There is some mist and fog and a few showers around this morning. They will give way to a dry and decent with sunny spells. Later, some rain in Northern Ireland. Details coming up. Good morning. Its monday, 18th march. Vladimir putin has claimed victory in russias president ial election. Without any serious opposition, a fifth term was seen as inevitable. At least 80 protestors have been arrested across the country for vandalising Polling Stations. Foreign secretary David Cameron hasjoined other western governments in shunning the result. He said, this is not what free and Fair Elections look like. Our russia editor Steve Rosenberg reports. Foeradimir putin, six more years in the kremlin. Russias president is sounding more confident than ever. Translation whoever might | want to intimidate us, whoever might want to suppress us, our will and our conscience, they have never been able to do it, and never will. Then, mr putins first Public Comments on the death ofjailed Opposition Leader A
Fascist dictatorship, and so bill barr, after, ive got to say, humiliating himself for several years, bill barr decides, this is where i get off. This is enough. This is my line. I believe in an imperial presidency, but i dont believe in a fascist presidency. Thats what donald trump was asking him to do. Asking him to steal an election. Asking him to arrest his political opponents. Asking him to do the sort of things, again, that fascist dictators do. He wouldnt do it. Now, trump has turned on him. As far as fani willis goes and jack smith and everything else, again, we can point you back to it and play it for you again, what we were saying in 2019. If donald trump lost in 2020, he would run again, and hed run again simply to avoid all the crimes he was committing. Im not good at math, but that was four years ago. Four years ago, we were saying he will run again so he can try to avoid jail. Going to jail. Here we are. I must say, a lot of people were saying that, so its hard to believe
hi everyone, it s 4:00 in new york as we come on the air, we are following breaking news. at this hour, one of the disgraced twice impeached ex-president s closest advisers, allen weisselberg is on route to the notorious rikers island. if he hasn t arrived already. he s been sentenced to five months behind bars for executing a tax scheme. he had been facing up to 15 years in prison but struck a deal with prosecutors pleading guilty to 15 felony counts including tax fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny, and agreeing to testify against the trump org, though notably not against the big boss, donald hymn or any of his family. weisselberg who is 75 years old has been with the trump org for 50 years. technically he was the chief financial officer, but cfo doesn t capture how central he is to the trump org and the shady transactions or how complicit he was in the dirty dealings of the ex-president. nobody knows that better than michael cohen who had and has and has shared the receipt
after a drop off in donations as the cost of living crisis bites. and the british built space rover looking for work after its mission to mars was cancelled. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has refused to rule out a real terms cut in benefits despite growing pressure to do so. liz truss faces a fresh battle with some conservative mps who want her to promise welfare payments will rise in line with inflation rather than earnings a lower percentage figure that would save the government billions of pounds. there s already a cabinet split on the issue. the leader of the commons penny morduant has openly demanded that benefits do go up in line with prices. this morning the prime minister told the bbc she would still like to see the rate of tax paid by the highest earners to be lower, despite ditching her plan to do just that only yesterday. iain watson reports from the conservative party conference. it s tin hat time for liz truss. she and her chancel
more surplus food to those in need after a drop off in donations as the cost of living crisis bites. and the british built space rover looking for work after its mission to mars was cancelled. good afternoon. the prime minister has refused to rule out a real terms cut in benefits, despite growing pressure to do so. liz truss faces a fresh battle with some conservative mps who want her to promise welfare payments will rise in line with inflation rather than earnings a lower percentage figure that would save the government billions of pounds. there s already a cabinet split on the issue the leader of the commons, penny morduant, has openly demanded that benefits do go up in line with prices. this morning, the prime minister told the bbc she would still like to see the rate of tax paid by the highest earners to be lower, despite ditching her plan to do just that only yesterday. iain watson reports from the conservative party conference. it s tin hat time for liz truss. she a