this is bbc news broadcasting to the years in the uk and around the world. the headlines... international criminal court issues arrest warrants for vladimir putin and his children's commissioner, accusing them of war crimes over the unlawful deportation of children. thejudges issued arrest unlawful deportation of children. the judges issued arrest warrants. the judges issued arrest warrants. the prosecution depends on international cooperation. china's - resident international cooperation. china's president is _ international cooperation. china's president is to _ international cooperation. china's president is to make _ international cooperation. china's president is to make a _ international cooperation. china's president is to make a state - international cooperation. china's president is to make a state visit| president is to make a state visit to russia next week for talks with president putin. turkey will start the process of ratifying finland's nato membership it is the leaders of the two countries meet. a review of london's metropolitan police is expected to heavily criticised him racist, sexist and homophobic

behaviour. welcome to the programme. the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russia's leader vladimir putin — for war crimes. the court says there are grounds to believe that president putin is personally responsible for the deportation of thousands of children from ukraine to russia, since last year's invasion. it's the first time the court has ordered the arrest of a prominent, serving political leader. moscow dismissed the announcement as outrageous, saying it doesn't recognise the jurisdiction of the court. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports from ukraine's capital, kyiv.

vladimir vladimirovich putin, president of the russian federation and now alleged war criminal. accused — along with a senior official — of illegally removing children from ukraine, accused by this man's court. the judges have reviewed the information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor and determined that there are credible allegations against these persons for their alleged crimes. the indictment from the international criminal court says the russian leader is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children from unoccupied areas of ukraine to the russian federation since february last year. and there are reasonable grounds to believe mr putin bears individual responsibility. the court, based here in the hague, said the alleged crimes were still ongoing, so it was making the arrest warrants public to try to prevent more children being deported. in the chaos of the war, with millions of people displaced,

there have been repeated reports of thousands of ukrainian children being taken to russia or russian—held territory, some forcibly, some tricked. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations by the icc were outrageous and unacceptable. the foreign ministry was utterly dismissive. translation: russia is not a party to the rome statute| of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it. russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible recipes for arrest coming from the international court will be legally null and void for us. these are only the first arrest warrants. more are expected for the killing of civilians here in bucha and elsewhere across the country, where russian forces have been accused of rape, torture and indiscriminate shelling. ministers said mr putin would be brought tojustice. i would expect rhetoric,

brinkmanship, but at the end of the day, we've seen it all before with other violent despots and dictators, and in the end, a large number of them cannot sit out the indictment from an international court for the worst crimes against humanity. here in kyiv, ministers expressed satisfaction that, as one said, the wheels ofjustice returning in a historic moment for ukraine. it may be that this is a symbolic act, it may be that mr putin is never arrested or ever faces a court, but it is still a significant moment. it is not every day that a serving head of state is accused of war crimes, and it is a signal that the international community will seekjustice for what has been going on here in ukraine. at the very least, vladimir putin is unlikely to be travelling to countries that sign up to the criminal court, for they would have an obligation to arrest him the moment he gets

off the plane. james landale, bbc news, kyiv. so how has this news been received in russia? the so how has this news been received in russia? _ , in russia? the political system in this country _ in russia? the political system in this country revolves _ in russia? the political system in this country revolves around - in russia? the political system in this country revolves around one | this country revolves around one man, and all the political players that are part of that system have been queuing up to condemn this arrest warrant and show their loyalty to the man running the country. so some very colourful reactions. we have heard from the former russian president who referred to the arrest warrant on social media and wrote this, no need to explain where this paper should be used and followed that with an emoji of a toilet roll. we heard from the speaker of the russian parliament to set as long as there is putin, there is russia. any attacks on the russian president or an act of aggression against our country. all these people trying to

outdo one another in their displays of loyalty to the crime leader. yet. of loyalty to the crime leader. yet, the allegations _ of loyalty to the crime leader. yet, the allegations themselves, are they disputed? because we are hearing from the icc that children were taken from children's homes and orphanages and adopted in russia. and we have one of the two people for whom the arrest warrants are issued, saying publicly that she has adopted a child from ukraine and talks of other children who have been adopted that were originally in ukraine. , , ., been adopted that were originally in ukraine. ,, . , , , ukraine. russia disputes the accusations _ ukraine. russia disputes the accusations that _ ukraine. russia disputes the accusations that are - ukraine. russia disputes the accusations that are made i ukraine. russia disputes the - accusations that are made against it. russia says that these were not for us to deportations, the children were moved for their own safety. that is the line that moscow comes up with. and of course, russia says, well, this isjust part up with. and of course, russia says, well, this is just part of the general attack on russia, on the kremlin, on the russian president. russia is presenting this as a war

