and lincolnshire county council has begun a review after a two—year old boy and his father were found dead at a property in skegness. hello, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. the princess of wales has had planned abdominal surgery, and will be in hospitalfor up to a fortnight. kensington palace says the procedure was successful, and took place at the london clinic, a private hospital in central london. the princess is unlikely to return to public duties until after easter. the prince of wales will not undertake official duties while his wife is in hospital, or in the immediate period following her return home. and within the past hour, buckingham palace has said that king charles will go into hospital next week, to be treated for an enlarged prostate. the palace added that the king's condition is "benign", and he'll have what's described

as a "corrective procedure". his public engagements will be postponed immediately, and will resume after a period of recuperation. live now to sean coughlan — our royal correspondent — who is outside the london clinic where the princess of wales is being treated. where the princess of sean, where the princess of ijust want to ask, how much of sean, ijust want to ask, how much of this is a shift in terms of the details of medical and health details of medical and health details revealed from how the royal family has taken an approach before? as you suggest, usually, medical matters of the royal family or a private affair but here quite an amount of king charles, they want to send a message, a public awareness message, of mentioning positive people getting their selves checked. we have mentioned, the prostate situation is a benign situation that

will get sorted, i think he's sending a message that every people should get —— take care of their prostate. in terms of the princess of wales, we have some details. we know it isn't easy cancerous issue, we don't know the exact details as to what the abdominal surgery is, we do know it is serious for her to spend the next few weeks in hospital and recuperate for the next few months, untilafter and recuperate for the next few months, until after easter. we perhaps have more details than we might have had in the past, a greedy —— a degree of openness here. are -- a degree of openness here. are there —— a degree of openness here. are there protocols that come into place when two members of the royal family are in hospital? we see the prince of —— prince of wales will be undertaking duties why that happens, is there anything in place for that scenario? in is there anything in place for that scenario? , ., scenario? in the short term, ossibl scenario? in the short term, possibly not. _ scenario? in the short term, possibly not, prince - scenario? in the short term, possibly not, prince william| scenario? in the short term, - possibly not, prince william was still be around, we know he will not

undertake visits are going places, but i think he was to be around. king charles, we don't know quite yet what would happen in terms of his hospital treatments, which we understand will be next week. it's a procedure, we don't know how much it would interrupt his work much there are things that can happen, there are things that can happen, there are counsellors of estate that can step in and signed documents on behalf of the monarch, which is perhaps further down the road, in the short term we will see what happens with king charles, it might not be as much of a delay to his activities and a big change. he might not be going on trips that might�*ve been planned but there have been suggestions that the prince and princess of wales were going to undertake some international trips earlier this year, that won't happen, and we won't see both of them some time, now.— them some time, now. thank you, sean.

the prime minister is facing another test of his authority tonight, over plans to send migrants to rwanda. rishi sunak is trying to revive government proposals to send some asylum seekers there, arguing that it will deter people from crossing the channel in small boats. but he suffered the biggest rebellion of his premiership in parliament last night — and two deputy chairmen of the conservative party resigned, saying the bill wasn't tough enough. live now to our deputy political editor, vicki young. that was last night. today, the debate continues but it seems that number ten are saying they are confident this rwanda bill was passed. i confident this rwanda bill was assed. ~ f confident this rwanda bill was assed. ~' j .,, ., confident this rwanda bill was assed. ~' j ., ., passed. i think they're hoping for a smoother ride _ passed. i think they're hoping for a smoother ride this _ passed. i think they're hoping for a smoother ride this evening, - passed. i think they're hoping for a smoother ride this evening, as - passed. i think they're hoping for a smoother ride this evening, as you i smoother ride this evening, as you say, 60 conservative mps yesterday decided to defy the government and try to change or amend the bill, wanting to toughen it up, in their eyes, thinking it was so mean, as it stands, there'll be lots individual challenges against the partitions it rwanda, so they want to bring in safeguards. all their efforts of far

