live from washington, this is bbc news. the un agency for palestinian refugees says israel won't approve its aid deliveries to enter northern gaza where famine is imminent. all four suspects in friday's deadly attack in moscow are charged as the country declares a day of mourning for the 137 people known to have died. there are celebrations in senegal after provisional presidential election results appear to give the main opposition candidate, bassirou diomaye faye, a significant lead. hello. i'm erin delmore. the head of the main un relief agency for palestinians says

israel is stopping the organisation from delivering lifesaving aid to people in northern gaza. philippe lazzarini said in a post on x that israeli authorities informed the un that they will no longer approve any unrwa food convoys to the north. he added: "this is outrageous and makes it intentional "to obstruct lifesaving assistance "during a man—made famine. "by preventing unrwa to fulfil its mandate in gaza, "the clock will tick faster towards famine and many more "will die of hunger, dehydration and lack "of shelter. "this cannot happen, it would only stain our collective "humanity." mark lowen has more from jerusalem. without unrwa getting the food out on the ground, there are few alternatives. they're essential, really, because they are the biggest un another body mass to get a few trucks into northern guys in the past couple of weeks but this appears to be a direct

attack on unrwa itself, the head was blocked by the israeli from entering gaza last week and i went to a briefing with him and i met him and he said that he described a direct attack by israel on the functions of that unh and c. he said since january he has not had any contact with the government direct. that's because in january the government direct. that's because injanuary the israeli government accused some embers of staff of unrwa are participating in the seventh of october hamas attack on israel. that prompted some western governments to suspend funding of that un body and it prompted the biggest crisis in relations between the two sides, the israeli government and unrwa in decades. this decision today if confirmed by the israelis appears to be because unrwa has announced it would be another step in the breakdown of the

relationship 22 sides and it comes at exactly the same time as the head of the un, the secretary general is in egypt criticising the israeli government for its conduct at the war and depriving geyser of activity is to be an attack on the un itself. earlier, i spoke to hani almadhoun, director of philanthropy for unrwa usa, a non—profit that fundraises here in the us to support the work of unrwa worldwide. a powerful statement on x. what are the stakes here? the stakes are obviously high. people are literally starved. my sister went to a hospital and she met with a kid who is on the brink of dying because of malnutrition. these are real people and real neighbours and unfortunately we see unrwa under siege essentially, and they are not able to deliver aid in gaza so it is tying our hands during circumstances that are dire, unfathomable, and what can we do?

we are trying to help and fundraise but there are miles of aid outside of gaza waiting to be allowed in. for some reason, due to the lack of political will, we are not getting that anywhere near delivery for people who need it. and if unrwa has its hands tied, who can or will be in a position to deliver aid? as you know, in the usa, the organisation presenting today are about promoting unrwa's work because this is an organisation and the person who runs it is a veteran of the us army for 20 years. this is not some shady organisation. it has been around for 75 years and it finds itself — at odds — now we hear about new arrangements where the israeli authorities are working with essentially armed gangs and thugs to distribute aid and working with the un agency and this is notjust about unrwa. unicef wants to help. they are not able to.

world food programme wants to help and they are not able to, and there is real, dire consequences to what is happening, and we know that at least 15 palestinian minors have lost their lives because of what is going on, and food is just miles away and things like flour, rice and basic commodities are being denied — lentils and chickpeas are not there. my own family is in north gaza and they are struggling every day. they do not know when the next meal is coming. do you see this moment as a breakdown in the relationship between israel and unrwa ? i think it is a breakdown between a lot of players. unrwa is the agency, the largest humanitarian actor inside gaza right now and that is the reality of it and it is the largest humanitarian organisation not able to deliver a — think about who will be doing that. —— deliver aid. airdrops? thank you for that but it is a drop in the ocean where the aid is needed.

we know we have seen people — sometimes a whole airdrop does not fill a truck. we are talking about 150 trucks being allowed. we have seen an increase in the number of trucks getting in — not enough. we need 500 trucks a day. on a good day, 150 are allowed into gaza and they are not allowed to go to the north where there is at least 150,000 people living there without supplies, without food. even getting a little bit of water is a heroic act in gaza. these are civilians. my family has nothing to do with anything and this is just a sample of people we know and care about — not to mention the bombs and all the conditions they are placed under and unfortunately un agencies like unrwa are unable to deliver the aid that is needed for — what? i do not know exactly why. we have spoken about the access but let's speak about the funding gap. the us is funding to unrwa and a new deal would cut off that day. what impact would that have

on the work your organisation does? when i met with the politicians and analyse that — it is not a good move. i hear every day from american voters hear their hearts are broken to see that this is happening, the defunding of the agency. this is the lifeline for 2 million refugees inside gaza and disgraced people. —— displaced people. unrwa has put 1.7 million people in a shelter right now, in facilities with schools and clinics, and despite that they are unable to provide food. think about water, think about sanitation and all that. i wish to see the funding will unrwa start yesterday, not today, but i was very disappointed to see my own government denying the funds needed to help people like my family. unfortunately, this is a very ugly chapter in the history of mankind — as we speak. thank you for taking the time to be with us today.

