wrongly convicted. and spectacular arches and caves form in the world's biggest iceberg. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. pakistan has strongly condemned an iranian airstrike pakistan has strongly condemned an iranian air strike on its territory calling it completely unaccept a warning of serious consequences. pakistan is now the third country to have been hit by iranian strikes targeting what tehran considers enemies outside its borders. other recent attacks were inside syria and iraq. this latest strike, which reportedly

killed two children, happened in pakistan near the iranian border in the belochistan region. iran said it was targeting two bases linked to the group. in the early hours, they said that there was an explosion after an air attack that it blamed on iran. this would make pakistan the third country in a matter of days to be hit by an attack by iran after it's also hit syria and iraq. now, the explosion happened in a pakistani village is located in the border regions of pakistan and iran, and that an area known as belochistan. pakistan's largest but least

populated region in the southwest of the country. earlier on, state media from iran said that the military had used drones and missiles to hit militant groups in the area. those reports were subsequently removed without explanation according to the news agency, ap. the group have said that they were targeting at the time, the newsagencies had said that they were targeting a militant group call which translates as army ofjustice, which is a sunni militant group. now, pakistan has very strongly condemned this violation of its air space as it calls it, and says that this is completely unacceptable. it has also warned that there could be serious consequences. the statement complained that what they referred to as an illegal act took place despite the existence of several channels of communication between pakistan and iran, and it said that responsibility for the consequences would lie squarely with iran.

as caroline mentioned, the strike on pakistan comes a day after an iranian missile attack on iraqi kurdistan. that prompted baghdad to recall its ambassador in iraq back to tehran. the strikes were tracked by the us. iran says they destroyed anti—iranian targets in kurdistan, including what it called an israeli spy headquarters. there's been no comment from israel. iraq says that the claims are baseless. this was one of the buildings hit — near irbil, in the north of the country. local officials said four people were killed. for more on what's behind iran's attacks on its neighbours, i spoke to parham ghobadi from bbc persian. he started by telling me more about the latest reactions. figs about the latest reactions. as ou can about the latest reactions. sis you can see about the latest reactions. is you can see from the strongly worded statement issued by pakistan, you can see both the

frustration, but also the bewilderment and the confusion. in part of the statement, they were saying that there were back channels for iranians to talk to us if they wanted to carry out any attacks, or if they had any plans like that. so you can see that they're confused. and iranian media actually published that iranian foreign minister, who travelled to davos, had a meeting with the acting pakistani prime minister hours before the attack was launched. so that has probably been the reason for the confusion for pakistanis because they had a meeting at a very senior level with pakistani acting prime minister, and they did not talk to the pakistanis about the strike. and you have to understand that this, to put it into context, baluchistan is the most impoverished province in iran. hence, they do not have, for example, many parts of it do not have access to clean water. and that is the

reason that some sunni extremist groups have actually grown there. and they have — they are located, some of them, in pakistan, and they launched attacks against iranian targets, for example in last december, they carried out an attack against a police station that killed 11 police officers. and before that, at the end of october, they also carried out an attack against iranian border guards killing 14 of them. so that's why iranians were frustrated with this sunni extremist group and they felt humiliated. that's why they carried out such a strike. but, again, this is totally unprecedented. iran had never carried out attacks inside pakistani territory. it's very clear now that this conflict is escalating in the region. we also had those attacks inside iraq just a day

earlier. what do you think tehran's strategy is? 50. earlier. what do you think tehran's strategy is? so, it appears — tehran's strategy is? so, it appears that— tehran's strategy is? so, it appears that tehran, - tehran's strategy is? so, it appears that tehran, as - tehran's strategy is? so, it appears that tehran, as i i appears that tehran, as i mentioned earlier, feels that it has been humiliated, and the reason for that is that over two week ago, a top iranian commander was killed in syria on the outskirts of damascus. it was said that it was carried out — the attack was carried out — the attack was carried out by israelis right after that on january three. out by israelis right after that onjanuary three. an attack was carried out in iran's southern city on the anniversary of a slain iranian general who the iranian regime believes to be a national hero. so the attack killed over 90 people. and iran feels that it has to flex its muscle to show the west that it has deterrence cape and to keep its —— cape and to keep its face for democracy domestic propaganda although islamic state claimed

