live from london, this is bbc news. the uk home secretary says she's confident nothing untoward happened in relation to a speeding fine she received last year. last summer, i was speeding, i regret that, i paid the fine and i took the points. russian mercenary group claimed its voters have ta ken russian mercenary group claimed its voters have taken control of bakhmut but president zelensky insists that is not the case. a belarusian journalist is pardoned after being arrested in 2021. hello, i'm maryam moshiri,

welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we start in the uk where the home secretary, suella braverman, is in the firing line over claims she asked civil servants about the possibility of a private speed awareness course, after she was caught driving too fast. downing street says the prime minister has had a conversation with his ethics adviser, sir laurie magnus. it's not yet clear whether an investigation will take place, but opposition parties are adamant one is needed. the home secretary was asked about the fine as she arrived at downing street in the past hour. are you going to resign, home secretary? did you break the ministerial code? earlier, she was quizzed over the matter while visiting a children's charity in london. did you ask civil servants last year to arrange a one—on—one driving awareness course when you were caught for awareness course when you were

cau-ht for speedin- 7 awareness course when you were caught for awareness course when you were cau - ht for speedin- 7 yes awareness course when you were caught for awareness course when you were cau-ht for speedin- 7 yes or awareness course when you were caught for awareness course when you were cau-ht for speedin-7 yes or no caught for speeding? yes or no question. caught for speeding? yes or no cuestion. , ., ., ., question. first and foremost i am focused on _ question. first and foremost i am focused on the _ question. first and foremost i am focused on the priorities - question. first and foremost i am focused on the priorities of- question. first and foremost i am focused on the priorities of the i focused on the priorities of the british— focused on the priorities of the british people as home secretary, cutting _ british people as home secretary, cutting serious crime with more police _ cutting serious crime with more police officers, standing up for victims — police officers, standing up for victims of— police officers, standing up for victims of child sexual abuse, stopping _ victims of child sexual abuse, stopping the boats, i will not take a backward step from working on those _ a backward step from working on those issues. in relation to your question. — those issues. in relation to your question, last summer i was caught speeding. _ question, last summer i was caught speeding. i— question, last summer i was caught speeding, i regret this, i question, last summer i was caught speeding, i regret this, lam working _ speeding, i regret this, lam working for the british people... did you — working for the british people... did you ask— working for the british people... did you ask the civil servants for a one—on—one speeding course7 did you ask the civil servants for a one—on—one speeding course? in one—on—one speeding course? in relation to the... one-on-one speeding course? in relation to the... did _ one-on-one speeding course? in relation to the... did you... - one-on-one speeding course? in relation to the. .. did you... i - one-on-one speeding course? in relation to the... did you... i am| relation to the... did you... i am confident — relation to the... did you... i am confident nothing _ relation to the... did you... i am confident nothing untoward - relation to the... did you... i am confident nothing untoward has. confident nothing untoward has happened. confident nothing untoward has ha ened. ~ ., confident nothing untoward has hauened. ~ ., ., happened. would you welcome an investigation _ happened. would you welcome an investigation into _ happened. would you welcome an investigation into this? _ happened. would you welcome an investigation into this? have - happened. would you welcome an investigation into this? have you i investigation into this? have you spoken to the prime minister? i am spoken to the prime minister? i am focused on — spoken to the prime minister? i am focused on working _ spoken to the prime minister? i am focused on working as _ spoken to the prime minister? i am focused on working as home secretary, that is why i am here, i have _ secretary, that is why i am here, i have met — secretary, that is why i am here, i have met with victims today, i am making _ have met with victims today, i am making a — have met with victims today, i am making a big announcement today, i would _ making a big announcement today, i would appreciate the focus on announcement standing up for victims and survivors in relation to the

speeding — and survivors in relation to the speeding ticket and my fine and points, — speeding ticket and my fine and points, i— speeding ticket and my fine and points, i am very confident and... very— points, i am very confident and... very finally, — points, i am very confident and... very finally, this is really important because you have broken rules before, you had to resign over breaking ministerial code, you have admitted now to breaking or having a speeding fine, you have accused of breaking the code for the second time, how good a look is it for one of the most senior politicians in the country to be viewed as a constant lubricant7 i the country to be viewed as a constant lubricant?— the country to be viewed as a constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket- i paid — constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i paid the _ constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i paid the fine _ constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i paid the fine and _ constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i paid the fine and took - constant lubricant? i got a speeding ticket. i paid the fine and took the l ticket. i paid the fine and took the points _ ticket. i paid the fine and took the points in— ticket. i paid the fine and took the points. in my view, nothing untoward has happened. thank you. our political correspondent iain watson has the latest from westminster. we'er not expecting an inquiry into suella braverman's conduct straightaway. the prime minister, i'm told, is seeking further information and as part of that further information exercise, if you like. we know that suella braverman has gone in to downing street, presumably to speak to the prime

