hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. you're watching the context on bbc news. the uk government says it has met a promise to clear a large part of the backlog of asylum claims although figures show thousands of �*complex' cases remain unresolved. time for sport now. let's head to the bbc sport centre. hi. we will start in the english premier league because to inform sides are going head—to—head as west ten host brayton. the home side without too. a slow burn over the first half and

goalless at half—time at the london stadium. a win for brayton could see them move into sixth place and they would leap frog the hosts in the process. staying with football, staying with english robot because wayne rooney us says he does not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee changes at birmingham city. following his sacking by the championship club earlier on tuesday. he has been dismissed after just 15 games in charge following a dismal run of four. birmingham in the top six when he took over, but after just two wins the top six when he took over, but afterjust two wins come the club are now down in 20th place with just six points clear of the relegation zone. in a statement... he admits that results had not been at the level he wanted to be. the january transfer window may have only recently open, manchester united looked busy already after donny van de beekjoined eintracht frankfurt on loan, another of their players could be heading to germany. sancho being linked with a loan move back

to bresee or dortmund. the club from which united signed him. he has been treating with academy players and since a social media post led to him being exiled from first team. the spanish footballer hermoso has testified to a madrid court that in the case of the football club president, the kiss was not consensual. luis rubiales kissed jenni hermoso on the lips last year at the world cup and now a judge will be deciding to see if he will be charged with anything, luis rubiales denies the claims. 16—year—old luke littler is aiming to become the youngest ever person to become the youngest ever person to reach the world championship final. he is taking on the 2018th world champion fellow englishman rob cross meeting in the semifinals rob cross meeting in the semifinals rob cross taking the first set but luke

littler levels and then took the lead a few moments ago. the 16—year—old currently leading to— one. the first of six to book their place in the final. it has been a day of a milestone comeback victories for two former tennis grand slam champions. after almost a year out, rafael nadal looks like he had never been away as he eased past dominic and the first round of the brisbane international. emma raducanu won herfirst brisbane international. emma raducanu won her first match back on the court in auckland after 259 days out with injury. 0ur tennis correspondent russell fuller watched both matches. two impressive comebacks by players who had been out for nearly a year here in the arena. rafael nadal good as he beat dominic 75, 61. he wheeled off beneath his greatest hits in the first two games of the batch alone. he was exceptionally

good of performance, one swallow does not make a summer. you notice about trying to back it up, game, match after match week after week after he returns to the tour after a hip operation lastjune. as for emma raducanu, very encouraging as well. winning a tight match having twice served for the match 5—2 against qualifier russo only to have her serve broken twice. she won the deciding set 7—5 on court for 2.5 hours. she served well for much of the match. it was a very encouraging return as well for a woman who used to be the british number one, but returns at 301 in world rankings after nine months out. that is pretty much for all sports. wes tam and brayton in the premier league second halfjust getting off and if you want to follow that and the darts at the alexander palace you can at the bbc sport website. some developing news. we are getting some new lines in relation to the

developments in the middle east where we have senior hamas leaders killed, not in gaza and lebanon in beirut and we are continuing to get reaction to that. the latest has been from hezbollah and lebanon saying this action, quote, will not go unanswered. just to remind you as a deputy chairman of hamas political bureau saleh al—arouri killed in an explosion in beirut. hamas is a designated tories business terrorist organisation by many governments of local media describing this as an israeli attack, the bbc has contacted the israeli armed forces, they are not commenting. get to have independently verify that claim although continuing response and response and reaction notjust from hamas but from hezbollah and lebanon as well saying that they will not go

unanswered, those actions. more context for you on that a bit later. now though let's go to the uk. we will look at immigration. the home secretary says the government has "done what it promised" and dealt with a backlog of older asylum cases. james cleverly said "every single one" of the backlog applications had been processed although there are around 11,500 "complex" cases still being looked at. take a listen. it is about disrupting supply chain on engines and boats that are used to ferry people across the channel, it is about getting after the money of these people smugglers and it is about working hard both on the uk border and across europe. that is what driven this 36% reduction. at the same time, is that you're seeing an 80% increase. we are a positive outlier because of the actions that we have taken. so this is not about the weather, this is about the work the home office officials have been doing both domestically and with their counterparts across europe.

