that is what an aide tells the bbc. vladimir putin is given a red carpet welcome in china at the start of his first overseas visit since beginning his latest term as russian president. junior doctors in england have agreed to meet the government for talks in a pay dispute, which has run for more than a year. and we have an exclusive interview with sir eltonjohn and his husband ahead of their upcoming photography exhibition in london. hello. i'm sally bundock. warm welcome the programme. we begin in slovakia where the slovakian prime minister, robert fico, remains in hospital after hours

of surgery to save his life following an apparent assassination attempt. local media reported that the prime minister had regained consciousness. the deputy prime minister, tomas taraba, told the bbc that the operation had gone well and he expected mr fico to survive. the prime minister was shot several times as he was leaving a government meeting in what the interior minister described as a politically motivated attack. the deputy prime minister of slovakia accused opposition parties of using false narratives to paint the prime minister almost as a monster. in sliver you, we won two elections. in october we had parliamentary elections, so we have stabilised support of the public. —— in slavonic. also

international politics, speak about a false narrative that we want to leave the european union and join the cooperation with russia and i don't want these false narratives and of course people from the other side lost the election sometimes, they believe in these narratives, they can become a little bit upset. the attack took place in the central slovakia town of handlova. the gunman is reported to be a 71—year—old man whose motives are as yet unknown. mr fico is a populist leader who's seen as a divisive figure in a politically polarised country. bethany bell has more. this was the moment a european leader was shot... gunshots ..as he greeted members of the public in front of a local community centre.

robert fico was shot in the stomach and in the arm. his security team half dragged, half carried him to his car. a few metres away, amidst the chaos, security officials push a man to the ground. the suspect is believed to be in his 70s. witnesses say he shot at the prime minister several times. translation: i heard three shots. _ it was quick, one by one, like if you throw firecrackers on the ground. i saw a scratch on the prime minister's head and then he fell next to the barrier. it's a nightmare. the 59—year—old was flown by helicopter to hospital, where he had emergency surgery. officials said his condition was critical. a few hours later, a sombre president addressed the nation. translation: i am shocked, we are all shocked by -

the terrible and vicious attack on prime minister robert fico. a physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy. hateful rhetoric, which we can see in society leads, to hateful actions. please, stop it. robert fico, seen here before the attack, is regarded as a divisive figure — a populist who's accused of being authoritarian and too close to russia. the attack has been widely condemned by all sides in slovakia. translation: the attack on the prime minister - is terrible — uncivilised and brutal, pure evil. this should provoke just one reaction — unite all society against evil, hate and violence. the suspect is now in police custody. the authorities

are searching for a motive. bethany bell, bbc news, bratislava. let's speak to marty mullins. she's an eastern european and slovakian historian, as well as a lecturer at flathead valley community college in montana. good to have you in the programme. what is your reaction to these events? yes, it is shocking, _ reaction to these events? yes, it is shocking, even _ reaction to these events? yes, it is shocking, even here - reaction to these events? yes, it is shocking, even here on . it is shocking, even here on this side of the atlantic for such a normally peaceful, quiet country, to have such a tragic event happen. country, to have such a tragic event happen-— country, to have such a tragic event happen. and your thoughts as to what could _ event happen. and your thoughts as to what could be _ event happen. and your thoughts as to what could be the _ as to what could be the motivation of this man who shot the prime minister several times? , ., ~ times? yes, i mean, ithink times? yes, i mean, ithink time will — times? yes, i mean, ithink time will have _ times? yes, i mean, ithink time will have two - times? yes, i mean, ithink time will have two tell - times? yes, i mean, ithink time will have two tell what i time will have two tell what his actual motives were. i have read some reports that are coming out, but it is pretty fuzzy at the moment.- coming out, but it is pretty fuzzy at the moment. give us our fuzzy at the moment. give us your take _