minister. now, we heard a little bit there when she was asked in the streets whether she would resign. she said she was there to stop the boats. in other words, people arriving in the uk by illegal routes across the english channel. but i can't imagine that a conversation would simply stop or halt at questions of immigration when this controversy, to some extent, even overshadowed the end of the g7 summit injapan, when the prime minister's press conference was then dominated by questions about his home secretary's behaviour. so i imagine he'll talk to her, he'll talk to other people, he'll talk to his ethics adviser and then he'll decide whether he needs further information on a more formal basis. so his ethics adviser, for example, would be allowed to look at, for example, any correspondence between the home secretary, suella braverman, and those civil servants. she said she was simply seeking their advice on how to handle this situation that she found herself in after being caught speeding. if, however, she is found to be instructing them to do

something on her behalf, senior civil servants are saying actually that could potentially breach the ministerial code, because she'd be mixing up her public duties with her own private interests. and if the ethics adviser, and there's lots of ifs here, but if the ethics adviser then decided that that's exactly what she'd done, the prime minister would be put in a difficult position, because ultimately, he has to decide if he's going to lose one of the senior members of his team and one member of his team who's very popular with the right of his own party, who's been standing up against illegal immigration as she sees it, but is also keen to cut the numbers of people coming to the uk legally as well. this is a message which is quite popular in some parts of the conservative party. does he really want to take her and her supporters on7 that would be a very big question for him indeed. so it may well be the case for that reason that we don't get an inquiry launched in the first place. nonetheless, it's going to be very difficult for the prime minister, because all the while the opposition

parties are saying if you don't do this properly and launch an inquiry, you're going to be seen as being too weak to stand up to some members of your own government and your own commitment to transparency and accountability in downing street will be undermined. russia claims transfer of f—16 fighterjets russia claims transfer of f—16 fighter jets would russia claims transfer of f—16 fighterjets would raise questions. president biden said he would support the delivery by allowing western partners to supply them. this comes among conflicting news about who controls bakhmut. in a

video posted on saturday, the founder of the moscow—based mercenary group wagner claimed his fighters who have led the russian assault on the city were in full control. our diplomatic correspondent james landale has sent this update from kyiv. first of all, there are claims and counter—claims, it's hard to verify what is actually happening on the ground. we can use satellites, we can use geo—located photographs on social media, to try to get a better picture, but by and large what we think is the case is, at the very least, russian forces control the vast majority of bakhmut proper. when you speak to ukrainian commanders, they say things like, "we got a small number of buildings, an insignificant patch." that has been the case, you know, for some weeks now. there may or may not come a time when that last little patch is taken

over by russian forces and will have to rely on both them and the ukrainians and what they admit at the end of it. but, we should not use at the moment things like "victory", simply because it has taken russia eight months to get here. tens of thousands of russian soldiers have died in the process and many more have been injured. even more have been sucked into the conflict. there are an awful lot of other battles along the front line, where ukraine is holding firm, holding strong, even making gains because of the number of russian forces that have been sucked into bakhmut. at the same time, ukraine claims that it is making its own gains in the northern southern outskirts potentially with a view to encircling bakhmut. potentially with a view we are not at the end of the story of bakhmut. well, today bbc news has launched a new brand, bbc verify, which brings together forensicjournalists and experts from across the organisation. and one story they've been looking at is the extensive defences being built by russia,

as it prepares for a ukrainian counterattack. here's our analysis editor ros atkins. ukraine is expected to launch an offensive soon and bbc verify has been looking at how russia is building up its defences. here is a front line with russian—controlled territory marked in red. we have highlighted bakhmut, because the city has hosted some of the fiercest fighting of this war. we know that around it, both sides have used trenches. this is a ukrainian soldier. trenches are part of how russia is fortifying the front line. it is a process that has been mapped by the open source analyst and every one of these black marks is a new russian fortification. we can focus on a couple of locations, first of all, a small but strategically important city, topmak. look what the russians have done. they have put in a first defensive line, a second defensive line, and then a third defensive line around the city itself. also in ukrainian media,

there are reports that russia is removing civilians from topmak in order to further fortify it. we can understand that if we look here. furthest from the front line we have artillery positions, then a trench network. just, then what are called dragons teeth. these are concrete obstacles, designed to stop tanks in their tracks. also aimed at tanks are ditches, dug out by vehicles like this. and you can see an anti—tank ditch in this fortification is the very first line of defence. so, that's one location. a second that bbc verify has looked at is on the crimean peninsula, which was annexed by russia in 2014. this image comes from the west coast of crimea. you can see dragons teeth again, running up the coast of the black sea. you can see further north, a bunker, and also this trench. bbc verify estimates that runs for 15 miles along the coast. there are also piles of wood to reinforce trenches.