0pposition labour party says ministers are manipulating the figures. here's the shadow home secretary yvette cooper. rishi sunak's claim to have cured the asylum backlog isjust totally false. in fact, the figures are nearly 100,000 cases and they haven't even fully cleared the bit of the backlog they were targeting. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley has been working with the bbc verify team and looking at the claims. the big claim from the government today is that it's got rid of the legacy backlog of asylum applications. this is what rishi sunak told parliament in december 2022. when he talked about the backlog, number ten said he was referring to all cases before the 20th ofjune 2022.

now, the home secretary said this morning they had all been processed, so the government had fulfilled this promise. but it's complicated, and we think the government is going too far in claiming that the backlog of older cases has gone completely. have a look at this. this is the number of cases submitted before the 28th ofjune 2022. when rishi sunak made the pledge in december, you can see there were around 92,000 still to be processed. there's no doubt that the government has brought this down quite significantly. there are big falls, particularly towards the end of the year. but then have a look at this — december. there are still 11,500 cases left. the government says these have been looked at, but more work needs to be done. but what's clear from this, from the home office's own figures, that there are still some cases in the older asylum backlog. it's not gone entirely. now, it's also worth having a look at how the government has got

the backlog down so significantly. these figures are for the first nine months of the year. as you can see, the number of cases being approved has gone up significantly. that's led critics of the government, like nigel farage, to say that they've rushed through claims. it's also worth having a look at this bit in yellow, the number of withdrawn cases. that's at a record high. it includes people who decide not to pursue their asylum case, but it also includes those the home office decides to take out of the system for things like missing application meetings or not keeping in touch with the home office. and finally, have a look at this quote from the home office's release today. it says that from the figures it's produced, 35,000 cases were non—substa ntive decisions. that often means that they've been withdrawn from the figures. so as you can see, it's a lot more complicated than some

of the government's headline claims suggest. and finally, ijust want to show you this. although the legacy backlog has gone down considerably, this is cases after the 28th ofjune 2020. have a look. they have gone up considerably over time. they now stand at 94,000 — more than the legacy backlog was when rishi sunak pledged to get rid of it. there is no timescale for dealing with this at the moment. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas is in the newsroom: so we have been through the numbers, what is the political fallout of all of this? . , , ., ., h, what is the political fallout of all of this? . , , ., ., ., of this? has been argument about of it toda . a of this? has been argument about of it today- a lot _ of this? has been argument about of it today. a lot of _ of this? has been argument about of it today. a lot of people _ of this? has been argument about of it today. a lot of people saying - it today. a lot of people saying that the government is trying to obfuscate or clear the mantle. we had the prime minister putting out a

tweet this morning where he said the government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions, that is exactly what we have done. but, as you are hearing him say there, many people pointing out that this is exactly what not has happened. that what has happened is that a large number of the cases that have been there for a long time, those so—called legacy cases have been through an initial process. the 4000, navy, 17 for all of the thousand cases have been removed from the process and the government does not know where they are they could very well be in the country. meanwhile the overall numbers are still very high. 100,000. so what you have seen is the opposition labour party stepping in and saying that the government is one day saying that the government is lying about this and taking public for fools because that backlog has not been cleared. the government is saying it is actually

to the fact that it has worked its way through this large number of older cases, but as nick was pointed out, 100,000 or so newer cases. find out, 100,000 or so newer cases. and likel to out, 100,000 or so newer cases. and likely to be _ out, 100,000 or so newer cases. and likely to be an — out, 100,000 or so newer cases. and likely to be an election year, is it so the thinking that this is an issue that the conservative government want to be talking about? absolutely, certainly. they are putting this issue front and centre. rishi sunak today, the beginning of the new year as you are indicating, a year in which it is highly likely there will be an election. it has to be done by late january next year, 2025. so it could just beyond 12 months. it is highly likely it will be before that and one subject that the prime minister is talk about going into this year that has been immigration and asylum because he wants to put that centre. he has that priority. he said to stop the boats and that is another thing that you might notice here. these figures here are not about stopping the

boats. the promise that, that priority, he said the boats are still arriving. priority, he said the boats are stillarriving. last priority, he said the boats are still arriving. last year numbers did come down. the government said thatis did come down. the government said that is down to its actions. 0thers dispute that. but, it is the second—highest year on record from boat arrivals on the south of england. however, with this issue, the cases that have been pending in the cases that have been pending in the system, they're trying to point to something, they said they have not been progressed and i think that is clearly driven by the election. rishi sunak has identified this as a key area of focus in the government believes it can do something to mobilise voters and is he is frets from the left of the labour party and to the right which used to be called the brexit party here and rishi sunak trying to navigate away through while he remains quite a long way behind in the polls. thank ou so much for that. to the us now to harvard university. its president has announced her resignation.

