Plenty of questions, and here to offer some answers for the next half an hour or so are mike prendergast, leader of the conservative opposition on Sefton Council ballots have been cast over three days. There has been some vandalism and a number of arrests at Polling Stations, but the final result is not in doubt as mr putin has no credible opponent. It comes as supporters of the late opposition leader, Alexei Navalny,have urged people to turn out en masse at midday in each time zone and vote for any Candidate Other than mr putin or spoil their ballot papers. The Rolling Protest has been dubbed � noon against putin. Icame to i came to vote for a man to make sure that our country prosperous and there is no fascism in any country, not in ukraine or any other part of the world. , not in ukraine or any other part of the world the world. Steve rosenberg is in moscow and the world. Steve rosenberg is in moscow and gave the world. Steve rosenberg is in moscow and gave his assessment this was proposed by Russian Opposition supporters abroad, in exceland it Russian Opposition supporters abroad, in excel and it was supported by the most prominent Opposition FigureAlexei Navalny just before his death. They are calling people to come out in large numbers and vote for any other Candidate Other than Vladimir Putin, orto other Candidate Other than Vladimir Putin, or to spoil their ballot. They say that if large numbers of people come out, that will undermine the official results, which is expected to show a Vladimir Putin landslide. As i say, its not clear how many people will come out, and in the russian capital, the Russian Prosecutors Office has issued a warning saying that large numbers of people at Polling Stations at midday will be considered an unauthorised mass public event, and suggesting that will be illegal. It is not clear how that would work and if people have the right to vote today on this third and final day of the president ial election. Paul moorcraft is director at centre for Foreign Policy analysis and author of � putin� s wars and natos flaws why russia invaded ukraine. I asked him if putin will use another victory as a reason to push forward with the war against ukraine. This is going to be seen as a great victory by putin, of course, but you should not underestimate the fact that he does have a lot of Popular Support in russia. I have no personal support for putin. I have experienced first hand Russian Military behaviour, and very bad behaviour, but you forget that there is a lot of people on the side of Alexei Navalny. And a lot of people are in support of the Takeover Of Crimean by putin, which was always seen as essentially russian. He does have a lot of support. I might add that if Alexei Navalny was alive and kicking, and back in russia, im not sure that he wouldnt be defeated by putin. So dont underestimate the nationalist support for Vladimir Putin in the country, particularly at a time when nato in the russian perspective is seen as at the height of its power, with fenland, sweden joining and this is the mother of all unintended consequences, and Many Russians genuinely feel they are encircled and putin is defending them in their existential war with them in their existential war with the west. �. ,. ,. , ~ the west. And on that, do you think that there will the west. And on that, do you think that there will be the west. And on that, do you think that there will be another the west. And on that, do you think that there will be another round the west. And on that, do you think that there will be another round of i that there will be another round of mobilisation and an intensification of the war in ukraine . I mobilisation and an intensification of the war in ukraine . Mobilisation and an intensification of the war in ukraine . I think there will be. Ithink of the war in ukraine . I think there will be. I think they of the war in ukraine . I think there will be. I think they will of the war in ukraine . I think there will be. I think they will continue i will be. I think they will continue to push the mobilisation on the back of this election with people saying that people are supporting him in this Military Operation, of course it is a war, but he will push, keep pushing. He is gaining ground in their counteroffensive against the ukrainians because the west has got compassion fatigue, they are arguing with each other, so from the perspective of putin, the west at the height of native � s power, is actually looking very disorganised. He will certainly set out and look for a victory, but meanwhile he will keep pushing. At the moment, britain in its last budget last week didnt even mention defence. Im not sure that britain with its Military Weakness can defend the Isle Of Wight even, so from the russian perspective, the west looks as though it is in disarray, although of course it looks much stronger from the western perspective. Russia has accused ukraine of trying to disrupt the Russian Election with drone and missile attacks. Russias Defence Ministry says that overnight its air Defence Systems brought down 35 ukrainian drones across eight regions, including moscow. Drones also started a fire at an oil refinery in the krasnodar region and these images are from the Belgorod Region which the Ministry Said had come under attack from ukrainian rockets; the governor said a teenage girl died when a shell hit a residential building. Traffic has also just resumed over the bridge in occupied crimea russian authorities had closed it off because of a threat of attack. Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford has this analysis on these attacks from the ukrainian capital kyiv. That is the accusation. And certainly there has been an intensification of attacks by russia and ukraine around this election over the three day period. And of course, in the run up to it, id say its pretty much war as usual here, frankly. Russia has been launching missiles and drones targeting cities like kharkiv in the north and odesa on the black sea. In the last day or so. And overnight, again, russia is saying that drones from ukraine are being launched at targets there, reaching as far as moscow, we understand, and also krasnodar in the south of the country. The accusation is its an attempt to to disrupt the election. I think ukraine would argue that its defending itself against an illegal invasion. And certainly President Putin, as he has moved towards this re election, he wants this vote, i think, to be to give him a mandate to continue with that war. He wants to portray it as a vote of support for the war that he launched and that he wants to continue to prosecute. But i think its interesting to remember in all of this that the vote is also taking place on occupied territory here in ukraine, the east and south of the country. Ukraine says thats utterly illegitimate. And weve been talking to activists and to ukrainian citizens on the ground in those areas who say that theyre attempting to disrupt the vote. They say turnout is extremely low. They say russia wants to portray them as supporting Vladimir Putin and supporting the annexation of those areas. But they say they are quite firmly still pro ukrainian and theyre trying to resist going to the vote, although theyre being pressured. There are armed men coming around with ballot boxes and with Election Officials trying to pressure people into voting in this election. They say that the turnout for moscow is extremely important. They want to show this as a huge vote of support for Vladimir Putin. Activists on the ground are saying its nothing of the sort. The uk defence secretary, grant shapps, had to abandon a trip to the Southern Ukrainian City Of Odesa last week, after he was warned moscow had gained knowledge of his travel plans. The sunday Times Newspaper said a last minute Intelligence Assessment deemed the Security Risk too great. It follows an incident last week when an raf plane mr shapps was travelling in between the uk and poland had its gps signal jammed while flying close to russian territory. Heres our Political Correspondent helen catt with more. Well, of course, because this is a security and intelligence incident. We dont have a lot more detail, really, that were able to share with you. But we do know that, as you mentioned, there was that incident earlier in the week where mr shapps was travelling on a plane and the gps was jammed when he came near to russian territory. He went to ukraine. We know that he arrived in ukraine for a planned trip, but part of that trip was supposed to include a visit to odesa and that was pulled. The Ministry Of Defence has confirmed that it said that he did not make a planned visit to odesa for security reasons. Now The Sunday Times says that that is because there was intelligence that moscow had learnt about the detail of that, and the paper said that it was already on high alert because just a few hours earlier there had been a near miss in odesa where a russian strike had almost hit president zelensky and the greek prime minister, who was then visiting. So thats what we know about this incident. Grant shapps said to The Sunday Times that President Putin had shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless, and he said he hoped that his visit would act as a wake up call to push, persuade and even embarrass the rest of the world into action. Health officials in gaza say more than 60 palestinians have been killed in israeli bombardments overnight. The health Ministry Said 12 members of one family were killed when their house in Deir Al Balah in the centre of the territory was hit. These images are from the hospital in the aftermath of that attack. Meanwhile, the us Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken, is in south korea for a two day democracy summit. Americas top diplomatic has been calling for an � enduring resolution� to the Israel Gaza Conflict and on Hisjourney To Seoul made a stopover in bahrain where he discussed Ceasefire Negotiations with officials there. Our state Department Correspondent has been travelling with Antony Blinken and sent us this update. We have just landed after a long trip, which stopped in bahrain for refuelling. The Secretary Of State while we were there for around 1. 