breaking news and sport... roy hodgson steps down as the manager of premier league club crystal palace — hours before their crucial clash with rivals everton. he was taken ill during training last week. and the bafta goes to, if i can read it... oppenheimer. and oppenheimer was the big winner at the baftas, taking home seven prizes, including best film. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live. the widow of alexei navalny — the russian opposition leader who died injail last week — has accused the russian president, vladimir putin, of killing her husband. in a video statement, yulia navalnaya said, the russian authorities are hiding his body. she promised that she would continue her husband's fight for a free russia.

our correspondent bethany bell reports from brussels, where mr navalny�*s widow is meeting european foreign ministers. alexei navalny�*s widow yulia says she will continue to fight for a free russia. she says her husband was killed because the russian president vladimir putin couldn't break him. translation: another person should l be here in my place but that person l was killed by vladimir putin. we know exactly why putin killed alexei three days ago. we will tell you soon. but the most important thing we can do for alexei and for ourselves is to go on fighting. i will continue alexei's work. alexei navalny died in this prison camp in the arctic circle. prison authorities say he suffered sudden death syndrome. the kremlin has denied involvement in his death, calling the accusations "frankly obnoxious".

it says there are no results yet in the investigation into the death. earlier, mr navalny�*s mother was blocked from entering a mortuary where his body was believed to be. today yulia navalnaya is in brussels meeting with eu foreign ministers. the eu's foreign policy chief says they are considering new punishments against those responsible for mr navalny�*s treatment. member states will propose sanctions, for sure, against those responsible. the great responsible is putin himself. other ministers said mr navalny�*s death underlines the wider threat posed by russia in ukraine. eu ministers are keen to support the political opposition in russia and honour mr navalny�*s memory. there are also calls for measures to punish those responsible for his treatment.

but with so many other sanctions already in place, their options are somewhat limited. bethany bell, bbc news, brussels. earlier i spoke to mark sabah, the former head of communications for the global magnitskyjustice campaign — a group that seeks to impose asset freezes on human rights abusers and corrupt officials i asked him if it was a viable option to seize russia's frozen assests. this was one of the suggestions made today by estonia's prime minister. i think it's very viable. i think assets have been frozen around the world since the start of the war with ukraine. those assets should be collected and actually given to ukraine to help with their own rebuilding and reconstruction. there's very little that can be done, as history has shown in the last few years, to pressure president putin to change the way that he is running his country and the way he's behaving, so let's exert pressure from the outside.

on a practical level, to seize those frozen assets, give them to ukraine — i mean, how easy or difficult is that practically? well, the assets are frozen by individual countries who seize houses, yachts, bank accounts, state assets and so on, and what you can have is an intermediary account set up managed by an international consortium where the money goes to and is then distributed to ukraine for its own reconstruction. so if there was a will, you could do this, you think, relatively easily? i mean, you need the will. there are lots of countries that have the will to do it, and now you need to have everyone willing to cooperate to make it happen, but there's no doubt that all the frozen assets should be given in some way to ukraine for reconstruction. in terms of the amount of money we're talking about, assets frozen, what is that roughly as a figure? so as a rough estimate, we think it's approximately us $300 billion. i believe in the uk it's around

£22 billion that have been frozen — and that's everything from state assets, houses, yachts, who knows what other assets and bank accounts and savings and so on. but there's a rough estimate of around 300 billion around the world. we heard in that piece the eu leaders talking about consequences without defining what those consequences could be, so that is one key area and i've seen a lot of comment about this whole area of using frozen assets. if there were other things, and we've had sanctions since the start of this war in ukraine, what else is there that could be done that isn't being done? well, there's a few things. first of all, the sanctions regimes should be tightened for those who killed navalny, but also there should be some sort of penalty for organisations who continue to work for sanctioned individuals and sanctioned companies. there are public affairs agencies, lobbying firms, media organisations, pr firms and so on who continue to take money from sanctioned individuals — that should be stopped. we should also look at expelling russia from some multilateral institutions.

