There is some mist and fog and a few showers around this morning. They will give way to a dry and decent with sunny spells. Later, some rain in Northern Ireland. Details coming up. Good morning. Its monday, 18th march. Vladimir putin has claimed victory in russias president ial election. Without any serious opposition, a fifth term was seen as inevitable. At least 80 protestors have been arrested across the country for vandalising Polling Stations. Foreign secretary David Cameron hasjoined other western governments in shunning the result. He said, this is not what free and Fair Elections look like. Our russia editor Steve Rosenberg reports. Foeradimir putin, six more years in the kremlin. Russias president is sounding more confident than ever. Translation whoever might | want to intimidate us, whoever might want to suppress us, our will and our conscience, they have never been able to do it, and never will. Then, mr putins first Public Comments on the death ofjailed Opposition LeaderAlexei Navalny. Translation you may be surprised, but a few days before mr navalny died, some colleagues of mine told me there was an idea to exchange him for certain people in prison in the west. You can believe it or not. I said, i agree, even before hed finished talking. But what happened, happened. Election results on russian tv, not a hold your breath moment. The winner, by a mile and a half, Vladimir Putin. What an incredible level of support and unity around the figure of putin, he says, and a powerful signal to the west. But in this race, Vladimir Putin was, from the start, unbeatable. There were other candidates, but no serious challenger. Potential rivals here are swiftly removed from the political stage, forced into exile, or put injail, and elections tightly controlled by the kremlin. But if they couldnt win, mr putins opponents could at least protest. And they did, in many parts of russia. Opposition figures had called on russians to flood Polling Stations at midday, to vote against putin, or spoil their ballots. A symbolic protest against the system. We were here. Ive never seen queues like this before at a russian polling station. Before his death in prison, Alexei Navalny had backed the protest. It took courage to come. The authorities had warned that large crowds at noon would be viewed as illegal gatherings. For now, therell be no change in the kremlin. This election was never about, would Vladimir Putin win, or wouldnt he . Elections here are designed to ensure he wins, and wins big. From the outset, for the kremlin, this vote was about creating the impression that mr putin has a mandate from his people, not only for war in ukraine, but also for what hes doing at home, transforming russia into an increasingly militaristic society in confrontation with the west. But across town, muscovites continued to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the man whod wanted to be russias president. Here, a ballot paper. In place of putins name, navalny� s. And this message hes the candidate we wanted. Steve rosenberg, bbc news. Steve will Bejoining Steve will be joining us live from moscow to explain more about what this result means, notjust for russia, but for the rest of the planet as well. But sally can tell us what else we need to know this morning. And an interesting interview you have been doing. Thats right, yes. Great britains most succesful female olympian, Dame Laura Kenny, has told breakfast shes retiring, and wont compete in the paris games this summer. The 31 year old won five Olympic Golds and seven World Championship titles in a distinguished cycling career. But following the birth of her second child injuly, laura has made the difficult desision to take a step back from elite sport. Joe lynskey has this report. London in the summer of 2012, a 20 year old cyclist made her olympic introduction. Commentary the gold medal is going to go to laura trott, i and i cant believe it. Two golds at a home games were just the start of the ride. Laura trott would become britains most successful female olympian. In 2016, she became laura kenny, 12 years at the top brought her five olympic titles. Now she says shes crossed the line for the final time. So, i have decided that im going to retire from professional cycling. I know big, eh . I always knew deep down that i would know when was the right time. And youre never going to have a perfect time to do it. But i can sit here today and say now is the right time for me. At the last olympics, kenny found a way to do it all. Shed given birth to albie in 2017, and yet came back to ride in tokyo and won gold in the madison. Since then, shes faced personal trauma, speaking openly about miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. Last year, the kennys had their second son, monty, and the balance laura struck between elite sport and motherhood has changed. Just the sacrifices of leaving your children and your family at home is really quite big. And the more people asked me what races was i doing, what Training Camps was going on, i didnt want to go, ultimately. And i think thats what it came down to. And then once i