it, iran kept blaming israel for that. and there is no evidence for such an attack. so iran tried to target, as they said, an israeli espionage cell in irbil. but it appears that it is only a part there where he was killed. the latest escalation ultimately relates to the fallout of the israel—hamas war. and then stability it is causing in the middle east and beyond. and we can bring you an update on that conflict. the qatari foreign ministry has — in the last few hours — confirmed that a consignment of medical aid will leave doha on wednesday as part of a deal agreed by the two sides. the medicine will be given to hostages being held by hamas, and in return israel will allow more deliveries of urgently needed humanitarian aid. meanwhile the us says it is hopeful that further talks could lead to the release of more hostages.

let's state with the middle east. another container ship has been targeted by houthi rebels in the red sea off yemen. the greek—owned vessel suffered only minor damage. the houthis began attacking merchant vessels in november, saying they were responding to israel's bombardment of gaza. the attacks have disrupted global shipping and concerns that it could cause prices to rise have been discussed at the world economics forum in switzerland — as our economics editor faisal islam reports. here's what business leaders and world leaders want to be talking about at the world economic forum — a bright new artificial intelligence—enabled future. but the clouds that they had started to believe it cleared over the world economy, may be back again. another ship attacked by a houthi missile today, shell diverting its oil tankers, local freight authorities saying there would be pain for european consumers. global chief executives said they had no choice but to cope.

and our strategy is very much around building resilient supply chains so that we're better prepared to handle some of the turbulence that we think is, at least currently, consistently seeing year after year. just when we think things are calming down, it's not entirely calm yet. can the world economy kind of lift itself beyond the shadow of these geopolitical crisis that just don't seem to go away? you know, it's sad to say, but i think the world is getting used to crises. so, we've had a number of body blows and the economy has, in its own way, persevered through all of those. these things are extending the cost of living challenge that we've got. there may be some discreet diplomacy going on here — the us secretary of state meeting the united nations — but arab leaders such as the qatari prime minister said the best way to stop the red sea crisis was a ceasefire in gaza. we are highly concerned about further escalation. of course, now we see that there are some retaliations from the us and uk on houthis, trying to refrain them from disrupting the international trade.

yet this also will create a high risk of further escalation. the relief here is that there hasn't yet been a leap in oil or gas prices, but everyone here can see a path to that outcome. the foreign ministers of the us, the uk and iran will be here tomorrow. ukraine's president zelensky met global financiers here today. multiple shadows over the world economy are yet to be resolved. faisal islam, bbc news in davos. to the us and donald trump has been back in courtjust hours after winning a landslide victory in his bid to return to the white house. this time, he's being sued for defamation by the author for remarks he made about her in 2019. he denies any wrongdoing. the trial was brought _ denies any wrongdoing. the trial was brought after an earlier jury trial was brought after an earlierjury found he had sexually assaulted her in the

19905. it's sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. it's quite a turnaround from monday's iowa caucuses where republican voters chose who they want to be their presidential candidate. donald trump crushed his main rivals winning more votes than his two main competitors combined. from iowa, our north america editor, sarah smith, reports. the motorcade is rolling once more, as the trump show never stops. moving from triumph in iowa to a trial in new york. where a court will decide how much donald trump must pay in damages for defamation to a writer, ejean carroll, who he sexually assaulted decades ago. # god bless the usa...# last night he looked like the cat that got the cream or maybe the king regaining his crown. donald trump was practically inhaling the adoration. # proud to be an american, where at least i know i'm free. ..#

knowing he'd won support beyond his usual base, including women, college graduates and younger voters. # god bless the usa!# he's already talking about being back in the white house. so we are going to come together. we're going to drill, baby, drill, right away. drill, baby, drill. we're going to seal up the border. you can tell donald trump is impatient to get this nomination wrapped up so he can take the fight tojoe biden. he's not the republican presidential candidate yet, but he might be soon. and he's behaving as though he has already won his party's nomination. i think people want peace and prosperity and strength back, and that's what we had under donald trump. we had strength, and we no longer strength underjoe biden, who is arguably the most incompetent president in the history of our nation. gop candidates are turning to new hampshire... ..where trump's rivals hope they have a very slightly better chance of beating him.