this is ongoing work for the russians, and then this fortification here could be used by a tank or armoured vehicle that is facing out to sea, though we should emphasise that it is far from clear if ukraine has the capacity to attack crimea from the sea. what is certain though is the scale of the fortification the russians have carried along the front line. now it waits to see if ukraine attacks. earlier, i spoke tojustin crump, a former british army tank commander and the ceo of sibylline, an intelligence consultancy. i started by asking him why the battle for bakhmut has been so important: it was regarded a few months ago is no more than a speed bump for the russians on their way to cities further to the west

it was really regarded a few months ago as little more than the speed bump for the russians on their way to slovyansk and kramatorsk, the cities further to the west, their real objectives. and it's taken on a significance reallyjust because of the political nature of the struggle for the city. it's gone on so long that it's assumed a status out of all relative merits compared to its position on the ground, its tactical significance. so it is not a great step forward militarily, but obviously politically. and in terms of morale, it's had this symbology for the russians in particular and back, but as you say, is small, but the russian advance has been steady. we have a map, in fact, i thinkjust in to show their progress since they said that it was their intention to take bakhmut in august. talk me through the progress as we watch the map unfold. i mean, the main thing i'll bring in here is the fact that obviously we're pretty zoomed in at this point from the maps we saw earlier in the conflict with, you know, big russian arrows advancing 1,500 kilometres a day. i mean, this is a small area, but you see russia's progression from the east pretty

much steadily frontal onto the city, just pushing the ukrainians back. so inch by inch, yard by yard. and they do take a couple of gains north of the city. the cityjust to the north, was a really good objective for russia to unlock the attack on back to itself. but you see how slow and creeping this progression has been for a comparatively small city, certainly compared to, say, mariupol or sloviansk, it is inching forwards. it's just pushing the ukrainians back from the front. but you're not seeing is russia break past the city, isolate it, cut the supply lines to the city. they've never managed to do that. they still actually haven't. and so when they talk about control, i think what this shows is, yes, you might be at the limits of buildings or the edge of a point on the ground, politically defined as the city boundary. but if you don't control the area to the west, the roads, the high grounds and particularly to the flanks, then control could be pretty tenuous for russia. justin, looking ahead, the spring offensive looks now like it's going to become a summer offensive. and we saw ros atkins showing us the static defences. as a former tank commander yourself, how do you stop this type of advance? i think the point of obstacles i bring out and if you look at all these belts and miles, 1,500 kilometres of obstacles in multiple banks, you know, it

looks pretty formidable. but you do the calculations. and russia, if they have 150,000 combat troops in the front, can put one every ten metres. and that's in a line with nothing behind it. and obviously, they're going to have depth, as you've seen from those images. it's about the sort of depth of obstacles they have. they don't have troops to fortify every inch of this. they're not sitting like the first world war, arm in arm. so the point of the obstacles is really to slow an assault is to make it difficult and then bring down artillery fire, bring down weapons fire on the enemy that's crossing the obstacle. we have a saying in the military that it isn't an obstacle if it's not covered by fire, if you can't fire and if you can't bring weapons to bear on it. so that's what makes it dangerous. and actually, of course, if ukraine can do a crossing somewhere in the obstacle, start breaking through without the russians being able to fire at them or see them or sense them, then, to be honest, this isjust an engineering task. it's a case of blowing up minefields, of pushing dragon's teeth, obstacles out of the way, filling in trenches. and that's pretty easy if no—one is firing at you. but if you're being fired at by artillery and you can't bring your forces together and you're

being counterattack, that's what makes it difficult. so this is the challenge for ukraine. how do they use deception7 how do they use stealth7 how do they misdirect the russians? how do they paralyse any russian mobile reserves, detect russian artillery early and kill it? and of course, the constant battle between waves at the moment with uavs for awareness, which gives this new ability to really see over the hill and see what each side is planning that makes this more challenging than maybe it would have been, say, in 1991 in the gulf, where there were similar levels of obstacles, not quite as complex as this, but some of the same philosophy. and of course, that's an almighty challenge for any commander. so i think the merit of ukraine taking their time now, russia's on the defensive, they have time. they can build up their supplies, build a better picture and proceed. to belarus, where opposition blogger and journalist roman protasevich has been pardoned. this is roman speaking about his release to the belarusian state news agency. he thanks president lukashenko

