hello, i'm carl nasman. it comes as no surprise... russian president vladimir putin has claimed a landslide victory in the country's election. exit polls suggest mr putin received about 87% of votes cast. however, there was never a level playing field. any credible opposition to vladimir putin is either injail, in exile, barred from running, or dead. at a news conference on sunday, he thanked his supporters. he downplayed this week's protests in russia, praised china, and said it is the west, not russia, that lacks democracy. mr putin said he is open to talks about a ceasefire in ukraine during the summer olympics. but he said if western countries were to send troops to ukraine, it could put the world on the brink of world war 3.

as the bbc�*s russia editor steve rosenberg reports, mr putin also mentioned his late critic, alexei navalny, by name. for vladimir putin, six more years in the kremlin. russia's president is sounding more confident than ever. translation: whoever might want to intimidate us, - whoever might want to suppress us, ourwilland our conscience, they have never been able to do it, and never will. then, mr putin's first public comments on the death ofjailed opposition leader alexei navalny. translation: you may be surprised, but a few days i before mr navalny died, some colleagues of mine told me there was an idea to exchange him for certain people in prison in the west. you can believe it or not. i said, "i agree," even before he had finished talking.

but what happened happened. election results on russian tv, not a hold your breath moment. "the winner, by a mile and a half, vladimir putin." "what an incredible level of support and unity around the figure of putin," he says. "and a powerful signal to the west." but in this race, vladimir putin was, from the start, unbeatable. there were other candidates but no serious challenger. potential rivals here are swiftly removed from the political stage, forced into exile or put injail. and elections, tightly controlled by the kremlin. but if they couldn't win, mr putin's opponents could at least protest. and they did, in many parts of russia. opposition figures had called on russians to flood

polling stations at midday, to vote against putin, or spoil their ballots, a symbolic protest against the system. we were here. i've never seen queues like this before at a russian polling station. before his death in prison, alexei navalny had backed the protests. it took courage to come. the authorities had warned that large crowds at noon would be viewed as illegal gatherings. ivan, not his real name, told me why he had come. it was important for me to see the faces of other people who would come here today, and to see that i'm not alone in my political views. and that there are a lot of muscovites and other people who believe that russia can be another country, nd that there are a lot of muscovites and other people who believe that russia can be another country, with another future.

for now, there'll be no change in the kremlin. this election was never about would vladimir putin win or wouldn't he? elections here are designed to ensure he wins, and wins big. from the outset, for the kremlin, this vote was about creating the impression that mr putin has a mandate from his people, not only for war in ukraine, but also for what he's doing at home, transforming russia into an increasingly militaristic society, in confrontation with the west. but across town, muscovites continue to pay tribute to alexei navalny, the man who had wanted to be russia's president. here, a ballot paper. in place of putin's name, navalny�*s. and this message — "he's the candidate we wanted." steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. alexei navalny�*s widow yulia led the calls for the election day protests against vladimir putin. and she took part in demonstrations in berlin on sunday, saying she cast a ballot with her late husband's name written in. and here in washington, an anti—putin protest formed on sunday among voters

and demonstrators to condemn putin's war in ukraine, and the death of alexei navalny. the bbc�*s will vernon was there. it was a large crowd outside the russian embassy today, several hundred people queueing up to cast their votes in this election that as we know is not a genuine election, and most of the people there were also taking part in a protest event. alexei navalny, the late opposition leader, and his supporters had called on russians all across russia and around the world to attend polling stations at midday sharp to register any kind of protest vote they liked against vladimir putin, and there were, you know, bearing in mind that in this part of the united states there aren't huge numbers of russians living here, there were quite a lot of people, and they were holding flags and banners, placards, many of them dressed in the colours of the ukrainian flag or the blue and white of the russian anti—war movement, and one of

alexei navalny�*s closest aides was also there. i had a word with her, she said that alexei navalny would have been delighted to see the turnout today and she said that although this election, so—called election, the outcome is predetermined, she says it is nonetheless important for people to come out and show their solidarity. for more on putin's election victory, i spoke a little earlier with maria snegovaya, seniorfellow for russia and eurasia at the center for strategic and international studies. i want to ask you about these results first, not being called a free or fair election but a big victory nonetheless vladimir putin how he will leverage this victory? do you think he will claim that he won nearly 90% of the vote in this election? it is pretty horrifying, not because of the numbers.

