live from london, this is bbc news. a defiant president zelensky insists the embattled city of bakhmut is not occupied by russia. bakhmut is not occupied by russian federation, as of today. there are no two or three interpretations of those words. president biden says the us is doing everything possible to help ukraine as he unveils a new aid package. the united states will train ukrainian pilots and fourth generation fighter aircraft, including f—165. polls have now closed in greece, with the ruling new democracy party ahead in the country's parliamentary election.

the uk home secretary, suella braverman, is under pressure after claims she asked civil servants to help her avoid a speeding fine. saudi arabia is set to make history as the country sends its first—ever female astronaut to the international space station. president zelensky has thanked g7 leaders for their enduring support of ukraine. leaders for their enduring speaking at the end of a summit injapan, mr zelensky said that russia's defeat would result in lasting world peace. he also insisted russia does not occupy the embattled city of bakhmut. it comes after conflicting reports of who is now in control of the eastern city. russian president putin has congratulated the wagner mercenary group for capturing the city. our asia pacific correspondent, laura bicker, sent this report from hiroshima.

this president knows the cost of war. as he paid tribute to the victims of the hiroshima bombing, he needed no reminderfrom this sombre city of what can happen when a bitter conflict leads to the use of a nuclear weapon. together with the entire g7, we have ukraine's back, and i promise we're not going anywhere. his meetings are to ensure this does not happen in ukraine. in a policy shift washington has confirmed it will allow ukrainian pilots to train in american—madejets. will allow ukrainian pilots to train in american-made jets. in american-made 'ets. the united states together — in american-made jets. the united states together with _ in american-made jets. the united states together with our _ in american-made jets. the united states together with our allies - in american-made jets. the united states together with our allies and | states together with our allies and partners will begin training pilots and fourth generation fighter aircraft, including f—i6s, to strengthen ukraine's air force as part of the long term commitment to ukraine's ability to defend itself.

president biden has also guaranteed anti—tank weapons and more ammunition but what we don't know, what we don't have is any cast—iron guarantee about who will provide these f—i6s or combatjets. and that is crucial because it will take time to train them and president zelensky says this is what could turn the tide of this war. yet mr lenski seems confident he will get as much longed forjets. —— zelensky. we will get as much longed for 'ets. -- zelens . ~ . , ., ~ ., zelensky. we have been working for another time _ zelensky. we have been working for another time with _ zelensky. we have been working for another time with our _ zelensky. we have been working for another time with our partners - zelensky. we have been working for another time with our partners to i another time with our partners to strengthen our skies. i cannot tell how many— strengthen our skies. i cannot tell how many aircraft we will important. they lives _

but here its leader van prez of support and solidarity. moscow hoped interest in this would wane but together in hiroshima g7 leaders have resolved that they will help kyiv for as long as it takes. our reporter, david waddell, has been looking at what's in it. it's 15 months on from the russian invasion of ukraine, what the kremlin called its special military operation. ukraine wasn't expected to stand for more than a few days, but it has managed to hold back russian and russian backed forces in the south and east of the country. this territory marked in red. now, ukraine has been persistently requesting material support from its allies in the west. and speaking at the g7 summit in hiroshima, president biden has offered a new package worth $375 million. that package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.

there are not more details as to precisely what's in that package. at the time of the announcement, president zelensky didn't know any more detail either. but we do know this. it's a key headline that emerged yesterday and it involves us—made f—i6 aircraft. the us announced it would support the delivery of f—i6 fighterjets to ukraine by western allies, along with training for ukrainian pilots. this would be a step up from ukraine's soviet era mig 29 and su 27 switch fly comparable missions. the f—i6 radar can see further, allowing hostile aircraft to be engaged at longer ranges. here's president biden outlining the basic details of the new package. today i'm announcing the next tranche of us security assistance to ukraine, a package that includes more ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles to bolster ukraine's battlefield abilities. and the united states continues to help ukraine respond, recover and rebuild. president biden with

president zelensky on the fringes of the g7 summit in hiroshima. now, much earlier in the conflict, it was great nervousness about how much support western allies could give to ukraine for fear of provoking a much wider and potentially nuclear conflict there. now, that calculus seems to have changed and western allies, in particular the us, seem much keener to provide ukraine with the support it needs. as we said, president zelensky insisted russia does not occupy the embattled city of bakhmut. that's despite russian claims to the contrary. so what's actually going on? colonel richard kemp, a retired british army commander, spoke to us from kyiv. i was down in the area myself a day or so ago. and i spoke to many ukrainian commanders and soldiers who have been fighting in bakhmut, in some cases, for many months. and the reality is, i think, that the vast majority of the city, the city itself, has been now captured by the russians. but the ukrainian forces are still fighting them. they're still, in some cases, taking ground back from the russians on the flanks, on the external parts of the city.

