter spots today. sitting under this zone of cloud. most are in the gap between that cloud and what will come in later this afternoon and tonight. that is already approaching northern ireland as we head into the afternoon. it will turn wetter by the end of the afternoon. rain easing from shetland, in between sunshine and showers. showers from

the south—west to london and a few through northern england. one or two will stay dry this afternoon. brisk south—westerly winds, not very strong at this stage. but it is a mild one. 15 degrees possible in eastern scotland, 16 in central and eastern scotland, 16 in central and eastern england. above where we should be. we fin wish rain in northern ireland and that spreads across scotland and northern wales. all parts will see rain at times. lingering in the morning in southern england and a very mild start. here is the big picture on wednesday. the more persistent rain clearing and the stronger winds in the south. 60 or 70mph gusts across scotland during the morning and early afternoon. may stay cloudy and drizzly to the east of the english

channel. elsewhere some showers, but for all a windy day with widespread gales. they're coming from a south—westerly direction, but still mild. staying windy into thursday. we xould could see an area of rain move into the south—east. could get close to the midlands. there will be a lot of showers in england and wales. fewer showers for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures still remain on the high side. but this weekend it will turn cooler and eventually a little bit drier again.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall and these are the headlines. britain's former prime minister, borisjohnson, accepts that he did mislead mps about illegal parties held during covid lockdowns but insists his original denials were made "in good faith". president putin says the chinese leader xijinping has invited him to beijing, as the two men hold talks in moscow aimed at boosting ties. britain's biggest police force — is branded "institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic" in a scathing new report which says it needs a complete overhaul. sri lanka's president says his country will no longer be deemed bankrupt as it prepares to receive the first installment of a bailout from the international monetary fund. the bbc discovers seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died

after operations there. others have returned home with serious health issues. you're watching bbc news. here's qasa alom.. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's qasa alom.. good afternoon. less than two years after leaving crystal palace — roy hodgson is back at selhurst park and says his priority will be keeping the clup in the premier league. the 75 —year—old replaces patrick vieira — the man who replaced hodgson in the summer of 2021 to take the club to the next level. after no wins this year though — vieira was sacked last friday — and so hodgson rejoins — with the club just three points above the relegation zone. our football reporter alex howell says there's been a mixed response. there are some supporters who are

worried about hodgson returning to the club. the back end of his stint when he was last manager here, they feel wasn't great. he took over watford last season for the short term and wasn't able to keep them up but he does know these players, he has decades of experience you can see the reason why they have reappointed him. on the pitch — it's a huge night for arsenal's women tonight. they face bayern munich in the first leg of their champions league quarter final tie. there'll be a familiar face in bayern�*s line up — as england's georgia stanway is set to play — and she's really looking forward to the occasion. it's just so good to be back playing with their champions league, with arsenal. they will be a bit of stick fly between me and leah as well which i'm looking forward to but a big game. you can't get much bigger

than the emirates. northern ireland begin their campaign in san marino on thursday — it what will be michael o'neill�*s first game back since being re—appointed as manager in december last year. o'neill led northern ireland to theirfirst european championships in 2016, and they went on to reach the knockout stages, but o'neill says he knows his task this time around is very different. i'm getting to know some of these lads who are very young players. it's great to see them here now. they were all lads who were under 15 when i last saw them so it's a very positive thing for us to see that development. we have to prepare the team very quickly for the game on thursday night but we can do as much as we can, we have to keep the players fresh to play. away from football — olympic champion goalkeeper

maddie hinch has announced she's retiring and wants children to have opportunities to get into the sport in the future. hinch was instrumental in team gb�*s historic olympic title success at the rio 2016 games where she made a series of saves in the final shoot—out. hinch was also part of the team that won bronze at tokyo 2020 before claiming a maiden commonwealth title last summer in birmingham. i was just your i wasjust your average i was just your average kid at school, love to play sport. now i get it, the goalie is the coolest position on the pitch. ijust hope that the legacy is that you can go be a superhero if you want to. a big retirement too in women's rugby — as captain and world cup winner sarah hunter — has announced she's stepping away from the sport. hunter play her last game for england against scotland this

saturday in their opening six nations match in newcastle — the city of her birth. hunter leaves as the most capped women's player and will appear in her 16th six nations. when you start to get to the end of your career, you start to think about perhaps how you want it to end and when and for me, it didn't seem like any better possible way that actor happen, i started playing rugby in newcastle and finishing, it feels like i've come to full circle. and that's all the sport for now. new research shows a sharp north/south divide in the number of people needing emergency hospital treatment for lung conditions. the figures are three times higher in some parts of the country than the richest areas of the uk. the research, by the charity asthma and lung uk shows the north—west of england, central scotland and parts of northern ireland had much higher rates of illness and death than other areas. our health correspondent, jim reed, reports. amy was just the centre

of our family. she was just full of life, really. and she was only 22. joanne's daughter, amy, had lived with severe asthma all her life. it's just breathing. it's something that everyone takes for granted. and, at times, amy could notjust breathe. then in october, amy collapsed in the middle of the night. an ambulance was called. they started her heart again. and then they took her to wigan royal infirmary. lots of people came into the room, into the family room, and said that her brain had been starved of oxygen during the asthma attack. i actually feel sick, as if i'm going in to get my results. and then i had to come home and, on the friday night after school, and tell bailey that his mummy had died, which wasjust... ..the worst thing

i've ever had to do. new research shows the impact of asthma and other lung conditions does, though, depend on where in the uk you live. in parts of the north—west of england, for example, hospital admissions and deaths are among the highest in the country — in places, double or even triple the rates seen in parts of london and the south—east. we need to make sure that we are tackling air pollution and smoking rates and poor quality housing, but also making sure we're treating and supporting people to live well with their lung condition. olaf, originally from germany, lives near glasgow and has another common lung condition, copd. out of the blue, i got the feeling, "oh, i can't breathe." and it's like somebody puts steel around your chest and you can't breathe any more.

but he now he logs his symptoms from home. results can be sent back with data from a fitness tracker, to pick up problems early. all this can then be analysed by his doctors. we can see here, for instance, a flare up and then an improvement. it is hoped this idea can cut hospital admissions by half. a large proportion of these patients do not need to come to hospital. we now have the technology, the tools, the data to provide all the care that they require at home safely. lung disease costs the nhs billions. ministers say more funding for research and new targets to cut pollution and smoking should make a difference. but doctors think more still needs to be done to improve and save thousands of lives. jim reed, bbc news. the family of the head teacher, ruth perry, who took her own life

after an ofsted inspection at her school, have called the system punitive — and said some of the findings were sensationalist and deeply hurtful. the caversham primary school at reading in berkshire was downgraded from outstanding to inadequate. ofsted said it deeply regretted what it called the headteacher�*s tragic death. aru na iyengar reports. ruth perry, headteacher of caversham primary in reading, described the ofsted inspection in november as the worst day of her life. her family says she was under intolerable pressure when she was told the school was rated inadequate. this one—word judgement was just destroying 32 years of her vocation. education was her vocation. now unions and school leaders are asking for changes. dr mary bousted from the national education union said ofsted should pause its inspections and reflect upon the unmanageable and counter—productive stress they cause for school leaders and the impact on leaders. one executive head teacher