it will probably another record of new electoral fraud and manipulation, but this number is more reflective of how much the president, the leader, is willing and dares to draw, what number and the fact that he has given himself 87%, almost 90%, shows he feels complete completely unrestrained. he has given himself a mandate to do whatever he wishes, whatever he pleases, and in light of this and the war and the russian opposition leader alexei navalny, all of that of course really paints a really dark picture of what is to come next. there were no real opposition figures in this election

but there were protests, we did see those images of people lining up around noon, this was an organised protest, what did you make of it, how surprised were you to see this, given the risks the people face? well, the risks are horrible and of course all of those people deserve admiration and commendation but let's remember what they are reacting against, the horrible murder of alexei navalny, who was kept as a prisoner for the last three years and eventually was murdered by the kremlin. whether directly or indirectly, it is clear it is a political murder. while it is very marvel that these people are showing up in numbers, those numbers are tens of thousands of russians, they still represent a minority. and second, despite the fact that they are showing up, it has not been

constraining putin. in fact, over the last year, putin has been increasingly more and more unhinged and i think what is coming next and i think what is coming next after this election is even more political terror against his political opponents, domestically, and perhaps also externally, as well as another round offensive against ukraine, possibly another mobilisation of people to fight this war. so we should not be unfortunately, you know, distracted by the numbers in the russian streets because we know that they are not constraining putin, as a matter of fact, he is more unhinged and dangerous. there was an interesting moment after the election results were announced, when for the first time in many years, vladimir putin mentioned alexei navalny by name, he almost made it a point previously not to say his name, what did you make of that moment today? that's a great point, it is actually a kgb style not to mention people of political

influence by name, not to assist them, so in that sense putin has certainly followed his training, just to remind you he has a kgb background. at this point, he doesn't feel navalny represents a political threat any more and so he feels free to mention him by name because which was not the case as before. putin has now been in power 2a years longer than anyone in russia since stalin. and he is now set for many more years to come. maria snegovaya, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. after weeks of deadly violence in haiti, police say several gang members have been killed in an operation to clear roadblocks and seize weapons in the capital port—au—prince. the united nations estimates 350 thousand people have been displaced by the unrest. our central america correspondent will grant is one of the first international journalists to gain access to the country, and reports

from cap—haitien where many people have been heading for relative safety. cap—haitien suffers from almost all of haiti's deepest problems — grinding poverty, chaos, disorder and corruption. but, crucially, not gang violence. so it's becoming the main safe haven for people forced to leave the gang—controlled capital, port—au—prince. another bus—load arrives, having run the gauntlet of a dangerous journey. "it took us hours longer than it should, as we had to reroute around the gang checkpoints and there was gunfire," says this passenger, who was clearly shaken. phanel pierre made the same journey six months ago. it's almost impossible to pull yourself from poverty in haiti. phanel managed it. but becoming a middle—class businessman made him a target.

the gangs destroyed his business, ransacked his house and tried to kidnap him, and in the process plunged him and his family back into poverty. translation: this is just| 296 of the life i used to live. infact, i'm not living. i'm just existing. the longer the power vacuum in haiti continues, the worse the humanitarian emergency here becomes. in turn, more and more displaced people will flock to the city of cap—haitien in search of refuge from the violent gangs that have such a tight grip on the capital. one of haiti's main gangs has released a slickly produced video, currently circulating online. it shows a well armed militia, a group prepared to take on the haitian state and any international force which might be deployed here. while the security situation is that of a failed state, so are the politics. we have violence in haiti.

uri latortue was the head of the senate and is currently under us sanctions for alleged links to drug trafficking and gangs. that's something he denies, and points the finger of blame at his opponents instead. the government works with the gangs, and this is the problem. the gangs become another institution of the state. and in this situation, police can't do anything. amid the worsening crisis, the us state department has laid on a charterflight for americans to leave for florida. several dozen took up the opportunity to flee. however, that's a luxury most haitians aren't afforded and must seek a safer place inside haiti instead. will grant, bbc news, cap—haitien, haiti. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a senior cabinet minister has denied the conservative party

has a problem with race after it accepted at least £10 million from a donor who is accused of racism. transport secretary mark harper told the bbc he was in "the most ethnically diverse cabinet there has ever been". tory donor frank hester apologised after reportedly saying ex—labour mp diane abbott made him want to quote, "hate all black women". princess diana's brother earl spencer said he needed residential treatment to deal with trauma after writing his recently released memoir. in the book, he talks about the violent abuse he suffered when he was sent to boarding school at the age of eight. speaking to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg, he said his research for the book led to a breakdown. work on the m25 in surrey is on schedule for completion before rush hour begins injust a few hours time. the unprecedented daytime closure of one of the country's busiest stretches came into force on friday night, with the motorway due to reopen fully at 6am monday morning.