so i think, while while the russians, as far as i can work out, appear to be in control of the city, that doesn't mean to say that they're now in a position, let's say, to launch a further operation from there. i think they're still being being tied down by the ukrainian forces in the area. i think it was very symbolically important for the russians because they haven't scored any kind of significant victory for a very long time now. and they saw and they've been proclaiming bakhmut as being a place they're going to capture for the best part of a year since they've been trying. and so they will certainly be selling this as a strategic victory back in russia. as far as ukraine is concerned, of course, the loss of any ukrainian territory is a blow to the country, but i don't think it's a strategic blow. i think potentially it does open up the opportunity for russia to advance further to the west in donetsk province and maybe even

approaching the other two major cities in donetsk of kramatorsk and sloviansk. but if they're not able to do that, then it means that little has been achieved in bakhmut for them. and as things appear at the moment, the ukrainians are still very actively bottling up the russians in that area. polls have now closed in greece's parliamentary elections. projections suggest prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis and his centre—right new democracy party have done well and are set to be the largest party. but they may not win an outright majority. new democracy had been facing a challenge from former prime minister alexis tsipras and his left—wing syriza party. the main issues affecting voters have been the economy, job security and relations with neighbouring turkey. live now to athens, and let's speak to our europe correspondent, nick beake. these are just exit polls, but they

are showing the prime minister in the lead. , . ., , ., the lead. they are, and they are broadly what — the lead. they are, and they are broadly what we _ the lead. they are, and they are broadly what we were _ the lead. they are, and they are | broadly what we were expecting, the lead. they are, and they are - broadly what we were expecting, what the experts were predicting, although new democracy party, which has been in government for the past four years, has been in government for the past fouryears, has has been in government for the past four years, has done better than what people expected, but you made the crucial point there, they are unlikely to form a majority government because in years gone by, with this sort of percentage being predicted, up to 40% of the vote, that would have been enough, but the system he has changed, which means that the party which comes top, which looks like it will be new democracy, will not get this bonus of 50 seats in parliament, and that in years gone by use to give the party that came top of this big bonus, and it used to give them the power to form a majority government, so instead it seems we will have seven days of discussions here to try and form a coalition government, and if they fail, the greek people will come back to the ballot box in

the coming weeks, probably injuly. does the issue of the bonuses come back then in the second election? it does. this is quite a complicated process because this change to the law came through when syriza were in power between 2015 and 2019, but there is a delay so it is only kicked him in 2023, so if there is another election injuly, it will not be completely back to the old system but there will be this incremental bonus which will make it easierfor new democracy incremental bonus which will make it easier for new democracy and the current prime minister to remain in power, so for him he may well be thinking tonight he has done enough to get to another round of voting and secure this majority government. it's an interesting one, this, because it was very much a cost of living election, the people we were talking to outside the supermarkets were saying they do not feel the benefits of the economic recovery that the country has been making in

recent years, when they go to the shops, they find that products are more expensive, their money simply is not going as far as it used to, we hear this from so many places all across the globe at the moment, but it does seem based on the projected exit poll that more people believe that the current government is worth sticking with, certainly they might not be huge fans of the government, may be they are in a better place to control the economy, rather than alexis tsipras, who was the head of the government beforehand, so that is the picture emerging this evening from greece. talk is the picture emerging this evening from greece-— is the picture emerging this evening from greece. . ~ , ., ., from greece. talk us through how the two men differ— from greece. talk us through how the two men differ when _ from greece. talk us through how the two men differ when it _ from greece. talk us through how the two men differ when it comes - two men differ when it comes to their take on the economy. 0bviously their take on the economy. obviously their take on the economy. obviously the prime minister has had a few years to show what moves he has been making. and as you say the economy is growing, talk us through how they differ on what they are saying in the run—up to the election. the differ on what they are saying in the run-up to the election. the big sellin: the run-up to the election. the big selling point— the run-up to the election. the big selling point that _ the run-up to the election. the big selling point that the _ the run-up to the election. the big selling point that the current - the run-up to the election. the big| selling point that the current prime minister has been trying to put the people is that if you stick with him this growth will continue and that

