good morning. it is going to be fairly cloudy and wet today across the central swathes of the uk. to the central swathes of the uk. to the south of that mostly dry and mild. in the north, blustery showers with gales in north west scotland. details later. good morning. it s wednesday, 13th march. rishi sunak is facing calls to hand back millions of pounds donated to the conservative party by a businessman accused of making racist comments about the mp, diane abbott. tech boss frank hester is reported to have said ms abbott made him want to hate all black women, and that she should be shot. the prime minister called the comments racist and wrong. our political correspondent hannah miller has more. hello, rishi. how are you? very nice to see you. when rishi sunak made this visit to a mill near leeds in november, his helicopter ride had been provided by one of his party s biggest donors, frank hester, who last year donated £10 million to the conservative party, now alleged to ha
latest bbc news headlines. russia heads to the polls with vladimir putin certain to secure his fifth term as president and another six years in power. as voting begins, so do the protests. some voters expressing their anger by pouring dye into ballot boxes and some setting fire to photo booths micro polling booths. photos of food and medical aid arriving to gaza have been released. meanwhile israel has sent a delegation back to qatar for ceasefire talks. on the ground benjamin netanyahu has approved plans for a military operation to go ahead in rafah. ajudge has rejected donald trump as meg attempted to have the lead prosecution lawyer disqualified from the georgia election interference case, the judge ruled that fani willis could continue but said the special prosecutor she had appointed and had a romantic relationship with would have to go. he has tonight resigned. the proposed transitional council in haiti that is meant to bring stability to the caribbean nation in cris
week. we will bring you that live. fresh calls for the government to stop energy bill rises in april as the energy regulator ofgem lowers the price cap for gas and electricity. a new panorama investigation uncovers evidence that women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the uk. the first female speaker of the houses of commons, betty boothroyd dies aged 93. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. we ll be live in windsor shortly but first, just to let you know we re expecting a news conference very shortly in belfast from police investigating the shooting last week of det chief inspectorjohn caldwell. two gunmen shot the 48 year old several times in front of his young son at a sports complex on wednesday evening. mr caldwell remains critically ill in hospital. six people remain in police custody for questioning. this is the scene, the podium, as we expect the conference getting under way. there are significant developm
you have trees that are down, you have a lot of hazards right now. we do anticipate a lot of the water will subside in some of the barrier islands and some of the coasts but some of those inland places of rivers and these inlets, you are likely to have standing water there throughout all of today and even in the days ahead, so that is a hazard and just please be aware that that is something that if you have weathered the storm to this point, going on doing and getting involved in that is totally not worth it and we want to minimise any harm to anybody as a result of what we are seeing right now in the streets. it s gonna be put to use, i don t think we ve seen in effort mobilise for this minutes rate rescues this quickly, but we appreciate and we will make good use of it. we want people to be safe, those people who are in need of life supports, health is on the way help. they are able to see the areas that were hardest hit, and they are focusing assets there. obviously the
i lost the only thing in my life that i ever wanted. i loved her so much. i still love her. i m her mum! it was to be a secret. it was.it was not to be discussed. l he was actually taken from my arms without telling me what was happening. i canjust remember lying there, thinking it d be better to die. a historical injustice - is what happened to us. other countries have recognised it - and it s high time ours did. bells toll 60 years ago, british society was very different. the bride s name is stella, she s 19, lives in barnet. marriage was the cornerstone of family respectability. 20% took place in a registry office. to have a baby outside wedlock would risk breaking the most potent of social taboos. till death us do part. but what if you did become pregnant without a husband? the scene is a big gay. holiday camp at butlins. i was working at the holiday camp in bognor. i was going out with one of the redcoats. we became intimate and.i got pregnant. veronica smith was unmarri