fuzzy at the moment. give us your take then _ fuzzy at the moment. give us your take then on _ fuzzy at the moment. give us your take then on the - fuzzy at the moment. give us| your take then on the political environment in three other women. a lot is being said about how polarised politics is there currently, and also whether this event will make that worse or better —— slovakia. that worse or better -- slovakia.— that worse or better -- slovakia. , ., , ~ slovakia. yes, i really think this tragedy _ slovakia. yes, i really think this tragedy will _ slovakia. yes, i really think this tragedy will actually . this tragedy will actually cause to awaken slovakia, mainly the electorate, but also, politicians to the fact that words have consequences, and the words that are thrown around, whether on social media or even from the mouth or politicians, have been increasingly vitriolic and, unfortunately, dangerous things like this can happen. so i do think slovakia will unite around this, i think slovaks well and i think they will take the rhetoric down a notch. yes, i mean, the rhetoric down a notch. yes, i mean. there _ the rhetoric down a notch. yes, i mean, there was _ the rhetoric down a notch. yes, i mean, there was a _ the rhetoric down a notch. yes, i mean, there was a real - i mean, there was a real concern last year when these elections were taking place and

the results and robert fico getting the job of prime minister, but also, where poland was headed, etc, various key countries in the east of europe. it has been a very difficult time, hasn't it, politically for these countries, would you say? yes, absolutely- _ countries, would you say? yes, absolutely. just _ countries, would you say? yes, absolutely. just as _ countries, would you say? yes, absolutely. just as slovakia - absolutely. just as slovakia self is run by victor albarn, in league with bridge and's russia —— that —— orban. that was a challenge under the letter of robert fico, who is also unfortunately aligned himself very openly with russia, and that is a challenge for nato and eu, poland of course responded very strongly against that in their recent election, and did the czech republic, so i do think, i know slovakia is better than this

and i know that this event will galvanise the public to i think take down the polarised rhetoric.— rhetoric. 0k. well, we appreciate _ rhetoric. 0k. well, we appreciate your - rhetoric. 0k. well, we i appreciate your thoughts rhetoric. 0k. well, we - appreciate your thoughts on what is happening there. a specialist in eastern europe and slovakia history. just to reiterate, robert fico is still in hospital after hours of surgery, but is said to be no longer in a life—threatening condition. we will keep you up—to—date with what happens here on bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news now. an arab league summit is due to open in bahrain with the war in gaza at the centre of discussions. leaders from across the region will call for an immediate ceasefire. they'll also consider ways to advance the creation of an independent palestinian state, which the israeli prime minister rejects. at least four people have been killed in the french overseas territory of new caledonia during riots that began on tuesday over

electoral reform. members of the indigenous kanak community were angered by changes that will extend voting rights to french nationals who've lived locally for ten years. police in switzerland say six people have been attacked by a man wielding a knife in the northern town of zofingen about 60 kilometres from zurich. several of the victims are in a serious condition. the first stabbing took place near the town's railway station. the war in ukraine has left russia diplomatically isolated across much of the west, so president putin has sought to strengthen friendships elsewhere, including in china, where the russian leader has arrived for a state visit. he was greeted in beijing by a guard of honour and a red carpet. it's the russian leader's second trip to china injust over six months, perhaps underlining the importance to moscow

of the relationship after the unprecedented sanctions facing moscow. in the last hour, he's met with xi jinping in full pomp and ceremony. the two leaders are now holding talks. later, they'll take part in a gala evening to celebrate 75 years since the soviet union recognised the people's republic of china. here's how the chinese's foreign ministry described the ties between the two nations. translation: china and russia regarded as conferences, fatigue partners in a new era and our relations have continued to deliver healthy and stable manner with leaders of the two countries maintaining close contact. that view seems to be echoed in moscow. here's what the russian ambassador had to say about the visit. translation: i believe that president putin's _ translation: i believe that president putin's visit - translation: i believe that president putin's visit to - president putin's visit to china this time will undoubtedly be of great significance to china, russia

