hello and welcome to your thursday one show, live live from london, this is bbc news. the former health secretary, matt hancock, defends his role during the pandemic, but tells the covid inquiry lockdown should have been introduced earlier. a un summit on global warming opens in dubai, with a call for countries to turn their promises into action, after another year

of record temperatures. hamas releases two more hostages — their families are overjoyed, but many in israel are still waiting to hear news of their relatives. the israel—gaza truce continues as america's top diplomat, antony blinken, visits the region, in search of a longer ceasefire. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones, welcome to the daily global, where we'll bring you the top stories from around the world. we start here in the uk, where the former health secretary, matt hancock, has been defending his role during the covid pandemic. in a long day of evidence to the covid—19 inquiry he said "many many lives" could have been saved if the first lockdown began three weeks earlier than it did in march 2020. he also described what he called a "toxic culture" in government. mr hancock was a familiar face at regular press conferences that took place during that period, giving updates to the public about social distancing measures, the state of the nhs and the vaccine programme. here's our political editor, chris mason. one of the biggest names of the pandemic. the health secretary for england, matt hancock. the man in the middle on the television many nights, and the man who resigned for breaking the very rules he'd helped draw up.

today, his moment of accountability. the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. and it's mr hancock's relationship with the truth that has regularly featured here in recent weeks. how could, to a significant extent, important government advisors and officials have concluded that the secretary of state for health was a liar? well, i was not. you will note that there is no evidence from anybody who i worked with in the department or the health system who supported those false allegations. what there was, was a great deal of hard work on our side, and a toxic culture that we had to work with, which seemed to want to find people to blame. mr hancock blames borisjohnson's chief adviser, dominic cummings, for creating what he called a culture of fear and staging a power grab.

the former health secretary also said an earlier first lockdown would have cut the number of deaths in the first wave by more than 90%. i defend the actions that were taken by the government at the time, knowing what we did. but, with hindsight, that is the moment we should have done it. three weeks earlier, and it would have saved many, many lives. but what about this colourful and controversial claim matt hancock made repeatedly in may 2020? right from the start, we have tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes. i cannot improve on the glorious words of professor sirjonathan van—tam, who says in his statement, "my view is a ring is a circle without a break in it." whatever, however you describe the protective processes you put in place around the care sector, they did not form an unbroken circle, did they?

it is quite clear from the evidence that professor van—tam is right. this inquiry is about learning lessons from the pandemic to help us in the next one. it's also about the decision—makers then defending their reputations now. mr hancock is back here in the morning. chris mason, bbc news, the covid inquiry. our poltical correspondent hannah miller is in westminster. what stuck out to you today? there are two things going on. the personalities at the time of the pandemic playing out here in the uk. there's also structural issues, questions about care homes and about the way the department of health is structured as well, and those two threads keep emerging throughout the questioning we are seeing each day.

we have to remember that matt hancock is someone who, a number of times in previous evidence, has come under criticism for being overconfident and for lying. it is a clear attempt by him today to really protect his reputation and respond to some of those allegations that have been made in previous weeks. he said very clearly that there is no evidence from those who work with him in the health department that he lied, he blamed that toxic culture which he said was fostered by a malign actor, the prime minister's former adviser, malign actor, the prime minister's formeradviser, dominic malign actor, the prime minister's former adviser, dominic cummings. it's not a real surprise that the two of them don't get along particularly. we've known that for quite some time now, so there was definitely an attempt here by matt hancock to protect his own reputation. what can we expect tomorrow and in the weeks ahead? the weeks ahead ? there the weeks ahead? there will be more evidence from matt hancock tomorrow, which we know

will take probably... be expected for take most of the morning tomorrow before further witnesses are called to the inquiry. the fact it is taking a day and a half tells you something, clearly, about how key his role was, how many issues there are to explore. it is not the first time he has appeared before the inquiry. he answered questions about the preparedness of the country previously to today. in the coming days as well, or the coming weeks, we know that some of the people set to appear include boris johnson, the then prime minister, and at some point there will be rishi sunak he was chancellor at the time and has received criticism for his eat out to help out scheme. he will also be facing questions at some point over the next few weeks. we are in the period at the moment