have failed despite the large numbers, it's have failed despite the large numbers, its continuing in a chamber right now, they are still trying to make changes, because opposition parties are opposed to them, they are like aunt —— unlikely to go through. then we go to the third reading, the final hurdle in terms of passage through the house of commons, it looks like it lots of the rebels from yesterday at the side that actually, even though they are not happy with this villa, it's better to have this build that none at all, so we are expecting it to go to through and progressed to the house of lords, where a whole different fight starts again. one of those rubbers was the former home secretary suella braverman, this is what she had to say. now, we are here to fix the problem. the problem we are all seized by, and that is stopping the boats, and this is our third attempt to fix this problem. we passed the nationality and borders act in 2021,

we then passed the illegal migration act in 2023 and we are here again. third time around with the safety of rwanda bill, 2024. and the british people are fed up. they have run out of patience, they run out of time, and this is our last chance to get it right. with the general election looming, probably in the second half of this year, tori mps want to demonstrate that this legislation is working. the timing on all of that could end “p the timing on all of that could end up being quite tricky for the government. it will take a while to get through the house of lords, and when it all starts, many people are expected to be challenged in the courts, and only at that point will we know whether it is actually going to work. so, we will end up in a situation where i'm sure this bill will progress from the house of commons and go through tonight, but a large number of tori mps have openly said they don't think it will work. . ~ openly said they don't think it will work. ., ~ , ., ., openly said they don't think it will work. ., ~ ., , ., openly said they don't think it will work. ., ~' i., ., , ., , openly said they don't think it will work. ., ~ ., , ., , ., work. thank you for updating us on that, or work. thank you for updating us on that. or deputy _ work. thank you for updating us on that, or deputy political— work. thank you for updating us on that, or deputy political editor, -

that, or deputy political editor, vicki young. well the government's plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda dominated prime minister's questions today. the prime minister and the labour leader made claims about small boat crossings and the cost of the rwanda scheme. bbc verify�*s robert cuffe has been casting his expert eye of some of these claims and is here with some key facts. defending his government's track record on small boats at prime minister's questions, rishi sunak told us today that the number of people coming to this country are down by over a third. and he's right. if you look at last year, when we saw fewer than 30,000 people arriving on small boats, and that's down from more than 16,000 the year before. but it's still higher than any year before that. and of course, it's only in recent years that small boats have become the main route for irregular migrants. and there's still a job to do for the government to fill that pledge of stopping the boats and the full. and the fall last year, about 16,000 arrivals

matches almost exactly the fall in arrivals from albania after the government signed returns agreement with the albanian government. now during pmqs, the focus was on the government's plan to send some migrants to rwanda. and sir keir starmer said that the government had spent £400 million on it. we've taken a look at the publicly available figures. the home office has said that they've paid 240 million to rwanda already and another £50 million are earmarked for next year. that's nearly 300 million. we've asked labour about their higher figure and they say they're adding in costs not accounted for by the government's figures, but they haven't shared their full workings. now, earliertoday, rwandan president paul kagame told the bbc that money could be returned if asylum seekers didn't arrive. but of course, some of it may already have been spent. turning to the cost of living, the prime minister was keen to highlight the effect of the cut to national insurance that came into effect last week, saying that millions of people benefited from a tax cut worth £450.

and yes, if you're on the average full—time wage, then the change should save you about £450 this year, but it's not the only tax change, you'll notice they used to lift the point at which you start to pay tax each year to keep pace with rising prices. they stop doing that, and it means they get more from all of us in tax. and if you take that change into account as well, well, our average earners savings is looking much smaller, down by more than two thirds, according to analysis by the independent institute for fiscal studies. the labour mp for rushville, sir 20 lloyd, has died at the age of 83. he served under tony blair before becoming the mayor of greater manchester. in a statement, his family said they were devastated to announce the death of a beloved family member. he was working a few days before his death, as his

passion was helping others. he devoted his life to serving and making a difference in the lives of those he left, including his constituents, colleagues and friends and family. they think that dedicated medical team that provided and care over the past four years. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. politicians in northern ireland have once again failed to elect a stormont speaker. it is the seventh recall of the assembly since may 2022. the assembly collapsed almost two years ago due to the democratic unionist party's protest over post—brexit trade rules for northern ireland. a legal deadline to restore devolved government runs out on thursday. the final report of the public inquiry into the infected blood scandal will be published in late may. the chair of the inquiry, sir brian langstaff, said more time was needed to prepare "a report of this gravity". victims and their families

