live from london, this is bbc news. reports from syria say an israeli air strike has flattened a residential building in damascus — at least one member of iran's revolutionary guards is said to be among those killed. a un human rights official accuses israel of beating and stripping palestinians detained in gaza. they described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill—treatment and to what may amount to torture. police urge the mother of a newborn baby found in a shopping bag in east london to come forward — we'll be live at the scene. in uganda — government critics targeted by a network, hiding behind fake social media accounts. we have more in a bbc verify investigation.

hello i'm hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome lewis vaughan jones. welcome lewis vaughanjones. to the programme. we begin with breaking news this hour — state media in syria say a reported air strike has hit a residential building in the capital, damascus. around five people are reported to have been killed, including a member of iran's revolutionary guards. there are reports the building was used by iranian advisers to the syrian government. iran has played a key role in supporting president assad during the civil war in syria. with me is our middle east analyst sebastian usher. what do we know about what has happened? we what do we know about what has ha ened? ~ ~' ., what do we know about what has hauened? ~ ~ ., , what do we know about what has happened?— what do we know about what has hauened? ~ ~ ., , ., happened? we know this was a huge exlosion, happened? we know this was a huge explosion, pictures _ happened? we know this was a huge explosion, pictures show _ happened? we know this was a huge explosion, pictures show a _ happened? we know this was a huge explosion, pictures show a really - explosion, pictures show a really large plume of smoke, the blast was heard across much of damascus. this is a very upmarket residential district to the west of damascus,

there are embassies there, missions, there are embassies there, missions, the un has an office there, there are restaurants, so this is the residential heart of damascus. as far as figures and who was killed, there are different reports coming. a rainy media started reporting them at reporting that two senior revolutionary guard members were killed in the potentially the head of intelligence, who essentially works outside iran which has played a key role in syria, yemen and other conflicts. if that were the case, obviously this would be a major strike. all the indications are, this is where it is being reported by the syrian state media, it is most likely to be israel. israel very rarely confirm such strikes. it is carried out hundreds of them over the years in syria. they are essentially targeting iranian linked groups, malicious, military advisers, etc. iran has played an important role in keeping president assad going both in terms of financial aid, assad going both in terms of financialaid, military aid assad going both in terms of financial aid, military aid and very much the advisory role that iranians

military figures have played and the reports we are hearing is that this building which we are told has essentially collapsed mother i haven't seen pictures of that so far, was a place where these iranian advisers were based and that a meeting was being held at the time that strike took place. figs meeting was being held at the time that strike took place.— that strike took place. as you said, we don't know _ that strike took place. as you said, we don't know who _ that strike took place. as you said, we don't know who is _ that strike took place. as you said, we don't know who is behind - that strike took place. as you said, we don't know who is behind the i we don't know who is behind the strikes, they are air strikes as is believed. we know syrian state media is accusing the israelis, we don't have independent confirmation of that. if that line from the state media turns out to be true, what is the kind of reasoning? why would the strikes be carried out in the first place? as i say, there have been many of the strikes in the past but what we have seen since the war with hamas erupted they have become more intense and with syria in particular last month in december there were

two strikes which were hit against senior members of the revolutionary guard. 50 senior members of the revolutionary uuard. . ., , senior members of the revolutionary uuard. ., , ,., guard. so clearly israel has increased _ guard. so clearly israel has increased the _ guard. so clearly israel has increased the intensity - guard. so clearly israel has increased the intensity of l guard. so clearly israel has l increased the intensity of the strikes, as it has regionally. it is facing pressure on the northern border with hezbollah with daily skirmishes and hezbollah has played a big role in the syrian conflict again, and iran has been able to supply weapons to hezbollah through syria often so that has been a major reason why israel has struck before. there might be, and i've seen some speculation, that this might be a strike directly in response to the strike directly in response to the strike that iran carried out in iraq and what iran said was a mossad base there. israel hasn't confirmed that in any way but i have seen people

suggesting that maybe in this instance that's the direct reason. i think the wider reason is that israel is intensifying its actions across the region to send a message essentially to not escalate this further. and of course that message is directed towards iran.— is directed towards iran. wouldn't actions like _ is directed towards iran. wouldn't actions like this _ is directed towards iran. wouldn't actions like this risky _ is directed towards iran. wouldn't actions like this risky exactly - is directed towards iran. wouldn't actions like this risky exactly that| actions like this risky exactly that escalation? , actions like this risky exactly that escalation?— actions like this risky exactly that escalation? , , , ., ., escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, — escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, again, _ escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, again, one _ escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, again, one can't - escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, again, one can't be - escalation? yes, but then you have to look at, again, one can't be sure about any of this, but benjamin netanyahu has for years been saying in israel and to the world that iran is the biggest danger, notjust in the middle east but to the world and that something must be done, so you could say it is not entirely outside his interest, his stated interests in the past, to have that escalation. the question is, iran, which doesn't have the capacity for