where those politicians, the blockbuster politicians as it were of the pandemic, they are the people who are appearing at the inquiry at this stage. who are appearing at the inquiry at this staue. . ~ i. who are appearing at the inquiry at this staue. . ~' ,, ., ., we affect another eight hostages to be released by the end of the day in exchange for palestinian prisoners. us secretary of state is back in the region, trying to secure an extension to the pause the fighting. he is about to give a news conference. i want to go straight to paul adams, conference. i want to go straight to pauladams, out conference. i want to go straight to paul adams, out of hermetic correspondence, who is live in jerusalem. and there is an update?

yeah, we're having another one of those desperate roller—coaster days. the relief first of all at the site of two more hostages emerging, but in the last half—hour or so, a video has been posted online by hamas showing the father of the two bibas boys. you will recall that they, their mother and their father were all seized on october the 7th. in the last few days, hamas have claimed that the mother and the two boys, who have become symbols of this whole hostage affair for the israeli public, hamas claimed that all three had been killed in an israeli air strike. now hamas has

released a video showing the father. they say that they have offered to return the bodies of the mother and the two little boys to israel, but that israel has so far refused. we have absolutely no way of verifying that claim. the video of the father is extremely distressing. i'm not going to tell you what he says, but he is very emotional. it was clearly recorded, as other posted videos have been recorded in circumstances of extreme duress. i think publication of the video and the accompanying statement is all part of the relentless pressure, the public relations pressure that hamas is trying to exercise as this hostage and prisoner exchange process continues. with hamas trying

to exert as much psychological pressure on the israeli public, frankly, as it possibly can. fix, frankly, as it possibly can. a really distressing update. stay right there, i will come right back to you in a moment. we mentioned those hostages who have just been freed. mia schem appeared in the first hostage video released by hamas. the 21—year—old holds dual french and israeli nationality. hamas said she had been abducted from the supernova festival. we can now show you the moment mia was reunited with her mother and brother at hatzerim air base. as you can imagine, pretty emotional scenes of that reunion. we have just seen those pictures, a reunion. but that was just two so far today. are we still expecting more in the hours ahead? yes.

far today. are we still expecting more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last more in the hours ahead? yes, we are- last night. — more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last night, we _ more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last night, we had _ more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last night, we had to - more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last night, we had to wait - more in the hours ahead? yes, we are. last night, we had to wait for| are. last night, we had to wait for quite a long time before the group finally emerged. we don't know exactly what will happen tonight. the publication of the video is perhaps a complication. it is hard to watch those two videos back to back, frankly, and gives you a sense of the extraordinary emotional roller—coaster the israeli public has been on for weeks now. it doesn't get any easier. but we should seek another group emerging tonight. that should trigger the release of another 30 palestinian prisoners, a mixture of teenagers and women. that happened very late last night, it may happen again late

tonight. but the point to make here is we are sort of in the final phases of this whole hostage release process, at least as far as it concerns the children, the teenagers, the mothers and the elderly women. if there is to be a deal regarding the rest of the hostages, including men and soldiers, both male and female, then that has to be a new deal, and at the moment we see no sign of that. 0k, the moment we see no sign of that. ok, thank you so much for that. plenty of updates happening right now. we want to keep you across something as well. these are live pictures, an update from the idf, the israeli military. if and when they switch to english, we will come straight back to that. either way, we are keeping across this one. any updates we get from that briefing,