at a nearby school said she refused entry to ofsted inspectors and called on parents to show support. but that visit will now go ahead this morning. while schools do need to be monitored, i think that something does need to be looked into this and perhaps changes do need to be made where there's a bit less pressure kind of put on schools. you have got to stand up and be counted, don't you? otherwise, people... that's how change happens. matthew purvis, ofsted's regional directorfor the south east, said... a petition calling for changes to the inspection system has so far gathered more than 90,000 signatures. the department for education said inspections are hugely important, as they hold schools to account for their educational standards. caversham primary�*s report is yet to be published

on the ofsted website. meanwhile, the school is grieving for its head teacher. aruna iyengar, bbc news. back now to the damning report into britain's biggest police force, london's metropolitan police — which has found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. our reporter yetunde yusuf has been getting reaction to this report from brixton market — in south london. let's take a listen. yeah. i mean, i've been speaking to people whose experiences have shaped their perceptions of the metropolitan police, their encounters with police officers. some of them have been telling me that they felt they've been harassed, in particular in particularly sort of racially profiled. and some people as well said that they felt that the police, they had lost confidence in the police, women i'd spoken to as well. but some people said that they did have trust

in the metropolitan police so that they they did have confidence in the metropolitan police, but did say that some things needed to change. to be perfectly honest, i don't have confidence. do i feel safe. yes and no. because there's been times when i haven't felt like they did anything. i i think they are doing a good jobl trying to keep the community safe and to sort things out. yeah, this was like essentially when they like they see you, they're just going to find a reason to disturb you, find a reason to stop you. even when i'm driving, i'm just like, stay away from them. because there's any reason. to be honest, from the bottom of my heart, i'm feeling safe. we have white police around.

we have black police around. we have asian police around. we don't we don't get anything like racism, all kind of stuff. bullying from the police. honestly, i've been here for now, nearly now, seven years in brixton. we never experienced that. i would feel safe because you just have to trust that they're there i to protect you. and they're not all like that. no support from the police. none at all whatsoever. they don't like black people. so, yeah, some mixed responses there. some people working to tell me that that even though they had negative experiences with the metropolitan police officers, that they were keen not to paint all of them with the same brush. but there were 16 recommendations in the review, and i'm going to just tell you what some of those were. so one of the recommendations was for greater independent oversight. so outside experts to be drafted in, as well as an overhaul of the vetting system. so re vetting of firearm officers and also a fundamental

reset of stop and search. in london now, sir mark rowley, the metropolitan police commissioner, he said he accepted the findings and systemic failings, but he said that he stopped short of calling it institutional. but he said that he felt that london has had been let down and that the report was brutal. and he said he's keen to make changes and will be reflecting on the report. a mental health unit criticised over the deaths of three teenagers was "chaotic and unsafe", a report found. an independent inquiry found "excessive and inappropriate" restraint was used at middlesbrough's west lane hospital. the report also found self—harm was "facilitated," with staff told not to intervene unless it could be fatal, while "insufficiently curious" leaders tolerated safety failures. west lane hospital has been renamed and the service is being run by another trust. fiona trott has the story.

polly�*s mum says he's lucky to be arrived. while being treated for an eating disorder, he lost five kilos in five weeks. he was 15. penny was alarmed by the way the hospital was run. he alarmed by the way the hospital was run. , . alarmed by the way the hospital was run, , ., ., alarmed by the way the hospital was run. , ., ., ., ., run. he started wandering around the room and then _ run. he started wandering around the room and then he _ run. he started wandering around the room and then he just _ run. he started wandering around the room and then he just fell _ run. he started wandering around the room and then he just fell down - room and then he just fell down unconscious and they polled the heady down and there was a noose around his neck. they had the least restrictive practice, they weren't allowed to remove the news from a child's neck and to me, that was just extremely negligent. shill child's neck and to me, that was just extremely negligent. all the routines, , the _ just extremely negligent. all the routines, , the way _ just extremely negligent. all the routines,, the way the _ just extremely negligent. all the routines,, the way the ward - just extremely negligent. all the routines,, the way the ward was | just extremely negligent. all the - routines,, the way the ward was man, i didn't_ routines,, the way the ward was man, i didn't feel_ routines,, the way the ward was man, i didn't feel safe. itjust routines,, the way the ward was man, i didn't feel safe. it just felt like — i didn't feel safe. it just felt like we _ i didn't feel safe. it just felt

like we were just patients who were stuck _ like we were just patients who were stuck in _ like we were just patients who were stuck in a _ like we were just patients who were stuck in a box, we had to get on with_ stuck in a box, we had to get on with it _ stuck in a box, we had to get on with it no — stuck in a box, we had to get on with it no matter what. gllie stuck in a box, we had to get on with it no matter what.- stuck in a box, we had to get on with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over— with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over by _ with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over by carers _ with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over by carers in _ with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over by carers in his - with it no matter what. ollie is now looked over by carers in his own i looked over by carers in his own accommodation. he was treated at the hospital at the same time as these girls who all died under the care of the trust. the trust apologised unreservedly. this new investigation has been looking at the concerns that were raised about west lain hospital and what is striking is that there wasn't enough scrutiny by nhs england itself and that following these recommendations, nhs england must carry out a full review within six to 12 months. as for the trust, it says today's report...

meanwhile, the families left traumatised by what happened there hope today's recommendations will ensure every mental health patient gets the treatment they expect and deserve. a bbc investigation has found that seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died after operations there. others have returned home with serious health issues after gastric sleeve operations, during which more than 70% of the stomach is removed. the operations, used to treat morbid obesity, are carried out in the uk. but it can take years to get one through the national health service so some people travel abroad for treatment, monika plaha report's report contains some graphic images. last year, stacey travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery that reduced the size

of her stomach. right, we're just going to do a little test... as a mum to two young children, and having had a heart attack, she wanted the operation to avoid health problems in later life. one of the main driving things was, you know, i did this before i became a drain on the nhs, before i had any major medical problems. but on her return to the uk, she suffered a massive blood clot. i'd been assured i was absolutely fine, i had a fit to fly note. two days later, i turned over in bed and one of my wounds just burst open. it was, you know, the bed was full of pus, blood. horrible. stacey regrets her choice of clinic, but not having the surgery. my advice would be do your research, massively, you know? don'tjust stop at, you know, people's before and after photos. whilst that is incredible to see and everybody wants a bit of that, there is a bigger picture.

her doctor says she's not alone. we have seen a significant rise in patients going to turkey for private bariatric procedures. and he's increasingly treating serious complications as a result. what we've seen is that some patients have flown home and then straight up to our emergency hospital in cramlington, not truly understanding the surgery they have had done and the risks they have actually taken. weight loss surgery abroad is marketed heavily on social media. here at ten stone six, and she was 17 stone ten. it gets mixed reviews... i don't ever see me getting better. ifeel like i've ruined my life. ..but provides a short cut to surgery which people might wait many years for on the nhs. our investigation has spoken to patients who have had serious complications from botched surgery carried out in turkey. one even had her entire stomach removed. we have also found out that seven people have died in the last four years after travelling to turkey for weight loss surgery, and we've learned that the number

of surgeries on the nhs has fallen by a third in england since covid. when investigating, we heard concerns that women who were not obese were being operated on in turkey. we decided to ask 27 clinics if they would accept patients at normal bmi levels. six clinics accepted women for surgery who weren't overweight at all. and some of those that didn't even encouraged women to gain weight to enable them to be accepted. a leading british doctor says this is reckless. i think to tell patients to put on weight so they can meet a particular weight threshold so they can then have weight loss surgery, i think that's just wrong. interest in going to turkey for weight loss surgery shows no sign of waning. the government says it takes obesity seriously and those travelling abroad need to consider the risks. monika plaha, bbc news.