this is claudine gay, who'd faced a backlash after her testimony to congress over her handling of anti—semisitm on campus. she'd also faced allegations of academic plagiarism. live now to washington will vernon. hayek, brings us up to date. claudine gay was the first black person to be appointed to that harboured presidential role in last year but today she became the shortest serving president in that university's is three. her problems began in december last year when two other university leaders were called to give evidence in front of a congressional committee to discuss anti—semitism on american university campuses. that was because there had been a number of attacks onjewish students at american universities

following the events in gaza. during her testimony, following the events in gaza. during hertestimony, doctor following the events in gaza. during her testimony, doctor gay provoked a furious backlash when she refused to say: for the genocide of dues would violate the harvard code of conduct —— jews. she later apologised for those remarks but calls for her resignation continued. added to that, were allegations of plagiarism which harvard university said that it investigated and the citation errors were corrected in some academic papers. in her resignation e—mail today, academic papers. in her resignation e—mailtoday, doctor gay academic papers. in her resignation e—mail today, doctor gay said she was stepping down in the best interests of the university. she also claims that she had been the victim of personal attacks and threats fuelled by racial animosity, hostility. threats fuelled by racial animosity, hostili . ., , , threats fuelled by racial animosity, hostili . , ., , hostility. has there been any reaction to — hostility. has there been any

reaction to this? _ hostility. has there been any reaction to this? following i hostility. has there been any i reaction to this? following that appearance _ reaction to this? following that appearance at _ reaction to this? following that appearance at congress - reaction to this? following that appearance at congress in - reaction to this? following that - appearance at congress in december, several law makers, jewish groups and other leading figures here in the us called for her resignation. several of those congressmen and women who signed the letter saying she should step down have welcomed her resignation. but there is also been concerned about this racial element. as a sit in her resignation letter she said, she had been the victim of attacks, threats and one leading campaigner on racial issues in the us has also criticised the way that she has been treated. thank ou. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. sometimes a simple knock at the door and a friendly greeting mean more than we know. ronnie and paul first met

through age uk's befriending scheme during lockdown. that meant phone calls at first, but face—to—face meetings soon followed. now they're firm friends, particularly since ronnie lost his wife earlier this year. he knows my circumstances, because we're both in the same situation, you know and he's very good to talk to. we can talk to each other about different stuff. we were just saying the other day, if age uk concerned folded, we'd still be friends. i don't think we've ever had a cross word. i genuinely look forward to seeing ronnie and there's no on the volunteer and befriending scheme and somebody feeling a bit vulnerable. so that has gone now. 0ur relationship is and with ronnie is on an equal standing. for more stories from across the uk, visit the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news.

in the uk specifically england thousands of doctors will go on strike for an unprecedented six days, the longest ever strike in nh has history. starting sunday and tomorrow wednesday all over it dispute over pay. let's go live now to... live now tojohn puntis co chair of the national campaign group keep our nhs public and a retired consultant paediatrician. thank you for coming on to the programme. there has been some pretty stark warnings about potential risks and hardship caused by a strike at this time of year, of this length. what are your thoughts? people who work in nhs don't talk about a winter crisis any more because they say it is bad all year round so that is my first comment. another thing is that there are awful things happening in nhs due to

long—term underfunding and understaffing which are having very, very direct negative effects on patients. i think moral outrage it should be more focused on that than thejunior should be more focused on that than the junior doctors should be more focused on that than thejunior doctors on should be more focused on that than the junior doctors on strike. what the “unior doctors on strike. what ou the junior doctors on strike. what you mean. _ the junior doctors on strike. what you mean. in _ the junior doctors on strike. what you mean, in practical— the junior doctors on strike. what you mean, in practicalterms, - you mean, in practical terms, day—to—day what are the kind of issues that doctors and staff more widely in nhs hospitals are having to navigate? the widely in nhs hospitals are having to navigate?— to navigate? the very high bed occupancy _ to navigate? the very high bed occupancy rates, _ to navigate? the very high bed occupancy rates, the _ to navigate? the very high bed occupancy rates, the fact - to navigate? the very high bed occupancy rates, the fact that. to navigate? the very high bed i occupancy rates, the fact that one in seven patients are fit to go home but cannot because there is no social care community support. the royal college of emergency medicine is saying, based on peer review published research from the college that over 500 patients are dying every week because they are ill in casualty, their assessment is no bad for them to go to. we have patients dying in the back of ambulances, we