we will ring them to you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. members of the rmt union have voted to accept a pay deal, to end their year—long dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions. they will get a backdated pay rise of 5% as well as job security guarantees. it means the end of the union's mandate for more strikes until at least next spring. a study has confirmed a drug which stops hiv infecting the body has proved to be a highly effective "real—world" preventative treatment. the results of the research on 2a,000 people taking prep across england, have been described as �*reassuring'. the hiv charity the terrence higgins trust said it wants easier access to the drug. the labour politician, alistair darling — who was the chancellor during the global financial crisis in 2008 — has died at the age of 70. lord darling, who was an mp

for edinburgh, served in the cabinet for 13 years following labour's landslide 1997 election win. you're live with bbc news. let's turn to cop 28 now. the world's most important climate meeting got under way today and is being hosted in dubai by the united arab emirates, one of the world's top ten oil producers. and today in a surprise move, delegates have agreed to launch a long—awaited fund to pay for damage from climate—driven storms and drought. cop stands for "conference of the parties", where the "parties" are the countries that signed up to the original un climate agreement in 1992. this is the 28th annual meeting. as you can see from this family photo king charles, known being outspoken on the environment, has joined world leaders at the summit.

as the event began, the un chief antonio guterres said we are living through �*climate collapse in real time', which he said should send shivers down the spines of world leaders. from dubai, our climate editor justin rowlatt reports. a petrostate hosting a climate conference sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. but the president of cop28, who is also the head of the uae�*s huge state oil company, says he knows the world has to change, and is taking action. hearing no objections, it is so decided. applause. the cheers are because the conference has agreed to create a fund to pay for the loss and damage climate change is already wreaking on poorer countries. this whole neighbourhood is destroyed. it has been a bone of contention between the developed and developing world for decades. it is great that we got it adopted here, at the start. it's been over 30

years in the making. and it's time now to get the job done, so that we can get money into the areas affected by the harms of climate change. more than £300 million has already been promised for the fund, including £60 million from the uk. so, what else is on the agenda? here are the three most contentious issues on the table. first up, cutting carbon. will countries be persuaded to include food and agriculture, a third of all emissions, in their carbon cutting targets? second up, cash for developing countries. the rich world caused the climate crisis, burning fossilfuels. poorer countries say now you've got to pay to solve the problem. and, finally, the future of fossil fuels. will the conference agree to phase down or maybe even phase out fossil fuels? at the moment, the only commitment to the world has made is to phase down coal. it has been an eventful start here in dubai,

and it is only day one. live now to new york to speak to leila aly el deen, ceo of the secure energy project. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for coming on the programme-— thank you for coming on the i programme._ were thank you for coming on the - programme._ were you programme. thank you. were you surprised. — programme. thank you. were you surprised, along _ programme. thank you. were you surprised, along with _ programme. thank you. were you surprised, along with others, - programme. thank you. were you | surprised, along with others, about this commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars for this fund? look, we're having a climate meeting in a massive oil producing country where we are discussing the existential collapse of our planet, so i had million dollars is a drop in the ocean compared to what we need. it is long—awaited and great to see that countries have finally got themselves together and have found that money. that said, we have overwhelming alignment that we need to act on the climate and we are still arguing about who needs to do what. there is massive opportunity in moving quicker and investing the money we need to accelerate

renewable energy and in doing so, governments need to move on and move forward in action. that is what we have to see this week. you don't sound too impressed by day one. what you want to see by the time of wraps up? we one. what you want to see by the time of wraps up?— one. what you want to see by the time of wraps up? we have been doing this for the best _ time of wraps up? we have been doing this for the best part _ time of wraps up? we have been doing this for the best part of _ time of wraps up? we have been doing this for the best part of 20 _ time of wraps up? we have been doing this for the best part of 20 years - this for the best part of 20 years now. yet there is an enormous opportunity in us tackling fossil fuels in a way that there hasn't beenin fuels in a way that there hasn't been in previous ten years. the place i feel hopeful and excited is when it comes to energy. we have seen solar and wind power dropped exponentially in terms of their prices, 98% decrease in price in the last ten years. with a bit of government help and support, changing some of the financing rules, dropping subsidies for fossil fuels, really putting renewables on a level playing field, we will be able to see an exponentially rising