lets return now to the report that then published today into the met that has been branded institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic and the conclusion is that the complete overhaul need. neil hudgell who represented the families of anthony walgate, gabriel kovari, daniel whitworth and jack taylor, who were all victims of serial killer stephen port. an inquestjury last year found �*basic investigative failings' by police. thank you very much. how useful is this report to you and the families of the people you represented, given that a lot of the conclusions are what you've expressed in the past anyway? i what you've expressed in the past an a ? ., , what you've expressed in the past an a ? ~' , ., anyway? i think the first reaction from the front _ anyway? i think the first reaction from the front it _ anyway? i think the first reaction from the front it is _ anyway? i think the first reaction from the front it is not _ anyway? i think the first reaction from the front it is not one - anyway? i think the first reaction from the front it is not one of. from the front it is not one of surprise. it's validation of what

has happened for a long time, it's a very comprehensive report that has been produced. clearly they are in agreement with what she says. the obvious immediate is that itjust becomes another report and change doesn't happen. hour becomes another report and change doesn't happen-— becomes another report and change doesn't happen. how important was it for the families _ doesn't happen. how important was it for the families you _ doesn't happen. how important was it for the families you represented, - for the families you represented, for the families you represented, for them to get to speak to baroness cases themselves?— cases themselves? absolutely. there's been — cases themselves? absolutely. there's been no _ cases themselves? absolutely. there's been no real— cases themselves? absolutely. there's been no real source - cases themselves? absolutely. there's been no real source of| there's been no real source of continued frustration even after the inquest into the deaths of their loved ones. there was a failed part of the metropolitan police to accept anything other than a few things in the organisation. to even accept the existence of homophobia. one worry and concern might be today that the new commissioner has himself failed to accept that it is endemic across the force when in actual force loom

at fact it is the case. you have to accept the shortcomings in the first place. there are obvious concerns about how far this report could reach out and actually be capitalist to that fundamental change. the home secretary has — to that fundamental change. the home secretary has also _ to that fundamental change. the home secretary has also reported _ to that fundamental change. the home secretary has also reported this - secretary has also reported this afternoon that words like institutional are perhaps unhelpful. i wonder if is there a sense that if you don't brand the entire force institutional, you're going to take more people with the? is a institutional, you're going to take more people with the?— more people with the? is a very difficult one. _ more people with the? is a very difficult one. the _ more people with the? is a very difficult one. the metropolitan i difficult one. the metropolitan police, baroness casey also says it's the time to start to break down parts within the force. of course, that's the bedrock of my clients and

their call for a public inquiry to take place as a whole. pd believe should oversee _ take place as a whole. pd believe should oversee these _ take place as a whole. pd believe should oversee these reforms? . take place as a whole. pd believe - should oversee these reforms? we've met a new commissioner, _ should oversee these reforms? we've met a new commissioner, we - should oversee these reforms? we've met a new commissioner, we had - should oversee these reforms? -- met a new commissioner, we had what he had to say, we are uncle charged by what he had to say that i don't think the police themselves can be left to their own devices, there needs to be government led. i think there's very much a call for potentially a judge led inquiry. the issues are so big and wide ranging across the entire policing service of the uk that it's calls that. very certainly in the words of stephen lawrence, is very worrying to see the same trends and the same features still there within the force. a german brewery has come up with a new product

that it says could change the entire alcohol market. it hopes it could be good for the planet at the same time. wendy urquhart has the story. imagine if you fancied a glass of beer instead of opening the fridge are going to the pub. you could just open a packet sprinkled powder into a glass of water, spritz it up a bit and chill with a glass of lager. a german brewery has invented a beer powder that tastes like the real thing, and there are big plans for the future. the special thing is that we actually managed to turn this beer powder into a currently alcohol free one, two, one normal monastery beer with the help of normal water. it tastes like a pilsner, and later it will taste like a shrug. we want to make virtually everything in powderform. we want the complete beer taste, but we want to add the carbon dioxide in powder form and the alcohol

in powderform. and of course, it's absolutely fascinating that we have succeeded for the first time worldwide. stefan says it will be very easy for breweries to add the powder beer to water at bottle plants, and points out that they'll not only make huge savings on beer export transport costs, it will massively reduce the industry's carbon footprint. we've calculated that in regards to germany we can reduce co2 emissions by 3 to 5%. and looking globally, that will be about half the co2 emissions on the planet. of course it's not much at first, but worldwide it's a gigantic amount. stefan has been researching powder beer for the last two years and he's confident that it will be market ready by the end of this year, providing it passes all the necessary tests.

if it does, perhaps we'll see powder versions of other drinks like vodka, gin and whiskey in the future, too. but the biggest test will be convincing the beer and spirit aficionados. wendy urquhart, bbc news. let's bring you a line of news from the russian president and the chinese president. irate the russian president and the chinese president.— the russian president and the chinese president. we are told that president putin _ chinese president. we are told that president putin says _ chinese president. we are told that president putin says the _ chinese president. we are told that president putin says the chinese i president putin says the chinese piece press ovals could be used as a basis for settling the conflict in ukraine. this is being reported by the russian ria news agency. mr putin said that the two leaders have paid great attention to the peace proposals during their one—to—one meeting. we will wait to hear what the details of that proposal is. it

will be interesting to read the detail of that and see whether they are acceptable to the, to ukraine in particular and the allies in the west. now it's time for the weather, with ben rich. today, a band of rain pushing off was across shetland and a zone of sunny spells and showers and another rain bearing weather systems when into northern ireland, west wales. tonight, heavy rain or push its way eastwards with strengthening winds particularly across western and central parts of scotland will see gales here by the end of the night. temperatures overnight, generally between five and 11 degrees. tomorrow morning, outbreaks of rain in the south—east of england, also bending back into the northern

islands and northern scotland. another sunshine and showers day, some of the shower is heavy, possibly thundery. between nine and 50 degrees. some heavy showers again on thursday, some sunny spells in between and it does say mild. high is between 12 and 1a degrees.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm martine croxall and these are the latest headlines: britain's former prime minister, borisjohnson, accepts that he did mislead mps about illegal parties held during covid lockdowns but insists his original denials were made "in good faith". president putin says the chinese leader xijinping has invited him to beijing, as the two men hold talks in moscow aimed at boosting ties. britain's biggest police force is branded "institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic" in a scathing new report which says it needs a complete overhaul. the culture sadly in the met is all pervasive and the institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia is largely led by what their officers have said and what our

own research has shown. sri lanka's president says his country will no longer be deemed bankrupt as it prepares to receive the first installment of a bailout from the international monetary fund. the bbc discovers seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died after operations there. others have returned home with serious health issues. hello, and welcome to bbc news. in the last few minutes, the chinese president kijingping and russia's vladimior putin have held a joint news conference outlining the results of their talks today in moscow. the russian president said that china's proposals on a ceasefire ukraine could form the basis of a settlement. but there's no suggestion that

ukraine is prepared to accept them. it's the second day of xi jinping's visit to moscow — earlier he invited the russian leader vladimir putin to beijing. here's our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley. it's a visit being watched around the world for what its global consequences could be. according to the chinese president, his meetings in moscow will give new momentum to china's relations with russia at the expense of both countries hope of the west. out of this meeting with the russian prime minister came an invitation from president xi. for president putin to pay a return visit to china. and then in the grandeur of the kremlin the two leaders met for a second time, eventually standing shoulder to shoulder, a big morale boost for vladimir putin, now wanted for war crimes in ukraine after an arrest warrant last week from the international criminal court.