an all—out war really directly, how far it will take these sorts of hits. a lot of it has been against its proxies in the region but this is against its actual members of its elite force. how much it can take that. what we are likely to see as an escalation in other areas outside of gaza, outside of israel, where each of those little conflicts has intensified but it hasn't broadened into a regionwide conflagration, and i think at the moment it is in everyone's interest to keep it under control. you might say the prime minister in israel, his government are probably the ones who most have an agenda that would like that escalation to go further. just before i let _ escalation to go further. just before i let you _ escalation to go further. just before i let you go, - escalation to go further. just before i let you go, these pictures are just coming before i let you go, these pictures arejust coming into before i let you go, these pictures are just coming into as here, before i let you go, these pictures arejust coming into as here, we before i let you go, these pictures are just coming into as here, we are looking at these at the same time as our viewers at home, appearing to

show the aftermath, clearly car windows blown out there. they don't seem to give us any more clue of the actual site and location at this stage. but these are the latest pictures coming into us. we will get our team is analysing those to see what they do show. sebastian usher, thank you very much. now we are going to stay in the region. a un human rights official has accused israel of beating, blindfolding and stripping palestinians detained during its military operation in gaza. ajith sunghay — the head of the un human rights office in occupied palestinian territories — claimed that some of the former detainees he met during a visit to the territory had been held for nearly two months, in often cramped conditions. during my time here, i managed to meet a number of police detainees. these are men who were detained by the israeli security forces in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days. they described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill treatment and to what may amount to torture. they reported being blindfolded for long periods, some of them for several consecutive days. one man said he had access to a shower only once during his 55 days in detention. there are reports of men

who were subsequently released, but only in diapers without any adequate clothing in this cold weather. what they told me was consistent with reports our office has been gathering of the detention of palestinians on a broad scale, including many civilians held in secrecy, often subject to ill treatment with no access to their families, lawyers or effective judicial protection. our middle east correspondent mark lowen told me more about the allegations. the allegations have been flatly denied by the israeli defence forces who say they treat detainees in accordance with international law and that when detainees are forced to remove their clothes it is to check whether or not they have explosive devices. but the allegations made by the un are very much in line with others' and other accusations that have been made by human rights groups for example against how the israeli defence forces are treating local prisoners of war. israel maintains that it is continuing to target terror areas. for example, moving its tanks towards medical facilities around khan younis in southern gaza that they say have been used as launch sites for attacks against israeli forces. thejordanian government has accused israel of directly firing against a jordanian field hospital in southern

gaza overnight and say that benjamin netanyahu is, in the words of the jordanian government, bringing doom to this region. the fighting very much continues in southern gaza. that is the part of the strip to which israel encouraged people to flee when the fighting was in the north. but now the fighting is particularly intense in the south and that's why some of the idf feel some hamas leaders are holed up. thank you for that, mark. israeli forces have continued their intense bombardment of the city of khan younis in southern gaza. hamas health officials say 165 palestinians have been killed in the past day, and the overall number killed in the war so far is approaching 25,000. the israeli army says its troops found six rocket launchers when they raided what it described as a military compound. gunfire many people have now fled the grounds of nasser hospital — that's the largest of the few hospitals still functioning in gaza.

doctors there deny israeli claims that hamas fighters are using it as a base. president biden has sought to play down differences with israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, over the prospects of the creation of a palestinian state. the two men spoke on friday for the first time in nearly a month. mr biden told reporters in washington he believed it was possible to work something out. he denied that the israeli leader has ruled out the idea of a two—state solution once the fighting in gaza is over. on thursday, mr netanyahu said israel must have security control of all territory west of the jordan river for the foreseeable future, even though that conflicts with the idea of palestinian sovereignty. the us says israel has agreed to allow shipments of flour through a portjust north of the gaza strip — reducing the time it takes for aid to reach the territory. the un had accused israel's military of restricting aid deliveries to northern gaza. the un humanitarian agency says less than a quarter of its planned missions have been allowed so far in january. just last month, israel agreed the temporary delivery of aid

into gaza via its southern border crossing, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of pressure. let's get some of the day's other news now. the us military says it has carried out further strikes against houthi targets in yemen, destroying three anti—ship missiles. the houthis have staged dozens of attacks on shipping in the red sea region. a fire at a school dormitory in central china has killed 13 people. the managers of the school in a village in henan province have been detained while the cause of the fire is investigated. a huge blaze at a rubbish dump outside panama city has shrouded the capital in toxic smoke and forced the evacuation of nearby homes. firefighters said at least six hectares of the dump caught fire and everything pointed to the blaze being started deliberately. the metropolitan police says it's concerned for the welfare

of a mother whose newborn baby was found in a shopping bag by the side of a road in east london. officers say the girl, who has been given the temporary name elsa, is in good health, despite the freezing temperatures. nickjohnson reports. less than an hour after she was born, baby elsa, as she's been named, was found inside a shopping bag at the entrance to this open space on the side of a busy road. despite the subzero temperatures on thursday night, police say the little girl is unharmed and safe. the met�*s focus now rests upon finding the newborn's mother. we are extremely concerned for her welfare as she will have been through a traumatic ordeal and will be in need of immediate medical attention following the birth. if you are the baby's mother, please know that your daughter is well. no matter what your circumstances please do seek help by dialling 999.

