their support for ukraine. the poet, professor and performer benjamin zephaniyah has died just weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumour — he was 65. welcome to the programme. we begin with the latest on the conflict in israel and gaza. images have emerged from gaza which appear to show dozens of palestinian men, stripped to their underwear, with their hands tied behind their back, being held by israeli defence forces. it's not clear if they have surrendered or if they have been taken by the military. israel has not said who the men are, but it has confirmed that israeli forces are making arrests in gaza.

the new images come as tens of thousands of palestinians are streaming into rafah city, near the gaza strip�*s southern border with egypt, trying to escape intense fighting elsewhere. the head of humanitarian affairs for the united nations says there is no longer any humanitarian operation worthy of that name in the south of gaza. from jerusalem, here's our international editor, jeremy bowen. a warning you may find some of the images upsetting. video emerged this afternoon off palestinian men taken for interrogation. bbc staff recognised the town in northern gaza and we have geo—located the video there, too. palestinian diplomats said these were savage images evoking humanity's darkest times. the israeli army said only that suspects were being interrogated. posts on social media said the men had been sheltering with their families at a un school and that others were killed during the israeli raid. in this photo the men had been

moved to another location, which we have not been able to verify. one of the captives is a journalist. he was forced to leave his disabled daughter, according to the newspaper he works for in london. earlier, in israel's parliament, a prominent government supporter told me that only israeli forces can control gaza, not the independent palestine the americans want. i think that when we talk about a two—state solution we are using three words and three lies. it's not two, it's not a state, it's definitely not a solution. so what's the answer, an everlasting occupation? first, occupation is not the word. you cannot...one cannot occupy his own land. israel is not an occupier in israel. it's the land of israel. so what about gaza? again... that's the land of israel? the land of israel, you cannot be occupying it. we're not occupying

it from anyone. in gaza, civilians are lost in the rubble of israeli strikes. so far, the world is not close to controlling the powerful chaotic forces unleashed by this war. the un secretary—general, saying international peace and security is in jeopardy, is demanding an immediate ceasefire. a palestinian leader told me the us and uk must not veto the next ceasefire resolution. the united states of america and britain now has the key. if they oppose resolution about immediate ceasefire they will not be complicit only with this aggression, they will be a participant in these war crimes. they have to approve the ceasefire immediately because what is at stake is the life of 2.3 million people now. half of them are children. without a political solution this conflict will go on when, if, israel declares victory in gaza.

the war will not have a neat ending. two opposing forces are at work here. on the one hand pressure for a ceasefire. on the determination of the americans and the british to give israel the time it needs to achieve its objectives, and one western diplomat i talked to was thinking about perhaps another month. now, the un secretary—general wants to hurry that process up by putting pressure on them and also shaming them into taking action sooner. as gaza's food queues get longer, the un says it cannot run dependable humanitarian operation. with hungry people jumping warehouse fences, israel says world peace requires gaza's liberation from hamas and that will take force. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem.

the uk prime minister has urged mps to back his rwanda plan — after growing criticism from within his own party. rishi sunak said his new legislation was the "toughest immigration law ever", would prevent legal challenges and finally allow deportation flights carrying illegal migrants to take off for east africa. here's our political edtior chris mason. autumn of last year. rishi sunak becomes prime minister, the rwanda plan is already six months old. but as the seasons turn, no migrants are sent to east africa. winter becomes summer, and still no planes are leaving. and then the supreme court, this autumn, said it was unlawful. the slogan on the lectern is familiar, and boat crossings are down. good morning... but the prime minister felt compelled to sell his new plan after his former immigration minister resigned, reckoning it's a dud. we simply cannot have

a situation where our ability to control our borders and stop people taking perilous journeys across the channel is held up in endless litigation in our courts. for the people who say you should do something different, the difference between them and me is an inch. but that inch, by the way, is the difference between the rwandans participating in this scheme, and not. are you saying to your mps, bluntly, on all of this, back me or sack me? what i'm saying, notjust to my mps, but the entire country, is that i share their frustration. right? my patience with this has worn thin. it's patiently unfair, what is happening at the moment, which is why it requires action like this, that is novel, that is contentious, but that's what we're about. we're about getting stuff done on the things that matter. this matters, and we're going to make sure that we deliver. so, what exactly is this new plan? the safety of rwanda bill, where i was the other day when the home secretary visited kigali, to sign a treaty with the country, will say