clean energy. that is what we are looking for, to start transitioning from old fossil fuels to clean energy and stop arguing about who will do what and pay for it. fascinating. energy is one potential area you are optimistic around. anything else? i area you are optimistic around. anything else?— area you are optimistic around. an hinu else? ., _, ., anything else? i feel we have come a lona wa . anything else? i feel we have come a long way- there _ anything else? i feel we have come a long way. there is _ anything else? i feel we have come a long way. there is an _ anything else? i feel we have come a long way. there is an overwhelming l long way. there is an overwhelming alignment around only to act, as i said. the way in which we are acting continues to be frustrating, and activists will be going to dubai to have the right to raise their concerns when it comes to forest protection, when it comes to the protection, when it comes to the protection of our oceans, and a lot of these conversations have been happening for a long time. i'm excited by the fact that the younger generation is overwhelmingly aligned by only to act. 77% of people today said they would like to see their governments do anything necessary to stop climate change. i'm excited about where the people are, i would

like to see governments catch up with the public and start acting in a way that is deserving of their station. ~ ., a way that is deserving of their station. ~ . ., ,., ., a way that is deserving of their station. ~ . ., ., ., , station. what about the idea of this ine . uali station. what about the idea of this inequality in — station. what about the idea of this inequality in who _ station. what about the idea of this inequality in who pays _ station. what about the idea of this inequality in who pays for _ station. what about the idea of this inequality in who pays for the - station. what about the idea of this inequality in who pays for the nextl inequality in who pays for the next stage? i know i'm coming back to the fund, because that is the headline from today, but the fun to give —— the fund to give money to countries affected by the worst of climate change. the countries worst affected don't end up paying the brunt of not only climate change, but any consequences or cost of trying to avoid it. ~ ,,., , . avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries _ avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries need _ avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries need to _ avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries need to pay - avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries need to pay for- avoid it. absolutely. the rich countries need to pay for the consequences of the industrial revolution which started in the global north and has continued to benefit the global north. so the us and europe are massive contributors of emissions, but so are china and

others. we need to stop arguing about whose responsibility is. we need the rich countries to pave the way when it comes to paying for adaptation, for mitigation. the thing to note here is that there are lots of ways in which we don't have to see our action as a hand—out. it is a way to save money. in the last year alone, we've seen $23 billion of crises happen across the us. we have seen those costs going out as a result of our impacts. by changing some rules and some financial policies and by investing a small amount of money, we can get our fossil fuels, amount of money, we can get our fossilfuels, we can amount of money, we can get our fossil fuels, we can start building renewable and clean energy, and in doing so, we can massively reduce the cost of climate change to all of us, notjust financially, the cost of climate change to all of us, not just financially, but the cost of climate change to all of us, notjust financially, but the

cost of our livelihoods and our future and a stable planet. it is not about who spent the money, but how quickly we save our planet so it is a place we all want to live. thank you so much for coming of the programme. this is tel aviv, israel, we are exposing a press conference from the us secretary of state, making his fourth visit to the region and when we see him approach the lectern, we will cross strait there for you. next, we will spend a couple of minutes reflecting on henry kissinger. he was a towering, deeply controversial figures, kissinger. he was a towering, deeply controversialfigures, one of kissinger. he was a towering, deeply

controversial figures, one of the best known statesman of the 20th—century. he has died at the age of 100. 20th—century. he has died at the age of100. our diplomatic 20th—century. he has died at the age of 100. our diplomatic correspondent looks back at his life. thank you for being here. to some, henry kissinger was one of the cold war�*s most influential statesmen. the former us president george bush said america had lost one of its most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs. ..henry kissinger for war crimes... to others he was a war criminal whose ruthless defence of american interests cost thousands of lives. he was born heinz kissinger in germany. his jewish family fled the nazis for america in 1938, but the young henry, as he became, returned to europe fighting with the us army. in peace time the soldier became a scholar at harvard university. today, i'm pleased to announce the first appointment of the white house staff...