were initially told they would learn the findings in autumn last year. the rate of inflation unexpectedly rose to 4% in december — the first increase in ten months, up from 3.9% percent in november. the office for national statistics says tobacco and alcohol had the biggest impact on prices. the chancellor insists the government's plan to bring down inflation is working. you're live with bbc news pakistan has recalled its ambassador to iran in response to a missile and drone attack on its territory. tehran�*s envoy has also been blocked from returning to islamabad. iranian state media say the strike targeted a militant group in the sparsely populated province of balochistan. but the pakistani foreign ministry says two children were killed in the attack. pakistan called it a blatant breach of pakistan's sovereignty, and accused iran of violating international law. 0ur correspondent caroline

davies in islamabad and following developments. skirmishes between pakistan and iran on their border are not unheard of, but they're rarely as high—profile as this particular incident. iranian state media said yesterday that the iranian military have hit and targeted the headquarters of a sunni militant group that is known as jaish al—adl, which has carried out multiple attacks inside iran, including claiming responsibility for an attack on a police station in december. now, the group itself has put out on social media. it says that this particular strike hit the homes of the militants and it killed family members of the militants rather than their bases themselves. they have also vowed revenge on iran. iran itself has not put out an official statement on this incident. now, pakistan's foreign ministry has said that two children were killed, and they have called this an unprovoked violation of pakistan's airspace. pakistan has now recalled

its ambassador to iran, and it has told iran's ambassador to pakistan, who is currently out of the country, not to return. of course, the backdrop to all of this — and the reason why this is getting even more attention — is because of the timing. the fact that iran has also in recent days hit both iraq and syria. now, put together, this suggests that iran is currently trying to show a display of strength and force against any group that it considers to be a threat. 0ur correspondent caroline davis in islam a bad. iran's foreign minister has accused israel of carrying out genocide in gaza. speaking in davos, hossein amir—abdollahian, said houthis who attacked ships in the red sea were acting in defence of the palestinian people. when challenged on iran's role in the violence, he said the attacks would stop when the israelis ceased their action in gaza. we all benefit from maritime security, and the yemenis

also believe that. what happened ? it has to do with the genocidal war of the israeli regime against the people of gaza, and the yemenis defending the palestinians. if the genocide in gaza stops, then it will lead to the... to the end of other crises and attacks in the region. earlier i spoke to our security correspondent frank gardner, and asked how much influence iran really has over these groups well, iran doesn't control all those groups. they are allies, often described as proxies. but it does have a high degree of influence because in many cases, it funds, arms and trains them, certainly in the case of the houthis in the red sea. in yemen, there is no way they could have acquired the missile technology they have now without iranian help and training.

but they are fundamentally national groups that happen to be aligned and allied with iran. so iran does have a high degree of influence over them. i have to point out that many of the actions of these groups pre—date the gaza war. so this is not the first time there have been exchanges of fire along the red sea coast, for example, or indeed along the lebanon and israeli border, all of which predates the october the 7th attacks on southern israel and the following israeli actions in gaza. and while they are allied in some ways, how much do the agendas of the houthis align with the iranian authorities? the houthis are a yemeni mount tribal group that took over power illegally in yemen. they seized power on an anti—corruption ticket in september 2014.

they are not the internationally recognised, un—recognised, government of that country. but they have been in power effectively over most of the populated parts of yemen for nine years that they are the de facto government. they do share with iran virulently anti—western, anti—israeli view of the world. their motto is, "death to america, death to israel, a curse upon thejews," and they have been anti—western for about 20 years. they have also been fighting off a war with the saudis, who joined in yemen's civil war in 2015 to try to restore the legitimate yemeni government, which it saw as an ally. that war has been inconclusive. the houthis are still in power. they have a powerful arsenal.