you're live with bbc news. the israeli military says it's launched what it calls a precise operation in parts of al—shifa hospital in gaza city. israeli tanks are reportedly surrounding the hospital, and heavy gunfire has been heard. israeli defence forces rear admiral daniel hagari announced the operation in a video posted on social media and said "our war is against hamas, not against the people of gaza". hamas said israel was again violating international law. meanwhile, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that palestinian civilians will be given the chance to leave rafah before israeli ground forces launch an expected assault on the city in southern gaza. rafah is crammed with some 1.4 million palestinians, many from other parts of gaza, seeking refuge. israel has proposed setting up �*humanitarian islands' for gazans to move to but aid groups say the plan is practically impossible. despite growing international pressure, mr netanyahu doubled down on his position to forge

ahead saying: "no international pressure will stop israel from achieving all of its war aims." he spoke alongside german chancellor olaf scholz who is in the middle east and has re—stated his opposition an israeli offensive on rafah, along with other world leaders. our correspondent mark lowen has more, from jerusalem. well, germany's chancellor, olaf scholz, is keeping the pressure up on benjamin netanyahu over more humanitarian aid getting into gaza, but also over israel's plans to send its military into rafah in southern gaza, where about 1.4 million gazans are sheltering, more than half of the entire population of the gaza strip. israel seems determined to push into rafah, the prime minister saying earlier in the day that israel is determined to push on to total victory, as he says it, which means an operation in rafah to crush hamas and get the israeli hostages back. but that has met with international criticism, not least from the us.

president biden said a week ago that that would cross a red line as far as his administration is concerned. and a couple of days ago, the senate majority leader in the us, in effect, called for benjamin netanyahu's replacement, calling him an obstacle to peace. but in vintage netanyahu style, he is pushing back, he's digging in, he's facing more criticism both at home and abroad. but he is sounding defiant, saying israel will push on, it will achieve these twin aims of destroying hamas and getting the hostages back. and he lambasted his international critics for, in his words, losing their moral conscience and forgetting about the hamas attack of 7th october. the question is, if the israeli military does go into rafah, what would they do with those sheltering there? they would have to find a safe place for them to be. they would have to provide them with food and water. it would take time. it would take manpower. at the moment, the us says they have not received a detailed plan from israel over the operation in rafah.

so there are still big, big questions over the logistics and timing of that operation if indeed it does happen at all. here in the us, presidentjoe biden held a shamrock ceremony on sunday to mark st patrick's day at the white house. the president spoke about the wars in ukraine and gaza, calling for an end to russian aggression and for peace in gaza. ireland's prime minister, or taoiseach, leo varadkar, was also in attendance and echoed similar sentiments when speaking of the worsening humanitarian situation in gaza. and the taoiseach and i agree about the urgent increased humanitarian aid in gaza and the need to get a ceasefire deal and bring the hostages home and move towards a two state solution which is the only path for lasting peace and security. the people of gaza desperately need food, medicine, and shelter, and most especially they need the bombs to stop. this has to stop on both sides, the hostages brought home and humanitarian

relief allowed in. for more on the humanitarian situation in gaza, i spoke to adam ramadan. he's the deputy director of rebuilding alliance — an organizaation working to give aid to palestinians in war—torn neighborhoods. thank you forjoining us, i know many of your colleagues have been working in gaza, how would you describe the situation in the territory right now? the situation in gaza is really, really difficult to bear. when we talk to our partners on a daily basis, we are looking at them, we are hearing their stories, just from their physical presence we can see they are losing weight, they are losing half of their body weight because of a lack of humanitarian aid that is entering. currently, we are managing over 20 kitchens in gaza and trying to feed over 20,000 people a day in partnership with the world food programme.

given the experience you have had there, we know there have been extreme difficulties of bringing aid into the territory, what are your teams on the ground experiencing? are they also having trouble getting the food they need, the supplies they need? yes, before the war in gaza, our community, we were cooking 4,000 meals a day as part of our commitment to give back to the community and since the escalation of the conflict and the war, we have ramped up our efforts to provide aid, cooking almost 50,000 meals a day, and now with the holy month of ramadan, we are aiming to reach 100,000 meals a day, and with limited aid getting into rafah, our partnership with the world food programme, they provide us food commodities but also the majority of our food items are locally sourced and we are hearing feedback from our partners of the difficulties of obtaining these items and the sourcing of the supplies and the increase in costs. and even some of the aid

that is arriving into rafah has often grown rotten and mouldy, due to the additional challenges of waiting to enter into gaza. you mention of course this is the holy month of ramadan, people there obviously are celebrating in at least some way, what has marking the holy month and these celebrations looked like in the midst of such devastation in gaza ? palestinian people in gaza are so resilient, they are not letting anything come in their way of providing the displaced families in rafah, they are coming together, as a community. we are seeing doctors, teachers, people of all different professional backgrounds come together, willing to use their personal resources and funds to ensure that families around them and their neighbours around them and those displaced have food to eat. they are breaking fast together, it is such a beautiful thing, it is bringing me to tears just to think about such circumstances that they are in, and they are able to come

together and power each other to provide what is best for themselves. at the same time, it is very devastating to see that the war is still continuing up on this point, and it is now more than ever that we should be calling for a ceasefire and opening more crossings into gaza, we need to bring more aid, we need to bring aid into any point in gaza at this point because people are starving, we are having reports from the north that people are not receiving food. your organisation is called in rebuilding alliance, part of what you do is help rebuild war—torn communities. when it comes to gaza, 85% of people are now displaced, more than half of buildings have been destroyed, what would the rebuilding efforts even look like in gaza? essentially, right now, our main focus is to provide humanitarian aid to the communities affected by the conflict. we understand the rebuilding process will take a lot of effort and a really long time.