it was president nixon who brought him into government, first as national security advisor, then secretary of state. kissinger drove america's re—engagement with communist china, paying secret visits to its leaders, paving the way for an historic first visit by a us president in 1972. today, china's foreign affairs spokesman said kissinger had been a good old friend of the chinese people. he sought to improve relations with the soviet union through negotiations about trade and arms control, and in the middle east he coined a new phrase, "shuttle diplomacy", as he flew between capitals to try to constrain arab—israeli conflict. his belief was in real politic — the idea that national self—interest trumped human rights or shared values. no nation can make its survival dependent on the goodwill of another state. all this brought him some global celebrity. i don't stand on protocol, if you'lljust call me excellency.

but kissinger�*s fame became notoriety as he struggled to end america's involvement in the vietnam war by bombing cambodia at a cost of many thousands of lives. his critics accused him of war crimes, his supporters welcomed a nobel peace prize. he was criticised too for supporting authoritarian anti—communist leaders such as general pinochet in chile. i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. kissinger was considered so indispensable he survived the watergate crisis and was kept on by gerald ford. thus henry kissinger, a scholar and a statesman, and to some a ruthless a cynic. above all, a diplomat, always ready to talk. plenty more updates from the middle east on the way. this is bbc news.

hello there. we've got several more days of this freezing cold weather to come before things potentially turn milder deep into next week. now, today, we've seen some fresh snowfall in the showers, east scotland, northeast england and into parts of southwest england. a couple of snowmen standing testament to the wintry weather conditions here in parts of devon, for example. and snow at this time of the year, november, very, very unusual. this chart shows the white areas where, on average, we get a day or less of lying snowfall on the ground. snow really tends to be confined to the higher parts of the pennines and the scottish mountains during november. now, overnight tonight, we'll keep the cold weather conditions, clear skies for many, but where we've seen showers by day, namely southern england, eastern england, northern eastern scotland, there is a risk of some icy stretches on roads and pavements. and a freezing cold night, temperatures in the countryside probably getting down to about minus eight. watch out for a few mist and fog

patches as well as we start the day on friday. now, for most of us, it's a freezing cold start to the day. temperatures very slow to rise. most of us will see some sunshine, but showers continue to feed in off the north sea. many of these around the coast itself, probably transitioning at least for a time, back to sleet or rain. it is going to be cold, temperatures struggling to get much above freezing across scotland and, what, three to five degrees celsius across northern ireland, england and wales. it is going to be a day of well below average temperatures for the time of year. saturday sees a weak weather fronts move into that cold air, and that's going to be bringing some patches of rain, probably some sleet or snow over hills, maybe some localised small accumulations. but that feature will continue to push eastwards, bringing the threat of wintry weather, at least for a time, into west scotland, parts of wales and western areas of england. those temperatures continue to struggle after another freezing cold start to the day. for sunday, low pressure to the southwest. there's some uncertainty about how quickly this is going to make inroads into the uk.

this is one of the quickest models, so it could end up being quite a bit slower than this. but for the time being, the forecast shows rain moving in from the southwest and we'll probably see a bit of snow on the leading edge of this system just for a short time. the best of the bright weather and cold weather for scotland and northeast england, where temperatures, again, will struggle to get much above freezing. if you do see some milder weather in the southwest, those temperatures very slow to rise.

this is bbc news, the headlines the us secretary of state presses for a further truce extension as hamas releases two more hostages. a un summit on global warming — opens in dubai — with a call for countries to turn their promises into action, after another year of record temperatures. alistair darling — the labour politician who was chancellor during the 2008 globalfinancial crash — dies at the age of 70. music. shane macgowan — who transformed irish traditional music — as frontman of the pogues, has died aged 65.

these are life