unemployment will continue to decrease, and the minimum wage will increase as well. the offer from the left side of things, from syriza, was that greater reforms are needed, people are not feeling the way that the economy has got bigger, for example gdp here was up 6% at the tail end of last year, the second growth in terms of the country doing better in their economy, in the whole of the eurozone area, so countries that use the euro as their currency, but left—wing party was saying that really more needs to be done, they were talking about scrapping bonuses when it comes to some particular parts of the economy and also significantly they were saying that they wanted to see a cap on the profits of energy companies, again they said that was a good way to try and make sure there is a trickle—down effect, more people are benefiting if the economy continues to go on the right direction, so

those were broadly the two variances between the two parties. he those were broadly the two variances between the two parties.— those were broadly the two variances between the two parties. he wants to reduce the weekly _ between the two parties. he wants to reduce the weekly working _ between the two parties. he wants to reduce the weekly working hours - between the two parties. he wants to reduce the weekly working hours as l reduce the weekly working hours as well. just to talk about the international perspective, what would a win for the prime minister mean in terms of the support for ukraine perhaps an stability in the eu? he ukraine perhaps an stability in the eu? ., , , ., , ukraine perhaps an stability in the eu? , ., , ., ukraine perhaps an stability in the eu? ., , eu? he has been at pains to say greece are _ eu? he has been at pains to say greece are squarely _ eu? he has been at pains to say greece are squarely behind - greece are squarely behind ukraine over the past year or so, and he has made that very much clear. i think one thing that may have played into the minds of voters, if we are looking at the international dimension here, the fact that turkey is in the middle of a voting process, we had the first round last week, and if the suggestions seem to be that president erdogan remains in power, someone who has talked tough when it comes to neighbour and rival greece, may be some thought that having the current prime minister in powerfor having the current prime minister in power for another four years may be beneficial in terms of defence and

greece's standing in the international community, so possibly that was something people thought about as they cast their ballot today, so certainly alexis tsipras has been someone on the left who said it was time for a change but in terms of the prime minister he has been someone talking to the powers that be in brussels, he has continued the path he has set out in the last few years, he is harvard educated and has seemed to talk to the european commission and other key players as greece has moved out of this last decade that a lot of people talked about. we talked so much about the eu bailouts, the spending cuts that had to be made, the youth unemployment, the pain this country felt, and his message has been if you stick with me for another four years this re—emergence from all of that darkness and pain will be better if i'm still the prime minister.— will be better if i'm still the prime minister. ., ,, , ., , . prime minister. thank you very much for now. prime minister. thank you very much for now- first — prime minister. thank you very much for now. first results _ prime minister. thank you very much for now. first results are _ prime minister. thank you very much for now. first results are expected i for now. first results are expected to come in in about quarter of an hour so we will keep you up—to—date

when we get in your news out of greece. —— more. the british home secretary, suella braverman, is under pressure about her actions after being caught speeding in her car. the punishment for minor cases is usually a speed awareness course. it's reported that ms braverman requested a private course to avoid points on her driving licence. now opposition parties are urging mr sunak to launch an ethics investigation. this report from our political correspondent, ben wright. when a prime minister strides the world stage, it's always the questions about a rumpus back home that seem to irritate. injapan, rishi sunak was asked if he still had confidence in his home secretary. well, chris, i don't know the full details of what has happened, nor have i spoken to the home secretary. i think you can see first—hand what i have been doing over the last day or so. but i understand she has expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine. downing street later insisted that of course the prime minister had full confidence in suella braverman.

