i hear frighten us. we do not worry i hear in our head. the frighten us. we do not worry i hear in our head-— in our head. the other story of the international _ in our head. the other story of the international court _ in our head. the other story of the international court of _ in our head. the other story of the international court ofjustice - in our head. the other story of the international court ofjustice years i international court ofjustice years israel's accusations of genocide. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones, welcome to the daily global, where we'll bring you the top stories from around the world. we stories from around the world. will get the global r this. american and british air strikes on houthi targets in yemen. houthis say uk and us would pay a heavy price for the attacks. criticsed by russia, turkey, iran. this footage is from one of the two uk raf strikes. four royal air force typhoon fighter jets took part in the raids, along with us navyjets.

the british prime minister called the strikes �*necessary and proportionate'. us says houthi command and control centres, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems were all targeted. houthi leaders said five people were killed. let's look at where this happend. houthis control large parts of yemen. last night officials said they targeted 16 sites, including in the capital city sana'a. strikes — response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea. houthis say they will continue to target ships with links to israel. germany, france, denmark we'll bring you analysis on who the houthis are,

why the attacks are happening now. but first, with the possible wider ramifications for the region, here's our international editor jeremy bowen. in sana'a, the yemeni capital, a huge rally against the air and in support of palestinians filled the city's broadest boulevard. it was organised, the houthis do not allow unauthorised protest, but without question, millions in yemen and across the arab world are appalled by israel's conduct in the gaza war and regard the american and british air strikes as an escalation on israel's behalf. during the night, the americans launched their attack from a carrier battle group in the red sea. like britain, they had warned the houthis this was coming if they did not stop hitting shipping. the air strikes were intended to show that western red lines will not turn pink under pressure but if anything, the houthis will be even more determined to carry on.

this houthi military spokesman said the americans and british were responsible for criminal aggression which would be answered with a tax on all hostile targets on land and sea. the raf released video of its jet taking off for yemen from the british base in cyprus but the british are trying to distance aimed at opening the red seat from the war in gaza. it's clear this type of behaviour cannot be met without a response, we need to a strong signal that this breach of international law is wrong and people cannot act like this with impunity and that is why together with allies we have decided to take this action. even more emphatically, an american military spokesman told cbs news in the us that the strikes were nothing to do with gaza. it is important to differentiate between what's happening between israel and hamas was happening in the red sea, you have the houthi rebels, they are conducting instrument attacks against international shipping, over 50 countries have

been affected by this affecting the economic prosperity of multiple nations. but the houthis, whose commanders captured a ship in the red sea in december, say to support palestinians in gaza and hit israel's allies iran provides the houthis were training and weapons and they said the attacks will go on until the fighting in gaza stops pulled up britain and the us oppose an immediate ceasefire in the war. the air strikes, this was the raf raid, are only partly about freedom of navigation in the red sea. the reality is that they are also directly linked to events in gaza and represent an escalation in the crisis that is gripping the middle east. jeremy bowen, bbc news. here in the uk the prime minister has described the strikes on houthi rebel sites as "necessary and proportionate," to protect global shipping. it's the first time he's launched any kind of military operation, since becoming prime minister. our political editor

chris mason has more. united kingdom maritime trade organisation say it's really received reports of small boats approaching a merchant ship 80 nautical miles. the early hours of this morning, back at their base in cyprus, the britishjets involved in air strikes on yemen. good evening, mr speaker, should parliament be recalled? last night, the decision already taken by the prime minister, the speaker of the house of commons was called in for a briefing. will labour be supporting the government? so to work senior labour figures, keir starmerjoint remotely put on a visit to greater manchester, the labour leader said the air strikes were justified because of the actions of the houthis. they are putting civilian lives

at risk and disrupting that traffic through the red sea, traffic that is vital for the other can we through the red sea. we support the action the government has taken. of course it is for the government to make a statement about it but the principle is an important one. 20 years ago, tony blair held a vote in parliament before the iraq war. this is the time for this house, not just this government or indeed this prime minister, but for this house to give a lead... he won the vote, and technically governments don't need to do this but the iraqi war was so controversial, ministers have come under pressure to do so ever since. a decade later, in 2013, david cameron wanted british air strikes on syria. the nos have it. but the commons rejected the idea. the british parliament, reflecting the views of the british people, does not want to see british military action. i get that and the government will act accordingly.