on several fronts the war is not going as president putin wanted. this talk of some kind of chinese peace plan but what russia wants is chinese weapons to help change the course of the conflict on the ground. so far china has only given dual use technology for fear of secondary sanctions on chinese companies. xijinping's bottom line is that he will not abandon russia, he is not willing to see a humiliating defeat for vladimir putin in ukraine. and he is willing to keep providing certainly non—military supplies that have propped up putin's war machine over the last year or so. from the kremlin, china is happy to have russian energy at reduced rates and moscow is more and more reliant on china as a market. the war in ukraine is reshaping economic, diplomatic and political relations. today in kyiv, a surprise

but pointed visit from the japanese prime minister delivering a message of support for ukraine, timed to coincide with president xi's trip to moscow. against the backdrop of a war that is changing the world, these were only exercises last week, but they brought together china, russia and iran, countries trying to forge ahead with a stronger anti—alliance. caroline hawley, bbc news. steve rosenberg told us more about the diplomatic balancing act that president xi is performing on his visit to moscow. he doesn't want to damage the trade relationship with the united states and the eu, those are his biggest trading partners. on the other hand, he wants to develop his relations, his partnership with russia. for many reasons — the two countries share a very big border, 4,000 kilometres. so a good relationship with russia makes sense. the two leaders share

a similar world view, both embrace the idea of a multipolar world and standing up to us domination and the two economies, the russian and chinese economy, are complementary. russia has raw materials, china needs raw materials. so for many reasons the partnership make sense, but it is not an equal partnership. china is very much the senior partner now and i think china is putting chinese interests first and believes that it stands to gain a lot by developing this relationship with russia. i'm joined now by zongyuan liu. she's an author and fellow for international political economy at the council on foreign relations. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. what are your ones observations from these talks

between the chinese and russian presidents? i between the chinese and russian presidents?— between the chinese and russian residents? ., ., ., ., ,, presidents? i would want to make the broader point — presidents? i would want to make the broader point that _ presidents? i would want to make the broader point that i _ presidents? i would want to make the broader point that i would _ presidents? i would want to make the broader point that i would want - presidents? i would want to make the broader point that i would want to - broader point that i would want to make is that this, yes, this is xi jinping's first visit to russia since the pandemic, since the war broke out, but he has visited russia multiple times. for at least eight times in the past ten years. he has met with putin more than 40 times at different occasions. so under normal circumstances, this would not make such a big news headlines, but this time it is different, because vladimir putin is under international isolation and is wanted by the icc.— international isolation and is wanted by the icc. how like ly is it that we will _ wanted by the icc. how like ly is it that we will receive _ wanted by the icc. how like ly is it that we will receive meaning - wanted by the icc. how like ly is it| that we will receive meaning detail of what china is proposing in the ukraine? . , . of what china is proposing in the ukraine? ., , ., ., , ., ukraine? that is a great question and for many _ ukraine? that is a great question and for many people _ ukraine? that is a great question and for many people in _ ukraine? that is a great question and for many people in the - ukraine? that is a great question and for many people in the west | ukraine? that is a great question i and for many people in the west we would want to think xi jinping might

provide, orthe would want to think xi jinping might provide, or the hope is he might use china's influence and his personal influence over putin to propel or facilitate the peace negotiations. however, i don't think that is xi jinping's top concern. for chinese's domestic reasons, his concern is china's economic connumdrum and xi jinping orany china's economic connumdrum and xi jinping or any other chinese officials has not referred to the war as russia's invasion. so i don't think the war in ukraine is his top concern. ., ., , , , concern. how then does president xi jinin: concern. how then does president xi jinping develop _ concern. how then does president xi jinping develop a _ concern. how then does president xi jinping develop a relationship - concern. how then does president xi jinping develop a relationship with i jinping develop a relationship with its neighbour russia, without upsetting the west? 50 its neighbour russia, without upsetting the west?- its neighbour russia, without upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum — upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum and _ upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum and a _ upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum and a fine - upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum and a fine line - upsetting the west? so that is a connumdrum and a fine line for| connumdrum and a fine line for chinese diplomat xi jinping to walk.

before his visit he published an article on a russian newspaper with his name on it and emphasised that china's relationship with russia is not against a third party, not a targeted at a third party and the idea is to on the one hand develop strengthen the relationship with russia and on the the other hand not necessarily undermine economic relationship with america and the eu. howeverthe relationship with america and the eu. however the reality is relationship with the united states has already defeariated. so from that —— deteriorated. so there is nothing that xijinping can do. what nothing that xi jinping can do. what do ou nothing that xi jinping can do. what do you believe _ nothing that xi jinping can do. what do you believe china _ nothing that xi jinping can do. what do you believe china really wants from these talks with russia? broadly speaking for two goals. the first is xijinping or chinese officialfrom the grand

first is xijinping or chinese official from the grand strategy perspective, china doesn't want a weakened russia to promote a modern world. and xijinping would probably continue his previous diplomatic engagement, the same as his trip to the middle east, in particular to promote the use of the international trade and transactions and in particular in energy trade. the idea is to, in the worst case scenario, to create a space to mitigate us ascension. to create a space to mitigate us ascension-— ascension. but bei'ing will be self-interested, _ ascension. but beijing will be| self-interested, self-serving? ascension. but beijing will be i self-interested, self-serving? i self—interested, self—serving? i would say so. the president's visit to russia, although from a western perspective, probably signals personal support to putin and china's support to russia, from xi jinping and the chinese perspective

it is about china's interest and how to restore china's image and advance china's economic and strategic interest. . ., china's economic and strategic interest. ., ,, , ., british mps who are investigating whether borisjohnson knowingly misled the house of commons over parties held in downing street during the pandemic have released a dossier of evidence given to them by the former prime minister. mrjohnson says the contents prove he was telling the truth when he said he had been advised no lockdown rules had been broken. here are some of the points that mrjohnson has compiled in his defence. he says statements he made to parliament about potential rule breaking in downing street during the pandemic were made "in good faith, on the basis of what i honestly knew and believed at the time". he says, "i did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the house on december12021, december 8 2021, or any other date". he goes on to say that he "relied on assurances

that he received from his trusted advisers" about what happened in downing street. and he adds that any allegation that he was reckless to rely on the assurances he received from his advisers is "unprecedented and absurd". mrjohnson also raises "serious concerns" about the way the cross—party privileges committee is looking into the case, saying it has gone "significantly beyond" its terms of reference. mrjohnson will be questioned by mps tomorrow. our chief political correspondent, nick eardley, has more. it is a couple of weeks since the committee published the interim report and said it should have been obvious to borisjohnson that the rules were being broken, because he set them and there were occasions when they believed the former prime minister may have misled parliament. today we get boris johnson's defence, which he hopes will clear his name. borisjohnson, huddled around a table with downing street staff. this was during covid restrictions in england when we were all told not

to gather for social events. the partygate scandal helped bring down mrjohnson but now he is facing another question, did he mislead parliament? i'm sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times. this was december 2021 when party reports first emerged. mps are now looking at whether mrjohnson misled the commons and whether he did it intentionally or recklessly. fast forward to today and borisjohnson's defence is published where he accepts parliament didn't get the full story and he says it wasn't his fault. there is a lot in mrjohnson's 52 page submission, including extracts

of messages involving key aides. he said he relied on their advice before making comments to parliament, writing, i was the prime minister of the country... but not everyone will be convinced. mps on the powerful privileges committee have already suggested it should have been obvious to mrjohnson that the rules had been broken. they will interrogate his evidence tomorrow and could recommend sanctions, from an apology to suspension from parliament, potentially triggering a by—election. that hearing which will be televised tomorrow is down to last for several hours and it will see borisjohnson asked some detailed questions about what's contained in this submission. he has now admitted that parliament was misled. that is a key moment in this process.