and the whole world. despite the complex and turbulent international situation, china and russia's relations remain solid and stable.— solid and stable. that is not the view — solid and stable. that is not the view elsewhere. - because, while china is not selling arms to russia, washington believes it's exporting tech and components essentialfor the war in ukraine. here's what us secretary of state antony blinken had to say during a recent trip to beijing. for china, if it wants to have better relations, not only with us, but with countries in europe, it can't do that while at the same time helping to fuel the biggest threat to european security since the end of the cold war. let us unpack this further. we speak now to matthew sussex. he's a associate professor of strategic and defence studies at the australian national university and joins me now from canberra. good to have you on the programme. talk us through what will be achieved during this

trip as we have mentioned, is second to china in six months. yes, well, this is putin's first trip after winning the election as president, so he will be wanting to make a success out of it. chiefly i think what he wants to do is negotiate with the chinese about ways in which the two countries can perhaps get around some of the western sanctions, in recent months chinese exports to russia have dipped, and chinese banks have become somewhat wary about taking payments from russian banks, so putin will prompt to reverse that and want to ensure that the trade relationship with the prc remains very much on track stop beyond that, probably also they will want to discuss what types of cooperation they are going to do in places like central asia, which has been a very important conduit for effectively chinese dual use technology that has

found its way from beijing to moscow. found its way from bei'ing to moscow. ., ,., ., , moscow. how important is the relationship — moscow. how important is the relationship to _ moscow. how important is the relationship to china? - moscow. how important is the relationship to china? we - moscow. how important is the | relationship to china? we know that china is getting a lot of its oil now from russia, we assume at a fairly decent price for china, it can negotiate hard on that given the fact that russia's market is closed off quite significantly, but talk us through what is in this for china. talk us through what is in this for china-— for china. well, the chinese effectively _ for china. well, the chinese effectively in _ for china. well, the chinese effectively in being - for china. well, the chinese effectively in being able - for china. well, the chinese effectively in being able to i effectively in being able to sign up russia to some long—term deals over energy and notjust oil, but also gas, there is a keenness to sign longer term gas steals from the so—called power of siberia plant. china effectively gets a secure area where it can have energy more or less independence. the price for thatis independence. the price for that is relatively small i think. it continues to exercise what it calls straddle diplomacy or what is being called struggled diplomacy over

the war in ukraine in which publicly it calls for a cessation of hostilities, but privately, it continues to support putin. so it is not an enormous price to pay i think if you are xi jinping considering the types of resource benefits that a relationship with russia can bring. relationship with russia can brina. , ., ~ bring. 0k. interesting. thank ou. we bring. 0k. interesting. thank vom we will _ bring. 0k. interesting. thank you. we will have _ bring. 0k. interesting. thank you. we will have more - bring. 0k. interesting. thank you. we will have more on i you. we will have more on vladimir putin's trip to china in business of course, the trade relationship as we have just discussed is key. now to ukraine. security officials in the northeast say fighting is raging in the border town of vovcha nsk, where russian troops have taken up positions. president volodymyr zelensky has cancelled his overseas engagements and has promised that the military was rushing reinforcements to the area, as james waterhouse reports. not your usual traffic jam

in russia's belgorod region, ..as a rocket launcher pulls over to pour fire into neighbouring ukraine, causing panic across the border. "what do you need to take? let's move quicker, let's go," says this police officer. the russians are using new tactics here — constant ground assaults and relentless air strikes, although not all bombs go off. now ukrainian troops are withdrawing from some positions near the border. for the first time in 18 months, this war is no longer a grinding stalemate. russia has momentum, and that is fuelling a sense of diplomatic urgency here in kyiv. my my apologies. the audio was bad on that. we will bring that to you later. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

hello again.

the situation in areas of afghanistan hardest hit by flash floods that killed hundreds of people remains critical, the world health organization has said, and the authorities have predicted more bad weather to come. our correspondent caroline davies sent this report from northern baghlan province. this used to be a village. little trace of lives swept away... ..only the debris. sticky mud, heated — hardening. salvaging what's left is tough. translation: we haven't got even a glass left - for a cup of tea. there is nothing. this is one of the worst—hit villages and people are still trying to excavate their homes, trying to salvage what they can from the rubble. everywhere you look, there are uprooted trees, there are bits of building and the destruction is just in every direction. over here, more people, more homes, more buildings destroyed, more belongings, and people here who still don't have a home to stay in tonight.

