shockwave through the sport, as the 29 year old becomes the biggest name to date to sign. he had previously ruled out joining liv since its inaugural season in 2021. the future of the sport is still unclear, with a deadline looming for the pga tour and the dp world tour to agree a deal to merge with the saudi arabian public investement fund, which supports liv our golf correspondent iain carter spoke to me earlier. i think it leaves us with a fundamental question, hasjohn ram fundamental question, has john ram going fundamental question, hasjohn ram going to live made it easier to get a deal done between the pga tour and the saudi arabians. right now the game is split into. it is deeply fractured and it somehow has to be put back together. again going back to rory michael roy, if that is what he is calling for. if you look at the power brokers as as far as the

pga tour are concerned how sympathetic are they to teaming up with the saudi arabia? that is what is going to be hammered out in the days and weeks to come. the deadline of december the 31st for this framework agreement to be turned into a substantiated deal, that is racing towards us at a fair rate of knots. well staying with saudi arabia's growing influence in sport — the nations sports minister says claims of �*sportswashing' against the country are "very shallow". prince abdulaziz bin turki al faisal was speaking to the bbc�*s sports editor dan roan injeddah as he defended its right to host the men's football world cup. the bbc were accompanied by saudi ministry of sport officials while filming at venues and events. critics say unprecedented spending on sport has been used to improve the oil—producing kingdom's reputation over its human rights record and its environmental impact. our ambition is to host the best events around the world for the

people of the kingdom to see but also to invite the world to the kingdom. we have formula 1, fifa world cup, and the olympics. these are the highest events at any nation would love to host within their countries. d0 would love to host within their countries-_ would love to host within their countries. ., ., , , countries. do want to be the number one sporting — countries. do want to be the number one sporting superpower— countries. do want to be the number one sporting superpower in - countries. do want to be the number one sporting superpower in the - one sporting superpower in the world? i one sporting superpower in the world? ., �* , ., world? i don't see it that way, competing _ world? i don't see it that way, competing with _ world? i don't see it that way, competing with others, - world? i don't see it that way, competing with others, i - world? i don't see it that way, competing with others, i see i world? i don't see it that way, | competing with others, i see it world? i don't see it that way, - competing with others, i see it that we are playing a role to develop sporting the world and be part of the international community. i'm sure that by... they will have a extremely world cup. they will have a extremely world cup. arsenal manager mikel arteta insists goalkeeper david raya's form is not a concern, despite some costly mistakes. he gifted luton two goals on tuesday, before arsenal eventually won 4—3. arteta, in effect, has two number ones, with raya and aaron ramsdale, as well as back up in karl hein — but he sees no issue and refuses to criticise raya. what can i say? i have three great

goalkeepers, i'm really happy, i have great wingers, some of them are on the bench but we have to accept that. we have to support our players in the best possible way. we have to protect them and we have to get the best out of them. i will focus much more on that, that every player needs the might support on the right love. they deserve that. in basketball, a lebronjames inspired los angeles lakers cruied past the new orleans pelicans 133—89 on thursday night to reach the championship game in the nba in—season tournament. james scored 30 points in less than three quarters as the lakers brushed aside their opponents. they will play the indiana pacers in saturday's inaugural nba cup after they beat the milwaukee bucks 128—119 in the other semi—final. and that's all the sport for now.

vladimir putin has announced that he will stand for re—election as russian president when his term ends next year. he spoke about his intentions during an awards ceremony for participants in the war in ukraine , answering a request from a military figure in a choreographed appearance. his re—election is seen as inevitable, with many of his opponents jailed or dead, and the russian media bbc monitoring's russia editor — vitaliy schevchenko — has been telling me more from the newsroom. this is what vladimir putin was expected to do. and of course, he is almost certain to win the presidential elections in march next year because the whole system in russia and i even hesitate to call it a political system, it's set up to make sure that he stays on for another six year term. there are a number of parties. russia has a bicameral parliament, but the people and personalities allowed to take part in this system. they do not include credible

opponents of vladimir putin or his policies because they are either in jail, such as alexei navalny abroad, such as mikhail khodorkovsky, or dead such as boris nemtsov. in fact, over the past couple of days, we heard about one way in which supporters ofjailed opposition leader alexei navalny, how they try to do some sort of campaigning in russia. they put up posters across russia saying russia, happy new year. but if you scan the qr code on those posters, it took you to anti putin website because this is the only form of social or political campaigning they were allowed to do in russia. and as soon as the authorities realised what was going on, those posters were taken down. so that's why vladimir putin is the one and only real candidate allowed to run in those elections.

let's return to the israel—gaza war, where it can be hard to envisage a long—term resolution. but inter—faith vigils around the world give a glimpse of what is possible. last sunday saw one such vigil here in london, outside downing street. attending were israeli and palestinian citizens, jews and muslims, faith leaders and charities — all united in their search for a peaceful resolution. earlier i spoke to hannah weisfeld, founder of yachad uk — a britishjewish organisation which supports the palestinian state. and hamze awawde — a member of the palestinian delegation for hands of peace, which empowers american, israeli and palestinian youth to become agents of change. both attended sunday's vigil and told me more about their experience. well, i think that one of the big challenges here in the uk has been that as the war has got worse and worse, people feel more and more divided, more and more polarised. and actually it's very hard to find common ground and to be in central london with thousands of people and people like hamza and israelis and palestinians speaking together, it's actually visually quite powerful because there is a sense that you cannot stand in solidarity with each other.