only recently, there has been another interdiction of iranian weapons, trying to get to iran to resupply their missile arsenal, but the saudis are trying to extricate themselves from this one now, which they have failed to win. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner there. a review is under way after a two—year—old boy was found dead next to the body of his father at a house in skegness on the east coast of england. children's services at lincolnshire county council say they're supporting the family and looking into the circumstances. police say they are not treating the deaths as suspicious. 0ur correspondentjo black has the latest from skegness. we know that paramedics were called to an address down this road on the 9th of january. as you are outlining there, the bodies were discovered, the bodies of a 60—year—old man and a two—year—old toddler. they have been named as kenneth battersby and two—year—old bronson battersby. it has been reported that they were last seen on or around boxing day. now, we know that this child was known to social services

but it was the type of case where there was contact around once a month, and we understand that social workers tried to come to the address on the 2nd ofjanuary and the 4th of january but couldn't get access. there was no response so they made inquiries at other properties where the child might be and also notified the police. but it wasn't until the 9th of january that the landlady of the property was asked to open it up so that paramedics, police and social workers could go inside. now, we have spoken to the landlady and she said the discovery of the bodies was one of the worst days of her life and she talked about how she is heartbroken. she called kenneth "kenny" and she said she had known him for around a decade and she said that he was extremely helpful. she said that bronson was the light of his dad's eye. now, we have heard from children's services who say they are carrying out a review into the circumstances.

they go on to say, "our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved". the police have also issued a statement and they say investigations have been carried out and the deaths are not being treated as suspicious. rappers like to shock and northern ireland's latest success follows that trend. kneecap's name comes from the troubles, where young people were shot in the legs by paramilitaries. the rap trio from belfast which performs mainly in irish have sold out gigs in the uk, ireland and the us. and now kneecap are making their acting debut. our culture correspondent, charlotte gallagher, has been to belfast to meet them: # my raybans...#. kneecap are at the forefront of irish hip—hop, rapping in both irish and english. their self—titled film, a semi—fictionalised account of how they got together, also blends the two languages, and it's the first irish language film to be included at the sundance film festival. they called our generation

the ceasefire babies. so it's about these three fellas trying to find their place in the world. and it's about, you know, their identity and stuff like that. so everybody has this idea of the irish language that we all just sit about pubs playing fiddles and talking about grammar. you know what i mean? when in actual fact, these three characters don't really mention the language that much. the whole film, they're, like, selling drugs and, like, talking about, you know, youth culture through the language rather than... they're living and surviving through the language. you've heard of intergenerational trauma, right? right. our history. our history has become our biology. the band grew up after the good friday agreement in a time of relative peace. the film explores what that means to young people in northern ireland. kneecap had never acted before. they didn't know how to act. right?

because, you know, it's not necessarily a natural thing. and we got on board an acting coach called kieran lagan, who's from queen's university, and he put together a course that, over six months, you know, kind of put them through a university degree in acting, all the theory and things like that. and they absolutely blossomed week by week, and i think the biggest thing people are going to be surprised about isjust how good they are on screen. and they are acting opposite people like michael fassbender, simone kirby, some of the greatest actors ireland's produced in a generation, and they don't look like they're there because they've won a raffle. kneecap are not without controversy. this mural showing a police land rover on fire did upset some local politicians, but the band say they're about making music, not stirring up tensions. i think controversy is definitely subjective because, like, you had the song get your brits out, that has nothing to do with a mass exodus of british people from the north of ireland or anything like that there. which people like to believe. and that's kind of what we're playing off there.

but in reality, the song, obviously, if you don't speak irish, you don't know what we're saying, but the song is about taking the dup out. on a night out. so there are many aspects. people have different ideas of what we are, but we obviouslyjust make music. you see this kind of aesthetic- as well of people wearing tracksuits and the kind of clothes you wear, it's associated with a type - of scumbaggery and people just have that image straight away. _ i was just about to say that as well. l with a balaclava as well, - people look at this and think it's a kind of sectarian statement - or something, but it's the opposite. the name is derived from so—called kneecapping, where people are shot in the legs by paramilitaries. but kneecap say their name isn't a celebration of violence. any interview we do, we always say like, just like, we're glad that there's peace now. we're not trying to stoke any fires. like, we're all the same people, do you know what i mean? and the pioneers in irish rap gave me a language lesson before i left. he speaks irish.

