live from london, this is bbc news. the mother of russian opposition figure alexei navalny demands president putin release his body. translation: the decision - on the question depends only on you. let me finally see my son. i demand you immediately hand over the body of alexei so that i can bury him. the prince of wales says he wants, "to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible," in a major intervention on the israel—gaza conflict. and labour changes its position on the war, with its shadow foreign secretary calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. the situation now in gaza is intolerable, with a dramatic loss of life, intolerable, with a dramatic loss of life. with _ intolerable, with a dramatic loss of life. with so — intolerable, with a dramatic loss of life, with so many people facing

starvation. police recover a body from the river thames believed to be abdul shakoor ezedi, wanted over a south london chemical attack. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we start with in russia, and a series of new developments following the death of opposition activist, alexei navalny. activist alexei navalny. the russian news agency tass says proscutors have opened a criminal case against navalny�*s brother, oleg. it's not clear what he's accused of, but tass says police are searching for oleg navalny, who was already on the wanted list in connection with another matter. in 2014, oleg navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for fraud in a case kremlin critics said was trumped up and designed to pile pressure on his late brother. meanwhile, navalny�*s family have still not been allowed to take his body home.

they say authorities are deliberately keeping his body from them. he died suddenly in a prison in the arctic circle on friday. his family have been told they won't get access for another two weeks, because more chemical analysis is needed. yulia navalnaya said she sees no other reason for russia keeping his body than to let traces of poisoning from the nerve agent novichok disappear. the kremlin has called the accusations unacceptable. navalny s widow, seen here meeting european union officials in brussels, has accused vladimir putin of killing him and promised to carry on her husband's legacy. he's had her x account, formerly known as twitter, briefly suspended for allegedly violating the platform rules. mother of alexei navalny, lyudmila, made a desperete plea in an attempt to return his body.

translation: behind my back, there is a colony - k3, - the polar wolf — where on 16th february, my son alexei navalny died. it's the fifth day that i cannot see him. they won't hand over his body to me and they won't even tell me where he is. i speak to you, vladimir putin. the decision on the question depends only on you. let me finally see my son. i demand you immediately hand over the body of alexei so that i can bury him. with more on both this developments is vitalii shevchenko from bbc monitoring. lots of different developments so far in just the last couple of hours. let's talk about that mother's appeal for the body. hours. let's talk about that mother's appealfor the body. what do we know about what is happening there? i do we know about what is happening there? ~' ., �* . , do we know about what is happening there? ~' ., �* ., , ~ ., there? i think we don't really know much about _ there? i think we don't really know much about the _ there? i think we don't really know much about the circumstances - much about the circumstances surrounding alexei navalny�*s death last week. and even where his body

is currently. russian investigators say that they need at least two more weeks to carry out further chemical tests on his body, but supporters and relatives of alexei navalny call this an attempt to conceal the real causes of his death and earlier today, alexei navalny�*s mother published a video appealing directly to vladimir putin, asking him directly to release her son's body. according to her, it only depends on the russian president where there are not its body is released to his relatives. what is surrounding alexei navalny currently is obviously tragic, but is not entirely surprising, given the culture of secrecy and obfuscation

surrounding really sensitive matters in russia, so tragic though it is, it is not exactly surprising. just briefl , it is not exactly surprising. just briefly. on _ it is not exactly surprising. just briefly, on this _ it is not exactly surprising. just briefly, on this social media, twitter account disappearing and reappearing, fool us in on what we do know. �* . ., j , reappearing, fool us in on what we do know. �* . ., ., do know. alexei navalny's widow yulia navalnaya _ do know. alexei navalny's widow yulia navalnaya registered - do know. alexei navalny's widow yulia navalnaya registered her. yulia navalnaya registered her account on twitter only yesterday on monday where she published a message saying that she was going to continue her late husband's work and called on russians tojoin her. today, that account was briefly suspended for about half an hour or so and a message appeared instead of that account saying that it had violated the platform's rules. it's