and we've reached this almost crisis point in terms of, i mean, notjust the conflict itself, but how it gets exported. so, you know, i scroll down my social media feeds and i see one group of people saying, well, there were no people raped or murdered on october the seventh. thank and i see another group of people saying, well, you know, there's no casualties in gaza. all of them are hamas terrorists. there's no civilians dying. and you think, well, how we arrived at this situation where you literally cannot see that there is a human being worthy of life on the other side. and the point of that vigil was to say, we can't export that here to the uk. and when people like hamza stand up and really bravely speak, when you talk about the need for hope and that almost being the unifying force on sunday, was there also a sense that you needed to agree on what a shared future would look like? or was that put to one side because that is so contentious, too? no, i think we agree

on basic things. so again, the value of human life, we agree that the same leaders we have now leading this campaign are the ones who brought us the situation. we agree that new leadership is needed in israel for the palestinians. exactly. we really need better leaders. we need leaders who care about the future generations. they have been trying the same thing for 75 years. they got better at inflicting pain on the other side. but this has led us nowhere. and poor people like people that are not born to to die or to hate, but they are trapped. they are trapped and they can't see it. and the international community is not doing the right thing to push the leaders there and to push the people for what they need for the future. when the international community is starting to talk about a political solution now, notjust looking at what is happening militarily, how do you begin to sort of influence that debate about what a future might look like? i mean, i'm pleased you ask that because i think one of the things that is so frustrating about this conflict is that everybody ignores it until there is a massive crisis.

and we are now in the most terrible crisis. and i've worked around this conflict for over a decade. and every couple of years a war breaks out between israel and gaza. this is like no other war. but what happens is the war ends. everyone takes a big sigh of relief and everyone goes back to what they were doing. it's surely different this time. well, i hope it is because because this is the thing is that at the moment people are rightly fixated on how do you end the immediacy of what is going on now? how do you protect civilian life? how do you secure borders? but actually, what we really need is an international community to say simultaneously we will start the process of where are palestinians looking to, though? yeah, sadly that is the reality. and this is what bring them to lose hope and to be victim of radical ideologies. we remember the times of negotiation. after oslo accord, people started to live their life normally,

started to have concerts, started to to dream about the future. but in times like now, there's really hardly any way to dream people, even on their basic life. i mean, in gaza, people don't have food to eat, you know, and they know that the world abandoned them. i don't think they expected much from the world because they have been under siege for 17 years and that did not bother anyone. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. last weekend we were talking about bitterly cold conditions with some heavy snowfall. this weekend has big changes thanks to a very active jet stream pushing low pressure systems off the atlantic to our shores.

that'll bring mild and wet weather at times. there will be some sunshine too. not raining all the time and it will be windy, particularly on saturday. this is saturday's area of low pressure, bringing the wet and windy weather, a real squeeze in the isobars there later in the day. and sunday, that's followed by another area of low pressure which will bring a spell of rain followed by sunshine and showers. and compared to last weekend, we remain in the mild air mass and that will be noticeable both by day and by night. however, we have numerous flood warnings in force up and down the country with more rain forecast for the weekend. this could exacerbate issues, so head online to check out all the details there. for the rest of today, though, southern and eastern areas should tend to stay dry, some sunshine. a lot more rain, though, further north and west, some of it heavy at times northern ireland into central and southern scotland. it will be blustery as well. but mild in the south. high single figures in the north. now this area of rain peps up across central southern scotland, northern england through tonight. so could see some localised flooding issues here. and then here comes the next batch of wet and windy weather pushing

up from the southwest with the mild air there. ten degrees in plymouth, but a frost—free night to come for most. saturday and a thoroughly wet start to the day innorthern ireland, much of england and wales, though the rain pushes northwards and becomes confined to central and southern scotland. some brightness to the north of it and it brightens up further south from much of england and wales into saturday afternoon with a few showers and it will be very mild. but the winds will be a feature later on saturday. northern ireland, england and wales, widespread gales and the swathe of very strong winds in fact for northern ireland into north—west england, north wales, 60—70mph gusts here for a time that could cause some disruption. so stay tuned. sunday, the next area of low pressure moves in from the south and the west to bring another band of rain which will spread northwards and eastwards. and again, that'll be followed by a little bit of brightness into the afternoon with some blustery showers

and some sunny spells. again, mild in the south, high single figures in the north. stays wet and we need to the start of the new week. but there's just hints of it's starting to settle down for this last part of the week as high pressure starts to build back in again.

live from london. this is bbc news. the un security council convenes a historic session to vote on an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in gaza, invoking a rare measure not used for more than half a century. israel defends its treatment of detained palestinian men after images emerge of them blindfolded, stripped to their underwear and forced to kneel. and, music fans line the streets of dublin to say a final

farewell to shane mcgowan, who died last week aged 65. hello, i'm lucy grey. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start in new york and to the united nations where the security council is meeting to discuss the situation in gaza. the council is due to vote on a draught resolution proposed by the united arab emirates — demanding an immediate ceasefire. it comes after secretary—general antonio guterres in a rare move formally urged the 15—member council to "use all of its influence" to prevent "a humanitarian catastrophe" in the enclave. mr guterres is due to address the council shortly live now to new york and the un — we can speak with our north america correspondent nada tawfik. live now tojerusalem and our diplomatic correspondent paul adams.