had something like 500 people have lost their sight because of big delays with eye clinics. this all related to underfunding, poor planning, lack of staff and a general under resourcing of the nhs. if you want a good nhs we ask have to look after staff, make them feel valued, make sure they have good working conditions and pay them reasonably. thejunior working conditions and pay them reasonably. the junior doctors working conditions and pay them reasonably. thejunior doctors have reasonably. the junior doctors have a reasonably. thejunior doctors have a strong case, they are fed up, they are worn down, 14% of them are talking about leaving the nhs. two out of five doctors who go into core training have left the nhs within eight years. there are plenty of places for them to go and we are absolutely... d0 places for them to go and we are absolutely- - -_ absolutely... do you think this strike, absolutely... do you think this strike. given _ absolutely... do you think this strike, given the _ absolutely... do you think this strike, given the length, - absolutely... do you think this strike, given the length, this | strike, given the length, this unprecedented length, will have an impact? it

unprecedented length, will have an im act? ., ,., unprecedented length, will have an imact? ., impact? it will have some impact, there is no — impact? it will have some impact, there is no question _ impact? it will have some impact, there is no question about - impact? it will have some impact, there is no question about that. i impact? it will have some impact, i there is no question about that. but consultants will take up a lot of the work done byjuniors. it means that they will not be doing their own patient clinics so that will mean there are outpatient cancellations in people will have their outpatient visits delayed. that is very regrettable, but in the context of an hundred 20,000 outpatient visits that the nhs manages every year, it will not be a huge impact. manages every year, it will not be a huge impact-— manages every year, it will not be a hu:-eimact. ~ , . ., huge impact. think you very much for comini huge impact. think you very much for coming onto — huge impact. think you very much for coming onto the _ huge impact. think you very much for coming onto the programme. - a spokesperson for the department of health and social care said we urge the bma, the union here, to call off their strakes and come back to the negotiating table so we can find a fair and reasonable solution and so we can all get back to focusing on patients and their care. next, staying in the uk take a look at this.

this is an animation of the huge marine reptile. it lived more than hundred million years ago and it has a nickname, sea—rex. nota bad nickname. the school, there we go, has gone on display to the public today in a museum in the south coast of england. —— the school. dorset�*s jurassic coast. it's a pliosaur. drjudyth sassoon she is a palaeo biologist and a pliosaur expert at the university of bristol. she will talk us through exactly how significant this is. thank you for coming onto the programme. 50 significant this is. thank you for coming onto the programme. so this is been a very _ coming onto the programme. so this is been a very exciting _ coming onto the programme. so this is been a very exciting day. - coming onto the programme. so this is been a very exciting day. i - coming onto the programme. so this is been a very exciting day. i have i is been a very exciting day. i have been here all day for the unveiling of this magnificent specimen. a two metre long school found in the cliffs of the dorset coast around

here. this of course represents an animal which was far bigger. around ten metres long, possibly so over the size of a killer whale. and pretty ferocious stop being represented as such. for me this is one of the most magnificent preserved fossil pliosaur that i've ever seen in my entire life. it is got a lot of interesting scientific features preserved on it. we are lookin: features preserved on it. we are looking at _ features preserved on it. we are looking at it _ features preserved on it. we are looking at it right _ features preserved on it. we are looking at it right now _ features preserved on it. we are looking at it right now and - features preserved on it. we are looking at it right now and the l features preserved on it. we are. looking at it right now and the big jaw into the big teeth. we saw in the intimation and the re—creation, this huge jaw the intimation and the re—creation, this hugejaw snapping the intimation and the re—creation, this huge jaw snapping shut, the intimation and the re—creation, this hugejaw snapping shut, so how much guesswork or are we pretty sure that it would have gobbled up huge animals. 50 that it would have gobbled up huge animals. , ., . ., animals. so the research and the university of _ animals. so the research and the university of bristol _ animals. so the research and the university of bristol is _ animals. so the research and the university of bristol is being - animals. so the research and the | university of bristol is being done on the bite force. there is a team that have been working on for many

years now and calculating bite forces of several animals so i think there are quite a lot of substantial to suggest that evidence and the results are reliable. so it is pretty high, the bite force. just because you — pretty high, the bite force. just because you mentioned the bite force, just a quick plug for the website if we have it because on the bbc article there, i was fascinated by this. a human, 700 newtons and a dog, 1000 newtons and a pliosaur, 33,000 newtons. quite a big difference in there. so 33,000 newtons. quite a big difference in there.— 33,000 newtons. quite a big difference in there. so it has been said that they _ difference in there. so it has been said that they can _ difference in there. so it has been said that they can buy _ difference in there. so it has been said that they can buy a _ difference in there. so it has been said that they can buy a car- difference in there. so it has been said that they can buy a car in - said that they can buy a car in half. i'm not sure if you should make such correlations but it is something that could bite pretty hard. �* , ., ., something that could bite pretty hard. �*, ., ., ., , hard. let's move on to the discovery because it is —

hard. let's move on to the discovery because it is just _ hard. let's move on to the discovery because it is just the _ hard. let's move on to the discovery because it isjust the skull, - hard. let's move on to the discovery because it is just the skull, what - because it is just the skull, what is the aim with getting the rest of it out of the rock, if possible? so reall it out of the rock, if possible? sr really we it out of the rock, if possible? 5r really we are pretty sure that the rest of it is there. the skull itself will be informative because of how it's preserved but will be be good for us is to have much of the complete pliosaur as possible because to have related material, skull and post—cranial material, the rest of the body, is something very rare to have so well preserved. so we would freely love to get the best of it out. ., , .., we would freely love to get the best ofitout. ., , ., of it out. you must come back on the programme — of it out. you must come back on the programme if — of it out. you must come back on the programme if and — of it out. you must come back on the programme if and when _ of it out. you must come back on the programme if and when you - of it out. you must come back on the programme if and when you get the i programme if and when you get the rest of it. quite a terrifying thought. thank you very much for coming onto the programme, doctor. asi as i mentioned there are plenty more on that story on the bbc news website. you can get all the latest updates on bbc news app. stay with us here because i will be back at the top of the hour for all of the latest. this is bbc news.

storm henk certainly made its presence felt today with numerous flood warnings issued, particularly across england and wales. we also had this amber warning from the met office, this warning expiring through the early parts of the evening. some very strong winds, though, easing eastwards as the area of low pressure responsible storm henk continues to slide away. some outbreaks of rain pushing eastwards as well. most of the rain clearing out into the north sea, but some will remain across eastern parts of scotland, bending into the far north east where we'll see some snow falling across shetland. it does stay very windy across the north east of scotland, still quite windy through the night across english channel coasts as well. temperatures generally holding up between 3—10 degrees so the vast majority will avoid a frost. so as we head into tomorrow, low pressure still with us. although the main body of storm henk will be moving towards southern

scandinavia by this stage, where it will be bringing some quite significant snowfall. for us, many places seeing a day of sunny spells and heavy showers, still blustery down towards the south coast. those winds only slowly easing. also staying windy in the north east of scotland. still a bit of rain, sleet and snow across 0rkney and shetland and some showery rain more generally across the northern half of scotland. temperature wise, 8—11 degrees in many places. and then as we head into thursday, here comes another weather system. this one set to bring some heavy rain, particularly across the channel islands and into southern coastal counties of england. some of this rain could be on the heavy side. it mayjust be that this pulse of wet weather shifts a little bit further northwards as we go through the day. elsewhere, sunny spells and showers, some more persistent rain continuing to affect the north east of scotland, still cold in shetland. and elsewhere, those temperatures just starting to come down a little bit. that's a sign of things to come. as we move into the weekend,

low pressure will loosen its grip and high pressure will start to build, both from the west and from the east. so that is going to settle things down. as that happens, we'll see some colder air developing. nothing exceptional for this time of year, it is early january, after all, but those temperatures certainly lower than they have been by day and by night. any showers that do crop up could be wintry in nature. there'll be some frost and fog at night, but a lot of dry weather.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. you're watching the context on bbc news. hamas says its deputy leader has been killed in lebanon. we'll look at that claim and what it could mean for the conflict. also on the programme. the passengers and crew managed to escape from this. but five people were killed in the other plane involved in the crash injapan. in the uk. the government is claiming success on processing asylum claims. we'll have a look at the numbers. 0n tonight's panel mary anne marsh — political analyst and democratic party strategist. and sebastian payne, the director on 0nward — a centre—right think—tank, and formerjournalist. will get to the panel in a moment but first of our developing story

over the last couple of hours in the