a russian court charged for men suspected of a deadly assault on a moscow concert hall. they've been ordered into custody pending a trial set to take place in may. authorities say at least 137 people were killed after four gunmen fired at concert goers and set the crocus city hall on fire. sunday was declared a national day of mourning for the victims. the islamic state group has released graphic footage, which appears to back up its claim of responsibility. president vladimir putin has suggested, without evidence, that ukraine is involved. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports from moscow. in moscow, wherever you looked, wherever you turned, you could see this was a country in mourning. and in shock. across russia, flags flew at half—mast for the victims of the concert hall massacre. and at the scene of friday's attack, crocus city hall, the queues grew longer and longer.

the national day of mourning experienced most acutely here. there was an outpouring of sympathy, a mountain of tributes to the dead. as well as leaving flowers and candles, people have also been bringing soft toys and sweets, because amongst the dead there were children. they have also been leaving messages. one is addressed to the attackers and it reads, "you are scum, we will never forgive you." among the crowd there was a mixture of grief and anger. it was a big shock because i live nearby and i saw it from my windows. it is horrific. and the big tragedy. "such a terrible loss," says natalia, "i'll never forgive or forget." "bring back the death penalty for terrorists," he says, "for sure."

this is how the attack had begun. with gunmen in the foyer and desperate attempts to take cover. the attackers moved on to the auditorium. by the end of this, more than 130 people were dead. four suspects have been arrested. tonight, the suspected gunman appeared in court. russia claims they were captured trying to flee to ukraine and had contacts there. kyiv fiercely denies any link to the attack. the islamic state group says it was behind the shooting. and on this day of mourning, silent prayers from a sombre—looking president putin. the kremlin says he lit a candle for the victims in church at his country estate. and russia is praying that there will be no more attacks.

if there are, that will test people's faith in the president to keep them safe. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. our security correspondent frank gardner provided context on why the islamic state group would attack russia, if it was them. well, there are a number of reasons. one is syria. so is have, in the past, put out statements — and quite recently — saying, we will never forgive and forget. because in syria, russian air force and russian forces are fighting isis, is, islamic state, as are the americans. secondly, there's afghanistan, where the taliban are fighting is—k which is the khorasan wilayat — that's the province of, or the branch of isis that operates in afghanistan, in that area. and back in september 2022, isis attacked the russian embassy in kabul.

so they consider that the russian government is an ally of the taliban and the taliban is their enemy. and also, there are a number of disputes that they've got with regimes in that part of the world. the third reason, i think, which is perhaps the most pressing, is that there is there's recently been quite a crackdown, a clampdown by the fsb — that's russia's domestic security agency — against suspected jihadists inside russia. of course, russia is at war with ukraine. sorry, it's a special military operation — that's what it's officially called in russia, but it's a war by any other name — and that's really where the kremlin�*s attention has been. so i think there's a legitimate question to be asked as to whether russia took its eye off the ball here with this. france raised their terror threat level on sunday in the wake of the deadly attack in moscow. french prime minister gabriel attal said: "given the claim "of responsibility for the attack by the islamic state

"and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided "to raise the vigipirate state, that's france's national "security alert system, to its highest level: "emergency attack". the escalation comes just months after the level was lowered injanuary. the captain of a british warship in the red sea says attacks by the iran—backed houthi movement are becoming more dangerous, as they launch more ballistic and cruise missiles — which are harder to defend against. the houthis say they're targeting merchant vessels and warships in solidarity with palestinians in gaza. our defence correspondent jonathan beale is the first journalist to board the destroyer hms diamond as it carries out its mission to defend shipping in the red sea. security, security, security. this is coalition warship listening channel one—six. the royal navy's hms diamond, sailing in the red sea towards danger. they're here to protect merchant shipping and, for this mission,

to escort a naval task group. and they're armed and ready. this task group has now entered the high threat area. and, as you can see, they're preparing to run the gauntlet with the houthis. in the operations room, the ship's nerve centre, they've already donned fire protective clothing. with their powerful radar, they can track multiple objects from hundreds of miles away. and this is what happens when they identify a threat. firebomb, 293 at 165! siren sounds the drills they've rehearsed many times before. air threat warning red, air threat warning red. missile inbound to the ship, starboard quarter. time to go — two minutes. but now it's deadly serious. this, one of two occasions we witnessed when the houthis fire ballistic missiles, travelling at more than three times the speed of sound.