by the west against russia. that is the message you get on russian television from morning until night, and i'm sure, in the days to come, thatis and i'm sure, in the days to come, that is how the russian state media will represent these arrest warrants. will represent these arrest warrants-— will represent these arrest warrants. ,, . ,. , ., warrants. russia describing into more as an _ warrants. russia describing into more as an evacuation - warrants. russia describing into more as an evacuation rather i warrants. russia describing into i more as an evacuation rather than warrants. russia describing into - more as an evacuation rather than a war crime. very interesting. but what effect could this have? lots of speculation that this could restrict president putin's movement and could prevent anything like this from happening again if it indeed has happened, and it could turn president put me into an international pariah. president xi jinping expected to come there in the next few days. in jinping expected to come there in the next few days.— the next few days. in terms of international _ the next few days. in terms of international travel _ the next few days. in terms of international travel for - the next few days. in terms of| international travel for vladimir putin, if you look at the list of countries that recognise the jurisdiction of the international criminal court, there aren't too many countries in that list that you could imagine vladimir putin popping off to in the near future. could imagine vladimir putin popping off to in the nearfuture. he

doesn't travel that much. that's not a big issue, ithink, for doesn't travel that much. that's not a big issue, i think, for him at the moment, in practical terms, you know, don't hold your breath. russian police are not going to put handcuffs on the russian president and dispatch him to the hague. russia does not extradite its own citizens. but i think it does send a strong message, it sends a message that there arejudges strong message, it sends a message that there are judges in the hague who consider vladimir putin to have allegedly committed war crimes. and that does make the russian president even more of a pariah than he is now at a time when he is still trying to play the role of global statesman. he got the chinese president coming for a state visit in just three days' time. for a state visit in 'ust three days- finish for a state visit in 'ust three da s' time. ~' . �*, , , days' time. ukraine's president, flatter zielinski _ days' time. ukraine's president, flatter zielinski has _ days' time. ukraine's president, flatter zielinski has issued - days' time. ukraine's president, flatter zielinski has issued a - flatter zielinski has issued a statement now in response to these arrest points being issued. he called it a historic decision, one that has uncovered state evil. he says it would be impossible to carry out such a criminal operation without the order of the top leader

of the terrorist state. to discuss more, i am joined of the terrorist state. to discuss more, iamjoined by of the terrorist state. to discuss more, i am joined by frank gardner. frank, what are the charges exactly? how significant do you think this is? ., how significant do you think this is? . . . , how significant do you think this is? . . ., , ., , how significant do you think this is? that charges are very specific in a specifically _ is? that charges are very specific in a specifically name _ is? that charges are very specific in a specifically name not - is? that charges are very specific in a specifically name notjust - in a specifically name notjust president putin, but also russia's commissionerfor president putin, but also russia's commissioner for children's rights. and watch they are accused of in both cases is having an overall responsibility for the unlawful and in some cases forced abduction of children from russian occupied areas of the crane into basically russian internment. and as james land land dale mentioned earlier, different forms of this, somewhere forcibly abducted, some were tricked. there have been plenty of well—documented cases where parents have been told to hand over their children to a bus depot at a certain time and when they were told they were going off to a holiday camp or a sports camp

and they were taken to places like crimea, russian occupied, or even inside russia itself, where they are being systematically turned into russian citizens, for us to forget their ukrainian nationality and adopt their entirely russian nationality, singing the russian nationality, singing the russian national anthem, speaking russian, learning the russian syllabus. the numbers here pretty big. the most conservative estimates i've seen is 6000 people. now, will these arrest warrants change the world on the ground in ukraine? no. it's not going to have any great effect on the battlefield at all. is it embarrassing for the kremlin? yeah, a little bit. are we going to see president putin in the hague? not a chance. asjustice steve rosenberg mentioned there, he does in travel a great deal. he's got powerful friends, xijinping of china who is coming to see him and who is absolutely crucial in all of this. so if we were going to look at the