not clear which will exactly was broken, it has now been reinstated and it is not unreasonable to assume that it may have been the result of yet another campaign carried out by pro—kremlin automated bot accounts which in the past have targeted various social media platforms resulting in the suspension of critical accounts and now that account belonging to yuli on the valley has been reinstated. thank ou ve valley has been reinstated. thank you very much. — valley has been reinstated. thank you very much. i _ valley has been reinstated. thank you very much, i will— valley has been reinstated. thank you very much, i will come - valley has been reinstated. thank you very much, i will come back. valley has been reinstated. thank| you very much, i will come back to you very much, i will come back to you in a moment. some more developments. a moscow court has ruled the detained american journalist should remain injail until at least the end of march. also the fsb says it has arrested a

russian—american dual citizen suspected of treason and raising funds for ukraine. these pictures show a 33—year—old woman detained in the remote ural region of russia, understood to be a resident of los angeles who stands accused of proactively collecting funds that would fund aid and military supplies for ukraine. in russia treason is punishable up to 20 years in prison. a russian military pilot has been killed in spain. he piloted his helicopter across—the—board to ukraine saying he was opposed to the invasion of ukraine, his death has been confirmed by ukraine's main intelligence directorate. ijust want to pick up on that last story that we were just talking about, this helicopter pilot. remind us of what happened. his

this helicopter pilot. remind us of what happened-— this helicopter pilot. remind us of what happened. his “ob was to ferry arts for what happened. his “ob was to ferry parts for russian — what happened. his job was to ferry parts for russian military _ what happened. his job was to ferry parts for russian military jets - parts for russian militaryjets between various airfields within russia. but in august last year, he took his helicopter across—the—board took his helicopter across—the—boa rd and took his helicopter across—the—board and landed in ukraine. ukrainian officials say it was the result of a long planned and complicated operation, part of a ukrainian scheme encouraging members of the russian military to defect to ukraine and apparently was paid half $1 million for what he did. now the reports from spain say that his bullet riddled body has been found in an underground garage in spain and clearly, both ukraine and russia have been trying to exploit his case

for propaganda purposes. ukraine used his defection as an example which ukrainians want other russian soldiers to follow, but russian security services obviously would be really keen to send another message to the russian soldiers, which is this is what is going to happen to you if you are going to defect. the head of the russian foreign intelligence service this morning commented on maxim kuzminov�*s death and said he "had become a moral corpse" and said he had become a traitor and interestingly in october last year russian state tv said russian security services were under orders to eliminate him.— orders to eliminate him. thank you very much- —

the united states has, for the first time, proposed a un resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in gaza. the us is israel's most important ally and it's previously avoided the word "ceasefire" during united nations votes on the war. the draught resolution also opposes israel's plans to attack the city israel's plans to invade the city of rafah in southern gaza, where more than a million palestinians have taken refuge. jenny hill reports from jerusalem. in gaza's darkness, a rescue mission. underfire, working by torchlight, doctors try to get patients out of nasser hospital. "don't worry," they reassure this woman. israel raided the hospital last week. where once there was treatment, hope, there is fear and pain. and the team couldn't get everyone out. even now, there are patients trapped inside.

we were shocked at what we actually saw in nasser medical complex. there is waste everywhere. electricity was not working. parts of the hospital are damaged, some severely damaged. israel claims that a clinic was a hamas base, used to hold hostages. troops exhibit what they say is evidence — hamas vehicles, weapons, cars stolen during the october 7th attacks. and prescription medicine sent in for the hostages by their desperate relatives at home. israel insists it won't stop in gaza until the captives are freed. it has released new footage of one kidnapped family, apparently being moved inside gaza on the day of the attacks. you canjust make out shiri bibas, clutching her nine—month—old baby, as they are taken away.

but the human cost of israel's war on gaza alarms its allies. even the us, its closest partner, is now demanding a ceasefire. it would be a precious respite for the people of gaza, attacked notjust by israel but by disease, hunger. look what happened when an aid convoy drove into this part of gaza city. "flour," he cries. "it is the first time we've had it in 20 days." 0nce out of nasser hospital, a difficultjourney for doctors and their patients. there's shelter, care waiting, but safety is a relative concept here. israel is pushing on with plans to storm even the very south of gaza. for its people, there is no escape. jenny hill, bbc news, jerusalem. prince william calls for an "end

to fighting," in the middle east. speaking ahead of a visit about humanitarian support in gaza, the prince of wales said he's deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict and that too many have been killed. he goes on to say he wants to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible and said there is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to gaza and called for hostages to be released. 0ur royal correspondent sean coughlan has more. it is quite a strongly worded intervention and it is something which is clearly something that is close to the prince's heart. he was visiting today some humanitarian workers who have been supporting people in gaza as part of a series of visits, in which he will also be going to a synagogue to hear about efforts to counter anti—semitism, but today's statement was quite clearly a major intervention and as he has mentioned, he has spoken for the need for an end to the fighting as soon as possible. he says too many have been killed and he has balanced in a very

carefully worded statement, spoken about the desperate need for humanitarian support in gaza, but also the urgency of making sure hostages are released as well. it is a very clearly carefully thought out intervention on a very sensitive subject. one which he will possibly be saying more about in the weeks ahead. you mentioned there, talk to use more about the construct of statements like this. who will be involved, the relationship between the different arms of the uk state and how these things work? if it was the case of his father the king, it was almost certainly be speaking on behalf of ministers. the king's monarchs speaks on behalf of, after conversation with the government and on behalf of the advice of ministers. in this case the prince of wales is slightly more nuanced position, but i suspect he would have been in touch with ministers about this, they would know that such a big statement was coming and it is in some ways chiming

with some of the other suggestions we have heard from the government as well, about calling for an end to violence in more broad terms. in a way, this echoes the kind of strong language we heard from his father charles when he was prince of wales. he often spoke quite forcefully about the conflict in ukraine. so in a way, this is something which we have heard before from a prince of wales and now prince william is making this very very strong statement, which i think will have a symbolic power and add to the concerns there have been about the humanitarian position in gaza. the uk shadow foreign secretary david lammy says the labour party is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in gaza. that's a shift in labour's position — it had previously called for a "sustainable ceasefire. " keir starmerand i have been calling for weeks for the fighting to stop, for aid to get in. the situation has evolved

and on the ground, it is intolerable and the rafah attack cannot go ahead. we are following our five eyes partners — australia, new zealand and canada — who a few days ago made it clear that there has to be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, we are mirroring that language and indeed the language of the united nations. everyone wants the fighting to stop, but we also want this to be a permanent cessation of violence. it is absolutely clear that that ceasefire has to last and our motion also talks about the circumstances in which we can see a lasting and sustainable immediate ceasefire. 0ur political correspondent, ben wright is in westminster. talk us through this shift for us. it is significant, the first time labour has called for a ceasefire explicitly since the outbreak of this conflict in october last year. sir keir starmer positionposition

has shifted semantically several times since they are, he has been under internal pressure to get to this position, back in november the snp triggered another vote in parliament demanding a ceasefire. at that point, 56 labour mps defied the party leadership and voted with the snp motion and we are heading towards, were heading to a similar point tomorrow because the snp are holding another vote in parliament, calling for a ceasefire, so today, the shadow cabinet got together to try to work out labour's new position, this is what it is and i think the emphasis on the labour amendment is slightly different to the snp position even though they are very similar. for instance the labour amendment said israel cannot the expected to cease fighting if hamas continues with its violence. more emphasis on the role hamas has getting to a ceasefire and labour want to stress this is all going to only come about as a result of international cooperation and

diplomacy. we will see how tomorrow's vote goes, whether the snp motion is called, whether there is a vote on labour's amendment and whether the government puts forward its own but we are seeing a shrinking difference between the snp and labourand shrinking difference between the snp and labour and frankly between the government, labour, the snp, the us and many other countries. i think the general drift of direction is going the same way.— the general drift of direction is going the same way. the general drift of direction is auoin the same wa. . , . going the same way. thanks very much for that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the attorney general says the sentence given to the man who stabbed to death three people in nottingham was unduly lenient and is referring it to the court of appeal. valdo calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order last month for killing students