the missile has splashed the water north of the task group, therefore air threat warning now yellow, air threat warning now yellow. between the time it's fired and by the time it impacts, you've got about two minutes to react. that's why we're in state 2, that's why we're wearing our clothing all the time, so that within that time frame, we'll be in absolutely the right posture to be able to deal with those. but yeah, it can feel a bit intense. obviously, someone's trying to potentially shoot something at you. houthi drones are the other danger. that's a uav, faring 350 range. it's now got two airborne in the north. obviously, our position now, we anticipate they may come south. air threat warning is... it's a potentially deadly version of hide and seek, but the drone doesn't spot them. this time, diamond hasn't fired its main sea viper missiles, but it's already shot down nine drones — seven of them in just one night in january.

diamond's captain believes they have saved lives, but they haven't stopped increasingly sophisticated houthi attacks. it seems to me that they're using more advanced and more lethal weapons than they were in the earlier parts of the operation. and where are they getting those from? i couldn't tell you that, i'm afraid. i guess they're smuggled in from somewhere, but i'd be speculating. but diamond is looking out for suspicious activity. they board a dhow. it's declared stateless, but it's flying an iranian flag. the search finds nothing illegal. it's proving just as hard to stem the flow of weapons as to stop the houthi attacks. jonathan beale, bbc news, on hms diamond. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the chancellor says the conservatives will retain a key commitment on pensions in their election manifesto.

speaking to my colleague laura kuenssberg, jeremy hunt said they would keep the triple—lock. under the current government system, state pensions rise every year in april, in line with whichever is highest out of inflation — average wage increases or 2.5%. when we came to office in 2010, pensioners were more likely to be in poverty. now they are less likely to be in poverty and that is important because unlike adults of working age, pensioners cannot work. they have retired and we need to respect that but the second thing is that it is an expensive commitment and you can only make that commitment if you are confident you will deliver the economic growth that is going to pay for it. you're live with bbc news.

counting is under way in senegal after sunday's presidential election. several opposition candidates conceded after polls closed this evening, saying they believe the anti—establishment politician, bassirou diomaye faye, has won. provisional results broadcast by local media gave an early lead to mr faye, putting him ahead of the former prime minister, amadou ba. senegal�*s governing coalition, which is backing amadou ba, said it was �*certain�* there would be a second—round vote and accused faye�*s campaign of attempted �*manipulation�*. up to seven million people were eligible to vote for the 19 confirmed candidates. turnout appears to have been high, especially among young people. the election comes after the outgoing president macky sall postponed a vote on february 3rd, prompting supporters of the opposition to protest in the streets. sall�*s decision was unprecedented and was condemned both at home and abroad. mr sall served two terms as president and is barred from standing again.

this is the first presidential election without the incumbent running. earlier, i spoke to adele ravida, country director in senegal for the international foundation for electoral systems. she's been monitoring polling stations in dakar today. what is the atmosphere like in senegal on election day and why? this morning, the atmosphere was quite calm all over the country. the turnout was particularly high. we don't have the final figure but i was here during another election and in comparison there was a lot of people in the polling station this morning. since the opening, they were longer queues outside the polling stations. there were reports from media outlets that was the case also in the regions. there has been so much attention on the selection. what makes it so unique. the election was originally

scheduled for february 25, and the day before, the beginning of the electoral campaign on february three, the president stopped the process and a vote at the national assembly endorsed this process and then the election was postponed back to the 15th of december and then they went and again rescheduled forjune two. so, in the past month, the date change four times and finally it was rescheduled for sunday, today, march 24. senegal has been always considered as a beacon of democracy in west africa and never experienced any postponement in its presidential elections. so, when it happened last month, many called this event

as a political coup by a president who did not want to give up the power. already, back injune, president sall mentioned that he would not run for a third mandate. this was not welcome by the population who started to make a big mobilisation and during the past month we had several demonstrations, including with three people that lost their lives. there are 19 candidates running for president, but what is also notable is who is not running. ousmane sonko — tell us more. ousmane sonko was declared ineligible. so, he lost his civil rights after he was arrested, but actually, there is a plan b for sonko. the opposition candidate now is bassirou diomaye faye, and the campaign, especially —