back to today, the scottish national party condemned the houthis but said the prime minister should have consulted more widely beforehand. parliament should have been recalled, the evidence base is laid out, the legal basis laid out, and house of commons for mps to scrutinise and the issue to be debated and of course for a decision to then be taken. what's this? strawbridge! the lib dems leader, visiting a school in stopper, said he sympathised with the government decide to act but... it is really important that parliament, whenever we use our military forces, has a saw _ i'm not saying we would not support it but i think it's reasonable and the public would expect there to be a provision of information from the government to make the case. the prime minister will be here on monday to face questions about what has happened. live now to our correspondent hannah miller who is at westminster.

what's the continued political follow of this here in the uk? n follow of this here in the uk? i think this is clearly a significant moment for rishi sunak as prime minister in the sense it is the first time he and the role has chosen to involve the uk in military action. the government are very keen to emphasise that phrase that we've already heard, though limited necessary and proportionate nature of the strikes. they say the uk will always end up for freedom of the strikes. they say the uk will always end up forfreedom of navigation and the free flow of trade. as things stand, the strikes are not expected to continue but there is of course the question of how the uk would respond if the who these continue to attack in the red sea. —— who thevillage up labours foreign shadow secretary has just spokenin foreign shadow secretary has just spoken in the last hour or so and said there is a worry about the risk of escalation in the middle east. that said, lay bar or have back the

action and the language from the other parties in west miniature today. while they may have been critical parliament did say they've also been critical of the houthis and not gone so far as to say that the uk should not have done this. are can be questions for rishi sunak when he comes to parliament on monday. about what success looks like, what will happen if the houthis continue with their attacks. it is not that there are not questions for him but there is a broad consensus that as things stand at the moment while mps might have liked to of been consulted and not necessarily against what has happened. necessarily against what has happened-— necessarily against what has ha ened. , ~ �* , happened. interesting. we've been heafina happened. interesting. we've been hearing from _ happened. interesting. we've been hearing from the _ happened. interesting. we've been hearing from the us _ happened. interesting. we've been hearing from the us this _ happened. interesting. we've been hearing from the us this attempt i happened. interesting. we've been| hearing from the us this attempt to clearly separate effectively protection of shipping lanes from the israel— gaza conflict. there will be plenty of questions about that separation in west minister to.

i think it is possible to believe two things at once, to believe this action has a risk as david lame has been saying of escalating the conflict in the middle east further. while also believing as the uk government would argue that uk would always want to maintain open international maritime operations and shipping areas. the conservative mp, she's been critical of israel, more critical than a number of conservative mps. she is the chair of the foreign affairs committee. she has been speaking this afternoon and said the uk would always take action to protect shipping routes regardless of whether or not there was a war going on in israel and gaza. that said, there are mps who will have questions around that area

and will be worried about what the impact is of it overall. clearly a murky situation around all that. i think the two positions, it's possible for them both to be true, to believe there's a risk of escalation will also believing that from the uk governments point of view they'll argue very clearly that this is about trade routes and keeping maritime routes open. hannah, thank you for that. for more on this story i'm joined now by conflict analyst and expert on the middle east hisham al—0meisy. he is the senior yemen adviser with the european institute of peace. thank you for coming on the program. we've seen these pictures out of yemen. thousands of people on the streets. what do you think the impact of these us—led strikes on the houthis will have in yemen? they ut a dent the houthis will have in yemen? they put a dent on — the houthis will have in yemen? they put a dent on houthis _ the houthis will have in yemen? ire: put a dent on houthis operations for that you have to or remember where

dealing with houthis who managed eight years of coalition strikes in yemen so they'll definitely real thought. what i am worried about is the region because houthis have managed really dues managed to successfully this crisis to subvert the west. these strikes will fuel that sentiment for that what you've seenin that sentiment for that what you've seen in the past 12 hours in yemen and also reaction across the region is that sentiment being exponentially increase, thinking now the west is attacking us on our lands as well such as in gaza. i understand that the coalition are saying these are limited strikes, only to deter the magnitude, but thatis only to deter the magnitude, but that is not helping our world sees it. you have to understand that the arab world views this is important, yemen is increasingly important. they see the houthis is the

