and electricity prices. the government has spent billions of pounds keeping the company afloat since it went into administraton. the deal means octopus will take on bulb s 1.5 million customers. our business reporter ramzan kamali has the details. bulb biggest green energy company. it was the biggest energy company to go bust. last november bulb went into administration. it was only kept going by the government which pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into the business but now a deal has been struck that it is hoped will give relief notjust to customers and taxpayers but also hundreds of staff. today octopus were confident that the takeover of bulb s customers would be smith. octopus has great experience of bringing large numbers of customers across, so for example when the largest to date failed we were able to look after those customers and staff pretty seamlessly, and i think with bulb the experience we have got means we are probably the natural choice. in means we are
russia says it is suspending its participation in an internationally brokered deal to allow grain exports from ukraine. the announcement was in response to what the russian army called a massive ukrainian drone attack on russian ships in occupied crimea. ukraine has called that a false pretext for blocking the grain corridor. earlier, the un secretary general urged all parties to renew the deal on ukrainian grain exports, which was due to expire next month. before the deal was in place, blockages led to food supply issues globally. joining us from dnipro in central ukraine is our correspondent james waterhouse. james, what have the russians been saying? james, what have the russians been sa inc? ~ , james, what have the russians been sa in: ? ~ , ., ., james, what have the russians been sa in? ~ ,., ., ., saying? well, there is a lot going on here, saying? well, there is a lot going on here. but saying? well, there is a lot going on here, but they saying? well, there is
how is the strike affecting you? are you working from home? did you have a trickyjourney to work? do you support the strikes? we d like to hear your thoughts. get in touch with me on twitter @annitabbc and use the hashtag #bbcyourquestions. in other news, a senior ukrainian official says russian forces have almost captured the strategic city of severodonetsk, with ukrainian forces holding on to just one factory. a russian nobel peace laureate auctions his medal for £81; million to raise funds for children displaced by the war in ukraine. and to mark his 40th birthday, new photos are released of prince william selling the big issue we look back at his four decades in the spotlight. good morning. the biggest rail strike in 30 years is under way, with an almost total shutdown of the network in england, scotland and wales. members of the rail, maritime and transport workers union are staging the first of this week s three 24 hour walk outs due to an ongoing dispute over pay, p
it comes after easyjet announced plans to cut more flights over summer. a setback for french president emmanuel macron as he loses his majority in parliament after elections over the weekend. a report into grooming and child sexual exploitation in oldham between 2011 and 2014 finds there were serious failings in the handling of some cases by the council and police. in sport, a first major trophy for england s matt fitzpatrick who s won the us open. and.up close and personal we have a special report from uganda on a successful conservation effort to increase the number of mountain gorillas he so close to us. whenever closest relatives on earth. one of our. wow! still no sign of a deal to avoid a strike. so, today, network rail has set out a plan for the limited number ido i do think it is important that we send out a message early this week that industrial action is likely to proceed and therefore people should take sensible preparations now because there is no point in g
good afternoon. the transport secretary says it s not for the government to intervene to try to prevent three days of strikes on the railways this week. grant shapps dismissed calls from the rmt union to get involved in the dispute as a stunt saying it s for the employers and unions to reach an agreement. mr shapps says the strikes would be an act of self harm . the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says the government wants the strikes to go ahead to sow division in society. here s our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. set to bring the rail network to a grinding halt from tuesday, they are the biggest strikes in decades. instead of 20,000 trains on a normal day, just one in five services may run. government says children heading to take exams or patients to medical appointments will face disruption. but, under pressure to take part in talks with the unions, it says it won t. train operating companies have to settle this. i don t think there is any need for t