they have both been released from prison a couple of days ago — before the end of the campaign and the couple of the days that they made at the end of the campaign, the campaign was done together. the slogan of the campaign was "voting for diomaye "is voting for sonko." sonko is not a candidate but there is a plan b. another candidate is the former president's family because his son was also declared ineligible because of citizenship. what issues are top of mind for voters? what changes do they want to see? so, the campaign topics were more oriented around unemployment or creation of employment, creation of social housing and also

another important topic in the speeches in general is governments of natural resources. senegal recently discovered oil and exploitation will start very soon. a couple of candidates supported that in their campaign speeches about the signature or the renegotiation of the contracts that have been signed regarding oil. thank you so much. thank you. simon harris has been confirmed as the new leader of fine gael, one of the governing parties in the republic of ireland. at age 37, the decision paves the way for mr harris to become ireland's youngest prime minister. he replaces leo varadkar, who announced on wednesday he was stepping down as party leader and taoiseach. while speaking to reporters, mr harris was asked whether a general election might be on the horizon.

it's my view and my intention that this government should run full term. i am very conscious that governments take on a rhythm of their own. and i'm very conscious that all people need to act in good faith. and events can happen in irish politics, of course they can, but we've a lot of work to do and i don't think there needs to be any mystique around my intention, where you guys ask me every second day where my head is at. i am planning for this government, should i be lucky enough to form one and to become taoiseach. i would like to see this government run full term, and that's my intention, as of now. now, jasmin paris from scotland is the first woman to complete one of the world's most gruelling races — the barkley marathons in tennessee. 100 miles, up and down hills, through rugged terrain — she finished with just 99 seconds to spare before the 60 hour cut—off. jasmin has finally recovered her breath and spoke to the bbc. it wasn't until the last kilometre that i really sort of doubted that it was going to be possible. and at that point i was just so desperate to stop, to stop running and to walk.

and i knew that i couldn't because i wouldn't make it. i think it was just the thought that if i didn't make it this time, it was going to be by seconds and then i would have to come back and do the whole thing again. because i would never have let it rest. i was so oxygen deficient when i reached the end and the last few hundred metres, i couldn't even really see anybody. cheering and applause i knew there were people kind of cheering me on and there was lots of noise and... but i wasjust aiming for the gate and everything else sort of went blurry at the edges of my vision and ijust needed to make it to the gate, at which point i just sort of collapsed down in a gasping, kind of heap on the ground. hundreds of waiters and waitresses took politician will raise trying to not spill their trade. points are awarded for speed and deducted for spills.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. many of us saw some spells of sunshine on sunday and i think it was the sunshine that kind of offset the coolness of the air. now, there won't be as much sunshine around on monday — low pressure is moving in — and not got much snow in the scottish mountains at the moment but that is set to change over the next 2a hours. low pressure is developing to the west of the uk and this low pressure is going to be bringing outbreaks of rain widely over the next 2a hours. the rain already with us in northern ireland will continue to spread northwards and eastwards over the next few hours, reaching across wales, into western and central england, south—west scotland, too. northern scotland, one place where you are likely to see some frost but at least it should be a bright start to the day here. otherwise, a lot of cloud and rain around on monday morning. probably little, if anything, reaching east anglia and south east england, where it might actually brighten up for a time.

temperatures about 10—12 degrees for most — that's near average for the time of year — but cold in scotland atjust sixes and sevens. and then, on the big picture, we've got a feed of cold air coming down from greenland around an area of high pressure. that's running into northern scotland, bumping into our advancing weather front. now, through monday night, it looks like we'll see a spell of snow. it's going to be quite high up in the mountains of scotland. 10—20cm on the way here above 300m elevation. the snow could come down a little bit lower than that, perhaps to 200m elevation. what all that means is monday night and into tuesday, there's a risk of disruption over some of the higher—level roads in scotland, maybe for some of the railway lines into tuesday morning as well. if you live down at sea level, well, you're more likely to see rain or maybe a bit of sleet mixed in. it will be quite windy across the far north of scotland as well. elsewhere, a bit of rain trickling its way eastwards across east anglia and south east england, the weather turning a bit brighter across the south—west of the uk. a cold day in scotland —

temperatures really struggling here, particularly underneath that rain and hill snow. on into wednesday, got another area of low pressure forming. that's going to be bringing loads of showers across northern ireland, wales, southern and western parts of england. the showers notjust frequent, they'll be heavy with some hail and thunder mixed in as well, and temperatures just running a bit below average. these showery conditions last through the rest of this week and into the easter break beyond as well. that's your latest weather. bye for now.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.

one way of measuring the scale of haiti's political,