the question will now focus on whether he did so intentionally, or recklessly. mrjohnson is making the argument in his submission that it was neither, that he asked his aides on several occasions whether the rules had been followed and when he went to parliament he was acting in good faith. but this row has trundled on for months and months. there are many who think that mrjohnson should have known more and it should have been far clearer to him when he appeared before mps in december 2021 that those rules had been broken and he should have made it clearer to mps that that was the case. we will find out a lot more about his defence tomorrow afternoon. a man was set alight last night as he walked home from a mosque in birmingham. west midlands police say he suffered facial burns after his jacket was set on fire in edgbaston. a man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder,

with counter—terrorism police involved in the investigation. i'm joined now by phil mackie who is in birmingham for us with the latest. tell us more about what happened. yes, this was yesterday evening, the man in question had been to a mosque, five minutes from here and he was walking home along this pavement here. you can see the scorch marks where he was set alight. what cctv has shown is another man stopped him had a conversation with him, appeared to spray a liquid on him, before using a lighter to set him on fire. i have been speaking to people around here and to the man's family. people managed to get the fire out. they took him around the corn —— corner took him around the corn —— corner to the family home where paramedics

and firefighters turned up to administerfirst aid and to and firefighters turned up to administer first aid and to take and firefighters turned up to administerfirst aid and to take him to hospital. he suffered serious burns, but he is in a serious condition in hospital. they think he will recover from this incident. we learned today a man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and i was talking to the police and the man leading the investigation about a potential link to another similar case that happened in west london last, a few weeks ago, where another elderly muslim on his way home from prayers was also set alight. they say yes they're talking to their colleagues in the metropolitan police, and yet they have had conversations today. and there is a counter terrorism angle to this. they want to make sure everyone is can kept in the loop. the local councillor told me

that everyone here has pulled together, there are is door bell and cctv footage that shows everyone's movements before it happened and after it happened, which has been handed over to the police and it is helping them with their investigation. a man in custody at moment being questioned on suspicion of murder. the metropolitan police being involved because of similarity to an attack in london. the family distraught and talking to the police in their house around the corner and a lot of people concerned about what has gone on in their neighbourhood. thank you. here in the uk, a scathing review of britain's largest police force — london's metropolitan police — has found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. the report's author — baronness casey — said many londoners had lost faith in the metropolitan police and the force could be broken up if it didn't change. our special correspondent, lucy manning has more. let's remember how all this began.

sarah everard walking home — kidnapped, raped and murdered by a met police officer. it shocked then and this report is frightening. a force that is broken, failing. there is, without doubt, a discriminatory culture right across the metropolitan police. and i think that institutional racism, institutional sexism, institutional misogyny and homophobia are definitely present across the organisation. we think the met is not able to assure all of us that its officers are of sufficient integrity and standards to be serving police officers, so it needs to clean itself up. the met has lost the consent to police, the report believes. it can't protect its own female, gay and minority ethnic staff and it can't provide adequate policing for these groups when they're victims of crime.

for too long, the met has had predatory officers and a culture of denial about the scale of its problems. the details set out in this report of a broken force are frankly horrific. rape evidence that had to be discarded because the fridges in police stations didn't work. a sikh officer who had his beard cut by colleagues, a muslim officer who found bacon in his boots, and female officers routinely targeted and humiliated by their male counterparts. couzens and carrick, the met�*s murderer and its rapist. baroness casey clear those who have the powers to search, arrest and detain need to have the trust and confidence of those they police. so this needs to be a landmark moment. the commissioner of the met apologetic, promising change, but not accepting every word of the report, despite baroness casey's plea to do so. it's disturbing. it's upsetting. it's heartbreaking.

i apologise to those who've suffered as a consequence. do you accept baroness casey's findings that the force is institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic? i accept her diagnosis about the racism, misogyny, homophobia in the organisation, and also that we have these systemic failings, management failings and cultural failings. i understand her use of the term institutional. it's not a term i use myself. it's nearly a quarter of a century since the met was labelled institutionally racist after the murder of stephen lawrence. in a statement, his mother baroness lawrence said... shabnam chaudhri was a detective

superintendent in the met and lived through some of the racism the review highlights. there was a particular officer, for example, who whenever. i was out of the room, l referred to me as the p, with the p—word. she believes the met must change from the top to the bottom. my message to sir mark rowley is implement your systems - and processes, ensure - that your leadership is strong, ensure that leadership - is supported at every level. ensure that those who want i to whistle blow can speak out, so that you can root out the dirty, rotten apples that sit _ within your organisation that. have a huge detrimental impact on trust and confidence. reports have come, commissioners have gone and still the met hasn't changed. the warning is this is its last chance. if it doesn't, it could face being broken up. trust in the police has been hugely damaged. ultimately i want both my daughters to grow up in a society which not only do they feel trust in the police, but is just fundamentally safe.

for too long, it has failed too many — the very people who need protecting. victims of crime. black and asian communities, women and children. people just walking home. lucy manning, bbc news. there was more unrest in france overnight after the government narrowly survived a vote of no—confidence over its pension reforms. more than one hundred people were arrested as people set fire to bins and piles of rubbish. the confidence vote in parliament was much closer than expected — just nine short of the number needed to bring down the government. the sri lankan president says a loan approved by the international monetary fund means the country is no longer deemed bankrupt by the world. the country is expected to get the first $330 million tranche of the bailout in the coming days.

translation: the world has accepted that - sri lanka is no longer a bankrupt country. and thus the country has the ability to begin normal transactions. following the receipt of the loan facility from the international monetary fund, with the improvement of the foreign exchange situation, the government is working to gradually remove import restrictions on essential goods, medicines and goods required for tourism. well it's a deal that's been nearly a year in the making as appeals to the imf were made after the former president fled the country. and, as our india business correspondent archana shukla reports, the release of funds will be based on numerous conditions set by the imf. the $3 million loan from imf will certainly not push the sri lankan economy out of the woods, but it will give a fillip to the economic activity that was stalled over the last year, first being bringing sri lanka back on the loan market. remember last year when sri lanka defaulted on its loan repayment, it was declared bankrupt and it could not raise fresh funds. but now with the imf deal, more avenues will open up and sri lanka can go ahead and borrow fresh funds from other

multilateral organisations like the world bank or the adb, and all the government projects that were running with this supply of money from multilateral organisations, will also come back on stream. add to that, with better foreign reserves and better reserves, the government will be able to import essentials and some of the import restrictions that it had put could also would also be slowly eased out, which means shortages on the ground would be eased in the coming months. and that will also help bring prices of essentials down to a bit. inflation is the biggest challenge that the country has to deal with. it's at 53% even today. so bringing that down to about 12 to 18% by the end of this year is a target that imf has put. two other key targets that the government has to work on, one being tough debt negotiations with its private, as well as bilateral lenders, whether it's a write off on the loans or a postponement on the interest payments is what they will have to discuss

and which is where discussions with china will be key to watch out for. restructuring of some of the large public sector enterprises, privatisation of some of the public units, is also on the cards to boost revenues for the government, which will be the key going forward and a key condition that imf will watch out for, not to miss the biggest being, keeping an eye on corruption and building policies to deal with corruption. because, remember, economic mismanagement, corruption, was one of the reasons why sri lanka is in the position that it is in today. and this is something that both the imf and the citizens of this country will look forward to. our india business correspondent reflecting there on the bailout from the imf for sri reflecting there on the bailout from the imffor sri lanka. much or more

on those stories online and on the app. thank you for watching.