we came out with a strong showing. that's what we wanted in iowa. now we're in new hampshire. you can look at the polls in new hampshire. we are a stone's throw away from donald trump. ron desantis came a second behind trump in iowa. that is a bad look after sinking time, money and most of his hopes into this state. he says he will fight on, for now. we have a lot of work to do, but i can tell you this. as the next president of the united states, i am going to get thejob done for this country. the scale of his victory left donald trump feeling unusually magnanimous toward his rivals. i want to thank you very much, congratulate ron and nikki for having a good time together, we are all having a good time together. i think they both actually did very well, i really do. we don't even know what the outcome of second place is. but do remember, he is not

the outright victor yet. this mood will definitely not last. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. curious feline faces stairfrom uk, this is bbc news. curious feline faces stair from the pens at the rspca's central london centre, cats and kitten that have been abandoned, abused or rescued, and the site always runs at capacity. something the royal society for the prevention of cruelty to animals is celebrating for its buy centenary. it all started here on st martin's lane in 1824, here on st martin's lane in 182a, when over coffee, antislavery campaigners, william wilberforce, richard humanity dic martin got together at the old slaughter�*s coffee house that used to stand

here and founded the spca. it was queen victoria who later made it royal. this new society soon had impact. coch—fighting and bull baiting, and... all banned. you're live with bbc news. now, the global chief executive of fujitsu, takahito tokita, has apologised to british postmasters who were wrongly prosecuted for fraud because of it faults in fujitsu's horizon software. speaking to the bbc at the world economic forum at davos in switzerland, mr tokita said the company was sorry for the impact it's had on the postmasters and their families and insisted the company took theissue and insisted the company took the issue very seriously. he spoke to our bbc producer at the swiss ski resort.- spoke to our bbc producer at the swiss ski resort. would you like to apologise. _ the swiss ski resort. would you like to apologise. yes, - the swiss ski resort. would you like to apologise. yes, yes, - the swiss ski resort. would you like to apologise. yes, yes, ofl like to apologise. yes, yes, of course, like to apologise. yes, yes, of course. of—

like to apologise. yes, yes, of course, of course. _ like to apologise. yes, yes, of course, of course. fujitsu - like to apologise. yes, yes, of course, of course. fujitsu has| course, of course. fujitsu has apologised. the impacts on the postmasters' lives and their families _ postmasters' lives and their families. ~ ., ., families. what do you think about fujitsu _ families. what do you think about fujitsu giving - families. what do you think about fujitsu giving the - families. what do you think i about fujitsu giving the money back the government suggested you should return the money? yeah, please understand, there are ongoing and public inquiry. i'm sorry, _ are ongoing and public inquiry. i'm sorry, i_ are ongoing and public inquiry. i'm sorry, i cannot comment for more — i'm sorry, i cannot comment for more - _ i'm sorry, i cannot comment for more — about these topics. there — more — about these topics. there was_ more — about these topics. there was also an apology from the head of fujitsu in europe for the company's role in the post office scandal. answering

mp questions in a select committee session, paul patterson said the company had fallen below its own standards of conduct and had a moral obligation to contribute to compensation for the victims. fujitsu would like to apologise for our part in this appalling miscarriage ofjustice. we were involved from the very start. we did have bugs and errors in the system. and we did help the post office in their prosecutions of the postmasters. forthat, prosecutions of the postmasters. for that, we are truly sorry. mariko oijoins mariko oi joins me. this isn't the first apology by why has something more forthcoming not happened until now? it’s happened until now? it's difficult to _ happened until now? it's difficult to answer, - happened until now? it�*s difficult to answer, you know, we probably won't ever know, but there could be several reasons for this. firstly, those executives that we're