big picture, what is more important, russia's friendship at china and are they going to get weapons from china, that is far out weighing anything that a court in the hague, which has nojurisdiction in russia might say. where it does, i think i may have an effect is all those countries outside the western bloc who are kind of wavering a bit. they are optically in favour of the invasion but also thinking, nato asked for this. they kept expanding eastwards. russia is simply defending its own borders. the fact that russia, after 13 months of consistent denials of war crimes, is that these crimes, alleged crimes are being taken seriously enough after four visits to ukraine are being taken seriously enough afterfour visits to ukraine by are being taken seriously enough after four visits to ukraine by one of its chief prosecutors. the fact that this has been taken so seriously by an international criminal court that has brought to justice were criminals from the balkans and africa and elsewhere,

that, i think might well, that is not going to play very well for russia in countries that are wavering on the sidelines, not sure who to believe, moscow or washington.— who to believe, moscow or washington. who to believe, moscow or washinuton. ., ,. ., �* ., ,, washington. fascinating. and do you think in the icc's — washington. fascinating. and do you think in the icc's mind, _ washington. fascinating. and do you think in the icc's mind, they - washington. fascinating. and do you think in the icc's mind, they might . think in the icc's mind, they might hope that this would lead to changes at the top of the kremlin, giving them a if they are able to oust president putin? or do you think theyjust want to president putin? or do you think they just want to stop what they are saying the total mistreatment of treatment, some of those with disabilities. it’s treatment, some of those with disabilities.— disabilities. it's primarily the latter. disabilities. it's primarily the latter- in _ disabilities. it's primarily the latter- in in _ disabilities. it's primarily the latter. in in the _ disabilities. it's primarily the latter. in in the statement i disabilities. it's primarily the - latter. in in the statement issued today, they said these words were supposed to be kept secret initially in order to protect both witnesses and victims, but in order to stop it going on from happening, and it is still happening, we have decided to make this public. so it is primarily about prevention. i don't think that there is going to be a sudden change otherwise. ., there is going to be a sudden change otherwise. . ., , ., , .,

otherwise. thanks as ever for your analysis there. _ as we've mentioned, the news out of the icc has happened as china announces its president — xijinping — will visit russia next week to hold talks with president putin. beijing and moscow say the two men will discuss strategic cooperation. beijing is currently promoting a plan it says can bring a negotiated end to the war in ukraine. however, china's neutrality has been questioned, as beijing continues to maintain close ties with moscow. the announcement for the state visit was made by the foreign ministry in beijing. take a listen. translation: during his state visit to russia, president xi jinping - will have an in—depth exchange of views with president putin on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern. china will uphold its objective and fair position on the ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks. here's our china correspondent —

stephen mcdonell — on what beijing might want from this trip. nato has created considerable expectation that this visit by xi jinping might lead to some sort of a breakthrough in terms of promoting peace in the war between russia and ukraine. now, the reasons for that are that beijing does have some sway with moscow, and some would say considerable sway. beijing says it's a neutral player in the war and therefore it could become an honest broker, and also, the chinese government has just come off the back of brokering this deal which saw saudi arabia and iran resumed diplomatic relations, so people are thinking, you know, if you can get those two together, could beijing also do the same thing in terms of the war between russia and ukraine? now, the problem is that some analysts would say, is it really in china's interests to stop the war if we consider the most cynical potential possibility? in a way, russia is doing china's dirty work. it is challenging the west,

it is making the best eat up all of these military resources it has and actually furthering beijing's geopolitical goals. that said, of course, it has also disrupted trade, and china did have good relations with ukraine before the war started. so, for those reasons, people might say it wants to have peace. turning to another effect of russian�*s were in ukraine. turkey says it's decided to start the process of ratifying finland's application to join nato after long delays. but it says more talks are needed about sweden's bid. president recep tayyip erdogan says finland has kept the agreement the three countries made last year, while sweden still hadn't handed over people he called terrorists. turkey has delayed ratifying the bids of the two countries — saying they haven't done enough to combat kurdish militant groups. here's mr erdogan

announcing the development. translation: we have decided to start the protocol of finland'sj accession to nato in our parliament. i wish that this decision will be good for our countries and our alliance. the news came amid a visit by finland's leader to ankara. the nato alliance chief — jens stoltenberg — released this statement shortly after the announcement. i welcome today's decision to move ahead with the ratification of finland membership in nato. this will strengthen finland security and sweden's security and it will strengthen nato. i hope that the turkish grand national assembly was vote to rectify as soon as possible. the most important thing is that both finland and sweden become full members of nato quickly. not whether the joint

at exactly the same time. live to paris, near the concorde. this is in reaction to the french government's use of the constitutional power to force through a controversial pension reform into law. that is raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by a triggering a special constitutional power. on thursday nights, we did witness tear gas used to disperse the demonstrators in paris. lots of people were convening, just before the pictures came, people started running away, presumably, from the police, so the situation seems to have changed and developed in the last few minutes. across paris, there are all sorts of protests, be it thousands and thousands of tonnes of uncollected rubbish in the streets or blocking traffic on