for some parts it has been a very 5°99y for some parts it has been a very soggy march so far. cambridge has seen two and a half times the rain fall we would normally expect in a typical march. but it has been a different story in the north. orkney has seen just a third of the rain

fall it would normally expect. there has been some rain across orkney so far today, that rain drifting north across shetland. behind that a mixture of sunshine and showers. perhaps the odd thundery one in eastern england and then this band of rain pushing into northern ireland, west wales and the far south—west of england. a very mild day, temperatures between 11 and 16 degrees. and tonight heavy rain pushes from the west to the east. particularly heavy in western scotland, where the winds will pick up. gales by the end of the night. there could be some coastal flooding around some western areas where the strong winds combining with high tides on a very mild night. tomorrow, we will have this system, a band of rain, to start off, affecting orkney and shetland. but also hanging back into the far south—east of england. another clutch of down pours and some strong

winds moving across the north—west of scotland. then a sunshine and showers day, the showers plentiful in western parts in the afternoon. a windy day, strong winds generally, particularly around some of the western coasts. again it will be mild, maybe a little bit cooler than today in northern scotland. generally 11 to 15 degrees. thursday is a mixture of sunshine and showers. the showers widely, some heavy and more persistent rain in the channel islands and the south—east of england later in the day. temperatures in the range between nine and 15 degrees. so a system clipping the far south—east during thursday night. into friday, this area of low pressure, lumb bers its way east, allowing thunder storms. turning cooler in the north of the uk.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall and these are the headlines. britain's former prime minister, borisjohnson, accepts that he did mislead mps about illegal parties held during covid lockdowns but insists his original denials were made "in good faith". president putin says the chinese leader xijinping has invited him to beijing, as the two men hold talks in moscow aimed at boosting ties. britain's biggest police force — is branded "institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic" in a scathing new report which says it needs a complete overhaul. sri lanka's president says his country will no longer be deemed bankrupt as it prepares to receive the first installment of a bailout from the international monetary fund. the bbc discovers seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died after operations there. others have returned home

with serious health issues. let's return now to our top story — the publication of borisjohnson's defence over claims that he intentionally misled parliament over lockdown parties in downing street. the former uk prime minister has insisted that the statements he made were in good faith and based on what he knew and believed at the time. i'm joined now by dr sam power, a senior lecturer in politics at the university of sussex. thank you very much forjoining us. how unusual is it that he's chosen toissue how unusual is it that he's chosen to issue a document like this in how unusual is it that he's chosen to issue a document like this in his defence? it

to issue a document like this in his defence? ,., ., , ., to issue a document like this in his defence? ., , ., ., defence? it somewhat unusual for the defence? it somewhat unusual for the defence to introduce _ defence? it somewhat unusual for the defence to introduce this _ defence? it somewhat unusual for the defence to introduce this document i defence to introduce this document but it's very much in response to the interim report. what is effectively done is that it set the battle lines for tomorrow more than anything else. what we know is that the privileges committee are starting out from a position that borisjohnson frankly starting out from a position that boris johnson frankly have starting out from a position that borisjohnson frankly have some convincing to do. borisjohnson on the other hand, we can see now that his defence is going to be first that he did not deliberately mislead parliament, second that the whole committee has some kind of political bent to it, that there is some sort of politicisation of the process and thirdly that there are various degrees of moving the goalposts and whether he deliberately misled parliament or recklessly misled parliament. so what we should expect from these two documents is that borisjohnson to be quite competitive and the privileges

community, to convince them that he did not deliberately or recklessly mislead parliament. um? did not deliberately or recklessly mislead parliament.— did not deliberately or recklessly mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for _ mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for him _ mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for him to _ mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for him to claim _ mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for him to claim that - mislead parliament. why is it is in interest for him to claim that this| interest for him to claim that this has been politicised by a cross—party committee, the privileges committee. how may that help him down the track? boris johnson's defence _ help him down the track? boris johnson's defence much - help him down the track? boris johnson's defence much more | help him down the track? err" 3 johnson's defence much more broadly, i don't think he is trying to convince the privileges committee of doing anything, i think maybe there's an extent to which he has just parked the privileges committee completely, he has assume that they're going to find him in some degree of wrongdoing and who he's trying to convince and hear this document is aimed at as conservative mps because ultimately, any sanction that the privileges committee put forward has to be voted on and ratified by the mps in parliament and the majority of mps in

parliament are conservatives. so i think what he's trying to do is bring the process into disrepute such that any vote that may or may not occur on sanctions becomes effectively a vote on whether you believe in the process of the privileges committee will not. so he has banked in his favour that he sort of given up on the privileges committee and he is now focused on winning over conservative empties and perhaps winning any eventual vote in parliament on wrongdoing. some people are always the probe prizejohnson, some people always be andy borisjohnson. how much support as he still got within his own party? as he still got within his own -a ? as he still got within his own .a ? , ., ., , , as he still got within his own -a ? , ., , ., as he still got within his own .a ? ., as he still got within his own party? there is always a run of mps who support — party? there is always a run of mps who support boris _ party? there is always a run of mps who support boris johnson. - party? there is always a run of mps who support boris johnson. we - party? there is always a run of mps. who support boris johnson. we know who support borisjohnson. we know that he properly had enough, 100 mps supporting him to stand against rishi sunak last year in the last leadership contest that he

ultimately decided not to. some of that support may be dwindling away because what we need to think of is the past two weeks have actually been quite successful rishi sunak. the budget which was stable, which was received much better than the many budget of last year. we had the stormont which seem to be relatively well received, so for the first time in about two years, they conservatives, if not trending upwards, certainly are trending downwards and the polls are narrowing ever so slightly, so the borisjohnson narrowing ever so slightly, so the boris johnson effect, narrowing ever so slightly, so the borisjohnson effect, if narrowing ever so slightly, so the boris johnson effect, if you narrowing ever so slightly, so the borisjohnson effect, if you well, might be wearing off among some mps because he is very much a candidate when she rely on when you think you've got no other option or a chaotic candidate for chaotic times. but actually, at this point, rishi sunak, i think has managed to dampen some of the doubters such that bats as idea of borisjohnson coming back

to the fold and saving the conservative party isn't as strong as it was even perhaps a month ago. dr sam powerfrom the university of sussex, thank you for your time. back now to the damning report into britain's biggest police force, london's metropolitan police, which has found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. our reporter yetunde yusuf has been getting reaction to this report from brixton market in south london. let's take a listen. i've been speaking to people whose experiences have shaped their perceptions of the metropolitan police, their encounters with police officers. some of them have been telling me that they felt they had been harassed, in particular a racially profiled, they felt. some people, as well, said they felt that the police, they had lost confidence in the police. women i'd spoken to as well. but some people said they did have trust in the metropolitan police,

so they did have confidence in the metropolitan police. they did say that something is needed to change. to be completely honest, i don't have confidence in the police at all. again, past experience. do i feel safe? ehh... yes and no. because there's been times when i haven't felt like they did anything. i think they are doing a good job. trying to keep the community safe, and to sort things out. ijust feel, essentially, - when they see you, they are just going to find a reason to disturb you, find a reason to stop you. i even when i'm driving and just, like, stay away from them. - because any reason. to be honest, from the bottom of my heart, i'm feeling safe. we have white police around, we have black police around. we have asian police around. we don't get anything like racism or that kind of stuff,