rwanda is safe and give ministers the power to disregard parts of the human rights act. but critics reckon it doesn't go far enough, and will still get gummed up in the courts. ultimately, this bill will fail. i'm just being honest about where we are. we've put two acts of parliament through already. we've done huge amounts of work to stop this problem. we have not succeeded in stopping the boats. time is running out. we cannot afford to put forward yet another bill that is destined to fail. will he lead the conservatives into the next general election? listen, i hope he does. "i hope he does" is about as tepid an endorsement of a prime minister as you're likely to hear. and here's another tricky thing for rishi sunak. others in the conservative party, including the ioo—plus mps and peers too in what's called the one nation caucus, have a different instinct. it's rather like a bill

which says that parliament has decided that all dogs are cats. but we know that all dogs are not cats. but we're being told that, apparently, parliament has reached a conclusion that rwanda is safe, when the evidence before the supreme court, and the court below it, was that it wasn't. and all this after robert jenrick packed it in as immigration minister, suggesting the prime minister needed to be more brave and more willing to contest international law. replacing robertjenrick at the home office, two men. michael tomlinson is the minister for illegal migration, and tom pursglove is minister for legal migration. emergency legislation, and now emergency reshuffle, and, as we speak, an emergency press conference. it's total chaos. they are now in free—fall, unable to govern. all the while, families worried about paying their bills and affording christmas. mps will debate the latest rwanda plan on tuesday.

its future, and prime minister's authority, up in lights. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. us senate republicans have blocked a $110 billion security assistance bill destined for ukraine, which was backed by democrats. it also included funding for israel and taiwan, and more money for us border security programmes. republicans wanted the bill to include tougher border policies to curb immigration. it comes after ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky abruptly cancelled a briefing with us lawmakers tuesday. it's unclear why mr. it's unclear why mr zelensky canceled, but he did address a virtual meeting of g7 leaders on thursday where the group announced a new ban on russian diamonds and financial sanctions. senate majority leader, chuck schumer expressed his frustration at the outcome if there's a word for

what we most need now, if there is a word for what we most need now, it is to be serious. if republicans in the senate do not get serious very soon, about a national security package, vladimir putin is going to walk right through ukraine and right through europe. this is a historic moment for the senate. are we going to do something about the threats to democracy happening around the world, are we going to hold the line against autocrats and dictators and the enemies of our way of life? the us secretary of state and uk foreign secretary met for high level talks in washington on thursday, to discuss the war in gaza and the ongoing conflict in ukraine. both lord cameron and antony blinken reinforced their support for ukraine. as we accelerate our efforts to enable ukraine to stand on its own, it's crucial that the united states and our partners continue to do our respective parts. and that's why the supplemental that's currently before congress is so necessary and so urgent. and there's a very clear choice before us.

are we going to ensure that putin's aggression against ukraine remains a failure, or will putin prove that, as he believes, he can outlast us, he can divide us, he can not only continue to threaten ukraine, but take that aggression elsewhere, including potentially to countries in nato? this was, apart from the meeting we were having today, this is the reason i wanted to be in washington dc this week. was to make the point about how important it is that we go on funding ukraine and helping ukraine in every way we can to resist putin's illegal invasion. i see it as the challenge of our generation. just as my grandfather's generation had to fight off nazi aggression in europe, we are fighting against russian aggression in europe. portugal's president has dismissed the country's government, one month to the day after the prime minister tendered his resignation on learning that his name had come