barnaby webber and grace 0'malley kumar, and school caretaker ian coates lastjune. birmingham city council has confirmed it will raise council tax by 21% over the next two years as part of £300m budget savings. street lights are to be dimmed, waste collections are to become fortnightly. the labour—run authority has been revealing details of cuts it must make after declaring itself effectively bankrupt last year. a huge meteor has been seen in the skies over lincolnshire and other parts of eastern england. the fireball was captured by people as it passed on monday afternoon. a meteor is a piece of space debris that burns up as it enters the earth's atmosphere creating a shooting star. you're live with bbc news. detectives leading the hunt for a man wanted over a brutal attack on a mother and her children in south london believe his body has been recovered from the river thames. police previously said they believed abdul shokoor ezedi — a 35—year old refugee from afghanistan — went into the river and died, hours after the attack. on monday afternoon, a boat reported seeing a body in the water at tower pier. the body was recovered

by the met�*s marine policing unit. detectives working on the investigation said they strongly believed it was ezedi, based on the distinctive clothing he was wearing at the time of the attack and property found on his body. let's speak to catherine byaruhanga, who's at tower pier. talk us through exactly where you are and what we know now. you can 'ust see are and what we know now. you can just see behind _ are and what we know now. you can just see behind me _ are and what we know now. you can just see behind me hour— are and what we know now. you can just see behind me hour bridge. - are and what we know now. you can| just see behind me hour bridge. this is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the capital and you can see it is quite a busy waterway, there is a constant stream of boats moving up and down the river here. police say it was one of the boats passing this section of the river that elected them to the presence of a body in the water. this was around 4pm monday evening. marine police unit was then dispatched and the

body pulled out. police believe this is the body of abdul shokoor ezedi because of the distinctive clothing on the body as well of the property that was inside or on the body. police say they cannot formally identify this body because they say the time they have spent in the water visual identification was not possible. they will carry out further checks and these might include dna or dental checks to confirm this is the body but right now they believe they have found their suspect. now they believe they have found theirsuspect. he now they believe they have found their suspect. he was wanted in connection with an attack that shocked the nation. he is accused of throwing a chemical attack at a mother and her two young children. the mother has spent weeks in hospital under sedation. police say her condition has improved but this

was quite a graphic attack that shocked the nation. right now police say they have, they believe, found their man even though he is dead. thanks so much for that. julian assange, the us want him extradited to us. final appeal against that. 0ur reporter nicky schiller is there. as you can see, julian assange supporters are here and have been from the very early hours of the morning saying thatjulian assange should not be extradited. we thought he might appear at this hearing but his lawyers at the start of the day said he was too unwell to appear either in person or via video link from belmarsh prison where he has been held for the last five years.

inside, his lawyers started their case, arguing it was politically motivated and he should not be punished for doing his job as a journalist. they said he was subjected to a cia kidnapper assassination plot inside the ecuadorian embassy. you will remember he sought political asylum inside the ecuadorian embassy for about seven years before he was arrested by police in 2019 and sent to belmarsh prison. during a break in proceedings while the judges had lunch, stella, his wife, came out and addressed the crowds. at one point they were chanting stellar. we managed to grab a few words with her when they came off stage and we askedif when they came off stage and we asked if they fail in this hearing what they will do next. here's what she said.