hearing from today, they weren't in charge of fujitsu at the time of the scandal because it obviously happened decades ago, but also from the japanese headquarters point of view, the software was actually developed by the british company icl, which fujitsu bought back in the 90s' and appears not many in japan were the 90s' and appears not many injapan were aware of all the prosecutions and wrongful convictions at the time including the former president of fujitsu japan when we spoke to him two years ago, he had no idea what horizon was, even though he remembers the takeover of icl at the time. now, i didn't necessarily believe him at the beginning, but after speaking to several former fujitsu uk employees, it does appear that the japanese headquarters allow the uk subsidiary to do their own thing, especially because the board at the time lacked a bit of international experience if you like. so some people in japan have been asking, you know, was fujitsu just unlucky to have bought icl, but, of course, the pressure has been mounting on fujitsu so we heard

those two latest apologies which is a shift in tone for sure and the next big question is — whether they would actually chip in to that compensation fund. you have been covering japanese business for many years. give us a sense of how it works there when there are errors or there are scandals. well, going silent is probably one of the most typical public relations strategy in japan. typical public relations strategy injapan. i have witnessed it many times before. having said that, mr tokita who we spoke to yesterday at davos, he has actually issued an apology before for technical glitches at the tokyo stock exchange which basically caused the tse to exchange trading all day. he issued an apology then. he has been more vocal and open about it. but interestingly, that glitch in other technical issues that fujitsu software has had, you know, that's way more common knowledge injapan than the post office scandal because local media hasn't covered it until very, very recently and it's been

interesting to see their reaction, the japanese public�*s reaction, the japanese public�*s reaction to see fujitsu doesn't just work injapan or in the uk, whether or not that assessment is fair is not up to us, but it was very interesting to see that comparison. 50 to see that comparison. so fu'itsu to see that comparison. so fujitsu said it knew there were problems with the software but it was still awarded government contracts. . �* , contracts. that's the fascinating - contracts. that's the fascinating part. - contracts. that's the fascinating part. not contracts. that's the - fascinating part. notjust the post office scandals recent horizon but there were other issues before that and even after all this wrongful convictions, you know, the new starter coming out, fujitsu continued to win government contracts. in fact, continued to win government contracts. infact, i continued to win government contracts. in fact, i think in 2022 when i was looking into it, it was still the third biggest government contract at the time so i started asking around why is this, why doesn't the british governmentjust cut them off? and interestingly a lot of experts said that their software so engrained in the uk's it infrastructure that they can't get rid of them. if they can't get rid of them. if they get rid of them, so many things in the public sector but

also in the private sector would not work and that's why the government has been in a very tricky situation where they can't really get rid of them but at the same time, you know, would you actually keep awarding those contracts because there have been quite a lot of anger notjust from the victims of the post office scandal but also from mps as well. �* �* �* , scandal but also from mps as well. �* �* �*, ., well. the bbc's mariko oi on the uk post _ well. the bbc's mariko oi on the uk post office _ well. the bbc's mariko oi on the uk post office scandal. l let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. mr zelensky was speaking at the world economic forum in davos and asked for more help including fighterjets. president putin has said ukraine's stature could be irrepairbly damage if the conflict continues. health officials in the tigray region officials in the tigray region

of ethiopia say 209 people including children have died of hunger in the town of edgar arbi. they have renewed their warnings about mass starvation by drought and a recent civil war. french president emmanuel macron has outlined a series of measures he says will improve the life of children including better paid parental leave, regulating children's screen time and a pilot scheme introducing school uniforms. he was speaking at a news conference to launch the government he's just appointed. he also promised more reforms to boost the economy. now to the world's biggest iceberg in what's likely to be the final months of its existence. take a look at this erosion carving dramatic features into the iceberg — known as a23a. it's being ground down by the warmer air and water it's encountering as it drifts slowly away from the antarctic. but it's not seen as a consequence of climate change — and as it melts, it will have benefits, as jonathan amos reports.