there comes a point where you have to say "enough is enough" when it comes to this behaviour. but the really important thing is this — the world's authoritarian states are looking at russia to see how it behaves and how it will handle all of this, and the more the western democracies don't have a cohesive and firm policy towards it, then that gives a green light to countries like china, venezuela, iran to do what they want, knowing that western countries don't have a strategy for dealing with it. just a quick final thought about what is happening inside of russia, because the official explanation around cause of death keeps flip—flopping, all sorts of things being thrown out there. do you think that's a deliberate strategy, that if there is no set line, it becomes harder then to dismantle one position? well, i think it's a few things. first of all, it's an incohesive place. each department will be putting out its own statement. each department and each person will say what they want. but also, this is a playbook in

russia that we've seen many times. when sergei magnitsky was killed in 2009, there was an investigation, there wasn't an investigation. they found him guilty of dying by stoppage of breath before they admitted that he was beaten. so we're going to see the same with navalny, a constant flip—flopping of the reasons, the causes and the outcomes. that was mark sabah from the global magnitskyjustice campaign talking to me a short while ago. israel has given the first indication, of when its forces might launch a ground offensive against rafah in southern gaza. a minister in the israeli war cabinet, benny gantz, said, the assault would begin in three weeks unless hamas releases all the hostages. it comes as the hamas—run gaza health ministry says, over 29,000 palestinians have been killed, and more than 69,000 injured, in israeli strikes since the offensive began. the area is currently overcrowded, with at least 1.4 million palestinians sheltering there, after they were made to move away from northern and central parts of the gaza strip. mr gantz said the message was clear.

if by ramadan hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere — to include rafah area. we will do so in coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians, in dialogue with our american and egyptian partners to minimise the civilian casualties as much as possible. a little earlier i spoke tojotam confino, foreign editor at the jewish news, who joined us from tel aviv. he talked me through israel's timeline. well, first of all, this is obviously because of increased pressure by the united states on israel to postpone this military operation. they've constantly said that unless you have a viable plan to evacuate the civilians,

you should not enter rafah, and, of course, israel knows this, so it's now giving some sort of a timeline, three weeks roughly, for hamas to either surrender or release the hostages, and if not, they're going to go into rafah. and as both benny gantz has said, but also the defence minister, who i was in a briefing with over the weekend, it's inevitable for israel to go into rafah as long as there are hostages and as long as hamas is present there. so unless hamas gives in to those demands, we will see a military operation there. now, if that's in three weeks' time, the logic flows out of that that whatever evacuation plan israel is putting together, that presumably has to be made public within, say, the next week or ten days if it has the remotest chance of moving 1.4 million people out of harm's way? absolutely. we are hearing certain leaks in the american media — the wall streetjournal reported that israel is preparing to set up almost cities of tents along

the coast, but we haven't heard anything specific. but they need to present this, obviously. the americans need to know, the palestinians need to know, the world needs to know what is going to happen to those 1.3 million palestinians in rafah. now, egypt is, of course, bolstering its fence. it's constantly preparing for the possibility of palestinians trying to cross the border into the sinai desert. they will not accept that. so they're pushing in one direction and the israelis are pushing them in another direction, so they are really caught in between those two powers. just briefly on this, because over the weekend we saw large protests there in tel aviv — how much pressure is benjamin netanyahu under? incredible pressure. the hostages, the families of the hostages have openly said that the government has abandoned them. four months into this war, they are furious with netanyahu also for not compromising with hamas. instead, he insists on total victory, destroying hamas and bringing the hostages out.

everyone knows that that's not possible so they are fed up, which is why we see increasing protests on a daily basis, and they are extremely angry, to put it mildly. there are so many potential pressure points. we have one coming up this friday because that was the deadline set by the icj for israel to cease all activities that might amount to genocide. now, even since that ruling from the hague, you've had ismail ben—gvir talking about the need to force palestinians completely out of the gaza strip. again, do you think by friday we're going to get anything significant in terms of something from israel that addresses what the icj had actually demanded that they do? well, we asked the defence minister this weekend when we were in a briefing with him and he said he believes that there will be a response, that there will be some sort of an official statement in response to the icj. so of course we need to wait to hear that.

statement or change of tactics? it's hard to understand really what he was hinting at, but there will be an announcement. i'm not sure there will be a change in strategy, but there will be a push back at least to what the icj is saying or demanding. that was jotam cofino editor of the jewish news talking to me a little earlier. a quick pointerfor jewish news talking to me a little earlier. a quick pointer for what is coming up in the next few minutes, you're few weeks ago the huge story that at the sub—postmasters, the sub—postmasters, the post office scandal was here in the uk. another twist over the weekend because the former chair of the post office, henry staunton alleging that the government had asked him to delay compensation payments to the victims of the horizon it scandal. the business secretary kemi badenoch has denied that and went on to social media straightaway hitting back, calling those comments full of lies. she is expected in the house of commons in the next b minutes. this