bullying from the police. honestly, i've been here now for nearly seven years, in brixton. we've never experienced that. i would feel safe, because you just have to trust them. they're there to protect you, and they're not all like that. no support from the police. none at all, whatsoever. the more you hear that they are institutionally racist, _ they don't like black people. so, yeah, some mixed responses there. some people working to tell me that even though they had negative experiences with the metropolitan police officers, that they were keen not to paint all of them with the same brush. but there were 16 recommendations in the review. i'm going to tell you what some of those were. so, one of the recommendations was for great independent oversight. so, outside experts to be drafted in, as well as an overhaul of the vetting system. so, vetting, re—vetting of firearm officers. also, a fundamental recess resettle stop and search in london. now, sir mark rowley,

the metropolitan police commissioner, said he accepted the findings and systemic failings, but he stopped short of calling it institutional. he said he felt that londoners had been let down, and that the report was brutal. he said he is keen to make changes and will be reflecting on the report. new research shows a sharp north/south divide in the number of people needing emergency hospital treatment for lung conditions. the figures are three times higher in some parts of the country than the richest areas of the uk. the research, by the charity asthma and lung uk shows the north—west of england, central scotland and parts of northern ireland had much higher rates of illness and death than other areas. our health correspondent, jim reed, reports. amy was just the centre of our family. she was just full of life, really. and she was only 22. joanne's daughter, amy, had lived with severe asthma all her life.

it's just breathing. it's something that everyone takes for granted. and, at times, amy could notjust breathe. then in october, amy collapsed in the middle of the night. an ambulance was called. they started her heart again. and then they took her to wigan royal infirmary. lots of people came into the room, into the family room, and said that her brain had been starved of oxygen during the asthma attack. i actually feel sick, as if i'm going in to get my results. and then i had to come home and, on the friday night after school, and tell bailey that his mummy had died, which wasjust... ..the worst thing i've ever had to do. new research shows the impact

of asthma and other lung conditions does, though, depend on where in the uk you live. in parts of the north—west of england, for example, hospital admissions and deaths are among the highest in the country — in places, double or even triple the rates seen in parts of london and the south—east. we need to make sure that we are tackling air pollution and smoking rates and poor quality housing, but also making sure we're treating and supporting people to live well with their lung condition. olaf, originally from germany, lives near glasgow and has another common lung condition, copd. out of the blue, i got the feeling, "oh, i can't breathe." and it's like somebody puts steel around your chest and you can't breathe any more. but he now he logs his symptoms from home. results can be sent back with data from a fitness tracker,

to pick up problems early. all this can then be analysed by his doctors. we can see here, for instance, a flare up and then an improvement. it is hoped this idea can cut hospital admissions by half. a large proportion of these patients do not need to come to hospital. we now have the technology, the tools, the data to provide all the care that they require at home safely. lung disease costs the nhs billions. ministers say more funding for research and new targets to cut pollution and smoking should make a difference. but doctors think more still needs to be done to improve and save thousands of lives. jim reed, bbc news. a bbc investigation has found that seven british patients who travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery died after operations there. others have returned home with serious health issues after gastric sleeve operations, during which more than 70% of the stomach is removed. the operations, used

to treat morbid obesity, are carried out in the uk. but it can take years to get one through the national health service so some people travel abroad for treatment, monika plaha report's report contains some graphic images. last year, stacey travelled to turkey for weight loss surgery that reduced the size of her stomach. right, we're just going to do a little test... as a mum to two young children, and having had a heart attack, she wanted the operation to avoid health problems in later life. one of the main driving things was, you know, i did this before i became a drain on the nhs, before i had any major medical problems. but on her return to the uk, she suffered a massive blood clot. i'd been assured i was absolutely fine, i had a fit to fly note. two days later, i turned over in bed and one of my wounds just burst open. it was, you know, the bed was full of pus, blood. horrible.

stacey regrets her choice of clinic, but not having the surgery. my advice would be do your research, massively, you know? don'tjust stop at, you know, people's before and after photos. whilst that is incredible to see and everybody wants a bit of that, there is a bigger picture. her doctor says she's not alone. we have seen a significant rise in patients going to turkey for private bariatric procedures. and he's increasingly treating serious complications as a result. what we've seen is that some patients have flown home and then straight up to our emergency hospital in cramlington, not truly understanding the surgery they have had done and the risks they have actually taken. weight loss surgery abroad is marketed heavily on social media. here at ten stone six, and she was 17 stone ten. it gets mixed reviews... i don't ever see me getting better. ifeel like i've ruined my life. ..but provides a short cut to surgery which people might wait

many years for on the nhs. our investigation has spoken to patients who have had serious complications from botched surgery carried out in turkey. one even had her entire stomach removed. we have also found out that seven people have died in the last four years after travelling to turkey for weight loss surgery, and we've learned that the number of surgeries on the nhs has fallen by a third in england since covid. when investigating, we heard concerns that women who were not obese were being operated on in turkey. we decided to ask 27 clinics if they would accept patients at normal bmi levels. six clinics accepted women for surgery who weren't overweight at all. and some of those that didn't even encouraged women to gain weight to enable them to be accepted. a leading british doctor says this is reckless. i think to tell patients to put on weight so they can meet a particular weight threshold

so they can then have weight loss surgery, i think that's just wrong. interest in going to turkey for weight loss surgery shows no sign of waning. the government says it takes obesity seriously and those travelling abroad need to consider the risks. monika plaha, bbc news. the caversham primary school in redding was downgraded from outside a too inadequate. ofsted say they regret the head teacher's tragic death. ruth perry, head teacher in redding described the ofsted inspection in november as the worst day of her life. her family said she

was under intolerable pressure when she was told the school was rated inadequate. she was told the school was rated inadequate-— she was told the school was rated inadeauate. , ., ., inadequate. this one word 'udgment was 'ust inadequate. this one word 'udgment was just destroying h inadequate. this one word 'udgment was just destroying 32 _ inadequate. this one word judgment was just destroying 32 years - inadequate. this one word judgment was just destroying 32 years of - inadequate. this one word judgment wasjust destroying 32 years of her l was just destroying 32 years of her vocation. education was her vocation. education was her vocation-— vocation. education was her vocation. ., ,. ., , vocation. unions and school leaders askin: the vocation. unions and school leaders asking the changes. _ one executive head teacher at a nearby school said she refused entry to ofsted inspectors and called on parents to show support that that visit will now go ahead this morning. visit will now go ahead this morning-— visit will now go ahead this morninu. ~ ,. , visit will now go ahead this morninu. ~ ,. ., ., , ., visit will now go ahead this morninu. ~ ,. , ., , morning. while schools need to be monitored. — morning. while schools need to be monitored. l— morning. while schools need to be monitored, i do _ morning. while schools need to be monitored, i do think— morning. while schools need to be monitored, i do think it _ morning. while schools need to be monitored, i do think it needs - morning. while schools need to be monitored, i do think it needs to i morning. while schools need to be | monitored, i do think it needs to be looked into and perhaps changes need to be made where there is less pressure put on schools. a you do have to stand up and be counted ex?