the force has also asked anyone who thinks they might know baby elsa's mother to contact them. officers say the newborn's survival on thursday night was largely due to the actions of the dog walker who found her. thinking fast, that person kept the baby girl warm until london ambulance service paramedics arrived and checked her over before taking her to hospital. the police say others also stayed on the scene and the measures they took contributed to saving the baby's life. our reporter nickjohnson gave us this update from east london. well, lewis, police have said they made a point of saying their primary concern is the health and well—being of the baby's mother. they say that specialist medics and police staff are on hand to provide support and have urged her to come and make contact.

as you heard in that report we know that little baby elsa was less than an hour old when she was found inside that shopping bag right here on the pavement between this busy road and the entrance to this open space. the location of that shopping bag, the traffic, the busyness of the road, there is a dual carriageway just behind the camera, you really get a sense of how inconspicuous a tiny baby would have been in that shopping bag. police say they believe the dog walker that discovered her was alerted by the cries coming from that bag. it is cold here this morning but it's not as cold as thursday night when the little baby was found. it was below freezing and all she was covered in was a towel. but despite all that, police say she is doing well in hospital, she is safe, she is unharmed, but you get the sense that if someone had found her a few moments later it might have been a very different story. indeed. nick, we heard a little from the police there.

what have they been saying and what have they been urging people to do? as i said, their main concern now is tracing the mother. they have asked people who use this park for walking their dogs, we have seen lots of people walking their dogs, riding their bikes and running this morning, so anyone who may frequent this route on a daily basis, to get in touch with them, especially if they have any idea who the mum might be. when baby elsa was left here it would have been on thursday evening. there would have been a lot of traffic along this road. this is a busy road so perhaps a lot of opportunity for other people to have seen something that went on. bu really, police now saying that now the child is safe and appears to be doing well in hospital, their main concern now is finding the baby's mother and getting her the medical attention she will clearly need. thank you for that. a bbc verify investigation has uncovered a network of nearly 200 fake social media accounts

operating in uganda. using false identities, those behind them have been pushing messages praising the government and targeting its critics — at times with threats. i've been speaking to the bbc�*s marco silva, who has been looking into this story for us. he explained what stood out about these accounts. i came across this network of fake social media accounts. there were a few giveaways that made these accounts suspicious. one of them is the fact that they use as profile pictures photos from social media stolen from the accounts of models, actresses, influencers. these accounts also appear to be laser—focused on one thing and one thing alone, that was ugandan politics, and as well they often posted in tandem at the same time the same content using the same language. another giveaway, perhaps,

is the fact that many of these accounts were all created in the same day. now, this makes it look like, while they may look like they were separate accounts independent from each other, all these different giveaways show us that they were very likely to have been working together to achieve two different things. on the one hand, to push pro—government agenda a pro—government agenda and on the other hand to attack critics and opposition figures both at home, including a ugandan climate activist called hillary taylor that i interviewed as part of my investigation, but also critics abroad including a member of the european parliament. marco, do we have any idea who is behind this network? it is important to say that when you investigate this sort this sort of network, it's incredibly difficult to find

out who really is behind them, and that's because often the evidence that you would need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a particular individual is behind it is evidence that is often held by the social media companies themselves. in this case i did approach x, one of the social networks where these accounts were found i approached them, i told them about the accounts that i had identified. they didn't respond to any of my requests for comment and they didn't take any action against the accounts that i identified. meta, facebook�*s parent company, on the other hand, did remove most of the accounts that i identified and they also believe that several of the accounts we identified were linked to individuals linked to a ugandan government agency called the government citizen interaction centre.

what facebook is saying here is they believe several of the accounts we identified were run by these individuals. we have not seen the evidence that meta says it has on this so we can't independently verify it. the gcic, the ugandan agency in question, denies this allegation flatly and yet it wouldn't be the first time that they have faced accusations of running influence operations. in 2021, right before the ugandan presidential election day, they too, meta, at the time tookk down hundreds of facebook and instagram accounts which it said at the time were linked to this ugandan agency, and ugandan government at the time was dumbfounded, it was angry at this accusation and as a result authorities ended up banning facebook from the country, a ban that is still in place as we speak. for more on this story, listen to bbc trending: crude fakes in uganda,

on bbc sounds. now we are going to head to the us. lawyers for the actor alec baldwin say he's looking forward to his day in court — after he was charged with involuntary manslaughter over the death of a cinematographer, who was shot two years ago on the set of the film rust. previous charges against the actor were dropped. emma vardy reports. you were... ..you were in the room when that lady... i was the one holding the gun, yeah. 0k. a rehearsal that went terribly wrong. alec baldwin had been getting ready for a scene during filming for the western movie rust in new mexico when a pistol he was holding went off, killing 42—year—old cinematographer halyna hutchins and wounding the director, joel souza. mr baldwin has always claimed he was not responsible for her death, saying he was told the gun did not contain any live rounds. i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. never, never. that was the training that i had. you don't point a gun at somebody and pull the trigger.