it's not the speeding offence itself that has put her in the spotlight, the issue is whether she acted properly in trying to arrange a one to one driving awareness course. the government doesn't dispute that ms braverman approached civil servants for advice, but she was told they couldn't get involved. seemingly keen to avoid taking part in the usual group course, ms braverman then asked a political aide to try and arrange a one—to—one session, but the company said no. labour wants an investigation. rishi sunak needs to put his money where his mouth is and show that he stands up for standards in public life and have an immediate investigation under the ministerial code. in the end, ms braverman decided to pay a fine and take the penalty points on her licence instead. her team insists the home secretary did everything right and deny there has been any breach of the ministerial rule book. but even this former tory party chairman has concerns. | it certainly brings into question, i i think, the use of civil servants, so i think there is definitely

questions to be answered. i shouldn't do it in the first place, but if you do get caught, - you just take the medicine. and let's see where we get to. suella braverman was keeping her head down today, but mps will have their own chance to quiz the home secretary about all this when she takes questions in the commons tomorrow. ben wright, bbc news. all football matches have been called off in el salvador following the deaths of 12 people in a crush at the country's main stadium. at least 500 others were injured. the incident happened on saturday evening during a league match at san salvador�*s cuscatlan stadium. the authorities say many fans had been sold fake electronic tickets, which caused delays at the entrance. dozens of supporters who were late rushed towards the terraces after the match had already begun and were crushed against a closed gate. there have been reports of fighting in sudan despite rival generals agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. previous truce attempts between sudan's regular army and the paramilitary rapid support forces have tended to collapse

within minutes of beginning. but the new deal, which starts on monday, is enforced by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism". now to northern ireland, where sinn fein�*s vice president, michelle 0'neill, has called on the british and irish governments to deliver a plan to restore a power—sharing government at stormont. it's after her party delivered a stunning success in the council elections, becoming the largest party in local government for the first time. a warning, emma vardy�*s report has flash photography. the political landscape of northern ireland is changing. unionism, the belief that northern ireland should remain part of the uk, is no longer the dominant force. as the democratic unionist party, for a second time in 12 months, has been overtaken by sinn fein. it was inevitable that it would be that way, because people, well, my idea, you vote for people who are going to do the job.

ijust think it was coming, the dup haven't been standing around doing anything, so... that is what it is down to, a lack of government? lack of government, yeah. someone has to make really vital decisions relating - to the environment, employment, childcare, women's refuge vision,| the whole abortion issue. the scale of the jump in support for sinn fein is something they themselves had not even predicted, but will it do anything to change the dynamic in the power—sharing crisis here in northern ireland, which has left everyone without a government for a year? the dup are preventing a return to power—sharing as a protest over the brexit arrangements. the irish sea border which they believe undermines northern ireland's place in the uk. the party wants new legislation from the british government to address their concerns before they will return to government. getting a border poll is still core business for sinn fein, it is just that they downgrade it

slightly come election time. in effect, what you have now got in northern ireland is 40% of the population wanting a united ireland, 40% who don't want a united ireland, and 20% in the middle who can't make up their mind. when a devolved government is reformed here, sinn fein well for the first time hold the role of first minister. the dup will still have equal powers but the events of recent days have cemented a historic shift which shows no sign yet of being reversed. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. tackling the climate crisis requires a massive cut in greenhouse gas emissions and, as nations continue to grapple with how to achieve that, scientists have also been looking at ways to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. one possible route involves using humble pieces of the rock basalt, which one entrepreneur now calls magic dust. 0ur environment correspondent, jonah fisher, explains. there's very little that's green about 0rrock quarry in fife.

the black basalt hillside is being steadily eaten away to make concrete and asphalt for new roads. this is our magic dust. basalt is a volcanic rock found in abundance around the world. and as it weathers in the rain, it takes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. that's what's balanced our climate for the last millennia. enhanced rock weathering is a way of turbocharging that natural removal. what we do is we use this fine material which massively speeds up the process. so more contact between the rain and the rock? exactly. we watch as the basalt is spread. the science is still new but it is thought that scattering about 1.5 tractor loads cancels out a typical brit's annual carbon footprint. for the world to stop warming, we're going to have to stop putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. this isn't going to fix that.