that is not a straightforward measure, it is only a small minority of cases_ measure, it is only a small minority of cases that — measure, it is only a small minority of cases that actually get a rule 39 order_ of cases that actually get a rule 39 order ttut— of cases that actually get a rule 39 order but in this case, there would be irreparable harm so we are confident— be irreparable harm so we are confident the european court of human — confident the european court of human rights well recognised julian's— human rights well recognised julian's life is at risk. we know what _ julian's life is at risk. we know what happens to political prisoners, we know _ what happens to political prisoners, we know what happened to alexei navalny _ we know what happened to alexei navalny and we know it can happen to julian— navalny and we know it can happen to juliah if— navalny and we know it can happen to jutian if he _ navalny and we know it can happen to julian if he is— navalny and we know it can happen to julian if he is extradited. what will happen — julian if he is extradited. what will happen next _ julian if he is extradited. what will happen next chris - julian if he is extradited. what will happen next chris back? l julian if he is extradited. what - will happen next chris back? good cuestion, will happen next chris back? good question, there _ will happen next chris back? good question, there legal— will happen next chris back? good question, there legal team - will happen next chris back? good question, there legal team will. will happen next chris back? good| question, there legal team will put forward their case and the judges have to decide what to do. we do not know if there will be a judgment

straightaway or if they will take time to consider it. if it is a judgment straightaway and it does not go injulian assange's favour, then he could be on a plane back to then he could be on a plane back to the united states within a couple of weeks. ., ~ the united states within a couple of weeks. ., ,, , ., the united states within a couple of weeks. ., ,, y., ., ., i want to bring you up—to—date with the leading story this hour. lots of development out of russia. couple of developments, the mother remains up in the region of the prison where alexei navalny died. making an appeal directly to vladimir putin to release his body. that has not happened yet. there is no access to alexei navalny's body thus far and the family and lawyers remain in the region around the prison. plenty more developments coming up. stay

with us here on bbc news for all of those headlines in just five minutes. hello there. after a quiet start to this week, things are set to turn more unsettled over the next few days as low pressure systems bring wet and windy weather to our shores but it will be mild for the next couple of days before things turn colder from thursday onwards. this weather front sinking southwards across the country bringing some splashes of rain here and there. ahead of it, cloudy, breezy and mild, behind it brightens up for scotland and northern ireland with sunshine, some blustery showers for western scotland and feeling a bit cooler here behind the front but ahead of it very mild for the time of year, 13—14 or 15 degrees. through tonight, things turn a bit drier for northern, central and eastern areas, temperatures plummeting but it won't last across southern and western areas. wet, windy, milder weather spreads northwards, up to 10 degrees in plymouth by the end of the night, touch of frost likely across central and north—eastern scotland.

wednesday looks decidedly unsettled, deeper area of low pressure moving across the country, more isobars on the chart so it will be windy with gales around the coast and the rain will be quite heavy as well, falling on saturated ground, causing some issues with localised flooding in places. gales unlikely around irish sea coasts and across northern and eastern scotland but a blustery day for all. the rain takes its time to clear through the morning. into the afternoon it will brighten up with a few showers, northern and western areas, taking its time to clear east and south—east of england. the last of the mild days for now as it has been mired for more than a week now, 12 or 13 degrees, 8—11 across the north. and then into thursday, another area of low pressure crossing the country, bringing another spell of wet and windy weather you will notice as it pulls away into the north sea late on thursday we opened the floodgates to a colder, west, north westerly wind and the cold air will be with us for the end of the week into the weekend as well. a rather messy picture for thursday, wet, windy, certainly windy across southern britain, spell of heavy rain spreading from west to east, and again could cause issues of localised flooding, gradually turning more to sleet and snow over the hills in the north as the cold air begins to move southwards but it will be a brighter enter the day

across northern areas but chilly, as you will see, 5—9 c. the cooler theme last friday into the weekend, sunshine and showers, the showers will have a wintry element in the north and night will be cold with a touch of frost in places. hello again. over the next few days you will notice a difference the cooler theme lasts friday into the weekend, sunshine and showers, the showers will have a wintry element in the north and night will be cold with a touch of frost in places.

growing discontent. prime minister rishi sunak pledges support for british farmers — as agricultural protests spread across europe. plus — more subsidies for electric cars. fiat�*s uk boss warns the uk risks missing ev targets without them. welcome to world business report. we start with farming — because the uk prime minister has promised more help for british farmers as agricultural protests spread across europe against soaring costs,