vanguards that arrows going to stand up vanguards that arrows going to stand up against the west in defending the palestinians in gaza. this will also further galvanise and radicalise and increase their followership. {flare further galvanise and radicalise and increase their followership.- increase their followership. give us an idea of how— increase their followership. give us an idea of how strong _ increase their followership. give us an idea of how strong houthis - increase their followership. give us an idea of how strong houthis are l increase their followership. give us | an idea of how strong houthis are in yemen. , , .. , an idea of how strong houthis are in yemen. , , , , ., yemen. pretty significantly strong. the ast yemen. pretty significantly strong. the past eight _ yemen. pretty significantly strong. the past eight years _ yemen. pretty significantly strong. the past eight years they - yemen. pretty significantly strong. the past eight years they managed yemen. pretty significantly strong. i the past eight years they managed to control the better part of yemen. they've managed to recruit outside yemen as well and their numbers have increased. the ballistic capabilities increase, no thanks to iran transferring and training for the pay will continue to develop even more technology. we're seeing a monster in the creation at this point. monster in the creation at this oint. �* , ., monster in the creation at this oint. �* ,, ., monster in the creation at this oint. �* y., ., ., point. are you worried about further escalation? — point. are you worried about further escalation? yes, _ point. are you worried about further escalation? yes, i— point. are you worried about further escalation? yes, i am _ point. are you worried about further escalation? yes, i am definitely- escalation? yes, i am definitely worried. this _ escalation? yes, i am definitely worried. this has _ escalation? yes, i am definitely worried. this has the _ escalation? yes, i am definitely worried. this has the potentiall escalation? yes, i am definitely. worried. this has the potential to snowball. the houthis will not back down, they will strike back. the coalition to save phase or project

from the red sea they will be forced to strike back. you will soon have a tit—for—tat. that is actually a conflict and war in itself when you keep striking back and forth. at, keep striking back and forth. a stark warning. al—omeisy, thank you stark warning. al—0meisy, thank you for coming on the programme and giving us your analysis. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the uk economy grew by more than expected in november, according to new official figures. the office for national statistics said the economy grew by 0.3%, after failing the month before. the growth was driven by the services sector, including a boost to retail from the black friday sales. a woman and her former partner have been given life sentences, for the murder of her i8—month—old son. alfie philips died in a caravan in kent in 2020, with more than 50

injuries, and traces of cocaine in his body. sian hedges, will spend at least 19 years in jail, while jack benham, won't be considered for release for 23 years. a ferry has had a rather bumpy crossing in the north—western state of washington in the us. heavy winds were causing waves to overwhelm the parking deck of the vessel. with only a few cars on board — and no passengers — the ferry was able to maintain an upright position before heading into port. you're live with bbc news. israel has called on judges at the international court ofjustice, to throw out a case brought by south africa, alleging it's committing genocide in gaza, in it's war against hamas. lawyers acting for israel argue that the case lacks any merit, and that the truth is being distorted. south africa says self defence is no justification for genocide and has asked the court to order israel to stop its military offensive.

here's paul adams. in khan younis this morning, the terrible, familiar story of this war unfolding yet again. members of this family, killed by israeli air strikes, prepared for burial. israel's military campaign in gaza is now more than three months old. the killing, the destruction, have not stopped. far away at the hague, israel stands accused by south africa of genocide. today, a chance to defend itself. but is there a reason these people are unworthy of protection? and remind the world how this war started, with murder and the taking of hostages. the absurd upshot of south africa's argument is this — under the guise of the allegation against israel of genocide, this court is asked to call for an end to operations

against the ongoing attacks of an organisation that pursues an actual genocidal agenda. the court was shown evidence which israel said proved hamas was using schools and hospitals as cover for its operations, and that israel was doing what it could to ease the suffering. here you can see the idf�*s arabic twitter account, providing information for civilians to evacuate specific areas. yet the applicant, astonishingly, claims that these efforts are in themselves genocidal. israel says its military operation could last for many more months. it says the court has no legal basis on which to order a halt and that the whole case against israel is fundamentally flawed. there is no genocidal intent here. this is no genocide.