but the world's leading climate scientists are now clear that some carbon removal, like this, will be needed, to restrict rising temperatures and quite possibly at some point to try to cool down our overheating planet. come on! the rocks also bring benefits to the landowner, acting as a fertiliser. hopefully the meat will taste... well, it can't taste any better, it's so good the now! but might focusing so much on removal distract from the vital importance of cutting emissions now? reduction has to come first. the nice thing about what we're doing with enhanced rock- weathering is it's permanent, so the carbon dioxide - is permanently removed once we've done this process, - it's scalable and it's i ready to deploy today. this is no silver bullet but, at this early stage, enhanced rock weathering looks a promising development, both absorbing carbon and improving

the fertility of the land. jonah fisher, bbc news, in fife. a woman from saudi arabia will make history later when she blasts off from florida to spend ten days on board the international space station. rayyanah barnawi will become the first saudi woman to voyage into space. she will be joined on the mission by fellow saudi ali al-qarni, who's a fighter pilot. sameer hashmi is injeddah in saudi arabia and has been telling us more about her mission. she is a researcher, a cancer researcher, and she is going to become the first arab woman actually to go into space, which is why this whole trip is very historic, notjust for saudi arabia, but for the arab world. and then she has been a fighter pilot for a long time now. saudi arabia conducted a wide research before

they finalised these two names. they have been working on this project for a while now because they want to make space as a critical plan of their programme to diversify their economy and modernise their economy as they try to move away from oil. so there was a reason they had done a lot of interviews, screened a lot of profiles before they finalises two names. and, yes, it is indeed a historic day for saudi arabia because it's going to be its first foray in a space mission in almost a0 years. they're not the first saudis to make this trip. in 1985, sultan al salman, prince sultan, the half brother of current crown prince mohammed bin salman and the son of the current king, king salman had also made a trip in the arabsat one satellite in 1985. but, nevertheless, given that saudis are now trying to re—enter the space after such a long time, it's pretty significant for the country.

a group of us artists are raising millions of dollars to preserve the childhood home of the musical legend and civil rights activist nina simone. the modest wooden house is perched on a grassy hill in the small town of tryon in rural north carolina. the artists bought it in 2017 and hope to turn it into a cultural site which will open next year. nina simone spent her childhood at the house and it's where she began playing the piano at the age of 3. a reminder of what is going on in greece at the moment, this is the scene outside the new democracy party headquarters in athens, that is the party of the prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis, who exit polls are saying is currently in the lead, although it is not clear whether he would win an overall majority based on the current projections, so we expect the first results to come through in the next few minutes or

so, so stay with us here on bbc news and we will keep you right up to date on what's on there. temperatures will work their way up. the reason it will be fine, big area of high pressure across the azores, we often refer to it as the azores high, and through the course of the week it will extend eastwards across the uk and then later on in the week if anything we will see the centre of the high eventually pushing across towards the uk. so a lot of fine weather to come. 0vernight perhaps a few showers across eastern england, strays pulled off the

breeze, this old weather front dangling south but nothing significant, clearerskies, northern significant, clearer skies, northern england significant, clearerskies, northern england and the midlands, light winds here, we could see lows down to three or 4 degrees, pretty chilly for the time of year. monday, the high pushing its way eastwards sends their showers away from the north sea coast, we see another weather front pushing into the high, no significant rain out of it but there will be thick cloud, drizzle across eastern scotland time early on monday but by the afternoon it will look much brighter here. any early showers clearing away, a lot of sunshine, particularly later on in the day on monday and our temperatures are up to 22 degrees, 23 across england and wales, the high teens for southern scotland, further north and into northern ireland perhaps 16 degrees. chelsea flower show gets under way on monday, a great —looking we care for

anyone out on site with temperatures in the high teens to low 20s, there temperatures vary day on day and that will be the case for many spots across the uk, all governed by the wind direction, and you will find things become cooler and more cloud feeding on your way, super tuesday, breeze up the north sea, down a little on monday, but more cloud as well, but overall through the week ahead as promised at the start a lot of fine weather to come, very little in the way of significant rainfall, and our temperatures as we see more in the way of the sunshine are working their way up.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the g7 summit injapan has ended with a pledge of unwavering support for ukraine. president zelensky said victory over russia would deter other potential aggressors around the world. he also denied claims that the eastern city of bakhmut had fallen into russian hands. polls have closed in greece's parliamentary election. according to exit polls — incumbent prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis and his centre—right new democracy party are ahead of main rival, the leftist syriza party. it's unlikely either party will earn an outright majority. there are calls for the uk's home secretary suella braverman

to be investigated — following claims she requested