5 hours had talks with the crown prince, with the foreign minister. A short Statement Released after that meeting around the continued push for what they are now calling at least a six week ceasefire between israel and hamas in gaza in return for the release of hostages, we know that effort goes on but few signs of a breakthrough at this stage. I imagine that pretty intensive work is going to continue during this brief trip to asia. At the same time, we know that the response by hamas went to the israelis on friday. There war cabinet met, and then today talks resuming, indirect talks, with israel sending a delegation to qatar who have been mediating these discussions along with the egyptians, and these will be the first talks that both hamas and israel have attended indirectly like this, the first talks that both of them have participated in since the start of ramadan. 21 people have been killed when a bus collided with a tank and a motorbike in the southern Helmand Province in afghanistan. A spokesperson said the accident took place on the main highway between kandahar and another town. 11 injured victims have been taken to hospital. Traffic accidents are common in afghanistan, often due to poor road conditions. Police in haiti say they are trying to crack down on the gangs which have taken control of most of the capital, port au prince. Police have killed a number of gang members in an operation to clear parts of the city. The United Nations has described the Security Situation as tense and volatile, and warns that increasing numbers of children in haiti are going hungry as unrest continues. Facilities have closed because of the ongoing violence, and haitians are now facing soaring prices for food and other essentials. Our Central America and carribean correspondent will grant gave us this update on reports that police in haiti have been trying to arrest the leader of the gangs controlling most of the capital. Well, it appears there was quite an extensive swat Team Operation in an area of the capital, and that is where there is known to be one of the strongholds of this gang. They were clearly trying to capture the leader or kill him but they were successful in neither of those are tense. They were a number of casualties in the gangs by all accounts, but if anything it has beget more violence. Today there has been more shooting in the capital, and a quite fierce response from the gangs to the operation by the police. This paints a picture of what is going on, really. It is a sort of cat and mouse game going on in the neighbourhoods, with the police who are outnumbered by the gangs at this stage, unless they get serious reinforcements in the coming weeks and months. By all accounts, it is becoming extremely serious in port au prince. Here where we are, the way it is seen is the fact that there are just so many people arriving from the capital whichever way they can. We sawjust now while we were waiting to come on air and speak to you, a bus coming from port au prince. There are very few runny because it is so dangerous. It took extra hours because it had to go out of its way because of the police operation, and the response by the gangs, adding hours onto the journey. It is extremely frightening for those on the bus and travelling this way. But it is less frightening to get here and make thatjourney, thanit to get here and make thatjourney, than it is to remain at home. So we are seeing more than 360,000 internally displaced people, and of course the aid to deal with the humanitarian emergency is simply not coming in at the pace that it should. It is a trickle, if that. Let s get some of the day s other news now. The Military Government in niger has revoked its Military Accord with the us. It comes a day after a us delegation left the country following a three day visit. The us had hoped to resume a dialogue eight months after the military ousted nigers elected president in a coup. Venezuelas Ruling Socialist Party has confirmed that president Nicolas Maduro will seek a third consecutive term in elections scheduled forjuly. Mr maduro accepted the partys candidacy at a rally in caracas. He has been in power since 2013. Victory injuly� s vote would give him another six year term. Record breaking temperatures have hit parts of brazil with sao paulo seeing its hottest march day ever. Temperatures in the city topped 3a degrees celsius, which is five degrees above the average for this time of year. It follows on from one of the warmest ever winters in brazil which experts attributed to the El Nino Phenomenon and climate change. We have pictures coming in usk from russia, that election which is spread over three days and it has been taking place in several time zones as well. We think a roundabout 71 million. I beg your pardon, i cannot find the figure. Lets bring in our correspondent who is monitoring this for us. Lets speak to our bbc russia correspondent 0lga ivshina. How many people are eligible to vote at the moment . It how many people are eligible to vote at the moment . How many people are eligible to vote at the moment . It depends on how you count. The trouble at the moment . It depends on how you count. The trouble is at the moment . It depends on how you count. The trouble is that at the moment . It depends on how you count. The trouble is that for at the moment . It depends on how you count. The trouble is that for this count. The trouble is that for this election, russia claims to hold elections through ukraine currently held by russian forces, and they claim the population able to vote there is the same according to the ukraine registry before the war, citing more than 4 million, which is incredibly hard to belie