the release includes infamous former defence contractor leonard glenn francis known as fat leonard. he s at the center of one of the us navy s largest corruption cases. in exchange the us has freed alex saab, an aide and top ally to venezuela s president nicolas maduro, accused of laundering money on behalf of the maduro government, which he denies. mr maduro is also releasing 20 venezuelan political prisoners. it s all part of the biden administration s efforts to improve relations with venezuela, and push mr maduro to hold fair elections next year. earlier, i spoke with our reporter mimi swaby about the deal. president byers was emphasising that this was all about encouraging venezuela to hold free and fair elections. how much leveraged you think the biden administration has in that regard? this is yet another sign of significant flowing between relations between the us and venezuela after months of really high level negotiations. this comes as biden is grappling with a
ittems to help tackle the rising cost of living crisis. the people of turkey have gone back to the polls for the second round of the turkish presidential election, with voting now under way in a presidential election run off between long time authoritarian leader, recep tayyip erdogan and his main rival, the secular opposition leader, kemal kilicdaroglu. here they are voting in the last hour. in the first round earlier this month, president erdogan won 49.5% of the vote just over 4% more than his rival. both candidates are chasing support from nationalist voters. these are the live pictures from istanbul, where reports say there s been brisk voting. people displaced by february s earthquake have been taken back home by bus to cast ballots. turnout among voters in the diaspora appears to have grown since the first round. 0ur middle east correspondent anna foster is following polls are open now right across turkey and they ll stay that way until five o clock local time this
also this lunchtime. lower energy bills for many households after the regulator brings in a new price cap. the chief constable of police scotland the uk s second biggest force admits it is institutionally racist and sexist. and by public demand, a fitting farewell for an raf hero who fought in the second world war. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news: history for brighton, their highest finish in the premier league and a first european campaign to look forward to next season. good afternoon. net migration to the uk has hit a record high, despite the government s promise to reduce it. the office for national statistics say that last year 606,000 more people moved to the united kingdom than left it. that s up around 118,000 on the previous year s figure. the rise is driven by people from outside the eu, including ukraine and hong kong. the prime minister says the figures are too high labour claim they show the government has lost control of immigratio