up in an investigation by public prosecutors into suspected corruption. president marcelo rebelo de sousa announced in october that he would dissolve the country's parliament this month and hold early elections in march of next year china and the european union have agreed their trade relationship should be more balanced at their first in—person summit for four years. but the leaders gave no sign of resolving differences on a range of issues. eu leaders pressed beijing over a big trade deficit. but beijing warned the eu that it expected prudence from brussels when introducing "restrictive" trade policies. professor bert hofman is the director of the east asian institute at nus and professor in practice at the lee kuan yew school of public policy, joining us from jakarta. thank you for your time here on

newsday. you mentioned you had low expectations from the summit, how do you think it went? , ., , went? they met those expectations, - went? they met those expectations, i- went? they met those expectations, i guessl went? they met those i expectations, i guess the went? they met those - expectations, i guess the stop what is good is that there was a meeting, there was an update on the talking points to an fro, and it was live made it big difference. last year, president and commissioner of eu forforeign affairs president and commissioner of eu for foreign affairs said this was a dialogue of death, this was a dialogue of death, this was a dialogue of death, this was not a dialogue of the death this year, and some of the points that the eu raised, and china just as different views on each of them, from the trade surplus, to ukraine, to europe's position in the world, if you want, and china just things very differently than the eu. ,, . . things very differently than theeu. ,,. ,

the eu. some specific concerns, leaders from — the eu. some specific concerns, leaders from the _ the eu. some specific concerns, leaders from the european - the eu. some specific concerns, leaders from the european unitl leaders from the european unit have been worried about china's industrial capacity, especially industrial capacity, especially in renewable energy products, how real is that concern and how real is that concern and how you seen it playing out? clearly, china dominates the market for renewables, it's starting to dominate the market for electric vehicles. two important industries for the green transition the whole world is looking at. the eu said it is all done because of unfair subsidies and for keeping uncompetitive companies alive, where china says we have done our homework and invested in our and done our homework and invested in ourand have done our homework and invested in our and have a big market which we take use of and that's why we are competitive. if you look at electric vehicles, the export is surging but only two or three companies, including tesla, a us company based in china, but two or three private companies in china that are the most competitive. so, it's

complicated and big action on electric because remains to be seen. ~ . �* , electric because remains to be seenr ., �*, ., electric because remains to be seen. ~ ., �*, ., , seen. what's also complicated is the difference _ seen. what's also complicated is the difference on _ seen. what's also complicated is the difference on ukraine, l seen. what's also complicated is the difference on ukraine, aj is the difference on ukraine, a major issue for europe and china, and china's friendships would russia is something that comes up, how do you see economics and geopolitics being balanced with your mark clearly, it's the most important issue for the eu and it came out but your mark it came out that 30 encompassing china were involved in trade with russia on banned goods, so that's a big issue for the eu. china says we have a peace plan where trying to mention on companies and we should move in the peace plan we have for

ukraine. the peace plan we have for ukraine-— the peace plan we have for ukraine. ., ~ i. ., , ukraine. thank you professor bert hofman _ ukraine. thank you professor bert hofman for— ukraine. thank you professor bert hofman for speaking - ukraine. thank you professor bert hofman for speaking to | ukraine. thank you professor l bert hofman for speaking to us on newsday. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news here in the uk. the uk has accused russia's security service — the fsb — of conducting a cyber—hacking campaign overa number of years to disrupt the democratic process. the government says a group working for the fsb has been stealing information from politicians and public figures since at least 2015. russia has always denied such activity. an inquest has ruled an ofsted inspection �*likely contributed' to the death of head teacher ruth perry. senior coroner heidi connor said the inspection �*lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity�* and was at times �*rude and intimidating�*. mrs perry took her own life in january while waiting for the ofsted report to be published. ofsted�*s chief inspector apologised to mrs perry�*s family. the government has announced the bbc licence fee of £159

will increase by £10.50. the figure was determined using september�*s rate of inflation , rather than an average across the last year. you�*re live with bbc news. former uk prime minister boris johnson has told the covid inquiry that claims he didn�*t care about the suffering being inflicted on the country and wanted to let covid rip were simply not right. our deputy political editor vicki young has the details summer 2020, the end of the first lockdown. the government was keen to boost the economy, get people spending again. as chancellor, rishi sunak did his bit, despite some warnings that the eat out to help out scheme could spread the virus. borisjohnson has previously insisted that medical experts like sir patrick vallance and sir chris whitty were consulted about the idea, something they�*ve denied. but now, today, you�*re saying you�*re not sure whether it was discussed