he was first charged over a year ago, but the charges were dismissed when new evidence emerged that the gun may have been able to be fired without the trigger being pulled. but following a new forensic report, a grand jury has now concluded he should face trial, accused of involuntary manslaughter. the movie's armourer, hannah gutierrez—reed is also facing the same charge. the film rust was completed in halyna hutchins' memory following her death. her family have welcomed the prospect of criminal trials, saying they've always wanted the truth about what happened that day. if convicted, alec baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison. earlier my colleague spoke to a criminal defence lawyer who explained what evidence the prosecution may present. i believe it does relate to this gun evidence which states that the experts are opining that this gun could not have fired if he had not pulled the trigger.

and alec baldwin has always maintained that he did not pull the trigger. and some of the evidence that they have against him would be that he's maintained that he did not pull the trigger. and if it turns out that the gun could not have fired without that happening, the prosecution feels like they can make him look uncredible to a jury. i think they believe they have that evidence, as well as other evidence that would likely relate to alec baldwin's knowledge relating to safety violations on the set and perhaps training that he ignored or training that he had, but that he did not act within the parameters. so him violating safety protocols on the set. so my guess is they have some other evidence that also relates to safety protocols and his knowledge of those protocols. it's the same defence that he's had all along, which is — i was told the gun was not loaded and it was not myjob to check the gun.

it was somebody else's job to check the gun. and i was entitled to rely on their statement that they checked the gun and that it was not loaded. this is still a very tough prosecution for the prosecuting attorneys against him. japan has become the fifth country to land on the moon after a craft dubbed moon sniper touched down on the lunar surface. but its solar cells aren't working, and its batteries are likely to run out. pallab ghosh reports. japan's lunar lander has touched down with a soft landing, but there's been a glitch. its solar panels aren't working, so unless it's fixed, the spacecraft will run out of power. but experts say that the mission has achieved 99% of its aims. this was all about precision landing. they haven't confirmed the exact precision of the landing,

but they're the fifth nation to land successfully on the moon. and i think that is a huge success. flight engineers are poring through the spacecraft�*s data and will report next week on what went wrong. but an awful lot went right. they successfully tested an advanced face recognition system to home in on the landing site, and it also deployed one of its mini lunar rovers, able to hop where no rover has hopped before, but not another one, which can literally roll back the frontiers of knowledge. it's a new way of doing space exploration, and a big part of it is to bring down the costs so that we can de—risk these missions, do more of them, faster turn around and hopefully get both more science and exploration out of each one. the team at the open university are building an instrument for a future mission involving both japan and india, as well as the uk.

japan's achievement is the start of a new rush to the moon. india got there last year and later in 2024, there'll be several us attempts. by the end of the decade there'll be chinese and european missions. so it's all getting very interesting. in the 19605 and �*70s it was all about nasa. singing but now it's an international race. # december... # may.# a small fleet of spacecraft are on their way to lay the ground for humans to return. they're going because there are minerals and resources on the moon, which will be used to build launch sites to go to mars and beyond. and this time, the plan is to stay for the long term. pallab ghosh, bbc news.

this is bbc news. hello. we have seen the winds pick up across parts of the uk today but they will strengthen and could cause problems later tomorrow, sunday night and into monday with severe gales developing quite widely but more especially across the north and west, impact to monday morning's rush hour as i will show you. out there today, the winds have already picked up but it is a milder wind and rather than snow they have already seen some rain around in southern scotland, north and west england. on the satellite is where the storm is at the moment in the west atlantic running in and chasing on to the cloud that is with us right now. the biggest gaps in the cloud continue to be in the far south and east of the uk, so some sunshine here. spells of hazy sunshine across north—east scotland this afternoon. the relentless rain in parts of north—west england

and northwest wales will ease off but still come and go and there will be some dry weather in between the downpours in the west. but temperatures up to 10 or 11 degrees. if you are out this evening or across western areas the rain becomes heavy and persistent once again and will move eastwards during the early hours clearing off into the north sea for the vast majority but followed by showers later. in the gap between the two, temperatures will dip into lower single figures, a touch of frost through scottish glens and valleys. but overall, a frost—free start for most on sunday morning. sunday morning the quietest part of the day, dry and bright weather in central and eastern england, wales and northern scotland but cloud quickly increases, rain becomes persistent in northern ireland spreading into central southern scotland, northern england and wales, as well as parts of south—west england through the day, and the winds will strengthen. it is a south—west wind, the air is milder, temperatures up to 13 degrees but it will feel particularly warm during the afternoon. this is storm isha, the biggest impact as it passes to the north of us during sunday night and into monday morning. the met office has already issued amber warnings in these areas. they could be updated though