a petition calling for changes to the inspection system has so far gathered more than 90,000 signatures. the department for education said inspections are hugely imported as a whole school to account for their educational standards. the report is yet to be published on ofsted's website, meanwhile the school is grieving for it head teacher. time now her round up it head teacher. time now her round up a business news. are the jitters for the global banking sector over? that's the question that many anxious investors are continuing to ask after the weekend rescue of credit suisse by ubs. in the last couple of hours the us

treasury secretary janet yellen has been offering more reassurances that the banking system is stable. in a speech to bankers in washington she said the us government is prepared to help more banks if thats what is needed. the government's recent actions have demonstrated our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that savings and the banking system remain safe. our intervention was necessary to protect the board a us banking system and similar actions could be warranted if smaller pose the risk of contagion. let's take a look at the latest on the financial markets, we can see that they are in positive terittory.

the footsie in london and frankfurt also on the rise. some of the cell after being reversed today because sellers are feeling more confident. we can see some of the banking shares are traded in london where markets closed not long ago. hsbc, standard chartered and barclays or reversing yesterday's losses. are things looking more optimistic? let's speak to our north american business correspondent, samira hussain in new york. janet yellen, trying to reassure investors, is it working? ii trying to reassure investors, is it workin: ? , ., trying to reassure investors, is it workinr? i. ., ., working? if you look at what the comments _ working? if you look at what the comments she _ working? if you look at what the comments she made, _ working? if you look at what the comments she made, where - working? if you look at what the | comments she made, where she working? if you look at what the - comments she made, where she said that they are willing to put more support for those banks that are running into trouble. that was always the big question, we saw what

regulators did for the silicon valley bank two weeks ago and for signature bank and the question was, if there are other smaller regional banks that we see that are getting under pressure, well the federal authorities be willing to step in and help them. those words really led to confidence. 30 public�*s share price tank in the last two weeks,... between that and the fact that we are hearing reports ofjp morgan bank really trying to support the bank really trying to support the bank as well, that has led to some confidence that their shares are up now by 20%. confidence that their shares are up now by 2096-— confidence that their shares are up now b 20%. , ., .., . now by 20%. investor confidence, the two key words — now by 20%. investor confidence, the two key words there. _ now by 20%. investor confidence, the two key words there. some _ now by 20%. investor confidence, the two key words there. some of - now by 20%. investor confidence, the two key words there. some of them l two key words there. some of them also looking ahead to tomorrow and the federal reserve decision, the us

central bank make it six decision on interest rates. perhaps an indication that it might not be a straightforward decision, what is likely to happen? the straightforward decision, what is likely to happen?— likely to happen? the federal reserve and _ likely to happen? the federal reserve and the _ likely to happen? the federalj reserve and the policymakers likely to happen? the federal- reserve and the policymakers are already in a difficult decision. they need to fight inflation and rising interest rate is the way that they have been doing that but on the other hand, we see that the banking sector has been embroiled in a crisis that these high interest rates have put them into difficulty when it comes to liquidity, so should the federal reserve continue raising interest rates or should it put a pause on raising interest rates because of the knock—on effect it's having on other sectors of the economy? that is certainly a cut in a question i can't answer but it's going to be for them. the consistent so far is that it's perhaps going to be a 0.25% interest rise at the meeting and then we will see a pause that we will get more detail

tomorrow. that we will get more detail tomorrow— that we will get more detail tomorrow. �* �* , �* ., tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll get to seak to tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll get to speak to you _ tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll get to speak to you about _ tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll get to speak to you about that _ tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll get to speak to you about that tomorrow. | speak to you about that tomorrow. thank you for keeping up to date. let's have a change of tune now and talk about the music industry. despite the delicate state of the global economy a growing number of us are splashing out on streaming services. it's one of the big drivers of a 9% growth in how much we're spending on music. according to the industry body the ifpi worldwide sales hit $26.2 billion last year. universial music group is one of the biggest record labels out there and its boss for africa, middle east and asia is adam granite streaming is certainly the biggest component. it's 67% of our revenues. but, yes, physical as a category, grew as well in 2022,. and vinyl is the biggest component of the physical piece, of over 17%. and how much of this, though, this resurgence

for vinyl, is helping the industry more generally? because it's obviously something different, when people can touch a well—designed physical product, and when you... whether it's a vinyl collection or a cd collection, you could touch it and you can hold it. metallica, i heard, even buying their own factory to print vinyl, because there is such a demand out there for that? yes, indeed. the demand is extraordinary. i think it shows the value of music and the value of collectables. also, i think with vinyl, it's very important for consumers who want to display their collection as well. and what impact is the end of the pandemic having on the music industry? how much is it helping the fact that people are now able to go out to concerts again and they are able, and record artists, recording artists, are able to meet with their colleagues, they are able to meet with their record label people, with their collaborative partners. how much is that helping to put

new music out there, that's pushing sales? it certainly helping the artist developing process, when you can connect a song or a couple of songs with an artist. you can build that direct artist to fan connection. it's very, very powerful. i think, as well, it also helps our music travel around the world better. when artists can travel and be in various markets, it really helps seal that connection. just time for a couple of other stories. the dutch government is defending itself in court today. the new flight cap which would come into force in november aims to reduce noise pollution and carbon emissions. eightairlines noise pollution and carbon emissions. eight airlines have joined forces to prevent the cup being imposed. this would have major implications for the eu single in market. a savage time on the coast of the philippines had been located a sunken tanker whose cargo of oil

has been leaking into the sea for the last three weeks. printers empress was discovered 400 metres below the surface and expects hope they can now clean it up. there is more rain in the fall because adding to what many of us has a ready been quite a soggy march. in fact, has a ready been quite a soggy march. infact, parts has a ready been quite a soggy march. in fact, parts of eastern england have a ready scene more than two and half times the amount of rainfall they normally expect in a normal march. compare that with a third of the normal rainfall at kirkwall in orkney. with this band of heavy rain pushing eastwards, particularly wet over high ground in south—west scotland, north—west england, wales and the south—west. gales will develop through the night as well threesome central and western parts of scotland, those combining with high tides to give some risk of coastal flooding. it's going to be mild, five to 11

degrees. tomorrow morning with this frontal system is winding its way. heavy rain in parts of northern scotland and some blustery winds to start the day as we go through the day, we will see another clutch of downpours moving across the northern half of scotland, maybe some snow across highest hills and mountains. then itjust turns into a sunshine and showers day. some heavy showers, possibly fun to read, we'll keep some blustery winds. gusting up to 50 mph or maybe more. temperatures 11 to 15 degrees. as you look ahead to thursday, again, sunshine and showers, some of the showers will be on the heavy side. later in the days are more rain is likely to drift across the channel islands. again, it's mild, quite breezy too, nine to 15 degrees. the end of the week,

thursday night brings up the weather system clipping, low pressure firmly in charge for friday. some of these showers are going to be heavy, i think there will be some flashes of lightning and is a man was a funder, always right all sunny spells between the showers. strongest winds across the southern part of the country. as we head for the weekend, is going to stay unsettled, there will be some more rain at times but it set to become a bit colder from the north by sunday.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories. president putin says the chinese leader xijinping has invited him to beijing, as the two men hold talks in moscow aimed at boosting ties. britain's former prime minister, borisjohnson, accepts that he did mislead mps about illegal parties held during covid lockdowns but insists his original denials were made "in good faith". britain's biggest police force — is branded "institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic" in a scathing new report which says it needs a complete overhaul. the culture sadly in the met is all pervasive and the institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia is largely

led by what their officers have said and what our own research has shown.