paris's ring road. all of this in reaction to what the government says is a necessary reform needed to prevent a major financial deficit in the future. we will keep an eye on that for you. another night of unrest in paris there. a major review of london's metropolitan police is expected to heavily criticise the force for racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour. baroness casey was appointed to examine the met�*s standards and internal culture after the murder of sarah everard by wayne couzens, a serving policeman. the bbc has been told the review — published next week — will be extremely bad for britain's biggest police force. our special correspondent, lucy manning, has been talking to former partners of police officers — who say the met fails to deal with abusive officers in its ranks. sirens. they used to be in uniform, until they were convicted. since wayne couzens was arrested, more met police officers

have been sentenced, many for sexual offences or violence against women. the force has faced criticism it can't deal with complaints against its own officers. i think it's easier to let these police officers stay than try and get rid of them. sally — not her real name — was the partner of a met police officer. they met when he investigated a crime she was the victim of. last year, she told the met he'd domestically abused her, and misused police powers. how do you feel that they have dealt with him, given the fact he is a police officer? well, they haven't dealt with him, have they? he's still working. he's still getting paid. he's still going to get his full pension. get everything he asked for. he is now going through the met�*s misconduct system, on restricted duties. i think, 100%, if he had attacked me and he wasn't a police officer, he would have been arrested, and taken and carted off. where are you on being

able to trust the met? i don't. i don't trust the police at all. and i do not understand why we report allegations against police to other police officers. there is no place in the police service for an officer like him. absolutely not. the met boss has accepted he is unable to sack hundreds of officers, and the bbc understands the casey review next week will heavily criticise the way the met tolerates wrongdoing and puts its own people ahead of the public. do you believe the head of the met when he says they are going to do better? no, sorry. prove it. prove it by actions. don'tjust stand there and give us a load of old words. we want proof that you're going to act on those words. you're brought up to believe the police are there to protect. the police should be there to protect. that's what we pay taxes for.

but theyjust seem to protect themselves. natalie claims her ex—husband, a met officer, coercively controlled her. she struggled to find the right avenues to complain to the force to get them to take action. her words are spoken by an actor to protect her anonymity. i've been in police stations. i've spoken to policewomen who squeezed my arm and looked compassionate, and told me this time it would be sorted, you know? it was unacceptable. you know, then like i said, you hear nothing. and it then makes him worse. he's bolstered by this, isn't he? he's enabled, and protected. what more do you think the met needs to do now? own up. i think they need total reform. we will take the most robust action against officers that are found to have committed these crimes. the re—vetting of officers has been stepped up. i recognise we are in a bad place.

but we are committed, and absolutely determined, to turn that around, and we are going to do so. i completely understand that people will often feel nervous or hesitant to go to the police to report a crime committed by the police. but it's clear it's notjust about a few officers who've been sentenced. the entire force will face serious accusations of racism, misogyny and homophobia. its reputation and ability to regain trust in serious doubt. lucy manning, bbc news. lawyers for pakistan's former prime minister imran khan says he will show up to court on saturday to face charges of not declaring gifts, or the profits from selling them. they made the statement after a lahore high court granted him bail in several other cases against him — and after clashes between his supporters and security forces attempting to arrest him. former bbc urdu journalist ather kazmi spoke to me from islamabad about imran khans

appearence in court today. he appeared in court today and the court granted him bail in nine cases, and out of eight cases out of those nine were terrorism related, so there are multiple cases against imran khan, dozens of cases. he is quite busy at the moment dealing with the legal side of things in dealing with the politics, so i spoke to his legal team a little while ago, and they were saying our main worry is the amount of cases against him. most of these cases, they say they will not stand up in they say they will not stand up in the court of law, but the thing is that every case takes time, and he would rather spend his time on politics, spend his time on upcoming elections, most of these are