no matter what subgroups may i have done and no matter how great the threat to israel citizen may be genocidal attacks on the whole of gaza and the whole of its population with an intent of destroying them cannot be justified at all. back in khan younis, a narrow escape for a team of rescue workers. no one doubts the horror of the past three months, but is this just war or something worse? paul adams, bbc news. we will try to get to grips with some of the evidence heard today. joining me now is professor sir geoffrey nice kc, barrister and judge — who led the prosecution in the trial of slobodan milosevic, former president of serbia, at the international tribunal for the former yugoslavia. thank you for coming on the program. part—timejudge, neverfull—time. talk to us about what you've heard from israel's today?—

from israel's today? they made a fairly predictable _ from israel's today? they made a fairly predictable defense. - from israel's today? they made a fairly predictable defense. some | from israel's today? they made a i fairly predictable defense. some of the arguments were very well presented. 0ne the arguments were very well presented. one or two that are going to be difficult for the court to deal with. as you realise, this is not a case where genocide is going to be decided by this court of worry whether it's a plausible case of genocide and then a plausible case of the giving of provisional measures to defend their right to those people involved. the measures being asked for are numerous. the first is that they should be a cessation of all military action by israel. i think that may be a difficult want to grant even assuming they find a plausible case of genocide. after all, there are still hostages. if israel was required to abandon military action altogether it couldn't go about seeking to recover the imprisoned hostages. also the point made, which i think some people want to consider

that if it's only one—sided, israel is told to stop does that mean hamas is told to stop does that mean hamas is free to carry on? there are some interesting arguments for that whatever the underlying merits may be whether or not this is genocide, which of course i express no opinion one—way of the other. the full range of request i would have thought not likely to be answered by the court. there are many other requests that made of great importance in relation to not allowing further acts of allowing genocide to go ahead, action and requests for actions like such things such as drinking water. most importantly for accountability processes preservation of evidence. if you intervene... emit; processes preservation of evidence. if you intervene. . ._ if you intervene... only the very simle if you intervene... only the very simple line _ if you intervene... only the very simple line we _ if you intervene... only the very simple line we heard _ if you intervene... only the very simple line we heard there - if you intervene... only the very simple line we heard there wasl if you intervene... only the very - simple line we heard there was there is no genocidal intent. and the perceived wisdom is that genocide is very hard to prove because you have to prove that intent. if you take that statement from israel as it is

there is no intent. what do you think are the more nuanced, complicated points to answer? if complicated points to answer? if there is no intent, first of all, it's not necessarily that difficult to prove intent. each case depends on the evidence available. don't fall for a lawyers argument that something is necessary difficult and will generate lots of income for lawyers to prove. that's not necessarily the case. there was a reference to things sent by senior people in israel as well as evidence derived from the actual scale of the damage it solved. whether there is a plausible case for genocide, ultimately the case goes to child the nitrile is sufficient for genocide and is by no means possible to prove these things without genocide has been proved in many occasions. if you action two asking

about all the other difficulties are in this application then the difficulties will not like i don't think it will be whether it's jurisdiction at all. that's been argued. rememberthatand jurisdiction at all. that's been argued. remember that and african country, gambia took myanmar to the court, gambia having no direct connection with the horrible conflict of the rohingya muslims. it this position, i don't think jurisdiction in itself would necessarily be a problem for the court. i think the problem is likely to arise, i am sorry, i shouldn't interrupt myself. the simple assertion that this is self—defense by israel was supported by documents thatis by israel was supported by documents that is favre i've been able to find, have not been made public. they were in something called the low—volume for the judges but i

couldn't find it online. it's hard to know what the documents were that they were relying on the judges have to make two look at. i may be wrong about that. if you find a copy to me. ., . y �* about that. if you find a copy to me. ., ., , �* ., ., me. unfortunately, we're out of time. me. unfortunately, we're out of time- it's— me. unfortunately, we're out of time. it's always _ me. unfortunately, we're out of time. it's always nuanced - me. unfortunately, we're out of time. it's always nuanced and l time. it's always nuanced and complicated and too many points of law to go through a one quick interview. thank you that is sir jeffrey nice. a lawyer for the post office has apologised for delays in disclosing documents to the public inquiry over the treatment of the subpostmasters. the council to the inquiry said the post office had provided "inaccurate and misleading" information. 0ur correspondent zoe conway has been at the inquiry. it's been about the late disclosure of documents by the post office without the post office has been accused of obstructing by producing evidence late in the day. to give