is the scene in advance of that, but kemi badenoch will make a statement and we will also hear from the opposition, so that is a very serious allegation that the government asked for delays in payments to limp through to the next election, that was the phrase that henry staunton used in that article over the weekend. so that is the scene at westminster. we will return there just as soon as those statements happen. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. international shipping experts have confirmed a strike on a british ship by yemen s iran—backed houthi rebels. the rubymar was hit by two missiles and severley damaged in the gulf of aden. the crew are reported to have abandoned the vessel

after an explosion. it s said to be at risk of sinking. there are not thought to have been any injuries. a search has resumed after a two—year—old boy fell into a river in leicester. emergency services were called to the river soar, in the aylestone area, late on sunday afternoon, but so far haven't been able to find the boy who was with his family at the time he fell into the water. one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, the eiffel tower, is closed to visitors today because of a strike. france's cgt union say staff at the paris landmark want a salary increase. visitors to the 300 metre high tower have soared in the run—up to this summer's olympics in the french capital. hey few stories making headlines. you're live with bbc news. an english channel migrant, who piloted a dinghy — four of whose passengers drowned — has been found guilty of their manslaughter after two trials. ibrahima bah, who is from senegal, was convicted by a majority of ten to two at canterbury crown court. dominic casciani reports.

a light in the dark. cries in the distance. the early hours of december 2022, a fishing boat in the english channel discovers a sinking migrants' dinghy. men swim for their lives. 39 saved. at least four drowned. this man in the blue coat, ibrahima bah, accused of their manslaughter. he agreed to pilot the inflatable to england. over two trials, prosecutors said he was criminally responsible for the deaths. when it began taking on water, he could have taken the dinghy back to france. one of the survivors from that night told the bbc everyone feared they would drown. people stood up inside the boat and then the boat collapsed. i don't know whether he is a smuggler, a refugee, asylum seeker, but he helped us and he saved us. i don't know what to say. he was speeding the boat in order to get closer to the fishing boat, and also turned or swerved the boat

in a way that helped us. and this is why the crossings are so dangerous. this boat is a similar size and construction the one that ibrahima bah was in. the border force have got it out to show us and filled it with the items they find, typically, in every rescue. you've got buoyancy aids, used on canoes on lakes and rivers, totally unsuitable for the job. you've got fuel bottles. you've got foot pumps. and look at this, the construction. it's basically a bouncy castle. and that's why they say these are a death trap. jurors were told smugglers had offered ibrahima bah a free seat in return for the piloting, so prosecutors argued the deaths occurred as part of a criminal enterprise, the senegalese man was responsible for everyone's safety and could have foreseen the tragedy. but bah said he had no choice — the smugglers threatened to kill him when he had second thoughts.

this manslaughter trial has been unprecedented. more than 140 other people have been prosecuted for piloting boats since 2022 — boats that have brought 30,000 men, women and children on dangerousjourneys. a trade the government is under huge political pressure to stop. dominik casciani with that report. there has been a ban in many countries across africa to ban the trade in donkey skin. it has been fuelled by the trade for chinese medicine that is made from doggy height. —— donkey hide.

this donkey is much more than raziki's companion. translation: without my donkey life would be incredibly challenging. - with their strength and ability to work in heat and drought, these animals mean the difference between a livelihood and destitution for millions of people in poor, rural communities around the world. they can be a lifeline. but these photographs tell another story. donkeys taken to slaughter for their skins. apologies, there is kemi badenoch at the dispatch box. the apologies, there is kemi badenoch at the dispatch box.— the dispatch box. the allegations are completely — the dispatch box. the allegations are completely false _ the dispatch box. the allegations are completely false and - the dispatch box. the allegations are completely false and i - the dispatch box. the allegations are completely false and i would | are completely false and i would like to make a statement to the house so that honourable members and the british public know the truth about what exactly has happened. i would like to address three specific claims that mr staunton made in his sunday times interview, claims which are patently untrue. first, mr stanton alleges that i refused to apologise to him after he learned of his dismissal from sky news. apologise to him after he learned of his dismissalfrom sky news. that was not the case. in the call he referenced, i made it abundantly clear that i disapproved of the media breaking any aspect of the story. out of respect for henry staunton�*s reputation, i went to great pains to make my concerns