after three decades confined to the freezer in antarctica, a23a is on the move, travelling north into warmer waters. the berg is now melting — and fast. an expedition this week saw waves gouging huge caves and arches in its walls. only a23a's enormous scale is keeping it in existence. satellite images show the frozen block to have a width of 65 kilometres, or a0 miles. that's like the distance from manchester to sheffield. a23a has an area of 3900 square kilometres — that's more than twice the size of greater london. and its average thickness is about 280 metres, nearly as tall as the eiffel tower. and it weighs close to a trillion tonnes. but these dimensions are shrinking all the time. now that it's moved off from its relatively cooler position in the southern area of the weddell sea, it's being exposed to much warmer water temperatures, much stronger currents

and much warmer air temperatures as well. so all of these forces will combine to attack the integrity of that iceberg, and it will eventually begin to calve off, and break up into smaller pieces. the production and melting of these big icebergs is part of a natural cycle, not an obvious consequence of climate change. and, as this one melts, there are upsides. it'll be dropping mineral dust in the ocean. this is a fertiliser, stimulating the growth of the very smallest organisms, like plankton, all the way up to the biggest creatures on the planet, the blue whales. a23a may eventually wither to nothing, but its legacy will be long felt. jonathan amos, bbc news. before we go, i a reminder of our top story: pakistan has strongly condemned an iranian air strike on its territory. you can find more information

about that story on our website bbc news. do stay with bbc news for now. hello there. tuesday brought some fresh snowfall to parts of northern ireland and northern england, although here the snow did tend to turn back to rain through the day, but nevertheless it left a thick covering here in grasmere in cumbria. further northwards, though, in scotland it was here that the snow stayed as snow, particularly across the northern half of the country. a snowy pitlochry here. we have had some very large accumulations of snow, then building in. really the result of a few days worth of snowfall. lerwick — 18 centimetres of thick snow there on the ground and there is morejust around the corner because these shower clouds you can see here. very heavy snow showers heading into northern scotland. this cloud further southwards, well that's storm irene.

its be named by the french forecasters at meteo—france. it will be bringing some disruptive snowfall here, some freezing rain mixed in as well. and in parts of belgium, germany, we could see 20 or 30 centimetres of snow. now, the precipitation from that just about stays offshore. you'll get very close and there will be a veil of cloud working into southern most counties of england over the next few hours. at the same time, there will be some showers around working southwards across england and wales, mostly rain, maybe one or two flurries. but that will leave a legacy of icy conditions pretty much nationwide as we start the day on wednesday. now, wednesday, there will be further snow showers in northern ireland, so a few more centimeters here, but the heaviest snow will once again be affecting northern scotland. another 5 to 10 centimetres expected on top of what's already fallen. so, yes, there will be some further disruption here. more heavy snow to come as well for northern scotland through thursday. a few more centimeters possible for northern ireland. thursday, a lot of dry and sunny weather elsewhere. but again, there could be some wintry showers working down the north sea coast affect parts of eastern england and late in the day, as the winds start to turn to a north—westerly direction, you might see some wintry showers turn

up across north wales, cheshire, merseyside and the north—west midlands. by friday, although for the majority of the uk it continues to be cold and sunny, the showers that will be affecting scotland could be really prolonged, but the air is turning very slightly less cold and so the snow should tend to become confined to the hills. that process of the weather rurning milder, then continues into the weekend, with south—westerly winds blowing much milder weather conditions across the country. however, there will be some very strong winds, maybe even disruptive winds around on sunday into the early part of next week. and spells of heavy rain, well, that could see areas of flooding return.

china's economy grew by 5.2% in 2023 according to the premier, beating its target rate. and more and more workers are searching for new career paths. we take a look at the trends across the asia—pacific. hello and welcome to asia business report. we begin in china where officials are expected to announce several economic indicators in the coming hours. but its premier

gave a sneak peak of the gdp figure at the annual meeting of global leaders in davos. li chang said that they beat their target. the apac chief economist says that that is above initial estimates. when the 5% growth target was announced with the two sessions, both li keqiang for the first time taking the helm of the chinese economy, 5% was considered low. and the reason was that china was moving out of zero covid policies. basically, the benchmark was 2021. i mean, coming from 2020 to 2021, the growth rate was 8.1%. so, 5% was underwhelming. because china did so poorly in the first—half, of course, 5.2% sounds good now, because we were fearing that the target would not be reached. in that

regard, it's good news. but we need to