with them, and you�*re surprised that it wasn�*t? the reason i said that in my statement is because i, frankly, assumed that it must have been discussed with them. and i... i'm perplexed. in light of your views, secretly held, about people dying, having reached their time anyway... mrjohnson looked irritated when he was read extracts from sir patrick vallance�*s diary, suggesting he advocated "letting the virus rip". frankly, it does not do justice to what we did, ourthoughts, ourfeelings, my thoughts, my feelings, to say that we were remotely reconciled to fatalities across the country. questioning then turned to rule breaking. first, his chief adviser, dominic cummings�* visit to barnard castle. it was obviously damaging. it was a bad moment.

and i won't, you know, pretend otherwise. and what about the parties in downing street, which led to more than 100 fines, including ones for the former and current prime ministers? he apologised again, but said he and staff thought they were within the rules. the version of events that has entered the popular consciousness about what is supposed to have happened in downing street is a million miles from the reality of what actually happened in numberio. bereaved families said today that mrjohnson was unfit for power and had failed to act quickly enough to protect lives. he, though, told the inquiry what he�*d felt after being in hospital with covid. i knew from that experience what an appalling disease this is. to say that i didn't care about the suffering that was being inflicted on the country is simply not right.

some will never be persuaded by borisjohnson�*s arguments. he insists he was at all times focused on saving lives. vicki young, bbc news. the poet and writer benjamin zephaniah has died at the age of 65. he was diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago. david sillito looks back at his life. i used to think nurses were women. police were men. i used to think poets were boring, until i became one of them. this is benjamin zephaniah. benjamin zephaniah... i love me mudda and me mudda love me. we come so far from over de sea. he rose to fame in the �*80s. his dub poetry rooted in the rhythms, language and street politics of his home, handsworth, in birmingham. his words were political, musical, radical. he turned down an obe, saying they�*d obviously not read his words about empire.

when he began, he could barely read. by the end, he had 16 honorary doctorates. and for one friend and fellow poet, his passing, a terrible loss. he was incredibly friendly, approachable, kind on a personal basis. he could talk to us about things that matter and the things that mattered to him, which is the oppression that he himself experienced but he sees and saw around him in the world and he could express that to almost any age of person in very direct terms. he also appeared more recently in peaky blinders. dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together in holy matrimony... in a statement, his family said he was a true pioneer and innovator, who has left the world a joyful and fantastic legacy, the poetry of benjamin zephaniah. i am not the problem.

i greet you with a smile. you put me in a pigeon hole. but i am versatile. well, these conditions may affect me as i get older, and i am positively sure i have no chips upon my shoulders. black is not the problem. mother country, get it right. and just for the record, some of my best friends are white. the poet and writer benjamin zephaniah who�*s died at the age of 65 thomas street in manchester city centre in north west england is normally home to independent shops and bars. but for weeks now it has been closed off with locals sworn secrecy about what this was all about. but now all has become clear. one of the biggest names in fashion. chanel chose the street to stage its annual luxury catwalk show . charlotte gallagher�*s report contains flashing images.

high fashion and a manchester high street. the legendary french fashion label chanel has taken over the city centre. models, celebrities, and the children of manchester icons liam and noel gallagher filled the front row of the chanel fashion show. even a—list actors couldn�*t keep away. are you enjoying the latest? yeah, lam. i�*ve been walking around in the rain all day. it was fine. no, it�*s so good. and i�*m telling you, it�*s like, it is such an iconic place for me, and i�*ve been dreaming to come. the show celebrated not just fashion, but also the music of manchester. the rapper and actor bugsy malone came dressed for the occasion. we have the jacket, the watch, the trainers, and i�*m very serious about the chanel thing right now. and the necklace is that chanel as well? yeah. you�*re manchester, obviously. born and bred. so what does it feel like to be at a chanel show in manchester?