terrorism related, it could be some sort of political victimisation going on at the moment. there has been a standun _ going on at the moment. there has been a standup for— going on at the moment. there has been a standup for days _ going on at the moment. there has been a standup for days for - going on at the moment. there has been a standup for days for his - been a standup for days for his supporters and the security forces. do you think what has happened today will help? it do you think what has happened today will hel ? . ., , will help? it will certainly give him relief _ will help? it will certainly give him relief in _ will help? it will certainly give him relief in the _ will help? it will certainly give him relief in the short - will help? it will certainly give him relief in the short term, | him relief in the short term, because there was a standing warrant against him, and police were told to arrest him, but the kind of action which was taken by the caretaker, at the moment, no provincial assembly, and there is a caretaker set up, which is solely there to hold election, which was announced on the 30th of april, i think. but they are more busy dealing with imran kohn and his supporters, and that is the way for him. it would help, they spell, but only in the short term. in the long term, i think there is a lot of cases, which he has to deal with. d0 lot of cases, which he has to deal with. , ., lot of cases, which he has to deal with. i. ~' lot of cases, which he has to deal with. ~ with. do you think you will end up bein: able with. do you think you will end up being able to _ with. do you think you will end up being able to play _ with. do you think you will end up being able to play a _ with. do you think you will end up being able to play a role in - with. do you think you will end up being able to play a role in the .

being able to play a role in the coming general election? well, even if ou coming general election? well, even if you spoke — coming general election? well, even if you spoke to _ coming general election? well, even if you spoke to his _ coming general election? well, even if you spoke to his arrivals, - if you spoke to his arrivals, everybody knows he is the most popular leader in pakistan. his ratings are more than 60%. so he is the only one who is playing a role in the politics, but the thing is, would he be able to play the role in the election politics? would he be able to contest the election? because he said today, government wants to arrest me and keep me inside the jail or transfer me to another province, just to keep me busy, just to make sure that i want to contest the election. so he would be playing the role, he is the most popular leader, but there will be some issues with this, as i explained. some issues with this, as i exolained-_ some issues with this, as i exlained. ., ., ., ., i. explained. ok, now how long do you send at explained. ok, now how long do you spend at the — explained. ok, now how long do you spend at the beach _ explained. ok, now how long do you spend at the beach before _ explained. ok, now how long do you spend at the beach before you - explained. ok, now how long do you spend at the beach before you havel spend at the beach before you have had enough of the sand? is eclipse the 30th mark at the

beachin is eclipse the 30th mark at the beach in sydney, cocking up now more than 40 hours in the ocean. raising money for youth mental health projects and said he felt pretty cooked after catching more than 500 waves. hello there. spring daffodils in full bloom now right across the country, but what we could do with is some spring like weather. well, for some, we had that today. in fact, in northeast england it was a mild and often quite sunny day as depicted by this weather watch watcher in northumberland. it was a different story, though, elsewhere. we did have some sharp thundery downpours, a rainbow in the sky across falkirk with some threatening looking skies here. now, if we take a look back at the cloud and the rain radar from recent hours, you can see just how widespread those showers have been today, but, at the same time, there's also been some sunny spells as well. and that's the story as we go through the night, tonight and into tomorrow with low pressure anchored out to the west, feeding in plenty of showers from the west through the night. so, we keep quite a lot of cloud

around that's going to prevent those temperatures from falling too far. but it does mean a messy mixture of showers as we go through the night. those temperatures will hold up at around 5—9 degrees for most. we start off tomorrow on a rather cloudy note, for many, a mild note and, once again, it's going to be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers. light winds as well on saturday, so i suspect if you catch a shower, they could linger for quite some time. they should be fairly interspersed. top temperatures around 14 or 15 degrees, not out of the question. but yes, some of those showers, once again could be heavy and thundery. more persistent rain into northern ireland and western scotland by the latter stages of the afternoon. here we'll look at around 9 or 10 degrees, but noticeably colder in the northern isles. and as that area of low pressure gradually starts to ease away, the winds will pick up through the evening and overnight and swing back around to a northerly. and that means on the back edge,

we could see a little bit of snow across the northern isles. temperatures to greet us first thing on sunday morning, a little bit lower. so a chillier start, but hopefully a crystal clear blue sky sunshine at morning on sunday. very nice indeed. gradually, we'll see cloud developing out to the west as rain will start to push it in by the end of the afternoon. but not a bad mothering sunday in prospect. temperatures generally between 8—14 degrees, once again, a little bit cooler in the northern isles. so just to sum up this weekend, saturday will be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers better on sunday.

you are watching bbc news. now its time for newscast. hello, it's adam. and chris. last time we were set here we were with kent clark, the former chancellor of the, wading through the budget which had about 300 things in it. and the office for budget responsibility for public finance, which had about another 300 things in it. now that you've had the time to sleep on all of those things, put them under your pillow, what were your thoughts? so, we've been on day two today, thursday, of the budget. the big picture thing is that the think tanks,