personally for pardoning him. we cannot verify under what conditions he made this statement. to remind you, roman, former editor—in—cheif of belarusian opposition media nehta, was arrested in 2021, after his ryanairflight was forced to land in minsk. last month, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for offences including inciting terrorism, organising mass disturbances and slandering belarusian president alexander lukashenko. earlier i have asked bbc russian's sergei goryashko whether we can trust roman's statement. i mean, earlier there were not only suggestions that he has been speaking under duress and he's been under great pressure. even roman's parents told to the different independent media that people should not trust what roman is saying publicly now, being in detention in belarus,

that he's speaking under duress and his girlfriend sofia sapega is taken hostage as roman was taken hostage himself, which is why it's questionable whether those lines from him that he's thankfulfor his pardon, that he's pardoned, he won't spend any time in a penal colony, those are trustworthy. nevertheless, as we can see, roman is not in prison. he's not been taken neither in prison, neither in a penal colony, so he won't serve his eight—year sentence, and it's a question what the belarusian regime, what alexander lukashenko's regime would do next to him as another hostage taken by the belarusian authorities. mm, and he wasn't alone when he was arrested, was he? his then—girlfriend sofia sapega, a russian citizen, was arrested and sentenced to six years in a belarusian prison.

what do we know about her fate? that's right and, moreover, sofia sapega also asked for a presidential pardon but she was not granted one. now the question of her being transferred to her homeland, to russia, is being discussed and i believe on the 24th of may there should be a court heraring which should make the decision whether sofia will be transferred to russia... 0r or will she transfer to a penal colony or remain in prison? there were lots of talk that she has said all those things out loud about lukashenko and like praising belarusian authorities, giving information about other belarusian opposition activists, the kgb and security services, that he is doing

all of this just to save her and make her feet all of this just to save her and make herfeet easier, notjust make the authority sent her home to russia and not keep her in prison. but still she is in prison now and she is not being released. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some stories making news across the uk. a report says that many of the young survivors of the manchester arena bombing have failed to receive adequate psychological support. it's six years since the attack in which 22 people died and more than 900 were injured at an ariana grande concert. the report, by the charity national emergencies trust and lancaster university, suggests some have been offered no support at all. the labour leader keir starmer has pledged to get the nhs "off its knees" by tackling waiting lists and deaths from heart disease and stroke. he's been setting out his plans for the health service, should labour win the next general election, during a speech in essex.

two leading academics are calling for all potential work—related suicides to be investigated by the health and safety executive. writing in the british medical journal, the experts said change was needed after the death of the head teacher, ruth perry, following an 0fsted inspection. the watchdog says it carries out its work professionally and sensitively. you're live with bbc news. now to the political crisis raging in pakistan for the past 10 days, since the arrest of former prime minister imran khan. that prompted his supporters to take to the streets, even entering the army headquarters compound, amid unprecedented anger publicly expressed against the powerful army. imran khan has been speaking to the bbc�*s mishal hussain about the instability in his country, and his arrest earlier this month. the way to bring stability to pakistan is free and fair elections.

what free and fair elections would do is they would bring political stability, and once you have political stability, only then can you bring economic stability. right now, because there is a political instability, no one knows where the country is going. people are not even sure the elections will be held on time. already, the government has violated the constitution, the two provincial assembly elections were supposed to be held in punjab, that's 70% of pakistan. they were supposed to be held on may the 14th. so the government has already violated the constitution. the reason being, they are scared that my party is so ahead in the polls, they are scared they will lose. so they have violated the constitution. now, worry right now is they won't even hold the elections in october.