about his conduct private. in fact, in my interviews with the press, repeatedly said that i refuse to carry out hr in public. that is why it is so disappointing that he has chosen to spread a series of falsehoods, provide a made up anecdotes to journals and leak discussions held in confidence and this confirms my mind i made the correct decision dismissing him. hear hear. a second, he claimed that i told him someone has to take the rap for the horizon scandal. and that was the reason for his dismissal. that was not the reason at all. i dismissed him because there were serious concerns about his behaviour as chair, including those raised from other directors on board. my department found significant governance issues, with the recruitment of a new senior independent director, for example, to the board, and the public about the process was under way, but mr staunton much to bypass it and appoint someone from within the

existing board without due process possibly failed to properly consult the post office board on proposal and failed to hold the required nominations committee and most importantly, he failed to consult the government is a shell holder, which the company was required to do. i know that honourable members will agree that such a cavalier approach to governance was the last thing we needed in the post office given its historic feelings. i should also inform the house that while he was in post, a formal investigation was launched into allegations made regarding his conduct —— given its historic failings. this included serious matters such as bullying. concerns were brought to my department's attention about his unwillingness to cooperate with that, so it is right that the british public know about the facts of this case and the phone call that i dismissed mr staunton and it was minuted,. i am depositing and it was minuted,. i am depositing a copy of the readout on both

libraries of the house honourable members and the public can see the truth. personal information relating to other post office employees in those minutes had been redacted. it is for all these reasons that an interim chair will be appointed shortly and i will update the house when we have further details. finally, mr staunton claims that when he was first appointed chair of the post office he was told by a senior civil servant to stall on pink on sensation. there is no evidence whatsoever that this is true —— still on paying compensation. he received a letter from the base permanent secretary on ninth december 2022 welcoming him to the role. making it crystal clear that are successfully reaching settlements with victims of the post office scandal should be one of his highest priorities. that letter is any public domain, the words are there are black—and—white and copies of the correspondence will be placed in the libraries of of both houses. the reality is my department has done everything it can to speed up

compensation payments are victims, we have already made payments totalling £160 million across all three compensation schemes and that includes our announcement last autumn of the option £600,000 affixed award for those wrongfully convicted. it is the strongest reputation of those of this house that he would claim we only acted after the itv drama mr bates versus the post office. british people should know that he dedicated team of ministers and civil servants have been working around the clock for many months to hasten the pursuit of justice and bring swift a fair dress to all those affected. to that end, i'm pleased that all 2417 postmasters who climbed through the original horizon shortfall scheme have had offers of compensation. and the post office is dealing properly with late applications and where the initial offer has not been accepted. my initial offer has not been accepted. my department has also established the horizon compensation unit to ensure money gets to the right people without a moments delay. we

announce this autumn an additional £150 million to the post office to help men meet the costs of participating in the post office horizon inquiry and deliver compensation to postmasters. in all, we have committed £1 billion to ensure wrong postmasters can be fully and fairly compensated and we are taking unprecedented steps with the forthcoming legislation to quash convictions of postmasters affected by the horizon scandal. in short, we are putting our money where our mouth is and our shoulders to the wheel and ensuring justice is done. it is not fair on the victims of the scandal, which has already ruined so many lives and livelihoods, to claim, as mr staunton has done, that this is being dragged out a second longer than it ought to be. for henry staunton to suggest otherwise, for whatever personal motives, is a disgrace. it risks damaging confidence in any compensation schemes which ministers and civil servants are working so hard to deliver. i would servants are working so hard to deliver. iwould hope servants are working so hard to deliver. i would hope the most people reading the interview and yesterday's sunday times would see it for what it yesterday�*s sunday times would see

it for what it was— yesterday's sunday times would see it for what it was— a blatant attempt to seek revenge following dismissal. mr speaker, i must sayi regret the way in which these events have unfolded. i did everything we could to manage this dismissal any dignified way for mr staunton and others, however, iwill dignified way for mr staunton and others, however, i will not hesitate to defend myself and, more importantly, my officials who cannot respond directly to these baseless attacks. right now, the post office's number one priority must be delivering compensation to postmasters who have not already been compensated. those who fell victim to a 40 it system at implemented and which they turn a blind eye to when brave whistle—blowers like alan bates sounded the alarm —— faulty it system. the government will leave no stone unturned is uncovering the truth behind the horizon scandal, pursuing justice for the victims and families and we are delivering on that promise were looking for any other possible steps we can take to full and final settlement can be reached as quickly as possible. it is right that we reflect two on the cultural practices at the post office, which allowed the horizon