said to jase, you know, i dont think i want to ride a bike any more, i started to feel relief, then, to be totally honest. Kennys retirement is immediate. She wont compete this year in paris. Instead, shell watch and reflect on a track career that gripped a nation, a record haul of medals, and that london summer. Commentary and look at the face here, on young laura trott. Joe lynskey, abc news. Fewer homeowners than expected have bought a heat pump, with the Spending Watchdog warning the low uptake is slowing progresss on cutting household emissions. Ministers want to install 600,000 low carbon heat pumps each year by 2028. But the National Audit office says this is optimistic, and sales of the pumps will have to increase eleven fold if the government is to achieve its targets. The number of visits to Tourism Attractions in the uk remains below pre pandemic levels. The association of leading Visitor Attractions said there were 147 million visits to major venues last year, a decline of 11 compared with 2019. Two people are in hospital after being attacked by a bear in slovakia. Videos posted online showed the bear bounding along the road, with police having to drive it out of town and back into a forest. It comes a day after a 31 year old belarussian woman fell to her death trying to escape a brown bear in the nearby low tatra mountains. A five mile section of the m25 in surrey, which was shut this weekend, has re opened, eight hours ahead of schedule. It was the first planned Daytime Closure of the motorway since it opened in 1986. Our reporter Louisa Pillbeam is there for us. Traffic is moving now, but there are still more closures to come . Yeah, iam yeah, i am the bearer of good news in the sense that the m25 is flowing freely this morning. That is what you want to hear any monday morning in rush hour. As you can see it is really busy, which shows you just how important this stretch of the motorway is. We are on junction ten at byfleet. It is very busy and everything is going well. The works were a success. National highway is saying everything went ahead of schedule. But this was the first of five of these planned closures in the daytime at the weekend. So there are four more. You will have to get used to this if you live in this area or if you use the m25. It is the busiest motorway in the country. One of the busiest in europe. Hundreds of thousands ofjourneys take place across your every single day. So, four more closures between now and september. National highways have said this morning that the exact dates of those will be released incredibly soon. We will let you know all of that information when we get it. As you can hear, lots of beeps we have had this morning. A lot of people very happy that the m25 is open. Thank you. The screenwriter david seidler, who won an oscar for the kings speech, has died at the age of 86. From his majesty. The film, which starred colin firth, described how King George Vi overcame his speech impediment. It won four oscars in 2011, and david, who picked up the award for best original screenplay, dedicated it to all the stutterers Around The World. The fact we were only talking about it at a movie, the significance of it at a movie, the significance of it for people who stammer, last week. We were talking to a modern day politician who said it was one of the things that had inspired him to confront stammering and own it and go into politics. It is 11 minutes past six. Lets say a proper good morning to carol. Good morning. This morning it is quite a mild start for many parts of the country. Certainly not too cold. And it is going to be dry for many today. Some decent sunny spells. But we do have a few showers to start with. Scattered showers. We also have this line hereof showers, which is a Weather Front coming in from the west. It pushes east through the day. It will lose its emphasis and end up being not much more than a band of cloud with just the odd shower. Most of us are looking at a dry day, a fair bit of sunshine, the cloud of turning the Sunshine Hazy in the west is a Weather Front comes into Northern Ireland introducing some rain. The winds will pick up the west as well as we go through the west as well as we go through the day. Temperatures today, eight in the north, 16 in the south. Yesterday in exeter we reached a warm 17. 1 degrees. As we had on through the evening and overnight, after a relatively dry start to the night, the rain already in the west pushes steadily eastwards. Some of this will be heavy for a time, but thenit this will be heavy for a time, but then it loses its intensity as well. We dont expect it to get into the far south east until after dark. It is going to be mild, it is going to be blustery, and it is also going to be blustery, and it is also going to be fairly cloudy. These are the overnight temperatures. Six in the north, ten towards the south. Tomorrow we start off with quite a few showers. Quite a lot of cloud. Many of the showers will fade. Remember, these Weather Fronts coming in, we will have the dregs of one across southern areas, leaving us with some cloud and some showers through the