italy s political parties have been holding their final campaign rallies ahead of sunday s parliamentary election. giorgia meloni s right wing brothers of italy party now on bbc news, it s newscast. chris, what are you doing on the 18th of october? the 18th of october? what day of the week is that? i know they say a week is a long time in politics a month must be a lot for you. exactly! i can t even think about the labour conference, which starts this weekend. it seems an eternity away, so the 18th of october, i have no idea. you tell me what am i doing, adam? you have got a diary invite on your phone calendar for castfest the first inaugural castfest where in the bbc radio theatre in central london we are going to bring together newscast, ukrainecast and americast fora massive, mammoth, live podcasting recording. it s going to be amazing, and hopefully you re going to be there. i did know about this, i just didn t know when it was. i think it was probably in this t
legally carry firearms in public. counting is underway in two key uk by elections for the conservative party, in the first test of voters opinions since the partygate scandal. we will have live updates ahead on the programme but for now, a quick check of more news making headlines. ukraine moves a step closer tojoining the european union as it s given official candidate status. and how a heroic coach made a dramatic rescue after a swimmer fainted to the bottom of the pool at the world aquatics championships in budapest. asi as i swam as fast as i could to grab her and pull as i swam as fast as i could to grab herand pull up as i swam as fast as i could to grab her and pull up to the surface, and once i pull her up, so i wasjust, my goal was only to make her breathe. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to the programme. taliban officials in afghanistan say the main search for survivors from wednesday s devastating earthquake in the south
anyone is celebrating. even you? we celebrate the - anyone is celebrating. even you? we celebrate the fact| anyone is celebrating. even i you? we celebrate the fact we it happened, we celebrate the fact that it happened, we celebrate the fact that we beat the global establishment, we celebrate the fact that establishment, we celebrate the fact that after years of trying to stop fact that after years of trying to stop it, we got there but now to stop it, we got there but now there is a growing sense of frustration now there is a growing sense of frustration amongst exit supporters, it s not how they imagined supporters, it s not how they imagined it. supporters, it s not how they imagined it imagined it. what are you frustrated imagined it. what are you frustrated about? - imagined it. what are you i frustrated about? frustrated the government frustrated about? frustrated the government has - frustrated about? frustrated the government has not - frustrated abou
millions of households are urged to turn off their lights and appliances to tackle an energy crisis. and in central africa, we ve a special report on the race to stop the plunder of rich peatlands releasing damaging carbon dioxide. welcome to bbc news. we begin in russia. one of president vladimir putin s closest advisers, the foreign minister sergei lavrov, has told the bbc that russia has not invaded ukraine and he s repeated the official line from the kremlin that there is no war, but it s a special military operation . mr lavrov has been at the heart of power in russia for over 20 years and represented the country on the international stage for nearly two decades. earlier, he spoke to our russia editor steve rosenberg. hello, thank you. hello. it was the first time sergei lavrov had agreed to meet since moscow launched its offensive in ukraine. russia s government has created a parallel reality. invasion? what invasion? translation: we didn t invade ukraine. - we declare