scandal to happen in the first place. a culture which let those at the highest ranks of the organisation arbitrarily dismiss the real concerns of the sub—postmasters who are the lifeblood of their business and pillars of the local community. while the post office may have failed to stand by its postmasters of the past, we are ensuring they do everything they can to champion them today and an environment that respects their employees and customers. that is how we will rebuild trust and ensure the british public can have confidence in a post office now and the future, i commend the statement to the house. ifirmly agree i firmly agree that the revelations in the sunday times at the weekend could not be more serious, in particular the claim that the post office was instructed to deliberately go slow on compensation payments to sub—postmasters in order to push the financial liability into the next parliament. if true, it would be a further outrageous insult to a scandal that has already rocked

faith in the fairness of the british state. it cannot be allowed to stand if it is the case and if it is not, it must be shown to be false in no uncertain terms. yet we do now have two completely contrasting accounts, one from the former chair of the post office and one from the secretary of state. only one of these accounts can be the truth. i hope we are all in agreement that parliament is the correct place for these matters to be raised and clarified. because what we need now is transparency and scrutiny. so can i ask the secretary of state, will she categorically state that the post office was at no point told to delay compensation payments by either an official or minister from any government department? and at no point was it alluded to that a delay would be a benefit to the treasury? world now be a cabinet office investigation to ensure that no such instruction or inference was given at any point. crucially, is at the

£1 billion figure of compensation which the secretary of state quite helpfully just which the secretary of state quite helpfullyjust repeated already allocated and that any department for business and trade accounts are ready to be paid? if it is not, will be see compensation payments itemise specifically in the upcoming budget? the secretary of state will also understand that following the story at the weekend, victims of other scandals, especially contaminated blood, now feel that they need to ask the question as to whether they have been victims of deliberate inaction. can the government provide assurances that no such obstruction has been placed on any payments of that kind? and if so, what is the delay with some of these cases? and in the full interests of transparency and to fully ascertain the veracity of any allegations comedy sub—postmasters and relevant correspondence, minutes of meetings between the department, treasury, post office between this time? and

when can we expect the legislation on exoneration that was promised by the prime minister? i cannot stress enough how the last thing needed in the scandal was any further allegations of cover—ups or obfuscation at the very top of government. people's faith in government. people's faith in government already damaged from scandals like hillsborough and bloody sunday and windrush is hanging by a thread. and this miscarriage ofjustice has shown the devastation that can occur when institutions are allowed to operate without oversight or shredded by secrecy. so we should all agree that secrecy. so we should all agree that secrecy must end and the full sunlight of public scrutiny brought to bear. and if everything secretary of state has told austria is correct, surely there will be no objection to that happening in full. —— has told us is correct. thank you, mr speaker. iwould —— has told us is correct. thank you, mr speaker. i would like to welcome the tone the shadow... studio: jonathan meadows, labour opposition, posing a few questions to kemi badenoch,

we will then go to westminster and get the analysis of our correspondent. kemi badenoch saying the allegations made by henry staunton are completely false, patently untrue, and she went through the three key allegations she hadn't apologised about him hitting his dismissal on sky news, she addressed at first, she then addressed the second one, saying that quote he used in that sunday times article that someone had to take the rap for the horizon scandal, that was the reason for his sacking, she described that as again false. there were serious failings, his cavalier approach to governance being among them, and thirdly, that crucial allegation that he had made that he had been told by senior civil servants to stall on compensation payments and she referred to the letter welcoming him to the role saying that successful

settlements should be among his priorities. she described all of thatis priorities. she described all of that is a blatant attempt to get revenge after his sacking. jonathan reynolds, the opposition saying the allegations about delays of payments till after the election could not be more serious and now he said you have completely contrasting competing accounts, only one can be true. he called for more transparency and scrutiny. let's go to westminster. our correspondent was listening to that. she didn't mince her words in terms of a response. but what was your headline tour from what you heard? she response. but what was your headline tour from what you heard?— tour from what you heard? she didn't hold back, did — tour from what you heard? she didn't hold back, did she? _ tour from what you heard? she didn't hold back, did she? clearly _ tour from what you heard? she didn't hold back, did she? clearly hurt - tour from what you heard? she didn't hold back, did she? clearly hurt by i hold back, did she? clearly hurt by this interview given to the sunday times at the weekend. he made a series of allegations in there, and she went through three of them in

particular that she