she repeats. thank you, guys. no problem. what's thank you in irish? go raibh maith agat. it's not easy. that was "i'm here with kneecap today in belfast". apologies about the pronunciation. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. apology accepted. there are dramatic features being sculpted into the biggest iceberg in the world. the iceberg, known as a2 three a, is being ground on by warmer air and water as it drips from the unsanitary, but it's not seen as a consequent of climate change. jonathan amos reports. the burg is no missing and fast, satellite image show the frozen

block to have a width of 65 km, is like the distance from manchester to sheffield. a23 a has an area of 3900 km2, more than twice the size of greater london, and its average thickness is about 280 metres, nearly as tall as the eiffel tower, and anyways close to a trillion sons. these dimensions are shrinking all the time. the production and melting of icebergs like a 203a, are part of a natural cycle, not a consequence of national —— climate change, as it melts their upsides, it would drop mineral dust in the ocean, a fertiliser stimulus and the growth of small organisms like plankton on the web countries on the planet, the blue whales. bull —— but how long a 20 38 will remain intact is uncertain about the only guarantee is this giant will eventually wither to nothing. jonathan amos, bbc news. we will

have your headlines coming up in just a moment. stay with us on bbc news. hello there. the met office amber snow and ice warnings remains in force across northern scotland and the northern isles tonight and into much of tomorrow. these snow showers will come in thick and fast with some significant accumulations of snow in places. could lead to some issues by the morning period. elsewhere, it's largely clear that very cold and very frosty, probably the coldest night of this cold snap. so this weather fronts accentuating the snow showers across northern scotland and the northern isles. stronger northerly wind which allows some drifting and blizzard conditions. and we'll see further snow showers developing around some north sea coast, northern ireland and through the irish sea. anywhere where we have wintry showers ice will be a significant risk. for most, it's dry and clear and very cold. north to south across the country

could be down to —15 celsius central northern scotland. so it's a very cold start to thursday. there will be a lot of sunshine around, but wintry showers continue around. coastal areas could see a dusting of snow across some of these eastern counties. but the heaviest of the snow, again, falling across northern scotland to the northern isles. again, drifting and blizzard conditions perhaps in excess of ten centimetres of fresh snow by the time we reach the end of thursday. and it'll be a very cold day. a slightly stronger wind for all areas, so it will feel bitterly cold, i think. and then through thursday night, we start to lose the showers from the east coast as the wind changes. directions are more westerly. so its northern, western scotland which will continue to see the snow and the ice elsewhere. clearer skies and other cold nights come, but maybe not quite as cold as what we're expecting tonight. subtle changes into friday. this area of high pressure starts to build in. so a lot of fine weather, but it cuts off the arctic northern and brings us a westerly. so i think it'll be noticeably less cold on friday. but we'll continue with snow

across northern and western scotland, certainly over the high ground, maybe wintry mix down to sea level and it will be breezier. so another cold day to come here. but you'll notice further south we've lost those blue colours, 4—6 degrees. then that area of high pressure pulls away into the weekend and allows low pressure off the atlantic to take over. so a very different feel to the weather through the weekend and indeed into next week. wetter, windier and much milder. but the combination of mild air with snowmelt and rain could lead to some localised flooding. so stay tuned.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the princess of wales is recovering following abdominal surgery. kensington palace says the operation was a success, and she will remain in hospital for up to a fortnight. and in the past few hours buckingham palace has announced king charles will visit hospital next week to be treated for an enlarged prostate. and rishi sunakfaces a crucial vote on his plan to deport asylum seekers to rwanda after two deputy chairmen from his own party resign over the issue. and the government says it's begun talks with fujitsu over contributing towards compensation for post office horizon victims

sport and for a full round—up, here's the bbc sport centre. hello from the bbc sport centre. no djokovic has extended his winning run at the australian open to 30 matches after beating australia's. novak djokovic has extended his winning run at the australian open to 30 matches after beating australia's alexei popyrin. however the 10—time champion was made to work hard by his unseeded opponent and the crowd telling one spectator to "come down and tell it to my face" after repeated heckling. in any case, djokovic doing what he does best despite being taken to four sets with popyrin producing some exceptional tennis as he levelled that match at one set apiece. the world number one edged the third in a tie break before seeing off the world number 43 in a little over three hours. djokovic will face thomas martin etchevarry in the third round.