flash floods tore through villages in northeast afghanistan, sweeping away everything in their path. here, a miraculous rescue — dragged alive from muddy waters. many were not. abdul�*s family's three homes stood here for 20 years. he returned to find nothing but this wall. ten out of 18 of his family were killed, swept away. translation: we were - searching for family members in knee—deep mud. so we took off our shoes and continued searching. eventually, we found the bodies miles away from here. these stark valleys have seen flooding before, but no—one we spoke to had seen anything like this in their lifetime. on the broken road, women walk between bereaved families... singing

..offering graveside prayers. they will make more than one stop today. the grieving is not over. let's bring you the latest on france. the french government says an unprecedented man—hunt continues to find the gang who killed two prison officers in an ambush. a 30—year—old convicted burglar escaped after the van taking him back to jail was rammed yesterday morning at a toll booth in normandy. president macron insisted everything was being done to find them. the killings prompted a walkout from staff at many prisons across france. junior doctors in england are to go back into talks with the government with independent mediation in their long—running dispute over pay. there have been no formal talks

since negotiations collapsed in december. the british medical association says it hopes this new process will "help break the logjam". our health editor hugh pym reports. what do we want? fair pay now! it has what do we want? fair pay now! it has been _ what do we want? fair pay now! it has been a — what do we want? fair pay now! it has been a bitter— what do we want? fair pay now! it has been a bitter and - it has been a bitter and prolonged pay dispute with ten rounds of strikes byjunior dockis rounds of strikes byjunior dock is adding together all the walkouts by health unions in england, more than 1.4 million hospital appointments and operations were counselled. there have been few signs before now of any possible resolution of the dispute between the government and junior dock is, but the fact that both sides are prepared to sit down talks with an independent mediator suggests a willingness to just compromise —— doctors. they called for 35% pay rise phased in over a few years or administer the water in a average ofjust under 9% for the last financial year and suggested anything higher would be unaffordable. the process

will not involve the conciliation service acas and the outcome will not be binding on either side. but the bma which still has a mandate to stage further walkouts set an independent mediator could help break the log jam. the health secretary tori atkins said she was pleased that mediation would take place and it was a significant step forward which could see an end to strike action. last month consultants in england agreed to a deal to end their pay dispute with the government. in a separate dispute the welsh government is in talks overpay with doctor representatives and a northern ireland a 48—hour strike by junior doctors is planned next week. hugh pym, bbc news. let's ta ke let's take you to new york. a trial is under way. but not talking about donald trump this time. defence lawyers for the us senator bob menendez have sought to blame his wife on the opening day of his corruption trial in new york. the court was told

that nadine menendez kept her own financial problems from her husband. prosecutors accuse mr menendez of selling his political power for gold bars, cash and a luxury car. both the senator and his wife deny wrongdoing. she is due to go on trial at a later date. the pictures owned by sir eltonjohn and his husband david furnish are one of the greatest private collections of photographs in the world — there's more than 7,000 of them. now, an exhibition of some of them is to get under way in london. ahead of that, they've been talking exclusively to our culture editor katie razzall. # i'll write a symphony just for you and me... 300 photographs, many on show for the first time. # i'll paint a masterpiece...

sir eltonjohn started collecting after he got sober in the �*90s, and with his husband, david furnish, now has one of the world's great collections. i'm so proud of what we've collected, cos we both love photography so much. itjust hits so many emotional moments for both of us. the nan goldin especially, that one room — i bought that because i thought, that's my life, my old life, on the wall. the addictions and the people we lost to aids. yeah. there's a lot of pain and grief on these walls. 9/11, political riots, assassinations. civil rights. what makes you want to collect that pain? because in pain sometimes, there is a lot of beauty, unfortunately, and i'm drawn to that. and that's why the show is called fragile beauty. # seems to me you lived your life # like a candle in the wind... we are sitting, surrounded by some very beautiful people. but of course, there's sadness here as well. we've got marilyn, we've got chet baker. and i'm looking