in the next 2a hours. it is these areas where the greatest impacts could be with gusts of wind in excess of 80mph for some. some damage, some power disruption and travel disruption for monday morning's rush hour is likely. monday itself, staying windy but not quite as windy as it will have been through sunday night. a mixture of sunshine and showers, showers frequent in the west and a little bit wintry over the higher ground of scotland. still temperatures higher than they were through last week. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... reports from syria say an israeli air strike has flattened a residential building in damascus, with military advisers from iran's revolutionary guards said to be among those killed. a un human rights official accuses israel of beating and stripping palestinians detained in gaza. police urge the mother of a newborn baby found in a shopping bag in east london to come forward. tata steel defends its decision to cut thousands ofjobs in south wales — saying they need to go greener. a un human rights official has accused israel of beating, blindfolding and stripping palestinians detained during its military operation in gaza. ajith sunghay — the head of the un human rights office in occupied palestinian territories

— said that some of the former detainees he met during a visit to the territory had been held for nearly two months in often cramped conditions. during my time here, i managed to meet a number of police detainees. these are men who were detained by the israeli security forces in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days. they described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill treatment and to what may amount to torture. israel has said it treats all those detained in accordance with international law. in a statement to the bbc, the israeli military said terror suspects often had to hand over their clothes to ensure they were not concealing weapons or explosives. despite international warnings, the israel—gaza war is dragging in more regional players.

our analysis editor, ros atkins, has been looking at who is now involved and why pakistan was caught up in it this week. ever since the israel gaza war started, there's been a fear the conflict could spread. and that's happening. across the middle east we're seeing airstrikes, bombings, assassinations and border raids. the most high profile escalation involves houthi rebels in yemen attacking shipping in the red sea. they say in solidarity with palestinians. in response, the us and the uk have attacked houthi positions, most recently with us strikes on wednesday night, and a day before america began attacking the houthis, the us secretary of state said this... we were focused on making sure that the conflict ongoing now in gaza doesn't spread to other places. that's been our focus since since october 7th, and it remains our focus today. but as america's own actions show, stopping the spread is proving difficult.

as the new york times puts it... the regional war no one wanted is here. and it asks, how wide will it get? because already, along with the israel—gaza war and the exchanges in the red sea and yemen, there have been other incidents in iran, syria, iraq and lebanon. and all of these different escalations connect both to the israel gaza war and to longer term tensions, too. what you have here really are two sets of conflicts overlapping — one israel v hamas and the ramifications of that. but of course behind that the much longer running and wider conflict between a low level conflict, if you like, between iran and its various allies in the region, and western interests more generally, and the united states in particular. we're seeing this overlap play out across the region. following october 7th there's been an increase in border clashes between the israeli military and the hezbollah group in lebanon. hezbollah is backed by iran, as is hamas. then in earlyjanuary,

there was an assassination in lebanon of a senior hamas leader. it's assumed israel was responsible. the same is true of the assassination of a senior iranian commander in syria in december. syria is an ally of iran. israel is trying to disrupt iran's regional network located in these places, what iran calls its "axis of resistance". iran uses its allies, non—state actors, allies, in order to show solidarity with the palestinians, in order to increase the costs of war in gaza for israel and the united states, and also to divert some of israel's military assets from gaza to the northern fronts with lebanon. last november, iran's foreign minister said... iran does not want the war to spread, but warned a wider conflict could prove inevitable. and recently, iran has shown it is willing to take military action.

two weeks ago, in an iranian city called kerman, the islamic state group carried out the biggest bomb attack in iran in decades, and iran retaliated with strikes in syria aimed at what it claimed were islamic state positions. there were also missile strikes in iraq targeting what iran claimed was an israeli spy base. iran also claims that israel and the us were in part responsible for the kerman attack. iran's provided no evidence for either allegation. iran is relevant to other escalations in iraq too. in recent weeks, there's been an increase in attacks by shia militias on us forces in iraq. those militias are backed by iran. then this week, another layer of complexity was added. on tuesday, iran launched a missile and drone attack in neighbouring pakistan. it said the target was an iranian militant group. in response, pakistan launched retaliatory strikes at targets inside iran. these developments don't

directly connect to gaza, but they do connect to iran's broader efforts to establish its military strength in the region. they're more evidence of how fluid the security situation is and faced with that situation each country, each military group, has choices to make. for now, the houthis keep attacking shipping in the red sea, and the us has redesignated the houthis as global terrorists. it continues its military action too — the americans argue this is the way to stop disruption in the red sea. but not everyone takes that position. translation: france decided not i to join a coalition that sought i to carry out or had carried out preemptive strikes against the houthis on their soil. why? precisely because we have a stance that seeks to avoid any escalation. but escalation is what's happening. and this week, iran had this message. translation: if the genocide in gaza

stops, then it will lead _ to the end of other crises and attacks in the region. israel denies carrying out genocide and an end to hostilities not end the long standing tensions in the region. but while we are some distance from a full scale regional war, there's no doubt the israel gaza war continues to pour fuel onto fires that were already burning. tata steel has defended its decision to cut thousands ofjobs at its port talbot site in south wales, saying changes are necessary to make production much greener. two blast furnaces will be replaced with an electric alternative. unions say industrial action is likely. plaid cymru says the uk government should consider nationalising the port talbot steelworks, to allow for a �*phased transition' to greener steel production. the changes will see the loss of up to 2,800 jobs, plus others in firms which supply the plant with goods and services.