afternoon. You can see there is more Rain Waiting In The Wings. A lot of dry weather during the course of tuesday. Temperature wise, it is going to be that bit fresher in the north than it is today. And we are looking at 15 or 16 in the south. These temperatures are not bad for the time of the year. Thank you. Lets take a look at todays papers. The times leads on russias election results. The paper says protesters there are defiant after Vladimir Putin was announced as the winner of the Rubber Stamp Vote over the weekend. It also shows a picture of yulia navalnaya, the widow of dissident Alexei Navalny, casting her ballot at the Russian Embassy in berlin. Rishi sunak� s leadership future dominates the front page of the daily mail, with the paper claiming the Prime Minister will lead a politicalfightback during a speech in the midlands later today. It follows reports over the weekend some sections of the tory party are planning to oust mr sunak in favour of penny mordaunt. � sunak allies rage at penny, is the headline. And the sun reports that the princess of wales has been seen in public for the First Time Since her abdominal surgery. The paper, which includes a picture of the princess taken last autumn, reports she was seen at a farm shop in windsor over the weekend. That picture is an old picture. She wasnt photographed as per the wishes of the palace. 35 year old Claudia Lawrence disappeared in 2009, prompting the biggest missing person inquiry in the history of North Yorkshire police. Today marks 15 years since claudia failed to turn up for work as a chef at york university. Police have made a plea for those with information to break their silence. Graham satchell has this report what happened to Claudia Lawrence . Her disappearance 15 years ago remains a mystery. She was last seen walking home from the university of york, where she worked as a chef. That evening, she sent a text message to her mum. And then, nothing no sightings, no calls. The search for the 35 year old became one of the biggest ever carried out by North Yorkshire police. They questioned nine people, but no charges have ever been brought. For claudias family, not knowing what happened, has been torture. Its been a sentence, a 15 year sentence. Its like somebody having an illness for 15 years, because thats what it is every year. Every days an illness with this going on. I never would imagine it would be 15 years down the line. I mean, quite honestly, its appalling. In 2021, police searched a lake and woods six miles from claudias home, but again found nothing. Detectives are treating her disappearance as suspected murder, and today, 15 years on, have renewed their appeal for information. They remain convinced someone knows what happened to Claudia Lawrence. The single barrier to unlocking the answers for claudias loved ones, and bringing those responsible for her disappearance to justice, remains the same, in my view. And thats silence. Silence from the people who know, or may suspect what happened to claudia, or have, so far, for reasons that are only known to them, been unable to come forward to the police. Claudias mum goes to church every day. She continues to pray for answers. Graham satchell, bbc news. And if you want to hear more ofjoan lawrences interview, shes been speaking to reporter Elly Fiorentini for a four part bbc Sounds Series called Claudia Lawrence a mothers story. A State Of Emergency is in force in Southern Iceland, after the fourth volcanic eruption since december. Residents in the small town of grindavik have been evacuated the blue lagoon geothermal spa, one of the countrys most popular tourist destinations, has also closed. Lava flows cut off one road overnight, but theyve since slowed down. This latest eruption is believed to be the most powerful so far. Werejoined now by mike burton, Professor Of Volcanology at the university of manchester. Morning. So what do we make of yet another eruption there . Its a another eruption there . Its a fascinating another eruption there . Its a fascinating event. Another eruption there . Its a fascinating event. Its another eruption there . Its a l fascinating event. Its obviously critically difficult for the People Living nearby. Then use this road has been cut will be correct or make it difficult for people. There seems to be a steady magna supply feeling this interruptions. We have had every one every month since january. This is fascinating, this one, because there was a prediction a few days ago the eruption would begin. But instead it actually posed and love probably leapt out in the crust beneath the surface. Lover. That allowed a larger volume of magma to accumulate. This eruption is going on longer than before but it is waning now. It wouldnt be surprising if, by the end of the week, it is all finished. We surprising if, by the end of the week, it is all finished. We can see these still very week, it is all finished. We can see these still very spectacular week, it is all finished. We can see these still very spectacular images| these still very spectacular images coming in live. 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