at miss piggy as i... laughs so there's something for everyone! marilyn monroe, chet baker, they clearly suffered for their art. do you think you suffered for your art? well, i did in a way. i mean, but it was self—inflicted. the pain i suffered was because of addiction and alcoholism and unhappiness. but music saved me and it always has done. the couple have 2,000 photographs from 9/11. it's the first time they've exhibited any of them. it's too raw for people who lived through that, but i'm...it�*s good to see some of them. there's only about four of them out. reportage is very important. and there's a very powerful photo of the january 6 capitol hill riot. yes, i think the importance of photographs like that is we live in an age now where people seem to want to rewrite history and want to deny truth, and i think when things are captured photographically, it's...irrevocable. it's important to have photographs like that, it's important to keep a record of what happened.

but there's little record of the man himself in the show. there arejust two photographs of eltonjohn — one of his hands, and this more playful image. completely spontaneously, he picked the plastic eggs up and put them under his glasses, and that to me says more about elton's personality, and sense of humour and his irreverence than anything, and that's what i love about photography. it's extraordinary that i collect photographs, because i don't like being photographed. you know, i don't... i find it really painful. # hold me closer, tiny dancer...# many will find pain, but alsojoy in this extraordinary collection — a chronicle of our times. katie razzall, bbc news. we have got business next. hello, there. looking at thursday's weather, we've got some, i think, wet weather on the way to parts of england and wales with some thundery rain at times. on wednesday, here's the day of sunny spells

and passing showers. some of those showers, mind you, were very heavy, for example, here in hebden bridge. but looking at the satellite picture, you can see a stripe of cloud just here, that's a weather front that stretches all the way into europe. there's our fronts. but bumping into that front, we've got this trough here, this line of very intense showers. you might get the sense that these areas of rain are merging together. well, i think that's exactly what's going on. and they will tend to run towards england over the coming hours. so weather—wise, over the next few hours, not so much of an issue. we'll have some low cloud affecting some of our north sea coast, a few mist and fog patches here and occasional spots of rain or drizzle. drier weather elsewhere with temperatures around 10 or 11 degrees quite widely. the problems with the forecast come tomorrow. i think there is a risk of seeing more widespread rain initially across eastern areas of england through thursday morning before moving across the midlands and on into parts of wales and the west country

as we head into the afternoon. so the details are going to be quite difficult to come by, but expect the chance of seeing some heavy thundery rain at times across parts of england and wales. further northwards for northern ireland, sunshine through the morning and a dry morning. the afternoon, yeah, you could see a storm or two breaking out. most of scotland, in contrast to all of that, will be dry, although there will be some mist and low cloud across eastern areas and spots of drizzle through the morning, the afternoon, the best of the sunshine into the northwest, and that's where we'll see temperatures at their highest, probably reaching around 23 degrees or so. heading into friday, the weather pattern is still rather unsettled, but hopefully a bit more straightforward. it should be a day of sunshine and showers through the afternoon for england and wales. some of those turning heavy and thundery. the drier weather will be further north again for scotland and for northern ireland, where most places will keep spells of sunshine and temperatures well into the low 20s. that's going to feel pleasant with light winds. for the weekend weather picture, we're still at low pressure close to the south of the uk, a ridge of high pressure trying to build in from the northwest.

and so, it's again scotland and northern ireland that will have the driest weather through the weekend. england and wales, meanwhile, will have the chance of seeing a few more showers to come. bye for now.

inflation elation! shares on wall street hit new record highs as us consumer price data raises hopes of interest rate cuts from the fed.

also coming up — setting sun? japan's gdp slumps in the first three months of the year with india on track to overtake it as the world's number four economy. can anything stop the decline? plus, a tight corner for the square mile: fears for the future of the city of london as firms look to new york to list their shares. but the head of the london stock exchange tells the bbc there's no reason to panic. live from london, this is business today. i'm sally bundock. we start in new york where all three major share indices closed at new record highs after inflation figures boosted hopes that the us federal reserve may soon be able to start cutting the cost of borrowing. here's the figure that got wall street so excited on wednesday. us consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.4%