here's david rees, a member of the welsh parliament for aberavon — where port talbot is located. i think the first thing we must remember is the challenges facing those workers and it's notjust the 2,800, it's the supply chain, the contractors and even small businesses that suffer as a consequence of the decision. we're talking about many more thousands than tata steel directly employs and the question is how we transition from the carbon intensive steel production to a less carbon intensive and more green steel production and that is what politicians should look at, how we do the transition with minimal damage to the economy and workforce. shouldn't those things have been worked out before now, before the redundancies were announced? that investment would have put conditions on it and would have

ensured a transition would be smooth and not the cliff edge we see now? but was there no contingency organised by yourself, by the labour party there in wales? what if tata steel suddenly announces redundancies and speeds up the process? there must have been a plan? the unfortunate thing is the main levers available are from the uk government, the welsh government has minimal resources available to support the investment in the transition to green steel. the uk wide labour party has committed itself to £3 billion of investment and i hope the next labour government coming in might be able to talk to tata steel to reverse the closure of the second blast furnace to continue steelmaking while we transition. the prime minister said the government has provided £500 million to support tata steel but let me bring up the idea of nationalisation. the welsh nationalists calling for that but do you support that?

it is a red herring, the reality is investment and we need to make sure that comes from the government. the government could make sure, like the labour party indicated, that the large amount of money required for green steelmaking in the uk will take place but let's be honest. the uk government has decided there will be no longer a primary steel maker in the uk, they made the decision the only tgo country that will not make its own steel from raw materials. we will be recycling still effectively, the only t20 economy to do that and still are such a crucial element in the economy across the uk. we will suffer the hardships but all of the uk will lose its steelmaking powers. the unions warning just in relation to these current announcements there could be strikes but do you support them? the unions are reflecting the anger in the workforce. we are seeing people now being told within nine months, they will not have a job and there's

no opportunities here for them at the moment. plans for the transition, those are three years down the line, the electrical furnace will not be here for at least four years because a planning application process has not even been started... would you support them going on strike? i will support the workforce in whatever they decide to do because i know the challenges they will be facing. in the uk, a committee of mps has asked the treasury, the royal mint and other public bodies to reveal details of any contracts awarded to fujitsu in the past five years. the company has apologised for its role in the post office it scandal — in which hundreds of branch managers were wrongly convicted of fraud or theft because of its faulty horizon computer system. fujitsu has said it won't bid for more government contracts while the inquiry is continuing. i've been speaking to our

political correspondent helen catt about what mps in the select committee are looking at. they are looking at details of all the contracts awarded to fujitsu since 2019. and why 2019? that was the date when the high court ruled that the horizon post office system which was installed across post offices across the country was defective. the committee has written to a number of different departments to find out what contracts have been awarded since then. they want to know details of it, notjust the value of those but, for example, how they were awarded, were they done through open competition? the chair of the committee, harriett baldwin, a conservative mp, said this is about surfacing information, it is not about punishing fujitsu. how widespread is the company's involvement in government departments? it is understood to be pretty widespread. one estimate has been there has been £4 billion worth of work awarded to fujitsu in the last five years and one of the

obvious examples that springs to mind is police national computer, fujitsu has run that for 30 years and was awarded a new contract in 2022 £48 million and at the time parliamentarians were told there was no alternative to fujitsu. we know it is a big firm and it has lots of involvement right across government. what the committee here has written to are all the departments concerned with finances, people like the taxman, hmrc, like the treasury, like the royal mint. so it will be interesting to see what comes back from those. but as you said, fujitsu has for now said it won't bid for any more government contracts until the public inquiry into what happened at the post office is over. conversations on whatsapp gave an insight into how some senior government ministers in england made key decisions during the pandemic — but that won't be the case with scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon. the uk—wide covid inquiry, currently sitting in edinburgh,

has heard how ms sturgeon didn't retain any whatsapp messages relating to the pandemic — and one scottish health chief said deleting them was a "pre—bed ritual". david henderson has more on this. stay at home. the order to lock down brought much of scotland to a standstill. with a pandemic sweeping the country, government had to act. but how were decisions made when lives were at stake? this inquiry wants answers and it's asked to see whatsapp messages which went to and fro between nicola sturgeon and herteam. but documents we saw show many have been lost. what that tends to suggest is that at the time a request was made, nicola sturgeon, the former first minister of scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic. is that correct? that's what that indicates to me. the inquiry was told those whatsapps were deleted when inboxes were routinely tidied up

