Around 50 protesters have been arrested in Russian cities on the final day of a vote set to confirm Vladimir Putin in office. Long queues formed outside polling stations, heeding a call to gather in protest. The call came from the wife of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died suddenly last month at a penal colony above the Arctic Circle. We hear from a member of President Putin's United Russia party.

Also on the programme: One resident's story of living in Iceland's volcano zone; and how the tiny island nation of Palau sees its place among the big powers in the Pacific.

(Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Sputnik/Kremlin)

Police in Haiti are reported to have launched an operation to arrest the leader of the coalition of gangs which now control most of the capital. Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier is seen as the main instigator of the protests which forced the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, to resign last week. We hear from a former US diplomat to Haiti.

Also in the programme: People in Russia are casting their ballots on the second day of a vote; and Mad Women- a new play about three women artists, living with bipolar disorder.

(File Photo: Former police officer Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier and leader of an alliance of armed groups, speaks to a news outlet on a mobile phone during a news conference, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 11, 2024. Reuters/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo)

Vladimir Putin faces no serious opposition. The election comes just a month after the death of the President's most prominent and vocal critic, Alexei Navalny, in a penal colony in Siberia. We hear from a young voter who plans to spoil her vote in protest.

Also on the programme: The judge overseeing an election fraud case against Donald Trump has rejected the former president's attempt to have the chief prosecutor disqualified; and snakes on plate? Why scientists think that pythons could be a sustainable alternative to conventional livestock.

(Picture: Voters in front of a mural of President Putin of Russia. Credit: EPA)

Polls open in Russia’s presidential election, but few are in doubt about the eventual result, with Vladimir Putin certain to win another six year term. Any serious challengers to the President, including anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, have already been disqualified from the ballot.

Also on the programme: we investigate what many are calling an epidemic of suicide among young Americans; and UNESCO recognition for Berlin's techno scene -- overdue or the kiss of death for the city's clubs?

(Picture: A woman walks to cast her ballot in Rostov-on-Don March 15, 2024. Credit: REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov)

Israel's military says it plans to move displaced Palestinians in Gaza to what it called "humanitarian islands" in the middle of the strip, ahead of any offensive in Rafah, but critcs say they haven't offered many details on who they will operate.

Also in the programme: thousands of Haitians are deported every day from the Dominican Republic despite the chaos in the former French colony; and Elon Musk’s Space X Starship goes "farther than ever".

(Photo: Palestinians fleeing north Gaza due to Israel’s military offensive move southward. Credit: Reuters).

We hear how Ukrainians under Russian occupation are being forced to vote for Vladimir Putin.

Also on the programme: a former hostage who was taken by Hamas on 7 October and held captive for 54 days. And, four months after the general election took place, why has Gert Wilders been unable to become Prime Minister of the Netherlands, despite winning the most votes?

(Photo: President Putin of Russia in a crowd of supporters. Credit: Getty Images)

The US House of Representatives has passed a landmark bill that could see TikTok banned in America. It would give the social media giant's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or the app will be blocked in the US.

Also in the programme: The UN says one of its staff has been killed in southern Gaza in an apparent Israeli airstrike, and the Korean village surrounded by one million landmines.

(Photo: TikTok creators gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," on Capitol Hill in Washington US, March 12, 2024. Credit: Reuters/Craig Hudson)

The UN says a new land route has been used to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks. The Israeli military said six lorries from the World Food Programme crossed via a gate in the Gaza border fence.

Also in the programme: A close ally of Alexei Navalny is violently attacked in Lithuania; we will hear a rare report from inside the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea; and a rare happy ending for doctors treating a form of brain tumour in children.

(Photo: Men carry bags of flour taken from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City last month. Credit: Getty Images)

The prime minister of Haiti has quit, calling for a return to stability in the country -- where armed gangs have taken control. A leading aid official tells us time is short to avert a catastrophe.

Also, the BBC has seen footage of doctors, nurses, and other staff at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza being mistreated and beaten when Israeli forces overran facility last month.

And the global online home rental platform, Airbnb, says it is banning the use of most cameras at its properties to ensure privacy.

Plus how customers and cultivators may need to change their approach to bananas.

(Photo: Prime Minister of Haiti Ariel Henry. Credit: EPA)

The US State Department says it's trying to expedite the deployment of a UN- backed multinational police force to Haiti where gang violence is dragging the country into anarchy. A resident of the capital, Port-au-Prince, tells us that he has a bag packed ready to flee, if the gangs show up in his neighbourhood. And we speak to Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations, who is at the Caribbean Community meeting in Jamaica, about what needs to happen to stop the violence.

Also in the programme: a rare interview with a man who gave up being a farmer to become the commander of a rebel group fighting the military junta in Myanmar; and the Oscar winner who said "I wish I never made this film".

(Photo: Police patrol a street after authorities extended the state of emergency amid gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government, forcing thousands to flee their homes, in Port-au-Prince. Credit: REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol)