america's top diplomat antony blinken is due in tel aviv as part of his attempts to stop the gaza conflict from spreading. he hasjust he has just arrived he hasjust arrived in saudi arabia and will be in israel later. and blast off! as the first american spacecraft in more than 50 years is on its way to the moon after a successful launch. hello, welcome to bbc news now. evidence of rape, torture and forced abortions by the founder of one of the world's biggest christian evangelical churches has been uncovered by the bbc. tbjoshua was the late

founder of the synagogue church of all nations in nigeria and built an evangelical empire that counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities and international footballers among his associates. former church insiders have gone public — for the first time — with claims of atrocities that span almost 20 years. peter murimi reports. a warning, you might find some elements upsetting. everyone here in the stadium say, i lovejesus. tbjoshua was one of africa's most famous pastors, drawing presidents, premier league footballers and millions of followers across the globe. he had huge resources, huge amounts of influence, notjust in nigeria, throughout africa, israel, mexico, singapore. tbjoshua performed televised healings, where members of his congregation claimed to have been cured of aids, cancer and a range of chronic conditions. negative tested for hiv and hiv 2. everybody wanted the privilege to go with, to meet this... ..big giant.

tb joshua's closest followers were known as disciples, and lived together for years inside his compound in nigeria. we all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen. dozens of these insiders alleged that the pastor repeatedly assaulted, raped and tortured women behind closed doors, with the most recent incidents in 2019. it became so robotic. i disconnected from my body. i just became like... ..a puppet. rape became like a normal, terrifying thing that he would do. it's like you are an animal being slaughtered. i was 17 years old. he would be calling girls in one after the other. . i stayed here almost 14 years. they will be in thousands. some women claim they were

forced to have abortions inside his compound following the alleged assaults. i had three abortions at synagogue. and from speaking to other women, i'm not the only one. women that he rapes, he forces them into abortion. i never had a choice whether i could keep a potential child or not. people tried to speak up to expose him, but nobody would listen. tbjoshua died in 2021. his wife, evelyn, is now leading the synagogue church of all nations. good morning, viewers all over the world. the bbc contacted the church with allegations in this report. they did not respond to them, but they said previous claims against tb joshua have been unfounded. today, the church still attracts millions of viewers to its online platforms.

some people, they are still living in fear for their lives, in fear for the retribution that will come if they do open their mouths. peter murimi, bbc news. jessica kaimu from namibia is one of the survivors — you saw her in peter's report. she was only a teenager when tb joshua recruited her as one of his closest followers. she told me about the circumstances that led to her meeting tbjoshua. my life was a living hell, i was constantly living in fear, always afraid, because that is how he trained, brainwashed all of us to believe that we could not do anything without his command. we could not think without him so it was a master and servant type of relationship that we all had in the church. my experience was so overwhelming because the moment i came

to the church it was as if they threw me in the deep end of the sea. so i was working in the office and it was hard and food was also a problem. we were made to believe that that was how people used to live in the bible days so who are we to complain? what about your relationship with tbjoshua himself, what was that like? very scary relationship. very unsettling because he behaved like a master, like a lord over me. and i was constantly in fear. it was a very horrifying type of relationship, very confusing as well because the same person who is raping you is the same person who wants you to see him as a father. so you were physically assaulted and raped? yes, i was physically assaulted and beaten and raped and i went

through forced abortions. did you tell anyone at the time or what did you say to others around you? at first i approached one of the disciples just to ask them if they also had experienced the same thing and they reported me and that is when i got this beating, so i learned never to say anything. i just kept quiet and went through these different things without talking to anyone. because i was told never to trust anyone, either someone was monitoring me or i was sent to monitor someone. you can watch disciples: the cult of tbjoshua on the bbc africa youtube channel and listen to the new season of world of secrets wherever you get your bbc podcasts. hezbollah has confirmed that one of its senior commanders has

been killed by an israeli drone strike in lebanon. wissam—al—tawil was the deputy head of the militant group s elite radwan force and managed many operations in the south of the country. that news comes as intense fighting continues across gaza, with israeli strikes killing 249 palestinians and injuring a further 510 injured in the past 2a hours, according to the hamas—run gaza health ministry. meanwhile, america's top diplomat, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is carrying out talks throughout the region. he's warned palestinians must not be pressured into leaving gaza and must be allowed to return to their homes, once conditions allow. his comments came alongside a condemnation of statements by israeli far—right ministers, who have called for the displacement of palestinians. mr blinken�*s tour continues today, starting in abu dhabi in the united arab emirates, then moving onto saudi arabia to meet crown prince mohammed bin salman — before heading to israel. talks will focus on us proposals for managing a lasting peace in gaza as well on the threat houthi rebels pose to shipping in

the red sea. yolande knell has the very latest from jerusalem. the scale of gaza's humanitarian crisis clearly visible along its southernmost border. hundreds of thousands are now crammed into tents. after fleeing their homes, most have been displaced several times over, by the fighting with israel. angry and weary, this woman believes herfamily remains in danger. "they killed us in schools, in our homes, they won't kill "us inside our tent? "there is no safe place," she says. "we came here because of poverty, fear." there is concern al—aqsa hospital in central gaza may close. now largely empty, but only because israeli strikes and evacuation orders have forced hundreds of patients and doctors to leave. on his latest trip to the region, the top us diplomat is telling arab allies that israel must do more to protect civilians and get aid into gaza. and he insists nobody will be forcibly displaced. palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. they cannot, they must not, be pressed to leave gaza. we reject the statements by some israeli ministers and lawmakers

calling for a resettlement of palestinians outside of gaza. rapid gunfire 0n the ground, israel says the intensity of its offensive fits the gravity of the threat posed by hamas. the defence minister says his country must act with enough force to deter israel's other enemies. during its war in gaza the us has shown israel staunch support. but with growing tensions between these two close allies, the us secretary of state must be expecting some tough talks when he meets israeli leaders. and the stakes could not be higher. israel's military says it has carried out more strikes against the powerful lebanese armed group hezbollah, backed by iran. fears remain high that a wider, regional war could yet be on the horizon. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. more now on the death of wissam—al—tawil. we can hearfrom

you go in beirut. this wissam-al-tawil. we can hear from you go in beirut-— you go in beirut. this was a drone attack carried _ you go in beirut. this was a drone attack carried out _ you go in beirut. this was a drone attack carried out by _ you go in beirut. this was a drone attack carried out by the - you go in beirut. this was a drone attack carried out by the israeli i attack carried out by the israeli military killing the senior hezbollah commander, in southern lebanon, and the israeli military said it had carried out a number of attacks this morning, targeting infrastructure and positions used by hezbollah in southern lebanon and they said this was in response to attacks that were carried out by the group, so it shows how volatile the situation is along the border between lebanon and israel. us secretary of state antony blinken is in the region and one of the messages he is sharing is that violence needs to be contained to prevent a regional conflict and one of the points of concern is the situation along the lebanon israel border and the constant attacks between hezbollah which is this powerful iranian backed organisation, which is based in

lebanon, and the israeli military. so far most of the violence has been contained two areas along the border but there have been concerns that these attacks could lead to a major confrontation between hezbollah and israel. last week we heard from the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, who warned israel against a full—scale operation against hezbollah but there have been senior figures in the israeli government defending a larger offensive against the group to reduce the threat posed by hezbollah and to allow the return of thousands of residents who have been evacuated from communities in northern israel, because of the constant attacks. so another major development here, amid fears that this could lead to a major confrontation between hezbollah and israel. we have some live pictures of the

al—aqsa hospital here. gemma connell is from the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. i asked her what effect medical staff withdrawing from hospitals would have. it has massive consequences. what we're talking about is this single remaining hospital in the middle area of gaza where there is now a major offensive under way, that is causing mass casualties every single day and that hospital's ability to function is now jeopardised. and one thing is the withdrawal of these international medical organisations, because of the safety concerns, but the other is the withdrawal of the staff from that health centre, the palestinians who have been heroically working around the clock, but many of whom have now had to move for their own safety

and that of their families. and the end result is the crippling of the single last remaining trauma centre in the middle of gaza. gemma, i've seen reports that 600 patients and staff have left the complex. no—one actually knows where they've gone. that gives us a sense of how dangerous people feel it is there. but if you are in need of medical assistance and you go to al—aqsa at the moment, tell me what you would face. what's the situation in the actual hospital? well, the situation in the hospital is dire. we have just a single doctor who's working in the emergency room. you have only two surgeons left who are responding to hundreds of needs in that hospital. you have so many casualties coming in every single hour who are in desperate need of lifesaving support. and so what you see inside of the hospital is these, again, heroic health workers. and i cannot stress these enough. these are people who have not slept in months. to, at the same time, look for food and water for their own families

who are also displaced. most of the doctors are themselves displaced, many having moved from the north to the south. but there's only a few of them left in this hospital trying to literally stop people from dying, who are on the brink of death. gemma, does the un have anyone in central gaza at the moment? yes, we do. we still have many of our staff in the area who are moving through to try and deliver desperately needed assistance. but the bigger message here is that with this renewed offensive in the middle area, our operations are effectively being shut down. we have not given up. every day we are still sending supplies into the middle area. butjust a couple of days ago, one of the critical united nations facilities in that area was directly hit. a staff member was killed and other staff were detained. so our ability to operate in the middle area is getting smaller and smaller every single day because of this renewed offensive. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk.

the environment agency has warned that more homes could still be hit by flooding, despite a cold snap beginning across the uk. more than 1,800 properties have been flooded across central and southern england. there are nearly 150 flood warnings in these areas. research commissioned by bbc panorama suggests police forces in england and wales need an extra 18,000 officersjust to keep up with population growth. the home office says officer numbers are at a record high. but the figures — from an independent criminal justice think tank — indicate recruitment has fallen behind the 9% increase in population recorded since 2010. thousands of old green metal street cabinets — once used to store broadband and phone cabling — are set to be converted into charging points for electric vehicles. bt group is setting up a pilot project which it's hoped will boost

the number of charging stations across the country. you're live with bbc news. the actor, idris elba, is calling on the government to immediately ban the sale of certain knives and machetes, to help stop more young people losing their lives. along with victims' families, he's launching a campaign to address the increase in serious knife crime among youths across the uk. here's adina campbell. london's parliament square. today, filled with clothing representing those who have lost their lives through knife crime. standing side by side, hollywood actor idris elba and a bereaved mother launched this new campaign calling for an immediate ban on zombie—style knives and machetes. it's a nationwide issue and the government needs to look at it as an issue that isn't proportionally

black, isn't london. the highest crime rates are in the midlands right now. so we we need to think about this outside the colour of our skin. i am not here as a celebrity. i am here as a human being, as a parent. yemi hughes'19—year—old son andre was murdered in a knife attack in south london in 2016. for me it was andre's bag. it shows the stab wounds that he received, because this is what he was wearing on his back at the time of his murder. these are the shoes that he was actually running in to get away on the day. # my guy, he don't look fly with your samurai and his blood dirty...# idris elba has also released this new track, called knives down, as part of the campaign. knife crime has risen each year since the pandemic. here in london there were more than 13,000 incidents recorded between july 2022 and june last year. that's an increase of 21% compared with the previous 12 months. and of the 21 teenagers killed in the capital last year, 18 were stabbed.

at the moment, zombie style knives are cheap and still relatively easy to get hold of online because there's no legislation in place, despite being made an offensive weapon back in 2016. but the government says it is taking this issue seriously, after new plans to extend the ban were announced last year — which will see police given more powers to remove these knives, as well as longer sentences for importing, manufacturing, possession and sale of these weapons. but until these changes become law, campaigners say more vulnerable young people are still at risk of getting caught up in this violence... ..leaving behind heartbroken loved ones. adina campbell, bbc news. here in the uk, the justice secretary and the minister responsible for the post office, are meeting to discuss how to help hundreds of postmasters and mistresses, who were wrongly convicted in an it scandal.

a computer fault mistakenly showed money was missing from their stores, leading to many being jailed or left bankrupt. 700 branch managers were convicted, but fewer than a hundred have had those convictions, overturned. ministers are facing growing pressure, after a tv drama highlighted the tragedy. hannah miller reports. i don't know where it's gone. it's the itv drama depicting events that have destroyed real lives — leaving hundreds of sub—postmasters with criminal convictions, sacked or bankrupt, after being forced to pay the post office for losses in their branch accounts that never existed. at an event in lancashire this morning, the prime minister was forced to deny it had taken a drama to make the government focus on the issue. rest assured, the money is there. i approved it as chancellor. there are three different compensation schemes and we will do everything we can to make this right for all the people affected.

it's simply wrong what happened. they shouldn't have been treated like this and we should do everything we can to make it right for them. between 1999 in 2015, the post office prosecuted more than 700 sub—postmasters based on information from a new computer system called horizon. the prosecutions continued even after concerns were first published in 2009. in december 2019, after a long—running legal battle, the post office admitted the it fault and agreed to settle with hundreds of claimants. in september last year, the government announced that every postmaster wrongly convicted will be offered £600,000 in compensation. but so far, only 93 convictions have been overturned, and only around a third of those have received full and final settlements. with thejustice secretary due to meet the post office minister at a meeting that's been brought forward to this afternoon, victims say they want the post office to lose its role in the appeals process. remove the post office...

remove the post office from the process... from the processes completely. because they have too much power over convictions being overturned or being referred to the courts. and also, even with relation to compensation, they are the ones that are running the show. and the labour leader agrees. i think that the prosecutions should be taken out of the hands of the post office and given to the crown prosecution servico _ and these convictions, the remaining convictions, need to be looked at en masse. as mps return to westminster today, backbenchers are pushing to raise the issue in parliament. all of the cases depend on one single lie — and that is that nobody but the postmasters and post—mistresses could access their computers. we now know that to be untrue. i see no real reason, no logical reason, why you can't have a mass case, a mass appeal. the post office say they're

acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation. but some campaigners have been calling forjustice for more than 20 years, and while their voices are now being heard more loudly in the corridors of power, many are asking why it's taken so long. hannah miller, bbc news, westminster. a rocket has blasted off from cape canaveral in florida, for what is hoped will be an achievement not seen in more than 50 years. if successful, it will propel a us lander to the surface of the moon, for the first time since the last apollo mission in 1972. the project has been developed by a private company, in collaboration with nasa. here's pallab ghosh. com. go. umbilicals. go. all set and ready to launch. five, four, three... we have ignition. america's first attempted moon landing for more than 50 years.

and liftoff of the first - united launch alliance vulcan rocket, launching a new era... but this is not a nasa launch. the building of the brand—new rocket and lander on top of it has been led by private companies. it's a start of what's been called "a new space race", more closely involving us industry. absolutely amazing. my heart is still pounding. it was excellent and just... i'm so proud of all the work that the team did to get where we are today. we have vulcan centaur separation and everything looking good. with the first stage released successfully, the next stop is the moon — but they're taking the long way round, with a landing scheduled towards the end of next month in order to test out the new systems. about two and one half weeks, it's going to go into orbit and a few weeks later from that, in mid to late february, we're going to actually see it land. it was 1972 when nasa last successfully landed on the moon, during its finaljubilant

apollo mission. # i was strolling on the moon one day... # in the merry month of december... may! # may! # the peregrine lander is uncrewed, but it has five instruments on board, including a british made sensor. its job is to assess conditions ahead of nasa's plan to send astronauts back to the moon next year. this is the beginning of the dawn of a new era for the surface of the moon and how we think about space. this is an opportunity for commercial payloads to fly to the surface of the moon on a regular, routine basis. that means our nation's scientists, our world scientists can access the moon in ways never before possible. and we are seeing the beginnings of that right now as we speak on ourjourney to the surface of the moon. two more private companies will help nasa get to the moon this year. it's to build a new capability to what's hoped will be a continuous human presence. and for that, the government space

agency will need the private sector to help build a small lunar colony. pallab ghosh, bbc news. these are the live pictures from gaza where the israeli air strikes have continued. this is the al—aqsa hospital in central gaza. i have spoken to the un who said this is one of the only, in fact the only hospital in the middle of gaza. there is a major offensive under way which is causing mass casualties and the hospital itself is on the verge of shutting down. hello. there are still well over 100 flood warnings in force, so the flooding situation hasn't fully resolved itself, but things should improve over the next few days.

today, though, the main talking point, isuppose, is the chance of seeing a few flurries of snow working in across parts of the east. it's not very exciting snow, to be honest with you. in most cases it's not going to settle, you'lljust see a few flakes like this. in one or two areas, you might see an odd centimetre or two building in. i think the main threat, though, is that the weather could turn quite icy across these parts of east anglia and south—east england. the satellite picture shows extensive cloud cover today and with the winds continuing to blow in from the east, it does feel cold if you're out and about. a few showers coming into eastern areas of scotland, mostly falling as rain. we've also got some rain showers moving in across northern ireland. it's a day where those temperatures are really struggling with highs between four and six degrees for most. heading into this evening and overnight, particularly where we've seen showers by day, there's a risk of some ice developing, so east scotland, northern ireland, eastern and southern areas of england probably the iciest spots, if you like, but anywhere where we see water seeping in from those fields after that recent spell of very heavy rain

could also have the roads and pavements turn pretty icy. tomorrow morning, another cold day, a frosty and icy start. we continue to see the winds coming in generally from an easterly direction. there should be a much better chance of seeing cloud breaks across parts of midlands, eastern and south—east england, there's a bit more sunshine here, but otherwise still probably quite a lot of cloud around, thick enough to continue to bring showers into eastern scotland and north—east england. little difference for the temperatures — it will be another very cold feeling day. the wind starts to turn more to a north—easterly direction on wednesday and that will push the cloud southwards, so most areas having a cloudy day. maybe a few breaks for northern ireland, west scotland, north—west england, but the best of the sunshine is most likely across southern counties of england. temperatures still below average for the time of year for most of us. really, as we look at the forecast through the rest of the week and into the weekend, it stays generally on the chilly side, with some further sharp morning frost to come. however, into next week, things get a bit more exciting. the winds come round to a more

northerly direction. it stays cold, but there's an increasing threat next week that we could see some snow. that's the latest.

the curse of the 737 max.

shares in boeing sink as more than 170 jets are grounded worldwide, after a door panel blew out, mid—flight, on friday. and... blast off for the first american lunar mission developed by a private company. we look at the commercialisation of space. welcome to world business report. i'm lukwesa burak. we start with boeing — shares in the us aircraft giant have sunk as much as 8% after the grounding of more than 170 737 max 9 airliners around the world on safety concerns. a door panel or �*plug' on an alaskan airlines 737 blew out mid—flight over the us state of oregon on friday, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing. there were no major injuries among the 177 people on board.

late on sunday the us national transportation safety board —