you�*re one of the guest of honour. by the way, it�*s a real privilege just to have chanel in manchester. so to be here, to witness it. amazing, i�*ve had a great time. people who didn�*t have a ticket also wanted to see what was going on. obviously, there's a nod to the weather. in fact, the crowds gathered in the rain all day wondering which celebrities would arrive. so why did chanel choose manchester? and that�*s a history that is political, it�*s social, but also, of course, linked to fashion and textiles. so in this area where we are in the northern quarter, a lot of these buildings would have been warehouses, they would have been centres of production of cotton. in the 19th century, manchester was called cotton palace. manchester born supermodel karen elson took part in the show, and models weren�*t just on the catwalk. they were in the audience too. really epitomised the spirit and creativity of manchester and the north. and, yeah, it�*s been amazing.

the show may be over, but the party here, well, that�*s just begun. charlotte gallagher, bbc news, manchester. that�*s all for now — stay with bbc news. you can find more on the bbc website, including more on the israel — ms conflict. that�*s all stay with bbc news. hello there. thursday�*s weather was pretty wet for many of us, and we�*re going to see further bouts of heavy rain moving their way in over the next few days. but i think for many there�*ll be a brief respite in the really wet conditions on friday with some sunnier spells. but we�*ve still got this area of low pressure into friday, and that�*s going to keep

things pretty unsettled. but the bulk of the rain that we had on thursday has cleared away to the north and the east. and as we start off on friday, temperatures for many of us positive, so about 6—8 degrees celsius. still quite wet and windy in the northern isles throughout the day, and we�*ll see these showers moving their way in from the west. but there will at least be some sunny spells, particularly towards eastern and south—eastern areas for much of the day. one or two showers eventually moving in, and temperatures probably getting into double figures for many of us. about 6—8 celsius across scotland. now, the winds will strengthen for a time around the irish sea and the north channel coasts. with that, some further heavy rain spreading through, and then into saturday morning, another band of very heavy rain will slowly move its way in, making it a very wet start to saturday morning. but again, overnight temperatures into saturday staying up into positive figures. now, for the weekend, it will stay unsettled. there�*ll be rain at times, but it�*s not going to be a complete wash—out.

there�*ll be some sunshine around for a time as well. but a very wet start, as i mentioned, for many on saturday. some pulses of heavy rain spreading its way north and eastward. by lunchtime, spreading into central parts of scotland, northern ireland. for england and wales, there�*ll be a few showers towards northern and western areas. otherwise, though, a drier afternoon with some sunny spells. and again temperatures 11—13 degrees in the south, 7—8 degrees further north. that area of rain will continue to move to the north with that area of low pressure, and then another area of low pressure develops as we head into sunday. that�*s one to watch. we could see some pretty strong winds linked in with that, with again rain spreading its way in from the south—west, pushing north and eastwards. so, yes, a spell of rain for a time before it clears, and there�*ll be something a bit brighter towards england and wales into the afternoon. just eastern areas staying on the wet side, and temperatures once again about 6—12 degrees celsius. into next week, it starts to calm down a little bit from mid—week onward with something a bit drier. bye— bye.

will who tech stocks soar in the us but all eyes are on a keyjobs report out later on friday — will it lead to an interest rate cut? and a controversial video game tries to attract a younger audience, with a pivotal partnership.

hello and welcome to asia business report. i�*m arunoday mukharji. we begin in the us where the tech heavy nasdaq ended the trading session sharply higher. google parent alphabet and advanced micro devices — or amd — leading the rally. gemini and amd from yesterday shares of alphabetjumped more than 5% with optimism over its newest ai model — gemini. and amd soared nearly 10% after the chip maker released a new ai chip to rival nvidia�*s. meanwhile, data showed that the number of americans filing forjobless benefits increased less than expected last week. a labour departmentjobs report out later on friday could sway whether the us central bank starts cutting those high interest rates. from new york, michelle fleury has more.

we should get further evidence that there�*s a real slowdown