you an example, lastjuly on the eve of an you an example, lastjuly on the eve ofan important you an example, lastjuly on the eve of an important evidence session and announced that it discovered 4000 documents that it hadn't shared with the inquiry. as a result the evidence session had to be delayed in the lead counsel to the inquiry today said that has happened several times. in fact, the chair of this inquiry has become so concerned by this that he's threatened sanctions against the post office if it doesn't produce evidence in a timely manner. this morning giving evidence was chris jackson, he's a lawyer who has been brought in by the post office to help them to speed up the delivery of evidence. he started his evidence session by apologising for the delays. really what this session has been about has been about trying

to work out what the post office intends to do to make sure that these delays stop happening. because as i say, this is a serious criminal issue. this is a statutory inquiry, there's nothing voluntary about the giving of evidence here. that threat of criminal action remains if the post office doesn't get its house in order. meanwhile, the liberal democrat leader sir ed davey says he followed up allegations made by a campaigner for sub—postmasters, but was met with a �*conspiracy of lies'. sir ed, who was minister for the post office between 2010 when i met alan bates and listen to them very closely. i put his questions to officials, to post office executives and indeed to the national adoration of sub

postmasters. because he had many questions for the same thing, the horizon system was working. there weren't that many sub postmasters involved and it was clearly a conspiracy of liars. and what's become clear throughout this through activities programme and others is that the post office lying to the victims, lying to courts and judges, lying to ministers of all parties for over two decades. i’m lying to ministers of all parties for over two decades. i'm lewis vauahan for over two decades. i'm lewis vaughan jones. _ for over two decades. i'm lewis vaughan jones, this _ for over two decades. i'm lewis vaughan jones, this is - for over two decades. i'm lewis vaughan jones, this is bbc - for over two decades. i'm lewis l vaughan jones, this is bbc news. good evening. it's been a much colder week, with frosty scenes across the uk, and at least it's been drier. now, we do have some rain to come in the north overnight and at first tomorrow, but more significantly, this weather front will introduce even colder air surging down from the arctic on strong winds.

so it will feel pretty bitter as we head into next week, with some severe frosts and a greater risk of snow. but i'll come back to that. for the meantime, as we go through this evening and overnight, there will be some wetter weather making its way southwards, dampening the surfaces. so as we do go through the night and temperatures fall close to freezing, below freezing in a few spots, there could be the odd icy patch and, as we've seen this week, the odd fog patch, and it may well linger throughout the day on saturday. so quite a lot of cloud mulling around underneath this weather front, still a few spots of rain on it, but much brighter skies follow for scotland, then to northern ireland and northern england. some brightness further south as well once any mist fog clears, but we do hold on to a lot of cloud as well. but the wind direction changes. it's down from the north or the north—west, so it's not a particularly cold day on the face of things, but i think it will start to feel chilly in that brisk north wind, which will bring with it wintry showers, increasingly so as we go through tomorrow night and into sunday.

so a colder night with the frost returning a little bit more sharply in the north, as you can see, with longer clear spells here. but sunday, we still got the remnants of the weather front in the south and a few spots of rain, but it's snow we're expecting across scotland. already, warnings out for those snow showers piling up and causing potential disruption. you can see it's a colder day. so these are the areas we think through sunday and monday most likely to see some disruptive snow, initially scotland, but the risk increases on monday in northern ireland. you can see that yourself. and then potentially later monday into tuesday, we might see a spell of snow pushing further southwards into perhaps southern scotland, northern ireland, northern england, so therefore the risk of that disruptive snow pushes further southwards. we could see 5—10 centimetres over the hills. by wednesday, just the hint that we might see some snow in southern areas as well as those heavy showers continuing with the snowfall in the north. so you can see those areas where we're expecting to see most of the snow as we go into next week, but not exclusively. there could be snow elsewhere as well, but it certainly looks

colder as we go through next week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: britain and america defend their air strikes against houthis in yemen. saying it was a "necessary response" to repeated houthi attacks on global shipping in the red sea. houthi officials are warning the us and uk will pay a heavy price as thousands of yemenis take to the streets to protest

against the strikes.