general elections scheduled for october in time. saudi arabia's first female astronaut is due to dock with the international space station within the next half hour or so. rayyanah barnawi, a stem cell researcher and breast cancer specialist, isjoined by fellow saudi ali al-qarni, a fighter pilot. they are on a private chartered flight organised by the elon musk—owned company axiom space. they launched from cape canaveral in florida yesterday and are due to spend ten days or so aboard the international space station. mishaal ashemimry is an aerospace engineer and the special adviser to the saudi space commission. she watched the launch at cape canaveral in florida. having the first female aboard the ax—2 mission, astronaut rayyanah barnawi to represent the saudi youth, will inspire all. as she said, you know, we hope this mission will inspire girls from various backgrounds, who not only will have an opportunity that they've never

had before, but will embrace talent and intellect in order to advance the human experience. we're expecting live pictures of the capsule docking with the international space station just before 2.30pm this afternoon. so stick with us as we continue to bring you the latest on this story. these are the live pictures i am assuming from cape canaveral control centre and that is where the shuttle departed from, it was a bit earlier today but if you do stay with us, we will try to bring you the very latest on this really exciting story, this private mission to the international space station, made even more — international space station, made even more significant _ international space station, made even more significant and - international space station, made even more significant and exciting because this mission includes first saudi female astronaut, the first arab female astronaut, to travel to the orbiting laboratory, the international space station.

now to the general election in greece. the governing new democracy party has achieved a resounding victory, which the party's leader, prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis, has called "a political earthquake". he described his party's a1% share of the vote as a mandate to govern for four more years. but with almost all the votes counted, the centre—right party looks set to fall short of an absolute majority. 0ur europe correspondent nick beake, is following the elections from athens. prime minister mitsotakis is in a strong position because it was always going to be difficult for him to secure an outright majority in this vote because of the changes to the electoral system that he inherited, but he has done much better than the pollsters here in greece had predicted. they were talking about a six percentage point lead over a series of left—wing opposition, as it turns out it was more than 20%,

so they really underestimated the level of support for him. in terms of what happens today, the post voting procedure kicks in so the official results will be taken to the presidential mansion, the greek president, she will then invite prime minister mitsotakis to form an administration, but from his point of view and for the prime minister, he is not going to want to do that because he has seen the share of the vote top 40% and what everybody expects here is that there will be another general election in greece, probably in a month, and what will happen there is that a new system of voting will certainly come in and as part of this, if you top the polls prime minister mitsotakis will think he has a better chance to secure that outright majority. mark cavendish — one of uk's most successful cyclists — has announced his retirement from professional cycling at the end of this season. the 38—year—old racked up 161

victories, including 3a at the tour de france to equal the record of the belgian great eddy merckx. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. this week may not, technically speaking, bring us a heatwave. however, it is going to feel warm where you get to see some sunshine and it is going to be largely dry. but it certainly hasn't been wall to wall sunshine everywhere so far today. this was suffolk earlier on with quite a lot of cloud in the, on with quite a lot of cloud in the sky, that cloud across some central and eastern parts of england has been producing the odd spot of drizzle. there should be a bit more brightness here towards the end of the day. we've also got this stripe of cloud pushing southwards across southern scotland, northern england, that could generate the odd shower. the highest temperatures across parts of the west midlands, south east wales and south west england up to 22 or 23 degrees.

tonight, it will be predominantly dry with clear spells and variable amounts of cloud, perhaps more generally cloudy weather rolling into northern ireland and western scotland later in the night. a little bit chilly for some of us. one or two places down to around four or five degrees. but the weather this week dominated by this big egg—shaped area of high pressure extending in from the atlantic. that's going to keep things largely dry. the winds coming in around the top of that area of high pressure, not a particularly warm wind direction, but not feeling too bad where you get some sunshine. there will be some spells of sunshine tomorrow, perhaps the best of that across england and wales, a bit more cloud for northern ireland and scotland, maybe just squeezing out to the odd spot of drizzle in places. now, temperatures just a touch down on today's values for many of us. but regardless of the temperatures, if you have sunshine overhead, uv levels moderate or high. so do protect yourself. so do protect yourself if you're out for any length of time. now into wednesday, we will see a frontal system pushing southwards across scotland

and northern ireland. a very weak affair, a little bit of rain, certainly an area of clouds. to the south of that, some sunny spells for england and wales and a slightly warmer day again, highs of around 20, 21 degrees, always a little bit cooler across the northwest of scotland. now, later in the week, our area of high pressure is expected to move eastwards. that will keep things largely dry, depending on the exact shape of this high, the exact positioning of the high. well, we may start to tap into some slightly warmer air from the south east. that is open to question. but there are signs that through the end of the week and into the weekend, it could turn a little bit warmerfor some of us. not a heat wave, but feeling pleasant in the sunshine.

evidence emerges that uk regulators and us regulators were informed interest rate manipulation in the 2008 financial crisis. also ahead, facebook and meta is set with a $1.3 billion perfine and explain facebook and meta is set with a $1.3 billion per fine and explain why. and hit... this is world business report, in ben thompson and we start with news that evidence of the uk

and us regulators were informed