and when phones were changed. the former deputy first minister's position appears to be that he had messages set up on an auto delete function. was that something that was permitted? the use of whatsapp was permitted on scottish government devices. . how ministers and private offices chose to manage l that on a day—to—day basis i would be a matter for them. so is this at odds with what nicola sturgeon seemed to promise back in august 2021? can you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, whatsapps, private emails if you've been using them, whatever, that nothing will be off limits in this inquiry? i think if you understand statutory public inquiries, you would know that even if i wasn't prepared to give that assurance, which for the avoidance of doubt i am. some whatsapp exchanges survive and former civil servant ken thomson was asked about his.

in them, colleagues are told to clear chat, as their discussions could be made public in future. that was in fact the instruction that we were given in the corporate policy, having transferred any salient points to the corporate record. in one message, the national clinical director, jason leitch writes: "whatsapp deletion is a pre—bed ritual." he's due to give evidence to the inquiry in the coming days. as recently as 2017, the world health organisation declared that measles had been eliminated in the uk. now the disease is back, with cases rising sharply — particularly in birmingham, where a "national incident" has been declared. ellie roscoe caught measles six years ago and said she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy. she's been talking to michele paduano. i literally felt like i'd been hit by a bus. it was horrendous. i'd got a thumping headache. temperature was just

making me feel awful. and my skin was — ifelt like i'd been burned, the sensation. ellie roscoe already had serious illnesses — lupus and angioedema. but when she developed a high temperature and delirium, she was worried but didn't realise how life changing it would be. i ended up with measles into my lungs, so i had to go onto oxygen because it affected my saturations. it was similar to pneumonia that i ended up with and ended up with viral hepatitis. she now requires a feeding tube, which may or may not be due to the measles. the nhs were fantastic. heartlands hospital, i can't praise enough. without them she wouldn't be sitting here today. that's the reality of it. urgent efforts are being made to encourage vaccination, across the west midlands, particularly among ethnic minority communities where vaccination rates are low. an outbreak which started in south and central birmingham is now spreading. horrible disease, really horrible. the vaccine is very good. it's about 95% effective.

safe, just been put on. there is an alternative - for those who don't want one with the pork products. again, that's a matter- for individual choice and that's the case of discussing it with your gp. - we can get the alternatives. measles is one of the most infectious diseases. one person can infect 16 others. if you compare covid to measles, it made covid look like a mild cold. measles was an unreal illness and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, personally. now is the time that something desperately needs to be done. it's got to be done to save the lives of these people, children and adults, and people need to be aware of the consequences. every day, ellie faces the aftermath of having had measles. she wants people to make their decisions, knowing what it means for her. michele paduano, bbc news. sexual health clinics in england are at breaking point, according to the councils running them.

more than two—thirds of local authority areas have seen a rise in gonorrhoea and syphilis infections since 2017 and now they say soaring rates threaten to overwhelm services. there are calls for extra government funding to meet the rise in demand. hundreds of people who were scammed out of their pensions are now facing large tax bills on money they no longer have. a group of mps says hmrc is making them victims "twice over", as dan whitworth explains. hundreds, possibly thousands, of people have been impacted by this. often public servants like nurses, firemen and women, and police officers who say their only mistake has been to trust so—called financial experts, and they say they've been victimised twice — first by scammers who in many cases ran off with much of their pension money, and secondly by hmrc, which is now chasing them for huge tax bills, for taking money out of their pension pots early before they turned 55. sue flood and her

husband lost £230,000 of their retirement savings. and now, on top of that, say they face the prospect of a tax bill running into six figures. there's never any real closure for you. it's the last thing you think about when you go to bed at night, and it's the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning, and when you receive the bill from hmrc, that brown envelope lands, it's harrowing. it's not stress you feel. it's absolute sheer terror. and that's gone on for 12 years. a campaign group launched in parliament to support victims has the backing of senior mps and barristers, as well as leading pension experts. what i would like to see is immediately hmrc put a moratorium on the assessments that are happening. stop sending out letters to people and stop adding interest just until we can get this sorted

and get a breathing space. maybe six months. allow compensation for losses due to fraud by a third party, and change the tax law to account for circumstances where people are being scammed. hmrc says it doesn't tax pensions lost to fraud and it has a responsibility to collect the tax people legally owe to maintain a fair system for all. also that it takes the well—being of all taxpayers seriously and that it does everything it can for those who engage with them to get their tax affairs in order. dan whitworth, bbc news. with tracks like chasing rainbows and going for gold, shed seven were part of the britpop movement which — for many music fans — was the sound of the �*90s. unlike other bands of that era — however — shed seven stayed together and kept making new music. now, 30 years since their chart debut, they've just landed their first number one album. amy garcia went to meet the lead singer rick witter. # i'm just chasing

rainbows all the time. congratulations. number one, you must be so chuffed. it's been a long time coming, isn't it? it's amazing. i mean, 30 years, which seems to have flown by, to be honest with you. 30 years. but yes, incredible scenes in shed world, to finally get number one after all this time is pretty amazing. # are you going for gold? not only have you got a number one, but you've also made the history books for the band to have the biggest gap between debut and number one album.

yeah, which makes me feel really old. but if there's any records to be broken, i'll try my hardest to do it. we found out that we outsold the entire top ten last week on physical product, which is amazing. so much has changed since the �*90s, especially in the music industry, but people are still buying physical copies, aren't they? what do you think that's down to? it's old school. it's what we grew up doing. you'd cycle to red rhino records in york and you'd sift through the 12 inch singles, you know, looking for what you've come for and discover other things that you might never have heard of. i think the younger generation are kind of getting their head around that now, and long may that continue because just to hold something in your hands is a very special thing. so we spent a couple of weeks travelling around, visiting record stores, playing some acoustic performances in a small record store, queues around the block for people waiting to come and get this signed, which has been incredible, and it'sjust nice to be involved rather than just being at home. but it is very tiring because we're

not getting any younger. you weren't partying all day and night like the �*905? well, i tried. and after about day three, i gave up. what have been your favourite moments from past three decades? well, i think at the beginning it was all really exciting because it was so new. and we're young kids and we're suddenly being told, yes, you can go on top of the pops and then you suddenly remembering hearing yourself being played on radio one for the first time. so they were always really buzz moments for us. i think we just take pride in the fact that we've not veered off course. we're still the same band we ever were. we're just a little bit older and a little bit wiser. a lot of things, exciting things happening this year, which will roll on into next year and the year after. so i guess if you're a fan of shed seven then buckle up and if you're not particularly a fan of us, hide behind a big rock. how do you celebrate a number one after 30 years?

i don't know. i'll have to come back to you on that because i've never done it before. so i will find ways of celebrating. i've not really got around to being able to do it as yet. i'm hoping it's in �*90s style. if it's in �*90s style, i won't remember it. enjoy the moment. congratulations, rick. thank you very much. before we go, let's just show you this — a murmuration of starlings caught on camera in northwest england. it took place at a reserve at leighton moss, near morecambe in lancashire. the phenomenon happens at dusk, just before the birds roost for the night — drawing large crowds of birdwatchers. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. we have put a pretty stormy weather on the way tomorrow, storm shh barrelling into the uk. severe gales expected quite widely and disruption into the monday morning rush hour but before that arrives, the already up, monitor, and it is rain rather than snow. up, monitor, and it is rain rather than snow— up, monitor, and it is rain rather than snow. , , ., ., than snow. this stormy show on the charts, than snow. this stormy show on the charts. that — than snow. this stormy show on the charts, that mass _ than snow. this stormy show on the charts, that mass of— than snow. this stormy show on the charts, that mass of cloud - than snow. this stormy show on the charts, that mass of cloud even - charts, that mass of cloud even before — charts, that mass of cloud even before then, less cloud across the uk. before then, less cloud across the uk that — before then, less cloud across the uk that is — before then, less cloud across the uk. that is producing rain. the rain has been relentless _ uk. that is producing rain. the rain has been relentless so _ uk. that is producing rain. the rain has been relentless so far, - uk. that is producing rain. the rain has been relentless so far, it - uk. that is producing rain. the rain has been relentless so far, it will i has been relentless so far, it will ease off a little bit. the best of the badness for north—east of scotland and some hazy sunshine in the channel islands. six or 7 degrees across the east, in the

west, ten or 11, the rain and wind are becoming heavier and persistence are becoming heavier and persistence are quite overt evening and for sport the night across the west of the uk. the rain pushing eastwards, clearing for most, some showers in the west but in clearer skies, temperatures dipping so not a court might, in a first limited to the sheltered glands in scotland. first we start to sunday, bemoaning the quietest part of the day, parts of east wales, central and southern england, the across northern scotland. more than england, central and southern scotland, northern ireland, the rain totals topping up combined with snow melt could lead to flooding the temperatures rise as the winds pick up and they become a feature sunday night. the storm passes to the north, broad area of strong winds, many parts affected the met office issued an amber river running through sunday night and

into monday, you can see winds gusting as much as 80 miles an hour and maybe more. there will be large waves, some damage and disruption to power and travel which could linger into monday morning rush hour so be prepared for problems. it still went but not as windy as through the night, frequent showers especially in the north and west, the best of the sunshine in the south and east. that is how it is looking. all the south and east. that is how it is looking. over weather warnings or online. please take care.

live from london. this is bbc news.

explosions hit a residential building in the syrian capital. iranian media says two high—ranking military advisers from iran's revolutionary guards have been killed. a un human rights official accuses israel of beating and stripping palestinians detained in gaza. they describe being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill treatment and to what may amount to torture. police urge the mother of a newborn baby found in a shopping bag in east london to come forward. hello.