we started back in 2003 with rachael corrie when she was killed by the israeli bulldozer, standing in front of the house, trying to protect the house that housed her, rebuilding alliance started by rebuilding the house that she stood to protect against, and it took a while. before i let you go, i know you have returned from the west bank, you were there with a bipartisan delegation of us congress members, what was that experience like? and what did you hear from those lawmakers? what was discussed during that trip? part of our advocacy team, we bring us congressional staff members to the west bank and jerusalem, we offer this opportunity for them to witness first—hand the realities faced by palestinians on a daily basis. since october 7th, there has been noticeable increase in security checkpoints, heightened military presence, tensions between the palestinians and the idf, the israel defence forces,

the access intojerusalem has been severely restricted for palestinians, work permits have been stripped from the palestinians so we are seeing a huge increase in poverty in the west bank and jerusalem, mainly affecting the palestinian, the israeli arabs, so with the experiences that they learn post—october 7th will definitely push for a peace between israel and palestine. adam ramadan, with the rebuilding alliance, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. let's turn to some important news around the world. a state of emergency has been declared in south—west iceland after the fourth volcanic eruption since december. the latest is believed to be the most powerful so far, with lava bursting 200 metres into the air at times. the village of grindavik has been evacuated again, only a month after residents were allowed to return. people around the world have been marking st patrick's day

with parades and events celebrating irish culture. this was the scene in chicago, where the city's river was dyed bright green. it's an annual tradition that dates back to 1962. the environmentally friendly dye does not harm wildlife and only stays in the water for around five hours. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. we're into some much milderfeeling air now with temperatures in the mid teens quite widely on sunday as a wet start to the day for some of us. but we saw some sunny spells emerging such as here in nottinghamshire and there's more sunshine on offer as we head through monday — it's a similar looking day. for the vast majority of us, it should stay dry, some low cloud, mist and murk to begin with, but then it will brighten up quite nicely. but overnight there are some weather fronts just gradually clearing eastwards.

a lot of the showery rain is starting to fizzle out on the easterly track. and this is how we'll start off the day on monday. temperatures between five and eight degrees. it's a cooler start than yesterday morning across much of england and wales. but still temperatures in mid to high single figures so mild for the time of year. lots of dry weather around these areas of cloud just pushing further eastwards, the rain fizzling out. a lot of dry weather, some sunshine, clouds thickening from the west as we head through the afternoon. and there will be some rain across northern ireland for the second half of the day, too. a brisk south—westerly wind blowing, particularly for irish sea coast. and it's still mild, it's warm but not quite as warm as on sunday, perhaps temperatures between 11 and 16 degrees celsius. and there's more rain on monday night. it's just dragging its way further eastwards as we head through the night and into tuesday. so tuesday we'll see this front sinking southwards and eastwards bringing more cloud across east anglia, the far south east of england. showery outbreaks of rain pushing eastwards across scotland. but for many central areas

there'll be some bright spells and perhaps a scattering of showers, too. it's turning cooler now in the north and the west. but still, that mild air hangs on further south and east, 16 degrees celsius here. and you can see that quite nicely on the air mass chart here with that milder feeling air, still the south—westerly wind, colderfeeling, conditions taking hold across the north and the west. now, as we go through wednesday, we're going to start to see this wave develop on this front, and that's going to bring us perhaps some further outbreaks of rain, but still a lot of uncertainty regarding just where this rain is likely to be. it could clear away from eastern scotland towards the end of the day. and i think many north—western areas could stay largely dry, too. look, it's still very mild across the south east of england, 17 degrees celsius, perhaps here. as we go through thursday though, we're likely to see some more rain, especially in the south of england and wales. and it could turn a bit colder by friday. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the latest news headlines follow at the top of the hour, after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.

wherever there is war, there is human suffering. in gaza, israel's relentless military offensive, triggered by that murderous hamas attack of last october 7th, has killed more than 31,000 people and left two million in urgent need of food, water and shelter. there are other wars, other humanitarian emergencies also crying out for an international response. from ukraine to sudan, ethiopia and beyond. my guest is jan egeland, secretary general of the norwegian refugee council. are aid agencies overwhelmed in a world seemingly incapable of protecting the vulnerable?